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Evangelicals Claim that Muslims Worship the “Moon God”. Is this True? NO!The claim is a false claim as Muslims worship Allah, Allah simply means ‘the god’in Arabic (1).The reason why I am writing this article is because I, although being familiarwith this piece of Christian evangelical propaganda, came in direct contact withthis claim quite recently.I was in my local Waterstones (A well-known chain of bookshops in the UK); I hadalready purchased a book by Bart Ehrman from one of its competitors but went intoWaterstones and purchased Karen Armstrong’s Islam a Short History. Beforepurchasing this book I browsed through it and found a little comic strip bookletsentitled Allah Had No Son (published by Chick Publications). My initial reactionwas that this booklet was a free complementary booklet to introduce the reader tothe idea of the Islamic belief; God is One and has no partner or co-equal, i.e.Islamic (pure) monotheism. I looked into this booklet and realised it wasChristian evangelical propaganda in the form of a comic strip claiming thatMuslims are worshipping a ‘moon god’. Simultaneously, it became quite apparentthat a Christian missionary had been into the store and left this material in thebook so to cloud any research of Islam an honest individual may be undertaking.Looking at it personally, the comic-booklet did seem to be bordering along thelines of racial-stereotyping.Condemning the methodology of sabotage that the evangelist employed is not thepurpose of this article; the purpose is solely in the view of debunking theChristian evangelical claim.This claim is more prevalent in north America and seems to have originated fromthat region as well as that region containing many of the propagators andbelievers in such a claim. The ‘moon god’ claim is in fact quite dated now and hasbeen debunked and refuted many times over by Muslims so it is a little surprisingthat the Christian evangelical community still use it in their attempts to ensnareMuslims. Of course, their continued usage of this claim, suggests eitherdishonesty or ignorance of the solid refutations Muslims have put forward.Dr Robert Morey is infamous for this claim amongst Muslims, in fact the comicstrip booklet (Allah had no Son by Chick Publications) uses Morey as a reference!Jack G. Shaheen, outlines an instance of an eager evangelist spreading the claim;in 1996 Janet Parshals, a Christian evangelical host of a radio program, toldlisteners that Muslims worship the “moon god”(2)(3). Ibrahim Hooper (CAIR), in1996, informed Shaheen that the “moon god” myth is commonly believed amongstevangelical Christian communities ‘who perpetuate such fantasies in their comicbooks’ (3).Having said all this we still need to show this claim to be incorrect to avoid anyconfusion and doubt. The best place to start is the Quran. The Quran is believedto be the verbatim Word of God (Allah) by Muslims. What has the Quran outlinedabout ‘moon worship’? The Quran teaches us not to worship the moon or the sun butto worship Allah (the One who created them)41:37- Among His Signs are the Night and the Day, and the Sun and the Moon. Adorenot the sun and the moon, but adore Allah, Who created them, if it is Him ye wishto serve. (4)So Muslims do not deify the moon nor the sun but worship Allah. As touched uponearlier, Allah is the Arabic personal name for God. W.Montgomery Watt tells usthat Arab Christians, Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant use Allah as the word forGod. In fact he goes on further and teaches us the word Allah is similar to the
 
New Testament ho theos and both simply mean ‘the god’ (1). The meaning of Allah as‘God’ is also confirmed by Karen Armstrong (5). Interestingly enough, these twofamous Western scholars of Islam do not suggest Allah is a ‘moon god’ but theseclaims come from the evangelical Christian camp that has an agenda of evangelismthat compromises their objectivity.I also note there is some confusion and conflation with the fact that the wordAllah existed before the Prophet Mohammed’s time on Earth and the Arab pagans’ useof the word Allah. It is disappointing that we have people who lack soundhistorical and theological scholarship who write propaganda pieces in the form ofbooklets or internet articles about this issue. It just further illustrates truthin the adage; a little knowledge is dangerous.Yes, we (those who have studied Islam) know that the name Allah was in use beforethe time of Prophet Muhammed. If we read Ar-Raheeq ul-Makhtum we realise that theearly Arabs did believe in Allah as the Only God. This is dated all the way backto the time of Prophet Ishmael who resided in Makkah (Mecca) and learned Arabic aswell as settling there(8). He preached the message of pure monotheism; “Most ofthe Arabs had complied with the call of Ishmael and professed the religion of hisfather Abraham. They worshipped Allah, professed His Oneness and followed Hisreligion...” (9). What this shows is that Allah was known as the Only God, justlike the Muslims believe Him to be. Indeed Abraham and Ishmael are considered tobe Muslims, i.e. those who had submitted to the Will of the Only God, Allah. Theissue of paganism came into the equation as the Arabs forgot this pure monotheismwhich was taught by Ishmael and his followers. The idolatry was originated fromthe actions of a man named Amr bin Luhai, he was known as a devoted and righteousman, well respected by his peers. However, after a trip away from Mecca he sawidol-worship in Syria. Upon his return to the Meccans he introduced idol worshipto the Meccans by bringing an idol named Hubal back from Syria and this resultedin the spread of a great many idols across Mecca. Indeed there were 360 differentidols, belonging to the pagans of Mecca, around the Ka’bah when Prophet Muhammedtook charge of Mecca. These idols were subsequently broken, removed and burnedunder the authority of Prophet Muhammed (10).Despite the Meccan pagans’ acceptance of idols they still proclaimed belief inAllah in the sense that they saw Allah as the High God but used the idols as‘lesser deities’ whom they believed “could intercede before Allah for thefulfilment of their wishes” (11).Quite simply they had a pantheon of ‘gods’ butbelieved that Allah was the High God of their pantheon (5) Effectively over theyears they changed their belief in Allah, from the belief that Allah was the OnlyGod (the Abrahamic teachings) to the belief that Allah was the High God of theirmany deities. Another source that attests to the fact that the pre-Islamic Arabsused the name Allah and held a ‘belief’ in Him is the genealogy of ProphetMuhammed, his father’s name was actually Abdullah (meaning servant of Allah)(12).Interestingly enough, some of these pagan Arabs believed that Allah was the sameGod that the Jews and Christians worshipped (5).The point of the history lesson is to dispel confusion being aroused via ignoranceof history. This also squashes the ignorance that the anti-Islamics play on whenthey try to claim that Allah was a ‘moon god’ due to His name being around duringpre-Islamic times. Essentially the critic of Islam (including Robert Morey whodoes it implicitly) makes a fallacious conflation of two facts. The two pointsthat the Islamophobes somehow combine in order to arrive at their unsound ‘moongod’ claim are:1.The name Allah was in use prior to Islam2.Many mosques and flags of Muslim countries posses a symbol in the form of amoon.
 
