Hūd - A new hypothesis about his identity

This note focuses on Hūd, one of many characters that Islam lists as prophets whose exhortations against idolatry were followed by the destruction of idol worshippers by Allah. Hūd's identity is contested both in scholarship and among Muslim authorities. This note proposes a new hypothesis regarding Hūd's identity. Based on Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum (also known as Pseudo-Philo), it identifies Hūd as a Midianite priest who steered the Israelites to idol worship during the era of the Judges, for which God allowed Midian to defeat them.