The Mohammadan Theory of Evolution: Gog & Magog & Masih al-Dajjal

وَإِذَا ٱلۡوُحُوشُ حُشِرَتۡ

81:05 And when the wild beasts shall be gathered together

“The Hour will not come until there are ten signs: the rising of the sun of the West, Masih al-Dajjal, the Beast, Gog and Magog…” (Ibn Majah)

The statements in the Arab-Muslim traditions regarding Gog and Magog, and the one-eyed false god referred to as al-Dajjal were made during the life of the Arabian Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in the 7th century, the same century Europeans – who previously worshipped their crucified and resurrected one-eyed chief god Odin they refer to with over 170 names including Hoárr (The One-Eyed), Ginnarr (The Deceiver) and Veratýr (The God of Men) – were Christianized.

In Western, specifically pre-Christian and even contemporary and British tradition, Gog and Magog are seen in a positive light, as protectors of the great City of London. In Christianized Spain, Gog and Magog are protectors of the faithful. They are also revered in the United States of America where statues of Gog and Magog are displayed at the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan. Mechanized statues of Gog and Magog are proudly displayed at The Royal Arcade in Melbourne, Australia and a city is named in honor of Magog in Quebec, Canada.

This understanding of Gog and Magog is diametrically opposite to the traditional Arab-Muslim religious and historic narrative. The same is the case regarding the chief god of pre-Christianized Europe as previously described. The description of this pre-Christian European chief god Hoárr also known as Odin bares a striking resemblance to the description of the false one-eyed god al-Dajjal mentioned in Arab-Muslim historic and religious narratives. The various royal houses of English history — the Saxons, Danes, Normans, Tudors, Stuarts, Plantagenets, Hanoverians, Saxe-Coburgs, all lines blended and fused with Scottish royalty — are belived to trace their bloodlines back to Odin, who is said to be according to this British-Israelism theory, ‘a common ancestor among them and of every European royal lineage’.  It is also interesting to note how, in Western-Christianized narratives, for devout Christians, in positions of power as great as the office of the President of the United States of America, and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom it is in fact the Arabs and Muslims who are identified as Gog and Magog, while in mainstream American media, the saviour of the End Times in Arab- Muslim narratives referred to as Imam al-Mahdi of both the Sunni and Shiite individual narratives is alleged to be none other than the “Biblical Anti-Christ”, I seek Allah’s forgiveness.

The traditions which follow herein seek to give the reader information about both legends or narratives. They are included so as to help readers better understand the context behind both contradicting world views stemming from such narratives, and their interpretation as they could be applied to reconciling evolution theory with creation science through polygenism – the theory that the human race has descended from two or more ancestral types.

It is hoped reading these narratives actually help bring people closer by opening up a platform for dialogue and further research between the two traditions.

It is also important to mention, these narratives in the Arabic-Islamic traditions are no different in their nature than Biblical narratives of Ishmaelites, and the Canaanites (Palestinians) for example. As such, it is the view of the author they should be understood and used to further construct newer narratives of mutual respect and trust between the East and the West. Thus, in fairness, these narratives should not be specificially attributed as necessarily the personal views of the author, nor any particular group of people, given the controversial or even offensive nature of some of them.  Rather, it should be accepted these narratives are based on traditions and legends which have been compiled and transmitted over the centuries throughout both British and Arab history as well as contemporary interpretations.

In Early Western History 

De origine actibusque Getarum (“The Origin and Deeds of the Getae/Goths”), or the Getica, written in Late Latin by Jordanes in or shortly after 551 AD, claims to be a summary of a voluminous account by Cassiodorus of the origin and history of the Gothic people, which is now lost. In it, Jordanes claims Magog as ancestor of the Goths.

The Historia Brittonum (The History of the Britons) is a purported history of the indigenous British (Brittonic) people that was written around 828 and survives in numerous recensions that date from after the 11th century.  According to this work, the indigenous Britons descend from Magog.

Isidore of Seville’s “Historia de regibus Gothorum, Wandalorum, et Suevorum” concerns itself chiefly with the Gothic kings whose conquests and government deeply influenced the civilization of Spain. The history of the Vandals and the Suevi is treated in two short appendixes. This work is regarded as the chief authority on Gothic history in the West. It contains the statement that the Goths descended from Gog and Magog.

Styled as the Queen of the Swedes, Goths and Wends (Suecorum, Gothorum Vandalorumque Regina); Grand Princess of Finland, and Duchess of Estonia, Livonia and Karelia, Bremen-Verden, Stettin, Pomerania, Cassubia and Vandalia, Princess of Rugia, Queen Christina of Sweden (d.1689) reckoned herself as number 249 in a list of kings going back to Magog.

Daniel Juslenius (1676–1752), derived the roots of the Finns from Magog.

According to several medieval Irish chronicles, most notably the Auraicept na n-Éces and Lebor Gabála Érenn, the Irish race are a composite including descendants of Magog.

Medieval Hungarian legends say the Huns, as well as the Magyars, are descended from twin brothers named Hunor and Magor respectively, who lived by the sea of Azov in the years after the flood, and took wives from the Alans. The version of this legend in the 14th century Chronicon Pictum equates this Magor with Magog.

British Legends: ‘Traditional Guardians of London’

Matter of Britain

The Lord Mayor’s Show website elaborates further: “Gog and Magog, or sometimes Gogmagog and Corineus, are descended from mythical pagan giants and their origins lie in mediaeval legends of the early British Kings.” (lordmayorshow.london)

Modern London

In the Holy Qur’an

Contrary to the European British views stated above, in the Arab and Islamic tradition Gog and Magog for the most part, represent oppression, tyranny and injustice.

According to the Qur’anic narrative, Gog and Magog caused trouble and spread corruption in the lands around where they resided. They were pushed behind a rampart by a king referred to as Dhul Qarnayn who was able to reign them in and free people from their corruption.

Qur’anic commentators identify early Gog and Magog by their scarce ability to understand language (Dispelling the Fog from the Identity of Gog and Magog). Language in this context can be futher understood to actually mean divine language, since spoken and written language has divine origin in the Qur’anic narrative, as does its mathematical application in the language of astronomy, direction, proportional structure, and design. Hence in this narrative, Gog and Magog can be identified by the lack of any recorded (even if in hieroglyphic form) indigenous ancient divine revelation or ancient divine books in their possession, whether Abrahamic or Vedic or otherwise, and the lack of ancient indigenous mathematically proportioned design structures in their territories since math and proportion are also included as a integral part of divine language. This suggests temples, tombs and other such ancient sites of the prophets cannot be found in the lands of Gog and Magog. Interestingly, no Biblical, Quranic, ancient Egyptian or Vedic prophets have been recorded to have ever lived in the West and other geographic areas Gog and Magog or their evolutionary ancestors live and hence no mathematically proportioned burial tombs or temples attributed to them also cannot be found in their vast desolate territories.

Regarding comprehensible language, mathematics, direction, astronomy, proportions (balance) and man, the Holy Qur’an says: 15:29 “When I have fashioned him in due proportion and have breathed into him of My spirit, fall ye down in obeisance unto him” and, 55:3-8 “He has created man: He has taught him speech (and intelligence). The sun and the moon [move] by precise calculation, And the stars and trees prostrate. And the heaven He raised and imposed the balance, That you not transgress within the balance.”

Regarding Gog and Magog and comprehensible language, the Holy Qur’an 18:85-99 states: “Then he followed a way until, when he reached between the two barriers, he found this side of them a people scarcely able to understand speech, They said, ’O Dhu al-Qarnayn, behold, Gog and Magog are doing corruption in the earth; so shall we assign to you a tribute, against you setting up a barrier between us and between them?’ He said, ’That wherein my Lord has established me is better; so aid me forcefully, and I will set up a rampart between you and between them. Bring me ingots of iron!’ Until, when he had made all level between the two cliffs, he said, ’Blow!’ Until, when he had made it a fire, he said, ’Bring me, that I may pour molten brass on it. So they were unable either to scale it or pierce it. He said, ’This is a mercy from my Lord. But when the promise of my Lord comes to pass, He will make it into powder; and my Lord’s promise is ever true.’ Upon that day, We shall leave them surging on one another, and the Trumpet shall he blown, and We shall gather them together“

Hadith in al-Bukhari

In the hadith narratives, Gog and Magog are identified as an evil people who seek to harm, plunder and ruin the Arab world.

“Zaynab Bint Jahsh said that the Prophet (upon him be peace and mercy) came to her in a state of fear, and said, ‘There is no god but Allah. Woe to the Arabs from an evil that has come close. Today a breach has occurred in the Barrier of Gog and Magog, like this’, and he made a circle with his finger and thumb. Zaynab Bint Jahsh said: I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah! Would we be destroyed while there are good people amongst us?’ He said, ‘Yes, if the bad becomes much.”(al-Bukhari)

Contemporary Sunni View

A contemporary author and Sunni scholar states: “Many ahadith confirmed that “The Promise” was (the advent of the religion of) Islam by warning that the Arabs were targets (wailun lil ‘arab) because a gap in the Gog and Magog radm (patched barrier) was opened. What frightened the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wasallam was the width of this gap: 90 units, possibly 90 farsakh (1 farsakh = 3.5 miles). This is wide enough to allow large waves of Gog and Magog to devastate the Arabs. The prophecy was fulfilled: “And on that day [when the barrier is opened], we shall let them merge into each other like waves (wa taraknaa ba’dahum yawma idhin yamooju fee ba’d, Qur’ān, al-Kahf 18:99).” [Dispelling the Fog from the Identity of Gog and Magog]

Population of Gog and Magog Relative to the Arabs

Ahadith traditions found in Bukhari and found in Ibn Hajar’s works indicate by the over whelming majority, outside the Arab world which is shared by Arab-Jews, Arab-Christians and Arab-Muslims from the descendents of Ishmael and Isaac and other prophets, the nations belonging to or of the same origins as – which will be explained later – Gog and Magog would account for 90-99% of the entire population of the world.

al- Bukhari narrates in his Sahih: “The Messenger of Allah (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Allah, Most-High, says on the Day of Resurrection, ‘Adam!’ So he replies, ‘My Lord, here I am at your service and all good lies before You.’ So He says, ‘Bring forth the party of the Hellfire’ and he will ask, ‘Who are they?’ He says, ‘From every one thousand, they are nine hundred and ninety nine.’Upon hearing this, the youths will turn grey and every pregnant women shall miscarry and you will see the people as if they are intoxicated, but they are not so. Yet the chastisement of Allah is most severe.’ Upon hearing this, they (the Companions) asked, ‘Who of us will be that one if from every thousand nine hundred and ninety nine shall be taken?’ He replied, ‘Bear glad tidings for every one of you Gog and Magog are a thousand.’” (al-Bukhari)

Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani’s Fath ul-Bari states: “Narrated Ibn Umar: ‘Allah divided mankind into ten parts. Nine tenths constitute Gog and Magog while the remaining one tenth constitutes the rest of mankind.’” (Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Fath ul-Bari)

‘Not of Eve’

Ibn Hajar mentioned in his commentary on Bukhari, attributing the position to Imam Nawawi that Gog and Magog are ultimately from Adam but not of Eve. He states, Adam had a nocturnal emission and his semen mixed with the soil and Allah created Gog and Magog from it.

There is a tradition related al-Bukhari by Amr ibn al-Aas that there is ‘not a truly righteous one amongst them and they are all doomed for Hell’. While this tradition contradicts other narratives regarding Gog and Magog, it is included in al-Bukhari’s collection.

It is also related in another narration from Ibn ʿAbbas that the earth is divided into six parts and all but one fifth of it is occupied by Gog and Magog.

View of Scholars of the Former Mughal Empire

Imam Sayyid Muhammad Anwar Shah Kashmiri in his Faydh al-Bari ‘alaa Sahih al-Bukhari writes: “…As for what regards Gog and Magog themselves…Britons admit that they are from the progeny of Magog.  Similarly, Germany is from them…”

The Call of the Marching Bell (بان٘گِ دَرا‎; Bang-e-Dara; published in Urdu 1924) was the first Urdu philosophical poetry book by Allama Iqbal (d.1938) , one of the great poet-philosophers of the Indian subcontinent.  In it, Allama Iqbal interprets the Balfour Declaration and the events which preceeded and followed it as the coming forth of Gog and Magog stating:

Gog and Magog have all been released
The Muslim eye shall witness the meaning (tafsir) of the word ‘Yansilun’
–  Allama Iqbal in Bang-e-Dara-194 

The author of ‘Dispelling the Fog from the Identity of Gog and Magog’ writes: “In his “Faydh al-Bari ‘alaa Sahih al-Bukhari” Imam Anwar Shah al-Kashmiri (1875 – 1933) argues, “the hadith of the descent of Jesus does not mean that the Barrier of Gog and Magog has to remain erect until that time. Nor does it mean that Gog and Magog could not have been released prior to the descent of Prophet Jesus…Anwar Shah al-Kashmiri suggested that Gog and Magog are from amongst the European…”

He states further: “Imam Anwar Shah al-Kashmiri was one of the greatest scholars of his time. He was considered an Imam in Tafsir of Quran and Hadith, and was renowned for his piety and prophetic character.”

The main body of the following excerpts are from the Chapter on The Story of Gog and Magog [bab qissatu ya’juj wa ma’juj], Book of Hadiths about the Prophets [kitab ahadith al anbiyaa’] – Faydh al-Bari ‘alaa Sahih al-Bukhari, vol. 4, p. 351, publ: Dar al-kotob al-ilmiyah (Beirut), 2005:

“…there is no doubt that he [Dhul Qarnayn] was a righteous man. As for whether he was a prophet or a saint – Allah knows best. What is apparent is that he was not the Greek Alexander – this is Razi’s opinion, and Hafiz [Ibn Hajar]’s. Aristotle was one of his ministers, and used to prostrate to him. He was the first to write on Geography, and mentioned therein the Barrier. This proves that the Barrier existed before the time of Alexander the Greek…. The Barrier of Dhul Qarnayn has already collapsed. The Quran no where demands that it must remain [erect] until the ‘coming forth’, khuruj, of Gog and Magog, or that the Barrier prevents them from ‘coming forth’. These are just unwarranted conclusions that are reached [from the Quranic verses]. Allah said, “We leave them, some of them surging upon others, that day” [Kahf: 99], “Until, when Gog and Magog are released…” [Anbiya: 96]. Therefore, they will come forth time after time. They came forth before that as well, and caused corruption and destruction upon the Earth in ways unmentionable. Yes, there is a destined time for them to come forth at the End Times, and that will be the most severe of their manifestations. However, the Quran does not state that this last manifestation will take place immediately after the collapse of the Barrier. The Quran only promises that the Barrier will collapse. And it has collapsed as was promised…As for what regards Gog and Magog themselves…Britons admit that they are from the progeny of Magog.  Similarly, Germany is from them…”” [(Faydh al-Bari ‘alaa Sahih al-Bukhari: Bab Qissatu Ya’juj wa Ma’juj, vol. 4, p. 351, publ: Dar al-kotob al-ilmiyah (Beirut),2005)]

Seekershub.org states: “…We do now know where the location of this rampart is, though. There is a tradition related by Bukhari in which one of the Companions claimed to have come across it. The Prophet (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) asked him to describe it and he said it was like a striped colored cloth. He replied, “You saw it so?” In another relation he said, “I saw it as if it were a striped colored cloth of which part of it was black and part of it was red, and the Prophet (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) replied, “You have seen it.” Many rulers and historians have attempted to locate it. Ibn Kathir mentions in his book Bidaya wa Nihaya a narration that the Abbasid Sultan Harun b. Muhammad al-Muʿtasim b. Harun ar-Rashid (d. 232 IE) sent some of his generals with an army to seek out the rampart and to come back with information regarding it. After much traveling, they came across a rampart in the north east of the lands in a vast area made of steel and copper that had a great door laden with enormous locks. No one was able to ascend it or the mountains surrounding it due to its height. They found the remnants of steel bricks and weaponry in a tower there and it had guards representing the neighboring kings there. When the men returned from their journey, they had been absent for more than two years and they had seen many terrible and wondrous things…A rampart was discovered in a graveyard in the city of Termez, Uzbekistan known as the Steel Gate. It was mentioned in the 15 century by the German scholar Sildburger and he recorded it in his journal. It was also mentioned by the Spanish Historian Kalafigo in the year 1403 and he mentioned that it was on the road to Samarqand and India…and perhaps this is the rampart that Dhu al-Qarnayn built.” (‘What Do We Know About Gog and Magog?’ by Idris Watts. Seekershub.org)

Tradition of the Striped Cloth

There is a tradition related in al-Bukhari in which one of the Companions claimed to have come across the rampart of Gog and Magog. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked him to describe it and he said it was like a striped colored cloth. He replied, “You saw it so?” In another relation he said, “I saw it as if it were a striped colored cloth of which part of it was black and part of it was red, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) replied, “You have seen it.”

According to Anwar Shah Kashmiri in his Faydh al-Bari: “…As for what regards Gog and Magog themselves…Britons admit that they are from the progeny of Magog. Similarly, Germany is from them…” [(Faydh al-Bari ‘alaa Sahih al-Bukhari: Bab Qissatu Ya’juj wa Ma’juj, vol. 4, p. 351, publ: Dar al-kotob al-ilmiyah (Beirut),2005)]

The Shafi’i jurist al-Nawawi (d.1277) and others have drawn attention to those who maintain that Adam, while asleep had an emission of seminal fluid, that his semen got mixed with dust and that the children of Gog and Magog were born from this as his offspring.

According to the Bihar: Ka’b al-Ahbar says Gog and Magog are a rare phenomenon among Adam’s offspring: a drop of Adam’s nocturnal emission got mixed with earth and from this mixture God created Gog and Magog.  They are thus related to us on the paternal, but not on the maternal side.

The fatwas of Shaykh Muhi al Din [al-Nawawi] say that for the majority of religious scholars Gog and Magog are children of Adam but not Eve.

Ibn Hajar in his Fath: “Ka’b says that they are children of Adam but not of Eve.  But this is refuted because prophets do not have nocturnal seminal emissions. My [Ibn Hajar] answer to this is that Adam saw in his dream that he had intercourse with a woman.  It is also possible that it was an efflux of semen [ma, water fluid]. This is conceivable, just as it is conceivable that Adam urinated.  The first [interpretation] is the accepted one.  And if not, where were Gog and Magog at the time of the flood?” [Ibn Hajar, Fath, vvi, p.221]

According to the Sirat al-Iskandar, only Gog descends from Adam; Magog is an offspring of Eve’s menstrual blood [Ms Aya Sofya 3004, fol. 152 r, cf. Doulfikar – Aerts, Alexander Magnus Arabicus, p.199 n.95]

According to Wahb b. Munabbih, “Gog and Magog (like the Houris (virgin maidens of paradise)) are neither ins [human beings] nor jins.” [al-Tabari, Tafsir, vii, p. 280; cf. El s.v. Djinn (D.B. Macdonald – H Masse)] 

Creationist Biological Evolution According to Ibn Khaldun

The Holy Quran states in 70:04: (Whereby) the angels and the Spirit ascend unto Him in a Day whereof the span is fifty thousand years.

Elsewhere the Holy Quran states in 22:47: Yet they ask thee to hasten on the Punishment! But God will not fail in His Promise. Verily a Day in the sight of thy Lord is like a thousand years of your reckoning.

