ISLAM HAS NO FATHER
remnant
ISLAM HAS NO FATHER
by Silas
INTRODUCTION
As I've studied the spiritual power behind Islam and wondered how this
spiritual power influenced Muhammad's theology, a well known difference
between Islam's god and Christianity's God kept coming to mind. That
difference is that Islam's god is never described or known as "Father", but
in both Christianity and Judaism, God is known as Father.
I thought about this not just from a mere doctrinal point of view, (anyone
familiar with basic Islam knows that it has no concept of God as Father),
but rather from a spiritual and relational point of view. I realized
something about Muhammad's relationship: the spiritual power behind Islam
never gave Muhammad the intimate love that a father gives his son. That is
why Muhammad never called that spiritual power "father". He simply did not
know it that way. The relationship between Muhammad and his god was one of a
slave to his master, with obedience, rather than love, being the primary
impulse. Below is how Muhammad described this relationship.
Narrated 'Umar:
I heard the Prophet saying, "Do not exaggerate in praising me as the
Christians praised the son of Mary, for I am only a Slave. So, call me the
Slave of Allah and His Apostle." [1]
(NOTE 1: Muhammad did talk about loving Allah, and about Allah's love. But
Allah's love is predicated upon the Muslim's performance and obedience, not
on their relationship. More on that later.)
(NOTE 2: I know the word "Allah" means God in Arabic and that Arabic
Christians use the word "Allah" for God. However, when I use the word,
"Allah", I am specifically referring to the god of Islam).
Muhammad ascribed many names to Allah and these names reveal Allah's
character. As examples there are Al Muntaqim - The Avenger, Ar-Raoof - The
Compassionate, and Ar-Razzaq - The Provider. You can search through Allah's
99 names (some Muslims state that Allah has more names) and you'll find many
characteristics that a good father should have. [2] But one name is missing
that is one of the most wonderful of God's names, and that is "Father".
Why is this name missing? Why isn't Islam's god a loving father like Judaism's
and Christianity's? Why the gaping hole in Muhammad's spirituality? After
all, Muhammad believed in the validity of Judaism and Christianity, their
teachings and their books, [3] but his Quran and theology conspicuously lack
a God who is a loving Father. Why couldn't the spiritual power that drove
Muhammad give him the tender love that the God of the Bible gave His people?
Because the spiritual being that Muhammad believed to be God was unable to
be a loving father to Muhammad. Islam's god is indeed a master, and he can
be a kind and forgiving master, but he can not deliver the goods as a God of
infinite mercy and love. And this is why there is a dearth of description of
Allah being a loving god in the Quran. Because it is not in Islam's god's
nature to be a father.
Below is a comment from a Muslim web site on Islam's concept of God
There is nothing like male Allah or female Allah. Allah has no gender. If
you add the word 'father' to 'God' it becomes 'God-father'. God-father means
someone who is a guardian. There is no word like 'Allah-Abba' or
'Allah-father'. [4]
Think about it. A good father loves his children, those whom he created. He
is invested in them. He will care for them, provide for them, guide them,
and love them intimately. He cherishes his children, is proud of them when
they do well, and disciplines them when they lag. His commitment to his
children exceeds that of a coach for his players, that of a boss for his
workers, or that of a master for his slave. The slave will never hold the
treasured position in the father's heart that a child holds. And it is this
type of love relationship that is lacking in Islam.
However, we see this love expressed by Judaism's and Christianity's God. God
was more to His people than a master who required obedience. He was a
Shepherd for His people. He went beyond their limitations and sinfulness and
gave them His love. We see a Father's love given in both Judaism and
Christianity, but never in Islam.
People say love makes the world go round. Why is love lacking in Islam?
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SCRIPTURES THAT SHOW THAT GOD IS A FATHER
Let's take a look at the groundwork that Judaism and Christianity lay
regarding God as Father. The God of the Bible is indeed a Father to His
people. From both the Old and New Testament Scriptures we see God revealing
and describing Himself as a Father. Here are some examples taken from the
New International Version. [5]
1) Deut. 32:6
Is this the way you repay the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is he not
your Father, your Creator, who made you and formed you?
2) Psalms 2:7
I will proclaim the decree of the LORD : He said to me, "You are my Son;
today I have become your Father.
3) Isaiah 63:16
But you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us or Israel
acknowledge us; you, O LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is
your name.
4) Matthew 6:9
"This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be
your name,'"
5) John 20:17
Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the
Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my
Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"
6) Romans 8:15
For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but
you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."
On the other hand, the Quran denies God's Fatherhood:
Sura 5:18
And (both) the Jews and the Christians say: "We are the children of Allah
and His loved ones." Say: "Why then does He punish you for your sins?" Nay,
you are but human beings, of those He has created, He forgives whom He wills
and He punishes whom He wills. And to Allah belongs the dominion of the
heavens and the earth and all that is between them, and to Him is the return
(of all). [6]
You can see from the Quranic verse above that Muhammad refused to accept
Christians and Jews as God's children because He disciplined them. However,
both the Old and New Testaments Bible teach that a loving father disciplines
his children.
Hebrews 12:7-11
Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son
is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone
undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.
Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected
them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and
live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best;
but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No
discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it
produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been
trained by it.
Jeremiah 31:18, 19
"I have surely heard Ephraim's moaning: 'You disciplined me like an unruly
calf, and I have been disciplined. Restore me, and I will return, because
you are the LORD my God. After I strayed, I repented; after I came to
understand, I beat my breast. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore
the disgrace of my youth.'"
Muhammad grew up without a father. His father died before his birth, his
mother died when he was six years old. Muhammad lived first with his
grandfather and then mostly with his uncle. It may be that he was not
disciplined by his uncle who raised him. If that was the case, then he
missed out on a valuable aspect of the father-relationship. Fathers who love
their children discipline them. God loves His people and He does indeed
discipline them for their own good!
