I typed this excerpt from the book "Islam: In Light of History" by Dr. Rafat Amari
http://religionresearchinstitute.org/ so any typos are mine.
The Origin of "Allah' and How the Name was Developed from the god of the Moon in Arabia, as it is Attested in Various Arabian Inscriptions.We know that the term "Allah," as the god of the moon, was derived from the Thamud god of the moon. His name was Hilal, or Hlal, which means "crescent." Later, the name "Hilal" became Hilah, as we see in many inscriptions which were found in Arabia. In the Thamud inscriptions he is found as H-ilah, Ha-ilah and H-alah. We see the same development for "Hilah," the moon deity in Yemen, where Almaqah is called "Halal,' or "Hilal, the Crescent." 15
Safaitic tribes were nomads wandering in many parts of Arabia, especially in the north. The god of the moon was found in their inscriptions as "H-lah." in the Safaitic inscriptions, the letter "H" pronounced as "Ha" is the definite article, "the." It corresponds to the Arabic, "Al."16 This led the Arabians to call him "Al-lah."
The big Star Athtar - Venus - Replaces the Moon for the Title of "Allah"From the Thamudic inscriptions, we know that Venus worship endeavored to overshadow the worship of other deities of Arabia, willing to impose itself as the monotheistic worship of northern Arabia. The worshippers of "the big star' even underestimated the worship of the other members of the Star Family, such as the worship of the wife of the head, Ellat, which represented the sun, or the worship of the moon itself. Over time, Venus stole the title of "Allah" from the moon. Both the moon and the sun became subjects to Allah, the biggest star. We encounter this concept in the Qur'an, where it says:
He subjected the sun and the moon till they say Allah. (Sura 29:61)
This was because competition grew between the different members of the Star Family. The worshippers of Allah, the biggest star, considered other deities of the Star Family as subordinate to Allah, and maintained that he was the most important in the Star Family. They taught that the other stars became servants to Allah and worshipped him before his throne. The followers of Allah, the head of Arabian Star Family Worship, professed and fought against the followers and worshippers of the other members of the Star Family. This concept of the supremacy of the head of the Star Family over the rest of the members of the family is encountered very clearly in the Qur'an. In the Sura 36;38, we read, "the sun goes to an abiding place." Mohammed then explained this verse in his Hadith saying;
The sun goes to the throne of Allah where it worships the moon.
There are many Hadith of Mohammed in which he claimed that the setting sun goes to the throne of Allah. We quote a Hadith reported in Bukhari, the authoritative book containing the most-confirmed Hadith of Mohammed:
From Abi al-Thur. 'I asked the prophet, peace upon him from Allah, about the verse of Allah in the Qur'an which states that 'the sun goes to an abiding place,' the prophet answered; 'the sun's abiding place is under the throne.'17
Another hadith also reported in Bukhari:
I was with the prophet in the mosque when the sun was setting. he asked me: "Do you know where the sun goes after the sunset?" I answered: "Allah and his prophet better know." The prophet said: "The sun goes under the throne in order to worship, this is the interpretation of Allah's saying 'the sun goes to an abiding place'".18
Al-Tabari also reported a Hadith of Mohammed, in which he describes the sun and the moon going to the throne of Allah to worship.19
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Arabian Monotheism, Which is Based on the Star Venus-Athtar, is the Root of Mohammed's MonotheismIn later times, Athtar, which was the planet Venus, and called the son of the moon, was venerated by the Yemeni tribes. Athtar's worship spread to the north and replaced the moon as Allah. Athtar became the chief deity for monotheism in Arabia. his worshippers rejected the other gods who were worshipped in Arabia and insisted that Athtar, who became Allah, must be worshipped alone. This worship was at the root of Mohammed's monotheistic ideas.
The Qur'an copied the attributes given to Athtar and attributed them to Allah. in Yemeni inscriptions, we find Athtar Khaham, which corresponds in the Arabic of the Qur'an to 'al-Khadir" which means 'the potent," a term used to refer to Allah. We also find in the inscriptions attributed to Athtar the title: 'Athtar al-kaher," which means "Athtar the conqueror,' which we find also attributed to Allah in the Qur'an. We also find another term, 'Athtar Yaglin' which is translated in the Qur'an as "al-montakim," which means "the revenger" or "revengeful.' Still another term referring to Athtar was "Athtar Samum" corresponding to the Arabic of the Qur'an as 'Samie', or 'hearer.' All these titles were attributed to Allah in the Qur'an.31
We see, also, that Attar, in some Thamudic inscriptions, is given the title of 'Rami,' which, in the Arabic language of Mecca and the Qur'an, means 'Akbar,' translated 'the biggest.' This is the same title given to Allah in the Qur'an. The intention of the worshippers of Venus was to say that the Venus deity star was the biggest of all stars. Both Allah in the Qur'an, and Athtar in the Thamudic inscriptions are called 'Rahim,' which means merciful.32 in the inscriptions from the area of Teima, there is a mention of a star called 'Lame'h,' which means 'bright." This is most likely a reference to Venus, which is given in the inscriptions of the title of 'Rahim,'33
The Qur'an has copied many attributes of Arabian gods and given them to Allah. For example, the Thamud gods are described with the inscription;
he was not conceived nor generated nor born. 34
This expression often was used in the Jahiliyah period; in fact, Kes Bin Saideh mentioned it in his sayings.35 Mohammed used to listen to Kes Bin Saideh when he was young. The same idea was copied in the Qur'an and used about Allah, such as Surah al-khlas 112;3, 'he begetteth not, nor is he begotten." This became a verse in the Qur'an.
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Connections of Mecca with Athtar-Venus's worship, and with other Kaabahs that were built for the same kind of pagan worship.The Athtar-Venus worship was in places like the Kaabah of mecca.39 Al-Masudi, another islamic historian, says that the Kaabah of Mecca is furnished in the same style as a Kaabah in Yemen, which is dedicated to the worship of Venus.40 This helps us see that the Kabbah in Mecca relates to the same worship of Venus (and others) in the Star Family.
Al-Masudi also reveals that, for each region in Arabia, there was a special star which was considered the main deity venerated by the inhabitants of the region. he goes on to say that Venus was the star of Mecca, Tathrib and Yemen.41
Athtar - Venus became Allah, who appears at mecca in the third pert of each night. Mohammed shared the same concepts of this star deity.No wonder Venus snatched the title "Allah" from the moon. later, the same Athtar-Venus was called "Allah" in Mecca and in other parts of northern Arabia. Allah became a great and high star which descended every third part of the night to appear to his worshippers. We can see this from many authors who wrote about the life of Mohammed, and who wrote about the life and creeds of Jahiliyah, the period before Islam. Among the authors was Ali Bin Burnan al-Din al-Halabi, known as the author of Halabieh. he wrote that Allah descends to the heaven of this world when it is the last part of the night.42 It is clear that, by the word "Allah," they meant the morning star which they saw in the third portion of each night.
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The Hadith contains Mohammed's words, and is considered by Muslims as inspired. in the book of Sahih al-Bukhari, the book which contains the authoritative hadith of Mohammed, we find the words of Mohammed;
Allah, our lord, his name is blessed and high, descends to the heaven of this world every night when it remains in the last third of the night.43
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Islam is a form of the Arabian religion of the Star Family Worship of Mohammed's time. The veil that tries to hide this reality falls when we study the roots of the Islamic religion. The face of the old Arabian religion is easily recognized and identified.
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Much more in the book "Islam: In Light of History" by Dr. Rafat Amari
http://religionresearchinstitute.org/