Contents
- Sabean Civilization
- Rise of Islam
- Religion of Abraham
- Birthright of Edomites and Arabs
- Islam's Prophet and Doctrine
- Islam, Judaism & Christianity
- Muslim Schisms
- Corruption of Islam
- Reflection: The True Religion
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Sabean Civilization
This chapter focused on how the Muslim-Arabs fit into the Jewish and Christian traditions.[1] In ancient times, Arabia was occupied by the Sabeans (Sebaeans) before Babylonians and Egyptians. Who were they? In Genesis 10: 6-8, Seba, Egypt and Ra’amah were among the sons of Cush, a son of Ham (Noah’s third-born); Ra’amah was the father of Sheba (and Dedan). In c. 1200 BC, Sheba was an ancient kingdom in Yemen, which traded with Hijaz (Saudi Arabia), Palestine and Syria, as a vital southern link from as far north as Mesopotamia.[2] In the 1st millennium BC, it dominated the Red Sea and Indian Ocean trades. It was a “green place of two gardens,” with water from the Adhanah Wadi supplied by a giant dam in Marib (Sheba’s capital).[3] Its sources of wealth were Frankincense and myrrh, grown on its mountain slopes. Diodorus Silicus, a 1st century BC Greek historian, described its riches: furnishings of ivory and gold inlaid with precious stones and engraved silver columns plated with gold. In 542 AD, the dam collapsed; the Koran cited the event as God’s revenge on non-believers (Surah 34).
Sheba and Ethiopia at one time were of the same country.[4] Ancient Ethiopian manuscripts had a language similar to Sheba; an excavated wall at Abba-Pantaleon depicted Sheban victories in Arabia. In the 3rd century AD, a Yemenite inscription ascribed the title of king of Aksum (capital of Ethiopia) to the prince of Marib. A carved freeze at Yeha depicted sacred ibexes of Arabian art. The two were severed when the Persians invaded Arabia in the 6th century. A century later, the rise of Islam in Arabia cut Christian Ethiopia from its eastern neighbors. Nevertheless, in the 10th century, Ethiopia was still called kingdom of Sheba by Patriarchs Cosmos and Philotheas of Alexandria.
At Marib, the Temple of the Moon (c. 400 BC), the traditional Haram Balkis (Queen of Sheba’s palace) was unearthed. It showed that the Sabeans worshipped the sun, moon and Venus (“Asthar”), like those in Sidon, Tyre and Babylon. But the tradition was replaced. How? In 1320, a monk, Yetshak compiled Ethiopian legends into the Kebra Nagast (“Glory of the Kings”). The legends centered on the c. 950 BC visit to Solomon by Makeda, the Queen of Sheba (Bilqis in Islam), cited in 1 Kings 10. When Makeda returned home, she gave birth to Menelik. When Menelik grew up, he was welcomed by Solomon in Jerusalem, and studied Judaism. He was anointed by Solomon’s priests as “Menelik, King of Ethiopia.” On his return, the first-borns of the elders joined him; they stole and took along the Ark of the Covenant. The “divine presence” moved to Ethiopia.[5]
From at least 1436 until emperor Haile Selassie (1930-1974), the emperors of Ethiopia had a unique coronation ritual. Amidst banging of drums and clashing of swords, the heir rode on horse to the gate of Aksum (the “second Jerusalem”).Under the sign of the Coptic cross, he cut a symbolic cord and declared, “I am son of David and Solomon and Ibna Hakim.” Ibna Hakim meant “son of the wise,” i.e., Menelik; the emperor claimed direct descent from Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. This holy tradition was included in the 1931 Constitution of Ethiopia.
Rise of Islam
In 540-592 AD, when Orthodox and Roman Christianity were battling for supremacy and while Emperor Justinian was carrying out his “Christian Reforms,” a bubonic “Justinian plague” hit the East Roman Empire; it spread to Europe and the Middle East. During those times, Arabia had been for 15 centuries a reservoir of tribal, nomadic, warlike and restless “sons of the desert.” The tribes were idol worshippers, but were surrounded by Christian religious and political influences.[6] In the west, the influence came from Monophysites in Egypt.[7] In the north, the Byzantine Church (Empire) was predominant in Syria and Palestine, and extended to several parts of Arabia through the Banu Ghassan confederacy.[8] In the northeast (Assyria, Iraq and Persia), the kingdom of Hira radiated Nestorian Christianity and served as buffer state between the Sassanian dynasty (600-633) of the Persian Empire and the desert people.[9] Through the court of the Lakhmids of Hira, Christianity as well as Persian culture became current in pre-Islamic Arabia and eventually found their way into the Koran.
In the south, Yemen was under the Abyssinian (Ethiopian) rule of Governor Abraha, while the church flourished under St. Gregentius, bishop of Taphar. Abraha, a Christian, built a magnificent church in Sana, the capital city. On the night before its dedication, it was defiled by pagan Arabs from the Quresh tribe of Mecca, who feared that it would rival their Kaaba temple. This sacrilege led to Abraha’s unsuccessful expedition to Mecca in 570, the “year of the Elephant.” Abraha led his troops riding in an elephant; but had to abandon the march due to an epidemic in his camp. In that same year, Muhammad was born to a Quresh clan and amidst Christian influences – the Monophysite, Byzantine, and Nestorian, with the latter as the most influential.[10]
Muhammad’s father Abd Allah died before he was born; his mother Aminah died when he was six years old. As he grew up, he saw the surrounding religious practices as idolatrous polytheism and animism (Surah 6: 137). At 25, he married Khadija, a widow. In 610, at 40 years old, his call to be a Prophet began while he meditated in Gharttira, a mountain cave. There, Angel Gabriel gave a set of revelations that lasted for 20 years (until 632). The Koran was the revelations as dictated by Mohammad to his disciples, who wrote in Arabic.[11] In 622, Mohammad’s statement that “there is only one God, the merciful,” struck a cord among the Meccans, who drove him and his disciple Abu Bekr to Medina. This was known as the Hejira. Upon their return, the Prophet as the head of an army converted the Meccans to Islam. The Kaaba, a shrine that had housed the idols of pagan Meccans was re-dedicated to Allah and became the Muslim center of pilgrimage.[12]
Muhammad preached a holy war against infidels or non-believers. Before he died in 632 at 63 years old, most of Arabia had become Muslim. After he died, Abu Bekr, the 1st Caliph or successor (632-634) led the conquests, with the battle cry: “God is One and Mohammed is his Prophet.” Six years after, in 638, 2nd Caliph Omar (634-644) captured Jerusalem; later the Dome of the Rock mosque was built on the temple site (688-91).[13] Under the 3rd Caliph Othman (644-56), the empire had extended west to Egypt and east to Persia. Within 100 years, it had spread further west to North Africa and Spain and east to South Asia. According to Julian Johnson, “Islam offered more appealing ideas and a better social order…it transformed a barbarous people to become spiritual.”[14] In Muslim-dominated areas, relative peace and religious toleration were experienced for 350 years; it ended during the cruel reign of Persian Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim (996-1021).
Religion of Abraham
The word “Islam” meant “submission.” “Muslim” meant “one who submits to Allah.” In Arabic, Illah meant any god; combined with the article Al, it became Al-Illah or Allah, the one God.[15] In Islam, Moses (Musah) and Jesus (Messiah Isa) were honored as among Allah’s previous messengers and Muhammad was the latest one. But Muslim scholars believed that the true biblical teachings were corrupted either by changing the text (“Tahrif-Ilafzi”) or changing the meaning of the text (“Tahrif-I-Manawi”). Since the Koran was the latter inspiration written during the Prophet’s lifetime, it was considered more authentic. (In contrast, the Torah was rewritten 400 years after Moses and the Gospels after Jesus died). Thus, when there was conflict, the Koran was the confirmation.
Muslims held that Islam restored the original monotheistic religion of Abraham through his son Ishmael. In “Mohammad in the Bible,” Abdul Ahad Dawud presented three main points.[16] First, Ishmael’s birthright as first born from Hagar was just and legal: “Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid and gave her to Abram, her husband as a wife” (Genesis 16: 3).[17] Second, the Covenant between Abraham and God was made before Ishmael’s birth (15: 4). With the birth, Abraham was relieved that his servant Eliezar would not be his heir (16: 4; 11; 16). As seal of the covenant, God asked Abraham and his descendants to be circumcised. Abraham and Ishmael were circumcised when Ishmael was 13 years old. Isaac, the second son was not yet born (17:24-26).
Third, Isaac had his own birthright; but Jewish scribes had corrupted biblical passages. Ishmael was “effaced” in Genesis 22: 2; 6-7 and replaced with Isaac, with the phrase, “your only son.” This denied Ishmael and violated the Covenant.[18] Further, after stopping Abraham from sacrificing his first born (to test Abraham’s faith), God affirmed, “I will indeed bless you, and…multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore” (22:15-17). These were similar words of the angel who appeared to Hagar on the way to Shur (16: 10-12); but scribes had translated the same Hebrew word, which meant “fruitful” or “plentiful” from the verb para (or the Arabic wefera), to mean “a wild ass.” In Surah 37: 102-113, it was implied that the “first born” was the one nearly sacrificed by Abraham prior to Isaac’s birth.