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MUHAMMAD'S INTIMACY WITH THE SPIRIT
Muhammad was intimate with the spiritual power that he encountered, first in
a cave, but this intimacy was not a familial intimacy. It was not even
close. Let's examine Muhammad's first encounter with a spiritual force that
would lead him, guide him, and instruct him for the rest of his life. What
emotions did this up-close and personal introduction produce in Muhammad? In
what state did it leave Muhammad? Here is the story.
One day Muhammad was praying and mediating in a cave when a spirit came upon
him. It seized Muhammad and squeezed and choked him. Muhammad was terrified,
he was scared out of his wits. This spirit demanded that Muhammad "recite"
(or read) but Muhammad replied that he didn't know what to recite. This
happened three times. Finally, out of fear for his life, Muhammad asked the
spirit "what shall I recite?" Then the spirit told him the first verses of
the Quran, Sura 96:1-5. [7]
Here are some quotes, from the earliest Islamic sources, written exclusively
by devout Muslim scholars. Take your time and read them through. I encourage
you to read them a second time through. As you read, read in-between the
lines. What do you learn about Allah's character?
.The angel came to him in it and asked him to read. The Prophet replied,
"I do not know how to read." (The Prophet added), "The angel caught me
(forcefully) and pressed me so hard that I could not bear it anymore. He
then released me and again asked me to read, and I replied, "I do not know
how to read," whereupon he caught me again and pressed me a second time till
I could not bear it anymore. He then released me and asked me again to read,
but again I replied, "I do not know how to read (or, what shall I read?)."
Thereupon he caught me for the third time and pressed me and then released
me and said, "Read: In the Name of your
Lord, Who has created (all that exists). Has created man from a clot. Read
and Your Lord is Most Generous...up to..... ..that which he knew not."
Then Allah's Apostle returned with the Inspiration, his neck muscles
twitching with terror till he entered upon Khadija and said, "Cover me!
Cover me!" They covered him till his fear was over and then he said, "O
Khadija, what is wrong with me?"
.But after a few days Waraqa died and the Divine Inspiration was also
paused for a while and the Prophet became so sad as we have heard that he
intended several times to throw himself from the tops of high mountains and
every time he went up the top of a mountain in order to throw himself down,
Gabriel would appear before him and say, "O Muhammad! You are indeed Allah's
Apostle in truth" whereupon his heart would become quiet and he would calm
down and would return home. And whenever the period of the coming of the
inspiration used to become long, he would do as before, but when he used to
reach the top of a mountain, Gabriel would appear before him and say to him
what he had said before..(Sahih al-Bukhari, volume 9, #111).
"O Khadija, I see light and hear sounds and I fear I am mad". [8]
"So I read it, and he departed from me. And I awoke from my sleep, and it
was though these words were written on my heart. (Tabari: Now none of God's
creatures was more hateful to me than an (ecstatic) poet or a man possessed:
I could not even look at them. I thought, Woe is me poet or possessed -
Never shall Quraysh say this of me! I will go to the top of the mountain and
throw myself down that I may kill myself and gain rest. So I went forth to
do so and then) when I was midway on the mountain, I heard a voice from
heaven saying "O Muhammad! thou are the apostle of God and I am Gabriel."
[9]
These quotes show us that Muhammad was suicidal and depressed because of his
first intimate experience with this spirit (who supposedly represented
Allah). He believed that he had become demon possessed or had gone mad. He
quickly attempted suicide. Once the spirit successfully stopped him,
Muhammad lived in depression and continued to attempt suicide, only to be
stopped by the spirit yet again. He suffered from a mental disease.
Eventually, after about 3 years, Muhammad believed the words of this spirit
and thought of himself as an apostle. (For an in-depth look at Muhammad's
suicide attempts see this article.)
What does this experience tell us about the nature of Muhammad's god? Where
was the comfort that Mary was comforted with (Luke 1:30-38)? Where was the
confidence and accompanying miracles that Moses performed after he dialoged
with God (Exodus 3 & 4)? Where was the intimacy that God gave to Jesus at
His baptism in Matthew (3:16, 17)? It was nowhere to be found.
Would a loving God freak-out his chosen man and allow him to become
confused, full of doubt, and depressed, all the while letting him to swim in
the pool of suicide? The God of the Bible, the Father, never allowed his
chosen men to act in such a manner. Instead, the Father strengthened them
and gave them peace.
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ALLAH'S LOVE COMPARED TO GOD'S LOVE
Earlier I said that Islam's god does love, but it is love given only toward
those who are obedient and righteous. Islam's god demands power over others:
Islam means "submission", i.e. submitting to its god and Muhammad's rule.
But the tender love of God, apart from this obedience, is not known in
Islam.
Below are a number of verses I've found on Allah's love. I list a few more
at the end of this article.
2:222
They ask thee concerning women's courses (menses). Say: They are a hurt
and a pollution; so keep away from women in their courses and do not
approach them until they are clean. But when they have purified themselves
ye may approach them in any manner time or place ordained for you by Allah.
For Allah loves those who turn to Him constantly and He loves those who keep
themselves pure and clean.
3:31
Say: "If ye do love Allah follow me: Allah will love you and forgive you
your sins for Allah is Oft-Forgiving Most Merciful."
3:134
Those who spend (freely) whether in prosperity or in adversity; who
restrain anger and pardon (all) men; for Allah loves those who do good.
3:146
How many of the Prophets fought (in Allah's way) and with them (fought)
large bands of godly men? But they never lost heart if they met with
disaster in Allah's way nor did they weaken (in will) nor give in. And Allah
loves those who are firm and steadfast.
