Mary and Jesus in Islam

Finally, Is It Christianity Or Paganism?

Is Today's form of Christianity really the creed revealed by the Almighty to Jesus son of Mary, or is it a revival of ancient Paganism? This question may raise some eyebrows, and it may wake up a drowsy reader, but it is a question quite valid and relevant. If one traces pagan doctrines, he will be struck with similarities between what the pagans used to practice (and some still do) and what today's Christians practice at their churches.

The traces of paganism in Christianity can be seen in: 1) the concept of Christ as the “son of God,” 2) the Trinity, 3) the Incarnate Saviour, 4) the Second Advent, 4) the Virgin Birth, 5) the Sacraments, and 6) the Communion of Saints. You can also add to this list the organized order of saints, the choir (an offspring of the pagan chorus), the singing and dancing..., etc. All these are very well known practices of paganism in various parts of the world and by various cultures. Were we to discuss each one of them, we would need not one but many volumes; so, let us be contented with discussing the most important of all of them: the concept of Jesus Christ as the “son of God.”

This concept is directly linked to the pagan “sun god,” or god of the sun, hence Sunday[^1], the day when the sun god, in his various names

[^1] According to The Columbia Viking Desk Encyclopedia, early Christians observed the first day of the week (Monday) as their Sabbath “in commemoration of the Resurrection.” Some sects, such as Seventh-Day Baptists, have reverted to Saturday. “Monday,” by the way, was the Babylonian day when the moon__hence moon-day, Monday__was worshipped.

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and attributes, is worshipped. If we study these sun gods, we will see the link between their worship and the concept of Jesus Christ as the “son of God.”[^1]

When Jesus Christ came to this world, sun worship was a religion that prevailed throughout the world. Well known sun gods whose worship had been popular throughout the Mediterranean countries at one time or another are: Attis of Phrygia (central Asia Minor), Adonis of Syria, Dionysius or Bacchus of Greece, Bel (or Baal) of Babylon, Osiris and Horus of Egypt, and Ithras or Mithra of Persia. Here is a brief account of these sun gods, one from which the reader can see the link between these “sun gods” and the “son of God” concept introduced into the Christian faith and officially endorsed at the Nicaea Conference referred to above:

Attis

He was born of a virgin named Nana and was regarded as the “only begotten son” and “saviour”. He was bled to death on March 24th at the foot of a pine tree and his votaries believed that his blood had renewed the fertility of the earth and thus brought a new life to humanity. He, however, rose from the dead, and his resurrection along with his death was celebrated by his votaries. Every year on the 24th day of March, they would first fasten his image to a pine tree and then lay it in a tomb with wailing mourning. On the next day, they would find the tomb empty and celebrate the resurrection with great rejoicing. Sacramental meal and baptism of blood were special features of his “church.” Adonis or Tammuz

Adonis was a young man loved by the goddess Aphrodite. When he was killed by a wild boar, goes on the legend, Aphrodite persuaded the gods to let him live for six months of each year. His death and resurrection, hence, were celebrated in midsummer festival in Adonia, Saturday was “Saturn's day,” the day when Saturn, god of the harvest, was to be worshipped. This is another proof of the pagan roots in Christianity.

[^1] In the text to follow, I have benefitted from Fazlul-Rahman Ansari's book Islam and Christianity in the Modern World.

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Greece, symbolizing yearly growth and decay. He was the virgin-born “saviour” of Syria. He suffered death for the redemption of mankind but rose again in the Spring. His resurrection was commemorated by a great annual festival. The Old Testament, in Izekiel, viii:14, refers to the weeping and wailing of women over his idol. On p. 113, Vol. 2, of Mythology of the Aryan Nations, Rev. Sir G.W. Cox calls him the crucified Tao (that is, divine love personified). In his Hebrew Lexicon, Dr. Parkhust remarks: “I find myself obliged to refer Tammuz to that class of idols which were originally designed to represent the promised Saviour [meaning Jesus], the desire of all nations.”