Isaac’s son Jacob (i.e., Israel) was also not the first-born, but stole the birthright of his elder twin Esau (Edom) and the blessing of Isaac (Genesis 25: 31-33; 27: 18-29). Isaac consoled Esau, “Behold, away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be, and away from the dew on heaven on high. By your sword, you shall live, and…serve your brother; but when you break loose you shall break his yoke from your neck” (27: 38-39). In his deathbed (perhaps out of guilt), Jacob said: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes to whom it belongs; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Binding his foul to the vine and his ass’s colt to the choice vine, he washes his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes; his eyes shall be red with wine…his teeth white with milk” (49: 10-11).
Jacob’s death wish was affirmed in Isaiah 63: 1-6: “Who is this…from Edom, in crimsoned garments…glorious in apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? ‘It is I, announcing vindication, mighty to save.’ Why is thy apparel red, and thy garments like his that threads in the wine press? ‘I have trodden the wine press…and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood is sprinkled in my garments, and I have stained all my raiment…I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.’” The scepter, the symbol of power, had to be given back to its rightful owner. Shiloh meant “tranquil and peaceful,” which Christians equated with Jesus who supposedly came from the lineage of Jacob’s son, Judah.[19] But it was Esau (Edom) who had the birthright; his wrath was replaced by peace and he subtly forgave the remorseful Jacob with an embrace (Genesis 33: 4; 9). Moreover, Ishmael was the “wild ass,” whose birth right was ascribed to Isaac.
Birthright of Edomites and Arabs
In Deuteronomy 33:2, before he died, Moses said: “The Lord came from Sinai, and dawned from Seir upon us; he shone forth from Mount Paran, he came from the ten thousands of holy ones, with flaming fire at his right hand.” In Habakkuk 3: 3: “God came from Teman, and the Holy one from Mount Paran, his glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. Selah.” Hagar and Ishmael dwelt in Paran (southeast of ancient Israel); Ishmael married an Egyptian (Genesis 21: 21). Seir was the country (west of Paran) where Esau (Edom) and his family settled.[20] Among Esau’s wives was Bas’emath, (or Ma’halath) Ishmael’s daughter (and Nebaioth’s sister), who bore Reuel (Genesis 28:9; 36: 3; 8-9; 13). Teman was a grandson of Esau from a Hittite wife. Temanites ruled Edom (Seir) before any Israelite king (Genesis 36: 2-4; 10-11; 31; 34). Moses accepted the birthright of Ishmael and Edom; it was not exclusive for the Jews.
Genesis 25: 12-16 stated the 12 sons (and tribes) of Ishmael: “Nebaioth, the first-born…and Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah…twelve princes according to their tribes...they dwelt from Havilah to Shur… opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria….” Opposite Egypt after the Red Sea was Arabia; it bordered Assyria. Most of Ishmael’s descendants settled in and around Arabia. Nebaioth’s descendants established the ancient Kingdom of Nabataea in Petra (southern Jordan), a major city on the caravan trade route from southern Arabia.[21] Kedar (Mecca) and Tema (Medina) were known places in Arabia. In Surah 14:37, “Abraham said, ‘I have made some of my offspring to dwell in an uncultivated valley by your sacred House in order, O Lord that they may praise. So, fill some hearts among men with love towards them and provide with fruits so that they may give thanks.’”
Isaiah prophesied the unity of peoples from north (Jordan and Midian) to south (Sheba) in Arabia. “Arise; shine for your light has come…the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and…the peoples…and nations shall come to your light…A multitude of camels shall cover you, the…camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come…All the flocks of Kedar…, the rams of Nebaioth…; they shall come with acceptance on my altar, and I will glorify my… house” (60: 1-7).[22] “Let the desert and its cities lift up their voices, the villages that Kedar inhabits; let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy…from the…mountains. Let them give glory to the Lord, and declare his praise in the coastlands” (42:11).”[23] The light of God was meant not only for a “chosen people;” it was meant for all peoples and nations.
Jesus affirmed: “many will come from east and west and sit…with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness” (Matthew 8: 11-12). “And men will come from east and west, and from north and south, and sit at table in the kingdom of God” (Luke13: 29). The glorious house of God was believed to be the Kaaba in Mecca. During the re-building of the Kaaba before Muhammad’s call to prophecy, an inscription was found in a stone; its last sentence was similar to Matthew 7:16, “He that soweth good shall reap joy; he that soweth evil shall reap sorrow; can you do evil and be rewarded good? Nay, as grapes cannot be gathered from thorns.”[24] In Surah 2: 125, “Remember that we made the Kaaba in Mecca a place of resort for mankind and a place of safety. And we commanded Abraham and Ishmael to purify my house for those who are praying there.”
Islam’s Prophet and Doctrine
In Deuteronomy 18:18, the Lord said to Moses: “I will raise for them a prophet like you from among their brethren; and I will my put words in his mouth and he shall speak to them all I command him.” In Acts 3: 21, the same verse was cited after Jesus died. “Moses said, ‘the Lord God will raise up for you a prophet…listen to him…every soul that does not…shall be destroyed’…You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God gave to your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your posterity shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ God having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you in turning every one of you from your wickedness.’” Jesus was the servant who was raised; “For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). The verses implied a prophet after Moses and Jesus.[25]
In Dawud, “Ishmael was sent to Hijaz to guard the House of Allah, which he…with Abraham, had built…. Here, he settled, became prophet and Prince among the Arab tribes…It was at Mecca that the Kaaba became the center of the pilgrimage called al-hajj. It was Ishmael who founded the religion of one true Allah…His offspring soon increased….”[26] In Abdul-Haqq, “It is claimed that he married the daughter of Al-Muzaz King of Al-Hijaz….”[27] Dawud stated, “Muhammad is the holy offspring of Ishmael through Kedar.”[28] Apparently, Ishmael sired his first-born, Nebaioth from an Egyptian, while he sired Kedar from an Arab; hence, the Arab lineage of Muhammad.
In Isaiah 21: 13-17: “In the thickets in Arabia you will lodge, O caravan of Dedanites. To the thirsty bring water, meet the fugitives with bread, O inhabitants of the land of Tema. For they have fled from the swords…bend bows…and the press of battle. For thus the Lord said…‘Within a year, according to the years of a hireling, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end…and the archers of the mighty men of Kedar will be few.” Dedan was the Arab’s ancestor (Genesis 10: 6-7; 26-28). In Dawud, through Muhammad, God shone from Paran; but was persecuted; he was thirsty and fled from the sword and arrows in Mecca for Tema (Medina). Within a year, the Meccans (Kedar’s descendants) met him who came with “ten thousands of holy ones, with flaming fire at his right hand” in the battle of Badr. Kedar’s children and archers were reduced; the glory of Kedar failed.[29] Dawud added: “If the Prophet was not the fulfillment of the prophecies” (in Genesis, Isaiah, etc.), “then the prophecy had not yet been fulfilled.”[30] After Ishmael’s death at 137 years old in c. 1677 BC (Genesis 25:17), the house fell into idolatry (darkness). Muhammad was the only prophet through whom the Arabs received revelation when the darkness had covered earth (Isaiah 60: 2).
The five pillars of Islamic belief: (1) one God, (2) angels, (3) many prophets with one message, (4) a judgment day, and (5) God’s omniscience, prior knowledge and determination of events, with man given the free will. The five pillars of observance: (1) repeating the creed: “no God but Allah,” (2) five times daily prayer towards Mecca, (3) charity or tithing, (4) fasting, especially during the month of Ramadan, and (5) pilgrimage to Mecca, at least once. The Hadith contained the deeds, utterances and silent approval of the Prophet. Under the Shari’ah (canon law based on the Koran) acts were classified into five: (1) absolute duty (fard), rewarded for action and punished for inaction, (2) meritorious actions (mustahabb), rewarded but unpunished for omission, (3) permissible action (mubah), neutral actions, (4) reprehensible actions (makruh), disapproved, but not punished, and (5) forbidden actions (haram), which were punished.
Islam, Judaism and Christianity
Prophetic revelations were the agency of the Angel Gabriel. In Surah 42:51: “God was too transcendent and holy to be addressing human beings, unless by Revelation, from behind a veil or through a Messenger.” How then did Moses receive the Law directly from God, as believed by Jews? Islam affirmed the Cabbalistic view, as well as Jesus: “no one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made Him known” (John 1: 16-18). In Galatians 3:15-29, the Law was “added because of transgressions…and it was ordained by angels through an intermediary. Now an intermediary implies more than one; but God is one.” Islam affirmed the (original) Christian doctrine that an angel, not God, appeared to Moses (before the Catholic Church combined the Old and New Testament into the Bible and corrupted related verses).