According to a narration found in Tafsir al-Mizan, Eden was on earth. There is nothing found in the religious texts which explicitly states how long Adam lived in Eden which is Paradise, before Eve was created. There are Quranic verses and ahadith however which state the dwellers of Paradise do not die. This suggests there is a very real possibility that Adam may have lived in Eden, which was likely on earth, for even thousands of years prior to Eve. Jesus and Idris are believed to be alive to date in heaven for thousands of years. Similarly the period between the creation of Eve and the incident of the Forbidden Tree is also not specified, and could also have been over a period of thousands of years as well. There is no evidence to deny the possibility of this and on the contrary, there is ample scriptural evidence to support life without death in Paradise similar to the the life of Jesus for example. Most tafsirs state Adam lived for 930 years after his exit from Paradise. This suggests the possibility of reconciling certain scientific theories expounding (creationist) evolution with ancient Arab-Muslim narratives on creation as will be discussed later.

Ibn Khaldun – a fourteenth-century Arab-Muslim scholar – espoused a theory on biological evolution which was likely built upon the theory of polygenism stemming from the widely accepted theory of the origins of Gog and Magog by religious scholars of his day. The Law of Assimilation and Monism by Darwin and Ernst Haeckel were taken from Ibn Khaldun’s contribution. Ibn Khaldun was not just a social scientist but was also a learned scholar of religion who studied exegesis of the Holy Quran, as well as the Hadith literature. Given his religious sentiments as a Muslim, his background in the religious sciences and the widely held opinion of the religious scholars of his era and earlier like Nawawi on the origins of Gog and Magog from the mixture of fluid from Adam and the earth, it is most likely the stages of biological evolution Ibn Khaldun referred to in al-Muqaddimah were specifically references to the evolution of Gog and Magog from the earth and not Adam; who was created perfectly as Insan al-Kamil (the Perfect Man) and the Representative of God according to al-Bukhari in God’s own image, in Heaven, and was given the Arabic language with which he recieved revelation and could communicate, and intelligence superior to the Angels, who were humbled into prostration before his knowledge and was taught the names of all things (2:31-33).

Regarding biological evolution Ibn Khaldun’s al-Muqaddimah states: “The animal world then widens, its species become numerous and in a gradual process of creation, it finally leads to man who is able to think and reflect. The higher stage of man is reached from the world of monkeys, in which both sagacity and perception are found, but which has not reached the stage of actual reflection of thinking. At this point we come to the first stage of man, this is as far as our (physical) observation extends.”[Rosenthal, The Muqaddimah, I, p.109 ff]

Arab-Muslim Polygenism Theory

It is highly unlikely as a Muslim Ibn Khaldun could have believed Adam and the prophets from his line evolved from apes, Allah forbid. Rather, Ibn Khaldun like his predecessors was also a learned scholar of religion who studied exegesis of the Holy Quran, as well as the Hadith literature. Given his religious beliefs as a Muslim, his background in the religious sciences and the widely held opinion of the religious scholars of his era and earlier like Nawawi and Ibn Hajar on the origins of Gog and Magog from the mixture of fluid from Adam and the earth as cited earlier, it is most likely the stages of biological evolution Ibn Khaldun referred to in al-Muqaddimah were specifically references to the evolution of Gog and Magog from the earth and not Adam. Adam on contrary was created perfectly as Insan al-Kamil (the Perfect Man) and the Representative of God according to al-Bukhari in God’s own image, in Heaven, and was given the Arabic language with which he recieved revelation and could intelligently communicate, and an intelligence superior to the Angels, who were humbled into prostration before Adam’s knowledge and was taught the names of all things (2:31-33). Early Gog and Magog are described in the Holy Quran as a people without a comprehensible language.

Abydos ‘Helicopter Hieroglyphs’

The Codex Atlanticus (Atlantic Codex) is twelve-volume, bound set of drawings and writings (in Italian) by Leonardo da Vinci, the largest such set; its name indicates the large paper used to preserve original da Vinci notebook pages, which was that used for atlases. It does not cite any references for his unprecedented inspiration to draw modern weapons of war which would be ‘invented five hundred years later’, and comprises of 1,119 leaves dating from 1478 to 1519, the contents covering a great variety of subjects, from flight to weaponry to musical instruments and from mathematics to botany. This codex was gathered by the sculptor Pompeo Leoni, son of Leone Leoni, in the late 16th century, who dismembered some of Leonardo’s notebooks in its formation. It is currently preserved at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan.

Arab-Muslim polygenism theory

The disconnects between early Arab-Muslim theories of evolution, the narratives on the creation of a fully intelligent Adam in Heaven, the origin of Eve from Adam in Heaven, the location of Eden, the duration of Adam and Eve’s stay in Eden, and the evolutionary origins of Gog and Magog from the earth as argued by Ibn Hajar and Nawawi, are only resolved in accepting the likelihood of an Arab-Muslim polygenism theory.

Polygenism: Darwin, Haeckel & Evolution by Language 

18:85 Then he followed a way until, when he reached between the two barriers, he found this side of them a people scarcely able to understand speech

Polygenism is the theory that the human race has descended from two or more ancestral types.

The creationist polygenism of Samuel George Morton and Louis Agassiz, which presented human races as separately created species, was rejected by Charles Darwin, who argued for the monogenesis of the human species and the African origin of modern humans.

In contrast to most of Darwin’s supporters, Ernst Haeckel put forward a doctrine of evolutionary polygenism based on the ideas of the linguist August Schleicher, in which several different language groups had arisen separately from speechless prehuman Urmenschen, which themselves had evolved from simian (higher primates) ancestors.

These separate languages had completed the transition from animals to man, and, under the influence of each main branch of languages, humans had evolved – in a kind of Lamarckian use-inheritance – as separate species, which could be subdivided into races.

From this, Haeckel drew the implication that languages with the most potential yield the human races with the most potential were led by the Semitic and Indo-Germanic groups.[Richards, Robert W. (2008). The Tragic Sense of Life: Ernst Haeckel and the Struggle over Evolutionary Thought. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 259–260.]

Homo Mediterraneus: “The Head of All Races, Most Highly Developed and Perfect”

“Egyptian history needs to be re-written.  Even the names of ancient Egyptian gods make us take notice. Atum. Osiris, and Nuh. These are Adam, Idris, and Noah.” – Dr. Mustafa Mahmoud

Haeckel divided human beings into ten races, of which the Mediterranese was the highest. He applied the hypothesis of polygenism to the modern diversity of human groups. He became a key figure in social darwinism and leading proponent of scientific racism, stating for instance in The History of Creation: Mediterranean man (Homo Mediterraneus), has from time immemorial been placed at the head of all the races of men, as the most highly developed and perfect. It is generally called the Caucasian race, but as, among all the varieties of the species, the Caucasian branch is the least important, we prefer the much more suitable appellation proposed by Friedrich Müller, namely, that of Mediterranese. For the most important varieties of this species, which are moreover the most eminent actors in what is called “Universal History,” first rose to a flourishing condition on the shores of the Mediterranean.… This species alone (with the exception of the Mongolian) has had an actual history; it alone has attained to that degree of civilisation which seems to raise men above the rest of nature. [The History of Creation, 6th edition (1914), volume 2, page 429.]

“Arabs & Jews: The Highest Evolved Mediterraneans“

Haeckel’s view can be seen as a forerunner of the views of Carleton Coon, who also believed that human races evolved independently and in parallel with each other. These ideas eventually fell from favour. Like Haeckel, Coon stressed the central role of the Mediterraneans in his works.

According to Coon, the “homeland and cradle” of the Mediterranean race was in North Africa and Southwest Asia, in the area from Morocco to Afghanistan. He further stated that Mediterraneans formed the major population element in Pakistan and North India.

Coon stressed the central role of the Mediterraneans in his works, claiming: “Our area, from Morocco to Afghanistan, is the homeland and cradle of the Mediterranean race. Mediterraneans are found also in Spain, Portugal, most of Italy, Greece and the Mediterranean islands, and in all these places, as in Southwest Asia, they form the major genetic element in the local populations. In a dark-skinned and finer-boned form they are also found as the major population element in Pakistan and northern India … The Mediterranean race, then, is indigenous to, and the principal element in, the Southwest Asia, and the greatest concentration of a highly evolved Mediterranean type falls among two of the most ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, notably the Arabs and the Jews (Although it may please neither party, this is the truth.). The Mediterraneans occupy the center of the stage; their areas of greatest concentration are precisely those where civilization is the oldest. This is to be expected, since it was they who produced it and it, in a sense, that produced them.”[Carleton Coon, the Story of the Middle East, 1958, pp. 154–157]

Pre-Darwinian Arab-Muslim Scholars’ Views on Evolution

Did Darwin borrow the contents of his Theory?

In his Pre-Darwinian Muslim Scholars’ Views on Evolution Dr. Muhammad Sultan Shah, Chairman of the Department of Islamic Studies, G.C. University, Lahore states: Early Muslim scientists and philosophers developed theories on evolution, and the transmutation of species, which were widely taught in medieval Islamic schools. John William Draper, a contemporary of Charles Darwin, wrote the following on what he called the “Mohammedan theory of evolution” in 1878: “Sometimes, not without surprise, we meet with ideas which we flatter ourselves have originated in our own times. Thus our modern doctrines of evolution and development were taught in their schools. In fact, they carried them much farther than we are disposed to do extending them even to inorganic or mineral things”. [Draper,J.W., History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science, (London: Henry S. King & Co, 1875), p.118]

Shah states further: Dr. Muhammad Hamidullah describes their evolutionary ideas as follows: “These books state that God first created matter and invested it with energy for development. Matter, therefore, adopted the form of vapour which assumed the shape of water in due time. The next stage of development was mineral life. Different kinds of stones developed in course of time. Their highest form being mirjan (coral). It is a stone which has in it branches like those of a tree. After mineral life, evolves vegetation. The evolution of vegetation culminates with a tree which bears the qualities of an animal. This is the date-palm. It has male and female genders. It does not wither if all its branches are chopped but it dies when the head is cut off. The date-palm is therefore considered the highest among the trees and resembles the lowest among animals. Then, is born the lowest of animals. It evolves into an ape. This is not the statement of Darwin. This is what Ibn Maskawayh states and this is precisely what is written in the Epistles of Ikhwan al-Safa. The Muslim thinkers state that ape then evolved into a lower kind of a barbarian man…” [Muhammad Hamidullah, Dr., The Emergence of Islam, translated into English by Afzal Iqbal (Islamabad: Islamic Research Institute,2004) p.180]

Shah states: Charles Darwin actually studied about evolution from his grandfather, Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802), who got the whole idea from Muslim philosophers preceded him by centuries. He then collected evidence to support the theory of evolution. This fact has been specially pointed out by contemporary scholars like Dr. Imad Hasan in Shajara Code Decoded and T.O. Shahnavas in Creation AND/OR Evolution: An Islamic Perspective (Xlibbris Publishers). Charles Darwin knew Arabic and read directly from the Muslim scientists’ books. According to Dr. Muhammad Hamidullah, Darwin learned Arabic in order to understand Islam. In the collection of his letters which have been published, a number of them are addressed to his Arabic teacher. (Muhammad Hamidullah, Dr., The Emergence of Islam, op cit., p.179). He was himself initiated into Islamic culture in the Faculty of Religion at the University of Cambridge under an orientalist Samuel Lee (1783— 1852),who was a professor of Arabic and Hebrew. Darwin had referred to him in his letter addressed to Granary as follows: “I, was glad to sit by Professor Lee,—the Shrewsbury Carpenter.—I found him a very pleasant chatting man and in high spirits, like a boy, at being lately returned from living on a curacy for seven year in Somersetshire, to civilized society and oriental manuscripts”. (Darwin, C. R. ,Darwin Correspondence project, Letter 413,Dated 15 May 1838, Also available at http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk) So, it is proved that Charles Darwin remained a student of Samuel Lee who was well-versed in oriental sources and he used to meet and discuss the matters of mutual interest with his teacher. So, it is certain that Darwin was familiar with the works of Muslim scholars and philosophers and laid the foundation of his theory of evolution using the raw material borrowed from oriental sources.

The findings of Shah will be shared to further advance the authors hypothesis on the origins of Gog and Magog which will follow Shah’s discussion.

It is the view of this author all references made by these scholars should to be interpreted specifically in reference to the evolution of Gog and Magog from the earth as theorized by religious scholars like Nawawi and not about the creation of Adam; who was created perfectly as Insan al-Kamil (the Perfect Man) and the Representative of God according to al-Bukhari in God’s own image, in Heaven, was given the Arabic language in which he recieved instruction and revelation and could communicate, and intelligence superior to the Angels, who were humbled into prostration before his knowledge and was taught the names of all things (2:31-33).

According to Shah: ‘Arudi Samarqandi in late eleventh century held the idea that plants are evolved from in-animates which transform into animals through successive changes. He narrated that the intermediate step between inanimate and plants in coral and date-palm tree is intermediate organisms between plant and animal kingdoms. According to him, the intermediate stage between animals and human beings is Nasnas, which is regarded as half human.

This theory of Samarqandi will be revisited later when discussing the origins of Gog and Magog.

– Hypothesis to bridge the disconnect –

The disconnect between early Arab-Muslim theories of evolution, the narratives on the origins of Adam, and Eve in Eden, the duration of their stay, and the origins of Gog and Magog as stated by religious scholars like Ibn Hajar and Nawawi is resolved in accepting the likely possibility of the polygenism theory. As stated earlier, polygenism is the theory that the human race has descended from two or more ancestral types.

‘Mohammadan Theory of Evolution’

The following arguments were put forth by Dr. Muhammad Sultan Shah on ‘Mohammadan Theory of Evolution’. In his Pre-Darwinian Muslim Scholars’ Views on Evolution Dr. Muhammad Sultan Shah, Chairman of the Department of Islamic Studies, G.C. University, Lahore Shah states: Charles Darwin is believed to be the first proponent of the evolutionary theory. This paper theorizes another point of view in this regard. Many a Muslim philosopher had already discussed the concept of evolution in their writings prior to Darwin. The pre-Darwinian Muslim scholars provided sufficient materials to Darwin for his theory of evolution who gave it scientific language. John William Draper, a contemporary of Darwin, called it the “Mohammadan Theory of Evolution”. Darwin himself knew Arabic and had the direct access to Arabic literature. He was initiated into Islamic Culture in the Faculty of Religion at the University of Cambridge. Thus, it can be said that he derived the raw material of his theory from oriental literature. Charles Darwin (1809-1882) was an English naturalist who propounded the evolutionary theory. He believed that all living organisms have been evolved from common ancestors through the process of natural selection. He was the first scientist who elucidated his evolutionary ideas in scientific terms. However, many Greek and Muslim philosophers had discussed the concept of evolution in their writings prior to Darwin. Here are some pre-Darwinian Muslim philosophers who have expressed their views on evolution:

Al – Jahiz (160-256A.H/776-869 A.D)

Abu Uthman`Amr ibn Bahr commonly known as al-Jahiz was the originator of idea of evolution through his famous work “Kitab al- Hayawan” (The Book of Animals). A Mu‘tazilite in his belief, al-Jahiz described his thought about evolutionary mechanism and transformation of species that permeated into the work of such Muslim authors as ad-Damiri, al- Biruni, Ibn Tufail and Ibn Khaldun.

For al-Jahiz, the will of God served as the antecedent for all mutation or transformations. Dr. Munawar A. Anees(1) and Habib Ahmad Siddiqi(2) both have stressed the point that his idea of evolution provided material to all the evolutionists. According to al-Jahiz, inanimate elevates to plant level and animals are evolved from plants. Man is an evolutionary stage of animals. He has discussed struggle for existence, adaptation and animal psychology (3) that make the pivot of Darwin’s Theory of Natural selection (4).

Al-Jahiz was a disciple of al-Nazzam (d.845) whom Sarton has alleged to hold evolutionary idea. Influenced by his teacher, he became a staunch Mu’tazilite and founded a separate sect named after his name “al-Jahiziah”.(5) He propagated his religious and philosophical ideas. Dr. Muhammad Iqbal has highly appreciated al- Jahiz for his evolutionary ideas and has regarded him the first evolutionist in Islamic world. He writes: “It was Jahiz (d.225 A.H.) who first hinted at the changes in animal life caused by migration and environment generally”.(6) George Sarton in “Introduction to the History of Science” narrates that the “Kitab al-Hayawan” of al-Jahiz contains the germs of many later theories: evolution, adaptation and animal Psychology. (7)

Al-Farabi (259-339/870-950)

Abu Nasr Muhamad ibn Muhammad ibn Tarkhan Awazlagh, commonly known as al-Farabi was an evolutionist but talked much of evolution in sociology. According to al-Farabi evolution is continued in human intelligence. (8) As he had written commentaries on Aristotle’s Physics, Meteorology and his writings on the Heavens and universe (9), therefore, he seemed much influenced by Greek philosophers who held evolutionary ideas.

Al-Mas’udi (d. 345/957)

Abu`l Hasan `Ali bin al-Husayn al-Mas’udi was a descendant of ‘Abdullah bin Mas’ud, a famous companion of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him). He possessed Mu’tazilite beliefs. In his book “Kitab al-Tanbih wa’l Ashraf” he seemed to agree with al-Jahiz’s theory of evolution. (10) He narrates that plants are evolved from metals which in turn gave rise to animals and the animals evolved into human beings. (11)

Imam Raghib Isfahani (d.502 A.H./1108 A.D)

Imam Raghib writes in his book “Tafsil al-Nishatayn wa Tahsil al-Sa’adatayn” writes: First, man was non-living dead matter. Almighty Allah said:” And you were without life and He gave you life”. Its elucidation is this that he was not more than soil, clay and mud etc. Then from non- living matter emerged plants as Allah Almighty said:” And Allah caused you to grow as from the earth as plants”. It means that he possesses the shape of nutfah, mudghah etc and becomes animal at this step and it is at that time when he searches such things that are beneficial for him and refrains from harmful things. At last, he becomes man and is appropriated with human characters. (12)

Ibn Miskawaih (325-442 /- 1032)

Abu ‘Ali Ahmad bin Muhammad Miskawaih (13) put forth his theory of origin and evolution of life about one thousand years ago. Rightly did he believe in aquatic origin of life (14). He had described the evolutionary theory in al-Jahiz’s pattern but in more detail. Ibn Miskawaih presented his theory of biological evolution in his book “Al-Fauz al-Asghar” (The Small Achievement) but the difference between his theory and modern evolutionary theories lies in the fact that he has ascribed this supposed process to the Creator of this universe. In the first chapter, he has presented the Proof of the Maker. Ibn Miskawaih believes that all things owe their existence to Allah.(15)

Dr. Muhamad Iqbal has summed up his evolutionary theory as follows: “According to Ibn Miskawaih plant-life at the lowest stage of evolution does not need any seed for its birth and growth. Nor does it perpetuate its species by means of the seed. The kind of plant-life differs from minerals only in some little power of movement which grows in higher forms, and reveals itself further in that the plant spreads out its branches, and perpetuates its species by means of the seed. The power of movement gradually grows further until we reach trees which possess a trunk, leaves and fruit. At a higher stage of evolution stand forms of plant- life which needs better soil and climate for their growth. The last stage of development is reached in vine and date-palm which stands, as it were on the threshold of animal life. In the date-palm a clear sex-distinction appears. Besides roots and fibers, it develops something which functions like animal brain, on the integrity of which depends the life of the date-palm. This is the highest stage in the development of plant-life, and a prelude to animal life. The first forward step towards animal life is freedom from earth- rootedness which is the gem of conscious movement. This is the initial stage of animality in which the sense of touch is the first, and the sense of sight is the last to appear with the development of the senses the animal acquires freedom of movement, as in the case of worms, reptiles, ants, and bees. Animality reaches its perfection in the horse among quadrupeds and the falcon among birds, and finally arrives at the frontier of humanity in the ape which is just a degree below man in the scale of evolution. (16)

Ibn Miskawaih has done his best to prove his theory with the help of observed facts. Though not in accordance with the modern scientific knowledge, he explains in a very concrete way. He narrates: ” Every animal really originates from non-animal, for the seminal fluid is not itself animal. This fluid is made of blood and blood of food and food of plants and plants of elements and elements of the simple atoms and these later of ‘ form’ and ‘matter’.(17)

Modern medical science has revealed that seminal fluid contains millions of sperms which are actually unicellular animals because after fusion with ova, they develop into embryo. Ibn Miskawaih’s views regarding the evolution of organisms do not correspond to the modern knowledge. For example, an eminent biologist W.R. Thompson says,” Biologists still agree on the separation of plants and animals (18) but Ibn Miskawaih has speculated that animals originate from plants.

