Allah as a lunar deity

Last updated

Statue from Tel Hazor, misused by Robert Morey to claim a link between Islam and lunar worship. Scholars identify it as Canaanite, likely representing a priest or king, with no connection to Allah. Tel Hazor Statue Misattribution.png
Statue from Tel Hazor, misused by Robert Morey to claim a link between Islam and lunar worship. Scholars identify it as Canaanite, likely representing a priest or king, with no connection to Allah.

The postulation that Allah (God in Islam) originated as a moon god first arose in 1901 in the scholarship of archaeologist Hugo Winckler. He identified Allah with a pre-Islamic Arabian deity known as Lah or Hubal, which he called a lunar deity. Modern scholarship has dismissed this notion as unfounded.

Contents

A similar notion was propagated in the United States in the 1990s by Christian apologists using a 1994 pamphlet The Moon-god Allah: In Archeology of the Middle East by the Christian pastor Robert Morey. This was followed by the 2001 book by Morey called The Islamic Invasion: Confronting the World's Fastest-Growing Religion. Morey argued that "Allah" was a moon god in pre-Islamic Arabic mythology, and pointed to Islam's use of a lunar calendar and the use of moon imagery in Islam as support. [5]

Modern scholars have dismissed the original theory and its popularized form as unevidenced. The whole notion is considered speculative and without basis in the archaeological record of the development of religion on the Arabian peninsula. It has also been labelled an insult both to Muslims and to Arab Christians, as the latter also refers to God as "Allah". [6] [7]

Scholarly views

Hugo Winckler Winckler, Hugo.jpg
Hugo Winckler

Before Islam, the Kaaba contained a statue representing the god Hubal. [8] [9] On the basis that the Kaaba was also Allah's house, Julius Wellhausen considered Hubal to be an ancient name for Allah. [10] [11] [12] The 20th-century scholar Hugo Winckler in turn claimed that Hubal was a moon god, [13] though others have suggested otherwise. David Leeming describes him as a war and rain god, [14] as does Mircea Eliade. [15]

More recent scholars have rejected this view, partly because it is speculation but also because of the Nabataean origins of Hubal, [16] a non-native deity imported into the Southern Arabian shrine – one which may have already been associated with Allah. [14] Patricia Crone argues that "If Hubal and Allah had been one and the same deity, Hubal ought to have survived as an epithet of Allah, which he did not. And moreover there would not have been traditions in which people are asked to renounce the one for the other." [17] Joseph Lumbard, a professor of classical Islam, has stated that the idea is "not only an insult to Muslims but also an insult to Arab Christians who use the name 'Allah' for God." [7]

Christian proponents

Pat Robertson promoted the idea Pat Robertson Paparazzo Photography.jpg
Pat Robertson promoted the idea

Robert Morey's book The Moon-god Allah in the Archeology of the Middle East claims that Al-‘Uzzá is identical in origin to Hubal, whom he asserts to be a lunar deity. [18] This teaching is repeated in the Chick tracts "Allah Had No Son" and "The Little Bride". In 1996 Janet Parshall, in syndicated radio broadcasts, asserted that Muslims worship a moon god. [19] Pat Robertson said in 2003, "The struggle is whether Hubal, the Moon God of Mecca, known as Allah, is supreme, or whether the Judeo-Christian Jehovah God of the Bible is Supreme." [20]

In addition to books and pamphlets, the 'moon-god Allah' theory has been widely disseminated online through visual media such as memes. These often combine unrelated symbols, artifacts, and Islamic imagery to imply a connection between Islam and pre-Islamic moon worship, juxtaposing visual elements to promote these claims.

However, recent research from various sources has proven that the "evidence" used by Morey was of the statue retrieved from an excavation site at Hazor, of which there is no connection to "Allah" at all. [21] In fact, Bible scholar and mission strategist Rick Brown openly disagrees with this approach and said:

