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A HISTORY OF GOD
Karen Armstrong
1993
Page157
"During the last phase of the pre-Islamic period,
which muslims call the jahiliyyah(the time of ignorance) there
seems to have been widespread dissatisfaction and spiriual restlessness.
The Arabs were surrounded on all sides by the two mighty empires of
Sassinid Persia and Byzantium./ Page158 /Modern
ideas were beginning to penetrate Arabia from the settled lands; merchants
who travelled into Syria or the Iraq brought back stories of the wonders
of civilisation. Yet it seemed that the Arabs were doomed to perpetual
barbarism. The tribes were involved in constant warfare which made it
impossible for them to pool their meagre resources and become the united
Arab people that they were dimly aware of being. They could not take
their destiny into their own hands and found a civilisation of their
own. Instead they were constandy open to exploitation by the great powers:
indeed, the more fertile and sophisticated region of Southern Arabia
in what is now the Yemen (which had the benefit of the monsoon rains)
had become a mere province of Persia. At the same time, the new ideas
that were infiltrating the region brought intimations of individualism
that undermined the old communal ethos. The Christian doctrine of the
afterlife, for example, made the eternal fate of each individual a sacred
value: how could that be squared with the tribal ideal which subordinated
the individual to the group and insisted that a man or woman's sole
immortality lay in the survival of the tribe?
Muhammad was a man of exceptional genius. When he died in 632,
he had managed to bring nearly all the tribes of Arabia into a new united
community or ummah. He had brought the Arabs a spirituality that
was uniquely suited to their own traditions and which unlocked such
reserves of power that within a hundred years they had established their
own great empire which stretched from the Himalayas to the Pyrenees
and founded a unique civilisation. Yet as Muhammad sat in prayer in
the tiny cave at the summit of Mount Hira during his Ramadan retreat
of 610, he could not have envisaged such phenomenal success. Like many
of the Arabs, Muhammad had come to believe that al- Lah, the High God
of the ancient Arabian pantheon whose name simply meant 'the God', was
identical to the God worshipped by the Jews and the Christians. He also
believed that only a prophet of this God could solve the problems of
his people, but he never believed for one moment that he was
going to be that prophet. Indeed, the Arabs were unhappily aware that
al-Lah had never sent them a prophet or a scripture of their own, even
though they had had / Page 159 / his shrine in their midst from time
immemorial. By the seventh century, most Arabs had come to believe that
the Kabah, the massive cube-shaped shrine in the hean of Mecca, which
was clearly of great antiquity, had originally been dedicated to ai-Lah,
even though at present the Nabatean deity Hubal presided there. All
Meccans were fiercely proud of the Kabah, which was the most important
holy place in Arabia. Each year Arabs from all over the peninsula made
the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, performing the traditional rites
over a period of several days. All violence was forbidden in the sanctuary,
the sacred area around the Kabah, so that in Mecca the Arabs could trade
with one another peacefully, knowing that old tribal hostilities were
temporarily in abeyance. The Quraysh knew that without the sanctuary
they could never have achieved their mercantile success and that a great
deal of their prestige among the other tribes depended upon their guardianship
of the Kabah and upon their preservation of its ancient sanctities.
Yet though al-Lah had clearly singled the Quraysh out for his special
favour, he had never sent them a messenger like Abraham, Moses or Jesus
and the Arabs had no scripture in their own language.
There was, therefore, a widespread feeling of spiritual inferiority.
ThoseJews and Christians with whom the Arabs came in contact used to
taunt them for being a barbarous people who had received no revelation
from God. The Arabs felt a mingled resentment and respect for these
people who had knowledge that they had not. Judaism and Christianity
had made little headway in the region, even though the Arabs acknowledged
that this progressive form of religion was superior to their own traditional
paganism. There were some Jewish tribes of doubtful provenance in the
settlements of Yathrib (later Medina) and Fadak, to the north of Mecca,
and some of the northern tribes on the borderland between the Persian
and Byzantine empires had convened to Monophysite or Nestorian Christianity.
Yet the Bedouin were fiercely independent, were determined not to come
under the rule of the great powers like their brethren in the Yemen
and were acutely aware that both the Persians and the Byzantines had
used the religions of Judaism and Christianity to promote their imperial
designs in the region. They were probably also instinctively aware that
/ Page 160 / they had suffered enough cultural dislocation, as their
own traditions eroded. The last thing they needed was a foreign ideology,
couched in alien languages and traditions.Some Arabs seem to have attempted
to discover a more neutral form of monotheism, which was not tainted
by imperialistic associations. As early as the fifth century, the Palestinian
Christian historian Sozomenus tells us that some of the Arabs in Syria
had rediscovered what they called the authentic religion of Abraham,
who had lived before God had sent either the Torah or the Gospel and
who was, therefore, neither a Jew nor a Christian. Shortly before Muhammad
received his own prophetic call, his first biographer Muhammad ibn Ishaq
{d. 767) tells us that four of the Quraysh of Mecca had decided to seek
the hanifiyyah, the true religion of Abraham. Some Western scholars
have argued that this little hanifiyyah sect is a pious fiction,
symbolising the spiritual restlessness of the jahiliyyah but
it must have some factual basis. Three of the four hanifs were
well-known to the first Muslims: Ubaydallah ibn Jahsh was Muhammad's
cousin, Waraqa ibn Nawfal, who eventually became a Christian, was one
of his earliest spiritual advisers, and Zayd ibn Amr was the uncle of
Umar ibn al-Khattab, one of Muhammad's closest companions and the second
Caliph of the Islamic empire. There is a story that one day, before
he had left Mecca to search in Syria and the Iraq for the religion of
Abraham, Zayd had been standing by the Kabah, leaning against the shrine
and telling the Quraysh who were making the ritual cir- cumambulations
around it in the time-honoured way: 'O Quraysh, by him in whose hand
is the soul of Zayd, not one of you follows the religion of Abraham
but I.' Then he added sadly, 'O God, if I knew how you wish to be worshipped
I would so worship you; but I do not know."
Zayd's longing for a divine revelation was fulfilled on Mount Hira in
610 on the seventeenth night of Ramadan, when Muhammad was torn from
sleep and felt himself enveloped by a devastating divine presence. Later
he explained this ineffable experience in distinctively Arabian terms.
He said that an angel had appeared to him and given him a curt command:
'Recite!' (iqra.') Like the Hebrew prophets who were often reluctant
to utter the Word of God, Muhammad refused, protesting 'I / Page161
/ am not a reciter!' He
was no kahin, one of the ecstatic soothsayers of Arabia who claimed
to recite inspired oracles. But, Muhammad said, the angel simply enveloped
him in an overpowering embrace, so that he felt as if all the breath
was being squeezed from his body. Just as he felt that he could bear
it no longer, the angel released him and again commanded him to 'Recite!'
(iqra.'). Again Muhammad refused and again the angel embraced
him until he felt that he had reached the limits of his endurance. Finally,
at the end of a third terrifying embrace, Muhammad found the first words
of a new scripture pouring from his mouth:
Recite in the name
of thy Sustainer, who has created - created man out of a germ-cell!
Recite - for thy Sustainer is the Most
Bountiful, One who has taught [man) the use of the pen - taught him
what he did not know!'
The word of God had been spoken for the first time in the Arabic language
and this scripture would ultimately be called the qur'an: the
Recitation.
Muhammad came to himself in terror and revulsion, horrified to think
that he might have become a mere disreputable kahin whom people
consulted if one of their camels went missing. A kahin was supposedly
possessed by a jinni, one of the sprites that were thought to
haunt the landscape and who could be capricious and lead people into
error. Poets also believed that they were possessed by their personal
jinni. Thus Hassan ibn Thabit, a poet of Yathrib who later became
a Muslim, says that when he received his poetic vocation his jinni
had appeared to him, thrown him to the ground and forced the inspired
words from his mouth. This was the only form of inspiration that was
familiar to Muhammad and the thought that he might have become majnun,
jinni-possessed, filled him with such despair that he no longer
wished to live. He thoroughly despised the kahins, whose oracles
were usually unintelligible mumbo-jumbo and was always very careful
to distinguish the Koran from conventional Arabic poetry. Now, rushing
from the cave, he resolved to fling himself from the summit to his death.
But on the mountainside he had another vision of a being which, later,
he identified with the angel Gabriel:
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"When I was midway on the mountain, I heard a voice
from heaven saying, 'O Muhammad! thou art the apostle of God and I am
Gabriel.' I raised my head towards heaven to see who was speaking, and
lo, Gabriel in the form of a man with feet astride the horizon.
I stood gazing at him, moving neither backward or forward; then I began
to turn my face away from him, but towards whatever region
of the sky I looked, I saw him as before.3
In Islam Gabriel is often identified with the Holy Spirit of
revelation, the means by which God communicates with men. This was no
pretty naturalistic angel but an overwhelming ubiquitous presence from
which escape was impossible. Muhammad had had that overpowering apprehension
of numinous reality, which the Hebrew prophets had called kaddosh,
holiness, the terrifying otherness of God. They too had felt near
to death and at a physical and psychological..,extremity when they experienced
it. But unlike Isaiah or Jeremiah, Muhammad had none of the consolations
of an established tradition to support him. The terrifying experience
seemed to have fallen upon him out of the blue and left him in a state
of profound shock. In his anguish, he turned instinctively to his wife,
Khadija.
Crawling on his hands and knees, trembling violendy, Muhammad flung
himself into her lap. 'Cover me! cover me!' he cried, begging her to
shield him from the divine presence. When the fear had abated somewhat,
Muhammad asked her whether he really had become majnun and Khadija
hastened to reassure him: 'You are kind and considerate towards your
kin. You help the poor and forlorn and bear their burdens. You are striving
to restore the high moral qualities that your people have lost. You
honour the guest and go to the assistance of those in distress. This
cannot be, my dear!'. God did not act in such an arbitrary way. Khadija
suggested that they consult her cousin Waraqa ibn Nawfal, now a Christian
and learned in the scriptures. Waraqa had no doubts at all: Muhammad
had received a revelation from the God of Moses and the prophets
and had become the divine envoy to the Arabs. Eventually, after a period
of several years, Muhammad was convinced that this was indeed the case
and began to preach to the Quraysh, bringing them a scripture in their
own language.
Unlike the Torah, however, which according to the biblical account /
Page 163 / was revealed to Moses
in one session on Mount Sinai, the Koran was revealed to Muhammad bit
by bit, line by line and verse by verse over a period of twenty-three
years. The revelations continued to be a painful experience.'Never once
did I receive a revelation without feeling that my soul was being tom
away from me,' Muhammad said in later years.5 He had to listen to the
divine words intently, struggling to make sense of a vision and significance
that did not always come to him in a clear, verbal form. Sometimes,
he said, the content of the divine message was clear: he seemed to see
Gabriel and heard what he was saying. But at other times the revelation
was distressingly inarticulate: 'Sometimes it comes unto me like the
reverberations of a bell, and that is the hardest upon me; the reverberations
abate when I am aware of their message.,6 The early biographers of the
classical period often show him listening intently to what we should
perhaps call the unconscious, rather as a poet describes the process
of 'listening' to a poem that is gradually surfacing from the hidden
recesses of his mind, declaring itself with an authority and integrity
that seems mysteriously separate from him. In the Koran, God tells
Muhammad to listen to the incoherent meaning carefully and with what
Wordsworth would call 'a wise passiveness'.7 He must not rush to force
words or a particular conceptual significance upon it until the true
meaning revealed itself in its own good time:
Move not thy
tongue in haste, [repeating the words of the revelation]; for, behold,
it is for Us to gather it [in thy heart], and cause it to be recited
[as it ought to be recited].
