The crescent moon symbol of Islam is a remnant of ancient pagan moon worship.
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. However, the crescent moon is the universal symbol of Islam. Muslims will argue that there is no archeological evidence for the crescent moon symbol being used in Islam for the first few centuries after Muhammad. Yet Muslims also claim that Koran in its completed form existed in the time of Muhammad, yet there is no archeological evidence for this claim either. What we can be sure of, is the moon worship was more prevalent in Arabia than any other part of the world and that the symbol of the crescent moon has been used by the Arab religions as far back as the time of Abraham. It is a falsification of history to think there is no connection with the history of the crescent moon symbol of pagan moon god worship and Islam. The fact remains that most Arab/Muslim countries today still use the crescent moon symbol on their flags and atop of their mosques. The connection is so powerful that only the blind would reject any connection.
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| Sîn: Moon god in 2100 BC |
"Sin.—The moon-god occupied the chief place in the astral triad. Its other two members, Shamash the sun and Ishtar the planet Venus, were his children. Thus it was, in effect, from the night that light had emerged....In his physical aspect Sin—who was venerated at Ur under the name of Nannar—was an old man with along beard the color of lapis-lazuli. He normally wore a turban. Every evening he got into his barque—which to mortals appeared in the form of a brilliant crescent moon—and navigated the vast spaces of the nocturnal sky. Some people, however, believed that the luminous crescent was Sin's weapon. But one day the crescent gave way to a disk which stood out in the sky like a gleaming crown. There could be no doubt that this was the god's own crown; and then Sin was called "Lord of the Diadem". These successive and regular transformations lent Sin a certain mystery. For this reason he was considered to be 'He whose deep heart no god can penetrate'... Sin was also full of wisdom. At the end of every month the gods came to consult them and he made decisions for them...His wife was Ningal, 'the great Lady'. He was the father not only of Shamash and Ishtar but also of a son Nusku, the god fire." (Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology, 1960, p 54-56)
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 Mesopotamian Ziggurat: Temple of the moon God 2100 BC. |
"Sîn, moon god of Semitic origin, worshiped in ancient Middle Eastern religions. One of the principal deities in the Babylonian and Assyrian pantheons, he was lord of the calendar and of wisdom. The chief centers of his worship were at Harran and at Ur, where he was known as Nanna." (encyclopedia.com, Sîn) The tower of Babal in Gen 10 may in fact have been a Ziggurat. | The ziggurat of Ur. , and the of the moon god Sîn who is seen being carried in procession to the temple called the "Hill of Heaven".
Above is actual drawing at the British Museum in London. |
Nanna was worshipped in the ziggurat of Ur. There was also a smaller temple for Ningal the moon goddess. Nanna was worshipped both by a High Priestes and priests. Great Kings throughout history from Sargon 2600 BC to Nabonidus 550 BC had their daughters officiate as high-priestess of Nanna at Ur. The tradition begins with the first dynasties of Ur around 3400 BC and continued through to the fall of Ur around the time of Nabonidus, a period of some 3000 years. As we shall see this tradition continued for another 1700 years at Harran and still underlies the Islam of today. |
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"The Sumerians, in the first literate civilization, left thousands of clay tablets describing their religious beliefs. As demonstrated by Sjöberg and Hall, the ancient Sumerians worshipped a moon-god who was called by many different names. The most popular names were Nanna, Suen, and Asimbabbar" (Mark Hall, A Study of the Sumerian Moon-god, Sin, PhD., 1985, University of Pennsylvania). |
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Harran, City of the Moon God The status of Sin was so great that from 1900 BC to 900 BC his name is witness to the forging of international treaties as the guarantor of the word of kings. The temple was resotred by Shalmanester of Assyria in the 9th century BC, and again by Asshurbanipal. About550 BC, Nabonidus the last king of Babylon, who originated from Harran, rebuilt the temple of the Moon God, directed by a dream. His mother was high priestess at Harran and his daughter at Ur. Ironically his devotion to the Moon God caused a rfit between him and his people and contributed to his defeat by the Persians. The worship of the Moon God at Harran evolved with the centuries. It included E-hul-hul, the Temple of Rejoicing, and a set of temples of distinctive shape and colour dedicated to each of the seven planets as emissaries of the cosmic deity. Many of the descriptions of Harran through Christian and Moslem eyes include exaggerated tales of sacrifice which are probably not factual. It was said by one writer that they sacrificed a different character or type of human to each planet. A garlanded black bull was however sacrificed in public ceremony, as the bull was at Ur, and Moslem sources refer to seasonal weeping for Ta'uz at Harran, and up to the 10th century among bedouin in the desert. |
Star and Crescent of Harran coin
Sign of sin
Stele of Nabonidus |
"His symbol was the crescent moon. Given the amount of artifacts concerning the worship of this moon-god, it is clear that this was the dominant religion in Sumeria. The cult of the moon-god was the most popular religion throughout ancient Mesopotamia. The Assyrians, Babylonians, and Arkkadians took the word Suen and transformed it into the word Sîn as their favourite name for this deity." (Austin Potts, The Hymns and Prayers to the Moon-god, Sin, PhD., 1971, Dropsie College, p.2). "Sîn is a name essentially Sumerian in origin which had been borrowed by the Semites" (Austin Potts, The Hymns and Prayers to the Moon-god, Sin, PhD., 1971, Dropsie College, p 4) |
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| Anatolian mural from Karum - notice the boxed pre-Islamic Crescent-and-Star glyph |
Assyrians had established 20 independent trade colonies throughout Anatolia known as KARUM. It can be said that the Assyrians had developed the most sophisticated trading system of their time
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Anatolian mural from Karum Another pre-Islamic crescent moon and star from the same location |
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close up of Anatolian mural from Karum |
In the Ugaritic texts, the moon-god was sometimes called Kusuh. |
Ancient Persian Moon-goddess |
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Ancient Egyptian Moon-goddess |
Ur of the Chaldees was so devoted to the moon-god that it was sometimes called Nannar in tablets from that time period. A temple of the moon-god was excavated in Ur by Sir Leonard Woolley. He dug up many examples of moon-worship that are now displayed in the British Museum. |
Nannar with the 'three muses' and Eternally Fruiting Orb - Ur-Nammu (Maspero 655) |
Harran was likewise noted for its devotion to the moon-god. is shown to the right. Note the presence of the crescent moon on the Babylonian moon-god. |
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| Moon God Aksum 0-600 AD |
Moon God Aksum 0-600 AD
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Yerah - The Moon God of Canaan In the 1950's a major temple to the moon-god was excavated at Hazor in Palestine. Two idols of the moon-god were found. Each was a statue of a man sitting upon a throne with a crescent moon carved into his chest (below left). The accompanying inscriptions make it clear that these were idols of the moon-god (below right). The worship tablet found at the same sight shows arms outstretched towards the Moon-god here represented by the full moon within the crescent moon. Several smaller statues were also found which were identified by their inscriptions as the daughters of the moon-god. |
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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 (North Arabian archaeological finds concerning Al-Lat are discussed in: |
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Nabonidus the last King of Babylon, (555-539 BC), built Tayma, Arabia, as a centre of moon-god worship. | "South Arabia's stellar religion has always been dominated by the Moon-god in various variations" (Berta Segall, The Iconography of Cosmic Kingship, the Art Bulletin, vol.xxxviii, 1956, p.77). |
In 1944, G. Caton Thompson revealed in her book, The Tombs and Moon Temple of Hureidah, that she had uncovered a temple of the moon-god in southern Arabia. The symbols of the crescent moon and no less than 21 inscriptions with the name Sîn were found in this temple. |
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In 1944, G. Caton Thompson also found an idol which is probably the moon-god himself was also discovered. This was later confirmed by other well-known archaeologists Richard Le Baron Bower Jr. and Frank P. Albright, Archaeological Discoveries in South Arabia, Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press, 1958, p.78ff Ray Cleveland, An Ancient South Arabian Necropolis, Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press, 1965; Nelson Gleuck, Deities and Dolphins, New York, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1965). |
This MAY be the moon god but it is not certain check the references. |
Written by Brother Andrew
pp. 1612-1623 of The Holy Qur'an, Text, Translation and Commentary by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, [1946]
{Scanned at sacred-texts.com, October, 2001. This is a short excerpt from an appendix to an English translation of the Qur'an, which describes the pagan beliefs in the Arabian peninsula prior to the rise of Islam. It is written by a devout Muslim, so this point of view is evident throughout.
This is one of the few treatments of this fascinating but little-understood subject which I have found. I have appended the translation and notes for the portion of the Qur'an (Surah lxxi.) mentioned in the body of the appendix. This is also of interest because it gives the Islamic take on the story of Noah. In verse 23 of this Surah, five pre-Islamic pagan deities are mentioned by name: Wadd, Suwâ`, Yagûth, Ya`ûq and Nasr. Believers in the existence of the Necronomicon (itself purportedly a mediaeval Arabic document) will take note of Yagûth in this list. In the appendix, Ali also describes a trinity of pre-Islamic goddesses: Lât, `Uzzâ, and Manât; this information will be of interest to Wiccans.
Note that the appendix, from p. 1619-23 in the original book, is first in this document, followed by the excerpt from the Qur'an, p. 1612-8, so the page numbering below is out of order.--jbh}
{p. 1619}
APPENDIX XIII.
From prehistoric times man has sought to worship powers of nature, or symbols representing those powers, or idols representing those symbols. In vulgar minds they become debased superstitions, and seem to come into competition with the worship of the one True God.
2. The five names mentioned in lxxi. 23 represent some of the oldest Pagan cults, before the Flood as well as after the Flood, though the names themselves are in the form in which they were worshipped by local Arab tribes. The names of the tribes have been preserved to us by the Commentators, but they are of no more than archæological interest to us now. But the names of the false gods are interesting to us from the point of view of comparative religion, as, under one form or another, such cults still exist in countries which have not accepted the Gospel of Unity, as they have always existed since man turned from his Maker and Sustainer to the worship of created things or invented fancies.
