Sunday, January 15, 2012

Allāh Derived From Allāt? Exposing Another Afrocentrist Anti-Islam Myth


By Wesley Muhammad, PhD © 2012 Wesley Muhammad

(Excerpt from Black Arabia and the African Origin of Islam)



It is popular in some Afrocentrist circles to claim that Allah is a patriarchal corruption of the paramount Arabian goddess Al-Lat/Allāt. This claim is largely based on a suggestion by Dr. Yusef Ben Jochannan. According to ben-Jochannan the Islamic god Allāh was “launched” in Arabia by the Arabian prophet Muhammad b. ‘Abd Allāh, who apparently (according to ben-Jochannan) converted the female goddess Allāt into the male god Allāh.[1] The implication is of course that before Muhammad replaced the female deity Allāt with his own creation, the male god Allāh, no one worshipped the latter.[2] Hindu nationalist Purushottan Negesh Oak likewise suggests that the male Allāh derived from the early goddess.[3] This is a most unfortunate historical reconstruction in that, while it is completely disproven by linguistic, epigraphic and historical data, it nonetheless is frequently repeated. But as pioneering Canadian scholar of Islam Arthur Jeffrey points out:

"The name Allah¼ was well known in pre-Islamic Arabia. Indeed, both it and its feminine form, Allat, are found not infrequently among the theophorous names in inscriptions from North Arabia."[4]

The male and female pair Allāh/Allāt coexisted in Arabia before Muhammad's time, with Allah receiving recognition as supreme creator deity. Western Islamicist and historian from the University of Minnesota, Caesar E. Farah, affirms that

"Allah, the paramount deity of pagan Arabia, was the target of worship in varying degrees of intensity from the southernmost tip of Arabia to the Mediterranean."[5]

Samuel M. Zwemer notes as well:

"But history establishes beyond a shadow of a doubt that even the pagan Arabs, before Muhammad's time, knew their chief god by the name of Allāh, and even, in a sense, proclaimed his unity."[6]

British Islamicist William Montgomery Watt has shown that  Allāh, before the time of Muhammad, was what students of comparative religion know as a “high god.” This means that while only one of several gods whose existence was acknowledged, Allāh was the supreme deity over the others.[7] One of these subordinate gods was in fact the goddess Allat, who was considered both the feminine complement of the male Allāh and his “daughter.” Thus Jacques Ryckmans, French historian of Pre-Islamic Arabia, writing on the gods of Pre-Islamic North Arabia notes:

"Al-Ilāt or Allāt ("the Goddess"), was known to all pantheons. She is daughter or a consort, depending on the region, of al-Lāh or Allāh, Lord of the Ka’bah in Mecca.”[8]

To suggest that Muhammad somehow 'converted' the female deity Allāt into the male Allāh is completely without warrant.

Prophet Muhammad did not 'launch' Allāh or his worship in Arabia. Second century CE inscriptions from Sumatra Harabesi in the Tektek mountains, Edessa Syria, document this. At an Arab sanctuary the “governor of the Arabs” left the following inscription dated to 165 CE:


                        
 (2) I, Tiridates, son of Adona, governor of ‘Arab, (3) built this altar and set up a pillar for Mār 'Allāhā, 'Lord Allah'.[9]


These inscriptions are 400 years prior to the beginning of Muhammad's reform movement in Mecca. But there are more, earlier examples as well. Evidence of the worship of Allah in ancient Arabia has been found in both the Northern and Southern portions of the peninsula. It is most documented for the Lihyan tribe in Northern Arabia. Four hundred Lihyanite and Dedanite inscriptions dating back to the fifth century BCE were found in the Nejd (Central Arabia). In these inscriptions are invocations to Allah. For example:
                       


                                                                         H'lh 'btr bk hsrr
                                              'O Alah, (god) without offspring; in Thee be joy'[10]

F.V. Winnet, who has translated these inscriptions, lists others in his article, "Allah Before Islam."

