INTRODUCTION
Since every religion must have had a Source from which it sprung, so this last faith, Islam, must like all others have had its originating cause. Accepted neither by Jews nor Christians, many treatises have been written to convert it. These have been answered by Moslems in such Works as the Mizhn ool Mavazin; but unfortunately the learning of the Authors of these defenses of Islam has not been equal to their zeal. The Object of the present work is to investigate the various theories which have been put forward as to the origin of Islam. The Author first states briefly the Moslem view, and then examines the claim of those who hold that Islam has a human and not a divine origin.
In this new endeavor, it has been the Author's object, by God's help, to show from whence the Moslem faith has risen, its foundation and origin, in other words, its Source. And he trusts that those who study the following pages, having learned the origin of the Faith, may not lose sight of those Sources whence has arisen the vast stream which has overflowed so many nations of the East.
CHAPTER 1.
SOURCE OF ISLAM ACCORDING
TO ISLAM
Moslems hold that their Faith came direct from heaven. The Koran and all their tenets were sent down by Gabriel from God himself to Mohammed. Much of their faith is also built upon Tradition handed down by the Prophet's followers. But the Shieahs differ from the Sunnis as to much that is told us by Tradition; and the Author, therefore, has based his arguments mainly on the Koran which is accepted as divine by every Moslem, and on such tradition as is comfortable thereto. As for the Koran, it is held to be of eternal origin, recorded in heaven, and lying as it does there upon the "Preserved Table" (Surah Ixxxv. 21).[1] Thus God alone is held to be the "Source" of Islam; and if so, then all effort to find a human origin for any part of it must be in vain. Now, if we can trace the teaching of any part of it, to an earthly Source, or to human systems existing previous to the Prophet's age, then Islam at once falls to the ground.
It therefore behooves every true and earnest Believer, with the utmost diligence to test whether this claim be true or not. If their opponents can bring to light no human Source, they may contend that by admission Islam is indeed divine; but if otherwise, they cannot but perceive what fatal conclusion must be drawn. Let us then test the assertions of those who hold to the existence of human Sources, and see whether any portion of the doctrines and tenets of Islam can be traced to other Faiths or Sources preceding the Prophet's age, or existing at the time.
[1] 1.'See also Surah vi. 19 and xcvii. 1. Also Ibn Khaldun, i. 194 and ii. 458.
CHAPTER 2.
CERTAIN DOCTRINES AND PRACTICES OF THE ARABS IN THE "DAYS OF IGNORANCE" MAINTAINED IN ISLAM.
Some hold that these are its initial Source. When the desire arose in the mind of Mohammed to draw his people from the worship of idols to that of God Almighty; and when he remembered that their forefathers in the days of Abraham believed in the divine Unity; and further that they inherited many of the beliefs and customs of their pious forefathers; he was unwilling to force abandonment of them all, but desired rather to purify their faith, and to maintain such ancient practices as he thought good and reasonable. And so we find this passage in the Koran: Who is better than he that resigneth himself to God, and worketh righteousness, and followeth the religion of Abraham the faithful? and truly God took Abraham for his friend (Surah iv. 124). And again: Say, The Lord speaketh truth; follow ye, therefore, the faith of-Abraham the righteous; for he was no idolator (Surah iii. 89). And yet once more: Say, Verily my Lord hath directed me into the right way, the true faith, the religion of righteous Abraham, and he was no idolater (Surah vi. 89).
Hence it came to pass that (excepting the worship of idols, a plurality of gods, the killing of daughters and other such evil practices), many of the ideas and customs subsisting among the Arabs from the time of Abraham were retained by the Prophet, and form part of his religion. Although some of the Southern and Eastern tribes became mixed up with the children of Ham, yet we learn, as much from the Tourat as from Ibn Hisham, Tabari and others, that the North and West of the country was occupied by the progeny of Shem. Some tribes were descended from Joktan, others from Hagar, Ketura, and Ishmael. Among the latter was the tribe of the Qoresh, itself among the descendants of
Abraham. Now, although the children of Shem had greatly lost the purity of their faith from mixing with the tribes of Syria, yet when all the people of those parts, except the Jews, had altogether forgotten the Unity of God, still the dwellers in the North and West of the Peninsula retained a certain knowledge of the Unity divine. There is every reason to believe that in the days of Job, the stars, sun, and moon were worshipped in those parts of Arabia;[1]1. and Herodotus, more than four centuries before Christ, tells us that the Arabs of his day had only two gods, Orotal and Alitat,[2] 2. evidently meaning Allah-tall and Alit, though as a foreigner he was not exactly acquainted with the local form of the names. The term Allah Itself is repeatedly found in the seven Moallaqat, whose authors lived before the ministry of Mohammed, and also in the Dewan of Labid.
Still more, we know that the Kaaba was of old the holy Masjid of the Arab tribes at large; for we learn from Diodorus Siculus, sixty years before the Christian era, that it then existed (Bk. iii.). From the use of al (Or the) in Allah it is manifest that the Unity of God was never forgotten by the Arabs. The Koran, indeed, calls them idolators for giving other gods the worship due to Him alone. But they never held those other gods on an equality with the great God above, whom by their adoration they sought specially to propitiate. The following story from early Moslem writers makes this all the more clear: "Some of the Abyssinian Refugees returned to Mecca when Surah 53 was being read. Coming to the verse: What think ye of Allah and Al Uzza and Manat the other, the third? Satan cast these words into the reader's lips: 'These three noble ones whose intercession is to be hoped for.' When the Surah ended, the whole company bowed down in adoration; and the Idolators together with them, thinking that their gods had been thus graciously acknowledged. The strange episode was spread abroad by Satan, and the Refugees hastily returned to Mecca expecting to find the whole city converted." Beidhawi and others are the more inclined to believe this tale from the words in Surah 22: 51: Truly we have sent no Apostle or Prophet before thee, but when he read, Satan suggested some (error) in his reading; but God shall make void that which Satan suggested.
Along with the early spread of idolatry, there still survived throughout Arabia the consciousness of One true God. Shahristani tells us this, and gives a long list of the local deities, and also of the customs retained by the Prophet. Some denied a future life as well as a Creator, while Others admitted both 3.. ‘He then mentions a variety of tribal gods, and gives the "name and place of eleven, including Ozza of the Qoresh, Hubal aloft on the Kaaba, etc.; also angels, genii, and heavenly bodies adored by the Sabaeans. We are then informed of a variety of local customs in vogue among the heathen Arabs, some retained in Islam, as family restrictions in marriage, Hajj to the Kaaba with its various practices, visiting Safa and Marwa, throwing stones in Wady Mina, ablution, and several minor matters. Very similar is the testimony of Ibn Ishac, and the Sirat al Rasul, that notwithstanding the idolatry into which the Arabs fell when they lost the faith Of Abraham and Isaac, yet throughout it all they never forgot the great God above all Other gods. Thus at the new moon, the Been Kinana and Qoresh would cry aloud "Labbeik, Allah Labbeik! Thou hast no Companion, but rules over all"; - acknowledging thus the oneness of Him they called upon; and while joining their idols in worship with the. Highest, they yet placed them all under his hand. Then the Unity is thus expressed in the Koran": Verily your Lord is God who created the heavens and the earth in six days, then ascended the throne to rule over all things. There is no intercession but by his permission. God is your (Lord wherefore serve him. Ah! will ye not consider? Surah 10:3)
From all this we perceive that while the Arabs up to the Prophet's time worshipped idols, they did so regarding them as intercessors with the
| Notes 1.Job 31vs. 26-28.2 Bk. iii. 8. 3.'To these the Koran replies, Sarah 1. 14: Is our power exhausted by the first creation; for these are in perplexity as to a first creation. |
great God whom they held supreme. 1 The truth was so well known in Mohammed’s own household, that his father and uncle bore the names Abd-Allah and Obeid-Allah, - "Al," as we have seen, signifying The One. Hence we are sure that the Unity was acknowledged long before the Prophet's mission, as well as the various Meccan customs still in current use. Circumcision also was practiced from of old, as we learn from the Epistle of Barnabas written about two centuries after Christ. Multitudes of idols being all around Mecca, 2 certainly little inspiration was needed to show how false the system was, and the task was well carried out by Mohammed. While so many of the ancient places, rites, and customs were maintained, only one quasi-idolatrous practice has been kept up, namely, the Kissing of the Black Stone, which was then worshipped as of heavenly descent; the habit was so loved by the people, that it could not be forbidden, and indeed is still observed.
In conclusion, then, we find that the first "Source" of the Koran and Tradition consisted of the notions, customs, and religious beliefs, existing around Mohammed. And we know of no other answer as to the adoption of these, than they were assumed to exist in the time of Abraham, and therefore were continued by the Prophet. Now, although we are told in the Torah that the doctrine of the Unity, as well as circumcision, were of Abraham's time, yet in the Holy Scriptures we find no mention of Mecca, procession round the Kaaba, the Black Stone, the other Holy Places, etc.; nor can there be any doubt that all these things were the gradual creation of idol worshippers, and had no connection whatever with the faith and tenets of Father Abraham.
It is interesting also to note that some verses of the Koran have without doubt been taken from poems anterior to Mohammed’s assumption of the prophetic office, in proof of which two passages in the Sabaa Moallaqat of Imra'ul Cays etc. are quoted, in which several verses of the Koran occur, such as, "The hour has come, and shattered is the moon." 1. was the custom of the time for poets and orators to hang up their compositions upon the Kaaba; and we know the Seven Moallaqat were so exposed. We are told that Fatima, the Prophet's daughter, was one day repeating as she went along, the above verse. Just then she met the daughter of Imra'ul Gays, who cried out: "O that'·s what your father has taken from one of my father's poems, and calls it something that has come down to him out of heaven"; and the story is commonly told amongst the Arabs until now.
The connection between the poetry of Imra'ul Gays and the Koran is so obvious that the Moslem cannot but hold that they existed with the latter in the Heavenly Table from all eternity! What then will he answer? That the words were taken from the Koran and entered in the poem, -- an impossibility. Or that their writer was not really Imra'ul Cays, but some other who, after the appearance of the Koran, had the audacity to quote them there as they now appear; rather a difficult thing to prove'
In concluding this chapter we have no difficulty in asserting with every confidence that the customs, rites, and beliefs of the ancient Arabs, formed one of the most important Sources of the Koran.
[1] 1. Our Author pithily remarks that the Moslems of today who seek forgiveness through the intercession of their holy men are as much polytheists as these old Arabs were. 2 Some say there were 360 around the Kaaba. But Ibn Ishac gives authorities for only fifteen generations of idolators before the Prophet's time.
[2] 'The two passages given by our Author from the Sabaa Moallaqat contain several verses, more or less similar to the Koran: -- Surah (54. 1), (29:31,46) (37:59), (21 96),( 93:1); this last, -- By the brightness of the morning; and by the night when it groweth dark. The passages noted are the same in both, with occasionally a few verbal differences.
JEWISH SOURCES OF THE KORAN
At the period when Mohammed was using the utmost endeavor to turn his people from idolatry to the Faith of Abraham, the Arabs had no religious writings acknowledged in common by them all, so that it was a matter of extreme difficulty to make them see the evils of their native faiths. There were three religions in the Peninsula - the Sabaean, Jewish, and Christian - each of which, as we hope to show, helped to nurse Islam, which at the first lay like an infant in its cradle The SABAEANS have disappeared. No trace of them anywhere remains, and even of their history but little is known. We are told by Eastern authorities 1. that they were the first of all peoples who inhabited Syria; that they derived their faith from Seth and Idris; and that they possessed a book called Pages of Seth, In which were inculcated righteousness, truth, bravery, care of the poor, and avoidance of evil. They had seven times for prayer, five of which were at the same hour as chosen by the Prophet. They prayed also for the dead, but without prostration; fasted thirty days from night to sunrise, and also if any new moon rose badly, for the remaining day of the month; observed Fed from the setting of their five stars; and venerated the Kaaba. Hence we see that the Sabaeans kept many observances still in force among the Moslems.
