#bakrs buddies | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

urfavmurtad · 6 years ago

Text

Well folx it’s that time of year again: the Starving For Allah festival begins shortly. (I’m only gonna be fasting in public this year and will be stuffing my mouth the second I get into my room, for the record.) As a Special Ramadan Series, I’ve dug through my asks to find the most common question that I get, and the resounding answer is: sectarianism!!! People raised Sunni, people raised Shia, and non-Muslims whose knowledge of this part of history is “some people think the fourth guy should have been first” all wanna know Shaikha Urfavmurtad’s hot take on the mess that unfolded following the death of our beloved prophet (PUBG). And I will give the ppl what they want!

Let me give you a brief rundown of the sources for everything that follows. Written Islamic history began in the mid-8th century, over a hundred years after these events unfolded, though it built upon a systematized oral learning tradition. By that point, the first two dynasties of Islam had faded away, and the third, called the Abbasid dynasty, was freshly in control of the majority (but not all) of the territory conquered by the first generation of Muslims. The Abbasids were descended from a member of Mohammed’s extended family, and this fact was essentially their sole claim to rulership. They engaged in constant propaganda against their predecessors, called the Umayyad dynasty, who by this point had been reduced to a tiny stub of their former territory. The Umayyads were descended from the same tribe as Mohammed, but were not specifically descended from his family within that tribe.

For reasons that will eventually become obvious, this means that all accounts of the complete political clusterfuck that was the caliphate in the 50 years following Mohammed’s death have to be looked at with some degree of skepticism. There were reasons why authors writing in this period would feel compelled to characterize certain individuals as evil or at least misguided and others as pure souls, and they doubtlessly exaggerated and embellished some reports. And even the reports that truly do seem to go all the way back to the first generations of Islam can’t be fully trusted--these people were talking about their own lives, defending their own actions and criticizing those of their political enemies. Despite that, we have enough solid reports from enough people on different sides of each divide to put most of the story together. The main events of the story actually don’t differ that much between sources--the differences are mostly in the ways people are depicted during those parts.

Full disclosure: I was raised Sunni. I do not have the emotional attachment to certain historical figures that Shia people do. Even non-religious Shia people have a tendency to cry when they hear some of the stories that we’ll talk about, whereas I just think “lol that’s a biT much tbh”. However, given my current belief that all of these guys were dumb assholes, I feel that I can offer my fairly unbiased take on which dumb asshole deserved to be King of the Dumb Assholes.

After reading this, I believe you’ll come to agree with my thesis statement, namely that the true hero of Islam is the one who probably didn’t even believe in the damn religion.

And so I present my pre-Ramadan gift: part one of The Death of Crazy Mo.

THE CAST OF CHARACTERS

THE QURAYSH: The tribe in charge of Mecca and essentially the only relevant people in the story. Prior to this whole fiasco, they made a living primarily as merchants, traveling along caravan routes to other lands. They also catered to polytheistic pilgrims visiting their shrine, called the Kaaba. Most of Mohammed’s early followers (including Mohammed himself) were from clans of the Quraysh. Though most of the Quraysh originally strongly opposed Mohammed, they were worn down by years of conflict and “embraced Islam” following the conquest of Mecca. The leader of the Quraysh’s military prior to Mecca’s conquest was Abu Sufyan, a member of the Banu Umayya clan. Abu Sufyan is the father of one of Mohammed’s wives (Ramla) and several other children, including a son named Muawiya. He and his sons “converted” the day Mecca was conquered and have served Mohammed ever since. Muawiya currently works as one of Mohammed’s scribes.

MOHAMMED: Some old guy from the Banu Hashim clan of the Quraysh. Spends most of his time in a state of fever-induced delirium while ranting about religious minorities. Had several children, but all but one--his youngest daughter Fatima--have died of disease.

ABU BAKR: A wealthy, well-connected merchant of the Quraysh who converted to Islam early on and brought a bunch of people into the religion. He knew his fellow merchant Mohammed before Islam’s creation and grew to become his best friend. Mohammed bestowed the title of “as-Siddiq” or “the Truthful” upon him when Abu Bakr affirmed his belief that Mohammed took a round trip to Jerusalem on a magic horse/donkey in the middle of the night. As the years went on, he established himself as Mo’s closest confidante and has been vested with a great deal of political and military authority in the Muslim community as a result. His daughter Aisha was married off to Mohammed as a child and has been his favorite wife ever since.

UMAR: A belligerent asshole from a well-known family of the Quraysh who was also an early convert. He is another one of Mohammed’s fathers-in-law via his daughter Hafsa. Everyone knows that Umar is unpleasant, but they are forced to tolerate his existence because Mohammed and Abu Bakr are his buddies. Serves as The Big Guy and is good at yelling at people to whip them into shape.

UTHMAN: A wealthy merchant and old friend of Abu Bakr’s, who converted at the latter’s insistence. Went on to marry two of Mohammed’s daughters, Roqaya and Umm Kulthum, both deceased at this point in time. As such, he is also a member of Mohammed’s inner circle. He is from the Banu Umayya clan, meaning that Abu Sufyan & Sons are his relatives. This will cause drama later on.

ALI: Mohammed’s cousin (the son of his father’s brother) and son-in-law via Fatima, with whom he has two young daughters and two young sons, Hasan and Hussein. Mohammed was raised by his uncle, Ali’s father Abu Talib, after his own parents died. As an adult he returned the favor and helped raise Ali when Abu Talib was in a tough financial situation. Ali converted essentially right away as a teenager due to the fact that he lived with Mohammed and his family. He has been one of the Muslim army’s most notable soldiers since his early twenties and is one of the most prominent members of the community despite his relative youth. Like his father and cousin, he is a member of the Banu Hashim clan.

ABBAS: One of Mohammed’s uncles (his father’s brother), though the two are actually very close in age. Originally a successful spice merchant, he converted to Islam shortly before the conquest of Mecca and served in his nephew’s army. His son Abdullah ibn Abbas is only a teenager at the moment, but he will be relevant in the future. From the Banu Hashim.

