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The Everlasting Hatred

Page 9

by Hal Lindsey


  This is why there is such an inevitable cultural collision with the West. The Arabians have no concept of a democratic government, where leaders are elected and responsible to the will of the people. Their pattern of government has always been that of a tribal chieftain, an autocratic dictator reigning over subjects. As we will see, the Islamic fundamentalist sees democracy as a threat to Islam.

  VIOLENCE ENDEMIC TO ARABIAN CULTURE

  Violence has been a continual fact of life for the Arabs. This is a common thread that runs through historical accounts of their culture. Philip Hitti summarized this fact well, “The raid or ghazw… is raised by the economic and social conditions of desert life to the rank of a national institution. It lies at the base of the economic structure of Bedouin pastoral society. In desert land, where the fighting mood is a chronic mental condition, raiding is one of the few manly occupations … An early Arab poet gave expression to the guiding principle of such life in two verses: ‘Our business is to make raids on the enemy, on our neighbor and on our own brother, in case we find none to raid but a brother!’”108

  How perfectly the prophecy of Genesis 16:12 about the sons of Ishmael fits this: “His hand shall be against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him.” Equally fitting is God’s prediction concerning the other major part of the Arab people, the sons of Edom from Esau, as we read in Genesis 27, “Your dwelling will be away from the earth’s richness, away from the dew of heaven above. You will live by the sword.”109 The Edomites first lived in the mountains of Seir, but over the centuries, many were forced to flee to the desert of Arabia where there is little “richness of earth or dew from heaven.” Wherever they went, they lived by the sword. No wonder they responded so quickly to the call of Mohammad to convert to Islam.

  It is startling that the Arabic language has almost a thousand names and synonyms for the sword. The only other word in Arabic that can rival that for multiple names is camel. Both the sword and the camel were considered essential for life in the Arabian culture. It is important to note today how many Arab nations have the insignia of the sword in their national logos. This unmistakably shows us what has always been important to an Arab.

  THE ARABIAN RELIGION

  The “Days of Ignorance”

  Long before the founding of Islam, in what was known as the “Days of Ignorance,” the Arabs lost their faith in the one true God, whom their forefathers Ishmael, Esau, and the sons of Keturah certainly knew about. They degenerated into polytheism and worshipped “holy” rocks and trees. These objects were deemed sacred not because they were innately so within themselves but because the Arabs believed they were indwelt by spirit beings called “jinns” (later known as “genies”).

  Arabs believed then (and also in the Koran and Hadith) that “jinns” are a category of spirit creatures that are halfway between angels and man. They believe that they can be good or bad, though most are considered malicious. They can possess animals and inanimate things such as rocks, trees, wells, and so on. Jinns were adopted into Muslim theology and the Koran. Legends about jinns or genies are resplendent in Arab legends—such as the genie in the bottle.

  During this period, Mecca became the most important religious center. It was a major oasis on the main caravan route from earliest times, as well as the site of the sacred Zamzam well, which Arabs believe God revealed to Abraham and Ishmael.

  The Ka’abah

  Mecca’s greatest significance came from being the site of the special religious altar known as the Ka’abah. It is a 50-foot cubic structure of gray stone and marble. Positioned so that its corners correspond with the four points of the compass, the Ka’abah contained 360 idols—one for each of the lunar calendar days.

  Most importantly, the cornerstone of the Ka’abah was the sacred Black Stone. It is a meteorite of very ancient origin. It was and is believed to have the power to absorb sin from the one who kisses it. Arabs believed that the Black Stone was a god who protected their tribes.

  The Hierarchy of Gods

  In the Arab pantheon of gods, there were five who were most important in their hierarchy. There were Uzza, Allat, Manat, Hubal, and Allah. The first three were female, which formed a tritheistic relationship. On the other hand, Hubal was a male held to be the Moon deity. He is believed to have originated in Babylon.

  It is Hubal that is represented in the Hilal, Islam’s symbol of the Crescent Moon. The star symbol is believed to represent Uzza, the Morning Star goddess. Hubal was also believed to be the guardian of the Ka’abah.

