Islam: In Light Of History

509 Pages·01.797 MB·English

by  Rafat Amari

Islam:
In Light Of History

Dr. Rafat Amari

A Religion Research Institute Publication
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Copyright by Religion Research Institute.
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ISBN 0-9765024-0-2
Printed in the United States of America.
First Edition, November 2004
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Contents

Preface ……………………………………………..
……………… 7
Introduction……………………………………..
………….... 10
Maps ……………………………………………..
…………….... 18
PART I- The Unreliability of the Qur’an and the Writers
of the Islamic Tradition Regarding History ..…….………..
…….22
1 - An Analysis of the Qur’an in the Light
ofDocumented History ………………………………..
…………..…………………23
2 - Those Who Rewrote History for Muslims…….……
62
PART II - True History of Mecca …….………….
……………….95
1 - Did Hagar Flee to Mecca ?.
……………………………….. 97
2 - Studies by Classical Writers Show That Mecca Could
not Have Been Built Before the 4th Century A.D.…. 104
3 - The History and Archaeology of Arabia Show that
Mecca did not Exist Before the Advent of
3
Christianity………………………………………………
………….148
4 - Absence of Mecca in Archaeological Records Found
in the Other Ancient Cities and Kingdoms of Arabia....
168
5 - The Absence of Mecca Through Studying the
Records of the Nations who Occupied the
Region…..173
6 - The Study of the Assyrian Inscriptions Also
Excludes an Ancient Mecca. ……………………….
…………………… 185
7 - Chaldean Records Also Exclude any Record of
Mecca During the 7th and 6th Centuries B.C. …….
206
8 - The Missing Merchants of Mecca ……..
…………… 210
9 - The Bible and the Ancient Mecca Claim…….……
212
10 - The True Story of the Construction of the Temple
of Mecca
………………………………………………………….
. 247
PART III - The Kaabah and Allah as Expressions of the
Arabian Star Worship …………....
……………………………… 268
1 - The Kaabah as Temple of the Arabian Star
Worship
…………………………………………………………
….269
2 - Who was Allah in the Worship of Arabia?. …...…
273
PART IV - The Case of the Ishmaelites and Islam …..…...
284
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1 - The Ishmaelites and Their Existence Throughout
History
…………………………………………………..
………….285
2 - A Discussion of the Claims that the Arabs Were
Descendants of Ishmael and that Ishmael was the
Foundation for a Monotheistic Faith. ..………………..
308
3 - Refuting the Islamic Claim About Mohammed as
Descendant of Ishmael. ………………………………..
…. 333
4 - The History of Quraish Does not Include a Linkage
to Ishmael in its Lineage.
…………………………………. 357
PART V - The Hajj, the Occult Umra', and Ramadan ….
369
1 - The Great Pilgrimage of Islam. ……….………….
… 370
2 - The Small Hajj Called Umra', and Occultism at
Mecca.
…………………………………………………………
….. 404
3 - Ramadan and its Roots …………………………..
…….. 434
Part VI - The Rise of Islam..………….
………………………… 445
1 - The Earlier Followers of Mohammed at Mecca, and
Jinn as
Muslims………………………………………………
… 446
2 - The Filthy Bargain.
…………………………………….. 455
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3 - To What Moral Category Should Mohammed be
Assigned?..
…………………………………………………………
478
4 - Islam as the Newborn of the Jinn Religion of
Arabia……………………….
………………………………….. 485
Index ……………………………………..………………….
495

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PREFACE
Preface
It was 20 years ago when I began studying Islam and its
sources. At the beginning, I thought the study would require me
to dedicate two years of my time. Also, because I preside over a
Christian organization which requires that I travel from time to
time to conduct prayer and teaching conferences in various
countries of the world, I thought that my study of Islam should
be limited to only a few years so that it would not conflict with
my travel plans. However, the study continued for twenty years,
compelling me to dedicate eight to nine hours a day, except for
Sundays. There was no time for vacation. I researched various
books written about the life of Mohammed and his sayings,
called the Hadith. I read, re-read and studied the Qur’an several
times in the light of the famous expositors of the Qur’an. I
studied other Islamic and non-Islamic texts describing the history
of Arabia before Islam and the Arabian mythology. Then, I
found it necessary to study the classical Greek and Roman
authors who visited Arabia and wrote about its geography. I
wanted to know if they mentioned Mecca.
My residency in The United States of America gave me
access to many of the major libraries of the world which were
instrumental in my study of the most important texts.
Unfortunately, competent scholastic work was very limited. For
example, I estimate that the total pages about Zoroastrianism in
the Qur'an in these texts can be estimated at not more than
twenty pages. When I thought that my study was complete, and
wanting to publish some of my works, I realized that the Lord
was urging me to do my own research on the sacred Zoroastrian
texts, such as the Zenda Avest and the Pahlavi Texts, and not to
depend only on what I had studied. This meant more years of
study and research. My study was further extended to examine
the sacred literature of other religions at the time of Mohammed.
I was surprised by the similarities I found in the comparative
study between the Qur’an and sacred texts of various sects and
religions at the time of Mohammed, including: Zoroastrianism,
Mandaeanism, Harranism, Manicheism and Gnosti-
cism. (Mohammed had connections with all of these religions
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ISLAM IN LIGHT OF HISTORY

