overlooked ( Islamic ) mythic themes ...

What needs do mythology and religion serve in today's world and in ancient times? Here we discuss the relationship between mythology, religion and science from mythological, religious and philosophical viewpoints.

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ghazzawi
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overlooked ( Islamic ) mythic themes ...

Post by ghazzawi »

Islam`s methical heritage is usually viewed as a replica of the Jewish sagas, but actually there are many novel themes distinct from the Jewish and Christian backgrounds. i will be trying to list some :

1- The Isra and Mi'raj-Arabic:‎( الإسراء والمعراج) the prohet Mohammad`s mythic journey, an example of the hero`s journey :where he traveled in a single night to the holy city of Jerusalem and ascended to heavens later, he rode on a mythical vehicle or animal called "Buraq", at Jerusalem he lead a mass with all prophets attending claiming thus to represent the same holy lineage , then he traveled to heavens, visited paradise and hill, giving detailed observations, with a striking resonance in Dante`s Divine Comedy, for which , this mythical journey could have been the inspiration for Dante....

sorry for the delays , here is another suggested examples :

2- The Year of the Elephant : The name is derived from an event said to have occurred at Mecca featuring Abraha ; a Christian ruler marching on Mecca from the south,with a large army, which included one or more elephants, According to Islamic tradition, it was in this year that Mohammad was born. the recount so far has some historical factual basis,but the mythical part is : after a meeting with Abraha , the Prophet Mohammad`s grandfather `Abdu'l-Muttalib was heard saying : "The Owner of this House (Kaaba) is its Defender, and I am sure He will save it from the attack of the adversaries and will not dishonor the servants of His House."
then the Quran says : """ Have you not seen how your Lord dealt with the owners of the elephant?, Did He not make their plot go astray?, And send against them birds, in flocks,Striking them with stones of baked clay.And made them like an empty field of stalks (of which the corn has been eaten up by cattle) """
*** Surat al-Fil (Arabic: سورة الفيل‎ ) (The Elephant) is the 105th chapter of the Qur'an.

3- Sun,Moon, and the prophet Mohammad

there is this very famous quote or Hadeeth attributed to the prophet Mohammad, the settings of the incident was when the tribal leaders and influential figures of Mecca attempted to negotiate Mohammad and reach a kind of a political compromise with him, the mediator was his uncle and childhood custodian Abu Talib, and the prophet reportedly answered his uncle with this : "O my uncle! by God if they put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left on condition that I abandon this course, until God has made me victorious, or I perish therein, I would not abandon it." (ref .1)

so , was there a cult of moon&sun worship back then in Arabia? were the moon&sun really having such a symbolic value representing the entirety of existence as i glimpse from the phrasing of this quote ?

1-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_and ... _Abu_Talib
Last edited by ghazzawi on Tue Dec 20, 2011 3:27 pm, edited 2 times in total.

jonsjourney
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Post by jonsjourney »

Hello ghazzawi....

I'll look forward to hearing them!
"He was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher... or, as his wife would have it, an idiot." -Douglas Adams

Cindy B.
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Post by Cindy B. »

Ditto, ghazzawi. 8)

Cindy
If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s. --Jung

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Post by nandu »

ghazzawi,

About time we had somebody here who can study Islam metaphorically. Since you are from the Middle East, I think you have been brought up in that tradition: so it will refreshing to see the inside view for a change (I think people in the West only get a prejudiced view of Islam, either for or against).

BTW, I might visit Jordan early next year. The Dead See and Petra have long been on my bucket list. I have recently added Mt Nebo.

Nandu.
Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavanthu

Ercan2121
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Re: overlooked ( Islamic ) mythic themes ...

Post by Ercan2121 »

ghazzawi wrote:The Isra and Mi'raj-Arabic:‎( الإسراء والمعراج) the prohet Mohammad`s mythic journey as an example of the hero`s journey
Ghazzawi,
It’s very true that there’s a whole literature on the subject of Miraj
with various representations including Avicenna’s marvelous Miraj-Namah.
Sometimes, this is depicted as a journey to the regions of bliss in real or symbolic/physical
or spiritual terms and sometimes that’s a purely mystical ascent with Sufi as the protagonist.
Isn’t it very interesting to find certain particular stages to follow here -in parallel to Joseph
Campbell’s monomyth?

Ercan

ghazzawi
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Post by ghazzawi »

nandu wrote:ghazzawi,

About time we had somebody here who can study Islam metaphorically. Since you are from the Middle East, I think you have been brought up in that tradition: so it will refreshing to see the inside view for a change (I think people in the West only get a prejudiced view of Islam, either for or against).

