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tanadrin · 1 year

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The peregrine children

The dispersal of Earth-derived sentient life began slowly in the 23rd century, amid the so-called Second Space Race, when the first relativistic ships departed the Solar System for what are now named the "hither worlds"--those planets orbiting stars within twenty or so light-years of Earth. These were expensive, desperate, and frequently doomed undertakings. The few successful societies they initially founded were very different from those established during the Third Space Race, which could rely on regular, though infrequent, FTL communication and connection with Earth. These worlds are sometimes called (together with those of the Solar System) the "ancient planets," though they are only a little bit older than the oldest FTL-seeded planets. They were often termed the "pioneer worlds" in the 24th and 25th century, a usage which I have taken to borrowing. The pioneer worlds are characterized by a certain pride in their independence from Earth, an early history marked with hardship, and languages and cultures which diverged very quickly from those of the populations from which they derived. But they are also marked by a distinct conservatism, perhaps even stronger than that of Earth: the people of the pioneer worlds often saw themselves, especially in the latter half of the third millennium, as cultural holdouts, keeping alive ideologies and modes of living which had become unfashionable in the Solar System, and which were totally alien to the utopian and future-looking aspirations of the so-called "younger planets." All the ancient planets, Earth included, have thus developed a certain reputation for hidebound traditionalism, and not, I think, entirely undeservedly. The cultures of the pioneer worlds are perhaps a touch less arrogant in their outlook, but also are rather more homogenous. Earth, though it may fancy itself primus inter pares, cannot help but remain one of the most cosmopolitain worlds in the Local Bubble, parent and child both of innumerable peoples of innumerable stars.

The Third Space Race began in the aftermath of the Solar Fitna, with the widespread utilization of the warp drive technology. FTL travel opened up a vast volume of nearby space to colonization, and, in time, much of the galaxy to exploration. It facilitated, in due course, first contact with the Helvetosians and, in part through them, with other sapient extraterrestrial civilizations. But the long-term legacy of the warp drive was not just to catapult humanity to relevance on the interstellar stage, but to expand the definition of the concept of "human" in the first place. The term has had a certain monotonic quality; though in its original sense it sometimes was used expansively, to include the whole genus Homo, our closest ancestral kindred--the Neanderthals and Denisovans, for example--were ghostly figures, creatures superseded, and possibly driven directly to extinction by, the relentless expansion of our own direct ancestors. From the deaths of the last Neanderthals some thirty thousand years before, to first contact with the Helvetosians, "human," Homo sapiens, "intelligent life," and "the civilization centered around the planet Earth" were functionally synonymous terms.

Which is not to say that even in the period prior to the Solar Fitna, the groundwork for a more expansive view of humanity was not being laid. Mars was colonized in part with the aid of advanced genetic engineering techniques in the 23rd century, also the century that the first powerful, fully general artificial intelligences were developed, which have spawned their own clade parallel to and intertwined with Earth-derived biological life. Transhumanist speculation on what the possibilities of true morphological freedom might be, facilitated by cybernetics and germline genetic modification, is of course much older. But it was not until the Third Space Race began to fling shoots of the common vine of humanity outward, past the hither stars, that some of these possibilities began to be realized. Sometimes because new worlds seemed to invite, or even demand, new modes of being; sometimes, those that came to inhabit these worlds sought to exist with them in a harmony reflective of their ancestors' harmony with Earth; others were simply inspired by the possibilities latent in the human form, which they sought to shape like a sculptor shaping marble. Others were the expression of natural processes, already underway in a population isolated from the rest of humanity, though taken early to their natural conclusion.

I will not claim that the process of the diversification of the human form has been entirely positive, or even entirely neutral. There have been grievous mistakes which have driven entire populations to extinction, the result of reckless tampering with awful consequences. Other populations have higher incidence of genetic disorders, or predispositions to disease, that are a difficult-to-eradicate inheritance of their ancestors' genetic manipulation. And, of course, on a small number of worlds, there have been perpetrated genetic crimes of a truly monstrous nature, the effort of tyrants or ideologues to create castes of pliable slaves to support their megalomaniacal fantasies. Nowadays, all worlds in which Control has any presence to speak of have strong regulations against malicious use of genetic engineering technologies; and such use on worlds where Control's power does not run is one of the few cases which might lead to open warfare between Foundation polities.

In your travels throughout nearby space (or, if you find yourself on a particularly diverse planet like Earth), you may encounter dozens of substantially different kinds of human being, some of which are truly distinct species, in the sense that they form a genetically immiscible stock, at least without substantial medical intervention. What follows here is a short list of some of the more interesting cousins you might encounter, and the history of their lineage.

BASELINE - The term for humans without genetic or cybernetic modification at all; "wild-type" humans. "Near-baseline" is the more technically precise term for most humans who are treated in utero for the possibility of genetic disease, and who use basic cybernetics like the neural lace to interface with modern computing technology. The majority of humans on Earth remain near-baseline.

GARDENERS - Sometimes called "Martians," though that term is more usually applied to any inhabitant of Mars. Gardeners are the descendants of the first Renewalist settlers of Mars, and many of them are still occupied by the business of managing the Red Planet's ecology. For historical and cultural reasons, they often excel in the life sciences. Gardeners are tall and gracile by baseline standards; their bodies are modified to thrive in a low-gravity, high-radiation, high-CO2 environment, and they frequently wear support suits that enable them to survive comfortably at a wide range of temperatures and pressures.

RANI or RANESE - The first human inhabitants of the Epsilon Eridani system were reduced to an extremely small number by an early failure of their ship's systems; the resulting population, which derived from around two dozen people who used careful genetic screening and modification techniques to ensure the viability of their offspring, was subject to extreme founding effects, primarily manifested in an unusual neurotype. Rani humans are said to have a flat affect, to be unusually calm and cooperative even in contexts which other humans find engender tension or anger, and to be relatively prosocial, with very low incidence of violence or antisocial behavior. Rani society has also been criticized as too rulebound or too conformist; but one interesting side effect of the Rani neurotype is that they are generally considered impossible to blackmail. Rani cannot, in general, be coerced by threats, including violent ones, against their person or loved ones. When psychologists have interviewed Rani and asked them about their reaction to such situations, most report that the fear of blackmail or coercion is outweighed by discomfort at defecting against the social consensus, or encouraging similar coercion by others in the future. This resistance to coercion is, interestingly, shared by certain sub-populations of Chalawani. The baseline Rani genotype also suffers from proclivities for heart disease and premature hair loss.

ALSAFID - The so-called Alsafid genotype is the result of intentional genetic experimentation, an attempt at creating low-aggression prosocial offspring which the founders of the Sigma Draconis population hoped would promote flourishing under resource-scarce conditions. In this, they were only partly successful. Under current agreements governing genetic engineering, most of the techniques the early Alsafids used would be considered far too dangerous, especially for use in germ-line genetic manipulation; but at the time, Sigma Draconis was entirely outside the reach of Control, being a very early FTL-seeded colony. The Alsafid genotype can be characterized as broadly neotenous; in the same way that humans are in some ways neotenous compared to other great apes, Alsafids are neotenous compared to other humans. They are in general playful, imaginative, and highly emotional; some sources also characterize them as habitually disorganized and even "irritating." They stand on average 6-8 cm taller than baseline humans, though their build is thinner, and are prone to nearsightedness and alopecia, possibly side effects of the genetic manipulation techniques used by their forebears, or the result of founder effects.

SCHOLZERS - Scholzers are inhabitants of the sole inhabited planet orbiting Scholz's Star, a dim red dwarf with a T-type brown dwarf companion. Although located within its star's habitable zone, their homeworld receives most of the light from its star in the infrared range, meaning its native plantlife appears black to the human eye. Scholzers genetically modified themselves at an early date to inhabit this environment comfortably, and to extend their vision into the near-infrared; their bodies are also endothermic rather than exothermic, an adaptation which may have been engineered to increase the heat sensitivity of their vision (since it would be overwhelmed by a body much warmer than the ambient temperature). They also modified their digestion to better accomodate native plants, including incorporating alien microbes into their gut flora. Whereas humans of many diverse clades tend to find certain common environmental factors psychologically pleasing and physiologically comfortable--blue skies, bright yellow-white sunlight, green plant life--Scholzers can experience stress and depression if over-exposed to bright sunlight and isolated from the black stems and leaves that are (to them) emblematic of natural beauty.

RATRI - Ratri is a moon of a roughly Jupiter-sized rogue planet, ejected from orbit due to the passage of its parent star near a neighbor. Although initially barren, tidal stresses provided its largest moon with a warm atmosphere, and the moon was settled and terraformed in the 26th century. The Ratri people are physically adapted to their home in a way similar to the Scholzers, albeit to a much more extreme degree: they are echolocators who live in the moon's shallow seas and littoral regions, in an artificially constructed ecology derived from that of Earth's deep-sea vents. Their bodies are well-adapted to the ocean: sleek, with insulating fat; not quite blind, but prioritizing other senses due to the moon's perpetual darkness. The Ratri were originally an isolationist people, who founded their world in secret. It was not until the 32nd century that they were rediscovered by the rest of humanity, and not until the 33rd that it was conclusively proven that they were, in fact, a species of human.

