SC - payn ragoun

[LrdRas@aol.com]

> Bear writes:
> 
> >The first references to coffee as a drink are apocryphal and, at the
> >earliest, date from 1258 (Mocha, Yemen).
> 
> Could you explain this? In what sense is the reference apocryphal?
> 
> David/Cariadoc
> http://www.best.com/~ddfr/
> 
The reference is apocryphal because it is based on legend.  According to
legend, Shaykh Ali ibn Umar al-Shadhili, a Sufi, introduced coffee drinking
to Yemen about 1258.  He was a figure of great respect and reverence in
Mocha, so much so that some refer to him as the "patron saint" of that city.
Little can be verified other than his existence.

Abu Bakr ibn Abd Allah al-Aydarus, has also been put forward as the "Father
of Coffee."  Internal dating of his legend would suggest he lived in the
late 14th Century or early 15th Century.  

It is possible that these two different legends about the same person.
Documented evidence is limited, but the legends appear to have become fact,
since in 1760 the Italian "Journal of the Savants" credits two monks,
Scialdi and Ayduis, with discovering the properties of coffee.

Bear

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