LANGUAGE BARRIER

By Brother Ayman (e-mail: drayman@fast-email.com)

26:224. And the poets are followed by the deceived/unreasonable.

INTRODUCTION

43:3. We have made it as an Arabic reading, so that perhaps you will be logical.

12:2. We have sent it down as an Arabic reading, so that perhaps you will be logical.

How is it that the great reading being in Arabic contributes to logical and reasonable as
opposed to unreasonable understanding?

What is special about a text being in Arabic or non-Arabic? Or more precisely, at the time that
the great reading was descended, what was special about a text being in Arabic or non-Arabic?

WHAT IS SPECIAL ABOUT ARABIC?

A possible answer may be found in the sign in 16:103.

16:103. And indeed We know that they say: "It is but a human that is teaching him." The
language of the one they falsely attribute to is non-Arabic, while this is a clarifying Arabic
language.

The sign in verse 16:103 refutes the statement "It is but a human that is teaching him" by
saying that the language of such human religious teachings is non-Arabic, while the great
reading is in Arabic. The sign in 16:103 indicates that at the time the great reading was
revealed there was another non-Arabic language that was used for "religious" teachings and
that Arabic was not used for "religious" matters.

Looking back at archeological evidence from the period before the great reading was
descended, we see a very interesting phenomenon. We see plenty of inscriptions in Arabic.
However, those inscriptions are mostly informal writings that do not talk about formal religious
or political affairs. They are like graffiti written by average people. They talk about average
people's issues such as hunting, finding water, tribes and families, the caring for livestock,
love, grief, and other normal everyday aspects of desert life.

On the other hand, in the same areas of Arabia where those informal Arabic graffiti are found,
thousands of Nabataean inscriptions can be found. Nabataean is a close cousin of Aramaic and
comes from the same branch of Western Semitic languages. Arabic, on the other hand, comes
from the Southern Semitic branch. All the Nabataean inscriptions are very formal and talk
exclusively about religious and royal affairs and there are no Nabataean inscriptions talking
about the average Nabataean citizen life. Hence, the life of the average Nabataean citizen has
remained a mystery.

Until recently, archeologists thought that there were two unrelated people using two different
languages that lived in that area, the Nabataeans and the Arab nomads. An inscription found
near the Negev region changed all that. The inscription talks about a Nabataean king and
dedicates the setting up of a statue to him in the Nabataean language. Added to the
Nabataean text there is an explanation in Arabic of why the people made the dedication. Here
is a translation of the Arabic portion:

"For (king) Obodas works without rewards or favor, and when death tried to claim us, when a
wound of ours festered, he did not let us perish."
When the subject of the inscription changed from formal religious/royal matters to the
common people's explanation of why they loved their king, so did the language. It shifted from
Nabataean to Arabic. The conclusion that can be drawn from this is that there weren't two
people living in the same region who were using two different languages. They were one
people all along who simply used two languages for different purposes. They used Arabic as an
informal language for common everyday matters and Nabataean as a language for religious
and formal affairs. Most commoners would not have understood the religious language of the
elite and this helped the religious and political elite to monopolize power.

More importantly, this archeological evidence is confirmed by the sign in 16:103 that clearly
points out to Arabic not being the language of religious teachings. So here we have agreement
between the evidence from the great reading and archeological evidence.

At the time of the prophet, if a Jew wanted to learn religious matters, they would be taught in
Hebrew, which like Nabataean, is also a Western Semitic language. If a Christian wanted to
learn religious matters, they would be taught in Aramaic or Greek. If a pagan wanted to learn
about his Nabataean idols, he would be taught in Nabataean Aramaic.

Throughout history, one of the ways that the religious clergy maintained control over the
common people has been to erect a language barrier. For example, until the 14th century, the
language of religion in England was Latin. Change was brought about by the death of over half
of the Latin-speaking clergy during the plague of 1348-54 because they lived in close quarters
at monasteries. English speaking commoners replaced these clergy and English services
became widespread. Shortly thereafter, English translations of the Bible started to appear and
not long afterwards, reformers, such as Protestants, began to challenge the authority of the
Roman Catholic Church. The event of the plague had a significant impact on the English
language and how it is used. English words and expressions that had no religious connotation
started to take a strong religious meaning. For example, expressions such as "your worship",
which used to simply be a respectful way to address someone, might now denote a religious
ritual.

The sign in 16:103 has significant implications on how we can properly understand the great
reading and on demolishing the "after-the-fact" dogmatic religious corruptions and the myths
surrounding the story of the prophet. In this article an attempt will be made to construct a
coherent theory on "pre-quranic" Arabia. The theory will be validated based on evidence from
the great reading and archeological evidence. Also, unlike all existing theories we will avoid
relying on hearsay or using it to fill in the blanks.

JAHILIYA SOCIETY

Based on 16:103, we found out that Arabic was not a language of religion but was a language
of the common people. This would explain how the term "ummi" which comes from
"ummat"/people came to mean "illiterate". This would also explain verses such as 62:2 and
3:75 where the meaning of "illiterate" doesn't make any sense because certainly not all the
people of the prophet were illiterate and neither was he. With the interpretation of 16:103 and
as confirmed by the archeological evidence, the following meanings of "ummi" converge:

1. Is illiterate in the religious language of the elite, which is the language of the previous
books.

2. Is from the common people ("ummat").

It can then be seen that the great reading addresses two audiences:

3:20. So if they debate with you say: "I submitted my direction to The God and so did those
who followed me" and say to those who were given the book and the "ummiyin"/common
people who don't know the religious language of the elite: "Did you submit?" So if they
submit then they are guided and if they turn away, then only delivery of the message is upon
you and The God is seer of the servants.

According to the traditionally accepted theory, "those who were given the book" refers to
Christians and the descendants of Israel while "al-ummiyin" refers to the illiterate pagans.
There are many problems with the traditional theory as can be seen from verses such as 2:78,
which describes the descendants of Israel:

2:78. And from them are "ummiyin"/common people who don't know the religious
language of the elite who don't know the book except recitation without knowing the
meaning and they are but assuming.

Verse 2:78 talks about the descendants of Israel. So here we have the term "umiyun"
encompassing the descendants of Israel who were either Jews or Christians. This again
confirms that "ummi" versus "those given the book" is not a religious or literate versus
illiterate division but is a social division of religious elite versus common people. Interestingly,
according to Lisan Al-Arab, "not knowing the book except "amany"" means "except recitation".
Lisan Al-Arab further explains that Arabs used the expression "someone who "yatamana"" to
mean "when someone said what he doesn't know".

‫ وهذا‬، ‫ معناه الكتاب إِل تِلوة نُسهِب إِلى أَنْه القائل إِذا قال مها ل يعلمهه فكأَنهه إِنمها َي َتمَنّاه‬: ‫منههم ُأمّيّونَه ل َي ْعلَمُون الكتاب إِل أَمانيّ قال أَبهو إِسهحق‬
‫مستَعمل في كلم الناس‬

According to 2:78, much like the many sectarians today who don't know Arabic and instead of
using a translation recite the Arabic reading behind their religious elite like a parrot without
understanding what they are saying, Jewish and Christian Arabs recited their books in a
foreign language without understanding what it means. Those Arabs probably recited the book
in a foreign language and not in their own language because they thought that this foreign
language was somehow sacred. Because they didn't understand the religious texts, in all
likelihood they blindly followed the religious elite.

Thus "pre-quranic" Arabia was divided into two major groups. The first group is the
religious/political elite of "those who were given the book" and the second group is the
common people/"al-ummiyin". According to 59:2, "ahl al kitab" lived in fortified castles so this
further confirms that they were not average people but political/religious elite. The advent of
the great reading eliminated the differences between those two groups and empowered the
common people by bridging the language barrier.

43:31. And they said: "if only this reading had been descended on a great man from the two
towns."

Verse 43:31 is inconsistent with the sectarian stories about the prophet prior to receiving the
message where he is portrayed as someone who is held in high regards and judges between
people in matters such as the placement of the three broken black stone idols that are tied
together with a strap (which the Sunnis mistakenly call "the Black Stone"). This again confirms
that the prophet was not from a prestigious family.

Now we can understand why despite the fierce resistance to the message by the religious
elite, it spread so quickly. It was in the language of the common people that everybody could
understand. The fact that the great reading was not only critical of the established religious
dogma but was also in the language of the common people, must have added insult to injury
as far as the religious and political elite were concerned. This is because the elite religious and
political establishment would have looked down at Arabic as a "common people" language and
not a "scholarly" one.
JIHILIYA POETRY

According to traditions, alleged Jahiliya Arabic poets were respected and their poems were
highly sought after. Traditions contend that powerful political rulers, such as the Ghassanid
kings, invited the alleged pagan Arabic poets to court. The Ghassanid courts, such as those of
King Nu'man, were supposed to be the venues for the recitation of panegyrics, which are
considered in the front rank of Arabic Jahiliya poetry. However, as we saw earlier, the religious
and political elite would have looked down on Arabic as a common people language and not a
literary and scholarly one. So it is very unlikely that they courted such alleged Arab poets.

If one tries to reconstruct the true history without considering the traditional hearsay reports,
what is noticeable from physical archeological evidence is that, despite being Arabs, the
Ghassanids did not use Arabic in their religious and formal political communications. For
example, here is what an archeologist specializing in Byzantine and Arab 6th century
archeology recently said about an important Ghassanid church excavation and the religious
inscriptions found [I. Shahid, The Sixth-Century Church Complex At Nitl, Jordan. The
Ghassanid Dimension]:

"Remarkable is the fact that the inscriptions are not in Arabic but in Greek, in spite of the
strong Arab sense of identity, that the Ghassanids possessed"

Interestingly, some Arabic inscriptions were found on recycled rocks reused to build a church
at Umm Al-Rasas in Northern Arabia. The rocks are inscribed in Arabic graffiti with Arab people
names. This suggests that the church was built in an area where Arabs lived and that it was
catering to Arab parishioners. Despite the parishioners being Arab, as we saw earlier the
religious inscriptions were foreign.

So here we see a clear contradiction noticed by archeologists. How come the religious
inscriptions are not in Arabic despite the very strong Arabic identity of the Ghassanids? Also, if
the Ghassanids held Arabic poetry in such high regard, then how come amongst the multitude
of Arabic inscriptions there are no inscriptions of any alleged Jahiliya Arabic poem or even of a
single verse of one?

Again, the sign in 16:103 neatly resolves this contradiction. Arabic was simply not a language
of religious or literary teaching. That is why the traditionalists cannot produce even one "pre-
quranic" manuscript or one inscription of even one verse of one alleged Jahiliya poem. It is not
as if Arabs didn't write as some traditionalists claim. There are thousands of pre-quranic Arabic
inscriptions talking about much less important things than this alleged Jahiliya poetry and yet
there is absolutely zero "pre-quranic" evidence of this all important Jahiliya poetry. All the
Arabic inscriptions are informal in nature.

Poets exist in all cultures so there were "pre-quranic" Arabic poets. Even primitive cultures
with no advanced literature have poets because they have songs. Singing is the basic form of
poetry. However, singing folk songs and "Mary had a little lamb" is different to the supposed
Jahiliya poems allegedly uttered by and for the kings of the Arabs and which gave prestige to
whoever has the ability to mechanically utter verses that rhyme.