28:77
"But seek with the (wealth) which Allah has bestowed on thee the Home of
the Hereafter nor forget thy portion in this world: but do thou good as
Allah has been good to thee and seek not (occasions for) mischief in the
land: for Allah loves not those who do mischief."
61:4
Truly Allah loves those who fight in His Cause in battle array as if they
were a solid cemented structure.
You see in all of these verses that Allah's love is predicated upon the
Muslim's performance. Muhammad's depiction of and theology on Allah's love
contradict the depiction of God's love in the Bible. Compare and contrast
the following Biblical verses to the Quranic verses above.
(NOTE: Please take the time to read the passages. In doing so, you will
taste a strong difference in the flavors of love between Islam's Allah, and
Christianity's God. By comparing the Scriptures of each faith, you will
discern the differences in their Gods' natures. You will be able to see
clearly and unequivocally, beyond any doubt, that Islam's god is not
Christianity's God. Islam's god is not capable of true love.)
Hosea 2:13-16
I will punish her for the days she burned incense to the Baals; she decked
herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers, but me she
forgot," declares the LORD. Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will
lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her
back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor (trouble) a door of
hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she
came up out of Egypt. "In that day," declares the LORD, "you will call me
'my husband'; you will no longer call me 'my master.'
Hosea 3:1
The LORD said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is
loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the
Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin
cakes."
Isaiah 54:5-8
For your Maker is your husband, the LORD Almighty is his name, the Holy
One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth. The
LORD will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in
spirit a wife who married young, only to be rejected," says your God. "For a
brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you
back. In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with
everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you," says the LORD your
Redeemer.
Jeremiah 31:3
The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with an
everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.
Jeremiah 31:9
They will come with weeping; they will pray as I bring them back. I will
lead them beside streams of water on a level path where they will not
stumble, because I am Israel's father, and Ephraim is my firstborn son.
Jeremiah 31:31-34
"The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like
the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to
lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a
husband to [a] them, " declares the LORD. "This is the covenant I will make
with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my
law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and
they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man
his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from
the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive
their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
John 3:16-21
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that
whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did
not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world
through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not
believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of
God's one and only Son.."
Romans 5:8
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still
sinners, Christ died for us.
1 John 4:9-12
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son
into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we
loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for
our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one
another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in
us and his love is made complete in us.
Revelations 21:6, 7
He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning
and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from
the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and
I will be his God and he will be my son.
I expect that you, the reader, have seen the difference between the quality
of love between God and Allah. You can't miss it. Muhammad's god was
incapable of great love. Its love was shallow. No wonder Muhammad believed
that he would be tried in the grave and that he feared Allah's wrath; the
spiritual power that he interacted with was incapable of giving him the true
love of God. The true love of God gives peace to the believer. No wonder the
early Muslims quickly turned to murdering each other; the spiritual power
that rules Islam could not motivate them towards a life of love. The true
love of God motivates people to lend a helping hand to each other, not
destroy each other. No wonder so many people left Islam after Muhammad died;
they tasted Islam and spat it out. No wonder those that left Islam said
about the other Muslims, "Their religion does not stop them from shedding
blood, terrifying the roads, and seizing properties." [10] (Yes, many early
Muslims were terrorists just like the Muslim terrorists of today). Because
Islam lacks the true love of God, its followers can bomb children and
believe they are doing Allah's will.
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CONCLUSION
Islam does not have a father, it has a master. Let me be blunt, what I've
shown you is that Islam's god is not the same God Christians worship. He is
a lesser spirit and inferior to God. Islam's god is no One God at all. He is
not the Father, rather, he is a spiritual power that exerts control over
people. The fact that Islam's god is unable to love as a true Creator
reveals that he is not the Creator. Rather he is a master over his slaves,
loving only those that do his bidding. It is a spiritual power that
terrorized Muhammad, and only offered him a shallow love based upon
performance. In many cases this performance motivated Muhammad to murder
others.
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ADDITIONAL QURANIC VERSES ABOUT ALLAH'S LOVE
3:76, 3:159, 49:9
REFERENCES:
1) Bukhari, Muhammad, "Sahih Bukhari", Kitab Bhavan, New Delhi, India, 1987,
translated by M. Khan, Volume 4, Book 55, Number 654.
2) http://www.dawateislami.net/general/devotions/99names/
3) "Muhammad and the Bible", http://www.answering-islam.org/Silas/bible.htm
4) http://www.islam101.com/tauheed/conceptofGod.htm
5) The Bible, New International Version, pub. by Zondervan, Grand Rapids,
Michigan
6) The Noble Quran, translated by Dr. Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din Al-Hilali and Dr.
Muhammad Muhsin Khan, published by Maktaba Dar-us-Salam, PO Box 21441,
Riyadh 11475, Saudi Arabia, 1994
7) The spiritual power that communicated with Muhammad did not know genetics
very well. http://www.answering-islam.org/Quran/Science/alaqa.html
8) Ibn Sa'd, (d. 852 A.D.), "Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir", (Book of the Major
Classes), page 225, translated by S. Moinul Haq, Pakistan Historical
Society.
9) Ibn Ishaq, (d. 782), "Sirat Rasulallah", compiled by A. Guillaume as "The
Life of Muhammad", page 106, Oxford, London, 1955
10) al-Tabari, "The History of al-Tabari", (Ta'rikh al-rusul wa'l-muluk),
volume 17, page 187, State University of New York Press, 1993
remnant
THAT Islam in its origin and popular character is a composite faith, with
Pagan, Jewish and Christian elements, is known to all students of
comparative religion. Rabbi Geiger in his celebrated essay1 has shown how
much of the warp and woof of the Koran was taken from Talmudic Judaism and
how the entire ritual is simply that of the Pharisees translated into
Arabic. Tisdall in his "Sources of Islam" and other writers, especially
Wellhausen, Goldziher and Robertson Smith, have indicated the pagan elements
that persist in the Moslem faith to this day and were taken over by Mohammed
himself from the old Arabian idolatry. Christian teaching and life too had
their influence on Mohammed and his doctrine, as is evident not only in the
acknowledged place of honor given to Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, John the
Baptist, and other New Testament characters, but in the spirit of
universalism, of conquest and above all in the mystic beliefs and ascetic
practices of later Islam.
