Egyptian Sacred Science and Isalm Full.90135027

Egyptian Sacred ScienceA Reappraisal By Wesley Muhammad, PhD © 2012 Table of Contents Kemet and Mecca: Two African Holy Lands I. All in the Family II. Fruits of the Same Tree 1-5 Atum/Adam: Black God of Ma’at and Islam I. Atum = Adam II. Atum: The One Eternal God III. Atum: The Black Creator-God of Kemet IV. Atum in the Hebrew Bible IV.1. Adam: The Black Body of God V. Adam/Atum in the Qur’ān 6-25 The Ka’ba and the Black God of Kemet I. Cognate Religions I.1. Ancient Egyptian Ontology 26-30 ‘His Throne is Ever on the Water’ I. The Throne of Allah II. God’s Throne on the Waters II.1. God’s Aquatic Body II.2. Yahweh-Elohim (Allah): The Aquatic Body in Biblical Tradition III. The Qur’ān and its Ancient Near Eastern Context/Subtext 32-53 Kemet and Mecca: Two African Holy Lands Kemites (i.e. ancient Egyptians) and Arabian Semites are kith and kin I. All in the Family The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said: We, the tribe of Shabazz, says Allah (God), were the first to discover the best part of our planet to live on. The rich Nile Valley of Egypt and the present seat of the Holy City, Mecca, Arabia. This suggests that Meccan and Egyptian civilization and religious culture originated with different branches of the same ethnic-cultural family. They would be cognate civilizations and cultures: related by blood and descendent from a common ancestor. The ethnographic, linguistic, genetic and archaeological evidence confirms this. Grafton Elliot Smith, Australian anatomist and Egyptologist, was the first chair of anatomy at the Cairo School of Medicine. He authored the pioneering Egyptological work, The Ancient Egyptians and the Origin of Civilization (1923). In an important article in 1909 on the ethnography of Egypt Smith wrote: it seems probable that the substratum of the whole population of North Africa and Arabia from the Atlantic to the Persian Gulf – if not further east – was originally one racial stock, which, long before the earliest predynastic period in Egypt, had become specialized in physical characteristics and in culture in 1 the various parts of its wide domain, and developed into the Berber, the Egyptian, the Ethiopian Hamitic and the Arabs populations.1 Smith was still convinced of the ethnic and cultural relatedness of ancient Egyptians and ancient Arabians in 1923 when he published The Ancient Egyptians: The balance of probability is strongly in favour of the view that the Arabs and the Proto-Egyptians were sprung from one and the same stock, the two divisions of which living in the territories separated by the Red Sea, had become definitely specialized in structure, in customs and beliefs, long before the dawn of the period known as Predynastic in Egypt…the linguistic evidence…according to many scholars, points to a similar conclusion.2 That the Egyptian/Kemetic and Arabian peoples are distinct variations of a common cultural substratum is indicated as well by the anthropological evidence. As Dana Reynods (Marniche) records in an important article, Ancient Arabia was occupied by a people far different in appearance than most modern-day occupants. These were a people who once occupied Egypt, who were affiliated with the East African stocks, and who now speak the ‘Hamitic’ or Semitic languages…In the days of Mohammed and the Roman colonization of Palestine, North Arabia and Africa, the term Arab was much more than a nationality. It specifically referred to peoples whose appearance, customs and language were the same as the nomadic peoples on the African side of the Red Sea…The evidence of linguistics, archaeology, physical remains and ethnohistory support the observations and descriptions we find in the histories of the Greeks and Romans and in later Iranian documents about nomadic Arabians of the early era. The Arabs were the direct progeny and kinsmen of the dark-brown, gracile and kinky haired ‘Ethiopic’ peoples that first spread over the desert areas of Nubia and Egypt… early Greeks and Romans did not usually distinguish ethnically between the people called the Saracens and the inhabitants of southern Arabia (the Yemen) which was called India Minor or Little India in those days, nor southern Arabians from the inhabitants of the Horn of Africa. What differences there were between them were more cultural and environmental than anything else. Strabo, around the 1 st century B.C., Philostratus and other writers, speak of the area east of the Nile in Africa as ‘Arabia’ and the people are persistently and indiscriminately and sometimes simultaneously referred to as either Arabs, Indians or Ethiopians…it is clear from the ancient writings on the ‘Arabs’ that the peoples of the Arabian peninsula and the nonimmigrant, indigenous nomads of the Horn were considered ethnically one and the same and thought to have originated in areas near the cataracts of the Nile.”3 So too does the linguistic evidence bear out the fact of the cultural and ethnic relatedness of ancient Arabians and ancient Egyptians. Prof Nicholas Faraclas, linguist from the University of Puerto Rico, explain: G. Elliot Smith, “The People of Egypt,” The Cairo Scientific Journal 3 (1909): 51-63. G. Elliot Smith, The Ancient Egyptians and the Origin of Civilization (1923) 101-102. 3 Dana Reynolds (Marniche), “The African Heritage & Ethnohistory of the Moors,” in Ivan van Sertima, Golden Age of the Moor (New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 1992) 99, 100, 105-106. 1 2 2 the origins of the Ancient Egyptian, Hebrew, Babylon, Assyrian, and Arabic languages (trace) back to a central African homeland…many of the speakers of the languages from which all these languages developed may have participated in a black civilization that was driven out of Central Africa by the expanding Sahara Desert some 7,000 years ago…When the evidence…is synthesized, the following scenario emerges. At the outset of the last Major Wet Spell, the Ancient Egyptian speakers would have made their way north down the Nile, while the Beja speakers would have gone eastward up the Atbara. The Omotic speakers would have headed south on the White Nile, followed and later almost completely displaced by the Cushitic speakers. The Chadic and Berber groups would have gone west into the marshes and swamps of the of the Chad Basin, where they finally divided and went their separate ways, the Berber speakers to the northwest and the Chadic speakers to the southwest…Finally, the Semitic group would have followed the Blue Nile to the Ethiopian highlands (where the majority of Semitic languages are found to this day) and would eventually have reached the narrow straits that separate the horn of Africa from the Arabian Peninsula. There is convincing toponymic evidence that the Semitic speakers first crossed over into the Middle East via this route. Traces of different subgroups of Semitic are found all along the eastern and western shores of Arabia…available evidence points toward a Middle African origin not only for Afroasiatic as a whole, but also for the Semitic group…4 This evidence indicates that Kemites (Egyptians) and (Arabian) Semites are siblings, cousins at the very least. Their ethnic, anthropological, and linguistic relatedness suggest that we should expect their religiocultural heritages to be related in the same way. The evidence does not confirm the popular and oft-repeated claim that Islam derived from Kemetic Ma’at. Rather, a more reasonable conclusion that the evidence allows is that the remarkable similarities between Ma’at and (proto-)Islam are due to them both being variant traditions of related African peoples who inhabited opposite sides of the Red Sea and who may have ultimately Indigenous Arab Bedouin derived from the areas around the cataracts of Nile. As Prof Benard Leeman, linguist and historian of Africa reports: “Archaeological evidence shows that a common culture did exist on the opposite shores of the Red Sea, ca. 1500-1000 B.C.E.”5 It thus should come as no surprise that the religious traditions on both sides of the Red Sea were remarkably similar. The religion of the prehistoric African Semites of Arabia is the Nicholas Faraclas, “They Came Before the Egyptians: Linguistic Evidence for the African Roots of Semitic Languages,” in Silvia Federici (ed.), Enduring Western Civilization: The Construction of the Concept of Western Civilization and Its “Others” (Westport, Connecticut and London: Praeger, 1995) 175-96 5 Bernard Leeman, Queen of Sheba and Biblical Scholarship (Queensland, Australia: Queensland Academic Press, 2005) 176. 4 3 com/2011/07/aryanizationof-islam. Ma’at from Kemet was an earlier and cognate expression.pdf.170121832. squeezing the original Black Arab founders out politically.” @http://drwesleywilliams.blogspot.’ On the Black Arabs of early Islam see Wesley Muhammad.8 This ‘Aryanization’ broke Islam’s connection with its African past and robbed it of its African spiritual core. As Prof Gerald Hawting observes: One should not imagine that Islam as we know it came fully formed out of Arabia with the Arabs at the time of their conquest of the Middle East and was then accepted or rejected. as were the spiritual/religious systems of ancient Mesopotamia and ancient India. therefore.6 The Islam of Prophet Muhammad and the early Muslims was an incarnation or articulation of an ancient African system of spirituality.genetic ancestor of the Islam of Prophet Muhammad and the Black Arabs of Late Antiquity. These are all cognate systems.html.187112134. Whites (largely Persians. it seems clear that Islam as we know it is largely a result of the interaction between the Arabs and the peoples they conquered during the first two centuries or so of the Islamic era which began in AD 622. Idem. as the case might be. intellectually. Idem. by the non-Arab peoples. The First Dynasty of Islam: The Umayyad Caliphate AD 661-750 (Routledge. “Prophet Muhammad and the Black Arabs: The Witness of Pre-Modern Chinese Sources. 9 Gerald Hawting. 2009) 7 On whom see especially Wesley Muhammad. and religiously.” @ http://drwesleywilliams. daughters of the same mother (i. But this “African Islam” of the Prophet Muhammad7 did not survive much past the first Islamic century. God’s Black Prophet’s: Deconstructing the Myth of the White Muhammad of Arabia and the Jesus of Jerusalem (Atlanta: A-Team Publishing. 9 In this writing I hope to give some evidence of the fact that the pre-Aryanized. “African” Islam is cognate with the African Ma’at that developed on the opposite side of the Red Sea millennia earlier. and in the process they transformed Islam to what would be unrecognizable to the Prophet Muhammad. they are both branches from a common spiritual trunk. the spread of Islam and the development of Islam were talking place at the same time. the Qur’an of 7th century CE Arabia and the religious texts of Egypt are all ‘scriptures’ and equally important pieces of the ‘puzzle of truth. African spiritual consciousness) and father (God’s revelatory wisdom). “Anyone who says that the Prophet is black should be killed”: The De-Arabization of Islam and the Transfiguration of Muhammad in Islamic Tradition. As such.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/Muhammad_Article.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/Muhammad_Black_Arabs_China_Site. During the Umayyad period. 8 See Wesley Muhammad. Although many of the details are obscure and often controversial. 2000). Islam did not derive from Ma’at of Kemet. 2010).” @ http://blackarabia. spiritual fruits from the same African tree. The similarities that exist across all of these above cited religious traditions are to be understood in this context. 6 4 .p df. Black Arabia and the African Origin of Islam (Atlanta: A-Team Publishing. Byzantines and Turks) converted to Islam and to Arabism. militarily. “The Aryanization of Islam.e. 8. Egyptian Sacred Science in Islam: The Sacred Science of Ancient Egypt as revealed in Al-Islam (n. who wrote the forward to the book. as He presented thousands of years later to Prophet Muhammad Ibn Abd Allah in the Holy Qur’an.II. In order to convey the body of knowledge which they received. Egyptian Sacred Science.10 The study of these two traditions convinced Bilal and Goodwin that: Almighty presented essentially the same truths to the pre-historic Egyptians who built the fabulous civilization upon the principles of the Sacred Revelation. arguing that: Within the pages of the Holy Qur’an. 8. 12 Bilal and Goodwin. wrapped in the ancient Arabic language are preserved the following aspects of Egyptian history and sacred science (among others): 1: Concept of God.” was groundbreaking. 2008) and Thomas Goodwin's 1987 publication. Egyptian Sacred Science. Professor Wade Nobles. Nature and Knowledge 2: Egyptian sacred measurements [etc. 1987)147. The African Origin of the Major ‘Western’ Religions.] …12 I fully concur with Bilal and Goodwin.p..: n. called the work a “thoroughly supported bridge between Islam and the Ancient Kemetic understanding of the most Holy of Holies.p. A close examination of the religious literature of ancient Egypt and Qur’ānic/Islamic tradition confirms that the two traditions (Kemetic and Islamic) share a basic understanding of God. Holy Qur’an is the purification and refinement of this ancient system of knowledge. Prophet Muhammad. The truth from God is one truth. the ancient Egyptians developed the most elaborate educational system in the history of man. Fruits of the Same Tree Baba Rafiq Bilal (d. 5 . Egyptian Sacred Science in Islam: The Sacred Science of Ancient Egypt as revealed in Al-Islam. 11 Bilal and Goodwin. “a serious study of the ancient religion of Egypt and the religion of al-Islam reveals the two to actually be different expressions of the same truths”. the unlettered Prophet (the Umi Prophet) received and transmitted the same body of knowledge through revelation many thousands of years later… 11 Bilal and Goodwin set out to document the nexus between the Qur’anic lexicon and historiography and Kemetic Sacred Science. This concurrence of Kemetic and Islamic theology goes a long way in demonstrating that Ma’at and Islam are cognate traditions and spring from the same African Tree of Spirituality.” Egyptian Sacred Science in Islam was certainly a trailblazer not unlike Dr Yosef Ben Yochannan’s. November 28. 10 Rafiq Bilal and Thomas Goodwin. According to Bilal and Goodwin’s research. 6 . nor is He begotten 4 And none is equal to Him. Therefore. 95. the Beneficent. later Atum. Sūrat al-Ikhlās [112] Atum=Adam Bilal and Goodwin write: The Holy Qur’an specifies and repeats that divine prophecy extends from Adam to Muhammad. the Merciful 1 Say: He Allah is One 2 Allah is the Eternal (al-ṣamad) 3 He begets not. Qur’anic revelation is consistent with the universal principle of Tem found in ancient Egypt. Egyptian Sacred Science. though admittedly stunning confession by our Muslim brother Rafiq Bilal. The original name for Adam was (the ancient Egyptian) Tem. or Atem. but it is right on: The Qur’anic Adam is no doubt the Egyptian Atum. 13 I. not the first physical man. the first in the line of Osirian-Horian figures was Adam himself. as taught in Judaeo-Christian mythology. who evolved into Horus. This is an important. Tem in Egyptian sacred science is the first solar hero. Bilal and Goodwin correctly point out later: 13 Bilal and Goodwin.Atum/Adam: Black God of Ma’at and Islam Bismillāh ir-raḥmān nir-raḥīm Qul: huwa llāhu āhad Allāhu ṣ-ṣamad Lam yalid wa-lam yulad Wa-lam yakun lahu kufu’an āhad In the name of Allah. worshipers of an indiscriminant assortment of many gods. 7 . to came to an end. ‘to make an end of.’ He was known as the Sun-god (principle) which brought the day to an end.14 That there are the same lexical and mythological connections with the Qur’an’s Adam was equally pointed out by Bilal and Goodwin: Adam was the first to be taught the names of all things…The word-name ‘Tem’ means to be complete. we have an important aspect of monotheism which is retained in…al-Islam. we must understand just who Atum is. Jewish and Islamic prayers. the hidden. Georgia: Khenti. Charles Finch pointed out: The root of ATM is TM (TEM/TUM) which has several meanings. believers in one Supreme God. be or become terminated. II. among them ‘people’ and ‘completion’ (Adam represented the completion of God’s work on the 6th day). The Arabic word (with the same letters) is tamma ‫ تم‬which means to become completed. A cognate root of TEM is DEM and this means ‘to name’ (Adam was the namer of all the animals). This is as true in relation to the Qur’an as it is in relation to the Hebrew Bible.e. 14 15 Charles Finch. non-depictable character of the Almighty. Tem’s female compliment) is the prototype of the mythology of Adam and Eve in the garden. The validity of the principle is further illustrated by the name Amen in Christian. 1992) 144. An examination of the earliest religious writings known to man.. the most elementary and indisputable etymological analysis demonstrates that ALL THE ATTRIBUTES OF THE EGYPTIAN DEITY ATUM ARE EMBRACED IN THE HEBREW ADAM. rather than polytheists. the unseeable. To truly appreciate this fact. 95.15 But the parallels between the Egyptian Atum and the Biblical/Qur’anic Adam go much deeper than this and the implications for understanding the Qur’an are profound. indicates that the original concept of monotheism was the Egyptian ‘Neter of Neter’ or ‘Great Principle’ or ‘Great God’…In the earliest of texts. we pronounce the name of this principle when we say: Amen.The ancient Egyptian legend of Tem and Tempt (i. Egyptian Sacred Science. the archaic Egyptians give tribute to ‘the Great God’ from which all creation emanated. Atum: The One Eternal God Qul: huwa llāhu āhad Say: He Allah (Atum) is One Like many other readers of Egyptian religious literature Bilal and Goodwin were convinced that the ancient Egyptians were monotheists. Regarding the latter Dr. as the evening or night sun. Inc. finished done.e. At the end of each prayer. Atum is no less the COMPLETE OR PERFECT DIVINE MAN. i. Bilal and Goodwin. They say further: In the principle (neter) of Amon. Echoes of the Old Darkland (Decatur. Thus. 62. In the 17th chapter of the (Egyptian) Ritual it says: ‘His names together compose the cycle of the gods’…In the 17th chapter of ‘The Book of the Dead‘ it is said: ‘I am the Great God-self created. in his guise as Amun.‘the company of the gods of God. 18 Churchward.While this later claim is to a certain extant true. Allāhu ṣ-ṣamad Allah is the Eternal Churchward notes: Atum-Ra declares that he is the One God. 8 . 254. Chaps. who made his names’ . 2. Amun is just another name for Atum. and he is represented as ‘the hidden god’ of Amenta. was worshipped as the eternal God. that is to say. or ‘the secret earth. the sole and only one (Rit. 17) beside whom there is none other… At the same time we must not forget that all of these different names of gods (in Egypt) were simply the attributes of the One God.’ the ever-living one eternal God. Churchward. a god with a human (anthropos) form (morphe). Yet Atum. which shows that Amen is a later name for Atum.’18 16 17 Churchward.. Signs and Symbols. it must be severely qualified. the one just or righteous God. i.17 Atum.’16 Atum was always depicted as an anthropomorphic deity. the one living God…He is Unicus. Amen is the one god who is always depicted in human form…Amen…was the only deity in all Egypt who was expressly worshipped by the title of ‘Ankhu. Origin and Evolution. 