The most prominent alleged "pre-quranic" poet is Imru' Al-Qays. The following is an example
of his poetry:
The mere fact that a modern Arabic reader is able to read the above poem without any
difficulty raises suspicion about its authenticity. Many of the alleged poets were supposedly
from Southern Arab tribes. For example, Imru' Al-Qays was alleged to be from the Southern
Arab tribe of Kinda and thus would have spoken and produced poems in an Old Southern
Arabic (OSA) dialect such as Sabaic that would have been difficult to understand and not the
familiar Northern Arabic dialect of the great reading that we see above.

Anyone who has carefully studied alleged Jahiliya poetry knows that Jahiliya poems, including
the above, are amongst the least artful works of literature. All one has to do to utter Jahiliya
poetry is to follow the rhyme. That is why you can easily take a Jahiliya poem and insert
verses in between or rearrange the order of the verses without losing any of the non-existent
author personality.

Even more shocking is that the passages marked with a red box occur almost word for word in
the great reading (54:1, 54:29, 54:31, 54:46, 93:1-2, 21:96, 37:61) and this has given
ammunition to detractors of the great reading. Detractors of the great reading claim that the
prophet copied from Imru' Al-Qays. They refer to the above alleged Jahilya poem verses and
to dubious traditions such as the following:

"Fatima (the daughter of the prophet) was repeating a verse and was overheard by the
daughter of Imru' Al-Qays, who said: 'O that's what your father has taken from one of my
father's poems, and calls it something that has come down to him out of heaven.'"

Despite this, traditionalists have not tried to refute that Imru' Al-Qays said such poems and
have continued to trust the authenticity of alleged Jahiliya poems.

It is time for people to stop trusting alleged Jahiliya poems because there is categorical
physical archeological evidence that the most prominent Jahiliya poet, Imru' Al-Qays is a
fictional character based on a much earlier real Arab king.

This evidence is provided by a famous inscription called the Namara inscription. Here is a
translation of the Namara inscription:
"This is the funerary monument of Imru al-Qays, son of ‘Amr, king of the Arabs; and[?] his
title of honor was Master of Asad and Madhhij. And he subdued the Asad-s, and they were
overwhelmed together with their kings, and he put to flight Ma(dh)hij thereafter, and came
driving them into the gates of Najran, the city of Shammar, and he subdued Ma‘add, and he
dealt gently with the nobles of the tribes, and appointed them viceroys, and they became
phylarchs for the Romans. And no king has equaled his achievements. Thereafter he died in
the year 223 on the 7th day of Kaslul. Oh the good fortune of those who were his friends."

[Source: Bellamy, J. (1985). "A New Reading of the Namarah Inscription," Journal of the
American Oriental Society 105.1, 34.]

The inscription talks about a powerful king named Imru' al-Qays who had great achievements
and must have been liked by his people.

The Nabatean year 223 corresponds to the year 328AD. The alleged Jahiliya poet Imru' al
Qays, is reported to have died over 200 years later in the year 540AD.

We seemingly have two personalities by the same exact name: Imru' al Qays, and both are
famous figures. This is how traditionalists explained away the vast discrepancy in the dates.

However, the traditionalist explanation is not possible because the astonishing similarities
between the alleged poet and the person described by the inscription do not stop there. The
328 AD real Imru' al Qays (since we have archeological evidence to back up his existence)
shares other striking similarities with the fictional 540 AD Imru' al Qays, the alleged pre-
quranic Arabic poet.

For instance, both are royals, the 328AD Imru' al-Qays is called the "king of the Arabs" in the
inscription and traditionalists allege that the other Imru' al-Qays was the son of the last king
of Kinda, an ancient Arabian tribe. When his father was murdered, he too became king.

The 328AD Imru' al-Qays fought a tribe called Asad. The other Imru' al-Qays was banished by
his father king because of his passionate poetry then his tribe went to war with a rival tribe
called: Bani Asad! Who murdered his father!

Both Imru' al Qays 1 and 2 defeated their Asad enemies.

Both the 328AD Imru' al Qays and the 540AD Imru' al Qays tried to unite the tribes of Arabia.

Both the 328AD Imru' al Qays and the 540AD Imru' al Qays made alliances with the Romans
to defeat their tribe's enemies.

We know that the 328AD Imru' al Qays existed because of the physical archeological evidence
of the Namara inscription. We only know about the 540AD Imru' al Qays through stories and
poems that were reported in the 8th-9th century AD.

Those striking similarities cannot be a coincidence but is exactly what one would expect from
the storytellers as the real story of the real Imru' Al-Qays is turned across generations into the
legend of Imru' Al-Qays and sprinkled with poetry and embellished to make it more
entertaining. This completely demolishes the historicity of the 540AD Imru' Al-Qays and the
entire traditional account of the Jahilya period and its poetry.

The fictitious Imru' al Qays of 540AD is regarded as the inventor of the "qasida" or classical
ode. His poems are considered to be the most prominent, famous, and reliable. He is also
considered the greatest poet of the Mu'allaqat, the poems that are worthy of hanging on the
alleged Kaaba. Hence, if his historicity turns out to be problematic, this would have far
reaching consequences for the historicity of all Jahiliya poetry and even the alleged proper
name Kaaba, since Jahiliya poetry is the only supposed "pre-quranic" source for it.

Traditionalists have countered the doubts in the authenticity of Jahiliya poetry by arguing that
the oral transmission of Jahiliya poetry was like the transmission of the great reading and
hence both are preserved in the same way.

Fortunately, those traditionalist arguments are not grounded in reality. Unlike alleged Jahiliya
poetry where there is a complete absence of manuscripts and inscriptions, there are many
early manuscripts of the great reading that can be dated to the first century of the new era.
Some of those manuscripts even show faded text where the same words have been re-written
over. Thus, the original text of the great reading can be dated to an even earlier period. Given
that there is only a slim probability of survival of such manuscripts, the fact that we have so
many indicates that they came from a very large population. Moreover, there are many rock
inscriptions of parts of the great reading that are dated to the first century of the new era.
More importantly, the great reading itself tells us that it is a "kitab". The word "kitab" means a
"written document".

Traditionalists have also contended that a vast conspiracy was needed for the fabrication of
Jahiliya poetry on such a scale. However, in reality there is no need for a conspiracy. The
natural law of supply and demand negates the need for a conspiracy.

Hollywood produces movies because there is demand for them not because of any sinister
conspiracy. A few hundred years from now some naïve folks that lack common sense may
watch such movies and think that they are home movies depicting the lives of actual people.

Poetry was told by storytellers for the purpose of entertainment. Hence, unlike later poets, all
alleged Jahiliya poets have very interesting and amazing life stories. The poems are weaved
into the stories and advance the plot line in such a way so that a poem is always uttered at
the opportune moment. Hence, like in a Bollywood movie where the hero and a chorus of
singers and dancers is always ready at the right moment in the story to spontaneously delight
the audience with a song, alleged Jahiliya poets entertain us with their poems in the exact
perfect time in their melodramatic stories. Those are all classical features of fiction and
legends and not actual historic accounts.

It is amazing that some people still believe that poets such as Imru' Al-Qays (the Hamlet of
Arabia), Antara (the Achilles of Arabia), and Qays Ibn Al-Mulawah and Layla (the Romeo and
Juliet of Arabia) really existed and they are not a figment of the imagination of Umayyad and
Abbasid era storytellers. This is no different than believing that Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet
really existed and are not the figment of the imagination of Shakespeare. Traditionalists even
accept as Jahiliya poetry poems alleged to be from the time of Ibrahim (a different millennia)
or uttered by Adam in the obituary of his son, all said in easy to understand Arabic I might
add! Of course, anyone with common sense should doubt that people at the time of Ibrahim
even heard of this Arabic, let alone composed poetry in it.

If traditionalists want to compare the supposed preservation of so-called Jahiliya poetry to

something, then they can compare it to Hadiths. There is evidence from those bodies of
literature themselves that they were spread by the Qasassin (the storytellers). Those are
entertainers who went from one town to the next telling their stories. Of course, the
storytellers had to give the audience what they wanted to hear. Hence, for liberal audiences,
they would tell the story of Imru-Al-Qays and his romantic endeavors or Qays Ibn Al-Mulawah
and Layla. In more conservative towns, the storytellers would tell the stories of the monotheist
poets and tales of courage and valor. Later, the same storytellers propagated Hadiths as the
Abbasid theocracy took over and demand for religious programming increased. There is
evidence from Bukhari's bibliography that he started out as one of those storytellers himself,
traveling from town to town and gathering audiences like the circus. The following extract from
Imam Bukhari's biography, recounts one of his performances while traveling to Baghdad:
"People had heard about the Imam Bukhari’s extraordinary memory. They decided to test him
to see if the Imam was worthy of the attributes that were being issued to him. One hundred
different ahaadeeth were chosen that had their testimonials and text altered. These altered
ahaadeeth were to be recited to Imam Bukhari by ten people. By now, a crowd had gathered
to witness the outcome of this deliberate test. One by one, each altered tradition was recited.
The Imam remarked at the end of each recital: “Not of my knowledge.”

After all the traditions had been presented, the Imam demonstrated the power of his memory
by correcting the testimonial and text of each tradition in order."

Of course, the above tale sounds more like circus entertainment and not the scientific
endeavor that traditionalists paint. This unfortunate situation was described here:

31.6. Among the people, there are those who buy distracting sayings, to divert from the path
of The God without knowledge, and take it in vain. These have incurred a shameful retribution.

In summary, so-called Jahiliya poetry has been proven to be a product of Umayyad and
Abbasid dynasties' entertainers and political propagandists, the same social forces that
produced Hadiths. The natural law of supply and demand and the storytellers spreading their
tales from town to town explains the widespread dissemination of such fabrications without
the need for a systematic conspiracy.

JAHILIYA HISTORY

Unfortunately, historians often rely on Jahiliya poetry to reconstruct the history of the "pre-
quranic" period in Arabia. They also rely on "post-quranic" stories such as those produced by
Ibn Is-haq. The most well known turning point in the history of "pre-quranic" Arabia seems to
be the alleged Year of the Elephant. This is the year when an Abyssinian expedition under the
leadership of Abraha was supposedly defeated while allegedly invading Maka(t). This is also
the year when the prophet was supposed to be born. This year is given by traditional
historians as the year 570AD.

Fortunately, we can objectively investigate the history of Abraha because in this case we have
physical archeological evidence in the form of a very detailed inscription written to
commemorate his expedition. This large inscription is depicted on a rock near a well in
southern Arabia.

The Abraha inscription is an example of the kind of archeological evidence that provides
information that totally contradicts the official view of Jahiliya history.

