Who Is Allah ? (Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God ?)

Europeans love to mock the salience of religion in American society, but they won't be laughing for very long. The de-Christianization of Europe in the name of "tolerance" is rapidly driving the spiritually shiftless continent into the arms of Islam. And now, amidst the postmodern theological confusion that defines contemporary Europe, even Catholic clergy are jumping on the Islamomania bandwagon.

The latest post-Christian theological spectacle comes to us from the Netherlands (of Ayaan Hirsi Ali fame), where the Roman Catholic Bishop of Breda, Tiny Muskens, says he wants Christians to start calling God "Allah" because he believes such a gesture would promote "rapprochement between Christianity and Islam". Appearing on Dutch television, the 71-year-old cleric said:

"Allah is a very beautiful word for God. Shouldn't we all say that from now on we will name God Allah? ... What does God care what we call him?"

Inquiring minds want to know: If the bishop really thinks the names "God" and "Allah" are interchangeable, why doesn't he ask Muslims to start calling Allah "Yahweh", the biblical name for God? But he won't, because he knows they won't.

Indeed, just because Christianity, Judaism and Islam are called "monotheistic" faiths, it does not follow that Christians, Jews and Muslims pray to the same God. So for those pre-postmoderns who believe that words still mean something, a quick survey of archaeology, history and theology-accompanied by a dose of common sense-can answer the question of whether the Allah of Islam is really the God of the Bible.

Muslims claim that in pre-Islamic times, "Allah" was the biblical God of the Patriarchs, prophets and apostles. Indeed, the credibility of Islam as a religion stands or falls on its core claim of historical continuity with Judaism and Christianity. No wonder, then, that many Muslims get uppity when the claims of Islam are subjected to the hard science of archaeology.

Because archaeology provides irrefutable evidence that Allah, far from being the biblical God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, was actually the pre-Islamic pagan moon-god. Indeed, it is an established archaeological fact that worship of the moon-god was the main religion of the ancient Middle East.

But what about the Arabian Peninsula, where Mohammed (570-632) launched Islam? During the last two centuries, prominent archaeologists have unearthed thousands of inscriptions which prove beyond any doubt that the dominant religion of Arabia during Mohammed's day was the cult of the moon-god.

In fact, for generations before Mohammed was born, the Arabs worshipped some 360 pagan gods housed at a stone temple in Mecca called the Kabah. According to archaeologists, the chief deity of Mecca was the moon-god called al-ilah (meaning the god or the idol), which was shortened to Allah in pre-Islamic times. Pagan Arabs even used Allah in the names they gave themselves: Mohammed's father (Abdallah), for example, had Allah as part of his name.

Historians say that pre-Islamic Arabs worshipped the moon-god by bowing in prayer toward Mecca several times a day. They would also make a pilgrimage to Mecca, run around the Kabah seven times and throw stones at the devil. And they fasted for one month, which began with the appearance of the crescent moon and ended when the crescent moon reappeared.

These same rites form the core of Islam today: Muslims bow in prayer toward Mecca; they make a pilgrimage to Mecca and run around the Kabah seven times; and they still throw stones at the devil. They also observe the fast of Ramadan, which begins and ends with the crescent moon.

Moreover, the ancient symbol of the pagan moon-god, the crescent moon, is the official symbol of Islam; it appears on the flags of Muslim countries, as well as on the tops of mosques and minarets everywhere.

Historians say that Mohammed, who as a traveling trader was exposed to Judaism and Christianity during his visits to different parts of the Middle East, tried to mimic those monotheistic faiths by taking Allah, the main deity within the Arabian pantheon, and making it the only god. Indeed, the basic confession of Islam is not that "Allah is Great" but that "Allah is Greater". Greater than all the other idols, that is.

But Islam also draws from other pagan traditions. For example, the tale of Mohammed's night journey into heaven parallels the Zoroastrian story of Arta Viraf. Zoroastrianism also inspired the Islamic belief that dark-eyed virgins await every man who enters heaven. And the Islamic ritual of praying five times a day? That, historians say, originates with the Sabeans, Syrian pagans who practiced an ecumenical mixture of Babylonian and Hellenic religion.

No surprise, then, that some scholars refer to Islam as monotheistic heathenism.

Muslims claim that Islam is Judaism and Christianity reformed. They say the Koran confirms the truth of the Torah and the Gospels. But since those texts did not jive with Mohammad's beliefs, they accuse Jews and Christians of changing and distorting the original versions. Muslims therefore assert that the Koran "clarifies" the Bible.

Even if that were the case, the Koran and the Bible present ideas about God (especially about His character) that are so diametrically opposed that any reasonable observer would conclude that each book refers to a distinct deity.

