Some Thoughts on the Notion of "Religious Borrowing"

Is Islam really a concoction of Judaism and Christianity, as some would like to believe?

"When it is said to them: "What is it that your Lord has revealed?" They say: "Tales of the Ancients!" (Qur'an 16:24)"

Once, while browsing the soc.religion.islam newsgroup on the Internet, I came across the following comment:

>>Also, the story of Abraham being rescued from the fires of Nimrod is also found in Jewish traditions.

My response was:

So what's your point? Do you think that this necessarily means the story is made-up, borrowed, or false? I know that you didn't say this, but I was just wondering what the point of your comment was. The story of the Great Flood during the time of Noah, peace be upon him, is mentioned in the Gilgamesh Epic, which was written about 3000 B.C. Does this means that this story is not true because it is contained in another earlier source?

Now I'm not talking about anyone in particular, but in my humble opinion, the opponents and critics of Islam have not changed their arguments much since the times of the pagan/idol worshipping Arabs. The Qur'an records some of their statements as follows:

The unbelievers say: "These are nothing but tales of the ancients." (Qur'an 6:25)

"These are nothing but tales of the ancients." (Qur'an 8:31)

When it is said to them: "What is it that your Lord has revealed?" They say: "Tales of the Ancients!" (Qur'an 16:24)

And they say: "Tales of the ancients which he has caused to be written: and they are dictated before him morning and evening." (Qur'an 25:5)

"It is true we were promised this we and our fathers before (us): these are nothing but tales of the ancients." (Qur'an 27:68)

"Tales of the men of old" (Qur'an 68:15)

On the issue of so-called religious borrowing, I'd like to quote the late Dr. Isma'il al-Faruqi: "Original Semitic, or Ur-Semitisch, religion was not a tradition which belonged exclusively to the Jews, but was common to the whole family of Semitic peoples. The version of that tradition embodied in the Old Testament is peculiar to the Jews since they have canonized it as scripture. Earlier Jews or Hebrews had that tradition as well as others which have not survived. Jewish dispersions since the Assyrian conquest in 722 B. C. must have caused some of these traditions to dissolve into those of other Semitic peoples, just as the citizens of Israel, the Northern Kingdom, has dissolved with the countryside surrounding them. There is more than sufficient evidence, internal to the Old Testament, to prove that other records of revelation existed which were either edited, reformed or lost by the generations. There is, in addition, ample evidence from Mesopotamia texts dating centuries and millennia before the earliest Hebrew texts, where variants of the Jewish revelations may be read. The pre-Islamic Hanafi tradition which regarded the religious tradition of Ibrahim (Abraham) to Jesus as the true religion of God, and with which the Prophet Muhammad identified his revelation, was certainly one of those variants living in the memory of Peninsula Arabs. Only thus may the problem of borrowing between the two religions be solved. That Islam borrowed from Judaism certain notions or traditions - as Abraham Geiger, Abraham Katsch and C. C. Torrey have claimed with no little superficiality or temerity - is as true as the claim that Judaism borrowed from the Mesopotamians those same notions and traditions. Ancient Near East stories of Creation, of Moses' birth and career, of Joseph and Job, of Noah and the Deluge, and the notions of the Word of God, the God of the Mountain, of the Covenant, the law, revelation, service of God, have all been derived from older Mesopotamian traditions. These studies equally point out that the Hebrews have indeed borrowed from the Canaanites their Hebrew language, priestly system, sacrificial ritual, temple worship, as well as their whole religious calendar of agricultural occasions; and from the Persians, their Paradise and Hell, the Day of Judgment, Messianism, sacrementalism, angelogy and demonology, apocryphal version of the end, soteriology and eschatology. For the appearance of each of these notions or theories in the Jewish tradition is dated and can be shown to have occurred at or after the Jews' contact with those people." And continuing, he says: "We reject the notion of borrowing as superficial and simplistic. We do not deny interaction between peoples concerned; but we maintain that what constitutes a religion is not the individual elements which may coincidentally or otherwise be found in other traditions, but the essence or structure in accordance with which all elements have been welded together in an integral whole . . . The foregoing analysis is the way a secular historical scholarship would follow to explain the communion between Judaism and Islam on one side, with the religions of ancient Mesopotamia, on the other. There is an easier, simpler and far more straight-forward explanation which is that of Islam. That is that fact that all religions, and in this special sense, the Semitic family of religions, come from one source, namely God." And further: "It is an altogether different matter that Judaism has been subject to criticism by Islam. Having acknowledged a Jewish religious tradition and identified itself with it, Islam could criticize from within, just as the Jewish prophets did . . . The object of criticism is never the religion of God, the revelation given to the prophets, but the historical recording or empirical texts claimed to be divine, and the actual practice of Jews in history. This very task, practically every Jewish Prophet from David to Malachi had assumed and fulfilled in much the same way as the Qur'anic revelation had done . . . It is a criticism of the Jews' religious practice in terms of Jewish primordial religion. Islam never doubts the revealed status of the Torah . . . Islam recognizes that God has specially favored the Jews . . . The covenant equally stipulates that if the Jews fail to keep their part of the covenant, God will inflict upon them His punishment . . . God's judgment is never arbitrary, never unjust, never not-due, not-earned by him upon whom it falls. The Jews do ascribe such arbitrariness to God in order to maintain their otherwise unjustifiable election. Judaism asserts that God chose Abraham and ordered him to leave his city and people and emigrate; but it gives no reason for the choice (Genesis 12:1). This election of Abraham is nowhere justified. It is asserted to be "in the flesh" (Genesis 17:10) and made to pass biologically to his descendants regardless of their piety or conduct (Isaiah 9:6, 63:1-16). The Qur'an was the first to proclaim Abraham's emigration was due to his conversion from the idolatry of his people to the true religion of God revealed to him, to their attempted persecution of him from which God saved him by a miracle (Qur'an: 21:51-73). Its narrative found its way to Jewish literature in the Middle Ages, especially in the Midrash Hagadol which was discovered in Yemen in the 18th century." ( The above quotations are from: Islam and the Problem of Israel, by Dr. Isma'il Raji al-Faruqi, pp. 75-79.) That brings us to another question: do the Jewish texts which contain the story of Abraham, peace be upon him, being saved from Nimrod's fire pre-date or post-date the Qur'an? And if so, in who's opinion? And even if they pre-date it, so what?