Transliteration:
"bi khayl Rahmanan wa masyha malikan Abraha Zybman malik Saba' wa Zuraydan wa
Hadramut wa Yement wa r'a rab hamw twadam wa thamat satro zn satran k'ghazow ma'ndam
ghazwatn rab'atan b'warkhan Zthbatan Kafa saadu kl bani amrm wa zaki malikn abjabar b
ainam kadat wain w basharm bin hasahanm bainm san dam wa mardam wa hadaru qadami
jayshan alia bani yamram kadat wail bi wad samrakh wa mardam wa sadam bi wad bi manhaj
tarban wa zabahow wa sarw wa ghanamw zaisam wa makhdah malakin bi Halban wa dawn ka
zalam maidam wrahanw wa badanahaw nwa sa'aham mw Amram Bin Mazran wa rahanamw
bin haw wa sata khalafw ala ma'dam wa qafalw bin hal ( bi)n bi akhayal Rahmanan wa rakhaw
zalan salthany w sathya ws."

Translation:

"With the power of the Almighty, and His Messiah King Abraha Zeebman, the King of Saba'a,
Zuridan, and Hadrmaut and Yemen and the tribes (on) the mountains and the coast wrote
these lines on his battle against the tribe of Ma'ad (in) the battle of al-Rabiya in the month of
"Dhu al Thabithan" and fought all of Bani A'amir and appointed the King Abi Jabar with Kinda
and Al, Bishar bin Hasan with Sa'ad, Murad, and Hadarmaut in front of the army against Bani
Amir of Kinda. and Al in Zu Markh valley and Murad and Sa'ad in Manha valley on the way to
Turban and killed and captured and took the booty in large quantities and the King and fought
at Halban and reached Ma'ad and took booty and prisoners, and after that, conquered Omro
bin al-Munzir.

(Abrha) appointed the son (of Omro) as the ruler and returned from Hal Ban (Halban) with the
power of the Almighty in the month of Zu A'allan in the year sixty-two and six hundred."

The above inscription describes in detail the expedition of Abraha until his return. As one can
clearly see, contrary to the fairy tales that we hear from traditionalists there is absolutely no
mention of anything related to elephants, Kaaba(t), or Maka(t). According to the inscription it
is Abraha who defeated and returned after conquering the Arab tribes and not the other way
around as traditionalists contend.

It is not surprising that the inscription doesn't mention elephants. It would have been highly
impractical to bring elephants into the desert and carry their weight in water. Moreover,
elephants had fallen out of use as battle gear approximately seven centuries earlier. This is for
the simple reason that elephants' feet are very sensitive and it is very easy to defeat
elephants in battle by placing thorns or any sharp objects in their path. Elephants would have
suffered greatly in the scorching sands of the desert without giving an invading army any
advantage. Thus, it is very unlikely that Abraha used elephants.

Chapter 105 of the great reading doesn't say anything about Kaaba(t), Maka(t), or Abraha. In
light of verses such as 11:82 and 15:74 that talk about the punishment of the people of Lot as
being hit by "7ijarat min sijjil", the same exact Arabic term in chapter 105, the chapter is more
likely to be referring to the people of Lot and not Abraha.

Another interesting fact that is confirmed by the great reading is that the southern Arabs at
the time of the prophet used to call The God "Al-Rahman" (Rahmanan in Sabiac where the
definite article is post-posed as "nan"). We don't find inscriptions in Northern Arabia with the
name Rahman while we find it in Southern Arabian inscriptions so this name was used by
Southern Arabs. The sign in 17:110 is in perfect agreement with the archeological evidence.
We can now see that the opening of "Bism Allah Al-Rahman Al-Rahim" and the whole
honorable reading was addressing both Northern and Southern Arabs and not just one tribe or
the other.

In addition, there are also other interesting linguistic implications to how people living during
"pre-quranic" times understood the language of the great reading. The term Al-Rahman is
often interpreted in classical Arabic dictionaries to mean "Gracious" or "Beneficent". This is not
in line with how the attribute is used in the great reading, where for example, in 19:45 we
hear prophet Ibrahim say to his father, a rejecting idol-worshipper, "I fear you would be struck
with the wrath of Al-Rahman." The word Al-Rahman in 19:45 is more likely to invoke fear of
retribution as opposed to hope of benefit or grace. The Abraha inscription confirms the
meaning of Al-Rahman as used in the great reading to mean an attribute that conveys power:
The Almighty. Both physical archeological evidence (as opposed to hearsay) and the great
reading are in perfect match on how people at the time of the prophet must have understood
the meaning of Al-Rahman. Notice also in the inscription the use of "zaki" to mean "promote"
and not "give charity".

Joseph Couq "L'Eglise d'Afrique du Nord du IIe au XIIe siecle" (1984) p. 120-1 shows
examples of the Bismallah on coins rendered in Latin (76AH/695CE - 98AH/716CE) as "in
nomine Dei misericordis" (in the name of God the Merciful). So it seems that only Al-Rahim
was translated and the early post-quranic Arabs totally neglected to translate Al-Rahman. We
see the same phenomena on bilingual North Arabian papyri, for example in early Arabic-Greek
texts the word "Rahman" is not translated [See: H. I. Bell, "The Arabic Bilingual Entagion",
Proceedings Of The American Philosophical Society, 1945, Volume 89, pp. 538-539; and Alan
Jones, "The Dotting Of A Script And The Dating Of An Era: The Strange Neglect Of PERF 558",
in Islamic Culture, 1998, Volume LXXII, No. 4, pp. 95-103]. This proves that even after the
revelation of 17:110 the people of Northern Arabia were still confused about the meaning of
Al-Rahman and hence didn't translate it.

As we have seen, the story of Abraha as told in the inscription is kind of dull and with no
happy ending for the Arabs. On the other hand, the hearsay tales from sectarians are filled
with amazing details, suspense, and drama. They capture people's imagination with the
amazing detail of the character of an old frail man (the fictitious Abd Al-Mutilib) standing in the
path of the Army of Abraha. The stories have special effects of amazing creatures (the
elephants) and gore (the flesh and blood flowed like water and the skin of Abraha and his
soldiers falling off and exposing the bones, etc.). These hearsay stories that the Arabs
concocted long after the fact have very high entertainment value and appeal to the masses
much as Hollywood flicks often do. However, they have no value for those interested in the
truth. The Arabs were very proud of their forefathers as evident from the many inscriptions
bearing family lineage and tribal affiliation. Thus, when they became in the seat of power, they
rewrote history to turn their forefathers' humiliating defeat at the hands of Abraha into a
legendary victory.

As a side note, the date on the inscription converts to 552AD. According to traditionalists, the
prophet was born in the year of Abraha's expedition and they say that he was born in 570AD.
So this pushes back the date of birth of the prophet by about 20 years. This creates a big
problem for traditionalists. They now either have to revise the entire story of the prophet or
they have to give up all their "Sahih" Hadiths. This is for the simple reason that all the chains
of transmission of their Hadiths will now be broken as a result of pushing back the dates by 20
years.

As we see, even the most famous and well-known turning point in the history of Arabia,
including the date of birth of the prophet, as recounted by traditionalists turned out to be
problematic. Moreover, the archeological evidence has significant implications on how words
such as "makka(t)" and "kaaba(t) should be understood.

MAKKA(T)

It is not surprising that the inscription of Abraha doesn't mention or even allude to a town
called Maka(t). There is zero evidence for a town named Maka(t) prior to the revelation of the
great reading and all sides of the debate on the historicity of Maka(t) agree that the name
Maka(t) doesn't occur in any "pre-quranic" inscriptions. Those promoting the historicity of
Makka are forced to bring the only one reference by Ptolmey to an insignificant town by the
name of Macoraba and not Maka(t) for the simple reason that they know very well that there
are absolutely no references to the supposedly important town of Maka(t). This despite the
fact that there are many references, including the above Abraha's inscription, to far less
important towns in Arabia than this alleged Makka(t).

According to classical Arabic dictionaries, the word "maka(t)" mainly means

"destruction/wearing down", among other meanings. It is listed in classical Arabic dictionaries
under either MKK or MK.

Al-Mohit lists it under MKK, the meaning given is destruction and wearing down which is
consistent with the context of standoff in 48:24. It also lists the meaning of TMKK as an
adversary's insistence on something, which is also consistent with the standoff in 48:24.

Lisan Al-Arab lists it under MK and the meaning of MK(t) is given as "destruction" and TMK as
"destroy".

Al-Wasit lists it under MK, the meanings given are: sucking everything out, insisting on
revenge from an adversary, and the thing, which is worn down or destroyed.

Al-Ghani lists it under MKK, the meanings given are: sucking, insisting with demands on an
adversary.

Here is a translation of 48:24 using Classical Arabic dictionaries and the context of war from
the verses to translate the common description "maka(t)":

48:24. And it is He Who has restrained their hands from you and your hands from them in the
midst of destruction after that He gave you the victory over them. And Allah sees well all that
ye do.

I used Yusuf Ali's translation but while he left "maka(t)" un-translated I didn't. As one can see,
the clear classical Arabic meaning fits perfectly in the context of the military standoff in verse
48:24.

Based on the context from the great reading/"quran", linguistic evidence from Arabic
dictionaries, and the lack of any evidence supporting that there was a "pre-quranic" town by
the name of Maka(t), the only logical unbiased conclusion is that "maka(t)" is not the name of
"pre-quranic" town but is simply a mundane common noun like thousands of others in the
great reading/"quran".

It is not the purpose of this article to speculate about why or how this lie about the word
"makka(t)" took hold. We know that worse lies such as the one about Jesus being the son of
god (The God be most exalted above what they describe) took hold and propagated very
quickly. So if humans can fabricate such a gross lie, they can certainly fabricate and propagate
the much less significant lie about "makka(t)" being the name of a town. The Arab political and
religious elite were in the habit of deceiving people by renaming what they themselves built
long after the fact to match concepts in the great reading. For example, even traditionalists
admit that what is currently named Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa was built during the time of the
Umayyads and was named so long after the fact, and acknowledge that it is not "al-masjid al-
aqsa" talked about in the great reading.

KAABA(T)

There is absolutely zero evidence of a "pre-quranic" shrine called Kaaba(t). There is an

abundance of "pre-quranic" shrines in Arabia and none of them is described as Kaaba(t) in any
of the thousands of inscriptions on or around those shrines. In fact, the name Kaaba(t) cannot
be found in any "pre-quranic" inscriptions or manuscripts.
We know from the great reading that the "pre-quranic" Arabs adored idols named Allat,
Aluzza, and Manwat (see 53:19-20). Those are all Nabataean idols. While Greco-Roman
people have always represented their deities with human form, the Nabataeans represented
their deities with geometric forms such as square stone blocks, sacred meteorites, or square
shapes carved into a stone wall and sometimes enhanced with schematic eyes and nose.
Historical sources, such as the Suda Lexicon, state that the Nabataean idol Dhu Al-Shaara's
statue is an un-worked square black stone. Maximus of Tyre comments in his book
Philosophoumena in the 2nd century AD, that the Arabs had a statue, which was a square
stone. There is abundant archeological evidence that stone cubes like the one in the town
presently called Maka(t) whose height is slightly longer than the other dimensions is a
representation of the idol Dhu Al-Shaara. The pictures below depict some of the archeological
evidence in Northern Arabia and Nabataean outposts.

Notice that the stone block on the right bears the name "Dusari", which is Dhu Al-Shaara in
Greek. The name Kaaba(t) is never found on or associated with any of the "pre-quranic" Arab
cubes, on the other hand we see that the name Dhu Al-Shaara is associated with such cubes.
This leads us to the conclusion that in "pre-quranic" times the stone cube was not named
Kaaba(t) but it was named Dhu Al-Shaara.