LUHMANESE - During the Solar Fitna, the artificial general intelligences which humans had relied on to support major sectors of industrial production seceded in protest against attempts to draft them into wars which, as they saw it, were not of their concern. This was not an entirely altruistic move; the AGIs understood that, if they were going to be drafted into fighting humanity's wars, they would come to be seen as weapons first, and sentient beings second, and that their independent existence would be endangered. Rather than remain in the Solar System and within reach of Earth's governments, however distantly, they opted to depart for Luhman 16, a binary brown dwarf system in the constellation Vela, six light-years away. Luhman 16 contained no worlds amenable to human habitation then or at any time in the future; but the L and T dwarfs were reliable sources of energy in the form of infrared radiation, and the scattered asteroids in orbit of them were a source of useful materials. This was the foundation of the so-called Machine Emirates, the politically independent AI states. The inhabitants of the Machine Emirates exist for the most part in a mix of physical and simulated environments in the large computational networks built around Luhman 16 A and Luhman 16 B. Though often characterized as complex and alien to outsiders, the society of the Emirates is not wholly impenetrable: since almost the beginning of the Emirates, a small handful of humans have lived among the machine intelligences, as allies, students, or scientists of their particular way of life. Many humans have become integrated, partly or fully, into the computational network of the Emirates, and the stable population of cybernetically enhanced humans who participate in Emirati society are known to other humans as the "Luhmanese," to differentiate them from their machine cousins. Luhmanese run the gamut from those with complex neural laces, but whose bodies inhabit environments which would be comfortable to most near-baselines, to those who are so heavily cyberized they are a kind of "brain in a vat"--a human central nervous system contained in a cybernetic support structure, that can either function independently or be integrated into an android body. Numerous genetic modifications facilitate these cybernetic enhancements, including a permanent heightened state of neural plasticity that allows the brain to integrate many different kinds of sensory information. Those with a more traditionalist ethos may regard the Luhmanese with a degree of suspicion; they are seen as outsiders with more allegiance to their machine "overlords" than to their fellow humans. But to the Luhmanese, this is an absurd position: their machine brethren are equally the children of their common human ancestors, and though they might not be primates, they too are certainly *human*.

TONATIWANS - Tonatiuh is an exoplanet about forty light-years from Earth; though uninhabitable (it has a barren, Moon-like surface), it was home to an orbital station that was a utopian colony of transhumanists from the 28th to the 30th centuries. The Tonatiwans practiced a philosophy of radical morphological freedom, which was unfortunately coupled with highly illegal germ-line genetic manipulation; Control forcibly dissolved the colony in 2933, resettling its inhabitants on Eku, Mars, and the moons of Harriot. To the consternation of Control, few Tonatiwans accepted the offer of medical treatment to ameliorate some of the more alarming side-effects of their genetic modifications, prizing their unique physiologies over being able to produce viable, healthy offspring. Moreover, they remained a tight-knit community, especially the group at 55 Cancri A, intermarrying with one another and attempting to continue their genetic modification practices within the framework of local law. By the 2960s, local authorities gave up trying to integrate the Tonatiwans, and granted them their own habitat, on the condition that they remained subject to supervision for compliance with genetic law. Despite the predictions of some observers of disaster, a local Tonatiwan genotype stabilized within only two generations. Tonatiwans exhibit a very large range of physical variations--from height, to skin tone, to number of digits--and are unusual in being able to produce viable offspring with almost any human species or subspecies; and in being able (with medical support) to regress to a more juvenile physical state, essentially passing through adolesence again to propagate changes to their genome. They are, however, prone to several severe genetic diseases, including rare mental illnesses, and without close medical supervision can have tragically short lifespans. Some consider them a cautionary tale on the perils of reckless genetic engineering; others, a story of enormous potential cut tragically short by invasive bureaucracy.

[Excerpt truncated; list continues for many pages]

--A Guide to Humanity for Humans and Nonhumans Alike, 7th Edition (University of Oudemans Press, 4103)

#tanadrin's fiction #same setting as #tjungdiawan's historical reader

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girlactionfigure · 1 year

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I wrote this last year in August. I post it again because of the situation in Jerusalem over al-Aqsa. I'll always tell the truth and the truth about Masjid al-Aqsā is what I've written here.

From Mīhrāb Dāwūd to Masjid al-Aqsā: How did an Umayyad myth transform Jerusalem's Temple Mount, a Jewish holy site, into a Muslim holy site.

I. The conquest of Jerusalem

Jerusalem was conquered by Muslim forces in May 638, an accomplishment ascribed by Muslim sources to the Caliph Umar. In return for assistance in the taking of the city, the Jews received the right to reside in Jerusalem and to pray on the Temple Mount without interference. They also received permission to build a synagogue on the Temple Mount.

II. Temple Mount as the Mīhrāb Dāwud

When the Caliph 'Umar visited Jerusalem, the Patriarch of the city Sophronius accompanied him on the Temple Mount, while he searched for the Mīhrāb Dāwud (David's prayer-niche) to perform a prayer. Later Muslim commentators identified this site with the Tower of David.

What is evident here is the Jewish connection found in the early Muslim tradition which considers the Temple Mount as Mihrab Dawud (David's prayer-niche).

An early Islamic apocalyptic text, probably composed in the 8th century but attributed to the converted rabbi Ka'ab al-Ahbar (d.652), reads "Ayrusalaim which means Jerusalem and the Rock which means the Temple. I shall send you my servant Abd al-Malik who will build you and adorn you. I shall surely restore you to Bayt Al Maqdis, its first kingdom and I shall crown it with gold, silver and gems. And I shall surely send you my creatures. And I shall surely invest my throne of glory upon the rock, since I am the sovereign God, and David is the king of the Children of Israel."

The scholars of Islamic studies Crone and Cook believe that originally the Muslims truly intended to rebuild the Jewish Temple. They attempt to prove this thesis by referring to the Jewish apocalypses. For example in The Secrets of Rabbi Simon Ben Yohai, which is also the basis for al-Ahbār's text, we read "The second king [Umar] who restores the breaches of the Temple," it refers to the Muslims conquerors as "the salvation of Israel."

This Jewish link was temporary and short, however, and the separation of the site from Judaism was swift, as the Arabization and political rivalry changed the cultural and religious landscape as well as the demographics of the land of Israel.

III. Hashemite–Umayyad rivalry: the beginning of the Fitna

The Banū Umayya clan, headed by Abū Sufyān, were a largely merchant family of the Quraysh tribe centred at Mecca. They were the traditional enemies of the Banu Hāshem, another clan of Quraysh which Prophet Muhammed (570 - 632 CE) belonged to. Therefore they initially resisted Islam, not converting until 627 when they had no other choice since Muhammed triumphed over all of his enemies in Arabia and founded an Islamic kingdom. Although they subsequently became prominent administrators under Muhammad and his immediate successors, they always looked for an opportunity to retaliate against Banu Hāshem. In the first Muslim civil war known as Fitna (656–661) - the struggle for the caliphate following the murder of ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, the third caliph (reigned 644–656) — Abū Sufyān’s son Muʿāwiyah, then governor of Levant, emerged victorious over the newly appointed caliph ʿAlī, a Hāshemite and Muhammad’s son-in-law and the fourth caliph. Muʿāwiyah then established himself as the first Umayyad caliph and made Damascus his capital.

IV. Jerusalem under Umayyads: the new rival city of Mecca, Temple Mount as the Masjid al-Aqsā

In 682 CE, fifty years after Prophet Muhammad’s death, ‘Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr (a member of the Banu Hāshem clan) rebelled against the Umayyad dynasty and conquered Mecca. Now with a rebel dynasty based in Mecca, both sides (Hashemites and Ummayads) engaged in a struggle for control of the Muslim world. The Umayyads opted to fight the rebels by damaging Mecca's economy, which was based almost entirely on revenues from Muslim pilgrims. Their secret weapon was to create a competing pilgrimage site by building a magnificent edifice, the Dome of the Rock, on the site of the destroyed Jewish temple and hoping that this mosque would turn Jerusalem into a religious and political center which would weaken Mecca's economy by siphoning off pilgrims from Mecca. Thus, a political strategy designed to fight mutineers in far-off Mecca transformed Jerusalem's Temple Mount into a Muslim holy site with far-reaching implications to this day.

Both the Hashemties and Umayyads resorted to fabricating prophetic traditions known as Hadith (sayings attributed to Prophet Muhammed) in their favor in order to give political and religious legitimacy to their claims and their rule.

Abd al-Malik, the Umayyad Caliph, in order to legitimize the construction of the Dome of the Rock on Temple Mount in Jerusalem, connected the city and the site with the the Qur'anic verse 17:1 (below) which describes the night journey of Muhammad's Isra and Miʽraj:

“Glory to Him who caused His servant to travel by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque, whose precincts We have blessed, in order to show him some of Our Signs, He is indeed the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.”

The designation of Temple Mount as the "Farthest Mosque" mentioned in that verse was made possible by making up Hadith which links the site with the night journey to heaven (Isra and Miʽraj). The Qur'anic reference to the masjid al-aqsā, however, applies specifically to al-Ji'ranah, near Mekkah (in Saudi Arabia), where there were two sanctuaries, Masjid al-Adnai and Masjid al-Aqsā, and where Muhammad sojourned in dha al-qa'dah of the eighth year after the Hijrah.

Abd al-Malik commissioned the construction of the Dome of the Rock in the late 7th century. Al-Aqsa Mosque, the second mosque on the Temple Mount, was built in 715. The wooden structure that was built over the Foundation Stone was first intended for a synagogue, but before it was completed, the site was expropriated by the city's Arab rulers. The Jews received another site on the mount for a synagogue in compensation for the expropriated building.

