I shall send none forth to battle,
For I created them for peace and blessedness.
I myself will go instead
And will wage war against the enemy.”
The Father of Greatness called forth the Mother of Life, and the Mother of Life called forth the Primal Man, and the Primal Man called forth his five Sons, like a man who girds on his armor for battle. The Father charged him with the struggle against the Darkness. And the Primal Man armed himself with the five kinds, and these are the five gods: the light breeze, the wind, the light, the water, and the fire. He made them his armor…[we pass over the detailed description of how he clothed himself in these elements one by one, lastly taking the fire for a shield and lance] and plunged rapidly from the Paradises downward until he came to the border of the area adjoining the battlefield. Before him advanced an angel, who spread light ahead of the Primal Man.
The Arch-devil too took his five kinds, namely the smoke, and consuming fire, the darkness, the scorching wind, and the fog, armed himself with them, and went to meet the Primal Man. As the King of Darkness beheld the light of the Primal Man, he took thought and spoke: “What I sought afar I found near by.” After they had struggled long with one another, the Arch-devil overcame the Primal Man. Thereupon the Primal Man gave himself and his five Sons as food to the five Sons of Darkness, as a man who has an enemy mixes a deadly poison in a cake and gives it to him. The Arch-devil devoured part of his light [viz., his five sons] and at the same time surrounded him with his kinds and elements. As the Sons of Darkness had devoured them, the five luminous gods were deprived of understanding, and through the poison of the Sons of Darkness they became like a man who has been bitten by a mad dog or a serpent. And the five parts of Light became mixed with the five parts of Darkness.
The Primal Man regained consciousness and addressed seven times a prayer to the Father of Greatness. The Father heard his prayer and called forth as the second creation the Friend of Lights, and the Friend of Lights called forth the Great Architect, and the Great Architect called forth the Living Spirit. And the Living Spirit called forth his five sons [one from each of the five spiritual natures of God; we pass over their names]. And they betook themselves to the Land of Darkness and from the boundary looked down into the abyss of the deep Hell and found the Primal Man swallowed up in the Darkness, him and his five sons. Then the Living Spirit called with a loud voice; and the voice of the Living Spirit became like to a sharp sword and laid bare the form of the Primal Man. And he spoke to him:
“Peace be unto thee, good one amidst the wicked,
luminous one amidst the darkness,
God who dwells amidst the beasts of wrath,
who do not know his honor.”
Thereupon Primal Man answered him and spoke:
“Come for the peace of him who is dead,
come, oh treasure of serenity and peace!”
and he spoke further to him:
“How is it with our Fathers,
the Sons of Light in their city?”
And the Call said unto him: “It is well with them.” And Call and Answer joined each other and ascended to the Mother of Life and to the Living Spirit. The Living Spirit put on the Call and the Mother of Life put on the Answer, her beloved son. The Primal Man was freed from the hellish substances by the Living Spirit who descended and extended to him his right hand, and ascending he became a God again. But the Soul he left behind [for these parts of the Light were too thoroughly mingled with those of the Darkness].
The Living Spirit and his entourage of gods separated the “mixture” from the main mass of Darkness. Then the King of Light ordered him to create the present world and to build it out of these mixed parts, in order to liberate those Light-parts from the dark parts. To this end the Archons who had incorporated the Light (and thereby become weakened) are overcome, and out of their skins and carcasses heaven and earth are made. Though it is said that the Archons are fettered to the firmament (still fastened to their outstretched skins which form the heavens?), and though on the other hand earth and mountains are said to have been formed from their flesh and bones, the sequence makes it clear that by all this neither have they lost their demonic life nor has the Darkness in general lost its power to act.
He spread out all the powers of the abyss to ten heavens and eight earths, he shut them up into this world [cosmos], he made it a prison for all the powers of Darkness. It is also a place of purification for the Soul that was swallowed in them.
