Monday, March 1, 2021

The Islam Issue "Gods house of plagiarism"


Abraham was 86 according to the biblical account Gen16:16, when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael. The root of the name in both Hebrew/ishma and Arabic/ismaa implies "hearing". This is because in both the Bible and the Quran, Abraham desperately prays God for a son. In the Bible God "hears" both his and Hagar's prayers Gen15,16 while the Quran cites only Ibrahim's prayers for a righteous son 37:100-1 and which Allah heard/ismaa. He thus named that firstborn son he longed for Ismaail/Ishmael (a similar Biblical case is Samuel whom his mother called so because 1Sam1:20"I asked him of the Lord"). 

Ismail was the manifestation of Allah's acceptance of Ibrahim's prayers 
14:39"Praise be to Allah, Who has given me in old age Ismail and Ishaq; most surely my Lord is the Hearer of prayer". 
It is to be noted that both Ishmael and Ismail are appropriation into Hebrew/Arabic of the name which Abraham gave to his son in his native Babylonian language. Ismail's birth was a miracle given Ibrahim's old age, and God, throughout the prophetic history caused women to bear children in miraculous circumstances, Mary the mother of Jesus being one of them 
19:20,3:47"Allah creates what He pleases; when He has decreed a matter, He only says to it, Be, and it is".

The Abrahamic connection with the Arabs, Mecca, the Kaaba was deeply ingrained in the minds of the prophet's addressees. There was no tension nor polemics in that regards, neither with the polytheists, nor with the Jews and Christians among the Arabs. This bellies the notion that, whomever the critics alledge wrote the Quran, needed to invent that connection. 

Recently for instance Joseph Witztum argued the Quranic Ishmael-binding narrative and building of the Kaaba by both Ibrahim and his son, find inspiration in a Syriac Homily by Jacob of Serugh. Besides Witztum's admission that the Abrahamic connection with the Meccan Ishmaelites is attested in non Muslim pre-Islamic sources (Theodoret and Sozomon), meaning the Quran did not need re-adapting a story to make a point that was already accepted, no evidence exists for the Homily in question circulating among the Arabs of the peninsula, including Jews and Christians. Especially not among the laymen, making the information complicated to access, even more so in the Arabic language. No loan words or linguistic similarities appear in the parallel passages. The similarities are isolated and out of context. For example the homily speaks of Abraham and Isaac building an altar. Although there is mention of both Ibrahim and Ismail engaging in construction, there is no altar or sacrifice in the Quranic context. Neither were the Kaaba nor the altar to sacrifice the enigmatic "only son", which could never have been Isaac the second-born, the only spiritual constructions by Abraham. The Bible recounts how he built places of worship to God throughout his journeys Gen12:6-8,13:4,18. That Abrahamic practice we are told in the HB, was left to his posterity that similarly built places of worship symbolized by stones erected as pillars Gen28:10,18-22, ie the "foundations" which Ibrahim and Ismail "raised" 2:127.

On a more general note, the idea the Arabs needed to express their thoughts, even their sacred history in a foreign language, such as Syriac is untenable. Christoph Luxenberg famously stated that the Syro-Aramaic used in Edessa and its environs is the original language of the Quran, not Arabic, despite the Quran itself repeatedly saying about itself it is evident Arabic, in the language of the messenger's people 12:2,13:37,26:195,46:12,16:103,19:97,44:58,14:4. One may add that the consensus of all Arabs after Islam, regardless of their scholarly, political and tribal background is that the Quran has been revealed in the Qurayshi dialect, whose language was known for its eloquence. Neither does Luxenberg explain how this language might have come to dominate in far away Hijaz to such an extent that it would form the basis of the sacred writings of its inhabitants, nor does he present the slightest evidence that there existed in Mecca and its surroundings an Arab community under intense Christian influence. These claims run along the same lines as those of the Protestant theologian Gunter Luling who theorized in the 1960s that this area was thoroughly christianized by Muhammad’s lifetime, and Mecca was a significant Christian town ruled by the Quraysh, a Christianized tribe that worshipped in the Kaaba, a Christian church built with an orientation toward Jerusalem. This assertion however remains unsubstantiated whether from Muslim or Christian sources, just as his assumption of a massive Christian presence in central and northwestern Arabia.

There are no Arabic inscriptions written in the Syriac script whereas there are quite a number of them written in Nabataean Aramaic script, the recognized origin of the Arabic script. Arabic was widely spoken in the Middle East by the 7th century CE, particularly in the region of the former Nabataean kingdom. This very evolution presumes frequent writing of Arabic in the Nabataean script. Some inscriptions prove that Arabic had already long been used for sacred expression, such as the Oboda inscription, and possibly also the ones found in the Madaba area. There is also Epiphanius of Salamis’ testimony as to the praises to a virgin deity sung in Arabic by the inhabitants of Petra and Elusa.

A well known Meccan inscription dated to AH 98/717 CE is variously attributed to a bishop of Najran in southwest Arabia named Quss ibn Sa‘ida, or else to one of the pre-Islamic kings of Yemen. Regardless of the authenticity of that attribution, the accumulation of pre-islamic evidence, including a vast wealth of poetry, does point to them belonging to that period. The pre-Islamic Arabic texts are nothing but the visible tip of the iceberg. Most of the hidden material is lost through the effect of time or in the process of being discovered. The point is that there is a substantial tradition of writing and speaking Arabic. Why would then the Quran's supposed authors need to express their sacred traditions in a far away foreign language?