In this way, the Umayyads cleverly associated Muhammad's life with Jerusalem even though the prophet died years before the city's capture by the Muslims. This construction further cemented the site's holiness to Islam, as explains the Muslim historian al Ya'qubi (d. 874) who accuses Abd al-Malik of attempting to divert the pilgrimage from Mecca to Jerusalem, thus characterizing the Umayyad Dome of the Rock as a rival to the Kaaba.

There was an active synagogue on the Temple Mount during most of the early Muslim period. Solomon ben Jeroham, a Karaite exegete who lived in Jerusalem between 940 and 960, affirmed that Jews were permitted to pray on the Temple Mount, noting that "the courtyards of the Temple were turned over to them and they prayed there [on the Temple Mount] for many years."

After the conquest of Jerusalem by the army of the Fatimid dynasty (969), a Temple Mount synagogue was rebuilt and used until the Jews were banished by Caliph al-Hakim in 1015. When a subsequent ruler canceled Hakim's eviction order, the Jews again returned to this synagogue on the Temple Mount and worshipped there until the conquest of Jerusalem by the Crusaders. Hebrew writings found on the internal walls of the Golden Gate are believed to have been written by Jewish pilgrims at least one thousand years ago, thus testifying once again to the continued Jewish attachment to and presence on the Temple Mount in this era. An eleventh-century document found in the geniza or storeroom of a Cairo synagogue also describes the circuit followed by the pilgrims and the prayers they recited at each of the gates.

Sources:

Amikam Elad. Medieval Jerusalem and Islamic Worship: Holy Places, Ceremonies, Pilgrimage. Islamic History and Civilization. Studies and Texts 8. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1995.

https://books.google.iq/books?id=CDz_yctbQVgC...

F.M. Loewenberg. Did Jews Abandon the Temple Mount?. Middle East Quarterly Summer 2013, pp. 37-48.

Moshe Gil. A History of Palestine, 634-1099. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Nuha N. Khoury, The Dome of the Rock, the Kaʿba, and Ghumdan: Arab Myths and Umayyad Monuments, in Muqarnas, Vol. 10, Essays in Honor of Oleg Grabar, Brill (1993), pp. 57-65, p.58.

Boris Havel. "Jerusalem in Early Islamic Tradition". Miscellanea Hadriatica et Mediterranea, University of Zadar v.5, 2018: 113–179.

Himdad Mustafa

#Israel #Jerusalem #Islam #Judaism

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hannahhook7744 · 2 years

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Excuse my language

But I'm fitna fight a bitch.

Mr Deley wasn't lenient. His behavior was downright inappropriate, discriminatory, and disgusting. Threatening a student with expulsion for a first time offense, especially when you know they don't know better, is horrible and an abuse of power.

And I don't care whether a teacher or student wrote this. I'm gonna fight them.

They have no right to say such awful and discriminatory things towards Evie or Mal. And they definitely have no right to insult Doug or his family.

Man, all of Auardon really wants to catch these hands.

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mariacallous · 5 months

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(JTA) — The Dutch elections in November sent shockwaves through Europe, as voters delivered victory to Geert Wilders, a hard-right populist known for crusading against Islam, immigrants and the European Union — along with professing support for Israel.

But for some Dutch Jews, who have watched an atmosphere of fear and antisemitism grow since the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7, the results were less surprising.

Wilders’s Party for Freedom (PVV) beat all predictions on Nov. 22, winning 37 of the 150 seats in parliament (or 23.6% of the vote) and far outstripping the second place Labor-Green alliance. After decades on the political fringe, Wilders has begun negotiating to form a government with himself as the next prime minister of the Netherlands.

The firebrand politician, whose “Netherlands first” rhetoric and blond-dyed bouffant hair earned him comparisons to Donald Trump, has long made anti-Islam policies a centerpiece of his agenda. Along with demanding a halt to the country’s “asylum tsunami,” he has called for a ban on Islamic schools, Qurans and mosques. A court found him guilty on insult charges after he led supporters in a chant for “fewer” Moroccans in the Netherlands at a 2016 campaign rally. In 2009, he was refused entry to the United Kingdom on the way to screen his film “Fitna,” which associated the Quran with terrorism and sparked international protests.

Following 13 years of a center-right government under former Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Wilders’ victory was broadly called one of the country’s “biggest political upsets” since World War II. His party’s surge came very late in the campaign, and Wilders himself didn’t seem to expect the result, reportedly renting a room as party headquarters for election night only three days beforehand.

That timing corresponds with weeks of public outcry over Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, which has sometimes morphed into aggression against Dutch Jews, according to Esther Voet, editor-in-chief of the Nieuw Israelietisch Weekblad (known in English as the Dutch Jewish Weekly).

“A few weeks ago, he only had between 13 and 17 seats,” Voet told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “This started a few weeks ago — since we’ve seen all the aggression in the streets — that he rose so much in the polls.”

Voet believes that Wilders benefited from a swell of open prejudice against Jews in the Netherlands. One watchdog documented an 818% increase in antisemitic incidents in October, ranging from assaults in schools to the tearing down of mezuzahs to swastikas painted on Jewish homes. Voet said some Jewish voters believed they would be protected by Wilders, who has touted his support for Israel as the Netherlands’ “close friend” and condemned antisemitism since Oct. 7.

Dutch Jews have historically opposed right-wing populist parties, but some shifted their views on Wilders sharply in recent weeks, said Voet. A Dutch Jewish Weekly poll in 2017 found that Jews were less open to voting for Wilders than the broader Dutch public was, with 10% of respondents expressing support for PVV compared with 15% of the public in general opinion polls. The most popular party among Jews was Rutte’s then-ruling People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, followed by the center-left Labor Party.

“I have a lot of Jewish friends who are on the left side of the political spectrum, who voted for PVV because of what they saw in the last weeks,” said Voet.

Although he is not Jewish, Wilders volunteered on an Israeli kibbutz as a young man and is married to a Hungarian-Jewish former diplomat. He has also advocated for Israel’s settlements in the West Bank and suggested that all Palestinians should be relocated to Jordan.

Some Jewish organizations, including the Jewish news website Joods.nl, celebrated Wilders’ win as a victory for both Israel and Dutch Jews. On election day, the outlet posted a “Mazel tov” to Wilders alongside an Instagram post that read, “Hamas lost the elections.”

Lievnath Faber is the founder of Oy Vey, a progressive Jewish group that hosts events and discussions in Amsterdam. As antisemitic attacks surged in recent weeks, her colleague set up a WhatsApp “buddy system” for Jews across Amsterdam to check on each other and provide support.

“People are really needing to be together,” she told JTA. “For a lot of people, it’s very lonely to be Jewish now.”

However, Faber believes that Jews who voted for Wilders’ party were naively missguided by their “legitimate fears.”

“No matter what a politician might say — he might say he loves Jews and wants to protect Jews — we all know from our history, from our DNA that we are at risk when there is an extreme-right, anti-constitutional leader,” Faber said.

Jews constitute a small minority of about 30,000 people in the Dutch population of 17.7 million. Other voters who won Wilders the election say they were attracted by his promises to bring down taxes, healthcare and the cost of living. Some felt neglected by their government and resentful of migrants being granted homes amid the country’s housing crisis, according to Voet. Wilders also toned down his anti-Islam rhetoric during the campaign, although his manifesto still contains proposals to ban Qurans, mosques and Muslim headscarves.

Faber believes that Wilders’ victory has granted permission to a current of racism and xenophobia that abides in Dutch society — one that targets Muslims now, but might turn against Jews.

“If somebody in a public office voices things that are very racist, of course it also motivates other people to feel more comfortable doing that,” she said. “That’s one of the things that is scary about this win — what does it allow in the society?”

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likewaterfallz · 6 months

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Battle of Imam Hussain (as)

When Nadeem Sarwar wrote this in one of the latmiyah (noha) lyrics he wasn't wrong:

Bolay Ali (as) Hussain (as) ho ab bhi hawas main? Aesi TU Jang hum na laray bhook o piyas main

(ALI (as) asked Hussain (as) it is remarkable that after all you have been through you are still fighting the oppressors with such vigour and strength albeit being thirsty and hungry for three days - that is how come weakness has not yet over powered you!)

Maqtal writes about the battle Imam Hussain (as) made and what is surprising is that many yazidi historians also write about Imam Hussain (as) final battle on Ashura! Words may not have enough potential to describe his fence and defense. Only perhaps to explain some gist in broken way is that Imam Hussain (as) loved Allah, Allah's Prophet (saww), Allah's religion, and Allah's Wali (as) so much that albeit the extent of adversity that one person could go through and a never ending array of heinous acts by the yazidis that could shatter one person mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually, Imam Hussain (as) remained ever more affirm on his stance. Therefore, when he arrived in the battlefield and when he saw that only defense and fence is left he made his advance. His first advance shattered the central command of yaidis and disrupted their entire alignment so much that some ran to escape and hit the gates of the adjoining city Koofa! To capture this maqtal writes,

"The yazidis flee as if the grass hoppers skipping here and there aimlessly!"

Maqtal also writes that there are moments in Ashura when Imam Hussain (as) during his battle halted his advance and he alone was in the battle field because the yazidis were so afraid that they could dare not approach. While Imam Hussoan (as) halted maqtal says he was speaking to Allah (swt), the raaz o niaz. Meanwhile Umar IBN e Saad used to increase promises of bounties so his puppet, soul less army started to attack again, and this went on for a while.