Then arose in prayer the Mother of Life, the Primal Man, and the Living Spirit, and besought the Father of Greatness: “Create a new god, and charge him that he go and see that dungeon of the Demons, and that he establish annual revolution and protective escort for sun and moon, and that he be a liberator and savior for that luminosity of gods which from the beginning of all things was beaten by Ahriman, the Demons [etc.], and which they hold captive even now, and also for that luminosity which is retained in the cosmic realms of heaven and earth and there suffers, and that he prepare for the wind, the water, and the fire a way and a path to the Most High.” And the Father of Greatness heard them, and called forth as the third creation the Messenger. The Messenger called the Twelve Virgins (according to their names, personified virtues and divine properties), and with them set up an engine of twelve buckets. The Messenger betakes himself to the ships of Light, which up to now have been stationary, and sets them in motion and starts the revolution of the spheres. This revolution becomes the vehicle of the cosmic process of salvation, as distinct from that enacted through the minds of men, since it functions as a mechanism for the separation and upward transportation of the Light entrapped in nature.
First, however, the Messenger tries a shorter way: As the ships moved and came to the middle of the heavens, the Messenger revealed his forms, the male and the female, and became visible to all the Archons, the children of the Darkness, the male and the female. And at the sight of the Messenger, who was beautiful in his forms, all the Archons became excited with lust for him, the male ones for his female appearance and the female ones for his male appearance. And in their concupiscence they began to release the Light of the Five Luminous Gods which they had devoured…. The escaping Light is received by the angels of Light, purified, and loaded onto the “ships” to be transported to its native realm. But the dubious trick of the Messenger is double-edged in its success, for together with the Light and in the same quantity Dark substance (“sin”) also escapes from the Archons and, mingled with the Light, endeavors also to enter the ships of the Messenger. Realizing this, the Messenger conceals his forms again and as far as possible separates out the ejaculated mixture. While the purer parts rise upward, the contaminated parts, i.e., those too closely combined with the “sin,” fall down upon the earth, and there this mixed substance forms the vegetable world. Thus all plants, grain, herbs and all roots and trees are creatures of the Darkness, not of God, and in these forms and kinds of things the Godhead is fettered. A similarly miserable origin, only more so, is assigned to the animal world, which springs from abortions of the daughters of Darkness at the sight of the Messenger and similarly keeps Light-substance imprisoned.
The brief revealing of the forms of the Messenger, in addition to leading to these new kinds of imprisonment of the Light, also inspires the Darkness with the idea of a last and most effective means of keeping its threatened spoil, namely, by binding it in the form most adequate to it. That form is suggested to it by the divine form itself which it has seen. Anticipating the eventual loss of all Light through the continual separating effect of the heavenly revolutions; seized by the ambition to create out of himself something equal to that vision; reckoning by this means to devise the safest prison for the alien force; and finally, wishing to have in his world a substitute for the otherwise unattainable divine figure, over which to rule and through which to be sometimes freed from the odious company of his kind, the King of Darkness produces Adam and Eve in the image of the glorious form,
and pours into them all the Light left at his disposal.
The creation of Eve had a special purpose. She is more thoroughly subject to the demons, thus becoming their instrument against Adam; to her they imparted of their concupiscence in order to seduce Adam—a seduction not only to carnal lust but through it to reproduction, the most formidable device in Satan’s strategy. For not only would it indefinitely prolong the captivity of Light, but it would also through the multiplication so disperse the Light as to render infinitely more difficult the work of salvation, whose only way is to awaken every individual soul. For the Darkness, therefore, everything turned on the seduction of Adam, as for the celestials, on awakening him in time to prevent his seduction.
As the five angels saw the Light of God in its defilement, they begged the Messenger of Good Tidings, the Mother of Light and the Living Spirit that they send someone to this primal creature to free and save him, reveal to him knowledge and justice, and liberate him from the devils. So they sent Jesus.
