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Dhu-al-Shara

The banu-al-Hairith ibn-Yashkur ibn-Mubashshir[1] of the Azd [tribe] had an idol called dhu-al-Shara[2] (Dusares). One of the Ghatarif[3], referring to it, said:

"We would descend upon the region surrounding dhu-al-Shara,
And our mighty army would, then, smite the foe."
 
 

FOOTNOTES

1. cf. Ishtiqaq, p.300, where Yashkur is the brother of Mubashshir.

2. cf. Ryckmans, vol.5, p.212. This was the chief god of the Nabataeans. Its chief sanctuary was in Ettra, where a large, black, quadrangular unhewn stone was dedicated to it in a splendid temple. See Fr. Buhl, "Dhu '1-Shara" in The Encyclopaedia of Islam; Alexander B. W Kennedy, Petra, Its History and Monuments, London, 19Z5, pp 35, 41, 57, 73, 76,77; Wellhausen, pp. 48-51.

3. The name under which the banu-'Amir ibn-Mubashshir were known.