Note: This was not presented in a PSA meeting, this is outside research done by a PSA member and written for the blog.
Topic: “Pagan Roots of Islam”
Author: Nathan
Date: 12/1/11
Pagan Roots of Islam
Traditionally, Islam has been considered a religion with a strongly anti-“polytheistic” and anti-Heathen ideology. Of the three Abrahamic faiths—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam itself—it has sometimes been described as the “purest” monotheistic faith of all three. But, as one might suspect, the truth of it all has been a little more complicated than that.
It is contended that Muhammad and his direct followers sought to replace the existing Paganism of the Arabians with the Koran of Islam. With this article, it’s not so much about the beliefs of Muslims—which are similar to those of Jews and Christians, as well as to Heathens or Pagans (though it may appear “sacrilegious” to say so)—but more about the practices of Muslims. For example, the customs typically thought of as uniquely Islamic were in fact carried over from Arabian and Semitic Paganism.
The Five Acts of Service, or “Pillars of Islam,” are:
1) The shahada, or profession of faith, in which a person says, “I bear witness that there is no god but God (Al’lah); Muhammad is the Prophet of God;”
2) Salat, or praying five times a day in the direction of Mecca;
3) Zakat, or Almsgiving;
4) Sawm, or fasting during Ramadan;
And 5) The Hajj, or pilgrimage.
These are all considered uniquely Islamic practices, but actually only the second part of one of those, the shahada, can be correctly considered as such. This is the declaration that “Muhammad is the Prophet of God.” The first part, “I bear witness that there is no god but God (Al’lah),” was previously known to the Sabian peoples of northern Mesopotamia.
And, prior to the Islamization of Arabia, author Karen Armstrong writes, “Muhammad,” like other Pagans, “would have spent the month [of Ramadan] in prayer and would have distributed alms and food to the poor who came to visit him during this sacred period. (Armstrong 1992:45)”
The Sabians: They might best be described as “crypto-Pagan” peoples from in and near the ancient city of Harran—now in Turkey.
The Sabian peoples prayed five times a day, fasted for thirty days, and were also mentioned by Muhammad in verses of the Koran [Suras 2:62, 5:69, and 22:17, to be exact].
Muhammad, by the way, initially wished for Arabian converts to Islam to pray in the direction of Jerusalem, but ended up allowing them to direct their prayers towards Mecca, as had “traditionally” been done by them. The Sabians also did this.
The Eid Festivals have been the two main festivals of Islam. One of these, the eid ad-Fitr, marks the end of Ramadan, or the breaking of the fast. This is considered the minor festival, yet people rejoice more in the festive celebrations of it than in the eid al-Adha, aka the major festival. The major festival concerns a sacrificial feast that was observed on the same day in “pre-Islamic”Arabia.
Muruwah: Karen Armstrong also noted that, “Muhammad had based his moral system on muruwah, the old tribal humanism of the Arabs. (Armstrong 1992:230)” She described how, “Muruwah meant courage in battle, patience and endurance in suffering, and a dedication to the chivalrous duties of avenging wrong done to the tribe, [to] protecting its weaker members and [to] defying the strong[er ones]. (58)”
The Ka’aba: The center of Islam has been the Ka’aba (or “cube”), at Mecca. Prior to 630 “A.D.”, the Ka’aba at Mecca had been the center of Arabian Paganism. 360 statues or effigies (i.e., “idols”) were kept there, representing one god for every day of the year, except for the 5 days of the Hajj pilgrimage. This custom also appears to have been carried over to Arabia from Sumerian Paganism, which counted 360 days a year, “and five extra holy days. (Armstrong 1992:62)”
The Arabians, by the way, considered the sun to be feminine, and the moon to be masculine. These were represented by the goddess al-Llat, and the god Hubal.
The Goddesses, or “Exalted Birds” of Islam: There were three main Arabian goddesses at the Ka’aba which were later cited in the Koran. They were al-Uzza, al-Llat, and Manat (or Manah), and were also referred to as the “Daughters of Al’lah.”
