Suffering through the Koran, Sura 53, 'The Star'.

Since the ideology of submission mandates ritualization and mindless recitals, most Muslims know nothing about the ancient Arab moon cult and celestial worship which informs all of Islamic political theology. This Sura confirms that fact. The Arab moon cult of Ali-ilah or the male moon deity shortened to Allah, had it origins in pagan rituals which pre-dated the arrival of the madman Mohammed by some 5000 years. Allah in other words is not akin to, and has nothing in common with, the Christian ideas of 'God' or the divine spark of life.

This Sura – as poorly written as any other chapter – has two purposes. The first is to convince the reader that Mohammed is not insane. The second is to denounce the idea that the other moon gods and goddesses which were worshipped at the Kabah shrine in Mecca long before the arrival of the illiterate politician Mohammed, are valid 'gods'. This Sura makes it a sin to conflate any of the other moon idols and phases of moon and celestial worship with the male moon phase or male moon 'god', Ali-ilah. I wonder how many Muslims even know what Allah truly means ?

The chapter opens up with a statement by Allah that his chosen leader on earth, the uneducated brigand and politician Mohammed, is not a lunatic:

'By the Star when it goes down, - Your Companion is neither astray nor being misled' [53:1,2]

The 'Star' is the constellation of Sirius or the 'Bright One' in Greek, which is the brightest star in the night sky, commonly called the Dog Star. Allah is thus a celestial object which illuminates his greatness through his control of all celestial objects including the 'Bright One'; "And He is the Lord of Sirius (the Might Star)" [53:49]. The Arabs would have been very familiar with Sirius and would have worshipped it as an illumination of divine power.

But notice the second part of the above sentence – 'Your companion [ie. Mohammed] is neither astray [crazy], or being misled [suffering a mental problem].' Allah, through the words of Mohammed, is protecting his chosen leader.

For some reason Allah picked out an illiterate Arab at age 40, to be his spokesman to the world. Allah now needs to defend this rather improbable supposition. Rational people were more than a little querulous when Mohammed claimed he was a 'prophet'. It seemed more likely that Mohammed might just be making all of this up for his own benefit. The 5.000 year old moon deity Allah was communicating with an obscure Meccan Arab-trader in order to enlighten humanity? Yeah okay.

'So did (Allah) convey the inspiration to His Servant – (conveyed) what he (meant) to convey. The Prophet's (mind and) heart in no way falsified that which he saw. Will you dispute with him concerning what he saw ?' [53:10-12]

So Allah tells the reader that Mohammed, by himself, was visited by, or introduced to Allah, and Allah spread his pure word only to Mohammed, who was then charged with informing mankind. No other witnesses were there. No one else saw this magical inspiration shown to Mohammed. And very curiously of course, Mohammed through his oral recitation [the Koran], is the only person making this claim. This is a logical tautology. No wonder the Jews and Christians were more than just a little skeptical. Mohammed is the new leader of the world's one true ideology of Allah, because Allah and he said so. Right.

Secondly, Allah the narrator addresses the pagan moon cult origins of Islam and tells the reader that only he – Allah – is the true moon idol to be worshipped:

'Have you seen Lat, and 'Uzza, And another, the third (goddess) Manat ? What! For you the male sex, and for Him, the female ?' [53:19-21]

Lat, 'Uzza and Manat are moon deities. I would hazard a guess that few if any Muslims know this; or understand the moon worshipping antecedents of Islam. They are competing moon idols which Mohammed took and conflated into Allah. The above passage is clear, no other moon deities can be tolerated except for Ali-ilah – the male moon deity. The three mentioned above are 'goddesses' or the female idols of certain moon phases.

These 3 female moon goddesses were widely worshipped: from Nabatea in the North, Iran in the East, down to Yemen in the south. Al-Uzza, means "The Mighty One", [the Goddess of the Morning Star] and references the start or restart of life; Al-Lat, is the Mother, whose name means simply "The Goddess" and probably was worshipped as a fertility idol; and Al-Manat was known as the goddess of Fate or Time, whose black stone in the Kabah was a place of ancient pilgrimmage for all Arab tribes. In pre-Islamic theology all three are referred to as the daughters of Ali-ilah or Allah, the male moon deity or 'Chief God'. We have here moon deity paganism which pre-dated Mohammed by 5.000 years. All he did was take Ali-or Al-ilah and make it the one and only 'God' to be worshipped, conflating it quite erroneously and mendaciously, with the Judeo-Christian God. In this vein the real purpose of the Koran is made clear – get on your knees and prostrate your worthless self to Mohammed and his cult:

'But you fall down in prostration to Allah, and adore (Him)!' [53:62]

Most Arabs and Muslims have no idea about the origins of their political theology.

Like all longer Suras in the Koran, the call to violence and war is never far behind the call to submission and groveling to Mohammed and his Allah. Just to make sure that the reader is impressed enough, the narrator, Mr. Allah reminds you of his awesome and quite vindictive power:

'And it is He Who destroyed the (powerful) ancient Ad (people), And the Thamud.....And before them, the people of Noah...And he destroyed the Overthrown cities (of Sodom and Gomorrah), ....' [53:50-53]

In other words if you don't prostrate and submit yourself to the cult, I will destroy your people.

Nice theology. So here we have a moon cult of moon-celestial worship, married with violence and intolerant aggression and it is named a 'religion'. Only the very smart people can understand why this Arab paganism is anything else other than just a pre-modern and quite illiterate fascism.

[Note: This sura is taken from 'The Holy Quran', translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, reprinted in 1995, Goodword Books. Regarded as one of the best translations from Arabic to English of the Koran.]