This should shed some more light on the picture.... Steve
I don't understand how you can possibly ask me to stick to one subject at a time when you're jumping to attacking Islam when our original discussion was on the contradictions in the Bible. I assume you cannot answer them and have turned to this form of opposition.
Since I cannot let your assertions go unanswered, you have once again managed to divert attention away from the Bible and back to Islam.
When I read the article you posted I was saddened. Not because I could not answer but because I knew people would read it and forget investigating Islam further taking the author's words as revelation.
What irritates me is that none of you know anything about the history of Islam. You are simply posting articles and taking what they say as truth. They are no different than the racist articles Emile has posted against the Jews. I know of plenty of false articles on Christianity and Judaism.
I mentioned this earlier but it is worthy of mention again. In America, if you are in a Library or Bookstore or whatever, you can find many articles and books against Islam. Many that contain much inaccurate information as the one that has been posted here demonstrates. If you ask why that article or book is being published or sold, the Library Employee will tell you this: "What do you care? It's against Islam isn't it? True false, what's the difference? It's against Islam."
The motivation behind these people's acts is claimed to be justified by Paul: "If I tell a lie, and God is glorified, what's the harm?" Paraphrased of course but the verse can be found in Romans (may have been Acts) chapter 3.
Maybe that's not what Paul meant but there are those that take his statements that way. And we find one such as the one below. So as a reminder, I assure you this article has many lies against Islam and none of them are true. It seems to be designed for the Person that won't investigate further to try and comfort them. I have corrected the article below based on my knowledge of the rise of Islam derived from books I have read as well as many courses I have taken at a University:
The evidence reveals that the temple of the Moon-god was active even in the Christian era. Evidence gathered from both North and South Arabia demonstrate that Moon-god worship was clearly active even in Muhammad's day and was still the dominant cult.
This is totally false (and I have proof). In Muhammad's (Pbuh) time, there was no moon god nor were there displays of Crescent and Stars. So where did the Crescent and Star come from?
During the Byzantine Empire, the city of Byzantium (a.k.a. Constantinople and Istanbul) was dedicated to Diana, goddess of the hunt. The crescent was the symbol of Diana. In 330 CE, Constantine rededicated the city to the virgin Mary, whose star symbol was added to the previous crescent (thus the birth of a crescent and star). When the Turks took possession of Byzantium, they found lots of crescent flags and adopted it as a symbol of good omen. In 339 BC, Philip Macedon (the father of Alexander the Great) was thwarted from overtaking the city of Byzantium because his army was spotted due to a bright crescent moon.
"The Star and Crescent" was first hoisted on behalf of the Muslims by Mahomet II, after the capture of Constantinople in 1453 CE, 700 odd years after Muhammad (Pbuh) received his revelation. Prior to that, it was common on the arm of knight and esquires. A star within a crescent was a bade of Richard I, 250 years before Constantinople fell. They quit using it when the Muslims began using it as a banner. The origins, however, were never tied to Islam in any shape, way or form.
So what type of symbol did Muhammad (Pbuh) have?? It was reported by his followers that the Prophet used a sable curtain which hung in the chamber of his wife. In the center, was written "Nasr um min Allah" which meant "The Help of God."
The Kabah housed 360 idols that the Arabs of that time worshipped. Each tribe worshipped a certain idol. There was no moon god. Not one. There was no talk of a moon god either. They did not refer to any of the gods as "Allah" as that is contradictory in nature in the Arabic vernacular. The author of this article seems to be ignorant of what the actual translations of the words mean.
The Crescent and Star were used by other groups across the world. As the archaeology suggests, Indian tribes for example used the common insignia. Many cultures use stars for representation whether they are ignorant of its origins. Look at the American flag sporting 50 stars. No one ever says "Look! The Americans must be idolators for the star represented a moon god from Ancient Egypt!"
What's important to note here is as stated above, Islam is not identified by the Crescent and Star. It was adopted by the Turks long after the 7th century and simply was carried on. Most Muslims believe using any symbol as a means of representation is forbidden in Islam. It's not because they are worshipping the symbol but it can lead to idolatry. As an example, no pictures of Muahammad (Pbuh) exist. None. He forbade any picture being drawn of him because of the fear that over time, people would begin to worship his image (as many people have done from various religions).
So coming back to our original subject, what does all this have to do with the symbol of the star and crescent? Well, for one thing, both symbols come from the false worship or adoration for something other than God (but as I stressed, there never was a "moon" god nor is the star and crescent derived from the Prophet's time. Neither existed then!).
There are many nations and religious organizations today that identify themselves as being Muslims by the use of the two symbols, and yet we can see by their deeds that they are totally UnIslamic.
The majortiy of the assertions made by this article can easily be seen to be false. For example, it says
While they believed that Allah, i.e. the Moon-god, was the greatest of all gods and the supreme deity in
a pantheon of deities, Muhammad decided that Allah was not only the greatest god but the only god. In effect he said, "Look,
you already believe that the Moon-god Allah is the greatest of all gods. All I want you to do is to accept that the idea that he is
the only god. I am not taking away the Allah you already worship. I am only taking away his wife and his daughters and all the
other gods."
