Jad is a fictional solar god found in the works of Guy Gavriel Kay

Guy Gavriel Kay

Guy Gavriel Kay is a Canadian author of fantasy fiction. Many of his novels are set in fictional realms that resemble real places during real historical periods, such as Constantinople during the reign of Justinian I or Spain during the time of El Cid...

, including The Sarantine Mosaic

The Sarantine Mosaic

The Sarantine Mosaic is a historical fantasy duology by Guy Gavriel Kay, comprising Sailing to Sarantium and Lord of Emperors. The titles of the novels are an allusion to poet W.B...

series, The Lions of Al-Rassan

The Lions of Al-Rassan

The Lions of Al-Rassan is a work of historical fantasy by Guy Gavriel Kay. It is set in a peninsula of the same world in which The Sarantine Mosaic and The Last Light of the Sun are set, and is based upon Moorish Spain...

and The Last Light of the Sun

The Last Light of the Sun

The Last Light of the Sun is a 2004 fantasy novel by Guy Gavriel Kay. Like many of his books, it is set in a world that draws heavily upon real times, events, places and people. In this particular book, the period is the Viking invasions of Saxon England...

. In these books, all set in a fictional world loosely based on Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 during late antiquity

Late Antiquity

Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world. Precise boundaries for the period are a matter of debate, but noted historian of the period Peter Brown proposed...

 and the early Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

, Jad serves as an analog to Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

, as the focal point for an organized church (or group of churches) similar to the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. In addition to the mainstream church of Jad, there are a number of heretical and schismatic movements alluded to or described.

In Kay's novels, the religion of Jad competes with the lunar religion of the Kindath, who are analogous to our world's Jews

Jews

The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...

 and the star-worshipping Asharites, who parallel our world's Muslims. The Jaddite faith is also opposed by various pagan cults, including those of the Erling (viking

Viking

The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

) war god Ingavin.