Do
Muslims Worship The Moon God? Refutation To The Myth By Etymological Evidence
Mohd
Elfie Nieshaem Juferi
Christians who try to
claim that Allâh ( )
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 "Allâh" 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 "Allâh".
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 "Allâh" 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:
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 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:
 [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, Allâh () , 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. Allâh, Alah, and Eloh being related to Ilah, Eel,
and El, respectively). So, in conclusion, if monolingual tri-theists want to claim
that Allâh/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.
 [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 Allâh being a moon god. For, if Allâh 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 Allâh 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'ân
Robert Morey's Deceptive Methods (The Moon God
Lie)
Allâh is the RIMMON of Syria? A
Reply to Christian Mendacity
External
Links
 A Christian Arab's View On "Who Is
Allâh"
Why Do Many Arab Christians Refer
to God as "Allâh"?
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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