255. Creator God of Kemet Atum is thus the ever living one God of ancient Egypt. As Albert Churchward confirms: Amen…was another name for Atum…In the hymns to Atem-Ra he is adored as one and the same as Atum.e. Origin and Evolution. 24 At a certain point divine unconsciousness turned into divine consciousness and the divine luminosity concentrated itself into an atom. Bleeker. The first act of creation began with the formation of an egg out of the primeval water.” On the cosmogonic egg in Egyptian tradition see further: Ringgren.19 These were not viewed as separate deities but as ‘transformations’ (from the Egyptian word kheper. 9 . Philip Freund. 1971) Chapter One. symbolized by the luminous egg within the dark ocean.. The divine primeval spirit which formed an essential part of the primeval matter felt within itself the desire to begin the work of creation. “Egg Symbolism in Alchemy. male and female. Wallis Budge.T. James P.A. “Light and Darkness in Ancient Egyptian Religion. Psychology and Alchemy (2nd ed. 1968) 202. Published on the Occasion of his Retirement from the Chair of the History of Religions and the phenomenology of Religion at the University of Amsterdam Leiden: E. the form and shape of which it had already depicted to itself. Myths of Creation. 24 On the dark primordial matter and divine luminosity within see Helmer Ringgren. 1995). Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt (London: Thames and Hudson. 1952) 45-63.25 Compelled by his own will. Allen. 22 Quirke. Creation Accounts. Gods and Men in Egypt. David. “Light and Darkness. who quotes: “there was in the beginning neither heaven nor earth. 1967) xcviii. An Egg at Easter: A Folklore Study (Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Rundle Clark. C.”23 In other words.” 141. Väinämöinen: Eternal Sage (Helsinki. Myths of Creation (New York: Washington Square Press. that became conscious of itself then manifested itself of its own will. Chapter Eight (“Germs and Eggs”). Inc. 45-46. idem. “The Creation Egg. 1997): 79-84. Gwyn Griffiths. 106. and its word woke to life the world. Orly Goldwasser.III. Martti Haavio. the luminous aspect of Atum emerged – self propelled – out of the 19 J. Egg by Venetia Newall. Jung. Princeton: Princeton University Press. The Gods of Ancient Egypt (London and New York: Tauris Parke Books.” in Liber amicorum. Cult of Ra. Anna-Britta Hellbom. Gods and Men in Egypt. he actually opens the Egyptian ‘Myth of Creation.” Ethnos 1 (1963): 63-105. “The Cosmology of the Pyramid Texts. 112. 25 See E. the immediate cause of all life upon earth. Ra and Atum. 2004) 23: “Despite this tripartition…he was one.” Ambix 6 (August. 58. Inc. Studies in Honour of Professor Dr. aquatic primordial matter – elsewhere called Nun – and the luminous force that resided hidden and unconscious within this matter. The Egyptian Book of the Dead (The Papyrus of Ani).22 as well as the “internal. Religion and Magic. Chapter 15. ER 5:36-7 s.20 Though Atum’s name closes this triad.’ was conceived both as “the totality of being before the creation set in motion.v. from which broke forth Rā. Sheppard. Atum was incorporated into the local divine triad: Khepri.” 21 Dunand and Zivie-Coche. R. Brill. On the cosmic egg as prima materia see also C. “Triune Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt. 1965). Gods and Men in Egypt. 1959) 56. and nothing existed except a boundless primeval mass of water which was shrouded in darkness and which contained within itself the germs or beginnings. Atum: The Black Creator-God of Kemet In the ancient city of Annu (Heliopolis). ‘to come into being. Dunand and Zivie-Coche. Pascal Vernus. “ ‘Itn – the ‘Golden Egg’ (CT IV 292b-c [B9Ca]).J. whose name means ‘the All. to transform’) of the singular solar deity.J. unconscious force. 1969: 140-150. 1998) 45.G.’ Atum.” in Essays on Ancient Egypt in honour of Herman te Velde (Groningen: Styx. On the golden cosmogonic egg and the primordial atom see Freund. Atum was the attribute given both to the dark. Creation Myths revised edition (Boston and London: Shambhala. of everything which was to be in the future world.”21 the “sum of all matter”.” In Religion and Philosophy in Ancient Egypt (New Haven: Yale Egyptological Series.” Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 100 (1973): 28-32. 23 Dunand and Zivie-Coche. 1958): 140-148. On the cosmogonic egg see further Marie-Louise von Franz. Clifford. Chapter Five. H. 25. 47.J. 25. Gods and Men in Egypt: 3000 BCE to 395 CE (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press. Egyptian Text Transliterated and Translated (New York: Dover Publications. 20 Françoise Dunand and Christiane Zivie-Coche. 1989): 1-28. ”30 Atum did not beget the derivative deities by copulating with a goddess as will later become the norm with these deities. A Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses (London.dark. 10 . He was the one who came into being of himself (hpr ds. who gave birth to himself. who built his limbs. who created himself. Boston and Henley: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Tomb 157. 1986) 108-110 s. Atum is a single parent. 28 From Hieratic Coffin Text 714. See further J. Gwyn Griffiths London: The Egypt Exploration Society. He unites within himself masculinity and femininity. “The Birth-Giving Creator-God in Ancient Egypt. and as an androgynous male being Atum also was understood to beget not. the causa sui [cause of itself]. This initial. self-emergent stage of the deity’s evolution is personified in the god Khepri. Khepri.26 With this luminous human form in all its irradiant glory the creator-god is called Ra.” 49. Zandee. I formed Myself according to my will and according to my heart. who modeled his body. As William P.v. 30 William P. aquatic matter. Studies in Pharaonic Religion and Society. who was the creator of his own existence. 29 Zandee. 47-49.he created his own form: O [Atum-]Re who gave birth to righteousness. Brown notes: “Unlike the theogonic pairs in Mesopotamian creation.f). He was a Monad and made himself millions of creatures which he contained potentially in himself. represented symbolically/hieroglyphically as a scarab beetle.28 Ra. He possesses all conditions to bring forth the all out of him. Atum-Ra was a self-created Creator god .27 I (Atum) created my body in my glory. sovereign who created all this. Brown. he spit out the first generation of gods. like Israel’s God YHWH.The Seven Pillars of Creation (2010).” in Alan B. in Honour of J. The ‘Ra stage’ in this divine evolution is represented by the midday sun at its greatest strength. the self-formation of his own luminous anthropomorphic body. 1992: 168-185.29 It should be pointed out here that as the eternal. 26 George Hart. self-evolved deity Atum was unbegotten. luminous. Midday “Sun” God As J. Dunand and Zivie-Coche. Gods and Men in Egypt. 27 From Theb. I am he who made Myself. The scarab beetle’s apparently spontaneous emergence out of a ball of dung symbolized the creator-god’s self-creation out of the primordial matter – that is. Lloyd (ed.). “Birth-Giving Creator-God. in contrast to later generations of Gods (neteru) who were. Rather. Zandee notes: Atum is ‘complete’ as an androgynous god. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press. ‘the flesh of Ra’. Creation in Jewish and Christian Tradition (JSOTSup 319. 158. ruler of the Duat. 45-46. (Bollingen Series XL.: Tehuti Research Foundation. 1954) 36-37. Myth and Symbol. personified in Osiris.v.Luckert. New York: Pantheon Books. Signs & Symbols of Primordial Man: The Evolution of Religious Doctrines from the Eschatology of the Ancient Egyptians (Brooklyn: A&B Publishers Group. you SPAT OUT (ishish) Shu. Clark. Egyptian Light and Hebrew Fire. 2002) 176. On Ra darkening and transforming into Atum see See Ringgren. Albert Churchwar d.” Parabola 8 (1983): 14-18. Theological and Philosophical Roots of Christendom in Evolutionary Perspective (Albany: State University of New York Press. 76 s. Egyptian Mythology. you became high on the height. 34 See Quirke.” 21. 11 . “Journey of the Night Sun.” Discussions in Egyptology 26 (1993): 96-105. “Re’ in the Darkness. The Duat represents the primordial waters and is explicitly identified with the black body of Osiris. Gods and Men in Egypt. Hans-Peter Hasenfratz. aquatic Duat or Underworld. Gods of Ancient Egypt.31 Lam yalid wa-lam yulad He begets not. 45. 36 Moustafa Gadalla. 35 See: Allen. As Professors John Coleman Darnell and Colleen Manassa inform us: 31 32 Utterance 600 of the Pyramid Texts as translated by R. Cult of Ra. On Hathor/ Meheturet as ‘universal cow-goddess’ and primordial ocean see Hart. Rambova. 2001) 42. you SPIT OUT (tfnt) Tefnut. you rose up as the bnbn-stone in the Mansion of the bnbird in On. Jan Assmann. 1979) 29-38.). Ions.33 Atum of the triad is Ra himself. whose black body itself is represented by the black bull Apis. the personification of the primordial waters. 2001) 41. translated from the German by David Lorton (Ithaca and New York: Cornell University Press.35 Moustafa Gadalla is correct: “Ra is the living neter who descends into death to become Ausar – the neter of the dead.C. “Cosmology. 1991) 73. translated from the German by David Lorton (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.. 33 On Ra re-entering the primordial waters and becoming Atum (again) see Dunand and Zivie-Coche. nor is He begotten Ra is then said to have ‘entered back into’ the primordial waters (which are now personified as the cow goddess Nut/Hathor/Meheturet32) and he assumed from them a black body: he is now the black. “The Black Image in Egyptian Art. “Light and Darkness.” in Henning Graf Reventlow and Yair Hoffman (edd. and N.” Journal of African Civilization 1 (April. The myth of Ra joining Osiris in the Duat or Underworld is actually a picturesque way of presenting Ra’s incarnation in the black body. Vernus.O. idem.” 150. Faulkner. 48. Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt. Dictionary. 34 In later myth this black aquatic body of Atum-Ra is personified in the black deity Osiris. 27. reprint ) 63-66. When Ra enters the dark. 322. incarnate in a black body made from the primordial waters. 42-43. Karl W. that your essence might be in them. 274-6. Alexandre Piankoff. 79. Egyptian Cosmology: The Animated Universe (Greensboro. The Search for God in Ancient Egypt. Martin Lev and Carol Ring. anthropomorphic god Atum (again). Hathor. he is actually assuming the dark form of Atum who is therefore called Auf-Ra. “Patterns of Creation in Ancient Egypt.O Atum-Kheprer. 2005) 188. Terence DuQuesne. N. Vernus.”36 But Ausar/Osiris is only the black body assumed by Ra in the Duat. The Tomb of Ramesses VI: Texts. On Atum as a black god see Jules Taylor. 1994. and you set your arms about them as the arms of a ka-symbol.. Gods of Ancient Egypt. Inc. personalized as the mummy with a human form and face. Wallis Budge. 2003) 57. The Egyptian Book of the Dead (The Papyrus of Ani). “La Mise a Mort Rituelle D’Apis. Bensenville. which engulfed the remnants-‘flesh’-of the once virile solar god. die Schrift des verborgenen Raumes. 1967] cxxiii. 44 Quirke. the dark.According to the Book of Amduat.” Recueil de travaux relatifs a la philology et a l’archeologie egyptiennes et assyriennes 38 [1916] 33-60.v. the Coniunctio oppositorum: in the Pyramid Texts he is both Wbn-wrr.38 And as Albert Churchward had already saw: Osiris is a figure of inanimate nature. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Il: Lushena Books.A.” as well as “Father Atum who is in Darkness”. in the fifth hour of the night. E. Das Amduat.. 28. Apis. 39 Albert Churchward. 42 Hart. Cult of Ra. 40 See Émile Chassinat. the primeval bird of Atum-Ra. Dictionary. primeval watery mass out of which creation sprang. 12 . 41 Ringgren. whilst being also an image of matter as the physical body of the god. Cult of Ra. an allusion to the common sight during the summer high Nile of birds clinging to wood. 57-58 s.39 The black bull (k’ km) of Osiris. “Light and Darkness. Tutankhamun’s Armies: Battle and Conquest during Ancient Egypt’s Late 18th Dynasty (Hoboken. The Origin and Evolution of Religion (1924. 29-30.40 The Egyptian Atum-Ra is thus a duality. “the Great One who shines forth.42 The Benu embodies the radiance emanating from the sun. the sun god plunged into the primordial waters. Inc. Teil II: Übersetzung und kommentar (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.44 Atum is the 21-25. Egyptian Text Transliterated and Translated [New York: Dover Publications.41 This duality is illustrated further by the hieroglyph for ‘flood’: it is a heron bird perched on a stick.43 This hieroglyph is consistent with other Egyptian sources which affirm that the Benu bird presides over the flood. Louvre E 52-N3663 conjunction between the solar (Ra) and the aquatic 37 Erik Hornung. 43 Quirke. personified the waters of the Nile which was regarded as a type of Nun.” 142. 2007) 22-23.. Benu. 1963) 104-108. We thus have symbolized in this hieroglyph the conjunction of Lady Taperet praying to Atum. Dynasty the solar element and the aquatic element. out of which creation originally arose37…the sun god absorbed the chaotic power of the primordial waters. Inc. 38 John Coleman Darnell and Colleen Manassa. The heron is the sign of the Benu bird. =120-121].g. Arvid S. coherent and rich source of the priestly creation tradition. Watts (“On the Edge of the Millennium: Making Sense of Genesis 1. has been debated. “A Note on Genesis 12. during which large numbers of Jewish priests and others were exiled in Babylon. the theology behind it. while Babylonian influence is discernable in the structure of Genesis 1. 1 reflects that shared notion. the recognition of which is critical to a proper understanding of the Genesis creation account and. 1985] 18) noted also that “There is no doubt a shared Near Eastern notion of the way the cosmos’ order unfolded. in 1876 by George Smith the similarities between the Babylonian and Hebrew narratives have been often noted.e. but again and again accounts for the details of the Genesis I creation narrative and is the key to its common thread. some of the vocabulary and some of their theological content. 2:19) “learned in all the wisdom of Egypt (Act 7:22). the Priestly author of Genesis) is the last stage.” and Gen. earlier and for a longer period of time.=441-77].48 When the template of ancient Egyptian creation traditions is held up against the Genesis I creation account there is a quite remarkable correspondence. Moses was an Egyptian (Exod.” VT 24 (1974): 179. Chico. 48 Rikki E.” in Hans Boersma [ed. Claus Westermann called our attention to an important fact.]. 47 See e. “Patterns of Creation.47 The Babylonian Exile (587-538 BCE).45 The origin of the Genesis 1 creation narrative does indeed lie outside of Israel. “An Egyptian Source for Genesis I.=129-51]) argues that in the light of the time Israel spent in Egypt.”46 The specific provenance. indeed. The conclusion is stark and compelling: ancient Egypt provided the foundation tradition which was shaped and handed down by successive priestly generations…Ancient Egypt proves to be the single. Living in the LambLight: Christianity and Contemporary Challenges to the Gospel [Vancouver: Regent College Publishing. “The Mythological Features in Genesis Chapter 1 and the Author’s Intention. Atwell. Susan Niditch (Chaos to Cosmos: Studies in Biblical Patterns of Creation [SPSH 6.” Indeed. Since the publication of the Babylonian creation account. The first chapter of Genesis had its origin in the course of a history of tradition of which the written text of P (i. Enūma elīš. Heidel. This conjunction of the solar luminosity (Ra) and the black. were in Egypt. IV.” VT 12 (1962): 120 [art. A. and which stretches back beyond and outside Israel in a long and many-branched oral pre-history.” 36. the “dominant background against which Genesis 1 is read and heard” should be the Egyptian creation accounts. The Nile civilization provides not simply a possible context for odd verses. The Babylonian Genesis (Chicago: University of Chicago Press. See also Whitley. Kapelrud. scholars have pointed out that this creation account that was edited during the Exile itself originally derives from the much older Hebrew contact with Egyptian cosmogonic tradition. and there can be no doubt as to its general provenance: “That some form or other of the ancient NearEastern myth of creation lies behind the Priestly account cannot be denied.(primordial waters/Osiris). California: Scholars Press. Genesis 1-11. 83. is surely a proper context in which to understand these similarities. But Israel also. Islwyn Blythin. 1942). 49 James E. however.” JTS 51 (2000): 466-7 [art. 13 . aquatic element (Osiris) produced the distinctive blue color of the great Gods. Atum in the Hebrew Bible In his commentary on the Book of Genesis. 49 45 46 Westermann. 2001] 138-9 [art. ” JBL 100 (1981) 612-613. J. On the other hand. Divinity. The Accuracy of the Bible (London: William Heineman Ltd. interpreted and utilized these ancient traditions. Presented to John Strugnell on the Occasion of His Sixtieth Birthday (Lanham: University Press of America. 54 Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner. In some instances it gives us the key to the solution of problems which were considered insoluble.” JBL 73 (1954): 238-9. Douglas Van Buren.” in H.H.v.55 Scholars have now seen that this terminological congruence contains conceptual congruence as well: the ßelem (image) of Genesis is the 50 Herman Gunkel (“Influence of Babylonian. “as our image (ßelem). “The ßalmê in Mesopotamian Art and Religion. the Egyptian materials included.צלם‬ 55 The Assyrian Dictionary (hereafter CAD.v. 2003) Chapter Six.J.” TynBul 19 (1968): 76-80.v. Brill. E.” Orientalia 5 (1936): 65-92.” 44) wrote that Gen. 52 This is not to deny the new and idiosyncratic ways in which Israel may have received. and explains many features which have always puzzled the interpreters and theologians. 1962) 16: 78b80a. Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. It is to say. 1990) 67-78. Tobin (edd.F. See TLOT 3:1082 s. 1 “is merely the Judaic reworking of much older traditional material that originally must have been considerably more mythological in nature. and Monotheism (Leiden: Brill. ‫ . Gordon. 84b-85a. TDOT 12:394 s. “The Beth Essentiae And the Permissive Meaning of the Hiphil (Aphel). s. In His Own Image and Likeness: Humanity. On beth essentiae see J. usually translated “in our image” is to be read as beth essentiae. 14 . 1:26)53 Adam was thus made to be the image of God. Albright (“Contributions. and Christian Origins. Charlesworth. 1994-) 3:1028-29. The Hebrew ‫ צלם‬ßelem means primarily “statue”54 and ßelem ’ĕlōhîm is a cognate of the Akkadian ßalam ili/ilāni. “Bêth Essentiae.A. Leiden: E. Lawrence N. D. Manross. Cyrus H.” and according to W. And God said: Let us make Adam/man as our image (‫ צלם‬ßelem)... according to our likeness (‫ דמות‬dĕmūt)(Gen. ‘almu. Adam: The Black Body of God The creation of Adam on Day Six of the Genesis creation narrative (cosmogony) was the crown of God’s creative activity. 51 Therefore. As Abraham Yahuda noted: the Egyptian background…throws full light on the most important and conspicuous points of creation (in Genesis). we understand the ‫ כּ‬in ‫ כדמותנו‬kidĕmûthēnû as kaph of the norm (according to our likeness).H.1. “The Image of God in Man. 136. s. 53 The beth in ‫ בצלמנו‬bĕßalmēnû.50 As such. Clines.אלהים צלם‬ßelem ’ĕlōhîm.צלם‬by Wildberger.J.52 IV. 51 Abraham Shalom Yahuda. the Egyptian original casts an illuminating light on Genesis 1. ‫.J. we must avail ourselves to not only the biblical priestly materials in the Torah and the Hebrew Bible generally. Collins and T. “‫ ”צלם‬by Stendebach. Intertestamental Judaism. in order to make since of the enigmatic priestly creation account. “ ‘In’ of Predication or Equivalence.).W.” 365) P “effaced the original outlines” of the Egypto-Phoenician cosmogonic narrative that he received. the common Mesopotamian term for god-statues. but also to the Egyptian and Babylonian originals. Attridge.The first chapter of Genesis is in fact a Hebrew adaptation of an ancient Egyptian cosmogony with heavy Babylonian influence. Of Scribes and Scrolls: Studies on the Hebrew Bible. The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (hereafter HALOT) (5vols. ‫ . 1934). Randall Garr. however. See now W. that any attempt to interpret this text must consider all available source materials that bear on the text.v. 60 Bahrani.” in W. Dick. 2003). Publishers. 113-128. just as cult-images were supposed to do in conventional sanctuaries”.D. idem. etc.). On the treatment of idols see Irene J. Sibley Towner (Grand Rapids. Eerdmans Publishing. 93-94. Inc. ‫ .” in ABD 3:289-91. Michigan: W.” Ex Auditu 16 (2000): 81-100 (90-93. 1956) 17-68. Miller Jr.” SBL 1998 Seminar Papers.H. Ein Beitrag zur Begründung und Deutung des Bildererbotes im Alten Testament (Berlin: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt. David Lorton.” ZAW 117 (2005): 1-20. Garrett Green. Walls (ed. “Man as the Image of God. Wilderger. 1997. Peabody. P. “ ‘Idols of the King’: Royal Images as Recipients of Ritual Action in Ancient Mesopotamia.” by A. McBride (edd. “The Graven Image. 119-141.” Journal of Ritual Studies 6 (Winter 1992):13-42. John Kutsko. 123-210. Andreas Schüle. Intellectual Life of the ancient Near East: Papers Presented at the 43rd Rencontre assyriologique international. Michael B.” in Born in Heaven.56 Gen 1:26…can only be understood against the background of an ancient Yahweh statue…Here the terms ßlm and dmwt are used as synonyms denoting ‘statue’. Boston: American Schools of Oriental Research. 58 On this ‘god…not god’ identity of the idol see especially T. See also idem.” according to Johannes 56 See above. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag. Humans are thus created to be the living statues of the deity. “Man as the Image of God. “Made in the >Image of God<: The Concepts of Divine Images in Gen 1-3.. Fletcher-Louis.”60 It “signified. 1989) 91-97. 1984). Bernhardt. Between Heaven and Earth: Divine Presence and Absence in the Book of Ezekiel (Winona Lake. “Divine Protocol: Genesis 1:1-2:3 as Prologue to the Pentateuch. Hanson and S.).D. 53-60. Kevelaer: Butzon & Bercker. Imagining God: Theology and the Religious Imagination (San Francisco. Michael B. Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers. Gott und Bild.. Dean McBride Jr. Curtis. Comparative Studies in Biblical and Ancient Oriental Literatures (AOAT. 179-184. “Image of God (OT). Jacobsen. thus Adam was created to be the living statue of the deity. 16-20. University of Pennsylvania. “The Relationship between the Cult Image and the Deity in Mesopotamia. Ulrich Mauser. diss. esp. “God in Human Form. Samuel E. Livingstone.P.D.Mesopotamian ßalmu (cult-image). 2005). “Will the Real ‘elem ’Ĕlōhîm Please Stand Up? The Image of God in the Book of Ezekiel. 1999).D. 127.” in Odell and Strong. the deity’s very presence on earth. Graven Image. 2000) 16: Adamic beings are animate icons…The peculiar purpose for their creation is ‘theophanic’: to represent or mediate the sovereign presence of deity within the central nave of the cosmic temple.T. 57 Herbert Niehr. Made on Earth: The Making of the Cult Image in the Ancient Near East (Winona Lake. Crispin H. hereafter TLOT) 3:1080-82 s. The Graven Image: Representation in Babylonia and Assyria (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 1998) 11-16. “Ezekiel’s Anthropology and its Ethical Implications. July 1-5. 1980) 48-50.59 As Zainab Bahrani puts it: “(The statue) was not considered to resemble an original reality that was present elsewhere but to contain that reality in itself. Indiana: Eisenbrauns. There was no further need of a divine image because…humans represented Yahweh.” in idem.צלם‬by H. 1996 (Prague: Oriental Institute.v. God Who Creates: Essays in Honor of W.” in P. Ancient Israelite Religion: Essays in Honor of Frank Moore Cross (Philadelphia: Fortress Press. Brown and S. Curtis. esp. 120-128.” in Jewish Roots of Christological Monotheism.. 448-450. “‘Beloved is Man in that he was created in the Image’. On the ANE cult of divine images see further Neal H.B. DDD s. like the Egyptian and ancient Near Eastern cult-image generally.. Book of Ezekiel.). 15 . See also S.” 97-102. Winter. Ernst Jenni and Claus Westermann. 59 K. it was also the dwelling place of that god’s essence/spirit (ba). Prague. Edward Mason Curtis. eds. Dick (ed. idem.” 103-106. esp. Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament. 2000). HALOT 3:1028-1029.: Harper & Row..).) Cult Image and Divine Representation in the Ancient Near East (American Schools of Oriental Research Books Series 10. 55-85. Indiana: Eisenbrauns. Loewenstamm. 204. The ritual of vivifying the cult statue was transferred to man in Genesis 2.” in The Image and the Book.58 The reason is that the ancient Near Eastern cult statue was not only a representative replica of the god. 1987) 15-32. “The Worship of Divine Humanity as God’s Image and the Worship of Jesus. “In Search of Yahweh’s Cult Statute in the First Temple. “Man as the Image of God in Genesis in the Light of Ancient Near Eastern Parallels” (Ph. trs.v. Born in Heaven.” in Jiří Prosecký (ed. “Image. was distinguished by its ambivalent “god…not god” identity: while the statue is distinguished from the god whom it represents. Biddle (3vols. as a statue would have done…57 The Mesopotamian ßalmu.Dean McBride (edd. it is also identified with and treated as the god itself. “The Theology of Cult Statues in Ancient Egypt. Zainab Bahrani. Mark E. “Image of God (OT)” by Curtis. The Search for God.”153-158. and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Cyrus Gordon.” 11-14. Brandon.). Lorton. Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt. Walter Wifall. to put it pointedly. S. The Accuracy of the Bible (London: William Heineman Ltd. Dick.v. “God’s Golem: The Creation of the Human in Genesis 2. ABD 3:390 s. 2:7b: “then the LORD GOD formed man of dust from the ground. 2002) 219-239 (224-229). Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press. Weil (ed. 55-121. 64 Assmann. The Bridling of the Tongue and the Opening of the Mouth in Biblical Prophecy 16 .” 5-6. These are the socalled pit pî (“Opening-of-the-mouth”) and mīs pî (“Washing-of-the-mouth”) rituals whose objective was to transform the lifeless statue into the living god (or king). Creation in Jewish and Christian Tradition (JSOT Supplement Series 319.” in Born in Heaven. “Made in the >Image of God<. and man became a living being (New Oxford Annotated Bible). Hoffmeier.”62 According to Thorkild Jacobs. 1967) 14. 46. 1934) 152. “The Breath of His Nostrils: Gen 2:7b.” in G. Christopher Walker and Michael B.). See also Hornung.e. “The Theology of Cult Statues in Ancient Egypt. the deity. Abraham Shalom Yahuda.65 In the ancient Near Eastern cult of images the statue was incarnated by the essence or spirit (Ba) of the deity only after the successful completion of a series of rituals performed on/with the cult image.” in Henning Graf Reventlow and Yair Hoffman (edd. It is. Reimer. but the body itself (emphasis original). “the living incarnation of the represented person. ‫. From Womb to Tomb. The ßalmu or cult statue was the very body of the god on earth. 1982): 202-214 (204-5). worship and sacrifice. in which his/her divine spirit/essence ‘incarnated. See also Gregory Yuri Glazov. “The Induction of the Cult Image in Ancient Mesopotamia: The Mesopotamian mīs pî Ritual. On the Egyptian ritual v..F. “Khnum and El.צלם‬ 63 Thorkild Jacobs.”61 i.66 It is now widely recognized that the idea behind these rituals underlie the imagery of Gen.” History Today 11 (1961): 380-387 (384). James K. the very medium…through which he can be addressed by prayer.” CBQ 36 (1974): 237-240. >god on earth<…The image was…that side of the god’s person through which he entered the sphere of created life…the bodily appearance of a god.’ Stendebach: “The cult statue of a god is the actual body in which that deity dwells. “Made in the >Image of God<.” in Sarah Israelit-Groll (ed.” 65 Schüle. TDOT 12:389 sv.” JAOS 123 (2003): 147-157. “Zum Terminus ‘Bild Gottes’. 135: “These images may be the ‘bodies’ of the gods into which they ‘enter’. Edward L. “ ‘In the beginning’: The Hebrew Story of the Creation in its Contemporary Setting.). “The Mesopotamian God Image. The Treasures of Darkness (New Haven: Yake University Press. the external habitation”63 and Assmann notes that the “basic Egyptian concept” is “The statue is not the image of the body.”64 Andreas Schüle puts it succinctly: It is through an image that a god/goddess is present in the created world and executes his/her powers in history and nature…The cultic image is in fact the medium of manifest divine presence and action in the world and as such part of the divine person. Egyptological Studies (Jerusalem: The Magnes Press. 62 Stendebach. “Some Thoughts on Genesis 1 & 2 and Egyptian Cosmogony.” JANES 15 (1983): 46-48. Greenstein. Festschrift Eduard Sachau (Berlin: G.”67 As Abraham Shalom Yahuda saw: Ay performing the ‘Opening of the Mouth’ ritual on the mummified Tutankhamun 61 Johannes Hehn.G. 1915) 36. 67 Schüle. 12. 66 See Victor Avigdor Hurowitz. the statue was the deity’s “outer form.Hehn. This means that the ßelem or human statue had the shape of God’s own luminous form. “Introduction. Plöger. white for the bones and veins. M. and green for the pale skin. from fetid black mud (Èama’ maßnūn). Ephrem the Syrian’s description of the “dark mass [of dust] šÈymwt"”. PRE 11 (Frielander trns. cf. viz. both in Egyptian and Hebrew. Islam: Qur"§n 15:28 and parallels: “I am going to create man from sounding clay (ßalßāl).” Mus 89 (1976): 214.”68 It is important to remind our readers that. Christian and Islamic tradition therefore describes the material of Adam’s body as a dark or black substance.” 72 See below page 73 H.. the dark blue of the high priestly robe. 3. Satan und Adam. The green here at times substitutes for tekhelet. Sawyer. 1:55. 1:88-90 s. The whole phrase. ibid. “My beloved son. trns.”74 This indicates that the blowing of the breath of life into the nostrils signifies the incarnation of that deity’s ‘breath.” 64-5. On reading Genesis I and 2 as parts of a (redacted) whole v. 1965) 161. black for the bowls.71 The Hebrew ‘opening of the mouth’ ritual described in Gen.G. St. 2:7 indicates that the luminous form incarnated within the ßelem. “Colours and Their Symbolism in Jewish Tradition and Mysticism: Part I. but it was made from a different substance: ’adāmāh (‘earth’: Gen. “dark red earth” and adamatu B “black blood.In Gen. black.P. Adam was not made in or according to the ßelem of God. 74 Ibid. 57.72 In Egypt the deity Amun (Atum) is said to be “that breath which stays in all things and through which one lives. Sheffield: JSOT Press.1978) 53.. ‫’ אדםה‬adhāmāh by J. ABD 1. the expression ‘breath of life’ is the same as the Egyptian tau en ankh. Dutton & Co. but as the ßelem. like the Ba incarnates within the Egyptian Ka-statue.’ This passage is in every detail in expression and substance typically Egyptian. Adam. is literally and grammatically identical…Thus for instance it is said of the god Ptah that he it is ‘who gives the breath of life to every nose’.”73 In the Luxor Temple Amun is depicted holding the sign of life (ankh) toward the pharaoh Amen-hotep saying. Christian: cf. 1947) 3. Motifs from Genesis 1-11 in the Genuine Hymns of Ephrem the Syrian (Sweden: CWK Gleerup Lund .69 This ßelem was made ‘according to the likeness (‫ דמות‬dĕmūt)’of God’s own luminous form. 69 See above.v. Rabbi Alfred Cohen.) Tekhelet: The Renaissance of a Mitzvah (New York: Yeshiva University Press. The idea of giving a ‘breath of life into the nostrils’ is very common in Egyptian.8.” in idem (ed. 17 . according to the Hebrew of Genesis 1:26. ‫אדם‬ ’ādhām by Maass. 71 Jewish: see e. called kābôd in Israel and Ra in Kemet. Frankfort. Kingship and the Gods (Chicago: University of Chicago Press. receive my likeness in thy nose. see discussion by Tryggve Kronholm.v.’ also called his ‘likeness. The Accuracy of the Bible. 2:7). 1996). Edmund Beck.’ And as Walter Wifall noted: “The (JSOT Supplemental Series 311. The Guide of the Perplexed. “Iblis und Mensch.70 Jewish. See Gershom Scholem. and man became a living soul. See also Maimonides who describes the “substance of dust and darkness” from which Adam’s body was made.62 s. and this dust was respectively red. Friedlander (New York: E. a term which suggests a dark reddish-brown inclining towards black. white and green-“red for the blood.94. 70 Cf. “Image of God. 2001). the Akkadian cognates adamātu. Adam by Howard N.” Diogenes 108 (1979): 94. Legends of the Jews. 77). TDOT 1:75-77 s.g. 27 the process of animating the body of Adam is described by the words: ‘And the Lord…breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. the haggadic tradition according to which Adam was made from dust taken from all four corners of the earth..v.” CAD 1. To begin with. Wallace. 152.” Ginzberg. 68 Yahuda. My thanks to professor Hurowitz for providing a manuscript copy of this work. i.H. The Akkadian ßalmu means both “image/statue” and “black. Walter Brueggemann. MI: W. darkness. Winton Thomas (edd. 79 See Victor Hurowitz. Noth and D.” in M. 2. “Das Abbild Gottes. “From Dust to Kingship.v ‫ . “Relationship.81 Adam. Lewish (edd. hereafter ISBE) 4:440 s.v. to turn black. 3:1028-1029 s. 77 As arranged by the final redactor. ßlm II: “dark.” 113-114. making it god and king.J. but the black body of God.v. See also International Standard Bible Encyclopedia 4vols.”75 R. 1-2)77 presents us with a picture strikingly reminiscent of ancient Near Eastern cult tradition: a ßelem (cult-statue) is made for/by the deity78 from mundane materials79 into which that deity (his breath/likeness.” 32 n. I.” by G. Wildberger. “ ‘Idols of the King’. Sawyer. Eybers. Text and Artifact – Proceedings of the Colloquium of the Center for Judaic Studies. 2 as a biblical metaphor for enthronement v. Wilson’s 70th Birthday (Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 35.85 In an exhaustive philological study in 1972 I. University of Chicago Press. 83 H. ‫ צלמות‬by Niehr. Eerdmans. is himself the very body of God in which the spirit (luminous form) of God incarnated.).J. 1998. 85 HALOT.82 As Wildberger notes: It cannot be stressed enough that Israel…by a daring adaptation of the image theology of the surrounding world.” the latter meaning deriving from its verbal form ßalāmu. Brown Judaic Series. Gen 1:26-30. “The Root ‘-L in Hebrew Words. 84 CAD 16:70. Adam is not only the earthly body of God. 1955) 112. צלם‬TDOT 12:396 s. Chamberlain. 18 . On reading Genesis I and 2 as parts of a (redacted) whole v. Brill. 81 On “made from dust” in Gen.” ZAW 84 (1972): 1-18. B. “What Goes In Is What Comes Out – Materials for Creating Cult Statues” in G. Winter. 1:26-27 could be that man is a ‘shadowy (and therefore weak) replica and creation’ of God.” 23. “to become dark. Williams.” CBQ 36 (1974): 239 [art.e. “The Root ‘-L. 82 As McBride puts it (“Divine Protocol.” 18) Adam is “God’s own incarnated image”. enthroned Adam: see “Knowledge and Life in the Creation Story. 2:7b.). (Grand Rapids. Engell already read Gen 1:26-8 as a description of a divine. Dick. 2006 (in press).J. 78 On the ritual attribution of the creation of the cult statute to the deity v. 1979-. Beckman and T. 1969) 93-4.87 75 76 “The Breath of His Nostrils: Gen.86 Marshalling an impressive amount of comparative material Eybers concluded: Taking all the data into consideration the meaning of ßèlèm in Gen.” Studies in Honor of John A.” JNSL 2 (1972): 23-36 (29-32). 87 Eybers.=237-24]. 86 I. proclaims that a human being is the form in which God himself is present. as the ßelem of God.” 64-5. Wisdom in Israel and In The Ancient Near East Presented to Harold Henry Rowley (Leiden: E. R. Dick.” 97-99.”84 This semantic duality is found also in the Hebrew root ßlm (ßlm I: “image/statue”.” 113-116.’76 Thus. “Man as Image of God.77-85. “Shade.H.Egyptian portrait appears to be an obvious parallel to the…description of God and ‘the man’ in Gen. “Image of God. his luminous form) subsequently enters and dwells. Chicago. Eybers suggested taking the Hebrew ßelem as ßel (‘shadow.” ThZ 21 (1965): 245-59. April 27-29. University of Pennsylvania.J. Shadow.” from ßālam II: “to be dark”). 2. “Some Egyptianisms in the Old Testament. “Induction”.83 As ßelem. Curtis. Williams also pointed out that the concept of a god placing breath into the nostrils of man is an ‘Egyptianism. Walker and Dick. 80 On the divine “entering the form” of the statue v.’ ‘dark image’) expanded by the enclitic mēm (the final ‘m’). the composite narrative of Genesis (Gen.80 This indwelling enlivens the ßelem. “Relationship. ßillānû. Walter L. Fox et al (edd. Halper. HALOT 3:1028 s. Pierre Bordreuil. see discussion in D.”90 This too is an “Egyptianism”: the cult statue in Egypt was also at times described as shut. James Barr (Comparative Philology. Sawyer.‫ צלם‬and Clines. James Barr. III ‫ . further: The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (1906. ظل‬On the Akk.v. Mass.v. Indiana: Eisenbrauns.v.J. Genesis: A Living Conversation (New York: Doubleday. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag. “shadow”.” 31-32.g.L. 375) noted in 1987 that by that time the derivation of ‫ צלמות‬from a Hebrew root ßlm “to be/become dark” had become “so completely accepted that some works have ceased to mention that the older tradition of meaning (viz. CAD 16: 188 s. Baruch Margalit.v.צל‬B. Two relevant issues were actually debated: (1) whether ílm II “to be/become dark” ever existed in Hebrew or Northwest Semitic (NWS) at all and: (2) if so. A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament in JSS 17 [1972] 257. A Matter of "Life" and "Death": A Study of the Baal-Mot Epic (CTA 4-5-6) [Kevelaer: Butzon & Bercker. Oxford. “‘LMWT.88 pointed out the conceptual link between Gen. ßillānû v. With additions and corrections: Winona Lake. D. 172. hereafter BDB) 853 s.‫ . 38:17.” in Michael V.F.” Cf. 90 In Bill Moyers.1:26-27 has been disputed. Old South Arabic ílm/ßlm “darkness/black::image/statue” (see A.v. Hinrichs. See TDOT 12:372-73 s. Indiana: Eisenbrauns. 154. ed.W. Akk. íll IV v. 1968. Temples.” 19-21) and the existence of a NWS ílm II “to be/become dark” has been affirmed and accepted (Paul Humbert. “Etymology. CAD 16:190 s.A. Arabic-English Lexicon (2 vols. 23:4. This discussion often focused on the much disputed term ‫( צלמות‬Jer.צלל‬Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti Libros. Brill. “The Etymology of Hebrew ‘elem.” ZAW 30 (1910): 216. “‫ צלמות‬in the Old Testament. ‘shadow of death’) ever existed. 1996] 287-309). Beyrouth: Librairie du Liban. ßillānû. 1996. 88 The first to propose such as relation seems to have been the Assyrologist Friedrich Delitzsch who described íelem as a Babylonian loanword: Prolegomena eines neuen hebräisch-aramäischen Wörterbuchs (Leipzig: J. “The Image of God in the Book of Genesis-A Study of Terminology. “Etymology.” JSS 7 [1962]: 191-200).A. Comparative Philology and the Text of the Old Testament [1st ed.J.צלם‬ZAW 17 [1897]: 183-187). ‘Deep Darkness’ or ‘Shadow of Death’?” BR 29 [1984]: 5-13). “The Meaning of ‫צלמות‬ ‘Darkness’: A Study in Philological Method. “ ‘A L’Ombre D’Elohim:’ Le theme de l’ombre protectrice dans l’Ancien Orient et ses rapports avec ‘L’Imago Dei. first in a review of Friedrich Delitzsch’s Wörterbuchs (ZDMG 40 (1886): 733-34) and latter in an article devoted to the subject (“‫ צלמות‬und ‫ ”. Clines. Review of W. OT scholar Franz Delitzsch (New Commentary on Genesis [Edinburgh. cf. “The Root ‘-L. 1888-89] 1:91.: Akk. Beeston et al. On denials of such a relation v. A connection between ßlm II and ßel is probable (Pace Nöldeke. and Traditions: A Tribute to Menahem Haran [Winona Lake. Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner (Leiden: E.. Eth. íll IV. also noting the etymological relationship between the Hebrew ßelem and Akkadian ßalmu. ‫ .” BJRL 51 (1968): 18-22. “‫ צלמות‬und 581 ”. Michel. ‫ . 44:20.צלם‬TDOT 12: 396 s. also J. 1980] 72 n. C. 1985) 804b s.). The longest lasting rebuttal came from Theodor Nöldeke.צלל‬On the Ar. Comparative philological evidence supports the connection between ßelem and ßel: See e. Nöldeke doubted the existence of a Hebrew ßlm II “to be/become dark” and derived ßelem from an Arabic ílm meaning “to cut off” (on the denial of a NWS ílm II v. ßalmu “black::image/statue” and ßillu “shadow::likeness (in a transferred sense. The relation of ílm II and íel to each other and to Gen. 1996) 19. repr. & T.” 368-372. “‘A L’Ombre D’Elohim. 1940) 156.: Hendrickson Publishers. Clark. III ‫ .. idem. T. Pss. “‘LMWT. “The Image of God. 89 Pierre Bordreuil. Thus Sawyer. After Friedrich Delitzsch’s initial suggestion in 1886 of a íelem/ßalmu (black) relation. 1982) 143. below n. Holladay.” 5.צלל‬HALOT 3:1027 s. 1:26-27 and the ancient Near Eastern characterization of the king as both image of a god and as residing in that god’s (protective) shadow. salala II. ßillu).L. On ‫ צלל‬v.v. 1886) 141. Etudes sur le recit du paradis et de la chute dans la Genesis (Mémoires de l’Université de Neuchatel 14. whether it was in any way related to íelem. Sabaic Dictionary (Louvain-la-Neuve: Editions Peeters. Lane. ‫ צלמות‬by Niehr. E. Michel. Texts. 2:6. Cambridge.’ ” RHPhR 46 (1996): 368-391.89 The philological data is now sufficient for Israeli biblical scholar Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg to note simply: “Image-tselem in Hebrew…At the heart of that word is the word ‘shadow’.” JNSL 3 (1973):23-25. 1987] 375-380. The Wisdom of Serpents and 19 . Chaim Cohen. Eybers.F. 1.v.v. Winton Thomas. Clines. Peabody.” 2122) ‘el is thought to derive from the basic form ‫“ צלל‬to be/become dark”. England : Islamic Texts Society. “The Participial Formations of the Geminate Verbs. 1984) 2: 1914 s.v. Ar. III ‫ . he was disputed by his father. v. But the weakness of this Arabic derivation has now been adequately demonstrated (Bordreuil. Job 16:16.Earlier. as ßelem. the Knowledge of God and Evil. “‫”. observing that the Greek terms σκια and ειδος used with regard to the divine Anthropos corresponded with the biblical ‫ צלם‬and ‫ דמות‬used in the creation account of Adam (Gen. Barr.” In his discussion of Poimandres in 1935 C. and the place where he is encountered. Glaser has well argued that the Qur"§nic account of Adam’s creation should be read as a comment on and complement to the Bible’s account. “Let US make man”? The Qur"§n answers: the Exalted Assembly or council of angels. Dodd (The Bible and the Greeks [London: Hodder & Stoughton. TDOT 12:388.Adam is therefore both the image and shadow of the Biblical god’s luminous form (kābôd).v. Thus. The cult statue ßelem/ßalmu is usually worshipped as the god. who died in 1637. Gen 1:26-27 (and 2:7) presents Adam as the black body of God on earth. s. among them ‘people’ and ‘completion’ (Adam represented the completion of God’s work on the 6th day). TLOT 3:1080.” 21. E. n. 1:26.” as N. 20 . 1). 92 Finch.92 V. however. Pace most recently Wildberger. “Image of God. Echoes.” 66. 93 “Qur"§nic Challenges for Genesis.g. made in the Qur"§n.v. I cannot trace this tradition farther back than the Jesuit Cornelius a Lapide. it becomes apparent that the Qur"§nic account (1) fills in gaps in the Biblical account.”צלם‬Stendebach. 91 just as the Kemetic god Atum is the black image/form/body of the luminous solar god Ra. “‫ . the sanctuary in which he resides.” JSOT 75 (1997): 3-19. Atum is no less the COMPLETE OR PERFECT DIVINE MAN. noted: “…certainly there is an old exegetical tradition according to which ‫ דמות‬and ‫ צלם‬in Genesis mean ‘likeness’ and ‘shadow’ respectively. Is there any evidence that it was known at a date which would make it possible that the Hermetist was acquainted with this interpretation…?” We can now answer Dobb’s question in the affirmative. Eybers. Glaser’s work is significant. “The Root ‘-L. Porteous said it. the most elementary and indisputable etymological analysis demonstrates that ALL THE ATTRIBUTES OF THE EGYPTIAN DEITY ATUM ARE EMBRACED IN THE HEBREW ADAM. s. his “shadow picture. H.W.צלם‬ 91 IDB II:683 s. 1:26-7). is thus God’s black body on earth in which God’s Spirit/Glory (kābôd=Ba) incarnates. In this regard. 144. 1935] 157-8. who was God talking to in Gen. Unfortunately.v.” 29-32. This latter point is not explicitly made in Genesis. It is. what was the reason the serpent tempted Adam and Eve? Qur’ān: Because on Adam’s account he (Iblīs) was cast out of Paradise. Adam/Atum in the Qur’an Through the use of vocabulary and concepts deriving from the ancient Near Eastern cult of images. Ida J. (2) offers explanations to aspects of the Biblical account.93 When the Hebrew and Arabic accounts are read together. Adam. “The Image of God.g. corresponding fairly well with the ειδος and σκια of Poimandres. A cognate root of TEM is DEM and this means ‘to name’ (Adam was the namer of all the animals). We thus have a better appreciation for and understanding of Finch’s observation quoted above: The root of ATM is TM (TEM/TUM) which has several meanings. E. “Qur"§n. “The Story of Adam. Where the Genesis account conspicuously lacks only a description of the cult-statue (Adam-as-ßelem) receiving the worship that cult-statues normally receive. while the Genesis account has Adam and Eve prevaricating after being discovered in the wrong. Hermansen underlined. Al-A#r§f 7:10-25.” Swedish Missiological Themes 93 (2005): 453-477. and he (Adam) gave a hollow ring like a clay pot…Then he (IblÊs) used to go in (Adam) through his mouth and come out through his rear. He answered: ‘I will not bow down (lā sujud) before a man whom You have created of dry ringing clay. Nolin. but confirms it in a most blatant way.” MW 65 (1964): 4-13. When the Qur"§nic account is read as such commentary on the Biblical account an unmistakable observation jumps out at us: the Qur"§n does not deny or correct the Genesis Adam-as-ßelem theology. See also Torsten Löfstedt. of black mud wrought into shape. Kenneth E. hollow like a statue for forty days (or forty years) before Allah blew his spirit into it. ‘Then get out hence. (God) said: ‘O IblÊs! What ails thee. ’ Adam is here described as being made from ßalߧl. breath came from the 94 “Pattern and meaning in the qur"§nic Adam narratives.94 We will begin with Al-\ijr 15:26-34: 26. 32.(3) offers corrections to aspects of the Biblical account. surely thou art rejected. he refused to be among the prostrate.” in Angelika Neuwirth and Andreas Pflitsch (edd. then fall down in prostration before him (fa-qa#å lahu sajidÊn) 30. ‘See I am creating a man of dry ringing clay. As Marcia K. And when your Lord said to the angels.g. So the angels prostrated (sajada). this black body called Adam remained inert and lifeless. enlivening it. 21 . 29. 55:14-15)” and Èama". The creation of Adam is retold in some detail in only slightly varying (though noncontradictory) ways in five surahs in the Qur"§n (Al-Baqara 2:28-39.=40-52]. Save IblÊs. On Adam’s creation in the Qur"§n se also: Angelika Neuwirth. Of black mud (Èama") wrought into shape (masnån) 27. 28. This image of clay recalls the Egyptian motif of god Khnum creating humanity on his potter’s wheel (see below page 27). and IblÊs used to come to him and kick him. become black’). (God) said. E. the Qur"§nic account has them repenting immediately. all of them 31. for. Al-Kahf 18:51-59.). Surely We created man of dry ringing clay (ßalߧl). then (IblÊs) said: ‘You are nothing’-to the hollow ring…When God breathed into (Adam) of His spirit. But this is not the only “Egyptianism” in the Islamic narrative. •§h§ 20:115-123). THE QUR"$NIC ACCOUNT PROVIDES IT. Crisis and Memory: The Qur"§nic path towards canonization as reflected in the anthropogonic accounts. Crisis and Memory in Islamic Societies. fermented black mud (see Èamma ‘to blacken. From these materials Adam’s body was wrought into shape (masnån). According to the Islamic commentaries. 2001)113-52. of black mud wrought into shape. Proceedings of the third Summer Academy of Working Group Modernity and Islam held at the Orient Institute of the German Oriental Society in Beirut (Beirut. and breathed My spirit into him. He (Adam) remained forty nights as an inert body.’ 34. that is “dried clay that produces a sound like pottery (cf. that you art not among the prostrate?’ 33. each version presents the story of Adam’s creation in order to convey a distinct point (thus the slight differences in the retelling). “The creation and fall of Adam: A Comparison of the Qur’anic and Biblical accounts. Al-\ijr 15:26-48. and go in through his rear and come out through his mouth.” Studies in Religion 17 (1988): 45 [art. And the Jinn We created previously of flaming fire. When I have shaped him. front of his head. which was symbolically represented as ‘THE BREATH.98 Just as Gen. the statue was only the product of human artisans.97 As Wade Nobles explains in his African Psychology: The BA was the second (of seven divisions) of the psychic nature. African Psychology (Oakland: Black Family Institutions. The Ba was in effect the vital principle which represented the essence of all things. IblÊs. 143. 142. and everything which came to flow from it became flesh and blood. 97 On the Egyptian notion of Ba and Ka see below pages 27-28. JarÊr al-•abarÊ (Oxford: Oxford University Press.” But here Adam is worshipped by the angels. the ritual transubstantiates the material image and brings it to life. 98 Wade Nobles.’ and that this power or breath was transmitted from the ancestors to the descendants. A divine image may be completely transformed into its referent through the performance of ritual. The ancients believed that this power or energy has always existed and will always exist. he looked and marveled at how beautiful was what he saw. 1987) 1:212-13. 22 . like electricity.” refused to worship 95 Al-•abarÊ reports in his commentary (ad Surah 2:30) from Ibn #Abb§s.” But with this ritual. 95 Behind this imagery is surely the ancient Near Eastern cult statute enlivened through the mīs pî and pit pî rituals. Translation from J. The ‘image’ is thereby ‘born’. and the angels too (16:49). so too does the Qur’ān. the ‘image’ is an inanimate object…In the course of the ritual. 1986) 36. the once-lifeless ‘image’ becomes an animate entity. in His Own Image and Likeness. the ‘image’ becomes a god. Like magical figurines. representing the god incarnate…The transformation is effected by ritual…”Without this ritual. It too is a surrogate. of all visible functions. And when the breathing had reached his navel. Cooper in The Commentary of the Qur"§n by Abå Ja#far MuÈammad b. The divine Breath/Spirit blown into Adam’s nostrils is the Egyptian Ba incarnating within the Ka-statue. Through a collaboration of divine and human creative forces. Adam. on God’s own orders. When an ‘image’ (ßelem/ßalmu) represents a deity. the divine image assumes the identity of its referent. 96 Carr. It represented the transmission of the breath of life.7 depicts the transmission of the Ba or divine essence to the statue – Adam – through the ‘Breath of Life’ metaphor. It is worship of God: “And to Allah makes prostration every living creature that is in the heavens and the earth. The ancients believed that there was only one power.96 The only difference here in the Qur’ān is that the two step process – fashion statue and then ritualistically enliven it – is a completely divine rather than a collaborative divine-human effort. Before the ritual. This background is confirmed by the fact that after this ‘enlivening’ of the Adam-statue the angels are ordered to make prostration before Adam. the distinction between representation and referent disappear. Sajada is what Muslims do when praying to God. The Ba was the invisible source. which name derives from the Greek diabolus “Devil. 2. translated by Abraham S. Veing the History of the Various Philosophical Systems Developed in Islam (Tel Aviv. Adam.103 In surah 2:30. 101 Reynolds. Halkin. 46-7. Leiden: E. as Wad§d al-Q§∙Ê has demonstrated. Reynolds correctly perceived the meaning of this recurrently Qur’ānic theme: “The Qur’ānic subtext suggests that…God was…in him (Adam). (God) said: “We have created man in the finest form (95:4). When Allah (God) breathed of his spirit into Adam. Why? “I (IblÊs) am better than he. Moselm Schisms and Sects (Al-FarÎ Bain al-FiraÎ). him You have created of clay (7:12). in proof of the possibility of God’s incarnation in bodies.J.=1-11]. usually identified with Når MuÈammadÊ (the Light of MuÈammad).” Israel Oriental Studies 5 (1975):62-119. 105 “The Term ‘Khalīfa’ in Early Exegetical Literature. 1983). •§hir al-Baghd§di.” 102 Al-Baghdādi’s polemical tone notwithstanding.105 is “to succeed and replace or substitute for another.” As the cult statue 99 On IblÊs in Muslim tradition see Peter J. John MacDonald. Qur’ān and Its Biblical Subtext.”101 Like the Hebrew narrative. See also Lane. 103 U. Satan’s Tragedy and Redemption: IblÊs in Sufi Psychology (SHR 44. suggesting that this is an account of fundamental important to the Qur’ān. 102 Abu Manßår #Abd al-Q§hir b.” He reports from #Abd al-Q§hir: I found one (of them) citing. from whose body the celestial/heavenly world is sometimes said to be derived. this black Adam whom the angels of God are ordered to worship is described as God’s khalīfa. God’s word to the angels regarding Adam: “So that when I have made him complete and breathed into him of my spirit. “Islamic Eschatology-1: The Creation of Man and the Angels in the Eschatological Literature. 104 “While some commentators have speculated whether man was made a successor to another species which held the title of khalīfah before him. the Når MuÈammadÊ ‘incarnated’ in the molded body of Adam. 2010) 39. we can safely accept the majority opinion that man was made the caliph of God. خلف‬ 23 . Awn.” Islamic Studies 3 (1964): 285-308.” Mustanir Mir.” Die Welt des Islams 28 (1988): 392-411.” For IblÊs’s pride and disobedience he was cast out of heaven to become Shayã§n or Satan. The Qur’ān and Its Biblical Subtext (2010) correctly points outs: References to the prostration of the angels before Adam appear in no less than seven different Sūras.” Islamic Culture 62 (1988): 4 [art. 100 Gabriel Said Reynolds. Therefore. Lexicon.99 Prof Gabriel Said Reynolds in his important new book. Rubin. 1037 AD) labeled ÈulålÊya. “Pre-existence and Light: Aspects of the concept of Når MuÈammadÊ. “Adam in the Qur"§n. ‫. al-Farq Bayn al-Firaq. Brill.100 Indeed it is of fundamental importance. fall down making obeisance to him”. the Qur’ānic story of Adam is an incarnational narrative. The Qur’ān and Its Biblical Subtext (Routledge. 1:792-98 s.this black Adam. it narrates God’s (Allah’s) incarnation within the black statue.v. In both Sunnī and Shī#ī tradition we also learn that before the creation of the world God brought forth an anthropomorphic light. You (God) have created me from fire. as it defines not only the nature of Adam but the nature of Allah as well. (The incarnationist) held that God commanded the angels to bow down before Adam only because he embodied himself in Adam and really abode in him because he created him in the most beautiful form. these so-called ÈulålÊya correctly perceived the implications of the Qur"§nic narrative. “incarnationists. 1935) 79.104 The basic meaning of the root kh-l-f. That this is a picture of Allah’s incarnation in the body of Adam was explicitly stated by some Muslims whom al-Baghdādi (d. “There is nothing like His Likeness (Adam).110 Surat al-Shår§ 42:11 is thus read as. His name is hidden as Amun.”111 God Himself has an aÈsan ßåra. as the Hebrew Adam as ßelem substituted for God on earth. compare. Wa-lam yakun lahu kufu’an āhad And none is equal to Him The Black Adam of the Qur’ān thus is the divine statue or earthly body of Allah in which the Ba or essence of Allah indwells. likening. “God created Adam according to His form (ßåratihi). Re. the Perfect Man (al-Insān al-Kāmil).” The mithl or divine likeness of 42:11 was understood in some circles as a reference to God’s form. The Qur’an and the Secret of the Black God (Atlanta: A-Team Publishing. Little. so too does the Qur"§nic Adam as khalīfa substitute for God on earth (‘I am going to place a khalīfa in the earth [fi ‘l-ar∙i]’ 2:30). The Hebrew ßelem and Arabic khalīfa are cognate concepts.1.” mithl “similar. likeness. which is like nothing and like which there is nothing. Musnad. The Truth of God: The Bible. In the Leiden Hymn to Amun Re it affirms: All gods are three: Amun. 107 See True Islam. “most beautiful form. mithl. #3288. “Al-Insān Al-Kāmil: The Perfect Man According to Ibn al‘Arabī. Katsh. Judaism in Islām: Biblical and Talmudic Backgrounds of the Koran and its Commentaries (New York: Bloch Publishing Company. 5:243. 111 Bukh§rÊ. Ibn Hanbal.106 Similar to the Hebrew Adam-as-ßelem.” Muslim World 77 (1987): 43-54. We find the same declaration made in Egyptian literature about Atum/Amun.’112 which was equated with Adam’s aÈsan taqwÊm. 24 . image. 2007) 78-85. “most beautiful stature” (95:4). he is Re in the face. and his body is Ptah. Arabic Lexicon. 112 Tirmidhi. 2. ‘likeness. 1240).substituted for the god on earth. of Allah.109 His mithl. which term is a synonym of mith§l. 106 On the relatedness of the two concepts see Abraham I. 109 Lane. 113 Ahmad b. “taken literally (í§hir) these words indicate that God has a mithl. 110 On Ibn al-‘Arabī’s ‘al-Insān al-Kāmil’ see John T. ßåra. ßåra. they have no equal.” really reads “There is nothing like (ka) His likeness (mithlihi). 1349 H) 159. The important and oft-repeated Qur’ānic verse Al-Shår§ 42:11: Laysa kamithlihi shay". “There is none like Him.’ IS Adam. Hanbal. The mithl or Divine Likeness (Adam) has no equal. 1201) noted. and Adam is the very Likeness. Kitab al-Sunna (Mecca. ‘aÈÊÈ.113 God’s and Adam’s forms are therefore alike. according to the Sufi Sheikh al-Akbar Ibn al-‘Arabi (d.v. King of the Gods.”107 And as Ibn al-JawzÊ (d. 108 Ibid.” tamthÊl “assimilation. 1954) 26 n. the Qur"§nic Adam-as-khalīfa has been identified as the likeness (mithl) or form (ßåra) of God.” According to a hadith of Prophet Muhammad.”108 The root m-th-l means “to be like. Jami’ al-Sahih. isti"dh§n. s. Ptah. 25 . 116 See Heinrich Brugsch.The Ka’ba and the Black God of Kemet I. As examples we can cite: KABAR (a) = The action of raising the arms in prayer RAKA = The action of placing the forehead on the ground KAABA = The holy place of Mecca117 114 Cheikh Anta Diop. 26 . 89. Serǵe Sauneron. Cultural Unity of Black Africa. 