Islam affirmed that, as Messiah, Jesus delivered the “Word:” “I and my Father are one” (John 10: 30), but rejected that He is also God. In Surah 15:28-35, after creating Adam and given his “spirit’ into him, God asked his angels to prostrate to him. The angels did, except Satan (Iblis), who said: “I am not the one to prostrate myself to a human being whom You created from potter’s clay of altered mud.” God responded, “Then go forth, from hence…thou art an outcast…the curse shall be upon you until the Day of Judgment.” This affirmed the Gnostics: humans carried God’s spirit, to whom the angels bow to (and which Satan defied). [31] In John 17: 20-22, Jesus remarked: “I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe…, that they may all be one; even as thou, Father art in me, and I in thee, that they may also be in us…. The glory that thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,…that they may become perfectly one….” Jesus declared to the Jews: “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said you are gods’?” (John 10: 34; Psalm 82: 6). The “spirit” in humans was the “Son.”
How had Christianity gone wrong? In Surah 4:171: “O people of the Book, commit no excesses in your religion and tell only the truth. The messiah Jesus, son of Mary was (only) a Messenger of Allah and His Word. It is better for you to cease using “Trinity.” For Allah is only one; far too exalted to have a son. To Him belongs all that is in heaven and earth.” Islam affirmed the view of Gnostics, Nestorius and Theodoret that Jesus was a man born of a woman.[32] It also criticized the Jews for defiling Mary and Jesus. In Surah 4: 156: “The Jews did not believe Mary and uttered a grave false charge of illicit sex against her.”[33] Islam rejected all forms of idolatry, including intermediaries, such as priests. In Surah 9:31, “They took their rabbis and their monks to be their lords besides Allah and also took as Lord, the Messiah, son of Mary, while they were commanded in the Torah and Gospel to worship only one God.” Islam promoted direct prayer to Allah and equal rights for all, regardless of stature. For instance, kings and paupers have similar burial rites - clothed in white linen and buried within 24 hours.[34]
Islam rejected the crucifixion of Jesus, a cornerstone of the Catholic tradition. In Surah 4: 157, “They boasted: ‘We killed Jesus…the Messenger of God.’ But they neither killed nor crucified him, although it appeared so to them. The image of Jesus was put over another man and they killed that man…For Allah raised Jesus up (body and soul) unto Himself in heaven…to show that…Jesus was only a Messenger and a human being before his death….” There were earlier differing assertions. The Nag Hammadi scrolls (which referred to text written before the Gospels) and the Gnostic Basilides (c. 98-128) held that Simon was substituted to suffer Jesus’ fate on the cross.[35] In the Gospel of Barnabas, God charged his angels, Gabriel, Michael, Rafael and Uriel to take Jesus out of the world. They brought Him to the third heaven. Then, Judas Iscariot was made to appear like Jesus; Judas was the one tried, sentenced and crucified.[36]
Muslim Schisms
After Muhammad died, the Muslim world broke into two major sects based on who was to succeed the Prophet. The Sunni Muslims accepted elective office rather than blood descent. The Shi’ite Muslims (Shia sect) held that leadership should come from the Prophet’s bloodline and that the Prophet’s cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib, who married his daughter Fatima, was the rightful imam (leader and successor), with his two grandsons as the rightful successors. The first three Caliphs were Sunnis – the Prophet’s father-in-law Abu Bekr (from a later wife), adviser Omar and son-in-law Othman. Othman was a member of the Umayyad clan, wealthy Mecca chiefs outside the prophet’s family.
When Othman was murdered, Ali, as the 4th Caliph (656-661), was engaged in a leadership struggle with Mwawiyah, the Governor of Syria and leader of the Umayyads. After Ali was himself poisoned, Mwawiyah usurped the power from Hasan, Ali’ son and heir; Sunnis deemed Mwawiyah as the 5th Caliph (661-680). He started the Umayyad dynasty by making the succession hereditary, transferred the capital from Medina to Damascus, and adopted Byzantine and Sassanid customs.[37] Under the Umayyads (661-750), Byzantium was forced to give up its territories in the Maghreb, the “land to the west,” composed of Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. In Europe, the 6th Ummayyad Caliph Walid (705-715) destroyed the Visogoth kingdom and occupied the Iberian Peninsula, which the Umayyads ruled for 800 years. The Umayyads had replaced Byzantium as the dominant political force in the Mediterranean Basin and western part of Asia.[38]
Hasan, the Prophet’s grandson and the Shia’s 5th Caliph (661-669), was murdered. Huseyn, the second grandson who succeeded him (670-680) was also murdered by the Umayyads. In 747, Abu al-Abbas, a descendant of an uncle of the Prophet, led a revolt against the Ummayads. In 750, the Abbasid Shi’ites captured Damascus, transferred the seat of power to Baghdad and ruled for 300 years. The Abbasid rule declined in c. 945 when Persian warriors called Buyids controlled Baghdad. In 1055, Sunni Seljuk Turks captured Baghdad and overthrew the Abbasid Caliphate.[39]
The Shia, comprising 20 percent of the Muslim world, annually celebrated the martyrdom of Imam Huseyn. The Shia considered Ali and his successors as infallible; there were only 12 true imams, the last being Muhammad al-Muntazar who disappeared in 878 in the cave of the great mosque in Samarra. Shi’ites believed that Muhammad al-Muntazar shall come back as Imam Mahdi (divinely guided one) to restore true Islam, conquer the world and usher in a millennium before the Judgment Day; followed by a thousand years of peace and spiritual salvation. Meanwhile, Abd al-Rahman, an Ummayad, escaped the 750 onslaught and fled to Spain. There, in 756, he established the independent Emirate of Cordova (later called the Umayyad Caliphate of Cordova).
Corruption of Islam
The “golden age” of the Muslim civilization under the Abbasids was during the time of its 6th Caliph al-Mutawwakil (846-861). It witnessed the founding of the Bait ul-Hikmah (House of Wisdom), a royal depository of books and knowledge; the absorption of Greek science, philosophy and medicine; the cultivation of military science, which helped in the conquest of Sicily in Rome; the study of astronomy, geography and number sciences; the systematic propagation of Islamic Jurisprudence (Shariah) by the jurist Shafi’i; and the arduous compilation of prophetic traditions by the respected Hadith and Sunnah (oral laws) compilers Saheeh Al-Bukhari (d. 869) and Saheeh Muslim (d. 874).[40]
While the Torah (Pentateuch) and Injil (Gospels) were considered as part of Islamic scriptures, most Muslims considered only the Koran and Hadith as doctrine (Surah 2: 1-5; 136 & 4:13). The Koran was believed to be the read revelation from God, while the Hadith were the unread revelation. The sunnah (custom or tradition) were records of what the prophet did, what he enjoined, and what was done, which he did not forbid. They also included the authoritative sayings and works of his companions. They were secondary revelation compared to the primary Koranic revelation.
However, like Judaism and the tenets of Jesus, pure Islam was also apparently corrupted. The Koran was reportedly revealed in seven recensions. There were also four different collections of the Koran.[41] After Mohammad’s death, the leaders realized that internal dissensions threatened due to imperfectly remembered, recorded and repeated surahs. Thus, they agreed to the version made by Abu Bekr; the others were burned. The Koran, as known today, consisted of 114 surahs not arranged chronologically.[42] There were also four different Hadith collections that were current before the present collection became official under Caliph Othman. Unlike apocryphal Korans, however, apocryphal traditions circulated and multiplied in the early years of Islam. Among the host of traditions, a large number had been recognized by Muslim scholars as apocryphal and spurious. Purportedly, the famous authority, Al-Bukhari chose only 7,000 out of a host of 600,000 traditions. The orthodox Sunni Muslims accepted six collections of authentic traditions from those that circulated; the Shia had their own collections.[43]
Reflection: the True Religion
Judaism, Christianity and Islam were based on the bloodline from Abraham. In Matthew 2: 8-10, Jesus rejected the idea: “Bear fruit that befits repentance, and do not presume to say…‘we have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now, the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree…that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
Likewise, “holy wars” were fought for world control, with a promise of salvation. But victory proved neither the truth of what was fought for; nor the salvation of souls. In Isaiah 2:4, the Lord “shall judge between the nations and shall decide for many people; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” In Revelation 13: 9-10: “If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if anyone slays with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.” In Surah 82 (The Cleaving): 1-5; 17-19: “When the heaven is cleft asunder; when the stars are scattered; when the seas gush together; and when the tombs are turned upside down. A person shall know what it has sent or kept back…And what shall make thee know…the judgment day? A day when no person shall have power (to do) anything for another; and the bidding on that day belongs to God.”
