Is the religion of Islam based on the pagan worship of a moon God ?

Question

The pagan Arabs worshipped the Moon-god Allah by praying toward Mecca several times a day; making a pilgrimage to Mecca; running around the temple of the Moon-god called the Kabah; kissing the black stone; killing an animal in sacrifice to the Moon-god; throwing stones at the devil; fasting for the month which begins and ends with the crescent moon; giving alms to the poor, etc. The God Il or Ilah was originally a phase of the Moon God." The Moon-god was called al-ilah, i.e. the god, which was shortened to Allah in pre-Islamic times. The Crescent moon and star on alot of muslim flags is in reference to this ie Turkey, Pakistan, Tunisia.

Answer 1

Only if the Arab Jews and the Arab Christians worship the moon God. The word Allah was used by both religion for God hundreds of years before Islam. If you have done you homework, you would have known this.

Try doing an etymology on the word "God" and see where that comes from.

Answer 2

No that is a miss conception. Muslims actually worship the same God that Christians and Jews worship, but many Christian extremist try and make the Islamic faith out to be some Pagan religion when it is not. The symbols are falsely interpreted by others as Pagan when they are not; while some my have Pagan roots it would only be fair to say that the Christian cross is a Pagan symbol because for the early Christians the symbols of their religion were the dove and fish. Not the cross that is so widely seen as their religious symbol.


Blessed Be to all

24 y.o. Pagan College Student

Answer 3

WOW,
you have a severe misunderstanding for islam,
claiming that muslims are worshiping moon is like claiming christians are worshiping the cross because it is found on their flags or the sun because they use the solar calendar.
I am a muslim and I do know -like any other muslim- that moon is just a particle in the sky, no more, no less. there is no relation between moon and kebah or mekkah.

muslims give a special interest for moon because they use the launar calendar, and so they use the cresent as a common simbol instead of the christian cross or the jewish david star.

to konw about the GOD (pronounced Allah in arabic language )according to Islam I invite you to visit these sites that may give you answer:

www.geocities.com/wisamzaqoot
www.sultan.org

good luck

Answer 4

Christianity didn't originate from Sun worship....Osiris is a deity and he is known as the Sun God. Constintine the Roman general did convert from pagan worship to christanity thus making christianity legal. The following is a fact: Muhammad grew up worshipping many pagan gods in the Kabah including the moon, either called Hubal and Allah. After his conversion to monotheism, through the influence of Christians, Muhammad stopped worshiping the moon. The same is true for all Muslims since, down to the present day. Thousands of inscriptions from walls and rocks in northern Arabia have also been collected. Reliefs and votive bowls used in worship of the "daughters of Allah" have also been discovered. The three daughters, Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat are sometimes depicted together with Allah the moon-god represented by a crescent moon above them. Nabonidus the last King of Babylon, (555-539 BC), built Tayma, Arabia, as a centre of moon-god worship.
The worship of the Moon god " Sîn" was widespread and common during the time of Abraham. Contrary to Muslim claims, Abraham was asked to leave Ur of the Chaldees where the moon god Sîn was worshipped and migrate to Canaan and worship Jehovah. The Ur of Chaldees is in the region of Babylon.
the temple of the Moon-god was active even in the Christian era. Evidence gathered from both North and South Arabia demonstrate that Moon-god worship was clearly active even in Muhammad's day and was still the dominant cult. According to numerous inscriptions, while the name of the Moon-god was Sin, his title was al-ilah, i.e. "the deity," meaning that he was the chief or high god among the gods. As Coon pointed out, "The god Il or Ilah was originally a phase of the Moon God." The Moon-god was called al-ilah, i.e. the god, which was shortened to Allah in pre-Islamic times. The pagan Arabs even used Allah in the names they gave to their children. For example, both Muhammad's father and uncle had Allah as part of their names.The fact that they were given such names by their pagan parents proves that Allah was the title for the Moon-god even in Muhammad's day. "Similarly, under Mohammed's tutelage, the relatively anonymous Ilah, became Al-Ilah, The God, or Allah, the Supreme Being." This fact answers the questions, "Why is Allah never defined in the Qur'an? Why did Muhammad assume that the pagan Arabs already knew who Allah was?" Muhammad was raised in the religion of the Moon-god Allah. But he went one step further than his fellow pagan Arabs. While they believed that Allah, i.e. the Moon-god, was the greatest of all gods and the supreme deity in a pantheon of deities, Muhammad decided that Allah was not only the greatest god but the only god. In effect he said, "Look, you already believe that the Moon-god Allah is the greatest of all gods. All I want you to do is to accept that the idea that he is the only god. I am not taking away the Allah you already worship. I am only taking away his wife and his daughters and all the other gods." This is seen from the fact that the first point of the Muslim creed is not, "Allah is great" but "Allah is the greatest," i.e., he is the greatest among the gods. Why would Muhammad say that Allah is the "greatest" except in a polytheistic context? The Arabic word is used to contrast the greater from the lesser. That this is true is seen from the fact that the pagan Arabs never accused Muhammad of preaching a different Allah than the one they already worshipped. This "Allah" was the Moon-god according to the archeological evidence. Muhammad thus attempted to have it both ways. To the pagans, he said that he still believed in the Moon-god Allah. To the Jews and the Christians, he said that Allah was their God too. But both the Jews and the Christians knew better and that is why they rejected his god Allah as a false god. Al-Kindi, one of the early Christian apologists against Islam, pointed out that Islam and its god Allah did not come from the Bible but from the paganism of the Sabeans. They did not worship the God of the Bible but the Moon-god and his daughters al-Uzza, al-Lat and Manat

Answer 5

ILAH or god is an Arabic word for god. Al-Ilah or THE GOD means The Lord Almighty, the Creator. In Arabic EL or AL means "THE", which is added to nouns to make them into proper nouns. Medina for example is any city. Al-Medina means the City which is associated with our Prophet, literally meaning The City whose full name is Al-Madinatun-Nabi, or The City of the Prophet.