The Koran, for example, states unequivocally that Allah is an unknowable and non-personal deity. By contrast, the God of the Bible allows Himself to be known and desires fellowship with human beings on a personal basis. Indeed, the Bible says that Abraham (the same Abraham whom Muslims say they venerate) was the "friend of God."

The Koran also portrays Allah as a vindictive deity who hates sinners and desires to afflict them. But the Bible says God is love.

Moreover, the New Testament teaches that God loved humanity so much that He came to earth to pay the debt for man's sin, and that that act of grace is available for free to anyone who believes Jesus Christ is their personal Savior. But Islam denies that Christ was God or that He died in order to save humanity. Indeed, Allah does not provide any way for man to be reconciled to God.

And the theological differences go on and on, so much so that the God of the Bible cannot possibly be the Allah worshipped in Islam. Unless, of course, a Dutch bishop says so.

Mohammed thought the Jews and Christians of his day would receive him as a prophet. But the Bible says that any new revelation must agree with what is already established in Scripture (Isaiah 8:20). So they rejected his Allah as a false god. And Mohammed replied by setting his Islam on a permanent warpath against Judaism and Christianity that continues to this day.

The Dutch bishop and other Muslim fellow travelers think they can buy a fake peace with Islam by playing relativistic word games as a part of an "inter-faith" dialogue. But Muslims understand much better than do post-modern Europeans that ecumenical appeasement is a symptom of a Judeo-Christian civilization that is weak and dying.

The irony is that the real danger from Islam stems not so much from ordinary Muslims as it does from sickly Europeans who have subverted their Judeo-Christian heritage in search of secular hedonism. Because they live only for the moment, they are willing submit to anything, including Islam, as long as it doesn't interfere with the pursuit of pleasure today.

It has been more than 50 years since the late Christian apologist C.S. Lewis first warned about Western Civilization's disastrous lurch into post-Christianity. But even he would be surprised to see how quickly Islam is filling the religious and cultural vacuum that is post-Christian Europe.

It's not that Europeans haven't been forewarned. It's that they couldn't care less.

Soeren Kern is Senior Analyst for Transatlantic Relations at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group.

I have something similar

This is how Mohemmed got his Revelations (I write this in addition to what you said.. I'm not disagreeing):

This is the Islamic account of how Moh. received his first visions... remember, this what the Muslims themselves believe: the rest (including the full-of-contempt-for-Islam commentary) is excerpted from Prophet of Doom

[This is a Hadith]

Bukhari:V1B1N3-V6B60N478 "The commencement of divine inspiration to Allah’s Messenger was in the form of dreams that came true like a bright light. The Prophet loved the seclusion of a cave in Hira. The angel came to him and asked him to read. The Prophet replied, 'I do not know how to read.' The Prophet added, 'Then the angel caught me forcefully and pressed me so hard that I could not bear it any more. He released me and asked me to read. I replied, "I do not know how to read." Thereupon he caught me again and pressed me till I could not bear it any more. He asked me to read but I replied, "I do not know how to read or what shall I read?" Thereupon he caught me for the third time and pressed me, "Read in the name of your Lord who has created man from a clot. Read! Your Lord is the most generous." Then the Apostle returned from that experience; the muscles between his neck and shoulders were trembling, and his heart beating severely. He went to Khadija and cried, 'Cover me! Cover me.' She did until his fear subsided. He said, 'What’s wrong with me? I am afraid that something bad has happened to me.' Khadija replied, 'Never! By Allah, Allah will never disgrace you....'"

[This is from the Sira... (The Sira along with the Hadith and Koran form the corpus of Islam's holy texts)]

Ishaq:105 "Aisha said that when Allah desired to honor Muhammad, the first sign of prophethood was a vision in brightness of day shown to him in his sleep. [In other words, he was dreaming.] He liked nothing better than to be alone. When he left Mecca and there was no house in sight, every stone and tree that passed by said, 'Peace be unto you, Allah’s Apostle.' Muhammad would turn around and see naught but trees and stones. [In other words, he was stoned.] He stayed seeing and hearing things as long as it pleased Allah. Then Gabriel came to him with the gift of Allah’s grace [the spiritual beating] while he was on Hira in the month of Ramadhan. The Apostle would pray in seclusion on Hira every year for a month to practice Tahannuth as was the custom of the Quraysh in the heathen days. [In other words, Muhammad was a heathen and the Islamic Pillar requiring Ramadhan fasting was pagan.] Tahannuth is religious devotion [to pagan idols]. After praying in seclusion, he would walk around the Ka'aba seven times. [The centerpiece of the Hajj Pillar is pagan as well.]"

