A Facebook post September 19, 2018 during the month of Muharram, a day before the anniversary of Hussain’s pbuh death, from the page of Ahmed Alhasan احمد الحسن:
Professor Samuel Kramer put forward the concept of the great convergence between the stories of the Old Testament (the Torah), the stories of the prophets, and the Sumerian clay tablets in his book, “From the Tablets of Sumer”. When we set out with this truth during our reading of the Sumerian texts that speak of King Dumuzi and his sister, Geshtinanna, we may conclude that the Sumerian clay tablets are filled with [references to] Hussain (Dumuzi is translated as “faithful son”) and his sister Zainab, Geshtinanna.
The importance of the convergence between the story of Dumuzi’s death in the Sumerian clay tablets and the story of Al-Hussain’s death in Islam, is that it perhaps nullifies the idea that the Abrahamic religions are nothing but a continuation of the Sumerian stories of theology. Perhaps, for us, a shift will be made, to proving that the Sumerian stories, or epics, are news of the unseen that was conveyed by the Sumerian prophets like Noah pbuh, as to what would happen in the future with respect to timing.
The following is an explanation by Geshtinanna of her brother Dumuzi’s dream that is written in the Sumerian clay tablets:
‘Geshtinanna spoke:
My brother, do not tell me your dream.
Dumuzi, do not tell me such a dream.
The rushes which rise all about you,
The rushes which grow thick about you,
Are your demons, who will pursue and attack you.
The single growing reed which trembles for you
Is our mother; she will mourn for you.
The double-growing reed, from which one, then the other, is removed, Dumuzi,
Is you and I; first one, then the other, will be taken away.
In the wooded grove, the terror of tall trees which rises about you
Is the galla; they will descend on you in the sheepfold.
When the fire is put out on your holy hearth,
The sheepfold will become a house of desolation.
When the bottom of your churn drops away,
You will be held by the galla.
When your drinking cup falls from its peg,
You will fall to the earth, onto your mother’s knees.
When your shepherd’s crook disappears,
The galla will cause everything to wither.
The eagle who seizes a lamb in the sheepfold
Is the galla who will scratch your cheeks.
The falcon who catches a sparrow in the reed fence
Is the galla who will climb the fence to take you away.
Dumuzi, my goats drag their lapis beards in the dust.
My hair will swirl around in heaven for you.
My sheep scratch the earth with bent feet.
O Dumuzi, I will tear at my cheeks in grief for you.
The churn lies silent; no milk is poured.
The cup lies shattered; Dumuzi is no more.
The sheepfold is given to the winds—’ (Wolkstein and Kramer, Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth, 1983, 74-77).*
………………………..
………………….
Dumuzi escaped from his demons.
He fled to the sheepfold of his sister, Geshtinanna.
When Geshtinanna found Dumuzi in the sheepfold, she wept.
She brought her mouth close to heaven.
She brought her mouth close to earth.
Her grief covered the horizon like a garment . . . .
The galla climbed the reed fence.
The first galla struck Dumuzi on the cheek with a piercing nail,
The second galla struck Dumuzi on the other cheek with the shepherd’s crook,
The third galla smashed the bottom of the churn,
The fourth galla threw the drinking cup down from its peg,
The fifth galla shattered the churn,
The sixth galla shattered the cup,
The seventh galla cried:
‘Rise, Dumuzi!
Husband of Inanna, son of Sirtur, brother of Geshtinanna!
Rise from your false sleep!
Your ewes are seized! Your lambs are siezed!
Your goats are seized! Your kids are seized!
Take off your holy crown from your head!
Take off your me-garment from your body!
Let your royal sceptre fall to the ground!
Take off your holy sandals from your feet!
Naked, you go with us!’
The galla seized Dumuzi.
They surrounded him.
They bound his hands. They bound his neck.
The churn was silent. No milk was poured.
The cup was shattered. Dumuzi was no more.
The sheepfold was given to the winds’ (Wolkstein and Kramer, Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth 1983, 83-84).
A Sumerian poet laments Dumuzi, the faithful son, saying:
‘My heart went to the edin, weeping, weeping
I am the lady of the temple, I am Inanna who destroys the lands of enemies.
I am Ninsun, the mother of the great master.
I am Geshtinanna, the sister of the sacred boy.
My heart went to the edin, weeping, weeping
It went to the place of the boy,
It went to the place of Dumuzi,
To the nether world, the home of the shepherd.
My heart went to the edin, weeping, weeping
To the place where the boy was chained
To the place where Dumuzi was held
My heart went to the edin, weeping, weeping’ (Abdul Wahid Ali, 1999. Ishtar wa Masat Tammuz [Ishtar and the Tragedy of Tammuz]. 1999, 125-26. Arabic source, translated).
*Samuel Noah Kramer (1897-1990) was a famous international expert in Sumerian history and the Sumerian language.