3. The names of the five false gods and the symbols under which they were represented were as follows:--
Pagan god | Shape. | Quality represented |
1. Wadd | Man | Manly Power. |
2. Suwâ`, | Woman | Mutability, Beauty. |
3. Yagûth | Lion (or Bull) | Brute Strength. |
4. Ya`ûq | Horse | Swiftness. |
5. Nasr | Eagle, or Vulture, or Falcon. | Sharp Sight, Insight. |
It is not clear whether these names are to be connected with true Arabic verbal roots or are merely Arabicised forms of names derived from foreign cults, such as those of Babylonia or Assyria, the region of Noah's Flood. The latter supposition is probable. Even in the case of Wadd (Affection, Love) and Nasr (Eagle), which are good Arabic words, it is doubtful whether they are not, in this connection, translations or corruptions of words denoting foreign cults.
4. In studying ancient comparative mythologies we must never forget the following facts. (1) Men's ideas of God always tend to be anthropomorphic. The qualities which they admire they transfer to their godhead. (2) But fear in primitive man also leads to the transfer of anything mysterious or imagined to be injurious, to the Pantheon. Such things have to be placated in order that they may not injure man. Thus in popular Hinduism the goddess of small-pox, which causes terror over an ignorant countryside, has to be worshipped, placated, or appeased with sacrifice. (3) This leads to the worship of animals noxious to man, such as serpent-worship, which
{p. 1620}
has prevailed and still prevails in many primitive areas. In ancient Egyptian mythology the Crocodile (so common in the Nile), the Dog, the Bull, and the Ibis were worshipped both literally and symbolically. See Appendix V, p. 409. (4) But as men's knowledge grows, and they observe the wonderful heavenly bodies and their motions, they begin to feel their sublimity, beauty and mystery, and they transfer their worship to the heavenly bodies. The first great astronomers in the ancient world were the Babylonians and Chaldæans. Among them was Abraham's homeland. The allegory of Abraham (vi, 74-82 and notes) points to the importance of the cult of the worship of heavenly bodies and the fallacy in them. "It is those who believe, and confuse not their beliefs with wrong-that are truly in security, for they are on right guidance" (vi. 82). The Sabæan worship of heavenly bodies in Arabia had probably its source in Chaldæa (see last paragraph of n. 76 to ii. 62). (5) A further refined step in Paganism is to worship abstractions, to treat concrete things as symbols of abstract qualities which they represent. For example, the planet Saturn with its slow motion was treated as phlegmatic and evil. The planet Mars with its fiery red light was treated as betokening war and havoc and evil, and so on. Jupiter, with its magnificent golden light, was treated as lucky and benignant to any who came tinder its influence. Venus became the symbol and the goddess of carnal love. The Pagan Arabs erected Time (Dahr) into a deity, existing from eternity to eternity, and dispensing good and ill fortune to men. The ancient Ægean religion treated the vital principle in the same way, as spontaneous and eternal, and traces of this are found in many religions, ancient and modern. (6) The next step was to reincarnate as it were these qualities in beings of flesh and blood, with lives, feelings, and passions like those of ordinary men and women, and to fill up a confused Pantheon with gods and goddesses that quarrelled, hated, loved, were jealous, and suffered or enjoyed life like human beings. In such a Pantheon there was room for demi-gods and real human heroes that were worshipped as gods. The Greek poets and artists were past masters in carrying out this process, under cover of which they discussed profound human problems, with great power. They made religion dramatic. While they gained in humanism, they lost the purer spiritual conceptions which lift the divine world far above the futilities and crimes of this life. Hierarchical Christianity has suffered from this inheritance of the Greek tradition. (7) Where there was a commingling of peoples and cultures, several of these ideas and processes got mixed up together. Gods and goddesses of different origins were identified one with another, e.g.Artemis, the chaste virgin huntress goddess of the Greek Pantheon, was identified with Diana of the Romans, Diana of the Ephesians (representing the teeming life of nature), and Selene the cold moon-goddess. Similarly Diana was identified with the Egyptian Isis, and Diana's twin-brother Apollo (the sun) with the Egyptian Osiris. Forces of nature, animals, trees, qualities, astronomical bodies, and various other factors got mixed up together, and formed a shapeless medley of superstitions, which are all condemned by Islam.
5. To revert to the worship of the heavenly bodies. The countless fixed stars in the firmament occupied always the same relative positions in the heavens, and did not impress the imagination of the ancients like the objects which stood out vividly with mysterious laws of relative motion. A few individual stars did attract the worshippers' attention; e.g. Sirius the Dog-star, the brightest fixed star in the heavens, with a bluish tinge in its light, and Algol the variable star, being Beta of the constellation
{p. 1621}
Perseus, whose variations can be perceived by the naked eye in two or three nights, became connected with many legends, myths, and superstitions. It is probably Sirius that is referred to as the fixed star in the Parable of Abraham (vi. 76). With regard to the fixed stars in their myriads, the astronomers turned their fancy to devising Groups or Constellations. But the moving "stars", or planets, each with its own individual laws of motion, stood out to them personified, each with a motion and therefore will or influence of its own. As they knew and understood them, they were seven in number, viz.: (1) and (2) the moon and the Sun, the two objects which most closely and indubitably influence the tides, the temperatures, and the life on our planet; (3) and (4) the two inner planets, Mercury and Venus, which are morning and evening stars, and never travel far from the sun; and (5), (6), and (7) Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, the outer planets, whose elongations from the sun on the ecliptic can be as wide as possible. The number seven became itself a mystic number, as explained in n. 5526 to lxv. 12.
6. It will be noticed that the sun and the moon and the five planets got identified each with a living deity, god or goddess, with characteristics and qualities of its own. The solar myth was a myth of very fruitful vitality, and got mixed up with many other myths and ideas. In late Roman religion it appears in the story of Apollo, the sun-god of light and learning and of manly beauty, twin brother to Diana the moon. goddess. In ancient Egypt it appears in the myth of Horus, the falcon-eyed, or of Ra or Rè, the Eye, which sees all things. Further, the eagle, or falcon, or hawk, became itself identified with the sun, with its piercing light. The sun myth mixes itself up with the myth of the Nile and with the cycle of legends connected with Isis and Osiris, who were subsequently identified with the moon and the sun divinities. In Babylon the name Shamash (Arabic, Shams) proclaims the glory of the sun-god corresponding to the old Sumerian Utu or Babbar, while the hymns to Sûrya (the sun) in the Rig-Veda and the cult of Mithra in Persia proclaim the dominance of sun-worship.
7. Moon-worship was equally popular in various forms. I have already referred to the classical legends of Apollo and Diana, twin brother and sister, representing the sun and the moon. The Egyptian Khonsu, traversing the sky in a boat, referred to the moon, and the moon legends also got mixed up with those about the god of magic, Thoth, and the Ibis. In the Vedic religion of India the moon-god was Soma, the lord of the planets, and the name was also applied to the juice which was the drink of the gods. It may be noted that the moon was a male divinity in ancient India; it was also a male divinity in ancient Semitic religion, and the Arabic word for the moon (qamar) is of the masculine gender. On the other hand, the Arabic word for the sun (shams) is of the feminine gender. The Pagan Arabs evidently looked upon the sun as a goddess and the moon as a god.
8. Of the five planets, perhaps Venus as the evening star and the morning star alternately impressed itself most on the imagination of astro-mythology. This planet was in different places considered both male and female. In the Bible (Isaiah, xiv. 12), the words "How art thou fallen, O Lucifer, son of the morning!" are understood to refer to the Morning Star in the first instance, and by analogy to the King of Babylon. The Fathers of the Christian Church, on the other hand, transferred the name Lucifer to Satan, the power of evil. Mercury is a less conspicuous planet, and was looked upon as a child in the family, the father and mother being the moon and the sun, or the sun
{p. 1621}
and the moon (according to the sex attributed to these divinities), or else either the sun or the moon was the father and Venus the mother (the sexes being inter-changeable in the myths). Of the three outer planets, Jupiter is the most conspicuous: indeed, after the sun and the moon, it is the most conspicuous object in the heavens, and was reputed to be beneficent and to bestow good fortune. The sun and the moon being considered in a class apart, Jupiter was considered the father of the planets, and possibly his worship got occasionally mixed tip with that of the sun. Mars and Saturn, as has already been stated, were considered malevolent planets, to be feared for the mischief that they might do; for the Pagan Pantheons worshipped powers both of good and evil.
9. It is remarkable that the days of the week are named after the seven planets of geocentric astronomy, and if we take them in alternate sequence they indicate the order in which their heavens were arranged with reference to proximity to the earth. The following table represents this grouping:--
Planet | Presiding god or goddess | Day of the week in |
Moon | Diana | Sunday |
Mercury | Mercury | Tuesday |
Venus | Venus | Thursday |
The Sun | Apollo | Saturday |
Mars | Mars | Monday |
Jupiter | Jupiter | Wednesday |
Saturn | Saturn | Friday |
This alternate sequence is carried into a circle, as the total number is seven, itself a mystic number.
10. These cross-currents and mixtures of nature-worship, astral-worship, hero-worship, worship of abstract qualities, etc., resulted in a medley of debasing superstitions which are summed up in the five names, Wadd, Suwâ`, Yagûth, Ya`ûq, and Nasr, as noted in paragraph 3 above. The time of Noah is taken to be the peak of superstition and false worship, and the most ancient cults may thus be symbolically brought under these heads. If Wadd and Suwâ` represented Man and Woman, they might well represent the astral-worship of the moon and the sun, or the sun and the moon, or they might represent human self-glorification, the worship of Self as against God, or they might represent the worship of Manly Power and Female Beauty, or other abstract qualities of that kind. On the other hand, it is possible that the worship of Jupiter and Venus itself got mixed up with the worship of the sun-moon pair. One pair being identified with another pair in a Septet, the number seven was reduced to five, and the five (itself a mystic number) might itself represent the seven planets as then worshipped. Further, it may be that Nasr (the vulture, falcon, hawk, or eagle, the Egyptian Horus) also represents a solar myth, mixed up with the cult of the planets. These cross-currents of astro-mythological mixtures of cults are well-known to students of ancient popular religions. If the five names, from another angle of vision, represent qualities, the Wadd-Suwâ` pair (Sun-Moon, Jupiter-Venus) would represent manly power and womanly beauty or mutability respectively, and the three remaining ones (paragraph 3) might represent Brute Strength, like that of a Bull or a Lion; Swiftness like that of a Horse or sharpness (of sight or intelligence) like that of a vulture, hawk, or eagle.
