ANST - Musing on June 20th

[j'lynn yeates]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Dear Folks,

Today, June 20th, is the anniversary of "al Hajira," the flight. It
is
the start of the Moslem era. Happened 622 CE. So happy birthday,
Moslem
calendar! It is also our Prince John Lackland’s birthday (1189).
Quite
a combination.

We have already kind of mused on Johnny, the throne, his child bride,
his brothers, and mother. So we will just wish John well wherever he
is.

I am no Moslem scholar so forgive me if I muddle things up. Mohammed
was born on August 20, 570 CE. I  know, the date was not exact and I
... further historical musings passed along from Sir Balthazar, an
illustrious (infamous?) ex-pat ansteorran.

'wolf


Dear Folks,

Today, June 20th, is the anniversary of "al Hajira," the flight. It
is
the start of the Moslem era. Happened 622 CE. So happy birthday,
Moslem
calendar! It is also our Prince John Lackland’s birthday (1189).
Quite
a combination.

We have already kind of mused on Johnny, the throne, his child bride,
his brothers, and mother. So we will just wish John well wherever he
is.

I am no Moslem scholar so forgive me if I muddle things up. Mohammed
was born on August 20, 570 CE. I  know, the date was not exact and I
have not done his chart to rectify it. I do like that it puts him
still
in Leo and right on the Virgo cusp. His dad, Abdallah, died right
after
Mohammed was born. Then his mom passed away when Mohammed was only
six.
Poor kid. He was farmed out to his uncle Abu-Talib who set the boy to
watching the sheep and goats. Lots of shepherds in that region. Guess
he grew strong and bored out on the hillsides. Probably threw rocks
at
birds, made up his own songs, whatever.

When Mohammed was 25 he married a rich widow, Khadeejah, who was 15
years his senior. She bore him six children all of whom, save Fatimah
his beloved daughter, died very young. Let’s face it, Khadeejah was
forty when she married Mohammed. Her biological clock was alarming
pretty strongly.

Things turned around pretty heavily in 612 CE. Mohammed got a call,
he
said, from the Angel Gabriel. It was not an easy message; these sorts
seldom are. He had to go kick butt and put all the heathen tribes on
the path of monotheism. It is oft cited as proof of the Divinity of
the
Message that Mohammed was able to convince his wife of its reality.
Think of that: he has a vision and his wealthy, older wife believed
him.

Mohammed’s tribe had controlled Mecca with its magickal and holy spot
the Kaaba. Some say that the Kaaba is a meteorite, a very large one.
I
like that, myself. The desert tribes had been leaving bits of
offerings
at this shrine for centuries. Mohammed decided, with the aid of his
holy visitor, that these pagans had to get right with Allah (God of
Abraham and Moses.)  Mohammed converted a whole bunch of folks: his
father-in-law, his slave, other tribe members. They grew in number
and
irritation until in 622 CE, June 20th, the folks of Mecca kicked them
out, "The Flight."  Mohammed went to Medina to gather strength and to
preach his message.

Eight years later, in 630 CE, Mohammed and his band returned to
Mecca,
smashed the pagan idols around the Kaaba, and essentially won the
religious war. Okay, I skipped some bloody spots. Go back and read
them
yourself. Mohammed went to his heaven in 633 CE. He was taken off
with
a fever for those of you who always want to know about such things.
And
yes, I did read that he also suffered with epilepsy throughout his
life.

What lessons do we have here? Marry a rich widow and convince her of
your message? He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another
day?
I think my lesson is iconoclasts (idol breakers) are usually revered
only after they are dead. And what of the Kaaba which those heathens
idolized? Oh, the Moslems now circle around it as a holy activity
during their pilgrimage to Mecca. Hey, idol makers can always
outstrip
idol breakers.

A Billy Idol fan myself,
Ells

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: PGP Personal Privacy 6.5.3
Comment: public key for jyeates at realtime.net at certserver.pgp.com

iQA/AwUBOU66w850zdvN3Vp0EQK5kwCgrWOk1pKGAkSmbrYNr3lp08i2xuMAoKYV
q0iDY8Aff28xogDJgQfZ2Irs
=TKTO
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

============================================================================
Go to http://lists.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list tasks.