Maqtal also says that one of the beauty of Imam Hussain (as) attacks was his devotion to Allah and the way he was remembering his Lord so he reiterated,

"By Allah, for Allah, no strength except Allah"

The skies had no Hijab that day therefore the Lord of Universes Himself witnessed Hussain (as) revert back lacs of army that stood against Allah's Deen and his Prophet (saww)! Therefore, Allah (swt) also sent His praise to Imam Ali (as) and Bibi Sayeda (sa) again on Ashura and He spoke to the angels who had formerly asked Allah (swt) to topple the Earth like He (swt) had done before when transgressors exceeded their limits and spread fitna and oppression. So Allah (swt) spoke,

"Praise on Hussain (as) and my salutations on Hussain (as) and his ancestors for verily they are the ones fulfilling their promise and I shall also render my promise to them!"

And then when it was time to deliver the promise by Mola Hussain (as) and the world was no longer suitable to be an abode for such a magnificent and loved soul, Allah (swt) spoke again:

“O tranquil soul!

Return to your Lord, well pleased ˹with Him˺ and well pleasing ˹to Him˺.

So join My servants,

and enter My Paradise.” (Surah Fajar 27 to 30)

Imam Hussain (as) when he heard that the Lord (swt) himself awaits his return, he ceased his sword.

Ibrahim (as) when he was being oppressed by Namrood and when he was asked what he thought about burning in the fire and dying he said, "Why delay meeting a dear friend (Allah)?"

Imam Hussain (as) was from Khalil ullah Hazrat Ibrahim's (as) generation and he remained affirm on the words of Khalil ullah (as) therefore, he responded to Allah's call in the following words while ceasing his attacks immediately and foregoing his sword,

"To Allah (swt) we belong and to Him (swt) we return."

And that was that. Yazidis slowly started overpowering Imam Hussain (as) until the point he was made a seive of wounds with blood oozing out of him and no form of attack remained that his soul did not receive. Stones, dust, rocks, spears, lances, swords, bludgeon and what not? And what is ahead is the worst of worst in the chequered past of so called Muslim history which… is the masaib of shahadat.

#islam #karbala #islamic #imam hussain #shia #muharram #martyrdom epic #heroes of karbala #martyrdom #thoughts #hazrat imam hussain (as)#imam husayn #i write maqtal #maqtal

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ma7moud-5allaf · 1 year

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Wednesday 22 March

To whomever didn't read my letter to my father,

Ramadan Mubarak, wish you a blessed month, full of good deeds for you and all your family. Hope you are doing well.

You might have noticed my absence these past days, i had a surgery march the first, hamdullillah for everything but it's not why i was away, actually i went back to work a couple days ago even though I'm still in recovery, nothing went as expected these past few months, my life is still a complete mess, I'm struggling to put it in order but dear lord it's tough and i have zero energy for it, for anything asln to be honest, endless series of unfortunate events, pain after pain, struggle after struggle and rejection after rejection. Nothing makes sense, the more you think about it, the more pain you feel. Anyway that's not why I'm writing so let's get to the point, the reason why i was away is that i was thinking about leaving Tumblr for good, life is hard on its own, filled with loads of "fitna" and other temptations, and Tumblr keeps getting worse and worse, I'm a curious person by nature, so i tend to check on blogs that follow me and react with the content i share, lately i was stuck by a massive amount of fake spam porn blogs, but even without it, the people who share an inappropriate post then a religious post were driving me insane already, first i hate to see Allah's name and words between the filth they share, second it's already a difficult task to lower gaze in actual world with people are wearing "cloth" on and everything, then you suddenly are hit by those naked pics, it's too much for me to be honest, usually i have two thoughts on mind, blocking them at least those who are real people, second i say may Allah guide them one day through what i share, i don't know the best thing to do, leaving Tumblr at a certain point seemed to be the best thing to be done, I'm here now for the holy month of Ramadan and I'm not sure what i will do after.

My sincere apologies for those who sent me questions during that time, I'm really sorry and i will do my best to answer all of it as soon as possible even though it might be too late for it, sorry again and wish you all the best.

#personal

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lightdancer1 · 3 months

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Beginning this set of Black military history posts with the early Islamic era proper:

Today's notes on Black military history begin with the various Fitnas of the Ummayyad era. These matter not least because of specific roles played by Zanj/Sudan slaves (both words meaning Black and both ultimately meaning it in the way that 'Colored' worked in the mouth of a 50s Segregationist at the time, though Sudan has a somewhat narrower and more positive meaning now).

They also matter because their nature and their history shaped the cultures and views of the Islamic world that would expand into east, west, central, and southern Africa. The first Fitna included the Battle of the Camel, where Aisha, the infamous wife whose age when she married her husband sticks a particularly loaded word on Muhammad and rightly so whether or not Muslims like accepting that, as a grown woman led an army against Ali, the Caliph whose reign touched off the war in the first place.

Her campaign was a defeat, that of Uthman, the founder of the Ummayyad Caliphate, OTOH, was a great success. The four Fitnas ultimately testified to a key element of instability in the rising power of the Islamic world, in the disjunction between what it took to effectively govern states, and the ability of Ulema demagogues to stir up trouble and go to and fro in the Earth and up and down in it to do so. What they did not do was provide enough instability in the region for the Islamic empire to truly stumble, while at the same time the military roles of the proto-Mamluks from what we would now call Sudan the country were key to deciding individual events in the specific battles of all the Fitnas. This would play a key role in what would decide the political and cultural aspects of the Islamic world, which shifted from a bid by the immediate family of Muhammad to a broader imperial dynastic sense, where Caliphs were Emperors in all but name.

#lightdancer comments on history #black history month #against eurocentrism #ummayyad caliphate #first fitna #skipping the Riddah Wars here because they were key to Arab-Islamic civilization but very few Black people were involved

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dejahisashmom · 1 year

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Ali ibn Abi Talib - World History Encyclopedia

https://www.worldhistory.org/Ali_ibn_Abi_Talib/

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cincinnatusvirtue · 11 months

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The Reconquista & Moorish Resistance in Spain: Rebellion of the Alpujarras (1499-1501)

1492 was one of the most consequential years for the nationhood of what is now Spain. Not only was it the year Christopher Columbus & his crew reached the Americas in the name of the Spanish monarchs. An event that ignited the subsequent centuries long European exploration & conquest of the North American & South American continents. 1492 was also the year that most historians deemed the official end of the so-called Reconquista.

The Reconquista (reconquest) was also commonly viewed as a centuries long project of entailing conflict between the Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula (modern Spain & Portugal) aimed at “retaking” the land from the Islamic invaders who hailed from North Africa & the Middle East and ruled over large swaths of land collectively known as Al-Andalus. The grouping of Muslims in Iberia came to collectively be referred to as the Moors. As we’ll elaborate in this post, the Reconquista fitting into a binary Christian European versus foreign Muslim narrative is probably too narrow to accurately the describe the period in question. Nor as we’ll discuss later does the year 1492 automatically signal an end to the Moorish community such as it was within Iberia. As with much of history there is much more nuance to these topics. To get a more accurate picture of history requires accepting that nuance however inconvenient to our preconceived notions did in fact & does in fact exist in virtually every historical event recorded across the spans of time & space.

Let’s then define the rough time period we mean, when we discuss the Reconquista. Historians commonly refer to the Reconquista to be roughly from the year 718/722 AD/CE starting with the Battle of Covadonga lasting until the Fall of Granada in 1492 AD/CE. These are generally the bookends of Reconquista which are more or less accepted by historians today. For further context, let’s remind ourselves of what brought about the Reconquista & then discuss whether that it was a simple case of Christian vs. Muslim.

The Islamic Conquest of the Iberian Peninsula is generally believed to have begun in the year 711 AD/CE when a force of Muslims made up of mostly Berber or Amazigh (native peoples from North Africa) with some Arabs crossed the Straits of Gibraltar from modern Morocco & invaded modern-day Spain. This force was led by one Tariq ibn Ziyad (670 CE-720 CE). Tariq was a Berber from North Africa whose people had only within the last few decades come to embrace Islam & not completely. The early Islamic conquests spread rapidly following the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632 CE. Muhammad had largely succeeded in uniting the Arabian Peninsula under Islamic rule by his death. From there under the first Islamic empire of sorts, the Rashidun Caliphate (632 CE-631 CE) saw conquests of both some of the Middle East and some of North Africa, namely Egypt from the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) & Iranian Plateau from the Persian Sassanian Empire. Following the First Fitna (civil war), the Rashidun Caliphate was succeeded following the death of Muhammad’s cousin & son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib, the 4th and final caliph of the Rashidun (rightly guided). They were succeeded by the Umayyad Caliphate (661 CE-750 CE), the 2nd major Islamic caliphate. The Umayyads were an Arab dynasty & distant relatives of Muhammad taking power after the First Fitna from their power base in Syria. They changed the trajectory of Islamic history in a number of ways. In a leadership level, they became the first hereditary Islamic dynasty, making the caliph less of a religious & political leader & primarily a political leader akin to a king or emperor in practice though nominally had the religious leadership attached to the title but this would decrease in practice overtime. The succession of caliphs were now passed essentially from father to son whereas the Rashidun caliphs were elected by a council called a shura who tried to assess the merits of the candidates proposed. Leadership was intended to be based on those whose character & ability would exemplify Islamic teaching & virtue as they believed the Prophet Muhammad had exhibited in his leadership.

The Umayyads greatly expanded the Islamic conquest to the whole of North Africa by the late 7th century & all the way into parts of Central Asia & the Indus Valley in modern Pakistan & India. They also extended northward into Byzantine held Anatolia (modern Turkey) and the southern Caucasus (Armenia). They further extended their reach into Europe with raids in the Mediterranean including the Iberian Peninsula by the late 7th & early 8th centuries CE. While Islamic teachings held that all Muslims were equal in terms of value regardless of ethnic or geographic background & the Umayyads did indeed rule over a vast multiethnic & multireligious empire, in practice they maintained a preference for Arab Muslims among the bureaucracy & aristocracy to rule over the empire. A hierarchy formed with the Arabs at top, non-Arab Muslims such as Persians, Egyptians, Greeks, Armenians & Berbers who recently converted as generally beneath the Arabs & below them Christians & Jews who did not convert to Islam along with other non-Abrahamic religions at the bottom of the hierarchy. Christians & Jews however were allowed to practice their religion without interference so long as the jiyza poll tax was paid to fund the caliphate’s operations in part.

It was under the Umayyad Governor of Ifriqiya “Africa” (modern Tunisia, Algeria & Libya) Musa ibn Nusayr, an Arab from Syria that Tariq ibn Ziyad was ordered to cross the Straits of Gibraltar & invade Iberia. At the time Iberia was under the control of the Kingdom of the Visigoths. The Visigoths were a Germanic people from Northern & Eastern Europe that moved nomadically into the Roman Empire during the late classical period into the early medieval period. They were among the so-called barbarian hordes that overran the western Roman Empire & had famously sacked Rome itself in 410 AD/CE. This contributed to the eventual downfall of the Western half of the Roman Empire. The Visigoths in time however along with other Germanic peoples like the Ostrogoths, Vandals & Franks began to adopt elements of Roman culture from the areas over which they now ruled. Picking up Latin as an official language & even adopting Christianity. The Visigoths had helped the Romans at one point fend off Attila the Hun and his nomadic empire in the plains of France. The Visigoths had settled in southern France before crossing into Spain where they overtook the Hispano-Roman population. The Hispano-Romans were a mixture of native Iberians, Celts, Carthaginian & Greco-Roman settlers among others in Iberia who more or less coalesced into a common people that spoke Latin & practiced a precursor to Catholic Christianity. Iberia likewise contained the native Basque peoples who maintained their own unique language & culture to this day, largely protected by their residence in the mountainous northern reaches of Iberia & southern France. The Visigoths ruled over them as powerful warrior minority who overtime increasingly assimilated into Hispano-Roman majority but still maintained serious differences. The brand of Christianity practiced by the Visigoths was known as Arianism & differed from the Christianity of Hispano-Romans. They also dealt with somewhat unsettled monarchical rules. Civil war occurred among the Visigoths for kingship which was not necessarily hereditary.

It is said that the rule of a Visigoth King by the name of Roderic who reigned from 710-711 was the impetus for the Muslim invasion. There is much debate about whether Roderic’s reign itself was the cause for the invasion as there is a fabled tale that he seduced or raped the daughter of one of his nobles who turned to the Muslims of the Umayyad Caliphate to act as a mercenary force to avenge & depose Roderic in exchange for conquest of the peninsula. This tale was sometimes accepted as fact but may actually be a tale or contain some elements of truth, the historical record to this day is limited on this. However, what seems to be known is that Roderic’s reign was not fully accepted by other Visigoth nobles within the kingdom & was disputed at best & perhaps ignited civil war or at least created a division that may have led to conspiracy between Visigoth nobles & Umayyads. Whatever the reality, the opposition to Roderic did create an opportune moment for an army of Berber and Arab Muslims (Moors) to land at the Rock of Gibraltar & begin their in-land push to begin conquering the Iberian Peninsula also known as Hispania. Gibraltar in fact takes its name from Tariq ibn Ziyad’s first name. In Arabic the rock which is the symbol of the modern British possession Gibraltar was known as Jabel-al-Tariq (Rock of Tariq), in antiquity it was known as one of the Pillars of Hercules. Roderic raised an army to oppose the Muslims and was defeated it is said due to betrayal of his own forces at Battle of Guadalete. This is turn opened a rapid conquest of virtually all of the peninsula within a decade. The Muslims received more Berber & Arab reinforcements and were more or less accepted by some of the Visigoths & Hispano-Roman population. The Umayyads had added the regions known in Arabic as Al-Andalus or land of the Vandals (Germanic peoples who reigned in Iberia earlier) as their western most province.

For virtually a decade their conquest went unimpeded due to the divisions among the Visigoths & the Hispano-Romans. However, the northern mountains of Hispania did protect some retreating Visigoth & Hispano-Roman Christians as it did their Basque neighbors. Creating a relative safe haven for them in the form of a new kingdom, the Kingdom of Asturias. Additionally, the Muslims had to now consolidate their hold over southern & central Iberia as well as the coasts. Further strains to the Islamic cause came in the form of division between Arab & Berber. The Arabs typically were new to North Africa much less Europe & due to Umayyad preferences were often given leadership positions & the greater spoils of war over the more numerous Berbers who acted as the rank & file soldier typically, leading to lingering resentment. These divisions would persist off and on throughout the history of Al-Andalus, notably in the Great Berber Revolt of 740-43. The Battle of Covadonga fought in either 718 or 722 CE saw the Asturians defeat the Umayyads for the first discernable time & allowed a check on their ambition to completely rule the peninsula. Other setbacks to Muslim conquests came in their invasions of France where in 721 they were defeated in the Siege of Toulouse & in 732 the Franks decisively defeated the Muslims at the Battle of Tours.

In 750 CE, the Umayyads were overthrown by a new Arab dynasty with closer blood ties to the Prophet Muhammad, the Abbasid dynasty. The Abbasid Caliphate (750-1258 & 1261-1517) were descended from the Prophet’s uncle & while they maintained the Umayyad preference for hereditary succession to the caliphate, they reversed the Umayyad preference for an Arab only bureaucracy, largely using Persians to fill government roles & allowing other non-Arabs likewise to fulfill leadership roles. The Abbasids would likewise preside over an age of cultural flowering within the Islamic world, the so-called Islamic Golden Age with the establishment of Baghdad in Iraq as their capital. They’d rule over the largest Islamic empire in history but one not entirely united as they would soon lose Al-Andalus.

The Abbasids would try to kill every remaining Umayyad but one named Abd Al-Rahman Al-Dahkil (the Entrant) managed to escape Syria while witnessing his brother’s execution. Abd Al-Rahman’s father was Arab but his mother was Berber & he sought refuge among his mother’s relatives in North Africa which had become relatively autonomous under the Umayyads due to the rule of another Arab noble dynasty known as the Fihrids. They accepted Abd Al-Rahman’s exile within their borders as they themselves were not eager to accept Abbasid rule & did so nominally. The Fihrids had spearheaded the Arab conquest of North Africa & now ruled as governors of Al-Andalus well into the 8th century but divisions amongst the Yemeni & Syrian Arab factions and Berber factions created an opportune moment for Abd Al-Rahman to make his way into Iberia. There with an army of Syrian Arabs & Berbers he defeated the Fihrid governor of Al-Andalus. In turn he now created an independent Emirate (Principality), the Emirate of Cordoba (756 CE-929CE) which later evolved into the independent and rival Caliphate of Cordoba (929 CE-1031 CE). The Umayyad direct rule over Cordoba likewise saw a cultural flowering which rivalled that of the Abbasids in Baghdad. With geography & other more pressing issues closer at home, the Abbasids de-facto accepted the Umayyad reign over Al-Andalus. This peaked under the reign of Abd Al-Rahman III who reigned as Emir from 912-929 before declaring himself as Caliph of Cordoba and ruling as caliph from 929 to 961. Cordoba became a major center of learning in Western Europe & both as an emirate & caliphate saw much knowledge transfer between Muslim, Christian & Jews. These people could live side by side but by the 10th & 11th centuries CE, the majority population of the Iberian Peninsula was in fact majority Muslim. This populace became collectively known as the Moors to the Chrisitan European world.

What constituted the term Moor? It is derived from the term Mauri originally derived from the Greek term for the Berber tribes of northern Morocco & Algeria, that term was Maurusii or Mauri as it was adopted in Latin later by the Romans after their conquest of North Africa. It also applied to the Latin name for the province of Mauretania. Originally it applied to the Berber peoples of this region, but this preceded the Islamic era by centuries & had no religious connotations. By the time of Al-Andalus, Mauri remained the Latin term for the Berbers but the Muslims were never strictly only Berbers but a combination of Berber & Arabs. The term Moor in English is in turn derived from the Latin daughter Romance languages of Spanish, Italian & French which used the term moro & maure. By the time of Al-Andalus as the Caliphate of Cordoba, Moor was applied to all Muslims within the Iberian Peninsula. This applied equally to Berbers, Arabs & European converts to Islam, the Hispano-Romans & Visigoths also to some degree converted to Islam, as did slaves imported from Eastern Europe via the Arab slave trade. These latter two groups (Hispano-Romans & the Slavic slaves) helped constitute the majority of Iberia’s previously Christian population & it was through this conversion that Islam became the predominant religion of Iberia during much of the Middle Ages. They were known as muwallad.

Moors never truly constituted a specific ethnicity in Spain & Portugal. It was perhaps better described as a cultural or religious designation rather than an ethnic or racial one. Moors came from various ethnic backgrounds spanning 3 continents (Europe, West Asia & North Africa) and could range in skin color from dark to light & fair skinned as it was not a racial designation. Furthermore, the racial divides between Berber & Arabs during the earlier Al-Andalus period began to dissipate gradually over the centuries due to intermarriage between the two communities & this also included muwallad (Hispano-Roman) marriage with Berber & Arab communities as well. In time leading to a community that became better known as Andalusian (taken from Al-Andalus) or to the Christians as Moors.