{p. 1623}
11. It may be noted that the five names of deities mentioned here to represent very ancient religious cults are well-chosen. They are not the names of the deities best known in Mecca, but rather those which survived as fragments of very ancient cults among the outlying tribes of Arabia, which were influenced by the cults of Mesopotamia (Noah's country). The Pagan deities best known in the Ka`ba and round about Mecca were Lât, `Uzzâ, and Manât. (Manât was also known round Yathrib, which afterwards became Medina.) See liii. 19-20. They were all female goddesses. Lât almost certainly represents another wave of sun-worship: the sun being feminine in Arabic and in Semitic languages generally. "Lât" may be the original of the Greek "Leto", the mother of Apollo the sun-god (Encyclopædia of Islam, I., p. 380). If so, the name was brought in prehistoric times from South Arabia by the great Incense Route (n. 3816 to xxxiv. 18) to the Mediterranean. `Uzzâ probably represents the planet Venus. The origin of Manât is not quite clear, but it would not be surprising if it also turned out to be astral. The 360 idols established by the Pagans in the Ka`ba probably represented the 360 days of an inaccurate solar year. This was the actual "modern" Pagan worship as known to the Quraish contemporary with our Prophet. In sharp contrast to this is mentioned the ancient antediluvian worship under five heads, of which fragments persisted in outlying places, as they still persist in different forms and under different names in all parts of the world where the pure worship of God in unity and truth is not firmly established in the minds and hearts of men.
References: The classical work on Arabian idol-worship is Ibn al-Kalbi's Kitrâb-ul-asnâm, of the late second century of the Hijra. The book is not easily accessible. Our doctors of religion have evinced no interest in the study of ancient cults, or in comparative religion, and most of them had not before them the results of modern archæology. But a modern school of Egyptian archæologists is arising, which takes a great deal of interest in the antiquities of their own country. For astral worship consult Hastings' Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics, articles on "Sun, Moon, and Stars," as worshipped in different countries. Consult also Sir E. A. Wallis Budge, Gods of the Egyptians, London 1904; A. H. Sayce, Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia, Gifford Lectures, Edinburgh 1902; M. Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, Boston 1898; E. W. Hopkins, Religions of India, London 1896; G. A. Barton, Sketches of Semitic Origins, New York 1902. Any Classical Dictionary would give details of Greek and Roman Mythology. It is curious that the Indus Civilization, which resembles the Second Pre-diluvian Culture of Elam and Mesopotamia, does not clearly disclose any signs of astral worship. But this study is still in its tentative stage. There is tree and animal worship, phallic worship. and the worship of the great Mother-goddess. Animal worship regards strength, courage, virility, or swiftness, as in the Pagan Arabian deities we have been considering. See Sir John Marshall, Mohenjo Daro and the Indus Civilization, 3 vols. London 1931.
Sir J. G. Frazer, in his Adonis, Attis, and Osiris (4th ed., London 1914, Vol. I, pp. 8-9) refers to Allatu or Eresh-Kigal as "the stern queen of the infernal regions" in Babylonian religion: she was the goddess of the nether regions, of darkness and desolation, as her counterpart Ishtar was the chief goddess of the upper regions, of reproduction and fertility, associated with the planet Venus.
{p. 1619}
INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY: SÛRA LXXI (Nûh).
This is another early Meccan Sûra, of which the date has no significance. The theme is that while Good must uphold the standard of Truth and Righteousness, a stage is reached when it must definitely part company with Evil, lest Evil should spread its corruption abroad. This theme is embodied in the prayer of Noah just before the Flood. The story of Noah's agony is almost a Parable for the holy Prophet's persecution in the Meccan period.
C. 251. (lxxi. 1-28.).--
The Prophet's Message, as was that of Noah,
Is a warning against sin, and the Good News of Mercy
Through the door of Repentance: for God is loving
And long-suffering, and His Signs are within us
And around us. But the sinners are obstinate:
They plot against Righteousness, and place their trust
In futile falsehoods. They will be swept away,
And the earth will be purged of Evil. Let us
Pray for Mercy and Grace for ourselves,
For those nearest and dearest to us,
And for all who turn in faith to God,
In all ages and all countries,
And amongst all Peoples.
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Sûra LXXI.
Nûh, or Noah.
In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
1. We sent Noah[5705]
To his People
(With the Command)
"Do thou warn thy People
Before there comes to them
A grievous Penalty."
2. He said: "O my People!
I am to you
A Warner, clear and open:[5706]
3. "That ye should worship
God, fear Him,
And obey me:"[5707]
4. "So He may forgive you
Your sins and give you
Respite for a stated Term:
For when the Term given
by God is accomplished,
It cannot be put forward
If ye only knew."
5. He said: "O my Lord!
I have called to my People
Night and day:
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6. "But my call only
Increases (their) flight
(From the Right).[5700]
7. "And every time I have
Called to them, that Thou
Mightest forgive them,
They have (only) thrust
Their fingers into their ears,
Covered themselves up with[5710]
Their garments, grown obstinate,
And given themselves up
To arrogance.
8. "So I have called to them
Aloud;
9. "Further I have spoken
To them in public[5711]
And secretly in private,
10. "Saying, 'Ask forgiveness
From your Lord;
For He is Oft-Forgiving;
11. "'He will send rain"[5712]
To you in abundance;
{p. 1615}
12 "'Give you increase
In wealth and sons;
And bestow on you
Gardens and bestow on you
Rivers (of flowing water).[5713]
13. "'What is the matter
With you, that ye
Place not your hope
For kindness and long-suffering
In God,--
14. Seeing that it is
He That has created you
In diverse stages?[5714]
15. "'See ye not
How God has created
The seven heavens
One above another,[5715]
16. "'And made the moon
A light in their midst,
And made the sun
As a (Glorious) Lamp?[5716]
17. "'And God has produced
You from the earth,
Growing (gradually),[5717]
{p. 1616}
18. "'And in the End
He will return you
Into the (earth),
And raise you forth
(Again at the Resurrection)?
19. "'And God has made
The earth for you
As a carpet (spread out),[5718]
20. "'That ye may go about
Therein, in spacious roads.'"[5719]
SECTION 2.
21. Noah said: "O my Lord!
They have disobeyed me,
But they follow (men) [5731-A]
Whose wealth and children
Give them no Increase
But only Loss.
22. "And they have devised
A tremendous Plot.[5720]
23. "And they have said
(To each other),
'Abandon not your gods:[5791]
Abandon neither Wadd
Nor Suwâ`, neither
Yagûth nor Ya`ûq,
Nor Nasr';--
{p. 1617}
24. "They have already
Misled many; and
Grant Thou no increase
To the wrong-doers but in
Straying (from their mark).[5722]
25. Because of their sins
They were drowned
(In the flood),[5723]
And were made to enter
The Fire (of Punishment):
And they found--
In lieu of God--
None to help them.
26. And Noah said:
"O my Lord! Leave not
Of the Unbelievers,
A single one on earth![5724]
27. "For, if Thou dost leave
(Any of) them, they will
But mislead Thy devotees,
And they will breed none
But wicked ungrateful ones.
28. "O my Lord!
Forgive me,
My parents, all who
Enter my house in
Faith, And (all) believing men
{p. 1618}
And believing women;[5725]
And to the wrong-doers
Grant Thou no increase
But in Perdition![5726]
{footnotes p. 1613}
[5705. Noah's mission is referred to in many places. See specially xl. 25-49 and notes. His contemporaries had completely abandoned the moral law. A purge had. to be made, and the great Flood made it. This gives a new starting point in history for Noah's People,--i.e. for the remnant saved in the Ark.
5706. His Warning was to be both clear (i.e. unambiguous) and open (i.e. publicly proclaimed). Both these meanings are implied in Mubîn. Cf. lxvii. 26. The meaning of the Warning was obviously that if they had repented, they would have obtained mercy.
5707. Three aspects of man's duty are emphasized: (1) true worship with heart and soul; (2) God-fearing recognition that all evil must lead to self-deterioration and judgment; (3) hence repentance and amendment of life. and obedience to good men's counsels.
5708. God gives respite freely; but it is for Him to give it. His command is definite and final; neither man nor any other authority can alter or in any way modify it. If we could only realise this to the full in our inmost soul, it would be best for us and lead to our happiness.]
{footnotes p. 1614}
[5709. When convincing arguments and warnings are placed before sinners, there are two kinds of reactions. Those who are wise receive admonition, repent, and bring forth fruits of repentance, i.e. amend their lives and turn to God. On the other hand, those who are callous to any advice take it up as a reproach, fly farther and farther from righteousness, and shut out more and more the channels through which God's heating Grace can reach them and work for them.
5710. The literal meaning would be that, just as they thrust their fingers into their ears to prevent the voice of the admonisher reaching them, so they covered their bodies with their garments that the light of truth should not penetrate to them. and that they should not even be seen by the Preacher. But there is a further symbolic meaning. "Their garments" are the adornments of vanities, their evil habits, customs, and traditions. and their ephemeral interests and standards. They drew them closer round them to prevent the higher Light reaching them. They grew obstinate and gave themselves up to the grossest form of selfish arrogance.
5711. Noah used all the resources of the earnest preacher: he dinned the Message of God into their ears; he spoke in public places; and he took individuals into his confidence, and appealed privately to them; but all in vain.
