Islam and Mohammedanism

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Part of The Cabletow

Title: Islam and Mohammedanism
Creator: Benavides, Irineo D.
Language: English
Source: The Cabletow XLIV (9) September 1968
Year: 1968
Subject: Islam
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Fulltext: Time to learn ... • Bro. Irineo D. Benavides (50) • ISLAM AND MOHAMMEDANISM Masonry being the first advocate of Ecumenism, its teachings in fact considered religion in its objec tivity, it is well for Masons to learn how religions came into being. This time we shall trace the history of Islam, in its Mohammedan version. To understand this subject it is necessary to first clarify the meaning >f certain terms:— ISLAM — This is the faith itself, the formula of which is identical to the Jewish religion called Judaism; — There is only one God, Allah. The Judaists believe: There is only one God, Jehovah. MOSLEM — Those who believe in Islam are called Muslims or Mos lems, regardless of their citizenship or nationality. MOHAMMEDANISM — This is a modification of the original Islam ism, which will eventually be ex plained in our discussion of the sub ject. It is identical to the Chris tianity of Martin Luther, that is. Pro testantism, in contrast with the Chris tianity as understood by the Roman Catholic Church, said to be the ori ginal creed. I _ GNOSTICISM All religions of the world, except the Japahese Shintoism, originated from a common .source: Gnosticism. Gnosticism is defined as “A philoso phic-religious movement of pre-Chris tian times and later, having several forms, Pagan and Christian, all of which were characterized by the cen tral doctrine that emancipation came through knowledge, gnosis, the pos session of which saved the initiates from the clutch of matter.” This definition from a standard dictionary is objectionable in the sense that all religions, not Chris tian, are generalized in that word “Pagan” which is unacademic. But the definition is still very in structive. It projects the proposition that gnosis (knowledge of the Will of the Supreme Being) is the cause of emancipation, the application, ful fillment or implementation of it in an individual’s life “saves him from the clutch of matter.” It must be perceived that without application or implementation of the knowledge into practical life is no knowledge (gnosis') at all, and, there fore, emancipation does not also op erate — it aggravates, on the other hand! Buy why should “initiates" fear the “clutch of matter?” “Matter” in this case refers to flesh and bones into which the SOUL of a man is incarnated. The Spirit be comes flesh. One cannot be proper ly called a man unless he is in mate rial form, regardless of sex,—a spiri tual body manifested in matter. Gnosticism projects the Trinitarian Principle (Triad) the belief that an individual person is a trinity bv na ture, consisting of the soul, the mind, and the physical body. The soul, however, is the real Self, the Ego: and while being a man this Ego is Incarcerated in matter, its physical body. The suggestion here is very ap parent : — that matter, the physical body, is a bane to the Ego, so that, by the nature of existence it inducts him (the Ego) to seek emancipation and release from this baneful condi tion. Egyptian Princess, Thouoris, daughtTum to noxt pogo SEPTEMBER, 1968 er of Sescstris-Ramses, by virtue of this adoption he was legally initiated into these Mysteries. Excepting Shintoism and the pure ly paganic faiths of aboriginal savage tribes, all religions in the world de rived their existence from Gnosti cism. This is the subject in the XXVI degree: Prince of Mercy, or Scottish Trinitarian.” Gnosticism does not only explain the trinitarian principle of an indivi dual, but of the Unit, the boundless nature of INFINITY itself. God is the Infinite Spirit, of which the Ego of a man is just a spark: so that the struggle for emancipation and re lease from “matter” (the physical form of man) is the natural sequence in the order of creation to attain what is known in Mysticism as the Unitwe Lijc. "Thus dust returns to dust from whence it came,” while the soul re turns to its Source, the Sublime Spi rit, God,—of course, if and when the soul has been absolutely and com pletely "released from the clutch of matter.” II — THE SCRIPTURES Although the so called “Scriptures” is generally attributed to the Heb rews, there are those who believe that it is impossible it did not suf fer from influences of Arabic cultures and traditions. Ruth of the Old Testament of the Bible was not a Jewess, but an Arab, and she had mothered Jewish kings that is, Ruth mothered a son who ushered the dy nasty of Jewish kings which reigned over the kingdom for centuries. Mod ern psychologists would tell us how mothers share in the formation of the minds of children that spring from their wombs, especially in those good old days when the careers for women were concentrated to the bear ing and rearing of children. But the original Islam is said to have been founded upon the Scrip tures, because the Muslims (prior to Mohammedanism) were generally of the Meccans, an Arabic tribe that claims descent from Abraham, through his son Ishmael. Verse 15 of chapter XVI of Genesis re cords: “And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son’s name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael.” Abram is the same person whose name was afterwards for cause changed to Abraham, in the same manner that Simon, the fisherman of Galilee, for his great faith in Jesus of Nathareth, became known as Pe ter, the Rock. Ishmael founded the City of Mecca, and the Meccans look back to Abraham as their patriarchal