Refuting Islam

Islam’s Second Great Dilemma

Paganism Repackaged

Islam boasts that it is the ultimate break from paganism—a final, purified revelation erasing centuries of idolatry and superstition. But crack open its core rituals and symbols, and you’ll find something else entirely: Islam is dripping with the very pagan customs it claims to have stamped out.

This is the second major contradiction at the heart of Islam. The question is obvious: if Islam is supposed to be the final monotheistic truth, why are so many of its sacred practices, symbols, and rites carbon copies of the pre-Islamic pagan world?

I know what I’m looking at. Paganism wasn’t just a historical curiosity for me—it was a living system. And as I examine Islam’s practices, I see the same ritual structures, the same borrowed symbols, the same mindset. Let’s pull back the veil.

🌙 1️⃣ The Crescent Moon – A Pagan Relic, Not a Divine Symbol

The crescent moon is an instantly recognizable Islamic icon today—on mosques, flags, and minarets. But guess what? The Quran never mentions it. The Hadiths don’t mandate it. It’s an adopted pagan emblem:

🔴 Pre-Islamic Arabia – Moon worship was central. Deities like Hubal dominated the Kaaba’s pantheon.
🔴 The Sabeans – An Arabian religious sect that worshipped celestial bodies: moon, stars, and planets.

Historian Philip Hitti didn’t pull punches: he showed how lunar cults ran deep in Mecca’s culture.
Even the Quran (Surah 6:77) indirectly confirms moon worship’s presence—it has Abraham rejecting it!

So why does a religion that claims to have smashed idolatry adopt the very symbol of Arabian lunar cults? Because Islam didn’t purge paganism—it refined it.

💧 2️⃣ Zamzam and Sacred Wells – Water Worship in Islamic Clothing

The Zamzam well is touted as a divine miracle tied to Hagar and Ishmael. But dig deeper:

🔴 Pre-Islamic Arabia – Sacred wells were portals to the divine. People believed spirits inhabited them.
🔴 The Kaaba itself – Built next to a well—water worship in pagan Arabia was standard.

Islam didn’t banish this. Sahih Bukhari 3364 even frames Zamzam as a direct miracle. Muslims today still drink Zamzam for blessings—a ritual unchanged from its pagan origins.

👅 3️⃣ Finger-Licking – Animist Folklore in the Sunnah

Sahih Muslim 2034 – Muhammad says: “You do not know in which part of the food the blessing lies,” so Muslims should lick their fingers.

🔴 Pre-Islamic animism – Belief that leftover food had spiritual energy—ritual licking was a way to absorb it.

Islam didn’t create this practice—it simply gave it a new rationale. Same gesture. Same superstition. Different packaging.

🙇‍♂️ 4️⃣ Ruku (Bowing) – The Posture of Pagan Priests

Bowing (ruku) is a core part of Islamic prayer, but it’s not unique:

🔴 Zoroastrian Magi – Bowed to sacred fires.
🔴 Babylonian temples – Bowing to idols and altars.
🔴 Arab pagan priests – Same bow before idol sacrifice.

Quran 22:26 and Bukhari 6251 document bowing in worship. Islam didn’t invent this act—it inherited it.

👁️ 5️⃣ The Evil Eye – Pagan Superstition Endorsed as Doctrine

Islamic texts treat the evil eye not as folklore, but as doctrine:

✅ Sahih Muslim 2188 – “The evil eye is real.”

But it’s a pan-pagan belief. Greeks, Egyptians, and Mesopotamians had the same fear—and wore amulets like the Nazar (blue eye) to ward it off.

Muslims today do the same. Where’s the monotheistic break? There isn’t one. Just a pagan superstition with Islamic branding.

✂️ 6️⃣ Hair Offerings – Rituals of Purification or Pagan Devotion?

Islam commands hair rituals:

✅ Qur’an 48:27 and Bukhari 1723 – Shaving heads after Hajj.
✅ Aqiqah – Shaving a newborn’s head.

But this practice didn’t start with Islam:

🔴 Pagan Arabs, Greeks, Romans, Hindus – Hair offered to gods as purification or devotion.

Islam didn’t abolish it—it gave the same practice a new name.

🏛️ 7️⃣ The Kaaba – A Pagan Shrine with a Monotheistic Varnish

The Kaaba is the ultimate symbol of Islam, but its roots are undeniably pagan:

🔴 Pre-Islam – The Kaaba housed 360 idols.
🔴 Rituals – Tawaf (circling) and kissing the Black Stone were pagan rites.
🔴 Historical Evidence – Scholars like Crone, Hawting, Hoyland confirm it.

Islam’s move? Purge the idols, but keep the same shrine and the same ritual acts.
Even Caliph Umar (Bukhari 1597) admitted kissing the Black Stone was only because Muhammad did it—“You’re just a stone…”

Monotheism in theory. Precedent in practice.

🔁 8️⃣ Tawaf – The Pre-Islamic Pilgrimage that Never Changed

Muslims circle the Kaaba seven times. But this is no Abrahamic innovation:

🔴 Arab pagans – Circled the Kaaba to honor their gods, long before Muhammad.

Islam’s “revelation” simply took the same movements and rebranded them as Abrahamic.
Qur’an 22:26-29 is an attempt to retrofit pagan practice with a monotheistic gloss. But there’s zero historical record of Abraham doing this. None.

🕋 9️⃣ The Hajj – A Pagan Festival in Islamic Dress

The Hajj, Islam’s grand pilgrimage, is a direct continuation of pagan practices:

🔴 Mount Arafat, animal sacrifices, stoning the Jamarat – All ancient Arabian customs.

Islam didn’t create a new path. It kept the same festivals, the same sites, and the same sequence.
The only difference? Now it’s done “for Allah.”

🚨 Conclusion: Islam’s Pagan Core Exposed

Islam claims to be the final and pure word of God, severed from idolatry. But the facts are unflinching:

❌ It preserves pagan rituals.
❌ It endorses pagan symbols.
❌ It practices pagan superstitions.
❌ It venerates pagan sites.

Islam isn’t a clean break. It’s a continuation—the same pagan practices, recast in Islamic language.

That’s not reform. That’s rebranding.

This is the second great Islamic dilemma: Islam’s self-image as the final monotheistic faith is shattered by the very pagan DNA that runs through its veins. Under the surface, the claim of “pure monotheism” is exposed for what it really is: a borrowed legacy—paganism in monotheistic costume.

Sources Consulted:

Patricia Crone, Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam
Jonathan Berkey, The Formation of Islam
Gerald Hawting, Islamic Monotheism and the Pagan Past
Javier Teixidor, Religion in Pre-Islamic Arabia
Robert Hoyland, Arabia and the Arabs
Philip K. Hitti, History of the Arabs
The Quran
Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim