[6] The Abrahamic religions - a brief introduction. Part Two: from Simon the Magician to the Holy Prophet

Mandaeans and Gnostics

Ancient Judaism has given birth to numerous religions that have dominated the modern world. The most important to us and the biggest is Christianity, which has its beginnings in an ancient sect within Judaism, but we know this story. However, I think that the Mandeaens are almost unknown in the Western societies. They are also called the Christians of the Saint John because they recognise John the Baptist as one of their most important teachers, and claim direct descent from the prophet Noah. However, calling them „Christians” is quite incorrect because, despite their respect for John, they maintain that Jesus was a false messiah. They also consider the Holy Spirit that is mentioned in the Bible to be an evil being, and Abraham and Moses to be false prophets. As you can see, even recognising them as an „Abrahamic religion” may be very controversial despite their descent. Moreover, they are believed to be the only Gnostic sect surviving from the late antiquity to the present. The Gnostics have never formed a single religion. This term is rather used to describe a number of traditions that have similar features such as dualism and antimaterialism beside many differences, and have been united in the teaching that humans are divine souls trapped in the material world created by an imperfect god, the demiurge, who is frequently identified with the Abrahamic God. They had roots in the early Christianity with strong influences of Zoroastrianism, an ancient Iranian religion, the Neo-Platonic philosophy and Greco-Roman mystery religions such as Hermetism. In the Christian tradition, Simon the Magician mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles is believed to be the founder of Gnosticism. Gnosticism was ancestral to several medieval heresies such as Catharism, destroyed by the crusades.

Islam

Some scholars believe Islam to be a child of early Nontrinitarian sects within Christianity as well. I personally consider Islam to be descended from the Ebionites, a group that rejected the divinity of Jesus and were present in Arabia during the ancient times. According to modern mainstream Islam, the Ebionites were the group who was faithful to the original teachings of Jesus, unlike the mainstream Christianity, who abandoned the pure monotheism of Jesus by adopting the dogma of the Holy Trinity. The main evidence supporting the idea that Muslims originate from Christians is their recognition of Jesus as a prophet and a belief in the virginity of Mary, the mother of Jesus. On the other hand, one of the first men to believe in the prophethood of Muhammad according to the Holy Quran was an Ebionite monk, a distant cousin of the prophet.

Islam has various branches and schools which often consider each other to be unbelievers. Nowadays, there the major branches include the Sunni, Shia and Ibadi, who are are divided into many schools. The Sufis, who are organised in mystical orders, originate from Sunni Islam, as well as the Salafis do, who are responsible for Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism, and are despised by traditional Muslims as heretics. The both of them are mortal enemies to each other. Next, Quranism, a radical school that holds that the Quran must be the only source of the Islamic faith and rejects the authority of Hadith, has emerged from Sunni Islam as well. What is more, the Alawites, the Druzes of Shia origin and the Ahmadiyya movement consider themselves Muslims, but they hold belief in various new prophets, messiahs, or even God incarnations after Muhammad. There is still another group, the Babists and Bahaists, who also have their own prophets, but emphasize their separation from Islam. Furthermore, so-called Black Islam came into being among black nationalists and separatists in the USA, which is a separate branch of Islam.

A representation of Melek Taus, the Peacock Angel

Native Kurdish religions such as Yarsanism, Chinarism and Yazidism have their roots predominantly in Islam and Zoroastrianism. Yazidis have a reputation as devil worshippers due to their belief that the fallen angel repented, redeemed himself and now he is the ruler of the world. They call him „Melek Taus,” which means „the peacock angel”.