Salvation is beyond the bloodline, conquests and resultant “corruptions.” The true kingdom is not physical; it is neither Jerusalem nor Rome, nor Mecca. Its essence runs though in the Holy Scriptures of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In c, 1800 BC, this was Salem, which Melchisedek ruled as “the king of peace” and to whom Abraham paid homage and gave tithes to. In c. 1400 BC, it was Shiloh, where the Ark of the Covenant was housed. In c. 500 BC, after the Jews were freed from exile, it was mandated during the time of Zerubbabel (“seed of Babel”) with the laying of the cornerstone of Jerusalem (“New Salem”). In c. 32 AD, Jesus, a Nazarene and Priest of the Order of Melchisedek, affirmed that the “true kingdom is not of this world” but “in the hearts of men.” In c. 600 AD, Muhammad stated that men were originally of one religion, which he named Islam – peace. He re-established the Daru‘s-Salam, the “city of court of Peace.”
In Surah 2: 209, when differences arose among people, prophets were born in their midst to guide them back to the truth. About Mohammad’s role as a messenger, Surahs 3: 144; 4: 47 and 48:29 implied that he came during the interval of prophets. Note that he was “a seal of the Prophets,” and not the last of the Prophets. The central message of Islam is surrender. Surrender what to what? Surrendering all that one possesses to the Universal Light (the One God), that moves the “spirit” in humans and the all-pervading harmony of nature. This surrender included the concept of jihad or holy war, not against fellow humans, but against one’s (humanity’s) lower self along with its desires for power, wealth and all that is corrupted.[44] “Insha Allah.”(“God willing”), “peace” (the true kingdom) shall be re-kindled in the Heart of hearts of humanity.
Sheba and Ethiopia at one time were of the same country.[4] Ancient Ethiopian manuscripts had a language similar to Sheba; an excavated wall at Abba-Pantaleon depicted Sheban victories in Arabia. In the 3rd century AD, a Yemenite inscription ascribed the title of king of Aksum (capital of Ethiopia) to the prince of Marib. A carved freeze at Yeha depicted sacred ibexes of Arabian art. The two were severed when the Persians invaded Arabia in the 6th century. A century later, the rise of Islam in Arabia cut Christian Ethiopia from its eastern neighbors. Nevertheless, in the 10th century, Ethiopia was still called kingdom of Sheba by Patriarchs Cosmos and Philotheas of Alexandria.
At Marib, the Temple of the Moon (c. 400 BC), the traditional Haram Balkis (Queen of Sheba’s palace) was unearthed. It showed that the Sabeans worshipped the sun, moon and Venus (“Asthar”), like those in Sidon, Tyre and Babylon. But the tradition was replaced. How? In 1320, a monk, Yetshak compiled Ethiopian legends into the Kebra Nagast (“Glory of the Kings”). The legends centered on the c. 950 BC visit to Solomon by Makeda, the Queen of Sheba (Bilqis in Islam), cited in 1 Kings 10. When Makeda returned home, she gave birth to Menelik. When Menelik grew up, he was welcomed by Solomon in Jerusalem, and studied Judaism. He was anointed by Solomon’s priests as “Menelik, King of Ethiopia.” On his return, the first-borns of the elders joined him; they stole and took along the Ark of the Covenant. The “divine presence” moved to Ethiopia.[5]
From at least 1436 until emperor Haile Selassie (1930-1974), the emperors of Ethiopia had a unique coronation ritual. Amidst banging of drums and clashing of swords, the heir rode on horse to the gate of Aksum (the “second Jerusalem”).Under the sign of the Coptic cross, he cut a symbolic cord and declared, “I am son of David and Solomon and Ibna Hakim.” Ibna Hakim meant “son of the wise,” i.e., Menelik; the emperor claimed direct descent from Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. This holy tradition was included in the 1931 Constitution of Ethiopia.
Rise of Islam
In 540-592 AD, when Orthodox and Roman Christianity were battling for supremacy and while Emperor Justinian was carrying out his “Christian Reforms,” a bubonic “Justinian plague” hit the East Roman Empire; it spread to Europe and the Middle East. During those times, Arabia had been for 15 centuries a reservoir of tribal, nomadic, warlike and restless “sons of the desert.” The tribes were idol worshippers, but were surrounded by Christian religious and political influences.[6] In the west, the influence came from Monophysites in Egypt.[7] In the north, the Byzantine Church (Empire) was predominant in Syria and Palestine, and extended to several parts of Arabia through the Banu Ghassan confederacy.[8] In the northeast (Assyria, Iraq and Persia), the kingdom of Hira radiated Nestorian Christianity and served as buffer state between the Sassanian dynasty (600-633) of the Persian Empire and the desert people.[9] Through the court of the Lakhmids of Hira, Christianity as well as Persian culture became current in pre-Islamic Arabia and eventually found their way into the Koran.
In the south, Yemen was under the Abyssinian (Ethiopian) rule of Governor Abraha, while the church flourished under St. Gregentius, bishop of Taphar. Abraha, a Christian, built a magnificent church in Sana, the capital city. On the night before its dedication, it was defiled by pagan Arabs from the Quresh tribe of Mecca, who feared that it would rival their Kaaba temple. This sacrilege led to Abraha’s unsuccessful expedition to Mecca in 570, the “year of the Elephant.” Abraha led his troops riding in an elephant; but had to abandon the march due to an epidemic in his camp. In that same year, Muhammad was born to a Quresh clan and amidst Christian influences – the Monophysite, Byzantine, and Nestorian, with the latter as the most influential.[10]
Muhammad’s father Abd Allah died before he was born; his mother Aminah died when he was six years old. As he grew up, he saw the surrounding religious practices as idolatrous polytheism and animism (Surah 6: 137). At 25, he married Khadija, a widow. In 610, at 40 years old, his call to be a Prophet began while he meditated in Gharttira, a mountain cave. There, Angel Gabriel gave a set of revelations that lasted for 20 years (until 632). The Koran was the revelations as dictated by Mohammad to his disciples, who wrote in Arabic.[11] In 622, Mohammad’s statement that “there is only one God, the merciful,” struck a cord among the Meccans, who drove him and his disciple Abu Bekr to Medina. This was known as the Hejira. Upon their return, the Prophet as the head of an army converted the Meccans to Islam. The Kaaba, a shrine that had housed the idols of pagan Meccans was re-dedicated to Allah and became the Muslim center of pilgrimage.[12]
Muhammad preached a holy war against infidels or non-believers. Before he died in 632 at 63 years old, most of Arabia had become Muslim. After he died, Abu Bekr, the 1st Caliph or successor (632-634) led the conquests, with the battle cry: “God is One and Mohammed is his Prophet.” Six years after, in 638, 2nd Caliph Omar (634-644) captured Jerusalem; later the Dome of the Rock mosque was built on the temple site (688-91).[13] Under the 3rd Caliph Othman (644-56), the empire had extended west to Egypt and east to Persia. Within 100 years, it had spread further west to North Africa and Spain and east to South Asia. According to Julian Johnson, “Islam offered more appealing ideas and a better social order…it transformed a barbarous people to become spiritual.”[14] In Muslim-dominated areas, relative peace and religious toleration were experienced for 350 years; it ended during the cruel reign of Persian Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim (996-1021).
Religion of Abraham
The word “Islam” meant “submission.” “Muslim” meant “one who submits to Allah.” In Arabic, Illah meant any god; combined with the article Al, it became Al-Illah or Allah, the one God.[15] In Islam, Moses (Musah) and Jesus (Messiah Isa) were honored as among Allah’s previous messengers and Muhammad was the latest one. But Muslim scholars believed that the true biblical teachings were corrupted either by changing the text (“Tahrif-Ilafzi”) or changing the meaning of the text (“Tahrif-I-Manawi”). Since the Koran was the latter inspiration written during the Prophet’s lifetime, it was considered more authentic. (In contrast, the Torah was rewritten 400 years after Moses and the Gospels after Jesus died). Thus, when there was conflict, the Koran was the confirmation.
Muslims held that Islam restored the original monotheistic religion of Abraham through his son Ishmael. In “Mohammad in the Bible,” Abdul Ahad Dawud presented three main points.[16] First, Ishmael’s birthright as first born from Hagar was just and legal: “Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid and gave her to Abram, her husband as a wife” (Genesis 16: 3).[17] Second, the Covenant between Abraham and God was made before Ishmael’s birth (15: 4). With the birth, Abraham was relieved that his servant Eliezar would not be his heir (16: 4; 11; 16). As seal of the covenant, God asked Abraham and his descendants to be circumcised. Abraham and Ishmael were circumcised when Ishmael was 13 years old. Isaac, the second son was not yet born (17:24-26).
Third, Isaac had his own birthright; but Jewish scribes had corrupted biblical passages. Ishmael was “effaced” in Genesis 22: 2; 6-7 and replaced with Isaac, with the phrase, “your only son.” This denied Ishmael and violated the Covenant.[18] Further, after stopping Abraham from sacrificing his first born (to test Abraham’s faith), God affirmed, “I will indeed bless you, and…multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore” (22:15-17). These were similar words of the angel who appeared to Hagar on the way to Shur (16: 10-12); but scribes had translated the same Hebrew word, which meant “fruitful” or “plentiful” from the verb para (or the Arabic wefera), to mean “a wild ass.” In Surah 37: 102-113, it was implied that the “first born” was the one nearly sacrificed by Abraham prior to Isaac’s birth.
