?A great similarity between Islam and Manichaeism... Did Muhammad's religion copy Mani's doctrine
Inside each of us there is darkness and light, and we must listen to the voice of light within us so that we do not go astray, and humanity is the basis of all religions. This is how the Lebanese novelist Amin Maalouf presented, in his novel Gardens of Light, the Manichaean doctrine.
In the novel, Mani, the prophet who began his call around the year 240 AD and said that he is the Seal of the Prophets, speaks about 400 years before the time of the Prophet Muhammad, and says: “I belong to all religions and I do not belong to any of them. They belong to a race or a tribe, and I tell them that they lie to you. Know that in every belief, in every idea, you will find the enlightening material and remove the husks.”
Mani explains the relationship of the world and beings to darkness and light: “At the beginning of the universe, there were two worlds separated from each other: the world of light and the world of darkness. In the gardens of light were all the desired things, and in the darkness were established lust, an overwhelming, urgent, tumultuous lust. And suddenly there was a shock at the borders of the two worlds, The most violent and terrifying shock the universe has known, and then the particles of 'light' mixed with 'darkness' in a thousand different forms, and thus all creatures appeared, celestial bodies and waters, nature and man... In every being and in everything alike, darkness and light coexist and intertwine.
This is a novel and not a presentation of historical documents, but usually, the details of the novels of the Lebanese-French writer specialized in the historical novel are as close as possible to what he found in texts of historians.
Mani ibn Fatik, or Fatq, a Persian descendant of a royal family, was born in 216 AD, in the Babylonian region, in central Iraq, which at that time was part of the Persian Empire.
And he said for the first time that the revelation came to him at the age of twelve, according to the book “Al-Fihrist” by Ibn Al-Nadim: “Mani used to speak, despite his young age, with words of wisdom. When he was twelve years old, the revelation came to him, according to his saying, from the King of the Heavens of Light, who is God Exalted is what he says. And the angel who came to him with the revelation was called al-Toum, which is in Nabatiyyah and means the companion, so he said to him: Retire from this religion, for you are not one of its people, and you must be honest and leave desires.
Similarities in the assumptions between Manichaeism and Islam
Some historical sources report similarities in religious duties and ways of performing some acts of worship between Manichaeism and the Islamic religion. According to the researcher, Firas Al-Sawah, in his book "Encyclopedia of the History of Religions: Book Five", the many similarities between the two religions raise questions and lead to confusion about how the obligations and their performance are compatible between two religions, one of which preceded the other by more than four centuries, and its ideas were spread in the local Persian language.
One of the similar obligations is prayer. In Manichaeism, it was an obligation performed at known times, and with specific bodily movements such as standing, kneeling and prostrating, according to the book “Sasanian Arab Relations During the Fifth and Sixth Centuries AD” by Salem Ahmed Mahal, which is four prayers per day, the first at noon and the second at noon. Afternoon, then the Maghrib prayer after sunset, and then the Isha prayer.
And in every prayer, the prostration is repeated 12 times, and it is said in the prostration and in every prayer: “Blessed be our guide Baraklet, the messenger of light, and blessings be upon his guardian angels, and praise be to his luminous soldiers.”
Also, Mani imposed ablution with running water before prayer, and in the absence of water, he allowed purification with sand or the like, according to what was reported by the Danish researcher and former professor of Iranian studies at the University of Copenhagen Arthur Christensen (d. 1945), in his book "Iran during the Sassanid era." .
Manichaean monk, fresco, 10th or 11th century
This is exactly like what came in Islam recommending ablution with water or tayammum.
As in prayer, so in fasting. In the second year of Hijra (623 AD), Islam imposed on Muslims a fast of thirty days a year. Before him, Mani had imposed fasting on his followers, and the main fast in the Manichaean religion was an obligatory period of thirty days each year, and it took place in the month of April of each year, as it was believed that this month was sacred, and the Manichaean fast ended with the feast of “Sadaqa al-Fitr.” According to Geovaid Negrin in his book "Mani and Manichaeism", and if the lunar month is short, they fast only 29 days, that is, they start fasting with the appearance of the crescent and end it with the appearance of the crescent, and they end their thirtieth fast with sacrifices and alms.
Ibn al-Nadim narrated in “Al-Fihrist” that the Manicheans “fast the month in honor of the moon, dedicating nine of it in honor of the Lord of fortune, and seven of it in honor of the sun, which is the Lord of good for them.” Their fasting is about abstaining and abstaining from all food and drinks from sunrise to sunset.
The many similarities between the Manichaean and Islamic religions raise questions and lead to bewilderment about how the religious obligations and their performance correspond between two religions, one of which preceded the other by more than four centuries, and its ideas were spread in the local Persian language.
Also, the Manicheans knew zakat, so each Manichean, according to Christensen, had to pay a tenth of his money annually to their priests, in addition to the constant alms paid on behalf of them and their children to repel the evils of the demons.
In Islam, zakat was imposed in the second year of the Hijrah, and it is a duty obligatory for every Muslim who possesses money in excess of the necessary and indispensable needs such as food, clothing, and housing, and it has different provisions for its performance according to the different type of money, whether it is gold, silver, or cattle. or planted.
Manichaeism forbade alcohol, according to Christensen, who notes in his book that Mani stressed the prohibition of alcohol, calling on his followers to "tour around the world to preach the religion and advise people to be righteous."