THE ANSAR: The Muslims from Medina, mostly from the Aws and Khazraj sister tribes. After getting kicked out of Mecca (because the Ansar pledged to assist him in battle and the Quraysh learned of this stunt), Mohammed moved to Medina and brought a couple hundred of his followers from Mecca with him. Medina became the Muslim base of power, and the heads of the two tribes were made essentially subservient to him. Anyone who opposed him was gradually “dealt with”, and now the Ansar are more or less 100% Muslim. Whether their loyalty extends to Mohammed’s entire tribe is an open question.

MUSLIMS WHO ARE UNRELATED TO THE ANSAR OR QURAYSH AND NON-MUSLIMS IN GENERAL:

PROLOGUE: IN WHICH THE JEWS AND/OR COCCOBACILLI BACTERIA ARE AT IT AGAIN

Mohammed falls sick with a sudden, debilitating illness. We don’t know exactly what it was, and it’s blamed on The Devious Jews in many sources, but it was clearly one of the many infectious diseases that battered the Middle East throughout the sixth and seventh centuries. Islamic sources state that Medina in particular endured some sort of plague around that the time. He’s described as becoming shaky and fever-ridden essentially overnight, and so his companions put him on bed rest.

His condition is not improving, and it soon becomes obvious to everyone, including himself, that he is probably going to die. His followers move him into the home of his youngest and favorite wife Aisha, and he is given around-the-clock care. Mohammed’s fever worsens, though he remains lucid for most of his illness. He spends most of his time in bed, but sometimes he gets up and is sort of dragged around with the help of a couple of guys.

A few things happen around this time that will be relevant later. First of all, due to Mohammed’s illness, he can no longer perform his role as the imam (leader of prayers). So he appoints Abu Bakr to fill in for him. Abu Bakr has been Mo’s bestie and a member of his inner circle for decades, so this doesn’t surprise anyone. But appointing someone the leader of Medina’s prayers has certain implications.

The immediate issue is that Mohammed serves as the head of his state’s government, military, and legal system in addition to serving as the head of its official religion, Islam. Whoever succeeds him as the leader of this state--which is in a constant state of warfare in order to extend its borders--will likewise have to serve a triple role as a religious, military, and political authority figure. This will not be easy, as the new Islamic nation includes a number of people who are not particularly happy about living under its rule, and their numbers grow every month as the attacks continue. Ibn Ishaq’s sira states that before he fell ill, Mohammed had ordered raids both south and north, into Yemeni and Syrian territory. His nation is still almost entirely located in Arabia in this era, but it is getting quite large and complex, and there isn’t really any appropriate bureaucracy to deal with it. Whoever takes over will have to come up with that on his own, and will need everyone to go along with his decisions. Mohammed’s own claim to rulership comes “from Allah”, and it looks like Allah isn’t interested in conferring the same honor on anyone else.

That brings us to the second thing, which is something that did not happen: Mohammed never actually stated who he wanted to succeed him. In hindsight, this is a puzzling decision. By this point in the story, Mohammed knows he is seriously ill and probably going to die. He is pretty old (a grandfather in his sixties). He is very sick, but he’s still able to communicate with people in a clear manner, until, like, the very last day of his life. And he’s always been more than happy to issue orders for how his followers should eat, shit, and breathe, in addition to a litany of other religious, social, and political rules. Why he not only neglected to name a successor but even a process by which that successor could be named by others is a mystery. He just evidentially made virtually no preparations for what would happen after his death. Maybe he was in denial--he obviously wasn’t planning on dying at that point, and had unfinished business related to conquest and/or ethnic cleansing. Maybe he thought he had a little more time. Maybe he believed it was obvious that he wanted Abu Bakr to succeed him. In any case, he never named his “heir”.

There is one hadith narrated by Abdullah ibn Abbas that is sometimes believed to be related to this topic:

When [Mohammed] was on his deathbed and there were some men in the house, he said, 'Come near, I will write for you something after which you will not go astray.' Some of them said, 'Allah's Messenger is seriously ill and you have the Qur'an. Allah's Book is sufficient for us.' So the people in the house differed and started disputing. Some of them said, 'Give him writing material so that he may write for you something after which you will not go astray,' while the others said the other way round. So when their talk and differences increased, Allah's Apostle said, "[Get out]." Ibn `Abbas used to say, "No doubt, it was very unfortunate (a great disaster) that Allah's Messenger was prevented from writing for them that writing because of their differences and noise."

What was he going to write? (“Wait, I thought he was illiterate!” was he tho) Another hadith says one of his last orders related to the state was just a “remember to FUCK UP the polytheists, lads” thing, and Ibn Ishaq’s sira says that his last command was to "let not two religions be left in the Arabian peninsula". But that can’t be what we’re talking about, because everyone already knew that Operation Bring Everyone Into The Loving Embrace Of Islam was the plan. They didn’t need it written out for them. A third hadith informs us that Umar was one of the people who refused to give Mohammed something to write with, believing him to be delirious and declaring that the Quran contained all the instructions they needed anyway (lolololol). So because of goddamn Umar, we really don’t know for sure what Mohammed meant to do there.

A story involving Ibn Abbas’ father, Abbas, provides a hint as to what some people wanted him to write:

[Abbas said to Ali:] “By Allah, I think that [Mohammed] will die of this illness. I recognise death in the faces of the Banu Abdu'l-Muttalib when they are dying. Let us go to [Mo] and ask him who will have this authority. If it is for us, then we will know that, and if it is for other than us, we will know it and he can advise him to look after us." Ali replied, "By Allah, if we ask him for it and he refuses us, then the people would never give it to us afterwards. By Allah, I will not ask it from the Messenger of Allah."