BTW, I might visit Jordan early next year. The Dead See and Petra have long been on my bucket list. I have recently added Mt Nebo.

Nandu.
there are many other sites of interest in Jordan, for example it is universally accepted here that "Seven Sleepers of Ephesus" actually had their cave near Amman (this is the common Islamic belief)... here we visit it as a school activity for kids :))

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Post by nandu »

I will send you a message before I come there.

Nandu.
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Ercan2121
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Post by Ercan2121 »

Brother Ghazzawi,
Both Carl Gustav Jung and Joseph Campbell showed great respect and
interest to Muslim literature.
Do you know that Jung even commented on the famous tale of Khidr?

ghazzawi
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Post by ghazzawi »

Ercan2121 wrote:Brother Ghazzawi,
Both Carl Gustav Jung and Joseph Campbell showed great respect and
interest to Muslim literature.
Do you know that Jung even commented on the famous tale of Khidr?

thanks a lot dear Ercan ... am excited to read that ! ? the "Khidr" story is one of the most philosophically-sophisticated stories in the whole text, it has long fascinated me since childhood, i have some notes and comments on it, i will be most grateful if u could supply me with what Jung wrote about it ...

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Post by CarmelaBear »

ghazzawi wrote:... the "Khidr" story is one of the most philosophically-sophisticated stories in the whole text, it has long fascinated me since childhood, i have some notes and comments on it ...
Greetings, Doctor Ghazzawi. Welcome to the conversations.

Khidr is a fascinating figure. I'm looking forward to more on the mythical heritage of Islam.

بفضل
Once in a while a door opens, and let's in the future. --- Graham Greene

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Post by ozzycda »

I know that Carl Jung talked about the story of Khidr in Symbols of Transformation(Collected Works #5) and Psychology and Religion(Collected Works #11) if I am not mistaken. Hope that helps anyone interested on reading the text first hand.

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Post by charlesupton »

Dear Dr. Ghazzawi,

Greetings, and asalaamu alaikum. As you probably know, the Sufis have been studying Islam metaphorically (AS WELL AS morally and legally) for a thousand years. Much of this research is collected in the 15-volume SUFI SYMBOLISM by Javad Nurbakhash, and many other works by many other writers, from whom Dr. Nurbakhsh drew the vast majority of his citations.

Yes, the miraj is an example of the hero's journey -- which of course doesn't mean that it's merely a mythologem, that it never really happened. Miquel Asin y Palacios for one pointed out many parallels between the Divine Comedy and the literature of the miraj, as well as citing specific influences that Dante derived from Ibn al-'Arabi. And Buraq is undoubtedly the nafs al-mutma'inna, the "soul at peace."

When the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, spoke of holding the sun in one hand and the moon in the other, this -- on one level -- was nothing more than the kind of hyperbole that Arabs of that time would use for emphasis. But the sun and moon were most likely worshipped by the Pagan Arabs (does anyone know this for sure?), just the Mesopotamians worshipped the Moon as Sin (for whom Sinai is named) and the Sun as Shamash. Surah 6 of the Quran, verses 77-79, is a picture of the worship of the heavenly bodies, superseded by the worship of Allah.

And if you REALLY want to get into metaphorical Islam, read the Surah of the Cave. One image that appears therein is that of the union of Sun and Moon as a sign of the end of the world. Here the Sun represents the Spirit, al-Ruh, and the Moon the soul, an-nafs; when these two unite (a union that appears iconically in alchemical symbolism), there is no longer any world perceived as a real separate object or environment, but only Allah.

Sincerely,
Charles Upton

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Post by CarmelaBear »

Charles Upton,

التحيات، صديقي....(Greetings, my friend.)

Welcome to the Conversations. Thank you for your contributions here. Fascinating!

Carmela
Once in a while a door opens, and let's in the future. --- Graham Greene

Ercan2121
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Post by Ercan2121 »

charlesupton wrote:
Greetings, and asalaamu alaikum. As you probably know, the Sufis have been studying Islam metaphorically (AS WELL AS morally and legally) for a thousand years. Much of this research is collected in the 15-volume SUFI SYMBOLISM by Javad Nurbakhash, and many other works by many other writers, from whom Dr. Nurbakhsh drew the vast majority of his citations.
Welcome to JCF Forums, Charles :)

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Post by Ercan2121 »

Ghazzawi, Nandu, Carmela and all other friends,
In this thread again, i discover that what i know
is nothing when compared to what i don't know;
and prefer to listen for a while. Thank you all :)

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