Dushara

thumb|Dushara Dushara (; ), also transliterated as Dusares or Dhu Shara, is a pre-Islamic Arabian god worshipped by the Nabataeans at Petra and Hegra (of which city he was the patron). Safaitic inscriptions imply he was the son of the goddess Al-Lat, and that he assembled in the heavens with other deities. He is called "Dushara from Petra" in one inscription. Dushara was expected to bring justice if called by the correct ritual.

== Etymology == Dushara is known first from epigraphic Nabataean sources who invariably spell the name , the Nabataean script denoting only consonants. He appears in Classical Greek sources as () and in Latin as . The original meaning is disputed, but early Muslim historian Hisham ibn al-Kalbi in his "Book of Idols" explains the name as (), "etymologically probably 'the one of the Shara (mountains north of Petra)'", referring to a mountain range southeast of the Dead Sea now known as al-Sharat. This interpretation is accepted by some scholars, and compared to other Canaaite deities who are associated with mountains or geographic areas (such as Baal Lebanon, Baal Hermon, and YHWH Teman and YHWH Shomron from Kuntillet Ajrud inscriptions). If this interpretation is correct, Dushara would be more of a title than a proper name, but both the exact form of the name and its interpretation are disputed.