Allah was, in fact, the name of the chief god in the Kaabah, the pagan temple that Muhammad “purged” by destroying the more than 300 idols contained in it. Muhammad likely kept the name of this ancient pagan moon god and the symbol of the crescent moon because it would be easier to convert idolaters to his new religion if he could offer something with which they were familiar. Muslims see no contradiction in this strategy, nor even in keeping the chief object of worship in the ancient Kaabah, the black stone that Muslims kiss and revere today, even as idolaters did before Muhammad incorporated it into Islamic religious practice.
Dave Hunt, How Close Are We?, Harvest House Publishers, 1993,
pp. 19,20