Abbas and Ali here are both from Mohammed’s clan, the Banu Hashim. (Abdul-Muttalib was Mo’s grandpa.) When Abbas says that he wants to know if Mohammed’s empire “is for us”, he means for their clan. So while Mohammed is dying, it’s clear that at least some people believe that he might keep the leadership of the state/theocracy/whatever within the family. If Mo did opt for that, Ali was a reasonable choice. He was young--like 30 years younger than Abu Bakr & Pals--but he had been vested with a great deal of military authority already, he had been given the honor of carrying Mohammed’s banner in battle, and he was the closest thing Mohammed had to a son (besides Zayd the Ignominiously Un-Adopted, but he’s dead by now so whatever). Mo was very protective of his almost-son/cousin, as evidenced in this adorable hadith involving slave rape, and described him as the Aaron to his Moses. He told everyone that they must view Ali as their ally (some of Ali’s followers would later interpret this as Ali being declared Mohammed’s heir, though it was obviously not viewed as such at the time).

But again: at this point, Mohammed’s days are numbered, and he hasn’t indicated he wants Ali or anyone else to succeed him. And Abu Bakr is the one leading the prayers. It’s easy to dismiss the whole account above as some dumb Abbasid story--the Abbasids are so named because they are descended from Abbas--but it seems like it either actually happened or was strongly believed to have actually happened by the early Muslims. That’s because there is a sort of competing hadith to the one about the would-be letter declaring Ali the rightful caliph, this one narrated by Aisha and involving a would-be letter declaring Abu Bakr the rightful caliph:

A'isha reported that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) in his (last) illness asked [her] to call [her father] and her brother too, so that he might write a document, for he feared that someone else might be desirous (of succeeding him) and that some claimant may say: “I have better claim to it”, whereas Allah and the Faithful do not substantiate the claim of anyone but that of Abu Bakr.

So the idea that Mohammed was going to write something related to the succession seems to have truly been A Thing in the first generation of Islam, with different camps offering different spins on what he wanted to write. Obviously, no letter was ever actually written, thus the problem. But there were plenty of reasons why Abu Bakr also made sense as Mohammed’s successor, apart from his high standing in the community and his appointment as the designated imam. He was fanatically loyal to Mohammed and had joined him in holy broship, so he was viewed as unlikely to “betray” Mo’s final wishes. Mohammed had entrusted him with increasing religious authority even prior to his illness, and in the year following the conquest of Mecca, Abu Bakr had been put in charge of the pilgrimage to the Kaaba. He had also led platoons of Muslim soldiers (more slave rape in that one jsyk!) and was treated as essentially a substitute teacher at times:

A woman came to the Prophet (ﷺ) who ordered her to return to him again. She said, "What if I came and did not find you?" as if she wanted to say, "If I found you dead?" [Mohammed] said, "If you should not find me, go to Abu Bakr."

Plus, the guy was old. Around Mohammed’s age, actually, in a society that prized the wisdom of elders. So Abu Bakr had quite a bit going for him at this juncture. The one thing he permanently lacked was Ali’s close blood relationship to Mohammed--and Ali held multiple advantages here. It wasn’t just that he and Mo were cousins, it was also that Ali was the husband of Mohammed’s daughter and the father of Mohammed’s only grandsons. Abu Bakr’s daughter was Mohammed’s wife, but neither she nor any of Mohammed’s other wives from his polygamous days had any surviving children. Fatima’s boys were the only males around with his blood. (Mo had granddaughters too, from both Fatima and one of his other daughters; the latter granddaughter also ended up marrying Ali.)

A final note is that not all Muslims were eager for either Abu Bakr or Ali to succeed Mohammed. Some weren’t interested in living under permanent Qurayshi rule. In particular, the Ansar of Medina wondered why exactly the Quraysh were seemingly destined to rule them just for being related to Mohammed, when the Ansar were the ones who sheltered Mohammed and his followers for years after the Quraysh kicked him out of town.

As people ponder all of this and the power struggles start to heat up, Mohammed is still in his bed, dying of disease. Oh, and just a teensy problem: some people have gotten word of his illness and think that now is a great time to try their luck and break away from the proto-caliphate. Some are in open revolt and refusing to pay tribute to the state, while others have even declared competing religious movements and have started building up their own armies. Mohammed’s successor, whoever he is, will have a lot to deal with. As all of these people will learn within the next two decades, it turns out running an enormous expansionist state is actually a shitty job with a lot of headaches, many of which involve being stabbed to death.

CHAPTER 1: PRESS ﷺ TO PAY RESPECTS

Despite his followers’ best attempts to cure him by using the “methods” he’d taught them, Crazy Mo dies in Medina around noon on a hot June day in the year 632. He was 62 years old, and had served as the self-declared prophet of Islam for the last two decades of his life.

The Muslims are, naturally, distraught by their leader’s death. Mohammed’s wives immediately begin hitting themselves (uhh... it was a custom) in mourning when his heart stops in Aisha’s room. The news slowly spreads. Some wail; others are frozen in fear. Some like Umar take a more denial-of-reality approach to hearing the rumors. He addresses a crowd of people and begins rambling:

When the apostle was dead, Umar got up and said: "Some of the disaffected will allege that the apostle is dead, but by God he is not dead; he has gone to his Lord as Moses went [for] forty days, returning to them after it was said that he had died. By God, the apostle will return as Moses returned and will cut off the hands and feet of men who allege that the apostle is dead."

“SO THIS MOUNTAIN, SEE?!”, exclaims Umar, who is in a state of mania. “THE MOUNTAIN IS JUST, LIKE, IN AISHA’S APARTMENT. ALLAH MOVED IT THERE, THEN SHRANK IT, THEN MADE IT BIG AGAIN, BUT YOU CAN’T SEE IT FROM HERE--LIKE THE MAP OF NI NO KUNI, YOU KNOW?--AND THE PROPHET CLIMBED IT TO GET SOME TABLETS LIKE MOSES. HE’LL BE BACK WITH THOSE TABLETS, WHICH WILL SAY ‘FUCK Y’ALL’, AND THEN HE’LL MURDER EVERYONE WHO SAID HE WAS DEAD. YOU’LL SEE!!!”