We turn to the JEWS. Of Course it is known to all how numerous and powerful the race was in Arabia at the time of Mohammed, and especially before the Hijra. Amongst their chief tribes were the Beni Coreitza, Cainucaa, and Nadhir, having their three villages in the vicinity of Medina.
When it became manifest that the Jews would in no wise recognize the prophetic office of Mohammed, he fought several severe battles with them and, not without difficulty, either took them prisoners and slew them with the sword, or at last expelled them from the land. Now, although these Jews were an ignorant people, yet they possessed and carefully preserved the Torah, the Psalms, etc., and were called (as also the Christians) The People of the Book. Though the nation at large knew little or nothing of Hebrew, yet (like the Jews we see in Persia at the present day) they were familiar with the stories of the Talmud and the foolish tales which had come down from their ancestors, and which, being ignorant of their own Sacred books, they regarded as holy and divine.
The ignorant Arabs of the day looked upon their neighbors the Jews with honor and respect as being of the seed of Abraham, and possessed of the Word of God. Hence when the Prophet turned aside from idols as hateful to the Almighty, and sought to bring his people back to the faith of Abraham, he betook himself with the utmost care to learn in what the teaching, customs, and obligations of that Faith consisted. Comparing these with the Koran and Tradition, we find the closest similarity between the two. Thus the Koran throughout bears witness to the faith of Abraham, to the truth of the Jewish religion, and the heavenly origin of their divine books. The following passages will be found to that effect:- Dispute not with the People of the Book, but in the mildest way, excepting such as behave injuriously; and say, We believe in that which has been revealed unto us, and in that which has been revealed unto you; our God and your God is One, and to Him we are resigned. And again:- Say, We believe in God, and in that which has been sent down unto us, and and in that which was sent down unto Abraham and Ishmael, and Isaac and Jacob, and the Tribes; and in that which was delivered unto Moses and Jesus, and in that which was delivered to the Prophets from the Lord. We make no distinction between any of them; and to Him we are resigned. At this period, also, Mohammed made the Holy House (Jerusalem) the Qibla of his followers, being then, (as it has since remained) the Qibla of the Jews.
To this it might be objected that Mohammed, as the "illiterate prophet," 2. must have been unable to read, and how then could he have gained all this knowledge from Jewish literature? But even admitting it to have been so, it must still have been easy enough for him to have learned all about their beliefs and customs and tales from his companions, such as Abdullah, Waraca, or even himself from his Jewish friends. For these people, though they had but an imperfect knowledge of the Old Testament Scriptures, yet well knew the foolish tales current amongst the Jewish nation. And now, if we compare the Koran with the tales in the Talmud and other books still current among the Jews, it becomes evident that although the Koran speaks of Abraham and many others of whom we read in the Torah, still all the wild stories it tells us are taken from Jewish traditional Sources. And we shall now give a few specimens to prove that it is so.
| 1. What follows is from Abu Feda, who quotes from Abu Isa alMaghrabi . 2. Surah vii. 156. The word used for illiterate is Ommy. R. Geiger's view is that this word has an altogether different meaning -- viz. that Mohammed held he was of the Ommat or Arab people, and not an Ajemy or non-Arab, as a Jew would be held to be. But seeing that the word has been universally held to mean unlearned (and unable to read), I think we must accept that interpretation. It does not, however, much matter in the present argument. |
1. Cain and Abel. -
In Surah v. 30-35 we have the following passage:-
And tell them the story truly of the two sons of Adam. When they offered up their sacrifice, and it was accepted from one of them, and not accepted from the other, Cain said, "I will kill thee." Abel answered, "God accepteth (offerings) of the pious alone. If thou stretchest forth thine hand against me to kill me, I will not stretch forth my hand to kill thee; for I fear God, the Lord of all worlds. I desire that thou shouldest bear my sin and thine own sin, and become a dweller in the Fire, for that is the punishment of the oppressor." But the soul of Cain inclined him to slay his brother, and he slew him; then he became one of the destroyed. And God sent a raven which scratched the earth to shew him how he should hide his brother's body. He said, "Woe is me! I am not able to belike the raven"; and he became one of those that repent (v. 35). For this cause we wrote unto the children of Israel that he who slayeth a soul, -- without having slain a soul or committed wickedness in the earth, - shall be as if he had slain all mankind; and whosoever saveth a soul alive, shall be as if he had saved all mankind.
Now this conversation and affair of Cain and Abel, as given above in the Koran, has been told us in a variety of ways by the Jews. Thus when Cain, according to them, said there was no punishment for sin and no reward for virtue, Abel, holding just exactly the reverse, was killed by Cain with a stone. So also in the book Pirke Rabbi Eleazer, we find the Source of
the burying of Abel as described in the Coran, there being no difference excepting that the raven indicates the mode to Adam instead of to Cain, as follows:-Adam and Eve, sitting by the corpse, wept not knowing what to do, for they had as yet no knowledge of burial. A raven coming up, took the dead body of its fellow, and having scratched up the earth, buried it thus before their eyes. Adam said, Let us follow the example of the raven, and so taking up Abel's body buried it at once.
If the Reader will look at the last verse (35) in the quotation above from Surah v. of the Koran, he will see that it has no connection with the one preceding. The relation is explained thus in the Mishnah Sanhedrin, where in quoting from Genesis the verse, - The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground, 2- the Commentator writes as follows:- "As regards Cain who killed his brother, the Lord addressing him does not say, 'The voice of thy brother's blood crieth out,' but 'the voice of his Bloods'; - meaning not his blood alone, but that of his descendants; and this to shew that since Adam was created alone, so he that kills an Israelite is, by the plural here used, counted as if he had killed the world at large; and he who saves a single Israelite is counted as if he had saved the whole world." Now, if we look at the thirty-fifth verse of the text above quoted, it will be found almost exactly the same as these last words of this old Jewish commentary. But we see that only part is given in the Koran, and the other part omitted. And this omitted part is the connecting link between the two passages in the Koran, without which they are unintelligible.
2. Abraham saved from Nimrod's fire.-
The story is scattered over various passages of the Koran, chiefly in those noted below. 3 Now whoever will read these, as well as the Traditional Records of the Moslems, 4 will at once perceive that the tale as there told has been taken from one of the ancient Jewish books called Midrash Rabbhh. To bring this clearly to view, we must first shew the history as given in the Koran and Moslem writings, and then compare it with the Jewish tale in the above book.
In a work of Abdul Feda we have the
| 1. LTargum of Jonathan ben Uzziah; also the Targum of Jerusalem. In Arabic Cain is called Cabtl. 2 Gen. iv. 10, "Bloods" in the margin for blood.3. Surah ii. 260, vi. 74-84, xxi. 52-72, xix. 42-50, xxvi. 69-79,xxix.15, 16, xxxvii. 81-95, xliii. 25-27, Ix. 4, and other passages 4. Such as the Qissas al Anbia and ArPish al Majalis.5 Ancient History from the Mukhtasar fi Akhb~r ii Bashar. |
Moslem story as follows. 5. ‘Azar, Abraham's father used to construct idols, and hand them over to his son to sell Abraham would go about crying, "Who will buy that which will hurt and not benefit him?" Then when God Almighty commanded him to call his people to the Divine unity, his father refused the call, and so did his people. Thus the matter spread abroad till it reached Nimrod, son of Cush, king over the country who took Father Abraham, and cast him into a fierce fire; but the fire grew cool and pleasant unto Abraham, who came out of it after some days. And thereupon his people believed in him.
Again, in the Araish al Majalis we read: Before this, when Abraham one night came up out of his cave and saw the stars before the moon arose, he said: This is my Preserver. (Surah 6:76) And when the night overshadowed him, he saw a star, and said, This is my Lord; and when it set, he said, ! love not those that · set. And when he saw the moon rising, he said, This is my Lord; but when it set, he said, Verily if my Lord direct me not, I shall be of those that go astray. And when he saw the sun rising, he said, This is my Lord; this is the greatest. But when it set, he said, O my people! Verily I am clear of that which ye associate together with God. Verily I direct my face unto him who hath created the heavens and the earth. I am orthodox, and not one of the idolaters.
They say that Abraham's father used to make idol images and give them to Abraham to sell. So Abraham taking them about would cry: "These will neither hurt nor help him that buys," so that no one bought from him. And when it was not sold, he took an image to the stream, and striking its head, would say, Drink, my poor one! in derision, - for his people and the heathen around him to hear. So when his people objected, he said, Ah! do ye dispute with me concerning God, and verily God hath directed me….And this Is our argument wherewith We furnished Abraham for his people. We raise the dignity of whom we wish, for thy Lord is wise and knowing. (Surah 6: 80-85) And so in the end Abraham overcame his, People by such arguments. Then he called his father Azar to the true faith, and said: O my father, wherefore dost thou worship that which , neither hears nor sees, nor yet doth profit thee in any way and so on to the end of the story. (Surah 19:40) But his rather refused that to which Abraham called him; whereupon Abraham cried aloud to his, people that he was free from what they worshipped and thus made known his faith to them. He said, what think ye? That which ye worship, and your forefathers also, are mine enemies, excepting only the lord of the worlds (Surah 26:75-77) " They said, Whom then dost thou worship? He answered, "The Lord of all worlds." "Dost thou mean Nimrod?" "Nay, but he that created me and guideth me," and so on. The thing then spread abroad among the people, till it reached the ears of the tyrant Nimrod, Who sent for him, and said: "O Abraham! Dost thou hold him to be thy god that hath Sent thee; dost thou call to his worship and speak of his power to those that worship other than him? Who is he?" Abraham replied. "My Lord, he that giveth life, and giveth death." (surah 2:260) Nimrod answered . "I give life, and cause to die." A. "How dost thou make alive, and cause to die?" N. "I take two men Who at my hands deserve death, one I kiII, who thus dies; the other I forgive. who thus is made alive." Whereupon Abraham answered, "l/erily God bringeth the sun from the East, now do thou bring him from the West."(Surah 2:260) Thereupon Nimrod was confounded, and returned him no reply. The people then went away to celebrate their Eed, and Abraham, taking the opportunity, broke all the idols but the biggest, and then the story proceeds as follows: When they had prepared food, they set It before their gods and said, "When the time comes we shall return, and the gods having blessed the meat we shall eat thereof." So when Abraham looked upon the gods, and what was set before them, he said derisively. "Ah! ye are not eating", and when no answer came, "What aileth you, that ye do not speak?" and he turned upon them and smote them with his right hand.(Surah 37:90) And he kept striking tht:m with a hatchet in his hand. until there remained none but the biggest of thenl. and upon Its neck he hung the axe.(Surah 21:59) ) He broke them all in pieces except the biggest, that they might lay the blame on it Now when the People returned from their Eed
| 1. Surah vi. 76, etc.; all is from the Koran so far as in italics; and so also in the next two pages.2. Cotada and Al Sidy are quoted here; and it is added from Al Dzahhak, "Perhaps they may giveevidence as to what we should do, and punish him." |
to the house of their gods, and saw it in such a Stafe, they said, Who hath done this to our gods? Verily he is a wicked one. They answered, We heard a young man speaking of them They call him Abraham. He it is, we think, who hath done it. When this reached the tyrant Nimrod and his chief men, They said, Bring him before the eyes of the people; perhaps they will bear witness that he hath donethis thing. And they were afraid to seize him without evidence.2 So they brought him and said: Hast thou done this unto our gods, O Abraham? He answered, Nay but that big one hath done it; he was angry that ye worshipped along with him these little idols, and he so much bigger than all; and he brake the whole of them in pieces. Now ask them if they can speak.1 When he had said this, they turned their backs, and said (among themselves), "Verily it is ye that are the transgressors.. We have never seen him but telling us that we transgress, having those little idols and this great one." So they broke the heads of them all, and were amazed that they neither spake nor made any opposition. Then they said (to Abraham), Certainly thou knowest that they speak not. Thus when the affair with Abraham was ended, he said to them: Ah! do ye indeed worship, besides God, that which cannot profit you at all, nor can it injure you. Fie on you, and on that which ye worship besides God! Ah, do ye not understand?