"A three-fold cord is not easily broken." The strength of Islam is its
composite character. It entrenches itself everywhere and always in animistic
and pagan superstition. It fights with all the fanatic devotion of Semitic
Judaism with its exaggerated nationalism. It claims at once to include and
supersede all that which Jesus Christ was and did and taught. It is a
religion of compromise, of conservatism, and of conquest.
It is our purpose to show how strong is the pagan element in Mohammedanism,
how many doctrines and practices of popular Islam find their explanation
only in a survival of the animism of Ancient Arabia or were incorporated
from many heathen sources in the spread of the faith; doctrines and
practices which Islam was never able to eliminate or destroy. At the outset
of our discussion it need not surprise us that a belief in demons and the
old Arabian superstitions persisted in spite of Islam. Five times daily the
Moslem muezzin calls out from the Mosque: "There is no god but Allah." The
people repeat this and reiterate it far more than a hundred times during the
day in their quarrels, feasts, fasts, rejoicings, and common conversation.
But in my daily observations - and I have lived among them for more than
twenty-five years - I find they have fetishes and superstitious customs
which amount to as many gods as the heathen who bow down to wood and stone.2
Now we find that Islam in Arabia itself and in the older Moslem lands was
not able to shake itself free from similar beliefs and practices. To
understand these aright in their origin and character it is necessary first
of all to know something of what we mean by Animism. Animism is the belief
that a great part if not all of the inanimate kingdom of nature as well as
all animated beings, are endowed with reason, intelligence and volition
identical with man. Kennedy defines it as "both a religion, a system of
philosophy and a system of medicine. As a religious system it denotes the
worship of spirits as distinguished from that of the gods"3; and Warneck
says: "It would seem as if Animism were the primitive form of heathenism,
maintaining itself, as in China and India to this hour, amid all the
refinements of civilization. The study of Greek and old German religions
exhibits the same animistic features. The essence of heathenism seems to be
not the denial of God, but complete estrangement from Him. The existence of
God is everywhere known, and a certain veneration given Him. But He is far
away, and is therefore all but ruled out of the religious life. His place is
taken by demons, who are feared and worshiped."4 Even in Arabia the stern
monotheism of the Wahabi Reformers was unable to eradicate the pagan
superstitions of Islam because they are imbedded in the Koran and were not
altogether rejected by Mohammed himself,- much less by his companions.
With regard to the pagan practices prevalent in early Islam, Abu'l Fida
calls attention to a number of religious observances which were thus
perpetuated under the new system. "The Arabs of the times of ignorance," he
says, "used to do things which the religious law of Islam has adopted; for
they used not to wed their mothers or their daughters, and among them it was
deemed a most detestable thing to marry two sisters, and they used to revile
the man who married his father's wife, and to call him Daizan. They used,
moreover, to make the pilgrimage (Hajj) to the House" (the Ka'aba), "and
visit the consecrated places, and wear the Ihram" (the single garment worn
to the present day by a pilgrim when running round the Ka'bah), "and perform
the (Tawwaf) and run" (between the hills As Safa and Al Marwa) "and make
their stand at all the Stations and cast the stones" (at the devil in the
valley of Mina); "and they were wont to intercalate a month every third
year." He goes on to mention many other similar examples in which the
religion of Islam has enjoined as religious observances ancient Arabian
customs, for instance ceremonial washings after certain kinds of defilement,
parting the hair, the ritual observed in cleansing the teeth, paring the
nails, and other such matters.5
Mohammed also borrowed certain fables current among the heathen Arabs, such
as the tales of Ad and Thamud and some others (Surah VII 63-77). Regarding
such stories, Al Kindi well says to his opponent: "And if thou mentionest
the tale of Ad and Thamud and the Camel and the Comrades of the Elephant
(Surahs CV and XIV:9) "and the like of these tales, we say to thee, ' These
are senseless stories and the nonsensical fables of old women of the Arabs,
who kept reciting them night and day.'"
When we read the account of pre-Islamic worship at Mecca we realize how many
of the ancient customs persist in Islam. The principal idols of Arabia were
the following:
Hobal was in the form of a man and came from Syria; he was the god of rain
and had a high place of honor.
Wadd was the god of the firmament. Special prayers for rain and against
eclipse were taught by Mohammed.
Suwah, in the form of a woman, was said to be from antediluvian times.
Yughuth had the shape of a lion.
Ya'ook was in the form of a horse, and was worshiped in Yemen. (Bronze
images of this idol are found in ancient tombs and are still used as
amulets.)
Nasr was the eagle god.
El Uzza identified by some scholars with Venus, was worshiped at times under
the form of an acacia tree (cf. Tree-worship by Moslems).
Al1at was the chief idol of the tribe of Thakif at Taif who tried to
compromise with Mohammed to accept Islam if he would not destroy their god
for three years. The name appears to be the feminine of Allah.
Manat was a huge stone worshiped as an altar by several tribes.
Duwar was the virgin's idol and young women used to go around it in
procession; hence its name.
Isaf and Naila were idols that stood near Mecca on the hills of Safa and
Mirwa; the visitation of these popular shrines is now a part of the Moslem
pilgrimage, i.e., they perpetuate ancient idolatrous rites.
