Common myths
No. This is a myth with no basis in history or in Islam. Allah is the Arabic word for the one God, and the Quran explicitly tells people not to prostrate to the sun or the moon but to God who created them.
Arab Christians used the word Allah for God before Islam, and the name appears in pre-Islamic Christian inscriptions. The Quran forbids worship of any created thing. The crescent moon is not a symbol in the Quran or the early Muslim community: it was adopted later, mostly by the Ottoman Empire, and many mosques and Muslim countries do not use it.
The Islamic calendar is lunar, which is why the moon is important for dates like Ramadan and Eid. That is a way of keeping time, not of worship.
وَمِنْ ءَايَٰتِهِ ٱلَّيْلُ وَٱلنَّهَارُ وَٱلشَّمْسُ وَٱلْقَمَرُ ۚ لَا تَسْجُدُوا۟ لِلشَّمْسِ وَلَا لِلْقَمَرِ وَٱسْجُدُوا۟ لِلَّهِ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَهُنَّ إِن كُنتُمْ إِيَّاهُ تَعْبُدُونَ ﴿٣٧﴾
And of His signs are the night and day and the sun and moon. Do not prostrate to the sun or to the moon, but prostate to Allah, who created them, if it should be Him that you worship.
قُلْ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ ﴿١﴾
Say, "He is Allah, [who is] One,
This answer follows the mainstream Sunni understanding and is general learning, not a fatwa. Where Muslims differ, the answer says so. Have a question of your own? Write to us.