5712. They had perhaps been suffering from drought or famine. If they had taken the message in the right way, the rain would have been a blessing to them. They took it in the wrong way. and the rain was a curse to them, for it flooded the country and drowned the wicked generation. In the larger Plan, it was a blessing all the same; for it purged the world, and gave it a new start, morally and spiritually.]
{footnotes p. 1615}
[5713. Each of these blessings--rain and crops, wealth and man-power. flourishing gardens, and perennial streams--are indications of prosperity, and have not only a material but also a spiritual meaning. Note the last point, "rivers of flowing water". The perennial springs make the prosperity as it were permanent: they indicate a settled population, honest and contented, and enjoying their blessings here on earth as the foretaste of the eternal joys of heaven.
5714. Cf. xxii. 5, and notes 2773-2777; also xxiii. 12-17, and notes 2872-2875. The meaning here may be even wider. Man in his various states exhibits various wonderful qualities or capacities. mental and spiritual, that may be compared with the wonderful workings of nature on the earth and in the heavens. Will he not then be grateful for these Mercies and turn to God, Who created all these marvels?
5715. See n. 5559 to lxvii. 3.
5716. Cf. xxv. 61, where the sun is referred to as the glorious Lamp of the heavens: "Blessed is He Who made the Constellations in the skies, and placed therein a lamp, and a moon giving light."
5717. Cf. iii. 37, where the growth of the child Mary the Mother of Jesus is described by the same word nabât, ordinarily denoting the growth of plants and trees. The simile is that of a seed sown, that germinates, grows, and dies, and goes back to the earth. In man, there is the further process of the Resurrection. Cf. also xx. 55.]
{footnotes p. 1616}
[5718. Cf. xx. 53,
5719. Fijâj implies valley-roads or passes between mountains. Though there are mountain chains on the earth, God's artistry has provided even in such regions, valleys and channels by which men may go about. Mountain roads usually follow the valleys.
5719-A. Sinners always resent it as a reproach that righteous men should speak to them for their own good. They prefer smooth flatterers, and they worship power even though the depositaries of power are selfish men, who neither profit themselves nor profit others by the wealth and man-power that they collect round themselves. They forget that mere material things may be a delusion and a snare unless the moral and spiritual factor behind them sanctifies them.
5720. Having got material resources. the wicked devise plots to get rid of the righteous whose presence is a reproach to them, For a time their plots may seem tremendous and have the appearance of success, but they can never defeat God's Purpose.
5721. For an account of how these Pagan gods and superstitions connected with them originated, and how they became adopted into the Arabian Pagan Pantheon, see Appendix XIII at the end of this Sûra, pp. 1619.1623.]
{footnotes p. 1617}
[5722. Such Pagan superstitions and cults do not add to human knowledge or human well-being. They only increase error and wrong-doing. For example, how much lewdness resulted from the Greek and Roman Saturnalia! And how much lewdness results from ribald Holt songs! This is the natural result, and Noah in his bitterness of spirit prays that God's grace may be cut off from men who hug them to their hearts. They mislead others: let them miss their own mark! See also verse 28 below.
4 things the God of Israel Does Not know.
The characteristics of God YAHWEH of Israel:
1) God does not know a sin he does not hate.
2) He does not know a sinner he does not love.
3) He does not know another way to be saved.
4) God does not know a better time for you to be born again then today.
Neither is Allah a Hebrew or Greek word for God as found in the Bible. Allah is a purely Arabic term used in reference to an Arabian deity. In Arabia, the sun god was viewed as a female goddess and the moon as the male god.
God in Arabic is Elah. Allah means Curse in Hebrew.
As has been pointed out by many scholars such as Alfred Guilluame, the moon god was called by various names, one of which was Allah. The name Allah was used as the personal name of the moon god, in addition to other titles that could be given to him. Allah, the moon god, was married to the sun goddess. Together they produced three goddesses who were called “the daughters of Allah.” These three goddesses were called Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat.
The daughters of Allah, along with Allah and the sun goddess were viewed as “high” gods. That is, they were viewed as being at the top of the pantheon of Arabian deities.
“Along with Allah, however, they worshipped a host of lesser gods and “daughters of Al-lah”
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 Muslim’s claim that Allah is the God of the Bible and that Islam arose from the religion of the prophets and apostles is refuted by solid, overwhelming archeological evidence. Islam is nothing more than a revival of the ancient Moon-god cult. It has taken the symbols, the rites, the ceremonies, and even the name of its god from the ancient pagan religion of the Moon-god. As such, it is sheer idolatry and must be rejected by all those who follow the Torah and Gospel.
Allah is sin. Often depicted as a wise old man with a long beard, the moon god Sin was one of the most important Babylonian gods. His main temples were situated at Ur and Harran. The moon god “sin” was elevated to the top of the Babylonian pantheon by Nabu-na’id (Nabonidus) in an effort to make Babylonian religion more acceptable to subjects like the Arabians and Arameans. The Arabians esteemed the moon god, but had more difficulty identifying with Marduk, the supreme Babylonian deity associated primarily with the city of Babylon. The god Sin, “The Controller of the Night,” had the crescent moon as his emblem, and the lunar-based calendar, which became the primary religious symbols of Islam, was worshiped in Arabia as AI-Ilah. Mecca became the center of all pagan religions of Arabia before Mohammed. AI-Ilah, the Moon God, was the “Lord of the Ka’aba” (“cube”) which held the pagan black rock idol and was formerly the center of pagan worship, ruling over 360 idols. Lucrative trade routes resulted in meca.
Pagans who lived in Saudi Arabia before Muhammad was born worshiped toward Mecca because Mecca is where their idols were located. Because this pagan worship centered on Mecca was so widespread, a rapid acceptance of Muhammad’s new religion was possible. Thus, Islam is a previously heathen religion modified into a monotheistic form by discarding all the other pagan gods except for Al-Ilah. Al-Ilah simply became Al-lah over time.
Islam still worships a black stone idol as well as Al-Ilah the sin god. Al-Ilah was the pagan Lord of the Ka’aba when Muhammad made up Islam, he just dropped the “i” and name has been simplified to Allah. The Ka’aba black cube in Mecca houses the occult black rock of Allah. It is of course still the center of pagan Islamic worship today. The requirement for a Holy Pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca, in order to circle the Ka’aba. The site of the black stone idol is to be circled 7 times and kissed. Pilgrims then run to the Wadi Mina to throw stones at the “devil”. Islam incorporates beliefs in jinns which are demons genies, fairies. They believe in spells, magic stones, fetishes, and animistic beliefs (spirits living in inanimate objects). See: Suras 55; 72; 113, 114. These pagan rites are practiced in Islam today.
To all Muslims; You can be sincere in believing in Allah, but your sincerely mistaking.
[url][/url]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcaPvAwth_o
The outline below contains the very answers to the very questions Muhammad did not want his followers to know, namely that Islam is a sanitized version of ancient polytheistic moon worship which he invented to exercise military control.
1) Does the Qur'an define the word "Allah"? No.
2) Was the name "Allah" revealed for the first time in the Qur'an? No
3) Does the Qur'an assume that its readers have already heard of "Allah"? Yes
4) Should we look into pre-Islamic Arabian history to see who "Allah" was before Muhammad? Yes.
5) According to Muslim tradition, was Muhammad born into a Christian family and tribe? No
6) Was he born into a Jewish family or tribe? No
7) What religion was his family and tribe? Pagans
What was the name of his pagan father? Abdullah (Abd + Allah)
9) Did Muhammad participate in the pagan ceremonies of Mecca? Yes
10) Did the Arabs in pre-Islamic times worship 360 gods? Yes
11) Did the pagans Arabs worship the sun, moon and the stars? Yes
12) Did the Arabs built temples to the Moon-god? Yes
13) Did different Arab tribes give the Moon-god different names/titles? Yes
14) What were some of the names/titles? Sin, Hubul, Ilumquh, Al-ilah.
15) Was the title "al-ilah" (the god) used of the Moon-god? Yes
16) Was the word "Allah" derived from "al-ilah?" Yes
17) Was the pagan "Allah" a high god in a pantheon of deities? Yes.
18) Was he worshipped at the Kabah? Yes.
19) Was Allah only one of many Meccan gods? Yes
20) Did they place a statue of Hubul on top of the Kabah? Yes.
21) At that time was Hubul considered the Moon-god? Yes.
22) Was the Kabah thus the "house of the Moon-god"? Yes.
23) Did the name "Allah" eventually replace that of Hubul as the name of the Moon god? Yes.
24) Did they call the Kabah the "house of Allah"? Yes
25) Did the pagans develop religious rites in connection with the worship of their gods? Yes.
26) Did the pagans practice the Pilgrimage, the Fast of Ramadan, running around the Kabah seven times, kissing the black stone, shaving the head, animal sacrifices, running up and down two hills, throwing stones at the devil, snorting water in and out the nose, praying several times a day toward Mecca, giving alms, Friday prayers, etc.? Yes.
27) Did Muhammad command his followers to participate in these pagan ceremonies while the pagans were still in control of Mecca? Yes (Yusuf Ali, fn. 214, pg. 78).
28) Did Islam go on to adopt these pagan religious rites? Yes. (Yusuf Ali: fn. 223 pg. 80).
29) Were al-Lat, al-Uzza and Manat called "the daughters of Allah"? Yes.
30) Did the Qur'an at one point tell Muslims to worship al-Lat, al-Uzza and Manat? Yes. In Surah 53:19-20.
31) Have those verses been "abrogated" out of the present Qur'an? Yes.
32) What were they called? "The Satanic Verses." Yes.
33) Was the crescent moon an ancient pagan symbol of the Moon-god throughout the ancient world? Yes.
34) Was it the religious symbol of the Moon-god in Arabia? Yes
35) Were stars also used as pagan symbols of the daughers of Allah? Yes
36) Did the Jews or the Christians of Arabia use the crescent moon with several stars next to it as symbols of their faith? No
37) Did Islam adopt the pagan crescent moon and stars as it religious symbol? Yes.
