Posted on 02/28/2003 10:11:09 AM PST by John H K
Re: double eclipses
The year 2003 is also interesting from an astronomical view because the planet Mars will be coming closer to Earth than it has since the dawn of civilization. Have you seen any mention in Islamic sources about the 'significance' of this event?
Thanks for the info.
Check out the Corner on National Review Online! Rod Dreher does a great follow-up to his "Dajjal" article (it was posted on Sunday). Here's what it says.
MORE ON THE DAJJAL [Rod Dreher]
I heard from a kind reader who was grateful to read the interview I did with Prof. David Cook, on the subject of Islamic apocalypticism. The reader believes Americans won't really grasp what kind of enemy we face until we become conversant with concepts like the "Dajjal" (Islam's version of the Antichrist), and how fervent belief in this vision of the End drives those who hate the West the most. He sent along a couple of interesting links, from Free Republic, for those who want more information (try here and here).
One the second thread, which is a discussion of my Islamic prophecy interview, I found a fascinating link to an article about eclipses during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Apparently eclipses during Ramadan are interpreted by many of the Muslim faithful as significant. Two total eclipses during Ramadan is a very rare phenomenon. The last time it happened was 200 or so years ago. It's going to happen again this November. There is speculation that pious Muslims may view this phenomenon as a sign from heaven that Something Major Is Going to Happen.
Remember, folks, it doesn't immediately matter whether these people are right or wrong about the way history is going to unfold. We have to pay attention to this stuff, because somewhere, there are Islamic zealots now plotting their own violent role in what they see as the apocalyptic drama, in which the forces of Islam clash for the final time with the forces of the Dajjal (that is, non-Muslims).
Islam-list
If people want on or off this list, please let me know.
The Koran is derived in large part from scattered bits of the Jewish stories and later on Christian sagas. I once had a university professor who taught a comperative religions course. He was an atheist from South America so you can imagine how that course went, but he really blew up at Islam. "It is a tutty-fruity of beliefs, what the illiterate Mohammed could remember from caravan traders!" And this was long before 9/ll. :)
6,530 hits for "Dajjal" on Google -- yikes!
On the contrary, I would recommend that we convince them that we are the Dajjal. That way we get this blood feud over with so our children won't have to deal with it. It's a way to smoke the enemy out. Bring the darkness into the light. That way we will know immediately who the enemy is. Might as well do it now, while we are still powerful enough to handle it.
We could start wearing T-shirts that say
No thanks.
Exactly! Are you as shocked as I am that you haven't heard anything about this for the last 18 months? The information is all out there. Many thanks to Rod Dreher for breaking through the silence by interviewing David Cook.
http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~jkatz/theprophet.html
The Prophet Mohammed, a Jewish pseudo-Messiah
In order to fully appreciate the events of today, it is essential to understand the events surrounding the founding of Islam and the work of The Prophet. Although Islam was created with lofty spiritual aims, and has grown to be the inspiration of millions of worshippers worldwide, one must remember it was originally formed within the context of direct battle against "the West", in the form of the Roman (Byzantine) Empire.
It was also done, as recorded with much detail in the Qur'an, within the context of the destruction of the largely Jewish kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Himyarite Kingdom, (previously Sabea or "Sheba" as mentioned in the Bible) had existed for hundreds of years, encompassing a great portion of what is today Saudi Arabia and Yemen. It was made up of refugees from the Roman conquest of Israel during the 1st and 2nd centuries CE as well as Jewish converts from the local population.
The context of the formation of Islam is important to understand, because it is makes it possible for its adherents to interpret Islam today either as "a war against greed, immorality and idolatry" and the "uniting of a nation (world)" - or as "a war on Jews and Christians, and a battle between good (the East) and evil (the West)" - depending on which historical facts you choose to emphasize. In any event, the concept of a literal, physical battle exists throughout.
The Prophet Muhammad, one of the most influential religious and military leaders in history, was born in Mecca around 570 CE. His father died before he was born, and Muhammad was put under the care of his grandfather, head of the prestigious Hashim clan. His mother died when he was six, and his grandfather when he was eight, leaving him under the care of his uncle Abu Talib, the new head of the clan. When he was 25, Muhammad married a wealthy widow 15 years his senior. He lived the next 15 years as a merchant, and came into contact with many Jewish merchants and landowners in the largely Jewish Kingdom of Himyar in what is today Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The Prophet and his wife gave birth to six children: two sons, who died in childhood, and four daughters.