O Allah, permit me to accomplish salvation¼
O Allah, God without offspring, greeting
O Allah, guide me that I may attain prosperity¼
O Allah, God without offspring, knower of men¼[11]

Allāh is called in these inscriptions "The Exalted": Give favor to this rock, O Exalted Allah.[12]

This Lihyanite inscriptional material gives evidence of an early Allah cult center 1100 years before Muhammad. And who were the Banu Lihyan? According to al-Tabari the Banu Lihyan were the survivors of Jurhum, one of the twelve original Kushite tribes in Mecca.[13] They were a division of the ancient tribe Hudhayl in the northern vicinity of Mecca and al-Tāʾif, of whom the Encyclopedia of Islam describes:

"Their skins were black and shinning; their looks¼were not hollow but round and teeming."[14]

This was an ancient center of Black worshippers of the male Allāh that preceded Muhammad in Arabia by over a millennium. The evidence for the cult of Allāh in Arabia, however, does not begin with the Lihyanites, but goes back to the Proto-Semites.  



Notes
                             


[1] Yosef A.A. ben-Jochannan and George Simmonds, The Black Man's North and East Africa (Baltimore: Black Classic Press, 2005 [1971]) 25; Yosef ben-Jochannan, African Origins of the Major "Western Religions" (The Black Man's Religion, Volume I; Baltimore: Black Classic Press, 1991 [1970]) 212, 213.
[2] Wayne B. Chandler advances the same claim, quoting from the non-Arabist and non-Islamicist Amaury de Riencourt's critique of feminism, Sex and Power in History (New York: Dell Publishing, 1974). See Chadler's article "Ebony and Bronz: Race and Ethnicity in Early Arabia and the Islamic World," in Rashidi and Sertima, African Presence, 272.
[3] P.N. Oak, World Vedic Heritage: A History of Histories, 2 vols. (3rd Edition; New Delhi: Hindi Sahitya Sadan, 2003) I:696.
[4] Islam: Muhammad and His Religion (New York: The Liberal Arts Press, 1958) 85.
[5] Caesar E. Farah, Islam: Beliefs and Observances (Hauppauge, NY: Barron's, 2003 [1965]) 28.
[6] Samuel M. Zwemer, The Muslim Doctrine of God (1924) 24.
[7] Montgomery W. Watt, "The Qur'ân and Belief in a High God," Der Islam 56 (1979): 205-211; idem, "Pre-Islamic Arabian Religion in the Qur'an," 15 (1976): 73-79; idem, "Belief in a 'high god' in pre-Islamic Mecca', Journal of Semitic Studies, 16 (1971): 35-40.
[8] Encyclopedia Britannica 2004 s.v. Arabian Religion by Jacques Ryckmans. See further: F. V. Winnett, "The Daughters of Allah," Moslem World 30 (1940): 113-130.
[9] Retsö, Arabs in Antiquity, 441, 616 n. 5; Han J.W. Drijvers and John F. Healey, The Old Syriac Inscriptions of Edessa and Osrhoene: Texts, Translation and Commentary (Leiden: Brill, 1999) 104.
[10] F.V. Winnett, A Study of the Lihyanite and Thamudic Inscriptions (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1937) Plate IV.
[11] F. Winnet, "Allah Before Islam," The Moslem World 28 (1938): 243.
[12] F. Winnet, A Study of The Lihyanite and Thamudic Inscriptions (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1937) 27.
[13] Ed. de Goeje, Annales, 749.
[14] “Hudhayl,” Encyclopedia of Islam, 3:540.

11 comments:

  1. The Majestic Qur'an on slavery:

    16:75 The Glorious-Loving One sets forth a parable: There is a slave, the property of another, controlling naught, and there is one to whom We have granted from Ourselves goodly provisions, so he spends (virtuously) from it secretly and openly. Are the two alike? All the (Beautiful) Perfect (Majestic) Qualities, All the (beautiful-gifts) & (talents) and All the (thanks) & (gratitude) belongs to the Glorious-Loving One! Nay, most of them know not.
    16:76 And the Glorious-Loving One sets forth a parable of two men: One of them dumb, controlling naught, and he is a burden to his master; wherever he sends him, he brings no good. Is he equal with him who enjoins equity and (fair-dealing) with harmonic-balance, and he is on the harmonic balance path?

