Morey thinks that if he can prove that the pagan
Arabs at the time of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)
worshipped the Moon-god and called him Allah, then
he will have proved that Islam is nothing more than a revival of the ancient Moon-god cult
(Morey, p. 15).
Perhaps we can help rescue him from his folly by
pointing to what he has already admitted. On pages 10- 11 of his book he wrote that al-iiah means "the deity." Well, in that
case, when a message about the true God comes to them what are they supposed to call the
true God? The non-deity? Of course they will call Him by the names and titles they already
know for deity. But they will be no longer calling out to their pagan gods although they
are still using the same title or name meaning deity.
If Morey still cannot understand this we can
draw his attention to the Old Testament which uses the
ancient Babylonian and Canaanite name for god
"El." We do not accuse the Old Testament in that case of idolatry. So why does
Morey seek to insult the Qur'an in this way? Or,
we can draw his attention to the New Testament. There God is referred to as ho theos.
Does Morey realize that the worshippers of Jupiter referred also to Jupiter as ho theos?
Would Morey then accuse the New Testament writers of reviving the worship of Jupiter?
Or, read Acts chapter 17. Athens was a major
centre of idolatry, but the people there also worshipped
what they called "an unknown god." When
Paul had an opportunity to address them, he spoke thus:
Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: To An Unknown God. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you (Acts 17:22-23).
Would Morey take issue with Paul for this? You
see what Paul has done. He noticed an altar dedicated to an unknown god and realized that
in addition to all their idols, they also worshipped the true God. Their problem, however,
was that they did not know enough about the true God, and Paul aimed to now fix that with
his preaching. In a similar way the pagan
Arabs worshipped 360 idols, but they also worshipped the true God. Their problem was that
they did not know enough about the true God. So God commissioned his prophet Muhammad
(pbuh) to fix that with his preaching.
The message of Paul to the Athenians and of
Muhammad to the Arabians was not that they should
forget about the unseen god in whom they believed.
The message was that they should come to accurate
knowledge about Him. Alternatively, we may
argue the point using Morey's patent argument, in which we would present the following
facts and then draw a conclusion. This would establish the absurdity of Morey's
Moon-god-in-Islam theory.
Fact #1:
Morey has already convinced us that Moon worship
was prevalent in the Bible region of Hazer in
Palestine,
and the archaeological findings confirm that fact.
Fact #2:
The name of the Moon-god corresponds with El
according to Goon, whom Morey cites as an
authority.
Fact #3:
The Bible tells us that Fl created the heavens and
the earth.
Conclusion from above facts:
Morey must conclude that the Bible recommends
Moon-worship.
Of course Morey will resist this conclusion because
the Bible rejects Moon-worship. But, then, I also resist Morey's conclusion that Islam
recommends Moon- worship. Why? Because the
Qur'an condemns Moon- worship in the verse
which Morey wished to conceal.
That verse reads:
Adore not the sun and the moon, but adore Allah who created them ... (Qur'an 41:37).