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If you read about Muhammad's life, you'd know he spent a LOT of time in what is now modern-day Syria & Israel, and a lot of time being around Christians & Jews (if you actually read the Koran, it reads a lot like someone wrote it attempting to be in the style of Jewish & Christian writings. While I have no doubt that origin of the word Allah may have come from the moon-god, I also am pretty sure that Muhammad was directing his monotheism toward the God of Abraham. By the way, what is the origin of our English word, "god"? I'm not defending Islam, but this is kind of silly.

"While I have no doubt that origin of the word Allah may have come from the moon-god, I also am pretty sure that Muhammad was directing his monotheism toward the God of Abraham."
Historically, that should have been the case since the Arab race descended from Abraham. Clearly, his ties to YAHWEH and Biblical teachings demand this. However, as the writer of post 1 cites, culture seems to have gotten in the way.

From Merriam-Webster's site: Main Entry: 1 god
Pronunciation: 'gäd also 'god
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English; akin to
Old High German got god
Date: before 12th century

Mohammed was trying to unite the tribes of the period who were engaging in increasing warfare with each other and who did each have their own tribal god. You are correct that he got the idea of a unified from the Jews and Christians. He traveled with caravans with his uncle, later marrying his boss, a wealthy widow. On these travels, he did meet Christians and Jews and apparently discussed religion. So he chose the god of his tribe to be everyone's god. It has also been suspected by some that he had epileptic seizures and that he had his visions in the midst of seizures.

While I have no doubt that origin of the word Allah may have come from the moon-god, I also am pretty sure that Muhammad was directing his monotheism toward the God of Abraham. By the way, what is the origin of our English word, "god"? I'm not defending Islam, but this is kind of silly.

Agreed. It is absolutely foolish to try to buttress a theological argument with smear techniques. Doing so, absolutely undermines the credibility of the one making the argument. It simply is not even debatable that the Allah of modern Islam is the God of Abraham--and of Noah, Moses, etc.. He is so defined. He is so discussed. Moreover, the great Prophets of Islam, other than Mohammed himself, are Noah, Moses & Jesus.

Accepting the right of Islam to define itself, as does every other religion on the planet, takes away nothing from your right to be critical of its theology. Trying to demonize it by dishonest arguments, on the other hand, virtually destroys the credibility of one's criticism.

It is in part to get away from this sort of specious argument, that I have suggested that we focus on what we have a clear right to focus on, the Internationalism of the terrorists: Their disrespect for borders and National Sovereignty. It is not their theology that kills us. It is their refusal to respect our rights to live according to our own values in our own land. (See Return Of The Gods Web Site.)

Osama bin Laden is not the first International thug to prey on decent people. There were outlaws in Medieval Europe--who did not respect the social order among other people--that had to be hunted down and destroyed. There were later Pirates, who had to be hunted down and destroyed. Then there were the Anarchists and the Communists. The problem is not what any of these people thought. It is that none of them respected our right to reject their thoughts and manage our own affairs. That is the pragmatic focus, we need, to rally the maximum civilized force to destroy them.

William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site