Torah, Bible, Quran — a case of plagiarism?

Torah, Bible, Quran — a case of plagiarism? Featured

Lito Monico C. Lorenzana
LML Polettiques
06 December 2023
Comments:DISQUS_COMMENTS
Third of a series

THE first two parts of this series were about our first hypothesis: Religion is a driving force for wars and conflicts. We looked no farther than Palestine as a microcosm where faith-based violence is inflicted by the descendants of Abraham for the furtherance of political and religious aims. Judaism and Islam both lay claim to their heritage grounded on contradicting dictates of their deity, Yahweh, and Allah, as revealed in their sacred books. Christianity is no less involved, as it has taken sides, compelled by its own religious and geopolitical self-interests.

America, a Christian nation, has taken Israel's viewpoint, but with the ongoing carnage in Gaza verging on genocide, militant dissenting voices are becoming louder, clamoring to terminate this insanity. But if the first hypothesis leads to its logical conclusion, violence, bloodshed and war will persist until the religious components are excreted from the equation. It will take real leaders to examine Palestine through the prism of the secular — a paradigm shift from the religious myopia of Jews, Muslims and Christians.

This third part of the series espouses a second postulate: that the Abrahamic religions are a plagiarism of ancient religious stories obscured by the mist of time, their provenance ambiguous. Parallel narratives accepted as religious doctrines by the Abrahamic religions are simply staggering. This is not to disparage the people of each faith, but to prod them to examine a different perspective beyond faith and on the basis of empirical evidence.

Noah and the great flood

Judaism dates back 3,800 years, when Abraham established a covenant with Yahweh and when the Ten Commandments were handed down to Moses. The Christian Bible (New Testament, circa 70 CE) affirms this narrative. One of the stories common to the three Abrahamic religions is worth examining: Noah's Ark and the great flood. In their respective traditions, a massive flood covered the earth to cleanse the world of its transgressions. Noah (Islamic Nuh) was directed by Yahweh to build an Ark, and load this with pairs of animals.

This narrative obviously was plagiarized from the older epic of Gilgamesh, where Utnapishtim (Noah) survived the Great Flood sent by the god Enlil to destroy humanity. But another god, Ea, instructed Utnapishtim to build a large boat to save himself and various animals. It was written circa 2,600 BCE, predating the Abrahamic religion by 1,000 years. The great flood is recounted in hundreds of religions in different epochs, with gods predating monotheism.

Moses

In the Quranic and biblical accounts, an Egyptian pharaoh ordered the killing of all Hebrew male infants. Moses' mother placed him in a basket and set him adrift on the Nile River. He was retrieved by the pharaoh's daughter, who raised him as her own.

In the Christian tradition, Moses is seen as a predecessor to Jesus, foreshadowing Christ's own birth and mission. In Islam, Musa (Moses) is an important prophet and messenger.

As it turned out, this Mosaic tale was plagiarized from the life of Sargon of Mesopotamia, who, as a child, was placed in a basket and set adrift in the Euphrates River. Found and raised by a lowly gardener, he eventually becomes King Sargon, the Great of Akkad, who ruled over the first known empire between 2334 and 2279 BCE.

Egyptian ancient religion

Scholars believed that the ancient Egyptian religion, which predated Judaism by 1,200 years, provided the foundational basis for the Abrahamic religions. These pagan myths, shaped by the nuances of each unique culture, evolved over the millennia and eventually were incorporated as divine revelations. Certain concepts like final judgment, afterlife, virgin birth, crucifixion, death and resurrection, and even circumcision were attributes of Egyptian pagan beliefs, claimed by the Abrahamic religions as their own.

To illustrate. In the pantheon of Egyptian gods, Horus was dominant and could have evolved as the precursor and template of Abrahamic monotheism. He personified the life-giving sun; thus, he was Egypt's Sun-God. His enemy was Set, a personification of the night and all that it encompasses, fear of the dark and evil, which could be anthropomorphized as Satan (Shatan to Islam). The ubiquitous mythological dualities that pervaded in many cultures were always the fight between light versus dark, good against evil. From the ancient hieroglyphics, the life of Horus is well documented; his narrative was etched in stone around 3,000 BCE.

He was born of the virgin Isis on December 25. A star in the East signaled his birth, leading three kings to the newborn. At the age of 12, Horus was a precocious teacher, at 30, he was baptized by one called Unup and thus began his ministry. He recruited 12 disciples who traveled with him, performing miracles, healing the sick, and walking on water. He was known by many names, such as the truth, the light, lamb of god, god's anointed son and the good shepherd. Betrayed by Typhon, he was crucified, buried for three days and resurrected.

Similar myths

I am reprinting excerpts from my Times column of March 24, 2021:

"Mithra (1200 BC)

"Mithra was born of a virgin on December 25 in Persia. He performed miracles and had 12 disciples. He was dead for three days and was resurrected; referred to as the 'Truth, the Light,' etc. Sunday was his day of worship.

"Yeshua Hamashiach (Anno Domini)

"A Hebrew, he was born on December 25 of a virgin, Mary, wife of Joseph in Bethlehem. At the time of his birth, a star rose in the east where three kings came to adore him. Not much was known about this child's younger years, but at age 12, he was found at a temple, sitting, listening and debating among the teachers. He was baptized and later did his ministry at age 30 assisted by 12 disciples. He performed miracles, healing the sick, walking on water and raising the dead Lazarus. He was known as King of Kings, Son of God, Alpha and Omega, etc. He is known as Jesus Christ, the Messiah in the Christian tradition, not God.

"Common source of narratives

"These similarities in narratives and godly attributes permeated many of the world's cultures and religions spanning 3,000 years and perhaps further back to primordial times when early man began to understand his surroundings, the dangers of darkness and the uplifting warmth and security of light. These cannot be dismissed as mere coincidences. From the time writing was invented, these depictions have been preserved, some in cuneiform and hieroglyphs; no doubt passed on from oral traditions. This suggests that there was a common source embellished over the millennia in the retelling, appearing eventually as myths, strong primordial forces to explain natural phenomenon."

One can't help concluding that the second hypothesis lays bare the likelihood that these stories are man-made, and by extension, religion itself is man-made and not deity-driven.

This column has drawn heavily from "Zeitgeist the Movie" (the main source) and Timeline-World History documentaries. This columnist claims no profound scholarly work except to titillate the reader to do his own research — thus, no Church imprimatur is needed... or the devil's.000
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