“That sounds incorrect, but I don’t know enough about mountains to say it is false,” decides an onlooker, thoughtfully.

Abu Bakr pushes through the crowd that has gathered to gawk at Umar. He visits Aisha’s room to observe Mohammed’s corpse and confirm his death. Satisfied with the deadness of the body, he returns to Medina’s center to put a stop to his buddy’s maniacal ranting:

Umar was still speaking and he said gently, "Umar, be quiet." But Umar refused and went on talking, and when Abu Bakr saw [this] he said: "O men, if anyone worships Mohammed, Mohammed is dead, but if anyone worships Allah, Allah is alive". Then he recited this verse: "Mohammed is nothing but an apostle. Apostles have passed away before him." By God, it was as though the people did not know that this verse had come down until Abu Bakr recited it that day.

(Hmmm at that last part.)

“Umar,” says Abu Bakr, gently.

“BRO! YOU’RE WITH ME, RIGHT? EVERYONE’S SAYING ‘THAT’S THE DUMBEST FUCKING THING I’VE EVER HEARD’, BUT THEY SAID THE SAME THING ABOUT THE FLYING DONKEY, YOU WERE THE ONLY ONE WHO BELIEVED!! NOW YOU’VE GOT MY BACK, RIGHT?”

“Of course,” Abu Bakr replies, sweetly. He then slaps Umar across the face.

Stunned, Umar shuts up for a moment and everyone accepts that Mohammed is, in fact, dead and had not somehow gone missing inside his wife’s bedroom.

Mohammed’s only surviving child, his daughter Fatima, is obviously among the most devastated by his passing. Fatima’s mother Khadija had died when she was still a young girl, her sisters all died of disease within the previous five years, and none of her brothers survived their childhoods. Even Zayd the Ignominiously Un-Adopted is gone. So she is the last of her nuclear family at the age of, like, 25 or younger. Her husband Ali is presumably equally distraught, but as one of Mohammed’s closest surviving male relatives, he has to deal with the burial arrangements. Abbas helps Ali wash Mohammed’s corpse, in keeping with Islamic custom. They respect Mohammed’s never-nude wishes and keep his privates covered during the process.

Meanwhile, the news that Mohammed is dead has spread throughout the entire city. The issues that people had previously been grumbling about, related to the succession to Mohammed, immediately start spilling out into the open. The Islamic empire is engaging in constant, ongoing battles--if a new leader is going to be chosen, it has to happen now. There isn’t any time to waste.

But not everyone is convinced that there needs to be a singular leader. Some of the Muslims believe that Mohammed was irreplaceable in terms of being one single authority figure to whom all Muslims were required to pledge their absolute loyalty. He “earned” that loyalty by being The Prophet, and he was The Last Prophet. He couldn’t have a real successor. People who followed this line of thinking began seriously considering the possibility of de-centralizing the new empire, so that different Muslim tribal confederations would be more or less self-governing, as they had been prior to Islam. After all, Arabs were accustomed to living in tribes, not bureaucratic nations. Why not just return to the way things were, with slightly more attacks on polytheistic shrines?

The Ansar are intrigued by this possible outcome. They know that if there is one single ruler, he is doubtlessly going to come from the Quraysh tribe, and they’ll be relegated to the back seat forever. In the interest of preserving their autonomy (or rather renewing it, now that Mo’s dead), they quietly arrange a meeting to discuss this problem. The goal of the gathering is to agree upon a leader for their community, with Saad, a chief from one of their tribes, being the current frontrunner. They invite the senior members of their tribes to the meeting and pointedly do not invite any of the Quraysh. But some of the latter get word of the gathering, and they move to crash the party immediately.

I (Umar) said to Abu Bakr, 'Let's go to these Ansari brothers of ours.' .... we reached them at the shed of (a clan of the Ansar, the) Bani Sa`da.

After we sat for a while, the Ansar's speaker said, ‘...To proceed, we are Allah's Ansar (helpers) and the majority of the Muslim army, while you, the emigrants, are a small group and some people among you came with the intention of preventing us from practicing this matter (of caliphate) and depriving us of it.'

When the speaker had finished, I intended to speak as I had prepared a speech which I liked ... Abu Bakr said, 'Wait a while.' I disliked to make him angry. So Abu Bakr himself gave a speech ... he said, 'O Ansar! You deserve all (the qualities that you have attributed to yourselves), but this question (of Caliphate) is only for the Quraish as they are the best of the Arabs as regards descent and home, and I am pleased to suggest that you choose either of these two men, so take the oath of allegiance to either of them as you wish.’ And then Abu Bakr held my hand and Abu Ubaida bin al-Jarrah's hand

“Hello friends,” Abu Bakr begins. “Y’all are great. Truly. Thanks for opening your homes to us, surrendering control of your city to our cult leader, and sacrificing your money and lives in battle on his behalf. But here’s the thing, folks: we’re better than you are. I’m sorry but these are the facts. We’re richer. We’re from a more well-developed city. Our tribe is more respected. Abraham himself built a mosque where we live. Mohammed was one of us. Frankly, we’re also better-looking. That’s very important for good PR.”

The Ansar stare blankly at him.

Undeterred, Abu Bakr continues: “Now, we’re not going to force you to follow anyone. There is no compulsion in religion. You have a choice here--between two of our tribe’s most famed assholes!” He grabs two individuals from the crowd and presents them. “On your left: Umar ibn al-Khattab, who many of you know as a short-tempered and over-emotional manchild. On your right: this other guy named Abu Ubaida, who honestly hasn’t done much beyond fight in some battles at this point in the story. I guess there was that time he killed his own father while we were trying to raid one of our tribe’s caravans.... anyway. What are y’alls thoughts?”

[Crickets.]

