Zoroastrianism and Judaism (and Christianity and Islam)

Post by **Crucifer** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 10:49 pm

Ah. After a brief wiki, I have discovered it. Seems pretty good, except for the bit about laziness and sloth being condemned. I wouldn't fit in there at all. Nope. Not me.
*falls asleep at the keyboard*

Post by **Kushana** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 8:50 am

/K. chuckles

I'll join you.

(Freddie Mercury was a stage name, he was named Farooq (http://www.paklinks.com/gs/showthread.php?t=158134) got the nickname Freddie during school. )

-Kushana

Post by **Crucifer** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 1:50 pm

Farooq. I know a Farooq.

Post by **Inanna** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 9:17 pm

solicitr wrote:
Parsis are still present and practising their religion in India, even today. But they are very few in number, and dwindling
Many Indian and Pakistani Parsis, under pressure from less-ecumenical Muslim neighbors, emigrated to Zanzibar off East Africa, where there is a fair-sized community today. It was from there that F. Mercury's parents moved to England.

Oh, I didn't know that. How awful.

Post by **solicitr** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 4:34 pm

My almanac tells me that today Zanzibar (which is the "zan" in Tanzania) is now 99% Muslim. That might be why the Mercurys (if that was their name) went to England.

On the whole, however, East African Muslims tend to be far less -er - pushy about their Deen than their South Asian brethren.

Post by **superwizard** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 12:40 am

Jnyusa wrote:OK, the story being preceded by a brief (one paragraph) account of the Nestorians in the region, it states simply that Mohammed made multiple visits to a Nestorian monastery in Syria where he had befriended a particular monk on his travels, and there learned the rudiments of Christianity. The monk is not named, but this does sound like a variation on the Bahira tale. It did not strike me as out of place while reading it because monasteries often serve as caravanserai.

There is quite a bit of Christian thought embedded in Islam, according to my understanding. One legend quoted in the above book, for example, has the heart of Mohammed being washed of original sin by the Angel Gabriel. And unless my memory completely deceives me, there is at least one sura that refers to Mary Jesus' mother.

Probably Superwizard could talk at length about this without having to look anything up!

Well superwizard came after all

So I'll start off by saying that what I'm going to say is what Muslims believe happened. I won't get into what people in Europe in the Middle Ages claimed happened (they had a lot of ludicrous tales flying around).

Muslims believe that Mohammad (pbuh-peace be upon him) interacted with two Christians before becoming a prophet:

The first time was when he was twelve. The story is that once while Mohammad (pbuh) was traveling with his Uncle Abu Talib on a business trip to Syria. On the way a monk named Bahira who lived in a monastery saw the caravan, and it was being followed by a cloud keeping it in the shade and he decided that there must be something special bout the caravan. So he invited them all to eat and made sure they all came and questioned around a bit. He then question Muhammad (pbuh) and found all the signs and such of prophethood and advised Mohammad's Uncle to take special care of him.

The other person was Waraqah Ibn Nawfal who was Mohammad's (pbuh) first wife's cousin. I only know one story of him which is that when Mohammad (pbuh) first encountered angel Gabriel he went to his wife and was fearful of what he saw and began doubting himself. His wife then took him to Waraqah who assured Mohammad (pbuh) that the message he received was truly divine and that he was really a prophet. Waraqah died very shortly after that incident took place.

As for Islam being influenced by Christianity as a Muslim I would say that naturally seeing as Christianity has many right beliefs, Islam has those same beliefs. So we also believe in Virgin Mary and that Jesus had many special powers and that they tried to kill him. We also believe in Christ returning at the end of time and we believe in the Anti-Christ.

I might be wrong but I believe that the idea that Mohammad studied in a monastery was an old European legend. I might be wrong though as this definitely does not fall under my domain of expertise.

Sun Jun 17, 2007 1:05 am

Very happy to see you here, S'wiz. Both because you haven't been around for a while and it's good to see you in general, but also because i was hoping that you would clarify what you knew of this.