When thus overthrown and unable to make any answer, they called out, Burn him, and avenge your gods if ye do it. Abdallah tells us that the man who cried thus was a Kurd called Zeinun; and.the Lord caused the earth to open under him, and there he lies buried till the day of Judgment. When Nimrod and his people were thus gathered together to burn Abraham, they imprisoned him in a house, and built for him a great pile, as we read in Surah Saffat: They said, Build a pile for him and cast him into the glowing fire. Then they gathered together quantities of wood and stuff to burn; and so, by the grace of God, Abraham came out of the fire safe and sound, with the words on his lips, - God is sufficient for me (Surah 39;39); and He is the best Supporter (Surah 3. 37). For the Lord said, O Fire! be thou cool and pleasant unto Abraham. 2
Now, let us compare the story of Abraham as current amongst the Jews, with the same story in Koran and Tradition as given above, and see how they differ or agree. The following is from the Midrash Rabbah on Abraham brought out of Ur (Gen. xv. 7).
MIDRASH RABBAH
Terah used to make images. Going out one day, he told his son Abraham to sell them. When a man came to buy, Abraham asked him how old he was. Fifty or sixty years, he replied. Strange, said the other, that a man sixty years of age should worship things hardly a few days old! On hearing which the man, ashamed, passed on. Then a woman carrying in her hand a cup of wheaten flour said, Place this before the idols. On which, Abraham, getting up, took his staff in his hand, and having broken the idols with it, placed the staff in the hand of the biggest. His father coming up, cried, "Who hath done all this?" Abraham said, "What can be concealed from thee? A woman carrying a cup of wheaten flour asked me to place it before the gods; I took and placed it before them; one said, I will eat it first, and another, I will eat first. Then the big one took the staff, and broke them all in pieces." His father: "Why do you tell such a foolish tale to me? Do these know anything?" He answered, "Does thine ear hear what thy mouths speaks?" On this his father seized and made him over to Nimrod, who bade him worship Fire. Abraham: "Rather worship Water that putteth out Fire." N. "Then worship Water." A. "Rather worship that which bringeth Water." N. "Then worship the Cloud." A. "in such case, let ua worship Wind that drives away the Cloud." N. "Then worship Wind." A. "Rather let us worship Man that standeth against the wind." On this
| 1 A note is here added to the following purport:-- Mohammaed on this remarked that Abraham in all told three lies, all on behalf of the Lord, namely, "I am sick"; "the big one hath done this"; and what he said to the King regarding Sarah, "She is my sister."2 In the last few pages the quotations from the Koran are all from Surahs 21. and 37., and the verses being so numerous and detached are not numbered in detail; but they will be found in passages succeeding verse 52 of the former, and verse 84 of the latter Surah. The Koran passages are throughout printed in italics. |
Nimrod closed: - "If thou arguest with me about things which I am unable to worship other than Fire, into it I will cast thee; then, let the God thou worshippest deliver thee there from." So Abraham went down into the flames, and remained there safe and unhurt.
Comparing, now, this Jewish story with what we saw of it in the Koran, little difference will be found; and what there is no doubt arose from Mohammed hearing of it by the ear from the Jews. What makes this the more likely is that Abraham's father is in the Koran called Azar,(Surah 6.74) while both in the Midrash and Torah he is called Terah. But the Prophet probably heard the name in Syria (where, as we learn from Eusebius, the name had somewhat of a similar sound), and so remembered it.
The Moslems, of course, hold that their Prophet gained the tale of Abraham's being cast into the fire neither from Jews nol Christians, but through Gabriel from on high; and as the Jews, being children of Abraham, so accepted it, the Koran, they say, must be right. But it could only have been the common folk among the Jews who believed it so; for those who had any knowledge of its origin must have known its puerility.
The origin of the whole story will be found in Genesis 15:7: I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees. Now Ur in Babylonish means a "city" as In Ur-Shalim (Jerusalem), "the City of Peace." And the Chaldaean Ur1 was the residence of Abraham. This name Ur closely resembles in speech another word, Or signifying light or fire. And so ages after, a Jewish Commentator2. Ignorant of. Babylonish, when translating the Scripture into Chaldean, put the above verse from Genesis, as follows: Im the Lord that delivered thee out of the Chaldean fiery oven. The Same Ignorant writer has also the following comment on Genesis 11:27: "Now this happened at the time when Nimrod cast Abraham into the oven of fire, because he would not worship the idols, that leave was withheld from the fire to hurt him - a strange confusion of words, - Ur the city, for Or light and fire. It is as if a Persian seeing notice of the departure of the English post, should put in his diary that an Englishman had lost his skin, - not knowing that the same word for skin in Persian means the Post in English. No wonder then that an ignorant Jew should have mistaken a word like this, and made it the foundation whereon to build the grand tale of Abraham's fiery Oven. But it is somewhat difficult to understand how a Prophet like Mohammed could have given credence to such a fable, and entered it in a revelation held to have come down from heaven. And yet the evidence of it all is complete, as quoted above from the Jewish writer. Apart from this we know from Genesis that Nimrod lived not in the days of Abraham but ages before his birth. The name indeed is not in the Coran, though freely given in the Moslem Commentaries and Tradition. As if a historian should tell us that Alexander the Great cast Nadir Shah into the fire, not knowing the ages that elapsed between the two, or that Nadir never was so thrown.
.3. Visit of the Queen of Saba (Sheba) to Solomon
The story of Balkis, Queen of Saba, as told at length in the Koran, corresponds so closely with what we find in the II. Targum of the Book of Esther, that it was evidently taken from it, as heard by Mohammed from some Jewish source. The following is from the
Surah of the Ant (27.17et seq):
His armies were gathered together unto Solomon, consisting of Genii, men and birds, and they were kept back...Solomon smiled at the ant and said: O I,ord! may I do that which is right and well pleasing unto thee, so that thou introduce me amongst thy servants the righteous. And he viewed the birds and said, Why is it that I see not the Hudhud (Lapwing)? Is she among the absent ones? Truly I will chastise her with a severe chastisement, or will put her to death unless she bring a just excuse. Hut she did not wait long, and said, I have viewed a country that thou hast not seen: and I come unto thee from Saba with certain news. I found a female ruling over them, surrounded with every kind of possession, and having a magnificent Throne. I found her and her people worshipping the Sun apart from God. Satan hath made their deeds pleasant unto them, and hath turned them aside from the right way, and they are not rightly directed, -- lest they should worship God who manifesteth that which is in heaven and earth, and knoweth what they conceal and what they discover. God! there is no God but he, the Lord of the great Throne! Solomon said: We shall see whether thou tellest the truth or art amongst the liars. Go with this my letter, and having delivered it to them turn aside, and see what answer they return. The Queen having received it, said: O ye Nobles! verily an honourable letter hath been delivered unto me. It is from Solomon. It is in the name of the Most Merciful God; "Rise not up against me; but come ye submissive unto me." She said: O ye Nobles! advise me in the affair; I will not resolve upon it, until ye be witnesses thereof. They said: We are men of strength and of great prowess; but the matter belongeth unto thee: see therefore what thou wilt command. She said: Verily kings when they enter a city waste it, and abuse its most powerful inhabitants; and so will they do. But I will send gifts unto them, and wait to see what the messengers will return with. So when they went to Solomon, he said: Ah! do ye present me with wealth? Verily that which God hath given unto me is better than that which he hath given you, but ye do rejoice in your gifts. Return unto them; we will surely come unto them with an army which they cannot withstand, and we shall drive them thence humbled and contemptible. O ye Nobles (he continued), which of you will bring me her Throne, before they come submissive unto me? A giant of the Genii cried, I will bring it unto thee before thou gettest up from thy place, for I am strong in this, and to be trusted. And one who had knowledge of the Scriptures: I will bring it unto thee before the twinkling of thine eye. Now when (Solomon) saw it placed before him he said: This is a favour of my Lord, that he may try me whether I am grateful or ungrateful; he that Is grateful is grateful for his own benefit but he that is ungrateful, verily the Lord is rich and beneficent. And (Solomon) said: Alter her throne, that we may see whether she be rightly directed, or be amongst those who are not rightly directed. And when she came, it was said, Is this thy throne? She said, It is as if it were; and knowledge hath been bestowed upon us before this, and we are resigned (Unto God). But that which she worshipped besides had turned her aside, for she Was of an unbelieving people. It was said to her, Enter the Palace. And when she saw it, she imagined that it was a great surface of water, and she uncovered her legs, when (Solomon) Said, Verily it is a palace floored with glass. And she said, Truly I have done injury to my own soul, and I resign myself, along with Solomon, unto God, the Lord of all creatures. (Surah 27. 20-45).
Such is the account the Koran gives us of Queen Of Saba. What it tells us of the Throne differs but little from the Targum, where it is said to have belonged to Solomon, and to have had no other like it in any land. There were six Steps of gold to ascend, and on each twelve golden Lions, while twelve eagles of gold were Perched around. Four-and-twenty other eagles cast their shadow from above upon the King, and when he wished to move anywhere, these powerful eagles descending would lift the Throne and carry it wherever he wished. Thus they performed, according to the Targum, the same duty the Koran tells us the Genii did. But otherwise inrespect of Queen Of Saba, her visit to Solomon, the letter sent by him to her, etc., there is a marvellous resemblance between the two, excepting this, indeed, that in place of the Lapwing of the Koran, the Targum Speaks of a Red-cock, - Not a very vital difference after all! The whole story is told in the Targum asfollows:-
II TARGUM of Ester
At another time, when the heart of Solomon was gladdened with wine, he gave orders for the beasts of the land, the birds of the air, the creeping things of the earth, the demons from above and the Genii, to be brought, that they might dance around him, in order that all the kings waiting upon him might behold his grandeur. And all the royal scribes summoned by their names before him; in fact, all were there except the captives and prisoners and those in charge of them. Just then the Red-cock, enjoying itself, could not be found; and King Solomon said that they should seize and bring it by force, and indeed he sought to kill it. But just then the cock appeared in presence of the King, and said: O Lord, King of the earth! having applied thine ear, listen to my words. It is hardly three months since I made a firm resolution within me that I would not eat a crumb of bread, nor drink a drop of water until I had seen the whole world, and over it make my flight, saying to myself, I must know the city and the kingdom which is not subject to thee, my Lord King. Then I found the fortified city Qitor in the Eastern lands, and around it are stones of gold and silver in the streets plentiful as rubbish, and trees planted from the beginning of the world, and rivers to water it, flowing out of the garden of Eden. Many men are there wearing garlands from the garden close by. They shoot arrows, but cannot use the bow. They are ruled by a woman, called Queen of Sheba. Now if it please my Lord King, thy servant, having bound up my girdle, will set out for the fort Qitor in Sheba; and having "bound their Kings with chains and their Nobles with links of iron," will bring them into thy presence. The proposal pleased the King, and the scribes prepared a dispatch, which was placed under the bird's wing, and away it flew high up in the sky. It grew strong surrounded by a crowd of birds, and reached the Fort of Sheba. By chance the Queen of Sheba was out in the morning worshipping the sea; and the air being darkened by the multitude of birds, she became so alarmed as to rend her clothes in trouble and distress. Just then the Cock alighted by her, and she seeing the letter under its wing opened and read it as follows: "King Solomon sendeth to thee his salaam, and saith, The high and holy One hath set me over the beasts of the field, etc.; and the kings of the four Quarters send to ask after my welfare. Now if it please thee to come and ask after my welfare, I will set thee high above them all. But if it please thee not, I will send kings and armies against thee; - the beasts of the field are my people, the birds of the air my riders, the demons and genii thine enemies, -- to imprison you, to slay and to feed upon you." When the Queen of Sheba heard it, she again rent her garments, and sending for her Nobles asked their advice. They knew not Solomon, but advised her to send vessels by the sea, full of beautiful ornaments and gems, together with 6000 boys and girls in purple garments, who had all been born at the same moment; also to send a letter promising to visit him by the end of the year. It was a journey of seven years but she promised to come in three. When at last she came, Solomon sent a messenger shining in brilliant attire, like the morning dawn, to meet her. As they came together, she stepped from her carriage. "Why dost thou thus?" he asked. "Art thou not Solomon?" she said. "Nay, I am but a servant that standeth in his presence." The queen at once addressed a parable to her followers in compliment to him, and then was led by him to the Court. Solomon hearing she had come, arose and sat down in the Palace of glass. When the Queen of Sheba saw it, she thought that the glass floor was water, and so in crossing over lifted up her garments. When Solomon seeing the hair about her legs, cried out to her: Thy beauty is the beauty of women, but thy hair is as the hair of men; hair is good in man, but in wonian It is not becoming. On this she said: My Lord, I have three enigmas to put to thee. If thou canst answer them, I shall know that thou art a wise man: but if not thou art like all around thee. When he had answered all three, she replied, astonished: Blessed be the Lord thy God, who hath placed thee on the throne that thou mightest rule with right and justice. And she gave to Solomon much gold and silver; and he to her whatsoever she desired.