Isaac’s son Jacob (i.e., Israel) was also not the first-born, but stole the birthright of his elder twin Esau (Edom) and the blessing of Isaac (Genesis 25: 31-33; 27: 18-29). Isaac consoled Esau, “Behold, away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be, and away from the dew on heaven on high. By your sword, you shall live, and…serve your brother; but when you break loose you shall break his yoke from your neck” (27: 38-39). In his deathbed (perhaps out of guilt), Jacob said: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes to whom it belongs; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Binding his foul to the vine and his ass’s colt to the choice vine, he washes his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes; his eyes shall be red with wine…his teeth white with milk” (49: 10-11).
Jacob’s death wish was affirmed in Isaiah 63: 1-6: “Who is this…from Edom, in crimsoned garments…glorious in apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? ‘It is I, announcing vindication, mighty to save.’ Why is thy apparel red, and thy garments like his that threads in the wine press? ‘I have trodden the wine press…and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood is sprinkled in my garments, and I have stained all my raiment…I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.’” The scepter, the symbol of power, had to be given back to its rightful owner. Shiloh meant “tranquil and peaceful,” which Christians equated with Jesus who supposedly came from the lineage of Jacob’s son, Judah.[19] But it was Esau (Edom) who had the birthright; his wrath was replaced by peace and he subtly forgave the remorseful Jacob with an embrace (Genesis 33: 4; 9). Moreover, Ishmael was the “wild ass,” whose birth right was ascribed to Isaac.
Birthright of Edomites and Arabs
In Deuteronomy 33:2, before he died, Moses said: “The Lord came from Sinai, and dawned from Seir upon us; he shone forth from Mount Paran, he came from the ten thousands of holy ones, with flaming fire at his right hand.” In Habakkuk 3: 3: “God came from Teman, and the Holy one from Mount Paran, his glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. Selah.” Hagar and Ishmael dwelt in Paran (southeast of ancient Israel); Ishmael married an Egyptian (Genesis 21: 21). Seir was the country (west of Paran) where Esau (Edom) and his family settled.[20] Among Esau’s wives was Bas’emath, (or Ma’halath) Ishmael’s daughter (and Nebaioth’s sister), who bore Reuel (Genesis 28:9; 36: 3; 8-9; 13). Teman was a grandson of Esau from a Hittite wife. Temanites ruled Edom (Seir) before any Israelite king (Genesis 36: 2-4; 10-11; 31; 34). Moses accepted the birthright of Ishmael and Edom; it was not exclusive for the Jews.
Genesis 25: 12-16 stated the 12 sons (and tribes) of Ishmael: “Nebaioth, the first-born…and Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah…twelve princes according to their tribes...they dwelt from Havilah to Shur… opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria….” Opposite Egypt after the Red Sea was Arabia; it bordered Assyria. Most of Ishmael’s descendants settled in and around Arabia. Nebaioth’s descendants established the ancient Kingdom of Nabataea in Petra (southern Jordan), a major city on the caravan trade route from southern Arabia.[21] Kedar (Mecca) and Tema (Medina) were known places in Arabia. In Surah 14:37, “Abraham said, ‘I have made some of my offspring to dwell in an uncultivated valley by your sacred House in order, O Lord that they may praise. So, fill some hearts among men with love towards them and provide with fruits so that they may give thanks.’”
Isaiah prophesied the unity of peoples from north (Jordan and Midian) to south (Sheba) in Arabia. “Arise; shine for your light has come…the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and…the peoples…and nations shall come to your light…A multitude of camels shall cover you, the…camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come…All the flocks of Kedar…, the rams of Nebaioth…; they shall come with acceptance on my altar, and I will glorify my… house” (60: 1-7).[22] “Let the desert and its cities lift up their voices, the villages that Kedar inhabits; let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy…from the…mountains. Let them give glory to the Lord, and declare his praise in the coastlands” (42:11).”[23] The light of God was meant not only for a “chosen people;” it was meant for all peoples and nations.
Jesus affirmed: “many will come from east and west and sit…with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness” (Matthew 8: 11-12). “And men will come from east and west, and from north and south, and sit at table in the kingdom of God” (Luke13: 29). The glorious house of God was believed to be the Kaaba in Mecca. During the re-building of the Kaaba before Muhammad’s call to prophecy, an inscription was found in a stone; its last sentence was similar to Matthew 7:16, “He that soweth good shall reap joy; he that soweth evil shall reap sorrow; can you do evil and be rewarded good? Nay, as grapes cannot be gathered from thorns.”[24] In Surah 2: 125, “Remember that we made the Kaaba in Mecca a place of resort for mankind and a place of safety. And we commanded Abraham and Ishmael to purify my house for those who are praying there.”
Islam’s Prophet and Doctrine
In Deuteronomy 18:18, the Lord said to Moses: “I will raise for them a prophet like you from among their brethren; and I will my put words in his mouth and he shall speak to them all I command him.” In Acts 3: 21, the same verse was cited after Jesus died. “Moses said, ‘the Lord God will raise up for you a prophet…listen to him…every soul that does not…shall be destroyed’…You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God gave to your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your posterity shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ God having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you in turning every one of you from your wickedness.’” Jesus was the servant who was raised; “For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). The verses implied a prophet after Moses and Jesus.[25]
In Dawud, “Ishmael was sent to Hijaz to guard the House of Allah, which he…with Abraham, had built…. Here, he settled, became prophet and Prince among the Arab tribes…It was at Mecca that the Kaaba became the center of the pilgrimage called al-hajj. It was Ishmael who founded the religion of one true Allah…His offspring soon increased….”[26] In Abdul-Haqq, “It is claimed that he married the daughter of Al-Muzaz King of Al-Hijaz….”[27] Dawud stated, “Muhammad is the holy offspring of Ishmael through Kedar.”[28] Apparently, Ishmael sired his first-born, Nebaioth from an Egyptian, while he sired Kedar from an Arab; hence, the Arab lineage of Muhammad.
In Isaiah 21: 13-17: “In the thickets in Arabia you will lodge, O caravan of Dedanites. To the thirsty bring water, meet the fugitives with bread, O inhabitants of the land of Tema. For they have fled from the swords…bend bows…and the press of battle. For thus the Lord said…‘Within a year, according to the years of a hireling, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end…and the archers of the mighty men of Kedar will be few.” Dedan was the Arab’s ancestor (Genesis 10: 6-7; 26-28). In Dawud, through Muhammad, God shone from Paran; but was persecuted; he was thirsty and fled from the sword and arrows in Mecca for Tema (Medina). Within a year, the Meccans (Kedar’s descendants) met him who came with “ten thousands of holy ones, with flaming fire at his right hand” in the battle of Badr. Kedar’s children and archers were reduced; the glory of Kedar failed.[29] Dawud added: “If the Prophet was not the fulfillment of the prophecies” (in Genesis, Isaiah, etc.), “then the prophecy had not yet been fulfilled.”[30] After Ishmael’s death at 137 years old in c. 1677 BC (Genesis 25:17), the house fell into idolatry (darkness). Muhammad was the only prophet through whom the Arabs received revelation when the darkness had covered earth (Isaiah 60: 2).
The five pillars of Islamic belief: (1) one God, (2) angels, (3) many prophets with one message, (4) a judgment day, and (5) God’s omniscience, prior knowledge and determination of events, with man given the free will. The five pillars of observance: (1) repeating the creed: “no God but Allah,” (2) five times daily prayer towards Mecca, (3) charity or tithing, (4) fasting, especially during the month of Ramadan, and (5) pilgrimage to Mecca, at least once. The Hadith contained the deeds, utterances and silent approval of the Prophet. Under the Shari’ah (canon law based on the Koran) acts were classified into five: (1) absolute duty (fard), rewarded for action and punished for inaction, (2) meritorious actions (mustahabb), rewarded but unpunished for omission, (3) permissible action (mubah), neutral actions, (4) reprehensible actions (makruh), disapproved, but not punished, and (5) forbidden actions (haram), which were punished.
Islam, Judaism and Christianity
Prophetic revelations were the agency of the Angel Gabriel. In Surah 42:51: “God was too transcendent and holy to be addressing human beings, unless by Revelation, from behind a veil or through a Messenger.” How then did Moses receive the Law directly from God, as believed by Jews? Islam affirmed the Cabbalistic view, as well as Jesus: “no one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made Him known” (John 1: 16-18). In Galatians 3:15-29, the Law was “added because of transgressions…and it was ordained by angels through an intermediary. Now an intermediary implies more than one; but God is one.” Islam affirmed the (original) Christian doctrine that an angel, not God, appeared to Moses (before the Catholic Church combined the Old and New Testament into the Bible and corrupted related verses).