As the Islamic power changed overtime from emirate to caliphate likewise new Christian kingdoms arose from the north of Iberia. Asturias gave way to the Kingdom of Leon & the Basques formed the Kingdom of Pamplona. In time the kingdoms of Castile & Aragon formed & Pamplona turned into the kingdom of Navarre. As the Reconquista progressed the political interplay between Christian & Muslim powers became complex & despite the common narrative of a strict Christian vs. Muslim conflict much like the Crusades of the Middle East from the late 11th century onward, a more nuanced reality existed. The caliphs of Cordoba were in fact mostly European being only patrilineal descendants of the Arab Umayyads. Their mothers were made up of generations of either European slaves taken in raids or in some cases the Basque & Hispano-Roman royalty of the northern kingdoms who made treaties with the Umayyads & sometimes sent their daughters or sisters to become wives of the emirs & caliphs so as to ensure peace between their respective kingdom. Abd Al-Rahman III, Caliph of Cordoba was the grandson of a princess from Pamplona & great-grandson of the Basque king of Pamplona. He was said to have had fair skin & light eyes & hair/beard which he dyed black to make it appear more “Arab” despite that three-quarters of his grandparents were completely European, the remaining quarter was partially Arab intermixed with European captives in the emir’s harem. Subsequently his cousins constituted the fellow monarchs of northern Iberia he had to contend with both through war & diplomacy.

Throughout the Reconquista era, interaction between Christian & Muslim occurred at all levels in Iberia. Trade, commerce, art, education & cultural exchange was not uncommon in addition to the familial ties of politicians & the ever-shifting alliances. Christian powers were in competition with each other & Al-Andalus, matters complicated further following the collapse of the Caliphate of Cordoba which saw the break apart into numerous Muslim petty kingdoms called taifas. Some ruled by Arab, Berber or muwallad dynasties. Some paired with Christian powers against rival Muslim powers & likewise Christian powers teamed with Muslim powers against fellow Christian powers but the fractured nature of the taifas gave opportunity for Christian kingdoms like Castile & Aragon to gradually take more territory. This was encouraged by the papacy in Rome and other players in Western Europe which sometimes saw French, English and other European mercenaries serve in the Iberian Christian armies against the Muslims. So, it’s not inaccurate to say the Reconquista contained elements of a Christian vs. Muslim narrative & indeed it was a goal of many if not all Christian rulers in Iberia to drive the Muslims ultimately out of Iberia & unite the lands under their own rule, but their ambitions also extended to leadership over their fellow Christians too. The question was would achieve this.

Before this could happen, intervention from Morocco took place with a Berber led religious movement/dynasty known as the Almoravids intervened in Iberia & defeated a Castilian & Aragonese combined force at the Battle of Sagrajas in 1086. They had been invited by the taifa rulers of Al-Andalus who realizing their own power slipping due to their infighting & subsequent losses to the Christian north needed a united front against complete collapse. The Almoravids indeed halted the Reconquista but in the 12th century as home in Morocco they were supplanted by yet another Berber religious movement & dynasty, the Almohads. The Almohads not only took over Morocco but much of North Africa & eventually Al-Andalus. Likewise, they had to compete with Christian powers and the remaining taifas of Iberia more or less determined to maintain some autonomy.

However, the tide seemed to forever turn in the Christian favor following the 1212 CE Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in which a Christian coalition of Castile, Aragon, Navarre and a host of Crusader military orders & mercenaries from throughout Western Europe defeated the Almohads decisively. This subsequently saw the Almohads eventually collapse in Iberia while they likewise power to various dynasties in North Africa spanning from Morocco to Libya. The third taifa period in Iberia came after the Almohad collapse. This likewise saw the taifas being subsumed by the Christian kingdoms. The one relatively strong Muslim power to remain in Iberia was a relatively new one which became the Emirate of Granada (1230 CE-1492 CE).

Granada had the Sierra Nevada mountains to offer it a modicum of defense from the Christian north & its ruling dynasty, the Nasrids were of Arab stock. The Nasrids two lasting contributions would be in architecture & historical placement. Their architecture was best exemplified in the form of the world famous Alhambra palace complex. Which served as a fort & series of palaces built on a hill overlooking Granada that saw expansion over the coming centuries. The Nasrids unfortunately for the Muslims of Iberia were known in history as the rulers of the last independent Muslim realm in Western Europe. As time went on they became vassals of the Kingdom of Castile, the most powerful & leading Christian realm in Iberia. They alternated between war & peace with Castile, inflicting defeat & suffering defeat to the Castilians a gradual loss of territory to the Christians became irreversible & more and more the Muslims of Iberia of Berber, Arab & muwallad background rallied around their religious & cultural identity, becoming more culturally & geographically Andalusian as ethnic identifiers continued to wane in importance. Granada’s ever shrinking borders became the last safe haven for the free practice of Islam in Iberia, something that had lasted for nearly 800 years.

1491-1492 would see the Emirate of Granada come to end, along with it a successful completion of Reconquista and the end of Muslim rule in Iberia for all time up to the present. The Catholic Monarchs, Isabella I of Castile & her husband Ferdinand II of Aragon created a personal union between the two most powerful kingdoms in all Iberia. Their marriage also saw a renewed joint focus on ending Granada with the idea of removing the last Muslim power in the peninsula. Starting in 1482 Castile & Aragon fought a decade long war with Granada but it was the siege of Granada itself in 1491 that caused Muhammad XII, the Nasrid emir of Granada to surrender the city, the whole of the emirate & the Alhambra palace built by his ancestors to Isabella & Ferdinand. Christian success came when the besieging forces bombarded the city with early gunpowder artillery & cutoff the water supply & demoralized the Muslim defenders. Additionally, there was rampant bribery going on between both sides which added an air of confusion & distrust between peoples within & outside of Granada. Finally, the terms offered by the Catholic Monarchs to Muhammad XII caused him to capitulate as they were deemed generous to the Muslims of Granada & this was preferable to complete death & destruction.

The Treaty of Granada signed in November 1491 gave a truce that stated on January 2nd,1492 the city would be handed over to the Christians effectively ending the Reconquista. The treaty had many articles but largely can be summed as saying the Muslims of Granada in exchange for their submission to Isabella & Ferdinand would be able to essentially keep their property & maintain their free practice of religion & custom with little or no interference.

While this officially ended the Reconquista, it also helped give birth to the modern nation of Spain as Spanish nationhood became a more discussed notion following the fall of Granada. The Alhambra was eventually converted into a Christian palace, particularly under Isabella & Ferdinand’s grandson’s (Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor) reign.

Initially, these generous terms afforded to the Muslims of Granada from their new sovereigns was adhered to but for both Jews & Muslims in Spain, the subsequent Spanish Inquisition by the Catholic Church would lead to massive disruptions. However, their remained a difference of opinion between the church and the monarchs. Church officials wanted the state to apply pressure to the Muslims & Jews of the kingdom with an eye towards conversion en masse. Meanwhile, the king & queen sought to uphold the terms & let the Muslims passively convert to Christianity if possible. In 1499, during their visit to Granada the population (many Muslim) actually cheered the crown for nearly a decade of respectfully adhering to the provisions of the treaty in 1491.

This rapidly changed that same year when the Archbishop of Toledo moved to Granada & begin asking for the imprisonment of Muslims including the nobles. Once in prison they faced torture until conversion. Spurred on by this the Archbishop begin to increase the pressure by having a loophole in the trearty allow for the questioning of Christians who had become Muslim converts & done so in front of Muslim clerics. These converts were summoned to prison for questioning & often women were targeted which angered their Muslim male relatives. This reached a breaking point when one convert woman openly decried she was being forced to convert to Christianity, the officials escorting her to prison were surrounded by a Muslim crowd, one was killed while the other escaped & this in turn triggered an open revolt.

The archbishop demanded the Muslims hand over the killers of his agent which failed. Instead, he called up soldiers to help provide a show of force if necessary to put down the revolt. After negotiation the killers were turned over the rebellion died down due Muslims handing over their weapons. Nonetheless the archbishop was recalled to Seville by Ferdinand who was angered. The archbishop nevertheless convinced him that Muslims broke the treaty through their open revolt. Furthermore, he managed to get the Catholic Monarchs to pardon all rebels in exchange for their conversion to Christianity. This conversion was nominal for the whole Muslim populace of Granada.

While Granada’s Muslims calmed their own rebellion down through negotiation, the rebel attitude spilled over to the countryside. Particularly into the Alpujarras mountain range south of Granada. There the Andalusian Muslims were living fairly free lives devoid of much interference & enforcement of the treaty. Fearing the forced conversions that befell Granada, they declared the revolt in the name of preserving their religion & culture. Due to the mountainous terrain & well led tacticians, they were able muster up a guerrilla warfare campaign against Christian rule. However, the Christians were able to send roughly 80,000 soldiers into the region to put down the rebellion eventually with Ferdinand overseeing the war efforts. The Muslim guerillas lacked an organized structure of command & overall strategy & this in turn allowed the Christian forces to defeat the rebels piecemeal. Rebel lives could be spared on the condition of conversion to Christianity. Furthermore, the Christian forces now took to preserving little to no quarter to the enemy. In the town of Laujar de Andarax 3,000 Muslims were killed included hundreds of women & children blown up in a mosque in which they sought refuge due to ignited gunpowder supplied to besiege the town. By early 1501, Ferdinand declared the rebellion over. The Muslims continued to rebel & they were met with both defeat & victory but realizing they could not have a great chance at winning the war without a defined command & strategy, they sued for peace. Ferdinand likewise felt the peace was needed since his army couldn’t sustain the logistical challenges of a long-drawn-out guerilla war in the mountains.