In the Jewish statement, we see that the Queen put several enigmas for Solomon to solve; and though this Is not mentioned in the Koran, it is In the Moslem traditions. And so with the story of her legs; for in the Aiaish al Majalis we find the following: - When the Queen was about to enter the Palace, she fancied the glass floor to be a sheet of water, and so She uncovered her legs, that is, to pass over to Solomon; and lo her legs and felt were covered with hair; which when Solomon saw, he turned his sight from her, and called out, The floor is plain glass.
Here we would ask whether there is any reality whatever in all this story. There is indeed so much as we find in the First Book of Kings, 10: 1-11 (also see 2 Chronicles 9 1-9) which is as follows:-
And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions. And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not any thing hid from the king, which he told her not. And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he had built, and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the Lord; there was no more spirit in her. And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard. Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom. Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because the I,ord loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, to do judgment and justice. And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices very great store, and precious stones: there came no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon. I Kings 10:1-11
Now these are the facts of the Queen's visit, and all beyond mere fiction. The Jews themselves admit it to be so, - excepting, indeed, Solomon's magnificent Throne, though not its being carried aloft. The Koran account of Solomon ruling over Demons, Genii, etc., is in entire accord with what we have cited from the Targum; and it is curious to find, as learned Jews tell us, that the origin of the notion lay in the similarity of two Hebrew words 1., with two kindred words signifying demons and genii, and the ignorant Commentator confounding them together led to the strange error.
In concluding our notice of the fanciful tale which we have given from the Jewish Targum, we might say that it reminds one of such stories as we find in the "Arabian Nights." But strange that the Prophet could not have seen it so. Having heard it from his Jewish friends, he evidently fancied that it had been read by them in their inspired Scriptures, and as such introduced it, as we find, into the Koran.
4. Harat and Marut.
- There are many other stories in the Koran taken from the fanciful details of Jewish writers; but we shall content ourselves with this one other before entering on more general questions. We shall first recite the tale of those two Spirits as given in the Koran and Tradition, and then compare it
with the same as told by Jewish writers. The passage in the Coran is this:-- Solomon was not an unbeliever; but the Devils believed not. They taught men sorcery, and that which was sent down to the two angels at Babel, - Harat and Marut. Yet these taught no man until they had said, - Verily we are a temptation, therefore be not an unbeliever. (Surah 2:96)
The following is from the Araish al Majalis:-
The Commentators say that when the angels saw the evil doings of mankind ascending up to heaven (and that was in the days of Idris), they were distressed and complained thus against them: Thou hast chosen these to be the rulers upon earth, and lo they sin against thee. Then said the Almighty: If I should send you upon the earth, and treat you as I have treated them, ye would do just as they do They said, O our Lord, it would not become us to sin against thee. Then said the Lord, Choose two angels from the best of you, and I will send them down unto the earth. So they chose Harut and Marut; who were among the best and most pious amongst them.
Al Kalby's version:-- The Almighty said: Choose ye three: so they chose (Azz, i.e) Harut, and (Azabi, i.e.) Marut, and Azrael; and the Lord
| 1. 1. Meaning "a lady and ladies" in Ecclesiastes 2:8 |
changed the names of the two when they fell into sin, as he changed the name of the Devil, which was AzaziI. And God placed in their heart the same fleshly lust as in the sons of Adam; and sending them down to the earth, bade them to rule righteously amongst mankind, to avoid idolatry, not to kill but for a just cause, and to keep free from fornication and strong drink. Now when Azrael felt lust in his heart, he prayed the Lord to relieve him, and was taken up to heaven, and for forty years wan unable to raise his head for shame before his Maker. But the other two remained steadfast, judging the people during the day, and when night came ascending to the heavens, worshipping the name of the Almighty. Catada tells us that before a month had passed they fell into temptation; for Zohra. one of the most beautiful of women (whom Aly tells us was queen of a city in Persia), had a suit before them, and when they saw her they fell in love with her, and sought to have her, but she refused and went away. The second day she came again, and they did the same; but she said, Nay, unless ye worship what I worship, and bow down to this idol, or kill a soul, or drink wine. They replied, It is impossible for us to do these things, which God hath forbidden; and she departed. The third day again she came holdIng a cup of wine, and her heart inclined towards them; so when they desired her, she said the same as yesterday, but they replied, To pray to other than God is a serious thing, and so is the killing of anyone; the easiest of the three is to drink wine: so they drank the wine, and becoming intoxicated Fell upon her and committed adultery: and one saw it, and they slew him. And it is said that they worshipped an idol, and the Lord changed Zohra into a star. Aly and others tell us that she said, Come not near me till you teach me that by which ye can ascend to the heavens They said, We ascend by the name of the great God. Again she said, Come not near me till ye teach me what that is. So they taught her; and forthwith she, repeating it, ascended to the skies, and the Lord changed her Into a star.
Turning now to the Jews, the same account is given In two or three places of the Talmud, especially in this extract from the Midrash Yalkut: (Capp 44)
Rabbi Joseph being asked by his disciples about Azael, told them as follows:-- After the Flood, idolatrous worship prevailing, the Holy One Was angry. Then two angels, Shamhazai and Azael arose and addressing him Said, O Lord of the Universe, when thou createdst the world, did we not say to thee, What is man that thou art mindful of him? and now we are anxious about him. The Lord replied: I well know that if ye be sent to rule over the earth, your evil passions will have possession of you, and ye will become tyrants over mankind. They answered: If thou wilt give us leave, and we shall dwell amongst them, thou shalt see in what wise we shall sanctify thy name. Go then, he said, and dwell amongst them.
Soon after, Shamhazai saw a beautiful maiden called Esther, and turning his eyes upon her to come and be with him, she said, I cannot surrender myself to thee until thou teach me that great name by which thou canst ascend to the heavens above. He told her, and she having spoken it, ascended upwards undefiled. ~Then said the Holy One, -- Since she hath kept herself clear from defilement, she shall be raised aloft amid the Seven Stars, there to give praise unto the Lord. Forthwith the two went forth and consorted with the beautiful daughters of men, and children were born unto them. And Azael adorned the women he was inclined to with all kinds of beautiful ornaments.
(Azrael is the same as in the Talmud is called Azael)
Now anyone comparing the two stories together, must see that they agree, excepting that in the Moslem one the angels are called Harut and Marut, and in the Jewish, Shamhazai and Azael. But if we search whence the names in the Koran and Tradition came, it will be seen that Harut and Marut were two idols worshipped far back in Armenia. For in writers of that country they are so spoken of, as in the following passage from one of them:
Certainly Horot and Morot, tutelary deities of mount Ararat, and Aminabegh, and perhaps others now not known, were Assistants to the female goddess Aspandaramlt. These aidedher, and were excellent on the earth.
In this extract, Aspandaramlt is the name of the goddess worshipped of old in Iran also; for we are told that the Zoroastrians regarded her as the Spirit of the Earth, and held that all the good products of the earth arise from her. Aminabegh also was held by the Armenians to be the god of vineyards, and they named Horot and Morot the assistants of the Spirit of the Earth, seeing that they held them as spirits who had control over the wind so as to make it bring rain. They sat on the top of the lofty mountain Ararat, and sent down showers that fertilized the earth; the two were thus rulers of the wind. 1 The Armenians, - fancying that Morot came from Mor, genitive of Mair, "Mother," - formed Horot in the same way from Hair, "Father." When also it is said that the two angels came down to propagate mankind, the meaning is that they caused the earth to bring forth its produce for that end. Zohra in Hebrew reads as Ishtar or Esther, the same as of old was worshipped in Babylon and Syria as the goddess over the birth of children and promoter of passion and desire. In proof of all this, we find in the ruins between the Tigris and Euphrates the name Ishtar on the primeval tiles. The story of one Gilgamlsh, with whom Ishtar fell in love but was rejected, has been decyphered in ancient Babylonian character upon these tiles. Ishtar came to him having the crown upon her head and asked him to kiss her, and with many loving words and gifts to be her husband, when he would in her Palace have a quiet and happy life. Gilgamish in derision rejected her offer, whereupon she ascended to the sky and appeared before the God of the heavens. 3 It is remarkable that the idolators of Babylon are shown in this primeval story to have held that Ishtar, that is Zohra, ascended on high, - exactly as is told us in Moslem tradition, as also in the Jewish commentaries.
Now if we search for the Source of the above tale, we shall no doubt find it in what the Talmud says of the angels associating with women, in its commentary on the two verses in Genesis quoted below.1. Speaking of the second verse, a Jewish commentator gives us the following interpretation: - "It was Shamhazai and Uzziel who in those days came down from heaven." Hence we see that the whole imaginative tale has come out of the mistake of this and other ignorant commentators. For the word giant, as shown below, was misconstrued by them to signify not those who tyrannically "fell" on the poor people around them, but angels who "came down, or fell, from heaven." 4 And this unhappy mistake has led to the spread of the strange idol-worship just narrated. Nor was there any apparent reason for the mistake; since in the Targum we find the name (Nefilim) explained in its right and natural sense as
"giants." But by and by the Jews came to love the wild tales that spread abroad; and so in a counterfeit book ascribed to Enoch, we are told that 200 angels under Samyaza (i.e. Shamhazai) came down from the heavens to commit adultery on the earth, as we read:-
The angels of heaven having seen the daughters of men, fell in love with them, and said to one another, Let us take for ourselves these women, the daughters of mankind, and beget children for ourselves. And Samyaza, who was their chief, said....Azaziel taught men to make swords, daggers, and shields, and taught them to wear breastplates. And for the women they made ornaments of kinds, bracelets, jewels, collyrium to beautify their eyelids, lovely stones of great pice, dresses of beautiful colours, and current money.
