Sunday, November 20, 2005

Bad Moon Rising – Arab Paganism on the march

What the mainstream media and sensitive, feminine politicians won’t tell you about Islam.

by StFerdIII

If you want to upset liberals, and just about anyone else who is sensitive – just tell them this: ‘Islam is based on a Moon Cult’. In fact the Moon Cult nature of Islam explains a lot – from the intolerance of its ideals, to its general violence, to its anti-modern nature. But this is something that the mainstream media never mentions. Islam and the paganism of the Arabian Moon Cult, was simply the ideological motivator for a greater Arabian empire. To understand Islam then and now, one needs to understand the roots of the religion, the life of its founder Mohammad and the pagan nature of the ideology. Islam meaning ‘submission’, is no more a religion than was Communism or Hitlerism. It is a cult of pagan ideals suffused with a swaggering arrogance of invincibility.

The greater Arabian empire and its attendant Moon Cult spread rapidly from 622 AD to the 11th century to encompass most of the Near and Middle East, North Africa, Spain, the Balkans, parts of India and various islands in the Mediterranean. Though the Moon Cult has changed, its core remains the same. Certainly the Arabian empire went through many changes, and Islamic empires dominated by Turks, tribes from Persia or Egyptian sects profoundly changed the power structures within the Islamic world, but the base of the ideology and its pagan roots were and are still the same.

Islam is in fact the pagan Arabian Moon Cult – under a different name. Moon worship was widely practiced in Arabia from at least 2000 BC. Many archeological sites in Arabia and throughout the Middle East attest to the attraction of the Moon Cult. It is not a coincidence that the crescent moon, revered for thousands of years, is the most common symbol of this pagan moon worship. Mohammad who was born in Mecca and gained power through his monotheism named ‘Islam’ would have been quite familiar with the Moon Cult and its symbols.

In Mecca, Mohammad would have worshipped the local god named Hubal - who was Lord of the Kabah [holy structure housing an asteroid rock believed to be fallen from heaven]. This Hubal was a moon god. The image of Hubal was the crescent moon and for 400 years before Mohammad this symbol was placed on the roof of the holy ‘Kaba’. Mohammad took this symbolism and adorned Muslims buildings with the same. This is one reason why the crescent moon is the central symbol of Islam atop of every mosque throughout the world – a symbol taken from pagan beliefs.

But Mohammad could not unite the Arabs if he only used a local pagan deity as his ‘God’. So he needed a higher, celestial symbol. For some 400 years before the birth of Mohammad the Meccan Hubal moon god was referred to as "al-ilah". Al-ilah is not a proper name of a single specific god, but a generic reference meaning "the god". Each local pagan Arab tribe would refer to their own local tribal pagan god as "al-ilah". "al-ilah" was shortened to Allah long before Mohammad began promoting his new religion in 610 AD. It was this word that would allow Mohammad to convince doubting pagans that his Allah was also their Allah. Politically it was a very smart maneuver.

Mohammad thus dropped all references to the name "Hubal" but retained the generic "Allah". As well, being the good politician that he was, and hungry for power to alter his primitive society, Mohammad retained almost all the pagan rituals of the Arabs at the Kabah and redefined them in monotheistic terms. Mohammad was influenced and afraid by the powers of monotheistic Judaism and Christianity. The Christians and Jews had built strong towns and vibrant trade in the Arabian peninsula and were a source of concern for Mohammad and other pagan Arab leaders. It was no accident that Mohammad appropriated parts of both beliefs and suffused them into the existing pagan order. This made it easier to unite the Arabs – offer something new and profound under one leader [Mohammad] but retain the old. It is also no accident that Mohammad wiped out entire Christian and Jewish villages and towns once he gained control of the disparate Arab tribes. Simply put, Judaism and Christianity were monotheistic religions that posed a direct threat to pagan Arabia and Mohammad’s power.

Though he updated the paganism of the Arabs with Judeo-Christian ideals, Mohammad had to maintain stone worship in order to guarantee the loyalty of the various pagan Arab tribes. The most famous stone called Kabah, was a black stone [most probably an asteroid], which was not associated to a particular deity. Mohammad changed this to associate the precious black asteroid with Allah. Stone worship of this variety would be a familiar practice for Arabian pagans who for millennia had been engaged in stone-worship. A politically savvy leader would of course not alter such a ritualized cult of belief. Early Muslim sources also confirm that the worship of the Kabah was developed in imitation of the existing cult at Mecca. [see Islam in the World, Malise Ruthven, 1984, p 28-48, for more information].

So Mohammad cleverly took the pagan moon and stone worshipping cult, sprinkled in monotheism and some main ideas from his competitors – the Jews and Christians – and presented the package as the inevitable state that the world must accede too. Here is a short list of some other pagan rituals, that are incorporated in the Koran which Mohammad kept to ensure a sense of ritual and continuity:

• Pilgrimage to Mecca and circling the Kabah 7 times: Each local tribe of Arab pagans walked 7 times around their own kabah that housed their own black stone [the black stone of Kabah is an asteroid]. Muslims circle the Kabah, claiming that Abraham did such.

• Kissing the black stone: Each local tribe of Arab Pagans kissed their own tribal black stones. Muslims kiss the Kabah black stone but say it was a divine meteorite that fell at Adam’s feet and was rediscovered by Abraham and have linked it with Allah.

• The stone throw at Mina: There was a wide spread custom among Pagan Arabs to throw rocks at little devils. Muslims claim the custom was started by Abraham when he threw stones at the devil.

• "The Run" between the holy places of Safa and Marwa: Arab pagans ran between two holy idols, Isaf and Na’ila as a form of penance. Muslims perform the same running but redefine the meaning to be Hagar [wife of Abraham] running between two hills, looking for water for Ishmael. The hills or pagan idols are transformed to represent holy sites.

• The Praise after the Pilgrimage to Mecca: Arabian pagans praised their dead ancestors after pilgrimages to their place of death. Muslims perform the same praising but redirect the praise to Allah after the hijaz or pilgrimage to Mecca.

• Like the pagan Arabs before them, Muslim also believe in jinn (subtle beings), and some vague divinity with many offspring. Jinn are the "mythical bad guys" of Arab culture. Rather than discarding the wide spread concept of the "Jinn" believed by the Pagan Arabs, Muhammad included this mythical manmade creatures in the Koran.

Today the Koran and Islam are ritualized – much as one would expect from an Arabian Moon Cult. The Islamic world does not have a church hierarchy – one would not expect a pagan culture to create such. The Islamic world is ruled by Sharia law and Umma’s who interpret such laws. This is directly derivative of the Arab pagan cultures which had similar organizations with variations by tribe. Homogeneity of culture, language and law is assumed by Islam. Again hearkening back to the pagan Arab cultures this makes sense. The only language in which you can practice your ritualized Islamic life is in Arabic. The Koran cannot be read or spoken out loud in another language. Islam’s Arabic pedigree is to thank for this and again it makes sense from a historical-cultural viewpoint.

The pagan nature of Islam is rather obvious and pagan linkages help explain the narrow mindedness, intolerance and violence of the ideology. The Arabian Moon Cult, incited by Mohammad has always been warlike, expansionist and dismissive of other cultures. This does not mean that all Muslims are bad, or are terrorists, or are not modern and successful. But it does mean that the core of the ideology is premised upon outdated concepts that might have been appropriate for a political leader to use to unite pagan 7th century Arab tribes in the face of economic and cultural competition from the Christians and Jews – but it is surely an ideology in massive need of reform in today’s, modern, post pagan world.