Ancient Civilization: Babylon and Tower of Babel

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Babylon and Tower of Babel

The Tower of Babel or Migdal Bavel is mentioned in the Old Testament book of Genesis. It is a lesson of human pride build based on Ziggurat model of Babylon. The immense Ziggurat completed by Nebuchadnezzar in about 590 BC. It was dismantled in 484 BC by Persian king, Xerxes after a Babylonian revolt. About 150 years later, Alexander of Macedonia cleared the ruins of the Ziggurat to rebuild it again. But it never happened. For long time, the location was lost but the outlines of huge foundations measuring 91 meters on each side could be seen.

Although the Ziggurat of Babylon was never counted as among the ancient wonders of the world but it is mentioned in Biblical stories. The construction of this tower provides the inspiration to artists of the modern days.     

Some illustrations of the tower here looks more to contemporary drawings or perhaps being drawn in the middle ages Europe. Hopefully readers who stumbled by this modest site enjoy the view. Again disclaimer, these are not my pictures but of others. They are from Christian Assyrian group of friends who happened to capture the pictures. 

We are just stating here through the posts that we, Muslims know who is our patriarch Abraham. In our "congregation", we were taught by our elders that our father Abraham, speaks in either Suryani (Assyrian) or Kaldani (Chaldean) language. Kaldan supposedly to be the designation of a group of astrologers but still they were in the Mesopotamian and Sumeria civilization. In our Glorious Quran, we are taught that father Abraham is not a Jew nor a Christian because these terms came later to refer to some groups of people. He is also not an Arab and our father, Ishmael was also not an Arab. He mingled with the Qahtanite branch Arabs and married to Arab woman. That is why we call his descents as Musta'ariba or the Arabized people. Not all Arabic speaking people are the descent of patriarch Ishmael. This is what non-Arabic speakers need to be aware of before being involved in racist talks.     

Lord, may You rectify our errors we are Your weak servants as You are the Most Knowledgeable amongst all and no one beats You in Your Wisdom. Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!