Ishaq:106 "The Prophet set off to Hira with his family. When it was night, Gabriel brought him the command of Allah. 'He came to me,' the Apostle said, 'while I was asleep, with a coverlet of brocade whereon was some writing, and said, 'Read.' I said, 'What shall I read.' He pressed me so tightly that I was near death. Then he let go and said, 'Read!'" This happens twice more, then... "When I thought I was nearly dead I said, 'What shall I read; only to deliver myself from him, lest he should do the same thing to me again. He said, 'Read in the name of your Lord who created man of blood coagulated. Read! Your generous Lord taught by the pen.'" Then the illiterate man said, "So I read it, and he departed from me. I awoke from my sleep. These words were written on my heart."

Ishaq reports: "None of Allah’s creatures was more hateful to me than an ecstatic poet or a man possessed. I thought, 'Woe is me, I'm a possessed poet.'" The worst thing that can befall a man or woman is to be possessed by the devil. He or she loses all sense of decency. To his credit, Muhammad recognized what had happened. To his shame, he damned three billion souls along with his own.

Ishaq:106 "I will go to the top of the mountain and throw myself down that I may kill myself and be at rest." There was no doubt in his mind. During the violent encounter with the spirit in the darkness of that cave, Muhammad had been possessed by the Devil. He wanted to commit suicide - something that Satan could not allow. He had big plans for his prophet.

Ishaq:106 "So I climbed to the mountain to kill myself when I heard a voice saying, 'Muhammad, you are Allah’s Apostle.' I raised my head to see who was speaking and lo, I saw Gabriel in the form of a man with feet astride the horizon." How, pray tell, would our terrified and possessed poet distinguish between Gabriel and Lucifer? And since the first revelation was sinister, that’s a problem.

Bukhari:V9B87N113 "The Prophet said, 'A good dream is from Allah, and a bad dream is from Satan.'"

By his own account, this was a bad dream.

Here’s the meat of that section (you can see why I had trouble pasting something.... there’s too much to paste):

There is but one explanation for this omission. Muhammad was still referring to his god as Ar-Rahman, the deity of the Yemeni Hanifs. Those who codified the Qur’an decades later simply swapped Ar-Rahman’s name out of some of the later Meccan surahs and replaced it with Allah. This change is confirmed by a Hadith contemporaneous to these events: Ishaq:162 “Abu Jahl met the Apostle and said, ‘By Allah, Muhammad, you will either stop cursing our gods or we will curse the god you serve.’ So the Qur’an verse was revealed, ‘Do not insult those [gods] to whom they pray lest they curse God wrongfully through lack of knowledge.’ [Qur’an 6:108] I have been told that the Apostle then refrained from cursing their gods, and began to call them to Allah [rather than Ar-Rahman].” The critical word is: “began.”

Tabari VI:107/Ishaq:165 “Walid, As, Aswad, and Umayyah said, ‘Muhammad, come and let us worship that which you worship and you worship what we worship. We shall combine in the matter and shall make you a partner in all our undertakings. [The Ka’aba Inc. - the legacy of Qusayy’s religious scam was still the principle game in town.] If what you have brought is better than what we already have, we will be partners with you and take our share, and if what we have is better than what you have, you shall be a partner with us in what we have, and you shall have your share of it.” Their schemes were virtually indistinguishable. They were only squabbling over ownership.

Muhammad’s immediate response to the Quraysh Bargain should tell us all we need to know about Islam’s lone prophet. He didn’t say no. He hesitated, and was clearly tempted to worship Al-Lat and Al-Uzza if it meant money, sex, and power. “Let me see what revelation comes to me from my Lord [not Allah].’ he replied.”

Although I can’t prove it using the Islamic Traditions, in my opinion, Muhammad went to his aging wife Khadija and asked her what she thought he should do. After all, she had been the founder of Islam - the inspiration behind the Profitable Prophet Plan. I think Khadija scuttled the deal. More wives would have been competition. And although she would have relished the prestige of being a shareholder in the Ka’aba Inc, what was she going to do with more money? She was over seventy years old and near death.

So Khadija nixed the deal: “Then, the following inspiration came from the Preserved Tablet: ‘Say: O disbelievers! I worship not that which you worship; nor do you worship that which I worship, And I shall not worship that which you worship, nor will you worship that which I worship. To you your religion and to me my religion.’” Sorry Tabari, I know that is what the Hadith says but it just ain’t so. The 109th surah, from which this revelation was quoted, was among the first handed down. It was revealed a decade before this bargain was struck. So what really happened?

Khadija died (or was killed), and Muhammad accepted the deal. The very next line in The History of al-Tabari, Muhammad at Mecca, confirms my theory: “Satan Cast a False Revelation on the Messenger of Allah’s Tongue.” Possessed by the Devil, Muhammad chose poorly. He succumbed to his demonic urgings and began to worship Al-Lat and Al-Uzza. He was finished as a prophet.