Let it be remembered also that we have mention of this in the Koran:- Men learned from these two (Harut and Marut) that by which to cause a division between a man and his wife; but they did not injure any one thereby excepting by leave of God; and they learned that which would hurt them and not profit them. (Surah 2:96) This is similar to what we have seen above in the Midrash Yalkut, where we are told that Azael
| 1. The origin of the name is traced still fllrther East to the ancient Sanskrit wind-gods the Maruls.2 The original Babylonish text is here given, as indeed the Author does in most of the Oriental quotations. A close translation is also given, but only the general purport is here attempted.3. Genesis 6:2-4"The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and took them wives of all which they chose...There were giants in those days,...when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children unto them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown." The "sons of God," according to our Author, mean righteous men of the seed of Seth. The Commentator quoted is Jonathan son of Uzziel.There is a Sanskrit story of the similar ascent of two angels, and a Houry like Zohra, from which the Armenians may possibly have taken their tale; and from this idolatrous source the Jews no doubt received it; and from them, the Moslems. 4 The term is Nefilim, i.e. persons who fell upon the helplessaround them and committed violence and oppression on the earth. |
embellished the daughters of men with ornaments to make them lovely and attractive.
But enough has been said to show that the story of Harut and Marut, as we find it in the Coran and Moslem books, has been derived from Jewish sources.
Fifth.
A few other things taken by Islam from the Jews. - If time permitted, we could easily tell of many other narratives in the Koran, not in our Scriptures but taken from foolish tales of the Jews, about Joseph, David, Saul, etc-.; but space will not permit, excepting for a few. Here, for example, is the account of "·Sinai overhead" as we have it in Surah 7. 172: And when we raised the mountain over them, as though it had been a canopy, and they imagined that it was falling upon them, (we said) Receive that which we have sent unto you with reverence, and remember that which is therein, if may be that ye take heed; and we have two other passages (vv. 60 and 87) in Surah Bekr to the same effect; -- the meaning being that when the Jews held back from accepting the Torah, the Lord lifted Mount Sinai over their heads to force their reception of it. The same tale is given by a Hebrew writer thus: "I raised the mount to be a covering over you, as it were a lid."1. It need hardly be said that there is nothing of the kind in the Torah. The tale, however, may have arisen (Exodus 32:19) from the fact that when Moses returning from Mount Sinai, saw his people worshipping the calf, "his anger waxed hot and he cast the tables (of the Law) out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount." The words "beneath the mount," simply mean that he cast the tables down at the foot of Mount Sinai. And hence all this wild fiction of the mountain being lifted over their heads! We can only compare it to a like Hindoo tale of a mountain similarly lifted over the people's heads, very much resembling what we have in the Koran.
Here are one or two other tales of Moses in the wilderness; and first, that of the Golden Calf which came out of the fire kindled by the people at Sinai. The Koran
tells us that Sameri also cast (what he had into the fire) and brought out unto them a bodily calf which lowed.(Surah 20:9) The origin of this fiction we find in a Jewish writer.2 as follows: "The calf having cried aloud, came forth, and the children of Israel saw it. Rabbi Yahuda says that Sammael from the inside of it made the cry of the calf in order to lead the Israelites astray." No doubt the Prophet in this matter got his information from the Jews; strange that he should have been led to adopt this baseless tale. But he has used the wrong name Al Sameri. The name of the people, of course, occurs often in the Bible, and the Jews regarded the Samaritans as their enemies; but as the city of Samaria did not arise till some four hundred years after Moses, it is difficult to imagine how it came to be entered in this story.3. We also note that in this matter the Koran is in opposition to the Torah, which tells us that Aaron was the person who for fear of the Israelites around him, had the molten calf set up. Another story, given us twice in the Koran, (Surah 2:28, Surah 4:152) is that when the Israelites insisted on seeing the Lord, they were punished by death, but eventually restored to life again; and to add to the foolish tale we are told that it was the Torah which appealed for help and thus obtained their revival.
Sixth.
A few other Jewish matters. - In the Koran are a number of Chaldaean and Syrian words which the Moslems have been unable rightly to explain, find it written of the Genii that "they listened behind the curtain" in order to gain knowledge of things to come.
In Surah 1. 29, we read:- On the day we shall say unto hell, Art thou full? and ii shall reply, Is there yet any more? Similarly in a Jewish author:-- "The Prince of Hell shall say, day by day, (;ive me food that I may be full."
In Surahs 11. 42 and 23. 27, it is said of the Flood, The oven boiled over; and in a Jewish work we have this: "The people of the Flood were punished with boiling water." These similarities are interesting as showing the close connection between the Koran and Jewish remarks; but enough has been given of them.
| 1. From the Jewish story in the Abodah Sarah.2 Pirke Rabbi Eleazer.3. No. doubt the Prophet thought that the Jews said Sameri (Samaritan) when they said Sammael. They regarded Sammael as the angel of death. |
Seventh.
Religious usage’s of Islam taken from the Jews. ?'here are many such, but it will suffice to mention two or three. We have seen that keeping the fast of Ramadan has been taken from the Sabaeans and not the Jews, still there is one point certainly coming from the latter, and that regards eating and drinking at night during the month. In Surah 2. 83, we read: Eat and drink until ye can distinguish a white thread from a black thread by the day-break, then fulfil the fast. In a Jewish book (Mishnah Berakhoth) we find it similarly laid down that "the beginning of the day is at the moment when one can but distinguish a blue thread from a white thread," - a striking coincidence.
Again, Moslems of all lands, at the fixed time of their five prayers, wherever they happen to be, whether in the house or in the street, perform their devotions on the spot, - especially at places where people are passing by. This strange practice is entirely confined to them, and would be seemly In no other religion. But in the days of the Prophet there were Jews in Arabia who used this habit; for many of them were descended from the Pharisees, of whom our Savior said:- "They love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men." (Matt. 6:5) Thus the Companions of Mohammed looking upon the Jews as the People of the Book and children of father Abraham, regarded such practices as having descended from him, and so adopted, and have continued them to the present day, as we see, unchanged, though they are no longer kept up by the Jews themselves.
Does it not seem strange to the Reader, that although the Koran repeatedly attests our Scriptures as the Word of God, yet but one quotation is taken from them; viz. Surah 21. 105, - Verily we have written in the Psalms after the mention (of the Law) that my servants the righteous shall inherit the earth; an evident reference to Psalm 37. 11; - "But the meek shall inherit the earth ."
Two other matters borrowed from the Jews. Every Moslem thinks the Koran to have been on the heavenly Table (Lauh) from before the creation of the world, as is mentioned in a passage already quoted:- Truly it is the glorious Koran, on a preserved Table. (Surah 85:21,22) Now before saying anything about this Table, one may ask, was the Book of the Psalms in existence before the Koran or not? For we have given above a verse in which is revealed the inheritance given by the Lord to his servants, as mentioned in the Psalms before the Koran was revealed. The Koran quotes from the Psalms: is it not clear, therefore, that the Psalms were before the Koran? How then could the Koran, produced so late in the world, have been placed on the heavenly Table?
Now let us hear what Tradition tells us about this Table:-
One tells us that the Throne is made out of a pearl, as is also the Preserved Table, the height of which is 700 years' journey, and its breadth 300. All around it is adorned with rubies. The Lord commanded that there should be written upon it what he had wrought in Creation, and onwards till the Day of Judgment:-- "In the name of the Lord, the Compassionate and Merciful. I am God and there is none else beside me. He that accepts my decree, is patient at my punishment, and thankful at my mercies, I will write and place him along with the righteous; he that doth not accept my decree, let him go forth from beneath my heaven," etc.' (Quissas al Anbia)
The Source of this tale is to be found in Jewish books, but vastly exaggerated by the Moslems. We find in the Torah that when God desired to give forth the Ten commandments, he thus addressed Moses, who has himself given the account in Deut. 10:1-5
At that time the Lord said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood. And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark. And I made an ark of shittim wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand. And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the Lord spake unto you in the mount our of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the Lord gave them unto me. And I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which had made; and there they be, as the Lord commanded me.
Elsewhere also we are told that the two Tables were preserved in the Ark of the Covenant, made by Moses at the Lord's command.' (Exodus 24:12, I Kings 8:9 Hebrews 9:3,4) But in course of time the Jews imagined that all the books of the Old Testament, nay the Talmud itself, were deposited in the Ark on the Tables, Mohammed hearing this of the Jewish Law and Scriptures, imagined the same of his own, and said (as we are told above) that the Koran also was placed on the Preserved Table; and his followers not understanding of what heavenly Table he spoke, swelled out the whole matter into the story given above. The following is from a Jewish writer, Rabbi Simeon:-
What is that which is written that the Lord said to Moses: Come up to me into the mount, and be there; and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them (Exodus 24:12) The tables are the Ten Commandments; and the Torah the Law which is read; and the Commandments also mean the Mishnah; and "that which I have written" means the Prophets, and the Holy Writings; and "that thou mayest teach them" points to the Gemara. And from this we learn that all these were delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai.
No intelligent Moslem would for a moment credit this foolish story, knowing that the Mishna was not written till about the year 220 of the Christian era; the Gemara of Jerusalem in 430 A.D.; and the Gemara of Babylon about 530 A.D. But ignorant Moslems believing it all, added their own Koran to the rest, and so comes this wretched story. The Reader will not think it necessary, we are sure, that anything more of the above kind be added, excepting this, perhaps, that the Jews themselves hold the Tables to be of date beyond time; for one tells us they were made "at the creation of the world at the sunset before the Sabbath day."(Pirke Aboth, v. 6)
The Mount Calf
The origin of what the Moslems tell us about this mountain clearly originated from the Jews. Here is what the Tradition of the Moslems tell us:2(Araish al Majalis)
The Lord Almighty formed a great mountain from green chrysolite, - the greenness of the sky is from it, -- called Mount calf and surrounded the entire earth therewith, and it is that by which the Almighty swore, and called it Calf (see Surah 1.1).
And again:-
One day Abdallah asked the Prophet what formed the highest point of the earth. "Mount Calf," he said. "And what is Mount Calf made of?" "Of green emeralds," was the reply; "and from hence is the greenness of the sky." "Thou hast said the truth, O Prophet; and what is the height of Mount Calf?" "A journey of five hundred years.~~ "And round about it how far is it?" "Two thousand years' journey."
Now all these strange ideas are founded on the Jewish writing called Hagigah, where we meet with the following comment on the word thohu in Genesis 1:2 "Thohh is a green line (Cav or Calf which surrounds the whole world, and hence comes darkness." And so the Companions of the Prophet hearing this explanation of the word Cav, and not understanding what was meant, fancied it must be a mountain, or succession of great mountains, surrounding the world and making it dark. From all that has now been said, it must be clear tothe Reader that the Jewish writings, and specially the fanciful tales of the Talmud, formed one of the chief Sources of Islam. And now we must turn our attention to the similar influence on Islam exercised by the Christian religion, and especially by those foolishstories which in the Prophet's day the heretical sects, with their forged and got-up tales, spread abroad.
CHAPTER 5
SOME THINGS IN THE KORAN AND TRADITION DERIVED FROM ANCIENT ZOROASTRIAN AND HINDU BELIEFS.