Habhab was a large stone on which camels were slaughtered. In every Moslem
land, sacred-tree, etc., abound; in most cases these were formerly shrines
of pagan (in some cases, of Christian) sanctity.
"Even in the higher religions," says Warneck, "and in the heathenism that
exists in Christendom, we find numerous usages of animistic origin.
Buddhism, Confucianism and Mohammedanism have nowhere conquered this most
tenacious of all forms of religion; they have not even entered into conflict
with it; it is only overcome by faith in Jesus Christ." Therefore these many
superstitions can now no longer be styled anti-Mohammedan, although they
conflict in many respects with the original doctrines of Islam. A religion
is not born full-grown any more than a man, and if on attaining a ripe
maturity it has cast off the form of its early youth past recognition, we
cannot deny it its right to this transformation, as it is part and parcel of
the scheme of nature.
"A custom or idea does not necessarily stand condemned according to the
Moslem standard," writes Hurgronje, "even though in our minds there can be
no shadow of doubt of its pagan origin. If, for example, Mohammedan teaching
is able to regard some popular custom as a permissible enchantment against
the devil or against jinns hostile to mankind, or as an invocation of the
mediation of a prophet or saint with God, then it matters not that the
existence of these malignant spirits is actually only known from pagan
sources, nor does any one pause to inquire whether the saint in question is
but a heathen god in a new dress, or an imaginary being whose name but
serves to legitimate the existing worship of some object of popular
reverence."6 Some writers go so far as to say that Animism lies at the root
of all Moslem thinking and all Moslem theology. "The Moslem," says Gottfried
Simon, "is naturally inclined to Animism; his Animism does not run counter
to the ideal of his religion. Islam is the classic example of the way in
which the non-Christian religions do not succeed in conquering Animism. This
weakness in face of the supreme enemy of all religious and moral progress
bears a bitter penalty. Among the animistic peoples Islam is more and more
entangled in the meshes of Animism. The conqueror is, in reality, the
conquered. Islam sees the most precious article of its creed, the belief in
God, and the most important of its religious acts, the profession of belief,
dragged in the mire of animistic thought; only in animistic guise do they
gain currency among the common people. Instead of Islam raising the people,
it is itself degraded. Islam, far from delivering heathendom from the toils
of Animism, is itself deeply involved in them. Animism emerges from its
struggle for the soul of a people, modernized it is true, but more powerful
than ever, elegantly tricked out and buttressed by theology. Often it is
scarcely recognizable in its refined Arabian dress, but it continues as
before to sway the people; it has received divine sanction."
Other writers express a still stronger opinion. "Moslem ritual, instead of
bringing a man to God," writes Dr. Adriani, "serves as a drag net for
Animism," and evidence confirms this from Celebes where the Mohammedan is
more superstitious even than the heathen. "Islam has exercised quite a
different influence upon the heathen from what we should expect. It has not
left him as he was, nor has it tempered his Animism. Rather it has relaid
the old animistic foundations of the heathen's religion and run up a light,
artistic superstructure upon it of Moslem customs."7
While Moslems profess to believe in one God and repeat His glorious
incommunicable attributes in their daily worship, they everywhere permit
this glorious doctrine to be buried under a mass of pagan superstitions
borrowed either originally from the demon-worship of the Arabs, the Hindu
gods, or the animistic practices of Malaysia and Central Africa. Regarding
the thirty million Moslems of the Dutch East Indies Wilkinson well says:
"The average Malay may be said to look upon God as upon a great king or
governor mighty, of course, and just, but too remote a power to trouble
himself about a villager's petty affairs; whereas the spirits of the
district are comparable to the local police, who may be corrupt and prone to
error, but who take a most absorbing personal interest in their radius of
influence, and whose ill-will has to be avoided at all costs."
At first consideration one would imagine that the stern monotheism of
Islam - the very intolerance of Semitic belief in Allah - would prevent
compromise with polytheism. The facts are, however, to the contrary. "Belief
in spirits of all sorts is neither peculiar to Acheh nor in conflict with
the teaching of Islam," says Dr. Snouck Hurgronje. "Actual worship of these
beings in the form of prayer might seriously imperil monotheism, but such
worship is a rare exception in Acheh. The spirits most believed in are
hostile to mankind and are combated by exorcism; the manner in which this is
done in Acheh, as in Arabia and other Mohammedan countries is at variance in
many respects with the orthodox teaching. Where, however, the Achenese calls
in the help of these spirits or of other methods of enchantment in order to
cause ill-fortune to his fellow-man, he does so with the full knowledge that
he is committing a sin." The missionary, Gottfried Simon, goes even further
when he says: "The pioneer preaching of the Mohammedan idea of God finds a
hearing all the more easily because it does not essentially rise above the
level of Animistic ideas; for the Mohammedan does not bring the heathen
something absolutely new with his doctrine of God; his idea of God
correlates itself to the existing conceptions. Animism is really the cult of
spirits and the souls of the departed. Yet spirit worship has not been able
to entirely obliterate the idea of God."8 He goes on to show that among all
the tribes of Sumatra, the images which are incorrectly called idols are
either pictures to scare away evil spirits by their ugliness, or
soul-carriers, that is to say, pictures into which soul-stuff has been
introduced by some kind of manipulation; they therefore either introduce
soul-stuff into the house (soul-stuff = life power, life fluid, hence a
material conception) and with it a blessing, or by an increase of soul-stuff
they ensure protection against diseases and spirits. The first group might
perhaps best be called amulets or when they are worshiped and given food,
fetishes; and the second group talismans.