  The fifth and highest of all deities was called “Allah.” He was worshipped as the supreme creator as well as the “father” of the tritheistic female goddesses.

  Mecca Pilgrimage

  Mecca then, with the Ka’abah, the sacred Zamzam well, and the presence of the highest deities, became the religious vortex of the Arabian Peninsula. Arabs from all over began to come on pilgrimages to Mecca—and this was long before Mohammad.

  Because of the lucrative business brought by the pilgrims, possessing the guardianship of the sacred Ka’abah and Zamzam well became a prize to be sought.

  Rivalry for Holy Sites Begins

  From approximately 100 B.C., the Ka’abah and its sacred well were under the guardianship of the tribe known as the Beni Jurham. In about the third century A.D., the Jurham seem to have been driven out and replaced by an Ishmaelite tribe known as the Khuzaa.

  Then in about A.D. 235, Fihr, the leader of another Ishmaelite tribe, the Quraysh, married the daughter of the Khuzaa tribal chief. Later, in about A.D. 420, Qusai, a descendant of Fihr, married the daughter of another Khuzaa chief of Mecca. Although he was not of the Khuzaa tribe, Qusai made himself virtually indispensable to his father-in-law, who was guardian of the Ka’abah. As a result Qusai was given the custodianship of the coveted sacred keys of the Ka’abah.

  When the Khuzaa chief died, Qusai claimed custody of the Ka’abah for the Quraysh tribe. One of his first acts was to relegate the Khuzaa clan to a subordinate position. Qusai ordered the building of a semi-permanent housing around the Ka’abah. He also very shrewdly restructured the tribal social order. He instituted tribal council meetings and a hall was built near the Ka’abah for this purpose.

  THE QURAYSH TRIBAL RELIGION

  It was not coincidental that the Quraysh tribe from which Mohammad’s family came was especially addicted to the cult of the moon god, Allah. They also witnessed the pilgrims coming to Mecca every year to worship, circling the Ka’abah seven times, kissing the Black Stone (which they considered their special tribal talisman that guaranteed their protection and blessing), and then running down to the nearby wadi to throw stones at the devil. Mohammad was destined to grow up with all of these religious traditions. So it certainly cannot be an accident that all of these religious traditions are prominent in the Muslim religion, which he supposedly got by original divine revelation.

  The Quraysh Tribe Prevails

  Tribal rivalries continued through the centuries. But important to our interest, the Quraysh tribe prevailed as guardians of Mecca’s holy sites by the sixth century A.D. Within the Quraysh tribe, a man named Hashim married a woman named Selma, who gave birth to a son, Abdul al-Mut-Talib. Abdul had seven sons— Harith, Talib, Lahab, Jahal, Abbas, Hamza, and Abdullah.

  Abdullah married Amina, who was a descendant of Qusai’s brother Zuhra. Abdullah and Amina gave birth to a son whom they named Mohammad. And with this event, the entire history of the Arab people was about to undergo a paradigm shift.

  [ SEVEN ]

  MOHAMMAD: THE GREAT ENIGMA

  “But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed.”

  —APOSTLE PAUL110

  “Wonderful Originator of the heavens and the earth! How could he have a son when he has no consort… . Follow what is
revealed to you from your Lord; there is no God but He; and withdraw from the polytheists [i.e., Christians].”

  — KORAN, SURAH 6.102, 106111

  THE ENIGMA

  The word enigma is defined as a “mystery: somebody or something that is not easily explained or understood.”112 This word perfectly applies to Mohammad. He is a figure of history that defies natural explanations. Indeed, apart from the acceptance of the fact that a supernatural being worked in and through him, there is no way to comprehend him.

  How did an orphan become the greatest Arab leader of all time?

  How could an illiterate man become the author of a book that is the pinnacle of classic Arabic—the most beautiful and majestic of all Arabic literature?

  How is it possible that one who as a child was thought to be either insane or demon-possessed by his own family became the founder of the second-largest religion on earth?

  How did a man who was admittedly both violent and sensual become one of the most revered religious leaders in history?

