29 July 2015
23 July 2015
Pagan Origins of Islam
Once
I had a conversation with a Christian on YouTube about the Kaba and the black
stone next to Kaba. Below is the transcription of our conversation:
Jerry: Muslims are pagans because they worship the black
stone next to Kaba. That black stone is an idol because Muslims kiss that
stone. Muslims believe that black stone takes away the sin of whoever kisses it
and becomes darker as a consequence of absorbing people’s sin.
Hu: First,
nowhere in the Quran or in the hadith does it say the stone absorbs/takes away
the sin whoever kisses it. But for the sake of the argument, let’s say the
stone absorbs/takes away sins from the people who kiss it. Does it make that
stone a god? No, it doesn't. The stone absorbs/takes away sin from people like
Jesus did according to Christianity. But it doesn't forgive the sin. Only god
can forgive the sin. Both black stone & Jesus take away other people's sin
& place other people's sin on their own shoulder. The stone is turned black
by God for taking away people's sin & placing people's sin on its own
shoulder. Jesus was sentenced to death by God for taking away people's sin
& placing people's sin on his own shoulder.
If I ask the judge to let you go free & punish me for your crime, do I become the judge? The answer is “No”. If the judge sentences me for your crime since I volunteered to place your crime on my shoulder, do I become the judge? The answer is “No”. This is basic common sense.
Prophet's companion Umar makes it clear that neither the stone is a partner of God nor it can benefit or harm Muslims (e.g., taking away sin/giving out sins). (Sahih Bukhari 2:667)
If I ask the judge to let you go free & punish me for your crime, do I become the judge? The answer is “No”. If the judge sentences me for your crime since I volunteered to place your crime on my shoulder, do I become the judge? The answer is “No”. This is basic common sense.
Prophet's companion Umar makes it clear that neither the stone is a partner of God nor it can benefit or harm Muslims (e.g., taking away sin/giving out sins). (Sahih Bukhari 2:667)
Secondly, Muslims
don’t associate that stone with God as his partner by kissing it. Kissing
something is not synonymous with associating that thing with God as his
partner. Muslims kiss that stone because Prophet Muhummud kissed it. Muslims
love it because Prophet Muhummud loved it. Muslims love what Prophet Muhummud loves.
Muslims hate what Prophet Muhummud hates. Muslims follow the footsteps of Prophet
Muhummud. We kiss the things we love. For example, our holy books, parents,
wives, children, wedding ring, trophy, gold medal, and I can go on and on. Do we
associate these things with God as his partners by kissing them? The answer is “No”.
Thirdly, you
don't understand the definition of an idol in religious terminology. An idol is
an image or statue of God that represents God. For example, Christians, Greeks,
Hindus, & Buddhists are idol worshipers because they draw images and make statues
of their Man God Jesus, Zeus, Rama, and Buddha. Islamic God Allah is an
intangible being who is unlike all things in the creation (Quran 42:11 & 112:4).
Therefore, we can't point our finger at anything in the creation (e.g., trees,
stones, animals, humans) and say that thing looks like Allah or represents
Allah.
Jerry: Kaba was built by pagans.
Hu: Kaba was renovated/rebuilt many times after it
collapsed due to wars and natural disasters. It was renovated multiple times
before prophet's birth, one time at the time of prophet & one time after
prophet's death. But the Kaba was first built by Abraham & Ishmael as Quran
confirms it. The Kaba that we see today is not the same Kaba that was
constructed by Abraham & Ishmael. But we still have one of the stones
reserved that was used by Abraham & Ishmael to build the Kaba. That stone
is called "black stone" today. Muslim holy site Kaba was built about
4000 years ago by Abraham & Ishmael. Judaeo-Christian holy site temple
Mount was built by Moses about 3000 years ago. Subtract 3000 from 4000. Its 1000.
Islam is at least 1000 years older than Judaeo-Christian religion.
Jerry: Who placed that black stone in the east side of
Kaba? Why Mohamed destroyed all other 360 idols and left the black stone? Are
you aware that Kaba was an idol worshiping place in the past? Before Islam, idol
worshippers used to circle 7 times around the Kaba and then they kiss the stone.
Islam made Kaba a holy place when idol worshipers were there before Islam.
Hu: You asked who placed that black stone in the east
side of Kaba. God ordered Prophet Abraham to build a house of God (mosque) in
Mecca. Prophet Abraham asked God which location he should build it at. In
response, God sent a stone down from the heaven and ordered Prophet Abraham to
build the house of God where the stone landed. Prophet Abraham and his son
Prophet Ishmael built a house of God (mosque) where the stone landed. The
mosque is called Kaba. That stone is the “foundation stone” of Kaba. This stone
helps Muslims to count the number of times they circle around the Kaba. Muslims
start circumambulating Kaba from the point where the stone is located. Each
time Muslims pass that stone during their circumambulation, they add one to
their count on their fingers. Thus, Muslims circumambulate Kaba for seven
times.
You
asked why Prophet (sw) destroyed all 360 idols but left the stone. People of
Mecca stored 360 statues of their pagan Gods in Kaba. Prophet (sw) destroyed
all 360 statues because they were idols. Prophet (sw) didn’t destroy that stone
because that stone was not an idol (neither an image nor a statue of a pagan
God).