Further reading answering The Islam Issue "Gods house of plagiarism"
The Qibla change

Abraham and the Kaaba

The only son

The seven sleepers

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Sunday, February 28, 2021

The Islam Issue "Muhammads treatment of military widows"

The Islam Issue "Muhammads treatment of military widows"

 

"And she said that the messenger of Allah said: “go and throw sand in their mouths“."
This translation is false. It literally says 
"And I (Aisha) zaamtu/thought/conjectured that the prophet said "go and put dust in their mouths".
The prophet did not forbid weeping for one's deceased, but the tradition of "fake wailing" where women are incited to do so at funerals. This tradition is still seen in many cultures around the world, including Muslim. He said 
"If a hired mourner (a woman who is hired to wail during funerals) does not repent before she dies, she will be raised on the Day of Judgement wearing a garment of tar and an armour of blistering puss.” 
He also said 
"Allaah does not punish for the weeping of the eye or the sadness of the heart, but He punishes for this –pointing to his tongue –or that this [what the tongue utters] is forbidden". 
Crying from sadness at a cherished person's death is normal, and the prophet himself many times did so, even years after the person's passing. The prophet described that type of sadness as
"a mercy which Allah has placed in the hearts of his slaves. Allah bestows His Mercy on the merciful among His slaves". 
What is disapproved is the abovementionned practice, the wailing and lamenting as it many times leads to overstepping the religious bounds and questionning God's justice and purpose behind the incidents of life 
"He who slaps the cheeks, tears the clothes and follows the tradition of the Days of Ignorance is not from us". 
The approved manner of mourning however is one where 
"The eyes are shedding tears and the heart is grieved, and we will not say except what pleases our Sustainer. O Ibrahim! Indeed we are grieved by your departure". 
Among those words which the mourner may utter are reminders of the goodness of the deceased, prayers of mercy, forgiveness, wishing him/her the reward of Paradise, and acceptance of the overall design of creation 
2:156"Truly! To Allah we belong and truly, to Him we shall return".
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Friday, February 12, 2021

Sam Shamoun "Grave Worship: More of Muhammad’s Duplicity Exposed"



The verse 9:94 is in the context of denouncing hypocrisy in war time. More particularily in reference to the expedition of Tabuk.

The importance of that encounter was such that only the most hardened and serious elements were called to join. Although some failed answering the call, the prophet didnt blame them, even praised them as if they had accompanied him. On the other hand the half-hearted people seeking vain excuses, and hypocrites, were told to stay back even though they did not explicitly refuse joining. A small example to corroborate is that of Jadd b. Qays, the chief of Bani Salamah, who was told to remain behind based on his lust for female war captives. This by the way bellies the weak reports where it is the prophet that supposedly encouraged him to go to battle with the prospect of acquiring women captives. Some comentators have said that 9:49 refers to him.  Although their freedom wasnt interfered with, these hypocrites and opportunistic Muslims would later be temporarily ostracized by the community, with the prophet even refusing to accept their zakat. They were neither fought nor killed, but were instead naturally cast away the more the Muslims gained ascendent over their open enemies. Most of them were known through their deeds and sayings, and were thus marked with shame and placed under scrutiny
9:94"And God will behold your deeds, and His Apostle". 
The verb refers to future deeds. It literally says 
"will see Allah your deeds, and His Messenger"

This is a common sentence construction as exists in any language where, for brievty's sake, one does not repeat a verb that applies to two subjects next to each other. The verse joins both Allah and the messenger in one action but does not join the subjects. What is remarkable from the point of view of Quranic precision and consistency is that, because it speaks of witnessing the deeds by others than Allah, in this case His messenger, the verse then stresses that none knows the unseen other than Allah, that He will inform the people of their deeds and judge them. The idea of tawhid, of God's oneness and uniqueness, is this way stressed and preserved

"then you shall be brought back to the Knower of the unseen and the seen, then He will inform you of what you did"  

An important side note as regards the prophet's refusal to allow hypocrites to battle. In the semitic pattern of prophethood, God assists the believers in battle in proportionality to their spiritual condition. The examples are numerous, both in the HB and the Quran. See link below.


Further reading answering Sam Shamoun "Grave Worship: More of Muhammad’s Duplicity Exposed"

- Acts17apologetics need the supernatural; angelic help to Abrahamic warriors? (divine assistance in battle)

-Apostate prophet sleeps late; the people of the cave is a legend? (masjid over the youths of the cave)

-Sam Shamoun "Revisiting the Worship and Prayers of Allah" (prayers to the prophet, verse 9:103)

-Sam Shamoun "The Islamic Gods Unveiled Pt. 2 Additional Proof that Islam is Repackaged Arab Paganism" (verse 4:64)

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Tuesday, February 2, 2021

Sam Shamoun "INVOCATION AND WORSHIP: THE ISLAMIC DILEMMA"


Although all creatures have life and can be termed as "living", the true, ultimate life belongs to God only. He is the ever-living/al hayy 2:255,40:65. The prophet Daniel states in the Aramaic in which the text was recorded Dan6:26"elaha hayya qayyam". The words carry several implications, including the pervasive pattern throughout the Quran of God being the sole self-sufficient, uncreated, independant entity. He relies on none other than Himself to subsit and will perdure even when all things perish 55:26-7,28:88. Al hayy/the ever living is also a description meant at distinguishing Allah from false deities, as is done in the HB Joshua3:10,1Sam17:26,1Sam17:36,Jer10:9-10,etc., whether they be inanimate entities or living creatures that made themselves or were made into objects of worship 16:20-1. They are neither alive nor are able to keep others alive, they do not exist of their own accord nor can keep others into existence. Their existence depends at all times on the self-sustaining source of all life, Allah. 

The Quran treats all false concepts, including idol worship as ideas invented, blindly passed on by the following generations. They are without any reasonable basis to be found in human instincts or by observing the functionning of the universe, to justify their existence. No strong and clear scriptural basis exists claiming divine origin for any of those ideas. they are falsehoods projected either on physical or abstract entities 
10:66,45:23,53:23"They are naught but names which you have named, you and your fathers; Allah has not sent for them any authority. They follow naught but conjecture and the low desires which (their) souls incline to; and certainly the guidance has come to them from their Lord". 
But whatever form these worshipped entities may be, it is the same evil force hiding behind them and inciting their followers to remain on the deviant path 
19:44,34:41,4:117"and they do not call on anything but a rebellious Shaitan". 

Authentic or not, this is what could have been meant by the report in the sira, that once the statue of al Uzza was destroyed, suddenly appeared 
a naked, wailing Ethiopian woman 
whom the companion killed. That fantastic tale seems to have been drawn from earlier reports which could have found their way even among early anti Muslim polemics by Christians. Among Anastasius' "testimonies" of Muslim/satanic partnership was that of Christian sailors who 
"arrived at the place where those who have reduced us to servitude have their stone and their cult". 
This obviously speaks of the Kaaba and the black stone. The sailors, still having their mysoginistic biblical passages in mind witnessed 
"an indecent and horrible old woman rise from the ground". 
She proceeded to gather the sacrifices made at the altar then took them underground with her.

When the Quran states the worshipped entities will be hurled in hell along with their worshipers 21:98-9,37:22-3 it doesnt mean that the simple fact of worshiping an entity will result in it going to hell because the Quran attaches 2 conditions for such a situation to occur; the entity's unequivocal demand to be worshiped as a deity, the followers' actual worship. Yet in almost all cases those to whom divinity was ascribed were created by the people themselves under the influence of evil forces. It is these evil inciters that will be thrown in hell. So in the case of true prophets or saints who were later worshipped as gods, nothing of their righteousness and of what they earned will be diminished and they will have nothing to fear in the hereafter 21:101-3. They are innocent of their followers innovations and deviations 
21:26-9"Nay! they are honored servants. They do not precede Him in speech and (only) according to His commandment do they act..And whoever of them should say: Surely I am a god besides Him, such a one do We recompense with hell; thus do, We recompense the unjust.." 
To illustrate further, the Quran presents the case of the prophet Jesus who shall be questionned on the Day of Judgment regarding his followers' idolizing and worshiping him, and cleared of any guilt since he never commanded it 5:116-120. Since he acted as God's messenger, then what his followers did in his name should be justifiable from his teachings, among them, the worship of both himself and his mother Mary. It is interesting that, just as his word in defence of his mother's chastity constituted the best testimony of the truth in this world, so to in the hereafter, he will speak on her behalf to clear her from any possible guilt as to the people's worshipping her. Jesus was nothing but a faithful and exemplary servant and prophet of God 43:59, in accordance with the glad tidings of eminence given to his mother before he was born
 3:45"When the angels said: O Mariam! Allah gives you good tidings of a word from Him, whose name is the Massih, Isa son of Mariam, honoured in this world and the hereafter, and he is among those brought near". 
5:116 is a very powerful passage in the sense that those who raised him to the status of divinity and put all hopes of salvation in him will see him being interrogated, humbling himself, then cleared of any responsibility, for the deviations of those claiming to follow him. Like all those who attributed divinity to entities besides God, those claiming to be Jesus' followers will find themselves in a hopeless situation where they will have to answer for their own claims, beliefs, conjecture and deeds.

Although Jesus' testimony is the one most vividly detailed at the divine court of justice, all other sentient entities falsely ascribed divine authority will dismiss those that worshipped them 
16:86"And when those who associated others with Allah see their "partners," they will say," Our Lord, these are our partners [to You] whom we used to invoke besides You." But they will throw at them the statement, "Indeed, you are liars". 
This intricate discourse reveals the seriousness of ascribing partners to God; the guilty do not dare describing them as God's partners, they are "our partners". The worshipped entities on the other hand, frightened by the consequences of such allegation, will quickly throw it back at the guilty. Then, just as Jesus is depicted, they will all humble themselves before God, totally disowning their former worshippers.

