Do Muslims Worship The Moon God? Refutation To The Myth By Etymological Evidence

This article was taken from http://www.bismikaallahuma.org/Polemics/moongod.htm

Do Muslims (Isaiah 56:5: Muslim is the future believers' name, and sons and daughters of GOD titles will be "no more"; ; Jesus called every believer a Muslim in Luke 6:40) Muslims Worship The Moon God? Refutation To The Myth By Etymological Evidence

Mohd Elfie Nieshaem Juferi

Christians who try to claim that All�h () is the name of the "moon god", are influenced by the writings of Dr. Robert Morey, who wrote as such in his book The Islamic Invasion. Regardless, they (and Dr. Morey included) are playing a silly game. The writings of Dr. Morey are nothing more than the thoughts of a mid-Western creationist closet-fascist, and were not originally intended for a wide audience. Regardless, his "evidence" of a so-called moon deity named "All�h" actually hurts his religion as much as it does Islam. The basic claim is that the pre-Islamic Semitic world (not just Arabia) was the home to widespread worship of a moon god or goddess named "All�h". The problem with speculations about pre-Islamic deities from the Semitic world in this case is the fact that any inscription prior to the advent of Islam is also prior to the introduction of diacritical marks in the Semitic languages. Why is this a problem? Well, if one claims to have found evidence of a moon god named "All�h" in Palestine, Syria, or Lebanon, this claim applies to the respective deities of both Christianity and Islam. The first time the word "God" appears in the Bible, it is in Genesis 1:1, when it states:

Genesis 1:1
B'reshit bara ELOHIM et ha-shama'im, V'et ha-arets.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

While Christians will forever speculate on the word "Elohim" (), honest Hebrew speakers would admit that this archaic word for God has a history that is lost to us. The "royal plurality" hypothesis may be a possible explanation for why the word is plural, but this seems to have been unknown to early Hebrew speakers (such as the Jewish missionary who, according to the Kuzari, competed with Muslims (Isaiah 56:5: Muslim is the future believers' name, and sons and daughters of GOD titles will be "no more"; ; Jesus called every believer a Muslim in Luke 6:40) Muslims and Christians to convert the king of the Khazars in the eighth century). It is difficult however to translate this word to "gods," as the Hebrew text conjugates the verb "to create" in the singular. Regardless, (Elohim) is a plural forum of a more basic root-word for God, (eloh)

However, if one were to find the word (eloh) (alef-lamed-heh) in an inscription written in paleo-Hebrew, Aramaic, or some sort of Nabatean script, it could be pronounced numerous ways without the diacritical marks to guide the reader. This letter combination (which can be proncounced alah) is the root for the verb "to swear" or "to take an oath," as well as the verb "to deify" or "to worship", as can be seen as follows:

ALEF-LAMED-HEH ^{^[1]}

The root itself finds its origin with an older root, el, which means God, deity, power, strength, et cetera.

So one of the basic Hebrew words for God, (eloh), can easily be pronounced alah without the diacritical marks. Not surprisingly, the Aramaic word for God^[2] is (alah). This word, in the standard script (), or the Estrangela script (), is spelled alap-lamad-heh (ALH), which are the exact corresponding letters to the Hebrew eloh. The Aramaic is closely related to the more ancient root word for God, eel.^[3]

The Arabic word for God, All�h () , is spelled in a very similar way, and is remotely related to the more generic word for deity, (ilah). We are quickly starting to notice the obvious linguistic and etymological connections between the respective words for God in these closely related Semitic languages (e.g. All�h, Alah, and Eloh being related to Ilah, Eel, and El, respectively). So, in conclusion, if monolingual tri-theists want to claim that All�h/Alah was the name of a tribal moon god, and that worship of such a deity is a gross pagan practice, they should throw their Bibles in the dustbin for including this deity in its text. They should also repudiate Jesus for calling on an version of this deity while on the cross (as per the Biblical account).

Interestingly enough, there is proof from a Christian source that clearly demonstrates the above.

Vine's Dictionary on "Elah" ^[4]

The above book mentions that Ezra and the Prophet Daniel called their God as "Elah". The passage above is more than enough to counter the allegation made by misguided Christians about All�h being a moon god. For, if All�h is the moon god, then what were Ezra and Daniel worshipping?

Conclusion

Pantheist/Buddhist thinker Brett Neichin has said of Christians that they are reformed Jews and do not even know it. Indeed, much of Christianity finds its roots in the Semitic world, yet the believers of this religion are notorious for their interpretations of the faith in a European world view. This is the reason they would actually try to find fault with a religion that acknowledges the existence of the exact same God they do; this is the reason they would erroneously claim that Eloh, Alah, and All�h are different Gods.

The question of why Islam adopted the crescent moon as its symbol, or why it uses the lunar calendar, is addressed in What is the Significance of the Crescent Moon in Islam?

And certainly, only God knows best!

Related Articles

The Word 'Elohim' in the Hebrew Qur'�n

Robert Morey's Deceptive Methods (The Moon God Lie)

All�h is the RIMMON of Syria? A Reply to Christian Mendacity

External Links

A Christian Arab's View On "Who Is All�h"

Why Do Many Arab Christians Refer to God as "All�h"?

Dismantling The Moongod Theory by Dr. E. Ahmed Tori

A response by an atheist to an ad hominem-filled criticism of this article by a missionary

References

[1] Milon Ben-Y'hudaah, Ivri-Angli (Ben Yehuda's Hebrew-English Dictionary), under ALEF LAMED HEH (ALH)

[2] According to the Lexicon offered at http://www.peshitta.org/.

[3] According to Robert Oshana's Online Introduction to Basic Assyrian Aramaic, which is at http://learnassyrian.com/.

[4] W.E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger, William White Jr., Vine's Complete Exposition Dictionary, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN, 1996

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