Al-Biruni (362-448/973-1048)

Abu’l Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni was a great Muslim scientist. He is also reported to hold evolutionary ideas. Some western scholars have tried to read 19th century evolutionary ideas in his writings. J.Z. Wilezynski wrote an article entitled “On the presumed Darwinism of eight hundred years before Darwin”(19), wherein he tried to prove that al-Biruni held evolutionary ideas similar to those of Darwin. In 1878, a French Dieterici wrote “Der Darwinismus im X und XI Fahrhundert” that was published in Leipzig.(20) Dr. Anees has also pointed out that evolutionary ideas permeated into the work of al-Biruni and other Muslim scientists make an apparent reference to the influence of al-Jahiz.(21)

Although al-Biruni has described four kingdoms of beings (i.e. mineral, plants, animals and man) in his book “Kitab al-Jawahir fi Ma’rifat al Jawahir” (The Book Most Comprehensive in knowledge on Precious Stones) and has even underlined difference between plants and animals but he has not mentioned the transformation of one into other. He thinks Adam as the ancestor of all human beings .(22)

Like any true believer in Allah, al-Beruni regards the human race to be the foremost among all God’s creatures, being superior and having dignity and the most honoured place in the universe. Humans are considered to be above the beasts of the earth, and everything or being that moves and lives whether the birds of the air, the plants and vegetation, or the fishes of the waters. (23)

Ibn Sina (370-428/980-1037)

Abu Ali Husayn ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn Sina known to the western world as Avicenna believed in traditional gradation of being. According to him three kingdoms (i.e. mineral, plant and animal) are made up of the mixture of four elements- fire, air, water and earth. He has discussed the creation of minerals, plants and animals in a different way. His views can be summarized as follows. (24)

When the four elements mix to a certain degree of perfection and purity, the mineral soul (ruh ‘ardiyah) possessing the faculty of preserving forms become attached to the mixture. From this wedding, results the formation of the lowest domain of being on earth consisting of the whole of the mineral kingdom.

With a further mixing of the elements, the establishment of a higher degree of purity and a closer approach to equilibrium, a new faculty of the world soul or, one may say, a new soul joins the world of the elements to form the plant kingdom. The vegetative soul (al- nabatiyah nafs) has three powers of feeding (ghadhiyah), growth (namiyah), and reproduction (muwallidah), in addition to all the powers of the mineral kingdom.

The life of plants fulfills its purpose in the hierarchy of Being as the link between mineral and animal worlds. The animals are also composed of the four elements but with a higher degree of perfection and purity. When the mixture of the elements approaches even closer to equilibrium, the animal soul (al-nafs al-hayawaniyyah) becomes attached to it. The animal, besides all the powers of the minerals and plants, possesses additional faculties which it gains by virtue of the coming into play of this new soul or new faculty of the world soul. The faculties of the animal soul consist of the power of motion (muharrikah) and the power of comprehension (mudarrikah). The animal, by virtue of these faculties added to those of the plant and mineral kingdoms are able to perform the various biological functions which belong to their nature. They constitute a degree in the scale of Being between the plant world and man, and through their physical and psychic qualities form a bridge between man and the rest of the terrestrial environment.

Ibn Bajah (d.138/533)

Abu Bakr Muhammad Ibn Bajah or Avenpace as known in the West, believed in gradual development of man. Dr. Stokel writes in his famous book” History of Philosophy”:”The most important Arabian philosophers in the west are Avenpace, Abu Bucer and Averroes. Avenpace (Ibn Bajah) and Abu Bucer (Ibn Tufayl) dwell in their works on the idea of independent and gradual development of man.”(25)

Ibn Tufayl (1100-1186)

Ibn Bajah’s disciple Ibn Tufayl has also written on the topic of creation and evolution of life .He was an Andalusian Arab Muslim polymath, an Arabic writer, novelist, Islamic philosopher, Islamic theologian, physician, vizier, and court official who is known as Abu Bucer in the West. Ibn Tufayl’s views can be derived from his philosophical novel entitled “Hayy Bin Yaqzan”(Alive son of Awake).It is known as Philosophus Autodidactus in the Western world. It has been translated in many European languages like Hebrew, Latin, Dutch, English, German, French and Spanish. (26) It is a treatise on natural science that explains the origin of human species. It is actually a tale of two islands. One is uninhabited by man, and on it a child appears, either spontaneously generated or floated there in a box from the other island. Ibn Tufayl calls it Hayy bin Yaqzan which is suckled by a gazelle and on the death of this foster-mother is left to his own resources. He has described spontaneous generation of Hayy much similar to the process of chemical evolution .Ibn Tufayl referred to the stuff out of which Hayy was formed as “fermented clay”, a “viscous mass”, or clay that laboured and churned like bubbles in boiling water”. Under the influence of sunshine and heat, in the midst of it a very little Bubble was formed, which was divided into two with a thin partition. A spirit infused into it by command of God.(27) Sami S.Hawi has compared his view of abiogenesis with ancient philosophers and modern biologists in his article “An Islamic Naturalistic Conception of Abiogenesis: The Views of Ibn Tufayl”.(28) He has also published his research work entitled “Islamic Naturalism and Mysticism: A Philosophical Study of Ibn Tufayl’s Hayy Bin Yaqzan” (29) that is an extensive study of this valuable treatise. Some scholars have also pointed out the way Ibn Tufayl had influenced the West. (30) From Ibn Tufayl’s doctrine of spontaneous generation certain evolutionary elements can be inferred but we cannot call him evolutionist in the full Darwinian sense. Though he leaves no hints in the treatise concerning the emergence of the multiplicity of types of living beings from others, or “natural selection” but ideas like struggle for existence, competition for food, and the growth of certain organs whose function is to defend the organism, can be traced in his treatise.

According to Sami S.Hawi it is significant to show the affinity between Ibn Tufayl and Darwin on certain basic issues although we cannot maintain that they upheld evolutionism exactly in the same sense. For instance, both writers emphasized the struggle for existence as a basic fact of life. Ibn Tufayl portrays Hayy struggling with the members of other species .In the process of competition of food, and other basic needs Hayy had to defend himself and contrive ways to avoid any harm that might be inflicted on him by others. Also, the Darwinian dictum, “need creates the organ”, is observed by Ibn Tufayl. The need for competition, remarks Ibn Tufayl, generated natural weapons in animals such as tusks, horns, hooves, and the like. Hayy had none of these and had wondered why he did not possess such natural defenses. He was tormented and bewildered because of his nakedness or for being a “naked ape” to borrow a phrase from Desmond Morris. He also noticed that fawns his age sprout horns from “nowhere” and grew strong and swift. Struggling for his life, his competition with animal and his feeling of helplessness spurred him to control this competition by employing his special “endowments” or else succumb to perdition. His struggle with the physical conditions of the environment was no less laborious. (31)

“Only the fittest survive”. Darwin tells us that he adopted this statement from Herbert Spencer, and believed it to be true. If an organism is fit to survive, it must possess capacities for adaptation to the environment. Hayy, finding himself desperate because of his helplessness to compete with others, fell back on his distinctive organs and intellectual functions. By doing so, he prevented the environment from “selecting” him out. He took decisive steps towards protecting himself that proved effective and reliable. Nature seemed to have favoured him with certain qualities which rendered him not only fit to survive but also superior to all animals as well. Hayy armed himself with artificial weapons by using branches of trees and pointed flint, and started attacking the animal competing with him. He also discovered the art of building and made himself a home .In this he slept securely without worrying about the aggression of other races. He could also store and hide his food from wild beast.(32) It can be concluded that Ibn Tufayl was well aware of one of man’s distinctive characteristics in his adoptability to the environment.

Al-Khazini (1115-1130 )

In the 12th century, al-Khazini wrote the following on how evolution in alchemy and biology were perceived by natural philosophers and common people in the Islamic world at the time:”When common people hear from natural philosophers that gold is a body which has attained to perfection of maturity, to the goal of completeness, they firmly believe that it is something which has gradually come to that perfection by passing through the forms of all other metallic bodies, so that its gold nature was originally lead, afterward it became tin, then brass, then silver, and finally reached the development of gold; not knowing that the natural philosophers mean, in saying this, only something like what they mean when they speak of man, and attribute to him a completeness and equilibrium in nature and constitution – not that man was once a bull, and was changed into an ass, and afterward into a horse, and after that into an ape, and finally became a man”(33).

Ibn Rushd (520-595/1126-1198 A.D.)

Abu’l Walid Muhammad bin Ahmad bin Rushd or Averroes as known in Europe believed in the idea of evolution. He thought that the creation of the universe was neither accomplished with the Divine Command of “Kun” at the same moment as orthodox Muslims believe. Nor the creation of the whole universe was completed in six days. Instead creative activity of Almighty Allah never ceases at any moment, and will continue without an end. The things created by Allah undergo different changes with the passage of time. He was greatly affected by Aristotle and wrote commentaries on his books. He believed in ladder of nature (Scala Naturae) of Aristotle. (34) Ibn Rushd’s evolutionary ideas are not original. He derived these ideas from Aristotelian work and gave it an Islamic touch.

Ibn Rushd was declared heretical by both the Muslims and Christians alike because he asserted that the human soul in not independent but shares a universal mind. On the other hand, he was admired by the Jews of Spain who spread his philosophy into Europe especially into Italy and France after they were forced out of Spain.(35) According to E.J Brill’s First Encyclopedia of Islam,” the main doctrine of Ibn Rushd’s system, that brought the change of heresy upon him, concerning the question of the eternity of the world, the nature of God’s apprehension, and His fore-knowledge, the universality of the soul and of the intellect, and the resurrection. Averroes may easily appear heretical on these doctrines; he does not deny dogma, but expounds it is such a way as to bring it into conformity with philosophy. (36)

‘Arudi Samarqandi (500—560 A.H.)

Ahmad bin Umar bin ‘Ali Nizami ‘Arudi Samarqandi in late eleventh century held the idea that plants are evolved from in-animates which transform into animals through successive changes. He narrates that the intermediate step between inanimate and plants in coral and date-palm tree is intermediate organisms between plant and animal kingdoms. According to him, the intermediate stage between animals and human beings is Nasnas(37), which is regarded as half human.

The Ikhwan al-Safa’

The Ikhwan al-Safa’ (The Brethren of Purity), a brotherhood of Muslim scientists and philosophers who flourished in the tenth century, held that the Religion was defiled by folly and entangled with error, and only by Greek philosophy it can be cleansed and purified; in which is both wisdom in belief and soundness in study. If one could but unite Greek philosophy with the religious law of Islam, the perfection of faith, they taught, would be reached. With this design they wrote fifty tracts on all branches of philosophy, theoretical and practical, and furnished with them a table of contents, and entitled them’ The Tracts of the Brethren of Purity’ (Rasa’il Ikhwan al-Safa’) but they concealed their names.(38)

The chain of being described by the Ikhwan possesses a temporal aspect which has led certain scholars to the view that the authors of Rasa’il believed in the modern theory of evolution. The divergence of the Ikhwan from modern theories of evolution should be clear. First of all, according to Rasa’il all changes on earth occur as acts of the universal soul and not by an independent agent acting within bodies here on earth. Secondly, according to the Ikhwan this world is a shadow of another world more real than it, and the “idea” of every thing in this world actually exists in the other, so that there is no question of a species changing into another, because the “idea” of each species is a form which is beyond change and decay. In the words of the Ikhwan: “The species and genus are definite and preserved. Their forms are in matter. But the individuals are in perpetual flow; they are neither definite nor preserved. The reason for the conservation of forms, genus and species, in matter is the fixity of their celestial cause because their efficient cause is the universal soul of the spheres instead of the change and continuous flux of individuals which is due to the variability of their cause”.(39)

The distinction between the traditional doctrine of gradation and modern theory of evolution is clearly stated in these words of Ikhwan themselves. To call the Ikhwan evolutionists is to misunderstand the whole traditional conception of the gradation of beings.

There do exist, however, certain similarities between the views of the Ikhwan and modern theories in that both believe that the date of the beginning of the terrestrial existence of plants precedes that of animals, just as minerals precede the plants. Also, the Ikhwan believe in the adaptation of organisms to their environment, much in the manner of the authors of the nineteenth century. Ikhwan write: “Plants come before (taqaddama) animals in the series of beings and serve them as material for the forms of animals and food for the nutrition of their bodies. From this point of view plants would be like a mother who eats raw food, digest it, assimilates it and transforms it into pure milk which is absorbed very gently by those who drink it. The plants subsequently present this to the animals considered as their sons….. Plants occupy an intermediate position ⎯ necessary and salutary ⎯ between the four elements and the animals. All the parts of the vegetables which the animals consume such as seeds, leaves, fruit, and so on, come from the four elements digested and transformed by the plants”.(40)

As minerals serve plants and plant animals, so do animals in turn serve man, who therefore comes to this world later than all of them, since each has come after the kingdom upon which it depends.

Dr. Hossein Nasr concludes the difference between the Ikhwan and modern evolutionists as follows:” In the deepest sense, what separates all these ideas of Ikhwan from their modern counterparts is that for the Ikhwan the hands of God were not cut off from creation after the beginning of the world”.(41)

Maulana Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-1273 A.D.)

According to Rumi, evolution passes through certain stages. The inanimate level is transformed to the animals and then to the level of man. The evolution does not stop here. From man, it climbs to the stage of angels and finally reaches the stage of God. He says:”I died to the inorganic state and became endowed with growth and then I died to (vegetable) growth and attained to the animal. I died from animality and became Adam (man): Why, then, would I fear? When have I become less by dying? At the next remove I shall die to man, that I may soar and lift up my head amongst the angels; Once more I shall be sacrificed and die to the angel; I should become that which enters not into imagination. Then I shall become non-existence: non-existence saith to me, (in tones loud) as an organ, Verily unto Him shall we return”.(42)

Allamah Iqbal (43) has paid homage to Rumi for presenting evolution theory. Referring to Rumi’s theory of evolution, he says: The formation of the theory of evolution in the world of Islam brought into being, Rumi’s tremendous enthusiasm for the biological future of man. No cultured Muslim can read such passages as the following without a thrill of joy:

Low in the earth / I lived in realms of ore and stone;

And then I smiled in many-tinted flower;

Then roving with the wild and wondering hours,

O’er earth and air and ocean’s zone,

In a new birth,/I dived and flew,

And crept and ran,/And all the secret of my essence drew within a form that brought them all to view-/And lo, a Man!

And then my goal,/Beyond the clouds, beyond the sky,

In realms where none may change or die,

In angel form; and then away Beyond the bounds of night and day,

And Life and Death, unseen or seen,

Where all that is hath ever been As one and whole 

Rumi repeats this idea in various forms. Here one can mark a great difference between Rumi’s and Darwin’s views. To Rumi the process does not end with man whereas to Darwin man is the end of evolution.

Thus to Rumi man’s physical organism, like the universe, did not come into existence in a moment; it is the result of a long process of evolution. He says:Why was (the time occupied in) the creation of Adam forty morning?(Because) He (God) was adding (perfections) to that clay little by little.(44)

It is imperative to note that Rumi has beautifully reconciled the idea of creation with his evolutionary views. Despite his being created out of clay man did not get figure at once and despite his physical death, he will lift up his head amongst the angels and even beyond.

Rumi quotes a tradition of the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) according to which Adam’s clay was kneaded in forty days. (45) It may be remembered here that according to the Holy Qur’an Allah’s one day is equal to hundred thousand years. Hence Rumi’s theory of slow process of evolution is justified.

Ibn-Khaldun (732-808/1332-1406)

Ibn-Khaldun has described the process of evolution like other philosophers. According to him, the world of creation started out from the minerals and progressed, in an ingenious, gradual manner, to plants and animals. The last stage of minerals is connected with the first stage of plants, such as herbs and seedless plants. The last stage of plants, such as palms and vines, is connected with the first stage of animals, such as snails and shellfish which have only the power of touch. The word “Connection” with regard to these created things means that the last stage of each group is fully prepared to become the first stage of the next group.

The animal world then widens, its species become numerous, and, in a gradual process of creation, it finally leads to man, who is able to think and to reflect. The higher stage of man is reached from the world of the monkeys, in which both sagacity and perception are found, but which has not reached the stage of actual reflection and thinking. At this stage we come to the first stage of man after (the world of monkeys). This is as far as our (physical) observation extends (46).

At another place Ibn Khaldun has given the detail of his evolutionary ideas. He has tried to explain links between inorganic matter, plants, animals and man. He thinks that the whole of existence in (all) its simple and composite worlds are arranged in a gradual order of ascent and descent, so that everything constitutes an uninterrupted continuum. The essence at the end of each particular stage of the worlds is by nature prepared to be transformed into the essence adjacent to them, either above or below them. This is the case with simple material elements; it is the case with palms and vines, (which constitutes) the last stage of plants, in their relation to snails and shellfish, (which constitute) the (lowest) stage of animals. It is also the case with monkeys, creatures combining in themselves cleverness and perception, in their relation to man, the being who has the ability to think and to reflect. The preparedness for (transformation) that exists on either side, at each stage of the worlds, is meant when (we speak about) their connection.

Above the human world, there is a spiritual world. It is known to us by its influence upon us, in that it gives us the powers of perception and volition. The essences of that spiritual world are pure perception and absolute intellection. It is the worlds of the angels.

It follows from all this that human soul must be prepared to exchange humanity for angelicity, in order actually to become part of the angelic species at any time, in a single instant. It will afterwards resume its humanity (47).

Arab-Muslim Polygenism Theory

It is highly unlikely as a Muslim Ibn Khaldun, and any of the Arab Muslim scientists cited above could have believed Adam and the prophets from his line evolved from apes, Allah forbid. Rather, Ibn Khaldun like his predecessors was also a learned scholar of religion who studied exegesis of the Holy Quran, as well as the Hadith literature. Given his religious beliefs as a Muslim, his background in the religious sciences and the widely held opinion of the religious scholars of his era and earlier like Nawawi and Ibn Hajar on the origins of Gog and Magog from the mixture of fluid from Adam and the earth, it is most likely the stages of biological evolution Ibn Khaldun referred to in al-Muqaddimah were specifically references to the evolution of Gog and Magog from the earth and not Adam; who was created perfectly as Insan al-Kamil (the Perfect Man) and the Representative of God according to al-Bukhari in God’s own image, in Heaven, and was given the Arabic language with which he received revelation and could intelligently communicate, and an intelligence superior to the Angels, who were humbled into prostration before Adam’s knowledge and was taught the names of all things (2:31-33).

The disconnect between early Arab-Muslim theories of evolution, the narratives on the origins of Adam, and Eve in Eden, the duration of their stay, and the origins of Gog and Magog as stated by religious scholars like Ibn Hajar and Nawawi is resolved in accepting the likely possibility of the polygenism theory. As stated earlier, polygenism is the theory that the human race has descended from two or more ancestral types. In this narrative then, it can be said the merging of earlier Arab-Muslim scientific and theological views suggests Adam, Eve and their children have a different origin than that of Gog and Magog.  Gog and Magog in this narrative are Adamic, yet not of natural birth from Eve, and evolved from the earth, while Adam created in Heaven in God’s own image, with a Divine language (Arabic) and intelligence which surpassed that of the Angels, while Eve’s origins in Adam’s rib, and their children from them both; born of their union in wedlock from the natural process of procreation, not evolution.

Gog & Magog Likely of Early Homo-sapien/Neanderthal Origins

The vast majority of medieval Arab scientists like al-Mas’udi, al-Idrisi, Ibn Khaldun etc., identify the areas outside the Arab centre in Eurasia and the extreme North as the lands of Gog and Magog. Modern science identifies these regions as being native to Neanderthal populations.  The following traditions provide insight into what can, in a modern interpretation, hypothesize a direct link between the origins of Gog and Magog and early Homo-sapiens and Neanderthals.

The Holy Quran states in 70:04: (Whereby) the angels and the Spirit ascend unto Him in a Day whereof the span is fifty thousand years.

According to a narration found in Tafsir al-Mizan, Eden was on earth. There is nothing found in the religious texts which explicitly states how long Adam lived in Eden which is Paradise, before Eve was created. There are Quranic verses and ahadith however which state the dwellers of Paradise do not die. Even if Adam lived in Heaven for a single day, it could be understood by qualified exegetes of the Holy Quran to be between one thousand to fifty-thousand years as per the Quranic texts themselves. This suggests there is a very real possibility that Adam may have lived in Eden, which was likely on earth, for even thousands of years prior to Eve. Jesus and Idris are believed to be alive to date without aging in heaven for thousands of years. Similarly the period between the creation of Eve and the incident of the Forbidden Tree is also not specified, and could also have been over a period of thousands of years as well. There is no evidence to deny the possibility of this and on the contrary, there is ample scriptural evidence to support life without death in Paradise similar to the the life of Jesus for example. Most tafsirs state Adam lived for 930 years after his exit from Paradise.  This suggests the possibility of reconciling certain scientific theories expounding (creationist) evolution with ancient Arab-Muslim narratives on creation as the following will attempt to theorize.

This view on the pre-Eve life of Adam in Paradise, or Eden, without death, which was on ‘earth’, accompanied with the early Arab-Muslim scholarly view on biological evolution demonstrates Gog and Magog, who are said to have evolved by a created process out of the earth mixed with fluid from Adam’s body, likely have origins in early Homo-sapiens and their descendants the Neanderthals as the overwhelming majority of Western evolutionist scientists say and have tried to prove through the display of fossils and skulls. The modern European and Eurasian and other man likely then evolved as these scientists argue through a (creation) process in stages, through mating and through language thereafter.

According to al-Jahiz (d.868) the famous Arab intellectual, people imagine that the nasnas and other such beings are combinations of shiqq and man, and that the creatures behind the barrier of Dhul Qarnayn are a combination of shiqqs, nasnas and Gog and Magog. [al-Jahiz, Kitab al-Hayawan, I, p.189; iii, p.142; iv, p.7; vii, p.178]

Al-Qazwini describes the nasnas as half-men coming from shiqqs and whole men (man), the shiqqs in their turn are the other halves of men, half men.

In Seyyid Hossein Nasr’s “Science and Civilization in Islam” Nasr mentions an Indian Sufi sage who considered the “ape-man” similar to nasnas. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press, 1968)

According to al-Mas’udi the nasnas existed outside the Arab centre, in other peoples habitats.  Nasnas lived in a physical environment and were thought to be a hybrid between animal and man, a kind of weak and an archaic and abnormal creature hunted by men rather than the reverse.  Humans terrify him and when he sees them he tries to escape swiftly. [Ahmad al-Dinawari, al-akhbar al tiwal (Cairo: Wizarat al-thaqafah wa al-irshad al qawmi, 1960) also al-Mas’udi  muruj al-dhahab 2: 209]

Najmuddin al-Razi (d.1256) writes “nasnas is a mythical being combining both human and demonic features.  It is an animal found in the desserts of Turkestan. It is tall, with an upright stature and broad fingernails.  It is extremely found of humans”.

Ahmad bin Umar bin ‘Ali Nizami ‘Arudi Samarqandi in late eleventh century held the idea that plants are evolved from in-animates which transform into animals through successive changes. He narrates that the intermediate step between inanimate and plants in coral and date-palm tree is intermediate organisms between plant and animal kingdoms. According to him, the intermediate stage between animals and human beings is nasnas, which is regarded as half human.

Arab geographers write the nasnas originally, is nothing other than an anthropomorphic ape; an ape described as having human form or human attributes, possessing human characteristics although itself not human. The shiqqs live below the country of Zanj and in the extreme north of the Sino-Asiatic continent. These three continents are said to be inhabited by particularly small people in Malaysia, the the Deccan, and southern Himalayan and other nomadic groups of the arctic and sub-arctic regions.

The term shiqq means in Arabic “half of”. The uncanny being called shiqq is likely a reference to the “incomplete, half being” given Adam is “insan al-kamil” or the complete man from whose fluid they were created in stages, or evolved.

Shiqq in the modern scientific sense likely refered to early Homo-sapiens who ultimately evolved from the mixture of the fluid of Adam and earth, while nasnas possibly a reference to the Neanderthal who ultimately came forth from shiqq – although not a binding religious nor proven scientific view.

According to Arab-Islamic traditions, after his descent from Eden, Adam landed in Sri Lanka.  He left Sri Lanka for India, and from there traveled to Mount Arafat in search of Eve.  Adam’s Bridge, also known as Rama’s Bridge or Rama Setu in Sanskrit, is a chain of limestone shoals, between Pamban Island, also known as Rameswaram Island, off the south-eastern coast of Tamil Nadu, India, and Mannar Island, off the north-western coast of Sri Lanka. Geological evidence suggests that this bridge is a former land connection between India and Sri Lanka.

The bridge is 50 km (30 mi) long and separates the Gulf of Mannar (south-west) from the Palk Strait (northeast). Some of the sandbanks are dry and the sea in the area is very shallow, being only 1 to 10 metres (3 to 30 ft) deep in places, which hinders navigation. It was reportedly passable on foot up to the 15th century until storms deepened the channel: temple records seem to say that Adam’s Bridge was completely above sea level until it broke in a cyclone in 1480.

The Arabic World Encyclopedia

Of Many Nations

According to Ibn Hajar in his Fath, Gog and Magog were twenty-four or twenty-two peoples. (Ibn Hajar, Fath, xvi, p.221)

Wahb b. Munabbih and Muqatil b. Sulayman say they comprise of twenty-one peoples. (al-Majlisi, Bihar, vi. Pg.298)

The Sirat Iskandar talks about frequent contacts between Muslims and individual “Yajujis”, and relates in detail about their diplomatic exchanges with Iskandar.  Their language is described as the inaccessible language which is the incomprehensible language of the Turks and is translated into Arabic by al-Khidr.

Location

Ibn Khaldun (d.1382) the famous historian, sociologist and philosopher deals with the location of Gog and Magog in several places of his al-Muqaddimah:

“The cultivated part of the earth extends more to the north.  In the shape of a circular plane it extends in the south to the equator and in the north to a circular line behind which there are mountains separating [the cultivated part of the earth] from elemental water. Enclosed between them is the dam of Gog and Magog.  In the ninth section of the sixth zone are the Adkash.  In the east the ninth section is hugged by the Qufaya mountains that surround Gog and Magog. In the middle of this section is the dam built by Dhul Qarnayn” [Rosenthal, The Muqaddimah, I, p. 109 ff].

Al-Idrisi divides the habitable earth into seven climes i.e. zones extending from the extreme west to the extreme east, but he does not define the latitudes of these climes.  Each clime is divided into ten parts, so the tenth part of each is to its extreme east.  Gog and Magog are found in clime five/part ten, in clime six/part five and in clime seven/part nine.

The geographer al-Istakhri says Gog (not Magog) is found in the northern direction if one traverses between the Slavs and the Kimak (a Turkish people living in Western Siberia). (al-Istakhri,Kitab al-Masalik p.9)

Ibn al-Faqih writes: The distance between the land of the Khazars and the place of the barrier is two months.

The astronomer al-Furghani (d. after 861) writes, “The seventh clime begins in the east, in the north of the lands of Gog and Magog, and extends to the lands of the Turks.”

The Persian biographer Amin Ahmed Razi (d. early 17th c) composed seven climes, a great collection of biographies, arranged geographically according to the seven climes. Gog and Magog are dealt with under the seventh clime, together with the Bulgars and the Slavs.

Pious Left Behind

The following narrative suggests it was the judgment of Dhul Qarnayn that some nations of Gog and Magog are also peaceful and as such were permitted to live on the Arab side of the rampart. This narrative also lends credence to the idea that Gog and Magog are not wholly evil, and recognize God.

According to Ibn Hisham: “When Dhul Qarnayn locked them [Gog and Magog] up behind the barrier, one people were left behind (turkia) because they were absent on a raid, or they were left out because they believed in God” (Ibn Hisham, Kitab al Tidjan, p. 302).

On the authority of al-Suddi, Ibn Mardawayh reports that the Turks are a contingent of Gog and Magog who broke out alternatively.  They had gone out on a raid and thus remained ‘on this’ [i.e. Arab side] of the barrier (al Majlisi, Bihar, vi. P. 298)

Al-Idrisi says, “Part of their population Dhul Qarnayn found honest and pious, but miserable, supported by neighboring tribes.  He let them live on the other side of the rampart.  The Arabs gave them the name of Turks, because they were part of the tribe of the Turks of Alexander though born of Gog and Magog.” [al-Idrisi, al Mushtak, p. 934f.) Jaubert, Geographie, ii, p. 416-420. Minorsky Hudud, p. 347]

Interestingly enough, descendants and relatives of the same Turkic Mongol hoards that destroyed Baghdad in 1258 went on to found both the Ottoman Empire as well as the Mughal Empire of Hindustan.

Common Ancestor

According to al-Mas’udi Gog and Magog live in the seventh clime.  He says Gog and Magog, like the Franks, the Slavs, the Lombards, the Spanish, the Turks, the Bulgars, the Khazars, the Bulgars, the Alans, the Galicians and all the nations who live in the Northern regions are all descended from the same ancestor (Kitab al-Kharaj vi, p. 263 f(ed), p. 206 (transl).

The Persian biographer Amin Ahmed Razi (d. early 17th c) composed seven climes, a great collection of biographies, arranged geographically according to the seven climes. Gog and Magog are dealt with under the seventh clime, together with the Bulgars and the Slavs.

Fur Trade, Beaver Skins

Ibn Hawkal states Gog and Magog trade with the Russians and the Khwarazmians and their products are found as far as Spain. He writes, “Their tribes are found towards the north once one has crossed the lands of the Slavs and the Kimak. God alone knows their position and their territory…I have never met anyone better informed about them than Abu Ishak Ibrahim b. Alp Tekin (the son of the founder of the Ghaznawid dynasty)…the greater part of the fur trade and the best beaver skins which are put on the market in Spain, exist in the land of the Russians and come to them from the region of Gog and Magog.” [Ibn Hawkal, Kitab al-Masalik p.482f]

“White and Red Skin, Blue Eyed, With Red Flowing Hair”

Al-Idrisi in his al-Mushtak says: “Magog is small…their language resembles a whistle (extremely high pitched); they are basically nasty, dishonest and given to shameful depravity.  During the entire year they live in snow and ice.  It is said they are two brothers, born of a common father. They are white – and are auburn (red) colored, of a very burning disposition, and are a highly prolific race.  Before the barrier of Dhul Qarnayn existed, they were engaged in incursions into their neighbors lands, so that the entire surface of that region became deserted, without cultivation, uninhabited…”[al-Idrisi, al Mushtak, p. 934f.) Jaubert, Geographie, ii, p. 416-420. Minorsky Hudud, p. 347]

BBC’s Paul Rincon writes: Many people alive today possess some Neanderthal ancestry, according to a landmark scientific study.

The finding has surprised many experts, as previous genetic evidence suggested the Neanderthals made little or no contribution to our inheritance.

The result comes from analysis of the Neanderthal genome – the “instruction manual” describing how these ancient humans were put together.

Between 1% and 4% of the Eurasian human genome seems to come from Neanderthals.

But the study confirms living humans overwhelmingly trace their ancestry to a small population of Africans who later spread out across the world.

The most widely-accepted theory of modern human origins – known as Out of Africa – holds that the ancestors of living humans (Homo sapiens) originated in Africa some 200,000 years ago.

A relatively small group of people then left the continent to populate the rest of the world between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago.

While the Neanderthal genetic contribution – found in people from Europe, Asia and Oceania – appears to be small, this figure is higher than previous genetic analyses have suggested.

“They are not totally extinct. In some of us they live on, a little bit,” said Professor Svante Paabo, from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.

Professor Chris Stringer, research leader in human origins at London’s Natural History Museum, is one of the architects of the Out of Africa theory. He told BBC News: “In some ways [the study] confirms what we already knew, in that the Neanderthals look like a separate line.

“But, of course, the really surprising thing for many of us is the implication that there has been some interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans in the past.”

John Hawks, assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US, told BBC News: “They’re us. We’re them.

“It seemed like it was likely to be possible, but I am surprised by the amount. I really was not expecting it to be as high as 4%,” he said of the genetic contribution from Neanderthals.

The sequencing of the Neanderthal genome is a landmark scientific achievement, the product of a four-year-long effort led from Germany’s Max Planck Institute but involving many other universities around the world.

The project makes use of efficient “high-throughput” technology which allows many genetic sequences to be processed at the same time.

The draft Neanderthal sequence contains DNA extracted from the bones of three different Neanderthals found at Vindija Cave in Croatia.

Retrieving good quality genetic material from remains tens of thousands of years old presented many hurdles which had to be overcome.

The samples almost always contained only a small amount of Neanderthal DNA amid vast quantities of DNA from bacteria and fungi that colonised the remains after death.

Neanderthal DNA itself had broken down into very short segments and had changed chemically. Luckily, the chemical changes were of a predictable nature, allowing the researchers to write software that corrected for them.

Writing in Science journal, the researchers describe how they compared this draft sequence with the genomes of modern people from around the globe.

“The comparison of these two genetic sequences enables us to find out where our genome differs from that of our closest relative,” said Professor Paabo.

The results show that the genomes of non-Africans (from Europe, China and New Guinea) are closer to the Neanderthal sequence than are those from Africa.

The most likely explanation, say the researchers, is that there was limited mating, or “gene flow”, between Neanderthals and the ancestors of present-day Eurasians.

This must have taken place just as people were leaving Africa, while they were still part of one pioneering population. This mixing could have taken place either in North Africa, the Levant or the Arabian Peninsula, say the researchers.

Professor Stringer added: “Any functional significance of these shared genes remains to be determined, but that will certainly be a focus for the next stages of this fascinating research.”
The Out of Africa theory contends that modern humans replaced local “archaic” populations like the Neanderthals.

But there are several variations on this idea. The most conservative model proposes that this replacement took place with no interbreeding between modern humans and Neanderthals.

Unique features

Another version allows for a degree of assimilation, or absorption, of other human types into the Homo sapiens gene pool.

The latest research strongly supports the Out of Africa theory, but it falsifies the most conservative version of events.

The team identified more than 70 gene changes that were unique to modern humans. These genes are implicated in physiology, the development of the brain, skin and bone.

The researchers also looked for signs of “selective sweeps” – strong natural selection acting to boost traits in modern humans. They found 212 regions where positive selection may have been taking place.

The scientists are interested in discovering genes that distinguish modern humans from Neanderthals because they may have given our evolutionary line certain advantages over the course of evolution.

The most obvious differences were in physique: the muscular, stocky frames of Neanderthals contrast sharply with those of our ancestors. But it is likely there were also more subtle differences, in behaviour, for example.

Dr Hawks commented that the amount of Neanderthal DNA in our genomes seemed high: “What it means is that any traits [Neanderthals] had that might have been useful in later populations should still be here.

“So when we see that their anatomies are gone, this isn’t just chance. Those things that made the Neanderthals apparent to us as a population – those things didn’t work. They’re gone because they didn’t work in the context of our population.”

Researchers had previously thought Europe was the region where Neanderthals and modern humans were most likely to have exchanged genes. The two human types overlapped here for some 10,000 years.

The authors of the paper in Science do not rule out some interbreeding in Europe, but say it was not possible to detect this with present scientific methods.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sci/tech/8660940.stm]

Human and Neanderthal mating is ‘traced back to western Galilee 55,000 years ago’

WashingtonPost.com: According to a study published Wednesday in Nature, the first interbreeding between humans and Neanderthals may have taken place in what is now Israel. Scientists report the discovery of a 55,000-year-old modern human skull in a cave in western Galilee. Named “Manot,” the skull represents the first human remains pinpointed to that time and location — when Neanderthals are known to have been present.

“Manot clearly shows that Neanderthals and modern humans lived side by side in Israel for a long period of time,” co-author Israel Hershkovitz of Tel Aviv University told Discovery News.

And this new find supports previous research, Michael Balter writes for Science magazine:

The find supports a raft of recent genetic studies. A 2010 analysis, for example, found that up to 2% of the genomes of today’s Europeans and Asians consist of Neandertal DNA, a clear sign of at least limited interbreeding in the past. Two years later, scientists compared ancient DNA extracted from Neandertal fossils to that of contemporary modern human populations around the world, concluding that this interbreeding took place in the Middle East, most likely between 47,000 and 65,000 years ago. And last year, a 45,000-year-old modern human found in Siberia, the oldest modern to have its genome sequenced, was revealed to have harbored a little more than 2% Neandertal DNA, allowing researchers to refine the interbreeding event to roughly 50,000 to 60,000 years ago.

The researchers think that Manot (who they think might be female, though it’s hard to tell with the brow ridge missing) may have been part of the wave of humans who moved on from Africa to colonize Europe and Asia. It’s possible that she was actually part of an initial wave that failed, with others arriving later and thriving. But only DNA analysis can confirm this, and it’s possible that the heat of the middle eastern climate has wrecked the DNA in the skull.

If the researchers can successfully analyze Manot’s DNA, they could also determine whether she was actually a hybrid — the result of some of the first interbreeding between humans and Neanderthals — or just lived in close proximity to these extinct relatives of ours.

Praeadamitae (Pre-Adamism), La Peyrère, Condé, Cromwell and Christina of Sweden

Styled as the Queen of the Swedes, Goths and Wends (Suecorum, Gothorum Vandalorumque Regina); Grand Princess of Finland, and Duchess of Estonia, Livonia and Karelia, Bremen-Verden, Stettin, Pomerania, Cassubia and Vandalia, Princess of Rugia, Queen Christina of Sweden (d.1689) reckoned herself as number 249 in a list of kings going back to Magog.

