Jacob's Soap Box

1 March, 2009

You must give it to them, them the politically corrupt industry, how so elegantly they snuck this one on us whilst we were daydreaming, this new term Abrahamic Religion rolled of the production line. No ceremonies, no ribbons snipping, it just appeared in the middle of the day, as if it was always there, no explanation needed.

The idea is simple. Islam, that despite movies such as Arabesque and Lawrence Of Arabia, has acquired some image challenges over the years, particularly when some people in the West got the opportunity to examine it closer. In order to meet its image deficiency Islam needed that something which would finally convince us all that it is not just another religion, but that we, who the Koran call the followers of the book, are part of Islam and Islam is part of us, Kumbaya.

No kidding!

The basis for this whacky PC idea is that as Muslims believe that Arabs, thus Muhammad, are descendants of Ishmael (Ismail in Arabic), Abraham’s son to Hagar, they too are part of the extended Judea-Christian family, thus all we need is a new bumper sticker, brilliant!

I first came across the term very recently, last Christmas, when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad exercised his “right of reply” to the Queen Christmas massage when he said, among other things:

Upon the anniversary of the birth of Jesus, Son of Mary, the Word of God, the Messenger of mercy, I would like to congratulate the followers of Abrahamic faiths, especially the followers of Jesus Christ, and the people of Britain.

The travesty of a need for “reply” to the queen Christmas massage, by whom, and the use of Abraham tells it all. The Abrahamisation of Islam into the Jodeo-Christian religions is a product of the PC, multi-culti brigade and it has nothing to do with religions, Christianity, Judaism or Islam for that matter. It is simply a feel good term.

Let me be clear, I do not question Muslim’s beliefs about Abraham, this is not the issue. The issue is the use of Abraham for politically correct reasons.

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There is no such things as Abrahamic Nation, Abrahamic Religion, Abrahamic Nation or Abrahamic anything for that matter. The term Abrahamic Religion was coined by the political corrupt multicultural brigade with the active support of the useful idiots of Islam to create an impression that somehow Islam belongs in the Jodeo-Christian groups of religions – IT IS NOT!

One would not like to use harsh terms such as “disagreement” or, God forbid, “dispute” when it comes to warm feeling on the inside, thus I shall use some UN language innovations and point out some divergences between Judeo-Christianity and Islam.

Let us start with the BIBLE; The Old Testimony of the Bible is the holy book to both Jews and Christians. Whiles the Koran cites biblical individuals and events, the Bible itself is not a holy (to Muslims). Muslims regard some parts of the Bible as “corrupted”, they don’t study it, they don’t read it and it is not allowed in the birthplace of the prophet, of Saudi Arabia. Divergence No 1

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The Bible also provides us with a continuing chronological events time-line between Abraham and Jesus, something which does not show up in Muhammad’s curriculum vitae (CV). Instead, Ishmael, whom I will discuss further down below, disappeared from the biblical tales, only to resurface, some two thousands year later with a me too story.

Believe the Bible or believe the Koran it is still a divergence no 2.

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Turning to the man himself, Abraham, there is a discord with the Muslim section of the Abrahamic feel Good misnomer as to who was Abraham? Sura 3:67 of the Koran says:

Ibrahim [Abraham] was not a Jew nor a Christian but he was (an) upright (man), a Muslim, and he was not one of the polytheists. [Koran 3:67]

True, Abraham was not a Jew or a Christian, he was Hebrew, the Bible says:

And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner: and these were confederate with Abram. [Genesis 14:13]

Believe it either way, it is still a Divergence No 3.

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From father to son. Muslims believe that Ishmael is the patriarch of all Arabs. Muslims also believe that Ishmael, not Isaac was the subject of God’s test of Abraham’s faith by asking him to sacrifice his son. Muslims celebrate it with the Festival of Sacrifice (Eid Al Adkha) which marks the beginning of the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca.

Isaac or Ishmael? Believe in what you may, it is still divergence no 4.

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Now let’s turn to Ishmael’s mother, Hagar (also Agar and Hajar). The most striking point about her is that the matriarch of Islam is not mentioned in the Koran! Not even once! (As a matter of interest, Jerusalem, the third most holy city to Islam, does not get a mention in Koran either).

According to the Bible, Hagar was EGYPTIAN maid of Sara (Abraham’s wife) who bore Ishmael to Abraham, because Sara was barren, or so the thought. After Sara’s miracle birth to Isaac, and at here behest, Abraham sent Hagar and her son away.

Not only his mother was Egyptian but Ishmael also married an Egyptian woman. In other words, the two most important women in Ishmael’s life, his mother and his wife were Egyptian.

And he [Ishmael] dwelt in the [desert] of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt. [Genesis 21:21]

(Comment: For some reason the St James version of the Bible, translates the Hebrew word midbar as wilderness., this is incorrect. I use correct word for midbar which is desert ).

Believe that two Egyptian women are the matriarch of the Arab nation or not it is still Divergence No 5

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Muslims claim that the Paran Desert, Hagar, Ishmael and his family last known residence, is in Mecca. This bears the question: How would Hagar find another Egyptian woman in Mecca of pre-Hajj days? The more likely explanation is that Paran was part of Egypt those days. The word Paran may well have also derived from the word Par’oh (Pharaoh), which may support an Egyptian connection to the plave

The name Paran appears in the Bible a number of times. The spies that Moses sent to explore on the promised departed to their mission from the Paran Desert.

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them. And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the [desert] of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel. [Numbers 13: 1-3]

The exact location of Paran Desert is not known for certain but it is most likely somewhere between the Sinai Peninsula and the Negev in Israel of today. Wadi Paran (wadi is Arabic for “dry creek”) that runs from the centre of the Sinai Peninsula into the Arava plains between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Eilat (Gulf of Aqaba) in Israel may give us some cluse as to where the Paran Desert might be found.

Wadi Paran In the Arava in Israel

The Bible mentions Paran in a number of times, for example:

These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the [desert], in the [Arava] over against the Red sea, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadesh-Barnea [Deuteronomy 1:1-2]

Horeb (Khorev) is a mountain near Mount Sinai or another name for Mount Sinai. Kadesh-Barnea is one of he places the spies went through their tour, it is said to mark the most southern point of Erez Israel (the Land of Israel) which out it at shores the Red Sea, near Eilat of today. Although none of this give us a precise position of the Paran, it has as much chances as being anywhere near Mecca as being near Sydney, Divergence no 6.

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In UN speak six counts of divergences must counts as isolation, UNophiles love the word. Ask all the haters of America and Israel. If you understand UN speak you would know that being isolated is worse than being called Holocaust deniers but I am digressing now.

I guess that by now you cans see how ridiculous, this Abrahamic thing is. Above all, had Islam recognised the other Abrahamic religions as being part of the family, there would be no infidels; oh well, may be a few Hindus.

If we are all in the same Kumbaya, who are those people that the Koran call the follower of the book? Not once or twice, we the followers of the book get 34 mentions in Koran. Wow that is 34 more times than the words Jerusalem, Hagar and Abrahamic religions appear in the Koran.

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P.S. It seems that the Koran foreshadows its useful idiots in America, Australia, Britain, Holland and all others where bleeding hearts can be found:

He it is Who caused those who disbelieved of the followers of the Book [Jews and Christians] to go forth from their homes at the first banishment you did not think that they would go forth, while they were certain that their fortresses would defend them against Allah; but Allah came to them whence they did not expect, and cast terror into their hearts; they demolished their houses with their own hands and the hands of the believers; therefore take a lesson, O you who have eyes! [Koran 59:2]

Abrahamic what?

© Copyright Jacob Klamer