We learn from Arabian and Greek historians that previous to Mohammed’s birth, and during his life, many parts of the Peninsula were ruled over by Persian kings. For example, Kesra Nousherwan having sent an army to Hira put down Harith the king, and in his room placed the subservient Mandzar on the throne. He also sent an army to Yemen, and having expelled the Abyssinian invaders, restored the old king, whose progeny followed him in the government of the land. Abulfeda tells us that "the family of Mandzar, and race of Nasr son of Rabia, were the Kesra's governors over the Arabs of Irac"; also that after the Himyarites, "there were four Abyssinian governors of Yemen, and eight Persians, and then it became ruled over by Islam." It is clear, then, that both in the time of Mohammed and previously, the Persians had constant intercourse with Arabia; and being incomparably more learned than its ignorant people, must have had an important influence on their religion, on their customs, and on their knowledge at large. Both history and Koranic commentaries show that the tales and songs of Iran were spread abroad among the tribes of Arabia. Thus Ibn Hisham tells us that in the days of the Prophet, stories of Rustem, Isfandiyar, and the ancient kings of Persia, were not only current at Medina, but that some of the Quresh used delightedly to compare them with the similar tales in the Koran. He adds as follows:-
The Prophet of the Lord, when he sat in the assembly, used to pray there to the Almighty, read to them from the Koran, and warn the Quresh of what in times past had happened to the unbelieving nations. It so came to pass that one day after he had left, Nadhr son of Al Harith came in and·told them stories of the great Rustem and of Isfandiyar and the kings of Persia. Then he said, "I swear by the Lord, that the stories of Mohammed are not better than my own; they are nothing but tales of the past which he hath written out, just as I have written mine out." Then descended this passage:--
" They say these are fables of the ancients which he hath caused to be written down, dictated by him morning and evening. Say, He hath revealed the some who knoweth the sacred things in heaven and earth; verily he is gracious and mercilul. (Surah 25.6-7) ...When our verses are recited unto him, he saith, - Fables of the ancients.(Surah 68.15) Woe unto every lying and wicked one that heareth the verses of God read unto him, then proudly resisteth, as if he heard them not; wherefore denounce unto him a fearful punishment. (Surah 45. vs.6-7) A
These stories of Rustem, isfandiyar, and other ancient kings of Persia, are similar to what Ferdosi, some centuries after the Prophet, turned into song in his Shahnama. Certainly as the Arabs used to read of the ancient sovereigns, they could not have been ignorant of stories such as those of Jamshid, the ascent of Ahriman out of darkness, Art Viraf, the bridge Chinavad, and such like. Our object is by careful search to ascertain whether these stories and the like had any effect on the Koran and Hadith. We are sure that they had; and that Persian tales and doctrines form one of the Sources of Moslem faith. Many also of the stories, literary, imaginative, and religious, were not confined to Iran, but were current among the Hindus in India, and spread abroad amongst the people traveling by Herat and Merve, and so westward. It will be asked what our proof of all this is; and we propose accordingly to quote some passages from the Koran and Hadith, and then to compare these with what may be found in ancient Zoroastrian and Hindu writings.
1. The Miraj: The Ascent to Heaven
We begin with the ascent,- Miraj-of the Prophet. The following account of it is in
Surah 17.1- Praise be to him who transported his servant by night from the Sacred temple (of Mecca) to the farther Temple (Jerusalem) the surroundings of which we have blessed, that we might shew him some of our signs, for he is both the hearing and the seeing One. In the interpretation of this verse the greatest difference has prevailed. Thus Ibn Ishac gives this account from Ayesha:-- "The body of the Prophet did not disappear, but the Lord carried off his soul by night."(Sirat al Rasul) Tradition also tells us that the Prophet himself said:- "Mine eyes slept, but my heart was awake."' Mohee ood Deen is of the same opinion; writing of the Ascent and Night Journey, he says, in explanation of the above passage:-
Praised be he that transported his servant; that is, released him from material surroundings, and caused a spiritual separa
tion without any change of the body. By night, i.e. in darkness surrounding the physical frame; for the ascent could only be carried out spiritually through the inner senses of the body. From the holy Masjid; that is, from the center of a sacred heart, free from bodily corruption and sensual coverings. To the further Masjid; that is, the fountain of the spirit, far removed from the corporeal world, and close to the manifestation of the Almighty's glory, in order that he might the better understand that which, We might shew him some of our signs, even if they be within the heart, which can only be done in all their glory and grandeur by spiritual discernment within the soul; namely, that we can shew him of our Nature and perfection.
Hence, if we accept the above, together with the witness of Ayesha, and what the Prophet himself is reported to have said, - the ascent was not in body, but in spirit. But the view of others is altogether different. Thus Ibn Ishac tells us that, according to what Mohammed said, Gabriel awoke him twice; but he went to sleep again:-
And he came to me the third time, and made me stand up and go with him to the gate of the Mosque, where, lo! there was a white steed, in appearance between a pony and an ass. Then with his hand he helped me upon it, neither of us preceding the other. (Then follows a quotation from Cotada.) The Prophet said: When I tried to mount on Burac he became refractory; then Gabriel touched his mane and said: Burac, "knowest thou what thou art doing? for, by the Lord ! no servant of the God hath ever mounted thee more blessed from
heaven than Mohammed." Whereupon Burac became so ashamed that sweat poured like water from him. Then he stood still, and I mounted him. After that (Hasan tells us) the Prophet went forward and Gabriel with him, till they reached the Holy temple at Jerusalem, and there found Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, with a company of Prophets, -- whom the Prophet led in prayer. Then were brought two vases, in one was wine and in the other milk. So the blessed Prophet took that with milk, and
drank of it, and left the vase of wine alone. Then Gabriel said:-- Guide unto temperance, and teach thy people so, O Mohammed, far wine is forbidden unto you. Then the Prophet returned to Mecca; and in the morning, meeting the Quareish, he told them all that happened. "By the Lord!" said the people, "what a marvellous thing. It takes our caravans a whole month to reach Syria from this, and a whole month to return; yet Mohammed has gone it all in a single night, and in the same returned!"(Sirat Ibn Hisham)
The following is another account given by the Prophet of his night Journey, as heard by Cotada:-
While I was asleep, lo one came to me, close as the hair is to the skin, and took out my heart. Be then brought a golden vase filled with Faith, in which my heart was placed, and my stomach cleansed in the water of Zemzem, so that I was filled with Faith and Wisdom. Thereupon Gabriel mounted me upon Burac (as in the previous account), and having carried me upwards to the Lowest heaven called out to open the gate. "Who is this?" one cried. -- It is Gabriel. And who is with thee' -- It is Mohammed. Was he summoned?-- O yes! was Gabriel's answer. Then welcome to him; how good it is that he hath come. And so he opened the gate. Entering, Gabriel said, Here is thy father Adam, make thy salutation to him. So I made to him my salaam, and he returned it to me; on which he said, Welcome to an excellent son and to an excellent Prophet. Then Gabriel took me up to the Second heaven, and lo there were John (the Baptist) and Jesus. In the Third heaven there was Joseph; in the Fourth Idrees; in the Fifth Aaron; and in the Sixth Moses. As he returned the salutation of the Prophet, Moses wept, and on being asked the reason said: "I mourn because more of the people of him that was sent after me do enter Paradise than of mine." Then we ascended the Seventh heaven;- This is thy father Abraham, said Gabriel, and salutation was made as before. At the last we made the final ascent, where there were beautiful fruits and leaves like the ears of an elephant. This, said Gabriel, is the last heaven; and lo! four rivers, two within, and two without. What are these, O Gabriel, I asked' -- Those within, he said, are the rivers of Paradise; and those seen without, are the Nile and the Euphrates. Then a dwelling-place was prepared for me; and then they brought me vessels of wine and milk and honey. So I took the milk, and he said, This is food for thee and thy people. (Mishkat al Masabih)
Much more of the same kind of Moslem stories, as of Adam wailing, etc., might be given; but enough and to spare has been quoted for comparison with the Sources which follow, from which it has all been derived.
And First as to Mohammed's Miraj or Ascent to heaven. We begin with a Pehlavi book called Arta Viraf namak, written in the days of Ardashir, some four hundred years before the Hegira. We are there told that, the Zoroastrian faith fading away, the Magi of Persia sought to revive it in the people's hearts, by sending a Zoroastrian or the above name up to heaven, with the view of bringing down tidings of what was going on there. This messenger ascended from one heaven to another, and having seen it all, was commanded by Ormazd to return to the earth, and tell it to his people. The result is contained in the above named book, of which we shall briefly quote a few passages, freely translated, to shew how far the Moslem account corresponds with the imaginary details below:-
Our first advance upwards was to the Lower heaven;..... and there we saw the Angel of those Holy Ones, giving
forth a flaming, light, brilliant and lofty. And I asked Sarosh the holy and Azar the angel:--"What is this place; and these, who are they?" ..... We are then told that Arta these, who are they?" ..... We are then told that Arta ascended similarly to the Second and Third heavens, and to many others beyond. 1
Rising from a gold-covered throne, Bahman the Archangel led me on, till he and I met Ormazd with a company of angels and heavenly leaders, all adorned so brightly that I had never seen the like before. My leader said: This is Ormazd. I sought to salaam to him, and he said he was glad to welcome me from the passing world to that bright and undefiled place. Then he bade Sarosh and the Fire-angel to shew me the blessed place prepared for the holy, and that also for the punishment of the wicked. After which they carried me along till I beheld the Archangels and the other Angels.
At the last, says Arta, my Guide and the Fire-angel having shewed me Paradise, took me down to Hell; and from that dark and dreadful place, carried me upward to a beautiful spot where were Ormazd and his company of angels. I desired to salute him, on which he graciously said:-- "Arta Viraf, go thou to the material world; thou hast seen and now knowest Ormazd, for I am he; whosoever is true and righteous, him I know." When Ormazd began thus to speak, I became confused in mind, because I saw a brilliant light but no appearance of a body, and forthwith I perceived the unseen must be Ormazd himself.
There is no doubt a singular resemblance between the ascent of this Magian messenger, and that also told of Mohammed, to the heaven above. In the fabulous Zerdashtnama there is also an account of Zoroaster having ages before ascended to the heavens, after having received permission to visit hell, where he found Ahriman (the devil). It is remarkable that similar tales are not confined to Persia, but extend to India, where they are recorded in the Sanskrit poems Thus Arjuna was shewn over the heavens, and there saw Indra's palace, its garden with rivers and fruits, and a tree of which if one eats, he never dies, but live s in delight and enjoy s all hi s heart de sire s. 2.Many such tales are to be found not only in Zoroastrian books, but also in works of heretical Christian sects, such as "The Testament Of Abraham" already noticed. The Apostle is there said to have ascended, at the bidding of one of the Cherubim, to the heavens, and there to have seen all the sights around him. Of Abraham also we have the following account: The Archangel Michael having descended to the earth, took Abraham in a Cherub's car, raised him aloft on the cloud, with sixty angels; and from the same car shewed him the whole world beneath.This is no doubt the origin of the Burac (ethereal horse) tradition;--something like which is to be found in the book of Enoch, where also is notice of the heavenly tree, and the four rivers of Paradise. The Jews hold that the Tree of Life in Eden is so high as to take five hundred years to reach its top 3 , and tell us numberless other stories of a similar kind.
The Moslems believe that the Garden of Eden was In the heavens above, an idea taken from many of these fictitious writings, specially that called "Visio Pauli." Perhaps also such stories may have been derived from Zoroastrian or Hindu sources, or these from them; at any rate they are altogether imaginary. If it be asked whether there is any foundation for such tales, the answer must be that there is none whatever, They may have arisen from ignorant and imaginative people seeking to amplify what we find in the Bible of the ascent of Enoch and Elias, and also of our Saviour Christ, and also what Paul saw in his sleep, or Peter in his vision at Caesarea. But anyone reading these in our Scriptures will see that to compare them with the wild and fanciful tales of the East would be as sensible as to compare heaven with earth, or the fabulous Shahnameh with the history of the great Nadir.
| Notes 1. One of the angels noticed above is said to have led Arts aloft, just as we are told that Gabriel guided Mahomet upwards. 2. This resembles a tree called by the Arabs Tuba, as well as a marvelous tree of the Zoroastrians, similarly named as if from it flowed sweet water. 3. The Targum of Jonathan. |
The origin of the Jewish and Christian fancy about the heavenly tree, the four rivers, etc., has evidently been the passage in Genesis about the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:8-17) which the wild imagination of these people Pictured as if in Heaven, not knowing that the spot lay near to Babylon and Baghdad; and thus they changed the truth of God into a lie, and the divine history into childish, foolish fancies of their own.