Because of this, that these entities never demanded to be idolized, and in addition are totally unaware of it 46:5, they are called "lies" by such prophets as Ibrahim and Hud. They do not perceive such worship. Even if they were made to hear these prayers, they would be utterly powerless in controlling wordly causality and the destineies of their worshippers 
11:50,16:73,19:42,29:17,35:14,37:86,22:62"That is because Allah is the Truth, and that what they call upon besides Him-- that is the falsehood, and because Allah is the High, the Great". 
Contrary to any entity or concept worshiped besides Him, Allah is "the Truth" al haqq, one of God's Quranic attributes signifying the Ultimate Reality or Primal Cause of all that exists. It is therefore natural that only the prayers addressed to him are true and valid 
13:14"To Him is due the true prayer; and those whom they pray to besides Allah give them no answer, but (they are) like one who stretches forth his two hands towards water that it may reach his mouth, but it will not reach it; and the prayer of the unbelievers is only in error".

Because of the absence of any of those powers attributed to them, false deities are in a state of subjugation to the laws of the universe like their worshippers are, uncapable of inflicting evil or bringing any good upon their followers by themselves, not even able to create or catch the most insignificant insect should they all collaborate in their efforts. As contingent entities, they, just like the most saintly personalities of this world 7:188,10:49 stand in contrast to the uncaused cause, the necessary being, under Whose dominion are all benefit or harm that may come upon creation 
6:17-18"And if Allah should touch you with adversity, there is no remover of it except Him. And if He touches you with good - then He is over all things competent. And He is the subjugator over His servants. And He is the Wise, the Acquainted [with all]". 
In the words of the prophet Jeremiah as inspired to him 
Jer10:5"fear them not for they will do no harm, neither is it in them to do good".
Even though the worshipers might profit indirectly in their comunities from idol worship, the harm they will ultimately incure will be disproportionaly higher 22:12-3. Neither can the idols help themselves nor their worshippers from the divine scourge, especially had they truly demanded to be worshiped 
5:76,7:190-8,21:42-3,22:73,35:13"this is Allah, your Lord, His is the kingdom; and those whom you call upon besides Him do not control a straw". 
A particularily strong and yet pragmatic observation the Quran points to in order to illustrate the helplesness of those idols in 22:73 is that, besides their inability to create even an insect like a fly viewed as among the smallest, simplest, bothersome or useless as opposed to the universe of complexities originated by the supreme creator whom they also believe in, should one of these lowly creatures snatch a thing from them, like the offerings often left in front of the idols, these idols would be helpless in getting it back.

That the idol worshipers and all those who worship entities other than or besides Allah, are only worshiping a figment of their imagination incited by evil spirits, clothing them in the garb of extraneous beings and entities, is portrayed on the Day of Judgement. A Divine court will be set up 5:116-119,10:28-29,25:17-19,34:40-2 where the worshipers and all worshiped entities, whether the stone idols, prophets, saints, angels or any other entities whom they had set up as partners with God and rendered those rights to them which belonged to God alone will be gathered. The objects worshipped will be cited as 35:40"your partners" because they had never been divinely sanctionned as "God's partners" and 
34:22"they control not the weight of an atom in the heavens or in the earth, nor have they any partnership in either, nor has He a helper among them". 
A seperation will then be made between them and their worshippers. The stones will be made to speak and along with all other worshiped entities, will declare their disavowal of those who called on them and their unawareness that they had been worshipped 
"It was not us that you served. Therefore Allah is sufficient as a witness between us and you that we were quite unaware of your serving (us)". 
Those things which they thought were their protectors have become their enemies, exposing them as worshippers of falsehood 
25:19,46:6,19:82"They shall soon deny their worshipping them, and they shall be adversaries to them".
 This will be the death blow and desillusion of all worshippers of false deities, realizing that their prayers were in vain; the entities to whom they had ascribed divinity were not even aware of their prayers 
28:64"And it will be said: Call your associate-gods. So they will call upon them, but they will not answer them" 
7:37,40:73-4"Then shall it be said to them: Where is that which you used to set up besides Allah? They shall say: They are gone away from us, nay, we used not to call upon anything before" 
7:53"Indeed they have lost their souls and that which they forged has gone away from them".
In what the writers of the HB describe as the "end of days", meaning in their terminology the ushering of an utopian era, but whose descriptions parallel in many places the Quran's description of the Resurrection and Judgement, a day will come where the worshipers of false deities will be brought low and humbled, their idols disappear and only the true God remain and exalted Isa2.

Further reading answering Sam Shamoun "INVOCATION AND WORSHIP: THE ISLAMIC DILEMMA"
- Sam Shamoun "Revisiting the Worship and Prayers of Allah" (praying to Muhammad, supplication etc.)
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Friday, January 29, 2021

Sam Shamoun "Muhammad’s Illiteracy Proves that Allah is the Not-So-Powerful One"


29:48"And you did not recite (tatlu) before it any book (kitab), nor did you transcribe one with your right hand, for then could those who say untrue things have doubted"