Thanks! (And I hope all is well with you.)

Post by **superwizard** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 1:08 am

All's well

I just came out of one helluva hectic quarter which is why I haven't been around much. Unfortunately I'm still swamped so I probably won't be around much but I will try to drop by more often

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 1:37 am

I'm glad to see you here, too, S'wiz, whenever you can make it.

Thanks for that post.

Post by **Jnyusa** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 1:58 am

Thank you, S'wiz!

It's so helpful to have someone who actually practices a religion around to tell us what they practice. It is really true that the interpretation by one religion of another is likely to be deeply skewed, and also to contain a lot of tales that are just false.

Post by **Crucifer** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 12:38 pm

Wow. Thanks for the clarification. It's unfortunately too true that

the interpretation by one religion of another is likely to be deeply skewed

If I had a cent for every time someone told me that Anglicans don't believe in Christ (even though we're christian), I would have *counts on fingers... GIves up* Large bags of cash.

Thanks again.

Post by **superwizard** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 11:44 pm

Crucifer wrote:Wow. Thanks for the clarification. It's unfortunately too true that
the interpretation by one religion of another is likely to be deeply skewed
If I had a cent for every time someone told me that Anglicans don't believe in Christ (even though we're christian), I would have *counts on fingers... GIves up* Large bags of cash.

Thanks again.

Glad I could help.

I've heard so many false rumors being spread around as 'facts'. Can you imagine that I even once heard one person tell me that Sikhs don't cut their hair because they are only allowed to after killing a Muslim?

Post by **baby tuckoo** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 4:01 am

If one is the Prophet of Allah, one must expect certain legends to grow up around one. Like gossip around a celebrity, it goes with the territory.

Just ask the mother of Jesus. There is so much folk legend out there that is not based in scripture.

Revised to say "scripture" instead of "fact."

Post by **Kushana** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 6:41 am

Thank you very much for your posts. Come around as often as you can, I would love to talk to you more often.

superwizard wrote:I've heard so many false rumors being spread around as 'facts'.

Ain't that the truth...

Can you imagine that I even once heard one person tell me that Sikhs don't cut their hair because they are only allowed to after killing a Muslim?

/K. mops iced tea off her keyboard.

(acidly) Ah, that's what the knives are for, eh?(/acidly)

Such stupid nonsense!

-Kushana

Post by **Frelga** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 6:58 pm

This is not entirely up to the serious tone of the discussion but I found this on LiveJournal(you don't have to sign up to read but the icons may not be work-safe) and I think it covers all the bases.

<the poster> made the suggestion that Islam was the teenager to Christianity's more mature adult. <Another poster> illustrates the interaction between the two:

CHRISTIANITY: Islam! So help me, you're going to accept secular democracy like a responsible and mature theological tradition!

ISLAM: No way, man! I don't wanna grow up to be like you. I'm gonna be true to myself and keep executing infidels and sinners as much as I want.

CHRISTIANITY: Oh, please. I was launching crusades and running inquisitions while you were still in diapers. Believe me, it's gets old fast. You need to do the smart thing and accept a humanist approach to...

ISLAM: Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! I'm going to my room. A jihad on all of you! [runs upstairs to bedroom]

CHRISTIANITY: (sighing) Sweet Jesus. Was I really that obnoxious when I was that age?

JUDAISM: Believe me. You were.

[Meanwhile, at the retirement home...]

ZOROASTRIANISM: (talking to no one) Hello? Is anyone there? Does anyone care what I think?

Post by **axordil** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 7:20 pm

I imagine Zor. as sounding like Grandpa Simpson.

Post by **baby tuckoo** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 4:48 am

Me too, Ax.

Cranky old manichean.

Post by **Kushana** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 1:31 am

That made my day.

-Kushana

Post by **Crucifer** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 6:04 pm

Fantastic.