In Skeat's "Malay Magic"9 it is shown that just as in the language of the
Malays one can pick out Arabic words from the main body of native
vocabulary, so in their popular religious customs Mohammedan ideas overlie a
mass of original pagan notions. "The Malays of the Peninsula are Sunni
Muhammadans of the school of Shafi'i, and nothing, theoretically speaking,
could be more correct and orthodox (from the point of view of Islam) than
the belief which they profess. "But the beliefs which they actually hold are
another matter altogether, and it must be admitted that the Mohammedan
veneer which covers their ancient superstitions is very often of the
thinnest description. The inconsistency in which this involves them is not,
however, as a rule realized by themselves. Beginning their invocations with
the orthodox preface: 'In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate,'
and ending them with an appeal to the Creed: 'There is no god but God, and
Muhammad is the Apostle of God' they are conscious of no impropriety in
addressing the intervening matter to a string of Hindu Divinities, Demons
Ghosts and Nature Spirits, with a few Angels and Prophets thrown in, as the
occasion may seem to require."
The very wide extent of Animism is often not realized. This belief is the
living, working creed of over half the human race. All South, Central and
West African tribes are Animists, except where Animism has been dispossessed
by Christianity. The Mohammedanism of Africa is largely mingled with it. It
is the faith of Madagascar. North and South American Indians knew no other
creed when Columbus landed, and the uncivilized remnant still profess it.
The islanders of the Pacific and the aborigines of Australia are Animists.
In Borneo and the Malay Archipelago it is strong, although a good deal
affected by Hinduism. Even in China and Japan its adherents are numbered by
millions. In Burma it has been stated that the nominal Buddhism of the
country is in reality only a thin veneer over the real religion, which is
Animism. In India, while the Census Reports record only eight and a half
million as Animists, yet there are probably more than ten times that number
whose Hinduism displays little else, and even the Mohammedans in many places
are affected by it.
There is no agreement among scholars regarding the origin of Animism.
According to a writer in the Encyclop�dia Britannica, "Animism may have
arisen out of or simultaneously with animatism as a primitive explanation of
many different phenomena; if animatism was originally applied to non-human
or inanimate objects, animism may from the outset have been in vogue as a
theory of the nature of men. Lists of phenomena from the contemplation of
which the savage was led to believe in Animism have been given by Dr. Tylor,
Herbert Spencer, Mr. Andrew Lang and others; an animated controversy arose
between these writers as to the priority of their respective lists. Among
these phenomena are: trance and unconsciousness, sickness, death,
clairvoyance, dreams, apparitions of the dead, wraiths, hallucinations,
echoes, shadows and reflections." According to this theory evolution
accounts for the growth of religious ideas. But all are not in accord with
this theory; it is opposed to the Scriptures. "A dispassionate study of
heathen religions," says Warneck, "confirms the view of Paul that heathenism
is a fall from a better knowledge of God. In earlier days humanity had a
greater treasure of spiritual goods. But the knowledge of God's eternal
power and divinity was neglected. The Almighty was no longer feared or
worshiped; dependence upon Him was renounced; and this downward course was
continued till nothing but a dim presentiment of Him was left. The creature
stepped into the place of the Creator, and the vital power, the soul-stuff
and the spirits of the dead came to be worshiped."10 This view is not
exploded by science, for the Encyclop�dia Britannica concludes its
discussion on the subject by saying: "Even, therefore, if we can say that at
the present day the gods are entirely spiritual, it is clearly possible to
maintain that they have been spiritualized pari passu with the increasing
importance of the animistic view of nature and of the greater prominence of
eschatological beliefs. The animistic origin of religion is therefore not
proven."
Aside from the question of origin we return to its content. It is in its
teaching regarding man's soul and the supreme importance of the immaterial
that Animism affords a point of contact with such words of Christ as "What
shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul." It
is the loss of the soul, the spirit the invisible life-principle that the
Animist fears: but this fear brings him into a lifelong bondage to
superstitions.
Among the Basutos in Africa it is held that a man walking by the brink of a
river may lose his life if his shadow falls on the water, for a crocodile
may seize it and draw him in; in Tasmania, North and South America is found
the conception that the soul is somehow identical with the shadow of a man.
For some of the Red Indians the Roman custom of receiving the breath of a
dying man was no mere pious duty but a means of ensuring that his soul was
transferred to a new body. Other familiar conceptions identify the soul with
the liver or the heart, with the reflected figure seen in the pupil of the
eye and with the blood. Although the soul is often distinguished from the
vital principle, there are many cases in which a state of unconsciousness is
explained as due to the absence of the soul; in South Australia wilyamarraba
(without soul) is the word used for insensible. So too the auto-hypnotic
trance of the magician or shaman is regarded as due to his visit to distant
regions or the netherworld, of which he brings back an account.