38) As Islam developed over the centuries, did it adopt pagan names, pagan ceremonies, pagan temples and pagan symbols? Yes
39) Is it possible that most Muslims do not know the pagan sources of the symbols and rites of their own religion? Yes.
40) Are they shocked to find out the true sources of their ceremonies and stories? Yes
41) Can Islam be the religion of Abraham if it is derived from paganism? No
42) What then is Islam? A modern version of one of the ancient fertility cults.
43) Is the "Allah" of the Qur'an, the Christian God of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? No
44) Do the Jews say that the Muslim "Allah" is their God too? No
45) Then whose god is Allah? Paganism
According to the Quran, Muhammad was uncertain whether Allah would save him:
Or do they say, 'He has forged it'? Say: 'If I have forged it, you have no power to help me against Allah. He knows very well what you are pressing upon; He suffices as a witness between me and you; He is the All-forgiving, the All-compassionate.' Say: 'I am not an innovation among the Messengers, and I know not what shall be done with me or with you. I only follow what is revealed to me; I am only a clear warner.' S. 46:8-9 Meccan
The so-called authentic narrations make it clear that Muhammad was speaking in respect to his eternal fate:
Narrated 'Um al-'Ala:
An Ansari woman who gave the pledge of allegiance to the Prophet that the Ansar drew lots concerning the dwelling of the Emigrants. 'Uthman bin Maz'un was decided to dwell with them (i.e. Um al-'Ala's family), 'Uthman fell ill and I nursed him till he died, and we covered him with his clothes. Then the Prophet came to us and I (addressing the dead body) said, "O Abu As-Sa'ib, may Allah's Mercy be on you! I bear witness that Allah has honored you." On that the Prophet said, "How do you know that Allah has honored him?" I replied, "I do not know. May my father and my mother be sacrificed for you, O Allah's Apostle! But who else is worthy of it (if not 'Uthman)?" He said, "As to him, by Allah, death has overtaken him, and I hope the best for him. By Allah, though I am the Apostle of Allah, yet I do not know what Allah will do to me," By Allah, I will never assert the piety of anyone after him. That made me sad, and when I slept I saw in a dream a flowing stream for 'Uthman bin Maz'un. I went to Allah's Apostle and told him of it. He remarked, "That symbolizes his (good) deeds." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 5, Book 58, Number 266)
And:
Narrated Abu Huraira:
When Allah revealed the Verse: "Warn your nearest kinsmen," Allah's Apostle got up and said, "O people of Quraish (or said similar words)! Buy (i.e. save) yourselves (from the Hellfire) as I cannot save you from Allah's Punishment; O Bani Abd Manaf! I cannot save you from Allah's Punishment, O Safiya, the Aunt of Allah's Apostle! I cannot save you from Allah's Punishment; O Fatima bint Muhammad! Ask me anything from my wealth, but I cannot save you from Allah's Punishment." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 51, Number 16)
These references should trouble any Muslim. If Muhammad himself, the very founder and prophet of the religion of Islam, was uncertain where he would spend eternity then how can any Muslim know where they will go after they die?
There is One, however, who can be completely trusted to do as he says and who assures those who love him that they shall experience true forgiveness and peace. Instead of the fear and insecurity instilled by Islam, subjecting Muslims to a spirit of terror and despair, the true God revealed in the Holy Bible offers hope of life and freedom from the fear of death and judgment. God did this by sending forth his eternal Son to save rebel sinners from God’s holy and just wrath by dying as a sacrifice for their sins:
"But we see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for every one… Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage. For surely it is not with angels that he is concerned but with the descendants of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brethren in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make expiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered and been tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted." Hebrews 2:9, 14-17
God promises that all who put their complete trust and faith in his beloved Son, the Lord Jesus, will become his spiritual children and will have all their sins completely forgiven:
"He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." John 1:10-13
"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. … For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ It is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him." Romans 8:1-2, 14-17.......
The Arabs, before the time of Mohammed, accepted and worshipped, after a fashion, a supreme god called Allah” – (Encyclopedia off Islam, I:302, Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1913, Houtsma)
“The name Allah, as the Quran itself is witness, was well known in pre-Islamic Arabia. Indeed, both it and its feminine form, Allat, are found not infrequently among the theophorous names in inscriptions from North Africa” – (Islam: Muhammad, and His Religion, New York: The Liberal Arts Press, 1958, p. 85)
The word “Allah” comes from the compound Arabic word, al-ilah. Al is the definite article “the” and ilah is an Arabic word for “god.” It is not a foreign word. It is not even the Syriac word for God. It is pure Arabic. – (There is an interesting discussion of the origins of Allah, in “Arabic Lexicographical Miscellanies” by J. Blau in the Journal of Semitic Studies, Vol. XVII, #2, 1972, pp. 173-190)
Neither is Allah a Hebrew or Greek word for God as found in the Bible. Allah is a purely Arabic term used in reference to an Arabian deity. Hastings’ Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics I:326, T & T Clark, states:
‘”Allah” is a proper name, applicable only to their [Arabs’] peculiar God.’
According to the Encyclopedia of Religion:
‘”Allah” is a pre-Islamic name . . . corresponding to the Babylonian Bel’ – (Encyclopedia of Religion, I:117 Washington DC, Corpus Pub., 1979)
For those who find it hard to believe that Allah was a pagan name for a peculiar pagan Arabian deity in pre-Islamic times, the following quotations may be helpful:
“Allah is found . . . in Arabic inscriptions prior to Islam” – (Encyclopedia Britannica, I:643)
“The Arabs, before the time of Mohammed, accepted and worshipped, after a fashion, a supreme god called Allah” – (Encyclopedia off Islam, I:302, Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1913, Houtsma)
“Allah was known to the pre-Islamic . . . Arabs; he was one of the Meccan deities” – (Encyclopedia off Islam, I:406, ed. Gibb)
“Ilah . . . appears in pre-Islamic poetry . . . By frequency of usage, al-ilah was contracted to Allah, frequently attested to in pre-Islamic poetry” – (Encyclopedia off Islam, III:1093, 1971)
“The name Allah goes back before Muhammad” – (Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, I:41, Anthony Mercatante, New York, The Facts on File, 1983)
“The origin of this (Allah) goes back to pre-Muslim times. Allah is not a common name meaning “God” (or a “god”), and the Muslim must use another word or form if he wishes to indicate any other than his own peculiar deity” – (Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, I:326, Hastings)
To the testimony of the above standard reference works, we add those of such scholars as Henry Preserved Smith of Harvard University who has stated:
“Allah was already known by name to the Arabs” – (The Bible and Islam: or, The Influence of the Old and New Testament on the Religion of Mohammed, New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1897, p. 102)
Dr. Kenneth Cragg, former editor of the prestigious scholarly journal Muslim World and an outstanding modern Western Islamic scholar, whose works are generally published by Oxford University, comments:
“The name Allah is also evident in archeological and literary remains of pre-Islamic Arabia” – (The Call of the Minaret, New York: Oxford University Press, 1956, p. 31)
“In recent years I have become increasingly convinced that for an adequate understanding of the career of Muhammad and the origins of Islam great importance must be attached to the existence in Mecca of belief in Allah as a “high god.” In a sense this is a form of paganism, but it is so different from paganism as commonly understood that it deserves separate treatment” – (William Montgomery Watt, Muhammad’s Mecca, p. vii. Also see his article, “Belief in a High God in Pre-Islamic Mecca”, Journal of Semitic Studies, Vol. 16, 1971, pp. 35-40)
Caesar Farah in his book on Islam concludes his discussion of the pre-Islamic meaning of Allah by saying:
“There is no reason, therefore, to accept the idea that Allah passed to the Muslims from the Christians and Jews”– (Islam: Beliefs and Observations, New York, Barrons, 1987, p. 28)
According to Middle East scholar E.M. Wherry, whose translation of the Quran is still used today, in pre-Islamic times Allah-worship, as well as the worship of Ba-al, were both astral religions in that they involved the worship of the sun, the moon, and the stars – (A Comprehensive Commentary on the Quran, Osnabruck: Otto Zeller Verlag, 1973, p. 36)
Astral Religions
In Arabia, the sun god was viewed as a female goddess and the moon as the male god. As has been pointed out by many scholars such as Alfred Guilluame, the moon god was called by various names, one of which was Allah!– (Islam, p. 7)
The name Allah was used as the personal name of the moon god, in addition to other titles that could be given to him.
Allah, the moon god, was married to the sun goddess. Together they produced three goddesses who were called “the daughters of Allah.” These three goddesses were called Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat.
The daughters of Allah, along with Allah and the sun goddess were viewed as “high” gods. That is, they were viewed as being at the top of the pantheon of Arabian deities.
“Along with Allah, however, they worshipped a host of lesser gods and “daughters of Al-lah” – (Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, I:61)”
——————————————————————————————————————————-
Allah – the Moon God
http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/moongod.htm
The Archeology of The Middle East
The religion of Islam has as its focus of worship a deity by the name of “Allah.” The Muslims claim that Allah in pre-Islamic times was the biblical God of the Patriarchs, prophets, and apostles. The issue is thus one of continuity. Was “Allah” the biblical God or a pagan god in Arabia during pre- Islamic times? The Muslim’s claim of continuity is essential to their attempt to convert Jews and Christians for if “Allah” is part of the flow of divine revelation in Scripture, then it is the next step in biblical religion. Thus we should all become Muslims. But, on the other hand, if Allah was a pre- Islamic pagan deity, then its core claim is refuted. Religious claims often fall before the results of hard sciences such as archeology. We can endlessly speculate about the past or go and dig it up and see what the evidence reveals. This is the only way to find out the truth concerning the origins of Allah. As we shall see, the hard evidence demonstrates that the god Allah was a pagan deity. In fact, he was the Moon-god who was married to the sun goddess and the stars were his daughters.
The reader must know that Ismael was a Hebrew.