2000). Diop hints at this fact: It is remarkable that many Arabic religious terms can be obtained by a simple combination of the three Egyptian ontological notions. all find precedent in ancient Egypt. the abstention from pork. The Cultural Unity of Black Africa (1963/1989). the 30-day fast. Religion und Mythologie der alten Aegypter (Leipzig: J. Cheikh Anta Diop had already pointed out some of the parallels between Kemetic and Islamic traditions. 2011).C. Cognate Religions Dr.” Der Alt Orient 23 (1923): 23. 1991).115 To this list may be added the seven-fold circumambulation around the sacred temple.116 But the theologies implied behind these rituals were equally similar. 115 See also Emily Teeter. the ritual prayers. Ka. The African Origin of Civilization (Westport: Lawrence Hill & Company. “Tod und Auferstehung des Osiris nach seiner Festbräuchen und Umzügen. 117 Diop. New Edition (1957. 1891) 346. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Hinrich’sche Buchhandlung. Religion and Ritual in Ancient Egypt (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.114 These were primarily ritual parallels: the Muslim ablution. Civilization or Barbarism: An Authentic Anthropology (New York: Lawrence Hill Books. 1967). The Priests of Ancient Egypt. Ra. Ba. Hugo Greßmann. However. ren. It is identified with the cult statue of the god in the temple. ka. which itself was 118 The Search for God in Ancient Egypt (Cornell University Press. Contrary to popular Western notions.” Bayt Allah. the Black Stone or Al-Hajar Al-Aswad) housed therein are both called Ka’ba.we must have a clear understanding of the relevant Kemetic concepts. the ka was not the immaterial “soul” or “spirit” of man/gods.e. liable to decay and thus becoming a corpse and a mummy (sahu). 2001). It was as much a spiritual-material mode of being as the khat was. In a famous depiction. The Khat was the mortal body of the god. but it was a more transcendent mode of being. the ka. without the mortality of it. ab.118 The ba. ba. akh. and the khat of the gods were often the focus of the theologians of Kemet. It is a perfect replica of the khat or mortal body. The ka. sahu. was the immortal body of the god. the god Khnum who created humans on his potter’s wheel is shown creating the khat and its twin ka simultaneously. 27 . I.Our focus here will be on the last point: Islam’s most sacred “house of God. on the other hand.” usually identified by such terms as: khat. In order to fully understand and appreciate this verbal assonance between Kemetic ontological notions and Islamic religious terminology and sacred architecture – and thus appreciate Diop’s insight . regarding the gods the emphasis was clearly on but three of these: “Your ba is in the sky Your body (khat) is in the netherworld Your statue (=ka) is in the temple” This recurrent tripartite theme has been elucidated by Egyptologist Jan Assmann.1. shut. Ancient Egyptian Ontology Kemetic ontology recognized different aspects or modes (upwards of nine) of divine and human “being-ness. and also its central religious symbol (i. 122 Cult Statue (ka) of Osiris Tremendous light was shed on the Arabian/Islamic Ka’ba and thus on its similarities with the Kemetic ka-statue by Prof Hildegard Lewy (d. or stone cult object. As Prof Emily Teeter of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago explains: The divine statue was provided as a physical form (ka) in which the ba could reside so that human beings could communicate with it…Once filled with and enlivened by the ba of the god.understood to be the divine body of the god on earth.” ArOr 18 (1950): 330-365. “Die Anschauung vom B3 nach Coffin Texts Sp. 28 . Religion and Ritual.B.120 How does this relate to the Islamic Ka’ba (=Ka + Ba)? The Black Stone in pre-Islamic Arabia served the same purpose as the cult statue did in Kemet: A principal sacred object in Arabian religion was the stone. 151-60. Like the ka-statue of the Kemetic deities a baetyl or bayt illah (Arabic “house of god”) was regarded as “the container of the god. 121 Healey. from bet'el. An example from Ancient Egypt”. A Study of the Ba Concept in Ancient Egyptian Texts (University of Chicago Press. R. 'the house of god'. the ancient Semitic idea of the sacred cube reaches culmination in the center of Semitic worship today: the Ka’ba…at Mecca.”121 And as Warwick Ball points out. Religion 16 (1986): 359-373. “Origin And Significance of the Magen Dawid: A Comparative Study in the Ancient Religions of Jerusalem and Mecca. Rome in the East: the transformation of an empire (Routledge. Otto.119 It was this vital force/power that was ritualistically called down by the Egyptian priests to inhabit (!) and thus enliven the cult statute. Cincinnati. In her exceptionally important article “Origin And Significance of the Magen Dawid: A Comparative Study in the Ancient Religions of Jerusalem and Mecca. . 1969). 157. this characteristically Arabian/Semitic tradition of the cultic stone finds its great expression today in the Ka’ba of Mecca: Abstract representations of deity in the form of a square or cube was common throughout the (Pre-Hellenic) Semitic Near East…This was the baetyl. the cult statue became the ka. For more recent discussions see Louis Vico Zabkar. 123 Hildegard Lewy. often described as the “soul. 2000) 379-380. Finnestad. 99-104. 122 Warwick Ball. or physical form of the god. in humans the ba represented the embodiment of his/her vital forces and in the gods the embodiment of divine powers. 120 Teeter. The ba. According to Eberhard Otto. 1968). .” Miscellanea Gregoriana (1941).” is better described as the Kemetic notion of vital force or the essence of the gods.”123 Lewy documented an ancient 119 E. the focal point of so many temples not subject to Classicising influences…Indeed. 44. Such stones were thought to be the residence of a god hence the term applied to them by Byzantine Christian writers of the fifth and sixth centuries: 'baetyl'. “On transposing Soul and Body into a monistic conception of Being. . Romanian Jew from Klausenburg and Semitics scholar and Assyriologist from Hebrew Union College. Religion of the Nabataeans. 1327)578 report identifications of the Meccan Ka’ba with the cult of the black deity Saturn. must be understood against the backdrop of the broader Semitic cult of stones. trans. Tabari. While the shrine or temple itself was feminized and therefore identified with a goddess. Lewy has well argued. 185861) 42-3. See Robert Brown. the ‘Black Planet.”126 We have every reason to believe that the cult of the Ka’ba had the same significance for the prophet Muhammad that it did for the ancient Arabians: it was the cult center of the Black God. David Shea and Anthony Troyer (New York and London: M. 348. Allāh. In addition. This point is explicitly made in a Muslim tradition according to which al-Z ubayr b..” 345. 956) and alDimasqi (d. 1878) 329. Lewy noted: the Black Stone…was thought to be…a part of the body of a great god…(I)n the form of a black meteorite a piece of the deity’s astral body was visible to the congregation at all times…124 This stone. famous companion of the Prophet Muhammad. 349.”125 Paphos. the divine body being made from those dark waters. The black stone of the Meccan Ka’ba. 656). al-‘Awwām (d.) III:61. as did the Dabistān –i Mazāhib. Green and Co. Ferdinand Wüstenfeld (Leipzig. The ‘blackness’ of this pre-Islamic Arabian/Semitic deity and his cult Black Stone of Aphrodite inspired associations with the astral deity Saturn. 1901) 22. The Dabistán or School of Manners. ed. Saturn’s officiating ministers were all black complexioned persons. was digging in alHijr while rebuilding the Ka’ba and found a stone on which was written: innānī Allāh Dhū Bakka. “I am Allāh. was anciently housed in a cubed temple or shrine covered in black curtains. Both al-Masudi (d. According to the Dabistān –i Mazāhib or “Schools of Religions” Saturn’s temple was constructed out of black stone as was his statue that stood there. Cyprus whose temple was also made of black stone. apud Die Chroniken der Stadt Mecca. Lord of Bekka (=Mecca). Ethiopians. etc. before designating…the Ka’ba as the qibla… Mohammed ordered his followers to turn their faces in prayer toward the sacred rock in Jerusalem. “Origin and Significance. Kitab Akhbar Makka. draped with black curtains. As Lewy well argues in her study of the cult of the Black God in Mecca and Jerusalem: the Black Stone…was thought to be…a part of the body of a great god…(I)n the form of a black meteorite a piece of the deity’s astral body was visible to the congregation at all times…It was…no break with the ancient religion of Mecca when Mohammed…set up the Hajar al-aswad (Black Stone) in a place where it was accessible to the eyes and the lips of the worshipers…It is…pertinent to recall that. through which the deity was worshipped. The Babylonians called Saturn Mi “The Black”. the stone inside the shrine is identified with the male god. Walter Dunne. Tafsir (Cairo ed. 126 Al-Azraqi.Semitic tradition – out of which the cults of Jerusalem and Mecca evolved – centered on a black stone that was considered to be both an embodiment of the primordial waters and a piece of the body of a deity. Allāh. and featured a black stone representing the deity or an anthropomorphic statue of the deity made from black stone. 29 . The Great Dionysiak Myth (London: Longmans. The significance of this command becomes apparent if it is kept in mind that the qibla is an outgrowth of the belief…that man can address his prayers only to a being visible 124 125 Lewy. 198. it being supposed that. having visited and inspected the deity’s body on the occasion of the annual pilgrimage. but he made it the center of Islamic ritual. Allah. and if you cannot see Him. in it absence. a famous hadith of the Prophet is relevant: The Ka’ba (stone) is the Right Hand of Allāh and with it He shakes the hands of His servants as a man shakes the hand of His friend. he not only kept this pre-Islamic idol. As the Indian Islamic scholar Muhammad Hamidullah summed up the meaning of the Black Stone: “The right hand of the invisible God must be visible symbolically. According to ‘Abd Allah b. he still turned his eyes in the direction of this sanctuary. 127 We are here reminded of the famous “Hadīth of Jibrīl” in which Muhammad defines ihsan as “to worship God as though you see Him. however.” It is not made clear why interacting with the Black Stone was a source of such sadness. Al-Qurtubi. the Black Stone in the Ka'bah. he could visualize it and thus address his prayer to it even from a distant point or locality. to the stone or statue representing it on earth. and weep for a long time. Sahih. was visible to the congregation. the Black Stone. ‘Umar. 2006) 22. assumed to be a part of the deity’s astral body. al-Asna fi Sharh Asma' Allah al-Husna. then indeed He sees you.to the eyes127…when praying…the worshipper turned his eyes either to the heavenly body itself or. the ka or divine body/cult statue in which resides the ba or divine essence of the god.128 He was observed touching the stone with a stick and then kissing the stick. Muhammad’s reported interaction with Al-Hajar alAswad or the Black Stone is equally suggestive. 130 Jack Tressidder. deeply emotional association between the stone and Allāh is quite evident from these reports. he was not present in the town where a sacred stone. And that is the al-Hajar al-Aswad. 697. Ta' wil Mukhtalif al-Hadith (1972) 215 (=1995 ed. Muhammad would touch the Black Stone. son of the second caliph. In the history of religious symbolism the Hand symbolized a transmitter of spiritual and physical energy. II. upon conquering Mecca." 128 Bukharī. While Muhammad. 129 Ibn Qutayba. In this regard. 262). If.130 This is an apt description of the black body that the creator-god made for himself in order to be able to transmit his divine luminosity to earth without scorching it. Allāhu Akbar (Allāh is the greatest). Symbols and Their Meanings (New York: Barnes and Noble.” Diop’s insight is thus well-founded: Islam’s Ka’ba is the Kemetic ka and ba. destroyed most of the 360 pre-Islamic idols that had been housed in the Ka’ba. He is known to have circumambulated the Ka’ba on camelback while pointing to the Black Stone with a staff exclaiming.e. kiss it. this is the place where one should shed tears. i. He reportedly said to ‘Umar: “O ‘Umar. but that the Prophet made some intimate. p. 30 .129 “Right Hand” here seems to be synecdoche (a part of something standing for the whole). II:90-91. 31 . In the History of Religions the divine throne is the signature of a very specific type of deity: the anthropomorphic (human-like) deity... Throughout the Ancient Near East and India the anthropomorphic gods of the highest order were depicted sitting on their throne. 32 . I suggest that a proper understanding is possible if we read it in the light of Egyptian Sacred Science. Israelite God Yahweh enthroned on a 4th cent. Mesopotamian God Ur-Nammu enthroned Ancient Indic ‘ProtoShiva’ god enthroned Canaanite/Israelite God Ala (El) from Ugarit . As the gods were material beings. which of you is best in conduct. The Throne of Allah And He it is Who created the heavens and the earth in six Days and His Throne was upon the water that He might try you. the thrones were material objects. it must be pointed out that the whole theme of a “god enthroned” has very specific connotations.1300 BCE.‘His Throne is Ever on The Water’ I. BCE Gaza coin. . -. but very enigmatic. First.Sura 11:7 The above passage from the Qur’ān is famous. but several times in the sayings of the Prophet. The latter reportedly made it clear that the throne – and its divine occupant – were material. God sits on the Throne like a man sitting on a leather saddle and makes it creak. For a look at the early traditionalist interpretation of the ‘arsh narratives cf. the women and the children perish." EI2. According to the early Muslims (Salaf or Pious Ancestors) the Throne is a material object. Svend Sondergaad. 509. and Ellen Wulff (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press. In Sura 57:4 it reads. Thomas J. The Prophet’s physical gesturing hardly allows us to see in this report anything other than a physical description of God’s “establishment” on a physical Throne. O’Shaughnessy. which is above His heavens. "do you know what you're saying?" Then he started to say subhana llah. “Those who bear the Throne of Power and those around it” (Sura 40:7). Ibn Khuzayma. and we ask of God to intercede for us alongside of you. The anthropomorphism is blatant. and did not stop repeating it so long as he didn't see his Companions doing as much. Mutim and found in Abu Dawud. then He mounted the Throne (thumma ‘stawa ‘ala l-‘arsh). at-Tabarani and others. The Arabic word ‘arsh literally means “a thing constructed for shade” or “anything roofed.) like this"—and the Messenger of God put his fingers in the shape of a tent— and it creaks under Him like the creaking of the saddle under the rider. 134 Abu Dawud. it usually meant a seat with no back or armrests. by Egon Keck. the men are all in. His feet are said to rest on the Kursi or stool that accompanies the Throne. 1990). separate from the rest of creation and not to be understood as an allegorical expression for the creation of heaven and earth. Ibn Khuzayma.133 Kursi is mentioned only twice in the Qur"§n. “God’s Throne and Biblical Symbolism in the Qur’an. the beasts are dying. 131 132 Cf. and the Glorious Throne of Power (83:15). [Jubayr b.” Numen 20 (1973). Though Kursi can signify ‘seat’ in a very general sense. 18 §4726. 202-221." "Unfortunate one!" answered the Messenger of God. Gosta Vitestan. “’Arsh and Kursi: An Essay on the Throne Traditions in Islam." Sura 20:5 reads: Ar-Rahman 'ala-'l-'arsh istawa. The most famous of these Throne passages in the Qur’ān describe Allah anthropomorphically sitting Himself on the ‘arsh. The Throne of Allah has a very significant and exalted place in the Qur’ān.In Islamic tradition the divine throne is equally material. the resources are growing thin. Then he said [to the Bedouin]: "Unfortunate one! One does not ask God to intercede alongside any one of His creatures! God is very much above this! Unfortunate one! Do you know who God is? (God is on His Throne." Allah's angels are said to encircle the Throne (39:75) and hold it up.”134 The Prophet compares Allah sitting on the Throne and making it creak to a man sitting on a saddled horse and making the saddle creak. "He it is who created the heavens and the earth in six days. 133 "Kursi. the Mighty Throne of Power (23:86).132 As Allah sits firmly on the Throne of Power. According to a tradition on the authority of Jubayr b.” in Living Waters Scandinavian Orientalistic Studies ed. meaning "The Beneficent One has sat down firmly on the Throne. 33 . as-Sunan. and heavens are above His earth. Pray then to God in our favor so it rains! We ask of you to intercede for us alongside God. Mut'im] narrates: A Bedouin came to find the Messenger of God and said to him: "O Messenger of God. 372.TawÈÊd 103: 6ff. Kit§b al.” The court or sitting place of the king is called ‘arsh.131 It is called the Throne of Grace (23:117). a stool. See for example the Mesopotamian Sun-God Shamash sitting enthroned above a slab of frozen water. This too is a very common Ancient Near Eastern theme. In this Ancient Near Eastern context. God’s Throne on the Waters Image courtesy Akbar Shareef Muhammad The above image depicts Osiris sitting on his throne which itself sits on a slab of water.II. BCE Hebrew seal from Judah enthroned in a boat in water. and the Israelite god Yahweh depicted on a 7th cent. this divine throne above water has specific metaphorical as well as physical significance. Sumerian Sun Shammah enthroned above water Israelite god Yahweh enthroned above water 34 . and in the Egyptian context in particular. and the Sanskrit writings of ancient India. formless essence hidden within a primordial substantive darkness called ‘waters’. the hieroglyphic writings of ancient Kemet (Egypt). 135 The Eternal God. the Creator God was originally a luminous. This body was anthropomorphic (man-like) and thus this God was the first man in existence. This black body is therefore referred to in later literature as God’s ‘shadow’ as it shades creation from the scorching heat of the ‘sun’ or luminous body of God. in the Qur’ān. which was a dark blue stone with golden speckles throughout. this divine luminosity concentrated itself within this aquatic darkness and produced the atom or first particle of distinct matter. This divine black body refracted the divine light as it passed through the hair pores covering the body. represented by the so-called ‘sun-gods’ of ancient myth like Ra of Egypt and Shammash of Mesopotamia. the ‘golden egg’ of ancient myth. Amun (Atum). in Kemet. nun. 35 . Èama". God’s Aquatic Body The religious texts of the ancient East. In Mesopotamian tradition this aquatic blackness from which the divine black body was formed was called apsu. the cuneiform writings of ancient Sumer (Chaldea/Mesopotamia). At a certain point the God decided to veil his luminosity with a body made from that same primordial aquatic dark substance from which he initially emerged. The God’s body was thus depicted dark blue and said to be made of sapphire/lapis lazuli. As the light passed through the hair pores of this divine black body it produced a dark-blue iridescence or glow. i. ’adāmāh.II. The ancients symbolized this visual effect by the semiprecious stone sapphire also known as lapis lazuli. From this first atom there emerged many atoms. which the God used to build up his own luminous body. Chapter V. in the Bible. Truth of God. record the history of God the Creator of the cosmos as a divine Black man. At some point. in Black and Blue 135 For documentation of this ancient ‘Myth of the Black God’ see Islam. This was a brilliantly luminous man. According to these texts.1. in Indic tradition tamas.e. a self-created man. Depiction and Description in the Ancient Near East (North-Holland.F. translated by Rosemary Sheed (1958. 