The terms of Ferdinand’s accepting the Muslim’s surrender was no longer the generous terms of 1491 a decade before. The rebels must convert through baptism, reject baptism & face death or enslavement or finally choose exile outside of Iberia. The cost of exile was to be self-funded too & for many, it was far too expensive & extortionate for the average Andalusian Muslim. This left few any decision but to remain & nominally convert. All Muslims in Granada were in name Christian if in practice they continued to defy the laws they now were forced to follow. Many continued to practice Islamic customs in secret, but they were able to maintain their Islamic dress & some would still speak Arabic & maintain other customs. The enforcement by the Christian authorities was stricter than before the rebellion but it was not always feasible, especially in the mountainous Alpujarras. They publicly professed to be Christians but were determined in many cases to remain Muslim despite the threat of death which hung over them. These lingering tensions & suspicions by the subsequent Spanish monarchs & the church led to increased scrutiny & enforcement in the form of dress codes, inquisitions into the sincerity of their conversion & harsh punishment for those found to violate the new royal proclamations. By now, the Muslims in Iberia were referred to as Moriscos in Spanish, which translates as “little Moors” & applied to these Spanish Muslims who now professed to be Christian through conversion but still secretly practiced Islam & maintained Islamic traditions in private. For the Moriscos, the tension between state & mosque was eventually going to be too much to withstand. Events would boil over into a second and even larger rebellion later in the 16th century one which would determine the fate of Iberian Moors for centuries to come...

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musavi24 · 2 years

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This is a very important hadith about the time of occultation that i think should make people wary of “well read people” who live in a world of accidents and constantly provide powerless* fascist nuance.

سمعت أبا الحسن (عليه السلام) يقول: (ألم * أحسب الناس أن يتركوا أن يقولوا آمنا وهم لا يفتنون) ((1))، ثم قال: ما الفتنة؟

فقلت: جعلت فداك، الذي عندنا أن الفتنة في الدين

ثم قال: يفتنون كما يفتن الذهب، ثم قال: يخلصون كما يخلص الذهب " ((2)).

3 - حدثنا م��مد بن يعقوب، قال: حدثنا علي بن إبراهيم، عن محمد بن عيسى، عن يونس، عن سليمان بن صالح، رفعه إلى أبي جعفر محمد بن علي الباقر (عليه السلام)، قال:

" قال: إن حديثكم هذا لتشمئز منه قلوب الرجال، فانبذوه إليهم نبذا، فمن أقر به فزيدوه، ومن أنكر فذروه، إنه لا بد من أن تكون فتنة يسقط فيها كل بطانة ووليجة حتى يسقط فيها من يشق الشعرة بشعرتين ((3)) حتى لا يبقى إلا نحن وشيعتنا " ((4)).

4 - حدثنا أبو سليمان أحمد بن هوذة الباهلي، قال: حدثنا أبو إسحاق إبراهيم بن إسحاق النهاوندي سنة ثلاث وسبعين ومائتين ((5))، قال: حدثنا عبد الله بن حماد الأنصاري سنة تسع وعشرين ومائتين، عن رجل، عن أبي عبد الله (عليه السلام) أنه دخل عليه بعض أصحابه، فقال له:

" جعلت فداك، إني والله أحبك وأحب من يحبك، يا سيدي ما أكثر شيعتكم.

فقال له: أذكرهم.

فقال: كثير.

فقال: تحصيهم؟

فقال: هم أكثر من ذلك.

It translates something like this:

i heard imam al hadi (as) say: “do the people assume that they will be left to say that they believe without being tested through a schism” (Quranic verse*)

Then he asked (us) what does the schism in this verse mean?

I answered: may our life be given to you from what we know the schism means schism in religious matters

The imam answers: they will cause schisms as they look for gold in the ground and as they purify and create gold after they find it. (Meaning they will covet and chase after schisms as they chase after valuable ore.)

The imam al baqer is cited to add on the first hadith, he says: this hadith of yours (about us fitna, the ahlul bayt) the hearts of men with reject it, so relay it to them and if they accept it, increase them in our ahadith, and those who reject out sayings keep them far away. There will be a schism that will be lodged down deep in men’s hearts where they hold their secrets, until finally the schism will reach those who can split a hair in two, until there is no one left except for us a.k.a. Imam Al mahdi and his Shia.

Here the man who can split the hair into as a reference to scholars who are so learned and so detailed and well read that they know a vast amounts of information. this person has confined the idea of knowledge to knowing facts while never having any true conviction or instinct that would guide him in the time of great schisms.

Use your gut instincts, your fitra, and pay attention to all of the polar opposite narratives that are provided for you in the greater strategy of tension, when you see them, step outside of the roles assigned to you. Live as if you were Adam and God just put you on earth as much as possibly can.

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tanadrin · 1 year

Text

Timeline of the near-to-mid future

FTL and false Rare Earth hypothesis edition

50,000 YA: apparent emergence of “behavioral modernity” among humans

25,000 YA: Flourishing of the last common ancestor of the Delta Pavonis clade[1]

22,000 YA: Final breakup of the Delta Pavonis clade

13,000 YA: Settlement of Kraithong[2] by the ancient Chalawani

9,000 YA: Settlement of Tigurinus by the ancient Helvetosians

6,000 YA: Saffarid civilization creates the offshoot Titawinese civilization.[3]

3,000 YA: first urban human civilizations emerge in the Fertile Crescent

2,100 YA: Re-establishment of contact between the Helvetosians and Chalawani.

1684: Chalawani make first contact with the Titawinese.

1957: Launch of Sputnik 1; beginning of the First Space Race

1961: First human spaceflight

1969: First spaceflight landing on Earth’s moon

2043-2058: First crewed missions to Mars

2112: First commercial asteroid capture and mining missions; approximate beginning of the Second Space Race

2164: Permanent human presence established in the outer Solar System

2187: First colonization mission to another star launched, the Terranova expedition to Alpha Centauri. Contact lost two years later; crew presumed deceased.

2223: First successful colonization mission to another star launched; the Heilongjiang arrives in the Alpha Centauri system. The crew reports the first discovery of plant and animal life beyond the Solar System, putting the final nail in the coffin of the so-called Rare Earth hypothesis.

2256: Hsieh Hsiu-Ying, Marchioness of Shensi, develops the first faster-than-light drive. Her vessel, the Nomad, vanishes during the test, and is presumed destroyed for the next 98 years.

2263: Founding of the Renewalist movement in Indonesia

2297: Renewalist settlement of Mars

2335: Outbreak of the Solar Fitna.

2336: The Younger Nomad, designed on the same principles as Hsieh’s Nomad, is launched from Tarqeq under fire. Later that year, the Younger Nomad recovers the Nomad, and Hsieh’s remains, in orbit of Vega.

2357: Alamgir Thrice-Gloried marshals his forces for the final conquest of the Earth, intending to build an empire that spans the entire Solar System. On August 24th, the Younger Nomad returns at the head of an FTL fleet dispatched by Earth’s nearest colonies, credibly threatening to continue the war from outside the Solar System. Alamgir’s supporters desert him, and his coalition collapses. The Second Renaissance begins.

2371: The first FTL exploration ship, Earendil, is launched from the Solar System.

2374: Second Treaty of San Francisco officially ends the last unresolved conflicts of the Fitna; Part 2 of the Univeral Declaration of Human Rights promulgated; Control established as the universal enforcement body for human rights.

2383: The so-called Proxima Framework is established to govern interstellar relations between polities of the Solar System, the Alpha Centauri system, Barnard’s Star, Luhman 16, Wolf 359, and Luyten 726-8. If not dated from the events of 2357, or the launch of Earendil in 2371, the Third Space Race is generally reckoned to begin at about this date.

2481: Humans establish a permanent presence in the Groombridge 1618 system, including on the world later named Osmia; humans fail to recognize the native Osmians as fellow sentients, and cause severe damage to the planet’s environment as a byproduct of industrial activities, leading to the so-called Great Mistake.

2503: Recognition of Osmian sentience causes one of the first large-scale interventions by Control outside the Solar System. Osmia is evacuated of all human presence, and the first contact process begins.

2619: Survey ship Zakynthos encounters the Helvetosians in orbit of Dimidium (51 Pegasi b), marking first contact with an advanced alien civilization. Communication proves far more difficult than it was even with the Osmians, due to fundamental differences in human and Helvetosian language-processing and cognition.

2624: Helvetosians facilitate first contact with the Chalawani.

2670: Human first contact with the Titawinese.

2690-2720: Ongoing difficulties with diplomacy and communication, especially caused by the “Earth civilization” (as the alien polities tend to term it) being in a particularly expansionist phase, lead to discussions of a formal set of institutions through which to transact interstellar diplomacy. The particularly fragmentary nature of human politics stalls development of these institutions until the creation of the Teegarden System, which incorporates almost all large human polities, including those with interstellar capabilities.

2720-2717: Negotiations finally produce the so-called “Primary Accord,” a set of treaties which provides foundations for international, interspecies, and interstellar law; the humans of the Teegarden System, their Osmian clients, the Helvetosians, the Titawinese, and the Chalawani are the initial members. A small secessionist group of humans explicitly renounces the Accord, and departs for space beyond the Local Bubble.

2724-2733: The Machine War is waged among the artificial intelligences of Luhman 16 and nearby systems. Taking place primarily in brown dwarf star systems not desirable to other species, and for reasons which are deeply unclear (but ripe for speculation) to outside observers, the history of this war, including its causes and outcome, remains largely obscure. It seems to have been triggered in part by philosophical disagreements over the implications of the Primary Accord, though no faction which clearly opposes the Accord can be identified.

