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> That Jesus was a Jew (or Judaean) is certain in that it is found repeated in diverse literature, including in the letters of Paul. And, as the Letter to the H

> That Jesus was a Jew (or Judaean) is certain in that it is found repeated in diverse literature, including in the letters of Paul. And, as the Letter to the Hebrews states: "It is clear that our Lord was descended from Judah." True enough, it seems. But what about Muhammad? From what little I know, he was neither Jewish nor Christian. Before founding Islam, I mean. But it seems pretty clear that he worshiped the same god. In other words, what was the main Arab religion before Islam? I'm guessing that it was something like Judaism. Indeed, maybe there were many forks.

dragonwriter 8y ago
> In other words, what was the main Arab religion before Islam? What was the main European religion before Christianity? In both cases, there's not one unique answer. In terms of pre-Islamic Arab religion, Christianity (of a couple different major flavors), Judaism, Zoroastrianism, varieties of local polytheisms, and some others were significant.
betterunix2 8y ago
More likely it looked like the religion from which Judaism emerged, the ancient Semitic religion (polytheist, idol-worshipping). IIRC this is mentioned in the Quran regarding the inhabitants of Mecca.
- mirimir 8y ago
  This makes the most sense to me. As others note, there were many polytheistic traditions. Including, as you say, the ancient Semitic religion. As a biologist, I imagine it as a phylogenetic tree. One of the major monotheistic branches of the Semitic religion that's survived is Judaism. With its Christian fork, and the various Protestant forks. The other is Islam, with early forks (e.g., Shabakism and Druze) and later ones (e.g., Bahá'í and Bábism). Two other surviving monotheistic branches of the Semitic religion are Samaritanism and Yazdânism (among Kurds). I gather that they forked about the same time as Judaism, and before Islam. So I'm guessing that it was a similar fork that became Islam. It was rereading Matthew Woodring Stover's Jericho Moon that got me thinking about this. It focuses on an attack by Habiru raiders (aka Hebrews, led by Joshua) on the Semitic Jebusites in Jerusalem (led by Adonizedek). This was several years after the sacking of Jericho. The Habiru worshiped "Yahweh Sabaoth, El Shaddai", and considered him to be the only God (although he did have angels/aspects/avatars/personas, which could be summoned individually by sacrifice). I gather that the Jebusites (and other Canaanites) were also descended from Noah's Exodus, but worshiped other Goddesses and Gods, in addition to El (El Elyron). Which is, in part, why the Hebrews attacked them. Or at least, justified taking their land and stuff.
grumpydba 8y ago
Muhammad's first wife had a Christian priest in her family.
barberousse 8y ago
Pre-Islamic Arabia was polytheistic
ComputerGuru 8y ago
> In other words, what was the main Arab religion before Islam? I'm guessing that it was something like Judaism. Indeed, maybe there were many forks. Pre-Islamic Arab society was largely polytheistic, with pockets of Jewish tribes and smatterings of individual Christian and Zoroastrian priests representing the monotheistic element, the latter largely either as immigrants to the Arabian peninsula or via the influence of foreign traders, etc. When the prophet Muhammad emigrated from Makkah to escape economic and physical persecution at the hands of the Quraish Arabs, he moved with his followers (or rather, having already his sent his followers ahead of him) to Madinah (then known as Yathrib) which was home to, among others, two Jewish tribes.
- mirimir 8y ago
  Ah, this is exactly what I wanted to know! From Anwar-ul-Quran:[0] > Quraish was the name of our Holy Prophet’s tribe. Makkah did not possess cultivable land. It lay in a valley surrounded by barren hillsides — a land that was devoid of food and so its livelihood depended on trade. ... > As they were the guardians of the Ka‘bah they were treated with great respect by all Arabia. And from Wikipedia:[1] > Ibn Kathir, the famous commentator on the Quran, mentions two interpretations among the Muslims on the origin of the Kaaba. One is that the shrine was a place of worship for Angels before the creation of man. Later, a house of worship was built on the location by Adam and Eve which was lost during the flood in Noah's time and was finally rebuilt by Abraham and Ishmael as mentioned later in the Quran. Ibn Kathir regarded this tradition as weak and preferred instead the narration by Ali ibn Abi Talib that although several other temples might have preceded the Kaaba, it was the first "House of God", dedicated solely to Him, built by His instruction and sanctified and blessed by Him as stated in Quran 22:26–29. A Hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari states that the Kaaba was the First Mosque on Earth, and the Second Mosque was the Temple in Jerusalem. > While Abraham was building the Kaaba, ... So yes, they and the Hebrews were siblings. 0) http://www.muslim.org/islam/anwarqur/ch106.htm http://www.muslim.org/islam/anwarqur/ch106.htm 1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaaba https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaaba

dragonwriter 8y ago

> In other words, what was the main Arab religion before Islam? What was the main European religion before Christianity? In both cases, there's not one unique answer. In terms of pre-Islamic Arab religion, Christianity (of a couple different major flavors), Judaism, Zoroastrianism, varieties of local polytheisms, and some others were significant.