Archaeologists have uncovered temples to the Moon-god throughout the Middle East. From the mountains of Turkey to the banks of the Nile, the most wide-spread religion of the ancient world was the worship of the Moon-god. In the first literate civilization, the Sumerians have left us thousands of clay tablets in which they described their religious beliefs. As demonstrated by Sjoberg and Hall, the ancient Sumerians worshipped a Moon-god who was called many different names. The most popular names were Nanna, Suen and Asimbabbar. His symbol was the crescent moon. Given the amount of artifacts concerning the worship of this Moon-god, it is clear that this was the dominant religion in Sumeria. The cult of the Moon-god was the most popular religion throughout ancient Mesopotamia. The Assyrians, Babylonians, and the Akkadians took the word Suen and transformed it into the word Sin as their favorite name for the Moon-god. As Prof. Potts pointed out, “Sin is a name essentially Sumerian in origin which had been borrowed by the Semites. ”
In ancient Syria and Canna, the Moon-god Sin was usually represented by the moon in its crescent phase. At times the full moon was placed inside the crescent moon to emphasize all the phases of the moon. The sun-goddess was the wife of Sin and the stars were their daughters. For example, Istar was a daughter of Sin. Sacrifices to the Moon-god are described in the Pas Shamra texts. In the Ugaritic texts, the Moon-god was sometimes called Kusuh. In Persia, as well as in Egypt, the Moon- god is depicted on wall murals and on the heads of statues. He was the Judge of men and gods. The Old Testament constantly rebuked the worship of the Moon-god (see: Deut. 4:19;17:3; II Kngs. 21:3,5; 23:5; Jer. 8:2; 19:13; Zeph. 1:5, etc.) When Israel fell into idolatry, it was usually the cult of the Moon-god. As a matter of fact, everywhere in the ancient world, the symbol of the crescent moon can be found on seal impressions, steles, pottery, amulets, clay tablets, cylinders, weights, earrings, necklaces, wall murals, etc. In Tell-el-Obeid, a copper calf was found with a crescent moon on its forehead. An idol with the body of a bull and the head of man has a crescent moon inlaid on its forehead with shells. In Ur, the Stela of Ur-Nammu has the crescent symbol placed at the top of the register of gods because the Moon-god was the head of the gods. Even bread was baked in the form of a crescent as an act of devotion to the Moon-god. The Ur of the Chaldees was so devoted to the Moon-god that it was sometimes called Nannar in tablets from that time period.
A temple of the Moon-god has been excavated in Ur by Sir Leonard Woolley. He dug up many examples of moon worship in Ur and these are displayed in the British Museum to this day. Harran was likewise noted for its devotion to the Moon-god. In the 1950’s a major temple to the Moon-god was excavated at Hazer in Palestine. Two idols of the moon god were found. Each was a stature of a man sitting upon a throne with a crescent moon carved on his chest . The accompanying inscriptions make it clear that these were idols of the Moon-god. Several smaller statues were also found which were identified by their inscriptions as the “daughters” of the Moon-god. What about Arabia? As pointed out by Prof. Coon, “Muslims are notoriously loath to preserve traditions of earlier paganism and like to garble what pre-Islamic history they permit to survive in anachronistic terms.”
During the nineteenth century, Amaud, Halevy and Glaser went to Southern Arabia and dug up thousands of Sabean, Minaean, and Qatabanian inscriptions which were subsequently translated. In the 1940’s, the archeologists G. Caton Thompson and Carleton S. Coon made some amazing discoveries in Arabia. During the 1950’s, Wendell Phillips, W.F. Albright, Richard Bower and others excavated sites at Qataban, Timna, and Marib (the ancient capital of Sheba). 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. The archeological evidence demonstrates that the dominant religion of Arabia was the cult of the Moon-god.
In Old Testament times, Nabonidus (555-539 BC), the last king of Babylon, built Tayma, Arabia as a center of Moon-god worship. Segall stated, “South Arabia’s stellar religion has always been dominated by the Moon-god in various variations.” Many scholars have also noticed that the Moon-god’s name “Sin” is a part of such Arabic words as “Sinai,” the “wilderness of Sin,” etc. When the popularity of the Moon-god waned elsewhere, the Arabs remained true to their conviction that the Moon-god was the greatest of all gods. While they worshipped 360 gods at the Kabah in Mecca, the Moon-god was the chief deity. Mecca was in fact built as a shrine for the Moon-god.
This is what made it the most sacred site of Arabian paganism. In 1944, G. Caton Thompson revealed in her book, The Tombs and Moon Temple of Hureidha, that she had uncovered a temple of the Moon-god in southern Arabia. The symbols of the crescent moon and no less than twenty-one inscriptions with the name Sin were found in this temple. An idol which may be the Moon-god himself was also discovered. This was later confirmed by other well-known archeologists.
The evidence reveals that 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. Prof. Coon goes on to say, “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. Dr. Newman concludes his study of the early Christian-Muslim debates by stating, “Islam proved itself to be…a separate and antagonistic religion which had sprung up from idolatry.” Islamic scholar Caesar Farah concluded “There is no reason, therefore, to accept the idea that Allah passed to the Muslims from the Christians and Jews.” The Arabs worshipped the Moon-god as a supreme deity. But this was not biblical monotheism. While the Moon-god was greater than all other gods and goddesses, this was still a polytheistic pantheon of deities. Now that we have the actual idols of the Moon-god, it is no longer possible to avoid the fact that Allah was a pagan god in pre-Islamic times. Is it any wonder then that the symbol of Islam is the crescent moon? That a crescent moon sits on top of their mosques and minarets? That a crescent moon is found on the flags of Islamic nations? That the Muslims fast during the month which begins and ends with the appearance of the crescent moon in the sky?
CONCLUSION
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 Muslim’s claim that Allah is the God of the Bible and that Islam arose from the religion of the prophets and apostles is refuted by solid, overwhelming archeological evidence. Islam is nothing more than a revival of the ancient Moon-god cult. It has taken the symbols, the rites, the ceremonies, and even the name of its god from the ancient pagan religion of the Moon-god. As such, it is sheer idolatry and must be rejected by all those who follow the Torah and Gospel. moongod.htm
Now we are also told in the Bible that Nimrod built two cities. One was Assyria and the other was Babylon. These were the empires he created and ruled over. Both of these cities were built in a desert in the plain of Shinar located in the same region as the modern location of Iraq today. The mystery of Babylon the Great had commenced with Nimrod. Of course the Garden of Eden had been situated in the same geographical region where Satan had first enslaved Adam and Eve the father and mother of the human race. The history of the human race began in the Middle-east and the culmination of this present age will also be centred in the Middle-east. Satan had his first defeat in Jerusalem and will have his last defeat there as well. In the Bible the King of Assyria and the King of Babylon are both used as metaphors for the Antichrist himself.
The Crescent Moon and the Star
Now the Babylonian mystery religions revolved around the worship of the heavens. They worshipped the sun, the moon and the stars. The crescent moon and star were very ancient symbols actually seen in images of the gods carved in rock by the ancient people predating Islam by hundreds of years. In these engravings the god and goddess were worshipped together. In fact the crescent moon and star is the key to understanding the mystery that is Babylon the Great. The star and moon were symbols of the god Baal and Ashtoreth in the Bible. They were worshipped together. The symbols go all the way back to Nimrod and his wife Semiramis. She was also his mother. In almost every religion there is a mother and child representing the god child in the lap of its mother. It all leads back to the mother goddess of Babylon. After the death of Nimrod, his adulterous wife gave birth to a child who she claims was supernaturally conceived. She taught that Tammuz-the son was a God child; that he was Nimrod, reborn and that her and her child were divine. Thus establishing mother and child worship. Numerous monuments of Babylon show the Goddess mother Semiramis with her child Tammuz in her arms. This is seen in Roman Catholicism to this day with statues of the Madonna and Child, namely a statue of the Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus in her arms. This concept comes from the time of Nimrod. It is of pagan origin. Actually after the Tower of babel when the people were scattered to the four corners of the earth they took with them the worship of the divine mother and god-child. This explains why all nations, in one way or another worshipped a divine mother and god child. There is much archaeological evidence for this in almost every civilization. We see then that the Roman Catholic Church has the image of the Madonna and Child directly taken from Babylon making the Roman Catholicism a part of the mystery that is Babylon the Great but not the whole of it.
The gods of Babylon have a names change
Now the cult of Nimrod and Semiramis perpetuated as a male and female god was adopted by all of the ancient empires. In Egypt they became Osiris and Isis. In Assyria they became Assur and Ishtar. In Babylon they became Bel and Belit. In Persia they became Mithra and Anahita. In Greece they became Helios and Artemis and in Rome they became Appollo and Diana. Throughout the Bible they are mainly called Baal and Ashtoreth (the Queen of Heaven) in the book of Acts 7:43 they are called Moloch and Rephan. Today we have the crescent moon and star of Islam. These symbols directly connect Islam with the cult of Nimrod and Semiramis. Indeed the mystery of Babylon the Great is really no longer a mystery.
The ‘Mystery’ of Babylon the Great
Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world today. Many times it has been a violent religion in which one has one of two choices: either convert or die. The religion of Islam has as its focus of worship a deity by the name of “Allah.” Allah was a pagan moon-god in Arabia during pre-Islamic times. Moon worship has been practiced in Arabia and the Middle East since about 2000 BC. The crescent moon is the most common symbol of this pagan moon worship. The moon-god was also referred to as “al-ilah”. Originally this was not a proper name of a single specific god, but a generic name meaning “the god”. Each local Arab tribe would refer to their own local tribal pagan god as “al-ilah”. “Al-ilah” was later shortened to Allah before Mohammed began promoting his new religion in 610 AD. Mohammed retained almost all the pagan rituals of the Arabs at the temple, Ka’ba, and redefined them in monotheistic terms. Today Islam is a false monotheistic religion with its roots in polytheistic paganism.