    Point One: oppressors and aggressors:
    If the oppressor attack you first and you defeat them, their property and their goods is yours. The oppressors need to be in slavery or prisoners of war to prevent mischief in the land.

    It is not virtuous that you turn your faces towards the East and the West, but the virtuous is the one who is devoted (with gratitude) to Allah, and the Final-Period, and the cosmic-forces and the Book and the prophets, and gives away wealth out of love for Him to the near of kin and the orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and to those who ask and to SET SLAVES FREE and keeps up devotional meditation and gives regular charity to nourish their souls and community with (beauty) & (goodness); and the performers of their promise when they make a promise, and the one who is patient, (calm) & (enduring) in a goodly manner while in the situation of distress and affliction and in the time of conflict. These are they who are truthful; and these are they who fulfill their duty of guarding against evil and doing (virtuous-loving) deeds to keep their innate (good) pure innocent virtuous nature clean. (2:177)
    And those of your (slaves) who are under your care, custody and responsibilities who ask for a writing (of freedom), give them the writing, if you know any good in them, and give them of the wealth of Allah which He has given you. (24:33)
    Will you not combat a people who broke their oaths and aimed at the expulsion of the Messenger, and they ATTACKED YOU FIRST? (9:13)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Majestic Qur'an on slavery Part 2

    The Beautiful Qur'an speaks for itself! Afrocentrics try to distort this! Dr. Wesley Muhammad keep up the excellent job you are doing!


    And those of your (slaves) who are under your care, custody and responsibilities who ask for a writing (of freedom), give them the writing, if you know any good in them, and give them of the wealth of the Glorious-Loving One which He has given you. (24:33)

    So when you meet in battle those who are undevoted (with ingratitude), smite the necks; then, when you have overcome them, make (them) prisoners, and afterwards (set them free) as a gracious-gift or for ransom till the war lay down its burdens. (47:4)

    8:70 O Prophet, say to those of the captives who are in your hands: If the
    Glorious-Loving One knows anything good in your minds, He will give you better than that which has been taken from you, and will help you. And the Glorious-Loving One is Very (Helpful) in supplying nourishments for further growth, The Most Beautiful-(Loving) Who out of His nurturing-love rewards all your good actions in manifolds.
    8:71 And if they intend to be treacherous to thee, so indeed they have been treacherous to Allah before, but He gave (you) mastery over them. And Allah is
    the All-Knowing, the Infinite Wise.
    8:72 Surely those who were devoted (with gratitude) and fled (their homes) from persecution and struggled hard in the Glorious-Loving One's way with their provisions and their lives, and those who gave shelter and helped — these are allies and (protectors) of one another. And those who were devoted (with gratitude) and did not flee, you are not responsible for their protection until they flee. And if they seek help from you in the matter of the Natural Divine System of Code of Life, Government & Constitution, it is your duty to help (them) except against a people between whom and you there is a treaty. And the Glorious-Loving One is Seer of what you do.
    8:73 And those who are undevoted (with ingratitude) are allies and (protectors) of one another. If you do it not, there will be persecution and oppression in the land and great mischief.

    ReplyDelete
  3. MAAT Teachings!

    The Afrocentrics need to focus on attaining to Divine Morals!

    They the Afrocentric needs to practice the Maatic laws!

    1. Pa-Neter (The God) is for magnifying his name!
    2. The house of Neter (God) what it hates is much speaking. Pray thou with a loving heart and the petitions of which all are in secret. He will do your business, he will hear that which you sayest and will accept your offerings.
    3. Pa-Neter (The God) will judge the right.
    4. What is loved of Neter (God) is obedience; disobedience hateth Neter (God).