Kitab from the root K-T-B means putting things together as in grouping the herd together or closing the lips or stitching, as well as putting letters or ideas together hence the common use in the sense of a book in which letters, ideas and knowledge are gathered. This binding of things together can be in the physical sense, as in the letters and words of a sentence, or the pages of a book. That is why even a single word, verse or page of the Quran is termed kitab, even prior to the completion of the revelation and binding together into a book. The Prophet is also reported as having said before his death 
"I have left amongst you Muslims that which, if you stick to it, you will not be misguided-the book of Allah". 
Quran is a word similarily applicable to a portion as to the whole 43:2-4. The Arabic word mushaf, known since pre-islamic times as seen from a poem of Imru al Qays, was similarily used for the Quran prior to its completion 
"This son of mine reads the mushaf in the daytime". 
Mushaf means assembled writings between 2 covers. Kitab is also used in the metaphorical sense, as in the binding of a thing or knowledge within one's self 6:12,58:22. For instance it is said about Jesus 
19:30,3:48"And He will teach him the kitab and the hukm and the Tawrat and the Injeel". 
Similarily to him, other prophets have been granted 
3:81,6:89"al kitab and al hukma and al nubuwwa". 
Kitab here is in the singular, and common to these prophets. Hukm is for the ability to judge, rule and make decisions, nubuwwa is the gift of prophecy. The implication of the statement being that all these persons had ability to arrive at wise judgements due to the special knowledge collected into them as if they were books of flesh upon whom God is writing. They had also the ability to prophesy, pointing to the divine nature of their knowledge and actions.

Muhammad was an illiterate man like the vast majority of his people. Illiteracy was so common in those days that we have traditions even listing the very few ones that could actually read and write. According to Al-Baladhuri, there werent more than 17 such people among the Quraysh and 11 from the Khazraj and Aws tribes. Despite this high level of illitracy, hundreds carried on most successful and flourishing businesses. It is known that Khadija had given the Prophet a literate slave named Maisara to accompany him on his trips. The Prophet's function in Khadija's business was to ensure the trustworthy transport of her goods, and finalization of her deals.

Muhammad thus, like the near totality of his people, did not read nor transcribe any type of writing before the Revelation. The Quran says, that situation must remain so during the Revelation in order to serve as potential evidence against
29:48"those who say untrue things".
In 25:4-5, the doubters accuse the prophet of having iktataba what his secret human teachers taught him so that it may be "read out to him morning and evening". Iktitab means both to write and to cause to be written ie by someone else. The last part of the verse shows that it is "causing to be written" that is meant otherwise the prophet would not need the revelation to be read out to him by other people day and night.

The prophet's illiteracy is something his opponents never objected to, and the Quran as well as hadith literature contain all types of objections, calumnies and accusations thrown at him, yet nothing about this particular matter. By reiterating the well known fact that he was an illiterate, the Quran cancels the objection of literal plagiarism by copying and transcribing with his hands. However the Quran does not stop there. In the context of answering the objection that the prophet Muhammad plagiarized oral traditions from human sources, it says he was unschooled in the subjects related by the Quran
7:157"Those who follow the apostle, the ummi (uneducated/unschooled) Prophet, whom they find mentioned in their own scriptures".
In 2:78 the Jews are called ummiyun so it neither refers to gentiles nor illiterate people. The word is derived from the root Hamza-M-M and it means mother or sources/origin if said as UMM and destination if said as AMM. Ummi means in this context someone who is close to the source or origin and that conceptually means someone lacking education that moves him away. In a more metaphorical sense it is understood as painting the picture of one as ignorant and uneducated as the one coming out of the umm/mother. In the prophet's case this uneducation is in terms of divine scriptures as so often stated in the Quran
3:44,11:49,28:44,12:3,102"This is of the announcements relating to the unseen (which) We reveal to you, and you were not with them..".
Some have said ummiyun refers to the Meccans, yet in 3:20 (a known Medinan sura) the prophet is told to address the people of the book and the ummiyun, those who are uneducated in a religious scripture, which includes the Arabs from Mecca and outside of it.

Another way in which the definition of "mother" applies to Ummi is that it relates to the mother's love of her child so she does not entrust anyone other than herself to educate him. The same is applied to Muhammad whom Allah loved so much He took great care in teaching him. The Quran draws a particularily affectionate description of the manner in which Gabriel approached, bent over from on high to give full attention and inspired the revelation to the prophet
53:5-10"The Lord of Mighty Power has taught him, The Lord of Strength; so he attained completion, And he is in the highest part of the horizon, Then he drew near, then he bowed. So he was the measure of two bows or closer still, And He revealed to His servant what He revealed".
This particular relationship between God and His prophet is subtely reflected through the muqataat, the distinct enounciation of the letters of the alphabet at the beginning of certain suras. Their recitation, and more particularily by the prophet, convey the idea that the transmitter of this message, the "ummi" prophet who is as unlettred and unschooled as one just coming out of his umm/mother, is now in the process of being taught by God Himself, the One claiming to be the source of the communication, teaching His messenger the basic alphabet. There is a reason why the Quran is said to have been "taught" to its audience 55:2.

The prophet dies very shortly after the revelation of the last verse 5:3 therefore it is logical to say that he did not read nor write a book all his life, for the Quranic argument as stated in 29:48 to be completed. It is reported that on his deathbed, he asked for a paper to have something written on it. This doesnt necessarily entail writing himself, but could as well mean he intended to have someone writing his will in his presence. That is what in fact people accused him of in regards to the Quran, as shown earlier. They never accused him of writing himself the Quran, but that he had others writing for him. It is in this light that the various ahadith describing the prophet as having something written have been understood. For example we read
"That the Messenger of Allah said: "Bring me a shoulder blade or tablet." Then he wrote: Not equal are those of believers who sit".
Another version of the same hadith says
"bring me a shoulder blade of a camel, or a tablet, and write: Not equal are those of the believers who sit (at home)".
Something else to keep in mind is that illiterate people are often able to read and write very basic words and sentences whose shapes they recognize. That doesnt make them literate. One example is that of a narration that begins by reiterating the fact that "Allah's Messenger used not to write" but he nevertheless was able to recognize the expression "Apostle of Allah" on a paper handed to him by Ali ibn Abi Talib.

