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Pre-Islamic Monotheism among Arabs
- Thread starter Rainbow Mage
- Start date
Sabour
Well-Known Member
gnostic
The Lost One
one-answer said:Well that word would have helpedI wasn't aware it existed
Thank you
That's alright.
About 12-13 years ago, I didn't know what that word mean.
I have seen the word (transliteration) before, but never understood what it mean, until I started researching ancient mythological literature for my website Timeless Myths. When I am reading and researching translations of ancient sources, I had to understand the difference between translation and transliteration.
Luzita Ball
Seek the Truth and you shall find
There is some evidence that the Arabs were descendents of Abraham. Prophet Abraham (peaxe be upon him) instituted male circumcision as a sign that his descendents were within the covenant that He made with God ie a promise to teach his descendents to obey God above all others, in return for God blessing those obedient descendents and answering their supplications. This is in the Old Testament of the Bible.
Genesis 17:7
"I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.
Genesis 17:8
"I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God."
Genesis 17:9
God said further to Abraham, "Now as for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.
Genesis 17:10
"This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised.
"And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you"
Genesis 17:12
"And every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, a servant who is born in the house or who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your descendants.
Genesis 17:13
"A servant who is born in your house or who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised; thus shall My covenant be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
Genesis 17:14 "But an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant."
Genesis 17:23
"Then Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all the servants who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the very same day, as God had said to him."
Abraham, (pbuh) when told by God that he should circumcise all in his household, held up Ishmael (obviously his cherished first born young son, named by him (pbuh)), and said ' He will be the first to be circumcised). Clearly Ishmael was the first to be within the covenant.
Ever since that time, Arabs descended from Abraham (pbuh) have circumcised their sons. This is evidence that they are the descendents of Abraham (pbuh), and that they had monotheistic ancestors and that they were within the covenant that God made with Abraham (pbuh). Some people circumcised female babies as well bit this was a deviation from the commands of God.
"According to Jāḥeẓ (VII, p. 27), the pre-Islamic Arabs practiced circumcision of both sexes. Flavius Josephus in the 1st century c.e. reported that Arabs were circumcised at the age of thirteen years, because that was the age at which their ancestor Ishmael was circumcised (Josephus, 1.12.2), a legend that has survived in Jewish sources (Ginzberg, I, p. 273). This rationale was also subsequently adopted by the Persians (cf. Massé, Croyances, p. 51). It may be noted as well that, although the Muslim prophet himself, like Seth, Noah, and even Moses in the Jewish tradition (Ginzberg, I, pp. 121, 147, V, p. 399), is said to have been born circumcised (Jāḥeẓ, VII, p. 27; Ebn al-Jawzī, p. 6: cf. S. Thompson, no. T585.9 “child born circumcised”), there is no mention of the circumcision of any one of his companions, many of whom converted to Islam as adults; references to adult circumcision of converts to Islam are not rare, however (see Massé, Croyances, p. 51). The companions must, therefore, have been circumcised; that circumcision was already a religious requirement is clearly attested by common pejorative use by Arabs of the terms aqlaf and aḡlaf“uncircumcised” in referring to non-Arab, especially Persian, converts (cf. Abū Ḥayyān Tawḥīdī, II/2, p. 766) but rarely in referring to Arabs. More important, some Arab tribes of the provinces of Ḥejāz and ʿAsīr, now in Saudi Arabia, seem to have preserved until recently some elements of a pre-Islamic circumcision ritual."
Also the ancient Greek Herodotus) recorded the existence of a place called Macoraba.
"MACORABA (Μακοράβα), an inland city of Arabia Felix, placed by Ptolemy in lat. 73° 20′, long. 22°, universally admitted to be the ancient classical representative of the modern Mekka or Mecca."
And Greek historian Diodorus mentioned a very holy temple:
'The following lines are the English translation of Greek quoted by Gibbon from the book of Diodorus Siculus (Diodorus of Sicily) describing the 'temple' considered to be the the holiest in the whole of Arabia.
"And a temple has been set-up there, which is very holy and exceedingly revered by all Arabians."[2]
See: Ka'bah As A Place Of Worship In The History
This to any Muslim sounds like Makkah Rabba- meaning The Lord's Holy city/ or Place, as far as I understand. The place of Macaraba was in the valley of Bakkah. This valley of Bakka (the ancient name of the valley also mentioned in the Qur'an 3:96), was known to be a place of pilgrimage by the early Jews (at least) to Prophet David- writer of Psalm 84, in which the valley of Bakka is mentioned (in verse 6), the discovery and creation of the spring and well (of ZamZam by Hajer the 2nd wife of Abraham), the known floods in Autumn, and the swallows (who still today circulate the Kaaba) are all described, as well as the great reward of praying in that Holy place- worth a thousand prayers elsewhere- a phrase and assurance also given to us also by the illiterate and unread Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in hadith reports.
All these point to the origins of the Kaaba being related to Prophet Abraham (pbuh) and his family and to the covenant made with God- to worship and obey him only.
One of the oldest names for the God of Abraham, the Jews and of Jesus (pbuh) in the Bible is Elloa in the Old Testament which means The God- the pronunciation and meaning being exactly as Allah. As Jesus famously is reported to have said on the cross, "Elohi Elohi (my God My God) (why have you forsaken me?)"
