ISLAM : What it is

By
Hassan S. Karmi

Islam - what it is not

Agape or love feast, was one of the early church festivals. Originally it was a sort of charity festival for the poor, accompanied by a rite called kiss of love, which developed later into something immodest. The whole festival began to be perverted into acts of sensuality and licence. Father Tertullian in the year 217 condemned very severely those acts which he deemed as occasions “for men to sleep with their sisters”. The festival eventually turned into a licentious orgy.

A much later offshot of this love festival was the Agapemone sect of man and woman in the 19th century in England. The protagonists of this sect established in 1849 an abode which they called the Abode of Love or Agapemone. But their licentious conduct led to trouble with the authorities, and the sect was suppressed. There was later an attempt to revive it, but it failed in 1908.

Another form of this love festival existed earlier in the 3rd century A.D., called Agapetae. It was started by ascetic women who, under vows of virginity, contracted spiritual marriages with monks. The practice soon spread and became a scandal. It was suppressed by the Lateran Council in the 4th century.

Witchcraft was older than the rise of Christianity. It was found in Biblical times and practised by women. The Jews believed in it, and it continued to be believed in until the 18th century and after. Islam, of course, did not believe in it.

The Witch of Endor in the Old Testament was a woman who had a familiar spirit through whom Saul sought communication with the dead Samuel. Samuel was brought out of the earth by the familiar spirit on condition that Saul would not take action against her for being a witch.

The Christians, until the 18th century used to believe firmly in witchcraft. Divination is a major aspect of witchcraft, and Islam is dead against it. St. Augustine used to believe in witchcraft. Pope Alexander issued in 1258 an order to the Inquisition condemning witchcraft, and Pope Sylvester VIII issued in 1484 his famous bull, Summis Desirantes, which forbade witchcraft under severe penalties. Hundreds and perhaps thousands suffered death, especially women because of witchcraft in Europe alone. The practice through the ages brought about a number of rites and a number of terms to describe them such as witch-hunting, witchbroom, witches’ Sabbath, etc.

Among the superstitions that were prevalent like witchcraft in the Christian society, mainly in the Middle Ages, was the cat-cult. Satan’s favourite form was said to be a black cat.

Witches were said to have a cat as their familiar. Along with the cat-cult, there were the devil-cult, magic and black magic. Black magic was a sort of magic invoking the powers of the devil. Black Mass was a sacriligious mass in which the devil was invoked in place of God. This brings to mind the Mend Mendomenham monks, or the hell-fire club in the 18th century.