Another point: according to the Rev. Kenneth Cragg, the infamous Christian missionary author, the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, compromised his "prophetic role" by emigrated from Mecca to Medina in order to escape the persecution of the pagan Arabs (i.e. the ones who believed in God but worshipped others - saints, angels - along with Him). If Muhammad compromised his prophecy by doing this, then why not Abraham? And if Moses, peace be upon him, did not forsake his prophethood by fleeing from the tyranny of Pharoah's Egypt to a place where he and his followers could worship the One True God , then why did Muhammad, peace be upon him? Remember, even Moses and the Children of Israel defended (and even established) their belief through force of arms! Just a thought . . .

Invitation to islaam: Pre 2000

taken from Islaam is for Mankind - Everyone Enter

You Cannot Please Everyone…

In The Name Of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Kind..

A man said to al-Hasan al-Basri (rahimahullah): ‘The people sit around you so that they may find fault with you!’ So he said, ‘Indeed, I encouraged my soul to aspire for Paradise so it aspired for it. Then I encouraged it to aspire for salvation from Hellfire and so it aspired for it.

Then I encouraged it to aspire for salvation from the people, but I didn’t find a way to that. Indeed the people were not pleased with their Creator although He provides for them, so how can they be pleased with another creation like themselves?’ [1]

Prophet Musa (’alayhisalam) said: ‘O my Lord, the people say things about me which are not (i.e. not true)! So Allah revealed to him: ‘O Musa, I did not make that (privilege) for Myself, so how can I make it the case for you?’ [2]

Malik ibn Dinar: ‘Since I have known (the reality of) people, I have not taken delight in their praise nor have I hated their criticism.’ It was said to him, ‘Why is that?’ He said, ‘The one who praises from amongst them is excessive and the critic from amongst them exaggerates!’

[3]‘Aisha (radhiallahu `anha) wrote to Mu’awiya (radhiallahu `anhu): ‘Salamun ‘alayk. Amma ba’d, I have heard the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) say, ‘Whoever gains the Pleasure of Allah by the anger of the people (i.e. thereby gains their anger), Allah suffices him of the people’s troubles. And whoever gains the pleasure of the people by the Anger of Allah (i.e. in the process he gains His Anger), then Allah leaves him to the people.’ Wa-Salaamu ‘alayk.’ [4]

Imam al-Shafi’i: ‘There is nobody except that he has someone who loves him and someone who hates him. So if that’s the case, let a person be with the people who are obedient to Allah `azza wa jall!’ ( – as they love and hate for the Sake of Allah and they are not unjust) [5]
________________________
References:
[1] Al-Bidaya wal-Nihaya (9/318 )
[2] Al-Adaab al-Shar’iyyah by Ibn Muflih (1/38 )
[3] Tarikh Dimishq (59/307)
[4] Reported by al-Tirmidhi in Kitab al-Zuhd (no. 2414), declared Sahih by al-Albani
[5] Hilyat al-Awliya (9/124)

Day of Judgement

When there is only a single star left in the sky.
At that very moment, the path of forgiveness will close.

