Why doesn't Allah get more respect?

[Repox]

According to scholars, Allah’s questionable reputation comes from some skeletons in the closet. Muslims can’t seem to shake some ugly rumors. After all, Allah is the greatest, the one and only god. There is no god but Allah, and there never has been any other god but Allah. Except one thing, Allah has not always been the one and only god of Islam. In pre-Islamic times Allah had brothers and sisters, and at one time Allah was the moon-god.

Here is a scholarly statement for Allah, the pagan god.

"The name Allah or Alla was found in the Epic of Atrahasis engraved on several tablets dating back to around 1700 BC in Babylon, which showed that he was being worshipped as a high deity among other gods who were considered to be his brothers but taking orders from him."

Allah - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Here is a scholarly statement based on archeological evidence for Allah the moon god.

"The hard evidence demonstrates that the god Allah was a pagan deity. In fact, he was the Moon-god who was married to the sun goddess and the stars were his daughters. Archaeologists have uncovered temples to the Moon-god throughout the Middle East. From the mountains of Turkey to the banks of the Nile, the most wide-spread religion of the ancient world was the worship of the Moon-god. In the first literate civilization, the Sumerians have left us thousands of clay tablets in which they described their religious beliefs. As demonstrated by Sjoberg and Hall, the ancient Sumerians worshipped a Moon-god who was called many different names. The most popular names were Nanna, Suen and Asimbabbar. His symbol was the crescent moon. Given the amount of artifacts concerning the worship of this Moon-god, it is clear that this was the dominant religion in Sumeria. The cult of the Moon-god was the most popular religion throughout ancient Mesopotamia. The Assyrians, Babylonians, and the Akkadians took the word Suen and transformed it into the word Sin as their favorite name for the Moon-God. As Prof. Potts pointed out, 'Sin is a name essentially Sumerian in origin which had been borrowed by the Semites.'"

ALLAH, the Moon God

Before Islam, Allah was struggling to move up the status hierarchy of pagan gods. Allah was doing well, even becoming top dog in the pantheon of pagan gods. Then along came Muhammad. He gave Allah star status. Allah was no longer just another pagan god, Allah had arrived. Allah now stood high in the sky above all pagan gods. Now we have Muslims declaring Allah to be the God of the Jewish Bible, denying that back then he was just a pagan god. Then, there are those who claim because Allah means God in Arabic it therefore is the Jewish God. To be fair, or objective, shouldn't we acknowledge scholarly sources: Allah was a pagan God, and most famously, Allah was the moon god.

 

[Tarheeler]

How is that different from the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob evolving from the tribal god of the ancient Israelites, who was often worshiped alongside others (idolatry to be sure, but still happening), into the universal and singular God we start to see around the time of the Book of Jonah?

 

[Sleeppy]

How is that different from the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob evolving from the tribal god of the ancient Israelites, who was often worshiped alongside others (idolatry to be sure, but still happening), into the universal and singular God we start to see around the time of the Book of Jonah?

It's not much different at all, is it?

 

[Sees]

We were all pagans once upon a time, regardless how we label and identify today.

 

[Father Heathen]

The origins of all religions are derivatives and deviations.

 

[Repox]

How is that different from the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob evolving from the tribal god of the ancient Israelites, who was often worshiped alongside others (idolatry to be sure, but still happening), into the universal and singular God we start to see around the time of the Book of Jonah?

Not much different, but I don't think Jews or Christians deny their deity history. It's even mentioned in the Old Testament. I don't recall the same comments about Allah in the Quran. The reason why we have an issue is because some vocal Muslims claim Allah is the only God, always has been God, and there will never be another god.

 

[Sees]

Not much different, but I don't think Jews or Christians deny their deity history. It's even mentioned in the Old Testament. I don't recall the same comments about Allah in the Quran. The reason why we have an issue is because some vocal Muslims claim Allah is the only God, always has been God, and there will never be another god.

