SPENTA MAINYU

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: "Ignorance is an affront."

YOU ARE INDARKNESS.

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The Memphite theology is about the god Ptah, the power of word, and the belief about the heart being very important and the seat of conscience:

• The command-word ‘be’ is the only ‘thing’ a god needs for the creation of whatever is willed. ‘The almighty’ wills and ‘it’ comes into being at that moment. In Sumer it was sufficient for the creator god to make a plan, and utter the appropriate word, his wishes were believed to be realized at that instant. According to the codebooks of the Abrahamic religions - the Old Testament, the New Testament and Kuran - the utterance of a simple word or a few words started the creation. Remember the command “Let there be light!”.  Read Kuran 16:40: “When we will something we simply say ‘be’ and it comes into being.”  Now you know where it comes from: The Sumerian mythology and Egyptian Ptah.

• Ptah and the Memphite Theology have transformed the Heliopolitan Ennead by giving the primacy in the activity of creation to Ptah.
• Ptah is the creator of the universe and maker of things.

• Ptah is equated with 'nun', the primeval ocean, and is presented as bringing Atum and all the gods of the Heliopolitan Ennead into existence by his ‘divine word’.

• Ptah also brings order out of chaos; (Like Marduk) fixes the destinies, and  provides food for mankind.

• Description of Ptah’s creative activities closes with the words “..And so Ptah rested (or was satisfied), after he had made everything”. (Sounds familiar? Yes! The god of Moses did(!) the same. And the account of creation in Genesis closes with an almost identical sentence. One can also find this time scale of creation in Kuran).

• Ptah also gave birth to the gods.

• In Egyptian thinking the heart and tongue represented thought and speech. Ptah the great is the heart and tongue of the Egyptian Ennead.

• By his thought and speech Ptah brings the gods into existence.
• Ptah was always represented in purely human form.

The belief about heart being  the seat of conscience also has its roots in Sumer. The heart and tongue issue could be found also in the Mosaic belief system and  in Islam, because they have all got it  also from the Sumerians and from one another. Kuran has tens of suras - which I would not quote here - in the verses of which there is a reference to heart as the seat of knowledge, feelings, sentiments, appreciation, fear etc., Those of you who are curious enough to bear reading repetitions of stories are referred to Kuran. In Islam, especially the members of the sect founded by Abu Hanifa believe that in order to become a Muslim one has to believe by heart and announce it by tongue. This is exactly the formula the human mind has invented about creation,  in Sumer and Egypt.

• This myth about heart and tongue and the power of the word came to light with a stone (Check the pages on Bible in this site) the inscription on which read “god said let there be light, and there was light”. The original text was written 2000 years earlier than the Book of Genesis (An identical expression appears in Genesis 1:3).

• In this Memphite text, god’s (Ptah’s) heart is presented as the ‘initiator’ of everything, and the god’s tongue is described as the repeater/echoer of the things thought by the heart: “ Every single sacred word was created by the thinking of the heart and by the order of the tongue.. When the eye sees, the ear hears, and the nose breathes in, they let the heart know. It is the heart which does everything and the mouth which repeats/echoes the thoughts of the heart. All the gods are created thus, even Atum (Atum is the god of the city of On, Heliopolis) and the Ennead" (2850 B.C.).

• The symbol of the ‘creator word’ in the Memphite theology is the power of the tongue of Ptah.

• Gods are the functioning parts of a bigger whole (These were turned into deities, archangels, angels etc. in Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam).

• Ptah, the enveloping whole, the totality, exists in them as the infinite life force and their ‘ka’.
• Thus heart and tongue have become sovereign on all the other members.

• He (Ptah) is in the bodies and tongues of all the gods, in all the living humans (Kuran 50:16 describes this condition as god being “closer to man than his aorta”), wild animals, reptiles and everything living”.

• The Sumerian concept of a self creating/producing and consuming/destroying god in the Sumerian seals dating 3500 B.C. is almost identical with the Ptah myth. Ptah  “..thinks everything as he pleases and governs them.. His Ennead is in his teeth and tongue. These correspond to Atum’s sperm and hand. As opposed to Atum’s Ennead being created by his sperm and fingers, and Ptah’s (Ennead) were brought into being by the teeth and tongue of Ptah’s mouth which can say the names of everything..