  This is what I mean when I say, Mohammad is an “enigma” who, apart from the working of supernatural forces, is impossible to explain.

  You can worship him as God’s last and greatest prophet, or you can reject him as a false prophet—but you cannot ignore him. This one man is solely responsible for the Arabs exploding out of the Arabian Peninsula and in less than one hundred years conquering lands from the Atlantic to the borders of China and the islands of the Pacific, from North Africa to Spain and into Europe to the gates of Vienna. If the Muslim hoards had not been stopped by the Frankish king Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours in A.D. 732, all of Europe would have fallen under Islam’s control.

  THE BIRTH OF MOHAMMAD

  Mohammad was born around A.D. 570 and died in July of the year A.D. 632. As mentioned previously, his father was from the Quraysh tribe. This tribe gained much power and influence, both because of their commercial activity in their hub at the city of Mecca, and because they were the guardians of the sacred well and the Ka’abah, with its black meteorite cornerstone. They enjoyed much prestige, influence, and profit because of the continuous religious pilgrimages Arabians made to the Meccan “holy sites.”

  Mohammad’s father was Abdallah, the son of Abd al-Muttalib by Fatima bint ‘Amr of the Quraysh clan of the Banu Makhzum. Abdallah was reputed to be quite a handsome man. Marriages were strategically calculated for political and economic goals, and Abd al-Muttalib was seeking an alliance with the Banu Zuhra (Shura) clan. Thus he secured Aminah bint Wahb as an arranged bride for his son Abdallah.

  “VISITATIONS” BEGIN

  The wedded couple soon became the parents of a son whom they named Mohammad. According to consistent historical witnesses, Mohammad had a strange, mystical childhood, one marked by the presence of many different guardians and “visitations of spirits and angels.”

  We may gain an important insight into Mohammad from a description by his mother. Muslim scholar Robert Morey writes, “Mohammad’s mother, Amina, was of an excitable nature and often claimed that she was visited by spirits, or jinns. She also at times claimed to have visions and religious experiences. Mohammad’s mother was involved in what we call today the ‘occult arts,’ and this basic orientation is thought by some scholars to have been inherited by her son.”113

  From his birth, Amina feared for the infant’s health in the crowded conditions of Mecca. So she did what Quraysh mothers with means customarily did—she hired a nurse from one of the Bedouin tribes to take him out into “the healthy air of the desert.”

  Mohammad was entrusted to a Bedouin woman named Halima, who nursed the infant until he was two years old before bringing him back to Amina. Delighted with his healthy look, Mohammad’s mother said, “Take the child with thee back again, for much do I fear for him in the unwholesome air of Mecca.”114 So Halima took him back. After two more years she returned again, but this time she was troubled. The child had experienced numerous fits, which caused Halima to think he was demon-possessed. Amina, however, pleaded with her to carry him back once more. But after Mohammad experienced subsequent epileptic fits and “spirit visitations,” Halima returned him to his mother when he was five years old and refused to take him back. Mohammad always remembered Halima with great affection.

  Author Robert Payne investigates in more detail the incident that caused Halima to return Mohammad. According to Halima, “Mohammad experienced the first of his ‘visitations’ while he was walking in a field with one of Halima’s sons. He suddenly fell down shouting that ‘two men in white garments’ were splitting open his belly. When later asked by Halima what happened, he said ‘two angels had cut open his belly searching for something.’”115 According to Mohammad’s own testimony, he experienced these sorts of ‘visitations’ at various times for the rest of his life.

  MOHAMMAD’S EARLY TRAGEDIES

  Abdullah, Mohammad’s father, died before the boy was five years old, while he was still under Halima’s care. About one year after he was returned to his mother, she also died. So Mohammad became an orphan at the vulnerable age of six years old. He was then entrusted to the care of his seventy-year-old grandfather and his mother’s slave girl, Umm Ayan.

