Abraham'S Star: Muslim Influence, Jewish Tradition, And The Boa

[volgadon]

The video is of "Cuando El Rey Nimrod," a Sephardic Jewish romance sung in Ladino. In Israeli culture, this is perhaps the best known version of the Nimrod legend.

"When King Nimrod went out into the field, he looked up at the sky and among the stars saw a holy light above the Juderia (Jewish Quarter), meaning that Abraham our father was to be born."

The romance's age is obscure, but dating it to the 17th c. is probably a tad generous. It was then that R. Yaakov Culi composed "Me'am Lo'ez," his influential Ladino anthology of midrashim, and included material from "The Book of Jasher," of which this is a variant.

A Ladino translation of Jasher circulated around that time, and in the early 18th c. Eliyahu Hacohen of Smyrna also included the legend in his book on ethics.

This is the legend as found in Jasher 8:1-14.

And it was in the night that Abram was born, that all the servants of Terah, and all the wise men of Nimrod, and his conjurors came and ate and drank in the house of Terah, and they rejoiced with him on that night.

And when all the wise men and conjurors went out from the house of Terah, they lifted up their eyes toward heaven that night to look at the stars, and they saw, and behold one very large star came from the east and ran in the heavens, and he swallowed up the four stars from the four sides of the heavens.

And all the wise men of the king and his conjurors were astonished at the sight, and the sages understood this matter, and they knew its import.

And they said to each other, This only betokens the child that has been born to Terah this night, who will grow up and be fruitful, and multiply, and possess all the earth, he and his children for ever, and he and his seed will slay great kings, and inherit their lands.

And the wise men and conjurors went home that night, and in the morning all these wise men and conjurors rose up early, and assembled in an appointed house.

And they spoke and said to each other: "Behold the sight that we saw last night is hidden from the king, it has not been made known to him. And should this thing get known to the king in the latter days, he will say to us, 'Why have you concealed this matter from me,' and then we shall all suffer death; therefore, now let us go and tell the king the sight which we saw, and the interpretation thereof, and we shall then remain clear."

And they did so, and they all went to the king and bowed down to him to the ground, and they said: "May the king live, may the king live.

We heard that a son was born to Terah the son of Nahor, the prince of thy host, and we yesternight came to his house, and we ate and drank and rejoiced with him that night.

And when thy servants went out from the house of Terah, to go to our respective homes to abide there for the night, we lifted up our eyes to heaven, and we saw a great star coming from the east, and the same star ran with great speed, and swallowed up four great stars, from the four sides of the heavens.

And thy servants were astonished at the sight which we saw, and were greatly terrified, and we made our judgment upon the sight, and knew by our wisdom the proper interpretation thereof, that this thing applies to the child that is born to Terah, who will grow up and multiply greatly, and become powerful, and kill all the kings of the earth, and inherit all their lands, he and his seed forever.

And now our lord and king, behold we have truly acquainted thee with what we have seen concerning this child.

If it seemeth good to the king to give his father value for this child, we will slay him before he shall grow up and increase in the land, and his evil increase against us, that we and our children perish through his evil."

And the king heard their words and they seemed good in his sight, and he sent and called for Terah, and Terah came before the king.

This tradition of the astrological omen at Abraham's birth provides a convenient vehicle for exploring the possibilities of "Traditions About the Early Life of Abraham," and how it could impact the study of the Book of Abraham.

Brian Hauglid, one of the editors of TAELA, wrote a paper on the importance of Muslim tradition for understanding the BoA, in which he explored the motif of the star in more detail than he did in the editor's introduction to TAELA.

According to Islamic tradition, the time period prior to Abraham's birth is in anticipation of a coming prophet (Abraham) and parallels the period of anticipation (of Muhammad) prior to Muhammad's birth.

This is certainly crucial for understanding the reasoning behind Islamic narratives of Abraham. Hauglid proceeded to analise the motif.

Although Muslim accounts place Abraham's birth in an entirely different time period than Muhammad's, and therefore many details differ, the general motifs of anticipation and the appearance of the star are common to both stories. In short, what seems to have happened is Muslims have adopted themes of the Jewish story of Abraham and reoriented them to Islam. For instance, regarding the star motif, one medieval Muslim mentions that Nimrod saw in a dream a star that outshone the sun and the moon. This is certainly a retelling of a Jewish story concerning the astrologers of Nimrod who, "when they left the house, they lifted up their eyes toward heaven to look at the stars" and "one great star came from the east and ran athwart the heavens and swallowed up the four stars at the four corners."²⁹ Christians, of course, also accept the appearance of a star at the birth of Christ.³⁰ Other Muslim commentators have also incorporated the motif of a star appearing to Nimrod in a dream prior to the birth of Abraham.³¹ This suggests the likelihood that the star motif was a widespread part of the belief structures of both the Jews and the Christians before and during the early period of Islam. The Islamic adoption of the star motif anticipating Abraham's birth and connecting it with the same motif prior to Muhammad's birth reinforces the Muslim view of Islam as a restored religion within the otherwise polluted environment of the Jews and the Christians. In essence, the star of Abraham can be viewed as a prototype of the star of Muhammad.

The star of Abraham was indeed a type of Muhamad's star, and the influence of stars on a man's fate occupied an important place in the science, religion and daily life of Late Antiquity.

My opinion, when it comes to Abraham's star, differs on the matter of who influenced whom.

Hauglid holds that Muslims adopted the Jewish traditions of Abraham's star, reorientating them in order to bolster the truth claims of Islam. The evidence points in a subtler direction, a direction supporting the BoA's claim to antiquity.

Hauglid had this to say in footnote 29.

It should again be noted that it is not possible to determine the precise direction of influence. One scholar has observed that the material in the qisas tradition "is in part borrowed from Jewish sources. . . . In some cases the Islamic legend of Abraham has even influenced the later Jewish tradition" (EI2 "Ibrahim" by Rudi Paret). Hence, there may be some Islamic influence on later Jewish tradition. However, an attempt to show direction of influence would be laborious and ultimately speculative at best, and therefore the assumption taken in this study is that, for the most part, the Jewish traditions precede the Islamic traditions.[1]

Shari L. Lowin's "The Making of a Forefather," is dedicated to showing the directions of influence in Jewish and Muslim Abrahamic exegesis. When it comes to the star motif, she succeeded tremendously. It turns out that not only do all Jewish midrashim using the motif (with the exclusion of much later works such as "Me'am Lo'ez") post-date the Muslim Conquest, they all come from Muslim-influenced areas.

The annunciation of the patriarch occurs only in those Jewish texts composed or closed in the years following the rise and proliferation of Islam. Moreover, this motif appears only in those Jewish texts composed in geographic areas under both Islamic political control and Islamic religious and cultural influence; both Sefer ha-Yashar and the Chronicles of Jerahmeel hail from 11th–12th century CE Islamic Andalusia.

Midrash ha-Gadol, though it contains much information that predates Islam, remained open to the possibility of outside influence for centuries until it was finally closed in the 13th century CE in Muslim Yemen.

The much later Ma'aseh Avraham merely repeats what these earlier texts had already taught.

Based on this information, one may conclude that the Abrahamic annunciation motif was carried from the Islamic community into the Jewish communities and their texts and did not result from Jewish influence on Islam.[2]

With the exception of Midrash ha-Gadol, all of these are included in TAELA. Another source, not mentioned by Lowin but included in TAELA is the Pirkei De-Rabbi Eliezer. It appears right after Philo, but the work is actually from some time between the Muslim Conquest and the 9th c.

Indeed, the fact of Abraham’s birth and the circumstances surrounding it scarcely interest the early midrash at all.

The majority of texts do not attribute even a childhood to the patriarch, to say nothing of any pre-natal existence.

For the most part, the pre-Islamic midrash encounters Abraham for the first time as an adult, just as the Bible does.

As far as the early narratives are concerned, Abraham “came to the world in the usual way,” unaccompanied by prophecies, predictions, stars, miracles, or any divine communiqué whatsoever.[3]

Jewish midrashim, then, are definitely indebted to Islam for the star of Abraham motif, not the other way round.

This is where TAELA really shines, no pun intended.

The large amount of material from the various faiths, much of it repetetive, makes it easier to identify the various traditions, thematically as well as chronologically. The "laborious" task is now much easier.

None of the Hellenistic and Second Temple sources included in the book mention the star of Abraham motif. The same holds true for rabbinic and midrashic sources predating the Muslim Conquest.

If the tradition was early Jewish, one has to wonder why the Christians didn't use it to cast Abraham as a type and shadow of Christ. I was only able to find one account in the Christian section of Abraham's nativity, the "Bakhayla Mika’el," a later Ethiopian account. The Quran doesn't mention it either. The first definite mention is in ibn Abbas (7th c.), but the earliest account included in TAELA is that of ibn Ishaq (8th c.).

The Samaritan Asatir includes the motif. Gaster dated the Asatir to the 3rd century CE, but such a date is impossibly early given the heavy Arabic influence on its language. The 10th c. is a likelier date.[4]

Why is this important for the BoA? The BoA doesn't follow the later line of interpretation, but skips over Abraham's infancy entirely. The attempt on his life comes in adulthood, a direct result of his opposition to human sacrifice. I won't call this a bull's-eye, one could say that "Antiquities of Freemasonry" doesn't include it either.

It is enough for me to show an affinity with the older traditions in this case. While not an insurmountable difficulty, proponents of naturalistic origins for the BoA would need to explain why this element found in Jasher, a book available to Joseph before publication of the BoA, wasn't incorporated into his work.

After all this, I have to point out that this Islamic tradition actually does have Jewish roots.

The only thing is, the star tradition was attributed to a different biblical hero- Moses.

Book II 9:2 of Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews records an element not found in Exodus.

One of those sacred scribes, who are very sagacious in foretelling future events truly, told the king that about this time there would a child be born to the Israelites, who, if he were reared, would bring the Egyptian dominion low, and would raise the Israelites; that he would excel all men in virtue, and obtain a glory that would be remembered through all ages. Which thing was so feared by the king, that, according to this man's opinion, he commanded that they should cast every male child, which was born to the Israelites, into the river, and destroy it; that besides this, the Egyptian midwives should watch the labors of the Hebrew women, and observe what is born, for those were the women who were enjoined to do the office of midwives to them; and by reason of their relation to the king, would not transgress his commands. He enjoined also, that if any parents should disobey him, and venture to save their male children alive, they and their families should be destroyed.

This tradition continued in the Babylonian Talmud, t. Sotah 11a-12b, and also appears to have influenced Matthew's Gospel.

The question provoking the exegesis was a good one. If taken at face value, Pharaoh's reason for killing only males is silly and ineffective. If you want to prevent population growth then you kill females. If males, it is possibl to assume that Pharoah feared a specific rival and that the official explanation was disingenious.

Lowin explains why the tradition would have been expanded by Muslims to include other prophets.

If an annunciation accompanies the birth of the prophet Mùsà, it is likely one would accompany the birth of the even greater universal prophet and forefather, Ibràhìm. Indeed, Is˙àq ibn Bishr alludes to the Mùsà narratives’ influence upon Ibràhìm’s when he refers to Namrùd as “Fir'awn Ibràhìm,” Abraham’s Pharaoh. In the annunciation motif ’s transfer from the Biblical context to the Qur"ànic and then from Mùsà to Ibràhìm, the narrative lost its specific verse-related exegetical component. The general concept of the prophet’s divinely ordained status, as demonstrated through a pre-natal oracle, was retained.[5]

When Jews encountered these traditions, they felt Jewish, and were re-adopted, so to speak, albeit with minor changes.

While ancient and Jewish, the star motif was applied to Abraham's story as a result of Muslim influence.

TAELA provides a superb resource to assist with the task of researching Abrahamic traditions.

[1]Brian M. Hauglid, "The Book of Abraham and Muslim Tradition." http://maxwellinstit...d=40&chapid=169

[2]Shari L. Lowin, "The Making of a Forefather: Abraham in Islamic and Jewish Exegetical Narratives," pp. 60-61.

[3]Ibid., p. 54.

[4] http://books.google....=asatir&f=false

[5]Lowin, "Forefather," p. 80.

Edited February 9, 2012 by volgadon

[volgadon]

The board's software has apparently succeeded in introducing a large snake into the Abrahamic material.

[Maidservant]

Is this also where and why we get the Jesus star (story)? Or was this just a general idea . . . that all events of any import will be in the stars (according to a cultural or belief system that has invented and cared for this idea)? (We still have a thread of that in our culture, astrology and whatnot.)

[volgadon]

Is this also where and why we get the Jesus star (story)? Or was this just a general idea . . . that all events of any import will be in the stars (according to a cultural or belief system that has invented and cared for this idea)? (We still have a thread of that in our culture, astrology and whatnot.)

Those traditions certainly influenced how the Gospel of Matthew presents Jesus' Nativity.

There was also the idea that people and their fate were attached to particular stars, or combinations of stars and their movements.

[wenglund]

I understand your salient point about the Book of Abraham account following the traditional Hebrew narrative rather than the Islamic version. However, are you suggesting that the story about Abraham star isn't valid, or just apocraphal? It wouldn't suprise me if several OT prophets were types of Christ's birth. Certainly, from an LDS perspective, IAbraham's son saac was a type of Christ's death.

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

[wenglund]

There was also the idea that people and their fate were attached to particular stars, or combinations of stars and their movements.

From a Book of Abraham perspective, it would be interesting to see how closely the star(s) associated with Abraham match those associated with certain Egyptian gods.

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

[volgadon]

I understand your salient point about the Book of Abraham account following the traditional Hebrew narrative rather than the Islamic version. However, are you suggesting that the story about Abraham star isn't valid, or just apocraphal? It wouldn't suprise me if several OT prophets were types of Christ's birth. Certainly, from an LDS perspective, IAbraham's son saac was a type of Christ's death.

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

Given the nature of the evidence, and the lack of any such mention in scripture, I would be highly surprised if there was a star foretelling the birth of Abraham, followed by Nimrod/Pharaoh attempting to slay all infants in order to destroy Abraham.

[volgadon]

BTW, the Chronicles of Jerahmeel can be found here. http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/coj/index.htm

[WalkerW]

Lowin's work can be found here.

[volgadon]

Lowin's work can be found here.

Thanks. For those who haven't read it, I warmly recommend her book. It contextualises a lot of the Abrahamic traditions. There are other interesting books on Islam in that site too, BTW.

Edited June 26, 2012 by volgadon

[volgadon]

From a Book of Abraham perspective, it would be interesting to see how closely the star(s) associated with Abraham match those associated with certain Egyptian gods.

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

Hard to say if any hard conclusions can be supported by the current evidence.Would have to survey that evidence more.

[volgadon]

oops.

Edited June 26, 2012 by volgadon