21507 pg. 70-72
Islamic Views on the Ancient Egyptian and Hindu Religions
The Islamic view on the Ancient Egyptian Religion is that they are polytheists and grouped together with Jews and Christians and other groups who do not believe “the truth.” In short because of their evil opinion of Allah they will go to hell.
The Koran seems to afford special status to Jews and Christians as imperfect followers of the traditions of Abraham. Both Islam and Christianity seek to put down and invalidate any religion other than their own since those who are not saved by Muhammad or Jesus will go to hell. So, dissension and disharmony have been sewn into the fabric of these scriptures themselves. Since both religions believe that their scriptures are the “authoritative word of God,” then this problem can never be solved unless the entirety of these belief systems are ignored.
In Egypt today many secular Arabs claim the heritage of Kmt for themselves, but the everyday person cares little if at all about Ancient Kmt until a group of tourists come to visit and spend their money in Egypt.
Cooptation as a Strategy to Elevate a New Religion
The practice of Ancient Egyptian religion had to be stopped or neutralized in order to provide the new religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam to not be overshadowed as a new and minor religions. In short one elevates their practices while denigrating others. It should be noted that the Jewish scriptures themselves say that the people following Judaism were originally Egyptians/Africans who left the country to wander in order to find their own homeland. Because Shetaut Ntr was so entrenched in the society, Judaism wouldn’t have survived there beyond cult status had there not been an exodus.
The story of the Exodus is an example of how the followers/founders of a new system create a story to show how the new system is better than the old one. The small group of Egyptians who left Egypt felt it necessary to create a story showing how their new God was able to defeat the so called weak God/s of Egypt. This triumphant story would bring people to convert to this new faith since up until that time Ancient Egyptian Gods and Goddesses had been seen as not only the most powerful divinities but also as the source of all other deities in other religions. So, by saying that the Jewish God had a different origin and defeated the Egyptian Gods, this is like saying that the new religion is more powerful and should be followed. This form of strategy to over take a spiritual tradition is not uncommon as it also occurred with the emergence of Hinduism and Buddhism.
