Is the hajj an act of apostasy?

Robert Spencer
Jihad Watch

Over at Atlas Shrugs yesterday I wrote about some things I've come across in researching for my next book:

In the course of research for my forthcoming book, Did Muhammad Exist?, I have been in contact with a European researcher who has given me some extraordinary information about the origins of the rituals that Muslims perform during the hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca.

Mecca is central to Islamic worship, as all Muslims must face Mecca while praying, and are obligated to make the hajj once in their lifetimes if they are able to do so. Muslims call the Kaaba “albayt alharaam” (Qur’an 5:97). It is considered the inviolable institution of obedience to Allah’s Sharia, the pure mosque: “Al-masjid al-haraam” (see Qur’an 2:196, 5:97, 9:19, 48:25). Yet only one verse of the Qur’an seems to refer to Mecca by name: “And He it is Who hath withheld men’s hands from you, and hath withheld your hands from them, in the valley of Mecca, after He had made you victors over them. Allah is Seer of what ye do” (48:24). And we know that the Ka’aba predates Islam, as Muhammad is said to have entered it, cleansed it of its pagan idols, and transformed it into a Muslim shrine. Muslims believe that Abraham and Ishmael built it: “And as Abraham raised the foundations from the house with Ishmael: ‘Our Lord accept this from us, You are the Hearer, the Knowledgeable’“ (Qur’an 2:227).

What is the real story? What was the Kaaba originally? Where do the hajj rituals come from?

At first glance, they manifest an impressive similarity to Hindu rituals: bowing and prostrating, shaving the hair, wearing a white robe, circumambulating around a square cosmological symbol (Mandala), counting holy names (dhikr) with a rosary (the tasbih or masbaha, sibha, sousha), kissing a stone, revering sacred water -- all the distinctive Meccan rituals have Hindu counterparts.

The Muslim historian Firishta writes, “Before the advent of Islam, the Brahmans of India were always going on pilgrimage to the Ka’aba, for the worship of the idols there.”

And historically, Arabia has many connections with the Indus Valley. The presence of India in the region, up to Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, is well documented. Some have speculated that even the Arabic language as such has many Sanskrit roots. The very word “Arab” may derive from ara-vat or arva, meaning a horse in Sanskrit. The “land of the horses” gives us Aravasthan, from which may come Arabia.

There are records of Arabo-Indian trade with Egypt as far back as 2743 B.C. There were, for instance, land routes through Basra or along the sea that appear to have gone through Arabia. Klaus K. Klostermaier states that “for several centuries a lively commerce developed between the ancient Mediterranean world and India, particularly the ports on the Western coast. The most famous of these ports was Sopara, not far from modern Bombay, which was recently, renamed Mumbai. Present day Cranganore in Kerala, identified with the ancient Muziris, claims to have had trade contacts with Ancient Egypt under Queen Hatsheput, who sent five ships to obtain spices, as well as with ancient Israel during King Solomon’s reign. Apparently, the contact did not break off after Egypt was conquered by Greece and later by Rome.”

Even now, ruins of a shrine to Shiva have been discovered on Socotra, an island belonging to Yemen. Hindu Yemenites are still there, and they are not Indian emigrants. In a very recent statement, Maulana Nabiullah Khan of Jamaat-e-Islamia complains: “We were surprised to discover that there are some Hindus in Yemen. These ancient Yemeni Hindus are not Indians. In my opinion, these Hindus are descendants of traders from India in ancient times. I was also surprised to learn that they have a Shiva temple in Yemen. Qazi was very unhappy over this. When he talked to the Yemen leaders, he broached this subject. But the Yemeni leaders refused Qazi’s suggestion of forced conversion of these people to Islam.”

Muhammad’s first biographer, Ibn Ishaq, provides evidence that the Hindu presence in Arabia on the eve of Islam was fairly strong. When Yemen was invaded by the Abyssinians, Sayf b. Dhû Yazan, a chief of the dominant Himayrite clan of Arabs, went to Chosroes (Khusrû), the king of Persia, for help. “He said: ‘O King, ravens have taken possession of our country.’ Chosroes asked, ‘What ravens, Abyssinians or Sindhians?’ ‘Abyssinians,’ he replied.” “Ravens” meant black people, who were identified with Indians and Abyssinians in the minds of Arabs and Persians at that time.

Later, a deputation from the Banu al-Harith waited on Muhammad. “When they came to the apostle he asked who the people who looked like Indians were, and he was told that they were the B. al-Hãrith b. Ka’b.” Muhammad, it seems, was quite familiar with Indians -- or at least his eighth-century biographer was.

There is also a good deal of evidence, by the way, that muhammad was not a name, but a title usually given to victorious warlords, just as Mahatmat (great soul) was not the name of Gandhi, but his title. Sanskrit etymology offers an elucidation of this: Muhammad comes from Mahan Madah: “a person of great inspiration.” But it can also be understood in a hostile sense, implying “a person of a proud and haughty temperament.”

The “kaaba” is usually translated as a dice or a cube, as derived from the Greek “kubos.” It is less commonly linked to the Sanskrit word Gabha (Garbha + Graha), which means Sanctum. Even in the Tamul (or Tamil) language, which is part of the most ancient Dravidian civilization of the Indus Valley, a similar word exists: Kabaali, one of Shiva’s names. Shiva temples in South India are still called Kabaalishwaran.
Around the Kaaba is a restricted area, the haram, extending in some directions as far as 12 miles, into which only Muslims may enter. Some scholars have interpreted Haram as a derivation of the Sanskrit term Hariyam, i.e. the precinct (yam) of Lord Hari, alias Vishnu.

The “Black Stone” is located at one of the Kaaba’s outside corners (nowadays the southern one), and is used by the pilgrims as a landmark to count the number of their circumambulations around the structure. Why are such circumambulations performed by the Muslims only in Mecca and nowhere else? Could this be a continuation of some pre-Islamic rituals? The fact that even today both Hindus and Buddhists invariably circumambulate around their temples, shrines, stupas and deities could explain where Muslims got the idea to do this at the Kaaba, but nowhere else in the Islamic world.

These perambulations are anti-clockwise in the Muslim ritual, while in the Hindu ones they are done clockwise. It is said in India that anti-clockwise circumambulations are meant for generating destructive force.

Many scholars have identified the Black Stone as originally a lingam, a typical emblem of Shiva. In this connection it is significant that it is sometimes known as Sange Aswad, which is similar to the Sanskrit words Sanghey Ashweta, meaning non-white stone.

It is reported that Muhammad destroyed all 360 idols present in the Kaaba, but even he could not summon the courage to obliterate the Black Stone. He entered the temple and kissed the Black Stone. Later followers of Islam broke the Stone, but it has been patched together again and is still venerated. Muslims bow and prostrate themselves toward the Kaaba five times a day. The combination of bowing and praying is called in Farsi Namaz, a word reminiscent of the Sanskrit words Nama – Yaja, which mean “bowing and worshipping,” respectively.

It is well established that the most revered god of pre-Islamic Mecca was Hubal. His idol was made of a red stone, erected above the zamzam wells of the Kaaba, in which offerings were made. Muslims still consider this zamzam water to be holy, as it was already in pre-Islamic times. Here again, zamzam can be seen as a corruption of an Indian term: nothing less than the river Ganga. And the name Hubal could be the Arabic translation of Ba-hubali, the Indian Lord of strength.

The word Allah itself may be Sanskrit. In the Sanskrit language, Allah, Akka and Amba are synonyms. They signify a goddess or mother. The term Allah forms part of Sanskrit chants invoking the goddess Durga, who is also known as Bhavani, Chandi and Mahishasurmardini. The Arabic word for God could therefore be an ancient Sanskrit appellation. Allah means mother or goddess, and mother goddess. Allah Laho is also the expression of great rejoicing in many Hindu daily religious practices called sadhanas.

Investigations are not conclusive, but the Hindu connections to the hajj rituals are so numerous as to make it likely that there is something to them. Thus a strong case can be made that the hajj rituals are actually Hindu in origin and spirit. Would that make the hajj an act of apostasy?

Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch, Associate Director of AFDI/SIOA, and author of the New York Times bestsellers The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) and The Truth About