Those who claim that Allah is a pagan deity, most notably the moon god, often base their claims on the fact that a symbol of the crescent moon adorns the tops of many mosques and is widely used as a symbol of Islam. It is in fact true that before the coming of Islam many "gods" and idols were worshipped in the Middle East, but the name of the moon god was Sîn, not Allah, and he was not particularly popular in Arabia, the birthplace of Islam. The most prominent idol in Mecca was a god called Hubal, and there is no proof that he was a moon god. It is sometimes claimed that there is a temple to the moon god at Hazor in Palestine. This is based on a representation there of a supplicant wearing a crescent-like pendant. It is not clear, however, that the pendant symbolizes a moon god, and in any case this is not an Arab religious site but an ancient Canaanite site, which was destroyed by Joshua in about 1250 BC. … If the ancient Arabs worshipped hundreds of idols, then no doubt the moon god Sîn was included, for even the Hebrews were prone to worship the sun and the moon and the stars, but there is no clear evidence that moon-worship was prominent among the Arabs in any way or that the crescent was used as the symbol of a moon god, and Allah was certainly not the moon god's name. [22]

In 2009, anthropologist Gregory Starrett wrote, "a recent survey by the Council for American Islamic Relations reports that as many as 10% of Americans believe Muslims are pagans who worship a moon god or goddess, a belief energetically disseminated by some Christian activists". [23] Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) calls the Moon-God theories of Allah evangelical "fantasies" that are "perpetuated in their comic books". [24]

Farzana Hassan sees these views as an extension of long-standing Christian claims that Muhammad was an impostor and deceiver, and has stated: "Literature circulated by the Christian Coalition perpetuates the popular Christian belief about Islam being a pagan religion, borrowing aspects of Judeo-Christian monotheism by elevating the moon god Hubal to the rank of Supreme God, or Allah. Muhammad, for fundamentalist Christians, remains an impostor who commissioned his companions to copy words of the Bible as they sat in dark inaccessible places, far removed from public gaze." [25]

Muslim views

In 8th-century Arab historian Hisham Ibn Al-Kalbi's Book of Idols , the idol Hubal is described as a human figure with a gold hand (replacing the original hand that had broken off the statue). He had seven arrows that were used for divination. [26]

Whether or not Hubal was even associated with the moon, Muhammad and his enemies identified Hubal and Allah as different gods, their supporters fighting on opposing sides in the Battle of Uhud. Ibn Hisham notes that Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, leader of the anti-Islamic army, glorified Hubal after their perceived victory at Uhud:

When Abū Sufyān wanted to leave he went to the top of the mountain and shouted loudly saying, ‘You have done a fine work; victory in war goes by turns. Today in exchange for the day (Ṭ. of Badr). Show your superiority, Hubal,’ i.e. vindicate your religion. The apostle told 'Umar to get up and answer him and say, ‘God is most high and most glorious. We are not equal. Our dead are in paradise; your dead in hell.’ [27]

The Quran itself forbids moon worship in verse 37 of Surah Fussilat:

"Do not prostrate to the sun or to the moon, but prostrate to Allah, who created them." [28] [29] [30]

Islam teaches that Allah is the name of God (as iterated in the Quran), [31] and is the same god worshipped by the members of other Abrahamic religions such as Christianity and Judaism (Quran   29:46). [32]

Pre-Islamic traditions

Before Muhammad, Allah was not considered the sole divinity by the Meccans; however, Allah was considered the creator of the world and the giver of rain. The notion of the term may have been vague in the Meccan religion. [33] Allah was associated with companions, whom pre-Islamic Arabs considered as subordinate deities. Meccans held that a kind of kinship existed between Allah and the jinn. [34] Allah have had sons and daughters. [35] The Meccans possibly associated angels with Allah. [36] [37] Allah was invoked in times of distress. [37] [38] Muhammad's father's name was عبد اللهʿAbd-Allāh meaning 'the slave of Allāh'. [37]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Allah</i> Arabic word for God

Allah is the Arabic word for God, particularly the God of Abraham. Outside of the Middle East, it is principally associated with Islam, but the term was used in pre-Islamic Arabia and continues to be used today by Arabic-speaking adherents of any of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism and Christianity. It is thought to be derived by contraction from al-ilāh and is linguistically related to God's names in other Semitic languages, such as Aramaic and Hebrew.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia</span>

Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia included indigenous Arabian polytheism, Buddhism, ancient Semitic religions, Christianity, Judaism, Mandaeism, and Zoroastrianism.

The Satanic Verses are words of "satanic suggestion" which the Islamic prophet Muhammad is alleged to have mistaken for divine revelation. The first use of the expression in English is attributed to Sir William Muir in 1858.

