Great event. There's a video of the event here: http://bit.ly/mq7BP

What are GMP trying to learn about Ramadan ?
There are "Thousnads" of books in the Libraries on this subject, may be a day out for some members of GMP !

The spiritual ruler of pre-Islamic Arabia was the moon God, Sin. This God would ultimately become the supreme deity of the entire Babylonian empire. The God Sin (the controller of the night) had the crescent moon as its emblem which became the primary religious symbol of Islam and was worshiped in Arabia as Al-llah. Mecca became the center of all pagan religions of Arabia before Muhammad. Al-llah (moon God) later simply became Allah so Ramadan is an ancient pagan moon ritual, crescent moon to crescent moon.

Terry Cuddy- Yawn!

The translation of Surah Ikhlas (Holy Qur'an 112:1-4) is:

Say: He is Allah, the One and Only! Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not nor is He begotten. And there is none like unto Him.

Allah (swt) is not a moon God, He is the Creator of all things and beings, so how could He be a moon God when Allah has no gender, is not born of anyone or anything nor has children (nauzubillah) and the moon itself relies on the sun for its light! All the major religions' scriptures refer to One Almighty Being, Allah is the Arabic and personal name of God in Islam.

Ramadan is not a 'ritual'it is a pillar of Islam; a time to reflect on ones' character, build yourself spiritually and gives muslims an opportunity to empathise with people in the Third World and those less fortunate.

Please refer to the link below which blows your pagan theory out of the water http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Quran/Sources/Allah/moongod.html

Sandy P, thank you for your comment. there is a misconception that Islam began with Mohammed, you need to look no further than Mohammed's father and uncles names to see that allah was worshiped before Mohammed was born. Thank you for your link but i do not accept the quran as evidence to prove itself, it is a circular argument. i have an interest only in pre Mohammed Islamic history along with other religious superstitions and rituals. If i may offer some advice to you it would be to look at the facts and see what conclusions can be drawn from them. Do not look at the quran and say heres the conclusion now what facts can we find to support it.

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Kind.

Dear Terry, the Quran was revealed 1400 years ago and since that time not a single word could be or has been changed. The misconception that Islam started with Muhammed (pbuh) may be amongst others but not between muslims as muslims understand that Islam has existed since the beginning of time and Allah was and will always be worshipped until the end of time. Over the centuries Messengers and Prophets were sent from Allah but the ummahs could never truly accept the message, which was simply, monotheism; to worship a single God- Allah. However, Allah's final message (the Quran), was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), he was the last Messenger hence the seal of the prophethood being complete.

During the times of pre-Islamic Arabia, idol worship and paganism was rife because the people of Arabia had distorted, refused or forgotton the original message . Some people understood the message from the first revelation of the Quran, and as it was revealed in stages (23yrs)and not as a complete book in one single act of revelation, believers flocked to Islam; they comprehended that Allah had created the world and all that was in it including the sun and moon: eg Al Quran a) 7:54, b) 13:2, c) 21;33,. When the verse 41:37 was revealed, people were explicitly told to stop worshipping the moon and sun and yet again understand that: ''Among His proofs are the night and the day, and the sun and the moon. Do not prostrate before the sun, nor the moon; you shall fall prostrate before the GOD who created them, if you truly worship Him alone.'

The Moon-God Sin/Al-Ilah of Mesopotamian mythology you refer to has parents, he is the 'son' of Enlil and Ninlil, Allah is not born of anyone (Al-Quran Surah Ikhlas as quoted before), so there is no comparison between the two. Allah stands alone so it is impossible that Al-Ilah became Allah, that He became from Moon-God, controller of the night, to Allah, the independent, the one muslims worship. Allah is His own personal name and He is the Creator and Sustainer. Muslims dont believe in worshipping idols or even having an image of Allah, but you will always find critics of Islam trying to spin absurd tales. Everything that happened in Arab history was written down by attributing numerical values to letters thus the date of every event was recorded and there is no evidence to prove that the God muslims worship is the same Moon-God the pagans of Arabia worshipped.

The crescent moon symbol for Islam you refer to was simply the symbol of the Ottoman empire during a period of the Islamic times. The symbol itself represents the lunar sky; the sighting of the new moon meant the beginning of a new calender month, nothing more nothing less. The point is that it was an emblem for that dynasty, for that family, to show which masjids (mosques) were under that authority, it has nothing to do with beliefs.

You say you 'cannot accept the Quran as evidence to prove itself' but the evidence can prove the Quran. Over time scientists, mathmeticians and historians have discovered time and time again that the Quran is the truth and nothing but the truth about many matters eg the galaxy, the development of the foetus, the unearthing of Noah's (pbuh) flood and Ark, remains of Egyptian monuments and Haman, formation of rain, the human heart etc - the list is endless. A vast amount has been proved, so as a rational person without even bringing religion into it, my bet is the remainder, not yet discovered or proved, is also the truth! So if you dont want to believe the Quran then look at the facts around you and see what scientists say- you cannot deny the evidence!

The pagan theories you talk about are fabricated, misquoted archeological finds, the dates have been tampered with, scholars have carried out extensive research but such paganistic claims have been refuted. Canadian-Muslim scholars have challenged the author of these books and archeologists claiming Allah is the Moon-God, but none of them have come forward to enter into a logical debate.

I hope this answers some of your doubts, jazakallah khair

sandy p I am sorry it seems the m.e.n have censored my response to your last comment . why is it only truth is ever censored or suppressed many thanks any way .