Posted on 10/23/2001 8:39:39 AM PDT by spycatcher
Pre-Islamic Arabia's religion was one of superstition. Belief in jinns (genies), curse casting, magic stones, totems was the norm - and it was against this background that Allah arose. Although the Quran is claimed to be a heavenly writing with no earthly source, evidence of these very sorts of cultural influence is found in such places as Suras 55, 72, 113 and 114.
Animism, the belief that spirits inhabit rocks, trees and other elements was also very commonplace. Some of these stones were venerated and used as a focal point for the worship of a particular tribal god. No surprise, Muhammad's family had just such a stone for their own tribe - a black stone, in fact, that they kept at the Kabah (where the tribal idols were set up). The pagan rites of bowing toward Mecca, making a pilgrimage to the Kabah, running around it seven times, kissing it, then running to the river to throw stones at the devil all found there way into Islamic practice.
The final piece of the puzzle was in found in the religion of the Sabeans, an astral religion that worshipped the moon god and planned their religious rites around the lunar calendar. One such rite was fasting from crescent moon to crescent moon, a practice which would also be adopted by Muhammad.
If these things were not present before Muhammad received them from Allah (who himself is the moon god of Muhammad's tribe), why did Muhammad not have to explain what those words meant in the Quran? How would people have known who Allah was? ( or: what a jinn was? what the Kabah was? what the word Islam meant? etc.). Even the word "Islam" which many believe to mean "submission" was not an original word. In Arabic it was a secular term that denoted the strength and bravery of a desert warrior (a definition that accurately reflects the war-like tribes that founded Islam with bloodshed).
The Moon God
"Allah" is from the compound Arabic word "al-ilah" or in english "the god". Allah was known before Muhammad's time without a doubt. His name has been found in pre-islamic writings and other archeological finds. At the Kabah in Mecca over 350 gods were worshipped, but it was built especially for the chief deity - the moon god. Allah was the personal title of the moon god. Allah was married to the sun goddess. They produced three daughters, whose worship Muhammad would later make the mistake of condoning. The crescent moon symbol of Arabia came from this god.
Muhammad's family revered this particular god, and it is this idol that Muhammad declared to be the only true god. So, Allah - far from being the revealed God of the Bible as Muhammad would have us believe - is nothing more than an amplified pagan idol. Muhammad did not re-make the pagan god, he simply removed the lower deities from the rites of worship. That is why he never had to explain who Allah was. By definition, an idol converted in the 7th century into a new god cannot be the sama God revealed thousands of years earlier to Biblical prophets!
I don't know. It's self evident, it can be demonstrated empirically, it's common wisdom, and it passes the smell test.
I suppose people will point to periods of social upheaval and forced conversions and argue that that is the norm. People with a weak grip on their own faiths are hyper-sensitive.
They transport those drugs on the people's property. They initiated force, they must be whacked.
(frankly I think you're being a bit silly)
I think you're trying like hell to twist your philosophy to facilitate Jesus' actions.
Not by a long shot. Words have meaning. Words used with muddled, or no meaning are mere gibberish.
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Wrong.
A constitutional amendment prohibiting property such as 'hard drugs' could not be passed. -- Altho states may control criminal use of such substances, using due process.
But you should know these simple facts. -- Whats with all the libertarian baiting?
That's ridiculous. You're insisting on using muddled meanings for words that have more precise and useful definitions. libertarians don't believe the Libertarians anymore than conservatives believe the Republicans.
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For a self touted 'collage educated' fella, you sure seem to have some simplistic views on race. - Where exactly do you rate 'semites' on a scale between caucasians & negros? Are they a seperate 'race'?
I have asked this question before, but I am still interested to see a non-theistic explanation of the concept of "cognitive disfunction". Since the concept of dysfunction is related to the ideas of DESIGN and PURPOSE, what do you mean when you imply that someone's cognitive equipment is not working 'properly', or as it 'ought'? Presumably, you cannot view the proper functioning of someone's noetic equipment as functioning in the way it was DESIGNED to function, because in your view, such 'equipment' is not the product of DESIGN, but solely the result of a natural, non-purposed, impersonal series of cosmic accidents. So what do you mean by the phrase?
Cordially,
One of the strongest principles of Islam is their hostility to any form of idol worship. That is why, many of the religious will not even permit themselves to be photographed; why the images of their rulers--the religious ones--do not ordinarily appear on their coins or money.
The Koran defines the God that it recognizes as the same God who dealt with Noah, with Moses, with Abraham; the God who decreed Mary's immaculate conception of Jesus. It makes no more sense to try to redefine the God of the Koran in terms of some earlier idol, than it would to redefine the God of the Old or New Testament in terms of some idol, that some earlier people called "God." You cannot redefine other people's faith, and you destroy your credibility by trying to do so.
William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site
Right. Now I understand why you have so much trouble making sense. When my grandkids bollix something, they want a 'do-over.' Maybe you should 'intuit over.'
Pardon me, but by your reasoning doesn't this 'prove' Adam to have been a American Indian?
Very well stated. And what goes around comes around.
Apparently you're late to the conversation and didn't read the exchange. We're not talking legally, we're talking libertarian philosophy as it relates to Jesus' actions.
Most Conservatives vote Republican and most libertarians would like to vote Libertarian. The fact that you're turning into a grade school teacher complaining about semantics in this conversaion proves that your points already gave up their ground long ago. Libertarians are Liberatarians, Conservatives are Conservatives, it doesn't matter how you spell it.
A concordance takes English words and concordes them into the original language. The bible wasn't written in English, it was written in Hebrew in Genesis. When you read the bible, it's necessary to have a Hebrew dictionary, (which is what a concordance is). The word that was translated into the English word "Adam" means "ruddy complected" in Hebrew. In other words, "ruddy complected" was in the original manuscripts. And besides, the bible says that David was ruddy, Jesus was ruddy, and the Nazerites were ruddy. It's clear the family was ruddy.
Did I say Bush was the antichrist? I don't believe him to be, so I'd never say such a thing.
A lot of tinfoilers think the Bush's are in on an NWO world domination plot. I'm surprised you don't know that.
May God bless and keep you and yours through these troubled times.
Can't complain.
Jealousy is an ugly thing.
- Where exactly do you rate 'semites' on a scale between caucasians & negros? Are they a seperate 'race'?
Semites are sons of Shem. Most Americans and Most British are Semites. I'm a semite. You probably are too. American blacks have been in America for 500 years, over 90% of them are part Semite being that their DNA were combined with descendents of Britain for the most part.
Ruddy is rosy. American Indians are dark red. If you want to believe that high cheekboned American Indian types populated the middle east, go ahead.
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