This answer, was provided by
Sister Heba Ezzat and
Professor
Shahul Hameed.
Dear David,
Thank you for this
effort, trying to understand and support the cause of solidarity
between believers.
Let me start by saying that there is no
revealed or specific symbol for Islam, as a religion. Islam is a
monotheist religion with a pure concept and understanding of The
Creator as a transcendental God. It is fully against incarnation.
That is why the Islamic art and architecture is very distinct and
you would not find any statues or even pictures of Prophet Muhammad
(pbuh).
Even the messenger of Allah was considered a man, who
simply conveyed a message and was never considered an icon of
Islam. A simple symbol is quite different than an icon.
A symbol refers to a meaning, while an icon tries to capture a
transcendental meaning by turning it into an incarnated form. This
idea also is very much related to the Christian claim of Trinity and
the claim of the incarnation of God in Jesus. That is why icons have
a “holy” interpretation in Christian practices and the “embodiment”
of meaning is a common feature, even in their ceremonies. This case
is completely the opposite in Islam, which is highly transcendental;
symbols are symbols! They are just pointing to a meaning and are
never attempting to turn it into an immanent presence. They are
neither trying to capture the sacred into an icon, which embodies
it.
What prompted some Muslims to use the crescent, as a
symbol on their flag, was the starting of the fast during the month
of Ramadan, when the crescent appears. The crescent marks the
beginning of the Islamic months, as Muslims follow the lunar
calendar, not the Gregorian calendar.
The crescent is not a “holy
symbol”. Islam does not believe in any “holy idols” or symbols to be
worshipped! The Holy Qur’an says in Surah 2, verse 189:
*{They ask you concerning the new moons. Say: They are but
times appointed for [the benefit of] men, and [for] the pilgrimage …
… …}*
Lately, some accusations have been spread, which
claimed that the crescent is a “holy symbol” of Islam and that it is
originally a pagan symbol. The Christian apologist, Dr. Robert
Morey, has spread the argument that the pre-Islamic Semitic world
was the home to widespread worship of a moon god or goddess named
"
Allah". The problem with this kind of speculations, about
pre-Islamic deities from the Semitic world, as in this case, is the
fact that any inscription prior to the advent of Islam is also prior
to the introduction of diacritical marks in the Semitic languages.
Why is this a problem? Well, if one claims to have found
evidence of a moon god named "
Allah" in Palestine, Syria, or
Lebanon, this claim applies to the respective deities of both
Christianity and Islam. One of the basic Hebrew words for God,
Eloh, can easily be pronounced
alah without the
diacritical marks. Not surprisingly, the Aramaic word for God is
alah! This word, in the standard script or the Estrangela
script is spelled
alap-lamad-heh (ALH), which are the exactly
corresponding letters to the Hebrew
eloh. The Arabic word for
God,
Allah, is spelled in a very similar way. It is even
related to the more generic word for deity,
ilah.
We
notice here the obvious linguistic and etymological connections
between the respective words for God, in these closely related
Semitic languages. We have, as clear examples:
Allah,
Alah, and
Eloh being related to
ilah,
Eel, and
El, respectively. So, if the tri-theists (or
the Trinitarians) want to claim that
Allah/
Alah was
the name of a tribal moon god, and that worship of such a deity is a
gross pagan practice, they should not trust their Bible for
including this deity in its text! Nor should they believe in Jesus’
calling on this very deity, while on the cross (as per the Biblical
account).
Interestingly enough, here is a Christian writer;
William
Qarraa, who says:
“I received some time ago several
letters, asking about the name of God. ‘Is Allah the name of God or
the name of a god/demon?’ Several people thought that the name of
Allah, linked to Islam, is the God of Islam or the bad god…”
His answer begins thus:
“
The Name of Allah is the
name of the true God:
- The Muslims worship the true God who has been the God of the
Ancient and New Testament. They confess that ‘in order to be a
good Moslem, you have to be a good Jew and a good Christian’, a
statement of confessing to the truth of the other two religions …
… …
- Muslims teach us that there are 99 names for Allah and that
the 100th name is hidden. These names are adjectives of God and do
not tell us the true entity of God. The 100th name may be the one
that really is the name of God…”
In addition, read this
passage from
Shabir Ally’s excellent rebuttal to Dr Morey. He is answering
the following
question:
“Dr. Robert Morey proves in
his book that ‘Allah’ is the name of the moon god worshipped in
Arabia before Islam. Is he right?”
Answer:
The book you refer to is entitled
The Islamic Invasion:
Confronting the World's Fastest Growing Religion. The author,
Dr. Robert Morey, sees
Islam as an invasion into North America
and a threat to his religious heritage. Unfortunately, Dr. Morey has
resorted to dishonest tactics in combating Islam. To prove his
contention that Allah is not the God of Christians and Jews, he
quoted from several books in such a dishonest fashion that the
quotations say the opposite of what we find in those books.
Dr. Morey quoted from the
Encyclopedia
Britannica to support his case. But, in fact it says:
“Allâh is the standard Arabic word for ‘God’ and is used by Arab
Christians, as well as by Muslims.” (
Britannica, 1990
Edition - vol. 1, p. 276.)
Dr. Morey also quoted from H. A.
R. Gibb to support his case. But Gibb actually says the opposite! In
his book
Mohammedanism, Gibb says on page 26 that both
Muhammad and his opponents believed in the existence of a supreme
God - Allah. Gibb further explains this on pages 37-38.
In
fact, Dr. Morey should have checked his references more carefully
before his book went into print. Dr. Morey said that Alfred
Guillaume agrees with him, and he refers to page 7 of Alfred
Guillaume's book entitled
Islam. But here is what
Alfred Guillaume actually says on page 7 of his book:
“In
Arabia, Allah was known from Christian and Jewish sources as the One
God. And, there can be no doubt whatever that he was known to the
pagan Arabs of Mecca as the Supreme Being …”
Thus, I can say
that using the
crescent as a symbol, along others symbols, to
represent Islam is “OK”, conditioned that you are aware that it is
in no way holy or immanent codification of belief.
Islam
is a monotheist religion and its conception of God is highly
transcendental. Thank you, dear David, for allowing me
to clarify and also elaborate further on issues, related to your
question. Keep up the good work you are doing and please, keep in
touch.