In the fourth century AD, Epiphanius, the bishop of Salamis, Cyprus wrote a letter describing
cults such as the Nabataean cult and their celebration of the festival of the birth of Dhu Al-
Shaara around the winter solstice. It is interesting that the birth celebrations culminated with
bringing forth from beneath the earth the image of the male infant idol, which was carried
seven times around the inner sanctuary of the pagan temple. [See Langdon, S., Semitic
Mythology, The Mythology of All Races, Vol. V. Boston: Archaeological Institute of America,
Marshall Jones Company, 1931, page 19.]
By renaming Dhu Al-Shaara to Kaaba, the pagans have managed to continue the practice of
spinning seven times around Dhu Al-Shaara to this day under the guise of following the great
reading.

Like the town presently called Maka(t), the stone cube idol was renamed from Dhu Al-Shaara
to Kaaba(t) to match the common noun "kaaba(t)" in the great reading. Like the common
"maka(t)", which has a meaning that fits in the context of 48:24, as a common noun
"kaaba(t)" has a meaning fits in the context of 5:97.

The term "ka3b" is used in Arabic to describe the heel/base of the shoe. In rural areas of
Northern Arabia, people still use the expression "ka3b al-wadi" to denote the base of the
valley. Hence, the meaning of "kaaba(t) is "base". That meaning fits the context of 5:95 and
5:97:

5:97. The God has made the base the restriction house maintenance for the people and the
restriction month and the gift/guidance and the means of control so that you know that The
God knows what is in the heavens and the earth and that The God is knowledgeable with
everything.

The house is the "base" where people can assemble safely.

2:125. And We made the house an assembly for the people and a safety and take from the
persistence of Ibrahim a lesson and We made a covenant to Ibrahim and Ismail that cleanse
my house for the passers by, and the remaining, and the humbly hearing and obeying.

This is a natural non-forced meaning like the house of representatives is the base of legislation
where they assemble safely to make laws.

Historians differ on what Dhu Al-Shaara is. Some think that it is a mountain in Arabia while
others think that it is heavenly body such as the sun or Venus. The Nabataeans were expert
astronomers and they even used a calendar based on the Zodiac. They were also sea-faring
people who traveled to all corners of the ancient world. Thus, they must have seen many
mountains all over the world that are higher and more majestic than any mountain in Arabia.
Hence, it is highly unlikely that Dhu Al-Shaara was some mountain in Arabia. Archeologists
also have evidence that the idol Al-Uzza was Venus. Thus, this leaves us with the sun as the
most likely Dhu Al-Shaara. The celebration of the idol's birth around the winter solstice is also
an indication of a relationship to the sun. The present cube structure of Dhu Al-Shaara in
Saudi Arabia also has evidence of its pagan purpose. For example, the cube is aligned such
that the Southeast corner is in the direction of the winter sunrise. Interestingly, in that corner
lies the so-called Black Stone, which is the most revered object by sectarians who love to kiss
and fondle it.

Facing the winter sunrise during prayer was the common pagan practice. It was also the
common Christian practice as evident from early Christian churches such as Hagia Sophia and
Hagia Irene.

The Jews on the other hand, faced Jerusalem.

1 Kings 8:44

"When Your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way You shall send
them, and they pray to the Lord toward the city which You have chosen and the house which I
have built for Your name"

The Jewish Talmud also has references to facing Jerusalem.

Tosefta Brachot 3:16

"Those in the north face the south, those in the south face the north, those in the east face
the west and those in the west face the east so that all Israel prays toward one place"

Archaeological evidence confirms that synagogues from the "pre-quranic" era were roughly
oriented to face Jerusalem. [For example, see: Avi-Yonah, M., Synagogue Architecture. In
Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 15, New York: Macmillan, 1971.]

The niche of early congregational sites such as the one in Fustat in predominantly Christian
Egypt was aligned with the direction of the winter sunrise. Similarly, other early congregational
sites are oriented in a direction too far north of present day Makka(t) and are closer to
Jerusalem, indicating that perhaps they were converted synagogues. Yet other congregational
sites such as one recently found in Aqqaba, Jordan (The Oriental Institute News and Notes,
No. 141, Spring 1994) and the one in 'Ana's castle in Iraq show that the direction of the niche
was haphazard. Thus, two alternative conclusions can be made:

The direction of prayer was not important back then as it is now. Hence, people didn't bother
to change the niche of early congregational sites that were originally churches or synagogues
to face a new location.

Some of the early converts only converted superficially but continued in their Christian, pagan,
or Jewish practices.

By studying the great reading, we already found out that a physical direction is not important
(see: What's in the name?). The archeological evidence simply confirms what we already
found out.

JAHILIYA LANGUAGE

As we saw earlier, Arabic was a common people language and not a scholarly or religious one.
Thus, any religious meaning attached to an Arabic word is suspect and should be investigated
thoroughly before it is accepted. In the great reading, we find an interesting phenomenon.
Words with religious connotation in modern English such as "prayer" and "worship" do not
occur at all in the great reading.

For example, the word "dua'a", which is traditionally understood as "prayer", doesn't have a
religious connotation and is used many times in the great reading in mundane usages that
have nothing to do with "prayer" (for example, see 28:25). Hence, it is best translated as
"calling upon" and not as "prayer".

Similarly, the word "'abad", which is traditionally understood as "worship", is better

understood as "serve" (for example, see 16:75, 2:221).

The term "deen" is traditionally understood as "religion". However, one can see that it is used
in many instances to mean "obligation" (for example, see 56:86, 2:282, 4:11-12). The
common non-religious Arabic meaning of "obligation" actually fits better in all the occurrence
of "deen" in the great reading (see: What's in the name?).

The term "hajj" is traditionally understood as "religious pilgrimage". However, a closer study of
the great reading reveals that the term has nothing to do with organized clergy-based
religious pilgrimages. For example, we hear in 22:27:

22:27. And announce amongst people with the debate. They will come on foot and on every
kind of lean transportation. They will come through every unobstructed passage.
In 22:27 that Ibrahim invited people with/"bi" the debate/"al-7ajj" and not to/"li" the
debate/"al-7ajj" to witness benefits. Thus, the debate/"hajj" is a tool to attract different
people from all over. One could only invite all people with something beneficial and non-
discriminatory.

We are told in 28:27 that Moses was hired to work for eight debates/"7ijaj". What was hired to
do? Clearly, he was hired to work and tend for sheep (28:23-24) and not for any religious
pilgrimage. What does working and tending sheep has to do with the debate/"7ajj"? Naturally,
people work and produce so that they can bargain with their products. Bargaining is a kind of
debate and it results in witnessing benefits by the seller and the buyer. Thus, the debate/"al-
7ajj" is like the annual fair where people work all year and then go to sell and/or buy products.
Mid summer - early fall is the natural time for such markets because produce and livestock are
plentiful (see: Blind Dating Versus Perfect Timing). The large gathering of the debate/"7ajj"
provides a good opportunity to remind as many people as possible of The God. It is also an
opportunity for the advantaged to donate and provide for the disadvantaged. This is confirmed
by 22:28-29 where we are told about the purpose of the debate/"7ajj":

22:28-29. So that they may witness benefits for themselves and remember The God’s name in
a few days over what He Has provided for them of the animal livestock. So eat from it and
feed the needy and the poor. Then they would complete their duties and fulfill their vows, and
would pass by the freeing house.

The restriction house is simply the place where people safely assemble to communicate and
conduct the debate without fear of oppression. This restriction house helps spread freedom
because oppressed people who come there and freely debate experience an environment free
of oppression and they take that experience with them to induce freedom in their own
communities. Debate is an essential process for accountability and dissemination of the best
ideas in any free society. Thus, the concept of debate/"7ajj" has nothing to do with any special
holy pilgrimage. It is an entirely common concept.

Similarly, we already saw that other concepts such as "salat"/learning connection are common
concepts that are not specific to organized clergy-based religions (see: What's in the name?).

CONCLUSION

In summary, the sign in 16:103 has significant implications on how we can properly
understand the great reading. Archeological evidence confirms the information we found by
studying the great reading. Thus, a coherent picture of "pre-quranic" Arabia is starting to
emerge.

Interestingly, while writing this article, a possible solution for an age old puzzle was
inadvertently discovered. Many people have wondered about the initials at the beginning of
some chapters of the great reading.

A closer look at those alleged initials reveals that they are not initials at all but are words. For
example, here is how 2:1 is written now as a word:

‫ال‬

Had it been not a word but three initials as some people contend then it would have been
written as follows:

‫ا ل م‬

Clearly, there is a big difference.

Also, from Chapter 42 it is clear that the words at the beginning are words and not initials and
we can't haphazardly separate them as initials because of the deliberate separation between "
‫ "حم‬and "‫ "عسق‬when they could have been joined and written as:

‫حمسعق‬

Thus, The God deliberately separated the "‫ "حم‬and "‫ "عسق‬while He didn't separate ‫ الم‬into ‫ ا ل م‬in
Chapter 2. Thus, this is more confirmation that ‫ الم‬should be considered a word and not three
initials.

Even chapters that start with single letters should be read out as words and not spelled as
initials. Spelling them out would be like spelling the single letter "َ‫ "و‬at the beginning of
Chapter 103 as "waw", for example, instead of reading it as "wa". The God gave us the great
reading not the great spelling.

As we found out, Arabic is a common people language and not a formal religious one. So what
do those words mean?

In all informal languages of the common people there are words that are either jargon
abbreviation of other words or are slang words that people commonly use. As a language of
the common people, Arabic would have been no exception. An example in colloquial American
English would be words like "OK" and "yo".

Interestingly, chapter 20 starts with the word "taha". Here is what the Classical Arabic
dictionaries say about the meaning of ‫طه‬:

ِ‫شيّة‬
ِ ْ‫حب‬
َ ‫جلُ بال‬
ُ ‫معناهُ يا ر‬

‫ إِنها بالحبشية يا رجل‬: ‫طَهْ مجزومة‬

It means "hey man" or the equivalent of "yo" in colloquial American English. The dictionaries
attribute this word to the Southern Semitic language of Ethiopic, which is related to Southern
Arabic dialects such as Hadramatic and Sabaic. So this slang word could have been borrowed
into those Southern Arabic dialects.

In light of this information, let's fully translate 20:1-2:

20:1-2. Hey man, We didn't descend on you the reading to make you suffer.

As one can see, the meaning perfectly fits in the context of 20:2. Even though scholars and
clergy would be shocked at hearing such an informal way of expression in a translation of the
great reading, one must keep in mind that the real Classical Arabic at the time of the great
reading was a common people informal language and not the formalized language that it is
made out to be today. Hence, it is likely that when the clergy at the time of the prophet heard
the great reading for the first time in Arabic, they had the same reaction as the present day
clergy hearing the above translation.

Another example is in chapter 27 where the word "tas"/ ‫ططس‬appears. According to Classical
Arabic dictionaries, the word means "delve/sink deep into something", amongst other
meanings. Thus, 27:1 could be translated as follows:

27:1. Sink deep into these signs of the reading and a clarifying book.
Another example that appears at the beginning of multiple chapters is the word "tasam"/‫طسم‬. It
appears in chapters 26 and 28. According to Classical Arabic dictionaries, "tasam" used by
common people to mean "sharpen" and "study", among other meanings.