In 1654, Christina of Sweden met with Isaac La Peyrère (1596–1676), identified as the “Father of Zionism” [La Peyrère, Isaac Biography. (Undated). Retrieved from http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/la-peyr-x00e8-re-isaac%5D. La Peyrère was said to be a Marrano French Millenarian theologian and formulator of the modern Pre-Adamite hypothesis. La Peyrère was a lawyer by training and a Calvinist by upbringing, though he later converted to Catholicism [Pyenson, Empire of Reason. 1989, p. 149].  He served as secretary to the Prince of Condé on whose orders he lived for one month in a house in the Southern Netherlands adjoining that of Christina’s [Pyenson, Empire of Reason. 1989, p. 149].

In his Prae-Adamitae, published in Latin in 1655 and in English as ‘Men Before Adam’ in 1656, La Peyrère argued that Paul’s words in Chapter 5, verses 12-14 of his Epistle to the Romans should be interpreted such that “if Adam sinned in a morally meaningful sense there must have been an Adamic law according to which he sinned. If law began with Adam, there must have been a lawless world before Adam, containing people” [Philip C. Almond, Adam and Eve in Seventeenth-Century Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999, p. 53].

La Peyrère argued there must have been two creations; first the creation of the Gentiles and then the creation of Adam, who was the father of the Hebrews. The existence of pre-Adamites, La Peyrère argued, explained Cain’s taking of a wife and the building of a city after Abel’s murder in the Book of Genesis [La Peyrère, Isaac Biography. (Undated). Retrieved from http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/la-peyr-x00e8-re-isaac%5D.

This account of human origins became the basis for 19th century theories of polygenism and modern racism [La Peyrère, Isaac Biography. (Undated). Retrieved from http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/la-peyr-x00e8-re-isaac%5D, [Barkun, Michael. “Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement”. 1996, p. 153]. This polygenesis of the Gentiles was his method of explaining the existence of the Negroes, Chinese, Eskimos, Indians, Malays and other people groups being discovered [La Peyrère, Isaac Biography. (Undated). Retrieved from http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/la-peyr-x00e8-re-isaac%5D.

La Peyrère argued coming of the Messiah was imminent and that the Messiah would join with the king of France (that is, the Prince of Condé, not Louis XIV of France) to liberate the Holy Land from the Arabs of the Ottoman Empire, rebuild the Temple and set up a world government of the Messiah with the king of France acting as regent [Garber & Ayers, Cambridge History of Seventeenth-Century Philosophy, p. 40]. Then the Jews will rule the world from Jerusalem [Garber & Ayers, Cambridge History of Seventeenth-Century Philosophy, p. 40].

Condé, Christina and Cromwell became converts to La Peyrère’s belief and during La Peyere’s stay in Southern Netherlands, both Christina and La Peyrère met with Menasseh Ben Israel and converted him as well [Garber & Ayers, Cambridge History of Seventeenth-Century Philosophy, p. 407]. According to Pyenson, 1989, p. 149, Queen Christina of Sweden saw La Peyrère’s manuscript of the Praeadamitae in Brussels, urged its publication, and agreed to pay the costs. It was printed in 1655 in Amsterdam and Basle (five editions in Latin, 1655; English as Men Before Adam, 1656; Dutch as Praeadamiten, 1661). After the printing of Praeadamitae, Menasseh was subsequently invited by Cromwell’s government in 1655 to England and the Whitehall Conference was held that same year. Historian Ismar Schorsch credits the introduction of the idea of England’s role in bringing about the coming of the Messiah to La Peyrère’s convert Menasseh.

According to Garber & Ayers in the Cambridge History of Seventeenth-Century Philosophy, p. 407: “Condé, Cromwell and Christina were negotiating to create a theological-political world state, involving overthrowing the Catholic king of France, among other things.”

This account of human origins became the basis for Christian-Zionist myths about Canaanites (Palestinians, and Arabs) as Cainites.

La Peyrère has been interpreted as a heretic, atheist, deist, Socinian, father of Bible criticism, and father of Zionism [La Peyrère, Isaac Biography. (Undated). Retrieved from http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/la-peyr-x00e8-re-isaac%5D.

Rhodes originally wrote his famous statement referred to as  “Confession of Faith” on June 2, 1877, in Oxford. Later, that year in Kimberley, he made some additions and changes. What follows is that amended statement. The spelling and grammar errors were in the original.

His ideas could be interpreted to suggest the colonialist imperialist mindset was founded upon the characteristics of Gog and Magog as described in the religious and historic texts of the Arabs quoted earlier.

Rhodes “Confession of Faith” of 1877

It often strikes a man to inquire what is the chief good in life; to one the thought comes that it is a happy marriage, to another great wealth, and as each seizes on his idea, for that he more or less works for the rest of his existence. To myself thinking over the same question the wish came to render myself useful to my country. I then asked myself how could I and after reviewing the various methods I have felt that at the present day we are actually limiting our children and perhaps bringing into the world half the human beings we might owing to the lack of country for them to inhabit that if we had retained America there would at this moment be millions more of English living. I contend that we are the finest race in the world and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race. Just fancy those parts that are at present inhabited by the most despicable specimens of human beings what an alteration there would be if they were brought under Anglo-Saxon influence, look again at the extra employment a new country added to our dominions gives. I contend that every acre added to our territory means in the future birth to some more of the English race who otherwise would not be brought into existence. Added to this the absorption of the greater portion of the world under our rule simply means the end of all wars, at this moment had we not lost America I believe we could have stopped the Russian-Turkish war by merely refusing money and supplies. Having these ideas what scheme could we think of to forward this object. I look into history and I read the story of the Jesuits I see what they were able to do in a bad cause and I might say under bad leaders.

At the present day I become a member of the Masonic order I see the wealth and power they possess the influence they hold and I think over their ceremonies and I wonder that a large body of men can devote themselves to what at times appear the most ridiculous and absurd rites without an object and without an end.

The idea gleaming and dancing before ones eyes like a will-of-the-wisp at last frames itself into a plan. Why should we not form a secret society with but one object the furtherance of the British Empire and the bringing of the whole uncivilised world under British rule for the recovery of the United States for the making the Anglo-Saxon race but one Empire. What a dream, but yet it is probable, it is possible. I once heard it argued by a fellow in my own college, I am sorry to own it by an Englishman, that it was good thing for us that we have lost the United States. There are some subjects on which there can be no arguments, and to an Englishman this is one of them, but even from an American’s point of view just picture what they have lost, look at their government, are not the frauds that yearly come before the public view a disgrace to any country and especially their’s which is the finest in the world. Would they have occurred had they remained under English rule great as they have become how infinitely greater they would have been with the softening and elevating influences of English rule, think of those countless 000’s of Englishmen that during the last 100 years would have crossed the Atlantic and settled and populated the United States. Would they have not made without any prejudice a finer country of it than the low class Irish and German emigrants? All this we have lost and that country loses owing to whom? Owing to two or three ignorant pig-headed statesmen of the last century, at their door lies the blame. Do you ever feel mad? do you ever feel murderous. I think I do with those men. I bring facts to prove my assertion. Does an English father when his sons wish to emigrate ever think of suggesting emigration to a country under another flag, never—it would seem a disgrace to suggest such a thing I think that we all think that poverty is better under our own flag than wealth under a foreign one.

Put your mind into another train of thought. Fancy Australia discovered and colonised under the French flag, what would it mean merely several millions of English unborn that at present exist we learn from the past and to form our future. We learn from having lost to cling to what we possess. We know the size of the world we know the total extent. Africa is still lying ready for us it is our duty to take it. It is our duty to seize every opportunity of acquiring more territory and we should keep this one idea steadily before our eyes that more territory simply means more of the Anglo-Saxon race more of the best the most human, most honourable race the world possesses.

To forward such a scheme what a splendid help a secret society would be a society not openly acknowledged but who would work in secret for such an object.

I contend that there are at the present moment numbers of the ablest men in the world who would devote their whole lives to it. I often think what a loss to the English nation in some respects the abolition of the Rotten Borough System has been. What thought strikes a man entering the house of commons, the assembly that rule the whole world? I think it is the mediocrity of the men but what is the cause. It is simply—an assembly of wealth of men whose lives have been spent in the accumulation of money and whose time has been too much engaged to be able to spare any for the study of past history. And yet in hands of such men rest our destinies. Do men like the great Pitt, and Burke and Sheridan not now to exist. I contend they do. There are men now living with I know no other term the [Greek term] of Aristotle but there are not ways for enabling them to serve their Country. They live and die unused unemployed. What has the main cause of the success of the Romish Church? The fact that every enthusiast, call it if you like every madman finds employment in it. Let us form the same kind of society a Church for the extension of the British Empire. A society which should have members in every part of the British Empire working with one object and one idea we should have its members placed at our universities and our schools and should watch the English youth passing through their hands just one perhaps in every thousand would have the mind and feelings for such an object, he should be tried in every way, he should be tested whether he is endurant, possessed of eloquence, disregardful of the petty details of life, and if found to be such, then elected and bound by oath to serve for the rest of his life in his County. He should then be supported if without means by the Society and sent to that part of the Empire where it was felt he was needed.

Take another case, let us fancy a man who finds himself his own master with ample means of attaining his majority whether he puts the question directly to himself or not, still like the old story of virtue and vice in the Memorabilia a fight goes on in him as to what he should do. Take if he plunges into dissipation there is nothing too reckless he does not attempt but after a time his life palls on him, he mentally says this is not good enough, he changes his life, he reforms, he travels, he thinks now I have found the chief good in life, the novelty wears off, and he tires, to change again, he goes into the far interior after the wild game he thinks at last I’ve found that in life of which I cannot tire, again he is disappointed. He returns he thinks is there nothing I can do in life? Here I am with means, with a good house, with everything that is to be envied and yet I am not happy I am tired of life he possesses within him a portion of the [Greek term] of Aristotle but he knows it not, to such a man the Society should go, should test, and should finally show him the greatness of the scheme and list him as a member.

Take one more case of the younger son with high thoughts, high aspirations, endowed by nature with all the faculties to make a great man, and with the sole wish in life to serve his Country but he lacks two things the means and the opportunity, ever troubled by a sort of inward deity urging him on to high and noble deeds, he is compelled to pass his time in some occupation which furnishes him with mere existence, he lives unhappily and dies miserably. Such men as these the Society should search out and use for the furtherance of their object.

(In every Colonial legislature the Society should attempt to have its members prepared at all times to vote or speak and advocate the closer union of England and the colonies, to crush all disloyalty and every movement for the severance of our Empire. The Society should inspire and even own portions of the press for the press rules the mind of the people. The Society should always be searching for members who might by their position in the world by their energies or character forward the object but the ballot and test for admittance should be severe)

Once make it common and it fails. Take a man of great wealth who is bereft of his children perhaps having his mind soured by some bitter disappointment who shuts himself up separate from his neighbours and makes up his mind to a miserable existence. To such men as these the society should go gradually disclose the greatness of their scheme and entreat him to throw in his life and property with them for this object. I think that there are thousands now existing who would eagerly grasp at the opportunity. Such are the heads of my scheme.

For fear that death might cut me off before the time for attempting its development I leave all my worldly goods in trust to S. G. Shippard and the Secretary for the Colonies at the time of my death to try to form such a Society with such an object.

Rhodes First Will of 1877

To and for the establishment, promotion and development of a Secret Society, the true aim and object whereof shall be for the extension of British rule throughout the world, the perfecting of a system of emigration from the United Kingdom, and of colonisation by British subjects of all lands where the means of livelihood are attainable by energy, labour and enterprise, and especially the occupation by British settlers of the entire Continent of Africa, the Holy Land, the Valley of the Euphrates, the Islands of Cyprus and Candia, the whole of South America, the Islands of the Pacific not heretofore possessed by Great Britain, the whole of the Malay Archipelago, the seaboard of China and Japan, the ultimate recovery of the United States of America as an integral part of the British Empire, the inauguration of a system of Colonial representation in the Imperial Parliament which may tend to weld together the disjointed members of the Empire and, finally, the foundation of so great a Power as to render wars impossible and promote the best interests of humanity.

The Great Arab Revolt

The official website of His Majesty King Hussein bin Talal of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan states: Much of the trauma and dislocation suffered by the peoples of the Middle East during the 20th century can be traced to the events surrounding World War I. During the conflict, the Ottoman Empire sided with the Central Powers against the Allies. Seeing an opportunity to liberate Arab lands from Turkish oppression, and trusting the honor of British officials who promised their support for a unified kingdom for the Arab lands, Sharif Hussein bin Ali, Emir of Mecca and King of the Arabs (and great grandfather of King Hussein), launched the Great Arab Revolt. After the conclusion of the war, however, the victors reneged on their promises to the Arabs, carving from the dismembered Ottoman lands a patchwork system of mandates and protectorates. While the colonial powers denied the Arabs their promised single unified Arab state, it is nevertheless testimony to the effectiveness of the Great Arab Revolt that the Hashemite family was able to secure Arab rule over Transjordan, Iraq and Arabia.

In order to discern the motives of the Hashemites in undertaking the revolt, one must understand the policies undertaken by the Ottoman Empire in the years leading up to World War I. Following the Young Turk coup of 1908, the Ottomans abandoned their pluralistic and pan-Islamic policies, instead pursuing a policy of secular Turkish nationalism. The formerly cosmopolitan and tolerant Ottoman Empire began overtly discriminating against its non-Turkish inhabitants. Arabs in particular were faced with political, cultural and linguistic persecution. During this time, Arab nationalist groups in Syria, Iraq and Arabia began to rally behind the Hashemite banner of Abdullah and Faisal, sons of Sharif Hussein bin Ali, King of the Arabs.

When the Ottomans entered World War I on the side of the Central Powers in 1914, they upheld the ban on the official use of the Arabic language and its teaching in schools, while arresting many Arab nationalist figures in Damascus and Beirut. Arabs were further threatened by the construction of the Hijaz Railway, connecting Damascus and Mecca, which promised to facilitate the mobility of Turkish troops into the Arab heartland.

Consequently, in June 1916, as head of the Arab nationalists and in alliance with Britain and France, Sharif Hussein initiated the Great Arab Revolt against Ottoman rule. His sons, the emirs Abdullah and Faisal, led the Arab forces, with Emir Faisal’s forces liberating Damascus from Ottoman rule in 1918. At the end of the war, Arab forces controlled all of modern Jordan, most of the Arabian peninsula and much of southern Syria.

Sharif Hussein’s objective in undertaking the Great Arab Revolt was to establish a single independent and unified Arab state stretching from Aleppo (Syria) to Aden (Yemen), based on the ancient traditions and culture of the Arab people, the upholding of Islamic ideals and the full protection and inclusion of ethnic and religious minorities. Arab nationalists in the Fertile Crescent and the Arabian Peninsula found in the Hashemite commanders of the Great Arab Revolt the leadership that could realize their aspirations, and thus coalesced around them.

The Clash of Promises and Interests

وَإِذَا ٱلۡوُحُوشُ حُشِرَتۡ

81:05 And when the wild beasts shall be gathered together 

The official website of His Majesty King Hussein bin Talal continues: The political aspirations of the Arabs were not to be realized, however, due to the conflicting promises made by the British to their wartime allies. The first of these came during 1915 in an exchange of ten letters between Sir Henry McMahon, Britain’s high commissioner in Egypt, and Sharif Hussein. Essentially, Britain pledged, in what became known as the Hussein-McMahon Correspondence, to support Arab independence if Hussein’s forces revolted against the Turks.

But the agreement excluded three areas: the wilayets (Ottoman provinces) of Basra and Baghdad, the Turkish districts of Alexandretta and Mersin, and, most importantly, “portions of Syria lying to the west of the districts of Damascus, Homs, Hama, and Aleppo.” The interpretation of the last section was to be the source of great controversy. The British later claimed that Palestine was meant to be excluded from the area of Arab rule, as it is technically located west of Damascus: for obvious reasons the Zionists took the same position. The Arabs interpreted the letter as it reads: Lebanon, not Palestine, is to the west of Damascus and the other areas mentioned.

In any case, the interests of the colonial powers took precedence over promises made to the Arabs. While accepting the principle of Arab independence laid down in the Hussein-McMahon Correspondence, the Sykes-Picot Agreement, signed by Britain, France and Russia in 1916, divided the area into zones of permanent colonial influence. The agreement recognized French interests in Greater Syria and northern Iraq, while acknowledging British designs on a belt of influence from the Mediterranean to the Gulf to protect its trade and communications links with the Indian subcontinent. The Sykes-Picot Agreement specified that most of Palestine was to be entrusted to an international administration. The agreement clearly contradicted the promises made to Sharif Hussein of Mecca.

To further complicate matters, in a totally deceitful move British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour in 1917 issued a letter to a prominent British Jew, Lord Rothschild, promising Britain’s commitment and support for a Jewish home in Palestine. Known as the Balfour Declaration, the letter calls for the “establishment in Palestine of a National Home for the Jewish people . . . it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine…”

In the winter of 2003, when George Bush and Tony Blair were frantically gathering support for their planned invasion, Professor Thomas Römer, an Old Testament expert at the university of Lausanne, was rung up by the Protestant Federation of France. They asked him to supply them with a summary of the legends surrounding Gog and Magog and as the conversation progressed, he realised that this had originally come, from the highest reaches of the French government.

President Jacques Chirac wanted to know what the hell President Bush had been on about in their last conversation. Bush had then said that when he looked at the Middle East, he saw “Gog and Magog at work” and the biblical prophecies unfolding. But who the hell were Gog and Magog? Neither Chirac nor his office had any idea. But they knew Bush was an evangelical Christian, so they asked the French Federation of Protestants, who in turn asked Professor Römer.

He explained that Gog and Magog were, to use theological jargon, crazy talk. They appear twice in the Old Testament, once as a name, and once in a truly strange prophecy in the book of Ezekiel:

And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,
And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.

Who are all these people? The best opinion is that like all Bible prophecy, it is a mixture of wish-fulfilment and contemporary (iron age) politics. Some of it at least seems to refer to the turmoil brought about by Alexander the Great in the fourth century BC (unlike Bush, Alexander actually conquered Afghanistan). But they have been for the last two hundred years the subject of increasingly excited evangelical fanfic, especially in America; in the 70s and 80s, Gog was meant to be Russia. Ronald Reagan seems to have believed that.

But with Reagan, the prophecy appreciation part of his brain functioned quite independently of the part that started wars (there’s nothing in the Old Testament about Nicaragua or even Grenada). Bush seems to have taken the threat of Gog and Magog to Israel quite literally, and, if this story can be believed, to have launched a war to stop them.

Can it be believed? We have calls out to Professor Römer and to the Protestant Federation of France. I’ll report back if or when they get back to us. But Römer story was published in the Lausanne University magazine in 2007, and looks perfectly credible there. It was repeated independently in a French book of interviews with Chirac this spring. I’m certainly inclined to believe it myself: it makes as much sense as anything else about Bush’s policy in Iraq.

There is one last twist to the story. The prophecy concludes in a way that should make even George W Bush flinch: having set his hooks in Gog, Magog, Meschech, Tubal, old Gomer, Togarmah and all, and dragged them to attack Israel, what does God do to defend his chosen people? First he gets mad:

My fury shall come up in my face.

And then he gets even:

For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.
And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.

Is that really what a true defender of Israel would wish to happen there? If there was anyone who suffered such things as a result of Bush’s war, it was the poor Iraqis. Tricky stuff, the word of the lord. [htctps://www.theguardian.com]

Fox News Compares “The Mahdi” To “The Antichrist”

New York Daily News reports a Fox News show put forth a theory that Muslim leaders in Egypt and Iran are trying to bring the Islamic version of the Antichrist to Earth.

