A few weeks ago, a fellow came up to me and accused me of worshipping the moon. This was a fascinating revelation, so I engaged the chap. Apparently because the crescent moon is on many of our flags, it was obvious that this is what we did. And indeed, Allah is some derivation of an Arabic word for God.
I asked him did Australians worship the stars and he accused me of being silly.
I thought about it and asked him had he heard about the huge uproar with regards to the cartoon of our Prophet. Yes said he - something of an overreaction on our part apparently. I said that is as maybe. But what sort of uproar do you think the world would have experienced from us crazy moon-worshippers in 1969 when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had gone for a walk all over the face of our God...
He then agreed that the idea of worshipping the moon was perhaps indeed a little bit silly.
Hello dishdash it appears that you have not posted on our forums in several weeks, why not take a few moments to engage in an argument with another member in any one of our forums?
But what sort of uproar do you think the world would have experienced from us crazy moon-worshippers in 1969 when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had gone for a walk all over the face of our God...
I believe this idea of "moon worship" comes from ancient times, when pagan gods were worshipped. In Europe there were hundreds of pagan gods worshipped, everything from Odin to Mithras. The same in the Arab and Egyptian world. From Ra to this particular moon god. Many religious scholars, with a vendetta against Islam, draw a connection between the crescent moon and that particular moon god. Although it is blatantly obvious that Islam has nothing to do with the moon, some people like to make themselves feel superior by falling back on the "moon god" connection. Muslims don't appreciate it, and rightly so. The same way Christians don't appreciate it when someone mentions the various pagan connections to some Christian days of worship.
Many customs in Christianity has a pagan background. Christmas trees, for instance.
It was a common practice in Germany to celebrate the winter solstice. The Catholic Church estimated that Christ was born during the winter solstice, so this day of religious observance blended with more cultural celebrations of winter. Along with the St. Nickolas figure who brought children gifts during the hard days of winter, the same guy I used to wait for behind my couch on Christmas Eve....unfortunately he never showed up, but I recieved gifts anyway..
Also, dyed eggs in Easter was of pagan origin, was it not?
Yes, I believe that was a cultural celebration of spring. It was hard for many in Europe, especially in the beginning, to give up their cultural celebrations. The Catholic Church, realizing that while paganism itself was gone, for the most part, from Europe, the days of cultural celebration were hard to stamp out. So these celebrations took on a Christian dynamic. This is why celebrations like Christmas and Easter, important days to Christendom, also have strange traditions of cutting down a cedar tree and covering it with decorations and pretty lights, or painting eggs for children to find. Very confusing as a child...I had images in my head of a giant rabbit talking to Jesus. I would be happy if these traditions disappeared, because it muddles the point of the observance to begin with. Children connect these days to gifts and giant rabbits with eggs, not Christ. For the most part.
Let us return to the topic. If anybody recalls the topic here is to explain that we as Muslims do not worship the Moon. That is an old myth and misconception.
The purpose of this thread is not to look for fault in any other religion. We only need to show the truth about what we believe.
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