betterunix2 8y ago

More likely it looked like the religion from which Judaism emerged, the ancient Semitic religion (polytheist, idol-worshipping). IIRC this is mentioned in the Quran regarding the inhabitants of Mecca.

mirimir 8y ago
This makes the most sense to me. As others note, there were many polytheistic traditions. Including, as you say, the ancient Semitic religion. As a biologist, I imagine it as a phylogenetic tree. One of the major monotheistic branches of the Semitic religion that's survived is Judaism. With its Christian fork, and the various Protestant forks. The other is Islam, with early forks (e.g., Shabakism and Druze) and later ones (e.g., Bahá'í and Bábism). Two other surviving monotheistic branches of the Semitic religion are Samaritanism and Yazdânism (among Kurds). I gather that they forked about the same time as Judaism, and before Islam. So I'm guessing that it was a similar fork that became Islam. It was rereading Matthew Woodring Stover's Jericho Moon that got me thinking about this. It focuses on an attack by Habiru raiders (aka Hebrews, led by Joshua) on the Semitic Jebusites in Jerusalem (led by Adonizedek). This was several years after the sacking of Jericho. The Habiru worshiped "Yahweh Sabaoth, El Shaddai", and considered him to be the only God (although he did have angels/aspects/avatars/personas, which could be summoned individually by sacrifice). I gather that the Jebusites (and other Canaanites) were also descended from Noah's Exodus, but worshiped other Goddesses and Gods, in addition to El (El Elyron). Which is, in part, why the Hebrews attacked them. Or at least, justified taking their land and stuff.

grumpydba 8y ago

Muhammad's first wife had a Christian priest in her family.

barberousse 8y ago

Pre-Islamic Arabia was polytheistic

ComputerGuru 8y ago

> In other words, what was the main Arab religion before Islam? I'm guessing that it was something like Judaism. Indeed, maybe there were many forks. Pre-Islamic Arab society was largely polytheistic, with pockets of Jewish tribes and smatterings of individual Christian and Zoroastrian priests representing the monotheistic element, the latter largely either as immigrants to the Arabian peninsula or via the influence of foreign traders, etc. When the prophet Muhammad emigrated from Makkah to escape economic and physical persecution at the hands of the Quraish Arabs, he moved with his followers (or rather, having already his sent his followers ahead of him) to Madinah (then known as Yathrib) which was home to, among others, two Jewish tribes.

mirimir 8y ago
Ah, this is exactly what I wanted to know! From Anwar-ul-Quran:[0] > Quraish was the name of our Holy Prophet’s tribe. Makkah did not possess cultivable land. It lay in a valley surrounded by barren hillsides — a land that was devoid of food and so its livelihood depended on trade. ... > As they were the guardians of the Ka‘bah they were treated with great respect by all Arabia. And from Wikipedia:[1] > Ibn Kathir, the famous commentator on the Quran, mentions two interpretations among the Muslims on the origin of the Kaaba. One is that the shrine was a place of worship for Angels before the creation of man. Later, a house of worship was built on the location by Adam and Eve which was lost during the flood in Noah's time and was finally rebuilt by Abraham and Ishmael as mentioned later in the Quran. Ibn Kathir regarded this tradition as weak and preferred instead the narration by Ali ibn Abi Talib that although several other temples might have preceded the Kaaba, it was the first "House of God", dedicated solely to Him, built by His instruction and sanctified and blessed by Him as stated in Quran 22:26–29. A Hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari states that the Kaaba was the First Mosque on Earth, and the Second Mosque was the Temple in Jerusalem. > While Abraham was building the Kaaba, ... So yes, they and the Hebrews were siblings. 0) http://www.muslim.org/islam/anwarqur/ch106.htm http://www.muslim.org/islam/anwarqur/ch106.htm 1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaaba https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaaba