Hajj - Pagan Worship of a Black Stone or Moon-god?

Hajj - Pagan Worship of a Black Stone or Moon-god?

Written by Yusuf Estes
Saturday, 04 October 2008

How do I answer these questions (LIES) about worship in ISLAM?

Yusuf Estes provides answers to these
and many more "Lies Against Islam"

1. Why do Muslims pray to a black cube in the desert in Mecca!
2. Why do they kiss a black rock haning on the black cube!
3. How come they do a pilgrimage (Hajj) like some kind of pagan ritual!
4. Why do they pray to a "moon-god" idol - actually inside the cube building (ka'bah)!

Answer:
Begin by following the "Footsteps of Da'wah" by Yusuf Estes:

Be polite and kind and offer to sit together over tea or coffee to have a nice discussion about this subject. Then begin by saying,

1. "Thank you, for asking about my religion"

2. "Islam has two important points for providing answers to questions":
A. Truth - we are not permitted to lie, this means Hell Fire to us and is not something taken lightly by Muslims.
B. Proof - The evidence for Islam is in two parts:

Only the Quran in the original Arabic language
Only the authenticated teachings and sayings of the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, are considered as authorative references for answers to anything about Isalm.
Examine the samples of our evidence [Below]
Evidence #1 - The Quran is taken as the absolute Word of God in Arabic
Examples From Quran (Translated into English from Arabic)

About Shirk (worshipping gods along with Almighty God

The Quran forbids partners with Allah in worship: chapter 4, verse 48
{For sure, Allah does not forgive anyone who makes partners with Him in worship, but He forgives whatever is less than that for whoever He wills. And whoever makes partners with Allah in worship has certainly fabricated a tremendous sin}.

About Lies and Liars

The Quran says lies are a huge sin: chapter 4, verse 50
{Look how they invent about Allah untruth, and sufficient is that as a manifest sin}.

Evidence #2 - The Sayings and teachings of Muhammad are the explanation and clarification of the Quran.
Now here are some examples of the "Hadeeth" from our prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him:
"Whoever says; "There is none to worship but Allah" (sincerely), he will enter Paradise."

On the authority of Anas, who said, I heard the messenger of Allah (prophet Muhammad) say:
Allah the Almighty has said:
«O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind. O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you. O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth and were you then to face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great as its» [related by Al-Tirmithi, who said that it was a good Hadith].

«Whoever is a liar - is not from among us» [Narreted By Al-Bukhary]

It is narrated on the authority of 'Abdur-Rahman b. Abu Bakra that his father said: We were in the company of the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) and he asked us:
Should I not inform you about the most grievous of the grave sins?
(The Holy Prophet) repeated it three times, and then he said:
Associating anyone with Allah, disobedience to parents, false testimony or false utterance.
The Holy Prophet was reclining, then he sat up, and he repeated it so many times we wished that he should become silent. (Bukhari)

"Allah will not even look at the one (on the Day of Judgment) who does not honor his parents."

{Your Sustainer has decreed that you worship none but Him, and that you be kind to parents. Whether one or both of them attain old age in your lifetime, do not say to them a word of contempt nor repel them, but address them in terms of honor. And, out of kindness, lower to them the wing of humility and say: My Sustainer! Bestow on them Your mercy, even as they cherished me in childhood} [17:23-24].

3. "You see, everything in Islam has been accurately documented and preserved for over 1,400 years and preserved in the hearts and minds of those who have consistantly memorized it all, word for word and passed it on in the same manner."

4. "Even if someone tells a lie about Islam, or tries to change Islam in some way, it is easy enough to prove what Islam really teaches as we can refer to the original sources at any time, which we intend to demonstrate in our answers for you now.

5. There are some important facts, long established as part and parcel of Islam, without which a person could not be a Muslim. These essentials will help you in understanding the concept of Islam and the behavior of Muslims much better and could help you in providing answers to any questions about Islam.

Here are some important facts, established as part and parcel of Islam, without which a person cannot be a Muslim at all.

First, to enter Islam or be a Muslim, a person must say, "Ash-hadu an-laa elaha illallah, Laa sharikalah. Wa ash-hadu an-Muhammadar-Rasoolullah" meaning, "I bear witness, there is no deity worthy of worship, except for Allah, and He has no partners, and I bear witness Muhammad is His messenger."
After that Muslims must establish five daily ritual prayers called salat;
fast the month of Ramadan;
pay charity called "zakat" directly to the poor;
and preform the pilgrimage called "hajj".

Muslims must believe in the follow six pillars of faith:
There is only One God, without any partners (details - www.GodAllah.com)

The Angels of Allah
The Books of Allah (The originals of the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Quran)
All the prophets of Allah
The Day of Resurrection (Judgment Day)
The Divine Predestiny of the Universe by Allah's Power (Qadr)

There are three additional items that we find are very effective in presenting answers and helping a non-Muslim to wake-up to the beauty of Islam:

1. Not all questions are really questions, are they? Sometimes people make a statement and put a question mark at the end of it. Consider this 'question' if it came to you; someone says to you, "Answer this question with a 'yes' or a 'no' answer: 'Is your mother out of jail yet?' - and what could you say? Either way you answer it implies your mother has been in jail.

2. I think we agree that we should look to the actual teachings of a religion to understand it, not the statements or actions of some people who claim to follow it without any reference for what they are saying or doing. Make sense?"

3. "Oh, and one finaly point we should agree on, we are all looking for the truth and whenever we come across something that is backed up by evidence or if we discover something we have is false, we should accept the truth and move on in that direction. Right?
So,If while you are listening to the answer to this question aboout Islam, you find that it is actually not what you had thought, and if fact, you like the principles and teachings as a way of life and you see clear proofs with no doubt, do you think you will be prepared to rethink your position on the topic and consider worshipping the One God of the universe?"

"O.K. Now I am ready to get started in answering your particular question about who Muslims worship and how they worship."

"As we have already seen from our discussion so far, Muslims only worship One God, without any gods beside Him. This is the same God of Abraham in the Bible, on the same terms as mentioned in the Book of Exodus and Deuteronomy in the Ten Commandments; "Thou shall not have any other gods besides Me."
[for more details you may refer to or give the link: www.GodAllah.com]

"Let's begin by taking a closer look at your questions. Go ahead, what would you like to ask?"