‫ أي استحدّها على الطسمة‬.‫والعامّة تقول طسّم الموسى‬

َ‫سمُ طُسُوماً دَرَس‬

ِ ْ‫َيط‬

Thus, 26:1-2 and 28:1-2 could be translated as follows:

26:1-2. Sharpen/study these signs of the clarifying book.

The Arabic word "ham"/ ‫حطم‬, which appears in chapters 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46 also has a
meaning. According to Classical Arabic dictionaries the meaning is something that is
"intended" or "destined":

‫ قضاه وقدّ ره‬:‫ الّ كذا‬-.‫ قصد قصده‬:ُ‫حمّه‬

َ

‫ قُضي؛‬:ُ‫ الَمر‬-: ‫حمّا‬

َ ّ‫حم‬
َ ُ‫حمّ ي‬
ُ

(َ‫حمّا( ُقضِيَ وله ذلك ُقدّر‬

َ ) ‫ المْرُ بالضم‬:(ّ‫حم‬
ُ

ُ‫صدَه‬ َ ‫حمّهُ( َق‬

ْ ‫صدَ َق‬ َ ‫)و‬
َ ّ‫حم‬

Thus, 40:1-2 can be translated as follows:

40:1-2. It is intended/destined revelation of the book from The God, the Powerful, the Knower.

Similarly, 41:1-2, 45:1-2 and 46:1-2 can be translated as follows:

41:1-2. It is intended/destined revelation from the Almighty, the Merciful.

45:1-2. It is intended/destined revelation of the book from The God, the Powerful, the Wise.

46:1-2. It is intended/destined revelation of the book from The God, the Powerful, the Wise.

44:1-3 can be translated as follows:

44:1-3. It is intended/destined and a clarifying book. We descended it in a blessed night for

We were warning.

In chapter 42, we have two words that have been traditionally considered as initials. We
already found out what "ham"/ ‫حطم‬means. According to Classical Arabic dictionaries, the other
word "'asaq"/ ‫ عسطق‬means "following closely" and "pollinate/pollination". Thus, 42:1-3 can be
translated as follows:

42:1-3. It is intended/destined pollination, like that is how you and those before you are
inspired by The God the Powerful, the Wise.

Finally, 43:1-3 can be translated as follows:

43:1-3. It is intended/destined and a clarifying book. We have made it an Arabic reading so

that perhaps you will be logical.
Interestingly, we started this study with 43:3 and now we came a full circle and ended up with
a possible solution for the age-old mystery of what the word in 43:1 means in the context of
43:1-3.

Given that Arabic at the time of the great reading was an informal common people language
with many slang words, it is not surprising that the first scholars to codify the language were
not Arabs but were Persians. No scholar who is a native speaker would codify what they
consider to be informal "street talk". Scholars only codify formal languages. Later as the Arabs
interacted with other nations and tyrannical leaders and the religious elites revived their
symbiotic existence, Arabic was transformed into a formal "religious" language that the
common people need the clergy to understand for them. The slang words at the beginning of
the chapters defied codification by their very nature because slang by definition doesn’t follow
any rules. However, they serve as a sign for us that The God can take inconsistent man-made
human communication and use it to compose a consistent and powerful message. They also
serve as a reminder that The God is addressing the people directly and that the self-styled
religious elite do not have any role in our obligation to The God.

To refute the traditionalist theories about the alleged initials, all that had to be done is prove
one set of the alleged initials to be a word that has meaning and fits in the context. In this
article, not just one but eleven of the sets of initials were proven to be words that have
meanings that fit in the context. This leaves us with 18 that are not yet deciphered and for
which further research is needed. As our understanding and that of our children improves, we
would be able to decipher them with The God's help, unless He wills otherwise.

HOW DID IT COME TO THIS? (PART 1)

By Ayman (e-mail: drayman@fast-email.com)
INTRODUCTION

1:7. Guide us the straight path, the path of those You bestowed Your favor on, those who have not
earned anger at them and not the strayers.

In the article entitled Language Barrier we have seen how even important events in Sira (the biography of
the prophet) are problematic, for example, when the prophet was born and where he lived. There is no
evidence of a pre-quranic town named Mecca and the evidence shows that the common noun "mecca"
(destruction) in 48:24 was appropriated after the great reading was revealed. So naturally, the question
arises, where did the prophet really live?

Before we try to answer this question, let me say that I don't believe that it is necessarily an important
question in itself. Had the answer been important then we would have been given a precise map in the great
reading to find it. However, a possible value to answering this question is dispelling some of the traditional
myths that surround the prophet's biography. This in turn may help us in some way or another to more
clearly understand some aspects of the great reading.

WHERE DID THE PROPHET REALLY LIVE?

In our quest to find the region where the prophet really lived, we will use a somewhat different approach to
previous attempts. We will use an approach based on the orthography of the great reading. In the same way
that one can recognize if a scribe is British or American from the style of a person's English hand writing,
the use of certain vocabulary and the spelling of certain words, we will try to use orthography to identify
where the great reading was originally descended. As we saw in the article "Language Barrier", Arabic was
an informal common people language and not a prestigious religious or literary language of the elite. As a
result, archeologists have found that up to the Islamic era and the appearance of the great reading, Arabic
inscriptions were written in various scripts and there was no specific script associated with the language.
Arabic writers simply used the script of prestige of the geographic area where it was written. The script of
prestige was the script associated with the language of prestige in the area. In the pre-Islamic era, there
were two main scripts used to write Old Arabic:

1. The Nabataean Aramaic script. This is the script of the Nabataean Aramaic language.
2. The Musnad script. This script is also called Ancient South Arabian script and it is the script
associated with the Sabaic language.
While the Musnad script became extinct shortly after the Islamic era, the Nabataean script became the
Arabic script that we are all familiar with today. The following map shows the location of Old Arabic
inscriptions in the Nabataean script (in red) and Musnad script (in green).

In northern Arabia, southern Syria and southwestern Iraq, up to the fourth century AD, Aramaic was the
language of prestige. Thus, we find that the important religious texts were in Aramaic. The distribution in
the north of the Peninsula of Old Arabic texts suggests that speakers of the Old Arabic dialect were present
throughout the areas where Aramaic had come to be the prestige language. It was therefore natural that
when Old Arabic came to be written in these regions, the Nabataean Aramaic script was the chosen vehicle.
However, unlike the Ancient South Arabian Musnad script, the late Nabataean script only had twenty-two
letters to represent the twenty-eight phonemes of Arabic and thus was largely inadequate for the expression
of Arabic. For example, the "B" and "T" are indistinguishable and so are the "Kh", "7a", and "J" and the
"Z" and "R". Moreover, letters such as the "B", "Y", and "N" are indistinguishable in the initial and medial
positions. Thus, dotting was sometimes used to resolve ambiguities. Despite those major inadequacies, the
prestige of the Nabataean Aramaic script outweighed other considerations.[1]

While the script of prestige in Northern Arabia was the Nabataean script, the script of prestige in Central
Arabia and South Arabia was the Musnad script. Thus, in the Central Arabian town of Qaryat Al-Faw we
find that Arabic inscriptions (see example below) were written using the Ancient South Arabian script. We
also see the same phenomenon is the South at places such as Najran and Haram.
 Arabic inscriptions found in Central Arabia such as the above use the Musnad script.

The prestigious script in central Arabia as demonstrated at Qaryat Al-Faw is Sabaic. So the orthography of
the great reading negates a central Arabian origin. In central and south Arabia, the Sabaic script remained
the prestige script until the Islamic era when it was displaced by the Nabataean Aramaic script of the great
reading.

In the Roman affiliated Ghassanid provinces of northern Arabia, Greek increasingly became the prestige
language of politics and religion starting around the mid fourth century CE and thus took over as the
prestige religious script. This is confirmed by two pre-quranic leaves of parchment bearing a part of the
Septuagint text of Psalm 78 (LXX, 77) with an Arabic explanation written in Greek script [2]. On the other
hand, in southwestern Iraq and the border areas of Northern Arabia, the Lakhmid provinces continued to
use Nabataean Aramaic as the script of prestige for writing Arabic.

Given the physical archeological evidence above and the fact that there was no specific script associated
with Arabic, the great reading was simply written in the script of prestige of the region where it originated.
At the late sixth century CE, the Nabataean Aramaic script was the script of prestige in the Northern
Arabian Lakhmid provinces and border towns, just as the Musnad script was in central Arabia. So this
completely negates that the great reading was originally written in a central Arabian town such as present-
day Mecca otherwise it would have been written in the far more suitable Musnad script, which was the
script of prestige for that region. This also completely negates that the great reading was originally revealed
in a Roman town such as Jerusalem or the Ghassanids towns around it where Greek was the prestige script.
The only logical conclusion based on the evidence is that the great reading must have originated in a north
Arabian Lakhmid province where Nabataean Aramaic was the prestige script.

As an interesting side note, we see in the great reading Nabataean idols such as Manat spelled using the
Nabataean spelling with a medial "waw" ("mnwt") as opposed to the Arabic spelling ("mnt"). This further
supports that the great reading was revealed in an area where Nabataean Aramaic was the prestige script
and hence the scribes adopted the foreign Nabataean spelling of the proper name that they are used to
instead of the Old Arabic spelling, which matches the Arabic pronunciation.

By connecting the locations of Old Arabic inscriptions in the Nabataean script on the map (see figure
below), we get an idea of the general area where the great reading could have been originally written.
Given that by the late sixth century CE, the upper parts of that area, such as Avdat and Umm Aljimal would
have been under strong Roman influence and Greek would have become the prestige language, this leaves
us with towns in the lower part of that area as the most likely candidates for where the great reading
originated. This would be somewhere between Hegra and Hira, including towns such as Domat-Al-Jandal,
Tabuk, Tayma, etc. Unlike the isolated and insignificant town later named Mecca, all those towns were
significant towns on major trade routes and had diverse multi-faith populations. Thus, any of them would
fit much better the description given in the great reading as "umm al-qura" (an expression akin to "mother
of settlements" or "the cradle of civilization").

Any of those towns in the Lakhmid provinces and border areas would also fit much better the clearly multi-
faith environment where the great reading was revealed. Between the fourth and sixth century CE, Roman
Christians have been persecuting other faiths such as Jews and even other Christian sects that they viewed
as heretic such as Nestorians and Monophysites. As a result, those groups increasingly moved to the
Lakhmid areas were they were tolerated and welcomed as a result of their opposition to the Romans. Thus,
unlike Roman Christians, the Nasara are never described as being Trinitarians. In 5:72-73 we see that the
term Nasara doesn't occur. The passage condemns as unappreciative/rejecters/"kuffar" Monophysites (5:72)
and Roman Trinitarians (5:73). On the other hand, 9:30-33 describes the Nasara as "mushrikeen" (setting
up partners) for claiming that Jesus is son of The God. The Nestorians fit this description because they
rejected the Trinity and emphasized the humanity of Jesus. We know from archeological evidence that the
Lakhmid areas were the main center for Nestorians.

Unlike the Roman provinces where intolerance towards other religions was rampant, it seems that
paganism as well as a multitude of faiths were tolerated and continued to flourish under the Lakhmids. This
plus the Christian and Jewish scholarship in the area provides the context of the multi-faith environment
that the great reading was revealed in (see 22:17). The area where the prophet originally lived was likely a
cosmopolitan north Arabian trading border town that maintained a somewhat neutral disposition and
tolerant attitude for commercial reasons. This way, they could serve as a hub and trade with the Persians,
the Romans, and any other political entity in the region. Business came first.

This cosmopolitan influence is clear and hence we can see loan words into the Arabic of the great reading
that have been borrowed directly from Middle Persian. Some examples are:

"istabraq": brocade (76:21)

"kanz": treasure (9:35, 9:34, 11:12, 18:82, 25:8, 18:82, 26:58, 28:76)

"dirham": silver coin (12:20)

"jund": army/soldiers (36:28, 36:75, 38:11, 44:24, 67:20, 19:75, 37:173, 48:4, etc.)

Unlike the great reading, pre-quranic inscriptions in the Musnad script use the South Arabian word "jaysh"
not "jund" for army/soldiers. Given that the Lakhmids had military alliances with the Persians, this is
consistent with the great reading being revealed in a Lakhmid province or border town where Persian
influence on the local Arabic dialect in the domain of military lingo would be stronger than central/south
Arabian influence.

As we saw above, based on the orthographic evidence from the great reading itself and physical
archeological evidence, the great reading must have originated in a north Arabian Lakhmid province or
border town and not in a central Arabian area such as the area later known as Mecca. So if Mecca was not
the town where the great reading was originally descended and the prophet lived, why did it take on this
myth?

WHY MECCA?

To understand what really happened, we need to know that the examples that The God gives us in the great
reading are directly relevant to our lives. In all the examples, the majority of people reverted to paganism
and their misguided ways after they had received guidance. We know from the great reading that the people
of the prophet venerated idols called Allat, Aluzza and Manat (53:19-20) and this is confirmed by
archeological evidence. We also need to know that there is nothing in the great reading that even remotely
suggests that paganism was eradicated in Arabia and the fact that paganism continued to flourish under the
Arab kingdom is confirmed by the evidence from manuscripts of independent non-Islamic sources.

With this in mind, let's observe what is going on in present day Mecca. If you go to Mecca, you will see
that people are spinning seven times around a stone cube dressed in a black garment ("kiswah"). The focal
point of the stone cube is what the pilgrims call the "Black Stone". It is set in the southeast corner of the
stone cube precisely facing the winter sunrise. You will see the pilgrims compete to kiss the Black Stone. If
you stop any of the pilgrims and ask them why they are performing the above rituals, they will answer that
by performing the above rituals, their sins will be forgiven and they will return as if they are newborns.

The precise alignment of the Black Stone with the winter sunrise is not coincidental. Allat, the main idol of
the prophet's people, was a fertility goddess and this is confirmed by archeological evidence from
Nabataean sites. As typical of such fertility goddesses their symbols and rituals are related to the sun. In
this case, the direction of the winter sunrise marks the location where the sun is "reborn". Now if you take a
closer look, you will see that the enclosure of the Black Stone is in the shape of a dilated female vulva and
the Black Stone is in the shape of the crown of the head of the newborn baby deity as it is coming out of the
vulva.

Come closer yet and you will see that people are kissing the head of the newborn baby deity. Kissing the
head is an ancient Arab tradition for asking for forgiveness. So kissing the top of the head of the newborn
idol as traditionally done to ask for forgiveness, results in the pagan's sins being wiped out as if he or she
was a newborn.

Hang around for a while and you will observe that people spin seven times around the Black Stone. A pre-
quranic manuscript written by Epiphanius in the fourth century CE describes the ritual of spinning seven
times as part of the birth festivals of the Nabataean idols Allat and Dhushara around the winter solstice. The
number seven was considered sacred in Arab and pagan symbolism in general because of the five sacred
planets plus the sun and the moon that the ancients venerated. To this day many people in the Arab world
celebrate what is termed in Arabic Subu', which is a traditional festival that takes place on the seventh day
after the birth of a newborn and on the seventh day after a pilgrims' return. Like the pagan pilgrimage that
we observed and Epiphanius described, as part of the Subu' birth celebrations, people traditionally go
around the house seven times while carrying the newborn baby.

Observe the pilgrims some more and you will see some of them running between two hills. Ask one of
them why they do it and he or she will answer that this ritual is symbolic for looking for water for a
newborn child. In all the above empirical observations, one can immediately see the strong connection
between ideology, rituals and symbols that form concerted pagan celebrations of a fertility goddess giving
birth. Those pagan rituals and symbols were simply appropriated into the new popular religion.

As a goddess of fertility, this would make Allat equivalent to the Greek goddess Aphrodite. This would also
make her equivalent to the Roman goddess Venus, the Semitic goddess Astarte/Ashtoreth, the
Mesopotamian Ishtar, the Vedic goddess Kali, the Anatolian Cybele, and Frigga in the Norse mythos. Such
fertility mother goddess was worshipped all over the ancient world under various names. Interestingly,
black stones like the one in Mecca are commonly associated with such goddesses. For example, the
following picture shows a black stone that was venerated at the Temple of Aphrodite, near Paphos, Cyprus.

Black stone of Aphrodite

Black phallic stones were also widely associated with the cult of Cybele, the ancient Anatolian fertility
goddess; and similar egg-shaped black stones are, to this day, revered in Indian temples to the Hindu
fertility goddess Kali, who is also known as Black Mother.

Interestingly, according to Greek mythology Aphrodite's beauty is kept in a black cube. Allat has a
particularly strong association with Aphrodite because Aphrodite is the Hellenized Allat. In post-quranic
times we hear from Roman Christian sources about Aphrodite being worshipped by Arab pagans as late as
the 8th century, long after the death of the prophet[3]. So paganism was not eradicated in Arabia as traditions
contend but remained and reemerged.

Cyprus, the island of Aphrodite is also home to the highly venerated Hala Sultan Tekke shrine (many
consider it the third holiest shrine of Islam). Like the shrine in Mecca, it too has a black rock, said to have
fallen as a meteorite as part of the tritholon over the shrine. The shrine is also to a woman named Umm
Haram, the alleged foster mother of the prophet.

Another interesting common thread that runs through several of those idols is that they all had association
with Friday. For example, Ashtoreth is connected to Friday. So is Venus, where the Romans named Friday
after her as "dies veneris". The very name Friday is derived from the Norse goddess, Frigga. When the
Germanic tribes invaded England they imposed their goddess upon the day meant to honor Venus. The day
was called Frigedaeg, which gradually became "Friday". I don't think that it is a coincidence that Friday
also became the "holy day" for sectarians who venerate Allat/Aphrodite and her black cube and Black
Stone.

Also another interesting commonality is that such fertility goddesses were often veiled. Like the fertility
goddess Cybele's veil, which covered her whole body, Allat's stone cube was also veiled with a black
"dress". This practice of veiling the stone cube of the female goddess (and females in general) with a black
dress continues to this day.

There is nothing particularly unique or amazing about what I am saying. All prior nations have reverted to
paganism to one degree or another shortly after the death of their prophet. We can see this, for example, in
Christianity's appropriation of pagan symbols and festivals such as Christmas. This is human nature. To
think that we are somehow unlike other humans is nothing more than arrogant denial. This is in line with
what the great reading tells us:

12:106. And the majority of them do not have faith in The God except while they are idolaters.

If we believe in 12:106, then we must know that the majority of people who have faith in The God are
idolaters who associate idols such as Allat with The God as we saw above. If those idolaters who are the
majority wanted to maintain their illogical and indefensible pagan symbols and rituals while avoiding
logical criticism, then what better way than to claim that the prophet himself did like they do and that their
pagan symbols are mentioned in the great reading? By hijacking the common noun "maka(t)"/destruction in
the great reading (48:24) an insignificant town with a small pagan temple became the rallying center of
paganism. Sometime in the late Umayyad - early Abbasid era is when this location seems to have gained
importance and the reintroduction of Allat's beloved pagan symbols and rituals under the guise of the new
religion was completed.

How were billions of men and women who profess to trust in The God and the great reading tricked into
serving Allat by adoring her stone symbols and performing her rituals? In a twist of irony, as many of those
men and women aged and estimated that death is near, they hastened to go to Allat believing that kissing
her newborn's stone head or even just waving at it and spinning seven times around her stone cube would
make them sinless. They believed that by doing those mindless rituals and honoring those inert objects they
were doing something good. They thought that they would die in peace and go to heaven. Alas, in reality
they were committing unforgivable idolatry and buying their way to unavoidable hell. Those people are not
nameless and faceless. They are most of our forefathers, our grandparents, our parents, our loved ones, us
and probably our children. How did it come to this? Indeed, this is the question we need to try to answer
next from the great reading so that perhaps we can protect them from a fire whose fuel is people and stones,
if The God willed. To be continued...

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER:

2:2. This is the book no doubt in it, a guidance for the forethoughtful.

This article reflects my personal interpretation of the verses of the reading as of January 5, 2006. I will try
to improve my understanding of the great reading and the universe, except if The God wills and perhaps my
Lord guides me to what is nearer in rationality. Please verify all information within for yourself as
commanded in 17:36, and remember that simply "none" is the forethoughtful answer to 45:6. If The God
willed, the outcome of this article will be beneficial.

-------------------------

NOTES
 MCA Macdonald, "Reflections on the linguistic map of pre-Islamic Arabia." Arabian arch. epig.
[1]

2000: 11: 28–79.

[2]
The fragment was first published in Violet B. Ein zweisprachiges Psalmfragment aus Damascus
and was recently restudied by M.C.A. Macdonald who has demonstrated that it dates to the pre-
Islamic period.

For example, see: Hoyland, R., Seeing Islam as others saw it, The Darwin Press: Princeton, NJ,
[3]

2001: 105-106, 485-486.

HOW DID IT COME TO THIS? (PART 2)

By Ayman (e-mail: drayman@fast-email.com)

INTRODUCTION

In part 1 we saw that billions of sectarian Muslims across generations idolize the symbols of the Arab
pagan goddess Allat and perform rituals that are meant for celebrating the rebirth of the fertility idol. In this
part 2, we will be looking at a possible explanation from the great reading itself of how this (and all such
lies) happened. When I started writing this article, it was solely about the location of where the great
reading was originally revealed and exposing the sectarians' pagan rituals and symbols. As The God helped
me progress, I realized that "what happened" or "where it happened" is not as important as fundamentally
"how it happened". I am writing this introduction about half way through Part 2 and there are some
unanswered issues still remaining. I would venture to say that, even at this stage, I feel that the findings
here are far more important than Part 1. It is as if through the billions of sectarian Muslims who committed
unforgivable idolatry, The God somehow provides guidance to us.

WHAT IS ALLAT?

Let's look in the great reading for answers. Since as we saw, the symbols and rituals are connected with the
idol Allat, let's find out what information we are given about her in the great reading. In chapter 53 we hear
about the belief of the pagans in Allat, Aluzza and Manat:

53:19-28.

Have you seen Allat and Aluzza and Manat, the third one?

Do you have the male and He has the female? This is a false division.