Islam affirmed that, as Messiah, Jesus delivered the “Word:” “I and my Father are one” (John 10: 30), but rejected that He is also God. In Surah 15:28-35, after creating Adam and given his “spirit’ into him, God asked his angels to prostrate to him. The angels did, except Satan (Iblis), who said: “I am not the one to prostrate myself to a human being whom You created from potter’s clay of altered mud.” God responded, “Then go forth, from hence…thou art an outcast…the curse shall be upon you until the Day of Judgment.” This affirmed the Gnostics: humans carried God’s spirit, to whom the angels bow to (and which Satan defied). [31] In John 17: 20-22, Jesus remarked: “I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe…, that they may all be one; even as thou, Father art in me, and I in thee, that they may also be in us…. The glory that thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,…that they may become perfectly one….” Jesus declared to the Jews: “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said you are gods’?” (John 10: 34; Psalm 82: 6). The “spirit” in humans was the “Son.”
How had Christianity gone wrong? In Surah 4:171: “O people of the Book, commit no excesses in your religion and tell only the truth. The messiah Jesus, son of Mary was (only) a Messenger of Allah and His Word. It is better for you to cease using “Trinity.” For Allah is only one; far too exalted to have a son. To Him belongs all that is in heaven and earth.” Islam affirmed the view of Gnostics, Nestorius and Theodoret that Jesus was a man born of a woman.[32] It also criticized the Jews for defiling Mary and Jesus. In Surah 4: 156: “The Jews did not believe Mary and uttered a grave false charge of illicit sex against her.”[33] Islam rejected all forms of idolatry, including intermediaries, such as priests. In Surah 9:31, “They took their rabbis and their monks to be their lords besides Allah and also took as Lord, the Messiah, son of Mary, while they were commanded in the Torah and Gospel to worship only one God.” Islam promoted direct prayer to Allah and equal rights for all, regardless of stature. For instance, kings and paupers have similar burial rites - clothed in white linen and buried within 24 hours.[34]
Islam rejected the crucifixion of Jesus, a cornerstone of the Catholic tradition. In Surah 4: 157, “They boasted: ‘We killed Jesus…the Messenger of God.’ But they neither killed nor crucified him, although it appeared so to them. The image of Jesus was put over another man and they killed that man…For Allah raised Jesus up (body and soul) unto Himself in heaven…to show that…Jesus was only a Messenger and a human being before his death….” There were earlier differing assertions. The Nag Hammadi scrolls (which referred to text written before the Gospels) and the Gnostic Basilides (c. 98-128) held that Simon was substituted to suffer Jesus’ fate on the cross.[35] In the Gospel of Barnabas, God charged his angels, Gabriel, Michael, Rafael and Uriel to take Jesus out of the world. They brought Him to the third heaven. Then, Judas Iscariot was made to appear like Jesus; Judas was the one tried, sentenced and crucified.[36]
Muslim Schisms
After Muhammad died, the Muslim world broke into two major sects based on who was to succeed the Prophet. The Sunni Muslims accepted elective office rather than blood descent. The Shi’ite Muslims (Shia sect) held that leadership should come from the Prophet’s bloodline and that the Prophet’s cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib, who married his daughter Fatima, was the rightful imam (leader and successor), with his two grandsons as the rightful successors. The first three Caliphs were Sunnis – the Prophet’s father-in-law Abu Bekr (from a later wife), adviser Omar and son-in-law Othman. Othman was a member of the Umayyad clan, wealthy Mecca chiefs outside the prophet’s family.
When Othman was murdered, Ali, as the 4th Caliph (656-661), was engaged in a leadership struggle with Mwawiyah, the Governor of Syria and leader of the Umayyads. After Ali was himself poisoned, Mwawiyah usurped the power from Hasan, Ali’ son and heir; Sunnis deemed Mwawiyah as the 5th Caliph (661-680). He started the Umayyad dynasty by making the succession hereditary, transferred the capital from Medina to Damascus, and adopted Byzantine and Sassanid customs.[37] Under the Umayyads (661-750), Byzantium was forced to give up its territories in the Maghreb, the “land to the west,” composed of Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. In Europe, the 6th Ummayyad Caliph Walid (705-715) destroyed the Visogoth kingdom and occupied the Iberian Peninsula, which the Umayyads ruled for 800 years. The Umayyads had replaced Byzantium as the dominant political force in the Mediterranean Basin and western part of Asia.[38]
Hasan, the Prophet’s grandson and the Shia’s 5th Caliph (661-669), was murdered. Huseyn, the second grandson who succeeded him (670-680) was also murdered by the Umayyads. In 747, Abu al-Abbas, a descendant of an uncle of the Prophet, led a revolt against the Ummayads. In 750, the Abbasid Shi’ites captured Damascus, transferred the seat of power to Baghdad and ruled for 300 years. The Abbasid rule declined in c. 945 when Persian warriors called Buyids controlled Baghdad. In 1055, Sunni Seljuk Turks captured Baghdad and overthrew the Abbasid Caliphate.[39]
The Shia, comprising 20 percent of the Muslim world, annually celebrated the martyrdom of Imam Huseyn. The Shia considered Ali and his successors as infallible; there were only 12 true imams, the last being Muhammad al-Muntazar who disappeared in 878 in the cave of the great mosque in Samarra. Shi’ites believed that Muhammad al-Muntazar shall come back as Imam Mahdi (divinely guided one) to restore true Islam, conquer the world and usher in a millennium before the Judgment Day; followed by a thousand years of peace and spiritual salvation. Meanwhile, Abd al-Rahman, an Ummayad, escaped the 750 onslaught and fled to Spain. There, in 756, he established the independent Emirate of Cordova (later called the Umayyad Caliphate of Cordova).
Corruption of Islam
The “golden age” of the Muslim civilization under the Abbasids was during the time of its 6th Caliph al-Mutawwakil (846-861). It witnessed the founding of the Bait ul-Hikmah (House of Wisdom), a royal depository of books and knowledge; the absorption of Greek science, philosophy and medicine; the cultivation of military science, which helped in the conquest of Sicily in Rome; the study of astronomy, geography and number sciences; the systematic propagation of Islamic Jurisprudence (Shariah) by the jurist Shafi’i; and the arduous compilation of prophetic traditions by the respected Hadith and Sunnah (oral laws) compilers Saheeh Al-Bukhari (d. 869) and Saheeh Muslim (d. 874).[40]
While the Torah (Pentateuch) and Injil (Gospels) were considered as part of Islamic scriptures, most Muslims considered only the Koran and Hadith as doctrine (Surah 2: 1-5; 136 & 4:13). The Koran was believed to be the read revelation from God, while the Hadith were the unread revelation. The sunnah (custom or tradition) were records of what the prophet did, what he enjoined, and what was done, which he did not forbid. They also included the authoritative sayings and works of his companions. They were secondary revelation compared to the primary Koranic revelation.
However, like Judaism and the tenets of Jesus, pure Islam was also apparently corrupted. The Koran was reportedly revealed in seven recensions. There were also four different collections of the Koran.[41] After Mohammad’s death, the leaders realized that internal dissensions threatened due to imperfectly remembered, recorded and repeated surahs. Thus, they agreed to the version made by Abu Bekr; the others were burned. The Koran, as known today, consisted of 114 surahs not arranged chronologically.[42] There were also four different Hadith collections that were current before the present collection became official under Caliph Othman. Unlike apocryphal Korans, however, apocryphal traditions circulated and multiplied in the early years of Islam. Among the host of traditions, a large number had been recognized by Muslim scholars as apocryphal and spurious. Purportedly, the famous authority, Al-Bukhari chose only 7,000 out of a host of 600,000 traditions. The orthodox Sunni Muslims accepted six collections of authentic traditions from those that circulated; the Shia had their own collections.[43]
Reflection: the True Religion
Judaism, Christianity and Islam were based on the bloodline from Abraham. In Matthew 2: 8-10, Jesus rejected the idea: “Bear fruit that befits repentance, and do not presume to say…‘we have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now, the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree…that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
Likewise, “holy wars” were fought for world control, with a promise of salvation. But victory proved neither the truth of what was fought for; nor the salvation of souls. In Isaiah 2:4, the Lord “shall judge between the nations and shall decide for many people; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” In Revelation 13: 9-10: “If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if anyone slays with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.” In Surah 82 (The Cleaving): 1-5; 17-19: “When the heaven is cleft asunder; when the stars are scattered; when the seas gush together; and when the tombs are turned upside down. A person shall know what it has sent or kept back…And what shall make thee know…the judgment day? A day when no person shall have power (to do) anything for another; and the bidding on that day belongs to God.”
Salvation is beyond the bloodline, conquests and resultant “corruptions.” The true kingdom is not physical; it is neither Jerusalem nor Rome, nor Mecca. Its essence runs though in the Holy Scriptures of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In c, 1800 BC, this was Salem, which Melchisedek ruled as “the king of peace” and to whom Abraham paid homage and gave tithes to. In c. 1400 BC, it was Shiloh, where the Ark of the Covenant was housed. In c. 500 BC, after the Jews were freed from exile, it was mandated during the time of Zerubbabel (“seed of Babel”) with the laying of the cornerstone of Jerusalem (“New Salem”). In c. 32 AD, Jesus, a Nazarene and Priest of the Order of Melchisedek, affirmed that the “true kingdom is not of this world” but “in the hearts of men.” In c. 600 AD, Muhammad stated that men were originally of one religion, which he named Islam – peace. He re-established the Daru‘s-Salam, the “city of court of Peace.”