Thus when We recite it, follow thou its wordings [with all thy mind]:
and then, behold, it will be for Us to make its meaning clear.8
Like all creativity,
it was a difficult process. Muhammad used to enter a tranced state
and sometimes seemed to lose consciousness; he used to sweat profusely,
even on a cold day, and often felt an interior heaviness like grief
that impelled him to lower his head between his knees, a position adopted
by some contemporary Jewish mystics when they entered an alternative
state of consciousness - though Muhammad could not have known this.
It is not surprising that Muhammad found the revelations such an
/ Page 164 / immense strain: not
only was he working through to an entirely new political solution for
his people but he was composing one of the great spiritual and literary
classics of all time. He believed that he was putting the ineffable
Word of God into Arabic, for the Koran is as central to the spirituality
of Islam as Jesus, the Logos, is to Christianity. We know more
about Muhammad than about the founder of any other major religion and
in the Koran, whose various suras or chapters can be dated with reasonable
accuracy, we can see how his vision gradually evolved and developed,
becoming ever more universal in scope. He did not see at the outset
all that he had to accomplish, but this was revealed to him little by
little, as he responded to the inner logic of events. In the Koran we
have, as it were, a contemporaneous commentary on the beginnings of
Islam that is unique in the history of religion. In this sacred book,
God seems to comment on the developing situation: he answers some of
Muhammad's critics, explains the signficance of a battle or a conflict
within the early Muslim community and points to the divine dimension
of human life. It did not come to Muhammad in the order we read today
but in a more random manner, as events dictated and as he listened to
their deeper meaning. As each new segment was revealed, Muhammad, who
could neither read nor write, recited it aloud, the Muslims learned
it by heart and those few who were literate wrote it down. Some twenty
years after Muhammad's death, the first official compilation of the
revelations was made. The editors put the longest suras at the beginning
and the shortest at the end. This arrangement is not as arbitrary as
it might appear, because the Koran is neither a narrative nor an argument
that needs a sequential order. Instead, it reflects on various themes:
God's presence in the natural world, the lives of the prophets or the
Last Judgement. To a Westerner, who cannot appreciate the extraordinary
beauty of the Arabic, the Koran seems boring and repetitive. It seems
to go over the same ground again and again. But the Koran was not meant
for private perusal but for liturgical recitation. When Muslims hear
a sura chanted in the mosque, they are reminded of all the central tenets
of their faith.
When Muhammad began to preach in Mecca, he had only a modest conception
of his role. He did not believe that he was founding a new / Page 165
/ universal religion but saw himself bringing the old religion of the
one God to the Quraysh. At first he did not even think that he should
preach to the other Arab tribes but only to the people of Mecca and
its environs.9 He had no dreams of founding a theocracy and would
probably not have known what a theocracy was: he himself should have
no political function in the city but was simply its nadhir, the
Warner.10 Al-Lah had sent him to warn the Quraysh of the perils of their
situation. His early message was not doom-laden, however. It was a joyful
message of hope. Muhammad did not have to prove the existence of God
to the Quraysh. They all believed implicidy in al-Lah, who was the creator
of heaven and earth, and most believed him to be the God worshipped
by the Jews and Christians. His existence was taken for granted. As
God says to Muhammad in an early sura of the Koran:
And thus it is [with
most people): if thou ask them, 'Who is it that has created the heavens
and the earth and made the sun and moon
subservient [to his laws]? - they will surely answer al-Lah.
And thus it is, if thou ask them, 'Who is it that sends down water from
the skies, giving life thereby to the earth-.fter it had been lifeless?'
they will surely answer 'ai-Lab'.11
The trouble was that the Quraysh were not thinking through the implications
of this belief. God had created each one of them from a drop of semen,
as the very first revelation had made clear; they depended upon God
for their food and sustenance and yet they still regarded themselves
as the centre of the universe in an unrealistic presumption (yatqa)
and self-sufficiency (istaqa)'2 that took no account of their
responsibilities as members of a decent Arab society.
Consequendy the early verses of the Koran all encourage the Quraysh
to become aware of God's benevolence, which they can see wherever they
look. They will then realise how many things they still owe to him,
despite their new success and appreciate their utter dependency upon
the Creator of the natural order:
[Only too often) man destroys himself: how stubbornly does he deny the
truth! / Page 166 / [Does man ever consider]
out of what substance [God] creates him?
Out of a drop of sperm he creates him, and then determines his nature
and then makes it easy for him to go through life; and in the end he
causes him to die and brings him to the grave; and then, if it be his
will, he shall raise him again to life.
Nay but [man] has
never yet fulfiIled what he has enjoined upon him. Let man, then, consider
[the sources of] his food: [how it is] that we pour down waters, pouring
it down abundantly; and then we cleave the earth [with new growth] cleaving
it asunder, and thereupon we cause grain to grow out of it, and vines
and edible plants, and olive trees and date palms, and gardens dense
with foliage, and fruits and herbage, for you and for your animals to
enjoy.13
The existence of God is not in question, therefore. In the Koran
an 'unbeliever' (kafir bi na 'mat a/-Lah) is not an atheist in
our sense of the word, somebody who does not believe in God, but one
who is ungrateful to him, who can see quite clearly what is owing to
God but refuses to honour him in a spirit of perverse ingratitude.
The Koran was not teaching the Quraysh anything new. Indeed, it constandy
claims to be 'a reminder' of things known already, which it throws into
more lucid relief. Frequendy the Koran introduces a topic with a phrase
like: 'Have you not seen. . . ?' or 'Have you not considered. . .?'
The Word of God was not issuing arbitrary commands from on high but
was entering into a dialogue with the Quraysh. It reminds them, for
example, that the Kabah, the House of al-Lah, accounted in large measure
for their success, which was really in some sense owing to God. The
Quraysh loved to make the ritual circumambulations around the shrine
but when they put themselves and their own material success into the
centre of their lives they had forgotten the meaning of these ancient
rites of orientation. They should look at the 'signs' (ayat) of
God's goodness and power in the natural world. If they failed to reproduce
God's benevolence in their own society, they would be out of touch with
the true nature of things. Consequendy, Muhammad made his converts bow
down in ritual prayer (salal) twice a day. This external gesture
would help Muslims to cultivate the internal posture and re-orient their
lives. Eventually Muhammad's religion would be known as islam,
the act of existential surrender that each convert was expected
to make to al-Lah: a muslim / Page 167 /was a man
or woman who has surrendered his or her whole being to the Creator.
The Quraysh were horrified when they saw these first Muslims making
the salat: they found it unacceptable that a member of the haughty
clan of Quraysh with centuries of proud Bedouin independence behind
him should be prepared to grovel on the ground like a slave and the
Muslims had to retire to the glens around the city to make their prayer
in secret. The reaction of the Quraysh showed that Muhammad had diagnosed
their spirit with unerring accuracy.
In practical
terms, islam meant that Muslims had a duty to create a just,
equitable society where the poor and vulnerable are treated decently.
The early moral message of the Koran is simple: it is wrong to stockpile
wealth and to build a private fortune and good to share the wealth of
society fairly by giving a regular proportion of one's wealth to the
poor .14 Alms-giving (zakat) accompanied by prayer (salat)
were two of the five essential 'pillars' (rukn) or practices
of Islam. Like the Hebrew prophets, Muhammad preached an ethic that
we might call socialist as a consequence of his worship of the one God.
There were no obligatory doctrines about God: indeed, the Koran is highly
suspicious of theological speculation, dismissing it as zanna,
self- indulgent guess-work about things that nobody can possibly know
or prove. The Christian doctrines of the Incarnation and the Trinity
seemed prime examples of zanna and, not surprisingly, the Muslims
found these notions blasphemous. Instead, as in Judaism, God was experienced
as a moral imperative. Having practically no contact with either Jews
or Christians and their scriptures, Muhammad had cut straight into the
essence of historical monotheism.
In the Koran, however, al-Lah is more impersonal than
YHWH. He lacks the pathos and passion of the biblical God. We
can only glimpse something of God in the 'signs' of nature and so transcendent
is he that we can only talk about him in 'parables'15 Constantly, therefore,
the Koran urges Muslims to see the world as an epiphany; they must
make the imaginative effort to see through the fragmentary world to
the full power of original being, to the transcendent reality that infuses
all things. Muslims were to cultivate a sacramental or symbolic
attitude:
Page 168
Verily, in the creation
of the heavens and of the earth and the succession of night and day
and in the ships that speed through the
sea with what is useful to man: and in the waters which God sends down
from the sky, gj\ing life thereby to the earth after it had been lifeless,
and causing all manner of living creatures to multiply thereon: and
in the change of the winds, and the clouds that run
their appointed courses between sky and earth: [in all this] there are
messages (ayat) indeed for a people who use their reason.16
The Koran constantly stresses the need for intelligence in deciphering
the 'signs' or 'messages' of God. Muslims are not to abdicate their
reason but to look at the world attentively and with curiosity.
It was this attitude that later enabled Muslims to build a fine tradition
of natural science, which has never been seen as such a danger to religion
as in Christianity. A study of the workings of the natural world showed
that it had a transcendent dimension and source, whom we can only talk
about in signs and symbols: even the stories of the prophets, the accounts
of the Last Judgement and the joys of paradise should not be interpreted
literally but as parables of a higher, ineffable reality.
But the greatest sign of all was the Koran itself: indeed its individual
verses are called ayat. Western people find the Koran a difficult
book and this is largely a problem of translation. Arabic is particularly
difficult to translate: even ordinary literature and the mundane utterances
of politicians frequently sound stilted and alien when translated into
English, for example, and this is doubly true of the Koran, which is
written in dense and highly allusive, elliptical speech. The early suras
in particular give the impression of human language crushed and splintered
under the divine impact. Muslims often say that when they read the Koran
in a translation, they feel that they are reading a different book because
nothing of the beauty of the Arabic has been conveyed. As its name suggests,
it is meant to be recited aloud and the sound of the language is an
essential part of its effect. Muslims say that when they hear the Koran
chanted in the mosque they feel enveloped in a divine dimension of sound,
rather as Muhammad was enveloped in the embrace of Gabriel on Mount
Hira or when he saw the angel on the horizon no matter where he looked.
It is not a book to / Page 169 /be read simply to acquire information.
It is meant to yield a sense of the divine, and must not be read in
haste:
And thus have We
bestowed from on high this [divine writ] as a discourse in the Arabic
tongue, and have given therein many facets to all manner of warnings,
so that men might remain conscious of Us, or that it give rise to a
new awareness in them.
