THE CLAIM OF ROBERT MOREY

THAT JEWS AND THE CHRISTIANS

REJECTED ALLAH AS A FALSE DIETY
The argument that lays the floor work for the people that argue that Allah is a preIslamic pagan deity known and worshipped as the moon-god is their claim that Allah
was alien to the Jews and the Christians and they rejected Him as a false deity. We
find in Robert Moreys The Moon-god In the Archaeology of The Middle East, p. 1
The religion of Islam has as its focus of worship a deity by the name of
Allah. The Muslims claim that Allah in pre-Islamic times was the
biblical God of the Patriarchs, prophets, and apostles. The issue is thus one
of continuity. Was Allah the biblical God or a pagan god in Arabia
during pre-Islamic times? The Muslims claim of continuity is essential to
their attempt to convert Jews and Christians for if Allah is part of the
flow of divine revelation in Scripture, then it is the next step in biblical
religion. Thus we should all become Muslims. But, on the other hand, if
Allah was a pre-Islamic pagan deity, then its core claim is refuted.
The first problem is that the above statement implies that Prophet Muhammad sal
Allahu alayhi wasallam, and in continuation, the Muslims are trying to sell the Jews
and the Christians a lie by saying that Allah is the God mentioned within their
scriptures. This opinion is demonstrated further in his next statement:
Muhammad attempted to have it both ways. To the pagans, he said that
he still believed in the Moon-god Allah. To the Jews and the Christians,
he said that Allah was their God too. But both the Jews and the Christians
knew better and that is why they rejected his god Allah as a false god.
The above sentence is combined with two blatant lies. The first being that Prophet
Muhammad sal Allahu alayhi wasallam was trying to convince the pagans he
worshipped what they worshipped. We know this claim to be false for many reasons
as we will refute shortly. The second false claim is that the Jews and the Christians
rejected Allah as a false god. Our main focus will be on refuting this false premise.

DID MUHAMMAD sal Allahu alayhi wasallam TRY TO PLEASE THE PAGANS?
It is very easy to prove that Prophet Muhammad sal Allahu alayhi wasallam rejected
the idolatrous worship in Arabia and that the Makkan pagans actually rejected Allah.
This can be witnessed by any sensible mind who reads the Quran, the Ahaadeeth, or
the Biography of Muhammad sal Allahu alayhi wasallam, even at a basic level.
Prophet Muhammad sal Allahu alayhi wasallam made no efforts at all to try and
convince the pagans of Makkah that he worshipped what they worshipped, and just to
prove this I will quote a few passages from the Quran.
The following passages can be found in Surat al-Kaafirun:

Say [to them] O disbelievers: I worship not what you worship, nor do you
worship what I worship, and I will never worship what you worship, so to you
your religion, and to me my religion - The Chapter of the Disbelievers Surat alKaafiroon
It is reported in the Seerah compiled by Ibn Hisham , p. 285 , also in what is said to be
Ibn Ihsaqs Sirat Rusul Allah, p. 165, that the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wasallam was
performing tawaaf 1 of the Kabah when al-Aswaad b. Muttalib b. Asad and
Umayyah b. Khalaf approached him and said O Muhammad, worship our Lord for
some time and we will worship your Lord for sometime; if yours is better, then we
will benefit from that and if ours is better you will benefit from that. It was at this
moment that Surat ul-Kaafiroon was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad sal Allahu
alayhi wasallam. It is clear from this account alone that Prophet Muhammad was not
trying to please the pagans by saying we worship the same god. In fact, he made it a
common practice to differ with them at almost every turn! 2
0F

1F

DID THE JEWS AND THE CHRISTIANS REJECT ALLAH AS A FALSE

DEITY?
1

This is the act of going around the Kabah seven times. It is done in the Hajj and the
Umrah
2
this also refutes Robert Morey's claim in which he uses the ayah "Tales of the
ancients dictated to him day and night, for this is an example of how the revelation
would come down in spontaneous circumstances

