Re: So... I was told to state my theory on Abrahamic religions here.
That's right, I only slept for three hours the night before and I had dinner and drinks with some lecturers and professors afterwards, so I got up around 1:00 PM.
In any case, talking about Islam, and more specifically, its origins and the way it came into existence. Of course, professing that it "came into existence" is a form of heresy in its own right as Islam is, according to its own believers, "the original religion of Abraham". Regardless, it's worth taking a look at its history, its practices and its particularities. There are many interesting things within Islam that can be traced to pre-Islamic roots, be they Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian or "pagan".
We know several things about Islam (or at least, we're pretty sure we do);
1) Muhammad started preaching his message in Mecca around the year 600; according to Islamic tradition, he first spread the religion within his close family, before moving out to spread the religion in public around 610; after severe persecution, he and his followers (the so-called muhajirun) moved to Mecca.
2) Prophets in Judaism and Christianity are also acknowledged by Islam
3) Concerning rituals; the central "point" of Islam is the Ka‘aba, located in Mecca; there is a Holy Month in which Muslims should fast (including abstination from other sorts of "wrong" behaviour; sexual promiscuity, lying, getting angry, etc.); every Muslim is obliged to make a Pilgrimage to Mecca in his lifetime; every Muslim is obliged to pay the Zakat (alms tax); every Muslim has to pray five times a day.
So when you take a look at points one to three, there are several footnotes to be made, which in my opinion, are pretty interesting.
Point 1: Muhammad preached his message around the year 600; he moved to Medina after persecution with a small group of follower
For a first glance, this seems pretty straightforward; nobody denies that Muhammad did indeed preach a message of radical monotheism around the start of the 7th century. However, with critical analysis; two things are going to stand out:
1) The discrepancy between the verses revealed in Mecca and the later verses revealed in Medina; when he was still living in Mecca, Muhammad actively tried to harmonise the different traditions into a new, single religion; verses such as "There is no compulsion in religion" (2:256) or "The People of the Scripture" (2:62, 3:113) (including the relatively little-known "Sabians"; a group of moon-worshipers of a sort in Iraq). However, when he got to Medina, where he was the political leader with heavy responsibilities, the tone of the verses shifted:
Originally Posted by Qur‘an 66:9
The word the Qur‘an uses here is "munafiquna" which is usually translated as "hypocrites"; I don't think it refers to non-believers (kafirun) but rather to Muslim apostates who reverted to pagan traditions. In any case, that's not the issue here:
It's evident that the Meccan verses diverge so much from the Medinan verses; it also explains the shift of Muhammad from a religious prophet to a politico-religious statesman.
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Point 2: Prophets of Judaism and Christianity are acknowledged by Islam
The religious argument here being that Islam is the logical conclusion of Judaism and Christianity, and is such, is mandated by God and is also an excellent political tool to use when engaging (on a religious level) with Jews and Christians; how could Muhammad have known about all these religious figures being the illiterate merchant he was; this would only have been possible through divine power.
However, there are a few things that are also commonly accepted about Muhammad's life (besides, there are serious doubts on whether Muhammad was illiterate at all; it's not very likely that a merchant of his caliber and prestige was unable to read or write even the most basic things).
1) He had been in direct contact with a Christian monk (his wife Khadija's cousin, if I recall correctly)
2) In his travels to Syria in his youth, he was said to have discussed religion and spirituality with Christians and Jews there.
It's clear that Muhammad had at least some basic knowledge about how Judaism and Christianity functione; and when the hijra (exodus to Medina) came around, he was able to politicise this knowledge by pointing towards Islam as the logical conclusion of Judaism and Christianity and by pointing towards Jews and Christians as forsaking God by ignoring his message.
And later on, when Mecca was taken over by the Muslims and other tribes flocked to Muhammad, the acknowledgement of the Jewish and Christian prophets (especially by putting Jesus/Isa‘ in a rather elevated position), Arab Christian tribes must have felt more comfortable. In fact, some of those Arab Christian tribes did not initally convert to Islam.
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Point three: Rituals
This is a subject that intrigues me the most; I spoke at length about this with my professors of Islamology and Literature and it hasn't ceased to be interesting to me. So this'll basically be about the Five Pillars of Islam:
1) There is no God but God and Muhammad is His Prophet (and Shi‘ites additionally say; "and Ali is the viceroy of God")
This was the WHAM moment, basically; for Pagan Arabs this was a radical shift towards pure, uncompromising monotheism. There are some doubts about when exactly this was formulated (the whole Satanic Verses thing sprung from this), but I think that by the time there was no doubt about it. This was radical. I can't possibly stress that enough.
2) Salat; praying five times a day.
I've caught some flak for saying this earlier in a more private environment, but the point remains. This might have been influenced by Zoroastrianism (bolded by me):
In fact, there are five times of prayer in Zoroastranism; however, this is something I don't really know too much about, so I'm not (yet) willing to say that Zoroastrian rituals definitely influenced Islam. It's an interesting similarity though.
3) Ramadan
Periods of fasting and non-violence have been known throughout Bedouin and pagan Arab practice; there were holy places associated with Gods where warfare was forbidden; markets sprung up around these places and they quickly grew into sizeable towns and hotspots for people to come trade goods and information.
4) Zakat/alms tax
This is something I don't know too much about; however, I know that Arab culture was dominated by the idea of the tribe and the clan; physical and economic security was dependent on your clan. Deviant behaviour would likely result in death. I'm not too sure about this, but the instution of the zakat might very well have been a way of replacing the dependence of the believers on the clan, and rather to the umma (community) as a whole. In my opinion, this was a way of trying to demonopolise the position of the tribe in relationship with the individual believer.
5) Hajj/pilgrimage
As in the case of the Ramadan, pilgrimages to Holy places existed long before the coming of Islam in the Hijaz; the Ka‘aba in Mecca was surrounded by a haram (holy spot) in which many different kinds of Gods and demi-gods were revered. After Muhammad took Mecca, the haram was "purified" and the worship of idols was banned. In any case, the hajj is one of those things that most definitely has a pre-Islamic founding.
A final note on Arab identity
When we spoke in our History classes about the existence of Islam and its success in destroying the Sassanid Empire and bringing the Byzantine Empire to its knees, there were basically two things that were important:
1) The recent Sassanid-Byzantine wars, that left both empires immensely weak
2) The fact the Arab tribes were united for the first time.
While the first subject is something that should not be discussed here as it has had no real influence on the formation of Islam, the second point is important. The concept of a shared Arab identity did not exist until that point; I'm not too sure if the rise of Islam was the affirmation or the cause of the idea of Arab identity, but the idea of the Arabs as forming a single group probably was a reaction to the presence of Persian colonies in southern Arabia. Apart from that; anything goes.
In any case, I'm not yet a professional scholar, I don't speak Arabic fluently and I only started my academic career half a year ago; I'm not at all a good authority, let alone an authority at all on the origins of Islam; I just hope to have sparked some interest, because this is a subject that still requires serious research.
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