In Surah 2: 209, when differences arose among people, prophets were born in their midst to guide them back to the truth. About Mohammad’s role as a messenger, Surahs 3: 144; 4: 47 and 48:29 implied that he came during the interval of prophets. Note that he was “a seal of the Prophets,” and not the last of the Prophets. The central message of Islam is surrender. Surrender what to what? Surrendering all that one possesses to the Universal Light (the One God), that moves the “spirit” in humans and the all-pervading harmony of nature. This surrender included the concept of jihad or holy war, not against fellow humans, but against one’s (humanity’s) lower self along with its desires for power, wealth and all that is corrupted.[44] “Insha Allah.”(“God willing”), “peace” (the true kingdom) shall be re-kindled in the Heart of hearts of humanity.
Bibliography/References
[1] Grolier Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, “Arabia,” p. 59; “Arabs,” pp. 62-64. Arabs referred to the peoples who speak Arabic as native tongue and lived along the Arabian Peninsula, and, in general, in the Middle East. The Peninsula is separated from Africa by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden on the west, from Asia by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman on the east. The Indian Ocean forms the southern boundary, and the deserts of Jordan and Syria isolate the area from the north. More than 80 percent of the Peninsula is Saudi Arabia. The states of Yemen, Oman, the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait ring the peninsula on the south and east. The island of Bahrain is 21 km. off the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia. At least one-fifth of the Peninsula is covered by the Rub al-Khali (“Empty Quarter”), the world’s largest continuous sand body.[2] Linguistic and archeological evidence showed that Sheba was settled by Semites from western or central Arabia during the 2nd millennium BC. Presumably, Hamites and Semites mingled, with Semitic more evident. Ironically, in Genesis 10: 26-28, Sheba was the son of Joktan (son of Eber and 6th generation uncle of Abraham) during the Babel Tower event. In Genesis 25: 2-3 & 1 Chronicles 1:20; 32, Sheba and Dedan were also the sons of Jokshan, a son of Abraham from his third wife, Keturah.
[3] Maude Barthos, “The Realm of the Queen of Sheba,” in The World’s Last Mysteries, Reader’s Digest, 1977, pp. 41-50; Grolier Encyclopedia, Vol. 17, “Sheba,” p. 29. In the 6th century AD, Sheba and three other states Hazarmoth, Main and Quataban were allied due to the common need for water. In Marib, a great dam was discovered (indicating highly developed engineering skills). Hazarmoth is now the Yemen province of Hadramaut. Succeeding text about Sheba and Ethiopia were based from the same sources.
[4] Blavatsky (in Isis Unveiled, p. 434-5), citing Baron Bunsen (Egypt’s Place in Universal History, 1867), posited that Ethiopia was the home of the Cushites or Hamitic Race, but eastern Ethiopians were dark-skinned Aryans of southern India (i.e., descendants of Japheth). She also posited that Homer and Heroditus’ eastern Ethiopians carried their civilization to Egypt during the pre-Menite period.
[5] Abdul Ahad Dawud, Muhammad in the Bible, Hazif and Sons, Karachi, 2001, p. 219-222; Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, p. 190; Graham Hancock, The Sign and the Seal, Simon & Schuster, Inc. NY, 1992, pp. 515-6. According to Dawud the Sabaites or Sabians were predominant in the Arabian Peninsula and Mesopotamia, but did not embrace Christianity during and after the time of Jesus even if John the Baptist had openly declared Jesus as the “more powerful prophet and messiah.” Blavatsky added: the Sabeans were called “the Disciples of John” and followed the tenets of the Nazarene sect. In Hancock, contrary to tradition, the Ark was not carried by Menelik's companions, but wasd in the temple for 300 years. During the time of the sinner King Mannasseh of Judah (687-642 BC), priests brought and housed it (for 200 years) in a temple in the Egyptian island of Elephantine. When the Elephantine temple was destroyed, it was carried south in a tabernacle to Tana, Kirkos, Ethiopia, worshippied for 800 years by a Judaic cult whose members were the ancestors of the Ethiopian Jews called Falashas. When the Christians came and converted the king (330 AD), they brought the Ark to Aksum and built the Church of St. Mary of Zion to house it. The legends were compiled in the Kebra Nagast; although the truth was coded in the story of Perzival (by Wolfram von Eschenbach) and known to Knight Templars, who came to Ethiopia in the 12th century in pursuit.
[6] Abdiyah Akbar Abdul-Haqq, Sharing Your Faith with a Muslim, Bethany Fellowship., 1980, pp. 11-13
[7] Grolier Encyclopedia, Vol. 13, “Monophysitism,” p. 43; Vol. 10, “Jacobite church,” p.302; Monophysitism, also called Eutychianism for Eutyches, a 5th century archimandrite of a Constantinople monastery, emphasized the humanity of Jesus, but that in Jesus, humanity was absorbed by the divinity. Eutyches was condemned as heretical at the 451 Council of Chalcedon. By the 6th century, Monophysitism was affirmed by the Armenian, Coptic (Egyptian) and Jacobite churches. The Monophysite Jacobites lived primarily in Syria, Iraq and India. Jacobite came from Jacob (James) Baradai (d. 578), bishop of Edessa, who separated from the Orthodox episcopate of Eastern Christendom.
[8] Jeffery, The Foreign Vocabulary of the Quran, cited in Abdul-Haqq, p. 12; the Byzantine Church believed in the divinity of Jesus. According to Waqadi Hashim, the grandfather of the Prophet Muhammad concluded an agreement with the Byzantium Emperor.
[9] Grolier Encyclopedia, Vol. 13, “Nestorianism,” p. 255; Nestorius (428-31), bishop of Constantinople, emphasized the human nature of Jesus; he was condemned by the 431 Council of Ephesus, which also declared that Jesus was “true God and true Man,” with two distinct natures.
[10] J.W. Sweetman, Islam and Christian Theology, Lutterworth Press, London, 1945, p. 2, cited in Abdul-Haqq, p. 13
[11] Quran came from Muhammad’s birthplace, “Q’re.” Kore was a name of the Greek Goddess Persephone, “keeper of the light,” associated with the Virgin Moon; the Crescent Moon became the symbol of Islam.
[12] Grolier, Vol. 11, “Kaaba,” p. 3; Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, trans. Guillaume, p. 552, cited in Abdul-Haqq, p. 13. The Kaaba housed the Black Stone, allegedly given by Gabriel to Ishmael.
[13] Omar started the Islamic calendar, which reckoned time beginning with the Hegira in 622 AD.
[14] Julian Johnson, The Path of the Masters, Radha Soami Satsang Beas, Punjab, India, 1993, p. 131
[15] The Christian “Alleluia” also means “Praise the one God.” Note the root word “El,” the original name.
[16] Dawud, pp. 38-42; Dawud (1867 - c. 1920s) was the former Rev. David Benjamin Keldani, a Roman Catholic priest of the Uniate-Chaldean sect in Persia. In 1900, he resigned as priest and later accepted Islam. In contrast, Abdul-Haqq (1980s) was an evangelist of the Billy Graham Association, whose father was a convert from Islam to Christianity. Their contrasting perspectives enriched this chapter.
[17] Similarly, sisters Rachel gave her maid Bilhah; while Leah gave Zilpah to Jacob. “Bilhah and Zilpah” were Jacob’s “wives” (Genesis 37:2). Dawud cited Deuteronomy 21: 15-17: “If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other disliked, and they have born him children, both the loved and the disliked, and if the first-born son is hers that is disliked, then…when he assigns his possessions as an inheritance…he may not treat the son of the loved as the first born in preference to the son of the disliked…but shall acknowledge the first born…by giving him a double portion of all that he has…” See Chapter 7 – The Covenant, Bloodline and Messiah, for Abraham’s wives and descendants.
[18] Dawud (and many Muslim scholars) also criticized Paul as bigoted for rude words against Hagar (in Galatians 4: 21-31). But, a study of the cited verses showed that Paul clarified Genesis 16 and 21 (the spat between Sarah and Abraham about Hagar). In Galatians 4: 22-23: “For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, the son of the free woman through a promise.” Paul explained: “these two women” were allegorically two covenants. Hagar represented Mt. Sinai in Arabia and “she corresponds to the present Jerusalem for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother” (24-26). Paul quoted Isaiah 54:1: “For it is written, Rejoice, O barren one that dost not bear; break forth and shout, thou who art not in travail; for the desolate hath more children than she who hath a husband” (27). Like Isaac, “we…are children of promise.” But “as at that time he who was born… to the flesh persecuted him who was born…to the Spirit, so is it now. But what does the scripture say? ‘Cast out the slave and her son; for the son of the slave shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.’” (28-30). Paul referred to a possibly altered Genesis 21: 10-12, an avowal of Sarah when Isaac was playing with Ishmael: “Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.” Sarah was the one born of the flesh; she wronged Hagar. The “free woman” was not Sarah; but “Jerusalem above.” Paul ended: “So brethren, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.” This was consistent with an earlier 3: 28-29: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free… for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” The verse included Hagar and the Muslim-Arabs.
