What are the available myths concerning the moon?

Introduction

In ancient time, many ancient spiritual traditions have incorporate in understanding the

object for worships in difference object such as moon, star, planets, sun and so on. People in the

past always see the object that have strong notion as supernatural that those people worship. Like

people in ancient UK worship Stonehenge which is an ancient stone circle with a spiritual his-

tory, and the pyramids of Egypt and Mexico.

Especially the moon is a powerful force of nature. Just step outside in the middle of the night

when the sky is clear and the moon is full and look it for a moment. You won’t be able to deny

that it feels magical and intense and amazing. And people over time haven’t been able to deny

that either. In fact, the moon has been a central part of many myths and legends across different

cultures precisely because of how powerful this part of the sky is. 1

However, there are some religion believe that the moon is just a part of creation of god.

There is no supernatural or god moon in some religion doctrine. In this exploitation paper I will

elaborate about the available myths concerning the moon according Islamic perspective.

1 Vercillo, K. (2016, April 17). 10 Interesting Myths and Legends About the Moon. Retrieved March 15, 2018, from
https://exemplore.com/misc/10-Interesting-Myths-and-Legends-About-The-Moon.
Islamic View of the moon

Islam is a religion that is more concerned with social order and law than with religious

myths, Islam depends less on mythology than Judaism and Christianity. The Oxford Companion

to World Mythology identifies a number of traditional narratives as "Islamic myths". These in-

clude a creation myth and a vision of afterlife, which Islam shares to some extent with the other

Abrahamic religions. The canonical narrative includes two key supernatural events: the divine

revelation of the Qur'an and the Isra and Mi'raj — the night journey to Jerusalem followed by the

ascension to the Seventh Heaven2

However, there are some people claims that Muslims worship crescent moon, because

they see that a crescent moon is found on the flags of Islamic nations. In the fact the symbol of

Islam is the crescent moon does not mean that Muslims worship the moon. The farthest thing

from the Muslim mind is to worship anything or anyone other than God. That would be the sin of

shirk, association of another in worship-a sin that is unforgivable except by repentance. No, the

symbol of a religion is not necessarily an object of worship.

This claiming is stated by Robert Morey, author of The Islamic Invasion, he said that Al-

lah was worshipped as a pagan moon god long before Mohammed came on the scene.

"Islam's origins have been traced back by scholars to the ancient fertility religion of the worship

of the moon god which was always the dominant religion of Arabia. The moon god was wor-

shipped by praying toward Mecca several times a day, making an annual pilgrimage to the

Kabah which was a temple of the moon god, running around the Kabah seven times, caressing an

idol of a black stone set in the wall of the Kabah, running between two hills, making animal sac-

2 "Islamic mythology" on Revolvy.com." Trivia Quizzes. Accessed March 15, 2018. https://www.revolvy.com/main/
index.php?s=Islamic mythology.
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rifices, gathering on Fridays for prayers, giving alms to the poor, etc. These were pagan rites

practiced by the Arabs long before Muhammad was born."3

This explains why the crescent moon is the symbol of Islam. It is placed on top of mosques and

minarets and displayed on hats, flags, rugs, amulets and even jewelry. Every time you see the

Muslim symbol of a crescent moon, you are seeing the ancient symbol of the moon god and he

later argues that the Prophet Muhammad simply continued worship of this moon-god.

With regarding the claiming of Robert Morey, there is no proof at all that the Sabeans were the

dominant religious group before Muhammad’s time. Robert Morey provides absolutely no proof

for this statement of his just like many of the other claims in his book. Morey simply assumes

that if he says something definitively enough, the reader will just believe him. This is how most

myths and hoaxes become so widely spread as facts on the internet.

However, the truth is that the Qur'an and the hadith do not give this significance to the

crescent moon. And this was not known at the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah

be upon him), or at the time of the Khulafa’ al-Raashidoon (the first four leaders of Islam after

the death of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), or during the time of the

Umawis (Umayyad dynasty). It emerged sometime after that, and historians differ as to when this

symbol was first adopted and who was the first to adopt it. Some say it was the Persians, others

say it was the Greeks, and that this symbol was somehow passed to the Muslims.

It was said that the reason why the Muslims adopted the crescent was that when they conquered

some western countries, the churches there had crosses on top of them, the Muslims replaced the

crosses with these crescents, and the practice spread in this way. Whatever the case, symbols and

3 Don't Muslims Worship the Same God as Christians? (n.d.). Retrieved March 15, 2018, from http://www.faithde-
fenders.com/articles/worldreligions/Dont_Muslims_woship_the_Same_god.html.
banners must be in accordance with the teachings of Islam, and as there is no evidence that this

symbol is prescribed by Islam, it is better not to use it. Neither the crescent nor the star are sym-

bols of the Muslims, even though some Muslims may use them as symbols.4

As regards what Muslims think about the moon and the stars, they believe that they are part of

the creation of Allah, and as such can neither benefit nor harm people, and they do not have any

influence over events on earth. Allah has created them for the benefit of mankind.