As the first point has been discussed and explained it is necessary to explain thesecond point before venturing further. Let it be said that the ‘moon’ symbol onsome mosques and flags has nothing to do with Islam. There is no teaching withinIslam that teaches the over-reverence of the moon nor instructing Muslims to adoptit as a representative symbol. Early Muslims did not use the crescent (moon) forflags nor Mosques and did not have any symbol to represent them. This symbolismwas introduced during the Ottoman Empire much later on and was adopted from a citythey conquered; “It wasn’t until the Ottoman Empire that the crescent moon andstar became affiliated with the Muslim world. When the Turks conqueredConstantinople (Istanbul) in 1453, they adopted the city’s existing flag andsymbol” (13). It should also be added that this symbolism is not seen as Islamicand many Muslims do not agree with the use of a symbol for Islam as highlighted bya quote from A popular Muslim Scholar, Yusuf Estes; “The symbol of Islam IS NOTthe crescent moon and the star, but it was used by the last Islamic Dynasty, theOttoman’s. The Ottoman Empire deemed it appropriate to use the star and crescentas their symbols, but not the symbols of Islam. I repeat, the star and thecrescent moon are not a part of the religion of Islam. Because Islam is so stricton the concept of no other gods with Allah; and no images of any kind; it is amistake to consider that Islam authorized the general use of such things.Additionally, Islam forbids the images (statues) of any kinds of humans, animalsor any of Allah’s creations, so how about using a symbol for Islam?” (13). Itwould also be useful to re-quote the English translation for the Quran (41:37)here:41:37- Among His Signs are the Night and the Day, and the Sun and the Moon. Adorenot the sun and the moon, but adore Allah, Who created them, if it is Him ye wishto serve. (4)There is no definitive reason why the Ottomans adopted the flag of Constantinople(now Istanbul) as the symbol for their empire. There is speculation about thefounder of their empire having a dream about the crescent moon but that is justspeculation. My personal view is that the Ottomans had reached a point of greatchange when they conquered Constantinople and were “in a position to establish anempire”(14). They were euphoric in their capture of this city as it wasprophesized by Prophet Muhammed that the Muslims would take Constantinople oneday. This prophesy was fulfilled in 1453, roughly 800 years after the ProphetMuhammed prophesized this event (15) and in some sort of rivalry to Christendom(who had the cross as their symbol) amalgamated with their prized capture theyadopted the crescent from the flag of Constantinople. Obviously I am giving myview about the crescent symbolism, it is by no means factual as we simply do notknow. The poignant fact amongst all this speculation is that the crescent moon hadno Islamic significance to it at all.Having cleared up the misconceptions about the crescent moon symbol and the use ofthe name Allah in pre-Islamic times we realise that Morey and other evangelistscombine these two points (outlined above) and play on people’s ignorance of thefacts as they claim that these two points somehow prove their delusive ‘moon god’claim. It is disappointing that people like Morey insult the intelligence oftheir audience by presenting such ignorant speculation as fact. Moreover, it doesseem hypocritical that they do not even attempt to make similar unscholarly andconflation arguments based on the symbolism within Judaism and Christianity asboth are now represented by symbols (the star and cross respectively). The answeris quite simple, their bias is not against Judaism or Christianity but it isagainst Islam. So Morey and thus who are parroting his ‘work’ need to realise thattheir bias is impeding their ability to produce accurate writings about Islam,thus rendering their ‘work’ as misleading mud-slinging.
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Lilac Alfke