And then one of the Ansar said, 'I am the pillar on which the camel with a skin disease (eczema) rubs itself to satisfy the itching (i.e., I am a noble), and I am as a high class palm tree! O Quraish. There should be one ruler from us and one from you.'

“OK... first of all, what in the name of Christ is that metaphor,” Abu Bakr replies. “We’re also better at poetic imagery than you are. Forgot to add that, so thanks for reminding me. Second of all, as I just told you, we’re above you. Who the fuck lied to y’all and said you were on our level? Lmao losers”

“We’re not better than fucking UMAR?”, the Ansar retort. “Or this other guy who will remain B-tier in relevancy throughout this entire story?! YOU WOULDN’T EVEN HAVE THIS EMPIRE WITHOUT US, YOU UNGRATEFUL CLOWNS!”

Chaos erupts in the hall. People are five seconds away from throwing hands. Suddenly...!

Then there was a hue and cry among the gathering and their voices rose so that I was afraid there might be great disagreement, so I said, 'O Abu Bakr! Hold your hand out.' He held his hand out and I pledged allegiance to him, and then all the emigrants gave the Pledge of allegiance and so did the Ansar afterwards. And so we became victorious

Umar dramatically declares his loyalty to Abu Bakr in the chaos, recognizing him as the new leader of the Islamic empire, henceforth known as the caliph. Frankly speaking, it probably wasn’t that much of a shock to Abu Bakr himself, as he knew that Umar (and... basically everyone else) wanted him to be the first caliph. The whole offering Umar and Abu Ubaida as options thing was just false modesty he knew would be shot down in favor of himself, imo. But that’s my hot take, not something the sources say.

Anyway, everyone pauses for a moment to consider this. It probably seems clear to the Ansar at this point that the Quraysh aren’t gonna just leave them alone and let them do what they want; they will have to pledge loyalty to one of these guys eventually. Given that their previous options were Umar and Irrelevant Guy, Abu Bakr likely appears pretty good in comparison. So perhaps it’s not surprising that most of the Ansar present at this gathering decide: “if we gotta serve one of these assholes, might as well be this one”. They sigh and agree to recognize Abu Bakr as the caliph. (Poor Saad gets roughed up afterwards, something Umar considers punishment for daring to even consider himself for the position of caliph.)

So now the whole succession issue is behind us, right? Well... no. We have a slight problem here: Abu Bakr, Umar, and Abu Ubaida may have crashed the Ansar’s party, but zero members of the Banu Hashim were present at the impromptu coronation of their kinsman’s successor. Because they’re busy preparing his corpse for burial. Oh well!

Team Abu Bakr has a more pressing concern, namely telling everyone else in Medina (and those hundreds of thousands of other people living in the caliphate, but who gives a shit about them?) that they have a new ruler. So the next day, Umar and Abu Bakr direct a general assembly to gather in Medina’s mosque, where the people are told to give Abu Bakr their allegiance. First, Umar gives a brief speech in which he basically says that this decision hadn’t come from Mohammed, but is nonetheless the evident “will of Allah”:

O men, yesterday I said something based on my own opinion and which I do not find in God's book, nor was it something which the apostle entrusted to me; but I thought that the apostle would order our affairs until he was the last of us alive. ... God has placed your affairs in the hands of the best one among you ... so arise and swear fealty to him.

The residents of Medina do so, and then Abu Bakr gives his own speech in which he asks the people to “obey me as long as I obey God and His apostle”. Then he leads them in prayer, acting as the caliph for the first time. The commoners apparently don’t have much of a problem with any of this, or at least none are bold enough to disagree with the leaders of their tribes after the latter swore loyalty to Abu Bakr in the hall. So that takes care of that situation.

But the larger issue, namely the fact that the Banu Hashim and their sympathizers have had basically no say in this process, is still unresolved. Mohammed’s burial occurs the day after the general oath of fealty to Abu Bakr, with the men of his extended family lowering him into his grave. They’re now ready to catch up on everything they’ve missed in the past couple of days. It probably isn’t anything important, since the people of Medina have no doubt been so preoccupied with mourning Mohammed’s death that they’ve hardly had time to do anything else.

(On to part 2!!)

#long post #history #adventures in sectarianism #ramadan

35 notes · View notes

wr3tched-guts · 1 day ago

Text

mudi !!

Ok but what breed would you be ? I def would be German shepherd

#ftm t4t #ftm nsft #bakr barks #ftm puppy #ftm sub #t4t #bd/sm puppy #nsft puppy #puppy sub #bakrs buddies

22 notes · View notes

quranreadalong · 6 years ago

Text

ALL MY WIVES, PART 3

This post will cover the wives that are barely mentioned in reputable sources. In most cases, their marriages to Mohammed lasted only a short while (until either their deaths or Mohammed’s own death). These ladies were not particularly impactful.

Maymuna: Like Juwayriyya and Zaynab 2, this woman was originally named Barra and was renamed by Mohammed. She was from a Meccan family that married into the families of Mo and his close companions several times: one of her sisters was Zaynab 1, another was married to Mohammed’s uncle Abbas, another married his uncle Hamza, and a fourth went on to marry Abu Bakr. Maymuna had previously been married to a guy who had himself been married to one of Mohammed’s aunts, but then he died.

She and Mohammed were married at some point after the signing of the Treaty of Hudaibiyya; Maymuna was in her mid-twenties. In Ibn Hisham’s version of Ibn Ishaq’s sira, it’s said that Mohammed’s uncle Abbas is the one who arranged the marriage, presumably because their families were already so tightly bound to one another.

Maymuna is described as “pious” and barely anything else is ever said of her, beyond the fact that she outlived Mohammed. But she is still the most notable out of all the “minor” wives. The rest of them are so minor that virtually nothing is known about them and most of them seem to have been out of Mo’s life, either via death or divorce, within less than a year. About a half-dozen women are mentioned by al-Tabari, and the only semi-interesting one is:

Mulaykah: She was a young Meccan woman who was apparently very briefly married to Mohammed following the conquest of Mecca. The following is all that is said about this woman in any semi-reputable source:

In this year (630) the Messenger of God married Mulaykah bt. Dawud al-Laythiyyah. One of the Prophet's wives* came to Mulaykah and said to her, "Are you not ashamed to marry a man who killed your father?" She therefore "took refuge (in God)" from him. She was beautiful and young. The Messenger of God separated from her. He had killed her father the day of the conquest of Mecca.

*I bet this was Aisha 👀

There are various wives who were married to Mohammed but never made it to the consummation, either because they died or because he divorced them. In many cases, their names aren’t even agreed-upon. One is said to have been named Asma; Mohammed divorced her because she had some contagious illness. A woman with an uncertain name angered Mohammed before the consummation and he divorced her immediately. Another wife just dropped dead. One woman named Qutayla agreed to marry Mohammed, but then he died before the consummation and she left Islam during the Ridda Wars. Because so little is said about them, there’s no point in going into detail.

Finally, I would be remiss in not mentioning the women who Mohammed kept as sex slaves, not including the slaves-turned-wives already mentioned. Some traditions say he later married one or two of them; others say they were never freed. Two of these women are particularly notable:

Rayhana: Rayhana bint Zayd was a survivor of the massacre of the Banu Qurayza Jews--one of the women forced into slavery after the massacre of all the men. She herself was actually of the Banu Nadir (not that that would’ve saved her), she just lived with the Banu Qurayza because she was married to one of the Qurayza men executed in Medina’s center. While all sources agree that she was Mohammed’s personal sex slave, there is a difference of opinion over her later life, as she (predictably) disappears from historical sources once Mohammed dies. Some say that Mohammed had briefly married and then freed her; others say she pre-deceased Mohammed. Ibn Ishaq says she “remained with him until she died, in his power”.

Maria: Maria is more important than any other woman in this post for one simple reason: she had a child. Maria was the daughter of a man named Shimun and was from some village in southern Egypt. She was a sex slave originally of Coptic origin, gifted to Mohammed (with other “gifts”, including her sister, who was gifted to Mohammed’s buddy). This was around 629/630, when Mohammed’s army was getting more and more territory under control and was ready to conquer Mecca.

He’d sent letters to various regional powers declaring his intentions of conquest, and evidently a governor of Egypt--possibly a Sassanid one, as the Byzantines hadn’t fully kicked them out of there yet--decided to placate him by giving him a handful of slaves and some money as a gesture of “goodwill”. (The governor’s name is given as “Muqawqis”; this is obviously an Arabized form of some name, but it’s not clear what name. Some Islamic texts conflate him with the later patriarch of Alexandria, Cyrus, but the timeline doesn’t work.)

Maria was the one Mohammed took for himself, as she was beautiful. Mohammed enjoyed his slave very much and she quickly, stunningly, became pregnant. Even more incredibly, she delivered a healthy baby boy, who Mohammed named Ibrahim.

Al-Tabari states that “when Mariyah gave birth to a son, the Messenger of God's wives became very jealous”, and you can see why. Mohammed seemed to have been mostly infertile in his old age--he had plenty of kids with Khadija, but he didn’t have any children after that, until Maria came along. It’s quite strange, really. This is a dark topic, but I’ve sometimes wondered if someone else impregnated her and she just never told anyone out of fear, and Ibrahim wasn’t actually Mohammed’s son. Islamic histories say that some people accused her of secretly having an affair with an Egyptian guy in Medina, but they state that this absolutely was not true. And it seems unlikely that Mohammed’s favorite sex slave would have had the opportunity for such a thing. Granted, it may not have been a consensual affair... who knows.

Regardless, Mohammed was overjoyed by the birth of Ibrahim. But joy soon turned to tragedy, as Ibrahim fell ill and it became obvious that he, like Mohammed’s sons with Khadija, would not survive his infancy. He died not long after.

Mohammed was utterly devastated by the loss of Ibrahim. Yet again, a male heir had been taken from him. A hadith says he told everyone that “there is a wet-nurse for him in Paradise”.

Early Muslims had an interesting way of dealing with the loss of their prophet’s child:

Had there been a Prophet after Muhammad then his son would have lived, but there is no Prophet after him.

Hmmm.

Anyway, once Mohammed died Maria disappears from the histories, as per usual. Some say she herself died soon after, either still a slave or freed following the birth of Ibrahim; others say she moved back to Egypt following the Islamic conquest of that land; others never mention her again. The most reliable sources suggest she remained in Medina until her death sometime during the caliphate of Umar. Her sole note in the history books is bearing her slave master’s short-lived son. She was never married to Mohammed, as the total number of women he was married to when he died is nine (Sauda, Aisha, Hafsa, Umm Salama, Zaynab 2, Juwayriyya, Safiyya, Ramla, Maymuna).

That about covers it for Mohammed’s adventures in polygamy. He arranged marriages with several other women, but never actually married them, and I feel as though they are even less relevant than the ones who agreed to marry him but never slept with him.

Now let’s start the next surah, which I like to call The Gang Finally Realizes This Is A Cult But It’s Too Late To Do Anything About It.

⇚ previous day | next day ⇛

#surah 33 #al ahzab #quranreadalong #historylesson

4 notes · View notes

latestupdates2022 · 3 years ago

Text

“My Twinnie ,Gist Partner , Fight Buddie , Number 1 Fan” – Bbnaija’s Tobi Bakre’s Wife Pens Sweet Message To Him On His Birthday (Photos + Video)

“My Twinnie ,Gist Partner , Fight Buddie , Number 1 Fan” – Bbnaija’s Tobi Bakre’s Wife Pens Sweet Message To Him On His Birthday (Photos + Video) Yesterday was the birthday of BBNaija star, Tobi Bakre and his wife, Anu made it a memorable one for him. Taking to her Instagram page, the beautiful Iyawo who welcomed a baby boy few months ago, shared some loved-up photos of the celebrant and herself…

View On WordPress

0 notes

lostinbaku · 7 years ago

Photo

A genuine, honest-to-goodness “sacrificial lamb” at the Chor-Bakr Necropolis in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. Sorry, buddy.

#uzbekistan #necropolis #bukhara #Chor-Bakr Necropolis #buxoro #central asia #silk road #sacrifical #lamb #animal sacrifice

1 note · View note

rauthschild · 5 years ago

Photo

HOW MANY TIMES YOU ARE GOING TO ANNOUNCE HIM DEAD

While only a few die-hard corporate propaganda Kool-Aid drinkers actually believe the U.S. announcement that “master terrorist al-Baghdadi” was killed yet again. The third announcement of his death means that U.S. President Donald Trump is BULLSHIT!

https://www.veteranstoday.com/2015/04/27/isis-leader-al-baghdadi-dies-in-israeli-hospital/

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4685292/ISIS-admits-leader-Abu-Bakr-al-Baghdadi-dead.html

https://edition.cnn.com/politics/live-news/abu-bakr-al-baghdadi-isis-intl-hnk/index.html

In any case, Gordon Duff of Veteran’s Today, who has better Middle East sources, says Mossad agent Shimon Elliot, aka “al-Baghdadi,” is actually still alive. You can read his excellent report here:

https://www.veteranstoday.com/2019/10/27/exclusive-russia-says-bagdadi-killing-faked-by-us-part-of-new-move-against-the-region-by-deep-state/

Presumably he is enjoying his official death in a safe house along with his Mossad buddy Jeffrey Epstein.

0 notes

nigerianscitizens · 7 years ago

Text

“I won’t trade Tobi for anything, deal with it!” – Alex declares

Alex and Tobi

Former Big Brother Naija housemate and finalist, Alex pronounces commend on her buddy, Tobi Bakre as fans keep on pondering on the science between the two parties suspected to date.

In spite of the fact that she calls it friendship however from their open showcases and articulations, fans see it more as sentiment.

She took to Instagram to express gratitude toward Tobi, an alum of…

View On WordPress

#Alex and Tobi #Big Brother Naija

0 notes

aegphotosuk · 8 years ago

Text

Incredible photos from the Battle of Mosul frontline show brave Peshmerga fighters hunting down ISIS thugs – The Sun

THE fight to capture the city of Mosul has raged into its evening after forces and Kurdish released lethal attacks.

36, Haji, required pictures exclusively from wherever he was inserted with Kurdish troops as simply countless yards increased.

The 36-year old, in Kurdistan from Erbil, was lucky not to endure accidents that are severe whilst the Peshmerga arrived under-attack.

Talking after he delivered from fight, Haji stated: “At the start of this assault to capture Bashiqa I wasn’t scared, nevertheless when the mortar shells were overflowing 200 yards away, yes, I had been terrified. I was about the frontline within the town of Haji Ali between 4am and 1pm.

“Then three of my buddies were hurt inside Bashiqa, eight Peshmerga were murdered and 22 were injured.”

A week ago because they introduced large guns for their battle to capture the city of Bashiqa, Haji was inserted using the Peshmerga. ISIS have entertained the region given that they beat the Iraq military therein “The Drop of Mosul” in 2014

Peshmerga fighters created their method to fight in a of seriously-armed automobiles and had a collection of rockets to fireplace at their jihadi opponents

Kurdish troops are collected around a partly loaded weapon which Haji claims is just a “mini Katyusha” – an inferior edition of the rocket-launcher which was first constructed and utilized by the Soviet Nation in World War Two

Troopers is visible managing the rockets which is terminated in the vehicle-installed Katyusha-design weapons at ISIS goals in Bashiqa

Heavy-lifting: A Peshmerga fighter sometimes appears transporting a bomb which is packed right into a Soviet-design weapon and terminated in the essential ISIS offer path near Mosul

The troopers is visible shooting a bomb in a goal on Friday, Oct 20, about the first evening of the continual strategy to capture Bashiqa

Kurdish troops centered themselves in a high-point ignoring Bashiqa and were focused by ISIS practitioners who shot mortar shells at them

The Peshmerga continue to be battling in Bashiqa once they contacted the city on Friday but have since been backed by Turkish causes

ISIS possess a huge stockpile of lethal chemical tools prepared to use within fight for Mosul

Troubling movies seem to display Mosul KIDS being tortured by American-supported Iraqi soldiers in fight to retake ISIS stronghold

ISIS militants hit themselves up in huge soft attack on Kirkuk as Iraqi forces near in on Mosul

America shows its key guns which is utilized in fight to operate a vehicle ISIS out-of Mosul

Boris seems to be frozen out at meeting on unpleasant to get back Mosul from IS

A Kurdish soldier stands along with what’s regarded as a Soviet struggle container called At-55, which may have now been utilized by Euro forces in World War Two

Another two tanks, additionally regarded as T-55s, are noticed moving towards Bashiqa as night time approaches

Peshmerga forces improve on ISIS stronghold south of Mosul

A of Kurdish army and assistance automobiles incorporate through the leave as dark smoking can viewed billowing from Bashiqa – Haji is uncertain when the smoking is just a consequence of an assault on ISIS

The short scenery sides what’s ISISis last stronghold of Mosul where commanders of the horror team are believed to have fled because they arrived under-attack

Fight for where’s the town that is Iraqi and was control taken by ISIS?