[Know] then, [that] God is sublimely exalted, the Ultimate Sovereign
(al-Malik), the Ultimate Truth (aI-Haqq): and [knowing
this], do not approach the Koran in haste, ere it has been revealed
unto thee in full, but [always] say: 'O my Sustainer, cause me to grow
in knowledge!'17
By approaching the
Koran in the right way, Muslims claim that they do experience a sense
of transcendence, of an ultimate reality and power that lies behind
the transient and fleeting phenomena of the mundane world. Reading the
Koran is therefore a spiritual discipline, which Christians may find
difficult to understand because they do not have a sacred language,
in the way that Hebrew, Sanscrit and Arabic are sacred to Jews, Hindus
and Muslims. It is Jesus who is the Word of God and there is nothing
holy about the New Testament Greek. Jews, however, have a similar attitude
towards the Torah. When they study the first five books of the Bible,
they do not simply run their eyes over the page. Frequently they recite
the words aloud, savouring the words that God himself is supposed to
have used when he revealed himself to Moses on Sinai. Sometimes they
sway backwards and forwards, like a flame before the breath of the Spirit.
Obviously Jews who read their Bible in this way are experiencing a very
different book from Christians who find most of the Pentateuch extremely
dull and obscure.
The early biographers of Muhammad constantly describe the wonder and
shock felt by the Arabs when they heard the Koran for the first time.
Many were converted on the spot, believing that God alone could account
for the extraordinary beauty of the language. Frequently a convert would
describe the experience as a divine invasion that tapped buried yearnings
and released a flood of feelings. Thus the young Qurayshi Umar ibn al-
Khattab had been a virulent opponent of Muhammad; he had been devoted
to the old paganism and ready to / Page 170 / assassinate the Prophet.
But this Muslim Saul of Tarsus was converted not by a vision of Jesus
the Word but by the Koran. There are two versions of his conversion
story, which are both worthy of note. The first has Umar discovering
his sister, who had secretely become a Muslim, listening to a recitation
of a new sura. 'What was that balderdash?' he had roared angrily as
he strode into the house, knocking poor Fatimah to the ground. But when
he saw that she was bleeding, he probably felt ashamed because his face
changed. He picked up the manuscript, which the visiting Koran-reciter
had dropped in the commotion, and, being one of the few Qurayshis who
were literate, he started to read. Umar was an acknowledged authority
on Arabic oral poetry and was consulted by poets as to the precise significance
of the language, but he had never come across anything like the Koran.
'How fine and noble is this speech!' he said wonderingly, and was instantly
converted to the new religion of al- Lah.18 The beauty of the words
had reached through his reserves of hatred and prejudice to a core of
receptivity that he had not been conscious of. We have all had a similar
experience, when a poem touches a chord of recognition that lies at
a level deeper than the rational. In the other version of Umar's conversion,
he encountered Muhammad one night at the Kabah, reciting the Koran quietly
to himself before the shrine. Thinking that he would like to listen
to the words, Umar crept under the damask cloth that covered the huge
granite cube and edged his way round until he was standing directly
in front of the Prophet. As he said, 'There was nothing between us but
the cover of the Kabah' - all his defences but one were down. Then the
magic of the Arabic did its work: 'When I heard the Koran, my heart
was softened and I wept and Islam entered into me."9 It was the
Koran which prevented God from being a mighty reality 'out there' and
brought him into the mind, heart and being of each believer.
The experience of Umar and the other Muslims who were converted by the
Koran can perhaps be compared to the experience of art described
by George Steiner in his book Real Presences: Is there anything in
what we say? He speaks of what he calls 'the indiscretion of
serious art, literature and music' which 'queries the last privacies
of our existence'. It is an invasion or an annunciation, which breaks
into / Page 171/ 'the small house of our cautionary being' and commands
us impera-tively: 'change your life!' After such a summons, the house
is no longer habitable in quite the same way as it was before'20"
Page 172
"We have seen
that the belief in only one God demands a painful change of consciousness.
Like the early Christians, the first Muslims were accused of an 'atheism'
which was deeply threatening to society. In Mecca where urban civilisation
was so novel and must have seemed a fragile achievement for all the
proud self-sufficiency of the Quraysh, many seem to have felt the same
sinking dread and dismay as those citizens of Rome who had clamoured
for Christian blood. The Quraysh seem to have found a rupture with the
ancestral gods profoundly threatening and it would not be long before
Muhammad's own life was imperilled. Western scholars have usually dated
this rupture with the Quraysh to the possibly apocryphal incident of
the Satanic Verses, which has become notorious since the tragic Salman
Rushdie affair. Three of the Arabian deities were particularly dear
to the Arabs of the Hijaz: al-Lat (whose name simply meant 'the Goddess')
and al-Uzza (the Mighty One), who had shrines at Taif and Nakhlah respectively,
to the south-east of Mecca, and Manat, the Fateful One, who had her
shrine at Qudayd on the Red Sea coast. These deities were not fully
personalised like Juno or Pallas Athene. They were often called the
banat al-Lah, the Daughters of God, but this does not necessarily
imply a fully-developed pantheon. The Arabs used such kinship terms
to denote an abstract relationship: thus banat al-dahr (literally,
'daughters of fate') simply meant misfortunes or vicissitudes. The term
banat a/-Lah may simply have signified 'divine beings'. These
deities were not represented by realistic statues in their shrines but
by large standing stones, similar to those in use among the ancient
Canaanites, which the Arabs worshipped not in any crudely simplistic
way but as a focus of divinity. Like Mecca with its Kabah, the shrines
at Taif, Nakhlah and Qudayd had become essential spiritual landmarks
in the emotional landscape of the Arabs. Their forefathers had worshipped
there from time immemorial and this gave a healing sense of continuity.
The story of the Satanic Verses is not mentioned in either the Koran
or in any of the early oral or written sources. It is not included in
Ibn Ishaq's Sira, the most authoritative biography of the Prophet,
but only in the work of the tenth-century historian Abu Jafar at- Tabari
/ Page 173 / (d.923).
He tells us that Muhammad was distressed by the rift that had developed
between him and most of his tribe after he had forbidden the cult of
the goddesses and so, inspired by 'Satan', he uttered some rogue verses
which allowed the banat al-Lah to be venerated as intercessors,
like the angels. In these so-called 'Satanic' verses, the three goddesses
were not on a par with al-Lah but were lesser spiritual beings who could
intercede with him on behalf of mankind. Later, however, Tabari says
that Gabriel told the Prophet"
that these verses were of 'Satanic' origin and should be excised from
the Koran to be replaced by these lines which declared that the banat
al-Lah were mere projections and figments of the imagination:
Have you, then,
ever considered [what you are worshipping in] al-Lat, al-Uzza, as well
as [in] Manat, die third and last [of this
triad]? . . . .
These [alllegedly divine beings] are nothing but empty names
which you have invented - you and your forefathers - [and] for which
God has bestowed no warrant from on high. They [who worship them] follow
nothing but surmise and their own wishful thinking- although right guidance
has now indeed come unto them from thieir Sustainer.21
This was the most radical of all the Koranic condemnations of the ancestral
pagan gods and after these verses had been included in the Koran there
was no chance of a reconciliation with the Quraysh. From this point,
Muhammad became a jealous monotheist and shirk (idolatry; literally,
associating other beings with al-Lah) became the greatest sin of Islam.
Muhammad had not made any concession to polytheism in the incident of
the Satanic Verses - if, that is, it ever happened. It is also
incorrect to imagine that the role of Satan' meant that the Koran was
momentarily tainted by evil: in' Islam Satan is a much more manageable
character than he became in Christianity. The Koran tells us that he
will be forgiven on die Last Day and Arabs frequently used the word
'Shaitan' to allude to a purely human tempter or a natural temptation.22
The incident may indicate the difficulty Muhammad cenainly experienced
when he tried to incarnate the ineffable divine / Page174
/ message in human speech: it is associated with canonical Koranic verses
which suggest that most of the other prophets had made similar 'Satanic'
slips when they conveyed the divine message but that God always rectified
their mistakes and sent down a new and superior revelation in
their stead. An alternative and more secular way of looking at this
is to see Muhammad revising his work in the light of new insights like
any other creative artist. The sources show that Muhammad absolutely
refused to compromise with the Quraysh on the matter of idolatry. He
was a pragmatic man and would readily make a concession on what he deemed
to be inessential, but whenever the Quraysh asked him to adopt a monolatrous
solution, allowing them to worship their ancestral gods while he and
his Muslims worshipped al-Lab alone, Muhammad vehemendy rejected the
proposal. As the Koran has it: 'I do not worship that which you worship,
and neither do you worship that which I worship. . . Unto you your moral
law, and, unto me, mine!'23 The Muslims would surrender to God alone
and
would not succumb to the false objects of worship - be they deities
or values - espoused by the Quraysh.
The perception of God's uniqueness was the basis of the morality
of the Koran. To give allegiance to material goods or to put trust in
lesser beings was shirk (idolatry), the greatest sin of Islam.
The Koran pours scorn on the pagan deities in almost exacdy the same
way as the Jewish scriptures: they are totally ineffective. These gods
cannot give food or sustenance; it is no good putting them at the centre
of one's life because they are powerless. Instead the Muslim must realise
that al- Lab is the ultimate and unique reality:
Say: 'He is the
One God;
God, the Eternal, the Uncaused Cause of all being.
He begets not, and neither is he begotten
and there is nothing that could be compared to him 24
Christians like
Athanasius had also insisted that only the Creator, the Source of Being,
had the power to redeem. They had expressed this insight in the doctrines
of the Trinity and the Incarnation. The Koran returns to a Semitic idea
of the divine unity and refuses to imagine that / Page175 / God can
'beget' a son. There is no deity but al-Lah the Creator of heaven and
earth who alone can save man and send him the spiritual and physical
sustenance that he needs. Only by acknowledging him as as-Samad,
'the Uncaused Cause of all being' will Muslims address a dimension
of reality beyond time and history and which would take them beyond
the tribal divisions that were tearing their society apart. Muhammad
knew that monotheism was inimical to tribalism: a single deity who was
the focus of all worship would integrate society as well as the individual.
There is no simplistic notion
of God, however. This single deity is not a being like ourselves whom
we can know and understand. The phrase Allahua Akhbah!' (God
is greater!) that summons Muslims to salat distinguishes between
God and the rest of reality, as well as between God as he is in himself
(al-Dhat) and anything that we can say about him. Yet this incomprehensible
and inaccessible God had wanted to make himself known. An early tradition
(hadith) has God say to Muhammad: 'I was a hidden treasure; I
wanted to be known. Hence, I created the world so that I might be known.'25
By contemplating the signs (ayat) of nature and the verses of
the Koran, Muslims could glimpse that aspect of divinity which has turned
towards the world, which the Koran calls the Face of God (wajh al-
Lah). Like the two older religions, Islam makes it clear that we
only see God in his activities, which adapt his ineffable being to our
limited understanding. The Koran urges Muslims to cultivate a perpetual
consciousness (taqwa) of the Face or the Self of God that surrounds
them on all sides: 'Wheresoever you turn, there is the Face of al- Lah.'26
Like the Christian Fathers, the Koran sees God as the Absolute, who
alone has true existence: 'All that lives on earth or in the heavens
is bound to pass away: but forever will abide thy Sustainer's Self,
full of majesty and glory.'27 In the Koran, God is given ninety-
nine names or attributes. These emphasise that he is 'greater',
the source of all positive qualities that we find in the universe. Thus
the world only exists because he is al-Ghani (rich and infinite);
he is the giver of life (al-Muhyi), the knower of all things
(al-Alim), the producer of speech (al-Kalimah): without
him, therefore, there would not be life, knowledge or speech. It is
an assertion that only God has true / Page 176 / existence and positive
value. Yet frequently the divine names seem to cancel one another out.
