Ways of the World Reflection ch 11, 12, 13

I didn’t realize just how many of the world’s population are Muslims.  1.2 billion people, or a whopping 22% of the world’s population reported at the beginning of the twenty first century!!

I feel that Allah had this great vision; creation of a whole new society based on sharing of wealth, disexploration of the poor; removing corruption in business; abuse of women; and neglect of widows and orphans which was delivered through the messenger Muhammad. 

I was angry to learn that once  Muhammad died, this vision turned into power and conquer by the Islamic/Arab Empire.  They began to translate the original word of Allah to justify their actions by stating that God gave them the victory, enabled them to take countries by force, giving rise to a more powerful empire than ever. 

Which leads us to September 11^th and the jihad

I was not surprised to read that after only twenty five years post Muhammad’s’ death civil war broke out Muslim against Muslim

Do women ever get a break?? Allah’s great vision for equality and respect for men and women.. sure thing, except for when women are “disobedient”, then you can beat them,

It was interesting to learn about Allah’s great vision with regards to women.  On one hand, if they did not “obey” the man, they were allowed to get beat.  On the other hand, in a marriage, women were expected to enjoy sexual satisfaction and could actually sue for divorce if they have not had sexual relations for more than four months..  LOL… too much..  The more I read, the more I feel sick to my stomach.. Bottom line, women in all societies, over thousands of years, and to this day are in some form or another are looked upon as weak, inferior, less intelligent; second class human beings..

Is it all because deep down inside men are afraid to acknowledge that women are more powerful??

Ultimately it made me glad to learn that some good did come out of the Islamic world; like Arab physicians diagnosing many diseases; development of medical treatments, and even surprised that the first hospitals were developed within the Islamic world. 

Afro Eurasian world

 It was interesting to read about the Mongols and compare the Pastoral Nomads to the Mongols in agriculture civilizations.  In the pastoral nomad civilization society’s women were held with higher regard.  They had fewer restrictions and greater roles in public life as oppose to their sister roles in the agricultural civilizations    

Was it genuinely more freedom, or more involvement all around due to small and widely scattered encampments less populated.  They were a herding society; use of livestock rather than agriculture to survive   fascinating that these nomads were able to survive primarily on livestock

Chinggis Khan the charismatic leader or the notorious tyrant??   It appeared as though his mission in life was to make war, conquer, and continue to build a stronger army, the measure of his success as a leader….. I wonder why he never developed intellectually, socially?  Lacked sophistication; regalness, kept nomadic roots;  no valid goal only to kill torture make suffer men women and children.. and or turn them into slaves

For such a charismatic and powerful leader very surprised that he didn’t leave a big foot print behind, the many civilizations that he defeated the people did not reap any benefit;  only the feeling of defeat, subordination and exploitation.  Eventually swallowed up by Chinese and Russian empires.

The Plague !!

Although Europe was spared from Mongolian conquest, the plaque which infiltrated Europe by way of the vast Mongol trade routes destroyed an estimate of  between one and two third of the European  population.  Just horrible..

Time to rebuild…

The world of the fifteenth century was all about rebuilding.  In the after math of the plague, both China and Europe successfully recovered..

I thought that the Aztecs had an interesting cyclical understanding of the world.  They held the sun central to all life and feared endless darkness; they felt that the sun required life-giving force found in human blood in order to maintain cosmic order. In order to feed this sun, they held massive sacrificial rituals.

Another interesting  Aztec symbolism involved  sweeping !!  As odd as it may seem, the Aztecs valued sweeping as  powerful and sacred act with symbolic significance as an “act of purification and a preventative against evil elements penetrating the center of the Aztec Universe – the home”  (Ways of the World ch 13, p 388) .   I find it fascinating that such a simple act can be held in such high regard…