Constellation worship forbidden
The Old Testament regularly forbade the worship of the moon-god and other false gods. When the children of Israel came out of Egyptian bondage they were warned, “a man or a woman who have been wicked in the sight of the Lord your God, in transgressing His covenant, who have gone and served other gods and worshipped them, either the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven…then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has committed that wicked thing and shall stone to death that man or woman with stones.” (Deuteronomy 17:3-5) When Israel fell into idolatry, many times it involved moon-god worship. There are remnants of pagan moon-god worship in the Koran where there are examples of Muslims swearing by the moon. For example; “Nay; I swear by the moon, And the night when it departs, And the daybreak when it shines;” (Koran 74:32-34).
The Arabian moon-god
The pagan Arab nations worshipped 360 gods, one for each day of the year. The moon-god was a male god and the sun-god was a female goddess. The moon-god was called by various names, one of which was Allah. Many Arabs believed that the moon-god was the greatest of all gods. In worshipping their moon-god, Allah, they prayed toward Mecca several times a day, made pilgrimages to Mecca, ran around the temple of the moon-god called the Ka’ba, kissed the Black Stone, killed animal sacrifices for their moon-god, and fasted for the month which begins and ends with the crescent moon, etc., just as the Muslims do today. They believed Allah, the moon-god, was married to the sun goddess. Together they produced three goddesses who were called “the daughters of Allah.” Allah’s three daughters, Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat, were viewed as intercessors between the people and Allah and were also worshipped at the Ka’ba in Mecca. The daughters of Allah, along with Allah’s wife the sun goddess, and Allah were viewed as “high” gods.
What about Mohammed?
Mohammed was raised to worship the moon-god, Allah. The Quraish tribe into which Mohammad was born was particularly devoted to Allah. The literal Arabic name of Mohammed’s father was Abd-Allah and his uncle’s name was Obied-Allah. These names show the devotion that Mohammed’s family had in the worship of their moon-god, Allah. When Mohammed proclaimed his new doctrine: “There is no God but Allah”, he was not trying to introduce a new god, for his pagan countrymen already knew and acknowledged this pagan deity along with their other 359 gods. The crescent moon was an ancient pagan symbol used throughout the Middle East to represent Allah and adopting this symbol helped Muslims to convert people throughout the Middle East to Islam.
He was born in Mecca
Mohammed was born in Mecca in 570 AD. In 610 AD he declared himself a prophet. At a temple called “Ka’ba” in Mecca 360 idols along with a Black Stone was worshipped. Prior to Islam the people prayed each day facing Mecca since that was the place where their idol Allah was located. Each Arab tribe used “Allah” as a generic term to refer to its own particular high god. When Mohammed began propagating his new religion he was run out of Mecca in 622 AD. He then went to Medina where he successfully began his new religion, Islam, and even became the ruler of that city. In Mecca Arabs worshipped a moon-god called Hubal at their temple called Ka’ba. Hubal, being their highest ranking god, was also known by other names such as Allah. When Mohammed came along, he dropped all references to the name “Hubal” but retained the generic “al-ilah”, which had been modified to Allah.
What did Mohammed do at Mecca?
In 630 AD Mohammed again entered Mecca and captured it. He declared Allah to be the supreme god and was the one true god that all men should worship. Mohammed claimed to have had his “vision” and “revelation” from the angel Gabriel. Mohammed destroyed all the 359 idols at Mecca except the Black Stone, which they believed came from the moon. Muslims continue to worship and kiss it today. Mohammed declared that Allah alone should be worshipped. He forbade the worship of the daughters of Allah. Mohammed retained many of the pagan rituals of the Arabs at the temple, Ka’ba, and redefined them in monotheistic terms. To this day, a crescent moon can be found at the front of every mosque, acknowledging that Allah was and is still their moon-god.
The Monotheism of the moon-god
Mohammed went one step further than his fellow pagan Arabs. While they believed that Allah, their moon-god, was the greatest of all gods and the supreme deity, Mohammed decided that Allah was not only the greatest god but the only god. The worship of the moon-god, Allah, helped Islam to be successful in propagating their religion among the Arab nations. Allah was neither an unknown nor an unimportant god to the Quraish when Mohammed began preaching his doctrine at Medina and Mecca. The fact that Islam was conceived in idolatry is shown by the many rituals performed today in the name of Allah which were connected with their pagan worship that existed before Islam. The crescent moon, as the symbol for Islam, originated when Allah was worshipped as the moon-god in Mecca. The crescent moon symbol is placed on the flags of Islamic nations and on the top of mosques and minarets and displayed on hats, flags, rugs, amulets and even jewellery. This explains why the crescent moon is the symbol of Islam today. Some flags of Muslim countries have the full moon placed inside the crescent moon to emphasize all the phases of the moon. Other flags have one or more stars or the sun placed in the crescent of the moon.
Is Allah the name for the God of the Bible?
Many people have been falsely taught that Allah is simply another name for the God of the Bible. This is not true. Allah is not the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and certainly not the God of the Bible. Muslims will try to tell you that Muslims, Christians and Jews worship the same God to try and give Islam some credibility. Satan has used this lie to lead people away from the one true God so they will be eternally lost in Hell. Actually this lie is believed not only by Muslims but also by many non-Muslims. History reveals that Islam is nothing more than a reformed revival of the ancient idolatrous moon-god paganism. Most Muslims have been kept in the dark concerning the history of their religion. The average Muslim does not know he is worshipping a moon-god or why the crescent moon sits on top of his mosque.
Is Islam a Peaceful Religion?
Islam has been called the religion of the sword (not peace)and another symbol of this is the crossed swords. Allah was also known as the Mesopotamian moon-god of war hence you have the Jihad where Islam is propagated by the sword. Indeed the martyrs in the book of Revelation were beheaded for their loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ. Today in virtually every Muslim country in the Middle-east Christians are beheaded in the name of Allah and Mohammed. It’s happening in Syria, Iraq, Iran, Ethiopia, Sudan, Northern Nigeria, and Somalia and in Saudi Arabia as well. Islam’s real agenda is clearly seen in the global movement for the proclamation of Islam called the Muslim Brotherhood.
The global perspective
The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928, by Hassan al-Banna, a teacher and imam, the goal of the Muslim Brotherhood is global Islamic domination and the establishment of Islamic sharia law. Their creed states; “Allah is our objective, the prophet is our leader, the Koran is our law, Jihad is our way, dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.” Very few people have ever heard of the Muslim Brotherhood and yet it is considered to be the most influential Islamic movement in the United States and the world. Experts say that every prominent Islamic organization in the U.S. is controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood and some have even called it an “insurgency.” With affiliates and branches in more than 100 countries worldwide, it has inspired radical Islamic movements around the world. Furthermore, President Obama when in office rolled out the red carpet at the Whitehouse for their leaders and even had some of their members on his staff with access to highly classified information.
Forget Europe and Rome!
As we bring this second study to a close we need to stop looking at Europe and Rome and look towards the Middle-east. The first Babylon was a physical city built in a desert. The last Babylon the Bible tells us is a city built in a desert. The only city that fits this scenario today is the city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. It is a city built in a desert, surrounded by the sea and seven literal mountains and an international trader with the nations of the world through its imports and especially through its oil exports. Those who trade with Mecca do so via the sea. Its origins go far back beyond the time of Mohammed. lndeed; “a Mystery, Babylon the Great” is starting to be revealed to the faithful Church. A city that the prophets and John tell us will fall. A city that will be burned with fire by the beast kingdom she rides! Indeed it will be said; “Fallen, Fallen is Babylon the Great!” Indeed it is a city whose destruction will be heard at the Red Sea. (Jeremiah 49:21)
Come out of her My people!
And so the apostle John writes; “After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illumined with his glory. And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality. I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Pay her back even as she has paid, and give back to her double according to her deeds; in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her. To the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give her torment and mourning; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as a queen and I am not a widow, and will never see mourning.’ For this reason in one day her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for the Lord God who judges her is strong.” (Revelation 18:1-8)
The above title became a source of controversy when I used it for a talk given at a recent prophecy conference. What I found curious about the commotion was that it came from Catholics (and some evangelicals) who had yet to hear my presentation. Furthermore, the title reflects the hope and prayers of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. Rome has been tilling this “common ground” with Islam for decades, as evidenced by the 1994 Vatican publication, Recognize the Spiritual Bonds Which Unite Us: 16 Years of Christian-Muslim Dialogue. Why, therefore, would anyone be upset by my simply repeating what the Roman Catholic Church very much desires?
Actually, the real controversy stems from confusion created by the Church of Rome herself. In her zeal to be the spiritual voice of the world’s religions, she talks out of both sides of her ecumenical mouth. Regarding her relationship to Islam, not only has she made to those of the Muslim faith some theological overtures which contradict Christian orthodoxy, but even worse, there are ties between the two religions which go a lot deeper than most people realize. Let’s first consider some commonalities between the two faiths.
Starting with the number of adherents, Catholicism and Islam each exceed one billion, nearly all of whom enter their respective faiths as infants. More than 16 million babies are baptized into the Roman Catholic Church each year. It’s a family thing. My sisters and I were baptized as Catholics because our parents were Catholics, and they and their siblings were baptized into the Church because their parents were Catholics. That’s the primary way the faith is propagated.
Practically speaking, although baptism is not part of Islam, all children born into a Muslim family are Muslims. Their official “confirmation” follows as soon as they are able to confess the shahada (“There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger”). This baby-oriented process for increasing their ranks has been a motivating factor in the Vatican/Saudi-sponsored lobby against UN endeavors to introduce contraception and other methods of population control, especially in third-world countries.
Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world today; Catholicism is the largest religious body among those professing to be Christian. If the number of followers was a good measure for selecting a religion, then Islam and Catholicism would definitely be the way to go. However, the Bible has no such yardstick. Rather, Jesus said, “[W]ide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat. Because strait is the gate and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Mt 7:13,14).