You
asked if I am aware that Kaba was an idol worshiping place before Islam. Kaba
was the first house of God (mosque) on earth built by Prophet Abraham and his
son Prophet Ismael (The Quran 22:26, 22:26-27). Prophet Abraham was a Muslim,
not a pagan (The Quran 3:67). The people of Mecca were the direct descendants
of Prophet Abraham and Prophet Ismael. Prophet Abraham and Prophet Ismael
taught their children the monotheistic religion Islam. But over centuries,
their descendants (people of Mecca) adopted pagan beliefs and became pagans. They
turned the Kaba from a mosque into a pagan temple. They built statues of Allah
and pagan Gods they associated Allah with. They drew images of their
forefathers Prophet Abraham and his son Prophet Ismael. They stored these
statues and images in the Kaba (Sahih Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 55, Number 571). Prophet
re-occupied the Kaba from pagans, emptied the Kaba by kicking out all statues
and images pagans stored in it, and turned it back into a mosque again.
You
asked if I am aware that Idol worshippers used to circle around the Kaba and kiss
the stone before Islam. Circumambulating Kaba was introduced by Prophet Abraham
because God ordered him to do so (The Quran 2:125). Pagans didn’t invent
circumambulation of Kaba. Kissing the stone was introduced by Prophet Muhummud.
In pre-Islamic Arabia, pagans took good care of that stone since it was the foundation
stone of Kaba but they never used to kiss it. No hadiths or historians ever
mentioned that pagans used to kiss it. As I mentioned before, we kiss things we
love. Prophet Muhummud loved that stone because that stone was sent from heaven
by God. Muslims love what Prophet Muhummud loves. Muslims follow the footsteps
of Prophet Muhummud. This is why Muslims kiss that stone. As I mentioned earlier,
taking good care of something or kissing something out of love is not
synonymous with associating that thing with God as his partner. Instead, making
statues of something or drawing something believing that thing represents God and
asking those statues for help is synonymous with associating partners with God.
Jerry: You bow down to Kaba and pray. Kaba is your idol.
Hu: We bow down to Kaba and pray to God, NOT to Kaba. Kaba
is a house of God (Mosque). Muslims are allowed to pray inside the Kaba too.
Kaba is a small mosque with two doors – one for entrance and the other for exit.
Bible allows praying to God bowing down towards God’s house (Psalm 138:2).
Jerry: I like the part that the Arabs, the descendants of
Ismael became pagans over centuries. Lol.
Hu: A century is a pretty long time. They didn’t become
pagans when Prophet Ismael was with them alive. After he passes away, his
descendants forgot his teachings and adopted pagan beliefs. Jews, the
descendants of Isaac made higher score in becoming pagans than Arabs, the descendants
of Ismael. Jews became pagans even when Prophet Moses was alive among them. When
Prophet Moses departed Jews and ascended Mount Sinai only for forty days, Jews became
pagans. They built the statue of a golden calf and preached that golden calf
was Allah (Exodus 32:7-8).
References:
·
Narrated 'Abis bin Rabia: 'Umar came
near the Black Stone and kissed it and said "No doubt, I know that you are
a stone and can neither benefit anyone nor harm anyone. Had I not seen Allah's
Apostle kissing you I would not have kissed you." (Sahih al-Bukhari 2:667)
·
“…There is nothing like unto
Him (God)…” (The Quran 42:11).
·
“And there
is none like unto Him” (The Quran
112:4).
·
"And when we assigned to Abraham
the place of the House: ‘Do not associate with Me anything, and purify My House
for those who circumambulate it, who stand in prayer, and who bow, and prostrate
themselves (all in prayer).’ And
proclaim the Pilgrimage (Hajj) among people, and they shall come to you on
foot, and on every lean camel. They
shall come to you from every deep and distant mountain highways." (Quran
22:26)
·
"Indeed the first House (of worship)
appointed for humanity is that at Bakka: Full of blessing and of guidance for
all the worlds. In it are Signs
Manifest; (such as), the Station of Abraham; whoever enters it attains
security; Pilgrimage thereto is a duty men owe to God,- those who have the
ability." (Quran 22:26-27)
·
“And [mention] when We made the House a
place of return for the people and [a place of] security. And take, [O
believers], from the standing place of Abraham a place of prayer. And We
charged Abraham and Ishmael, [saying], "Purify My House for those who
circumambulate around my house and those who are staying [there] for worship
and those who bow and prostrate [in prayer]." (Quran 2:125)
·
Abraham was neither a Jew
nor a Christian, but he was a Muslim. (Quran 3:67)
·
Narrated Ibn Abbas: "When
the Prophet saw pictures in the Ka'ba, he did not enter it till he ordered them
to be erased. When he saw the pictures of Abraham and Ishmael carrying
the arrows of divination, he said, "May Allah curse them (i.e. the
Quraish)! By Allah, neither Abraham nor Ishmael practiced divination by
arrows." (Sahih Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 55, Number 571)
·
"I will bow down toward your holy
temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for
you have exalted above all things your name and your word" (Psalm
138:2).
·
‘Then the Lord said to Moses,
“Go down (the mountain), because your people, whom you brought up out of
Egypt, have become corrupt. They have been quick to turn away from
what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape
of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have
said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’ (Exodus
32:7-8)
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