One may come back and argue that the prophet Muhammad must have been literate because he was commanded to
96:1"Read in the name of your Lord".
But how could the prophet be told to read from a paper in front of him the very words that are being revealed to him? 
Iqraa or Itlu do not always mean that one is reading something written on a paper, both are commonly used in the sense of reading behind someone or reading from the mind. This is particularly made clear in 75:16-18. The prophet is told by his Instructor (Allah) not to be hasty with the Quran while it is transmitted to him, because
"on Us (devolves) the collecting of it and the reading of it",
ie it is Allah who sets the standard as to how it should be read. So when the Instructor reads it, the follower should follow the words
"Therefore when We have read it, follow its reading".
The verse does not say that first it is read out to the prophet, then he must write it and then read it. It commands him to read as it is read to him
87:6"We shall make you recite (sanuqriuka) so you shall not forget".
Allah was literaly puting the holy words into the prophet's mouth
19:97"We have only made it easy in your tongue that you may give good news thereby to those who guard (against evil) and warn thereby a vehemently contentious people"
and teaching him how to read them out. As the prophecy of Deut18 says
"I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him".
The ahadith describe the prophet's first encounter with the agent of revelation. The experience was so overwhelming that the prophet at first would not let the messenger transmit the revelation, interrupting him. He did not know the purpose of the experience 
"...till suddenly the Truth descended upon him while he was in the cave of Hira. The angel came to him in it and asked him to read. The Prophet replied, "I do not know how to read (a better translation is "what shall i read?")" "The angel caught me (forcefully) and pressed me so hard that I could not bear it anymore. He then released me and again asked me to read, and I replied, "I do not know how to read/what shall i read?" whereupon he caught me again and pressed me a second time till I could not bear it anymore. He then released me and asked me again to read, but again I replied, "I do not know how to read (or, what shall I read?)." Thereupon he caught me for the third time and pressed me and then released me and said, "Read: In the Name of your Lord, Who has created (all that exists). Has created man from a clot. Read and Your Lord is Most Generous...up to..... ..that which he knew not." (96.15)"
Man is apt to forget, and the Prophet was a human being and he too was apt to forget and since the Quran was also a great asset which was being entrusted to him, he would repeat each and every word of the revelation fearing that any of it might slip away from his memory. This verse, telling him he will be made to recite in manner so as to not forget, came as a reassurance, stressing that God has taken upon Himself its impression on his memory. This was not by his own power and leave, being a mortal like anyone else and it is a reminder of this reality that the Quran continues
87:7"Except what Allah pleases, surely He knows the manifest, and what is hidden".
The context of the verse is about intricate, detailed, purposeful divine planing for all things and how nothing escapes God's grasp and knowledge. The prophet's rare occasions of very limited forgetfulness (and his followers and recorders' reminding him) were fully in accordance with that master plan, meant among other things at humbling him as well as to the believers' eyes around him, of his own faillibility as a human being as well of God's being in control of the process of memorization and compilation of the Quran, allowing only what He wills to be temporarily, not completely, forgotten. As a principle, the Quran reminds in many instances of that concept, how this revelation and its very preservation is a mercy from Allah that could be taken away from Muhammad or erase parts of it from the prophet's own memory without him noticing it as said above, therefore man should remain grateful for it and never feel complacent
17:86-7"And if We please, We should certainly take away that which We have revealed to you, then you would not find for it any protector against Us. But on account of mercy from your Lord-- surely His grace to you is abundant".
There is one recorded incident where God caused a permanent blackout among the Muslim community's best reciters
"We used to recite a surah which resembled in length and severity to (Surah) Bara'at. I have, however, forgotten it with the exception of this which I remember out of it: "If there were two valleys full of riches, for the son of Adam, he would long for a third valley, and nothing would fill the stomach of the son of Adam but dust." And we used so recite a surah which resembled one of the surahs of Musabbihat, and I have forgotten it, but remember (this much) out of it: 'Oh people who believe, why do you say that which you do not practise.' (lxi 2.) and, 'That is recorded in your necks as a witness (against you) and you would be asked about it on the Day of Resurrection" (xvii. 13)".
What is interesting here is that this report is narrated by up to 15 of the most renowned companions, over a wide geographical distribution, from Basra to Kufah, Mecca to Medina. Nothing is known from the chapter in question except for the vague snippet each narrator remembers. God in His wisdom, has left this trace in the memory of men, and took the rest so as to provide proof of His control over the transmission process of the divine revelation. He may take away what He peases and establish what He wants. With the Jews, this process took the form of punishment. Their books describe God, in answer to their complacency towards divine guidance, the rejection, persecution and killing of the prophets sent in their midst, as interrupting an ongoing guiding revelation Ezek3:26,24:27,33:21-22. 

