The Islam of Mohamed by Salahuddin Khuda Bukhsh (ebook offline txt) 📕
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[1] Wellhausen, Reste Arabischen Heidentums, p. 226.
[2] I have avoided further details here, as I have dealt with this subject, at length, in my Contributions to the History of Islamic Civilisation, pp. 146-169.
[3] Deutsch, Literary Remains, p. 87. For further information see Von Kremer, Culturgeschichtliche Streifzüge (my translation, p. 49.)
[4] Wellhausen, Reste, pp. 230-231.
[5] Lyall, Ancient Arabian Poetry, p. 93.
[6] In Wellhausen’s Reste, p. 229 will be found the passage in question from Imra-ul-Qais.
[7] Journal of the Asiatic Society October, 1903 p. 773. Khuda Bukhsh, Islamic Civilisation p. 147 and the authorities therein cited.
It is clear beyond doubt that Christian and Jewish influences, to a large extent, unsettled and disturbed the beliefs of the Pagan Arabs and paved the way for the prophet. Resistance to his faith there was, but it was resistance on the part of those, who sought to maintain the old faith and superstition; not on account of any warmth of conviction or sincerity of zeal, but on account of the fear and apprehension that the success of Islam would mean loss of large incomes derived from the temples and old heathen practices.[8] But resistance, founded upon such a selfish basis, could not prevent, and indeed did not prevent, the onward progress of Islam. In the deadly conflict between Islam and the Arab Heathenism Islam triumphed.
We, now, proceed to enquire as to what was the basis or, in other words, what were the sources from which Islam was derived. Islam freely borrowed from Judaism and Christianity and even did not hesitate to adopt practices prevalent in Pre-Islamic Arabia. In fashioning his religion the prophet adopted an eclectic method, retaining or rejecting from the older systems whatever seemed to him necessary and proper. It is not exactly within the scope of my paper to precisely specify or to accurately define the exact obligation of Islam to Christianity or Judaism. Such a discussion would take me far afield. Professor Wellhausen is inclined to belittle the influence of Judaism in the birth and infancy of Islam and points to the Islamic conception of Jesus, as the greatest of the prophets before Mohamed, as a conclusive proof of his contention. But the present writer is not prepared to attach much weight to this argument. If the Islamic conception of Jesus, indeed, is to be put forward as indicating the absence of Judaic influence on early Islam; with equal force might the Islamic conception of Jesus be urged as subversive of the theory of Christian influence, so stoutly advocated by Professor Wellhausen.[9] The basis of dogmatic Christianity, namely, the sonship of Christ, Mohamed inveighed against early and late. It would be idle to deny the indebtedness of Islam to Judaism. Mohamed has not merely accepted dogmas and doctrines of Judaism, minute Talmudical ordinances, but has even adopted, in its entirety, some of the Jewish practices and, far above all these, that which indeed constitutes the very foundation of Islam, namely, the conception of a severe and uncompromising monotheism.[10] The fact is that both Judaism and Christianity were used and used freely by the prophet in building up his religion. Nor is this a new theory. The prophet never put himself forward as introducing something new but he invariably claimed for himself the honour of reviving the old and the true beliefs which had fallen into neglect and oblivion. But besides the Jewish and Christian sources, not a small portion of Islamic ritual and ceremonials were mere reproductions of Pre-Islamic practices. The entire ceremonies relating to the pilgrimage (Hajj) and the sacred service, at the temple of Mecca, have survived in Islam with little or no variation from the days of Arab Heathenism;[11] the only change that Mohamed effected in them was to allow the pilgrims to put on a particular pilgrim dress consisting of two pieces of cloth of which one covers the hip and the other breast and shoulders; while the head has to be kept uncovered, as in ancient days, when they used to make up their hair into a sort of wig by means of some glutinous substance. And so indeed it has remained, to this day, the prescribed pilgrim costume. After visiting the Kabah they used, in heathen days, to visit the two rocky hills of Safa and Merwah on which were placed two bronze idols. Mohamed went so far in his toleration of the heathen pilgrimage customs that he suffered the visit to Safa and Marwah to continue as before, but had the two idols removed. Of the history of the origin of the forms of the prayer, prostration, ablution, and fasts our knowledge is vague, uncertain and shadowy.
Islam has, says Von Kremer,
largely drawn upon Judaism, Christianity, the religion of Zoroaster and possibly even from Manichenism. From Parsiism it has taken both directly and indirectly. A number of obviously Parsi ideas have penetrated into Islam through the channel of Jewish books; notably the Talmud. The doctrine of the resurrection, most of the legends relating to heaven and hell, and the entire system of demonology have found their way into the Qur´an through Judaism. So indeed did the description of the trial and the tortures of the dead in the grave by two angels Munkar and Nakir. The idea of the bridge sirat as thin as a hair, which leads to paradise across the abyss of hell is certainly derived from the Parsis; having passed over into the Qur´an through the Midrash. But Islam has not hesitated to borrow directly from Parsiism. It is a significant fact that the word din, which so repeatedly occurs in the Qur´an, has been borrowed from the Parsi books. In the Huzveresh it appears in exactly the same form (old Backtrian dæna).[12]
It is not suggested that the prophet had access to the written books of either the Jews or the Christians; though in some passages of the Qur´an we can trace direct resemblances to the text of the Old Testament and the Mishna.[13] His knowledge of the Jewish and Christian books, at times faulty and imperfect to a degree, was derived almost exclusively by oral communications.