Shirk in Islam is a sin often roughly translated as 'idolatry' or 'polytheism', but more accurately meaning 'association [with God]'. It refers to accepting other divinities or powers alongside God as associates. In contrast, Islam teaches that God does not share divine attributes with anyone, as it is disallowed according to the Islamic doctrine of tawhid. The Quran, the central religious text of Islam, states in 4:48 that God will not forgive shirk if one dies without repenting of it.

In Arabian mythology, Hubal was a God worshipped in pre-Islamic Arabia, notably by the Quraysh at the Kaaba in Mecca. The god's icon was a human figure believed to control acts of divination, which was performed by tossing arrows before the statue. The direction in which the arrows pointed answered questions asked to Hubal. The specific powers and identity attributed to Hubal are equally unclear.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islam and other religions</span> Muslim attitudes towards other religions

Over the centuries of Islamic history, Muslim rulers, Islamic scholars, and ordinary Muslims have held many different attitudes towards other religions. Attitudes have varied according to time, place and circumstance.

In Islam, the terms ḥanīf and ḥunafā' are primarily used to refer to pre-Islamic Arabians who were Abrahamic monotheists. These people are regarded in a favourable light for shunning Arabian polytheism and solely worshipping the God of Abraham, thus setting themselves apart from what is known as jahiliyyah. However, it is emphasized that they were not associated with Judaism or Christianity—and instead adhered to a unique monotheistic faith that exemplified the unaltered beliefs and morals of Abraham. The word is found twelve times in the Quran: ten times in the singular form and twice in the plural form. According to Muslim tradition, Muhammad himself was a ḥanīf and a direct descendant of Abraham's eldest son Ishmael. Likewise, all Islamic prophets and messengers before Muhammad—that is, those affiliated with Judaism and/or Christianity, such as Moses and Jesus—are classified as ḥunafā' to underscore their God-given infallibility.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yunus (surah)</span> 10th chapter of the Quran

Yunus, is the 10th chapter (surah) of the Quran with 109 verses (ayat). Yunus is named after the prophet Yunus (Jonah). According to tafsir chronology, it is believed to have been revealed before the migration of the Islamic prophet Muhammed and his followers from Mecca to Medina (Hijra), as such, it is known as a Meccan surah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Az-Zukhruf</span> 43rd chapter of the Quran

Az-Zukhruf is the 43rd chapter (surah), of the Quran, the central religious text of Islam. It contains 89 verses (ayat).

al-Lat Pre-Islamic Arabian goddess

al-Lat, also spelled Allat, Allatu, and Alilat, is a pre-Islamic Arabian goddess, at one time worshipped under various associations throughout the entire Arabian Peninsula, including Mecca, where she was worshipped alongside Al-Uzza and Manat as one of the daughters of Allah. The word Allat or Elat has been used to refer to various goddesses in the ancient Near East, including the goddess Asherah-Athirat. She also is associated with the Great Goddess.

Taghut is Islamic terminology denoting the worship of another deity besides God. In traditional theology, the term often connotes idols or demons drawn to blood of pagan sacrifices. The pre-Islamic deities al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā, later also Satan, are associated with that term. In modern times, the term is also applied to earthly tyrannical power.

Muhammad, the final Islamic prophet, was born and lived in Mecca for the first 53 years of his life until the Hijra. This period of his life is characterized by his proclamation of prophethood. Muhammad's father, Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib, died before he was born. His mother would raise him until he was six years old, before her death around 577 CE at Abwa'. Subsequently raised by his grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib, and then his uncle, Abu Talib ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib, Muhammad's early career involved being a shepherd and merchant. Muhammad married Khadija bint Khuwaylid after a successful trading endeavour in Syria. After the death of Khadija and Abu Talib in the Year of Sorrow, Muhammad married Sawdah bint Zam'a and Aisha.

The Quran is viewed to be the scriptural foundation of Islam and is believed by Muslims to have been sent down by God and revealed to Muhammad by the angel Jabreel (Gabriel). The Quran has been subject to criticism both in the sense of being the subject of an interdisciplinary field of study where secular, (mostly) Western scholars set aside doctrines of its divinity, perfection, unchangeability, etc. accepted by Muslim Islamic scholars; but also in the sense of being found fault with by those — including Christian missionaries and other skeptics hoping to convert Muslims — who argue it is not divine, not perfect, and/or not particularly morally elevated.