On Thursday’s “Glenn Beck Show,” the conservative host gave viewers a detailed chalkboard comparison of the Christian and Muslim Judgment Day stories.

Beck said he has been studying the topic of the Mahdi, or the 12th Imam, for more than five years. “I about wet my pants when I finished the research on it,” Beck said.

Alongside Beck for the theological tutorial was Joel Richardson, author of “The Islamic Antichrist.”

The comparisons are near identical until Richardson describes the “mark of the beast.”

Richardson says that unlike Christianity, with its fear of being marked and condemned to hell, “in Islamic tradition the beast is a good guy” and “true” Muslims desire the mark, according to the hadith, a sacred Muslim text of sayings from the Prophet Muhammed.

The author then accuses Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood of calling for the return of the Mahdi in his speeches.

Zuhdi Jasser of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy agreed that some Islamic leaders are calling for the Mahdi to come back, but that descriptions of the end of times in the hadith are open to interpretation.

“Some of these stories come out of, I think, illegitimate hadith,” Jasser said.

Richardson disagreed.

“Most orthodox Muslims would say that this is sacred scripture that you cannot discard,” he said.

Beck closed the show saying more work needs to be done on the subject.

“This is the beginning, tonight, of what I hope is a long road of learning on your part,” he said.

Gog & Magog, al-Mahdi & Arabs

The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “If Allah intends good for someone, then he afflicts him with trials.” (Bukhari, Hadith # 5321)

According to end time narratives of the Arab Muslims, future generations of Gog and Magog who would have wreaked havoc on the Middle East and slaughtered the Arabs will be reigned in by a powerful Arab king from the descendants of the House of the Prophet Muhammad salutations be upon him referred to as Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi al-Muntadhar, or the Awaited Mahdi.

According to Tirmidhi Sahih, Abu Dawud, Sahih: The world will not come to pass until a man from among the People of my House, whose name shall be my name, shall rule the Arabs.

Narrated from Ibn Mas`ud by Abu Dawud: The Prophet said: “The Hour shall not rise until a man from the People of my House shall rule by kingdom (yamluk), named after me, his father named after mine, and fill the earth with justice and equity just as it had been filled with oppression and injustice.”

Fars News Agency (Iran) -The Mahdi ‘Will Arrive In A Vessel ‘Like A Spaceship’

Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi is one of Iran’s foremost leading Islamic scholars.  He recently answered questions about the arrival of the Mahdi. Answering the question “When the Mahdi is revealed, will he arrive with a sword?” he explained at length how the Mahdi’s arrival will be high-tech, as befits the modern age.

The following are excerpts from Shirazi’s response:

Iranian Ayatollah: The ‘Hidden Imam’ Will Arrive In A Vessel ‘Like A Spaceship’

FARS-Aug 26, 2016  “It was said by Imam Sadegh [the Sixth Shi’ite Imam, circa. 700-765 C.E.]: ‘When he (Mahdi) arrives, the land will be illuminated by divine light, and [God’s] creations will no longer require sunlight.’ The interpretation of this saying is that the issue of light and energy is expressed in that both in daytime and nighttime powerful lights can replace sunlight.

“Should we see this as a miracle? Daily life should be conducted according to the ongoing laws of nature, and not according to miracles – because miracles are extraordinary and are for [times of] need and exceptional circumstances…

“Another hadith states: With regards to [the Mahdi], God elevates low places and lowers high places, so that the entire world is visible to him like the palm of his hand…’

“Today we use satellites [and by means of them] cover extensive areas, so that anyone with a receiver can use them… In the time of the Mahdi’s arrival, there will be a powerful apparatus, that may be difficult for us to imagine today, for transmitting images so that the entire world is visible like the palm of a hand…Therefore, God grants him this tool… Once again I stress that this is a routine matter, and that it is inconceivable that it will come about based on a miracle; rather [it will come about] by means of ordinary tools that are based on scientific and industrial advances.

“Another hadith states: ‘A bestial vessel is reserved for your Master and Friend [the Mahdi]. What is the meaning of ‘bestial vessel’? A cloud that is loud as thunder and fast as lightning, upon which he rides. Be aware that soon he will [appear] riding on clouds, and ascending to seven heavens and seven lands.’ This does not refer to an ordinary cloud, as clouds are not vessels that can be sailed upon in outer space. [Clouds] travel near the atmosphere that is close to the earth, and they cannot attain great altitudes. Therefore, the meaning here is an extraordinary and very swift vessel that looks like a dense cloud in the sky; its sound is that of thunder and its power and speed is that of lightning. When it moves, it slashes the heart of the sky with extraordinary force, and in this way it can advance to any point in the firmament. Therefore, this is a super-modern vessel, and there is none like it today. It is like a spaceship and like other swift and amazing space vessels that are found [only] in stories today, but nobody knows how close [these vessels] come to truth and reality. Maybe it will be like [a spaceship] but in any case it is not a spaceship…

“When the Mahdi rules, the good will have the height of freedom, and the tyrants will be monitored – maybe so much so that sound waves will be detected from the walls of their houses, and when necessary it will be possible to understand what they say at home.

“Perhaps a century ago, this statement [about detecting sound waves] would have seemed like an unimaginable miracle. Yet today, some countries monitor traffic on the roads using radar, with no police present. Therefore, it is clear that during the global revolution of the Mahdi… there will be an unprecedented expansion of industry and technology.”

Endnotes:

[1] Fars (Iran), July 29, 2016, https://www.memri.org/reports/iranian-ayatollah-hidden-imam-will-arrive-vessel-spaceship

Regarding Jesus & al-Dajjal 

The following narrations discuss the return of Jesus, now more than two thousand years after being raised to the heavens, his role in ending the corruption of Gog and Magog and the existence of the Dajjal on earth from the prophetic era itself.

Jesus’ Bloodline Shall Continue After His Return

“Jesus (peace be upon him) did not marry; he never took a wife. At the end of time, Allah (Exalted is He) will send him back down to the earth, and He will then marry him to a young woman of Quraish, who will bear him a son.” (Utterances of Shaikh ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (Malfuzat): Collected Sayings from the Crown of Saints, translated by Muthar Holland)

Jesus will Establish the Promise to Ishmael

By its legal definition, the term Ahl al-Kitab literally is a reference in a specific sense to the biological Children of Israel who lived in the Middle East. There are no known cases of recognized prophets from the Old Testament, or New Testament in Europe nor a single identified verifiable marked grave of even one prophet from the above mentioned revealed books who lived or preached in Europe and or in the regions where Gog and Magog are said to have predominantly resided. Hence unless demonstrated otherwise, it is historically inaccurate to refer to previously pagan Christianized or Judaized Europeans or Eurasians as Ahl al-Kitab, because historically, they are not. 

According to the Arab-Islamic narrative, Jesus the son of Mary will return to to earth to illuminate and enlighten the Ahl al-Kitab in the Middle East, Arab-Jews and Arab-Christians, with the light of Truth. He will clarify the matter regarding both his being the true Messiah and will make clear the truth regarding the Covenant of Abraham. In this narrative, Jesus will make known to the Ahl al-Kitab in the Middle East that the Covenant of Abraham was the Promise to Ishmael, as originally stated in the Holy Bible, and as is still found in the Gospel of St. Barnabus.  He will then establish its fulfillment by praying at Jerusalem behind Imam al-Mahdi thereby uniting the biological descendants of Abraham in the Middle East.

The Gospel of Barnabas, Chapter 43-44: Promise to Ishmael

“James answered: ‘O master, tell us in whom this promise was made; for the Jews say “in Isaac,” and the Ishmaelites say ‘in Ishmael.’”

Jesus answered: ‘David, whose son was he, and of what lineage?’

James answered: ‘Of Isaac; for Isaac was father of Jacob, and Jacob was father of Judah , of whose lineage is David.’

Then said Jesus: ‘And the messenger of God when he shall come, of what lineage will he be?’

The disciples answered: ‘Of David.’

Whereupon Jesus said: ‘Ye deceive yourselves; for David in spirit calleth him lord, saying thus: “God said to my lord, sit thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. God shall send forth thy rod which shall have lordship in the midst of thine enemies.” If the messenger of God whom ye call Messiah were son of David, how should David call him lord? Believe me, for verily I say to you, that the promise was made in Ishmael, not in Isaac.”’

Thereupon said the disciples: ‘O master, it is thus written in the book of Moses, that in Isaac was the promise made.’

Jesus answered, with a groan: ‘It is so written, but Moses wrote it not, nor Joshua, but rather our rabbins, who fear not God. Verily I say unto you, that if ye consider the words of the angel Gabriel, ye shall discover the malice of our scribes and doctors. For the angel said: “Abraham, all the world shall know how God loveth thee; but how shall the world know the love that thou bearest to God? Assuredly it is necessary that thou do something for love of God.” Abraham answered: “Behold the servant of God, ready to do all that which God shall will.”

‘Then spoke God, saying to Abraham: “Take thy son, thy firstborn Ishmael, and come up the mountain to sacrifice him.”

How is Isaac firstborn, if when Isaac was born Ishmael was seven years old?

Then said the disciples: ‘Clear is the deception of our doctors: therefore tell us thou the truth, because we know that thou art sent from God.’

Then answered Jesus: ‘Verily I say unto you, that Satan ever seeketh to annual the laws of God; and therefore he with his followers, hypocrites and evil-doers, the former with false doctrine, the latter with lewd living, to-day have contaminated almost all things, so that scarcely is the truth found. Woe to the hypocrites! For the praises of this world shall turn for them into insults and torments in hell.

‘I therefore say unto you that the messenger of God is a splendor that shall give gladness to nearly all that God hath made, for he is adorned with the spirit of understanding and of counsel, the spirit of wisdom and might, the spirit of fear and love, the spirit of prudence and temperance, he is adorned with the spirit of charity and mercy, the spirit of justice and piety, the spirit of gentleness and patience, which he hath received from God three times more than he hath given to all his creatures. O blessed time, when he shall come to the world! Believe me that I have seen him and have done him reverence, even as every prophet hath seen him: seeing that of his spirit God giveth to them prophecy. And when I saw him my soul was filled with consolation, saying: “O Mohammed, God be with thee, and may he make me worthy to untie thy shoe latchet, for obtaining this I shall be a great prophet and holy one of God.” ‘

And having said this, Jesus rendered his thanks to God.”

Traditions About the Return of Jesus

Bukhari in his Sahih: the Prophet said: ‘What will be your condition when the son of Mary will come down to you and your Imam will be from amongst you’”

In Fara’id al-Simtayn. p. 43 a narration attributed to Sa’id ibn Jubayr reports: It is narrated from Ibn Abbas that the Messenger of Allah said, “My Caliphs and successors are twelve persons, first of whom is my brother and the last my great grandson.” He was asked, “O Allah’s Messenger! Who is your brother” He replied, “Ali bin Abi Talib.” He was asked, “Who is your great grandson” He replied, “Mahdi, who shall fill the earth with justice and equity like it would be fraught with injustice and oppression. By the One in Whose hands is my life! Even if a day remains for the earth, the Almighty Allah will prolong this day till my son, Mahdi reappears and Jesus son of Mary descends to the earth and recites prayer behind him. The earth shall be illuminated from the east to the west.

Jesus will Defeat al-Dajjal

In his Sunan Abi Dawud writes: ‘If he comes forth while I am among you I shall be the one who will dispute with him on your behalf, but if he comes forth when I am not among you, a man must dispute on his own behalf, and Allah will take my place in looking after every Muslim. Those of you who live up to his time should recite over him the opening verses of Surat al–Kahf, for they are your protection from his trial. We asked: How long will he remain on the earth ? He replied : Forty days, one like a year, one like a month, one like a week, and rest of his days like yours. We asked : Messenger of Allah, will one day’s prayer suffice us in this day which will be like a year ? He replied : No, you must make an estimate of its extent. Then Jesus son of Mary will descend at the white minaret to the east of Damascus. He will then catch him up at the gate of Ludd and kill him.” (Sunan Abi Dawud 4321, In-book reference: Book 39, Hadith 31, English translation: Book 38, Hadith 43)

Jesus will Supplicate Against the Last of Gog and Magog

It is the view of Ibn Hisham and al-Idrisi that there also exist good among the pre-armageddon group of Gog and Magog and as such, the following tradition should be interpreted as a reference to the end times, and the very last group of Gog and Magog.

According to Muslim’s Sahih: Al-Nawaas ibn Sam’an reported that Prophet said: “… and Allah will send Gog and Magog, swiftly swarming from every mound. They will pass the lake of Tiberias [in Palestine] and will drink everything that is in it. Then the last of them will pass by and will say, ‘There used to be water here once.’ The Prophet of Allah, Jesus, and his companions, will be besieged until a bull’s head will be more precious to one of them than a hundred dinars are to any of you today. Jesus and his companions will pray to Allah, and Allah will send a fatal virus on them. Then Jesus and his companions will come down out of the place where they were besieged…” (Muslim, 18/68).

Traditions About al-Dajjal

According to the two main schools, Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jam’ah and al-Shia al-Imamiyya, Al-Masih al-Dajjal “the false god”, and “the false Messiah” is an evil figure in Islamic eschatology. Dajjal is to appear, pretending to be al-Masih (i.e. the Messiah), and even God Himself, before the Day of Judgement. Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jam’ah maintains al-Dajjal will be killed by Jesus son of Mary for the Mahdi upon his return while the Imamiyya maintain al-Dajjal will killed by the Twelfth Imam Sahib uz-Zaman Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi al-Muntadhar himself.

“The Hour will not come until there are ten signs: the rising of the sun from the West, the False Messiah (Masih ad-Dajjal), the Beast, Gog and Magog…” (Ibn Majah)

Hadith of Tamim ad-Dari in Sahih Muslim

It was narrated that Fatimah bint Qays (may Allah be pleased with her) said:

I heard the voice of the caller, the caller of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), saying: Al-salatu jami’ah (prayer is about to begin), so I went out to the mosque and I prayed with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). I was in the women’s row that was closest to the people. When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) had finished his prayer, he sat on the minbar and he was smiling. He said: “Let each person stay in the place where he just prayed.” Then he said: “Do you know why I called you together?”

They said: Allah and His Messenger know best. He said:

He said: “By Allah, I did not call you together for an exhortation or for a warning. I have called you together because Tamim al-Dari was a Christian and he came and swore allegiance and became Muslim, and told me something which agrees with what I was telling you about the Dajjal (false messiah). He told me that he sailed in a ship with thirty men of Lakhm and Judham and they were tossed by the waves of the sea for a month. Then they came to an island at sunset. They sat in a small rowing-boat and landed on that island. They were met by a beast with a great deal of hair and they could not distinguish his face from his back because he was so hairy. They said: ‘Woe to you, what are you?’ It said: ‘I am al-Jassasah.’ They said: ‘What is al-Jassasah?’ It said: ‘O people, go to this man in the monastery for he keen to know about you.’ He (the narrator) said: When it named a man for us we were afraid of it lest it be a devil. Then we set off, rushing, until we came to that monastery, where we found the hugest man we had ever seen, bound strongly in chains with his hands tied to his neck and his legs bound from the knees to the ankles with iron shackles. We said: ‘Woe to you, who are you?’ He said: ‘You will soon find out about me; tell me who you are.’ They said: ‘We are people from Arabia who embarked on a ship, but the sea became wild and the waves tossed us about for one month, then they brought us to this island of yours. We took to the rowing-boats and landed on this island. We were met by a beast with a great deal of hair and we could not tell his front from his back because he was so hairy. We said: Woe to you, what are you? It said: I am al-Jassasah. We said: What is al-Jassasah? It said: Go to this man in the monastery for he is keen to know about you. So we came rushing to you and we fled from it because we could not be sure that it was not a devil.’ He (that chained person) said: ‘Tell me about the date-palm trees of Baysan.’ We said: ‘What do you want to know about them?’ He said: ‘I am asking you whether these trees bear fruit.’ We said: ‘Yes.’ He said: ‘Soon they will not bear fruit.’ He said: ‘Tell me about the lake of Tabariyyah’ We said: ‘What do you want to know about it?’ He said: ‘Is there water in it?’ They said: ‘There is a great deal of water in it.’ He said: ‘Soon it will dry up.’ Then he said: ‘Tell me about the spring of Zughar (which is in the south of Syria).’ They said: ‘What do you want to know about it?’ He said: ‘Is there water in the spring and do the people grow crops with the water of the spring?’ We said to him: ‘Yes, there is plenty of water in it and the people grow crops with its water.’ He said: ‘Tell me about the Gentile Prophet; what has he done?’ We said: ‘He has left Makkah and has settled in Yathrib (Madinah).’ He said: ‘Do the Arabs fight against him?’ We said: ‘Yes.’ He said: ‘How did he deal with them?’ We told him that he had prevailed over the Arabs in his vicinity and they had shown obedience to him. He said to us: ‘Has it really happened?’ We said: ‘Yes.’ He said: ‘If it is so that is better for them that they show obedience to him. Now I will tell you about myself. I am the Dajjal and soon I will be given permission to emerge. So I will come out and travel in the land, and will not spare any town but I will stay for forty nights, except Makkah and Taybah (Madinah). They are both forbidden to me; every time I try to enter one of them, I will be met by an angel with a sword in his hand, who will bar my way, and on every route there will be angels guarding it.’ She said: Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) struck the minbar with his staff and said: “This is Taybah, this is Taybah, this is Taybah,” meaning Madinah. “Did I net tell you this before?” The people said: Yes. [The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:] “I liked the story of Tamim because it agrees with what I used to tell you about him and about Makkah and Madinah. But he is in the Syrian Sea (Mediterranean) or the Yemeni Sea (Arabian Sea). No, rather he is in the east, he in the east, he is in the east,” and he pointed towards the east with his hand. She said: I memorized this from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).

Narrated by Muslim in his Sahih (2942), so it is a sahih hadith according to the Sunni school. It was also narrated by the scholars in their books, with their isnads from Fatimah bint Qays (may Allah be pleased with her). Al-Tirmidhi (may Allah have mercy on him) said in al-Jami’ al-Sahih (2253): This is a sahih gharib hadith. Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr said in al-Istidhkar (7/338): It is sahih in its isnad and transmission.

al-Dajjal: The One-Eyed False God 

According to most Arab religious narratives, al-Dajjal is a one-eyed false god. Muslim in his Sahih: Anas b. Malik reported that Allah’s Messenger (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said: “There is never a prophet who has not warned the nation of the one-eyed false god (al-Dajjal); behold he is one-eyed and your God is not one-eyed.”

Odin: The One-Eyed Chief God of the Early Europeans 

The description of Hoárr, widely known as Odin, bares a striking resemblance to the description of the false god al-Dajjal mentioned in Arab historic and religious narratives as cited earlier. Of course, this is just speculation and needs to be further researched by suitable academics, but will be included for the benefit of the readers.

The following clip from the television series Vikings helps reinforce the idea of an astonishing similarity between pre-Christianized Europe’s chief god Odin and the individual referred to in Arab religious traditions as Dajjal, the one-eyed false god. As stated earlier, the intention behind sharing the clip is to encourage dialogue, not conspiracy theories or misunderstandings rooted in no known academic or theological research.

Athelstan: “Imagine that the sun drawn at night and the moon during the day. And imagine that everything you knew about Jesus Christ was not true. And that the true god was a living man with a single eye, a cloak, a wide brimmed hat, and that this man, Odin, the all father, knew the secret of every heart and the destiny of all men and that he too was hanged from a tree and died and was reborn and it happened a long time before Christ before our lord.” (Vikings)

Odin in Early Pre-Christian European Mythology

In Germanic mythology, Odin is a widely revered god. In Norse mythology, from which stems most of our information about the god, Odin is associated with healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, battle, sorcery, poetry, frenzy, and the runic alphabet, and is the husband of the goddess Frigg. In wider Germanic mythology and paganism, Odin was known in Old English as Wōden, in Old Saxon as Wōdan, and in Old High German as Wuotan or Wōtan, all stemming from the reconstructed Proto-Germanic theonym *wōđanaz.

Odin is a prominently mentioned god throughout the recorded history of the Germanic peoples, from the Roman occupation of regions of Germania through the tribal expansions of the Migration Period and the Viking Age. In the modern period, Odin continued to be acknowledged in the rural folklore of Germanic Europe. References to Odin appear in place names throughout regions historically inhabited by the ancient Germanic peoples, and the day of the week Wednesday bears his name in many Germanic languages, including English.

In Anglo-Saxon England, Odin held a particular place as a euhemerized ancestral figure among royalty, and he is frequently referred to as a founding figure among various other Germanic peoples, including the Langobards and in most of Scandinavia. Forms of his name appear frequently throughout the Germanic record, though narratives regarding Odin are primarily found in Old Norse works recorded in Iceland, primarily around the 13th century, texts which make up the bulk of modern understanding of Norse mythology.

In Old Norse texts, Odin is depicted as one-eyed and long-bearded, frequently wielding a spear named Gungnir, and wearing a cloak and a broad brimmed hat. He is often accompanied by his animal companions—the wolves Geri and Freki and the ravens Huginn and Muninn, who bring him information from all over Midgard—and Odin rides the flying, eight-legged steed Sleipnir across the sky and into the underworld. Odin is attested as having many sons, most famously the god Baldr with Frigg, and is known by hundreds of names. In these texts, Odin frequently seeks knowledge in some manner and in disguise (most famously by obtaining the Mead of Poetry), at times makes wagers with his wife Frigg over the outcome of exploits, and takes part in both the creation of the world by way of slaying the primordial being Ymir and the gift of life to the first two humans Ask and Embla. Odin has a particular association with Yule, and mankind’s knowledge of both the runes and poetry is also attributed to Odin.

Odin, European Vikings & Arabs: The Thirteenth Warrior

The Thirteenth Warrior is movie is about an Arab Muslim ambassador exiled from his homeland, Ahmad ibn Fadlan (Antonio Banderas) who finds himself in the company of European Vikings. While the behavior of the Norsemen initially offends ibn Fadlan, the more cultured outsider grows to respect the tough, if uncouth, warriors. During their travels together, ibn Fadlan and the Vikings get word of an evil presence closing in, and they must fight the frightening and formidable force, which was previously thought to exist only in legend. In this movie, the name of the European chief one-eyed god Odin is evoked before the claiming of new land.

Names of Odin

Over 170 names are recorded for Odin, including Aldaföðr, or The Father of Men, Báleygr, or The Flaming Eye, Blindi, or The Blind, Ginnarr, or The Deceiver, Gestumblindi, or The Blind Guest, Valföðr, or The Father of the Slain, Valtýr, or The Slain God and Hoárr, or The One Eyed,  (see List of names of Odin). These names are variously descriptive of attributes of the god, refer to myths involving him, or refer to religious practices associated with the god. This multitude of names makes Odin the god with the most names known among the Germanic peoples.

The weekday name Wednesday derives from Old English wōdnesdæg. Cognate terms are found in other Germanic languages, such as Middle Low German wōdensdach (Dutch Woensdag), and Old Norse Óðinsdagr (Danish, Norwegian and Swedish Onsdag). All of these terms derive from Proto-Germanic *Wodensdag, itself a Germanic interpretation of Latin Dies Mercurii (“Day of Mercury”). However, in Old High German, the name derived from Odin’s was replaced by a translation of Church Latin media hebdomas (‘middle of the week’) hence modern German Mittwoch.

Although the English kingdoms were converted as a result of Christianization of the Germanic peoples by the 7th century, Odin is frequently listed as a founding figure among the Old English royalty.

Arwald, the last pagan Anglo-Saxon king, was killed in the 7th century.

Crucifixion and Resurrection, One-eyed

Odin was often portrayed as an old man with one eye, his face hidden by his grey beard and a broad brimmed hat. It is said he sacrificed one of his eyes into Mimir’s well in return for a drink of its “immense wisdom”. Even after losing an eye, Odin’s love of wisdom was so profound that he was prepared to sacrafice himself to plumb its depths. He gained insight by hanging himself for nine days from Yggdrasil, the cosmic tree. This voluntary death, and his subsequent resurrection by means of magic gave Odin greater wisdom than anyone else according to this legend. The parallel between this myth and the Crucifixion gave modern Christianity a head-start in northern Europe in the 7th century.

Odin’s ‘Family’: The ‘House of Asgard’?

According to The United Church of God Canada: The various royal houses of English history — the Saxons, Danes, Normans, Tudors, Stuarts, Plantagenets, Hanoverians, Saxe-Coburgs, all lines blended and fused with Scottish royalty to form the modern House of Windsor — trace their bloodlines back to a common ancestor.

Indeed, the various monarchs of Europe, as attested to in the medieval Viking sagas and histories, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and pedigree after pedigree of every European royal lineage, are all traced back to the same person. To the Germans he was known as Votan. To the Anglo-Saxons Woden. To the Norse and other Scandinavians, he was known by the name by which he is still commonly referred to today — Odin.

Yet Odin is, of course, the chief god of the Teutonic pantheon known as the Aesir, who lived at the supposedly mythical Valhalla (“Hall of the Chosen”) in Asgard — considered the Norse version of “heaven.” So, as we might expect, modern scholarship usually dismisses the notion outright. But what are we to make of it?

Thor hunts for Odin

Notice a Reuters News Agency report from Nov. 30, 2001: “The Viking god Odin may have been a real king who lived in what is now southern Russia 2,000 years ago, Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl said in a controversial new book on Thursday. In The Hunt for Odin , Heyerdahl says his archaeological digs by the Sea of Azov in Russia backed evidence in 13th century sagas written by Snorre Sturlason that Odin was more than a myth.

“Heyerdahl, who won worldwide acclaim with his 1947 voyage across the Pacific on the Kon-Tiki balsa raft, said Odin was a king who lived around Azov before being driven out by the Romans and taking his followers to Sweden. Ancient metal belt holders, rings and armbands dating from 100-200 AD found in excavations around the mouth of the Don River were almost identical to Viking equivalents found in Gotland, Sweden, some 800 years later, he said. ‘Snorre didn’t sit down and dream this all up,’ Heyerdahl told a news conference to launch his latest book with co-author Per Lillestrom. ‘In ancient times, people treated Gods and Kings as one and the same thing.’ Snorre’s stories about Odin, viewed as the king of the gods in Norse mythology, portrayed him as fighting battles. By contrast, Snorre treated Thor, the god of thunder, as a mythical hammer-wielding figure riding through the air. And he said that many of the place names in Snorre’s sagas matched the ancient Greek names for places around the Sea of Azov, such as Tanais.”

Indeed, Heyerdahl has gone even farther. He has identified the region east of Azov and the Black Sea as Asgard. He sees also a connection of the Aesir or Aser with Azerbaijan, just south of the Caucasus Mountains, where the people call themselves Azeri. “Heyerdahl first began forming this hypothesis after visiting Gobustan, an ancient cave dwelling found 30 miles west of Baku [in Azerbaijan], which is famous for its rock carvings. The sketches of sickle-shaped boats carved into these rocks closely resemble rock carvings found in his own native Norway” (Scandinavian Ancestry: Tracing Roots to Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan International, Summer 2000).

Heyerdahl states: “I’m personally convinced that Snorre recorded oral history rather than a concocted myth, and I think it’s time to look for the land that my Scandinavian ancestors came from and not merely where they subsequently went on their Viking raids and explorations. They certainly did not come out from under the glaciers when the ice-age ended so they must have immigrated from the south. Since their physical type is referred to as Caucasian and their very own descendant preserved an itinerary from south of the Caucasus and north of Turkey, I suspect that the present Azeri people and the Aser of the Norse sagas have common roots and that my ancestry originated there” (The Azerbaijan Connection: Challenging Euro-centric Theories of Migration, Azerbaijan International, Spring 1995).

Yet it should be pointed out that Heyerdahl is not the first one to put forward such ideas. Indeed, as he mentions, it is rather clear that much of Snorri Sturluson’s Icelandic Edda is a genuinely historical account. You may read it yourself. It is available on-line along with other medieval Norse sagas and poems at . The two primarily relevant sources are the prologue of Snorri’s Edda, also called the Prose Edda, and his Heimskringla (The Chronicles of the Kings of Norway), particularly the “Saga of the Ynglings.” Based on these and other accounts, many have drawn conclusions similar to Heyerdahl’s – and have for quite some time.

In 1902 W.M.H. Milner wrote in his book The Royal House of Britain: An Enduring Dynasty: “The traditions of our Scandinavian forefathers tell of a great conqueror, the hero king of Asgard — Odin. He was so heroic a king, and so great a conqueror, that the superstition or reverence of after ages made a god of him…He led our forefathers across Europe. Asgard has been variously located in Armenia or on the Dniepr. In either case, his victorious march traversed Russia, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden” (pp. 31-32).

Milner cites other sources as well: “[Paul] Du Chaillu’s Viking Age [1889], pp. 51-68, gives the evidence for the migration of ‘Odin.’ His historical identity is established by [Daniel] Haigh at pp. 120-140 of his Conquest of Britain [by the Saxons, 1861]. In Sharon Turner’s [monumental work of historiography] History of the Anglo-Saxons [1805, 1823], Vol. i, pp. 124, 430, 450, the human existence of Odin is proved in detail” (p. 32, footnote). Based on genealogical tables, Odin can be dated to the second or third centuries: “The date of Odin is given at p. 733 of Anderson’s Royal Genealogies as A.D. 256 to 300. On p. 140 of Haigh’s Conquest of Britain by the Saxons a careful collation of all the Saxon genealogies makes Odin born in the ‘latter half of the third’ century. Sharon Turner, at pp. 430, 450, of the first volume of his History, makes the date of Odin A.D. 270, 297, 285, or 220. A.D. 250 is a reasonable average” (p. 32, footnote).

When and who?

Heyerdahl, however, would put him a little earlier: “Snorre says: ‘At that time when Odin lived, the Romans were conquering far and wide in the region. When Odin learned that they were coming towards the land of Asers, he decided that it was best for him to take his priests, chiefs and some of his people and move to the Northern part of Europe.’ The Romans are human beings, they are from this planet, they are not mythical figures.

“Then I remembered that when I came to Gobustan, I had seen a stone slab with Roman inscriptions. I contacted the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan. I was taken to the place, and I got the exact wording of the inscription. There’s a very logical way of figuring out when this was written. It had to be written after the year 84 AD and before the year 97 AD. If this inscription matched Snorre’s record, it would mean that Odin left for Scandinavia during the second half of the 1st century AD.

“Then I counted the members of the generations of kings, every king up to the grandfather of the king that united Norway into one kingdom, because such information is available — around 830 AD. In anthropology we reckon 25 years per generation for ruling kings. In modern times, a generation may extend up to 30 years, but on average the length of a generation in early reigns is 25 years. When you multiply 31 generations by 25 years, you come exactly back to the second half of the 1st century AD. So there is proof that these inscriptions carved by the Romans in stone coincide with the written history written almost 800 years ago in Iceland” (Scandinavian Ancestry, Azerbaijan International).

A caption from the same article reads: “Heyerdahl is convinced that people living in the area now known as Azerbaijan settled in Scandinavia around 100 AD.” And by this he means under the leadership of Odin, who in Heyerdahl’s historical scenario could have lived a good ways into the second century.

Furthermore, the location of origin given is most intriguing. The Caucasus region is the very area from which the tribes of Israel, which had been deported by the Assyrians, made their great, centuries-long migration into Europe.

Considering this fact, observe what Milner says of Odin: “His name is Hebrew — Aud’n or Odn (for the broad A in the Hebrew carries often the sound of O), meaning Lord –human or divine” (p. 32). The Companion Bible states: “Adon is one of the three titles ( Adon, Adonai, Adonim ), all generally rendered Lord; but each has its own peculiar usage and association. They all denote headship in various aspects. They have to do with God as over-lord” (E. W. Bullinger, app. 4).

This title is the origin of the Greek Adonis, equivalent to the Canaanite Baal or Babylonian Bel, names also meaning “Lord.” Indeed, it is clear that many of the stories surrounding Odin have nothing to do with the historical character we are describing. Most of these mythical aspects may be traced back to the fountain of false religion, ancient Babylon, and its wicked ruler Nimrod (see Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, 1916, 1959).

It is thus evident that the name Odin was already a title of deity when our historical figure came to power. Perhaps he fashioned himself with the title merely to be addressed as lord. However, based on the stories that show him as some kind of sorceror, it is also possible that Odin took this name to himself to be identified with this false god — to inspire fear or loyalty in his followers. This could mean there were multiple people with this title, though likely in the same line of descent. There may even have been an earlier Odin, as we’ll see momentarily.

Surprising genealogy

Of the one most clearly denoted as Odin (because of his recurrence in genealogies at the same point) we have a most remarkable genealogical origin preserved in the Icelandic Prose Edda of Snorri. He records:

“Near the center of the world where what we call Turkey lies, was built the most famous of all palaces and halls –Troy by name…In the citadel were twelve chieftains and these excelled other men then living in every human fashion. One of the kings was called Munon or Mennon. He married a daughter of the chief king Priam who was called Troain, and they had a son named Tror — we call him Thor [who was perhaps not completely mythical in origin after all]. He was brought up in Thrace by a duke called Loricus…[Thor] took possession of the realm of Thrace — we call that Thruthheim. After that he traveled far and wide…

“In the northern part of the world he met with and married a prophetess called Sibyl whom we call Sif. I do not know Sif’s genealogy but she was a most beautiful woman with hair like gold. Loridi [Hloritha in Anglo-Saxon], who resembled his father, was their son. Loridi’s son was Einridi, his son Vingethor, his son Vingener, his son Modi, his son Magi, his son Seskef [or Sceaf], his son Bedvig [or Bedwig], his son Athra [or Hathra], whom we call Annar, his son Itrmann [or Itermon], his son Heremod, his son Skjaldun, whom we call Skjold [or Sceldwa], his son Biaf whom we call Bjar [or Beaw], his son Jat [or Geata], his son Gudolf [or Godwulf], his son Finn, his son Friallaf whom we call Frithleif [or Frithuwulf]; he had a son named Voden [or Woden] whom we call Odin; he was a man famed for his wisdom and every kind of accomplishment. His wife was called Frigida, whom we call Frigg [or Freya]”.

A few people do seem to be skipped in this genealogy, as they appear in other Teutonic genealogies starting with Sceaf. Support for an earlier Odin comes from the Danish chronicler Saxo Grammaticus, who mentions a Dan (perhaps Wo-Dan) as the grandfather or earlier ancestor of the above Skjold (see History of the Danes, Book 1). Some have equated this Dan with Sceaf (see John Keyser, The Trojan Origins of European Royalty, on-line at hope-of-israel.org/i000109a.htm).

Nevertheless, what is significant to notice in the above genealogy is Odin’s descent (indeed, Sceaf’s too) from the house of Troy. And as we have elsewhere seen, the royal line of Troy was descended from Judah’s son Zerah (see Appendix 3: Aegean Royal Lines From Zerah.). Of Odin, Milner eloquently remarked: “To him a crown was given by the great Overruler of all things, which he multiplied, crowning his sons kings of the countries he conquered, thereby securing his own position as the Royal Ancestor of all the dynasties of Europe. They converge, as by one consent, in the Royal House of Britain” (p. 32).

Milner also provides evidence that the Frankish or Sicambrian kings of the French were descended from the house of Troy by another line (pp. 35-36, 41). And he details many other connections besides. His book, The Royal House of Britain: An Enduring Dynasty , is recommended for further study. It is available to order from The Covenant Publishing Co. in London at http://www.britishisrael.co.uk/booklist.htm.

What this all means is that the untold thousands of intermarriages between the various royal families of Europe have not diminished in the slightest the Jewish heritage of the royal family of Britain. Indeed, just the opposite. It has been reinforced thousands of times over—and not just in Britain, but also in every royal family of Europe. How amazingly God has made sure of his promise that the scepter would not depart from Judah. [United Church of God Canada]

Gog & Magog and Odinism

Odin bares a striking resemblance to the Christianized European interpretation of Jesus. He is believed to have been resurrected after being crucified and hence is believed to be a literal hidden person who is still alive, and is a common ancestor in the bloodline of all European monarchies – because of which according to British Israelism theology – they reign by divine right. Odin is also believed to be from the royal House of Judah.  Theories proposed in books like The Da Vinci Code and, Bloodline of the Holy Grail: The Hidden Lineage of Jesus Revealed and The God-Kings of Europe: The Descendents of Jesus Traced Through the Odonic and Davidic Dynasties among others serve in helping to pave the way for his reappearance since he is believed to still be alive.

In fact, all, if not most of the ‘religious’ and major holidays in Europe and the West are not other than Christianized European pagan traditions of Odinism.  For instance, Christmas was the Winters Solstice, also known as Yule, a time when Odin led a hunting party, known as the Wild Hunt, in the sky with an eight-legged horse named Sleipnir. Additionally, according to historians Father Christmas or Santa Claus, is none other than Odin. Easter was Ostara; the Spring of Equinox or the Odinic Rite. Halloween was Samhain, Valentines Day was Imbolc, May Day was Beltane, Monday was Moon-day, Tuesday was Tyra’s – the companion of Odin – day, Wednesday was Wōden or Odin’s-day, Thursday was Thor’s – the son of Odin – day, Friday was Freya and Frigg – the brides of Odin – day, Saturday was Saturns-day, and Sunday was Sun-day, for worship of the Sun.

Hence it becomes evident the entire culture of holidays and thereby the entire religious narrative of Europe – Gog & Magog – actually not only has no Middle Eastern roots, but rather has its roots in the historic European paganism referred to as Odinism.

As such, it is hypothesized then that Odin is likely the “real Jesus” of European (not Middle Eastern) “Christianity” is none other than the Masih al-Dajjal.

Therefore it can be stated, Gog and Magog, or the now Christianized Europeans among the others, in fact worship and follow Odin and Odinism, or simply al-Dajjal, and not real Middle Eastern Christianity.

Odin & Sweden?

Odin’s identity was brought to light as the “…Ancestor of Swedish People” in a theory by Prof. Sven Lagerbring who claimed according to a manuscript found in the Royal Swedish Library from 1764, Lund University: “Our ancestors are… who are comrades of Odin. We have got enough evidence on this subject. There are people who want to fool you into thinking they are Goths. I don’t care whether it will be discrediting for me or not. Odin and his comrades were…“

Lagerbring’s book is not available in English or Swedish but was translated to Turkish. The Turkish translation İsveççe’nin Türkçe ile Benzerlikleri was made by an ‘Ottoman Viking’ named Gustaf Nuring who is alleged to have later changed his name to Ali Nuri.

In the Turkish translation of the book, the two ravens and two wolves of Odin are also mentioned. The crows were named: Hugin (thought) and Munin (memory).

The Swedish linguist Strahlenberg and Eastern languages expert Prof. Munthe support Prof. Sven Lagerbring’s theory.

American Gods TV Series

American Gods is an eight-episode first season of the multimillion-dollar U.S. TV fantasy series was shot in Toronto and features some Canadian actors.

Based on the bestselling 2001 novel by Neil Gaiman, also an executive producer on the series, American Gods follows the adventures of Shadow Moon (played by U.K. actor Ricky Whittle), a man released from prison after the death of his wife Laura (Australian Emily Browning). Shadow meets a con artist named Mr. Wednesday (Deadwood star Ian McShane) and is soon caught up in an out-of-this-world road trip across America, recruiting old gods from mythology and religion to square off against new gods from the worlds of media and technology.

Odin is introduced to viewers in the episode shared above.

Theory of Al-Dajjal, NASA & the Space Age 

According to Shaykh Hamza Yusuf Hanson, arguable the most influential leading Sunni scholar of traditional Islam in North America, the entire Space Age to which are credited modern communications, including satellites was developed through atleast metaphysical communication with the individual referred to by the Arabs as al-Dajjal.

Shaykh Hamza said: “The father of the Space Age. That’s what they call him. You know what he said? “I’m not the father of the Space Age, Jack Parsons, that’s the father of the Space Age. Okay, now this guy (Jack Parsons) who was at Caltech, was openly a Devil worshiper. He developed the fuel that enabled us to penetrate the stratosphere. Satellites could not have come about without this guy. In his diary, that he himself wrote, he had a dream, this is 1948, he had a dream where he saw somebody that he called Belarion Al Dajjal and he tells him, “you are helping me”. You think I am making this up? Wallahi I’m not making this up. You go look it up yourself.”

‘Belarion Armillus Al-Dajjal, the Antichrist’

Jack Parson’s online Wikipedia biography reveals: Associated with the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Jack Parsons was one of the principal founders of both the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), managed by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) for NASA and the Aerojet Engineering Corporation. He invented the first rocket engine using a castable, composite rocket propellant, and pioneered the advancement of both liquid-fuel and solid-fuel rockets…In November 1950 Parsons decided to migrate to Israel…Accompanying Parsons’ “Oath of the Abyss” was his own “Oath of the AntiChrist”, which was witnessed by Wilfred Talbot Smith. In this oath, Parsons professed to embody an entity named Belarion Armillus Al Dajjal, the Antichrist “who am come [sic] to fulfill the law of the Beast 666…”. Viewing these oaths as the completion of the Babalon Working, Parsons wrote an illeist autobiography titled Analysis by a Master of the Temple and an occult text titled The Book of AntiChrist.

In the past, as per the Quranic narrative, the evil elements within Gog and Magog were reigned in by a powerful king titled Dhul Qarnayn and according to apocalyptic religious narratives of the Arabs, the future generations of Gog and Magog who spread tyranny will also be reigned in by or for a powerful king; al-Mahdi.

According to Tirmidhi Sahih, Abu Dawud, Sahih: The world will not come to pass until a man from among the People of my House, whose name shall be my name, shall rule the Arabs.

Narrated from Ibn Mas`ud by Abu Dawud: The Prophet said: “The Hour shall not rise until a man from the People of my House shall rule by kingdom (yamluk), named after me, his father named after mine, and fill the earth with justice and equity just as it had been filled with oppression and injustice.”

In his Kitab al-athar al-bakiya al-Biruni (d. after 1050) has a passage on Dhul Qarnayn wherein he states Dhul Qarnayn was an Arab king from Yemen. He refers to Ibn burayd (d.933) who gives a couple of names of Himyarite princes who are said to be Dhul Qarnayn. Al-Biruni states, “one prince of Yemen, As’ad b. Amr b. Badi’a b. Malik b. Subayd b. Abdullah b. Zayd b. Yasir b. Yun’im writes in a poem that Dhul Qarnayn was his predecessor and mentions briefly the latters adventures. Al-Biruni remarks that of all the various versions this is the true one because the princes, whose names begin with the title Dhul occur only in the history of the Yemen and nowhere else”[al-Biruni, Kitab al-athar al-bakiya p.41 (ed.), p. 50-51 (transl)]

Al-Biruni’s opinion on the ethnicity of Dhul Qarnayn suggests why perhaps Gog and Magog are identified by their hallmark animosity for Arabs.

Bukhari states: Zaynab Bint Jahsh said that the Prophet (upon him be peace and mercy) came to her in a state of fear, and said, ‘There is no god but Allah. Woe to the Arabs from an evil that has come close. Today a breach has occurred in the Barrier of Gog and Magog, like this’, and he made a circle with his finger and thumb. Zaynab Bint Jahsh said: I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah! Would we be destroyed while there are good people amongst us?’ He said, ‘Yes, if the bad becomes much’.

Conclusion

In Western, specifically pre-Christian and even contemporary and British tradition, Gog and Magog are seen in a positive light, as protectors of the great City of London as demonstrated throughout this article. In Christianized Spain, Gog and Magog are protectors of the faithful. They are also revered in the United States of America where statues of Gog and Magog are displayed at the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan. Mechanized statues of Gog and Magog are proudly displayed at The Royal Arcade in Melbourne, Australia and a city is named in honor of Magog in Quebec, Canada.

This understanding of Gog and Magog is diametrically opposite to the traditional Arab-Muslim religious and historic narrative. The same is the case regarding the chief god of pre-Christianized Europe as previously described. The description of this pre-Christian European chief god Hoárr also known as Odin bares a striking resemblance to the description of the false one-eyed god al-Dajjal mentioned in Arab-Muslim historic and religious narratives.

The traditions which preceded sought to give the reader information about both legends or narratives. They were included so as to help readers better understand the context behind both contradicting world views stemming from such narratives, and their interpretation as they could be applied to reconciling evolution theory with creation science through polygenism – the theory that the human race has descended from two or more ancestral types.

It was hoped studying the narratives would actually help bring people closer by opening up a platform for a better understanding of the two divergent traditions.

The opinions of Ibn Hisham and al-Idrisi, which argue in favor the possibility of a harmonious co-existence between some of the nations of Gog and Magog and the Arabs, could become the blueprint for an achievable peaceful co-existence between Europeans specifically the British native peoples and the Arab world.

According to both traditions, it will be influence of the False Messiah al-Dajjal which will force Gog and Magog to war against the Arabs (Mediterraneans).  The simplest solution to help prevent conflict is nothing other than keeping oneself safe from the influence of al-Dajjal who inspires war and desires for global domination in all people.

Abu Darda reported: The Prophet ﷺ said: Whoever memorizes the first ten verses of Surah al-Kahf will be protected from the False Messiah (Masih ad-Dajjal). In the narration of Shu’bah, the Prophet ﷺ said: …the last ten verses of Surah al-Kahf. [Muslim 809]

Epilogue – Time Magazine/The New York Times – Egyptians Try to Untangle President Morsi’s ‘Planet of the Apes’ Metaphor

By ROBERT MACKEY | Nov 28th, 2012

Egypt’s new president, Mohamed Morsi, is engaged in a two-front battle of wills, with the country’s courts on one side and a galvanized opposition in the streets on the other. In the midst of this showdown, just days after he helped to negotiate an end to the fighting in Gaza, Mr. Morsi sat down for an interview with Time magazine.

Speaking mainly in English, a language he has a fluent if idiosyncratic grasp of, the president attempted to explain himself in terms Americans might understand — making reference in one answer to “Good Morning America,” Barbara Walters, the Iran hostage crisis, Charles Bronson and “Planet of the Apes.” He observed, near the start of the discussion with the American journalists: “The world is now much more difficult than it was during your revolution. It’s even more difficult. The world. More complicated, complex, difficult. It’s a spaghettilike structure. It’s mixed up.”

While the reference to the world’s “spaghettilike structure” attracted some attention from readers in Cairo, more puzzling still was the question of what, exactly, Mr. Morsi intended to say about his role in international diplomacy with his long aside about the 1960s science-fiction fantasy in which apes evolved from man.

According to the interview transcript, the president brought up “Planet of the Apes” after mentioning that his experience of living for some time in Los Angeles — where he earned a Ph.D in engineering from the University of Southern California in 1982 — had made him aware of the difficulty of multicultural cooperation, both inside and between countries. “Conflict does not lead to stability in the world. Cooperation, how can we do that? It’s a struggle. It’s a very, very difficult struggle,” Mr. Morsi said. “To have a new culture, international culture, respecting individual countries and people’s cultures, their local ones, but can we have an international culture? Can we do that?”

A short time later, he added:

We can cooperate, we can integrate. As much as we can. How can we do that? I think leaders in the world have a great responsibility in this. Human beings can live together.

I remember a movie. Which one? ‘Planet of the Apes.’ The old version, not the new one. There is new one. Which is different. Not so good. It’s not expressing the reality as it was the first one. But at the end, I still remember, this is the conclusion: When the big monkey, he was head of the supreme court I think — in the movie! — and there was a big scientist working for him, cleaning things, has been chained there. And it was the planet of the apes after the destructive act of a big war, and atomic bombs and whatever in the movie. And the scientists was asking him to do something, this was 30 years ago: “Don’t forget you are a monkey.” He tells him, “Don’t ask me about this dirty work.” What did the big ape, the monkey say? He said, “You’re human, you did it [to] yourself.” That’s the conclusion. Can we do something better for ourselves?

…The text of the reading, from “the twenty third Scroll, ninth Verse,” of the ape scripture, was as follows:

Beware the beast man, for he is the
devil’s pawn. Alone among God’s primates,
he kills for sport, or lust or greed.
Yes, he will murder his brother to possess
his brother’s land. Let him not breed
in great numbers, for he will make a desert
of his home and yours. Shun him. Drive him
back into his jungle lair: For he is the
harbinger of death.

Mr. Morsi perhaps confused the orangutan for a judge because, as the script shows, in an earlier scene in the film, Dr. Zaius, in his dual role as Minister of Science and Chief Defender of the Faith, was part of a three-ape panel leading a hearing on the astronauts. In one part of that scene, Dr. Zaius admits that he ordered a frontal lobotomy of one of the humans. Near the end of the film, it is revealed that he did so to conceal the secret of an evolutionary link between the two kinds of primate from observant members of the ape religion.

Source: https://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/28/in-midst-of-crisis-egyptians-try-to-untangle-presidents-planet-of-the-apes-metaphor/?smid=tw-nytimesworld&seid=auto&_r=0

Resources 

Digital Da Vinci Codes: Thousands of Leonardo’s Papers Go Online

Proof of time travel? Riddle of planes and helicopter found in Egyptian hieroglyphs – The Daily Express

Leonardo Da Vinci May Have Been an Arab – Telegraph 

Today We Celebrate the Time Canada Burned Down the White House

The Trial of Bahadur Shah Zafar II: The Last Mughal Emperor of Hindustan

THE HISTORY OF GOG AND MAGOG, THE CHAMPIONS OF LONDON 

The God-Kings of Europe: The Descendents of Jesus Traced Through the Odonic and Davidic Dynasties by Prof. Hugh Montgomery

Santa Claus’ Pagan Origins: 5 Influences Behind Father Christmas

La Chapelle-aux-Saints (France) – The Museum of the Neanderthal Man

Neanderthal Museum – Germany

Neanderthals and Denisovans ‘Very Closely Related’: Genome Reveals Fourth Mysterious Human Lineage

US Foreign Policy in Iraq, Bush, & Gog  and Magog

The Atlantic: “Magog: The Secret Skulls & Bones Name of George Bush”

High pitched voice theory Neanderthal – BBC Science

BBC Earth: Neanderthal genes ‘survive in us’

A Shocking Find In a Neanderthal Cave In France

Human and Neanderthal love affair is traced back to Israel, 55,000 years ago

Neanderthal Men First Inhabitants of Greek Islands

Italy’s first Neanderthal dates back 250,000 years

Phoenician Alphabet Spread to Greece

References

Pre-Darwinian Muslim Scholars’ Views on Evolution by Dr. Muhammad Sultan Shah

1. As he had projected cornea, therefore he was called al-Jahiz. For detail consult: Aslam,S., Muslims Scientists and Thinkers http://muslimmedianetwork.com/mmn/?p=2356

2. Anees, Dr. Munawar Ahmad, Maas Journal of Science, vol. 8, No.1 (Jan – June, 1992), p.107.

3. Siddiqi,Habib Ahmad, Musalman aur Sa’ins ki Tehqiq (Karachi, Mo’tamar al-Alam al-Islami, 1988), p. 276

4. Ibid.

5. Mohammad Iqbal, Dr., The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam (p.96. At another place in this book, Iqbal has again referred to al-Jahiz and wrote: “It was Jahiz who was the first to note the changes in bird-life caused by migration. Ibid. p.106.

6. Sarton,George,IntroductiontotheHistoryofScience,vol.1,p.597.

7. Nadwi, Ibrahim ‘Ammadi, Musalman Sa’insdan( Lahore: Takhliq Markaz, 1983) p.71.

8. E.J.Brill’sFirstEncyclopaediaofIslam.vol.III.p.53.

9. Nadwi,MusalmanaurSainsKiTehqiq,opcit.p.278.

10.Rathor, Iftikhar al-Din Tariq, Islam aur Sains, (Lahore: Ilmi Kutab Khana, 1985) p. 112.

11.Raghib Isfahani, Imam, Tafsil al-Nashatayn wa-Tehsil al-Sa’adatayn, (Cairo, n.d.) p.22.

12.Miskawaih means ‘little musk-like one’ -Bosworth C.E., The Lata’if al- Ma’arif of Tha’alibi, (Edinburgh: The University Press, 1968) p. 64.

13.Nadwi, Ibrahim Amadi, Musalman Sa’insdan, p. 132.

14.Abdul Hamid, Khawaja, Ibn Maskawaih-A Study of His al-Fauz al- Asghar (Lahore: Shaikh Muhammad Ashraf, 1946), p. 29.

15.Iqbal, Allamah Muhammad, The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, p. 107; Also in Development of Metaphysics in Persia, p. 29. Ibn Maskawaih’s evolutionary theory may be seen in “Al-Fauz al-Asghar” published in Cairo in 1235 A.H. pp. 78-83.

16.Abdul Hamid, Khawaja, Ibn Maskawaih—A Study of his al-Fauz al- Asghar p. 32.

17.Osman Bakar (Editor), Critique of Evolutionary Theory, (Kuala Lumpur: The Islamic Academy of Science, 1987), p. 37.

18.Isis, Vol. 50, Part 4, (December, 1959), pp. 459-466

19.Nasr, Seyyed Hossein, Islamic Science, (World of Islam Festival Publishing Company Ltd., 1976), p. 71.

20. Ibid

21.Maas Journal of Islamic Science, vol. 8, No. (Jan-June, 1992), p. 107.

22.Al-Beruni, Abdu’l Rayhan Mohammad bin Ahmad, Kitab al-Jawahir fi Ma’rifat al-Jawahir, English translation (Islamabad: Pakistan Hijra Council, 1989) pp. 197, 244.

23.Ibid. p. 245.

24.Nasr, S. H., An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines (Harvard University Press, 1964), pp 245-250. Also see Ibn Sina, Risalah-i-Nafs (Tehran, 1952) for details.

25. Abdul Wadud, Phenomena of Nature and the Qur’an, (Lahore: 1971), p. 158.

26. Hebrew translation and commentary was undertaken by Moses of Narbonne in A.D.1349 and Latin version from Hebrew was completed by Pico della Mirandola in fifteenth century that was followed by “Philosophus Autodidactus” by E.Pocoke in A.D.1671. J.Bouwmeeter translated it into Dutch from Latin in A.D.1672 that was followed by H. Reland’s translation in 1701.English translations have been published by Keith the Quaker in 1674,George Ashwell in 1686,Simon Ockley in 1708 and Paul Bronnle in 1904.French rendering was published by Leon Gauthier in 1900 and Pons Boigues translated it into Spanish in 1900.Two German translations have been published by George Pritius in 1726 and J.G.Eichhorn in A.D.1783.For detail please see: i. ii. Simon Ockley(tr.) & A.S.Fulton(ed.),The History of Hayy Ibn Yaqzan by Abu Bakr ibn Tufail(London:Chapman and Hall Limited,1929)pp.35-36 Sami S.Hawi,Islamic Naturalism and Mysticism:A Philosophical Study of Ibn Tufayl’s Hayy Bin Yaqzan(Leiden: E.J.Brill,1974)Appendix II

27. Simon Ockley(tr.) & A.S.Fulton(ed.),The History of Hayy Ibn Yaqzan by Abu Bakr ibn Tufail,pp.45-46

28. Sami S.Hawi, “An Islamic Naturalistic Conception of Abiogenesis: The View of Ibn Tufayl”,Islamic Culture Hyderabad,vol.XLIX,No.1(January 1995)pp.23-41

29.Sami S.Hawi,Islamic Naturalism and Mysticism:A Philosophical Study of Ibn Tufayl’s Hayy Bin Yaqzan(Leiden: E.J.Brill,1974)pp.282

30. e.g. Nawal Muhammad Hassan, Hayy bin Yaqzan and Robinson Crusoe:A study of an early Arabic impact on English literature(Baghdad:Al-Rashid House for Publication,1980)

31. Sami S.Hawi, Islamic Naturalism and Mysticism :A Philosophical Study of Ibn Tufayl’s Hayy Bin Yaqzan,pp.117-118

32. Ibid,p.119

33. Draper, John William, History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science (1876)pp.154-5

34. Siddiqi, Habib Ahmad, Musalman aur Sance Ki Tehqiq, op cit. p. 279.

35. Shahid Athar M.D. (editor), Islamic Medicine, pp. 22-23.

36. First Encyclopedia of Islam (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1987), vol III, p. 411.

37. Siddiqi, Musalman our Sa’ns Ki Tahqiq, op cit. p. 278. Nazami has mention “Nasnas” in his famous treatises. For detail consult: Nizami ‘Arudi Samarqandi, Ahmad b. ‘Umar b. Ali, Chahar Maqaleh, edited by Dr. Muhammad Mu‘een (Tehran: Kitab Firoshi Zawar, 1333 A.D) pp.14-15. For detail description of Nasnas consult: Dehkhuda, ‘Ali Akbar, Lughat Nameh (Tehran: Tehran University, 1341) 80:484-85

38.Lane-Poole, Stanley, The Brotherhood of Purity, (Lahore: Orientalia Publishers, 1954) pp. 29-30.

39.Nasr, Seyyed Hossein, An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines, (USA: The Pelknap Press of Harvard University, 1964), pp. 72.

40.Ibid, p. 74.

41. Ibid

42.Qaisar, Dr. Nazir, Rumi’s Impact on Iqbal (Lahore: Iqbal Academy, 1989), pp. 212-213.

43.Iqbal, Dr., Mohammad, The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, (Lahore, Institute of Islamic Culture, 1986) pp. 147-8

44.Al-Rumi, Jalal al-Din Muhammad, Mathnawi Ma‘nawi (Tehran: Mo’assassah Intasharat-I Amir Kabir, 1363) vol. 3, Daftar 5, p.643. Also Dr. Khalifa Abdul Hakim, The Metaphysics of Rumi, p. 38.

45. Fruzanfar, Badi‘ al-Zaman, Ahadith-o-Qasas-i Mathnawi (Tehran: Intisharat-i-Amir Kabir, 1376), p.545 Also Fruzanfar, Ahadith-i Mathnawi, Urdu translation by Dr. Abdul Latif (Lahore: Pakages Limited, 1975), p.286

46.Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah, Translated by Franz Rosenthal (Princeton University Press, 1980), vol. 1 p. 195.

47.Ibid, vol.2, p. 423.