Al-Muharriq (المريخ) is an Arabian underworld god who was represented as a fierce deity at a red shrine and whose totem animal was the adult male lion (usamah). The worship of al-Muharriq (also known as al-Merrikh) was mainly found in eastern Arabia and southern Iraq where his cult was prominent among the Bedouin tribes of Banu Rabi'ah, Banu Abd al-Qays and Banu Bakr ibn Wa'il. This god was the Arabic counterpart of the earlier Babylonian god Nergal, both sharing the same attributes such as being deities of the underworld; fire; the planet Mars, and the desert.
Al-Muharriq, like his Babylonian counterpart Nergal, had a wrathful disposition; he was believed to send disease and plague if he was angry with the population. The name of the god means the Burner as he represented the scorching heat of the desert, in addition to the heat of disease and as well as fire (Harriqah) itself. To the Mahra tribe who inhabited the deserts of Oman, this god was known as Harka and was a deity who had to be placated with animal sacrifices. In the far north of Arabia, al-Muharriq was called Arsuf who was a later Arabian development from the ancient Canaanite god Reshef; a deity associated with plagues and the underworld.