Thus God is a/-Qahtar, he who dominates and who breaks the back
of his enemies, and a/-HaIim, the utterly forbearing one; he
is aI-Qabid, he who takes away, and a/-Basit, he who gives
abundantly; a/-Khafid, he who brings low, and ar-Rafic, he
who exalts. The Names of God play a central role in Muslim piety:
they are recited, counted on rosary beads and chanted as a mantra. All
this has reminded Muslims that the God they worship cannot
be contained by human categories and refuses simplistic definition.
The first of the
'pillars' of Islam would be the Shahadah, the Muslim profession of faith:
'I bear witness that there is no god but al- Lah and that Muhammad is
his Messenger.' This was not simply an affirmation of God's existence
but an acknowledgement that al-Lah was the only true reality, the only
true form of existence. He was the only true reality, beauty or perfection:
all the beings that seem to exist and possess these qualities have them
only in so far as they participate in this essential being. To make
this assertion demands that Muslims integrate their lives by making
God their focus and sole priority. The assertion of the unity of God
was not simply a denial that deities like the banat al-Lah were
worthy of worship. To say that God was One was not a mere numerical
definition: it was a call to make that unity the driving factor of one's
life and society. The unity of God could be glimpsed in the truly integrated
self. But the divine unity also required Muslims to recognise the religious
aspirations of others. Because there was only one God, all rightly guided
religions must derive from him alone. Belief in the supreme and sole
Reality would be culturally conditioned and would be expressed by different
societies in different ways but the focus of all true worship must have
been inspired by and directed towards the being whom the Arabs had always
called al-Lah. One of the divine names of the Koran is an-Nur, the
Light. In these famous verses of the Koran, God is the source of all
knowledge as well as the means whereby men catch a glimpse of transcendence:
God is the light
of the heavens and the earth. The parable of his light is, as it were
(ka), that of a niche containing a lamp; the lamp
is [enclosed] in glass, the glass [shining] like a radiant star: [a
/ Page 177 / lamp] lit from a blessed tree
- an olive tree that is neither of the east nor of the west-the oil
whereof [is so bright that it] would well-nigh give light [of itself)
even though fire had not touched it: light upon light.28
The participle ka is a reminder of the essentially symbolic
nature of the Koranic discourse about God. An-Nur, the Light,
is not God himself, therefore, but refers to the enlightenment
which he bestows on a particular revelation [the lamp) which shines
in the heart of an individual [the niche). The light itself cannot
be identified wholly with anyone of its bearers but is common to them
all. As Muslim commentators pointed out from the very earliest days,
light is a particularly good symbol for the divine Reality, which
transcends time and space. The image of the olive tree in these verses
has been interpreted as an allusion to the continuity of revelation,
which springs from one 'root' and branches into a multifarious variety
of religious experience that cannot be identified with or confined by
anyone particular tradition or locality: it is neither of the East nor
the West.
When the Christian Waraqa ibn Nawfal had acknowledged Muhammad as a
true prophet, neither he nor Muhammad expected him to convert to Islam.
Muhammad never asked Jews or Christians to convert to his religion of
al-Lah unless they particularly wished to do so, because they had received
authentic revelations of their own. The Koran did not see revelation
as cancelling out the messages and insights of previous prophets but
instead it stressed the continuity of the religious experience of mankind.
It is important to stress this point because tolerance is not a virtue
that many Western people today would feel inclined to attribute to Islam.
Yet from the start, Muslims saw revelation in less exclusive terms than
either Jews or Christians. The intolerance that many people condemn
in Islam today does not always spring from a rival vision of God but
from quite another source:29 Muslims are intolerant of injustice, whether
this is com- mitted by rulers of their own -like Shah Muhammad Reza
Pahlavi of
Iran - or by the powerful Western countries. The Koran does not condemn
other religious traditions as false or incomplete but shows each new
prophet as confirming and continuing the insights of his predecessors.
The Koran teaches that God had sent messengers to / Page 178 / every
people on the face of the earth: Islamic tradition says that there had
been 124,000 such prophets, a symbolic number suggesting infinitude.
Thus the Koran repeatedly points out that it is not bringing a message
that is essentially new and that Muslims must emphasise their kinship
with the older religions:
Do not argue
with the followers of earlier revelation otherwise than in the most
kindly manner - unless it be such of them as are set on evil doing -
and say: 'We believe in that which has been bestowed upon us, as well
as that which has been bestowed upon
you: for our God and your God is one and the same, and it is unto him
that we [all] surrender ourselves.'30
The Koran naturally singles out apostles who were familiar to the Arabs
-like Abraham, Noah, Moses and Jesus who were the prophets of the Jews
and Christians. It also mentions Hud and Salih, who had been sent to
the ancient Arab peoples of Midi an and Thamood. Today Muslims insist
that if Muhammad had known about Hindus and Buddhists, he would have
included their religious sages: after his death they were allowed full
religious liberty in the Islamic empire, like the Jews and Christians.
On the same principle, Muslims argue, the Koran would also have honoured
the shamans and holy men of the American Indians or the Australian Aborigines.
A HISTORY OF GOD
Karen Armstrong
1993
Page 51
One God
"In 742 BCE, a member of the Judaean royal family had a vision
of Yahweh in the Temple which King Solomon had built in Jerusalem. It
was an anxious time for the people of Israel. King Uzziah of Judah had
died that year and was succeeded by his son Ahaz, who would encourage
his subjects to worship pagan gods alongside Yahweh. The northern kingdom
of Israel was in a state of near anarchy: after the death of King JeroboamII
five kings had sat on the throne between 746 and 736, while King Tigleth
Pilesar III, King of Assyria, looked hungrily at their lands which he
was anxious to add to his expanding empire. In 722, his successor King
Sargon II would conquer the northern Kingdom and deport the population:
the ten northern tribes of Israel were forced to assimilate and disappeared
from history, while the little kingdom of Judah feared for its own survival.
As Isaiah prayed in the Temple shortly after King Uzziah's death, he
was probably full of foreboding; at the same time he may have been uncomfortably
aware of the inappropriateness of the lavish Temple ceremonial. Isaiah
may have been a member of the ruling class but he had populist and democratic
views and was highly sensitive to the plight of the poor. As the incense
filled the sanctuary before the Holy of Holies and the place reeked
with the blood of the sacrificial animals, he may have feared that the
religion of Israel had lost its integrity and inner meaning.
Suddenly he seemed
to see Yahweh himself sitting on his throne in heaven direcdy above
the Temple, which was the replica of his celestial court on earth. Yahweh's
train filled the sanctuary and he was attended by two seraphs, who covered
their faces with their wings lest / Page 52 / they look upon his face.
They cried out to one another antiphonally: 1
'Holy! holy! holy is Yahweh Sabaoth. His glory fills the whole earth.'1
At the sound of their voices, the whole Temple seemed to shake on its
foundations and was filled with smoke, enveloping Yahweh in an impenetrable
cloud, similar to the cloud and smoke that had hidden him from Moses
on Mount Sinai. When we use the word 'holy' today, we usually refer
to a state of moral excellence. The Hebrew kaddosh, however,
was nothing to do with morality as such but means otherness, a radical
separation. The apparition of Yahweh on Mount Sinai had emphasised the
immense gulf that had suddenly yawned between man: and the divine world.
Now the seraphs were crying: 'Yahweh is other! other! other!' Isaiah
had experienced that sense of the numinous which has periodically descended
upon men and women and filled them with fascination and dread. In his
classic book The Idea of the Holy, Rudolf Otto described this
fearful experience of transcendent
reality as mysterium terribile et fascinans: it is terribile
because it comes as a profound shock that severs us from the consolations
of normality and fascinans because, paradoxically, it exerts
an irresistible attraction. There is nothing rational about this overpowering
experience, which Otto compares to that of music or the erotic: the
emotions it engenders cannot adequately be expressed in words or concepts.
Indeed, this sense of the Wholly Other cannot even be said to 'exist'
because it has no place in our normal scheme of reality.' The new
Yahweh of the Axial Age was still 'the god of the armies' (saboath)
but was no longer a mere god of war. Nor was he simply a tribal
deity, who was passionately biased in favour of Israel: his glory
was no longer confined to the Promised Land but filled the whole earth.
Isaiah was no Buddha experiencing an enlightenment
that brought tranquillity and bliss. He had not become the perfected
teacher of men. Instead he was filled with mortal terror, crying aloud:
What a wretched
state I am in! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips and I live
among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have looked at the King,
Yahweh Sabaoth.3
Page 53
Overcome by the transcendent holiness of Yahweh, he was conscious only
of his own inadequacy and ritual impurity. Unlike the Buddha or a Yogi,
he had not prepared himself for this experience by a series of spiritual
exercises. It had come upon him out of the blue and he was completely
shaken by its devastating impact. One of the seraphs flew towards him
with a live coal and purified his lips, so that they could utter the
word of God. Many of the prophets were either unwilling to speak on
God's behalf or unable to do so. When God had called Moses, prototype
of all prophets, from the burning bush and commanded him to be his messenger
to Pharaoh and the children of Israel, Moses had protested that he was
'not able to speak well.4 God had made allowances for this impediment
and permitted his brother Aaron to speak in Moses's stead. This regular
motif in the stories of prophetic vocations symbolises the difficulty
of speaking God's word. The prophets were not eager to proclaim the
divine message and were reluctant to undertake a mission of great strain
and anguish. The transformation of Israel's God into a symbol of transcendent
power would not be a calm, serene process but attended with pain and
struggle.
Hindus would never have described Brahman as a great king because their
God could not be described in such human terms. We must be careful not
to interpret the story of Isaiah's vision too literally: it is an attempt
to describe the indescribable and Isaiah reverts instinctively to the
mythological traditions of his people to give his audience some idea
of what had happened to him. The psalms often describe Yahweh enthroned
in his temple as king, just as Baal, Marduk and Dagon,5 the gods of
their neighbours, presided as monarchs in their rather similar temples.
Beneath the mythological imagery, however, a quite distinctive conception
of the ultimate reality was beginning to emerge in Israel: the experience
with this God is an encounter with a person. Despite his terrifying
otherness, Yahweh can speak and Isaiah can answer. Again, this would
have been inconceiv- able to the sages of the Upanishads, since
the idea of having a dialogue or meeting with Brahman-Atman would be
inappropriately anthropo- morphic.
Yahweh asked: 'Whom shall I send? Who will be our messenger?
/Page 54/
and, like Moses before him, Isaiah immediately replied: 'Here I am!
