Posted on 10/23/2001 8:39:39 AM PDT by spycatcher
Pre-Islamic Arabia's religion was one of superstition. Belief in jinns (genies), curse casting, magic stones, totems was the norm - and it was against this background that Allah arose. Although the Quran is claimed to be a heavenly writing with no earthly source, evidence of these very sorts of cultural influence is found in such places as Suras 55, 72, 113 and 114.
Animism, the belief that spirits inhabit rocks, trees and other elements was also very commonplace. Some of these stones were venerated and used as a focal point for the worship of a particular tribal god. No surprise, Muhammad's family had just such a stone for their own tribe - a black stone, in fact, that they kept at the Kabah (where the tribal idols were set up). The pagan rites of bowing toward Mecca, making a pilgrimage to the Kabah, running around it seven times, kissing it, then running to the river to throw stones at the devil all found there way into Islamic practice.
The final piece of the puzzle was in found in the religion of the Sabeans, an astral religion that worshipped the moon god and planned their religious rites around the lunar calendar. One such rite was fasting from crescent moon to crescent moon, a practice which would also be adopted by Muhammad.
If these things were not present before Muhammad received them from Allah (who himself is the moon god of Muhammad's tribe), why did Muhammad not have to explain what those words meant in the Quran? How would people have known who Allah was? ( or: what a jinn was? what the Kabah was? what the word Islam meant? etc.). Even the word "Islam" which many believe to mean "submission" was not an original word. In Arabic it was a secular term that denoted the strength and bravery of a desert warrior (a definition that accurately reflects the war-like tribes that founded Islam with bloodshed).
The Moon God
"Allah" is from the compound Arabic word "al-ilah" or in english "the god". Allah was known before Muhammad's time without a doubt. His name has been found in pre-islamic writings and other archeological finds. At the Kabah in Mecca over 350 gods were worshipped, but it was built especially for the chief deity - the moon god. Allah was the personal title of the moon god. Allah was married to the sun goddess. They produced three daughters, whose worship Muhammad would later make the mistake of condoning. The crescent moon symbol of Arabia came from this god.
Muhammad's family revered this particular god, and it is this idol that Muhammad declared to be the only true god. So, Allah - far from being the revealed God of the Bible as Muhammad would have us believe - is nothing more than an amplified pagan idol. Muhammad did not re-make the pagan god, he simply removed the lower deities from the rites of worship. That is why he never had to explain who Allah was. By definition, an idol converted in the 7th century into a new god cannot be the sama God revealed thousands of years earlier to Biblical prophets!
Democracy (in and of itself) sucks.
Be careful, man. You may have to account for what you've written here someday. Are you really willing to bet all you have and are, that the Christian and Muslim points of view are equivalent?
Your Biblical ignorance shows. Esau is a reference to the nation of Edom which descended from Esau. The nation of Edom chose to disobey God and was even direct military enemies of the nation of Israel. The entire book of Obadiah is knock against the Edomites.
You have a very arrogant attitude about God. You better check yourself, His mercy may run out on you soon. You need to repent of your sin and turn to the only hope of eternal life: Jesus Christ.
John 14:6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Equivalent?
No, they are quite different.
Both based on the same imaginary guy?
Absolutely.
I have a similar attitude regarding Santa Claus, and the Easter Bunny.
Who ever said Muslims worship the God of Abraham? Muslims worship the God of Muhammad's imagination. Of course, to form his imaginary god, Muhammad drew on what he knew from his culture. Not surprising that you still kiss the black stone when you go on Hadj. Where did that come from?
Well, that's what most Westerners, including myself, think. I'm sure you'd disagree. Guess we'll find out when we die, won't we. I wish you all the best. Curt
Genesis 16:14 “She called the well Be’er Lachai Roi It is between Kadesh and Bered.”
Ibn Ezra the great Jewish sage identifies the well mentioned by Hagar in Genesis 16:14 with Zimum (or in other versions, Zimzum), “where the Arabs hold an annual festival. This is Zemzem near Mecca. “
Why would Abraham (pbuh) taught Hagar and his son Ishmael to worship a moon god? Allah was the name for Almighty God in Arabia since the time of Abraham (pbuh). If Allah is personal name of a weak deity / moon god. Jews in Arabia/Yemen would not use the name Allah, the Almighty God.
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