The Islamic prophet Muhammad's views on Jews were formed through the contact he had with Jewish tribes living in and around Medina. His views on Jews include his theological teaching of them as People of the Book, his description of them as earlier receivers of Abrahamic revelation; and the failed political alliances between the Muslim and Jewish communities.

The Sword Verse is the fifth verse of the ninth surah (at-Tawbah) of the Quran. It is a Quranic verse widely cited by critics of Islam to suggest the faith promotes violence against pagans by isolating the portion of the verse "kill the polytheists wherever you find them, capture them".

[9:5] But once the Sacred Months have passed, kill the polytheists wherever you find them, capture them, besiege them, and lie in wait for them on every way. But if they repent, perform prayers, and pay alms-tax, then set them free. Indeed, Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.[Quran 9:5]

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kaaba</span> Building at the center of Islams most important mosque, the Masjid al-Haram

The Kaaba, sometimes referred to as al-Ka'ba al-Musharrafa, is a stone building at the center of Islam's most important mosque and holiest site, the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is considered by Muslims to be the Baytullah and is the qibla for Muslims around the world. The current structure was built after the original building was damaged by fire during the siege of Mecca by Umayyads in 683 CE.

The Book of Idols, written by the Arab scholar Hisham ibn al-Kalbi (737–819), is the most popular of the Islamic-era works about the gods and rites of pre-Islamic Arab religions. The book portrays pre-Islamic Arabian religion as predominantly polytheistic and guilty of idol worship (idolatry) before the coming of Muhammad, including at the Kaaba, the pre-eminent shrine of Mecca. This, for Al-Kalbi, was a degraded state of religious practice since the pure monotheism that, in Islamic religion, was instituted by Abraham when the Kaaba was founded.

Prophets in Islam are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God's message on Earth and serve as models of ideal human behaviour. Some prophets are categorized as messengers, those who transmit divine revelation, most of them through the interaction of an angel. Muslims believe that many prophets existed, including many not mentioned in the Quran. The Quran states: "And for every community there is a messenger." Belief in the Islamic prophets is one of the six articles of the Islamic faith.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revisionist school of Islamic studies</span> Movement in Islamic studies

The revisionist school of Islamic studies is a movement in Islamic studies that questions traditional Muslim narratives of Islam's origins.

The practice of polytheistic religion dominated in pre-Islamic Arabia until the fourth century. Inscriptions in various scripts used in the Arabian Peninsula including the Nabataean script, Safaitic, and Sabaic attest to the practice of polytheistic cults and idols until the fourth century, whereas material evidence from the fifth century onwards is almost categorically monotheistic. It is in this era that Christianity, Judaism, and other generic forms of monotheism become salient among Arab populations. In South Arabia, the ruling class of the Himyarite Kingdom would convert to Judaism and a cessation of polytheistic inscriptions is witnessed. Monotheistic religion would continue as power in this region transitioned to Christian rulers, principally Abraha, in the early sixth century.