Jesus the Luminous approached the innocent Adam. He awakened him from the sleep of death, so that he might be delivered from the many demons. And as a man who is just and finds a man possessed by a mighty demon and calms him by his power—so was Adam because that Friend found him sunk in deepest slumber, awakened him, made him stir, shook him awake, drove away from him the seducing Demon and removed the mighty Archon [here female] away from him into bonds. And Adam examined himself and discovered who he was. Jesus showed him the Fathers on high and his own Self cast into all things, to the teeth of panthers and elephants, devoured by them that devour, consumed by them that consume, eaten by the dogs, mingled and bound in all that is, imprisoned in the stench of darkness. He raised him up and made him eat of the tree of life. Then Adam cried and lamented: terribly he raised his voice like a roaring lion, tore [his dress], smote his breast, and spoke: “Woe, woe unto the shaper of my body, unto those who fettered my soul, and unto the rebels that enslaved me!”
—Hans Jonas. The Gnostic Religion. Boston: Beacon Press, 1958, pp. 86–87, 210, 213–214, 216–218, 221–222, 224–229.
MYTHS OF ISLAM
The Koran, Sura XLI—The Made Plain Orthodox Islamic doctrine asserts that the Koran (from qara’a, to read or recite) is the eternal word of God, written on a tablet in heaven and dictated in a revelation to Mohammed (570–632 A.D.) by the archangel Gabriel. Its theocentric view is most evident throughout. Not only does each section, or “Sura,” with one exception begin “In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful,” but the overriding purpose of all of them is to proclaim Allah as the one, true God and to call people to worship him.
Mohammed found little support for his teachings among the tribes of his native Mecca and eventually he emigrated north to Medina and welcoming followers. The importance of this journey (the Hijra) is emphasized by the fact it was chosen as the beginning of the Muslim era (622 A.D., or the year 1 in the Islamic calendar). But the struggles against infidelity did not end there. Throughout his life, Mohammed worked to unify the Arabs in allegiance to the one God, Allah.
In this Sura, he proclaims his revelation to the unfaithful, asking how they can disbelieve in one who created the earth in two days, ordered and blessed it and distributed food in it in four more, made the seven heavens from amorphous smoke in another two days and furnished them with lights and guardian angels. The Sura argues that such a great god should not be confused with lesser, derivative divinities.
HA. Mim. A Revelation from the Compassionate, the Merciful!
A Book whose verses (signs) are MADE PLAIN—an Arabic Koran, for men of knowledge;
Announcer of glad tidings and charged with warnings! But most of them withdraw and hearken not:
And they say, “Our hearts are under shelter from the teachings, and in our ears is a deafness, and between us and thee there is a veil. Act as thou thinkest right: we verily shall act as we think right.”
Say: I am only a man like you. It is revealed to me that your God is one God: go straight then to Him, and implore his pardon. And woe to those who join gods with God;
Who pay not the alms of obligation, and in the life to come believe not!
But they who believe and do the things that are right shall receive a perfect recompense.
Say: Do ye indeed disbelieve in Him who in two days created the earth? and do ye assign Him peers? The Lord of the worlds is He!
And he hath placed on the earth the firm mountains which tower above it; and He hath blessed it, and distributed food throughout it, for the cravings of all alike, in four days:
Then He applied himself to the Heaven, which then was but smoke; and to it and to the Earth He said, “Come ye, whether in obedience or against your will?” and they both said, “We come obedient.”
And He made them seven heavens in two days, and in each heaven made known its office: And we furnished the lower heaven with lights and guardian angels. This, the disposition of the Almighty, the All-knowing.
—J. M. Rodwell (trans.). The Koran. London: J. M. Dent, 1909, pp. 192–193
The Koran, Sura XVI—The Bee In Sura XVI, there is another warning about the risks attendant the worship of false deities who “create nothing, but are themselves created.” Mohammed (570–632 A.D.) exhorts people to praise Allah, the true God, who created the world to reveal his truth, made man from a moist germ and ordered the universe for his benefit.
