In the Old Testament, the ancestors of the modern Arabs supposedly came from the loins of Shem, and are a part of the Semite or Shemite line of human history. Shem’s progeny Eber produced two lines of Semites: Peleg’s from which Abraham is descended; and Joktan’s, which contains the names of many Arab groups. Famously many Arab tribes believed that their ancestry arose from Ishmael, the oldest son of Abraham. Apocrypha around Abraham's sojourns to Mecca with Ishmael, to dedicate the asteroid or black Ka'ba rock, abound as Moslem supremacism attempted to submerge Judaism into its own dialectical phaseology and theology.

Ancient Arabian theologies were polytheistic and intimately tied to the various cults of the Semites in Canaan or Israel, and the major regional powers from the urban civilizations in Mesopotamia. These cults were predominantly celestial with the moon idol taking precedence in power and worship. To this celestial pantheon were added various local deities denoting fertility, wisdom, justice, harmony and who might reside in trees, fountains, and especially in sacred stones. These local, tribal gods were always subjected to higher divine power and the three most important divinities in Arabia were Manat, ‘Uzza, and Allat. These three deities were subordinated to a higher idol called Allah meaning 'The Lord' or the chief of the gods.

In pre-Muhammadan Arabia each tribe had its own god or Allah, usually symbolized by a stone. Apostasy was the equivalent of treason and a capital crime. Everyone was expected to uphold the veneration of the tribal gods and partake in the various bronze-age inspired ritualization of life and worship. Not participating in this cycle, or advocating against it, was usually a death sentence.

The Koran mentions the Arab pagan deities in Sura 53:19–20: “Have ye seen Lat, and ‘Uzza, and another, the third (goddess), Manat?” Verses 21–23 state that these goddesses are the daughters of the moon deity Allah [named Baal or Hub'Al in Arabian] and that they are also mere human creations and artifices that divided God into parts. In Koranic theology, the Allah can have no partners, daughters, sons, or intercessors. He stands alone.

Muhammad's problem as he tried to gain political control of Mecca was that these daughter deities were popular. Lat, or al-Lat (“the goddess”), was the sun god; (Uzza, or al-’Uzza (“the mighty one”), the planet Venus; and Manat, the god of good fortune. Other gods mentioned in the Quran include Wadd (another Moon god), Suw‘a, Yaghuth, and Nasr (Sura 71:23). Of these gods, al-‘Uzza appears to be the supreme deity for many in Mecca with Baal or Hub'Al the moon deity or Al-Lah, the highest god or Allahu Akhbar [Allah is greatest]. Henotheism, or the worship of only one god while not denying the existence of other gods existed in pre-Islamic society.

The word Allah never appears in the Hebrew nor Greek scriptures as a name of God. In fact, the only time it appears in the Hebrew scriptures, it is an “Oak tree” .

(Josh 24:26 KJV) And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the LORD. 

[Strongs # 427 Hebrew: ‘allah (al-law’) variation of 424, oak, terebinth]

(Ezek 6:13 KJV) Then shall ye know that I am the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols.

Allah, in Hebrew, refers to an idol of stone or an oak tree. In Arabic, it is the South Arabian Moon god. The crescent moon heralding a new month; and with it the primacy of the lunar calendar [the Koran specifically states that Solar-calendar worshippers must be killed]; was a common symbol for the Allah. Archaeologists have dug up numerous statues and hieroglyphic inscriptions in which a crescent moon was seated on top of the head of the deity to symbolize the worship of the moon god.

This is another reason why Moslem states do not now allow archeological investigation. Islam is derived from a pagan moon cult. Best to keep that a dark secret.