[19] 1 Chronicles 5: 2: “though Judah became strong among his brothers and a prince was from him, yet the birthright belonged to Joseph” (Genesis 49: 26; Deuteronomy 33: 13-17). Judah was Jacob’s fourth son from Leah; Joseph was the eldest (favored) from Rachel. Out of jealousy, his brothers conspired to kill Joseph, but Judah prevailed to sell him instead to (ironically) Midianite Ishmaelite merchants, who sold him in Egypt. Joseph became the vizier of the Pharaoh. His two sons were “adopted” by Jacob (48:5).
[20] Zecharia Sitchin, The Twelfth Planet, Avon Books, N Y, 1976, pp. 72-74. In Genesis 36:20, the original inhabitants of Seir were the Horites (or Hurrians), the “free people.” The Hurrians, like the Hittites, were Aryans, from the tribe of Japheth. See Chapter 4 – Yahweh and the Chosen People.
[21] Grolier Encyclopedia, Vol. 14, “Petra,” p. 340; Haxthausen, Transcaucasia, (1854, p. 229) cited in Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, pp. 197. Petra was unearthed in 1812 by Jakob Burckhardt; it became a major archeological and tourist site for its rock-cut temples and tombs. In Blavatsky, the Nabatheans also inhabited Lebanon. Their original religion was kabalistic (like Nazarenes and Sabeans); they honored John the Baptist more than “his successor Jesus.” Their prophet Iezed, who lived long before Muhammad, taught that God will send a messenger to reveal a book written in heaven from the eternity.
[22] Midian and Ephah were the son and grandson of Abraham from his third wife, Keturah (Genesis 25: 1; 4). Mt. Sinai is in Midianite territory. Moses, at 40 years old, fled to and stayed in Midian until he was 80; there, he first met the “Lord.” Moses married a Midianite before the Exodus (Exodus 3:1; 2: 11-16).
[23] Sela (Shela) was the father of Eber (tribe of Hebrews), 7th generation ancestor of Abraham; he had other children besides Eber (Genesis 11:14-15). Shela was also a son of Judah (aside from Perez, the ancestor of David); he was the grandfather of Judge Gideon, whose exploits were forgotten in time (Judges 10). Sela (in Isaiah and Habakkuk 3) possibly referred to a non-Hebrew or “non-chosen” Jewish lineage.
[24] Ibn Ishaq, Life of Muhammad, p. 88, cited in Abdul-Haqq, p. 13. When Muhammad ordered signs of idolatry removed from a wall of the Kaaba, he exempted two pictures, that of Mary and Jesus.
[25] Christians held that Jesus resurrected; Muslims believed that the Prophet Muhammad was foretold.
[26] Dawud, p. 43
[27] Abdul-Haqq, p. 145
[28] Dawud, p. 6.
[29] Ibid
[30] Ibid, p. 6-7.
[31] AVW Jackson, Researches in Manichianism, Cambridge University Press, p. 304
[32] Grolier Encyclopedia, Vol. 13, “Nestorianism,” p. 255; Vol. 18, “Theodoret,” p. 217; Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople (428-31) belonged to the Antiochene School; he argued against the Alexandrian use of Theotekos, “God-bearer” or “Mother of God.” The Antiochene School emphasized the humanity of Jesus; the Alexandrian, his deity. Nestorius was condemned by the Council of Ephesus (431). The divinity of Jesus was affirmed in the Council of Chalcedron (451). Theodoret (c. 393-458), a theologian of the Antiochene school was a monk of Apamea and bishop of Cyprus, Syria (423). As friend of Nestorius, he was caught in the controversy with St. Cyril of Alexandria and accused of dividing the nature of Christ. The Robber Synod of Ephesus (449) defended Cyril and exiled Theodoret for a year.
[33] A. Yusuf Ali, translation of the Holy Koran, notes 2480-2482, p. 773 cited in Ahmed Deedat, Christ in Islam, Darul Hura Foundation, Makati, Philippines, pp. 15-16; In Surah 19 (Maryam), Mary had retired to a remote place in the East. After the birth of Jesus, she returned. She was accused of being unchaste. She was reminded of her high lineage (i.e., sister of Aaron, the brother of Moses). Jesus, still an infant, came to her rescue, spoke and preached to an unbelieving audience; this was His first miracle.
[34] Despite the stress on equality, in Muslim law and tradition, women occupied a subordinate position to men. Nonetheless, before Islam, the social position of Arab women was worse. They were treated almost as slaves and a man can have as many wives as he wished and could support. Jewish Patriarchs also had more than one wives. Islam limited the number to four, which should be treated equally. Further, it gave women definite rights in such areas as marriage, inheritance and ownership of property.
[35] The Acts of the Apostles among the Nag Hammadi Scrolls, cited in Bramley, p. 133; J.B. Lightfoot, The Apostolic Fathers, p. 156, cited in Abdul-Haqq, p. 136; Basilides was an apostle of Matthew.
[36] James Charlesworth, Authentic Apocrypha, BIBAL Press, Texas, 1998, note 78; Gospel of Barnabas, original translated from Italian by Lonsdale and Laura Ragg, Clarendon Press, 1907; published as The True Gospel of Jesus, with commentary by M.A. Yusseff, Thinker’s Library SDN. BHD, Selangor Darul Ehsan, 2002, verses 214-7, p. 220-4. According to Charlesworth, “two very different works” were named “Gospel of Barnabas.” The first and earlier pseudepigraphon was condemned by the Gelasian Decree. The other in Italian was dated perhaps in the 15th century.
[37] Ross Dunn, Senior Author, et al., Links Across Time and Space, A World History, McDougal, Little & Company, Illinois, 1990, p. 237; Gregorio Zaide, World History, Rex Book Store, Manila, Philippines, 1965, p. 254-5
[38] Dunn, p. 248. See Chapter 11 – Holy Wars, Renaissance and World Conquests, for the Visogoths.
[39] Eventually, the Shia sect also split. A faction, the Ismaili sect, rejected the Baghdad Caliphate and set up its seat in Cairo. In c. 1078, it gave rise to the Order of Assassins, an organization of revolutionaries founded by Hasan-I Sabbah in honor of the 9th Ismaili Caliph Nizar. Originally called Ismaeli Shi’ite “Nizaris,” the name came from “hashshishin,” meaning “users of hashish.” The Order of Assassins used mind-altering drugs to achieve mystical enlightenment. It developed the deadly tool it became infamous for: “the lone assassin” to win wars, destroy its enemies and enlarge its coffers by extortion. From “Alamut” (Eagle’s Nest), its fortress in the northern Iranian uplands, it sent terrorists to start revolts against the Sunni Turks, murder political leaders and control other fortresses in Persia and Syria. It also fought Christian armies during the Crusades. It caused trouble for 200 years until the end of the 13th century, when Mongols overrun most Assassin strongholds. There is no evidence that the Assassin sect is behind modern “lone assassins” episodes such as that of the 9/11 Twin Tower plane crashes; but, apparently, their techniques were used. (Bramley, The Gods of Eden, pp. 159-163; Dunn, p. 282)
[40] Mejol Sadain, An International Perspective on the Philosophy of Islamic Fundamentalism, Foreign Service Institute, Metro Manila, Philippines, 1997, p. 12. The gospels were written after Jesus and canonized after 300 years; so were the Hadiths/Sunnahs compiled some 230 years after Mohammad died.
[41] Itiqan and Fihrist, A Shorter Encyclopedia of Islam, pp. 277; 283, cited in Abdul-Haqq, p. 65; Abdul-Haqq compared the seven recensions and four unofficial collections to the Gospels and Epistles.
[42] Joseph Gaer, What the Great Religions Believe, pp. 151-152; The Theosophical Digest, “The Universal Message of Islam” (condensed from the Theosophical Movement, March 2001), 3rd Quarter 2003, Theosophical Publishing House, Philippines, pp. 63-7. According to Gaer, about 90 surahs were revealed before the Hajira. According to the Theosophical Digest, in 1925, the Manchester Guardian reported that an English library has acquired a Syriac manuscript containing passages not found in the Authorized Version. This is probably one of those that escaped the burning. The verses of the Koran recorded during Muhammad’s years in Mecca presented in greater part, the metaphysical and ethical aspects of Islam’s non-violent and reformatory philosophy. The verses composed during his ten years in Medina emphasized the temporal, that is, the establishment of a community with its own laws and government.
[43] Abdul-Haqq, pp. 45-46
[44]Theosophical Digest, “The Universal Message of Islam,” 3rd Quarter 2003, pp. 63-7
