Islam Is Repackaged Polytheism: Documentation
The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, ed. John L. Esposito, 1995, p 76-77
|
|
Islam: Truth or Myth? start page |
|
|
|
The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, ed. John L. Esposito, 1995, p 76-77
"The cult of a deity termed simply "the god" (al-ilah) was known throughout southern Syria and northern Arabia in the days before Islam—Muhammad's father was named 'Abd Allah ("Servant of Allah")--and was obviously of central importance in Mecca, where the building called the Ka'bah was indisputably his house. Indeed, the Muslims shahadah attests to precisely that point: the Quraysh, the paramount tribe of Mecca, were being called on by Muhammad to repudiate the very existence of all the other gods save this one. It seems equally certain that Allah was not merely a god in Mecca but was widely regarded as the "high god," the chief and head of the Meccan pantheon, whether this was the result, as has been argued, of a natural progression toward henotheism or of the growing influence of Jews and Christians in the Arabian Peninsula...Thus Allah was neither an unknown nor an unimportant deity to the Quraysh when Muhammad began preaching his worship at Mecca." (The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, ed. John L. Esposito, 1995, p 76-77)