(hineni) send me!' The point of this vision was not to
enlighten the prophet but to give him a practical job to do. Primarily
the prophet is one who stands in God's presence but this experience
of transcen-dence results not in the imparting of knowledge - as in
Buddhism - but in action. The prophet will not be characterised by mystical
illumination but by obedience. As one might expect, the message is never
easy. With typical Semitic paradox, Yahweh told Isaiah that the
people would not accept it: he must not be dismayed when they reject
God's words: 'Go and say to this people: "Hear and hear again,
but do not understand; see and see again, but do not perceive."
,6 Seven hundred years later, Jesus would quote these words when people
refused to hear his equally tough message} Humankind cannot bear very
much reality. The Israelites of Isaiah's day were on the brink of
war and extinction and Yahweh had no cheerful message for them: their
cities would be devastated, the countryside ravaged and the houses emptied
of their inhabitants. Isaiah would live to see the destruction of the
northern kingdom in 722 and the deportation of the ten tribes. In 701
Sennacherib would invade Judah with a vast Assyrian army, lay siege
to forty-six of its cities and fortresses, impale the defending officers
on poles, deport about 2000 people and imprison the Jewish king in Jerusalem
'like a bird in a cage'.8 Isaiah had the thankless task of warning
his people of these impending catastrophes:
There will be great emptiness in the country and, though a tenth of
the people remain, it will be stripped like a terebinth of which, once
felled, only the stock remains.9
It would not have been difficult for an astute political observer
to foresee these catastrophes. What was chillingly original in Isaiah's
message was his analysis of the situation. The old partisan God of Moses
would have cast Assyria into the role of the enemy; the God of Isaiah
saw Assyria as his instrument. It was not Sargon II and Sennacherib
who would drive the Israelites into exile and devastate the country.
It is 'Yahweh who drives the people out'.10
This was a constant
theme in the message of the prophets of / Page 55 / Axial Age. The God
of Israel had originally distinguished himself from the pagan deities
by revealing himself in concrete current events not simply in mythology
and liturgy. Now, the new prophets insisted, political catastrophe as
well as victory revealed the God who was becoming the lord and master
of history. He had all the nations in his pocket. Assyria would come
to grief in its turn simply because its.kings had not realised that
they were only tools in the hand of a being greater than themselves.11
Since Yahweh had foretold the ultimate destruc-tion of Assyria, there
was a distant hope for the future. But no Israelite would have wanted
to hear that his own people had brought political destruction upon its
own head by its short-sighted policies and exploitative behaviour. Nobody
would have been happy to hear that Yahweh had masterminded the successful
Assyrian campaigns of 722 and 701, just as he had captained the armies
of Joshua, Gideon and King David. What did he think he was doing with
the nation that was supposed to be his Chosen People? There was no wish-fulfilment
in Isaiah's depiction of Yahweh. Instead of offering the people a panacea,
Yahweh was being used to make people confront un- welcome reality. Instead
of taking refuge in the old cultic observances which projected people
back into mythical time, prophets like Isaiah were trying to make their
fellow-countrymen look the actual events of history in the face and
accept them as a terrifying dialogue with their God.
While the God of Moses had been triumphalist, the God of Isaiah was
full of sorrow. The prophecy, as it has come down to us, begins with
a lament that is highly unflattering to the people of the covenant:
the ox and the ass know their owners, but 'Israel knows nothing, my
people understand nothing'.12 Yahweh was utterly revolted by the animal
sacrifices in the Temple, sickened by the fat of calves, blood of bulls
and goats and the reeking blood that smoked from the holocausts. He
could not bear their festivals, New Year ceremonies and pilgrimages.13
This would have shocked Isaiah's audience: in the Middle East these
cultic celebrations were of the essence of religion. The pagan gods
depended upon the ceremonies to renew their depleted energies; their
prestige depended in part on the magnificence of their temples. Now
Yahweh was actually saying that these things / Page 56 /were utterly
meaningless. Like other sages and philosophers in the Oikumene, Isaiah
felt that exterior observance was not enough. Israelites must discover
the inner meaning of their religion. Yahweh wanted compassion rather
than sacrifice:
You may multiply your prayers,
I shall not listen.
Your hands are covered with blood,
wash, make yourselves clean.
Take your wrong-doing out of my sight.
Cease to do evil.
Learn to do good,
search for justice,
help the oppressed,
be just to the orphan,
plead for the widow.'.
The prophets
had discovered for themselves the overriding duty of compassion, which
would become the hallmark of all the major religions formed in the Axial
Age. The new ideologies that were developing in the Oikumene
during this period all insisted that the test of authenticity was that
religious experience be integrated successfuly with daily life. It was
no longer sufficient to combine the observance to the Temple and to
the extra-temporal world of myth. After enlighten- ment, a man or woman
must return to the market place and practise compassion for all living
beings.
The social ideal of the prophets had been implicit
in the cult of Yahweh since Sinai: the story of the Exodus had stressed
that God was on the side of the weak and oppressed. The difference was
that now Israelites themselves were castigated as oppressors. At the
time of Isaiah's prophetic vision, two prophets were already preaching
a similar message in the chaotic northern kingdom. The first was Amos
who was no aristrocrat like Isaiah but a shepherd who had originally
lived in T ekoa in the southern kingdom. In about 752., Amos had also
been overwhelmed by a sudden imperative that had swept him to the kingdom
of Israel in the north. There he had burst into the ancient shrine of
Beth-El and shattered the ceremonial there with a prophecy of doom.
Amaziah, the priest of Beth-EL, had tried to send / Page 57 / him
away. We can hear the superior voice of the establishment in his pompous
rebuke to the uncouth herdsman. He naturally imagined that Amos belonged
to one of the guilds of soothsayers, who wandered round in groups telling
fortunes for a living. 'Go away, seer!' he said disdainfully. 'Get back
to the land of Judah; earn your bread there, do your prophesying there.
We want no more prophesying in Beth-EI; this is the royal sanctuary,
the national temple.' Unabashed, Amos drew himself to his full height
and replied scornfully that he was no guild prophet but had a direct
mandate from Yahweh: 'I was no prophet, neither did I belong to any
of the brotherhoods of prophets. I was a shepherd and looking after
sycamores: but it was Yahweh who took me from herding the flock and
Yahweh who said: "Go, prophesy to my people Israel." 'IS SO
the people ofBeth-EI did not want to hear Yahweh's message? Very well,
he had another oracle for them: their wives would be forced on to the
streets, their children slaughtered and they themselves would die in
exile, far from the land of Israel.
It was of the essence of the prophet
to be solitary. Like Amos he was on his own; he had broken with the
rhythms and duties of his past. This was not something he had chosen
but something that had happened to him. It seemed as though he had been
jerked out of the normal patterns of consciousness and could no longer
operate the usual controls. He was forced to prophesy, whether he wanted
to or not. As Amos put it:
The lion roars;
who can help feeling afraid?
The Lord Yahweh
speaks: who can refuse to prophesy?'6
Amos had not
been absorbed like the Buddha into the selfless annihilation of nirvana
but Yahweh had taken the place of his ego and snatched him into another
world. Amos was the first of the prophets to emphasise the importance
of social justice and compassion. Like the Buddha, he was acutely aware
of the agony of suffering humanity. In Amos's oracles, Yahweh is speaking
on behalf of the oppressed, giving voice to the voiceless, impotent
suffering of the poor. In the very first line of his prophecy as it
has come down to us, Yahweh is roaring with horror from his Temple in
Jerusalem as he contemplated the misery in /Page 58
/ all the countries of the Near East, including Judah and Israel.
The people of Israel are just as bad as the goyim, the Gentiles:
they might be able to ignore the cruelty and oppression of the poor
but Yahweh could not. He noted every instance of swindling, exploitation
and breathtak- ing lack of compassion: 'Yahweh swears it by the pride
of Jacob: "Never will I forget a single thing that you have done."17
Did they really have the temerity to look forward to the Day of the
Lord, when Yahweh would exalt Israel and humiliate the goyim? They
had a shock coming: 'What will this Day of Yahweh mean to you? It will
mean darkness not light!'18 They thought they were God's Chosen People?
They had entirely misunderstood the nature of the covenant, which meant
responsibility not privilege: 'Listen sons of Israel, to this oracle
Yahweh speaks against your Amos cried, 'against the whole family I brought
out of the land of Egypt:
You alone, of all the families of the earth, have I acknowledged,
therefore it is for your sins that I mean to punish you."19
The covenant
meant that all the people of Israel were God's elect and had,
therefore, to be treated decently. God did not simply intervene in history
to glorify Israel but to secure social justice. This was his stake
in history and, if need be, he would use the Assyrian army to enforce
justice in his own land.
Not surprisingly, most Israelites declined the prophet's
invitation to enter into a dialogue with Yahweh. They preferred a less
demanding religion of cultic observance either in the Jerusalem Temple
or in the old fertility cults of Canaan. This continues to be the case:
the religion of compassion is only followed by a minority; most religious
people are content with decorous worship in synagogue, church, temple
and mosque. The ancient Canaanite religions were still flourishing in
Israel. In the tenth century, King Jeroboam 1 had set up two cultic
bulls at the sanctuaries of Dan and Beth-El. Two hundred years later,
the Israelites were still taking part in fertility rites and sacred
sex there, as we see in the oracles of the prophet Hosea, Amos's contemporary.and
Some Israelites appear to have thought that Yahweh had a wife, like
the other gods: archaeologists have recently unearthed inscription /
Page 59 /dedicated 'To Yahweh and his Asherah'. Hosea was particularly
disturbed by the fact that Israel was breaking the terms of the covenant
by worshipping other gods, such as Baal. Like all of the new prophets,
he was concerned with the inner meaning of religion. As he makes Yahweh
say: 'What I want is love (hesed) not sacrifice; knowledge
of God (daath Elohim) not holocausts.'21 He did not mean
theological knowledge: the word daath comes from the Hebrew verb
yada: to know, which has sexual connotations, Thus J says that
Adam 'knew' his wife Eve,22 In the Old Canaanite religion, Baal had
married the soil and the people had celebrated this with ritual orgies
but Hosea insisted that since the covenant, Yahweh had taken the place
of Baal and had wedded the people of Israel. They had to understand
that it was Yahweh not Baal who would bring fertility to the soil.23
He was still wooing Israel like a lover, determined to lure her back
from the Baals who had seduced her:
When that day comes - it is Yahweh who speaks -
she will call me, 'My husband,'
no longer will she call me, 'My Baal.'
I will take the names of the Baals off her lips,their
names shall never be uttered again.24'.
Where Amos attacked social wickedness, Hosea dwelt on the lack of inwardness
in Israelite religion: the 'knowledge' of God was related to 'hesed',
implying an interior appropriation and attachment to Yahweh that
must supersede exterior observance.
Hosea gives us a startling insight into the way the prophets were
developing their image of God. At the very beginning of his career,
Yahweh seemed to have issued a shocking command. He told Hosea to go
off and marry a whore (esheth zeuun;m) because the whole country
had 'become nothing but a whore abandoning Yahweh',2s It appears, however,
that God had not ordered Hosea to scour the streets for a prostitute:
esheth zeuunim (literally, 'a wife of prostitution') meant either
a woman with a promiscuous temperament or a sacred prostitute in a fertility
cult. Given Hosea's preoccupation with fertility rituals, it seems likely
that his wife Gomer had become one of the sacred personnel in the cult
of Baal. His marriage was, therefore, an / Page 60 / emblem of Yahweh's
relationship with the faithless Israel."