  When Mohammad was twelve-years old, his grandfather also died. His uncle Abu Talib took him under his care and began taking him on long caravan journeys to Damascus and other great cities of the Middle East. During this time Mohammad apprenticed in the merchant trade. He continued working in the caravan trade from the ages of twelve to twenty-five years. In this formative period of his life, the travel experiences were very important. He was exposed to Christianity through encounters with various Catholic monks, who formed his erroneous ideas about the true Christian faith.

  MOHAMMAD TAKES A WIFE

  When Mohammad was twenty-five years old, his uncle suggested that he go to work for a woman named Khadija, a rich widow merchant in Mecca. Mohammad was hired to accompany her merchant caravan to Syria, which he did several times. Although she was forty years old, widowed twice, and had three daughters, they got married. Together they had two sons, Abdullah and Qusim, and a daughter named Fatima. Tragically, the two boys died in infancy.

  As mentioned before, Mohammad exhibited mystic tendencies and was very religious from an early age. Khadija’s wealth gave him the opportunity to take long retreats into the hills around Mecca for uninterrupted periods of religious meditation. However, these religious quests did not bring him the inner peace he sought. His frequent long excursions into the desert produced a “spiritual anxiety” that was reflected not just in his personality, but also in the religion he founded.

  Historians have sought to analyze Mohammad’s complex temperament. Sir Norman Anderson observes about this period:

  He would retire to caves for seclusion and meditation. He frequently practiced fasting; and he was prone to dreams. His character seems to have been a strange mixture. He was a poet rather than a theologian; a master improviser rather than a systematic thinker… . He was generous, resolute, genial and astute: a shrewd judge and a born leader of men. He could however, be cruel and vindictive to his enemies; he could stop to assassinate; and he was undeniably sensual.116

  Robert Payne notes the contradictory traits within his nature:

  It is worthwhile to pause for a moment before the quite astonishing polarity of Mohammad’s mind. Violence and gentleness were at war within him. Sometimes he gives the appearance of living simultaneously in two worlds, at one and the same moment seeing the world about to be destroyed by the flames of God and in the state of divine peace.117

  These two antithetical traits of violence and gentleness equally existing together in his soul are what made Mohammad such a complex person. He seems to have been able to exert either trait at any moment without any personal awareness of contradiction. He also held severe grudges toward those who rejected his personal religious claims, as both the Jews and the Christians learned.

  Dr. Anis Shorrosh gives this interesting d
escription of Mohammad’s appearance based on eyewitness accounts:

  As an adult, Mohammad was somewhat above middle height, with a lean but commanding figure. His head was massive, with a broad and noble forehead. He had thick black hair, slightly curling which hung over his ears; his eyes were large, black and piercing; his eyebrows arched and joined; his nose high and aquiline; and he had a long bushy beard. When he was excited, the veins would swell across his forehead. His eyes were often bloodshot and always restless. Decision marked his every movement. He used to walk so rapidly that his followers half ran behind him and could hardly keep up with him.

  “THE NIGHT OF POWER”—IT ALL BEGINS

  In A.D. 610, when Mohammad was forty years old, he had a visitation that would come to be known as “The Night of Power.” It was this extraordinary experience that finally convinced Mohammad that he was called as God’s prophet and apostle. Muslims believe that Allah began revealing the true religion of Islam that night.

  According to Islam, this beginning of revelation came to Mohammad in the form of “a gracious and mighty messenger, held in honor by the Lord of the Throne.” The messenger appeared to him in a cave on Mount Ararat, which overlooks the Hijaz Valley in eastern Arabia in the vicinity of Mecca.

  “Proclaim!” the angel commanded three times. Dazzled, Mohammad asked, “What shall I proclaim?” The angel replied: “Proclaim in the name of your Lord who created, created man from clots of blood! Proclaim! Your Lord who created the most bountiful one, who by the pen taught man what he did not know.”

  At this point, it is important to note that Muslim scholars believe Mohammad saw himself as more of a reformer and restorer than a founder of a new religion. Mohammad believed that he was sent to re-establish monotheism as it had originally been revealed. He believed that the original recipients—Jews and Christians—had corrupted God’s true revelation. It is crucial to note that in the Koran, Mohammad calls the Jews “the people of the Book.”

 

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