• Through the orders thought up in the heart and spoken by the tongue he (Ptah) is the one who gives life to the peaceful and death to the one who oversteps the limit.

• He (Ptah) is the one who directs and gets completed every deed/act, every art, the movements of arms and legs and all the organs.

THE SABIAN GOD - RABB

Now let us have a look at the Sabian faith because it is earlier than the Abrahamic-Semitic belief systems. The Sabian belief system is believed to have had  the strongest influence on the rituals of Islam (Check the pages on SABIANS in this site).  The tradition has it that, the 9th century moon worshippers of Haran laid claim to Sabianism in order to be granted by the Muslims the same religious privileges as the Jews and Christians. Modern scholars call this group as the pseudo-Sabians. These Sabians made Haran a flourishing center of learning in the 9th and 10th centuries. If Abraham - the patriarch of both Hebrews and Muslims - had existed and was a Sabian prophet, his faith should have predated both Judaism and Islam. Abraham was Bahram the Mandai of the Mandaeans living in Kutha who were called the 'Sabians of Abraham'. These were the real Sabians. Muslims called the Mandaeans of Kutha as Sabiî. This is to say that the Sabian belief system, most probably, has acted as a major source for the belief systems in the Middle East and the neighbouring lands. The Sabians are mentioned in various sections of Kuran together with Jews and Christians.

Star, planet and mainly Sun and Moon worship was widespread among the communities of the region in early ages. One of the renowned Islamic historians Masudi (d. 957) makes an interesting quote according to which the Sabians of Haran have ‘seven temples’ all of which were built for the worship of Sun,  Moon and the five planets. One of them is Ka’ba in Mecca. Three of them are in Esfahan and Khorasan, in Iran. Fourth is in Sa’na, Yemen. Sixth is in India, and the seventh in China. In Khorasan we have two temples; one of them is  the Sun-temple in Fergana and the other is the Moon-temple in Balkh. The renowned Islamic historian writes:

• “Temples of the Sabians of Haran are dedicated to the ‘entities of reason’ and the ‘stars’.” Among these temples there are some which have names like the ‘temple of the first cause’ (‘First reason’ is considered as the first cause) and the ‘temple of reason.’” Masudi gives us information on the temples dedicated to the stars, according to which the Sun temple was a square. The Hagarene Messenger ('Muhammad') is reported (wrongly) to have said that Ka’ba in Makka was built by Abraham and his son Ish'mael. We are told that the Sun temple was a square, and according to Islamic sources Ka’ba was given the name it has because of its shape. In some of the Islamic dictionaries Ka’ba is described as ‘a square house.’ So, Ka’ba most probably was a temple for the Sun.

• In the Sabian belief system Planets of the Solar System are considered as the angels and the bodies of the spiritual entities who are the intermediaries with god (One comes across a similar concept of ‘celestial spiritual entities’ in Kuran). Sabians in the days of the prophet Abraham have  believed that intermediaries are needed to reach the god; these intermediaries should be spiritual beings; these spiritual beings do move, but this movement does not take place in an actual location (not attached to a certain place). These spiritual beings don’t change, but they create, and  generate change. They relay god’s power and influence down to the inferior physical creatures. They are the governors/administrators of the planets, and their duty is to make these ‘spheres’ move, and they have an influence on the physical realm by doing this. These entities govern all the physical beings. They issue power to and establish laws for the whole of the beings which could be seen and heard.

Those who say that worshipping the Moon, Sun and the stars on the one hand and the ‘sole god’ on the other is a contradiction, should be reminded of  the existence of all the other ‘higher entities’ who surround the ‘sole god’ and share the same divine realm with him. These are described by the belief systems of the book  as the superior and inferior angels, satans and demons.

The sole god  and the existence of angels around him since the time of the Sabian faith and Zoroastrianism are not seen as something conflicting with monotheism. The Old and New Testaments and Kuran are the proofs.

Sabians believe in god. They believe that the good and the bad deeds by every person would be settled in another world after death. Therefore they feel obliged to stick to a proper conduct. This applies also to Jews and Muslims.