    Afrocentrics need to start practicing this!
    But Dr. Ben say, there is no God!
    Will Pa-Neter be happy with Dr. Ben and the Afrocentrics?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Afrocentrics need to practice the negative confessions:

    Samples:

    I have not committed fornication.
    I have not dealt deceitfully
    I have not transgressed.
    I have not set my lips in motion against any man.
    I have not been angry and wrathful except for a just cause.
    I have not defiled the wife of any man.
    I have not polluted myself.
    I have not burned in rage.
    I have not stop my ears against the words of Right and Truth!
    I have not stirred up strife.
    I have not spoken scornfully.
    I have not stolen.
    I have never cursed God (Neter).
    I have not judged hastily.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Chapter 102:
    Al-Takathur — The Abundance of Wealth:
    Revealed at Makkah: 8 verses

    In the (Beautiful) Majesty of the Glorious-Loving One,
    The Infinite Good (of unbounded Love & Generosity),
    The Most Beautiful-(Loving).

    102:1 Desire and competition, for abundance of worldly (power), (wealth),
    (beauty) & (honor) diverts you,
    102:2 Until you come to the graves.
    102:3 Nay, you will soon know,
    102:4 Nay, again, you will soon know.
    102:5 Nay, would that you knew with a certain knowledge!
    102:6 You will certainly see hell;
    102:7 Then you will see it with certainty of sight;
    102:8 Then in that period you shall certainly be questioned about the
    bounteous-gifts you received in life.


    Chapter 110:
    Al-Nasr — The Help:
    Revealed at Makkah: 3 verses

    In the (Beautiful) Majesty of the Glorious-Loving One,
    The Infinite Good (of unbounded Love & Generosity),
    The Most Beautiful-(Loving).

    110:1 When the help and the Victory comes from the Glorious-Loving One
    110:2 And thou see human-beings entering into the Natural Divine System of
    Code of Life, Government and Constitution of the Glorious-Loving One in companies,
    110:3 Be (grateful) to thy Loving-Nurturer, Beautifier, Cherisher and
    Nourisher unto perfection to Whom belongs All the (Beautiful) Perfect Majestic Qualities, and to Whom belongs All the (beautiful-gifts) & (talents) and ask for His Divine (help) & (nourishments) for further growth. Surely He is ever Returning to (beautiful-nurturing love) & (goodness).

    ReplyDelete
  6. Chapter 101:
    Al-Qari'ah — The Calamity:
    Revealed at Makkah: 11 verses

    In the (Beautiful) Majesty of the Glorious-Loving One,
    The Infinite Good (of unbounded Love & Generosity),
    The Most Beautiful-(Loving).

    101:1 The calamity!
    101:2 What is the calamity?
    101:3 And what will make thee know how terrible is the calamity?
    101:4 In that period wherein human-beings will be as scattered moths,
    101:5 And the mountains will be as carded wool.
    101:6 Then as for him whose (perfect) equitable harmonic (balance) of good (beautiful) virtuous deeds are heavy-
    101:7 He will live a pleasant (blissful) happy life.
    101:8 And as for him whose (perfect) equitable harmonic (balance) of good (beautiful) virtuous deeds are light,
    101:9 The abyss is a (nursing) mother to him.
    101:10 And what will make thee know what that (abyss) is?
    101:11 A burning Fire.

    Chapter 96:
    Al-'Alaq — The Love:
    Revealed at Makkah: 19 verses

    In the (Beautiful) Majesty of the Glorious-Loving One,
    The Infinite Good (of unbounded Love & Generosity),
    The Most Beautiful-(Loving).