Further reading answering Sam Shamoun "Muhammad’s Illiteracy Proves that Allah is the Not-So-Powerful One"
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Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Sam Shamoun "None Named John Before the Baptist?"


When Zakariya was moved by the wisdom and deep spiritual insight of the young Mary that was put under his guardianship, he began praying God to grant him a child as pious and virtuous, that would help preserve the ways of righteousness among his deviant kinsfolk 
"..And indeed, I fear my successors after me..so grant me from Yourself a successor, Who should inherit me and inherit from the children of Yaqoub, and make him, my Lord, one in whom Thou art well pleased". 
Through His angelic messengers, God responded to Zakariyya's plea 
3:38-9,19:1-7"We give you good news of a boy whose name shall be Yahya: We have not made before anyone his samiyan". 
Zakariyya continued calling upon his Lord for further enlightenment and elaboration, which he kept receiving through the angelic messengers. The same type of back and forth communication would shortly later occur between Mary and God, through the angels 3:38-47. Both Zakariyya and Mary are in these verses addressing Allah through His messengers. God in turn replies through His angelic conduits of revelation. Several angels visited Zakariyya with the good news 3:39. When he expressed his astonishment to his Lord, one of those angelic conduits of revelation swiftly conveyed the live answer from his Lord "He said: So shall it be, your Lord says: It is easy to Me.." The same occured with Mary 3:45-47,19:20-21. This is consistent with the Quranic axiom that Allah only communicates with humans through a barrier or the sending of angelic messengers. 

Samiyan, describing the Zakariyya's future son, stems from S-M-W meaning elevation. It is used for the sky because it is raised high, as well as for a name because when one's name is called he rises, as well as for lofty attributes, because they set apart an entity from a group by raising it in status (see 19:65 in this regard). Literally the verse is saying that none has been "elevated" like Yahya before him. It can be elevation due to his name, or attributes, it is the context that decides and here, to claim that the context speaks of unprecedented appellation would be irrelevant. 

The verse says that none like him was born in Zakariya' family, because in the previous verse it is his own relatives whom he feared, and therefore an assurance was now given to him that the promised son would not be like the other members of his family. This is all the more true if one considers the conditions in which the prophet Yahyah/John, and shortly after Jesus, were raised. They both came to warn the Israelites who had in great majority fallen into spiritual degeneration, under heavy foreign philosophical and spiritual influences, divided into sects, seeking closeness with the pagan Roman authorities, some denying the resurrection, others forsaking the spirit of the Torah for their soulless man-made rituals 
19:12-5"O Yahya, take hold of the Book with strength, and We granted him wisdom while yet a child, And tenderness from Us and purity, and he was one who guarded (against evil), And dutiful to his parents, and he was not insolent, disobedient. And peace on him on the day he was born, and on the day he dies, and on the day he is raised to life". 
Yahya was thus given wisdom and divine knowledge very early on, while still a child, in answer to Zakariya's prayer. In the NT, the angelic announcement of John's birth to Zakariyya clearly shows that it came in answer to the latter's prayers for a son that would distinguish himself among his contemporaries due to his righteousness and capacity to draw back his nation to the straight path Lk1:11-17. John/Yahya's righteousness was such a distinguishing characteristic among his family and people that in the NT Jesus is reported to have described him as such 
Matt11:11"Verily I say unto you, among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist".
That whole part of Zakariyya's life, expressing his basic natural human desire, after many long years of childlessness to have a descendant, and God's compassionate acceptance from his patient servant, and above all his wish for a righteous progeny was lost during the course of the transmission of Christian tradition. The Quran restored it, in honour of both Zakariyya and Yahya.

Yahya and Isa, among other prophets singled out in the Quran similarly are Arabicised versions of the native names of those whom the Greek NT calls Ioannes/John or Iesou/Jesus. John the Baptist, whose Hebrew equivalent is Yohanan, is called up to this day Yahia or Yahia Yuhanna by the Mandaeans who claim to be his disciples, and is referred to as such in their ancient writing the Ginza Rba. It is interesting that the Quran uses a word for him that isnt used for anyone else. It describes Yahya as
 19:13"hananan min ladunna/tenderness from Us" 
which is a paraphrase of the Hebrew Yuhanna/YHWH is gracious. 

As to Jesus, the exact name he had in his original tongue can only be speculated, based on the earliest writings with his name in Koine Greek and translations from Greek. The Greek Iesous is closer to the Aramaic Yeshu. There is also a very close sounding name in Hebrew, derived from the Biblical Yehoshua/Joshua. It was progressively shortened to Yeshua then Yeshu after the exiles returned to Judah from Babylon. In the time of Jesus, this name was common and a person named Yeshu may not have been named by the original Joshua/Yehoshua. The writers of the NT in Matt1:21 attempt to retroproject their Christologies unto Jesus using the etymology of the name. It is used throughout the HB to connote salvation from imminent physical danger but is now widened to include salvation from sin. Christologies aside, through his prophetic function he did save those among his people (the tribe of Israel only) from sin by calling them to he straight path and reforming their mishandling of the law.
More clues as to what his name sounded like can be gleaned from the Peshitta, a Syriac rendition of the Greek NT. The name Isho is used for Jesus which cannot be a transliteration of the Greek Iesous. Syriac sprung from Aramaic, which was spoken in the time of Jesus and most probably his native tongue. The Syriac Isho might have been pronounced the same way, or slightly differently as compared to the Aramaic original. Even in Syriac, the name Isho closely resembles the Arabic Isa. The name, as written in Syriac letters, can be both read as Yeshu and Isho. This might have been a deliberate device by the 2nd century Syriac authors of the Peshitta who sought to represent both Hebrew and Aramaic traditions of Jesus' name. The reason however for Christians to associate Iesous with Yeshua is because of the existence of a Hebrew noun which they think sounds similar and means "salvation"; y'shu'ah. Besides being a feminine word, it isnt even pronounced the same as Yeshua because of the muted first letter "yod".

