Balder Ex-Libris

Author : Rhome Harrell
Title : Lifting the Veil An exploration of Islam
Year : 2011

Link download : Rhome_Harrell_-_Lifting_the_Veil_An_exploration_of_Islam.zip

This is a literary, philosophical, geopolitical and theological examination of the third and latest in a series of three religions, all rooted solidly in Semitic languages, scriptures and cultures. The first was Talmudic Judaism. It was the successor faith to the ancient Hebrew religion, centered in the rites and rituals of the Jerusalem Temple. It ended in 70 CE, several decades after the time of Jesus. It was then that the Roman armies, commanded by the later emperor, Titus, attacked the central Hebrew city in response to a persistent revolutionary movement in the Latin province of Palestina. The Romans finally grew tired, and decided to end the matter once and for all. As a result of the Roman invasion, the Jerusalem Temple was thoroughly razed, burned and destroyed, thus ending the old Temple-based cult. The modern religion called Judaism came forth from this, preserving their Hebraic scriptures in the Old Testament as well as accumulating and codifying rabbinical thought and lore in the Talmud. But, Christianity was already an active and growing rival faith, so was not all that much affected by the attack on Jerusalem or the destruction of the Temple. Early Christianity, especially with the ascension of Paul, aimed to convert the Gentile Greco-Roman world of the first century. As we know, Christianity was later officially adopted and promoted by the Emperor Constantine in c.325CE. It became the imperial Roman state church, spreading even more widely throughout the ancient world. But, about three centuries after that, a new rival creed came forth, led by an ascetic desert prophet called Muhammad. The faith he preached was called Islam, from the Arabic root words for peace and submission. Hence, a Muslim, a follower of Islam, translates as one at peace, one in submission to God, in Arabic called Allah. The Archangel Gabriel is said to have dictated the Koran to Muhammad, the last and greatest prophet of Allah. Since the late 600s, Islam has spread over much of the world. Now outnumbering Roman Catholics, there are over one and a half billion Muslims with an estimated six to eight million in the United States. In my book, we shall explore this dynamic, vibrant - and somewhat uncompromising - belief system that stands before us and directly confronts us on a global scale. ...