A HISTORY OF GOD
Karen Armstrong
1993
Page 77
"Awake, awake!
clothe yourself in strength, arm of Yahweh,
Awake, as in the past,
in times of generations long ago.
Did you not split Rahab in two,
and pierce the Dragon (tannim) through?
Did you not dry up the sea,
the waters of the great Abyss (teh6m),
to make the seabed a road
for the redeemed to cross?57
Yahweh had finally absorbed his rivals in the religious imagination
of Israel; in exile, the lure of paganism lost its attraction
and the religion of Judaism had been born. At a time when the
cult of Yahweh might reasonably have been expected to perish, he became
the means that enabled people to find hope in impossible circumstances.
Yahweh, therefore, had become the one and only God. There was
no attempt to justify his claim philosophically. As always, the new
theology succeeded not because it could be demonstrated rationally but
because it was effective in preventing despair and inspiring hope. Dislocated
and displaced as they were, the Jews no longer found the discontinuity
of the cult of Yahweh alien and disturbing. It spoke profoundly to their
condition.
Yet there was nothing cosy about Second Isaiah's image of God.
He remained beyond the grasp of the human mind:
For my thoughts
are not your thoughts, my
ways not your ways - it is Yahweh who speaks.
Yes, the heavens are as high above earth as
my ways are above your ways,
my thoughts above your thoughts.58
The reality of God lay beyond the reach of words and concepts. Nor would
Yahweh always do what his people expected. In a very daring passage,
which has particular poignancy today, the prophet looks forward to a
time when Egypt and Assyria would also become the peoplee of Yahweh,
alongside Israel. Yahweh would say: 'Blessed be my people Egypt, Assyria
my creature, and Israel my heritage.'59 He had / Page 76
/become the symbol of transcendent reality that made narrow interpre-
tations of election seem petty and inadequate.
When Cyrus, King of Persia, conquered the Babylonian empire
in 539 BCE, it seemed as though the prophets had been vindicated. Cyrus
did not impose the Persian gods on his new subjects but worshipped at
the Temple of Marduk when he entered Babylon in triumph. He also restored
the effigies of the gods belonging to the peoples conquered by the Babylonians
to their original homes. Now that the world had become accustomed to
living in giant international empires, Cyrus probably did not need to
impose the old methods of deportation. It would ease the burden of rule
ifhis subject peoples worshipped their own gods in their own territories.
Throughout his empire, he encouraged the restoration of ancient temples,
claiming repeatedly that their gods had charged him with the task. He
was an example of the tolerance and breadth of vision of some forms
of pagan religion. In 538 Cyrus issued an edict permitting the Jews
to return to Judah and rebuild their own temple. Most of them, however,
elected to stay behind: henceforth only a minority would live in the
Promised Land. The Bible tells us that 42,360 Jews left Babylon and
Tel Aviv and began the trek home, where they imposed their new Judaism
on their bewildered brethren who had remained behind.
We can see what this entailed in the writings of the Priestly
tradition (P), which were written after the exile and inserted into
the Pentateuch. This gave its own interpretation of the events described
by J and E and added two new books, Numbers and Leviticus. As we might
expect, P had an exalted and sophisticated view of Yahweh. He did
not believe, for example, that anybody could actually see God
in the way that J had suggested. Sharing many of the perspectives of
Ezekiel, he believed that there was a distinction between the human
perception of God and the reality itself. In p's story of
Moses on Sinai, Moses begs for a vision of Yahweh, who replies:
'You cannot see my face, for no man can see me and live.'60 Instead,
Moses must shield himself from the divine impact in a crevice of the
rock, where he will catch a glimpse of Yahweh as he departs, in a kind
of hindsight. P had introduced an idea that would become extremely important
in the history of God. Men and women can only see an afterglow of the
divine / Page 77 / presence, which he calls 'die glory (kavod)
ofYahweh', a manifestation of his presence, which is not to be confused
with God himself.61 When Moses came down from the mountain, his
own face had reflected this 'glory' and shone with such unbearable light
that the Israelites could not look upon him.62
The 'glory' of Yahweh was a symbol of his presence on earth and,
as such, it emphasised the difference between the limited images of
God created by men and women and die holiness of God himself. It
was thus a counterbalance to the idolatrous nature of Israelite religion.
When P looked back to the old stories of the Exodus, he did not imagine
that Yahweh had himself accompanied the Israelites during their wanderings:
that would be unseemly anthropomorphism. Instead, he shows the 'glory'
of Yahweh filling the tent where he met with Moses. Similarly it would
only be the 'glory of Yahweh' diat would dwell in the Temple.63
p's most famous contribution to die Pentateuch was, of course, the account
of creation in die first chapter of Genesis, which drew upon the Enuma
Elish. P began with the waters of die primordial abyss (te-hom,
a corruption of Tiamat), out of which Yahweh fashions die heavens
and earth. There was no batde of die Gods, however, or struggle widi
Yam, Lotan or Rahab. Yahweh alone was responsible for calling all things
into being. There was no gradual emanation of reality but Yahweh achieved
order by an effortless act of will. Naturally, P did not conceive the
world as divine, composed of the same stuff as Yahweh. Indeed, die notion
of 'separation' is crucial to p's theology: Yahweh made the cosmos an
ordered place by separating night from day, water from dry land and
light from darkness. At each stage, Yahweh blessed and sanctified the
creation and pronounced it 'good'. Unlike the Babylonian story, the
making of man was die climax of creation, not a comic afterthought.
Men and women may not share the divine nature but they had been created
in the image of God: they must carry on his creative tasks. As in the
Enuma Elish, the six days of creation were followed by
a sabbatical rest on die sevendi day: in the Babylonian account, this
had been thee day when die Great Assembly had met to 'fix the destinies'
and confer thee divine tides upon Marduk. In P, the sabbath stood in
symbolic contrast to die primordial chaos / that had prevailed on
Day One."
DIVINE LOVE
LOVE DIVINEDIVINE LOVE LOVE DIVINE
THE OVERRIDING DUTY OF COMPASSION
CEASE TO DO EVIL LEARN TO DO GOOD
SEARCH FOR JUSTICE
LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR AS THYSELF
ARABIC
| |
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5 |
ALLAH |
|
34 |
|
16 |
|
7 |
| |
5 |
ISLAM |
|
54 |
|
18 |
|
9 |
| |
5 |
JACOB |
|
31 |
|
13 |
|
4 |
| |
7 |
ISHMAEL |
|
67 |
|
31 |
|
4 |
| |
8 |
MOHAMMED |
|
72 |
|
36 |
|
9 |
| |
6 |
ARABIC |
|
34 |
|
25 |
|
7 |
| |
4 |
ARAB |
|
22 |
|
13 |
|
4 |
| |
6 |
JOSEPH |
|
73 |
|
28 |
|
1 |
| |
9 |
JERUSALEM |
|
104 |
|
32 |
|
5 |
| |
5 |
SINAI |
|
52 |
|
25 |
|
7 |
| |
7 |
MUHAMET |
|
81 |
|
27 |
|
9 |
| |
6 |
AL-WAZN |
|
77 |
|
23 |
|
5 |
| |
6 |
AL JAHR |
|
44 |
|
17 |
|
8 |
| |
5 |
MECCA |
|
25 |
|
16 |
|
7 |
| |
6 |
MEDINA |
|
46 |
|
28 |
|
1 |
| |
5 |
KAABA |
|
16 |
|
7 |
|
7 |
| |
4 |
HAJJ |
|
29 |
|
11 |
|
2 |
| |
7 |
RAMADAM |
|
52 |
|
25 |
|
7 |
| |
6 |
ARAFAT |
|
47 |
|
20 |
|
2 |
| |
6 |
MUSLIM |
|
87 |
|
24 |
|
6 |
| |
7 |
MUSLIMS |
|
106 |
|
27 |
|
7 |
| |
6 |
MULLAH |
|
67 |
|
22 |
|
4 |
| |
3 |
KIS |
|
39 |
|
12 |
|
3 |
| |
5 |
KISWA |
|
63 |
|
18 |
|
9 |
| |
5 |
KORAN |
|
59 |
|
23 |
|
5 |
| |
7 |
GABRIEL |
|
54 |
|
36 |
|
9 |
| |
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|
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|
| |
5 |
ISLAM |
|
54 |
|
18 |
|
9 |
| |
8 |
MOHAMMED |
|
72 |
|
36 |
|
9 |
| |
7 |
MUHAMET |
|
81 |
|
27 |
|
9 |
| |
5 |
KISWA |
|
63 |
|
18 |
|
9 |
| |
7 |
GABRIEL |
|
54 |
|
36 |
|
9 |
| |
|
|
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|
|
|
| |
5 |
ALLAH |
|
34 |
|
16 |
|
7 |
| |
6 |
ARABIC |
|
34 |
|
25 |
|
7 |
| |
5 |
SINAI |
|
52 |
|
25 |
|
7 |
| |
5 |
MECCA |
|
25 |
|
16 |
|
7 |
| |
5 |
KAABA |
|
16 |
|
7 |
|
7 |
| |
7 |
RAMADAM |
|
52 |
|
25 |
|
7 |
| |
7 |
MUSLIMS |
|
106 |
|
27 |
|
7 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
9 |
JERUSALEM |
|
104 |
|
32 |
|
5 |
| |
6 |
AL-WAZN |
|
77 |
|
23 |
|
5 |
| |
5 |
KORAN |
|
59 |
|
23 |
|
5 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
5 |
JACOB |
|
31 |
|
13 |
|
4 |
| |
7 |
ISHMAEL |
|
67 |
|
31 |
|
4 |
| |
4 |
ARAB |
|
22 |
|
13 |
|
4 |
| |
6 |
MULLAH |
|
67 |
|
22 |
|
4 |
| |
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|
| |
4 |
HAJJ |
|
29 |
|
11 |
|
2 |
| |
6 |
ARAFAT |
|
47 |
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20 |
|
2 |
| |
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|
| |
6 |
JOSEPH |
|
73 |
|
28 |
|
1 |
| |
6 |
MEDINA |
|
46 |
|
28 |
|
1 |
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| |
9 |
EL-SHADDAI |
|
63 |
|
36 |
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9 |
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5 |
MOSES |
|
71 |
|
17 |
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8 |
| |
7 |
ABRAHAM |
|
44 |
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26 |
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8 |
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5 |
JACOB |
|
31 |
|
13 |
|
4 |
| |
7 |
HERE I AM |
|
59 |
|
41 |
|
5 |
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6 |
HINENI |
|
59 |
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41 |
|
5 |
| |
6 |
YAHWEH |
|
70 |
|
34 |
|
7 |
| |
6 |
EXODUS |
|
88 |
|
25 |
|
7 |
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5 |
ISAAC |
|
33 |
|
15 |
|
6 |
|
6 |
ISRAEL |
|
64 |
|
28 |
|
1 |
|
6 |
MIDIAN |
|
42 |
|
24 |
|
6 |
THE ELEMENTS OF THE GODDESS
caitlin matthews 1989
"We are entering the time of the
nine-pointed star
the star of making real upon earth the golden dream
of peace that lives within us"
Brooke Medicine Eagle
MIDDLE EASTERN MYTHOLOGY
S. H. Hooke 1963
Mesopotamian
Myths
Page 27
"The last myth dealing
with the organization of the uni-verse to which we shall refer is
concerned with the activi- ties of the goddess Inanna, or Ishtar.
