when you spend 20 years waging a war you only pay attention to when convenient, the cost is in human lives.
Today the US is gearing up to deny entry to the very people they helped make refugees in the first place.
To forget is a choice, a decision cocooned in privilege
The Biden admin, Congress, and USCIS each have the ability to resolve this yesterday but they’ve chosen not to act.
It is an intentional act of cruelty
For many afghans in the US this has become a deciding issue on whether they will vote in the midterms. Given the number of them in @katieporteroc district, will she listen?
Medieval Muslims were fascinated with moon and stars often making reference to them in stirring poetry, coy metaphors, and in subtle meanings. These references to the heavenly bodies are immensely illustrative of the astral knowledge of the time period.
A thread-
One of the most common celestial metaphors was references to the Moon.
In a panegyric, the poetess Umm Sinan bint Khaythama writes:
“Here is Ali, he is like the crescent surrounded
By stars of good fortune in the sky” (trans: Boullata)
Here the poet invokes a famed astrological conjunction between the Moon and the auspicious planets, Jupiter and Venus to praise Ali ibn Abi Talib.
Throughout Islamic history poetry held status as one of the most important literary pursuits. Women in the Islamic world wrote stirring verses which reverberated through the ages.
A thread-
Muhammad’s daughter, Fatima was reputed to be a brilliant poet. In addition to her unimpeachable piety and character, her skill as a poet would be remembered for centuries
The legendary sufi, Rabia al-Basri is another whose devotion stirred verse.
Though it’s unclear how many of the poems attributed were actually written by her they certainly capture the essence of her teaching of divine love
Throughout history, people have told tales of monsters and ghouls who haunt the edges of human imagination.
From jinn to fearsome beasts, a thread
We are told of the terrifying ghuls, described by Damiri as horrifying in manner they can appear alluring and beautiful guiding strangers astray until falling upon them and devouring them.
They have a taste for the flesh of the living and the dead and haunt cemeteries
Crafty and cunning they stalk their prey carefully
In Islamic cosmology humanity is not alone in this world, but rather the world is shared with the jinn an invisible race of beings born of smokeless fire. Some places in the world are said to be especially connected to them.
A thread on the realms of the jinn
Jinn are deeply connected to the natural world and so many are said to live in trees, caves, and mountains.
Popular advice warns people to not wander near trees at night to avoid mischievous jinn
The sa’alin are a particular trickster jinn said to harass people from trees
Throughout the centuries cats have earned a revered and beloved position is Islamic societies. From Prophet Muhammad’s reputed love of them to their connection to the jinn.
A thread-
Prophet Muhammad’s love of cats is a popular memory in several biographic accounts.
Two famous, though contested, accounts state once Muhammad was praying when a kitten fell asleep on his sleeve.
Rather than wake it, he cut the sleeve.
In another tale, Muhammad is said to have changed the entire course of the march of his warriors around a breastfeeding cat.
4 years before 9/11 the United States hosted the Taliban in Texas hoping to secure a gas and oil pipe deal.
Unocal invited the Taliban on a charm tour of Texas while the State Department and the CIA treated them as potential allies
In fact there is some evidence that early on the CIA either backed or at least favored the Taliban and allowed ISI to funnel weapons to them during the Afghan Civil War of the 90’s.
The relationship soured after bin Laden’s embassy bombings and the Taliban refusing to hand him over.
Reality is the US was more than willing to ally themselves with the Taliban even against the desires of Afghans themselves