In today’s pluralistic society it is quite popular for those that insist on peace at all costs to claim that the god of Islam is the same God of Judaism and Christianity. When asked by ABC News’ Charles Gibson if Muslims worshiped the same God as Jews and Christians, the President Bush said, “I think we do. We have different routes of getting to the Almighty."Bush continued, "But I want you to understand, I want your listeners to understand, I don't get to get decide who goes to heaven. The Almighty God decides who goes to heaven and I am on my personal walk." In other words, God is playing a divine game of musical chairs. God is parading around His throne, and whenever someone shouts, “Allah!” He sits; when someone shouts, “Yahweh” He sits; “Krishna”, “Vishnu”, “Brahma”, “Zeus”, “Thor”, whatever god you can think of, He sits, listens and responds accordingly. This pluralistic view of God, however, is self-contradictory. The reason is that all of these religions claim that their view of God is true, and all the others are false. Based on this view either only one is true and rest are false, or they are all false. So this conclusion leads us to the question as to whether or not the god of Muslims, Allah, is the God of Judaism and Christianity.
Based on research, it appears that the Qur’an talks about the Allah of Islam being the same as the God of the bible. Note what is written in Surah 29:14, “And dispute ye not with the People of the Book except with means better (than mere disputation) unless it be with those of them who inflict wrong (and injury): but say "We believe in the Revelation which has come down to us and in that which came down to you; Our Allah and your Allah is one; and it is to Him we bow (in Islam).” This issue is further muddied by the fact that Coptic (Egyptian) Christians use the name, “Allah” in reference to God. Do the historical and archeological evidences back up the claim of the Qur’an, the Coptic Church, and modern Arabic bible translators?
Archeologists have uncovered evidence of moon god worship throughout the Middle East. From Turkey in the north to Egypt in the south the worship of the moon good was widespread. The ancient Sumerians documented on their famed clay tablets the worship of the moon god. Based on this evidence it is no wonder why we find a great irritation in the Old Testament about the worship of the moon god (Deut. 4:19;17:3; 2 Kings. 21:3,5; 23:5; Jer. 8:2; 19:13; Zeph. 1:5, etc.). This moon god went by many names, but in Arabia he was known as Al-Ilah.
The archeological evidence is clear that the worship of the moon god, Al-Ilah, and his three daughters (Al-Lat, Al-Uzza and Manat) was commonplace. These four deities are often represented together along with the crescent moon. The crescent moon is a symbol that can be found on Islamic flags and on Islamic mosques. There have also been found numerous inscriptions to the moon god Sin. However, it is important to point out that his title was “Al-Ilah”, which is translated “the deity,” meaning that he was the chief or high god among the Arabic pantheon. This title was eventually shorted to Allah in pre-Islamic times. These pagan Arabs even used the name Allah in the names they gave their children. In fact, Muhammad’s father is named, Abdullah, or “servant of Allah”! So it is clear that Allah was a known deity in pre-Islamic Arabia.
The next question that rises from a reading of the Qur’an is, “If Allah is a new god, then why is Allah never defined in the Qur’an?” The answer is simple. The pre-Islamic Arabs already knew who Allah was. As we have already established, Muhammad was already worshiping the pantheon of Arabic gods, of which Allah was the greatest. What Muhammad did was take the worship of the chief Arabic god one step further and take him from being the greatest god to being the only god. What Muhammad was telling these pre-Islamic Arabs was that taking the greatest god in the Arabic pantheon to the only god, was not that big of a step. All Muhammad was saying was, “Look, I am not taking away the chief god, but only his daughters and the rest of the gods.”
This attitude is seen in the fact that the first part of the Shahadah, or Islamic creed that one recites in order to become a Muslim is not, “Allahu kabir” (God is great), but “Allahu ackbar” (God is greater). Why would Muhammad insist that Allah is “the greatest” except in a polytheistic context? Could it be that the Arabic is differentiating between the greater and the lesser? It is the opinion of this author and other scholars that this is the case because the pre-Islamic Arabs never accused Muhammad of preaching an Allah that was different from the Allah that they knew. Based on this and the archeological evidence we now know that Allah was indeed the ancient Arabic moon god. It is clear that Muhammad was attempting to have his cake and eat it too. To the Arabs he was preaching the greatest god of the Arab pantheon. To the Jews and Christians, he was preaching the God of the Old and New Testaments. However, the Jews and the Christians knew better and rejected Allah as the true god, and Muhammad as a true prophet. As a result, Muhammad declared a war on Jews and Christians that has been fought continually since the 7th century A.D. to today.
The fact that Islam and its god Allah did not originate from the Bible, but from the pagan Sabeans, was pointed out by Al-Kindi, one of the earliest Christian apologists against Islam. Muslims do not worship the God of the Bible. Instead they worship the pre-Islamic moon god and his daughters Al-Uzza, Al-Lat and Manat. Islam was proved itself to be a separate and antagonistic religion that sprung from idolatry. Islam is not the child of Judaism and Christianity as Christianity is the child of Judaism. The pre-Islamic Arabs worshipped the moon god as a supreme deity much like the ancient Greeks worshipped Zeus as a supreme deity. However, this is not monotheism. While the moon god was the supreme god in the Arabic pantheon, there was still worship of other gods. Further, we now have actual idols of the moon god, and it is no longer possible for Muslim apologists to avoid the fact that Allah was indeed a pagan god from pre-Islamic times. This is why the symbol of Islam is the crescent moon. This is why the crescent moon sits atop mosques and minarets. This is why the crescent moon is prominent on the flags of Islamic nations. More importantly, this is why the Muslim fast of Ramadan begins and ends with the appearance of the crescent moon in the night sky!
Further, even the actions of modern Muslims at the Kaaba in Mecca are direct reflections on the pre-Islamic worship of the moon god. These pagan Arabs prayed facing Mecca several times a day. They made a pilgrimage to Mecca. They ran around the temple of the moon god (the Kaaba) several times. They kissed the black stone, which is a meteorite that they believed fell off the moon. They killed an animal as a sacrifice to the moon god. They threw stones at the devil. They fasted for a month and the fast started and finished on the crescent moon. They were required to give alms to the poor, and many other things. All of these actions are done by modern Muslims. Therefore, it is clear that the claims of modern Muslim apologists that Islam is an offshoot of biblical religion thoroughly refuted by the overwhelming archeological and historical evidence.
It is clear that Islam is nothing more than the revival of the ancient moon god cult of pagan Arabs. It has taken its symbols, rites, ceremonies, and even the name of its god from the ancient pagan worship of the Arab moon god. As such, it is clear that Allah is not the God of Judaism and Christianity, and must be rejected as the false pagan god he is.
Next time: Is Mohammad a true prophet?