The writing in the Quran will vanish.

The sun will lower itself with the earth.

Prophet Muhammad (saw) said:
'Who ever delivers this news to someone else, I will on the Day of Judgement make for him a place in Jannat.'

Shisha no less hazardous than a cigarette

The Hazards of Shisha

The use of “shisha” also known as hookah or water pipe is rapidly increasing in the major cities of Pakistan. Unfortunately most people who use shisha are not aware of its harmful effects. Most restaurant owners tell their customers that it is merely flavored smoke and that there is no tobacco in it.



Recently, however, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a report on the health consequences of shisha use and it has proved to be an eye-opener. A commonly held belief is that shisha is harmless because the smoke first passes through water before it is inhaled. The shisha smoker may inhale as much smoke during one session as a cigarette smoker would inhale consuming 100 or more cigarettes. Even after it has passed through water, the smoke produced by a shisha contains a high level of toxins, including carbon monoxide, heavy metals and other carcinogens.



A similar hazard is posed to other people who are not directly using shisha by means of passive smoking. It is indeed sad that in spite of an ordinance in place, which bans smoking in public places many restaurants; offer shisha to their customers. Tobacco used in these water pipes is often sweetened and flavored, making it very appealing to children and teenagers. A survey done on youngsters of school-going age in Karachi recently showed that almost 70 per cent had tried shisha in the past six months, and this included children as young as seven.



Many of the commercially available packets, which are used for shisha smoking, have misleading labels such as 0.5 per cent nicotine and zero tar. WHO in its report has strongly recommended that healthcare professionals educate the public about the potential dangers of shisha use. Moreover, the sharing of shisha between people poses an additional risk of TB, herpes, flu, meningitis and hepatitis transmission. I would urge the ministry of health not only to ban shisha use in the restaurants but also to take other practical steps for the full implementation of the “Prohibition of smoking ordinance 2002” in the country.







Shisha 200 times worse than a cigarette

ASH news release: Embargo: 00:01 27th March 2007
http://www.ash.org.uk/ash_4q8eg0ft.htm

“Shisha 200 times worse than a cigarette” say Middle East experts

Three leading experts from across the Middle East have warned that excluding “shisha bars” when England goes smokefree on July 1 could worsen the grave inequalities in health that already affect ethnic minorities.

Owners of shisha bars and cafes, which provide Arab style waterpipes to customers, are asking to be exempt from the law when it comes into force. However new research suggests that the waterpipes have three additional lethal risks over the risks of smoking cigarettes:

• Flavoured tobacco is smoked over coals and fumes from these fuels add new toxins to the already dangerous smoke.

• Shisha smokers inhale up to 200 times more smoke in a single shisha session that they would from a cigarette.

• Café owners have stress the social importance of their product but researchers say it is exactly that social aspect that results in high levels of highly dangerous secondhand smoke.

Far from discriminating against ethnic minorities, any exemption for indoor shisha smoking would only worsen health inequalities, say experts.Following the recent publication by the American Lung Association “An emerging Deadly Trend: Waterpipe Tobacco Use” (1) Mostafa Mohamed, Professor of Community Medicine in Cairo said, "Heat sources that are commonly used in Shisha pipes to burn the tobacco are likely to increase the health risks because when they burn they produce their own toxins. Shisha smokers and those around them are put at greater risk.”

Professor Mohamed is among the authors of a World Health Organisation report on shisha smoking published in 2005 (2). He was joined in his statement by co contributors from Syria and the Lebanon .

Dr Wasim Maziak, Associate Professor at the University of Memphis USA and Director of the Syrian Center of Tobacco Studies expects to publish new research very soon. The new study stresses that it is the very social nature of shisha smoking that makes the problem worse.

“Our latest study makes clear that that clean air policies should include the waterpipe, as it can be responsible for the build up of toxic levels of indoor air pollutants similar to what is seen in cigarettes. The social nature of this tobacco use method makes such regulations more needed, but perhaps more difficult to implement as well. The public health community in the meantime must wake up to the hazardous nature of this emerging tobacco use method both to users and those exposed.”

A typical hour long shisha session involves inhaling 100 to 200 times the volume of smoke inhaled when smoking a cigarette and there is no proof that any adaptation can make waterpipes safer. Professor Maziak's latest study provides the first evidence about the potential hazards of exposure to waterpipe-associated secondhand smoke. Hazardous particles of various sizes can build up gradually during waterpipe use to reach dangerously high levels presenting a risk to non-smokers and particular risk to pregnant women.

Dr Alan Shidaheh of the American University in Beirut suggested that the problem was only recently being addressed by western scientists and that had lead to dangerous misconceptions.

"One of the enduring legacies of colonialism is that many problems of public health which are more relevant to the global South have received scant scientific attention due to a lack of resources available there. Knowledge of the potentially detrimental health consequences of shisha smoke, first or second hand, is a good example. The historical lack of evidence has unfortunately allowed many shisha users to believe that the practice was safe, or at least safer than other forms of tobacco use. We have recently learned otherwise.”

Dr Shidaheh went on to stress that it was not only the shisha smoker who is at risk and warned that the tobacco industry will try to undermine the science, “Every recent study has found that shisha smoke contains large quantities of the chemicals that lead to heart disease, cancer, and addiction in cigarette smokers."

In their report to the WHO the researchers stressed, “Waterpipes should be subjected to the same regulations as cigarettes and other tobacco products. Waterpipes and waterpipe tobacco should contain health warnings. Claims of harm reduction and safety should be prohibited.”



Notes and links:

[1] “An Emerging Deadly Trend: Waterpipe Tobacco Use”, American Lung Association February 2007, http://slati.lungusa.org/alerts/Trend%20Alert_Waterpipes.pdf

[2] “Waterpipe Tobacco Smoking: Health Effects, Research Needs and Recommended Actions by Regulators” WHO Study Group on Tobacco Product Regulation 2005 http://www.who.int/tobacco/global_interaction/tobreg/Waterpipe%20recommendation_Final.pdf

[3] A brief report written for ASH is available on www.smokefreeaction.org.uk

[4] ASH Factsheet on waterpipes including photograph http://www.ash.org.uk/html/factsheets/html/fact28.html

Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (Peace & Blessings Be Upon Him) & Modern Science

"The Stranger Is Not" - A Poem About Death

A House In Paradise...

The Prophet (صلي الله عليه وسلم) said: I guarantee a house in the surroundings [suburbs] of Paradise for a man who avoids quarrelling even if he were in the right,a house in the middle of Paradise for a man who avoids lying even if he were joking, and a house in the upper part of Paradise for a man who made his character good. [Abu Dawud, 41/4782]

Hijaab's So Beautiful...

Muslim women all over the world are wearing Hijab as a religious requirement and a sign of respect, not out of a misdirected sense of "tradition." It is both a sign of a women's obedience to Allah and a manifestation of her faith. The Hijab is part of a Muslim's religious identity. It gives women dignity and self-respect.

Islam commands women to cover their bodies so as not to trouble men who are weak and unable to resist temptation. In Islam, men and women are commanded to dress modestly and not appear "naked" in public, even in all male and female situations.

Just as a short skirt or a see-through dress can send the signal that the wearer is available to men, so the Hijab signals, loud and clear: "I am forbidden to you." Wearing the Hijab protects the female from harassment and men. It is the western women who are to be pitied for displaying their private self for all to see.

An American, Ruth Anderson, has said: "Hijab is not a sign of backwardness, ignorance or mental incompetence, but a woman's duty and her right."

A women in Hijab is like a jewel that is of high exceptional value and that which must be kept hidden. Wearing the Hijab is a choice that Muslim women make. To discard the Hijab or expose that part of her body ordered covered by the Divine Law is to disobey Islamic principles and a women's basic Islamic belief.

References:
Almighty Allah says in the Holy Quran, Chapter 33, Verse 59: "O Prophet! Tell your wives and daughters, and the believing women, that they should cast their outer garments over their persons; that is better, that they should be known (as such) and not be molested." And in Chapter 24, Verse 31: "And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what appear thereof; that they should draw their scarves over their bosoms - "

Guidance Parts I & II

GUIDANCE PART-I
IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE MOST MERCIFUL.

