Seven Myths About Islam Part Two

2. The myth: “The essence of Mohammed’s message was to believe in Allah, which is Arabic for God”

The fact: The essence of Mohammed’s message was to believe in HIM not in Allah!

Muslims get shocked when they learn that the word ‘allah’ does not mean God but only a name for a god in the same way that Zeus, Apollo and Osiris are names of gods. Muslims get even more shocked when they learn that the pre Islamic Arabs already believed in God long before Mohammed was born, they even called their god Allah. Let us not forget that Mohammed’s father was named Abdu-Allah. Almost all Muslims have the misconception that the Pre Islamic Arabs used to worship stone sculptures, called ‘asnam’, which they believed to be their gods. This is not true even though some tribes carved stone sculptures to ‘represent’ their gods, but that doesn’t mean they worshiped stones. In Arabia in general, but in Mecca in particular, polytheistic religions were practiced freely alongside the monotheistic religions such as Christianity, Judaism, Sabeans and Ahnaf. Pre Islamic Arabia was an exemplary multicultural society with impressive religious tolerance (1). Freedom of religious practices was a treasured value in Arabia where all the Arab tribes lived in harmony and enjoyed mutual respect. It was Mohammed who introduced religious intolerance to Arabia and it was his followers who introduced it to all places they manage to control.

Mohammed imported the Islamic beliefs and rituals from the other religions in Arabia. Islamic prayers, Fasting and Pilgrimage with all its details, were copied from the existing religions. Mohammed also copied the Islamic sharia law from the existing practices in Arabia, this included practices like circumcision, cutting the hands of thieves and marriage laws. Understandably, Mohammed added his own flavour to those rituals and laws to suit his own personal taste. For example, Mohammed incorporated the Arabs’ tradition of forbidding the marriage between a man and his stepdaughter, but as Zainab, his adopted son’s wife, developed a nice sexy figure, he cancelled the entire tradition of adoption in order to add Zainab to his harem.

At this point, one cannot help but wonder: If Allah was already being worshiped, and if the Islamic rituals were already being practiced, and if the sharia law was already being implemented, what was new about Islam?

A legitimate question that has a simple answer: the only thing new about Islam was the addition of Mohammed’s name next to Allah!

Old Mo was a conartist. I still do not understand a person's need to believe in some supernatural being to have peace in their lives, but muslims are just a hatefilled group. It all comes from the koran, the terrorist training manual.