Dionysius or Bacchus

God of wine, he was the “only begotten son” of Jupiter and was born of a virgin named Demeter (or Semele) on December 25th... Christians celebrate Christmas, the supposed birth of Christ, on December 25th. He was a “redeemer, liberator and saviour.” “It is I,” says Bacchus to mankind, “who guide you; it is I who protect you and who save you; I am Alpha and Omega.”[^1] Wine had an important place in the festivals of his cult. It is today in the Christian theology, representing “the blood of Jesus.” Imagine one drinking the blood of...! He was slain for redeeming humanity and was called “the slain one,” “the sin-bearer,” “the redeemer.” Notice the striking similarity between these words and what Christians preach.

Is it a coincident? We do not think so. Bacchus's passion play was celebrated every year representing his death, descent into hell and resurrection. Passion plays used to be part of the Christian festivals during the Middle Ages. The main surviving Passion Play is that of Oberammergau, Bavaria.

Osiris

God of the underworld, he was born on December 29th of a virgin called by the Egyptians the “virgin of the world.” He preached the gospel of gentleness and peace. Wine and corn were regarded as his celebrated discoveries. He was betrayed by Typhen, slain and dismembered. He was interred but came again to life after remaining in hell for two or three days and three nights. After his death, it was the custom of his votaries to keep his image in a box and bring out the

[^1] Godfrey Higgins, Anacalypsis, Vol. 1, p. 322.

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image at the time of worship with the cries of “Osiris is risen!”

“The sufferings and death of Osiris,” says Rawlingson in a footnote on p. 260, Vol. 3, of Herodotus, “were the great mystery of the Egyptian religion. His being the divine goodness, and the abstract idea of `good', his manifestation upon earth (like an Indian god), his death and resurrection, and his office as judge of the dead in a future life, look like the early revelation of a future manifestation of the deity converted into a mythological fable.” Needless to say, “the early revelation of a future manifestation of the deity” in this quotation is a reference to the alleged incarnation of God in Jesus.

“Belief in the god-man in the form of Osiris,” says Sir Richard Gregory on p. 54 of his book Religion in Science and Civilisation, “became the chief element in Egyptian religion, and remained for thousands of years the faith of the people through the tangled skein of religious life in Egypt until Osiris passed into the form of the god-man Jesus Christ.”

Mithras or Mithra

His name in ancient Persian means “friend,” and he was an ancient cultic god of Persia and India who became in the 5th century B.C. the chief Persian god. His cult extended into Mesopotamia and Armenia, thus becoming a world-wide religion. He was the virgin-born sun god of the Persians, the perfect prototype of Jesus Christ and the founder of an international Church, Mithraism, in which Christmas and Easter the most important festivals. “This divine saviour came into the world as an infant.

His first worshippers were shepherds; and the day of his nativity was December 25th. His followers preached a severe and rigid morality, chief among their virtues being temperance, chastity, renunciation and self-control. They kept the seventh day holy, and the middle day of each month was a special feast of Mithra, which symbolised this function of Mediator. They had seven sacraments of which the most important were baptism, confirmation, and Eucharistic supper, at which the communicants partook of the divine nature of Mithra under the species of bread and wine.”[^1]

[^1] The Nineteenth Century, September 1905, p. 496.

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Bel or Baal: Striking Similarities Between the Babylonian and the Christian Passion Plays

Bel (or Baal) in the Old Testament is a term used for god or gods of Canaan. He is symbolized by the sun, and he was gradually promoted to become the chief deity, the source of life and fertility. His worship extended beyond Babylon; Baalbek (the city of Baal, Lebanon) was devoted to his worship, hence it is called in Greek Heliopolis, the city of the sun, or of the sun god. The story of his life is extremely astonishing: his passion play has a very close resemblance with the Christian passion story even in details. The Jews had passed a long time in captivity in Babylon during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar[^1] II

[^1] Nebuchadnezzar (reigned 605-562 B.C.) was a king of Babylon during whose long and eventful reign the Neo-Babylonian Empire attained its peak and the city of Babylon its greatest glory. Nebuchadnezzar - more properly Nebuchadrezzar - is the biblical form of the name Nabukudur-utsur (which means "Nabu has set the boundary", Nabu being the Babylonian god of wisdom and writing). He was the son of Nabopolassar, a Chaldean chief who in 626 B.C. led a revolt against Assyria, proclaimed himself king of Babylon, and, in alliance with the Medes and the nomadic Scythians in Babylonia and Assyria, succeeded in overthrowing the vast Assyrian Empire and destroying Nineveh in 612 B.C.

Nebuchadnezzar, as crown prince, was given command of the Babylonian army harrying the remainder of the Assyrians in northern Syria. Early in 605 B.C., he met Necho, then pharaoh of Egypt, in battle and defeated him at Carchemish, an ancient Hittite and Assyrian city on the Euphrates River in present-day southern Turkey. Necho is better known as Necho II (or sometimes Nekau), and he was a king of the Twenty-sixth dynasty of the pharaos of Egypt. A few months later, Nabopolassar died, and Nebuchadnezzar hastened home to claim his throne.

He soon returned to the west in order to secure the loyalty of Syria and Palestine and to collect tribute; among those who submitted were the rulers of Damascus, Tyre, Sidon, and Judah. In 601 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar attempted the invasion of Egypt but was repulsed with heavy losses. Judah rebelled, but Jerusalem fell in March 597 B.C., and the ruler, Jehoiakim, and his court were deported to Babylon. Eight years later another Jewish rebellion broke out; this time Jerusalem was razed and the population carried into captivity. Expeditions against the Arabs in 582 B.C. and another attempt at invading Egypt in 568 B.C. receive brief mention in Nebuchadnezzar's later records.

Nebuchadnezzar built temples in many of the cities of his kingdom, but the main achievement of his reign was the rebuilding of Babylon, on a scale and with magnificence never before envisaged. The city covered some 500 acres and was protected by massive

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(630 – 562 B.C.), and this accounts for the close resemblance. Here is the proof for such striking similarities:

Modern archaeological researches have brought to light very bewildering facts which go to prove that Babylonian mythology played a very important role in the early stages of Christianity. In 1903-4, German excavators at Kala Shergat (the site of Assur, the ancient Assyrian city whose surrounding areas are also called Nimrud and is located in today's Iraq) discovered two cuneiform documents. When deciphered, they were found to contain the narrative of the Passion Play of Baal. An English journal, namely The Adventures of a Black Girl in Her Search for God, published its translation along with the story of the Christian Passion Play. In its text, he is referred to as Bel; so, henceforth we will keep referring to him as such. On the next two pages is an exact reproduction of what page 72 of that journal had included; this is not our text but that of the said journal:

The Babylonian Passion Play

  1. Bel is taken prisoner.

  2. Bel is tried in the House on the Mount (the Hall of Justice).

  3. Bel is smitten (wounded).

  4. Bel is led away to the Mount.

  5. Together with Bel a malefactor is led away and put to death. Another, who is also charged as a malefactor, is

The Christian Passion Play

  1. Jesus is taken prisoner.
  2. Jesus is tried in the House of the High Priest and the Hall of Pilate.
  3. Jesus is scourged.
  4. Jesus is led away to crucifixion in Golgotha.
  5. Together with Jesus, two malefactors are led away water and blood (John). Mary Magdalene was put to death.

double fortifications. The Euphrates River, which bisected it, was spanned by a bridge. In the great palace, built to replace Nabopolassar's, he created the terraced cloister known to the Greeks as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon (remains of which can still be seen in Hilla, metropolis of today's Babylon governorate) and reckoned among the Seven Wonders of the World. It was said that he built it to please his mountain-born wife, Amytis, daughter of Cyaxares, the Median king.

