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Who are Al-Maidah Initiative?The Al-Ma'idah Initiative hosts real, honest conversations about Christianity, Islam, worldview and politics. Often interactions between religions are either polemical or engage in syncretism. We want Christians and Muslims to clearly
articulate what they believe and where they disagree, all while on friendly terms.
Conversation without compromise.
What is Saudi Arabia?Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is a country in Western Asia constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula. With a land area of approximately 2,150,000 km2 (830,000 sq mi), Saudi Arabia is geographically the largest
sovereign state in the Middle East, the 2nd largest in the Arab world (after Algeria), the 5th largest in Asia, and the 12th largest in the world. Saudi Arabia is bordered by Jordan and Iraq to the north, Kuwait to the northeast, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates to the east, Oman to the southeast and Yemen to the south; most of its terrain consists of arid desert, lowland and mountains. As of October 2018, the Saudi economy was the largest in the Middle East and the 18th largest in the world. Saudi Arabia also enjoys one of the world's youngest populations; 50% of its 33.4 million people are under 25 years old.
Who is the Moon God?In modern times it is claimed Allah (God in Islam) historically originates as a Moon God. Therefore this Moon God was worshipped in pre-Islamic Arabia originates in early 20th-century scholarship, most prominently advocated by American evangelicals
from the 1990s. The idea was proposed by archeologist Hugo Winckler in 1901. It was proliferated in the USA in the 1990s, first via the publication of Robert Morey's pamphlet The Moon-god Allah: In Archeology of the Middle East (1994). Morey argues that "Allah" was the name of a moon god in pre-Islamic Arabic mythology, the implication being that "Allah" as the term for God in Islam implies that Muslims worship a different deity than the Judeo-Christian one. Joseph Lumbard, a professor of classical Islam, has stated the idea is "not only an insult to Muslims but also an insult to Arab Christians who use the name 'Allah' for God."
Who was Hubal?Hubal was a deity worshipped in pre-Islamic Arabia, particularly by the Quraysh tribe at the Kaaba in Mecca. He was believed to be the head moon-god of the Arab pantheon and was worshipped through rituals involving divination and arrow tossing. The
idol of Hubal was one of many in the Kaaba and was eventually destroyed by Muhammad upon his conquest of Mecca.