    96:1 Read and study in the (Beautiful) Majesty of the Loving-Nurturer, the Beautifier, the Evolutioner and the Nourisher unto perfection Who creates things in various-stages with new additions,
    96:2 He created the human-being in various-stages with new additions out of (love), a
    (beautiful) living-cell (Zygote), a leech-like substance which clings,
    96:3 Read and study that your Loving-Nurturer, Beautifier, Evolutioner and
    Nourisher unto perfection is full of (majesty) and very (loving) & (generous) in
    (giving)-gifts,
    96:4 Who taught by the pen for development of (reading), (studying), (researching), (science) & (wisdom),
    96:5 Taught the human-being (various-subjects) which he knew not.
    96:6 Nay, the human-being is surely rebellious,
    96:7 Because he looks upon himself as self-sufficient.
    96:8 Surely to thy Loving-Nurturer, Beautifier, Evolutioner and
    Nourisher unto perfection is the (true) goal of destiny.
    96:9 Hast thou seen him who forbids
    96:10 A servant when he prays?
    96:11 See thou if he is on the correct way,
    96:12 Or enjoins observance of duty of guarding against evil and doing
    (virtuous-loving) deeds to keep his innate (good) pure innocent virtuous nature clean?
    96:13 See thou if he denies and turns away?
    96:14 Knows he not that Allah sees?
    96:15 Nay, if he desist not, We will seize him by the forelock —
    96:16 A lying, sinful forelock!
    96:17 Then let him summon his council,
    96:18 We will summon the braves of the army.
    96:19 Nay! Obey him not, but prostrate thyself, and draw nigh (to)
    the Glorious-Loving One.
    Top

    ReplyDelete
  7. The Beautiful Majestic Qur'an:

    32:6 Such is the Great Knower of the unseen and the seen, the All-Precious, the
    All-Illustrious, The Most Beautiful-(Loving) Who out of His nurturing-love rewards all your good actions in manifolds,
    32:7 Who made beautiful everything that He created in various-stages with
    new additions, and He (beautifully) & (wonderfully) started the evolution of the
    human-being from clay minerals (inorganic matter).
    32:8 Then He made his progeny from a quintessence of the nature of (beautiful) pure liquid
    32.9 Then He made him with (true) perfect harmonic dimensions, and breathed into Him of His Cosmic-Energy (of beautiful qualities). And He gave you the faculties and gifts of (listening), (vision), (insight), (intelligent-centers), (brains), (feelings), (understanding) and (affectionate-love): Little it is that you give thanks!
    32:10 And they say: When we are lost in the physical world, shall we then be in a new evolution? Nay, they are undevoted (ungrateful) ones to the meeting with their
    Loving-Nurturer, Beautifier, Evolutioner and Nourisher unto perfection

    ReplyDelete
  8. This Verse is dedicated to Dr. Wesley Muhammad! I love the excellent work you are doing!

    42:11 The (Beautiful) & (Wonderful) Originator of the Universes (with its galaxies) and the physical world of matter. He has made for you pairs from among yourselves, and pairs of the cattle, too, multiplying you thereby. Nothing is like unto His Image; and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.

    ReplyDelete
  9. The Beautiful Majestic Qur'an:

    42:26 And He answers those who are devoted (with gratitude) and do good deeds
    (for) their (beautification ) & (excellence), and gives them more out of His (love) & (goodly-gifts). And for the ungrateful ones is a severe chastisement.
    42:27 And if the Glorious-Loving One were to amplify provisions for His devotees, they would rebel in the vast land; but He sends (it) down by measure according to His laws and selections. Surely He is the All-Aware, Seer of His servants.
    42:28 And He it is Who sends down the rain after they have despaired, and He unfolds and showers His (beautiful-nurturing love), (goodness) & (beautiful-gifts) far and wide. And He is the Loving-Guardian, the One to Whom belongs All the (Beautiful) Perfect Majestic Qualities, the One to Whom belongs All the (beautiful-gifts) & (talents) and the One to Whom belongs All the (thanks) & (gratitude).
    42:29 And of His (beautiful) wonderful symbols and evidence is the evolution of the Universes (with its galaxies) and the physical world and what He has spread forth in both of them of living beings. And He is All-powerful to gather them together, when He will.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I enjoy reading your Book Black Arabia and the Origins of Islam and
    God's Black Prophets! I enjoy and learn so much listening to your lectures and debates or discussions!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Beautiful said, "Afrocentrics need to start practicing this (MAAT)!But Dr. Ben say, there is no God!Will Pa-Neter be happy with Dr. Ben and the Afrocentrics?"

    ^^^^^ Agreed! Great question indeed.

    ReplyDelete