References

  1. ↑ Morey, Robert A. (1992). The Islamic Invasion: Confronting the World's Fastest Growing Religion. Eugene, OR: Harvest House. p. 6. ISBN   9780890819838.
  2. ↑ Yadin, Yigael (1976). "Hazor". In Avi-Yonah, M. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land. Vol. 2. London: Oxford University Press. p. 476.
  3. ↑ Ben-Torr, A. (1993). "Hazor". In Stern, E. (ed.). The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land. Vol. 2. Simon & Schuster. p. 596.
  4. ↑ Keller, W. (1964). The Bible as History in Pictures. Hodder and Stoughton. p. 128.
  5. ↑ Jones, Prudence; Pennick, Nigel (1995). A History of Pagan Europe. London: Routledge. p. 77. ISBN   0415091365.
  6. ↑ Lewis, Bernard; Holt, P. M.; Holt, Peter R.; Lambton, Ann Katherine Swynford (1977). The Cambridge history of Islam. Cambridge, Eng: University Press. p. 32. ISBN   978-0-521-29135-4.
  7. 1 2 "Scholarly Pursuits: Joseph Lumbard, classical Islam professor". BrandeisNOW. Brandeis University. December 11, 2007.
  8. ↑ Hommel, F. Houtsma, M. T.; Arnold, T. W.; Basset, R.; Hartmann, R. (eds.). First Encyclopedia of Islam. Vol. 1. pp. 379–380.
  9. ↑ Glassé, C. The New Encyclopedia of Islam. p. 185.
  10. ↑ Wellhausen, Julius. Reste Arabischen Heidenthums. p. 75.
  11. ↑ Hawting, Gerald R. (1999). The idea of idolatry and the emergence of Islam: from polemic to history. Cambridge studies in Islamic civilization. Cambridge University Press. p. 112. ISBN   0521651654.
  12. ↑ also mentioned in Crone, Patricia (2004). Meccan trade and the rise of Islam. Gorgias Press. pp. 185–195. ISBN   1593331029.
  13. ↑ Winckler, Hugo (1901). Arabisch, Semitisch, Orientalisch: Kulturgeschichtlich-Mythologische Untersuchung. Berlin: W. Peiser. p. 83.
  14. 1 2 Leeming, David Adams (2004). Jealous gods and chosen people: the mythology of the Middle East. Oxford University Press. p. 121.
  15. ↑ Eliade, Mircea; Adams, David (1987). The Encyclopedia of religion. Vol. 1. Macmillan. p. 365.
  16. ↑
    • Fahd, Toufic (1968). Le panthéon de l'Arabie centrale à la veille de l'Hégire. Institut Français d'Archéologie de Beyrouth. Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique. Vol. LXXXVII. Paris: Paul Geuthner. pp. 102–103.
    • Fahd, Toufic (1958). "Une pratique cléromantique à la Kaʿba preislamique". Semitica. 8: 75–76.
  17. ↑ Crone, Patricia (1987). Meccan Trade And The Rise Of Islam . pp. 193–194.
  18. ↑ Morey, Robert (1994). The Moon-god Allah in the Archeology of the Middle East. Newport, PA: Research and Education Foundation.
  19. ↑ Shaheen 1997, p. 8.
  20. ↑ Schmidt, Donald E. (2005). The folly of war: American foreign policy, 1898-2005. Algora. p. 347.
  21. ↑ Juferi, Mohd Elfie Nieshaem (October 15, 2005). "The Mysterious Statue at Hazor: The 'Allah' of the Muslims?". Bismika Allahuma. Archived from the original on February 4, 2019.
  22. ↑ Brown, Rick (Summer 2006). "Who Is 'Allah'?" (PDF). International Journal of Frontier Missions. 23 (2): 79. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 31, 2016.
  23. ↑ Starrett, Gregory (May 2009). "Islam and the Politics of Enchantment" (PDF). Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 15: S222–S240. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9655.2009.01551.x.
  24. ↑ Shaheen 1997, p. 9.
  25. ↑ Hassan, Farzana (2008). Prophecy and the fundamentalist quest: an integrative study of Christian and Muslim apocalyptic religion. McFarland. p. 17. ISBN   978-0-7864-3300-1.
  26. ↑ Peters, Francis E. (1994). Muhammad and the origins of Islam. SUNY Press. p. 109.
  27. ↑ Guillaume, Alfred (1998). The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah (13th ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 386. ISBN   0-19-636033-1.
  28. ↑ Juan Eduardo Campo (ed.). "moon". Encyclopedia of Islam. p. 479.
  29. ↑ "Tafsir Ibn Kathir – 53:19 – English". quran.com. Retrieved May 21, 2021.
  30. ↑ Shakir, M. H. "Ha Mim". The Koran. University of Michigan. Retrieved July 9, 2017.
  31. ↑ "Allah". Allah - Ontology of Quranic Concepts from the Quranic Arabic Corpus. Quranic Arabic Corpus - Ontology of Quranic Concepts. Retrieved July 16, 2017.
  32. ↑ Peters, F. E. (2003). Islam: A Guide for Jews and Christians. Princeton University Press. p. 4. ISBN   9780691122335.
  33. ↑ Gardet, L. "Allah". Encyclopaedia of Islam.
  34. ↑ See Qur'an 37:158
  35. ↑ See Qur'an (6:100)
  36. ↑ See Qur'an (53:26–27)
  37. 1 2 3 Böwering, Gerhard. "God and his Attributes". Encyclopedia of the Qur'an.
  38. ↑ See Qur'an 6:109; 10:22; 16:38; 29:65

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.