Dr. Robert Morey also claimed in the above statement that the Jews and the Christians
rejected Allah as a false god. So what name did the Arabic Bible use if it did not use
Yahweh? What did the Jews and Christians of Arabia call their deity before Islam and
after Islam? Well, archaeological documents tell us The oldest Syriac New Testament
dates back to 465 AD [after departure], the Aramaic Peshitta which is written in the
native tongue of Jesus Christ, Aramaic, also uses the name Alaha for God.
Furthermore, the oldest Arabic Bible, the Mt Sinai Arabic Codex 151, which dates
back to 867 AD also uses the name Allah for God. Just this simple fact alone is
enough to destroy Dr. Robert Moreys argument. However, let us look further into
this baseless claim.
The fact of the matter is, the Jews, Christians and Muslims all believe that Allah is the
true universal God. Had Allah been a pagan deity that the Jews and Christians
rejected as a false deity, then surely there would have been record of this in early
Jewish, Christian-Muslim debates. It would have been recorded in the primary and
secondary sources, which include the Quran and the Ahaadeeth, yet we find no such
objections. Not from the Jews, not from the Christians, not even the pagans!
The Quran clearly responds to the Jewish claim regarding parts of their Torah in
which they substituted:

Woe to those who write the book with their own hands and then say This is
from Allah Al-Quran Surah al-Baqarah, ayah 2:79
We can deduce from this evidence that the Jews used to forge scripture and then claim
that is was directly from Allah. We need to ask why would the Jews attribute their
Torah to a pre-Islamic pagan deity if they believed that Allah was a false God? The
Jews heard the Quran directly from the Messenger of Allah and we hear no objection
from them about the name Allah being used for the name of the true universal God.
There is even more evidence from the Quran that the Jews used the name Allah, and
yet there are no historical objections from any of the Jews of Arabia. In the following
ayah from the Quran the Jews claimed that they had made a promise to Allah not to
believe in a messenger unless he showed them a sacrifice consumed by fire, they said:

Allah took our promise not to believe in a Messenger unless he showed us a

sacrifice consumed by fire. Al-Quran, Surah al Imraan .3:183
We can historically deduce from this account that the Jews rejected the Prophet sal
Allahu alayhi wasallam because as they claimed they had made a promise to Allah
not to believe in a Messenger Sal Allahu alayhi wasallam unless a burnt sacrifice was
offered, and this is something that the Jews believe. That the last Messenger appears
he will re-establish burned sacrifices at the third temple mount. Their argument or
rejection had nothing to do with the name Allah. They did not object to the name
Allah at all. We can see further from the Quran that the Jews and the Christians
claimed to be the children of Allah:

And both the Jews and the Christians say we are the children of Allah and His
loved ones Al-Quran Surat ul Maaidah, ayah 5:18
And again we see the Jews using the name Allah for their deity can be seen further in
Surah 2, verse 89, where it is noted that the Jews of Madinah used to pray to Allah for
victory over the pagan tribes in that residence. Concerning this ayah Imaam as-Suyuti
said:
Ibn Abi Hatim narrated through Saeed or Ikrima from Ibn Abbas: the Jews used to
pray for the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wasallam to come so they could be victorious
against the Aws and the Khajaz , before he was sent. Then, Allah sent him from
amongst the Arabs, but they disbelieved in him. They denied and rejected what they
used to say about him.
At this Muadh Ibn Jabaal, Bishr ibn al-Bara, and Dawud ibn Salama said: O Jews!
Fear Allah and submit! For you used to pray for victory with the coming of
Muhammad when we were disbelievers, and you used to tell us that he is a Messenger
soon to be sent, and you would describe him for us.
Whereupon Salaam ibn Mashkam, one from amongst the Jewish tribe of Banu Naadir,
said, He did not come to us with something we recognize, and he is not the one we
used to describe and speak about before - Imaam Suyutis Asbaab al-Nuzuwl. from
al-Itqaan fi Ulum ul-Quran
What we see from this hadeeth is that the Jews rejected the Prophet-hood of Prophet
Muhammad sal Allahu alayhi wasallam yet they worshipped Allah as their deity. This
is because the simple fact that the God of Moses is the God of Prophet Muhammad
sal Allahu alayhi wasallam
Imaam Suyuti also records the exact supplication the Jews used:

Allahumma unsurna alayhim bin-nabi i.e. O Allah please help us (be victorious)
over them with the (promised) Messenger sal Allahu alayhi wasallam Imaam
Suyutis Tafseer Jalalayn, ayah 2:89
On another occasion, the Jews were asked by Prophet Muhammad sal Allahu alayhi
wasallam what would they think if their main priest converted to Islam and upon
hearing that they replied:
May Allah protect him from that Saheeh al-Bukhari, Volume 5, Book 58, No. 275
This Hadeeth is known to Dr. Robert Morey as he quoted from it on p. 61 of his book,
Winning The War Against Radical Islam, however he has chose to ignore this
evidence along with many others, as it would destroy the credibility of his thesis that
Allah was alien to the Jews. Dr. Robert Morey does not want you to know that the
Jews used the name Allah for their deity! He knows full well that their argument was
not concerning the name of God, but, the prophet hood of Muhammad sal Allahu
alayhi wasallam, as the Jews only objection was with the Prophet-hood of
Muhammad sal Allahu alayhi wasallam.
Another example is the changing of the direction of the Qiblah. For many years, the
Muslims faced towards Jerusalem for their daily prayers until Allah sent down a
revelation commanding the Muslims to face the direction of the Kabah in Makkah.
Ibn Ihsaaq reports that the change of direction happened one year and six months after
the Holy Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wasallam and the Muslims had emigrated to
Madinah.
This demonstrates for us that, for so many years the Muslims prayed towards
Jerusalem whilst they were in Makkah! Facing the direction of Jerusalem pleased The
Jews and gave them hope that they could convert Muhammad sal Allahu alayhi
wasallam to Judaism. However, they had lost all hope when Muhammad sal Allahu
alayhi wasallam told them:
All nations are equal before Allah, and Allah chooses whom He wishes for Prophethood and the distinction is not for Jews alone
This belief would have destroyed everything the Jews stood for concerning their
beliefs that only they were to be the trustees and owners of Allahs religion, thus
making them thee chosen ones. Allah shattered their delusions by revealing the
command for the Muslims to change their direction to Makkah. The Jews objected to
this strongly and Allah revealed the verse
The fools among the people say What has made them turn away from the direction
they used to face
It is strange that we do not find the Jews arguing anywhere about the name Allah, but,
something a lot less serious, being the direction of prayer.

The Encyclopaedia Judaica also gives us strong irrefutable evidence that the Jews in
Arabia did in fact use the proper name Allah for their deity. If we look up the name
Abdullah Yusuf, we find the following submission:
Last of the false Messiahs to appear among the Jews of Yemen His opponents (the
Jews) mockingly named him Adu Allah (enemy of God), a play on his name
Abdallah (servant of God). Encyclopaedia Judiaca, Vol. 2, pp. 51-53.
All of the above evidences demonstrate that the Jews used the name Allah before and
after the advent of Prophet Muhammads declaration to his prophetic office. If there
had been a problem with the usage of the name Allah, the Jews would have argued
this point and such an argument would have been recorded either in the texts of the
Ahadeeth or in historical documentation. However we find none. Had it been that the
name Allah was pagan in origin, then the Jews would have strongly objected based on
the ruling in the Torah which states that one should not utter any name of any false
god (Bible, Exodus 23:13).
We can conclude from the above evidences that Allah was indeed the Jewish Deity,
however, what about the Christians?
The Christians also raised many objections against Islam but we find it was never
once about the name Allah. It is reported that the Christians of Najran listened
attentively to Mughirah Ibn Shubah radiy Allahu anhu reciting the verses of the
Quran that relate to Mary alayhaa as-salaam and the birth of Jesus alayhi as-salaam
After hearing the recitation of the Quran they objected to Mary being referred to as
O sister of Aaron accusing Prophet Muhammad sal Allahu alayhi wasallam of
Anachronism [getting two historical characters timelines confused].
They never objected to the passages which quote baby Jesus alayhi as-salaam as
saying:

Indeed I am a servant of Allah (Abdullah). He has given me the Scripture and
made me a prophet Quran, Surah Maryam [19]: ayah 30
The Christian king Negus had these very same passages recited to him and he made
no objections in regards to the name Allah either. [see Ibn Hisham Seerah/ Ibn Ihsaaq
Sirat Rasul Allah]
Let us also recall the sixty Christian riders from Najran who visited and had a direct
dialogue with Prophet Muhammad sal Allahu alayhi wasallam. They had many
disagreements with the Prophet Muhammad sal Allahu alayhi wasallam but Allah

being the true name for God was never one of them. They were refuted for their
notion of Trinity in a very clear cut manner, the very passage that says

Innama al maseehu isaabn maryam rasoolullahi wa kalimatuhu i.e. Jesus the
Messiah, son of Mary is only a Messenger of Allah and His word Surah anNisaa, ayah 171
Note here that we fail to find one Christian in any historical account who says Wait a
minute, hold it right there! You said Rasoolullah! Allah is not Gods name! You
must have it confused, why are you saying Jesus is the Messenger of the moon-god?
In fact, we find in the Quran and other historical documents the Christians argued
that Jesus was Allah, and they still use this very argument to this day. Furthermore,
one of the Christians of Najran had the name Abdullah i.e. servant of Allah, and he
may have been born well before Muhammads sal Allahu alayhi wasallam declaration
to Prophet-hood. Ibn Ihsaqs Sirat Rasul Allah by Alfred Guillaume, Oxford
University Press, pgs. 270-277
LIKEWISE, WE FIND NO OBJECTIONS FROM THE PAGANS!
Had Allah been a pre-Islamic pagan deity housed inside of the Kabah, then the
pagans of Makkah would have been the first to object to the idea that Allah was the
same God that the Jews and the Christians worshipped. They would have been the
first to argue that Prophet Muhammad sal Allahu alayhi wasallam was trying to pull
the wool over the eyes of the Jews and the Christians. They would have jumped to
this chance to call Prophet Muhammad sal Allahu alayhi wasallam an imposter, a liar.
This would have been the perfect opportunity for the pagans to disprove Prophet
Muhammads sal Allahu alayhi wasallam beliefs, especially in the court of Negus, as
mentioned before. However these arguments are conspicuously absent from the texts
of the Quran and the Ahadeeth, or any historical documentation.
Overall, these few examples demonstrate that even though the Jews, Christians and
the pagans made objections, they shared a common belief in Allah as being the true
universal God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth. Dr. Robert Morey confirms
that the only challenge to the Quran that the infidels put forth was the claim that the
Quran is just a bunch of tales from the ancients:
But the unbelievers say, This is nothing but a lie which he has
forged, and other have helped him do it Tales of the ancients, which
he has caused to be written; and they are dictated before him morning
and evening Quran S.25:4-5

However look more closely at this claim for Dr. Robert Morey says:
The authors of the Quran assumed that everyone already knew of these
things and thus no explanation was needed Winning The War Against
Radical Islam p. 5
Dr. Robert Morey further documents on pgs 7-8 of this said work, that the Quran is
composed of Jewish and Christian myths. Notice very closely that there was no
objection was from the infidels claiming that Prophet Muhammad sal Allahu alayhi
wasallam had transformed their pagan deity to the God of the Jews and the Christians.
Reason being is that the pagans already believe that Allah, the supreme God of the
universe was the same God that the Jews and the Christians worshipped. This is
clearly seen from the following ayah from the Quran:

Say: Who provides you from the sky and the earth? Or who owns his hearing
and sight? And who brings out the dead from the living? And who disposes the
affairs? They [the pagans] will say Allah. Say: Will you not then be afraid of
Allahs punishment [for setting up partners with Allah]. Surah 10 ayah 31
This understanding is also seen in Imaam Muwaafaq ud-Deens lumat ul-Itiqaad:
The Holy Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wasallam said to Hussain: How many deities do
you worship? He replied: Seven! Six in the earth and one in the heavens The
Messenger of Allah sal Allahu alayhi wasallam then asked him another question:
Which one do you turn to when you feel frightened or terrified or have a need to be
fulfilled? The man said: He who is in the heavens So the Messenger of Allah sal
Allahu alayhi wasallam said: Abandon the six and worship He who is in the heavens
and I will teach you two supplications Upon hearing this from the Messenger of
Allah sal Allahu alayhi wasallam the man then embraced Islam and learnt from the
Holy Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wasallam the following supplication: O Allah inspire
me and guide me and protect me from the evilness of my soul Sunan at-Tirmidhi,
Kitaab ud-Daawaah, hadeeth no. 3483. The whole quotation of this paragraph is
found in the classical text Lumat ul-Itiqaad p. 45, translated by Andrew Sanders,
Saladin Publishing 2009