Most people are aware of the veneration and even worship of Mary found among Roman Catholics, but not many know that much the same deference exists among Muslims. A chapter in the Qur’an is named after Mary (“Surah Maryam”). From the outskirts of Cairo to Bombay to Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina, hundreds of thousands of the Islamic faith have congregated wherever processions carry her statues and where her apparitions are said to have appeared. She is esteemed above the most revered women of the Muslim faith, including Muhammad’s two favorite wives, Khadija and Aisha, and his daughter Fatima. The hadith teaches that Muhammad selected Mary as his first wife upon entrance into Paradise (for more about Mary and Islam see “Mary Who?” in TBC Oct ’00). One of the most popular Catholic apparitions of Mary is referred to as Our Lady of Fatima.
Catholic and Islamic prayers have many similarities. For the Muslim, praying to Allah five times a day is altogether an act of obedience, and the prayers are always repetitive. As one former Muslim puts it, “It’s hardly intimate communication with Allah;…it’s done more to escape the punishment due to those who neglect prayer.” Most prayers prayed by Catholics are also rote and repetitive, saying the rosary being the best example. Repeating 16 “Our Father’s” and 153 “Hail Mary’s” is far from personal communication. Furthermore, when a Catholic goes to confession the priest assigns rosaries as severe punishment, or penance, for one’s sins.
Prayer beads were a part of Islamic devotion to Allah long before an apparition of the Blessed Lady taught St. Dominic to pray the rosary beads in the thirteenth century. Prayer beads, by the way, are a stock item in ancient and modern paganism. On an ironic note, Catholic Church historians credit the prayers of members of the Confraternity of the Rosary for a major naval victory over the Turks, which “saved Europe from the Mohammedan peril.”
Catholics and Muslims regard pilgrimages as a means of obtaining favor from God. The hadj, one of the five pillars of Islam, is a required (one-time) journey to Mecca. For Catholics, pilgrimages historically have been acts of religious purification, often induced by the promise of indulgences. Multi-millions of Catholics travel yearly to hundreds of shrines (nearly all dedicated to Mary) located throughout the world. The Crusades were indulgence-stimulated attempts to regain Jerusalem from the infidel Muslims in order to re-establish Catholic pilgrimages. Incidentally, the Church of Rome offered the crusaders full pardon from purgatory should they die trying to liberate the Holy Land. Similarly, Islam offers rewards in and assurance of Paradise to those who die in religious battles (jihad), including suicide bombings.
Roman Catholicism recognizes Allah as the God of the Bible. In 1985, Pope John Paul II declared to an enraptured audience of thousands of Muslim youths, “Christians and Muslims, we have many things in common as believers and as human beings….We believe in the same God, the one and only God, the living God….”
But how is that possible?
Historically, Allah was a pagan idol, supreme among many idols worshiped by Muhammad’s Quraish tribe long before he was born. Will Durant in his classic, The Story of Civilization, writes,
Within the Ka’aba, in pre-Moslem days, were several idols representing gods. One was called Allah; three others were Allah’s daughters, al-Uzza, al-Lat, and al-Manat. We may judge the antiquity of this Arab pantheon from the mention of Al-il-Lat (Al-Lat) by Herodotus [fifth century B.C. Greek historian] as a major Arabian deity. The Quraish paved the way for monotheism by worshiping Allah as chief god….
Archaeological evidence uncovered in Arabia is overwhelming in demonstrating that the dominant pre-Islamic religion was the worship of the moon god, Allah. Muhammad simply eliminated the other 300-some deities, including Allah’s daughters, making Allah supreme while retaining many of the pagan rituals and symbols associated with him. For example, the crescent moon was the symbol of the moon god from the time of the Sumerians and the Babylonians through the time of Christ and right up until Muhammad’s arrival. It’s hardly a coincidence that Ramadan, the Muslim time of fasting, begins and ends at the time of the crescent moon. Nearly all of the moon god rituals and other idolatrous practices, including kissing the Black Stone, praying toward Mecca, running around the temple and between the two hills of Safa and Marwa, were pre-Islamic rituals.
Catholicism’s zeal to relate to Islam makes one wonder how honest it is about its own perspective on God, based on the “Sacred Scripture.” God is referred to as Yahweh or Jehovah about 9,000 times in the Bible. Never is He thus referred to in the Qur’an. He reveals himself in the Scriptures as “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob/Israel.” He is the Father of the Jews, “the God of Israel.” In the Qur’an, Allah never refers to himself that way. God calls the Jews His “chosen people.” He gave them the land of Israel as a heritage “forever”: “And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children for ever” (Ezk 37:25). God’s covenant is with Isaac (Gn 17: 19-21), while Muslims believe Allah’s covenant is with Ishmael.
Allah has a completely different attitude toward the Jews than does the God of the Bible. Allah commands his followers to “Take not the Jews…for friends” (Sura 5:51). While the Jews are referred to in the Qur’an as “the people of the book” (i.e., the Bible), if they refuse to convert to Islam they must pay a tribute tax to their overlords and become subservient to them: “Fight against such of those who have been given the Scripture as believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, and forbid not that which Allah hath forbidden by his messenger, and follow not the religion of truth, until they pay the tribute readily, being brought low” (Sura 9:29). According to the hadith, which most Muslims regard to be nearly as authoritative as the Qur’an, Muhammad is quoted as saying, “The last hour will not come before the Muslims fight the Jews, and the Muslims kill them.” Again, the hadith says that, related to the Day of Judgment, Muslims will fight and kill Jews, who will hide behind trees that say, “Oh Muslim, Oh servant of Allah, here is a Jew hiding behind me. Come here and kill him.” Catholicism has its own grievous and well-documented history of slaughtering the Jews.
Further comparisons between Jehovah and Allah demonstrate clearly that they cannot be one and the same. Jehovah has a Son: “And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world” (1 Jn 4:14 [1]). Allah has no son: “And say: Praise be to Allah, Who hath not taken unto Himself a son, and Who hath no partner in the Sovereignty…” (Sura 17:111); “Allah hath not chosen any son, nor is there any God along with him” (Sura 23:91). Whereas God the Father declared from heaven concerning Jesus, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mt 3:17), Allah of the Qur’an condemns such a belief: “…the Christians say: Messiah is the son of Allah. That is a saying from their mouths. They imitate the saying of the disbelievers of old. Allah’s Curse be on them, how they are deluded away from the truth!” (Sura 9:30 – The Holy Qur’an www.orst. edu/groups/msa/index. phpl).
While there are both clear and critical differences between the biblical God and Allah, nevertheless, the Roman Catholic Church accepts them as one and the same God. The following quote is from Vatican II:
The Church has also a high regard for the Muslims. They worship God, who is one, living and subsistent, merciful and almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has also spoken to men. They strive to submit themselves without reserve to the hidden decrees of God, just as Abraham submitted himself to God’s plan, to whose faith Muslims eagerly link their own.
Although not acknowledging him as God, they venerate Jesus as a prophet, his virgin Mother they also honor, and even at times devoutly evoke. Further, they await the day of judgment and the reward of God following the resurrection of the dead. For this reason they highly esteem an upright life and worship God, especially by way of prayer, alms-deeds and fasting (Nostra Aetate, Vatican II).
Consider carefully the above quote (taken from what the Roman Catholic Church claims is an infallible council) and you will realize what truly binds Catholicism and Islam together: They both have a Jesus who cannot save their souls. The Qur’an teaches that Jesus did not die on the cross: “And because of [the Jews] saying, We slew the Messiah Jesus son of Mary, Allah’s messenger—They slew him not nor crucified, but it appeared so unto them; and lo! those who disagree concerning it are in doubt thereof; they have no knowledge thereof save pursuit of a conjecture; they slew him not for certain” (Sura 4:157). Vatican II may give Muslims credit for “venerating” Jesus, but in fact, it’s a bogus Jesus. Sadly, Catholicism also has a false Christ. It teaches that His death on the cross was not sufficient for our salvation. Not only must His sacrifice (which, according to the Scriptures, was offered only once to take away our sins completely [Heb 9:28 [2]]) be “re-presented” as a daily sacrifice for sins on altars around the world, but Catholics must expiate their own sins through sufferings here on earth and in purgatory.
Finally, Vatican II spells out clearly what Islam and Catholicism regard as their hope for salvation: “…they highly esteem an upright life and worship God, especially by way of prayer, alms-deeds and fasting.” This is works salvation. In Islam, a person is accountable for every thought, word, and deed. His or her life is to be lived according to what is pleasing to Allah as found in the Qur’an and the hadith. In addition, there is shari’a, which is the body of rules that attempts to cover the totality of Islamic religious, political, social and domestic life. Breaking such laws involves various forms of temporal punishment. At the Last Judgment Allah will determine one’s eternal destiny as He places one’s good and evil works on the divine scale: “Then those whose scales are heavy [with good deeds], they are the successful. And those whose scales are light are those who lose their souls, in hell abiding” (Sura 23:102,103). The hadith vividly describes the tortures of hell.
A friend of mine, James McCarthy, produced a video titled Catholicism: Crisis of Faith in which he interviews about a dozen people leaving Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York. He simply asks them on what basis they expect to get to heaven. Only one made any reference to Jesus. The overwhelming response was that they felt they were pretty good people, and were fairly confident that their good deeds outweighed their bad ones. Although the Catholic Church states that it is only by God’s grace that one can enter heaven, it becomes very clear that what is meant is that grace is required to enable one to do the works which qualify one for heaven. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, they “obtain the joy of heaven, as God’s eternal reward for the good works accomplished with the grace of Christ” (par 1821) and they “can merit for [them]selves and for others all the graces needed to attain eternal life” (par 2027).
Pope John Paul II addressed a Catholic community in Turkey with these words: “I wonder if it is now urgent, precisely today when Christians and Muslims have entered a new period of history, to recognize and develop the spiritual bonds that unite us.” No! What is “urgent” is that Catholics and Muslims be set free from the spiritual bondage of attempting to qualify for heaven by their good deeds. Pray that their hearts would be open to receive the gift of eternal life (Rom 6:23 [3]).
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