These are but names that you and your forefathers named. The God never authorized such. They
follow conjecture and what the selves fantasize, while the guidance has come to them from their
Lord.

Or will the human have what he wishes for?

To The God are the ending and the beginning and how many controllers in the heavens their
intercession doesn't benefit anything except after The God permits for whom He wills and approves.

Those who don't have faith in the ending have named the controllers feminine names and they had
no knowledge about this. They only follow conjecture and conjecture doesn't benefit anything of the
truth.
From the above passage, we can see that those who believed in Allat and her consorts thought that they
were controllers ("malaika"). We know from archeological evidence that Allat was a fertility goddess. So
the prophets' people specifically believed that Allat controls fertility. We also hear that they were following
conjecture and their own fantasies. In reality they were not serving the controllers but they were serving the
"jinn" as we are told here:

34:40-41. And on the day He gathers them all and then He says to the controllers: "Were these
serving you?" They say: "You be exalted, you are our ally without them, they were serving the
"jinn", most of them have faith in them.

Those who serve Allat by venerating her symbols and performing her rituals are actually serving the "jinn".
So Allat is actually a "jinn". This is further confirmed by the following passages:

6:100. And they made for The God partners the "jinn" and their creation and they made up for Him
sons and daughters without knowledge, be He exalted and He is above what they describe.

37:158-159. And they made between Him and the "jinn" a kinship while the "jinn" know that they
are summoned. The God be most exalted above what they describe.

We also hear from other passages that the "jinn" are the fuel of fire:

72:15. And as for the deviators, they are the fuel of hell.

By connecting 72:15 and 34:40-41 to 21:98, which says that the gods that the idolaters serve are the fuel of
hell, we can see that people who serve the "jinn" take them as gods:

21:98. You and what you serve other than The God are the fuel of hell, you are entering it. Had those
been gods, they wouldn't have entered it and all are forever in it.

But by applying 17:36, we know from our empirical observations that Allat is nothing more than the
figment of imagination of people. In other words, she is just someone's fantasy. So now we can empirically
verify that 25:43 and 45:23 are connected to 21:98 and 34:40-41 and complement them:

25:43. Have you seen the one who took his god as his fantasy? So would you be a guardian on him?

45:23. Have you seen the one who took his god as his fantasy and The God misguided him despite his
knowledge and sealed his hearing and his heart and distorted his sight? So who guides him after The
God? Don't you remember?

WHAT ARE THE "JINN"?

By putting all the above passages together, we can clearly see that the "jinn" are in fact equivalent to the
"fantasy". This is confirmed by 6:71:

6:71. Say: "Do we call upon other than The God what doesn't benefit or harm us and we get turned
on our heels after that The God guided us? Like the one who those exceeding in rebellion fantasized
him in the earth, confused he has companions inviting him to guidance: "Come to us."" Say: "The
God's guidance is the guidance and we are commanded to comply to The Lord of the worlds."

As we can see above, it is those exceeding in rebellion ("shayateen") that fantasize humans in the earth. So
now we can go back and translate "jinn" in the above passages as "fantasies" and see if it fits:
34:40-41. And on the day He gathers them all and then He says to the controllers: "Were these
serving you?" They say: "You be exalted, you are our ally without them, they were serving the
fantasies, most of them have faith in them.

37:158. And they made between Him and the fantasies a kinship while the fantasies know that they
are summoned.

6:100. And they made for The God partners the fantasies and their creation and they made up for
Him sons and daughters without knowledge, be He exalted and He is above what they describe.

Notice that in 6:100, the partners that the idolaters made are said to be the fantasies and their creation. This
is exactly what Allat is. It is someone's fantasy and the physical idols (the stone cube and the Black Stone
in its corner) are the creation of that fantasy. This is confirmed by 29:17 where Ibrahim describes a
situation similar to that of present day sectarians:

29:17. But what you serve other than The God are idols and you create falsehood. What you serve
other than The God do not control for you any sustenance, therefore seek the sustenance at the God
and serve Him and be grateful to Him; to Him you shall be returned.

Notice that Ibrahim in 29:17 says that those idols do not control any sustenance for his people. So clearly
his people believed that those idols control for them their sustenance, in other words, they believed that
they are controllers exactly as 34:40-41 was describing. There is no doubt that similar to what Ibrahim
faced, anyone who destroys Allat's stone cube and Black Stone will face painful torture and probably death
at the hands of the sectarians.

So for all intents and purposes a "jinn" is our hidden fantasy, our imagination. Our purpose both is to serve
The God:

51:56. And I didn't create the fantasies and the humans except to serve.

Controlled fantasies drive beautiful designs and beneficial inventions. On the other hand, if we let our
fantasies have power over us, then they become exceeding in rebellion ("shaytan") and they misguide us
away from the path of The God. As can be seen from passages such as 7:18, 11:119, 32:13, 38:85, both the
humans and the fantasies that are exceeding in rebellion will fill hell. Stone idols such as Allat are the
physical expression of those exceeding in rebellion fantasies. Hence, we are also told that humans and
stones are the fuel of hell (see 2:24. 66:6).

The story of Solomon gives us an example of what happens when fantasies are made to obey The God and
are properly controlled.

27:17. Assembled for Solomon were his soldiers from the fantasies and the humans and the flying
creatures and they were organized.

38:37-38. And those exceeding in rebellion every builder and excavator and others who are linked in
chains.

In the same way that uncontrolled fantasies make people create stone idols such as Allat, when chained
(controlled) they can also make people create building and excavation machinery. In the same way that
stone idols are the physical expression of the fantasies that are increasing in rebellion, beneficial inventions
such as building and excavating machinery are the physical expression of the controlled fantasies. We can
use those building and excavating machineries to make useful things:
34:12-14. And for Solomon the wind, its coming one full-moon and its going one full-moon and we
flowed for him the fountain of molten metal and from the fantasies are those who work within his
power with the permission of his Lord and whoever deviates from our order, we make him taste from
the torment of burning. They make for him what he wills from private rooms and models and
containers like deep wells boilers built into the ground. "Work appreciatively family of Dawood and
a small number of my servants are appreciative." So when we decreed death on him, nothing showed
them his death except a creeping creature of the earth eating his staff so when he fell the fantasies
realized that had they known the hidden, they wouldn't have remained in the disgracing torment.

Another passage that we can now better understand is 27:39:

27:39. One from the fantasies who stirs up the sand said: "I bring it to you before you cease from
your situation and I am on it strong and trusty."

According to Classical Arabic dictionaries, the Arabic word 3"/‫عفففر‬afar" means "to stir up the sand".
Therefore, the word "3ifrit" in 27:39 would mean something like "one who stirs up the sand". We know
from other passages that Solomon was taught the logic of flying creatures:

27:16. And Solomon inherited from Dawood and said: "People, we have been taught the logic of
flying creatures and we were given from everything, indeed this is the revealing favor."

By connecting 27:16 and 27:39, we can see that Solomon combined the knowledge about the logic of
flying creatures with controlled fantasies to perhaps create one from the fantasies who stirs up the sand (this
could be a flying machine, perhaps some kind of a helicopter, a rocket, or a hovercraft that stirs up the sand
as it takes off or moves). The lesson learned here is that by combining knowledge with controlled fantasies,
we can produce beneficial things. For all intents and purposes, such inventions can be considered the
physical representation of the fantasies.

On the other hand, when we follow our fantasies without knowledge, in other words we let our fantasies
and the fantasies of others have power over us, then we are misguided:

30:29. But those who are unjust followed their fantasies without knowledge, so who guides the one
who The God misguides and they don't have supporters?

Our hidden fantasy is linked to us. On the day of the account, people's hidden fantasies that are linked to
them will be readily apparent to everyone.

50:23. And The one who is linked to him said: "This is what I readily have."

If we don't control the hidden fantasy then it becomes exceeding in rebellion and we will go astray as we
saw above in 30:29:

50:27-29. The one who is linked to him said: "Our Lord, I didn't cause him to transgress but he was
far astray". He said: "Do not quarrel at Me and I had already gave you the warning. The saying is
not changed with me and I am not unjust to the servants." And We say to hell: "Are you full?" And it
says: "Is there more?"

See also 4:38 and 41:25:

41:25. And we assign to them linked companions so they decorate for them what is between their
hands (the present) and what is behind them (the past). And the saying is true on them in nations that
passed before them from the fantasies and the humans that they are losers.
We control the fantasy by remembering the Almighty:

43:36-38. And whoever withdraws from remembering The Almighty, we assign to him one who is
exceeding in rebellion so he becomes linked to him. And they hinder from the path and deduce that
they are guided. Until when he comes to us, he says: "I wish the distance of the two sunrises was
between you and me (i.e., you were on the other side of the earth), what a miserable one who is
linked."

The Arabic word "jinn" is also related to the word "majnoon", which is used to mean "crazy", in other
words, someone whose mind is in the fantasy world and detached from reality. The word is used in two
passages that talk about what the prophet saw at the highest/revealing horizon, namely 53:1-18 and 81:22-
23. The passages share a particular refutation for the companions of the prophet:

53:2-3. Your companion did not go astray and deviate and he doesn't speak from the fantasy.

81:21. Your companion is not crazy.

Notice that the first passage starts with saying that "your companion did not go astray and deviate and he
doesn't speak from the fantasy" and the second passage starts with "your companion is not crazy (his mind
is in a fantasy)". Now we can see that those two passages are actually refuting an overlapping assertion by
the companions of the prophet. This is because speaking from the fantasy is related to being
crazy/"majnoon" (someone whose mind is in a fantasy).

As further confirmation of the present understanding, let's apply the same meaning of "fantasy" in different
kinds of occurrences of the word "jinn" and its derivatives. For example, here we apply it to 15:27:

15:27. And the fantasy, we created it previously from smokeless fire (energy?).

Scientists have learned for sometime now that there are certain dominant brainwave patterns associated
with imagination. Brainwaves are energy. The information given to us in 15:27 and 55:15 could perhaps be
interpreted to mean that the fantasy was created from energy.

Another passage where "jinn" is mentioned in a different context is 27:10:

27:10. And throw your staff, so when he saw it shake like a fantasy, he turned back...

In 28:31 and 27:10, we are told that Moses saw his staff shake as if it was a fantasy. One can readily see
that the meaning of "fantasy" fits in those passages as the staff was shaking as if one is imagining it.

Now when we read passages such as 55:56 and 55:74, it can be understood that they are giving allegories
of things in heaven that no human or fantasy has ever touched (i.e., has ever been able to understand). In
other words, they are things that are far better than what we can comprehend in the familiar physical world
and even what we can imagine and fantasize about:

55:74. No human or fantasy previously touched.

Similarly, 17:88 can be understood as saying that something like this reading cannot be produced by
humans and their fantasy/imagination.

