MECCANS

Did the Meccans use religion for trading reasons? Could it be that they weren't idols worshippers, but just faked it for trading purposes? In other words, just a users of others ignorance?

Comments

Anonymous said…
Are u suggesting that they did have some sort of monolithic(sp?) religion, but just chose to ignore it and indulge in the Ka'ba idols to attract others from the south... play on others believs! Well, interesting. But waiting for you to elaborate on what u wrote!
5/23/2005 01:18:00 pm
haal said…
Well, I dont really think so. At least not to that degree. But there is an opinion suggesting that Meccan were monolithic but just did like the jews did when Moses was late, hence, the calf and in the meccan case, the idols. Abraham was there in Mecca, right?! Wehdet al uluheya versus wehded al-rububiya, a concept I dont really get.
5/24/2005 12:06:00 am
ألِف said…
No one in the whole world worships statues..not even the most simple cultures.
These are only prayer-aids :-)
Mainstream religions, in their effort to draw flocks promoted this image of 'paganism'.

And why do you assume Meccans were different from those around them, i.e other Arabic tribes?
5/24/2005 05:32:00 am
Mohamed said…
But aren't we still worshiping idols, or worshiping God through idols!

Kind of felt similar to me with people flocking by the hundreds to Paolo Coelho yesterday and loving anything he says, and people flocking by the thousands to Mohammed Jebril's Taraweeh, not to pray but to watch him (and touch him).
5/24/2005 06:40:00 am
Anonymous said…
I learnt that if we don't make a real idol as of a statue, we worship 'pictures' that we made by ourselves. This picture is created through our fixations and filters to fill in what we 'miss' and as an attempt to fakely 'overcome our weaknessess'.

I am glad that someone else thought that M.Jabril's taraweeh was a phenomenan that is worth seeing. Maybe he is a great imam and all, but those who went all the way to pray with him say that they felt this and that, and that we should try him too..... Yes, sub-gods.

Alif, I was talking about Meccan in particular, because we have been taught that islam came with a radical change and ideologies among which was guiding these pagans who didnt know anything about the idea of one god. Now, I am reading that no, they were muslims who forget. Not muslims as of Muhammad Rasul allah, but on milat ibrahim. I didnt think about that before.
5/24/2005 10:15:00 am
Anonymous said…
All religion have one purpose: to preach that good and evil do exist, and that you will have to chose willfully for the good if you want to be good. Religion is not about dresscodes, about how many times a day you should pray, or how you should pray. If there is a supreme being that created you, than all of you, including your brains, is created by it. You should think for yourself, that's what I think.
5/24/2005 01:14:00 pm
haal said…
Who didn't use religion for trading reasons? Even paganism is used. Now a slight modification, trading and political reasons!

However, I don't agree if religion has the sole purpose of preaching that good and evil exist, but, in my opinion, to integrate with the whole system and be its masters in a healthy way.

(this was a comment by anonymous. I liked it but had to do minor modifications)
5/25/2005 10:26:00 am
haal said…
So, we, human you mean, are the masters of the universe and we thus need to use the system around us. Yes. Good point. But to do that we have a long journey to take. And I think it is not an outside journey as much as it is an inside one. Like 'Adel Sharif famous sentence, 'atwal a'isar masafa fee el 'allam', when he used to describe the stefan edberg dropshot!
5/25/2005 10:53:00 am
ألِف said…
I intentionally meant to say 'statues' not 'idols' to avoid the associated aura and extra-physical meanings added to it by humans; whethere negative or positive. I meant the materialistic object. If more meanings are present, then it becomes another issue.
6/04/2005 07:27:00 pm
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