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 portents are the night and the day and the sun and the moon. Do not prostrate to the sun or the moon; but prostrate to Allah Who created them, if it is in truth Him Whom ye worship.
قُلْ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ ﴿١﴾
Say: He is Allah, the One!
The authentic hadith behind this answer, from Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim and the Sunan with the grade of the scholars of hadith. Open a reference to read it in the hadith library of this site.
حَدَّثَنَا شِهَابُ بْنُ عَبَّادٍ، حَدَّثَنَا إِبْرَاهِيمُ بْنُ حُمَيْدٍ، عَنْ إِسْمَاعِيلَ، عَنْ قَيْسٍ، قَالَ سَمِعْتُ أَبَا مَسْعُودٍ، يَقُولُ قَالَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم " إِنَّ الشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ لاَ يَنْكَسِفَانِ لِمَوْتِ أَحَدٍ مِنَ النَّاسِ، وَلَكِنَّهُمَا آيَتَانِ مِنْ آيَاتِ اللَّهِ، فَإِذَا رَأَيْتُمُوهُمَا فَقُومُوا فَصَلُّوا ".
حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا هَاشِمُ بْنُ الْقَاسِمِ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا شَيْبَانُ أَبُو مُعَاوِيَةَ، عَنْ زِيَادِ بْنِ عِلاَقَةَ، عَنِ الْمُغِيرَةِ بْنِ شُعْبَةَ، قَالَ كَسَفَتِ الشَّمْسُ عَلَى عَهْدِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَوْمَ مَاتَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ، فَقَالَ النَّاسُ كَسَفَتِ الشَّمْسُ لِمَوْتِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ. فَقَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم " إِنَّ الشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ لاَ يَنْكَسِفَانِ لِمَوْتِ أَحَدٍ وَلاَ لِحَيَاتِهِ، فَإِذَا رَأَيْتُمْ فَصَلُّوا وَادْعُوا اللَّهَ ".
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.
