"The customs of heathenism have left an indelible mark on Islam, notably in the rites of the pilgrimage ... so that for this reason alone something ought to be said about the chief characteristics of Arabian paganism. [Alfred Guillaume, 1956, 'Islam' p 6-7]
Nary a Moslem exists who will admit the above. For the average Moslem their cult is supreme, divinely inspired, uncreated, and destined to rule the world. There is no need to investigate, inquire or bother with trying to understand the true historical nature of Muhammadanism. Moslems are brainwashed to simply conflate the moon idol Al-Lah with 'God' and Muhammad with Al-Lah.
Because of other Arabian history which points to heathen worship of the sun, moon, and the stars, as well as other gods, of which I believe Allah was in some way connected to. This then would prove to us that Allah is not the same as the true God of the Bible whom we worship, because God never changes." [Is Allah The Same God as the God of the Bible?, M. J. Afshari, p.6]
Al-Lah has nothing to do with the Judeo-Christian and indeed Greco-Romano ideal of an anthropomorphic deity represented in human shape but who is in essence the creating architecture of the universe, of life, and of human free-will. This 'god' wants you to succeed, to be rational, to love, to hope, to feel, and to be good. The Al-Lah wants you to submit, to prostrate your worthless self to his glory, to follow the words of his chosen man Muhammad, and to simply shut up and obey. The two ideals have nothing whatsoever in common.
“Before Islam Allah was reported to be know as: the supreme of a pantheon of gods; the name of a god whom the Arabs worshipped; the chief god of the pantheon; Ali-ilah; the god; the supreme; the all-powerful; all-knowing; and totally unknowable; the predeterminer of everyone's life destiny; chief of the gods; the special deity of the Quraish; ....Because the Ka'aba, the sacred shrine which contains the Black Stone, in Mecca was used for pagan idol worship before Islam and even called the House of Allah at that time.....Because the rituals involved with the Islamic Pilgrimage are either identical or very close to the pre-Islamic pagan idol worship at Mecca......[The Cambridge History of Islam, vol. 1, by P. Holt, 1970, p. 27]
Islam, the Koran, the Al-Lah thing are no more uncreated than Dan Brown's fantasy 'The Da Vinci Code'. Muhammad fused Arab paganism with his own morbid monotheistic creation stolen in measure from the Jews and Christians who become of course, his stated bitter enemies. Muhammad's theology was only adopted and accepted by a large segment of the Arab population when he merged existing covenants and practices with his new and heretical propositions:
"Islam for its part ensured the survival of these pre-Islamic constituents, endowed them with a universal significance, and provided them with a context within which they have enjoyed a most remarkable longevity. Some of these significant constituents, nomadic and sedentary, the pre-Islamic roots which have formed the persistent heritage, deserve to be noted and discussed... The pre-Islamic Pilgrimage in its essential features survives, indeed is built into the very structure of Islam as one of its Five Pillars of Faith. [Ibid]
The Hajj or the obligation for a Moslem to journey to Muhammad's capital to pay homage to his creation and family moon deity named 'ilah', is a very curious paganism indeed when viewed at the atomic level. Why do people do it? Do they understand what they are doing and why? Are they aware of the pagan origins of this Islamic pillar?
For the cult of course it makes perfect sense. This pilgrimage would not only make Mecca rich but even more importantly, it would forcibly create a multi-ethnic community of spirit and bonding to the Islamic ideal, that no other spiritual requirement could hope to match or displace. All cults aspire to the reduction of the individual and their submergence into a communal collection, evidenced and realised by such a journey to center of cultish power. Few have been as successful at this, as Islam, the name of course meaning 'submission'. Submission not to a 'god' per-se, but simply to Muhammad's Koranic 'law' and his own deleterious demands.
A cult is of course not a religion. The Moslem Hajj is not a journey of faith and of the spirit, but a mindless demonstration by individuals of their own self-loathing and irrationality. I doubt that a tithe of Moslems on 'pilgrimage' know anything about the real history of the Hajj, or its real purpose.