Question Home

Position:Home>History> Did Islam arise among the descendents of the Gnostic Christians ?


Question: Did Islam arise among the descendents of the Gnostic Christians !?
i!.e!. there was a struggle between the "orthodox" christian movement and the Gnostic christian movement and the Gnostics were annhilated !. They lived in the area of the middleeast where islam is now prominent!.!.!.did the vacuum caused by the destruction of the gnostics form the roots of Islam and was it an influence on the young Prophet, Mohamed!?Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Islam is supposedly an updated version of the Jewish and Christian religions so gnosticism might have been a source (although I think there were many pre-Christian gnostic sects and not all were Gnostic Christians!.) I don't know about a vacuum after gnosticism was excised from Church teachings!. I think that Mohammed read, or heard a reading of the Jewish and Christian bibles and was thus inspired!.

The Gnostic texts were banned from the official Christian texts but as you know manuscripts were discovered years ago in Nag Hamadi, Egypt, Gospel of Thomas, etc!. (hope I have that right), and gnosticism was not itself annhilated!. It resurfaced with the Cathars in medieval France and they were massacred!. But, and I think this is really interesting, gnostic sects (who do not worship Jesus Christ, instead only recognize John the Baptist as the Messiah) and are called Sabaean or Mandeans, lived in southern Iraq and perhaps still are found there!. I have read that some of them supposedly have not heard of Jesus Christ, but only John the Baptist and this is called (Johannite)!.Www@QuestionHome@Com