Therefore it is clearly seen that the pagan Arabs did believe Allah to be the true
universal deity The one in the heavens and none of them ever understood Allah to
be a stone pagan deity housed in the Kabah as Robert Morey wishes you to believe.
Although, they believed in Allah, their disbelief was due to associating partners to
Him. Robert Morey wants to lead you to believe that Allah was once a stone deity.
However it is clear from the evidence I have presented that Allah is the God of the
Jews Christians and they had no objections to that.
THE EARLY CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM DEBATES
In a previous discussion, Robert Morey accused me of making a factual error when I
posed the question why has no objection been made by the Jews and the Christians
of Arabia in regards to the name of Allah? instead of answering the question, he
replied by saying:
You have committed a factual error in that you do not know the early
debates between Christians and Muslims where the name Allah was
rejected as pagan.
The book that Robert Morey refers to is an edited version of the early ChristianMuslim dialogue by al-Kindi `Abd al-Masih ibn Ishaq. This is best known as The
Apology of al-Kindi and it documents an early Muslim-Christian debate in which
letters were exchanged between a Muslim theologian and Abd ul-Maseeh al-Kindi.
This text has been translated from the Arabic manuscript by Sir William Muir in
1880 [Risaalah 'Abdullah Bin Isma'el al-Hashimy ilaa 'Abdul-Maseeh Bin Ihsaaq alhttp://www.jesus-forKindi.]
This
text
can
be
downloaded
at
all.net/hewar_adyan/pdf_266.pdf. N. A. Newman later edited the English of this text
adding a few comments of his own. Robert Morey has referred to this book in his
The moon-god in the Archaeology of the Middle East on page 13.
So what do we learn from this book?
Firstly, al-Kindi uses the Arabic basmalah which Arabic speaking Jews, Christians
and Muslims commonly did. This is to begin the book in Allahs name by saying
Bismillahi i.e. In the name of Allah!
The reply of al-Kindi is introduced thus The Christian [al-Kindi] answered him
[the Muslim scholar he was debating] In the name of Allah the Merciful which in the
original Arabic manuscript of this apology is Bismillah ar-Rahmaan arRaheem
[See the apology of al-Kindi translated by Sir William Muir, p. 16 and the Arabic text
Risaalah 'Abdullah Bin Isma'el al-Hashimy ilaa 'Abdul-Maseeh Bin Ihsaaq al-Kindi
The
Arabic
can
be
clearly
seen
at
http://www.jesus-forall.net/hewar_adyan/pdf_266.pdf on p. 41]
Not only this, but we find al-Kindi prefixing the name Allah with the Arabic word
taalaa which translates into English as The Almighty so all along al-Kindi is