Here is what the Sabians think of their god according to Ibn Nadim (909-987? A.D.):

• The universe has an eternal reason (the first cause - god).

• Messengers are under the obligation of demonstrating the evidence of god.

• God has commanded the messengers to call everybody to his way which would make them happy; and to announce that everybody should save themselves from his wrath; those who heed his warnings would reach an endless blessing (paradise); those who do not heed his edicts would be penalized in proportion with what they deserved.

This is basically what the followers of Judaism, Christianity and Islam thought also about their god. The underlined sections are some of the fundamentals of the god of Islam.

The origin of the Arabic namus (honour) is nomos, which means ‘law’ in Greek. Therefore the people of faith are accepted as having ‘honour’, in other words they are ‘honourable’. To find the clues to the origins of the ideas related to the concept of honour/namus of the belief systems of the book and especially of Islam there is a book written by Zayn’ud Din Ibn’ul Verdi (Tetummet’ul Muhtasar Fi Akhbar’il Beşer), where he refers to a page that he has seen on namus’ (honour), which he says is of Sabian origin: 

• “Refrain from doing anything to your brother that you would not like to have done to you.
• Do not boast, Do not boast by mentioning your self and virtues.

• Do not swear on god’s name when you are lying, and never start with swears right away to make someone believe.

• Stick to honesty so that in your words yes will be a real yes, and no will be a real no.

• Refrain from making liars swear on the name of god. Otherwise you will become a part of their sins, especially when you know that they will go back on their word.

• Refer everything in you and everybody to god who knows all the secrets. He will be to you a just judge and a defender who shows you the solutions.
• Avoid uttering hollow, wrong and negative words.
• Do not cooperate with the persons who are lead astray.
• Do not joke too much and laugh too much.

• Do not criticize or reproach anybody. Do not utter negative words when you are angry, because this will put you in disgraceful situations and will bring on you shame and disregard, sin and trouble.

• He who conquers his anger, knows his word, purifies his thoughts, and keeps his self upright  will be able to defeat all kinds of evil and wickedness.

• Be conscious of the blessing.
• Turn to piety.
• Make dignity and maturity your habit.
• Try to decorate yourself with good and agreeable manners.
• Be balanced in everything you do. Do not rush especially to punish the guilty.

• Each one of you should separate himself  immediately from those who has  taken  the wrong path, and does evil, strange things. One should not think that one might save himself while his relations with those persons continue. Even if   he manages to cover up his doings in this world; he should not feel the slightest of doubt that his guilt will come out into the open in front of verybody in the ‘day of religion’ (on the day of judgment, in the nether world). "

The underlined sections are adopted by Islam,

Here is how the Sabians addressed their god according to Omar Ibn’ul-Verdi (an Islamic historian):

“You are such an eternal being that all the chiefs and administrators depend on you. You are the god of all the creatures who are thought of and who exist in the region of senses. You are the chief of the worlds and the shepherd of ‘realms.’ You are the ‘Rabb’ of all the angels and their superiors. Wisdom originate from you and reach the governor of the Earth. Because you are the first cause. Your might envelops all those who exist. You are a boundless ‘oneness.’ You are the unfathomable ‘one.’ You are the supervisor of the celestial sovereigns and the sources of light whose lights are eternal. You are the sovereign of sovereigns who dictates all the good and who forewarns of everything through revelations and signs. The creation and development of all the creatures is caused by you. The order takes the right path with your signal. The lights emanate only from you. You are the oldest cause existing before everything. We request you purify ourselves (spirits). We wish to succeed in winning your blessings. Now and always. Till eternity. O! god who is pure of all kinds of pollution/blemish, make our reason sound, and give us health free of all kinds of ailments. Turn our worries into joy. We take refuge in you only, and fear only you. We beg of you to let us succeed in expressing your immensity which could only be expressed by manifestations. This immensity cannot be expressed by words. Everybody and everything comes from you; everything and realization of every success depends on you. You are the desire and hope of the worlds. And you are the supporter of all mankind.”