1969) 170-1.11) and in PañcaviÒśa-Brāmana 21. Liturgische Lieder an den Sonnengott. Amiet.” Israel Exploration Journal 51 (2001) 126. “New correspondences. 4.). “Calf.31. 180-182. 36 . Antoon Schoors and Harco Willems (edd. “Attribute Animal” in idem. Bull. Wyatt. Studies Dedicated to the Memory of Jan Quaegebeur (Leuven: Uitgeverij Peeters en Departement Oosterse Studies. Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. 137 On the symbolism of the bull see Mircea Eliade. the golden-skinned hairy lion is an archetypal symbol for the golden-rayed sun. Natural Phenomena: Their Meaning. In the Œg Veda the cosmic waters are cows (e. and primordial materiality. Dominique Collon. See also W. 1998) 715. trans. Bob Becking and Pieter W. Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations.).” South Asian Archaeology 1981. 139 Asko Parpola. who notes that the bulls of Egypt “materialize upon the earth the creative forces of the hidden demiurge (creator-god). Egyptian Religion: The Last Thousand Years. As René L. On the falcon as symbol of the sun-god see J.In antiquity various aspects of the gods were represented zoomorphically.139 The black bovine was associated with Creator-god Min the black primordial waters from which the creatorof Kemet god emerged. MI.: Brill and Eerdmans. J. 2nd Edition (Leiden and Grand Rapids.3. Religious Meanings of Rivers in Maharashtra (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. the black bovine symbolized night and Cult Statue of materiality.).” by N. As Asko Parpola notes regarding the Indic tradition: “the dark buffalo bathing in muddy water was conceived as the personification of the cosmic waters of chaos”. “The Near Eastern Moon God. Water and Womanhood. usually a bull.v. the black skin of the bovine signaling the black skin of the Mnevis Bull deity.” AJSL 35 (1991): 167 n. That is to say. 1992) 19-37. Corpus des cylinders de Ras Shamra-Ougarit II: Sceaux-cylinres en hematite et pierres diverses (Ras Shamra-Ougarit IX. See also René L. 1982)109-25. Caskell.” in Willy Clarysse. See for example the black skin of the Egyptian deity Min. “Color reflected the nature of a god” and thus the skin color “constituted the vehicle of the divine nature of a sacred animal. Berlin. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press. The bull represented potency.W.140 The black bull thus came to symbolize the black material body that the creator-god will form for himself. 1980) 440 n. whose horns connect it with the crescent of the moon.g. the lord of the day…Night…is equally well represented by the bull. The paramount ‘attribute animal’ of the black creatorgod was the black bovine. Assmann. which symbolized morning/midday sunlight. all essential characteristics of the creator-god.” On the bull and the moon-god in ancient Near Eastern mythology see also Tallay Ornan. 1992) 68.J. different animals were used to symbolize distinct characteristics or attributes of a deity. 4. 3. 1996) 82-93. 1995) 46-47. Untersuchungen zur ägyptischen Hymnik I (MÄS 19. “The Bull and its Two Masters: Moon and Storm Deities in Relation to the Bull in Ancient Near Eastern Art.” 181.v. Vos.7 the spotted cow Śabalā is addressed: “Thou art the [primeval ocean]. “New correspondences between Harappan and Near Eastern glyptic art. the 136 On the ‘attribute animal’ of ancient Near Eastern religion see Erik Hornung. Shepley and C. Part 1. Karel van der Toorn.3.11.137 The color of the bull was not arbitrary. Vos pointed out. 178 notes: “Indeed. Patterns in Comparative Religion.3 [art. by C. Choquet (New York: Abrams.3. 1999) s. 787. “Varius Coloribus Apis: Some Remarks of the Colours of Apis and Other Sacred Animals.” 138 “Varius Coloribus Apis. 140 Parpola.1. ERE 2:887-889 s.=161-195].”138 Over against the golden lion or falcon. P. Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt: the One and the Many (Ithaca: Cornell University Press. van der Horst (edd. Albright who noted that “the conception of the river as mighty bull is common”: “The Mouth of the Rivers.” 711. Art of the Ancient Near East.136 who was otherwise anthropomorphic.” in Diederik J. Amsterdam. fecundity. Meijer (ed.” On water and cows in Indic tradition see further Anne Feldhaus. Nārāyana. “Varius Coloribus Apis.48. Universe and Totality in the Śatapatha-BrāhmaÖa. 146 See Mishra. (Prajāpati-)Brahmā is called “he who dwells in the [causal] waters. 147 Śatapatha-BrāhmaÖa 6.”142 and he possessed a black body made from those primordial waters. Recherches d’Archéologie 2) 55-57. Œg Veda 10.9. “Golden Germ. Hornblower. dark brown like night (śyāvah..” and his black bull Mnevis.1. 11. The Babylonian Tiamat (primordial salt-waters) seems also to have been presented as a bovine in the Enūma Elish: see B.12.2. Kinnier Wilson.V. Golden Germ. 718. 167.” in Dange. which is a Kushite (African) tradition at root.H. On the mythological significance of the black bovine skin see especially Vos. water. Bosch.146 Prajāpati-Brahmā’s (re-)uniting with Madhava Moorti Vāk (primordial water/primordial cow) produced the idaÒ sarvam or “phenomenal.144 He then became haritah śyāvah. Myths of Creation. Jaiminīya-BrāhmaÖa 2.. Veronica Ions. “Prajāpati in Vedic Mythology and Ritual. esp. Golden Germ. Image of Brāhma. in his VißÖu 141 Robert A.19. Bosch. On the black bull and the black waters of creation see also Vos.1. as VißÖu.” 142 See See W. 2009) 91-97. “Min and His Functions. anthropomorphic Indic creator-deity Prajāpati-Brahmā is said to have wrapped himself in the primordial waters which were personified in his daughter/wife Vāk/Virāj. On the fiery breath (Agni) and the waters see further Kuiper.3.” Journal of the Oriental Institute 32 (1982): 1-17. 1986.2. Armour.=154-179].‘creator god par excellence. Godbole. IFAO.5. On Vāk and the primordial waters see ibid. After his initial creation of the celestial cosmos the luminous. 2001) 157.1. the first earthly human.” JNES 20 (1961): 175 [art.” beginning with Manu. 13). 57-62.141 The Sumerian creator-god Enki was called am-gig-abzu.252 (Vāk as primordial cow). 145 See Taittirīya BrāhmaÖa 2.2. 9. Gonda.3.1.4.1.) with a ting of yellow (a yellow glow. On Vāk as primordial matter see Nagar.” 27-30.147 According to the Trimūrti or Triad tradition of the Purānas VißÖu is the name of the creator-god PrajāpatiBrahmā with his luminous body cloaked within an aquatic body made from the primordial waters. Joshi.145 Prajāpati-Brahmā’s copulation with Vāk is a metaphor for the reuniting of fire (breath) with VißÖu statue. “Later Vedic and Brahmanical Accounts. PaÕcaaveÒśa-BrāhmaÖa 20. On Min and black bovines see also H. material world.D. Brahmā-Worship. which is only Prajāpati-Brahmā himself reborn in the phenomenal. 1968) 110. “Varius Coloribus Apis.6. See G. ‘black bull of the Apsû (primordial waters). Thus. 52-53.” By assuming this form (Prajāpati-)Brahmā showed mercy on creation. “All. Therefore.6.” 113. 144 See G. Landsberger and J. 6.14.” 37 . J.” 715.” Man 46 (1946): 116 [art. Joshi. clearly expresses this motif.125.2. “The Fifth Tablet of Enuma Elis. Prajāpati-Brahmā material world. viii. “The Mouth of the Rivers. Albright. While Min was associated with a white bull in New Kingdom Panopolis and Coptos at an earlier period in Heliopolis he was associated with the black bull Mnevis. haritah). Gauthier. Śatapatha-BrāhmaÖa 6. “Prajāpati.F.” AJSL 35 (1991): 161-195. Egyptian Mythology Middlesex: The Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd.143 Ancient Indic tradition. 143 See Wesley Muhammad. Les personnel du dieu Min (Le Caire. Black Arabia and the African Origin of Islam (Atlanta: A-Team Publishing. Gods and Myths of Ancient Egypt (Cairo and New York: The American University in Cairo Press. 1931. Œg Veda 6.=113-121). “The Submarine Mare in the Mythology of Śiva. E.‘VißÖu’ form he is called auspicious. and he (Apis) was associated with the Black God Osiris. 1954). Gonda. 120 CE) thus notes: Not only the Nile. The Art and Iconography of Vishnu-Narayana (Bombay. Chapter Fourteen. 41-55. Oosthoek’s Uitgevers Mij. alluding to the dark aquatic matter from which it was formed. Wallis Budge. out of which creation originally arose…the sun god absorbed the chaotic power of the primordial waters. the dark. Myths and Gods of India. Nanditha Krishna.” Religion 16 (1986): 101-114. Desai. The black bull (k" km) of Egypt. 365B. 150 Isis and Osiris.A. 1967] cxxiii. or Atum. Apis. Tutankhamun’s Armies. 151 See above note 38.F. The Egyptian Book of the Dead (The Papyrus of Ani). is thus called Auf-Ra. N.150 Above we noted that the myth of Ra joining Osiris in the Duat or Underworld is actually a picturesque way of presenting Ra’s incarnation in the black. Arvind Sharma. Chapters Eleven through Fourteen. which engulfed the remnants-‘flesh’-of the once virile solar god. 1980). Egyptian Text Transliterated and Translated [New York: Dover Publications. ‘the flesh of Ra’. “The Significance of VißÖu Reclining on the Serpent.” in idem.J Kuiper. and a dark blue body. likewise personified the waters of the Nile which was regarded as a type of Nun. Gods of India. Upto the Mediaeval Period) (New Delhi: Abhinav Publications. Ancient Indian Cosmogony. 36. 38 . but every form of moisture (the Egyptians) call simply the effusion of Osiris. 148 On VißÖu see Daniélou. The Duat represents the primordial waters and is explicitly identified with the black body of Osiris. 1973). J.V. Iconography of VißÖu (In Northern India. “La Mise a Mort Rituelle D’Apis. who himself was identified with the aquatic element. 152 Darnell and Manassa.B. “The Three Strides of VißÖu. Indian Theogony. Chapter Three.” JRAS 1971 9-27 149 See Émile Chassinat. Martin.A. primeval watery mass out of which creation sprang.148 VißÖu is depicted both with a pitch-black body. Bhattachari. Inc.151 “the sun god plunged into the primordial waters. aquatic body personified in Osiris. Kalpana S. ruler of the Duat.” Recueil de travaux relatifs a la philology et a l’archeologie egyptiennes et assyriennes 38 [1916] 33-60. See also Wendy Doniger O’flaherty.149 Plutarch (d. alluding to the interaction of the light of Prajāpati-Brahmā with this black matter. Aspects of Early VißÖuism (Utrecht.”152 Osiris. 22-23. and in their holy rites the water jar in honor of the god heads the procession. dur-an-ki. Fairman (Warminster. Orbis Aegyptiorum Speculum: Glimpses of Ancient Egypt. Smith. Kitchen (edd. Erik Hornung. G. 155 D.O.). its bottom reaching deep into the Abzu or primordial waters. Spenser. “The Soul’s Ascent and Tauroctony: On Babylonian Sediment in the Syncretic Religious Doctrines of Late Antiquity. G. Amar Annus. Studies in Honour of H. they signify aspects of the body of the deity. Edzard. 88. Mohiy wl-Din Ibrahim. Figurative Language in the Ancient Near East (London: University of London. Mindlin.A. 1975) 40-46. its top portion touching heaven. viz.” in John Ruffle. “Pyramids and Ziggurats as the Architectonic Representations of the Archetype of the Cosmic Mountain. Wansbrough (edd. the primordial waters in Egyptian cosmogonic thought.” History of Religions 23 (1983) 64-83. Classical Studies 1 (1978): 69-110. the temple architecture symbolically reflects the anthropomorphic body of the god and ‘houses’ the story of how this divine body emerged out of the primordial waters. “The Brick Foundation of Late-Period Temples and their Mythological Origin.” Occasional Publications in.153 Thus.” in John Day (ed. Studies in Honour of H. 2005) 21. “Symbolism of Mount Meru.154 The temple is thus the link between heaven and earth. Like Temples (Like People). Studies on Ritual and Society in the Ancient Near East. 1992) Chapter 6. Mabbett. Temple and Worship Biblical Israel (London/New York: Clark. it is known that the whole of the Ancient Near Eastern and Indian sacred temple reflected the bod(ies) of the god to whom it is dedicated and that the throne-room was a miniature temple itself.” in Pramod Chandra (ed) Studies in Indian Temple Architecture (American Institute of Indian Studies. “The Symbolism of Mount Meru. the seven levels of the Mesopotamian ziggurat or stepped-pyramid represented the seven stages of the divine descent from the highest heaven into material enmeshment (incarnation). Gaballa and Kenneth A. The Sumerian Sacred Marriage in the Light of Comparative Evidence (Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project. First. Geller and J. 119. “Like Deities. 39 .).” in John Ruffle. 1985).W. which is associated with the primordial waters: thus the undulating course of the bricks on the external walls of the Egyptian temple are designed to imitate the waves of Nun. “The Temple as Purusa. Stella Kramrish.). Gaballa and Kenneth A. Dunand and Zivie-Coche. 1987) 13-24.). 2007) 1-53.W.E. 1979) 133.W.” in M. Orbis Aegyptiorum Speculum: Glimpses of Ancient Egypt.” RAIN 15 (1976): 10-15.A. Ragnhild Bjerre Finnestad. “Deep-Rooted Skyscrapers and Bricks: Ancient Mesopotamian Architecture and its Imagery. The temple was considered an architectonic icon: an image in stone of the god. can be demonstrated. 154 Mabbett. Andrzej Wierciński. M. In particular. I. On the cosmic/cosmogonic symbolism of the Egyptian temple see also John Baines.155 The lowest level of the ziggurat and the exterior walls of the temple represent the external body of the god. Kitchen (edd. Idea into Image. Hornung.J. 156 A. Idea into Image: Essays on Ancient Egyptian Thought (Timken Publishers.” 64i.156 The Seven-step ziggurat of Mesopotamia and the Sevenstage descent of luminous Spirit into Black Matter 153 Mark S. 2004) 146.). Image of the World and Symbol of the Creator: On the Cosmological and Iconological Values of the Temple of Edfu (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.” in Thomas Richard Kämmerer (ed. “Temple Symbolism. Tartuer Symposien 1998-2004 (Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter. Fairman (Warminster. Gods and Men in Egypt. 1979) 170-171.That the throne and the watery dais upon which it sits have somatic significance.J. Pirjo Lapinkivi. “The God of the Great Temple of Edfu. the Divine Man (Yahweh) 40 . Layout of the Temple of Solomon reflecting the body of the High Priest. The Prasada Temple of Hindu India C. The Luxor Temple of Kemet B.A. enthroned on cubed throne 157 158 Gadalla. Gadalla. 41 . and the god sitting on top is the ka. Egyptian Cosmology.”158 The ‘mind over matter’ explanation is cliché: this arrangement signifies in actuality the predominance of the divine person/body (the ka) over the mortal body (the khat).As the exterior temple walls with their wave-like bricks symbolize the earthly body of the god and the interior of the temple – the Holy of Holies – signifies the god’s internal essence/glory.157 This is also the significance of the box-like thrones upon which the Egyptian deities and kings sit. 53. In these cube statues. The correctness of this insight is indicated by the significance of the so-called cube-statues that became prevalent during Kemet’s Middle Kingdom (2040 BCE – 1783 BCE).e. Its symbolic significance is that the spiritual principle is emerging from the material world. As Moustafa Gadalla explains. This is a box like structure with a human figure emerging out of it. Like the temple itself. the boxlike throne represents the material body of the god. there is the powerful sense of the subject emerging from the prison of the cube. i. Egyptian Cosmology. 53. Gadalla notes: “The Divine person is shown sitting squarely on a cube. these throne-room accessories tell us something about the bodies of the gods.” Thus. mind over matter. the box-like structure in general in Egyptian thought is “the model of the earth and the material world. Khepri form and Asar (Osiris) form of Atum. but one of a higher nature than the ‘bottom’ or most external body. so too is this pattern reflected in the arrangement of the cultstatue inside the temple. the immortal body. The bottom wavelike dais is the equivalent of the temple walls with its undulating bricks. C. & Early Christianity (Peabody. The later Jewish mystical tradition.159 This esoteric priestly tradition was inherited by the later rabbis. 165 John D. Gnosticism. “Adam Kadmon. The Universal Meaning of the Kabbalah. idem. Paris: Les Presses de l’Université Laval and Éditions Peeters. Leo Schaya.163 Gnosticism was a religious/philosophical movement of the 1st . Jewish sources from the first century CE and beyond document the belief that Yahweh acquired his aquatic body in much the same way that Atum did. Turner. 164 L. And London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. MASS: Hendrickson Publishers. See Wesley Muhammad.” Encyclopedia Judaica 2:248-49.4th centuries CE.).com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/Sapphire_RabbisHTRNo_KabbalahRevised2. Gershom Sholem. therefore understandably identified Yahweh with Adam (Kadmon). 2 vols. Jr. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.” @ http://drwesleywilliams. Hedrick and Robert Hodgson. Green. “Sethian Gnosticism: A Literary History.=320-352]. I:295-298.II. Sethian Gnosticism and the Platonic Tradition (Québec. Wisdom of the Zohar. “Lapis-Lazuli rt Régénération. 2003).M. King. “The L§ã Bhairo at Benares (V§r§ÖasÊ): Another Pre-Aśokan Monument?” ZDMG 133 (1983): 327-43 [art. The esoteric tradition of the priests of the Jerusalem Temple identified the long dark blue robe (me’îl) of the high priest with the earthly body of Yahweh.160 Sapphire/lapis lazuli is a semiprecious stone which possessed great mythological significance in the Ancient Near East. What is Gnosticism? (Cambridge. 46. L’Univers minéral dans la pensée Égyptienne. Though this movement was made up of various groups. Hopking. 1991) 2:463-488.165 amazingly. Kaballah.2. 161 F. 224-229. 1986) 55-86. developed a 159 160 Muhammad. 15-16.1822304 2. 2001). 162 Daumas notes: “Le lapis-lazuli paraît avoir été associé à deux principaux aspects de la nature : la nuit…et l’eau primordiale”. “Lapis-lazuli et Régénération. The Practical Kabbalah Guidebook (New York: Sterling Publishing.162 The divine sapphiric body was thus an aquatic body.J. 1971). (Le Caire: Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale du Caire. Yahweh-Elohim (Allah): The Aquatic Body in Biblical Tradition Because of the noted relationship between Ancient Near Eastern (especially Egyptian) tradition and Biblical tradition. 163 On Adam Kadmon v Schwartz. “Gnosticism and the New Testament..” in in Charles W.pdf. Daumas. trns from the French by Nancy Pearson (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd.164 the earliest no doubt formed around a group of renegade Jewish priests from the Jerusalem Temple who. according to whom the dark blue ritual tassel (ẓiẓit) worn on the prayer shawl (tallit) of observant Jews symbolized the sapphiric body of God. Truth of God. being considered the “ultimate Divine substance. 1996).” 465 and passim. Guide to the Zohar. “Sapphiric God: Esoteric Speculation on the Divine Body in Post-Biblical Jewish Tradition. Tree of Souls. 42 . Rethinking “Gnosticism”: An Argument for Dismantling a Dubious Category (Princeton.” in Sydney Aufrère. (edd. 116-119. Nag Hammadi.”161 In its natural state sapphire/lapis lazuli is deep blue with fine golden spangles and was associated both with the starry night heavens and the primordial waters. 