[^1] In the following text, I have utilized Fazlul Rahman Ansari's excellent book Islam and Christianity in the Modern World, pp. 70-72.

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released, thus not taken away with Bel.

  1. After Bel had gone to the Mount, the city breaks out into tumult, and fighting takes place in it.

  2. Bel's clothes are carried away.

  3. A woman wipes away the heart's blood of Bel flowing from a drawn-out weapon.

  4. Bel goes down into the Mount away from sun and light, disappears from life and is held fast in the Mount as in a prison.

  5. Guards watch Bel imprisoned in the stronghold of the Mount.

  6. A goddess sits with Bel; she comes to tend to him.

  7. They seek for Bel where he is held fast. In particular, a weeping woman seeks for him at the “Gate of Burial.” When he is being carried away, the same lamented: “O my brother! O my brother!”

  8. Bel is again brought back to life (as the sun of spring); he

Another (Barnabas) is released to the people and thus not taken away with Jesus.

  1. At the death of Jesus, the veil in the temple is rent (Synopt.), the rocks are rent asunder, the graves are opened and the dead come forth into the holy city. (Matthew)

  2. Jesus' robe is divided among the soldiers. (Synopt., John Cp. Ps. XXII, 18)

  3. The lance-thrust in Jesus' side and outflow of two other women busy themselves with the (washing and) embalming of the body. (Mark, Luke)

  4. Jesus, in the grave, in the rock tomb (Synopt.), goes down into the realm of the dead (1 Pet. III, XII, 40; Acts, II, 24; Rom. X, 17; “the descent into hell” dogma).

  5. Guards are set over the tomb of Jesus. (Matthew) 11. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary sit before the tomb. (Matt., Mark)

  6. Women, in particular Mary Magdalene, come to the tomb to seek Jesus where he is behind the door of the tomb. Mary stands weeping before the empty tomb because they have taken her Lord away. (John)

  7. Jesus' restoration to life, his rising from the grave (on a

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comes again out of the Mount.

  1. His chief feast, the Babylonian New Year's festival in March at the spring equinox, is celebrated also as his triumph over the powers of darkness.

Sunday morning).

  1. His festival approximately at the spring equinox is also celebrated as his triumph over the powers of darkness (Cp., e.g., Col. II, 15).

Having stated all the above, it really leaves no room for doubt that Christianity has suffered so much distortion and alteration, it definitely is no longer the faith of Jesus Christ. Even if you set aside all the theological controversies with which the Church is rife, a look at the conduct of average Christians today, especially in the West, will make wonder whether Jesus Christ can ever be proud of those who claim to be his followers. Fornication and adultery, boyfriend and girlfriend, are quite commonly the practices of the day. Abortions take place daily and, thus, thousands of babies are being killed.

Promoters of homosexuality are not ashamed but are “proud” of their abnormality and are vocal in demanding “their rights”... Family ties are very loose, children hardly respect their parents, wives hardly respect their husbands, students hardly respect their teachers. Those who have money can do anything at all with their wealth, including buying government positions. The “legal system” is bought, sold, and traded. The news media creates demons and angels. Pornography is so widespread, it is sickening... All these immoralities and injustices are quite common and widespread, yet the Church “officials” stand spectators and, much worse, sometimes get themselves involved in many of them. Is this the product of a healthy creed? We do not think so. Is this the faith which Jesus Christ introduced to the world? It certainly is not. True and authentic Christianity or Judaism is nothing but Islam, rest assured.

Jesus son of Mary is mentioned by name in the Holy Qur'an thirty-six times; twenty-five of which as Jesus, and eleven times as the Messiah, the Maseeh, the anointed one. The name of his mother occurs in the Holy Qur'an thirty four times, and surely Allah knows best.