The underlined sentences are the attributes of the god of Islam as designated by the believers. These sentences are almost identical with what a devout Muslim says in his/her daily recitation. The echoes here are of the ancient Greek thought, because the Syriac community which has included the Sabians-Mandaeans, was familiar with the ancient Greece as early as the Antiquity. When the Arabs were under the dark cover of ignorance and bigotry the Syriac community including the Sabians is claimed to have established  the ties between the Arabs and the west which ended up in softening the Arab-Muslim thought.

Now here is a glance at how the Sabians practiced their faith:

• Sabians have prayed three times daily; before sunrise, at noon, and at sunset. These were obligatory. Islam in the beginning also had three daily prayers. Kuran 11:114 orders: “Pray on the two sides of the day (meaning in the morning and the afternoon) and at the hours close to night.” According to Kuran 17:78-79 Muslims are again ordered to pray three times daily. Whereas a loose interpretation of 20:130 may be taken as an increase in the number of prayers. When we read 30:17-18 the number seems to be four: ..”when you enter the evening, when you reach the morning, at the end of the day and at noon.”   But later on the number was increased to five times daily. Kuran 2:238 warn especially to  “keep the middle prayer (the one at noon)”.

• Sabians had daily prayers with units, bowing down and prostration which is adopted by Islam. Sabians had three more prayers which were not obligatory but thought  as ‘proper’ to perform.

• Sabians would start  their daily prayers by expressing their intention to pray, which is adopted by Islam.
• Their prayer at the funerals is without bowing down and prostration, which is adopted by Islam.
• Sabians had the ‘call’ to prayer, which is adopted by Islam.

• Sabians of Haran turned to the North Pole while praying. While there were also other Sabians who turned to Ka’ba. The Hagarene Teaching (Sabian faith), which is the precursor of Islam has adopted also this practice of turning towards a certain direction, and believed to have established ‘Al Kuds’ (Yerushalim) as the direction to turn to in the beginning. This is wrong. The place they turn to was Bakka, where the 'first house of god' was situated. When the Hagarebe Messenger died the desert Arabs transformed his teaching into nationalist Islam and established Ka'ba as the direction to turn to (Kuran 2:142-150).

• Sabians needed purification of the body before each prayer. In other words, an ablution; the general word for cleanliness/purification is called ‘taharoth’ in Judaism and ‘taharat’ in Islam.

• Sabian faith has made compulsory  the ablution  following a sexual intercourse. Sabians were obliged to immerse themselves fully in the flowing water to get this bodily cleaning. Both ablution before each prayer by either water or clean earth, and the full-body cleaning is adopted by Islam (Kuran 4:43; 5:6).

• Urinating, passing bowels, breaking wind, and bleeding of the nose necessitated ablution in the Sabian faith. This practice (when sick, when travelling, after urinating or passing bowels, after touching women) is adopted by Islam. Sabians had to clean themselves after touching a woman in her period, and touching a woman in the forty-day period following the childbirth.

• There is fasting in the Sabian faith. It lasts a lunar month. This period is tied to the movement of the Moon. Their rule is ‘see the Moon and start fasting, see the Moon and start rejoicing.’  Islam has borrowed the period of fasting, and the rule of ‘fasting-rejoicing’ cycle exactly. Kuran says nothing definite about the period of fasting in 2:184-187. Islam maintains that the period of fasting, Ramadan, was the period when Kuran was thought to have been given to the Hagarene Messenger.. But 97:1 says that Kuran was revealed on the night of ‘Kadr’, which may be taken as the initiation of the revelation. The revealing of Kuran is said to have started sometime in the years 609-10-11 A.D.. The book is said to have been completed over a period of 20-25 years (Fahr-al-din Razi says 23 years). The choice is yours.

• Islamic scholars, especially Ab-ul Fida, writes that Sabians have showed great respect towards the ‘house of god’ in Makka and the temple in Haran and visited them periodically (These could not be the real Sabians of Kutha), which is adopted by Islam in the form of yearly Hacc (Kuran 2.158; 3:97; 22:26-29).

• Some orientalists point out that amongst the traditions of Hacc as accepted by Islam, there exist customs originating from the ceremonies of the Sun cult. They claim that the ‘stoning of the devil’ adopted by Islam has originated from the practice of driving away the ‘ifrit’ (jinn, satan) which pesters the Sun. Visiting the site of a god has its origins in the days of totemism and primal religions. Ka’ba was most probably a Sun temple and people were paying periodical visits to this place already before the arrival of Islam.

