Subj: [sellassie] ALLAH, the Moon God - The "God" behind Islam
Date: 9/15/2001 3:05:27 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From:    talmidim@aol.com
Reply-to: sellassie@yahoogroups.com
To:    sellassie@yahoogroups.com



  Below please read the article unveiling the truth behind the God of Islam:

Click here: ALLAH, the
Moon God
http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/moongod.htm

Allah - the Moon God

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.

 

Archeologists 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
_______

M. Basner
 

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
FREE COLLEGE MONEY
CLICK HERE to search
600,000 scholarships!
Click Here!
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

New Directories @ Sellassie WWW:
http://angelfire.com/ak/sellassie/history/index.html -- History
http://angelfire.com/ak/sellassie/politics/index.html


Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/




----------------------- Headers --------------------------------
Return-Path: <sentto-1045566-893-1000580659-ladylokk=aol.com@returns.onelist.com>
Received: from  rly-xc04.mx.aol.com (rly-xc04.mail.aol.com [172.20.105.137]) by air-xc02.mail.aol.com (v80.17) with ESMTP id MAILINXC26-0915150527; Sat, 15 Sep 2001 15:05:27 -0400
Received: from  n1.groups.yahoo.com (n1.groups.yahoo.com [216.115.96.51]) by rly-xc04.mx.aol.com (v80.21) with ESMTP id MAILRELAYINXC49-0915150508; Sat, 15 Sep 2001 15:05:08 -0400
X-eGroups-Return: sentto-1045566-893-1000580659-ladylokk=aol.com@returns.onelist.com
Received: from [10.1.4.53] by hh.egroups.com with NNFMP; 15 Sep 2001 19:04:20 -0000
X-Sender: TALMIDIM@aol.com
X-Apparently-To: sellassie@yahoogroups.com
Received: (EGP: mail-7_3_2_2); 15 Sep 2001 19:04:19 -0000
Received: (qmail 97778 invoked from network); 15 Sep 2001 17:03:24 -0000
Received: from unknown (10.1.10.26)
  by l7.egroups.com with QMQP; 15 Sep 2001 17:03:24 -0000
Received: from unknown (HELO imo-d05.mx.aol.com) (205.188.157.37)
  by mta1 with SMTP; 15 Sep 2001 17:03:24 -0000
Received: from TALMIDIM@aol.com
    by imo-d05.mx.aol.com (mail_out_v31_r1.7.) id r.20.1bf2177b (4586)
    for <sellassie@yahoogroups.com>; Sat, 15 Sep 2001 13:03:21 -0400 (EDT)
Message-ID: <20.1bf2177b.28d4e3d8@aol.com>
To: sellassie@yahoogroups.com
X-Mailer: AOL 5.0 for Windows sub 138
From: talmidim@aol.com
MIME-Version: 1.0
Mailing-List: list sellassie@yahoogroups.com; contact sellassie-owner@yahoogroups.com
Delivered-To: mailing list sellassie@yahoogroups.com
Precedence: bulk
List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:sellassie-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Sat, 15 Sep 2001 13:03:20 EDT
Reply-To: sellassie@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [sellassie] ALLAH, the Moon God - The "God" behind Islam
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit