The Qur'anic references to Allat, al-'Uzza, and Manat as angels rather than as idols or goddesses is unexpected.  Traditionally, these figures have been interpreted as idols worshipped by the pagan tribe, the Quraysh in Mecca.  But the references to these figures as angels rather than as idols may reveal the existence of more varied religious communities in the Hijaz.  If so, the condemnation in the Qur'an of these figures, then, might be less directed at paganism than at an intercessory theology.

The problem with an intercessory theology is that it downplays the importance of pietistic living--since an individual would be rewarded for loyalty to the intercessor rather than for righteous living.  Such a theology contradicts the moral message of the early believers, for as the Qur'an explains, "Forwarn them of the approaching day, when men's hearts will leap up to their throats and choke them; when the wrongdoers will have neither friend nor intercessor to be heard" (40:18).

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