by

 Damien F. Mackey

  

How could Mohammed have encountered a young Christian from Nineveh

when that city had been destroyed some 1200 years before (c. 612 BC),

and so completely that no one knew where it was, until, another 1200 years

(C19th AD) when modern archaeologists dug it up?

  

Introduction

 

The Book of Tobit revolutionises ancient history. 

 

Although I came to the conclusion independently of the Book of Tobit that the Assyrian king, Sargon II, was the same ruler as his supposed son-successor, Sennacherib, one finds in the Book of Tobit (Chapter 1), the Assyrian sequence of “Shalmaneser”; “Sennacherib”; and “Esarhaddon”, with no mention whatsoever of Sargon.

 

The Book of Tobit revolutionises ancient geography. 

 

If only I had taken more notice of the geography of the Book of Tobit, according to which one travels from Nineveh, to the Tigris River, to Charan (Haran) “midway” between Nineveh and Ecbatana in Media (11:1, Douay), then I would not have spent years seriously mis-locating that geography.

 

Now, Royce (Richard) Erickson), with no apparent (as far as I can tell) recognition of the Book of Tobit, would arrive at (in 2020) the most radical of conclusions that the lands of Media and Elam were situated in Anatolia, basically as according to the geography of the Book of Tobit.

 

The Book of Tobit revolutionises prophetic biblical identities. 

 

From a comparison of the different versions of the Book of Tobit we learn that the prophet Jonah was Nahum, thought to be separate prophets well apart in time.

 

And, from a comparison of the Book of Tobit with the Book of Job, I was able to conclude years ago that the difficult-to-place, and enigmatic, prophet Job, was actually the same person as Tobias, the son of Tobit.

 

Casting light on the Prophet Mohammed

 

Mohammed, a fictitious composite character, so I believe, reveals some heavy dependence upon (amongst other biblical influences) the Book of Tobit.

 

His parents, Abdullah and Amna, appear to be found again in the parents of Tobias, namely (Tobit) Obadiah and Anna.

 

Mohammed’s various associations with the ancient city of Nineveh, though quite anachronistic for a supposedly C7th AD figure, are quite normal in the context of the Tobiad family, Israelite exiles in Nineveh.

 

Mohammed’s claim to have been the “brother” of the prophet Jonah, though ridiculously inappropriate for a supposedly C7th AD figure, is far more reasonable given Tobit’s reference to Jonah’s (Nahum’s) mission to Nineveh (Tobit 14:4).

And how could Mohammed have encountered a young Christian from Nineveh when that city had been destroyed some 1200 years before (612 BC, conventional date), and so completely that no one knew where it was, until, another 1200 years (C19th AD) when modern archaeologists dug it up?  

 

The young Christian slave Addas and Prophet Muhammad in 10 BH

“When the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was recovering from the wounds he received due to the rough response he experienced from the people of Taif, Rabi’ah’s two sons were moved by the Messenger of Allah’s weak state, and so they called their Christian slave, called Addas, and told him, as books about the Messenger of Allah’s biography relate, ‘Take a bunch of grapes and bring them to the man.’ When he gave them to the Messenger of Allah, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, <‘In the Name of Allah,’ as he took some to eat. Addas said, ‘The people of this city do not say such words.’ The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, ‘Where are you from?’ He said, ‘I am a Christian from Neno’a [Nineveh] (a city in Iraq).’ The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, ‘Do the people in the city believe in the righteous man, Yunus ibn Matta [Jonah son of Amittai]?’

 

Addas became surprised, and said to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), amazed at what the Messenger of Allah had said, ‘How do you know about Yunus?’ The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, ‘He is my brother. He was a prophet and I am a prophet.’ Therefore, Addas kissed the Messenger of Allah’s hands and feet. When Addas returned to his masters, they said to him, ‘Woe to you, Addas! Why did you kiss the head, hands and feet of that man?’ He replied, ‘Oh master, there is nothing on earth better than him. He told me something that only a prophet would know’> [The Prophet’s Biography by Ibn Hesham]”.

 

This Addas, who was so surprised that Mohammed knew Jonah – and why wouldn’t you be? – was appropriated from Azariah, the name taken by the angel Raphael, disguised as a young man.

 

Greek mythology had already pinched this story in the goddess Athena’s encounter, disguised as a young man (Mentor), with Telemachus (approximating to Tobias), son of Odysseus (Obadiah/Tobit).