In turn, Islam prohibited alcohol, but gradually, as it did not prohibit it directly and categorically from the beginning, and the matter began to talk about its sins that outweigh its benefits without deciding the position on it. According to some opinions, the gradual prohibition came because the followers of Islam may find it difficult to stop drinking alcohol after they have been accustomed to it for many years, as it was widespread among the Arabs before the prophecy.
The good news of Christ
The Prophet Muhammad said about himself that he is the prophet preached by the Messiah, or the Prophet Jesus as the Muslims call him, a saying repeated by the followers of Mani, according to the book “The Heretics and Heretics” by Atef Abu Awad, and they added it to their prayers, as Al-Manawi concludes his prayer by saluting and peace be upon Mani, saying: Blessed is our guide, the Paraclete, the Messenger of Light,” according to the book “Al-Milal wa’l-Nahl” by al-Shahristani (d. 1153).
Paraclete is a term taken from the writings of St. John, and expresses not the nature of a person, but his job. He is the one who plays the role of the positive helper, the supporter, and Christ performs this task as the Holy Spirit does it.
As the Prophet Muhammad said about himself that he is the last of the prophets and messengers, and that the angel Gabriel informed him of this, Mani had said about himself that he was the last of the prophets. Also, Mani imposed ablution with running water before prayer, and in the absence of water, he allowed tayammum, and the Manicheans fasted 30 days a year...
Christians consider that the Holy Spirit (the Paraclete) descended on the disciples of Christ on the day of Pentecost to comfort them in their loss of Christ, and there “there suddenly came from heaven a sound as of a rushing stormy wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting, and divided tongues appeared to them as if from fire, and settled on every one of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance."
As for Islam, it came in the Qur’an: {And when Jesus, son of Mary, said, “O children of Israel, I am the Messenger of God to you, confirming what came before me of the Torah and bringing good tidings of a messenger to come after me, whose name is Ahmad” (Surah Al-Saff, verse 6).
As the Prophet Muhammad said about himself that he is the last of the prophets and messengers, and that the angel Gabriel informed him of this, Mani had said of himself that he was the last of the prophets, according to what Abkar al-Saqqaf indicated in the book "Religion in China, India and Iran."
?Where did the similarity come from
The many similarities between the two religions raise questions and lead to bewilderment, as Firas Al-Sawah said.
But the Saudi researcher in the science of comparative religions and director of the Center for the Studies of Muslim Minorities, d. Muhammad Safar points out in an interview that the saying that Islam borrowed some of its ideas, beliefs, and even its legislation and worship from previous religions such as Manichaeism, is due to the desire of the author of the saying to suggest that the message of the Prophet Muhammad did not bring anything new and was not a divine revelation as much as it was his creation, compilation and distortion of those legacies .
The Egyptian researcher in Islamic affairs, Islam Al-Buhairi, points out that it was not known about the Prophet Muhammad that he used to read the holy books of the ancients, and he did not copy and keep them as a form of culture. He tells: "This was not known about him, and saying that it is a possibility is not a scientific evidence for the historian, and for the fundamentalists there is a rule: Whatever the possibility touches upon, the inference is excluded."
In its history, Manichaeism suffered from persecution. Its founder, Mani himself, was imprisoned before being executed by the Persian Emperor Bahram ibn Shapur (Bahram I). Munir al-Baalbaki, in his book "Mawsoo'at al-Mawrid", quoted Ibrahim Abd al-Talib's book "Iraq - The Arab Country That Politicians Neglected" that Mani was crucified at one of the gates of the city of Beit al-A'abat (Soldier Shapur) in Ahwaz, after he was tortured, his limbs were cut off, and then his body was burned. And scattered his ashes.
Manichaeism received several blows at the hands of the Romans. In the year 445 AD, Pope Leo the Great declared the prohibition of Manichean activity, according to J. M. R. Current in his book "The Bishop of Rome". And in 527 AD, Emperor Justan decided to sentence all followers of Manichaeism to death, according to Ian Gardner in his book "Manichean Texts from the Roman Empire."
In the Islamic world, followers of Manichaeism were persecuted wherever they found themselves. Farouk Omar mentions, in his book "Islamic History," that despite the increase in persecution against Manichaeism in the Abbasid period in the name of combating heresy, atheism, secularism, and immorality, its followers were active, especially in the intellectual field, and formed cultural circles called the "Brothers of Truth."
He adds that the Abbasid caliph "al-Mahdi" (775-785) is considered the first to declare war against Manichaeism and all opposing intellectual currents in the name of combating heresy, until he was called "butcher of heretics", and for that he established the "Diwan of heretics", and the followers of Manichaeism were forced to appear In front of the judge, spitting on the image of Mani and slaughtering a bird, because Manichaeism forbids the slaughter of animals, and if they refuse to repent, they will be sentenced to death.
The persecution of the Manichaeans continued and intensified with the caliph "Al-Muqtadir" (908-932). According to "Ibn al-Nadim's Index", the number of Manichaean symbols in Baghdad decreased from 300 people to only five people, in the late tenth century AD.
It is noteworthy that the continuous flight of the Manichaeans from Iraq and the East, especially during the persecutions of the Abbasid period, led to their increase in Central Asia, and in the year 745 Buqi Khan, one of the kings of Northern Mongolia, embraced Manichaeism, and made it the official religion of the state, and through that Manichaeism reached China as well as Russia Siberia, according to Atef Abu Awad in his book "The Heretic and Heretics".
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