saying Allah is the Almighty. Even the Biblical quotes that al-Kindi utilizes contain
the name Allah as the name for his supreme deity. This factor destroys Robert
Moreys claim that Allah was rejected as a pagan deity. This really does tear apart his
claim that:
The Jews and Christians rejected Allah as a false god The
moon-god in the Archeaology of the Middle East p. 13.
Especially given the fact Robert Morey then goes on to quote from al-Kindi directly
after this statement. This only demonstrates that Robert Morey has not carefully read
the text in English, let alone Arabic. Let us look at how he quotes al-Kindi to his own
agenda:
Al-Kindi, one of the early Christian apologists against Islam, pointed
out that Islam and its god Allah did not come from the Bible but from
the paganism of the Sabeans. The moon-god in the Archaeology of the
Middle East, By Robert A. Morey, p. 13
Robert Morey wants us to believe that al-Kindi is suggesting that Allah is a pagan
deity who is unknown to the Bible, however we have successfully demolished this
claim with overwhelming factual evidence. However, let us see what Sir William
Muir understands from al-Kindis statement:
His friend [Al-Hishamy] had invited him to embrace the Hanyfite, faith
of Abraham, their common father. Our Apologist answers that the
Hanyfite faith was in reality the idolatrous religion of the Sabeans, which
the patriarch professed before his conversion to the worship of the one
true God. The Apology of Al-Kindy, 2nd Edition, page 41
We see from Sir William Muirs commentary that Al-Kindy alleges that the Hanifite
faith of Islam, i.e. the Abrahamic faith, stems from the paganism of the Sabeans, then,
he further alleges that Abraham was of this idolatrous religion until he turned in his
worship to the one true God. He is not saying Allah is a pagan deity, he is saying that
Abraham used to worship pagan deities before his conversion.
In Islam we know this to be untrue as the Quran clearly states that Abraham was
never one of the idolaters in many places, as the Quran says
Wa maa kaana minal mushrikeen He, Abraham was not one of the pagans
I would like the readers to take note what Sir William Muir writes in the footnote to
this point:
But the only argument in this passage as to the propriety of circulating
or translating which I have doubts is that in which he asserts the Hanyfite
religion of Abraham to have been, not the Catholic faith of the Unity (as
is clearly intended in the Coran) , but Sabean idolatry. To support this

view, our Author twists texts of the CoranMahometan readers will

with reason object to such misrepresentation of their Scripture. Ibid
page 43.
Please take special care in noticing how Sir William Muir freely admits that he,
himself, doubts what al-Kindi has asserted regarding the alleged paganism of
Abraham, due to Al-Kindis deliberate twisting and misrepresentation and cherry
picking of the Quran to deceive the readers into arriving at his own concocted
conclusion that Abraham was formerly a pagan. [He uses the ayahs from the Quran
6:74-82, however it must be understood clearly that Abraham was making an example
to his people in order to lead them to the One true God and he was never one of the
mushrikeen as proven in Surat ul-Baqarah (2), ayah 135]
Therefore the integrity of Al-Kindi is questioned, not by the Muslim but by a
Christian Missionary. Al-Kindi only alleged that Abraham was formerly a pagan and
attempted to cherry pick ayahs from the Quran to prove his case. How then has
Robert Morey managed to derive without any hard solid evidence to back up his
theory that somehow al-Kindi has implied that Allah was the Sabean Moon-god?
Robert Moreys referral to the early Christian and Muslim debates has failed dismally,
and the evidence i against his thesis, not with his thesis.
Robert Moreys deceptive style of quotation does not stop here as he then tries to
conclude from the evidence we just refuted that Dr. Newman concludes his study of
the early Christian-Muslim debates by stating:
Islam proved itself to bea separate and antagonistic religion which
had sprung up from idolatry. moon-god booklet, p.13
However, Dr Newman actually wrote:
The first three centuries of the Christian-Muslim dialogue to a great
degree moulded the form of the relationship which was to prevail
between the two faiths afterward. During this period, Islam proved
itself to be less a wayward sect of the Hagarenes, from a Christian
perspective, and more a separate and antagonistic religion which had
sprung up from idolatry. N. A. Newman (Ed.), The Early ChristianMuslim Dialogue: A Collection Of Documents From The First Three
Islamic Centuries (632 900 A.D.) Translations With Commentary,
1993, Interdisciplinary Biblical Research Institute: Hatfield (PA), p.
719.
Dr Robert Morey conveniently left out that the idea that Islam originating from
paganism is from a Christian perspective i.e. this is a point of view, and does not
serve as evidence, nor does it have any citations to even strengthen this bias Christian
perspective. Unfortunately, Dr Robert Morey has misunderstood and misused the
evidences al-Kindi to form baseless assumptions and misinterpretation of what the

text actually says. Once again, we are to find this unscrupulousness all too common
when it comes to Dr. Moreys truthful integrity and careful scholarship.
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