IN THE NAME OF GOD, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
The doom of God cometh to pass. Then hasten it not. Glory be to Him! High let Him be exalted above the gods whom they join with Him!
By His own behest will He cause the angels to descend with the Spirit on whom he pleaseth among his servants, bidding them, “Warn that there is no God but me; therefore fear me.”
He hath created the Heavens and the Earth to set forth his truth; high let Him be exalted above the gods they join with Him!
Man hath He created from a moist germ; yet lo! man is an open caviller.
And the cattle! for you hath He created them: in them ye have warm garments and gainful uses; and of them ye eat:
And they beseem you well when ye fetch them home and when ye drive them forth to pasture:
And they carry your burdens to lands which ye could not else reach but with travail of soul: truly your Lord is full of goodness, and merciful:
And He hath given you horses, mules, and asses, that ye may ride them, and for your ornament: and things of which ye have no knowledge hath he created.
Of God it is to point out “the Way.” Some turn aside from it: but had He pleased, He had guided you all aright.
It is He who sendeth down rain out of Heaven; from it is your drink; and from it are the plants by which ye pasture.
By it He causeth the corn, and the olives, and the palm-trees, and the grapes to spring forth for you, and all kinds of fruits; verily, in this are signs for those who ponder.
And He hath subjected to you the night and the day; the sun and the moon and the stars too are subjected to you by his behest; verily, in this are signs for those who understand:
And all of varied hues that He hath created for you over the earth: verily, in this are signs for those who remember.
And He it is who bath subjected the sea to you, that ye may eat of its fresh fish, and take forth from it ornaments to wear—thou seest the ships ploughing its billows—and that ye may go in quest of his bounties, and that ye might give thanks.
And He hath thrown firm mountains on the earth, lest it move with you; and rivers and paths for your guidance.
And way marks. By the stars too are men guided.
Shall He then who hath created be as he who hath not created? Will ye not consider?
And if ye would reckon up the favours of God, ye could not count them. Aye! God is right Gracious, Merciful!
And God knoweth what ye conceal, and what ye bring to light,
While the gods whom they call on beside God, create nothing, but are themselves created:
Dead are they, lifeless! and they know not
When they shall be raised!
Your God is the one God.
—J. M. Rodwell (trans.). The Koran. London: J. M. Dent, 1909, pp. 200–201.
From the Koran The order of the passages in the Koran, except for the first, is by length from the longest to the shortest. And the suras themselves are, generally speaking, not homogeneous units; they often change subjects abruptly or include unrelated points. In none is there a continuous story of creation; never is the focus solely on cosmological issues. Rather, the creation is alluded to in several places as a sign of God’s greatness and as evidence for his meriting worship.
In these brief selections from five different suras, several points are made about that initial divine act. Sura XL: 66–70 claims that God made the heaven and earth and created mankind from dust by decreeing “Be.” And Sura VII: 52–57 emphasizes God’s ordering of the universe: he made the heavens and earth in six days and ordered all their elements in proper fashion.
Sura LXV: 12 clarifies the structure of the universe with its seven heavens and seven earths through which God continually reveals himself so that people will be faithful. The fourth passage (from Sura XLII: 28) reiterates the notion that the creation serves as a sign for believers, and the fifth (from Sura II: 109–111) stresses again the creative power of God’s command.
IT IS GOD who hath given you the earth as a sure foundation, and over it built up the Heaven, and formed you, and made your forms beautiful, and feedeth you with good things. This is God your Lord. Blessed then be God the Lord of the Worlds!
He is the Living One. No God is there but He. Call then upon Him and offer Him pure worship. Praise be the God the Lord of the Worlds!
Say: Verily I am forbidden to worship what ye call on beside God, after that the clear tokens have come to me from my Lord, and I am bidden to surrender myself to the Lord of the Worlds.
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