Abraham spoke Aramaic from which Hebrew and Arabic came. In Abraham's language too the name for god was Elah or Ilah, which also means Lord. Elohim is the plural of god or gods. The name for the Almighty was used as Eloh or El for short, which is used in the names of the angels such as Gabri-EL (Gabr means Strength or Force in Hebrew and Arabic, literally meaning FORCE OF EL or God), and the word Allah is from that same origin. Beth-el or House of God is used by the Jewish folks even now. Micha-el etc. are other names which end with EL signifying the same ancient name. I recommend you research these things.

The Arab tribes slowly forgot their monotheism over the centuries, which Ishmael used to follow as he and his family lived in the deserts of Paran or North-Western Arabia, and later moved to Mecca which was a business center. Eventually through time the family of Ishmael and those influenced by them subsided into paganism, although small traces of monotheism remained with the "Haneef" or those Arabs who did not worship the idols, who controlled the leadership of the Arabs and were secretly monotheists, which included the family of the Prophet of Islam. Haneefs existed for centuries before the Prophet of Islam organized the entire system and brought in the names of the great ones of Israel as a part of the Muslim system.

Crescent represents the Calendar of God. Just as the Sun defines the day, the moon defines the months. By simply looking at the sky, you can tell approximately how far the month has progressed. For people who did not have the ability to read or write, that was an easy way of tracking time.

You may be surprised to learn that the Jewish folks also use the Lunar month to determine their calendar. Are you going to call them pagan too? The Jewish calendar however is adjusted by adding months so that their months by and large fall in the "right" season. That is why the Jewish calendar does not coincide with the solar calendar on a day to day basis.

What our Prophet did was to re-establish the lost belief in the monotheists, established the love of the Great Ones of Israel among the Arabs and taught that all children of Ishmael must accept the children of Isaac and the prophets that came in his lineage to be the leaders of the Arabs too.

If you think about it, no pagan god worshipping people would want to have any dealings with the Israelites, as in many cases the pagan Arabs and the Israelites had fought with each other. Thus, the Quran sides with David against Golliath, and David is considered the hero of Islam, although he fought against the pagan Arabs.

Most ignorant Christians fall into the trap of the propaganda and fail to see that Allah is used by most Arab Christians and Jews whose mother tongue is or was Arabic. Allah they all understand is no moon god but THE GOD.

One can argue that the word God is not of a Jewish origin and perhaps may have Gothic connections. Does that make all Americans and English be praying to some gothic diety?

It is high time that knowledgeable people rise above ignorance and know that the meanings of words change. If Muslims were pagans, then one can say Christians are pagan too, as their belief came to them through the Catholic Church, which allowed many laws of Rome (such as consecration of male and female virgins to the Temple god, which turned into the tradition of nuns and brothers etc.).

Wise people should rise above name calling and learn to dialogue and find out the facts before expressing views.

Kaaba or the Cube is not we worship, but it points the direction for worship. Initially Muslims prayed towards Jerusalem, which is called the first Qibla (Qibla means something you face). Kaaba or Jerusalem were never gods of the Muslims. Again you need to know all the facts.

Answer 6

Thanks For Your Question

But it seems that you have so few info about the pagan Arabs before Islam because they never worshiped the moon plus there is a very accurate dating system called the lunar dating and again it doesn't have any relation with worshiping the moon

it seems that you did read the Arabic history

Answer 7

Yes, this is true. Actually, Mohammed overturned all the temples but one- the temple to the moon god whose name in those days was USUALLY Nanna or Suen (depending on the phase of the moon) and declared that to be the one god. It's a little weird actually, reading the mythology of this moon god, for He was a pretty calm guy. I can't imagine what He thinks of Jihads. (not that most of the Muslims I know personally think much of them, either.)

Answer 8

Their are many different rituals even in christian Religion. The pagan Santa, or Bunny rabbit. Should an Arab think of Christ like that ? I would only suggest that you developed an open mind. If you are truly interested, investigate ! Its only good to question that which we believe, or think we believe ? What would hurt you to seek out a new friend, to understand their religious traditions that truly have nothing to do with the kissing of a black stone. Like Easter Bunny has nothing to do with the Resurrection of Christ. Diversity develop es thought of others,instead judgment or condemnation through ignorance.

Answer 9

The religion Islam is based on the interpretations of the teachings of the prophet Muhammad. Similarities drawn are similar to Mexican Catholicism to Aztec blood cults, Judaism to Zoroastrianism, or American Christian Fundamentalism to Nazism. Just cause similarities exist, does not make the one the other. When Christians ware the cross, are they followers of the Egyptian deity Horace?

Answer 10

No. Most people think Allah means moon god, but it just means God in arabic. Even jews and christians who speak arabic call their God Allah.