Al-Uzza, whose name means “the Strong,” “the Mighty,” the Powerful,” and so forth, was a fertility goddess. In his article, “Arabs (Ancient),” Th. Noldeke wrote “[t]hat Muhammad himself offered sacrifices to her is expressly stated by tradition (Noldeke 1908),” that is, stated as such in Islamic traditional writings.
Al-Llat, whose name simply means “the Goddess,” was the Arabian sun-goddess, as noted earlier.
Manat (or Manah), was the oldest of the three, and was the Arabian goddess of fortune, and fate.
The Satanic Verses: These “Daughters of Al’lah” became involved in Muhammad’s attempts to win over the goddess-worshippers of Arabia—including the Quraysh, his own tribal line—to his new, self-professed Islamic faith. Muhammad, according to historian Abu Jafar at-Tabari, “was meditating in the Ka’aba (Armstrong 1992:113),” and attempting to figure out a way to appease the Quraysh in attendance.
At the Ka’aba, Muhammad then began saying to the Quraysh, “Have you considered al-Llat, and al-Uzza and Manat, the third, the other? These are the exalted birds whose intercession is approved. (Qur’an Sura 53:19-20)”
Here, he basically made them to be like angels, which are considered legitimate “intercessionaries” in the three Abrahamic faiths—although angels were also known of since the earlier faiths of Sumerian and Semitic Pagans. So, he ended up referring to the Daughters of Al’lah favorably, without actually acknowledging their status as ‘goddesses.’
Although his words, as recorded in Qu’ran Sura 53:19-20, were received very well by the Quraysh and the other Heathen Arabs, they were repudiated by Muhammad himself shortly thereafter, and subsequently became known as “the Satanic Verses” of the Koran.
Sakina: The goddesses (or at least one of them) might also be sources of the “sakina” mentioned in the Koran (Suras 48:2, and 48:26-7)—that is, the Divine Feminine principle in Islam. The Sakina, especially in Islamic Sufism, is comparable to the Shekinah in Jewish Kabbalism (aka the “Queen of Heaven,” or the Matronit), as well as to Sophia in Christian Gnosticism. The Divine Feminine principles in these mystical traditions appear to be traceable back to Pagan goddess-worship—which was why the Gnostics (including the Knights Templar) were considered to be “heretics,” and so forth.
More Customs: Meccan customs, such as venerating the Ka’aba, circumambulating around the Ka’aba for seven minutes, running through the nearby hills (Safa and Mawra) seven times [Tawaf], kissing the black stone (at the Ka’aba), and ritual washing (or ablution) before putting on white clothes [Ihram], are all customs whose Heathen origins were cited in the Hadiths, or traditions, that were written down after the Koran[i] [ii]. (I have included some quotes from and links to the Hadiths here as endnotes.)
The black stone and Ihram customs, by the way, both relate to the Arabian goddess Manat.
Symbols: The crescent moon was the symbol of Hubal, the moon-god, but contrary to some claims, he was not actually the chief god of the Pagans of Arabia. Al’lah was considered the supreme creator-god, or sky-god—like El of the Canaanites, and may in fact be traceable to Him.
The star symbol sometimes depicted with the crescent moon may have originally represented al-Uzza, in either the evening (“Venus”), or the morning (“Lucifer”)!
What are we to conclude from all of this?: Even if Islam had never come about as it did, there would likely still be people praying four or five times a day (Salat)[iii], giving alms (Zakat), fasting during Ramadan (Sawm), making the pilgrimage (Hajj) to and from the Ka’aba, venerating the Ka’aba, circumambulating around the Ka’aba for seven minutes and then running through the nearby hills (Safa and Mawra) seven times (Tawaf), kissing the black stone (at the Ka’aba), washing (ablution) before putting on white clothes (Ihram), and so forth.
The crescent moon of Hubal would still be their sacred symbol, along with the star of al-Uzza—and, Al’lah would still be worshipped as the creator-god!
