Prostitutes had to wear hijab 7000 years ago

Submitted by n.krishna (India), Dec 5, 2006 at 02:59

http://www.hindujagruti.org/eng/phpnews/news.php?action=fullnews&id=1238

The veil is a symbol of prostitution sanctioned by a religion some 7000 years back. To know more we have to travel back in time to Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia refers to area covered by the present day Iraq, eastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwest Iran. This area is on the basins of Euphrates and Tigris rivers and is known as the "Cradle of Civilization", since it was here that the first literate communities developed. By 6000 B.C. Mesopotamia had been settled, a process of urbanization evolved and Sumerian civilization took root. Sumer was a collection of city-states around the Lower Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in what is now southern Iraq. Sumerians who are the ancient inhabitants of what is now Iraq is credited with inventing the cuneiform writing. The urban civilization of Mesopotamia dates back to 5,000 BC.

The Sumerians were highly innovative people. Sumerian legacies include writing, irrigation, the wheel, astronomy, and literature. Sumerians were the first people known to have devised a scheme of writing, which were pictograms on clay tablets, and gradually created cuneiform writing. Mesopotamian cuneiform became the lingua franca of trade and international diplomacy. Sumerian cosmology, ethics, theology, even educational methods, passed into other societies throughout the ancient Near East. Sumerian writings passed down the centuries to leave an indelible impression on the modern world, on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, on the first chapters of Genesis.

The idea of a paradise, a garden of the gods, began with the Sumerians. Another legacy was the recording of literature. The most famous Sumerian epic is the epic of Gilgamesh who was king of the city-state of Uruk in 2700 B.C. A highly developed sense of religion dating back to 5000 B.C existed in Mesopotamia. Babylon, a town to the north, had a ruler, King Hammurabi (1792-1750 B.C.), who wrote legal code known as "The Code of Hammurabi". The Code of Hammurabi was early Sumerian law codes, .18th century B.C and reveals the principle of retaliation "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" that has found its way to the Koran.

Slaves were used in temples, in public buildings, and in the homes of private individuals. Most temple slaves were women who did domestic chores. 365-day calendar began as early as 4,228 BC. Positional notation is developed in Mesopotamia by the Sumerians. Unlike most other common numeration systems, the Sumerian system has a base of 60 instead of 10; this sexagesimal system using the cuneiform symbols continues in use throughout Mesopotamia and the astronomers continue to use it and we, today, have 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour; 60 arc seconds in an arc minute; 60 arc minutes in an arc degree. Sumerian civilization was among the oldest urban civilizations on the planet. In Sumer the first attempts at writing emerged to produce the first detailed records, written or carved in stone.

Mesopotamian religion is the oldest religion recorded. Mesopotamians believed that the world was a flat disc, surrounded by a huge, holed space, and above that, is the heaven. They also believed that water was everywhere, the top, bottom and sides, and that the universe was born from this enormous sea. Mesopotamian religion was highly polytheistic which means that the people believed in many gods. If someone was sick they prayed to the gods so that person would recover. As mentioned above, the Mesopotamian doctors were not medically advanced, so instead people asked help from the gods. Huge temples in a pyramid shape were built to worship the gods. The Mesopotamians believed their kings and queens were descended from the city gods but, unlike the ancient Egyptians, they never believed their kings were actually gods.

In the temple of Bel at Babylon, and probably in most of the other temples both there and elsewhere throughout the country, a great festival was celebrated once in the course of each year. We know little of the ceremonies with which these festivals were accompanied; but we may presume from the analogy of other nations that there were magnificent processions on these occasions, accompanied probably with music and dancing. The images of the gods were perhaps exhibited either on frames or on sacred vehicles. Numerous victims were sacrificed; and at Babylon it was customary to burn on the great altar in the precinct of Bel a thousand talents' weight of frankincense. The priests no doubt wore their most splendid dresses; the multitude was in holiday costume; the city was given up to merry-making. Everywhere banquets were held. In the palace the king entertained his lords; in private houses there was dancing and revelling. Wine was freely drunk; passion was excited; and the day, it must be feared, too often terminated in wild orgies, wherein the sanctions of religion were claimed for the free indulgence of the worst sensual appetites. In the temples of one deity excesses of this description, instead of being confined to rare occasions, the free indulgence of the worst sensual appetites seem to have been of every-day occurrence in the temples of one deity.