This was never a statement of Muhammad (Pbuh) nor did he say anything resembling it! There was never an "Allah" that was worshipped before Muhammad's time. There was no supreme "god" of the 360 idols. All tribes of that time worshipped different gods. When Muhammad (Pbuh) began preaching that Only One God existed, the Meccan Chiefs offered him a compromise. They told him that they would agree to make this "Allah" an idol to be placed in the Kaaba. That's historical fact and is well documented.
Now, if "Allah" already existed, then there would be no need to make him an idol. What sense does it make for a moon god to exist and then for Muhammad (Pbuh) to begin attributing to this moon god ideas that it created Adam and Eve? Created Jesus from its Holy Spirit? Had an angel by the name of Gabriel that delieverd Messages for God?
None! As I stated earlier, Muhammad (Pbuh) was trying to be killed because he condemned the Tribes for their worship of any of the idols. In Islam, the worst sin one can comitt is "Shirk" which classifies as Idolatry - taking partners with the Only true God. To believe that God is an idol or was an idol is contrary to everything Islam teaches. As I showed earlier, the Crescent was never even used by Islam until 1453. It had no place in Mecca, even among the idols.
Muhammad (Pbuh) was driven out of Mecca and into Medina, a city roughly 300 miles north of Mecca. Upon his return to Mecca, The Prophet went directly to the Kaaba and destroyed each of the 360 idols. The Prophet pointed at each idol with a stick he had in his hand and said, "Truth has come and Falsehood will neither start nor will it reappear" [Qur'an 17:81]. And one by one the idols fell down. The Ka'bah was then cleansed by the removal of all three hundred sixty idols, and it was restored to its pristine status for the worship of One True God (as built by Prophets Abraham and Ishamel).
So is the Kaaba this horrific house of Pagan worship? No. Muslims believe that the Kaaba was built by Abraham and his son Ishmael as the first place of worship for the One and True God. I could go into evidence of this from the Bible but it seems everyone is focused on attacking Islam at the moment.
Many years after Abraham and his sons, Pagan people came and destroyed the House that had been Built for God and replaced it with idolatry. So for those that think Muhammad (Pbuh) simply changed the idolatry ways to Monothesim, they are incorrect. Muhammad (Pbuh) reinstated the true religion of Abraham and cleansed the Kaaba of the idols that lay in it. So the Kaaba was originally built for God.
So, for a little proof from the Bible of what I have stated:
"And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, [with] a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground."
Isaiah 21:9
Babylon did indeed fall before Islam and the Islamic nation under the guidance of Muhammad (pbuh) did indeed succeed in eradicating the worship of idols from Babylon replacing it with the worship of God alone. In fact, the Muslims were the only believers in the God of Isaiah to ever succeed in fulfilling this prophesy
Continuing ...
"The burden upon Arabia ..."
Isaiah 21:13
What does the word "burden" mean? Let us ask the Scofield Study Bible:
".which also means an oracle is a word sometimes used in the prophetical writings to indicate a divine message of judgment"
Scofield Study Bible New King James Version, note 1, p. 792
So the Muslims of Arabia (and subsequently Muslims everywhere) would be assigned the burden of God's message.
"The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was thirsty, they prevented with their bread him that fled. For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war"
Isaiah 21:14-15
Tema, according to John McKenzie's dictionary of the Bible is
"a place name and tribal name of Arabia; a son of Ishmael.... The name survives in Teima, an oasis of the part of the Arabian desert called the Nefud in N Central Arabia."
This word, Tema, is the name of the ninth son of Ishmael (the father of the Arabs), in Genesis 25:13-15 we read:
"And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam, And Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa, Hadar, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah"
Strong's concordance tells us that this name was also applied to the land settled by Tema the son of Ishmael. It goes on to explain how this word is "probably of foreign derivation". Indeed, this word, Teima, is an Arabic word which means "Barren desert". It remains the name of a city in the Arabian peninsula just north of "Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah," or "Madinah" for short. Muhammad (pbuh) and his companions were given sanction to migrate. They departed Makkah during the night and left all of their possessions behind. Upon reaching Madinah they were greeted by it's citizens with open arms and Muhammad (pbuh) assigned each one of the Muhajireen (citizens of Mecca) to one of the Ansar (citizens of Madinah) to house and feed them until they could strike out on their own. This became the first year of the Arab "Hijra" (Emigration) calendar used in Islamic countries to this day.
"For thus hath the LORD said unto me, Within a year, according to the years of an hireling, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail. And the residue of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be diminished: for the LORD God of Israel hath spoken [it]."
Isaiah 21:16-17
Kedar* is the second son of Ishmael, the father of the Arabs:
"And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam."
Genesis 25:13
Kedar is also synonymous with all of Arabia in general, as in Ezekiel:
"Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar."
Ezekiel 27:21
The Arabs of Makkah, the capital of the paganistic tribes of Arabia of the day, were indeed defeated by the Muslims in the second year after their forced immigration from Makkah to Madinah (The Hijra) just as this prophesy in Isaiah stipulates. This victory signaled the turning point for Islam and a transition from a position of weakness to one of power and victory.
That's all for now. I would like to get back to our original discussion but I'll leave what we talk about up to you.
May the Peace and Blessings of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful, Be Upon You,
Ray |