References Used:
Aasi, Ghulam Haider (1999). Muslim Understanding of Other Religions: A Study of Ibn Hazm’s Kitab al-Fasl fi al-Milal wa al-Ahwa’ wa-al-Nilal. 2004 edition. Adam Publishers & Distributors. New Delhi, India.
Armstrong, Karen (1992). Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet, First U.S. Edition. Harper San Francisco, A Division of Harper Collins Publishers. San Francisco, California.
Brill, E.J. (1965). Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam. ed. H.A.F. Gibb & J.H. Kramers. Cornell University Press. Ithaca, New York.
The Fihrist of al-Nadim in Two Volumes: A Tenth-Century Survey of Muslim Culture, Number LXXXIII of the Records of Civilization: Sources and Studies. Bayard Dodge, ed. & transl. (1970). Columbia University Press. New York City, New York & London, U.K.
Hughes, Thomas Patrick Hughes (1965). A Dictionary of Islam: Being A Cyclopaedia of the Doctrines, Rites, Ceremonies, and Customs, Together with the Technical and Theological Terms, of the Muhammadan Religion. Reference Book Publishers, Inc. Clifton, New Jersey.
Katz, Marion “The Hajj and the Study of Islamic Ritual.” 2004. 31 Oct 2011
Noldeke, Th. “Arabs (Ancient).” 1908. Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics. Volume 1: A-Art. James Hastings, John A. Selbie & Louis H. Gray (eds.) 1955 edition. Charles Scribner’s Sons. New York City, New York.
Petersen, Andrew “The Archaeology of the Syrian and Iraqi Hajj Routes.” June 1994. 26 Oct 2011
The Qu’ran: The Meaning of the Glorious Qu’ran. Translation. (2002 edition). Abdullah Yusuf Ali (transl.). Asir Media. Istanbul, Turkey.
Religion and Culture: An Anthropological Focus, Second Edition. (ed. Raymond Scupin, 2008) Pearson Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.
Rice, Edward (1978). Eastern Definitions: A Short Encyclopedia of Religions of the Orient. Doubleday & Company, Inc. Garden City, New York.
Segal, J.B. “The Sabian Mysteries—The planet cult of ancient Harran.” Chapter IX of Vanished Civilizations of the Ancient World, Second Printing. (ed. Edward Bacon, 1967). McGraw-Hill Book Company (c/o Thomas and Hudson, London). New York City, New York.[iv]
[i] The following quotes are from the Hadiths of Sahih Bukhari (Volume 2), Book 26: Pilgrimmage (Hajj), Numbers 706 & 710, respectively:
· Narrated ‘Urwa: I asked ‘Aisha: …But in fact, this divine inspiration was revealed concerning the Ansar who used to assume Ihram for worshipping an idol called “Manat” which they used to worship at a place called Al-Mushallal before they embraced Islam, and whoever assumed Ihram (for the idol) would consider it not right to perform Tawaf between Safa and Marwa.
· Narrated ‘Asim: I asked Anas bin Malik: ‘Did you use[d] to dislike to perform Tawaf between Safa and Marwa?” He said, “Yes, as it was of the ceremonies of the days of the Pre-Islamic period of ignorance, till Allah revealed: ‘Verily! (The two mountains) As-Safa and Al-Marwa are among the symbols of Allah. It is therefore no sin for him who performs the pilgrimage to the Ka’ba, or performs ‘Umra, to perform Tawaf between them.
[ii] These quotes can be checked out with the following links:
“Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement,” University of Southern California.
--or the Muslim Student Association of Southern California’s website:
[iii] Ghulam Haider Aasi’s book, quoting Ibn Hazm (a jurist and philosopher from the 11th century), says five times a day; J.B. Segal’s article says four times.
[iv] For more information on the Sabians, there is also:
Pingree, David “The Sabians of Harran and the Classical Tradition.” Summer 2002. 25 Oct 2011
