Adnan Rashid – Abraham and Babylon in the Quran

			Prophet Abraham is a pivotal figure in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. There's a lot of overlap in
the stories about Abraham in the Quran and Bible, but it is only the Quran that reveals knowledge
about ancient Babylonia, that until recently has remained hidden from mankind lost in time.
		

			Jewish, Christian and Islamic sources all place Abraham's birthplace. In ancient Babylonia, the
region where we find modern day Iraq in
		

			this region worshiped a multitude of gods and goddesses of particular prominence in the Pantheon,
where celestial bodies such as the stars and planets, each city had a patron God, which they
worshiped as their main benefactor and protector of
		

			the moon God Nana, symbolized by the crescent was worshipped at all and Harun Shamash, God of the
sun, represented by the solar disk was worshipped at larsa and sefar. Venus personified as the
goddess Ishtar was symbolized by an eight pointed star and worshiped at a rock. According to
Mesopotamian mythology, these three celestial bodies, the sun, the moon, and Venus formed an astral
triad.
		

			Recent archaeological discoveries depict the special relationship between these deities the stellar
of or nammo, shows the sun and moon join together. The Kuru of Qing militia pack depicts the astral
triad in the Kuru of Nebuchadnezzar shows the astral triad, the stelly of nabonidus also depicts the
astral triad. The wide geographic distribution of these artifacts indicates that this astral triad
was a prominent cult throughout the region.
		

			Quran informs us about some very specific details with regards to the idols that Abraham's people
worshiped
		

			can
		

			be stolen
		

			gonna
		

			be felon
		

			Paula, Mia de
		

			coonan Amina bow,
		

			a sham Sabbath,
		

			Paula has been B has
		

			anybody
		

			we can see the Quran draws our attention to their worship of the sun, moon and their third idol not
the details provided about the third idol. So when the night covered him, he saw a star but when it
said he said I like not those that disappear. The word translated here as star is the Arabic word co
cub, which carries the meaning of celestial object and can be used to refer to a star or planet. The
Quran tells us that at the onset of nightfall, this celestial object appeared for only a brief
amount of time. This description of the third idol matches the characteristics of the goddess
Ishtar, one of her names was the evening star because she personified Venus, a planet that appears
		

			for only a brief amount of time in the evening, we can see that the Quran is claims about the
idolatry of Abraham's people is accurate in light of what we know historically about the cult of the
astral triad.
		

			Amazingly, such knowledge of ancient Mesopotamian religion was lost for 1000s of years, it was
recorded at Temple sites such as the famous ziggurat of or which was buried deep beneath the desert
sands. The temple was only rediscovered in the early 20th century, thanks to the excavation efforts
of archaeologists such as Leonard Woolley. Even the Sumerian language that these ancient artifacts
were written in was unknown. It became a dead language around the first century forgotten until the
mid 19th century. In light of these facts, how could Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him have X
		

			Such knowledge. Given that he lived in the seventh century, the only source of knowledge about
Abraham that would have been readily available would have been the Bible based stories and Jewish
legends in circulation. If we examine the Bible, we find that it's silence on such details. Long
ago, your ancestors, including Tara, the father of Abraham, under Hor, lived beyond Euphrates River,
and worship other gods, we can see that it makes no mention of specific idols that were worshipped,
they are simply referred to as other gods. Regarding the Jewish legends that predate the Quran, one
of the stories found is as follows. And a voice came into his heart saying, all the signs of the
		

			stars and the signs of the Sun and Moon, all under the Lord's control. While this account does
reference the sun and moon notes how it mentioned stars in the plural,
		

			we can see that Jewish legend has a general awareness of their worship of celestial objects, but it
lacks the specifics of the astral triad in the Quran. In another Jewish legend about Abraham, we
find mention of the worship of elemental gods, behold, the fire is more worthy of honor than all
things formed. But even more worthy of honor is the water because it conquer Earth or fire. But even
if I do not call God because it is subjected to the earth, nowhere does the Quran mentioned that
Abraham's people worship the elements of fire, water or Earth. Now if the Quran did copy from such
an account, then it would have included the mention of these elements, but it never does. These
		

			examples make it apparent that Jewish legends were also not used as sources by the Quran. Now it's
important to point out that some of the deities did spread outside the region. For example, Ishtar
was also worshiped in Arabia. However, she took on very different characteristics. She became the
male deity avatar representing the God of thunderstorms symbolized as an antelope. In Egypt, she was
a star at the goddess of war, symbolized by a horse and chariot. These incarnations are radically
different to their counterpart Ishtar, the evening star.
		

			We can see that Ishtar had a chameleon light quality, her identity was constantly evolving with her
attributes symbolism and even gender differing from region to region.
		

			This would have made it difficult for Mohammed peace and blessings be upon him to accurately
pinpoint her identity in the context of Abraham. In conclusion, the Quran is filled with stories
about past nations, with its offer consistently demonstrating accurate knowledge of the unseen at
different times and places in history. This is not a quality of human beings, but rather the divine.
The Quran proclaims that God Almighty himself revealed such knowledge.
		

			To learn more about the miracles of the Quran, please download your free copy of the book The
eternal challenge at the link below.