We have already had occasion to refer to the expression 'fixing the
destinies', / Page 28/ and we shall see when we come to deal with
Babylonian myths that an object called 'the tablet of destinies'
plays m important part in several myths. The possession of it was
one of the attributes of deity, and we hear of the tab-lets being
stolen or taken by force on several occasions. The god who possessed
them had the power of controlling the order of the universe. In the
myth with which we are now dealing, Inanna wishes to confer
the blessings of civilization upon her own city, Erech. In
order to do this she must acquire the me, a Sumerian
word which appears to denote the same power as that which is conferred
by the possession of the Akkadian 'tablets of destiny'. The me
are in the hands of Enki, the god of wisdom. Accordingly,
Inanna journeys
to Eridu, where Enki dwells in his house of the Apsu,
the; sweet-water abyss. Enki receives his daughter Inanna
hos-pitably and makes a great feast for her. When he gets merry with
wine he promises her all kinds of gifts, including the me,
or divine decrees which, in Kramer's words, are 'the basis of
the culture pattern of Sumerian civilization'. The myth contains
a list of over a hundred items which con-stitute the elements of Sumerian
civilization. Inanna re- ceives'the gifts with joy, and
loads them on her bark, 'the boat of heaven', and sets. sail for Erech.
When Enki re- covers from his orgy he realizes that the me
are missing from their accustomed place. The mention of a place
in which the me are kept suggests that they are in the
form of tablets. On discovering his loss Enki sends his messenger
Isimud with instructions to recover them. Seven times
he attempts to do so, but each time he is foiled by Ninshubur,
Inanna's vizier, of whom we have already heard. So the goddess
brings to Erech the blessings of civilization. It will be noted
that the various myths to which we have referred reflect the rivalry
which existed between the various city- states of Sumer. The
first items on the list of the me which / Page29 / Inanna
obtained from Enki are those referring to lordship: the crown,
throne, and sceptre are mentioned, from which we may infer that the
struggle for the hegemony of Sumer is one of the motives underlying
these myths of the organ-ization of the universe.
The Creation of Man. We have already seen that the myth
of Lahar and Ashnan ended up with the creation of man
for the service of the gods.
Another myth, the text of which is difficult and broken,
describes the way in which man was created. Although the Sumerian
myth differs considerably from the account given in the Babylonian
Epic of Creation, both versions agree in the object for which man
was created, namely, for. the ser-vice of the gods, to till the ground
and free the gods from having to work for their living. In the Sumerian
myth the gods complain that they cannot get their food. Enki,
the god of wisdom, to whom the gods generally resort in time of need,
is asleep; but Nammu, the primeval ocean, the mother of the
gods, arouses him from sleep.
I
ISISIS
9
ME
ISISIS
9
I AM ME ME AM
I
9 AM 9 9 AM 9
PEACE ON EARTH
AND GOODWILL TO ALL SENTIENT BEINGS
I AM THAT I AM
THAT I AM I AM
ISAIAH
C 7 V 14
"Therefore the lord shall give you a sign: Behold
a virgin shall concieve and bear a son and shall call him Imannuel"
IMMANUEL
THE WORD IMMANUEL REDUCES VIA THE MAGIKALALPHABETZ
SYMBOLIC INTERCHANGE
INTO 88 (first change)VIA 34 (second
change)TO ITS ROOT NUMBER OF SEVEN
THE WORD
SAINT
TRANSCRIBED INTO NUMBER, REDUCES VIA ITS NUMERICAL
PLACING IN
THE
MAGIKALALPHABET
FIRSTLY INTO NUMBER
63
AFTER ITS SECOND METAMORHIC CLARIFICATION. IT
BECOMES
18
EIGHTEEN
ADD TO REDUCE REDUCE TO DEDUCE
1 + 8 OR 8 + 1
MERGING UNTO EACH OTHER IN LOVING EMBRACE
BIRTH
THE WHOLLY HOLY NUMBER
9
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN FELLOW BEINGS ALL
9
DRAW YOUR ESTEEMED ATTENTION TO THE BLESSED VIRTUES
OF THE ONE AND ONLY NUMBER
9
THE UPSIDE DOWN
SIX XIS
AND TELL
THE HOLY BIBLE
SAINT LUKE
The annunciation
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|
| |
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|
19 |
|
9 |
14 |
|
+ |
= |
42 |
4+2 |
= |
6 |
|
|
|
| 7 |
D |
E |
S |
T |
I |
N |
Y |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
4 |
5 |
19 |
20 |
9 |
14 |
25 |
+ |
= |
96 |
9+6 |
= |
15 |
1+5 |
= |
6 |
| |
4 |
5 |
1 |
2 |
9 |
5 |
7 |
+ |
= |
33 |
3+3 |
= |
6 |
|
SIX |
6 |
| |
|
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|
|
|
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
19 |
|
9 |
14 |
9 |
|
19 |
+ |
= |
70 |
7+0 |
= |
7 |
|
|
| 9 |
D |
E |
S |
T |
I |
N |
I |
E |
S |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
4 |
5 |
19 |
20 |
9 |
14 |
9 |
5 |
19 |
+ |
= |
104 |
1+0+4 |
= |
5 |
|
|
| |
4 |
5 |
1 |
2 |
9 |
5 |
9 |
5 |
1 |
+ |
= |
41 |
4+1 |
= |
5 |
FIVE |
5 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
FATE |
32 |
|
14 |
|
5 |
| |
FATES |
51 |
|
15 |
|
6 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
FATE |
32 |
|
14 |
|
5 |
| |
DESTINY |
33 |
|
15 |
|
6 |
|
DESTINIES |
104 |
|
41 |
|
5 |
|
FATES |
51 |
|
15 |
|
6 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
FATE |
|
32 |
|
14 |
|
5 |
| |
DESTINY |
|
33 |
|
15 |
|
6 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
DESTINIES |
|
104 |
|
41 |
|
5 |
|
FATES |
|
51 |
|
15 |
|
6 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 5 |
JESUS |
|
74 |
|
11 |
|
2 |
| 5 |
INMAN |
|
50 |
|
23 |
|
5 |
| 3 |
UEL |
|
38 |
|
11 |
|
2 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 5 |
INMAN |
|
50 |
|
23 |
|
5 |
| 3 |
UEL |
|
38 |
|
11 |
|
2 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
ISMAEL |
|
59 |
|
23 |
|
5 |
|
IS-HE-MALE |
|
72 |
|
36 |
|
9 |
|
IS MALE |
|
59 |
|
23 |
|
5 |
|
ISMAEL |
|
59 |
|
23 |
|
5 |
|
IMMAN |
|
50 |
|
23 |
|
5 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
IS MALE |
|
59 |
|
23 |
|
5 |
|
ISMAEL |
|
59 |
|
23 |
|
5 |
|
IMMAN |
|
50 |
|
23 |
|
5 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
IS MALE |
|
59 |
|
23 |
|
5 |
|
ISMAEL |
|
59 |
|
23 |
|
5 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
IMMANUEL |
|
88 |
|
34 |
|
7 |
|
JESUS CHRIST |
|
151 |
|
43 |
|
7 |
|
JESUS |
|
74 |
|
11 |
|
2 |
|
CHRIST |
|
77 |
|
32 |
|
5 |
|
EMMANUEL |
|
84 |
|
30 |
|
3 |
|
MESSIAH |
|
74 |
|
29 |
|
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
CHRIST |
|
77 |
|
32 |
|
5 |
|
IS MALE |
|
59 |
|
23 |
|
5 |
|
ISMAEL |
|
59 |
|
23 |
|
5 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
11 |
JESUS CHRIST |
|
151 |
|
43 |
|
7 |
| |
7 |
MESSIAH |
|
74 |
|
29 |
|
2 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
18 |
|
|
225 |
|
72 |
|
9 |
| |
1+8 |
|
|
2+2+5 |
|
7+2 |
|
|
| |
9 |
|
|
9 |
|
9 |
|
9 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 7 |
MESSIAH |
|
74 |
|
29 |
|
2 |
| 5 |
JESUS |
|
74 |
|
11 |
|
2 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
11 |
JESUS CHRIST |
|
151 |
|
43 |
|
7 |
| |
8 |
IMMANUEL |
|
88 |
|
34 |
|
7 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 6 |
G |
N |
O |
S |
I |
S |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7 |
14 |
15 |
19 |
9 |
19 |
|
+ |
= |
83 |
8+3 |
= |
11 |
1+1 |
= |
2 |
|
|
|
7 |
5 |
6 |
1 |
9 |
1 |
|
+ |
= |
29 |
2+9 |
= |
11 |
1+1 |
= |
2 |
TWO |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5 |
6 |
1 |
9 |
1 |
|
+ |
= |
22 |
2+2 |
= |
4 |
|
|
|
|
|
14 |
15 |
19 |
9 |
19 |
|
+ |
= |
76 |
7+6 |
= |
13 |
1+3 |
= |
4 |
| 6 |
G |
N |
O |
S |
I |
S |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
+ |
= |
7 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 6 |
G |
N |
O |
S |
I |
S |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7 |
14 |
15 |
19 |
9 |
19 |
|
+ |
= |
83 |
8+3 |
= |
11 |
1+1 |
= |
2 |
|
|
|
7 |
5 |
6 |
1 |
9 |
1 |
|
+ |
= |
29 |
2+9 |
= |
11 |
1+1 |
= |
2 |
TWO |
2 |
|
G |
N |
O |
S |
I |
S |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
+ |
= |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5 |
|
|
|
|
|
+ |
= |
5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
6 |
|
|
|
|
+ |
= |
6 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
+ |
|
7 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
9 |
|
|
+ |
= |
9 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 6 |
G |
N |
O |
S |
I |
S |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7 |
14 |
15 |
19 |
9 |
19 |
|
+ |
= |
83 |
8+3 |
= |
11 |
1+1 |
= |
2 |
|
|
|
7 |
5 |
6 |
1 |
9 |
1 |
|
+ |
= |
29 |
2+9 |
= |
11 |
1+1 |
= |
2 |
TWO |
2 |
|
7 |
x |
5 |
= |
35 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
35 |
x |
6 |
= |
210 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
210 |
x |
1 |
= |
210 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
210 |
x |
9 |
= |
1890 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
J |
E |
S |
U |
S |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
J |
E |
|
W |