2. What the Koran and Tradition tell us regarding Paradise,
with i'ts Houries and youths, the King of Death, etc. As our Moslem friends know well about all such matters, it is unnecessary to go into any detail about them here. Their origin is to be found altogether in Zoroastrian Sources. Not a syllable is mentioned about them in the Bible, which tells us simply of the rest and peace provided for the true believer on the breast of Abraham, and the blessed place named Paradise in heaven; but not a word have we in the pages of any Jewish Prophet, or New Testament writer, of Houries or Youths of pleasure there. The books of the Zoroastrians and Hindus, however, are full of them; and these bear the most extraordinary likeness to what we find in the Koran and Hadith. Thus in Paradise we are told of "Houries having fine black eyes," and again of "Houries with large black eyes, resembling pearls hidden in their shells." 1. And just so the Zoroastrians speak of Fairies, "Paries" (Pairikan)- spirits in bright array and beautiful, to captivate the heart of man. The name Houry too is derived from an Avesta or Pehlavi Source, as well as Jinn for Genii, and Bihisht (Paradise), signifying in Avestic "the better land."2 We have also very similar talcs in the old Hindu writings, of heavenly regions with their boys and girls resembling the Houries and Ghilman of the Koran. The account before given of the Prophet when he beheld Adam rejoicing at the righteous entering Paradise, and weeping at the destruction of the wicked is also given in "The Testament of Abraham"; but with this difference that it relates to the spirits of the dead, and in the other to the spirits of those not yet born. The latter are called by.the Moslem s "existent ants or motes";3 and though the term is Arabic, the idea is no doubt Zoroastrian, and may possibly have been taken by them from the Egyptians, but in any case the Arabs must have gained it from Persia.
We have already seen that the "Angel of Death" is a name that must hav been borrowed by the Moslems from the Jews, that being his title in Hebrew. There is, however this difference, that the Jews name him
Sammiiel, and the Moslems Azrael: 4 neither word is Arabic, but Hebrew. Since, however, the idea nowhere occurs in the Bible, the Jews must have got it elsewhere, and a possible origin we may find in the Avesta, where we are told that if any one falls into the water or fire, his death is not from the fire or water, but it is the Angel of Death that destroy s him.
3. Story of Azazil
coming forth from hell.- Moslems take this name from the Jews, who call the evil Spirit by the same name; but the Arabs have received the story from the Zoroastrians. According to Moslem: tradition, God created Azazil, who in the Seventh hell worshipped the Almighty for a thousand years; he then ascended, spending a similar term at each stage, till he reached the earth. Elsewhere we read that the Devil (i.e. Azazil) stayed three thousand years close by the gate of Paradise, with hostile intentions against Adam and Eve, of whom he entertained the utmost jealousy.
In a Zoroastrian book 5 we have the following account of the Devil, by name Ahriman:-
He remained in the abyss, dark and ignorant, there to commit hurt and injury, and such mischief and darkness is the place that they term the dark region. Ormazd, who knew all things, was aware of Ahriman's existence and designs.....Both remained thus for 3000 years, without change or action. The evil spirit was ignorant of Ormazd's existence; but eventually rising out of the pit, at last beheld the light of Ormazd....Then, filled with hostility and envy, he set to work to destroy.
| Notes 1.Surahs 55 72; Surah 56.22. 2 The Author gives an,interesting passage on the derivation of the name Houry or Hury, from the Pehlavi word Hur, or Sun, the same as Khur, still used in Persia with a similar meaning. The Arabs not knowing this, trace the word to hur, or blackeyed. 3 Zarrat i Ka~inal: called in the Avesta Fravashiyo. 4.e. Victory of God. 5. The Bundahishnih, capp. I. and II. |
There is no doubt some difference between the two accounts: the Moslems holding that Az~z~ worshipped the Almighty, while the Zoroastrians say he knew him not. Still the similarity is obvious, for according to both, he came forth from the pit to destroy God's creation. Before leaving Azazil, there is another tale of which comparison may be made between the Moslems and Zoroastrians, namely, the story of the Peacock. The following is the Moslem tradition:-
Azazil kept sitting at the gate of Paradise, anxious to enter. The Peacock also was there seated on a Pinnacle, when he saw one repeating the mighty Names of God. Who art thou? asked the Peacock. "I am one of the angels of the Almighty"; - "But why art thou sitting here?" "I am looking at Paradise and wish to enter.·· The Peacock said, "I have no command to let any one enter as long as Adam is there." - "If thou wilt let me in," said the other, "I will teach them a prayer which if any one repeat, three things will be his - he will never grow old; never be rebellious; nor will any one ever turn him out of Paradise." Then Iblis (the devil) repeated the prayer. The peacock also from his pinnacle did the same, and forthwith flew up to the Serpent and told him what he had heard from Iblis. We also learn that when God cast down Adam and Eve with the devil (Iblis) from Paradise, the Peacock also was expelled along with them. l
The old Persian account of the Peacock differs from the above; but they too associate him with Ahriman, for Eznik in his book "Against Heresies" writes as follows:-The Zoroastrians tell us that Ahriman spake as follows:-It is not the case that I am unable to do anything good myself, but that I do not wish it; and to make this thing certain, I have produced the Peacock.
So the Peacock having been the creation of Azazil , it is quite consistent with the Moslem tradition that he should be his assistant, and with him have been cast down from Paradise.
4. The Light of Mohammed.
Mohammed is reputed by Tradition to have said:- The first thing created by the Almighty was my Light.2 Again:- When Adam was created, the Lord having placed that light upon his forehead, said, O Adam, this light which I place upon thy forehead is that of the greatest and best of thy descendants, the light of the Chief of Prophets that shall be sent. This light descended from Adam to Seth, and then in successive generations to Abdullah, and from him to Amina at the time of Mohammed’s conception. We are further told by the Traditionalists that the Prophet is reputed to have spoken thus:--
The Almighty parted that light into four sections, from which he made the heavens, the pen, Paradise, and believers; each of these four he again divided into four: from the first he formed me, who am the Prophet; from the second he formed reason placed in the Believer's head; from the third modesty within the Believer's eye; and from the fourth love within his heart. 3
Let us compare this with the Zoroastrian views:
In a very ancient book, Ormazd is represented as having created the, world and the universe, angels and archangels, and the heavenly intellect, all out of his own light, with the praise of Boundless Time. 4
Again, from a still much older work, we quote as follows:-
A grand and royal Halo long attached itself to Jamshid, Lord of the good flock, while he ruled over the Seven climes demons,men, fairies, wizards, sorcerers, and evil~ioers...Then when he approved of that false and baseless word, the visible halo departed from him in the form of a flying bird....When Jamshid, Lord of the good flock, no longer saw that halo, he became devoid of joy, and in distress gave himself up to making enmity upon earth. The first time that halo was removed from Jamsh3d, it departed from Jamson of Vivaghan (the Sun) in the form of a Varagh bird, and Mithra seized the halo
| NOTES1. Qissas al Anbia. · 2Rouzat al Ahbab. |
When a second time the halo was removed from Jamsid. it departed as before in the form of a bird; then Faridun the brave took that halo....When that halo departed third time from Jamshid, it was taken by Keresaspa (Garshasp), that great and powerful man. 1
Now if we bring these two accounts together, and remember that according to the Avesta, Jamshid was the first man created by God upon earth, and therefore the same as Adam the father of mankind, we see at once that the light from Jamshid descended on the best of his posterity agrees with what Tradition speaks of as the Light of Mohammed-which Moslems appear thus to have borrowed from the Zoroastrians. We also gather that what appears in the Zoroastrian book about Jamshid ruling over men, genii, giants, etc., is very similar to what the Jews write of Solomon, evidently from the same Source, and taken from them by the Moslems, as indeed has been seen in our Third Chapter. Also what the Moslems write about the division of the Prophet's light, coincides closely with what appears in a Zoroastrian book,2 and was evidently taken from that Source .
5. The Bridge Sirat.-
Moslems us the Prophet held that at the last day after the Judgment, all mankind will pass over this bridge, which is finer than a hair, and sharper than a sword; and that the wicked will fall from it into hell. Now what is the origin of the name Sirat? Though adopted into Arabic, it is of Persian origin, and called by the ancient Zoroastrians Chinavad,3. and its history is also derived from them, as will be seen from the following account taken from one of their ancient writings:-
I flee from much sin and I keep my conduct pure. The keeping pure of the six vital powers, -- conduct, speech, thought, intellect, reason, wisdom, -- according to thy will, O Author of the power to do good works, with justice do I perform it, that service of thine, in thought, speech, and deed. It is good for me to abide in the Bright way, lest I arriveat the severe punishment of Hell, that I may cross over Chinavad and may reach that blest abode, full of odour, entirely deli%tful, always bright. 4
The meaning of the Persian name is "the connecting link," the Bridge being that which joins earth with Paradise.
6.
The Moslems say that each Prophet before his death gives notice of the next to follow, as Abraham did of Moses, Moses of David, and so on. Nothing of this sort, however, is in the Bible; on the contrary, the Prophets from first to last gave notice of the coming of the Messiah, and nothing more. As they could not therefore have got this notion from the Scriptures, from whence than could it have come? There is a work 5 believed by the Zoroastrians to have been written in the language of heaven, and, about the time of Khusru Parwez, to have been translated in the Dari tongue. 6 It comprises fifteen books said to have descended upon fifteen Prophets; last of all came the sixteenth, Zoroaster himself. At the end of each book, the name is given of the Prophet that is next to follow. These books no doubt are an ancient forgery, but apparently the Moslem traditionalists took their idea of the anticipated coming of each Prophet from them. Again, the second verse in each of the se books open with:-- In the name of God, the Giver of gifts, the Beneficent; similar to the words at the opening of all the Surahs, 7- "In the name of God the Merciful and Gracious." We also find the first words in another Zoroastrian book4 to be very similar, namely, In the name of Orzazd the Creator. We have already noticed that the five times of Moslem prayer are the same as five of the seven common to the Zoroastrians and Sabaeans, no doubt taken from them.
Many other things might have been added
| Notes 1. Yesht 19. 31-37. 2. Dasafir-i Asmana. 3.. It is difficult to explain in English how Chinavad became Sirat; but it comes from the varied sound of the letters -ch being turned into sharp s.4 Dinkart, an ancient Zoroastrian book.5 The Dasatii-l Asman6 It has been published both in the original and in the Dari translation.7 Excepting only the Ninth. |
7.
Some may hold it difficult to understand how Mohammed could have obtained such stories and matters
as we find in the Koran and Hadith 1. from Zoroastrian sources; and further, how it was possible for the "unlearned" Prophet to have become informed of them. But tells us as follows: "It was his practice to converse in their own tongue (so we read) with people of every nation who visited him; and hence the introduction of some Persian words into the Arabic language." Again, as the Prophet introduced Jewish tales, and also the stories and customs of Arabian heathen, into the Coran, what wonder that he should do so likewise with Persian tales? Many of these, moreover, ‘were current among the Arabs, as Al Kindy tells us:-- "Suppose we relate to thee such fables as those f ad, Thamud and the She-camel, the Companions of the Elephant, and such like, it would only be the way of old women who spend their days and nights in such foolish talk." In the
Sirat al Rasiil, 2 we learn that Mohammed had among the Companions a Persian called Salm~n, vcrho at the siege of Medina advised him to surround the City with a trench, and when fighting with the Thackff
helped the Moslems with a catapult. Now it is said that some of the Prophet's opponents spoke of this person as having assisted him in the composition of the Coran, an accusation noticed in Surah xvi. 105, as follows: And, verily, we know that they say, Truly a certain man teacheth him; but the tongue of him unto whom they incline is a Foreign one, while this is the tongue of perspicuous Arabic. Now if these objectors simply spoke of this Persian helping in the style of the Prophet's composition, the answer would have been sufficient. But when we find that much of the Coran and Tradition has the closest resemblance to the contents of Zoroastrian books, the answer is of no value whatever. On the contrary, the above verse shews, by the admission of the Prophet himself, that he was assisted by this Persian Salman. Hence even from this story it is clear that the Zoroastrian writings formed one of the Sources of Islam.common to the two systems; but it would have swelled our pages beyond reasonable dimensions; and we must be content with what has been given.