Recently in Harra (southern Syria and northern Jordan) a safaitic inscription (1st century BCE to 4th century CE) believed to be by desert Christians addresses Jesus as ISA with the triliteral root Ain-Sin-Ya, corresponding to his name in the Quran (al-Jallad). A more fundamental question to ask is why would the Quran re-invent the name of a known figure out of thin air? The Quran is identifying Jesus by the name his audience was familiar with, before, during, and after Islam. The Arabic Isa is a known phenomenon in linguistics called phonosemantic matching. When 2 languages refer to the same thing with a word that is very close phonetically. Isa is a preislamic name which in addition connotes redemption. These 2 factors are what facilitated the identification of the Syriac Isho with the preislamic Isa by Arab Christians. Once more, the character presented in the Quran as Isa cannot be anyone else than the historical, biblical, traditional Jesus. Why would the Quran go out of its way and refer to the main figure of Christianity, while addressing Christians, with a name they never heard of? Pre Islamic Arab Christians adopted Isa because of its etymology as well as close match with the Aramaic Isho. The Quran is addressing these Christians of the Hijaz, not some Christian of the Greco roman world.


The pattern of morphing a name for theological reasons is seen in other cases. For example Jesus' brother is called James. One of the 27 books of the NT was supposedly authored by him. It was opposed by many Christians, including Martin Luther due to its different Christology than Paul's writings, emphasizing the necessity of deeds for salvation. James was part of the small nucleus of Jewish followers of Jesus, centered around Jerusalem, who were in conflict with Paul and who advocated full Torah observance even after Jesus' crucifixion. James' name is in fact, in the original Greek, Jacob. In an effort to eradicate the Jewishness of that movement, the church, in all non-Greek translations of the name have changed Jacob to James.

Similarly Musa's original name isnt Moshe, a word hebrewcised in a way so as to fit a convenient etymology (to pullout/deliver) which is relevant to the context of the story (Musa's deliverance/pulling out from the water). Musa was named in Egypt, by his Egyptian adoptive family according to the HB itself Ex2:10, who would certainly not use the language of their Hebrew slaves for naming one of their own, especially so when the child was to be part of Egyptian nobility. Rabbinic commentaries speculate between several opinions surrounding the event of Musa's appellation, among them that his original name was Munius, later Hebrewcised into Moshe in the HB. It is highly unlikely that Avraham (father of nations) and Moshe (pull out) iterate into the respective originals, since they clearly follow Hebrew etymologies.

At other times, the Hebrew etymology is derived from a foreign name. Adam's whose language could not have been Hebrew, fits the Hebrew word adamah for earth/ground/dust from which he was created
Gen2:7"min ha’adamah". When Adam is preceded by ha/the it means "the man" in a generic sense but always with the earthly origin implicitly intended but if it isnt preceded by the preposition then it refers to a proper name with a meaning directly related to the history of the person in question, as is many times the case in the HB (contrast Gen2:7 with 3:21). The HB also uses ish, enosh, and gever for the human species besides "ha adam".

Although in the HB, Abraham is called Avram/exalted father until his 90s before his name change to Avraham, the Quran calls him since his youth "Ibrahim" 21:60 the Arabic equivalent of "Avraham", and all throughout his life, including after the trial of the sacrifice and consequent blessings, without ever speaking of a name change. "Ibrahim" and "Avraham/father of nations" are both respectively the Arabicised and Hebrewcised forms of the name he had in the language of his native area of Iraq, which was neither Arabic nor Hebrew. The same goes for the Phillistine warrior Goliath/Jalut. What the Jewish scribes did in Abraham's case, was to retrospectively Hebrewcise the native name in a manner that would fit the event of God's promise to his descendants. They simply embellished the story. 

Further, it is a known Biblical style to have one and the same character with several names whose convenient etymologies are relevant to the context, or the intent of the writer. A quiet blatant example is that of Sha'ul/Saul which carries a negative connotation, but whom the Quran names Talut, implying height. The Arabic Talut is derived from t-w-l implying a high stature. This name was known since pre-islamic times as mentioned in a poem by al-samaw'al. It could have been one of the names by which that king was known to the Jews. But the name the Biblical scribes gave him was Sha'ul, implying "to ask". This retrospective appellation was aimed at negatively comparing Sha'ul/Saul to both David and Samuel. Samuel was asked of God 1Sam1 while Saul was asked of the people. Then God answers David while Saul is answered with silence 1Sam14:37,28:6. There is a clear play on the questioning motif by the Biblical writers, who, like their predecessors, frowned upon the election of a Benjamite as their king.
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