We can't take people much seriously in regards to their language as THE (One) Holy Language or their land as THE (One) Holy Land. The folly is too obvious.

 

[Tarheeler]

Not much different, but I don't think Jews or Christians deny their deity history. It's even mentioned in the Old Testament. I don't recall the same comments about Allah in the Quran. The reason why we have an issue is because some vocal Muslims claim Allah is the only God, always has been God, and there will never be another god.

That's funny; I've ran across many of both, right here on this site, that claim just that.

 

[sojourner]

Gross absolutes, such as we find in many fundamentalist religious expressions, are fraught with unavoidable embarrassing inconsistencies, because very, very little in human experience is absolute.

 

[Assad91]

La ilaha illAllah

 

[Assad91]

Not much different, but I don't think Jews or Christians deny their deity history.

You must be sheltered.

 

[Repox]

You must be sheltered.

Explain.

 

[sojourner]

La ilaha illAllah

Lie la lie. Lie la lie lie lie lie lie...

Oops; thought we were singing "The Boxer" for a minute.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

How is that different from the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob evolving from the tribal god of the ancient Israelites, who was often worshiped alongside others (idolatry to be sure, but still happening), into the universal and singular God we start to see around the time of the Book of Jonah?

It's not. It's hypocritical to bash Islam for this. Human understanding of divinity is ever-evolving.

 

[Repox]

Lie la lie. Lie la lie lie lie lie lie...

Oops; thought we were singing "The Boxer" for a minute.

This if very confusing. What is truth, and what is fiction? If there are no credible sources, what do we believe? It there are credible sources, we must believe. Otherwise, it's debate with no substance.

 

[InformedIgnorance]

More respect? The concept and claims about Allah would get a great deal more respect (depending on which society we are talking about this could easily be on par with Christianity IMO - like other religions it makes large claims and sometimes contradictory claims on scant evidence making it worthy of no more or less respect than any other belief system at least in general terms - though specific subcomponents and subclaims can be considered more or less praiseworthy) were it not for the behaviour of those who espouse belief therein and the propensity a not insignificant number of adherents (and their supposed leaders) have to demand obedience rather than respect - and to perceive the right to enforce this with violence.

One can have my respect or my misgivings - by demanding my obedience to claims about something I dont believe in, such behaviour and the claims that precipitate them get the later not the former.

Out of respect I personally would choose not to paint a picture of Mohammed (though I consider it absurd to even consider whether or not a non believer does so as important, because the direction was given to believers - to avoid idolatry); but it is not respect that is garnered by threats and acts of violence that occur when someone is disrespectful to you and your beliefs. It is fear and anger and hate and condescension and self-righteousness... Respect does not thrive in such conditions.


edit:
The problem is that at first glance the compliance achieved through respect and the compliance achieved through fear look much alike - so one might be inclined to do those things that they believe will generate more respect - all the while causing more and more fear (along with the accompanying emotions as described earlier); in pursuing the more apparent more forceful approach for compliance they have undermined respect. Undoing that takes a long time and requires consistent vigilant self-auditing; something few communities (particularly ideologically motivated communities) are inclined to pursue.

 

[sojourner]

This if very confusing. What is truth, and what is fiction? If there are no credible sources, what do we believe? It there are credible sources, we must believe. Otherwise, it's debate with no substance.

Credibility is found in common experience and third party corroboration.

 

[Caladan]

Why doesn't Allah get more respect?

His press agents suck.

 

[kloth]

probably because his/her followers have much more of a rep for extreme violence than any other religion is my guess.

 

[ruffen]

Allah would gain more respect if he actually bothered to show us that he exists. That goes for any other gods, as they are all fictional.

But if Allah came down and showed us that he's real, I would at least make an informed decision. But no, like any other God in the history of gods, we are expected to believe despite a complete lack of credible evidence, which makes the God quite the psychopath if he exists.

Luckily though, he doesn't.