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Hubal is a god associated with divination. His cult image stood in the Kaaba, and his rituals were in the form of throwing divination arrows before the image, in cases of virginity, death and marriage. [19] He is worshipped by many tribes, including the Quraysh, who controlled access to the image.
A typical Kaaba building is shaped like a cube or block and functions as a place for the devotees of a particular god or goddess to worship in. [1] [2] The name "Kaaba" was used by ancient Arabians to describe and label these sites because of their resemblance to the Kaaba at Mecca and the purpose of doing pilgrimage to them.
The Kaaba is the holiest site in Islam, [106] and is often called by names such as the Bayt Allah (Arabic: بيت الله, romanized: Bayt Allah, lit. 'House of Allah'). [107] [108] and Bayt Allah al-Haram (Arabic: بيت الله الحرام, romanized: Bayt Allah il-Haram, lit. 'The Sacred House of Allah').
Before conversion to Christianity, the Aksumites followed a polytheistic religion that was similar to that of Southern Arabia. The lunar god Hawbas was worshiped in South Arabia and Aksum. [93] The god Astar, a sky-deity was related to that of 'Attar, was also worshipped in Aksum. [94] The god Almaqah was worshiped at Hawulti-Melazo. [95]
The Black Stone was held in reverence well before Islam. It had long been associated with the Kaaba, which was built in the pre-Islamic period and was a site of pilgrimage of Nabataeans who visited the shrine once a year to perform their pilgrimage. The Kaaba held 360 idols of the Meccan gods.
According to Al-Azraqi, Hubal was the primary deity housed in the Kaaba of Mecca before the time of Muhammad. Similarly, Al-Kalbi identifies Hubal as the main god of the Quraysh. Archaeologically, just one Nabataean inscription mentions 'Hubal', as an epithet for the god Dushara.
Before Islam, the Kaaba contained a statue representing the god Hubal. [8] [9] On the basis that the Kaaba was also Allah's house, Julius Wellhausen considered Hubal to be an ancient name for Allah. [10] [11] [12] The 20th-century scholar Hugo Winckler in turn claimed that Hubal was a moon god, [13] though others have suggested otherwise.
In Arabian mythology, Hubal (Arabic: هُبَل) was a god worshipped in pre-Islamic Arabia, notably by the Quraysh at the Kaaba in Mecca. The god's icon was a human figure believed to control acts of divination, which was performed by tossing arrows before the statue. The direction in which the arrows pointed answered questions asked to Hubal.