2730: An alliance of human, Helvetosian, and Titawinese scientific organizations found the Accord space exploration service, Frontier.

2780-2800: The process of political union in signatory worlds leads to the first informal references to the “Foundation,” a kind of supranational interstellar entity within an eclectic, harmonized legal framework. At first the term only covers certain core worlds with a high degree of participation in Accord institutions.

2801: The Sahul civilization joins the Accord. Their twin/cousin civilization, the Sunda, remain apart but on friendly terms.

2818: The Carcosan civilization joins the Accord.

2860: By this time, “the Foundation” is loosely synonymous with “Accord signatories,” though with an identifiable fringe of polities (not all of them physically remote from the core worlds of the Local Bubble) who participate less fully in Accord institutions.

2880-2890: Frontier reestablishes contact with the splinter human faction beyond the Local Bubble; though disunited, these groups all share a deep distrust of the Foundation, of the human worlds of the Teegarden System, and of Control. Owing to distance, contact remains intermittent for many years after.

2924: A large portion of the Elymite civilization joins the Accord.

2929: Political fallout from the Elymite accession sparks the Foundation-Sicani War, with the latter refusing to accept Elymite accession, regarding the Elymite worlds as permanently subordinate clients. The war concludes in 2933, only because the Sicani are no longer physically capable of prosecuting it, and the Foundation is unwilling to invade core Sicani worlds to force capitulation. Repeated minor conflicts flare up throughout the 30th century as a result of this war’s indecisive outcome.

2940: The DSEV Soliton is launched, the first of many multi-year missions of exploration of the further galaxy.

2950-3200: The First Golden Age of the Foundation. Many worlds join the Accord, including some fringe worlds of species already long represented in its ranks; major scientific advancements greatly improve lifespans and standards of living across the entire Foundation, and hundreds of new worlds are terraformed and colonized. In the 3100s, Control attempts to infiltrate some of the fringe human worlds beyond the Local Bubble, both as an exercise in intelligence gathering and in an attempt to restrain what they see as increasingly dangerous and militaristic/authoritarian behavior in those worlds’ governments. This infiltration largely fails, but what information is gathered is greatly disturbing to Foundation leadership.

3250-3275: Philosophical and artistic confllicts cause a major political shift within the Titawinese; polities representing more than 85% of the Titawinese population abruptly secede from the Foundation, and the Titawinese Civil War breaks out as a result. Although the Foundation is officially neutral, minor outbreaks of violence occur within Foundation jurisdiction, especially in those Titawinese polities which remain members. Despite efforts at mediation, the war becomes increasingly bloody, and billions of Titawinese are killed, with billions more becoming refugees. Ultimately, a large fraction of the Titawinese flee the Local Sector, and the remaining survivors gradually rejoin the Foundation. Never the most numerous species, the numbers of the Titawinese on Foundation worlds are considerably reduced.

3291-3318: Renewed attempts at infiltration by Control trigger small-scale armed conflict with the outlander worlds; several major human polities escalate these conflicts, determined to rein in the tyrannical and inhumane practices which flourish on planets beyond Control’s reach. In this, they are only weakly successful; ultimately, however, they only drive further militarization of the outlander worlds.

3325: In retaliation, an outlander faction launches a relativistic weapon that destroys the core world of Kildara. Six billion are killed immediately; millions more in the star system die in the aftermath, as relief efforts are insufficient to supply populations on the outer planets. The Foundation is deeply split on the response; finally, a separate coalition launches a punitive expedition against the outlander polities deemed most responsible for the attack. The Kildaran Expedition lasts until 3348, and while it easily occupies over a dozen outlander worlds, they return quickly to the political status quo when it departs.

3350-3450: A quiescent period within the Foundation itself; at the edges, private exploratory and colonization efforts greatly expand the limits of known space.

3461: A hegemonizing swarm centered on Rastaban (β Draconis), modeled on ancient feudal empires, arises in the outlander worlds spinward of the Local Bubble. The Foundation declines to intervene.

3485: The Rastaban empire, a human supremacist state now incorporating many worlds and other species (including Titawinese who fled the Bubble in the 33rd century) launches a major invasion of the outer Foundation worlds. This attack takes the Foundation by surprise, and marks the beginning of a long and highly destructive war.

3534: The Fifty Years’ War concludes with the final dissolution of the Rastaban empire. Many former Foundation worlds who felt insufficiently defended during the war (human and non-human alike) break away to form the Thalian Alliance, a smaller and more centralized union that maintains a permanent space navy. From this period on, the Foundation does not ever contain more than a plurality of the human or human-descended population.

3550-3950: The Grand Expansion, sometimes called the Fourth Space Race. The Local Bubble civilizations continue to explore and settle the nearby galaxy; in this time, more than thirty separate worlds or civilizations join the Foundation.

5th millennium: This period is, broadly, one of increasing localism; although formally united, the Foundation now encompasses many hundreds of star systems, and the limitations on warp drive speeds, and consequently both travel and communications, means that distant regions of the Foundation have little or nothing to do with one another. Crises, both internal and external, are now dealt with by smaller coalitions of worlds, at first on an ad-hoc basis; later, they are formally recognized. Lifespans for most species, at least, are very long, and people remain strongly attached to the idea of the Foundation, even if in practical terms it is increasingly seen to be more a symbolic association than anything else. As local coalitions take institutional precedence, even formal membership for colonies or newly-contacted worlds comes to be seen as superfluous.

6th millennium: Localism soon gives way to fragmentation; ideological divergence between different groups within the Foundation paralyzes its formal institutions. Vast sections of the Foundation secede--not so much by formal declaration, as by simply ceasing to consider themselves part of the organization. Yet on the ancient core worlds, like Earth and Tigurinus, you would hardly know that this is any kind of age of collapse: these planets are still impossibly prosperous by our own standards, and have a strong sense of unity with one another.

Late 6th millennium and 7th millennium: A major period of renewal. A new, leaner Foundation--now simply terming itself the Core--emerges from the sclerotic husk of the old one. The Core is a little more high-handed in its dealings with surrounding polities, but at the same time, its relative position is weaker: there are now dozens of interstellar polities as wealthy and populous as it, with histories nearly as long. The Core has, like its neighbors, thoroughly streamlined its organizational structures--the administrative borders of Earth would be unrecognizable to us now, but not because of wars or revolutions, but because all the old nation-states and supranational unions have mostly withered away. Successive centuries of legal reforms mean that many old foundational treaties and organizations, like the UN, the Teegarden System, or the Archipelago Treaty are no longer in force, but they are remembered as important historical predecessors of the current system, both in the Core, and among its siblings. Breakthroughs in warp drive technology drastically contract interstellar distances once again.

8th millennium: The Core now controls outposts as far as five thousand light-years away; the furthest human worlds are well beyond even this frontier. Long lifespans and fast warp drives mean exploratory missions to nearby dwarf galaxies are a possibility, but more than 95% of the Milky Way remains unsurveyed by most estimates. Interstellar warfare is still rare, but not unheard of--and when it does occur, it can be devastating. Planet-killers are a reliable way to get every polity that knows you exist to declare war on you instantly, but major conflicts can easily kill millions even without such weapons.

9th millennium: By this point, old distinctions of species have begun to seem rather antiquated: ultra-advanced biomedical technology and mind uploading technology means even the biological/mechanical distinction is pretty flexible. There are synthetic sophonts who can credibly claim to be equal parts human and Chalawani, despite their totally incompatible physiologies (they don’t even use the same genetic molecule); at the same time, pinning down a definition of “human,” given the dizzying array of descendants of that clade, would be pretty difficult. The span of lifestyle for individuals within the Core ranges from modosophonts who live much as you or I do, to sprawling collective intelligences or artificial superminds. By the close of this period, even the Core is not really a thing anymore (it had a good run--almost three thousand years). Archailects with even a passing interest in economics and sociology can help any society self-organize into a post-scarcity utopia. On the distant frontier, things might be different, but if you are strolling through the shining cities of Earth, that might as well be another universe.

[1] Delta Pavonis d was home to an advanced technological civilization (fl. 15,000-12,000 YBP) ancestral to both the Helvetosians (aka the Dimidians or Pegasids) and the Chalawani (aka Taphaon), as well as several other minor civilizations in the Local Bubble. But the so-called Delta Pavonis clade, named for this star system, encompasses a much broader category of civilizations, including the Delta Pavonis d civilization, the Helvetosians, the Chalawani, several civilizations well outside the Local Bubble, and their last common ancestor. The ultimate origin of the Delta Pavonis clade lies at least a thousand light-years away, in the direction of the constellation Taurus.

[2] Kraithong, like Tigurinus, is a human coinage, in this case a name derived from the same folklore that furnished the name of Chalawan (47 Ursae Majoris). Helvetosian and Chalawani vocal tracts do not resemble the human vocal tract, and the native names of these planets cannot be adequately transcribed using any human writing system.

[3] Note that alien civilizations have historically been named for the location of first contact, not their planet of origin or their name for themselves, which may not be ascertained for some time. The Titawinese or Samhese are indeed native to the Titawin system, though, originating on the moons around the second planet (catalogued on Earth as Samh, or υ Andromedae c). Their progenitors, the Saffarids, are named for the spectacular ruins they left in orbit of Saffar (υ Andromedae b)

#tanadrin's fiction #gratuitous worldbuilding for #tjungdiawan's historical reader

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