While the Islamic spin-meisters in Baghdad tried their best to put lipstick on this camel, the whole affair was as ugly as it was deadly. No matter how valiantly they attempted to excuse Muhammad’s behavior, a pig in makeup is still a swine. Tabari VI:107 “The Messenger was eager for the welfare of his people and wished to effect reconciliation with them in whatever way he could. It is said he wanted to find a way to do this, and what happened was as follows:” Before we wallow in what follows, I’d like to poke a hole in the excuse. Muhammad’s people were long gone. He had sent them off to Abyssinia for fear they would be seduced. And the notion of reconciling himself to the pagans is laughable. Muhammad had done nothing but harangue them for a decade now, calling them names barely suitable for print. When they teased him he said, “I will bring you slaughter.” Sorry, Muslim apologists, I don’t think so.

The isnad, or chain of reciters, introducing the Hadith reads: “Ibn Mumayd-Salamah-Muhammad Ibn Ishaq-Yazid bin Ziyad al-Madani-Muhammad bin Ka’b al-Qurazi:” I share this because of what happened to Salman Rushdie. He wrote a novel based upon what these champions of Islam had to say. Muslims went berserk. They had Rushdie’s book banned and panned. They nailed Satanic Verses to crosses and burned it during hostile rioting. The Ayatollah Khomeni, the leader of the Islamic world at the time, put a fatwa on Rushdie, offering his fellow Muslims a million dollars for the writer’s head.

Yet Rushdie had merely exposed Islam’s own Traditions. So why get mad at him? Was Muhammad so perverse and Islam so corrupt that modern clerics have to hide the truth for their doctrine to survive? Apparently, yes.

This is what follows: Tabari VI:108/Ishaq:165 “The Messenger saw his tribe turn on him. He was pained to see them shunning the message he had brought from Allah. So he [abandoned both his message and his god because he] longed for something that would reconcile his tribe to him. With his love for his tribe and his anxiety over this it would have delighted him if the obstacle which had made his task so difficult could be removed [so he could accept their generous offer of power, sex, and money].” The only points of contention, thus obstacles to reconciliation, were: Ka’aba custodianship, the number of gods, and the top god’s identity (Allah or Ar-Rahman).

“So Muhammad debated with himself and fervently desired such an outcome. Then Allah revealed: ‘By the Star when it sets, your comrade does not err, nor is he deceived; nor does he speak out of his own desire. [In truth, he did all three and was about to prove his guilt.] And when he came to the words: ‘Have you thought about Al-Lat, Al-Uzza and Manat.’ Satan, when he was meditating upon it and desiring to bring reconciliation, cast on his tongue, because of his inner longings and what he desired, the words: ‘These are exalted high-flying cranes (goddesses). Verily their intercession is accepted with approval.” Simply stated, Muhammad said, “I accept the Quraysh Bargain.”

But at what cost? The Qur’anic recitals had been filled with assertions that there were no intercessors. And four gods were at least three too many for a monotheistic religion. Muhammad had therefore abandoned the central plank of his mission: “There is no ilah but Allah.” Islam was no longer monotheistic. What’s more, the prophet’s grandiose and Messianic claim of being Allah’s intercessor was pummeled, stoned by a trio of rock idols. And that wasn’t the worst of it. Islam’s lone spokesperson had just aligned himself with Satan.

It’s little wonder the Ayatollah wanted Rushdie’s book burned. It’s little wonder the Qur’an urges Muslims not to pry too deeply into Islam or ask questions. The truth is devastating. The Quraysh Bargain and Satanic Verses confirm that Muhammad was demon possessed and that the Qur’an was “inspired” to advance his personal agenda. These Hadiths prove Islam was a fraud, as counterfeit as a $3 bill. What’s more, the Profitable Prophet Plan has been elevated from highly probable to undeniable.

But the Islamic Hadith was not finished burying its prophet. Tabari VI:108/Ishaq:166 “When the Quraysh heard this, they rejoiced and were delighted at the way in which he spoke of their gods, and they listened to him. While the Muslims, trusting their Prophet in respect to the messages which he brought, did not suspect him of a vain desire or slip. When he came to the prostration, having completed the surah, he prostrated himself and the Muslims did likewise, obeying his command and following his example.” Now you know the reason why the world is in such a mess. A demon-possessed man sought to satiate his vain desires, and billions, failing to suspect his fraud, followed his example and obeyed his commands.

If you are a Muslim reading these words, flee this delusion before it’s too late. This despicable man and his demonic spirit are not worthy of your soul.

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