Elohim | Hebrew god
Allah is the God of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) who speaks through the words of the Qur'an. Allah is the word used for God by all Arab Christians up until today.
Both Jews and Arabs fell many times into idolatory as is clear from the Old Testament, but a strict Monotheism is what all the prophets and messengers (pbut) including Muhammad (pbuh) called them back to.
Genesis 17:7
"I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.
Genesis 17:8
"I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God."
Genesis 17:9
God said further to Abraham, "Now as for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.
Genesis 17:10
"This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised.
"And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you"
Genesis 17:12
"And every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, a servant who is born in the house or who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your descendants.
Genesis 17:13
"A servant who is born in your house or who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised; thus shall My covenant be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
Genesis 17:14 "But an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant."
Genesis 17:23
"Then Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all the servants who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the very same day, as God had said to him."
Abraham, (pbuh) when told by God that he should circumcise all in his household, held up Ishmael (obviously his cherished first born young son, named by him (pbuh)), and said ' He will be the first to be circumcised). Clearly Ishmael was the first to be within the covenant.
Ever since that time, Arabs descended from Abraham (pbuh) have circumcised their sons. This is evidence that they are the descendents of Abraham (pbuh), and that they had monotheistic ancestors and that they were within the covenant that God made with Abraham (pbuh). Some people circumcised female babies as well bit this was a deviation from the commands of God.
"According to Jāḥeẓ (VII, p. 27), the pre-Islamic Arabs practiced circumcision of both sexes. Flavius Josephus in the 1st century c.e. reported that Arabs were circumcised at the age of thirteen years, because that was the age at which their ancestor Ishmael was circumcised (Josephus, 1.12.2), a legend that has survived in Jewish sources (Ginzberg, I, p. 273). This rationale was also subsequently adopted by the Persians (cf. Massé, Croyances, p. 51). It may be noted as well that, although the Muslim prophet himself, like Seth, Noah, and even Moses in the Jewish tradition (Ginzberg, I, pp. 121, 147, V, p. 399), is said to have been born circumcised (Jāḥeẓ, VII, p. 27; Ebn al-Jawzī, p. 6: cf. S. Thompson, no. T585.9 “child born circumcised”), there is no mention of the circumcision of any one of his companions, many of whom converted to Islam as adults; references to adult circumcision of converts to Islam are not rare, however (see Massé, Croyances, p. 51). The companions must, therefore, have been circumcised; that circumcision was already a religious requirement is clearly attested by common pejorative use by Arabs of the terms aqlaf and aḡlaf“uncircumcised” in referring to non-Arab, especially Persian, converts (cf. Abū Ḥayyān Tawḥīdī, II/2, p. 766) but rarely in referring to Arabs. More important, some Arab tribes of the provinces of Ḥejāz and ʿAsīr, now in Saudi Arabia, seem to have preserved until recently some elements of a pre-Islamic circumcision ritual."
Also the ancient Greek Herodotus) recorded the existence of a place called Macoraba.
"MACORABA (Μακοράβα), an inland city of Arabia Felix, placed by Ptolemy in lat. 73° 20′, long. 22°, universally admitted to be the ancient classical representative of the modern Mekka or Mecca."
And Greek historian Diodorus mentioned a very holy temple:
'The following lines are the English translation of Greek quoted by Gibbon from the book of Diodorus Siculus (Diodorus of Sicily) describing the 'temple' considered to be the the holiest in the whole of Arabia.
"And a temple has been set-up there, which is very holy and exceedingly revered by all Arabians."[2]
See: Ka'bah As A Place Of Worship In The History
This to any Muslim sounds like Makkah Rabba- meaning The Lord's Holy city/ or Place, as far as I understand. The place of Macaraba was in the valley of Bakkah. This valley of Bakka (the ancient name of the valley also mentioned in the Qur'an 3:96), was known to be a place of pilgrimage by the early Jews (at least) to Prophet David- writer of Psalm 84, in which the valley of Bakka is mentioned (in verse 6), the discovery and creation of the spring and well (of ZamZam by Hajer the 2nd wife of Abraham), the known floods in Autumn, and the swallows (who still today circulate the Kaaba) are all described, as well as the great reward of praying in that Holy place- worth a thousand prayers elsewhere- a phrase and assurance also given to us also by the illiterate and unread Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in hadith reports.
All these point to the origins of the Kaaba being related to Prophet Abraham (pbuh) and his family and to the covenant made with God- to worship and obey him only.
One of the oldest names for the God of Abraham, the Jews and of Jesus (pbuh) in the Bible is Elloa in the Old Testament which means The God- the pronunciation and meaning being exactly as Allah. As Jesus famously is reported to have said on the cross, "Elohi Elohi (my God My God) (why have you forsaken me?)"
Elohim | Hebrew god
Allah is the God of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) who speaks through the words of the Qur'an. Allah is the word used for God by all Arab Christians up until today.
Both Jews and Arabs fell many times into idolatory as is clear from the Old Testament, but a strict Monotheism is what all the prophets and messengers (pbut) including Muhammad (pbuh) called them back to.
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