"In many parts of the world it is held that the human, body is the seat of
more than one soul; in the island of Nias four are distinguished, the shadow
and the intelligence, which die with the body, a tutelary spirit, termed
begoe, and a second which is carried on the head." "Just as among western
nations the ghost of a dead person is held to haunt the churchyard or the
place of death, although more orthodox ideas may be held by the same person
as to the nature of a future life, so the savage, more consistently, assigns
different abodes to the multiple souls with which he credits man. Of the
four souls of a Dakota Indian one is held to stay with the corpse, another
in the village, a third goes into the air, while the fourth goes to the land
of souls, where its lot may depend on its rank in this life, its sex, mode
of death or sepulture, on the due observance of funeral ritual, or many
other points. From the belief in the survival of the dead arose the practice
of offering food, lighting fires, etc., at the grave, at first, maybe, as an
act of friendship or filial piety, later as an act of worship. The simple
offering of food or shedding of blood at the grave develops into an
elaborate system of sacrifice; even where ancestor-worship is not found, the
desire to provide the dead with comforts in the future life may lead to the
sacrifice of wives, slaves, animals, etc., to the breaking or burning of
objects at the grave or to the provision of the ferry-man's toll, a coin put
in the mouth of the corpse to pay the traveling expenses of the soul. But
all is not finished with the passage of the soul to the land of the dead;
the soul may return to avenge its death by helping to discover the murderer,
or to wreak vengeance for itself; there is a widespread belief that those
who die a violent death become malignant spirits and endanger the lives of
those who come near the haunted spot; the woman who dies in child-birth
becomes a pontianak, and threatens the life of human beings; and man resorts
to magical or religious means of repelling his spiritual dangers."11
It is clear from the beliefs of the non-Mohammedans of Malaysia that all
things, organic and inorganic were once credited with the possession of
souls. This primitive Animism survives most distinctly in the well-known
Moslem Malay ceremonies connected with the rice-soul at seed-time or
harvest, but it is also traceable in a large number of other practices. We
are told that whenever a peasant injures anything he must propitiate its
personality, its living essence, its soul, its tutelary spirit call it what
we will. If the hunter slays a deer he must excuse himself; it is not the
man but the gun or the knife or the leaden bullet that must answer for the
deed. Should a man wish to mine or to set up a house, he must begin by
propitiating the spirits of the turned-up soil; should he desire to fish, he
will address the spirits of the sea and even the fish themselves; should he
contemplate planting, he begins by acknowledging that rice has a living
essence of its own which he is bound to treat with respect. In short, he
considers that all nature is teeming with life and that his own soul is
walking in the midst of invisible foes.
All of these evil spirits find worshipers among Moslems in the Malay States
today. The pawang or witch-doctor and not the Moslem priest is called in to
exorcise them. This he does with old-fashioned magic with admixture of the
names of Allah and Mohammed. "The pawang or witch-doctor is in great demand
by orthodox Mohammedan Malays, especially in times of sickness, although he
often appeals openly to Siva or uses such language as the following:
"I am the equal of the Archangels, I sit upon God's Judgment-seat, And lean
on the pillar of God's Throne of Glory."12
In reading a standard work on Animism by Kruijt, I noted the following
particulars in which Animism and Islam agree. The correspondence is the more
remarkable because my experiences have been limited to East Arabia and
Egypt. That is to say Islam in its cradle already had these features of
paganism or primitive Animism:
The putting of blood upon the door-posts and the foundations when a house is
being built (p. 23). The special importance of the placenta as the double of
the child (p. 26). Hair as the seat of the soul (pp. 26-37). Among the
pagans there are ceremonies connected with the shaving of the hair in
infancy. The Toradjas nail bits of the human scalp or shreds of hair to the
palm trees to make them more fruitful. The same is done with the hair of
infants. When a mother leaves her child for a journey she ties some of her
own hair to that of the child so that "the child believes the mother is
still present." Hair offerings take place as in Islam. The finger nails are
connected with the soul and have spiritual value (p. 38). Also the teeth (p.
39). Spittle, perspiration, tears and the other excretions of the body all
contain soul-stuff (pp. 40-47) and one may see in all the superstitions of
the animist the same practices that are related of Mohammed the Prophet and
his companions in Moslem Tradition. (See references given later.) The use of
urine as medicine is not more common among pagans of Celebes than in Moslem
lands where the practice of Mohammed the Prophet and his teaching is still
supreme. One needs only to consult books like Ed Damiri, or Tub-en-Nabawi.
The use of blood of animals, of saliva, of blowing, spitting and stroking in
order to bring benefit to the patient is universal among animists; it was
also common in early Islam and is today. It is recorded in early tradition
that Mohammed practiced cures in this manner. In Java and Sumatra spitting
is a common method for curing the sick (pp. 62-63). Among Animists amulets
and anklets are worn to keep the soul in the body; at the time of death the
nose, the ears, the mouth, etc., are carefully plugged up to prevent the
soul escaping. These customs at the time of burial are universal also in
Islam (p.76).
Among Animists sneezing is considered unfortunate, for then the soul tries
to escape from the body; yawning is on the other hand a good sign, for the
breath comes inward. Perhaps for this reason the Moslems everywhere ask
forgiveness of God when they sneeze, but praise Him when they yawn (pp.
92-93).
The belief that souls of men may inhabit animals such as dogs, cats,
gazelles, snakes, etc., is Animistic. The same is taught in Moslem books,
for example in "The Arabian Nights," which gives us a faithful picture of
popular Islam. The bones of animals contain soul matter and are therefore
dreaded by the animist or used for special purposes of good or ill (pp.
128). We may connect with this the belief of the Moslems that bones are the
food of jinn and must not be touched. Mr. Kruijt shows in Chapter VI of his
book (p. 157) that soul-stuff exists in certain metals, iron, gold, silver,
lead. These are therefore powerful protectors against evil spirits. Iron
objects are used to defend infants in the cradle (p.161). The same practice
is carried on in Arabia, Egypt, Persia and Morocco.
The soul after death takes its flight into the animal kingdom (pp. 171-180);
especially changing to dwell in butterflies, birds, mice, lizards, snakes.
May we not connect with this the teaching of Islam that the souls of Moslem
martyrs go into the crops of green birds until the resurrection day? Or
closer yet is the common belief in metempsychosis based upon Koran legends,
developed in the commentaries. Does not the Koran teach that Jews were
changed into apes and Tradition tell us that Jews and Christians were
changed into hogs?
When we read the pages of Kruijt on the Fetish (pp. 197-232) we are struck
in almost every paragraph with parallel beliefs current in Islam. Stones are
sacred because they contain spirits. Trees are sacred for the same reason:
"If a man has been successful in fighting, it has not been his natural
strength of arm, quickness of eye, or readiness of resource that has won
success; he has certainly got the mana of a spirit or of some deceased
warrior to empower him, conveyed in an amulet of a stone round: his neck, or
a tuft of leaves in his belt, in a tooth hung upon a finger of his bow hand,
or in the form of words with which he brings supernatural assistance to his
side" (p. 201). Word for word this might be said of Moslems to-day.