From time to time, Muhammad spent nights in a cave in Mount Hira north of Mecca, ruminating on the social ills of the city caused by the Jews and Jewish converts. Around 610 CE, he had a vision in the cave in which he heard the voice of a majestic being, later identified as the angel Gabriel, say to him, "You are the Messenger of God." Thus began a lifetime of religious revelations, which he and others collected as the Qur'an, or Koran. Muhammad regarded himself as the last prophet of the Judaic-Christian tradition, and he adopted aspects of these older religions' theologies while introducing new doctrines.
The Jewish Kingdom of Arabia had grown, its economy stimulated and courted by Rome and Persia during their frequent wars. In 438 CE, the Roman Empress Eudocia removed the ban on Jews' praying at the Temple site, and the heads of the Jewish Community in Galilee issued a call "to the great and mighty people of the Jews" which began: "Know that the end of the exile of our people has come!" Avraham Yaari, Igrot Eretz Yisrael (Tel Aviv, 1943), p. 46. The Roman Emperor Julian, as part of his apostasy and an attempt to sway the Jewish Kingdom of Arabia away from Persia (Iran), in 464 CE announced his intention of rebuilding the Temple.
After a 100 years of relative peace, war had broken out again between the West (the Roman empire, what is now called Byzantine) -- and the East (the Persian Empire in what is now called Iran) to control the spice and silk trade to China. The Jewish Himyarite Kingdom had allied itself with its historical ally Persia (see the biblical books of Daniel and Esther) and had fought many battles against the Romans. In the belief of restoration to come, the Jews made an alliance with the Persians who invaded Palestine in 614 CE, fought at their side, overwhelmed the Roman garrison in Jerusalem, and for three to five years governed the city. But the Persians made their peace with the Emperor Heraclius. Christian rule was reestablished.
The Persian-Roman peace was disasterous for the Jewish Himyarite Kingdom. Roman forces continued on the offensive. A combined offensive by Roman and Ethiopian forces brought a crushing defeat on the Jewish Convert King Dhu Nuwas. Roman and Ethiopian forces began to pillage the Saudi peninsula, and perform forced conversions to Christianity as they went. Muhammad was at this time 44 years old, and during these catastrophic events, perhaps indeed because of them, he began his ministry.
Modern research has indicated that Muhammad converted to Judaism, like many of the ruling elite, and then put forth his claim as the Jewish Messiah to unite his people in pitched battle against the Christian invaders from the West. It is known that Muhammad required that his followers keep kosher and the fast of Yom Kippur, circumcise and pray facing Jerusalem. In the Qur'an it is recorded that the Jews rejected his claim, and Muhammad in turn renounced them for deserting him. Later many Jewish laws were changed, Muhammad requested that his followers pray towards Mecca, and a new religion was created. Muhammad's militant monotheistic religion came to be called Islam, meaning "surrender [to God]," and its followers were Muslims, meaning "those who have surrendered." His inspired teachings would bring unity to the Arabian peninsula, an event that had sweeping consequences for the rest of the world.
By 615, Muhammad had gained about 100 converts in Mecca. He spoke out against rich Jewish merchants, who he criticized as immoral in their greed, and he denounced the Christian worshipping of idols and Trinity, saying, "There is no god but God." Jewish City leaders became hostile to him, and in 619 his uncle Abu Talib died and was succeeded as head of the Hashim clan by another one of Muhammad's uncles, Abu Lahib. Abu Lahib refused to protect Muhammad, and persecution of the prophet and his Muslims increased.
In the summer of 621, an entourage of 12 men came to Mecca from Medina, an oasis community 200 miles to the north. They were ostensibly making a pilgrimage to Mecca's pagan shrines, but they had actually come to meet with Muhammad and profess themselves as Muslims. In 622, a larger group of converts from Medina came to Mecca and took an oath to Muhammad to defend him as their own kin. Muhammad immediately encouraged his Meccan followers to make their way to Medina in small groups. When city authorities learned that the Muslims had begun an exodus, they plotted to have the prophet killed. Under this threat, Muhammad slipped away unnoticed with a chief disciple and made his way to the largely Jewish city of Medina, using unfrequented paths. He completed the celebrated Hegira (Hijrah in uncorrupted Arabic) on September 24, 622. The history of Islam had begun.
At Medina, Muhammad overthrew the ruling Jewish elite, confiscated Jewish land, built a theocratic state, and led raids on trading caravans from Mecca. Attempts by Meccan armies to defeat the Muslim forces failed, and several leading Meccans immigrated to Medina and became Muslims.
