9/19/2015 TheHistoryof"Amen"|www.freeminds.

org

MostofuswhohavehadtheprivilegeofattendingaFridaycongregationwouldimmediatelyrealizetheimportanceof
theword"Amen"or"Aameen"inthelifeofatraditionalMuslim.Forthoseofuswhoarenotfamiliarwithitsusage,
theMuslimsarerequiredtosay"Amen"afterrecitingSurahalFatihahandaftercompletionoftheirprayers(Dua).In
fact, this is the only word spoken aloud during a Friday congregation by the traditional Muslims after the Imam
completestherecitationofSurahalFatihah.Thepurposeofthisarticleisanattempttofindoutit'smeaningandtrace
backitsoriginsinancienthistory.

WhydoMuslimssayAmen

It is a known fact (well almost) that this word can be found now where in the Quran. So why do the traditional
Muslimsholdsuchimportancetoawordthatisnotevenmentionedinthefinalscripture?Yes,youguessedright,this
word can be found in Hadith, the second source of religious (dis)information for the traditional Muslims after the
Quran.InSahihalBukhariVol.6/Ch.2EnglishtranslationbyDr.M.MuhsinKhan,wefindyetanothergemfrom
thepenofAbuHuraira

NarratedAbuHuraira:Allah'sApostlesaid,"WhentheImamsays:'GhairilMaghdubi'AlaihimWaladDallin[i.e.
notthepathofthosewhoearnYouranger,notthepathofthosewhowentastray'(1:7)],thenyoumustsay,'Amin',
forifone'sutteranceof'Amin'coincideswiththatoftheangelsthenhispastsinswillbeforgiven."

TheobviousconclusionofthisHadithisthatthefocusmustbeon"timing"ratherthancontent.Idigress...

SowhywouldtheProphetrequirefromtheMuslimstoutterawordattheendofthemostrecitedSurah,thatisnot
mentioned even once in the Quran. Moreover, what kind of message was the Prophet sending to the Muslims by
askingthemto"time"thesayingofAmenwiththatoftheangelsinordertogettheirsinsforgiven?TheProphetcould
nothaveutteredsuchablasphemy,forwelearnfromSurahalA'rafverse188thatevenhe,albeitamessengerofGod,
wasunawareofhisownfate.

[7:188]Say:"IhavenopoweroveranygoodorharmtomyselfexceptasGodwilleth.IfIhadknowledgeoftheunseen,
Ishouldhavemultipliedallgood,andnoevilshouldhavetouchedme:Iambutawarner,andabringerofgladtidings
tothosewhohavefaith."

Furthermore,fromtheQuranwealsolearnthatGodcommandedMuhammadnottosayorextrapolateanythingby
himself.HisonlydutywastodelivertheQuran.

[69:43]ItisarevelationfromtheLordoftheworlds.

[69:44]AndiftheapostleweretoinventanysayingsinOurname,

[69:45]Weshouldcertainlyseizehimbyhisrighthand,

[69:46]AndWeshouldcertainlythencutoffthearteryofhisheart:

[69:47]Norcouldanyofyouwithholdhim(fromOurwrath).

(TranslationA.YusufAli)

TheonlysensibleexplanationisthatthisHadith,likemanyothers,isalieattributedtoProphetMuhammad.

OriginsofAmen

This word must have found its way into traditional Islam from either Christian or Jewish sources almost 200300
years after the death of the Prophet when the Hadith books came into existence. The fact that "Amen" came from
JewishsourcesintoChristianityisacknowledgedintheCatholicEncyclopediaVol.11907

"ThewordAmenisoneofasmallnumberofHebrewwordswhichhavebeenimportedunchangedintotheliturgyof
theChurch...'SofrequentwasthisHebrewwordinthemouthofOurSaviour',observesthecatechismoftheCouncilof

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Trent,"thatitpleasedtheHolyGhosttohaveitperpetuatedintheChurchofGod."

ItisironicalthattheHolyGhost(spiritualformofGod)wouldasktoimplementsomethingafterhearingitfromThe
Saviour(JesusChrist)!