Each woman was required once in her life to visit the temple of Beltis, and probably in most of the other temples throughout the country and there remain till some stranger cast money in her lap and took her away with him. The women seat themselves within the holy enclosure with veil about their heads and the strangers pass along them to make their choice. A woman who has once taken her seat is not allowed to return home till one of the strangers throws a silver coin into her lap, and takes her with him beyond the holy ground. When he throws the coin, he says these words—'The goddess Mylitta (Beltis) prosper thee.' The silver coin may be of any size; it cannot be refused; for that is forbidden by the law, since once thrown it is sacred. The woman goes with the first man who throws her money, and rejects no one. When she has gone with him, and so satisfied the goddess, she returns home; and from that time forth no gift, however great, will prevail with her. Such of the women as are tall and beautiful are soon released; but others, who are ugly, have to stay a long time before they can fulfill the law. Some have to wait even three or four years in the precinct.

Prostitutes dedicated to the fertility Goddess were working at the Temples of the fertility Goddess in Canaan. There were also male priests wearing woman's clothes in these Temples. Priestesses working as prostitutes, and homosexual males were present in the Temples in Sumer. These prostitutes had to cover their heads. It is known also that in the earlier periods there were whores among the Jews who were having sexual intercourse in the name of God. That is why God in Deuteronomy 23:17 orders: "There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel." There is another order from God in Deuteronomy 23:18: "You shall not bring the hire of a whore....into the house of the Lord your God." These Jewish prostitutes used to cover their faces and their bodies with a veil. Veil originated for women in Sumer and it was their compulsory duty to have "sex" to worship the mother goddess. One can see same tradition of prostituting for goddess- in Greeks and Romans and for this the women have to take veil and thus one can understand the use of veil by women.

The veil is thus a symbol of prostitution sanctioned by a religion some 7000 years back. Mankind lived 80.000 years under the reign of women and under the goddesses. The too new, only 2000 years old monotheistic religions like Christianity or the later religion Islam are "man-based" and they want to control women. And all these monotheistic religions oppress women. Christianity and Islam copied, the ancient practices of Mesopotamian religion and in both religions women are second rate citizens and under the thumb of the male species. If we look at the Veil worn Christians and Muslims, their religions are exactly same. Some 7000 years ago during Sumerian civilization of Mesopotamia. In Christianity the woman's veil is a sign of man's authority over woman as per St Paul. Paul who is one of the four editors of Bible, wanted the Christian women should have Veil and because it is commanded by Lord. (1Cor. 14:37). Christian nuns who are married to Jesus thus forming the slave labor force of Christianity have to wear a veil. "To take the veil" means that a woman has become a nun and this has come from the compulsory use of veil for the nuns. The veil symbolizes the fact that the nuns have become Jesus Christ's prostitute. Mormon Christian women wear veil even today. Islam which copied the veil practice and made veil compulsory for Muslim women. Islam had gone one step further than the Christianity and even created four wives, easy divorce and even hourly prostitution permissible by a system called moota marriage which is allowed even under Indian constitution. Islam also created a heaven where 72 prostitutes and young boys will service the men when they go to heaven after death if they kill members of other religions for spreading Islam. Islam is a sex oriented religion. In Islam, women are a product to service men and no one is bothered about the 72 prostitutes and the boys who have to service the pious bi sexual muslims in the heaven. The veil of the women some 7000 year back used to identify woman as willing prostitutes who want to be taken to bed by any strangers, and the old custom of hijab was copied by the editors of the Quran and Bible. Wearing hijab thus makes the muslim women and the christian nuns as prostitutes and that is precisely the man oriented Islam and Christianity wanted when they copied ancient customs and wrote Quran and Bible, to make these monotheistic religions.

When Islam was in vogue the Muslims in Persia also had their courtesans and indeed were so sought after and so powerful in the capital city of Isfahan, that they formed a corporation. Fourteen thousand women courtesans of Isfahan, were registered and directed by a "superior". These beautiful and wealthy young women wore sumptuous clothing and jewelry and used their talents and their art for their own purposes. That they were also looked down upon is shown by the fact that no one referred to them by their stage names, but referred to them in keeping with the price range they charged their clients. They asked for "11 tomans, 10 tomans, or 8 tomans" (tomans = a Persian gold coin). These courtesans were a part of Isfahan society. 7,000 years ago, the head scarf was a symbol to distinguish a woman sitting in a temple to be picked up by a stranger which is compulsory. The headscarf is the symbol of Muslim women now. Various references in the religious text of Muslims call for it. O Prophet! Tell thy wives and thy daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks close round them. O Prophet! say to your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers that they let down upon them their over-garments. so, hijab is for your "mahram"(mahrem in Turkish). Hijab avoid you being "sexy" in modern world, men doesn't feel any lust or sexual desire when they see women's hair. The Quran tells us to follow the sunnah, "he who obeys the Messenger, obeys Allah". (Quran 4:80). Sunnah is used to clarify, re-emphasize, and bring new rulings to that which is stated in the Quran. In modern times the muslim women in Britain is fighting for the right to wear a headscarf or the veil or khimar or also known as hijab without knowing the real historical background. Historically a veiled woman is considered a prostitute for the picking by any stranger in society.

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