With regard to stone-worship Kruijt tells us of sacred stones in the Indian
Archipelago (pp. 204-210) which receive worship because they fell from
heaven (cf. "The Black Stone at Mecca") or because or their special shape.
Among the Dajaks of Serawak, Chalmers tells of the interior of a Lundu house
at one end of which were collected the relics of the tribe. "These consisted
of several round-looking stones, two deers' heads, and other inferior
trumpery. The stones turn black if the tribe is to be beaten in war, and red
if to be victorious; any one touching them would be sure to die; if lost,
the tribe would be ruined." (p.209) The Black Stone at Mecca is also
believed to have changed color.
Tree-worship, by hanging amulets on the tree to produce fertility or bring
blessing, is common in Celebes and New Guinea (p.215) not only, but in
Arabia, Egypt and Morocco. The effect of all this, even on the conception of
God in Islam, is of importance. Here also there are points of contact as
well as points of contrast. "What has Animism made of God," asks Warneck,
"the holy and gracious Creator and Governor of the world? It has divested
Him of His omnipotence, His love, His holiness and righteousness and has put
Him out of all relation with man. The idea of God has become a mere
decoration; His worship a caricature. Spirits inferior to men, whose very
well-being is dependent on men's moods, are feared instead of the Almighty;
the rule of an inexorable fate is substituted for the wise and good
government of God. Absurd lies are believed concerning the life after death,
and efforts are made to master the malevolent spirits by a childish magic."
Is this not true of Arabia also?
Regarding the impotence of Mohammedanism to reject animistic influences
which have dragged down to its lowest levels the ideas of God, Warneck goes
on to say, "Mohammedanism even with its higher idea of God, cannot introduce
into the heathenism which it influences any development for the better. The
heathen; who have passed over to Islam, quietly retain their demon-worship.
Instead of the purer idea of God raising them, they drag it down to their
own level, a proof of the tremendous down-drag which animistic religions
possess" (p.100).
"Mohammedanism," he says in another place, "has been unable to remove the
fear of evil spirits. On the contrary, it assists in the expulsion of the
spirits by its malirns. It allows the people to go on worshiping ancestors,
and adds new spirits of Arabic origin to those already worshiped. Islam
nowhere appears among Animists as a deliverer" (pp. 114-115.)
The missionary is not so much concerned after all with the fact of Animism
in Islam as he is with the utter failure of Islam to meet Animistic
practices and overcome them. Gottfried Simon has shown conclusively that
Islam cannot uproot pagan practices or remove the terror of spirits and
demon-worship in Sumatra and Java.13 This is true everywhere. In its
conflict with Animism Islam has not been the victor but the vanquished.
Christianity on the contrary, as Harnack has shown, did win in its conflict
with demon-worship and is winning to-day.14
Animism in Islam offers points of contact and contrast that may well be used
by the missionary. Christianity's message and power must be applied to the
superstitions of Islam and especially to these pagan practices. The fear of
spirits can be met by the love of the Holy Spirit; the terror of death by
the repose and confidence of the Christian; true exorcism is not found in
the zar but in prayer; so-called demonic possession can often be cured by
medical skill; and superstition rooted out by education. Jesus Christ is the
Lord of the Unseen World, especially the world of demons and angels. Christ
points out the true ladder of Jacob and the angels of God ascending and
descending upon the Son of Man - He is the sole channel of communication
with the other world. With Him as our living, loving Saviour and Friend we
have no fear of "the arrow that flieth by day nor of the pestilence that
walketh in darkness."
In order to guide the student for further study in regard to Animism and
Islam we give the keys that will unlock the subject; for if Moslems know
that we have some idea of their superstition they will tell us more. The
subject needs thorough investigation, especially in Egypt. The best book on
Animism is by A. C. Kruijt, a Dutch missionary in the East Indies, and his
division of the subject is very suggestive. I here translate the table of
contents of his book. Every subject leads out into a wide field of thought
and investigation.
I. ANIMISM
(1) The Personal soul-stuff of Man found especially in the Head, the
intestines, the Blood, Placenta, Hair, Teeth, Saliva, Sweat, Tears, Urine,
etc.
(2) Means by which this soul-stuff is appropriated, e.g., Spitting, Blowing,
Blood-wiping, and Touch.
(3) The Personal Soul in Man: The Shadow, the Dream, The Escape of the Soul
through Sneezing, Yawning, etc. The Were Wolf and the Witch.
(4) The Soul-stuff of Animals.
(5) Soul-stuff of Plants, Sacred Plants.
(6) Soul-stuff of Inanimate Objects - Metals, Iron, Gold, etc.
(7) The Transmigration of the Soul, especially in Animals - The Firefly, the
Butterfly, the Bird, the Mouse, the Snake, the Lizard.
(8) Special honor paid to Animals, Fetishes, Stones and Amulets.
II. SPIRITISM, OR THE DOCTRINE OF THE SOUL
(1) The Living Man - in regard to his Soul, its Nature.
(2) The Life of the Soul after Death - It remains in the Grave or in the
House - Its Journey to Soul Land.
(3) The Worship of Souls - Either through a medium or without a medium - In
Special Places or in Special Objects. The Priesthood that gives
communication with the souls of the Departed.
III. DEMONOLOGY
(1) Introduction on the Creator and Creation.
(2) The Spiritual Part of Creation.
(3) Animals as Messengers of the Gods.
(4) Predestination.
(5) Honor of man - Saint-worship.
(6) Demi-gods.
(7) The Home of the Gods.
(8) Agricultural Gods and Sea Gods.
(9) Tree Spirits and other Demons.
(10) How demons show themselves and how one drives them away.
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