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Moon God Misconception

Qur'an 41:37 Literal Translation said:
And from His verses/evidences/signs (are) the night and the daytime and the sun and the moon, do not prostrate to the sun and nor to the moon, and prostrate to God who created them (B), if you were/are (only) Him worshipping.

Some argue that muslims worship a moon deity that pre-Islamic Arabs worshiped. There are a variety of problems with this argument, but let us focus on a few.

First the verse above tells us to not worship the moon in any capacity, but to worship the creator of our universe (Who also created the moon).

Second, consider the following (Some viewers probably lack the patience to read all the following. So just read my commentary at the end):

Source - Allah - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Source - Pre-Islamic Arabia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Note the uncertainty on the subject matter of Pre-Islamic Arabian religion.

Interestingly enough, whether by mistake or otherwise, the name "Allah" does not appear on the list of Pre-Islamic Arabian gods. The feminine "Allat" does appear.

Notice that another name is even shown for a lunar deity: Aglibôl

Source - Arabian mythology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Source - Aglibol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Third, all of language abstracts real world concepts, whether material or otherwise. When someone says a word it carries a meaning with it that is established in theory by common usage. However, it is possible for the meaning to change over time, be mistaken, and/or be misused. When a muslim today uses the Arabic word "Allah" they are not thinking about the pre-Islamic deity. The literal meaning of the word (The god) remains, but the application of the word has changed. Consider the following example in relation to proper names (The word "Allah" can be used both as a proper name or as a noun). If we meet a man named Joseph and several days later meet another different man named Joseph, then the proper name "Joseph" could be used to identify both men. Granted the situation could become confusing, but if the person saying the word "Joseph" clearly identifies that he is talking about a certain person the listening party is familiar with, then using the same proper name to identify different people is not a problem. Muslims clearly identify what they mean when they use the word "Allah". Disregarding the clarification and proclaiming we are talking about something else isn't a sound response.

Bottom line - Muslims do not worship a lunar (Moon) deity from the pre-Islamic era.