Three years later, Arab hostility against the Jews showed itself, when an Islamic army exterminated the Jewish community of Quraiza. As a result of the Prophet Muhammad's resentment, the Qur'an itself contains many of hostile denunciations of Jews and bitter attacks upon the Jewish tradition, which undoubtedly have colored the beliefs of religious Muslims down to the present. Omar, the caliph who succeeded Muhammad, delineated in his Charter of Omar the twelve laws under which a dhimmi, or non-Muslim, was allowed to exist as a "nonbeliever" among "believers." The Charter codified the conditions of life for Jews under Islam -- a life which was forfeited if the dhimmi broke this law. Among the restrictions of the Charter: Jews were forbidden to touch the Qur'an; forced to wear a distinctive (sometimes dark blue or black) habit with sash; compelled to wear a yellow piece of cloth as a badge (blue for Christians); not allowed to perform their religious practices in public; not allowed to own a horse, because horses were deemed noble; not permitted to drink wine in public; and required to bury their dead without letting their grief be heard by the Muslims.
Muhammad later become more conciliatory to Mecca, and in 629 he was allowed to lead a pilgrimage there in exchange for a peace treaty. Shortly after, Muhammad denounced the treaty. In January 630, he returned to his birthplace with 10,000 men, and the Meccans were forced to swear allegiance to its Muslim conquerors and accept the new religion. He was now the strongest man in Arabia. During the next few years, most of the peninsula's disparate Arab tribes were conquered, and came to him to ask for alliance and to convert to his religion. By his death, on June 8, 632, Muhammad was the effective ruler of most of Arabia, and his rapidly growing empire was poised for expansion into Christian Syria and Persia (Iraq & Iran).
Within 20 years, the Roman (Byzantine) and Persian empires had fallen to the prophet's successors, and during the next two centuries vast Arab conquests and forced conversions continued. The Islamic empire grew into one of the largest the world has ever seen, stretching from India, across the Middle East and Africa, and up through Western Europe's Iberian peninsula in what is now Spain.
According to Bernard Lewis, "the extermination of the Jewish tribe of Quraiza was followed by an attack on the Jewish oasis of Khaibar." The Prophet Muhammad's pronouncement: "Two religions may not dwell together on the Arabian Peninsula." was carried out by Abu Bakr and Omar 1, the Prophet Muhammad's successors; entire communities of Jewish settlements throughout northern Arabia were systematically slaughtered.
Messengers of Muhammad were sent to the Jews who had escaped to the safety and comfort of Khaibar, "inviting" Usayr (Asher), the Jewish "war chief," to visit Medina to negotiate a peace treaty. Usayr set off with thirty companions and a Muslim escort. Suspecting no foul play, the Jews went unarmed. On the way, the Muslims turned upon the defenseless delegation, killing all but one who managed to escape. "War is deception," according to an oft-quoted saying of the Prophet.
The late historian Itzhak Ben-Zvi, said "... the complete extermination of the two Arabian-Jewish tribes, the Nadhir and Kainuka' by the mass massacre of their men, women and children, was a tragedy for which no parallel can be found in Jewish history until our own day [century]...." The slaughter of Arabian Jews and the expropriation of their property became Allah's will. According to the Qur'an, "... some you slew and others you took captive. He [Allah] made you masters of their [the Jews'] land, their houses and their goods, and of yet another land [Khaibar] on which you had never set foot before. Truly, Allah has power over all things." Surah 33, v. 26-32, Dawood translation.
Guillaume reports that the anti-Jewish attack at Khaibar was fiercely fought off, but "though the inhabitants fought more bravely here than elsewhere, outnumbered and caught off their guard, they were defeated." Those who somehow survived constituted the formula for Islam's future successes. Some of the Jews, "non-Muslims" or infidels, "retained their land," at least until Muslims could be recruited in sufficient numbers to replace the Jews. Meanwhile, the Arabian Jews paid a fifty-percent "tribute," or tax, for the "protection" of the new plunderers. As Bernard Lewis writes, "The Muslim victory in Khaibar marked the first contact between the Muslim state and a conquered non-Muslim people and formed the basis for later dealings of the same type."
The spread of Islam continued after the fragmentation of the Arab empire, and many societies in Africa and Asia adopted Muhammad's religion. Today, Islam is the world's second-largest religion.
Sources
Joan Peters: From Time Immemorial
Bernard Lewis: The Middle East, a Brief History
Samuel Katz: Battleground
Efraim Karsh: Empires of the Sand, The Struggle for Mastery in the Middle East
Ben-Sasson: A History of the Jewish People Haim H.
Norman A. Stillman: Jews of Arab Lands a History and Source Book"
"The History Channnel"
This page was produced by Joseph E. Katz
Middle Eastern Political and Religious History Analyst
Brooklyn, New York
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