Is Allāh the Moon God?

By Rizwan Syed, (Student in Advanced Islamic Sciences at Mathabah Institute)

This concept of a moon god never existed in Islam. Rather it was attributed to it much later on, in the twentieth century when an excavation occurred in Palestine. This excavation unearthed a temple with two statues, one of which held a crescent [i]. It was then supposed and assumed through the fact that it was found there, that Islam’s origins actually began from it. This is erroneous due to three main factors:

• The distance. The Prophet of Islam, Muḥammad (peace and blessings upon him) prior to declaring Islam had never travelled to Palestine. Islam’s birthplace was Macca, and not Palestine. These are geographically distant regions that required travelling for a great length of time. It is academically dishonest and impossible to suppose that Islam began there when it’s Prophet had never previously been there prior to his mission.

• Previous communities in that area did fall into idol worship over time, and this is supported by revelations in the Qurʾān, as well as references to those communities, in the bible. The community of Ibrāhīm (Abraham) – a community that worshipped statues prior to his prophethood -, the community of Nūḥ (Noah) and the later progeny of Noah – idols in the name of their forefathers -, as well as a certain group of people from Mūsa’s (Moses’s) tribe – worshipped the calf -. Idol worship and establishing temples for their worship was not uncommon. Such occurrences do not serve as conclusive proof of the origins of any religion. Rather, they show the prevailing notions of the people in that time and what they worshipped prior to enlightenment.

• The ‘moon god’ had a partner beside it on its throne. The Islamic creed is Allāh (God) does not share in divinity.

Reasons why Allāh is not a ‘moon god’.

• “Allāh is the Lord of the Heavens and the Earth, the Lord of the Worlds.” (Qurʾān 45:36). This means that all of creation is under His authority, and relies on Him in order to function. This would include the moon.

• The governing verse of any Qurʾānic understanding related to the description of Allāh is thus in verse 11 of Sūrah As-Shūra: “Nothing resembles Him (Allāh) in any way.” (Qurʾān, 42:11). What this verse means is that Allāh is currently beyond our comprehension or understanding. Whatever the human mind imagines or conceives of, Allāh is in fact other than that.

• Allāh exists outside of the constraints of time, space, and matter.

• The moon had a beginning, Allāh had no beginning. The moon will have an end according to scientists, Allāh has no end.

• No graven image of God or even man is permitted in Islam. Islam completely interferes with the possibility of associating false representations with the One true God. No inaccurate representations of a limited man or grandiose pieces of stone or wood to replace God as He is.

• The fact that Muslims follow the lunar calendar is not unique to the Arabs. Muslims do not worship the moon because their calendar is based on its cycles. Even the Jewish communities in the Prophet’s time followed that method. It cannot be considered a heathen innovation when even the earliest of the monotheistic followers adopted it. It was later on that the solar calendar became more widespread. One should note that the Christians themselves adopted the Solar calendar whose origins come from pagan roman roots. Saturn, Saturnalia, January for Janus, Sunday for day of the sun etc.

• In the Qurʾān, Allāh refers back to the time of Ibrāhīm (Abraham). Why would a moon god who (according to Dr. Morey) ridicule the people for worshipping idols? Why would the Messenger of such a religion explicitly highlight the incident of Ibrāhīm in the Qurʾān saying, “[No], rather, your Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth who created them, and I, to that, am of those who testify (to the Oneness of God). (Qurʾān, 21:56).”

Whereupon Ibrahim declares, “I do not worship that which sets.” in reference to the stars, sun and moon. Thereby showing that these are not objects worthy of worship. These accounts are far too detailed to be considered biblically inspired. They are first hand, and can only have come from One who was present during those events, God.

“How can you worship what can neither benefit nor harm you, instead of Allāh? Shame on you and on the things you worship instead of God. Have you no sense?” They said, “Burn him and avenge your Gods if you are going to do the right thing!” (Qurʾān,21: 66-8).

• Robert Morey alleges that since people who worshipped the moon called their deity “ilāh”, this proves the similarity to Allāh. He further claims that this transformed under Muḥammad’s guidance to Allāh. However, he misquotes the original source which clearly says that this was a general term used by the people to refer to the supreme God in pre-islamic society. This phenomenon was not unique to the Arabs, but also adopted by the Jewish community. This by extension would include the Christians since they originated from them as well.

If Dr. Morey were to carry his line of reasoning to its logical end, he would have to admit that all of the world’s monotheistic religions have fallen into idol worship. Since even devout orthodox Arab Christians refer to the Supreme, as Allāh. It is like saying that God, the Most High, and the Most Merciful, and Allāh are not at all related.

Full citation below:

The god Il or Ilāh was originally a phase of the Moon God, but early in Arabian history the name became a general term for god, and it was this name that the Hebrews used prominently in their personal names, such as Emanu-el, Israel, etc., rather than the Bapal of the northern semites proper, which was the Sun. Similarly, under Mohammed’s tutelage, the relatively anonymous Ilāh became Al-Ilāh, The God, or Allāh, the Supreme Being. (Carleton S.Coon, Southern Arabia, – Washington, D.C. Smithsonian, 1944- p.399).

Thus in conclusion, it is the height of silliness to claim that Allāh is actually an evolved form of a deity when it refers to a concept that the people held then, as they do today, of a Supreme God that has no equal, partner, or share in divinity. Allāh is as He always was, the God of all.

[i] R. Morey, The Islamic Invasion: Confronting The World’s Fastest-Growing Religion, 1992, op. cit., p. 213; idem., The Moon-God Allah In The Archeology Of The Middle East, 1994, op. cit., p. 5 and p. 7. Using the services of Morey similar claims concerning the statues discovered at Hazor were made by B. M. Stortroen (Ed. G. J. Buitrago), Mecca And Muhammad: A Judaic Christian Documentation Of The Islamic Faith, 2000, Church Of Philadelphia Of The Majority Text (Magna), Inc.: Queen Creek (AZ), p. 91.