2001) 257ff. we are not surprised to find that the god of the Bible is described in many Jewish sources as possessing this same aquatic body that the Ancient Near Eastern deities possessed.” in J. Tishby. Mass. 34f. On Jewish Gnosticism see also Gils Quispel. John Irwin. 167 On the Gnostic demiurge and biblical deity see Simon Pétrement. and Egyptian Christianity (Minneapolis: Fortress. The Rediscovery of Gnosticism: Proceedings of the International Conference on Gnosticism at Yale New Haven. The New Testament and Gnosis (Edinburgh: T&T Clark Limited.” MA thesis. “Yaldaboath: The Gnostic Female Principle in its Fallenness. which name is Greek and means both ‘light’ and ‘man. (Leiden: E.” NovTes (1990): 79-95. 2006). Couliano. 1964 2). 14 (1984): 301-11.” in Innovation in Religious Traditions: Essays in the Interpretation of Religious Change (Religion and Society Series 31. Berlin. Gnosticism.). Foerster Werner. New York: Mouton de Gruyter. According to Pythagoras.168 Because materiality was associated with femininity according to the Pythagorean Table of Opposites. Judaic Christianity and Gnosis.167 whom they demonized and rejected because of his creation of a material (and thus evil) world. “The Lion-Headed Yaldabaoth. and that characterized by darkness. The Gnostic Problem: A Study of the Relations between Hellenistic Judaism and the Gnostic Heresy (London: A. spirit. A Separate God. Sophia-Achamoth. Particularly influential on their thinking was the Pythagorean Table of Opposites. and On the Origin of the World leave no doubt as to why166: it was the material blackness of this God. They had come under the spell of Greek philosophy. idem.R. Kurt Rudolph. Logan and A. trns. The Lion Becomes Man: The Gnostic Leontomorphic Creator and the Platonic Tradition (SBLDS 81.” Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses 61 (1985): 142-52. Gnosis: A Selection of Texts [Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1964 (Nashville. the God of the Bible (Yahweh-Elohim) was seen as evil and even equated with the devil at times. and femininity was bad: the two groups were antithetical. “The demonizing of the demiurge: The innovation of Gnostic myth. 166 For English translations of these texts see Willis Barnstone and Marvin Meyer. Jackson.’ The latter was exclusively identified with the God of the Bible. R. Wilson. that this group of priests revolted against. The Netherlands: Harwood Academic Publishers.B. 1990) Chap. 1983). Connecticut. 1978 2 vols. The Tree of Gnosis: Gnostic Mythology from Early Christianity to Modern Nihilism (New York: HarperCollins Publishing. The Bible in Modern Scholarship. Rethinking “Gnosticism”: An Argument for Dismantling a Dubious Category (Princeton.” Religion. The Christian Origins of Gnosticism tns. Ioan P.25-26). “The Origin of the Gnostic Demiurge. Ohio.H. Wedderburn (edd. 4. The Apocryphon of John (II 11. With his black material body.’ The Gnostics separated this luminous man (phÙs) from his black material ‘veil. 1958. 1983).). Nils A. 1998) 257-276. 1981) 2:689-712. “The Old Testament God in Early Gnosticism. 1970. the Nature and History of an Ancient Religion. 1992) Chapt. materiality. Birger Pearson. 94. Davies. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. Philip Hyatt (ed.M. Robert McLachlan Wilson (Edinburgh: T&T Clark. LTD. 4. They worshiped as the supreme God the luminous anthropos of Day One of Genesis with his brilliant light-body.disgust for the God of Israel. March 28-31. 168 The Hypostasis of the Archons (NHC II. Gnosis. Anne Ingvild Sælid Gilhus. Howard M. the Hypostasis of the Archons.J. E. Gnostic texts such the Apocraphon of John. usually called phÙs.” Journal of Religious History 11 (1981): 495-500.” in Perspectives on Jewish Thought and Mysticism (Amsterdam. “Judaism. 1992) 73107. 17-18). 1974] 1: 11. Carol Harrison (New York: HaperCollins Publishing.” in Bentley Layton (ed. Jarl Fossum. or his body. and maleness was good. TN: Abingdon Press). Atlanta: Scholars Press. idem. Michael Allen Williams.). Dahl. The Gnostic Bible (New Seeds. Brill. Stevan L.an Agnostic Trickster.” in A. Judaism. “Samael and the Problem of Jewish Gnosticism. “The Arrogant Archon and the Lewd Sophia: Jewish Traditions in Gnostic Revolt. these early Gnostics represented Yahweh-Elohim’s black material body as a black goddess. See also Joseph Dan. Aydeet Fischer-Mueller. that which is characterized by light. 43 . idem. 46-68. Mowbray & Co.J. The Gnostics thus ‘split’ the God of Israel in two. 1996) 63-79. Papers read at the 100 th Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature. Miami University. McL. “The Gnostic Demiurge . 19990). December 28-30. I. 1985. idem. Herm. like darkness/cloud. Strachan. 1992) 95. Including the Demotic Spells. December 28-30. 44 . “The Alphabet in Mandaean and Jewish Gnosticism. for the Docetists of Hippolytus (Ref. 1964 (Nashville. “[the] skylike.). The Naassenes: A Gnostic Identity Among Judaism. 3065 reads: ουρανοειδη. Jarl Fossum. “The Mandaeans and Heterodox Judaism. Leiden: E. 168. On the Gnostic myth of the sunken deity see Maria Grazia Lancellotti.” in J. 6. Hans Jonas. 171 My translation. 116-29. Papers read at the 100th Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature. TN: Abingdon Press. 174 See especially the discussion by Nathaniel Deutsch. Mystical Shape. Meeresgestaltiger. 170 PGM IV. 3-11). “The New Religionsgeschichtliche Schule: The Quest for Jewish Christology.” HUCA 54 (1983): 147-51. December 1976) (Leiden: E. and Other Worldly Journeys (Albany. 110-11.). The New Testament Illustrated by Recently Discovered Texts of the Graeco-roman World (trns.. Light From the Ancient East. 3065. 1965) 262. having glanced at and/or descend to the waters below.175 Now 169 See Josef Keil.” SBL Seminar Papers 30 (1991): 638-646. 172 Regarding the Docetic demiurge Couliano notes: “He is the image in Darkness of an aeon whose transcendence has been forever separated from the lower world by the firmament.1) the creator god of Genesis is an impression in dark matter of a higher light Aeon.These (Jewish) Gnostic sources evidence an awareness of the God of Israel’s aquatic body.g. and the divine anthropos of Poimandres (Corp. seems to parallel eidos and morphos. Couliano. 175 See e. The Gnostic Religion. Baker Book House.J. the Mandean demiurge Ptahil (Right Ginza III. Collins and Michael Fishbane (edd. the divine anthropos of the Naassens (Hippolytus.” Wiener Jahreshefte 32 (1940): 79-84. Mich. I 1-32). Guardians of the Gate. 1978) 7-9 [art. The Tree of Gnosis: Gnostic Mythology from Early Christianity to Modern Nihilism (New York: HarperCollins Publishing.”171 Plotinus’s Gnostics (Enn. 1975) 82-122. Lionel R.” in Nag Hammadi and Gnosis.10.172 The Mandean Demiurge Ptahil is a reflection in black water of his father Abathur. Gilles Quispel. idem. Hans Dieter Betz [Chicago: The University of Chicago Press] 97) as. like the sea. “Ein rätselhaftes Amulett. esp. Quispel’s ‘Gnosticism and the New Testament’. Colloque du Centre d’Histoire des Religions (Strasbourg. The Bible in Modern Scholarship.174 The characteristically ‘Gnostic’ myth of the ‘sunken god’ explains the origin of the Biblical god’s aquatic body: the deity (or his eidolon. du Allgestaltiger” (80). II. became engulfed by them and embodied within them. 173 Right Ginza V 1. 1965) 279-93. Similarly. esp.” in Jacques-é Ménard (ed. 1995) 171-79. 2001). Gils Quispel. Philip Hyatt (ed. Brill. 28. V 6. On Mandaeaism and Jewish tradition see Deutsch.J. νεφελοειδη. the Message of the Alien God & the Beginnings of Christianity (Boston: Beacon Press.” in John J. PGM IV. the All-shaped. Christianity. 9. idem. Brill. New York: State University of New York Press. M. 2000) 87-120. His substance is Darkness…” Ioan P.=1-33]. The Betz translation of PGM IV 3065 obscures the obvious morphic focus of the passage. {θ}σxοτοειδη θαλασσοειδη xαι παντόμορφε which Keil translates “du Himmelsgestaltiger.3) describe the Demiurge or Biblical creatorgod as a dark image (eidolon) in matter of the (S)oul’s reflection.” Rel 11 (1981): 227-234. which is translated in Betz (The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation. image) who. Gnostic Imagination. “Response to G. Dunkelgestaltiger. 62-65. 156-65. Dan Cohn-Sherbok. VIII 9. The amulet reads: ουρανοειδη. “The Demiurge in the Apocryphon of John.4-10.). A magical invocation to the Jewish God found on a Greek-Hebrew amulet169 and in a Greek magical papyrus170 reads: “Thou (whose) form is like heaven. Papers read at the First International Congress of Coptology (Cairo. “Abathur: A New Etymology. sealike. ed. 23-25 octobre 1974) (NHS 7. 80 and Scholem’s discussion. I have departed from standard translations in order to bring out what I believe is the true sense of this passage. by adding παντόμορφε. cloudlike”. 94-5. Death. Keil seems right in his translation because the amulet. 98-100). Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Traditions (Münster: Ugarit-Verlag. Ecstasy. Grand Rapids. Ref. an uthra (divine light-being).173 These two figures show some relation to the biblical El (Abathur) and Yahweh (Ptahil). “Jewish Gnosis and Mandaen Gnosticism: Some Reflections on the Writing Bronté. θαλασσειδη. See also Adolf Deissmann. Les Textes de Nag Hammadi. reflection.30) the luminous Heavenly Sophia (versus here black material counterpart Sophia Achamoth) descended and was entrapped by the waters below. 2438. 69-72. or shadow as representing a real part of the original entity from which it has become detached…By its nature the Light shines into the Darkness below. 1875 ) mud. esp. 203: “her abandoned body fathers the Archon Yaldabaoth”. the divine luminosity enmeshed in the dark depiction of the ‘luminous’ and ‘sunken’ aspects of the biblical aqueous matter. Logan and A. god is somatically associated with both the blue waters and the blue firmament.” VC 11 (1957): 14849. R. Robert M. 1996) 557-64 Howard M. McL. something of itself has become immersed in the lower world…in this way the divine form…becomes embodied in the matter of Darkness…176 The point of this myth is well summarized by Werner Foerster who suggests that “the totality of Gnosis can be comprehended in a single image. Geburtstag (Tübingen: J. 1972) 1: 2. routinely identified with the biblical creator god. the God of Israel. if it issued from an individual divine figure such as Sophia or Man. “The Origin in Ancient Incantatory Voces Magicae of Some Names in the Sethian Gnostic System. Sethianism and the Nag Hammadi Library.C.” in Mélanges d’Histoire des Religions offertes à Henri-Charles Puech (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. Wedderburn (edd.B.B. 1983). The New Testament and Gnosis: Essays in honour of Robert McL.M. trans and ed.” VC 43 (1989): 69-79. Gnosis.” VC 59 (2005): 237 [art. the Biblical creator. which then became Yaldabaoth. Matthew Black. Mohr (Paul Siebeck).179 176 177 Gnostic Religion.H.’ this deity becomes the Demiurge. According to Irenaeus’ Ophites (Against the Heretics I. Grant. “Ophite Gnosticism.God. After garnering enough strength (“power from the moisture of light”). Sethian Gnosticism. her (blue) watery-body serving as the visible heaven. Gershom Scholem. A Selection of Gnostic Texts. 162-3.J.=235-63]: “The remains of her body fathered the demiurge Ialdabaoth” On various scholarly derivations of the name ‘Yaldabaoth’ see Joseph Dan. from which she acquired a watery-body. is in the nature of a form projected into the dark medium and appearing there as an image or reflection of the divine…though no real descent or fall of the divine original has taken place. According to this myth. She then spread herself out as a covering. 2 vols.possessing an ‘aquatic body. Jackson. Welburn reads this myth as a commentary on the Ophite Diagram described in Origen’s contra Celsum VI. Wilson (Oxford: The Clarendon Press. aquatic body. 178 A.). This is the image of ‘gold in Eliphas Levi’s (d. 179 Turner. Reflexion: Festschrift für Martin Hengel zum 70. 45 .” NovT 23 (1981): 262-87.).” in Peter Schäfer (ed.178 She finally abandoned this blue celestial. In his reconstruction of the diagram (“Reconstructing the Ophite Diagram. 280-87) Welburn associates the blue circle (see contra Celsum VI. “Jaldabaoth Reconsidered. Tradition. This partial illumination of the Darkness…. Geschichte. Hans Jonas describes this mythic motif: (The motif) implies the mythic idea of the substantiality of an image. 1974) 405-421. Tuomas Rasimus.J. “The Name Ialdabaoth. she was able to escape from the waters and re-ascend upwards. “Yaldabaoth and the Language of the Gnostics. 38) with Sophia’s ‘watery-body’ of the above myth.’”177 i. “An Aramaic Etymology for Jaldabaoth?” in A. Wilson (Edinburgh: T&T Clark Limited.e. Levine and C. troops. While Ezekiel was watching.). the divine name inscribed on the sherd) that fell into the primordial waters. 211-249. “I have already seen the mirror (mar’ah). according to Alexander Altmann. ‘I have already seen the mirror.” 185 Trans. as David is digging he reaches the subterranean chaos waters (tehom). Adducing a number of comparative materials. Altmann argued that the likely history-of-religions background to this haggadah (Jewish tale) is the myth of the primordial man/deity/soul (i.e. While he was looking into the mirror. and the firmaments were opened to him and he saw God’s glory (kabod). The barber turned and said to him.” Another case was made by Halperin.” in I. Mohr [Paul Siebeck]. 230. 118:22)” fell into the watery cosmic matter: “This (the talmudic motif) echoes the conception of the Gnostic God who sinks into the depth. September 25.” an epithet for God). As Halperin has seen and as the parable leaves no room to doubt. and sparkling-winged ones joined to the merkabah.185 Ezekiel sees in the primordial waters the image/reflection of the divine anthropos enthroned along with his host. Isaac said: God showed Ezekiel the primordial waters that are bound up in the great sea and in layers. 211-249. got a haircut.B. J.182 One of the several relevant texts he cites is Re"uyot YeÈezkel (‘Visions of Ezekiel’). 46 . Faces. 183 On which see also Gruenwald. a possibly fifth century merkabah (“chariot-throne”) or Jewish mystical text. He showed him a mountain underneath the river.’ 184 So Ezekiel stood by the river Chebar and looked into the water. He saw the king and his forces through the doorway. seraphim.. “vision. behind this tale is clearly the myth of the sunken image of the deity. 28:16)” and the “corner-stone which has become the head of the corner (Ps. and was given a mirror to look into. Roth (edd. and Ezekiel looked into them and saw all the celestial entities… R. in Halperin. 1-3) is expanded and interpreted. David inscribes the divine name on a sherd and casts it into the deep. Hertz: Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew congregations of the British Empire: on the occasion of his seventieth birthday. In the Bavli (Babylonian Talmud) version. thereby staying and sealing Tehom once again.” is a play on mar’eh. The cited parable distinguishes between the king and the king’s image seen in the mirror. Have you come to the layers of the sea [Job 38:16]. So it is written: At the river Chebar [Ez.181 is in the tale of King David digging pits (shîttîn) into the earth to build the foundations for the Temple. They passed by in the heavens and Ezekiel saw them in the water.H. “vision/appearance. He cites the Naassene Hymn in which the Primordial Man. a play on ma’reh. 181 Alexander Altmann. angels. seeing the image in the mirror is tantamount to seeing the king himself. who as the “foundation-stone of Zion (Isa. They coined a parable: to what may the matter be likened? A man went to a barber-shop. After some deliberation with Achitophel. 1942 (5703) (London: Edward Goldston. Adamas. God opened to him seven firmaments and he saw the Geburah (“Power. as it is written. Dr.183 Here Ezekiel’s vision of God at the river Chebar (Ez. The Faces of the Chariot: Jewish Responses to Ezekiel’s Vision (Tübingen: J. ‘Turn around and see the king. 134-141. and the Èayyot. by means of which the temple vessels will return. 1:1]. Epstein.” For him. the king passed by. This word-play also implies some 180 David Halperin. E.180 One such reflex. 184 Mar’ah. The customer’s declaration. Essays In honour of the Very Rev. 182 Faces. as pointed out by David Halperin. 1944) 19-32.C. which arise and threaten to submerge the earth again. The relevant portion reads: …God opened to Ezekiel the seven subterranean chambers. Apocalyptic and Merkavah Mysticism. 1988).’ He said. “Gnostic Themes in Rabbinic Cosmology.Reflexes of this myth are found in non-Gnostic Jewish sources as well. The water. See Tishby. this meant that God had frozen solid the terrible waters against which he fought. by Fischel Lachower and Isaiah Tishby. I suggest. Washington: The Littman Library of Jewish civilization.” 19-21. A Guide to the Zohar (Stanford: Stanford University Press.189 Halperin’s words are very significant.e.” in Larry D. she is also the Sea (yamah). the mirror). The Wisdom of the Zohar III: 1183. 22-23. assimilated the merkabah to itself. Inc. The Wisdom of the Zohar III: 1183. it turns the merkabah. Ginsburg. 25. it makes the distinction between above and below insignificant. trans. Introduction. On the sefirot v. Through a Speculum. by virtue of its power of reflection. This identity is explicitly articulated in later mystical and esoteric tradition. 3 vols. 237-8 190 Darnell and Manassa.. Gershom Scholem. 153-55. Tiferet) is seen. Elliot K. Bokser. which engulfed the remnants-‘flesh’-of the once virile solar god. chaos is the enemy of order and structure…the hardening of water into glass symbolizes God’s triumph over chaos. because it is the color of the sea into which the rivers (i. 152a. III:1127 n. 2004). Moshe Hallamish. See also ibid. 18a-b (quoted in Wolfson. ensnared its enemy’s image. The Bahir. fols. “Colours and their Symbolism in Jewish Tradition and Mysticism (Part II). out of which creation originally arose…the sun god absorbed the chaotic power of the primordial waters. An Introduction to the Kabbalah. The Wisdom of the Zohar. Halperin reasons: When the merkabah (=throne) appears in the waters. In zoharic Kabbalah the Shekhinah or God’s visible. which color denotes the luminous presence of the divine image (Tiferet) within the dark waters. and thus infected God with its own formlessness…But Ezekiel saw something else beneath God’s throne: a firmament the color of terrible ice (Ezekiel 1:22).).e. Maine: Samuel Weiser.e. 186 47 . Isaiah Tishby in The Wisdom of the Zohar: an anthology of texts. Tutankhamun’s Armies. Ruth Bar-Ilan and Ora Wiskind-Elper (Albany: State University of New York Press. Practical Kabbalah Guidebook. On Shekhina/Malkhut as the visible body of see Zohar III. the waters in which and through which the divine image can be seen. Tishby. 273-4. Wisdom of the Zohar. “The Image of the Divine and Person in Zoharic Kabbalah. 239-43. blue-black body (Malkhut) is the “mirror in which another image (i. 1:291. the upper realms are merged into the lower. Through a Speculum. Ezekiel…looks into ‘the subterranean chambers’ and sees in them what ought to be in heaven…The paradox of the merkabah in the waters…brings the upper world into the nether world. the zoharic Shekhinah is symbolized by blue. Translation. 1989). 28-59. 1987) 61-87. 1:351. in the fifth hour of the night. 310-11). 137. Aryeh Kaplan. 30. 1991). suppressed the chaos-waters. MS New York-JTSA mic 1727. as the old traditions claimed. His luminous image.