• Sabians of Harran had sacrificial offerings. They use the name ‘Rabb’ especially for the Moon god Sin. It is clear that Sin symbolizes the true sole god.  One kind of sacrificial offering, ‘offering of the first-born’  child, is very important in the Sabian belief system. Here let us refresh our memories on messenger Abraham and his attempt to offer his son I'zak. Abraham’s making an altar, arranging the logs in an orderly fashion, then tying up his son and laying him down on this pile of wood is in full compliance with the Sabian tradition (Check the pages on PROPHET ABRAHAM in this site). Therefore if Abraham has really attempted to sacrifice his son (I'zak is the name given in the Old Testament), it must have been because of his faith. Sabianism or another cult, we do not know. Because Abraham is not an original person but an in vented character.  Islam has adopted this story but Kuran gives the son’s name as Ish'mael. The reason behind this discrepancy is the fact that Ish'mael’s name is given in Talmud, which is not a divine(!) book but an authoritative source that deals in the main with legal matters, halakhot, which is based on the oral law (Mishnah); and the non-legal part of it is called the haggadah (‘saying’, ‘narrative’) because it includes the written form of the oral tradition and commentaries on it. Therefore the writers of Kuran must have considered the Talmud as a divine book, and borrowed this version of the story. This practice of blood-spilling, in the form of human or animal offering (which appears as a rule in the codebooks of Judaism and Islam also) is a remnant of the days of darkness which I am trying to lead you out. It is the most primitive practice performed by the 'pagans' who were expecting a favourable response from a higher entity,  which is the product of mankind's imagination.

• There is ‘swearing on something’ in the Sabian faith. The god of Kuran likes very much  to swear on many things like we read in Kuran 79:1-9; 91:1-8 and 95:1-3. Especially 91:1-8 is important because there we have the god of Islam swearing on Sun, the 'light of the Sun in mid-morning', the Moon, the night etc. Can you imagine the ‘most high’, ‘the almighty ’ swearing on the beings he has created? I can’t. This must be a remnant from a Sun worshipping culture, which the writers of Kuran must have overlooked while writing the book. The verse in Kuran 16:63 is unbelievable, where god of Islam swears on Allah!

• The Sabians in Haran and those Sabians which tow the line of Haran have believed in the marriage with a one women. But among the Sabians elsewhere, marriage reportedly with more than one women is possible if ‘all the women are treated equally.’ Christianity has adopted the first solution; ancient Judaism and Islam have adopted the second solution. This expression, ‘if all the women are treated equally’ is borrowed intact by Islam (Read Kuran 4:3).

• Marriage bond in Sabianism was finalized in front of the witnesses. Islam has borrowed this rule.

• Adultery is one of the fundamental prohibitions in the Sabian belief system. Judaism and likewise Islam have set very heavy penalties including death for adultery and all kinds of sexual acts (Kuran 4:15-16,19, 24-25; 5:5; 17:32; 24:2-11, 33; 25:68; 60:12; 65:1; 70:29-31).

• Amongst  the Sabians living in Haran and the Sabians who recognized  the authority of Haran, divorce is considered impossible without adultery or without the concrete proof of it. But for those Sabians among whom ownership is understood to have developed, theft, not washing during menstruation and not carrying out daily prayers were also considered as causes for divorce. In addition to adultery Islam cites some more reasons like disgust and aversion in 4:19-20; and open shamelessness in 65:1.

• Circumcision was  a very important social imperative amongst Hanifs/Hanifiyyun/Hunefa (This is how Sabians are called in Kuran. The term Sabian appears in Kuran also) who are recognised as the ‘people of the book’ by Kuran, and also called as the ‘Sabians of Abraham’. This Sabian practice is adopted exactly by Islam.