I trust I have said enough to illustrate the condition of Arabia before Islam and the sources from which the prophet of Arabia received his religious inspiration. I, now, go on to explain Islam and its tenets.
[8] Von Kremer, Culturgeschichte des orients, p. 24, vol. I.
[9] Wellhausen pp. 236 ct. Seq. Prof. Wellhausen admits Jewish influence in the Islamic theocracy and in the belief that the prophet, as representative of God, is alone entitled to rule and govern, to the exclusion of all other powers. See, also Deutsch p. 171.
[10] See the learned monograph of Geiger, Was hat Mohammed ans Judenthume aufgenommen.
[11] Lyall, p. 93; Von Kremer’s Culturgeschichtliche Streifzüge (my translation p. 47). The author of Ras´ Mal-in-Nadim, (Bankipore, M.S.) gives an account of Heathen practices (Fol. 17 et Seq.); specially drawing attention to those retained by Islam.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Von Kremer, Culturgeschichtliche Streifzüge (my translation p. 47) Comp. Qur´an XXI, 105 with Ps. XXX VII 29; 1-5 with Ps. XXVII. The New Testament. Comp. VII, 48 with Luke XVI. 24; XLVI, 19 with Luke XVI. 25. Then again verse 35 corresponds almost word for word with Mishna Sanh IV. 5; also II. 183 with Mishna Ber. 1.2. Nöldeke, Sketches from Eastern History, p. 31.
Mr. Ameer Ali explains Islam as “striving after righteousness,” but Prof. Hirschfeld, in his luminous Researches into the Composition and Exegesis of the Qur´an, very correctly points out that Mr. Ameer Ali’s definition only reflects the theoretical and moral side of the question—limited to the initial stage of Islam.[14]
The term Islam, as time went by, included the whole of the theoretical and practical constitution of the faith and as such it is interpreted by Al-Ghazzali in his Ihya-ul-ulum (p. 104, vol. I.) Islam, says he, is an expression for submission and unquestioning obedience, abandonment of insubordination, defiance and opposition. And it is in this light, indeed, that the prophet himself regarded Islam. “The Bedwins say: ‘we believe,’ Speak! you shall not ‘believe’ (only) but say we practice Islam (Aslamna).” (XLIX. 14) In Surah III. 17 (Cf. V. 79) Islam is identified with din (Cf. LXI. 7-9) and the relation between the two synonyms, says Prof. Hirschfeld, is broadly discussed by Al-Shahrastani (Milal, pp. 25 to 27) and is stated to embrace the five duties, viz.:—Of testifying to the unity of God and the Divine inspiration of Mohamed, the duties of reciting prayers, giving alms, fasting in the Ramadhan, and performing the pilgrimage to Mecca. The fundamental basis of Islam is the unity of God; stern, unbending monotheism and this doctrine of the unity of God is proclaimed in the Qur´an, in season and out of season and ever and anon with augmented emphasis. To associate gods with God is the most unpardonable sin and the prophet’s extensive vocabulary of vituperation is never exhausted in attacking those who associate gods with God. In Surah VI (verses 74-79) we have one of the most charming passages testifying to the unity of God:—
And remember when Abraham said to his father, Azar, thou takest those images as God? verily I see that thou and thy people are in manifest error.
And so did we show Abraham the domain of the heavens and of the earth that he might be one of those who are established in knowledge. And when the night overshadowed him he beheld a star “This, said he, is My Lord” but when it set, he cried, “I love not gods which set.” And when he beheld the moon uprising “This,” said he, “is my Lord” but when it set, he said, “surely, if My Lord guide me not I shall be of those who go astray.”
And when he beheld the Sun uprise, he said, “This is my Lord,” “this is the greatest” but when it set, he said “O my people I share not with you the guilt of joining gods with God.”
I verily turn my face to him who hath created the Heavens and the earth following the right religion and I am not one of those who add gods to God.
Not a whit has Gibbon[15] exaggerated the truth when he wrote “the creed of Mohamed is free from suspicion or ambiguity and the Qur´an is a glorious testimony to the unity of God. The prophet of Mecca rejected the worship of idols and men, of stars and planets, on the rational principle that whatever is born must die, that whatever is corruptible must decay and perish.” And, again, says the historian of the Roman Empire, “these sublime truths, thus announced in the language of the prophet, are firmly held by his disciples and defined with metaphysical precision by the interpreters of the Qur´an. A
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