Ancient Civilization: Assyria and Mesopotamia

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

I have no chance to visit the Melbourne Museum in Victoria, Australia. Just saved more than 30 pictures from friends' sharing and sharing it here again on behalf of Assyrian friends. For those who love liberal arts and love to visit museums and you are in Australia, I would suggest you to visit the exhibition to see it for yourselves. I make this humble site a little bit different because I am not like other "orthodox" Muslim guys out there. 

When we talk about history or other topics we had learned such as tafseer. I personally would go and check it from sources for myself. We are talking about nature which involves beings in the universe such as human and civilizations. I prefer not to simply quoting from written books, debates or lectures by other da'ies without researches. I am from art stream as Shari'a is a part of art of life. I wish everyone would be acknowledged what kind of people we are. I could proudly say now that we, the real Shari'a stream students who were forced to accept our weaknesses to live in "modern" society are not backward and we know how to suit ourselves within academic lines besides updating information that we already have. 

Brief Detail of The Exhibition

This exhibition is a temporary exhibition begins from the 4th of May up to 7th of Oct 2012. The title for this exhibition is known as "The Wonders of Ancient Mesopotamia". I don't know if they collaborated with the British Museum but I think this exhibition is cool. I put it here because Mesopotamia was the first human civilization risen in the Earth and it is related to Biblical stories. Our patriarch Abraham a.s was from this civilization. Special thanks to Melbourne Museum and those who provides the pictures. These pictures are not mine, credits only for those who capture them and the Museum itself for a magnificent exhibition.

Assyria and Mesopotamia

 

What is Assyria? Assyria derives its name from the ancient city of 'Ashur on the Tigris River of Northern Iraq. It is also the name of the guardian god of the city and the Assyrian Empire. The city-state in Assyrian Empire were Ashur, Nimrod, Nineveh and Khorsabad. The objects displayed in the first section of the museum date from the time of Assyrian Empire at its height between the reign of Ashurbanipal II (883-859 BC) and Ashurbanipal (668-631 BC). 

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Arabian Chronicle : Arab Nations before the Rise of Muhammad s.a.w II

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

I am quite relieved that I had passed my paper that I took last semester. I've got B for that and I'm more than grateful to Allah because He never leaves us alone but our eyes were blinded by this mortal world. Because I am so glad that a burden has already passed, I am going to continue about this topic of history and wishing that it could inspire brothers and sisters to read more about pre-Muhammad s.a.w history since it is important for us. This is just brief review of history and I hope brothers and sisters please help me doing further readings and consultation to lecturers or scholars of the particular field. This is only from my notes that I jot down while I was in isolation. Now, we still talk about the Amalek but not in Iraq anymore...

Amalek in Egypt

Arab historians have all agreed upon stating that the Amalek had also invaded and exercising their power in Egypt in which some of them becoming kings in the land. Ironically, this story has been told briefly by historians but not in detail. Their invasion on Egypt was not being told in detail whether how they managed to conquer Egypt and gaining influence in the land. So, many historians have the doubt that leads them to researches in order to confirm the narration of history.

Jesifus who was a Jew historian quoting from the Manton written by the narrator of Alexandria in Egypt on what had happened during the reign of Timaws. It says: "In the reign of Timaws, our king, in which the Lord was angry to us, thus He opened a way for a kind of tribe whom we were not certain about their origin came from the East (of our land) and they fought us valiantly. Our villages were all subdued, houses were burnt, our king were insulted, temples were demolished, men were killed while women and children were taken away as prisoners. Later they appointed a king from among them who was known as Salathis and he reigned in Memphis. The order was sent to the whole Egypt where everyone must pay the tax either in upper or lower Egypt. They build up fortress to avoid from attacks by the Assyrians and establishing a state known as Auraas to protect Egypt beside it helps to be a filter other than those forts."

The tribe was known by the name Hyksos. It is a Greek word which means shepherd kings. According to the research conducted by Brugch, he says that Hyksos came from Hieroglyphic writings. Firstly, it is a compound words which consists of Hyk and Sos and it means a King. Secondly, the word Hyksos means Bedouins who migrated from Eastern Sahara which is the Arabian Peninsula. However, there was no such name as Hyksos who ruled ancient Egypt recorded in ancient Egyptian records or from archeology findings in term inscriptions and etc.

Ancient relics for example records of ancient Egyptian mentions about a tribe who came from other state and later conquering Egypt from its lower part. Then, these people were chased out by Thebes. In other word, this tribe was known as Myn or Meinte who rise from the 'Ashar or perhaps Assyria. 

Gaston Conteneau stated that Hyksos were a tribe of mixed ancestry from Central Asia and they love to live nomadic life. They had also invaded Syria and Palestine until they succeeded in attacking Egypt. They entered Egyptian land and dominating the most fertile delta in the area. Eyptians called them as Hyksos. Lower part of Egypt was under the rule of Coptic Pharaoh until around 1580 BC. At that time a war happened and Egyptian land was invaded by the Semites. This one is mentioned in the book, the Manton.

According to researchers, these Hyksos turn to be Semites. They entered ancient Egypt through Central Asia. Researchers also speculated that it's not certain whether these Semites were ethnically Arab since there was not enough evidence to support the research statements. Ever since, the statement by Jesifus and Arabian narrators is still in questions regarding its validity. Perhaps this is also a job for anthropologists. 

Inshaa Allah we would look further in the topic of Southern Arabian Kingdoms and Northern Arabian Kingdoms if we have time to check it. I am interested in Southern Arabian Peninsula. We should never forget from where our elders originated from though we are no longer the people of the land. It is our background and heritage. Teach it to children even if there is no specific syllabus in school for the children. Teach them at home while having dinner together or while relaxing with them.

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace, and love, amin!

Arabian Chronicle : Arab Nations before the Rise of Muhammad s.a.w I

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Hurmm, I don't know how to privatize this side. Tried to check it but I think I am quite dumb with it. It's ok, while still in this earth I would try to personally contribute few things for the betterment of nations which also includes the non-Muslims, may Allah permits it. This post is about the Arab nations before the rise of prophet Muhammad s.a.w. We are going to talk about the Amalek or wild ancient Arabs. They were also mentioned in the Old Testament or am-Miqra.

Amalek in Iraq

In the narration of Arabs from al-Mas'udi to Ibnu Khaldun and others, we could see that hundreds of year before the soul of Muhammad s.a.w being risen by the Lord to be His messenger to the universe; that the Arabs were only dominating their own territory which is in Arabian Peninsula. Only an ethnicity of the Arabs known as the Amalek who managed to be powerful outside of the Arabs' territory. The evidence of their dominion could be seen in the inscriptions at the ruins of the ancient Babylon in Iraq.

Brutus who was a Chaldean historian stated that there was an Arabian kingdom in ancient Iraq. The kingdom last for about 245 years where it was established after the Chaldean kingdom faced its doomsday. Later, the Arabian kingdom had lost its dominion and the kingdom of Ashur (Assyrian) being established. This is also mentioned in the book of George Zaydan known as the Pre-Islamic Arab History. George is a Lebanese Christian of Orthodox Church.

Modern historian are not always consistent with their opinions and views. Some of them mentioned that the kingdom of Hammurabbi or Babylon exist earlier. There are also historians who have the opinion according to the statement of Brutus that Babylon was an Arabian kingdom itself. Their reason is that, a dynasty of Babylon kingdom itself was known as Arab by Brutus other than the explanation about the names of the rulers in the kingdom. However, the dynasty mentioned by Brutus is closer to the time where Hammurabbi was a ruler.         

There were also Bedouin Arabs in the modern Iraqi territory and they were known by the Babylonians as Amuru. It means the Westerners. Later it became a generic term for those who came from western bank of the Euphrates river including the Semites of all ethnicity such as the Arameans of Syria and in Bedouin areas.  

In ancient narrations, the Cana'anites had also invaded today's Palestinian territory around 25 CE. The native inhabitants in the area was driven out by those Cana'anites. In the same time, the Aramean Bedouins entered Babylonian territory and established a kingdom known as Amuru kingdom. Later, the kingdom was known as 'Aribi which still means western. At-Tabari also grouped the ancestors of the Amalek as the 'Aribis.   

After researches conducted in linguistic field, there are many similarities between the languages of those who lived in the Hammurabbi kingdom with those who lived in between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and they are quite close to Arabic. But they are different from other Semite languages. E.g in the changing of vowels according to Arabic grammar such as the rafa', nasab, and preposition. Arabic language at that time was almost the same with the Babylonian language as compared to languages of other Semites except for the Batra' and Tadmur tribes since they were also the descents of the Amalek. Other e.g are such as the tanwinn or the muted nun consonant at the end of word for nakkira word such as the word baabun in Arabic which means door is pronounced as baabum in Babylonian language. Nakkira means a word without a definite article al or the. Both the end consonants of the same word came from nasal part of articulation. The plural mark in Arabic for example, yaa and nun but in Babylonian, they used waau and mim. The Aramaic language used yaa and mim. Modern Arabic used both yaa and nun and waau and nun.       

The wordings for the names of kings in Hammurabbi kingdom was arranged in the grammar which is close to Arabic language. E.g Saamu Abi which means Shem my dad in Babylonian language. Arabic could use both kind of arrangement for these nouns e.g Saamu Abi or Abi Saamu. Other e.g, Shamsu Elo-na which means Sun our Deity in Babylonian language. In Arabic it is pronounced as Shams Ilh-una. There are many more words in the inscriptions to be studied in case of linguistic similarities between Babylonian language and Arabic. 

Few idol names worshiped by the Babylonians are also the same with Arabic counterpart. E.g, Eil, Shems, Astaruth, Samdaan, Nasr, and etc. Other than that, the Sheba Queen or Balqis in her Quranic reference has a kingdom which makes the Sun as their deity. They also worshiped other planets in form of deities. I remember that I also read some sastram regarding Brahmanism and astrology. About planets which were personified as deities like Phra Rahu, something like Ketu and etc. The Sheba kingdom is located in Southern of Arabian Peninsula in modern Yemen territory. I think that this Sun and planet worship is not only unique in Hindu civilization but also in other folk beliefs in different continents. Sheba is also mentioned in Old Testament.

If what has been said by Brutus regarding Hammurabbi kingdom as an Arabian kingdom is true, then perhaps Arabian were also in the same level of the Egyptians in term of civilization and materialism since before the rise of prophet Jesus a.s and prophet Muhammad s.a.w. Hammurabbi kingdom has also an established rulings and laws regarding matrimonial, business and trade, inheritance rights, and etc.

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace, and love, amin!