ancestor. But although their descent is from Abraham, a J civ, the Mec cans, nevertheless, clung to their ra rial or tribal identity as Arabs. Now, the Scriptures, particularly the first five books of the Old Testa ment of the Bible, was not written in their original forms, but were kept in the minds of men, and were handed down from generation to generation as "tales” or unwritten “annals” for many centuries. In this process, un til the Scriptures were finally re duced to writing Gnosticism must have given a hand in its formation Moses, to whom authorship of these books is attributed generally, was ini tiated, when he was still a hoy, into a "brotherhood” of Indian origin. It was a mystic fraternity, like Mason rv. which taught ethics and morals by symbolism, and, again like Ma sonry, and the Essenic organizations that existed in the centuries imme diately before and after the First Year, A.D., this “brotherhood” into which Moses was initiated admitted men only fo the masculine sex. There was a royal decree in Egypt at the time that all male members of the Egyptian Royalty must be initiated into this Mystic Brotherhood, and Turn to page 91 16 ISLAM AND MOHAMMEDANISM . . . From page 10 Moses having been adopted by the Jews. If the first five books of the Old Testament of the Bible, the Scrip tures, is attributed to Moses, whose background is traceable to the Egyp tian Mysteries, a gnostic brotherhood of Indian origin, can the Scriptures be free from influences other than Hebrew or Jewish culture and tra dition? Ill — THE “HUNAFA” In this city of Mecca a temple, the Ka’bah, was built by Abraham, according to tradition, for the wor ship of the only One God. Islamism at the beginning, in its ritualistic forms of worship, included the re quirement that worshippers turned their faces towards the city of Jeru salem, where the Temple of Solo mon was located. The Muslims were taught the ethics and morals con tained in the Scriptures and in Gnos ticism, including the evils of fighting. That fighting was an evil to be in grained in the minds of. the Mus lims, that, as Mohammed Marmaduke Pickthall, a translator of the Koran, had written, ‘the Muslims would not fight even in self-defense.” But as the years passed by, Islam ism in the temple of Ka’bah became influenced bv idolatry, and “interces sors" called the “daughters of Al lah,” were worshipped as idols. This idolatrous practice incurred the ob jection of some Muslims who openly rebelled by refusing to participate in the worships in temple of ka’bah, but would rather worship in isolation, avoidance or retirement. These Mus lim “turn-awavs” were considered "agnostics” and were called the Hunafa (the singular of which is Hanif) enemies of Islamism. "Mohammad, >on of Abdullah, son of Abdul Muttalib. of the tribe of Quervsh, bom in Mecca fifty-three years before the Hijrah” (Hejira, the flight of Mo hammed from Mecca to Medina in A.D. 622) was a HANIF. The re bellious spirit of Mohammed was shown by his refusal to participate in the Islamic worship of the “inter cessors” the “daughters of Allah” in the temple of Ka’bah. He retreated to some isolated and secluded places to worship with those who rebelled with him, the Hunafa, which accord ing to history, steadily increased in number. The favorite retreat of the Hunafa was on the Hira, a dessert hill not far from Mecca, and in the “month of the heat," Ramadan, it is recorded (hat Mohammed personally sought the isolation and seclusion of the hill for his meditation. At this juncture we invite atten tion to the fact that historical ac counts of the Hunafa, and of Moham mad the Hanif in particular, give in dications that the Psychology of Mys ticism prevailed among the members. In other words, they were inclined to seclusion and meditation, like the F.ssenian cults that were very com mon some two hundred years B.C. The Hunafa were not called mystics, however, neither were they given the attributes of Essenes, but “agnostics.” The Hunafa were not "agnostics” in the real sense of the word, which means believers in the doctrine that the existence or nature of God, nor the; ultimate origin of the universe, is known or knowable. The Hunafa were merely faithful Muslims who would not poin the other Muslims in the Temple of Ka’bah in worship. The Temple of Ka’bah was still re cognized by the Hunafa as that of Abraham, and given the reverence it was due according to their custom and belief, but they turned away in worship from the temple only be cause of their rejection of the wor ship of "the daughters of Allah” the “intercessors.” Turn Io ««t page SEPTEMBER, 1968 21 IV — MOHAMMED. A MYSTIC? Muhammed (Mohammad is also correct) was a Hanif, and history reveals that he was subject to con templative life. This term “contem plative life,” is a stage, the third stage, in "mysticism" according to the Psychology of Mysticism, a scien tific study of the subject. We will discuss it in brief, for the reader’s lienefit. The stages of Mysticism are; 1. Purgative Life, 2. Mediative Life, 3. Contemplative Life, and 4. Unitive Life. When the “unitive life” is attained, the subject is considered a "mystic.” In the first stage the physical body of the subject is purged of its sen sual feelings and wants; in the sec ond, the mind is trained to function in the normative formal principles of reasoning and thinking; in the third, the mind is trained to focus intently on a particular subject (contempla tion) so that while in this conteipplation of a topic the physical body of the person, the one in contemplation, is insensitive to all influences of its surroundings, and of its owil physical demands, like hunger, thirst, etc., etc., etc. Muhammed, as a Hanif, and an illiterate, (he could not read or write.) became some kind of a “mys tic” of the third stage, the “contem plative life.” In the desert cave at Hira in the month of Ramadan, while in retreat with his family, it is written of Mu hammad : — "He was asleep or in a trance when he heard a voice say: ‘Read!’ He said: ‘I cannot read.’ The voice again said: ‘Read!’ He said: I cannot read.’ A third time the voice, more terrible, commanded: ■Read!’ He said: ‘What can I read?’ The voice said: " ‘Read: In the name of thy Lord Who createth. ‘Createth man from a clot. Read: And it is thy Lord the Most Bountiful Who teacheth by the pen, Teacheth man that which he knew not.’ ’’ (Surah XCVI, 1-5.) "When he awoke the words re mained ‘as if inscribed upon his heart.’ He went out of the cave on to the hillside and heard the same awe-inspiring voice say: * O Muhammad! Thou are Allah's mes senger. ..." The tradition of Mohammed con tinues that he was awed when he saw the angel Gabriel, “in the form of a man, standing in the sky above the horizon.” The account, (call it History or Tradition as you may please,) continues: “Muhammad (God bless and keep him) stood quite still, turning away his face from the brightness of the vision, but whithersover he might turn his face, there always stood the angel confronting him. He remained thus a long while till at length the angel vanished, when he returned in great distress of mind to his wife Khadijah. She did her best to reassure him, say ing that his conduct had been such that Allah would not let a harm ful spirit come to him and that it was her hope that he was to be come the Prophet of the people. On their return to Mecca she took him to her cousin, Waraqa Ibn Naufal, a very old man, ‘who de clared his belief that the heavenly messenger who came to Moses of old had come to Muhammad, and that he was chosen as the Prophet of his people." (From the Introduc tion to the Koran.) There—we have a mental picture of Muhammad, (Mohammed) who was not a "mystic” in the standard of the Psychology of Mysticism, but an ordinary man who fell into pe riodic trances (contemplative life) to "read” the “Will of Allah.” There are various writings attrib uted to Mohammed, or claimed to have originated from him: — those coming from him while in his nor mal senses are called or classified as 22 The Cabletow the Hadith or Sunnah, and those that catne from him, while in the condi tion of trance are classified as the Surah, numbering all in all, CXIV, and make up the KORAN of the Mohammedan Muslims. Thus, we hope, we have explained satisfactorily the difference between th original ISLAM and the MO HAMMEDAN ISLAM. But before concluding we would like to state that we have written this article for its literary value, and not to prose lyte. Ecumenism being the order of the day, conceived and started by no less than Pope John XXIII, a Ro man Catholic, and the Muslims in the Philippines are a small minority group, it is only proper that we should also know and understand their culture. JUDAISM, the religion founded by the Jews upon the Scriptures, which were largely influenced by Gnosticism, had its counterpart among the Arabs in ISLAM, their ancient religion. Fundamentally there was no difference between these two faiths, but in the name, and Muslims also claim that their knowledge of the Scriptures is authentic, having originated from Abraham, through his son, Ishmael — the Jews des cended from Abraham through his "on. Isaac. V - CONCLUSION b'or conclusion we just want to re capitulate the facts without any com mentary. The original Muslims were the Meccans, an Arabic tribe descend ing from Ishmael, son of Abraham, who founded the city of Mecca. Abra ham built a temple for his children to worship the One God, this temple to come down through the genera tions as the temple of Ka’bah. The One God, whom the Muslims wor-hipped was to them called ALLAH. in contrast with the same One God, whom the Jews called JEHOVAH. For centuries and generations, Is lamism was devoted to monotheistic worship of Allah, until afterwards the faith developed the belief of worship ping also certain “daughters of Al lah” who could "intercede” for them to Allah. This belief has been ac cepted for centuries without question, until about the birth of “Muhammad, son of Abdullah, son of Abdul Muttalib, of the tribe of Qureysh, when some Muslim thinkers begun to ques tion the propriety of this form of IDOLATRY. These Muslims, who refused to worship these “daughters of Allah.” were branded as “agnos tics” or who did not believe in the existence of God. They were classi fied as the HUNAFA, (the singular term is HANIF.) but they were not really “agnostics.” They believed in Allah, and they were interested to know really what was the truth, the Will of God. But the Scriptures, if bv that time were already written, were not available to them, and many of them were actually illiterates. So to search the true Will of Allah, they resorted to mystic contemplation. When Muhammad was alreadv of age. who was a Hanif. he would re treat in a desert cave in the hill of Hira. in the month of Ramadan, a summer month, or “the month of the heat.” for such devout worship and contemplation. It was in one of these times that Mohammed saw the vision of Gabriel. For this vi sion, his wife Khadiiah, sought the help of her cousin, Waraqa Ibn Naufal, a verv old man, and considered an authority of the “Scriptures of the Jews and Christians,” and the old man confirmed that “Muhammad, by Allah’s will, is the Prophet for his people.” Thus ISLAM gave birth to a new version, MOHAMMEDANISM. A SEPTEMBER, 1968 23
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