• There are animals the flesh of which are forbidden to eat according to the Sabian belief system. These are all kinds of carcasses; all animals killed without the blood flowing out; all kinds of carnivours with cloven/parted hooves; especially pigs and dogs, birds of prey and donkeys. When we come to Islam, carcasses, blood, pig, and those animals which are not slaughtered in the name of god are ‘haram/herem’ (Kuran 2:173; 5:3). The pig ban predates the Old Testament. It has its origin in the Sabian belief system and  Zoroastrianism. Another possible origin is a totem ban. Pig is a totem animal. That is why this animal should not be killed, and its flesh should not be consumed (Check the page on TABOO AND TOTEMISM in this site). According to Herodotus pig was the animal of a god who was the enemy of Osiris in Egypt. That god was actually called ‘pig.’ It was the god of night and evil. So pig meat prohibition may also be deriving from the realm of totems and taboos and has nothing to do with the trichina worm. Prohibition of eating the blood is the animism based taboo of the primitive communities. The god of Hebrews prohibits the eating of the blood and the reason is given in the Old Testament (Leviticus 17:11): “For the life of the flesh is in the blood and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul.” So that’s that! The taboo, a remnant of Animism has become a taboo for the Sabians and Hebrews, and Kuran has adopted it.

• Interest, and interest-based-profits are definitely banned in the Sabian faith. This ban was taken over by the writers of the Old Testament. The orthodox Jews have classified as outcasts the murderers, thieves, extortionist and prostitutes, as well as those involved in organizing gambling, those who had purchased the right to collect   taxes, and those who lent money and charged interest. The writers of Kuran have inserted the ban on interest into their belief system (Kuran 2:275-278; 3:130). Here we need to explain what is not allowed and what should be acceptable. This interest, or interest-based-profit is called ‘ribâ ’ in Arabic. The interest charged in our times is the cost of money, it has nothing to do with the ribâ of the Arabs.

Around 4000 B.C. writing was invented in Sumer. Some of the basic characteristics of the present day ‘belief systems of the book’ were instituted there. Then came the Semitic Akkads. In 2000 B.C. Amorites destroyed the Sumer-Akkad civilisation. They have established Babylon as their capital city, and 500 years later the Assyrians settled in near-by Ashur, and  they invaded Babylon in 800 B.C. The 'Babylonian tradition’, which was established  then had a deep influence on the myths of Canaan. Canaan was Israel’s ‘Promised Land.’ Like all the peoples of the region Babylonians as well tied to their gods their development and the cultural level they have achieved. They believed that these gods have revealed and taught their order to the mythical ancestors of the Sumerians. According to them Babylon was an exact reflection of the divine order, the palaces in the city were the exact copies of the palaces of the gods. People living in the city of Babylon felt themselves in touch with the divine power (The concept of a ‘sacred city ’  is adopted by Judaism, Christianity and Islam as well). They preferred to believe that there was a divine connection between the order out there and the order here on Earth. This connection was celebrated every year at the New Year festivals. The tradition was formed at 1700 B.C. The celebrations were held in the sacred month of Nisan (April) in Babylon. Babylon’s civilization depended on the sacred mana - the sacred power. On the fourth day of the festival Enuma Elish would be read at the Great Temple because Enuma Elish is thought to be the appropriate account of the creation. This Assyro-Babylonian ‘creation’ story is now the first chapter of the Genesis story in the Old Testament.

It is exciting to follow the circulation of ideas and works among the ancient civilizations from Sumer to Babylonians, Assyrians, Hittites, Hurrites, and Aramaeans. It is clear that Sumerians had had no influence on the Hebrews, because they had left the stage of history long before the arrival of Hebrews. But we meet the traces of the Sumerian concepts in the Old Testament, because Sumerians had a deep influence on the Canaanites, who are the predecessors of Jews in Palestine. This is the reason behind the similarities between the Sumerian texts and the Old Testament. This phenomenon, cultures deriving certain aspects from each other, applies to the concept of god as well. Therefore we must discuss the Canaanite deities who are the immediate predecessors of the Hebrew god, or rather gods (elohim). Why the Hebrew god you might ask? Because the Mosaic belief system had two concepts of god, one before the Babylonian exile, which should be called the god of Hebrews  and the other following the exile, who should be called the god of Jews; an anthropomorphic god before and a transcendent and omnipotent one after; this came about with the intervention by Ezra the priest.

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