[welihiedginly]

Islam is just copying of Jewish and Christian epics - this was one of the modern day accusations against Islam.

Strange that these people did not know that both Jewish and Christian people were present at the time of revelation of Islam and they too had objections to it which were quite different.

Then there were the objections that Shariah is rehashing of Roman Law.

Strange that the very same people have nothing against Roman Law and every thing against Shariah.

And the story continues.

One modern day accusation against Islam is that it, that is Islam, is a mere recantation of old Sumarian tales.

It does not cost a dime to make an allegation but phising is not a new new invention.

Believers will have the duty to defend truth against falsehood till the Last day.

We shall try to investigate about the epic of Gilgamesh in this thread, the mainstay of old Sumarian tales. I suppose Hindus should be getting more incensed by this for some people are asserting that it is the oldest surviving book of human civilization.

But I digress.

Your thoughts on it.

[j2Y6Ysmb]

Brother Maripat, why is this problematic?

As far as I understand, Islam is nothing new.
It's the Way Adam (s) followed.

Islam as we see it (the Revelation to our Prophet ) functions as a remembrance to mankind to worship our Lord who is One.
The same Truth has been revealed by thousands of Messenger to different civilizations as mentioned in a well known Hadith.
Before Islam came, the same Truth was mixed with falsehood. Islam simply distinguished falsehood from Truth.
So we will definitely see the occurrence and survival of themes that are in the Qur'an also in other scriptures, books or poems.



Below are some highlights from the Popol Vuh, the religious book of the Maya's, a civilization from south-America.
You'll see that there are elements that share similarity with our deen but there are also alien themes in it, that may have been included later on as falsehood.

Only Heart-of-Sky, alone.
And these are his names:
Maker and Modeler,
Kukulkan,
and Hurricane.

(20:8 ) Allah - there is no god but He. His are the most excellent names.

But there is no one to speak his names.
There is no one to praise his glory.
There is no one to nurture his greatness.
And so Heart-of-Sky thinks,
"Who is there to speak my name?
Who is there to praise me?
How shall I make it dawn?"

(Hadith Qudsi: 'I was a treasure that was not known, so I loved to be known. Hence I created the creatures and I made Myself known to them, and thus they came to know Me.')

Heart-of-Sky only says the word,
"Earth,"
and the earth rises,
like a mist from the sea.
He only thinks of it,
and there it is.
He thinks of mountains,
and great mountains come.
He thinks of trees,
and trees grow on the land.

(36:82) Whenever He wills a thing, He just commands it “Be” and it is.

Then Heart-of-Sky says to the animals,
"Speak, pray to us."
But the creatures can only squawk.
The creatures only howl.
They do not speak like humans.
They do not praise Heart-of-Sky
And so the animals are humbled.
They will serve those who will worship Heart-of-Sky.
And Heart-of-Sky tries again.
Tries to make a giver of respect.
Tries to make a giver of praise.
Here is the new creation,
made of mud and earth.

(15:26) Surely We brought man into being out of dry ringing clay which was wrought from black mud)

It doesn't look very good.
It keeps crumbing and softening.
It looks lopsided and twisted.
It only speaks nonsense.
It cannot multiply.
So Heart-of-Sky lets it dissolved away.
Now Heart-of-Sky plans again.
Our Grandfather and Our Grandmother are summoned.
They are the most wise spirits.
"Determine if we should carve people from wood,"
commands Heart-of-Sky.

(Adam (s) and Eve)

They run their hands over the kernels of corn.
They run their hands over the coral seeds.
"What can we make that will speak and pray?
asks Our Grandfather.
What can we make that will nurture and provide?"
asks Our Grandmother.
They count the days,
the lots of four,
seeking an answer for Heart-of-Sky.
Now they give the answer,
"It is good to make your people with wood.
They will speak your name.
They will walk about and multiply."
"So it is," replies Heart-of-Sky.

(7:172) And recall (0 Prophet) when your Lord brought forth descendants from the loins of the sons of Adam, and made them witnesses against their ownselves. asking them: 'Am I not your Lord?' They said: 'Yes, we do testify.' We did so lest you claim on the Day of Resurrection: 'We were unaware of this.'

And as the words are spoken, it is done.
The doll-people are made
with faces carved from wood.
But they have no blood, no sweat.
They have nothing in their minds.
They have no respect for Heart-of-Sky.
They are just walking about,
But they accomplish nothing.
"This is not what I had in mind,"
says Heart-of-Sky.
And so it is decided to destroy
these wooden people.
Hurricane makes a great rain.
It rains all day and rains all night.
There is a terrible flood
and the earth is blackened.
The creatures of the forest
come into the homes of the doll-people.

(Noah’s flood)


Or are they now going to accuse us of plagiarism of the Maya's.....

[welihiedginly]

@iSoK
Similar thoughts came to my mind when I heard of the problem for the first time.
And I do suppose that what you say is the correct answer.
It is always better to keep the things simple.
But some times one has to indulge persistent people so for their benefit some discussion of little bit of details will not be a bad idea.

[PZXjoe]

@iSoK
But some times one has to indulge persistent people so for their benefit some discussion of little bit of details will not be a bad idea.

Just a request and I hope you wont feel offended if I request you to use commas in your text as most of the time I find it difficult to get your sentence. If you are happy with your style of writing, go ahead.

[welihiedginly]

Just a request and I hope you wont feel offended if I request you to use commas in your text as most of the time I find it difficult to get your sentence. If you are happy with your style of writing, go ahead.

Point well taken sis.
Clarity is all the time on my mind and many times I use extra punctuation marks just to improve communication - even when grammar does not warrant it.

[j2Y6Ysmb]

@iSoK
Similar thoughts came to my mind when I heard of the problem for the first time.
And I do suppose that what you say is the correct answer.
It is always better to keep the things simple.
But some times one has to indulge persistent people so for their benefit some discussion of little bit of details will not be a bad idea.

My apologies if my post hurt you, that was not my intention.

Simplicity does not always mean truth, I think the truth is far more complicated than we can imagine.
Could you be more clear about your last sentence? I didn't get it.
'But some times one has to indulge persistent people so for their benefit some discussion of little bit of details will not be a bad idea.'

And what are your thoughts on this subject?

[PZXjoe]

Point well taken sis.
Clarity is all the time on my mind and many times I use extra punctuation marks just to improve communication - even when grammar does not warrant it.

Well I dont think it is your grammar and I am not even in a position to judge grammar. You have a unique style of writing which I am sure will be liked and understood by many but people with poor English like me might get stuck often. Thanks for considering my request.

[welihiedginly]

My apologies if my post hurt you, that was not my intention. No, nothing of that sort. This thought was no where near me when I replied.
In fact I was agreeing with you near completely.
Simplicity does not always mean truth, I think the truth is far more complicated than we can imagine. I am sorry, here I differ. But we digress so may be we should take up this point some other time.
Could you be more clear about your last sentence? I didn't get it.
'But some times one has to indulge persistent people so for their benefit some discussion of little bit of details will not be a bad idea.'

And what are your thoughts on this subject? Basically I am satisfied with the solution proposed by you.
But people are usually not satisfied with such solutions - some times they seek scholarly arguments.
To satisfy them we some times have to indulge in some detailed explanations. That is what I was trying to say.

So my answer would be like this:

"If Sumarians had similar thoughts to Noble Qur'an then it corroborates the latter because that is what it says that God has been communicating to His slaves over a period of time the same message."