Who did the Muslims worship?

[A-ManESL]

Obviously you've never read the Qu'ran....

the muslim hatred goes back centuries...

the qu'ran refers to ALL Jews as "hypocrits"

:cover:

I think you are misinformed. Please don't (if you are doing so) draw information from vitriolic websites.Let me clarify a few things:

1. Only 20% of the Muslims live in Arab countries. If you discount the Persian origin people then even less. While this does not conclusively prove that a majority of Muslims are of non Arab origin, it is a strong indication of the fact that majority of Muslims are not of the stock of Ishmael.

2. The Hypocrites you referred to in the Quranic verses are not the Jews but Munafiqs. Munafiq is an Islamic Arabic term used to describe a religious hypocrite, who outwardly practices Islam, while inwardly concealing his disbelief. The hypocrites emerged as a community within Islam during Muhammad's (pbuh) time.

3. There are other verses in the Quran which condemn the Jews but not the ones you mentioned. The verses related to Jews have to be taken in the context of the historical incidents of the period. You must know too that there are other verses such as

[2:62] Surely, those who believe, those who are Jewish, the Christians, and the converts; anyone who (1) believes in GOD, and (2) believes in the Last Day, and (3) leads a righteous life, will receive their recompense from their Lord. They have nothing to fear, nor will they grieve.

[5:69] Surely, those who believe, those who are Jewish, the converts, and the Christians; any of them who (1) believe in GOD and (2) believe in the Last Day, and (3) lead a righteous life, have nothing to fear, nor will they grieve.

Translations taken from here.

which might give another view. However these verses have to be taken into context as well. You must not jump to conclusions. Carefully reading the Quran with proper commentary tells you that the Quran's message is actually condemning those who 1. corrupt outward aspects of a religion for their own end and 2. promote religious exclusivism (chosen one concept). (Source: The Tarjuman Al-Qur'an. by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad)

3. Muslims don't hate Jews from 5000 years. This is an oversimplification and entirely wrong when merged with the fact that the stock of Ishmael is not representative of the Muslim community. Only since 1948 do most Muslims condemn Israel's occupation of Palestine.

4. Lastly according to Ibn Taymiya, although only some Muslims accept the textual veracity of the entire Bible, most Muslims will grant the veracity of most of it.

To answer the OP's question the pre Islamic religion of Arabia was profoundly polytheistic and is not well known due to very little material. Christianity is known to have been active in the region before the rise of Islam, especially unorthodox, possibly gnostic forms of it. Some tribes practised Judaism.

Regards.

 

[Mr Cheese]

WHat about Zoroastrians? and could the polytheism have to do with religions like Mithraism, that was quite different before the roman legions got a hold of it?

 

[A-ManESL]

WHat about Zoroastrians? and could the polytheism have to do with religions like Mithraism, that was quite different before the roman legions got a hold of it?

Zoroastrianism was present in Persia (supported by the Sassanids) in pre Islamic times. I have not heard of any following in Arabia.
The Islamic Caliphate seriously encountered Zoroastrians during the Sassanid wars only after the Prophet. After some debate, they were accepted as having status equivalent to people of the book like the Jews/Christians. In fact many early Islamic scholars, such as Malik ibn Anas agreed that Zoroastrians should also be directly included in the definition of the people of the book.

I don't know whether the PreIslamic Polytheism could be related to Mithraism. As I said before the nature of PreIslamic Polytheism is not well understood.

 

[Mr Cheese]

Zoroastrianism was present in Persia (supported by the Sassanids) in pre Islamic times. I have not heard of any following in Arabia.
The Islamic Caliphate seriously encountered Zoroastrians during the Sassanid wars only after the Prophet. After some debate, they were accepted as having status equivalent to people of the book like the Jews/Christians. In fact many early Islamic scholars, such as Malik ibn Anas agreed that Zoroastrians should also be directly included in the definition of the people of the book.

I don't know whether the PreIslamic Polytheism could be related to Mithraism. As I said before the nature of PreIslamic Polytheism is not well understood.

Well if Islam came out of Persian strains, we would have Mithraism and Zoroastrianism....perhaps...

one could argue it is from this and this reason why Islam is more Gnostic in its approach to God than Judaism and Christianity, in that it insist that God is transcedant and ineffible......(which are a part of christianity and Judaism, just not as overtly as it is in Islam)

I'm no expert however, just what I have been told by others and what I have joined the dots to conclude, so to speak...

 

[A-ManESL]

Perhaps. But you must also not discount the fact that Christianity and Judaism never had an Imam Ghazali. Sufism prevented Islamic studies from being restricted to only being a theologian's or philosopher's domain. It promoted the unknowable by reason and knowable through experience idea vibrantly.

Regards.

 

[Mr Cheese]

Perhaps. But you must also not discount the fact that Christianity and Judaism never had an Imam Ghazali. Sufism prevented Islamic studies from being restricted to only being a theologian's or philosopher's domain. It promoted the unknowable by reason and knowable through experience idea vibrantly.

Regards.

well christianity and Judaism had both of these before islam, it was just less pronounced.....(it was more "secret")

the exoteric face of islam embraces this, even though it denies it. The outward face of Christianity and Judaism do not. Although a simple look at history, is to know that yes, Islamic mysticism has deeply influenced Christian and Judaic, be it in alchemy, Kabbalah or just plain conceptualisations as opposed to the aforementioned "schools of thought."

Of course there were arguably those even before this, such as the Egyptians.... with their Aten, for example...

 

[Snowber]

It seems the original poster was banned but, if I may, I'd like to give my understanding on who "Muslims" worshipped before the Koran according to the Koran.

Abraham: Original Messenger of Islam*

[22:78] You shall strive for the cause of GOD as you should strive for His cause. He has chosen you and has placed no hardship on you in practicing your religion - the religion of your father Abraham. He is the one who named you "Submitters" originally. Thus, the messenger shall serve as a witness among you, and you shall serve as witnesses among the people. Therefore, you shall observe the Contact Prayers (Salat) and give the obligatory charity (Zakat), and hold fast to GOD; He is your Lord, the best Lord and the best Supporter.

So we see that Islam, aka "Submission" (to GOD), existed long before the prophet Mohammad. Throughout history there has been the "religion" of submitting to one GOD, the Creator of all that is.

At the same time you may be interested to know (just like with all other religions), the people at the same may have very well been idol worshippers. In fact, it seems that messengers/prophets themselves may have been idol worshippers until the guidance came to them.

As for whether or not people who have not been informed are "condemend", GOD is the best Knower of them, we could never have the right to judge.

 

[gnostic]

Zoroastrianism was present in Persia (supported by the Sassanids) in pre Islamic times. I have not heard of any following in Arabia.

Actually the Arabian peninsula was once part of the Persian Empire (from Darius the Great' time to Alexander the Great. Zoroastrianism spread out in all direction of its empire.

Whether Zoroastrianism had any influence on the pre-Islamic peninsula is only a matter of speculation. You have to remember that not all Persians were Zoroastrians.

My view is that the Persians (both Zoroastrians and non-Zoroastrians) did have an impact on those Arabs, if the pre-Islamic Arabs believed in angels, demons and djinns.

The angels and demons came from the Zoroastrian Persians, while the djinns came from non-Zoroastrian/Persian folk legends, where the djinns were known as jaini.