In addition, Muslims use the appearance of the moon in the sky to mark the beginning and end of

their month of fasting. It is highly fallacious to connect this with moon worship. Many religions

use the moon as their calendar. This does not mean anything for sun-worship. Jews and Muslims

regulate their religious festivals and observance using the lunar calendar.

Furthermore, regarding why is the feast of Ramadan marked by the appearance of the crescent

moon?

God commanded Muslims in the Qur'an to fast from dawn to sunset during the month called Ra-

madan (see Qur'an 2:185, 187). The beginning and end of the month is determined by the cres-

cent (2:189) based on the instructions of God's Messenger, on whom be peace. Why this method

and not another is not for us to say but for God and His Messenger to prescribe. However, I find

it an efficient method. It is a universally applicable method, and it allows for Ramadan to move

through all the seasons. This allows believers to have the pleasure of worshipping God by fasting

in all the various seasons: one year in the summer, some years later in the winter.5
4 "Posts about Symbol on Future Islam → The Future For Islam." Future Islam → The Future For Islam. Accessed
March 16, 2018. https://futureislam.wordpress.com/tag/symbol/.
5 Shabir Ally. Robert Morey's Moon-god Myth & Other Deceptive Attacks On Islam. Islamic Information & Da'wa
Centre International, August 1996. https://queriesonislam.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/robert-morey-moon-god-
myth.pdf.
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Conclusion

Many cultures around the world have interesting myths about the Moon. From Larry Ses-

sions point of view, he stated that

‘’I think that this moon myth, widespread though it may be, is simply a misunderstanding of

what the word gravity means in physics. Every physical body, whether it be the sun, the Earth,

the moon, a human body or a subatomic particle – everything that has substance – has a gravita-

tional pull. While the practicality of measuring your weight (the pull of gravity) on tiny objects,

such as a grain of sand, can be debated, the force exists and can be calculated. Even photons of

light and other forms of energy exhibit gravity. Gravity holds galaxy clusters, galaxies, stars,

planets and moons together and/or in orbit about each other. If every physical thing did not ex-

hibit gravity, the universe as we know it could not exist’’6

It can be show that people in ancient time believe in something that unordinary object that have

strong notion or gravity physical as supernatural.

Moreover, moon in Islam perspective is creation of God same as others creation. And they

do not have any influence over events on earth. Allah has created them for the benefit of

mankind. Even though there are many Muslim countries using crescent moon as the symbol of

their flag. It do not mean that Muslim worship crescent moon. The appearance of crescent moon

on flag on many Muslim countries is a history matter. The revelation of Allah never reveal cres-

cent moon is the symbol of Islam. 7

6 5 Myths about the Moon." EarthSky. Accessed March 16, 2018. http://earthsky.org/space/five-myths-about-the-
moon.
7 Robert Morey's. Accessed March 16, 2018. http://www.islamicity.com/Mosque/moongodmyth/moon_god1-
15.htm.
Reference

1. Vercillo, K. (2016, April 17). 10 Interesting Myths and Legends About the Moon. Retrieved

March 15, 2018, from https://exemplore.com/misc/10-Interesting-Myths-and-Legends-About-

The-Moon.

2. "Islamic mythology" on Revolvy.com." Trivia Quizzes. Accessed March 15, 2018. https://

www.revolvy.com/main/index.php?s=Islamic mythology.
 7

3. Don't Muslims Worship the Same God as Christians? (n.d.). Retrieved March 15, 2018, from

http://www.faithdefenders.com/articles/worldreligions/Dont_Muslims_woship_the_Same_god-

html

4. "Posts about Symbol on Future Islam → The Future For Islam." Future Islam → The Future

For Islam. Accessed March 16, 2018. https://futureislam.wordpress.com/tag/symbol/.

5. Shabir Ally. Robert Morey's Moon-god Myth & Other Deceptive Attacks On Islam. Islamic

Information & Da'wa Centre International, August 1996. https://queriesonislam.files.wordpress.-

com/2011/03/robert-morey-moon-god-myth.pdf.

6. 5 Myths about the Moon." EarthSky. Accessed March 16, 2018. http://earthsky.org/space/five-

myths-about-the-moon.

7. Robert Morey's. Accessed March 16, 2018. http://www.islamicity.com/Mosque/moongod-

myth/moon_god1-15.htm.
KULLIYAH OF ISLAMIC REVEALED KNOWLEDGE AND HUMAN SCIENCE

(USUL AL-DIN AND COMPARATIVE RELIGION)

SUBJECT:

Myth and Religion 

(RKUD 4221)

Semester 2, 2017/2018

Individual Assignment:

Exploratory Paper

PREPARED BY:

MUHAMMADFAHEEM JEHNAE (1327139)

INSTRUCTOR:

DR. HASLINA IBRAHIM

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