5 Attachment(s)
"Mani, the Prophet?" or "Is Islam Manichaenism Revisited?"
Manicheanism is said to be a form of Gnosticism (said to be very much syncretic) that sprung during the 3rd centura AD(~242AD). Augustine was said to have been orignially been a Manichaen. Some view him and others as instrumental as a plot to destroy the simple, pure doctrines of the disciples of Jesus Christ as such as spread to Africa and other parts of the world.
Some say that ("coincidentally") Mohammed came along not only making strikingly similar claims to Mani (see below) but also spreading doctrines and ideas strikingly similar to Mani.
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Mani (216-277 CE) was born in Persia and was brought up in a community that was divided between Zoroasterian and agnostic people. He was educated by the agnostics and traveled widely in India. He claimed at the age of 12 he was given the right to be an apostle and be the greatest prophet of God that ever was or ever would be. He claimed that his revelations were the word of God. When he was rejected the first time he went to India and learned from a Zoroasterian cult leader in Budi.
When Mani returned to Persia in 242CE, he began his faith based speeches where he claimed once again that he was superior to all prophets who preceded him because unlike Zoroaster, Buddha and Jesus and that none greater would come after him. He had published his cannons of the will of God called the Cannons of God. These Cannons would stand as the only authority to what God wanted from man and included his system and ascetic practices of how his followers could obtain salvation through elaborate mythical cosmogony and eschatology ideology.
Mani was first to use the terms of founding principles of Light verses Darkness where he then used the common ascetic way of salvation which included the common prayers facing the holy sun rise upon a prayer rug.
Mani claimed continuous revelations and inspiration from an angel, "The Twin””, who as his heavenly alter ego prepared and protected him as a teacher and initiated him in the way of salvation.
Unlike Muhammad, Mani claimed to have healed people of strange illnesses as proof that he was chosen as a divine prophet and holy man before God. But he could never produce sufficient witnesses for conformation which lead to his demise and lead to his heresy trial where he was found guilty.
He was crucified after he was arrested after the death of the ruler(Shapur) who was religions(plural) curious wanting to learn about the different religions of the world and had many different holy men from around the world. Mani was accused by Persian priests who followed after Zoroasterism for heresy. Mani requested crusifiction as a means of death to be like Jesus the Christ as the prophecies concerning such a death could not be denied from the holy Hebrew texts which he gave much authority to saying it proved he was the great one it predicted would come to lead the righteous to salvation.
The Bema festival celebrated yearly in March is the festival which celebrates the death of Mani where Mani used his ideas to replace the Lord Supper of Christians.
Manichaeism was exported into Arabia and North Africa were it was widely accepted and vigorously fought to keep the traditions of Mani.
In 395-418CE, Augustine had wared to eliminated much of this religion from North Africa but it remained acutely strong in Arabia until the rise of Islam.
The Cannons of Mani (216-277 CE)
1. He was the greatest prophet to have ever lived or would ever live.
2. His written cannons were the written will of God.
3. All must obey the messenger Mani along with the written word of the Lord.
4. Must take care of the poor, widows and orphans. Taking them into your household if necessary.
5. Sex in any form was ok. There was no age limit for marriage to a child.
6. allows for Homosexuality with boys.
7. Paradise allows sexual pleasure of your " Dreams" ( If you dream of being a pedephile with a boy or girl then its ok in paradise according to Mani)
8. people must give money to Him and him only as spiritual leader.
9. Only Mani the greatest prophet knows the will of God as the rest of the world is in the "Darkness"
10. Mani changed his cannons at will to match the situations like Muhammad did when he changed the Koran to fit the changes of personal desires.
11. Women were for service to man.
12. Children were property to use as you will. (source)
The compiler of the above synopsis alleges similarity in Mohommed's teachings:
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1 issued the Koran as only written word of God.
2. Gave holy reverence to Hebrew Texts as to his authority.
3. Only Muhammad could know the will of God.
4. only Muhammad could write the will of God.
5. Only Muhammad could receive the will of God.
6. Ideas of sex in Paradise are the same as Mani
7. No real age limits to marriage
8. Muhammad was the greatest prophet who ever lived.
9. Women were not equal with man.
10. Children are property.
If such would be true consider the ramifications and the revelation being that Manichaenism is a syncretic and Gnostic system of belief. Is it not uncanny that Mohammed's view of Jesus Christ is much the same as the Gnostics? Historians allege Manichaenism to be 'extinct'.
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Attachment 2427
From chapter 17 of The Forbidden Religion (Jose M. Herrou Aragon)
Hmm. Augustine was a Manichean for NINE years but yet....the writings of Mani "were lost until the 20th century"? Did Augustine do forward and reverse time travel here and there for 9 years? One author (Alberto Rivera) suggests Augstine to have been actively involved in destroying Bible manuscripts owned by true followers of organic, Bible-based doctrine and that Augustine's monasteries (in North Africa) served as bases for such activity. It is also suggested that Mohammed at some point had studied the writings of Augustine.
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Attachment 2428
From page 43 of The History of Mohammedanism, and Its Sects (William Cooke Taylor, John W. Parker) 1851
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From page 44 of The History of Mohammedanism, and Its Sects (William Cooke Taylor, John W. Parker) 1851
Interesting. So 200 years after Mani's death (472 AD) Mani's doctrines were revived or kept alive be "Mazdak". Augustine of Hippo is said to have lived from 354 to 430 AD. Mohammed would be born in 570 AD, approximately 100 years after Mazdak's revival. Clearly, Manichaeism was kept alive beyond Mani's death, during Augustine's lifetime and long enough to have been known of by Mohammed.
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Manichaeism in Modern Persian was a major gnostic religion, originating in Sassanid era
Babylonia. Although most of the original writings of the founding prophet Mani (c. 216-276 CE) have been lost, numerous translations and fragmentary texts have survived. Manichaeism taught an elaborate cosmology describing the
struggle between a good, spiritual world of light, and an evil, material world of darkness. Through an ongoing process which takes place in human history, light is gradually removed from the world of matter and returned to the world of light from which it came. Its beliefs, based on local Mesopotamian gnostic and religious movements, contained elements of Christianity, Zoroastrianism and Buddhism.
Note the incorporation of a struggle between "good" and "evil"--reminds me of ..a tree.
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