S |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10 |
5 |
|
|
19 |
|
+ |
= |
34 |
|
|
|
1 |
5 |
|
|
1 |
|
+ |
= |
7 |
SEVEN |
7 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
5 |
JESUS |
|
74 |
|
11 |
|
2 |
| |
4 |
JEWS |
|
57 |
|
12 |
|
3 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
9 |
|
|
131 |
|
23 |
|
5 |
| |
|
|
|
1+3+1 |
|
2+3 |
|
|
| |
9 |
|
|
5 |
|
5 |
|
5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 6 |
C |
O |
P |
T |
I |
C |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3 |
15 |
16 |
20 |
9 |
3 |
|
+ |
= |
66 |
6+6 |
= |
12 |
1+2 |
= |
3 |
|
3 |
6 |
7 |
2 |
9 |
3 |
|
+ |
= |
30 |
3+0 |
= |
3 |
|
THREE |
3 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
15 |
|
9 |
15 |
14 |
|
+ |
= |
53 |
5+3 |
= |
8 |
|
|
| 5 |
O |
R |
I |
O |
N |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
15 |
18 |
9 |
15 |
14 |
|
+ |
= |
71 |
7+1 |
= |
8 |
|
|
| |
6 |
9 |
9 |
6 |
5 |
|
+ |
= |
35 |
3+5 |
= |
8 |
EIGHT |
8 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 9 |
O |
R |
I |
O |
N |
I |
R |
O |
N |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
15 |
18 |
9 |
15 |
14 |
9 |
18 |
15 |
14 |
|
+ |
= |
127 |
1+2+7 |
= |
10 |
1+0 |
= |
1 |
|
|
| |
6 |
9 |
9 |
6 |
5 |
9 |
9 |
6 |
5 |
|
+ |
= |
64 |
6+4 |
= |
10 |
1+0 |
= |
1 |
ONE |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
5 |
|
|
|
5 |
|
+ |
= |
10 |
1+0 |
= |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
6 |
|
|
6 |
|
|
|
6 |
|
|
+ |
= |
18 |
1+8 |
= |
9 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
9 |
9 |
|
|
9 |
9 |
|
|
|
+ |
= |
36 |
3+6 |
= |
9 |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
5 |
WHITE |
|
65 |
|
29 |
|
2 |
| |
4 |
GOLD |
|
38 |
|
20 |
|
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 6 |
A |
B |
U |
|
S |
I |
R |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
21 |
|
19 |
9 |
18 |
|
+ |
= |
70 |
7+0 |
= |
|
7 |
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
|
1 |
9 |
9 |
|
+ |
= |
25 |
2+5 |
= |
7 |
SEVEN |
7 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
3 |
ABU |
|
24 |
|
6 |
|
6 |
| |
3 |
SIR |
|
46 |
|
19 |
|
1 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
6 |
|
|
70 |
|
25 |
|
7 |
| |
|
|
|
7+0 |
|
2+5 |
|
|
| |
6 |
|
|
7 |
|
7 |
|
7 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
6 |
SIRIUS |
|
95 |
|
32 |
|
5 |
| |
6 |
OSIRIS |
|
89 |
|
35 |
|
8 |
|
6 |
ABU SIR |
|
70 |
|
25 |
|
7 |
|
3 |
SIR |
|
46 |
|
19 |
|
1 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
21 |
|
|
135 |
|
54 |
|
9 |
| |
2+1 |
|
|
1+3+5 |
|
5+4 |
|
|
| |
3 |
|
|
9 |
|
9 |
|
9 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
CORNERSTONE |
|
73 |
|
37 |
|
1 |
| |
|
COPSTONE |
|
93 |
|
30 |
|
3 |
|
|
STONE |
|
73 |
|
19 |
|
1 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
3 |
CAP |
|
20 |
|
11 |
|
2 |
| |
5 |
STONE |
|
73 |
|
19 |
|
1 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
4 |
CAPS |
|
39 |
|
12 |
|
3 |
| |
4 |
TONE |
|
54 |
|
18 |
|
9 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
6 |
CORNER |
|
73 |
|
37 |
|
1 |
| |
5 |
STONE |
|
73 |
|
19 |
|
1 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
7 |
CORNERS |
|
92 |
|
38 |
|
2 |
| |
4 |
TONE |
|
54 |
|
18 |
|
9 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
4 |
FREE |
|
34 |
|
25 |
|
7 |
| |
5 |
MASON |
|
62 |
|
17 |
|
8 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
9 |
|
|
96 |
|
42 |
|
15 |
| |
|
|
|
9+6 |
|
4+2 |
|
1+5 |
|
|
|
|
15 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1+5 |
|
|
|
|
| |
9 |
|
|
6 |
|
6 |
|
6 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
4 |
FREE |
|
34 |
|
25 |
|
7 |
| |
6 |
MASONS |
|
81 |
|
18 |
|
9 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
MASONIC |
|
74 |
|
29 |
|
2 |
| |
|
MESSIONIC |
|
106 |
|
43 |
|
7 |
|
|
SONIC |
|
60 |
|
24 |
|
6 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 5 |
S |
O |
N |
I |
C |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
19 |
15 |
14 |
9 |
3 |
|
+ |
= |
60 |
6+0 |
= |
6 |
|
|
|
1 |
6 |
5 |
9 |
3 |
|
+ |
= |
24 |
2+4 |
= |
6 |
SIX |
6 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
INITIATE |
|
87 |
|
42 |
|
6 |
| |
|
NEOPHYTE |
|
108 |
|
45 |
|
9 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
RITULA |
|
81 |
|
27 |
|
9 |
| |
|
MASONS |
|
81 |
|
18 |
|
9 |
|
|
NEOPHYTE |
|
108 |
|
45 |
|
9 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
6 |
KARMIC |
|
55 |
|
28 |
|
1 |
| |
5 |
KARMA |
|
44 |
|
17 |
|
8 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
11 |
|
|
99 |
|
45 |
|
9 |
| |
1+1 |
|
|
9+9 |
|
4+5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
18 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1+8 |
|
|
|
|
| |
2 |
|
|
9 |
|
9 |
|
9 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
5 |
KARMA |
|
44 |
|
17 |
|
8 |
| |
6 |
CALMER |
|
52 |
|
25 |
|
7 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
6 |
HERMES |
|
68 |
|
32 |
|
5 |
| |
5 |
THOTH |
|
71 |
|
26 |
|
8 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
11 |
|
|
139 |
|
58 |
|
13 |
| |
1+1 |
|
|
1+3+9 |
|
5+8 |
|
1+3 |
|
|
|
|
13 |
|
13 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
1+3 |
|
1+3 |
|
|
| |
2 |
|
|
4 |
|
4 |
|
4 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
HERE-ME |
|
54 |
|
36 |
|
9 |
| |
|
HERMES |
|
68 |
|
32 |
|
5 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
HERE ME |
|
54 |
|
36 |
|
9 |
| |
|
SPEAK |
|
52 |
|
16 |
|
7 |
| |
|
THUS |
|
68 |
|
14 |
|
5 |
|
|
HERMES |
|
68 |
|
32 |
|
5 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 6 |
HERMES |
68 |
|
32 |
|
5 |
| 12 |
TRISMEGISTUS |
179 |
|
53 |
|
8 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
247 |
|
85 |
|
13 |
| |
|
2+4+7 |
|
8+5 |
|
1+3 |
|
|
13 |
|
13 |
|
4 |
|
|
1+3 |
|
1+3 |
|
|
| |
|
4 |
|
4 |
|
4 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 11 |
T |
R |
I |
S |
M |
E |
G |
I |
S |
T |
U |
S |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
20 |
18 |
9 |
19 |
13 |
5 |
7 |
9 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
19 |
+ |
= |
179 |
1+6+0 |
= |
7 |
|
|
| |
2 |
9 |
9 |
|
4 |
5 |
7 |
9 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
+ |
= |
53 |
5+2 |
= |
7 |
SEVEN |
7 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 18 |
H |
E |
R |
M |
E |
S |
|
T |
R |
I |
S |
M |
E |
G |
I |
S |
T |
U |
S |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
8 |
5 |
18 |
13 |
5 |
19 |
|
20 |
18 |
9 |
19 |
13 |
5 |
7 |
9 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
19 |
+ |
= |
247 |
2+4+7 |
= |
13 |
1+3 |
= |
4 |
FOUR |
4 |
| |
8 |
5 |
9 |
4 |
5 |
1 |
|
2 |
9 |
9 |
1 |
4 |
5 |
7 |
9 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
+ |
= |
85 |
8+5 |
= |
13 |
1+3 |
= |
4 |
FOUR |
4 |
| 18 |
H |
E |
R |
M |
E |
S |
|
T |
R |
I |
S |
M |
E |
G |
I |
S |
T |
U |
S |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
8 |
5 |
18 |
13 |
5 |
19 |
|
20 |
18 |
9 |
19 |
13 |
5 |
7 |
9 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
19 |
+ |
= |
247 |
2+4+7 |
= |
13 |
1+3 |
= |
3 |
|
|
| |
8 |
5 |
9 |
4 |
5 |
1 |
|
2 |
9 |
9 |
|
4 |
5 |
7 |
9 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
+ |
= |
85 |
8+4 |
= |
13 |
1+3 |
= |
3 |
THREE |
3 |
| |
H |
E |
R |
M |
E |
S |
|
T |
R |
I |
S |
M |
E |
G |
I |
S |
T |
U |
S |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
1 |
+ |
= |
4 |
|
|
4 |
|
|
4 |
FOUR |
4 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 |
|
|
+ |
= |
4 |
|
|
4 |
|
|
4 |
FOUR |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3 |
|
+ |
= |
3 |
|
|
3 |
|
|
3 |
THREE |
3 |
| |
|
|
|
4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
+ |
= |
8 |
|
|
8 |
|
|
8 |
EIGHT |
|
| |
|
5 |
|
|
5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
+ |
= |
15 |
1+5 |
= |
6 |
|
|
6 |
SIX |
6 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7 |
|
|
|
|
|
+ |
= |
7 |
|
|
7 |
|
|
7 |
SEVEN |
7 |
| |
8 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
+ |
= |
8 |
|
|
8 |
|
|
8 |
EIGHT |
8 |
| |
|
|
9 |
|
|
|
|
|
9 |
9 |
|
|
|
|
9 |
|
|
|
|
+ |
= |
36 |
3+6 |
= |
9 |
|
|
9 |
NINE |
9 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
85 |
|
|
49 |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
8+5 |
|
|
4+9 |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
13 |
|
|
13 |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
H |
E |
R |
M |
E |
S |
|
T |
R |
I |
S |
M |
E |
G |
I |
S |
T |
U |
S |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
HERMES TRISMEGISTUS |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1 |
occurs |
x |
4 |
= |
4 |
|
|
4 |
| 2 |
occurs |
x |
2 |
= |
4 |
|
|
4 |
| 3 |
occurs |
x |
1 |
= |
3 |
|
|
3 |
| 4 |
occurs |
x |
2 |
= |
8 |
|
|
8 |
| 5 |
occurs |
x |
3 |
= |
15 |
1+5 |
= |
6 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 7 |
occurs |
x |
1 |
= |
7 |
|
|
7 |
| 8 |
occurs |
x |
1 |
= |
8 |
|
|
8 |
| 9 |
occurs |
x |
4 |
= |
36 |
3+6 |
= |
9 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7
|