Theword"Amen"isdefinedintheConciseOxfordEnglishDictionaryasaninterjectionaswellasanounmeaning'so
beit'andutteredattheendoftheprayerorhymnetc.TherootlettersAMNholdthefollowingconnotationsinmodern
Hebrew: educate, train, true, trustworthy, confirm, confidence, faithfulness, treaty. This root word appears to be
synonymous with the Arabic root word AlifMimNun. A look under this root word in LughatulQuran (Quran
Lexicon)byG.A.Parwez4thEdition1998confirmedthatthereisnoexplicitmentionof"Amen"or"Aameen"inthe
Quran.

LinkstoPaganism

AtraditionalMuslimmayarguethatalthough"Amen"isnotmentionedintheQuran,theProphetdidaskustosayit
in our prayers. Moreover, since there is nothing wrong with it's meaning it should be acceptable. However, this
assumption can have serious implications if we trace back this word's origin in history, for we find that the word
"Amen"haspaganidolworshipconnotations.IntheColumbiaEncyclopedia,6thEdition2001itiswritten

"AmonorAmen,Egyptiandeity.HewasoriginallythechiefgodofThebesheandhiswifeMutandtheirsonKhensu
werethedivineThebantriadofdeities.AmongrewincreasinglyimportantinEgypt,andeventuallyhe(identifiedas
AmonRaseeRa)becamethesupremedeity.HewasidentifiedwiththeGreekZeus(theRomanJupiter).Amon'smost
celebratedshrinewasatSiwaintheLibyandeserttheoracleofSiwalaterrivaledthoseofDelphiandDodona.Heis
frequentlyrepresentedasaramorasahumanwitharam'shead."

TheEgyptTravelandAntiquitiesGuideintheirarticleabout"Amen"describesthemeaningofthenameasfollows

"OftheattributesascribedtoAmenintheAncientEmpirenothingisknown,but,ifweacceptthemeaning"hidden"
which is usually given to his name, we must conclude that he was the personification of the hidden and unknown
creativepowerwhichwasassociatedwiththeprimevalabyss,godsinthecreationoftheworld,andallthatisinit.
Thewordorrootamen,certainlymeans"whatishidden,""whatisnotseen,""whatcannotbeseen,"andthelike,and
thisfactisprovedbyscoresofexampleswhichmaybecollectedfromtextsofallperiods.InhymnstoAmenweoften
readthatheis"hiddentohischildren,"and"hiddentogodsandmen,"andithasbeenstatedthattheseexpressions
onlyrefertothe"hiding,"i.e.,"setting"ofthesuneachevening,andthattheyareonlytobeunderstoodinaphysical
sense,andtomeannothingmorethanthedisappearanceofthegodAmenfromthesightofmenatthecloseofday.
Now,notonlyisthegodhimselfsaidtobe"hidden,"buthisnamealsois"hidden,"andhisform,orsimilitude,issaid
to be "unknown" these statements show that "hidden," when applied to Amen, the great god, has reference to
somethingmorethanthe"sunwhichhasdisappearedbelowthehorizon,"andthatitindicatesthegodwhocannotbe
seenwiththemortaleyes,andwhoisinvisible,aswellasinscrutable,togodsaswellasmen."

Itmaybeconjecturedthatthis"hiddengod"isnootherthanSatanwhohasmanagedtosuccessfullyeludenotonlythe
MuslimsbutalsotheJewsandChristiansaswelltothisday!

The fact that the worship of "Amen" and "AmenRa" had gained popularity not only amongst the Egyptians but the
foreignerslivingintheregionaswellduringthattimecanbeappreciatedfromthefollowingquotefromthearticle
about"Amen."

"TheworshipofAmenRaspreadthroughallthecountrybothofthenorthandsouthofThebes,andthemonuments
provethatitmadeitswayintoallthedominionsofEgyptinSyria,andtheNubia,andintheOases.IntheUpperEgypt
its centers were Thebes, Herakeopolis Magna in Lower Egypt they were Memphis, Sais, Xois, Metelis, Heliopolis,
Babylon,Mendes,Thmuis,Diospolis,Butus,andtheIslandofKhemmisintheLibyandeserttheOasesofKenemet,
{i.e.,Farafra},andthegreatOasisofJupiterAmmoninNubia,WadiSabua,AbuSimbel,Napata,andMeroeandin
SyriaatseveralplaceswhichwerecalledDiospolis."