and sects, mainly through the group called “Ahnaf,” which he
joined in his youth.)
I asked myself: “What material from other religions was
used in the Qur’an?” I discovered that much research had been
connecting the Qur’an with Judaism and Christianity, but almost
nothing had been connecting the Qur’an with Mandaeanism and
Harranism. Even what had been done was inadequate and trivial
when it came to examining Manicheism and Zoroastrianism as
major sources for the Qur’an. My own research showed that
these pagan religions had a major impact on the Qur’an, much
more than Judaism, Christianity and heretical Christianity at the
time of Mohammed. Suleiman al-Farsi was a priest of
Zoroastrianism who embraced Islam and became a close
counselor of Mohammed. His contact with Mohammed made
Zoroastrianism a major resource for the Qur’an. Since Arabic is
my native language, I used Arabic to write 800 pages on
Zoroastrianism as a resource for the Qur’an.
The study of Mandaeanism from their many sacred books
allowed me to detect the roots of Mandaeanism in the Qur’an,
which enabled me to prepare a volume of references about this
study. I prepared the same thing for Manicheism, Harranism and
Gnosticism as roots of the Qur’an.
I continued my research with the occult religion of Arabia
called the Jinn religion, or the religion of Kuhhan, the priests of
the Jinn–devils. The affiliation of the family of Mohammed with
this religion, and the existence of many of their doctrines in the
Qur’an, makes this religion an important root of Islam.
These religions were not alone. Another Arabian local
religion has obvious roots in the Qur’an. It is the Arabian Star
religion, in which Allah was the head; Ellat, the sun, was his
wife; and al-'Uzza and Manat, representing two planets, were his
daughters. These studies also gave birth to the Religion Research
Institute, a scholarly ministry which endeavors to help Christians
better understand Islam and its true sources. While this book is
still being written, I am in the process of preparing a study
course to help those who want to serve among Muslims, and for
those who want to help their Muslim friends understand the roots
of Islam. I want it to be easier for Muslims to make intelligent
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PREFACE
choices and avoid the trap of the untruthful data which they have
inherited.
The present text, Islam: In Light of History, has been
prepared as an introduction to Islam. It will be part of the
Religion Research Institute course to be presented in the first
year of our curriculum. Though I mention some of the sources of
the Qur’an in this book, this present text is not intended to cover
the sources of the Qur’an, something that I am going to treat in a
future publication.
I am indebted to all those who edited, reviewed and stood
behind me in this work. Finally, the book would never have been
written without those who held me before the throne of grace
continually in prayer. May the Lord use this effort to enlighten
many to the truth.

Dr. Rafat Amari, 2004

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ISLAM IN LIGHT OF HISTORY

Introduction
More than 1.5 billion people of the world’s population face
toward Mecca when they pray. They believe that the city of
Mecca was visited by Abraham with his son, Ishmael, who,
according to Mohammed's claim in the Qu'ran, built the first
temple, called Kaabah. According to his claim, Mecca would
have been a flourishing city in western Arabia ever since the 21st
century, B.C., which was the time in which Abraham lived,
although there is no historical documentation to support this
claim.
The claim itself was conceived at the time of Mohammed by
four people who called themselves “Ahnaf.” We read in the
narration of the life of Mohammed, called Ibn Hisham, and
written during the 8th century A.D., that the Honafa’, or Ahnaf,
was a small group “started when four persons at Mecca agreed
on some ideas. Those four were Zayd bin Amru bin Nafil,
Waraqa bin Naufal, Ubaydullah bin Jahsh and Uthman Bin al-
Huwayrith. They all died as Sabians.”1
The four founders of Ahnaf were relatives of Mohammed,
descendants of Loayy, one of Mohammed’s ancestors.
Furthermore, Waraqa bin Naufal and Uthman Bin al-Huwayrith
were cousins of Khadijah, the first wife of Mohammed.
Ubaydullah bin Jahsh was a close relative of Mohammed; in fact,
his mother was Umayya, daughter of Abdel Mutaleb, the
grandfather of Mohammed. In other words, he was a cousin of
Mohammed. Ubaydullah’s sister was Zainab Bint Jahsh, one of
the wives of Mohammed who was previously the wife of Zayd
bin Harithah, the adopted son of Mohammed.2
When Ibn Hisham says the group died as Sabians, this is
because the group often went to Sabian territory, especially Zayd
bin Amru bin Nafil, who was known to travel extensively to
Musil in northern Iraq, and to Jazirah in the northeastern part of
Syria near the border with Asia Minor (which is Turkey today);
and to Iraq, to inquire about religion.3 Sometimes Zayd was
accompanied by Waraqa bin Naufal on these inquiry trips. Nafil
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