Exposing Islam

Core Islamic Rituals with Parallels in Earlier Religions

🔍 1. Core Islamic Rituals with Parallels in Earlier Religions

1.1. Prayer (Ṣalāh)

Five daily prayers in specific directions, with ablutions (wudu), bowing (ruku), and prostration (sujood).
Pre-Islamic origins:
- Zoroastrianism: Had structured prayers at fixed times of day (e.g., five times in some sects).
- Judaism: Fixed daily prayers (e.g., morning, afternoon, evening), facing Jerusalem.
- Christian monastics: Liturgy of the Hours, multiple daily prayers.
Ritual purity (washing) is present in Judaism and Zoroastrianism.

1.2. Pilgrimage (Ḥajj)

Pre-Islamic Arabs already practiced pilgrimage to the Kaaba, performing rituals like:
- Tawaf (circumambulation of the Kaaba),
- Sa’i (running between Safa and Marwa),
- Animal sacrifice.
Islamic response: These were said to originate with Abraham and Ishmael and later corrupted by idolaters, but this is a theological assertion, not verifiable history.

1.3. Fasting (Ṣawm)

Ramadan fasting is said to have been prescribed as it was to “those before you” (Qur’an 2:183).
Fasting in earlier faiths:
- Judaism: Yom Kippur and other fasts.
- Christianity: Lent and other ascetic practices.
- Pagan rituals across Arabia, India, and Egypt included fasting.
So Ramadan is not unique, even if its form is specific.

1.4. Charity (Zakāt)

Mandated almsgiving existed in Judaism (tzedakah) and Christianity.
Qur’an integrates it into ritual worship, but the concept predates Islam.

📚 2. Sources of Borrowing or Influence

Cultural osmosis: Muhammad lived in a religiously diverse society (Mecca and Medina) with Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, Hanifs, and pagans.
Intentional adaptation: The Quran and hadith literature suggest that Muhammad modified or affirmed some existing practices, claiming to “restore” the Abrahamic way (e.g., redirecting qibla from Jerusalem to Mecca).
Political-religious unification: Using familiar rituals could facilitate the unification of disparate Arabian tribes under one religious banner.

📏 3. Logical Analysis

🧩 Premises:

P1: Islamic rituals (e.g., prayer, fasting, pilgrimage) existed in similar or identical form before Muhammad.
P2: Islam claims to be a distinct and final divine revelation with uniquely prescribed practices.
P3: The Quran asserts that Muhammad was restoring the “original” Abrahamic religion.
P4: There is no extra-Quranic historical evidence confirming the existence of these Abrahamic rituals in pre-Islamic Arabia.

✅ Logical Conclusion:

Unless independent evidence supports that Islamic rituals uniquely originated with divine revelation, and not from borrowing or syncretism, then the historical record suggests Islam adapted existing rituals, possibly modifying them for theological or political ends.