CHAPTER 6.
THE HANEFITES: THEIR INFLUENCE ON MOHAMMED AND ON HIS TEACHING.
Before the time of Mohammed, there were a few inquirers from amongst the Arabs who had a strong aversion from idolatry, and who accordingly sought to find relief in a better faith. Amongst the Jews, and possibly from ancient tradition still surviving, it was known in Arabia that Abraham was a worshipper of the One true God. Hence both at Mecca and Medina, and also at Tayif, we find that there were men who, seeking after the truth, had abandoned the worship of idols; and these were called Hanefites. The names of six of these are given in the margin, some having also followers of their own Now we hold that these inquirers, and especially Zeid ibn Amr, had a very marlted effect, by their conceptions, conversation, example, upon the Prophet, as we find from the contents of the Coran. Of all the authorities on the subject, that of Ibn Ishac and Ibn Hisham as contained in the Sirat, 3 is by far the oldest, and being nearest the Hegira, the most marriage ceremonial -- the dower being 400 dinars, which formed a precedent for time to come. Now as to Othman, he repaired to the Court of the Emperor of Byzantium, where he obtained high rank and embraced the Christian faith.....
Last of all we come to Zeid, who stood fast,
THE HANEFITES
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| Abu Ameer Ammeya Waraca Obeidallah Othman Zeid | Medina Tayif XX Mecca Mecca Mecca |
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| Notes1Rouzat al Ahbab. 2 Sirat al Rashl, by Ibn Hisham and Ibn Ishac. 3 Sirat al Rasul, or Life of the Prophet. |
joining neither the Jewish nor the Christian religion. He broke off from his own people's faith, and gave up idols, the eating of carrion, blood, the slaughter of animals for the gods, and the putting of daughters to death. He said:-- I worship the God of Abraham; but he blamed his people for having chosen evil ways. There is a tradition from Amina daughter of Abu Bekr that she once saw Zeid, then very aged, leaning with his back on the Kaaba, and thus addressing the people:-- O Quaresh by Him in whose hand is the life of Zeid ibn Amr I swear, that not one of you professeth the faith of Abraham, but me alone, Then he prayed:-- O Lord! if I but knew what way was most pleasing unto thee, I would worship thee in that manner; but I know it not. Then putting the palms of his hands to the ground, he bent his body down in worship. We are also told that Mohammed being asked by his relations to pray that Zeid might be forgiven, consented, -- "for he shall be raised up alone, like a community. "l Zeid wrote the following lines regarding his parting with his people's faith, and what happened to him therefrom
| Am I to worship one or a thousand I have altogether forsaken Lat and Uzza, Henre I neither worship Uzza nor her two daughters, Neither do I worship Ghanam, I was astonished, and had strange thoughts in the night seasons. Since the Lord destroyeth multitudes And many others he preserveth for their goodness, Are Divine affairs divided thus' Thus should every brave and thoughtful man. Nor the two idols of the Beni Amr, nor do pilgrinuge unto them. Though 1 did regard him my Lord; when I had little understanding. And in the day-time the seeing will understand Because their works are evil; And cherisheth the little ones.
| Amongst us, one day man will stumble : But I now worship my Lord Most Merciful; Therefore observe the fear of the Lord your God; in the Gardens; During this life disgrace, And the next, he will be as the branch fed by the rain. That the Compassionate Lord may pardon my sin. So Long as ye do so. ye shall not perish; But for the unbelievers, flaming hellfire; And after death that which shall bitterly cramp their breasts.
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| Zeid wrote the above lines regarding his parting with his peoples faith |
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We further learn from Ibn Hisham that Zeid was expelled from Mecca; and being forbidden to remain there, had to live on Mount Hira, opposite the city. The Prophet himself in the summer-time used every year to retire, as the Arabs used to do, into a cave in the Sacred Mount for solitary meditation; and so we believe that he must often have met his relative Zeid there. For he used still to go after his call to be a Prophet, as we learn from Ibn Ishac:- "Gabriel by the mercy of the Lord came to him at Hira in Ramazan... This he did every year, according to the custom of the Quaresh in the days of ignorance, to be alone and refresh their souls." Now everyone acquainted with the Koran and Hadith cannot but perceive how alike is the teaching of both, and that they must have had the greatest influence on each other, in their views about such things for instance as idol-worship, the burying alive of infant girls, the Unity of God, Paradise and Hell, and calling God "the Lord most Merciful and Compassionate." Again, Zeid and the Hanefites, like the Prophet, followed Abraham, calling him by the same name (Hanif) as their own, - in illustration of which we may quote
Surah 4. 126:-
Who is of better religion than he who resigneth himself unto God, and followeth the faith of Abraham the Orthodox (Hanif). THE SOURCES OF ISLAM
.....And again, Surah 3. 89:- Say, The Lord hath said truly, "Follow the faith of Abraham the Orthodox (Hanif), for he was not one of the idolaters." And again, Surah 6. 162:- Verily the Lord hath guided me into the right way, the true faith, the religion of Abraham the Orthodox (Hanif). And thus we see the Prophet calls himself and his people by the name Hanif. The word, indeed, originally signified "unclean" or· "apostate," and was so used by the idolatrous Arabs of Zeid, because he abandoned the worship of their gods. The name pleased the Prophet and was used by him in a good sense. We must not forget, however, that all the four Hanefites were
| NOTES 1 Ibn Ishac tells us that Mohammed, while believing himself forbidden to pray for his own mother, yet when asked by a female relative of Zeid whether she might pray for him, said: "Yes, for he will be raised as a separate religious community at the last day." |
themselves, as already said, nearly related to the Prophet, - Obeidallah being nephew to Mohammed who took his widow Omm Habtbah to wife; while Waraca and Othman were sons of two aunts of Khadija. Hence the views, sayings, and teaching of these Hanefites cannot but have had a decided influence on the Prophet. We may also remember that though the Prophet is believed to have said that he had no right even to pray for the salvation of his own mother, yet he did so for Zeid and his blessedness hereafter. From all this we see that the Prophet recognized his principles, and attested them as right.
But now some of our objectors may say, Suppose we accept as true all that you have told us of the various Sources from which Islam is derived, then it would prove that Mohammed himself had personally no influence on the Faith;- a thing hard to believe. Certainly, we reply, it is impossible to imagine that as Mohammed himself was the Author of the Faith, his own purpose and mind had no effect in the structure; just as in a building the use of stones, etc., in its erection, does not detract from the skill and ability of the architect, without whom they would be of no possible use. And in like manner, as the edifice of Islam has its own established character, and differs from all other religions, it is clear that it is the work of one possessed of the highest gifts and power, and, from the beauty of the composition of the Koran we see that he was singularly wise and eloquent. Moreover, from his life as given in Tradition, and the history of his time, the personality of the Prophet is manifest in the
Koran. Thus before his flight to Medina, being a mere ordinary citizen of Mecca, he made no mention in the passages given forth there, of force or war for the extension of the faith.
But, FIRST, after the Hidgra, when he had gained the powerful body of the Ansarss for his followers, he gave them leave to defend themselves and beat off their opponents. Thus in Surah 22.40:- Permission is given to them to fight, because they are persecuted..... those who have been turned out of their houses without just cause other than that they say, Our Lord is God; and it is allowed by the Commentaries, that this was the first revelation giving permission to fight.
SECOND, some time after, when Mohammed had gained victories over his enemies, this simple permission was changed into command, as we find in Surah 2. 212, 214:- War is enjoined you, but it is hateful unto you... They will ask thee concerning the Sacred Month, whether they may war therein. Say, - To war therein is grievous
but to obstruct the way of God and infidelity towards him and the holy Masjid, and to drive out his people from thence, is more grievous in the sight of God; and temptation (to idolatry) is more grievous than to kill. The instruction in this passage being that the Moslems should war against the Quaresh even in the Sacred months, because they prevented them from visiting Kaaba. ··-
THIRD, when in the sixth year of the Hidgra, the Prophet had conquered the Beni Coreitza and other tribes, he issued still sterner commands against his adversaries, as we find in Surah 5. 37:- The recompense of those who fight against God and his Apostle, and study to act corruptly on the earth, is that they shall be slain or crucified, or have their hands and their feet cut off on the opposite sides (of the body), or be banished from the land. Such shall be their disgrace in this world, and in the next they shall suffer a grievous punishment. The Commentators hold that this terrible command relates to idolaters only, and not to Jews and Christians.
FOURTH. But towards these also, the attitude of the Prophet towards the end of his life entirely changed; and so we read in the last revealed Surah (9:5, 29) that after the four Sacred months had passed, they should again commence war, as follows: And when the Sacred months are ended, kill the idolaters wheresoever ye find them, take them prisoners and besiege them, and lay wait for them in every convenient place. But if they repent, and offer up the appointed Prayers, and pay the legal Alms, then dismiss them freely, for God is gracious and merciful.....Fight against those who believe not in God, nor in the last day, nor forbid that which God and his Apostle have forbidden, and profess not the true religion, namely, of those to whom the Scriptures have been given, until they pay
tribute by the hand, and be reduced low.
And so we learn from these successive passages in the Koran, that the great and unchanging Almighty God, step by step, allowed his Divine Law to be altered as the Prophet and his followers gradually gained successive victories by the sword. Not only so, but we see the same liberty of change permitted in respect of certain passages in the Koran to be canceled by other passages; thus in Surah 2. 100:- We abrogate no verse, or cause it to be left out, but we bring in its place a better, or one like unto it. Ah! dost thou not know that God is over all things almighty?
Hence so long as Mohammed entertained the hope of bringing together both Jews and Christians, and also the Arab tribes, by the retention of some of their national practices, there seemed to him the possibility of uniting all Arabia in one Grand religion. But when he found this to be impracticable, then it remained for him either to abandon and eventually destroy the two former, or else lose the native Arabs as a whole. The objects and the mind of the Prophet are manifest throughout hi s prophetic life. Thus, to take an instance, the marriage with Zeinab wife of his adopted son Zeid, as justified in the Koran, (Surah 33:37) shews how much the revelation and whole system of the
Whosoever, then, desires to know what was the faith of Father Abraham, the Friend of God, let him diligently read the Torha of Moses, so strongly borne testimony to in the above verses of the Koran; and there he will find the blessed promise given him by the Almighty, that the one Divine Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, was to come of the de scendants of Abraham and of his son Isaac. The Patriarch accepted the the promise, and believed in the coming Messiah, as we see in a passage of the Torah, where God spoke thus to Abraham:- And God said, Sarah your wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.(Gensis 17:19) 1 The same promise is repeated again in the Book of Genesis to Abraham:- And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice.(Genesis 22:18)' And Jesus himself refers to this promise when he said to the Jews:- Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it and was glad (John 8:56) The Apostle Paul also makes mention of the same expectation: To Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, -- And to seeds, as of many; but as of One; And to thy seed, which is Christ; and again:- If ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to promise. (Galations 3:16,29)
May the gracious and compassionate Lord, who hath in his infinite mercy fulfilled this his eternal covenant, grant that the humble Writer and the Kind Reader of these pages, may, along with the blessed Patriarch, be made partakers of the, heavenly inheritance thus promised through our Savior Jesus Christ. And to his
Amen, so let it be!
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