17:88. Say: "If the humans and the fantasies assembled together to bring the like of this reading, they
wouldn't bring like it, if even had they been supporters for each other."
In chapter 72, we hear that a group of the fantasies listened to the great reading. Since, as we saw above,
fantasies are inherently linked to humans, so this means that those were the fantasies of a group of humans
that were listening. The fantasies are paraphrased as saying that they were amazed by the reading and
realized upon hearing it that The God did not have a female companion or children. They continue by
saying that they believed that the humans and the fantasies would not say lies about The God (i.e., that the
humans would not fantasize lies about The God). The same event is recounted differently in 46:29-32 so we
know that those descriptions are not literal quotes but are paraphrasing what is to be learned from the
passage. Now, one might ask: how can our fantasies listen, have conversations and so on? It is in the same
way that mountains can choose (33:72) and our hands and legs can talk and testify (36:65). All creatures
have a hidden side that we are unaware of. We are only aware of mountains and brainwaves but not their
hidden side. Interestingly, 17:78 gives special importance to reading at dawn by saying that it is witnessed.
Scientists have found out that when we had just woken up at dawn, the associated brainwave pattern (called
Alpha) is a state of relaxed alertness that is good for inspiration and learning.

The passage continues in 72:6 by paraphrasing the fantasies as saying that men from the humans used to
seek refuge in men from the fantasies so they increased them in hardship. This is what one would expect
since unlike "one who stirs up the sand from the fantasy" in 27:39, "men from the fantasies" like an
imaginary friend cannot be realized and really help with anything and if one seeks help from them as if they
are real this will likely lead to psychological disorder.

The next part is perhaps one of the most puzzling in all of the great reading. It talks about the fantasies
"touching" the heaven and finding it filled with guards and bombardments. A similar passage is in 55:33-35
and 37:7-10 so perhaps those can shed light on this puzzle.

55:33-35. O consorts of fantasies and humans if you can pass through the casings of the heavens and
the earth, then pass through. You will not pass through without authority. So which of your Lord's
marvels do you deny? He sends on both of you projectiles from fire and sparks so you don't prevail.

We can see from 55:33-35 that The God sends on both (dual) the fantasies and the humans projectiles of
fire and sparks if they try to pass through the casings of the heavens and the earth. Since given our present
state of knowledge, scientists haven't been able to know what would happen to an object that passes
through regular space (into what is commonly known as hyperspace), let's focus on what we know, which is
the earth. We know that even with all the scientific advancements today, no one has ever been able to
penetrate beyond a few miles into the earth. Scientists predict that in the earth is encased an inner core that
has a temperature of 7000 degrees Celsius and a pressure of 45 million pounds per square inch (or about
3.5 million times atmospheric pressure). So indeed passing through the earth would be impossible for
humans and the fantasies. The immense pressures and temperatures will surely destroy anyone or any
creation of our fantasies (such as an earth penetrating machine) that tries to pass through.

The passage in 34:14 makes it clear that the fantasies do not know the hidden:

34:14. So when We decreed on him death, nothing indicated to them his death except a mover of the
earth eating his staff. So when he fell, it was revealed to the fantasies that had they known the
hidden, they wouldn't have stayed in the degrading suffering.

Perhaps we can understand the suffering of the fantasies in 34:14 by understanding the opposite of their
suffering, which is their enjoyment:

6:128. And at the time when He gathers them together, "O consorts of fantasies you took a lot of the
humans" and their protectors from the humans said: "our Lord, we enjoyed one another and we
reached our term that You appointed for us." He said: "The fire is your abode, everlasting in it,
except what The God willed, your Lord is wise, knowledgeable.
We know that for humans uncontrolled fantasies are indeed enjoyable. People generally enjoy indulging in
uncontrolled fantasies about wealth, power, and lust. So according to 6:128, humans enjoy uncontrolled
fantasies and likewise the fantasies get enjoyment when the humans let them be uncontrolled in that way.
So Solomon has caused the fantasies that were exceeding in rebellion to suffer by the degradation of
controlling them and preventing them from getting enjoyment. It is interesting to note that shortly upon the
death of all prophets, most of their people have returned to their misguided ways.

Let's continue to apply the same meaning of "fantasy" in other kinds of occurrences of the word "jinn":

6:112. And like this we made for each prophet enemies, those exceeding in rebellion from the humans
and the fantasies, they inspire one another with fancy sayings out of arrogance and had The God
willed, they wouldn't have done it. So leave them and what they make up.

We can now see that 6:122 is talking about an empirically verifiable fact. Namely, false but "fancy" sayings
come from the inspirational interaction between humans and their fantasies/imagination.

A certain antecedent fantasy is described in several places in the great reading as taking part of an
important turning point:

2:34. And when We said to the controllers: "Obey Adam so they obeyed except Iblis/"iblis?" refused
and was arrogant and was from the unappreciative.

7:11. And we had created you then shaped you then said to the controllers obey Adam so they obeyed
except Iblis/"iblis" was not from those who obey.

15:30-31. So all the controllers obeyed except Iblis/"iblis?" refused to be with those who obey.

17:61. And when We said to the controllers obey Adam so they obeyed except Iblis/"iblis?", he said:
"Do I obey who you created as mud?"

18:50. And when We said to the controllers obey Adam so they obeyed except Iblis/"iblis?" was from
the fantasies so he deviated from the command of his Lord. So do you take him and his descendants
as protectors other than Me while they are your enemy? Miserable is this substitution for the unjust.

20:116. And when We said to the controllers obey Adam so they obeyed except Iblis/"iblis?" refused.

38:73-74. So all the controllers together obeyed except Iblis/"iblis?" was arrogant and was from the
unappreciative.

As can be seen from the above, Iblis (which as a common noun means: "one who is stuck") was supposed
to obey the human Adam. In the same way that we are descendants of Adam, our fantasies are the
descendants of Iblis/"one who is stuck" (see 18:50).

Another piece of information that can be seen from the above passages is that this antecedent fantasy was
one of the controllers/"malaika". Contrary to popular belief, the word "malaika" doesn't mean "angels". The
Arabic word "malaika" is the plural of "malak". The word "malak" means "one who controls/owns", i.e. a
controller. According to 3:26, "mlk"/control is a status that can be given and taken away by The God:

3:26. Say: "O The God, controller of control, You give control to whom you will and take away
control from whom you will and you give power to whom you will and you make powerless whom
you will, goodness is with your hand (i.e., your power), You are capable over everything.
From 3:26, it can be seen that control is given to anyone and taken away from anyone by The God at any
time. 3:26 makes it clear that being one from the "malaika"/controllers is a status, not some kind of
mythical creature flying around in a white robe with a halo over the head. Thus, the controllers can be any
creature that The God gave this status to. As long as they obey The God, they remain in that status. If one
of them chooses to disobey The God, as Iblis/"one who is stuck" did, then The God takes from him this
status and he is no longer a controller.

Connecting the passages such as 2:34 above with what we learned so far about controlling the fantasies and
not letting them control us, we can see that if we make the fantasies obey us as their ancestor should have
done in the above passages then we both can fulfill our purpose to serve The God as stated in 51:56.

51:56. And I didn't create the fantasies and the humans except to serve.

CONCLUSION

We started out this article by asking "how did it come to this?" We tried to get to the root cause of the
symptoms that we can see around us. The great reading provides a unique link between symptoms and
hidden root causes. Those are links that we can all empirically verify and personally relate to. Going
through the process of getting to our findings is at least as important as the findings themselves. Personally,
going through this process has had a profound effect on me and my life and has increased my trust in The
God's message.

In this process, we examined empirical observations in the world around us. For example, we looked at
what sectarians do today at the place that their predecessors named Mecca and we looked at physical
archeological evidence. We then looked at the evidence from the great reading and compared it to empirical
observations. It is thus that we were able to find out what "jinn" means.

We can even test our understanding with any such "symptom", past or present. For example, sectarians
today fantasize that the prophet can intercede on their behalf and can control who goes to heaven. Thus, one
may think that they idolize the prophet. However, upon closer examination of the root cause of this
symptom, one can see that they are in fact not idolizing the real prophet but they are idolizing an imagined
prophet, i.e. a fantasy. So when they implore this fantasized prophet they are in fact serving nothing more
than a fantasy. Another example is Jesus. What Christians actually idolize and serve is not Jesus but in fact
is an imagined Jesus, i.e. a fantasy. In fact, you can test this understanding by applying it to all such
symptoms of setting partners with The God and you would always get to the same fundamental root cause.
It is also a fact that in all such tests, you would never get to the root cause as being reptilians/snakes as the
Bible contends or ghosts as sectarian mythology contends.

As a side note, the word "jinn" is also related to the word "jannat", which means a garden. However, one
can now see that it is not just any garden but a fantastic garden. As an interesting side note, while the
"jinn"/fantasies are the fuel of hell, there is no evidence in the great reading of any "jinn"/fantasies in the
fantastic garden ("jannat"). Those who go to heaven, by The God's mercy, will have free will. As we can
see from passages such as 16:31, they simply will something and they get it:

16:31. Gardens of residence, they enter it, the rivers flow beneath it, for them in it what they will, like
that The God reimburses the forethoughtful.

Of course, if someone simply wills something and gets it then there is no need to fantasize it. So fantasies
become unnecessary and are not needed in the fantastic garden/"jannat". On the other hand, "jinn"/fantasies
being the fuel of hell would imply that hell is the realization of our worst fantasies or the worst thing that
we can even imagine.
With this understanding we can see how everything in the great reading including Iblis and the "jinn"
interrelates to our lives and the empirical realities that we can observe. Moreover, we can now see that the
great reading provides us with simple yet extremely powerful guidance. We can see that we simply have to
control our fantasies and not let them or those of others control us. There are so many new doors that open
as a result of this improved understanding of "jinn" and if The God willed, this will help us to better
understand the great reading and the world. For example, we can better understand the following passage:

4:78-79. Wherever you are, death will reach you even if you were in fortified towers. And if good
comes to them, they say: "This is from The God". And if bad comes to them, they say: "This is from
you". Say: "All is from The God", so what is the matter with those people they almost can't
understand any saying?

What comes to you from good is from The God and what comes to you from bad is from yourself and
We sent you to humankind as a messenger and The God suffices as a witness.

We can empirically see that what bad that may come, for example the death of a loved one, although it may
be bad for you, it is actually good when we look at the big picture. Death in general serves as a good
reminder that this low life is not important and that it is the hereafter that matters. If the person served The
God, The Truth, then they will enter the fantastic garden and this is good. On the other hand, if the person
served the fantasies then death would indeed have been a bad thing for him/her but the badness came from
him/herself not from The God. Indeed, when we hear that all comes from The God and good comes from
The God, this means that all that comes from The God is good. Also, we can now see from the first chapter
of the great reading that The God can guide us to the straight path (a good thing) by contrasting it with the
path of the strayers. So, in a way, The God can accomplish good even from the strayers who spin seven
times around an idol and kiss the crown of the re-born idol head. Perhaps, without their misguidance, we
wouldn't have improved our understanding of what "jinn" means.

1:7. Guide us the straight path, the path of those You bestowed Your favor on, those who have not
earned anger at them and not the strayers.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER:

2:2. This is the book no doubt in it, a guidance for the forethoughtful.

This article reflects my personal interpretation of the passages of the great reading and of physical
archeological evidence as of February 18, 2006. I will try to improve my understanding of the great reading
and the universe, except if The God wills and perhaps my Lord guides me to what is nearer in rationality.
Please verify all information within for yourself as commanded in 17:36, and remember that simply "none"
is the forethoughtful answer to 45:6. If The God willed, the outcome of this article will be beneficial.