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Amen,hiswife,MutandsonKhensurepresentedtheThebanTriad,thesacredfamilyofThebes.Amenwasknownto
be"Kingofthegods"duringtheperiodoftheNewKingdominEgyptin"15501070"B.C.whenThebeswasthecapital
ofEgypt,anditwasduringthisperiodthattheJewswereslavesthere.Duringtheir400yearsofslaveryitisobvious
thattheylosttheirmonotheisticbeliefsandfellintoEgyptianpaganism.Ifduringthe40yearexodustheycouldbuilda
talkinggoldencalfidol,isittoofarfetchedtoassumethattheword"Amen"creptintotheirreligiousritualsaword
namedafteranEgyptiangodwhichnotonlyhavetheJewsfailedtogetridoftothisdaybuthavealsopassedontothe
ChristiansandMuslims.

To the skeptic, who may argue against the connection between the Egyptian god "Amen" and this word used in its
presentdaymeaning,Iquotetheendingparagraphundertheheading"Amen"fromtheCatholicEncyclopedia,Vol1
1907,whicheitherintentionallyorunintentionallyacknowledgesthislink

"Finally,wemaynotethatthewordAmenoccursnotinfrequentlyinearlyChristianinscriptions,andthatitwasoften
introduced into anathemas and gnostic spells. Moreover, as the Greek letters which form Amen according to their
numericalvaluestotal99(alpha=1,mu=40,epsilon=8,nu=50),thisnumberoftenappearsininscriptions,especially
ofEgyptianorigin,andasortofmagicalefficacyseemstohavebeenattributedtothissymbol.Itshouldbementioned
thatthewordAmenisstillemployedintheritualbothofJewsandMohammedans."

Conclusions

Therearenumberofconclusionsthatcanbedrawnfromthisarticle.First,Thereisnomentionoftheword"Amen"in
the Quran and unfortunately this word infiltrated into Islam through Hadith. Although an average Muslim openly
acknowledgesthat"Amen"isawordalsousedbyChristianandJewsintheirprayers,heorshemakestheimplicit
assumptionthatitisaQuranicwordthatcanalsobefoundintheBibleandTorah.Itmayalsobearguedthatthereis
nothingwrongwithsaying"Amen"inourprayersgivenitspresentdaymeaning.However,theintelligentreadermust
askhimorherselfthequestionwhetherheorshewantstocontinueusingitnowfullyknowingthedubiouspagan
connotationsofthisword?Can'twefindsomeotherwordtoexpressourconvictiontoGodAlmighty?

Another natural outcome of this article is that it openly questions the selfrewarding philosophy of the traditional
Muslims, largely encouraged in Hadith. Now where in the Quran do we find a verse, which suggests that we can
redeemourselvesinthisworldbymerelyutteringsome"magic"words.ItisonlythroughsincerestudyoftheQuran
thatonecanhopetofindpeaceandhappinessinthisworldandinthehereafter.

Lastly, a word of caution for those who tread the dangerous "middle ground" and say that we believe in only the
"Sahih" (True) Hadith. After reading this article, can one really separate cream from the milk when it comes to
distinguishingbetweenthetrueandfalseHadith?Itisthereforeincumbentuponallofustoverifyanyinformationwe
receive.

[17:36]Andpursuenotthatofwhichthouhastnoknowledgeforeveryactofhearing,orofseeingorof(feelingin)the
heartwillbeenquiredinto(ontheDayofReckoning).

I hope the intelligent reader will reject all secondary sources and uphold the ONE and ONLY source required for
guidanceTheQuran.

[6:106]FollowwhatisrevealedtoyoufromyourLord,thereisnogodexceptHe,anddisregardtheidolworshipers.

CopyrightAzfarSamin(email:god1quran1@yahoo.com)

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