“GUIDANCE FROM QUR’AN IN THE LIGHT OF QUR’AN AND HADITHS”

HADITHS:

Sahih Bukhari:

Volume 1, Book 3, Number 73:
Narrated 'Abdullah bin Mas'ud:

The Prophet said, "Do not wish to be like anyone except in two cases. (The first is) A person, whom Allah has given wealth and he spends it righteously; (the second is) the one whom Allah has given wisdom (the Holy Qur'an) and he acts according to it and teaches it to others." (Fateh-al-Bari page 177 Vol. 1)

Volume 2, Book 23, Number 422:
Narrated Anas:

The Prophet said, "When a human being is laid in his grave and his companions return and he even hears their foot steps, two angels come to him and make him sit and ask him: What did you use to say about this man, Muhammad ? He will say: I testify that he is Allah's slave and His Apostle. Then it will be said to him, 'Look at your place in the Hell-Fire. Allah has given you a place in Paradise instead of it.' " The Prophet added, "The dead person will see both his places. But a non-believer or a hypocrite will say to the angels, 'I do not know, but I used to say what the people used to say! It will be said to him, 'Neither did you know nor did you take the guidance (by reciting the Quran).' Then he will be hit with an iron hammer between his two ears, and he will cry and that cry will be heard by whatever approaches him except human beings and jinns."

*From the above-mentioned hadith it is very clear the importance of Qur’an! We should not ignore the Qur’an. After death there is no World again! Only paradise/hell!

Volume 8, Book 73, Number 120:
Narrated Tariq:

'Abdullah said, "The best talk is Allah's Book (Qur'an), and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad."

Volume 1, Book 3, Number 75:
Narrated Ibn 'Abbas:

Once the Prophet embraced me and said, "O Allah! Bestow on him the knowledge of the Book (Qur'an)."

Volume 5, Book 57, Number 100:
Narrated Ibn Abbas:

Once the Prophet embraced me (pressed me to his chest) and said, "O Allah, teach him wisdom (i.e. the understanding of the knowledge of Qur'an)."

Conclusion:
“From the above mentioned hadiths, it is very clear that the holy Qur’an should be referred to first before referring to hadiths. We often see or meet people who have more knowledge of hadiths compared to knowledge about the Qur’an. We should change this attitude Inshallah.

54:17. And We have indeed made the Qur'an easy to understand and remember: then is there any that will receive admonition [warning]?

*From the above-mentioned verse of Qur’an it is clear dear all! Where are you standing and where are you going???

Beware of misleading websites & people… if we have knowledge from the Qur’an. Inshallah we will be guided.


GUIDANCE PART-II

HOLY QUR’AN:

17: 9. Surely this Quran guides to that which is most upright and gives good news to the believers who do good that they shall have a great reward.

*From the above verse it is very clear the Qur’an shows the correct way!

2:256. There is no compulsion in religion; truly the right [guided] way has become clearly distinct from error; therefore, whoever disbelieves in the Shaitan and believes in Allah he indeed has laid hold on the firmest handle, which shall not break off, and Allah is Hearing, Knowing.

*From the above verse it is very clear! We can only be rightly guided if we refer to the Qur’an.

2: 2. This Book, there is no doubt in it, is a GUIDE to those who guard (against evil).
2: 3. Those who believe in the unseen and keep up prayer and spend out of what We [ALLAH] have given them.
2: 4. And who believe in that which has been revealed to you and that which was revealed before you and they are sure of the hereafter.
2: 5. These are on a right course from their Lord and these it is that shall be successful.
2: 6. Surely those who disbelieve, it being alike to them whether you warn them, or do not warn them, will not believe.
2: 7. Allah has set a seal upon their hearts and upon their hearing and there is a covering over their eyes, and there is a great punishment for them.
2: 8. And there are some people who say: We believe in Allah and the last day; and they are not at all believers. [Or they are not mu’min]
2: 9. They desire to deceive Allah and those who believe, and they deceive only themselves and they do not perceive.

2:185. The month of Ramadhan is that in which the Qur’an was revealed, guidance to All mankind and clear proofs of the guidance and the distinction; therefore whoever of you is present in the month, he shall fast therein…

*From the above verse again Allah (swt) is calling to [All human being] NOT ANY SUNNI, SHIA, JEWS, MUSLIMS, ETC. If you have the BOOK which shows you the guided path, so it is our duty to search and find out what are our weakness.

29:51. Is it not enough for them that We have revealed to you the Book which is recited to them? Most surely there is mercy in this and a reminder for a people who believe.

*From the above verse we should follow the same message as in sunnah [Muhammad pbuh].

39:18. Those who listen to the word, then follow the best of it; those are they whom Allah has guided, and those it is who are the men of understanding.

10:57. O mankind! there hath come to you a direction from your Lord and a healing for the (diseases) in your hearts, and for those who believe, a guidance and a Mercy.

*Qur’an provides healing for the heart.

2:242. Allah thus makes clear to you His communications [verses] that you may understand.

My Disappearance...

Assalam 'aleykum,

I know some people out there must be wondering where in the world I disappeared to. Been really busy lately & since the last time I posted, I didn't have any internet connection. So there you go...

Inshallah will start posting again soon. Keep tuned ;)