Morey makes much of archaeological findings in
South Arabia at Qataban, Timna, and Marib. So he
speaks of
"thousands of Sabean, Minean,and Qatabanian inscriptions which were subsequently translated" (Morey, p. 7).
Wow! Except that I noticed he did not bother to
quote from these inscriptions or tell us what they say. Instead, he immediately moved on
to describe findings in other areas. Hmn. This is quite unlike Morey. I am sure that if he
has some solid evidence he would jump on it. Why so quiet about the translated
inscriptions?
One possible reason is that Morey heard about these but knows not what they say. Another possibility is that Morey found them inconvenient. I much prefer the first possibility, but in any case the findings are inconvenient for Morey. The inscriptions just do not gel with Morey's Moon-god-in-Islam theory. The translated inscriptions are compiled in the book we already referred to: The Ancient Near East, vol. 2, by James Pritchard. These inscriptions show that the Moon-god was not Allah, but Anbay,'Amm,'lyn, and Waddum.
Sabaean inscriptions from Mareb show that they
worshipped Attarand Waddum (see Pritchard, vol. 2, p. 230). Minaean Inscriptions mention Wadd, Waddum and Attar.
Although their lunar god was Waddum, they also sacrificed to Attar (Pritchard, vol. 2 p.
235).
Hadrami inscriptions, as we have already learnt
from Morey's book, reveal that the name of the Moon-god in that region was Sin.
Pritchard's collection of inscrip- tions
confirms this, Sin was "the principal Hadrami lunar god" (Pritchard, vol. 2, p.
238). Here, however, we catch a glimpse of
the identity of the god Attar we heard about from the Sabaean and
Minaean inscriptions. One inscription here reads: ... to Sin, He of'Ilum, and to Attar, his father" (Pritchard, vol. 2, p. 238).
Quite revealing! This shows that the Moon-god
Sin had a father Attar who was also a god. So for these people the Moon-god was not the
high god. This again disproves Morey. Morey
kept telling us
that the Moon-god was the high god among the
pagans. Now we know that he was not only different in name from the high God Allah but
that he also had a father. Allah, of course, was never believed to have a father. A Qatabanian inscription from Timna recognises the god
`Anbay (Pritchard, vol. 2, p. 238). And this `Anbay is "the moon divinity
`Anbay" (Pritchard vol. 2, p. 236). Another god `Amm is also mentioned (p. 237).
One Qatabanian rock inscription is quite revealing.
It shows the name of a previously unknown god written as `lyn, consonants only. What
vowels should complete that word? Pritchard and his contributors observe that `lyn may be graphically compared with the divine epitheton in
the Old Testament, `elyon (`lywn; e.g., Dt 32:8); (Pritchard, vol. 2, p. 239).
So the God of the Bible was worshipped here too. Would Morey make this clear?