Do your archeological research! The Arabic name for “God” is the word “Al-ilah.” It's a generic title for whatever god was considered the highest god. Different Arab tribes used “Allah” to refer to its personal high god. “Allah” was being worshiped at the Kaa’ba in Mecca by Arabs prior to the time of Mohammed. It was formerly the name of the chief god among the numerous idols (360) in the Kaaba i

reply09 / 30 / 2010
Snow358

Evangelicals Claim that Muslims Worship the “Moon God”. Is this True? NO! The claim is a false claim as Muslims worship Allah, Allah simply means ‘the god’ in Arabic (1). The reason why I am writing this article is because I, although being familiar with this piece of Christian evangelical propaganda, came in direct contact with this claim quite recently. I was in my local Waterstones (A well-known chain of bookshops in the UK); I had already purchased a book by Bart Ehrman from one of its competitors but went into Waterstones and purchased Karen Armstrong’s Islam a Short History. Before purchasing this book I browsed through it and found a little comic strip booklets entitled Allah Had No Son (published by Chick Publications). My initial reaction was that this booklet was a free complementary booklet to introduce the reader to the idea of the Islamic belief; God is One and has no partner or co-equal, i.e. Islamic (pure) monotheism. I looked into this booklet and realised it was Christian evangelical propaganda in the form of a comic strip claiming that Muslims are worshipping a ‘moon god’. Simultaneously, it became quite apparent that a Christian missionary had been into the store and left this material in the book so to cloud any research of Islam an honest individual may be undertaking. Looking at it personally, the comic-booklet did seem to be bordering along the lines of racial-stereotyping. Condemning the methodology of sabotage that the evangelist employed is not the purpose of this article; the purpose is solely in the view of debunking the Christian evangelical claim. This claim is more prevalent in north America and seems to have originated from that region as well as that region containing many of the propagators and believers in such a claim. The ‘moon god’ claim is in fact quite dated now and has been debunked and refuted many times over by Muslims so it is a little surprising that the Christian evangelical community still use it in their attempts to ensnare Muslims. Of course, their continued usage of this claim, suggests either dishonesty or ignorance of the solid refutations Muslims have put forward. Dr Robert Morey is infamous for this claim amongst Muslims, in fact the comic strip booklet (Allah had no Son by Chick Publications) uses Morey as a reference! Jack G. Shaheen, outlines an instance of an eager evangelist spreading the claim; in 1996 Janet Parshals, a Christian evangelical host of a radio program, told listeners that Muslims worship the “moon god”(2)(3). Ibrahim Hooper (CAIR), in 1996, informed Shaheen that the “moon god” myth is commonly believed amongst evangelical Christian communities ‘who perpetuate such fantasies in their comic books’ (3). Having said all this we still need to show this claim to be incorrect to avoid any confusion and doubt. The best place to start is the Quran. The Quran is believed to be the verbatim Word of God (Allah) by Muslims. What has the Quran outlined about ‘moon worship’? The Quran teaches us not to worship the moon or the sun but to worship Allah (the One who created them) 41:37- Among His Signs are the Night and the Day, and the Sun and the Moon. Adore not the sun and the moon, but adore Allah, Who created them, if it is Him ye wish to serve. (4) So Muslims do not deify the moon nor the sun but worship Allah. As touched upon earlier, Allah is the Arabic personal name for God. W.Montgomery Watt tells us that Arab Christians, Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant use Allah as the word for God. In fact he goes on further and teaches us the word Allah is similar to the New Testament ho theos and both simply mean ‘the god’ (1). The meaning of Allah as ‘God’ is also confirmed by Karen Armstrong (5). Interestingly enough, these two famous Western scholars of Islam do not suggest Allah is a ‘moon god’ but these claims come from the evangelical Christian camp that has an agenda of evangelism that compromises their objectivity. I also note there is some confusion and conflation with the fact that the word Allah existed before the Prophet Mohammed’s time on Earth and the Arab pagans’ use of the word Allah. It is disappointing that we have people who lack sound historical and theological scholarship who write propaganda pieces in the form of booklets or internet articles about this issue. It just further illustrates truth in the adage; a little knowledge is dangerous. Yes, we (those who have studied Islam) know that the name Allah was in use before the time of Prophet Muhammed. If we read Ar-Raheeq ul-Makhtum we realise that the early Arabs did believe in Allah as the Only God. This is dated all the way back to the time of Prophet Ishmael who resided in Makkah (Mecca) and learned Arabic as well as settling there(8). He preached the message of pure monotheism; “Most of the Arabs had complied with the call of Ishmael and professed the religion of his father Abraham. They worsh

reply07 / 19 / 2009
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