=64-76]. they indicate that what occurred to the Biblical creator-god’s (Yahweh-Elohim’s) divine body is what had occurred to the Egyptian creator-god’s (Atum’s) divine body: According to the Book of Amduat. On Malkhut and the material body v. also Hopking. and thus defeated them. like any reflection in water. To the early Jewish expositors.190 Zohar I:149b.” Tishby.sense of identity between the image of the king and the medium (i. Wolfson. into part of the fluid and shapeless chaos that God once had to defeat… God had indeed.” Diogenes 109 (1980): 67 [art. But chaos had its revenge. David Goldstein (London. 188 “Malkhut is symbolized by the color blue.187 As the Sea. Tishby. On the blue-black color see Zohar I. the sun god plunged into the primordial waters. 187 Zohar 1:85b-86a. Introduction and Commentary (York Beach. I:269-307. Wisdom of the Zohar. 189 Halperin. Hallamish. 1999) 137.. By its fluidity and formlessness.188 Thus. Firstly. “The Thread of Blue. Tishby. 50b-51b. Faces. Arthur Green. the Siferot) are emptied. trns. returning to the Visions of Ezekiel. and all the upper images (the sefirot) are seen in it”186. systematically arranged and rendered into Hebrew. Shinn (ed. In Search of the Divine: Some Unexpected Consequences of Interfaith Dialogue (New York: Paragon House Publishers. Secondly.. This point was already made by Gershom Scholem. Gnosticism and the Epistle to the Ephesians.” JSJ 13 (1982): 142-3.A. Subtelny.” On Scholem’s appeal to Shi#ur Qomah to interpret the Heikhalot/Merkabah texts see the comments by Ira Chernus. “The Tale of the Four Sages who Entered the Pardes: A Talmudic Enigma from a Persian Perspective. ‘a likeness as the appearance of a man upon it above’ (Ezekiel 1:26). Assen and Minneapolis: Van Gorcum/Fortress) 99.” forthcoming in Christopher Rowland and C. Morray-Jones notes: “the central mystery of the merkabah tradition: the body of the Glory on the throne.” “The Body of Glory: The Shi‘ur Qomah in Judaism. “ His Throne is ever on the water. 48 .191 It is thus no surprise at all that the human body is 70% water. Kabbalah (New York: Quadrangle/The New York Times Book Co.R. See also Maria E.” 191 C. “Visions of God in Merkabah Mysticism. 1974) 16: “the main purpose of the ascent to the Merkabah is the vision of the One Who sits on the Throne. Morray-Jones. The Mystery of God: Jewish Mystical Traditions in the New Testament CRINT 3.R.A. This is because in Jewish mysticism and esotericism (referred to as ma#aśeh merkabah or the “Work of the Divine ChariotThrone”) the ‘throne’ is a metonymic reference to the divine body established thereon. The appearance of the Glory in the form of supernal man is the content of the most recondite part of this mysticism. called Shiur Komah. My thanks to Morray-Jones for providing the author with a manuscript copy.” JSQ 11 (2004): 3-58. just as in Kemet. this engulfing of the deity’s body with the primordial aqueous matter is symbolized by the throne’s (merkabah’s) presence in the waters. R. “The Qur"§n as Literature. Cyrus H. 5) (Uppsala: A. Ult Oldenburg. 1977). Le Coran. 194 Aaron Hughes. See also Mondher Sfar.” Archiv Orientalni 18 (1950) 330-365. each filling them with new meanings through their own peculiar genius. Rippin. See also idem. Javier Teixidor. Arabic and Islamic Studies in Honor of Hamilton A.” Iraq 48 (1986): 85-101.” 45. MA: Blackwell Pub. 49 . Mainz: Verlag W.would seem in the end to place the researcher in a rather ridiculous position. Dubler.” BBSMES 10 (1983): 45 [art. the divine triad. The Qur’an and its Ancient Near Eastern Context/Subtext “to understand the Qur"§n outside of the Biblical tradition. and of the anthropomorphic god surrounded by his divine assembly. among other things for sure. Muhammad. Mormons & Muslims: Spiritual Foundations and Modern Manifestations (Provo. Prof Andrew Rippin.=61279]. Abd-All§h confessed as well: “Accurate understanding of the pre-Islamic background within which Isl§m arose is essential to the full understanding of the Isl§mic religion. For example.” in Spencer J. Berkey. “The stranger at the sea: Mythopoesis in the Qur’ân and early tafsîr. Palmer (ed. 1997). Rippin. 196 Ilse Lichtenstadter. Islam is. Pitfalls and Prospects. The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East.. particularly in terms of motifs of the gods.” in George Makdisi (ed. “The Qur"§n as Literature: Perils.=38-47]. as well as Gnosticism and Mandean thought drew their inspiration from the same reservoir of ancient beliefs. 1955). Hildegard Lewy.). the motif of the deity and his three hypostatic daughters. “God. Gordon.” Studi Orientalistic in Onore di Giorgio Levi Della Vida 2 (1956): 79-80 [art.=153-204]. nevertheless it clearly shows pre-Islamic Arabia to have been within the ‘mythological orbit’ of the Near East.g. “Origin and Interpretation of Some Qur"§nic Symbols.. The Pagan God: Popular Religion in the Greco-Roman Near East (Princeton. As relatively scant as this evidence is. Cesar E. Judaism. “The God Salmu and the Winged Disk. and Islam. Stephanie Dalley. “Origin and Interpretation of Some Koranic Symbols. clearly a formulation/articulation of ancient Near Eastern mythological tradition and Rippin rightly insists that the Qur"§n in particular be studied in the context of the overall Near Eastern religious milieu which preceded Islam’s emergence in the 7th century. 1965) 426-36. On Islam and ancient Near Eastern mythological tradition see also idem. motifs associated with the cult of baetyls. Utah: Religious Studies Center.”192 So said.. 600-1800 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.”195 Ilse Lichtenstadter put it best: It is no deprecation of MuÈammad’s religious fervour to show his deep roots in ancient Near Eastern tradition. 195 “The Perceptible and the Unseen: The Qur’anic Conception of Man’s Relationship to God and Realities Beyond Human Perception. “Origin and Significance of the Mâgên Dâwîd: A Comparative Study of the Ancient Religions of Jerusalem and Mecca. Though ancient Arabia is sometimes thought of as religiously isolated from the ANE. Werner Daum.). Ursemitische Religion (Stuttgart. Gibb (Cambridge.=58-80].” in Andrew Rippin (ed.).” SR 32 (2003): 266 [art. 2006) 225. See also Jonathan P. and Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. the motif of the winged-disk and its tauroform compliment. “Above the Stars of El: El in Ancient South Arabic Religion” ZAW 82 (1970): 187-208. and His Ascension (King and Savor Vol. a tribute to his genius which enabled him to pour new wine into old skins.III.-B. Kohlhammer.” MW 33 (1943): 50-51. 2002) 161 [art. the Apostle of God. 196 192 193 A. 2003). Lundequistska Bokhandeln. 1985). “Survivances de l’ancien Orient dans l’Islam (Considerations Generales). all characteristic of the ANE mythic tradition. archeological and epigraphic evidence for North and South Arabia indicates otherwise. la Bible et l’Orient ancient (Paris: Cassini. were also part of the Arabian mythic tradition as well. Berlin. it is on the contrary. but also a kaleidoscope which gives these trajectories a new vision. Mass.: Harvard University Press. Geo Widengren. See e.”194 Umar F.193 As Aaron Hughes remarks: “The Qur’ân is not only a genizah of various trajectories of biblical and near eastern aggadot (folklore). New Jersey: Princeton University Press. Neither need we assume direct borrowing from contemporary sources. Christianity. “The Daughters of Baal and Allah. Köln. Blackwell Companion to the Qur"§n (Malden.” SI 7 (1957): 47-75. correctly. “Preface. 201 Sidney H. 203 On the overwhelmingly oral culture of the pre-Islamic Hijaz see Michael Swettler. O’Shaughnessy S.134. “The Qur"§n and the Bible: Some Modern Studies of Their Relationship. That is to say. Bible and Qur"§n.Regarding the Biblical tradition in particular. Bible and Qur’ān: Essays in Scriptural Intertextuality [Leiden: Brill. “New Approaches to ‘Biblical’ Materials in the Qur"§n. Roberto Tottoli has emphasized the fact that a number of Qur"§nic verses (e. “The Relation of the Qur"§n and the Bible. “Abraham’s Journey to Mecca in Islamic Exegesis: A Form-Critical Study of a Tradition. and apocryphal Biblically affiliated literatures (so-called ‘re-written’ 197 198 Robert Tottoli. however. Dwight Baker. Approaches to the Qur"§n (London and New York: Routledge. suggests something very different: that these ‘biblical materials’ in the Qur"§n are indebted not to the biblical text but to local oral. “The Qur"§n and the Bible. 205 On the ancient Versions of the Bible see ABD 6:787-813 sv.201 But the parallels are not usually exact or the allusions ‘accurate’ from the perspective of the Biblical text.” SI 76 (1992): 5-24. other ‘crystallizations’ found in the Versions205 as well as extracanonical. 200 Reuven Firestone.” in Reeves. 3:84) present MuÈammad as “the legitimate continuator of the Biblical tradition and…the sole heir of the progeny of the Israelite prophets”. Reeves [ed. Hawting and A. 42:13.). Newby. Bible and Qur"§n. the Qur"§n. 1990) 6.J. Reeves notes the Qur"§n “places itself within the biblical world of discourse”198 and Daniel A. exegetical.” Bangalore Theological Forum 14 (1982): 44-68. instead of reproducing biblical narratives the Qur"§n often gives a ‘truncated’ version or makes an obscure allusion to a narrative in such a way as to presume on the part of its audience knowledge of the fuller narrative and details. Andrew Rippin. 2001) 193.” MW 75 (1985): 1-16. Reuven Firestone. Shareef (edd. and the Presentation of Jesus in al-Ya‘qūbī’s Ta’rīkh. themes and parallel narratives that it indeed seems at first sight that Islam’s scripture “could not possibly exist without its scriptural predecessors as subtext. Bible and Qur"§n. 4:163. 199 The Qur"§n’s Self –Image: Writing and Authority in Islam’s Scripture (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press. 2002) 7. “Confluence and Conflict in the Qur"§nic and Biblical Accounts of the Life of Prophet Mås§.”199 But how exactly are we to define the Qur"§n’s relation to biblical and Ancient Near Eastern tradition? We encounter within the Qur"§n so many biblical characters. Surrey: Curzon Press. “Interpreting the Bible through the Qur"§n. Firestone.” in Reeves.” Islamochristiana 16 (1990): 25-41. Biblical Prophets in the Qur"§n and Muslim Literature (Richmond. Journeys in Holy Lands: The Evolution of the AbrahamIshmael Legends in Islamic Exegesis (Albany: SUNY. “Islam and the Judaeo-Christian Tradition: The Significance of Qur’anic and Biblical Parelles (sic)..” in Reeves. Griffith. 2004] ix.” 3. intertextual traditions203 and that the Bible and Qur"§n both “share and exploit a common layer of discourse”. See also Thomas J. idem. Robbins and Gordon D. The Oral Tradition of Classical Arabic Poetry (Columbus: Ohio State University Press. Versions. “The Gospel. Madigan observes: “What is often overlooked in discussing the relationship of Islam to earlier religious traditions is that the Qur"§n in effect chooses to define itself in their terms. 50 . 1993) 250-51 [art. 1978). Opeloye. 2-3.].” in G. Waldman. 202 For an illustrative case study see Muhib O. Ancient.g. 42. Marilyn R.” Numen 20 (1973): 202-221.”200 The Qur"§n’s “extremely referential nature” can be seen as an acknowledgement of this biblical subtext.197 As John C.202 Nineteenth and early twentieth century Orientalists accounted for these divergent parallels by assuming MuÈammad’s reliance on Jewish or Christian tutors whose lessons MuÈammad received poorly. A newer critical approach. “God’s Throne and the Biblical Symbolism of the Qur"§n.204 Underlying such an approach is the insight from the literary-critical study of the Hebrew Bible that the textus receptus (MT) is but one ‘crystallization’ of ancient oral tradition. 204 Vernon K.” in John C.=249-59]. 2005) 134. See also Emanuel Tov. All of these crystallizations. Reeves. 206 S.sblsite.). When Islam first galvanized Byzantine attention after A. polyvalent articulations of a common Ancient Near Eastern Semitic tradition. 2002) 86-108.206 These critical studies of the Hebrew Bible encourage us to understand ‘Biblical tradition’ as much broader than the canonical Bible and include within it the latter as well as the extracanonical literatures.” Orientalia Suecana 31-32 (1982-1983): 47-70.”208 As linguist and Africanist Prof Bernard Leeman points out: Commentators have linked Muhammad’s extraordinary career to Christian and Jewish influences.D. Mich.H. Christianity and Islam (which really should be Judaisms. idem. U. The Bible at Qumran: Text. 208 John C.” in Peter W. 2000) 157. the Bible). Flint (ed.9 (December 2001) at http://www.K. rather they both “tap and channel a rich reservoir of traditional lore. Christianities.htm. “Dependence and Prophetic Originality in the Koran. As specialists know and emphasize. Australia: Queensland Academic Press. In such a case one would expect both variance and commonality. Mayes (ed.209 Specialists now see that Judaism.: William B.” in A. 1999). To be surprised at these commonalities and to suggest ‘borrowing’ or any similar concept as the reason for these commonalities is like emphasizing the similarities in the contents in the hands of three people who grabbed a handful of candy from the same bag with different candies in it.). although it is clear that the formative years of his frenetic career was spent largely in interaction with young idealistic Arabs from the merchant class.207 The Qur"§n therefore did not ‘borrow’ from the Bible or biblical literature. Eerdmans Publishing Company and Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers. despite references to Christ and the Virgin Mary. 207 On the Qur"§n as such a ‘crystalization’ see John C. and Islams) are not three distinct traditions with a linear relationship of dependence.” Religious Studies News-SBL Edition 2.” ABD 6:393-412. 51 . “The Text of the Hebrew Scriptures at the Time of Hillel and Jesus. one to the other. On this reading. idem. represent authentic. They are three distinct. Text in Context: Essays by Members of the Society for Old Testament Study (Oxford: Oxford University Press. Shape.” in idem. Eugene Ulrich. and no one would suggest that the latter is due to one person ‘borrowing’ candy from another. are distinct reifications or articulations of traditional lore that circulated within a shared discourse environment. 43. and Interpretation (Grand Rapids Michigan and Cambidge. including the textus receptus itself (i. 209 Queen of Sheba and Biblical Scholarship (Queensland. “The Bible in the Making: The Scriptures Found at Qumran.e. Tryggve Kronholm. 2001) 51-66. Bible and Qur"§n.org/Newsletter/12_2001/ReevesFull. 632. it was interpreted as Christian heresy but. Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible (Minneapolis: Fortress Press and Assen/Maastricht: Van Gorcum. Talmon “Textual Criticism: The Ancient Versions. “Some Explorations of Intertwining of Bible and Qur"§n. “Toward a Rapprochement between Bible and Qur"§n. Eerdmans Publishing. Congress Volume Basel 2001 (Leiden: Brill.” in A.). as well as extracanonical Biblically affiliated literatures. Reeves. There are commonalities among them.Bibles). “Textual Criticism (OT).idem. Islam is far removed from Christianity…many of the allusions to the Old and New Testaments do not follow the versions recorded in those books…It seems that Muhammad was not so much drawing on strong local Jewish traditions but on an ancient common Semitic folk culture…The overall impression gained from the Qur’an is of a shared Semitic historical and theological experience. independent articulations of a common lore.: William B. Lemaire (ed. the differences even among the so-called commonalities are far more revealing and defining for these traditions than is their commonalities. both the Bible and the Qur"§n. The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Origins of the Bible (Grand Rapids. not because they ‘borrowed’ from each other – so throwback this is – but because they all tapped and exploited a shared tradition of religious discourse. 1992).D. They can thus both shed light on each other. specifically. 2002). Dr. But in making this observation about Kemet. tradition upon tradition. It is such that if one weren’t careful or up-to-date in our conceptions. an important point raised by Dr.M. Egypt and the Levant: Interrelations From the 4th through the Early 3rd Millennium BCE (London: Leicester University Press. Intertwined Worlds: Medieval Islam and Bible Criticism (Princeton.g. pre-dynastic Kemet with those of Middle Kingdom Kemet. and if one wanted to (again) invoke throwback categories and ideas. people should not conflate the state of things in. The same applies with Islam.e. especially Kemet’s portion (from the Mediterranean to the First Cataract). “The Near Eastern connection II: cultural contacts with the Nile Delta and the Sahara. That is to say.” in Edwin C. And as Hava Lazarus-Yafeh keenly observed: it is impossible to understand (Islamic) literature properly without paying serious attention to its various predecessors…One should not think in terms of influences or cultural borrowing only. some indigenous to the Valley – e. say. or conflate the Old Kingdom status quo with the New Kingdom status quo. Egyptian tradition. Smith. We should then expect the Qur’ān and Islam to show remarkable parallels with Ancient Near Eastern and. Over its several millennia. layer upon layer. Toby Wilkinson. Mario Beatty must be kept in mind. was “informed” by several distinct traditions. 1992) 4. Karla Kroeper and Michał Kobusiewicz (edd. Interregional Contacts in the Later Prehistory of Northeastern Africa (Poznań. certainly not the later without the earlier.Judaisms (Plural!!). The Civilizations of Africa: A History to 1800 (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press. Kemetic Ma’at is no different in this regard. idem.” in Lech Krzyżaniak. Andrew B. 1996) 29-35. 210 52 . “Reality versus Ideology: The Evidence for ‘Asiatics’ in Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt. 10. I have demonstrated that Islam and Ma’at are two fruits from the same African Tree of Spirituality: they are distinct articulations of a common African religious heritage.210 Kemetic religion or spirituality was as much a ‘synthesis’ or ‘gumbo’ of distinct religious currents as some want to make Islam out to be. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.000 to 2650 BC (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. however. 2002) 514-520 211 Hava Lazarus-Yahfeh. Christianites (Plural!!) and Islams (Plural!!) are three distinct. Afroasiatic and Nilo-Saharan – and some from Near Eastern immigrants. Things changed over the several millennia and these periodic changes must be respected and accounted for. ANE and Biblical traditions). polyvalent traditions that are ‘handfuls’ that drew from the same ‘bag’ of religious discourse. one could say that Ma’at was a hodge-podge of various traditions.211 Christopher Ehret. van den Brink and Thomas E. Beatty states: The most pernicious error that is being made (by scholars discussing Egypt and Nubia) is the consistent disrespect for periodization. intertwined to the extent that one cannot really grasp one without the other.). Egyptian tradition was important to both (i. the religious tradition of the Nile Valley. It has been said that the Near East resembles a palimpsest. David Wengrow. The Archaeology of Early Egypt: Social Transformations in North-East Africa. but often also not the earlier without considering the shapes it took later. Lewy. The point is: Islam in general and the Qur’ān in particular are part of the Ancient Near Eastern and “Biblical” traditions. In discussing the historical conflicts between Egypt and Nubia. 2006) 35. 53 .