The battle to re capture Mosul began on Oct 17and was introduced in a public target from the Minister Al Abadi. The battle that was soft is likely to last days, or even and 000 soldiers moving in for that kill, more than 30. House to over two-million people, Mosul, may be the last main stronghold of the team and authorities state recapturing the town might efficiently beat the team that is terrorist . the Islamic Condition since ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has kept the stronghold announced his Caliphate there. Previously flourishing Mosul may be an important centre within the circulation of products to and from Turkey along with the primary commercial town in Iraq. Proper importance and its comparable prosperity increased a main gas pipe was included in Poultry along with after gas areas were found regional within the 1920s. Located about the reverse lender from Scriptural Nineveh, on the Water Tigris, Iraq’s second-largest town had a populace greater than two-million before ISIS required around in 2014. Its populace usually had a varied mixture of the cultural organizations that are varied and, most Arab Sunnis applied shoulders, though all of the Jews were pressured to depart in the beginning of the 21st-century, within the 1950s. ISIS suddenly grabbed control of Mosul after security forces left and abandoned their articles. They left out large caches people-created materials and military gear that they used-to surprise across countless kilometers of Iraq and neared the administrative centre Baghdad. Approximately $500-million was likewise plundered by ISIS in platinum and money in the Central-Bank of Mosul – which it’s used-to account its military.

Peshmerga fighters present to get a picture throughout a frightening but encouraging period, as practitioners from Kurdistan, Iraq, and Poultry battle to obvious ISIS from the Mosul – a five times larger than every other the horror team has kept

Erbil’s capital is simply 85km from Mosul in Iraq. This graffiti seems to be displaying solidarity using the Kurds who’ve struggled relentlessly to clear the region of ISIS

Armoured cars are described proceeding towards Bashiqa within the beginning of the time and effort to capture the town

Your tales are paid for by us! Have you got a tale For That Sunlight Online information group? E-mail us at [email protected] or phone 0207 782 4368

from Find fantastic photographer aegphotos.co.uk http://www.aegphotos.co.uk/incredible-photos-from-the-battle-of-mosul-frontline-show-brave-peshmerga-fighters-hunting-down-isis-thugs-the-sun/

0 notes

itsquotess-blog · 6 years ago

Text

Latest Top Eid Al Adh SMS for Friends 2018 - Eid Mubarak 2018

Latest Top Eid Al Adh SMS for Friends 2018 – Eid Mubarak 2018

Eid Al Adh SMS for Friends Eid Al Adha 2018-2018: In Islam, there are two types of Eids – Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. While Eid al-Adha, or normally known as Bakr-Eid, Bakri Eid or “sacrifice ceremonial dinner”, offers with the sacrifice of a sheep, goat and camel that is distributed in 3 components, among own family, buddies and the terrible; alternatively, Eid al-Fitr deals with the quit of…

View On WordPress

#Latest Top Eid Al Adh SMS for Friends 2018 #Latest Top Eid Al Adh SMS for Friends 2018 - Eid Mubarak 2018

0 notes

realchannel65 · 7 years ago

Text

#BBNAIJA Tobi Bakre Awarded Chieftaincy Title in Enugu

2nd runner-up in this year’s Big Brother Naija ahead of winner Miracle and 1st runner-up Cee-C, Tobi Bakre has been awarded a chieftain title in Enugu state.

Tobi has since his return after the show been working really hard to establish himself in the entertainment industry

Tobi joined her conversation mate/buddy, Alex Asogwa in making the trip to her hometown Enugu then Nsukka where they…

View On WordPress

#BBNAIJA #Enugu Chieftain #Tobi Bakre

0 notes

autumnkirsova87-blog · 7 years ago

Text

Specification Road Hybrid Bikes Off The Kona Dew Variation.

Scroll your sleeves up, this's time to earn some purchases on your Latin United States holiday! In 2011, both Scher and also Baer were targeted through Occupy Wall Street protesters who swarmed their suburban houses to promote the lobbying operations that loosen up policies to permit financial institutions to give malfunctioning home mortgages to folks and afterwards foreclose on their homes - often under unlawful and also very uncertain situations. Microsemi reported nearly 8% yoy revenue growth in the fiscal initial quarter boosted by accomplishment of the Vectron timing organisation off Knowles (KN ). That accomplishment fed the beat versus sell-side assumptions, though the provider will still have actually complied with assumptions without the deal. He carried out certainly not disclose his other half skipping (he later on clarified this through claiming she was actually will not to leave sometimes for times without notification and regularly went back). " I make certain she carried out certainly not imply any type of offense yet this is perhaps the very first time today that she has actually found such a rather boy-girl," Auntie Margaret broke in. There are actually three primary business resource organizing (ERP) systems utilized in today's larger organisations: SAP, Oracle, as well as PeopleSoft. The past history from Porto dates back to Roman times, as well as today this's a lively, enchanting port urban area with rich record as well as society. These are my instincts, they'll concern me commonly when I am actually operating; they do not arrive every day, as well as this has been actually building up. Individuals commonly ask me a question about one thing they had not informed me regarding ahead of time, as well as they lastly discussed to me that they thought I had the ability to kind of put myself in the footwear from somebody's scenario, and not give B3st-excercises-4u.info that a clear-cut answer, but an expectation and a sensation concerning this that perhaps was essential to everyone. Abu Bakr, other half of Noelle Velentzas, a female asked for together with Asia Siddiqui in an Islamic terrorist bomb story in The big apple City has actually marched in many New York City Muslim Time Marches holding the fanatic dark death flag from fierce jihad. However if there was actually a flush draw current on the flop and also the flush performed not can be found in due to the stream and also an individual makes a donk wager after calling the previous 2 streets, that is actually time to think about that this bet may be actually a bluff with a damaged flush draw. Throughout this meeting, Hiroshi observed that such a huge company was actually relegated to using a tiny office, and that opened his eyes to the constraints from the playing card market. Regional administration providers chose to service the residences ignore phone calls and emails, occasionally for full weeks. If you possess one more video game that folks might appreciate, however haven't essentially played however or even perhaps not for a long period of time, this could be an appreciated split off the piece de resistance. That worked for a while till one week I showed up after declaring I definitely would not, and also discovered him prowling in The Lecturer's parking area to record me. After that, I merely ceased going to The Instructor's for a very long time. If you feel like the normal United States resident, you could modify tasks or even jobs in between 3 to 10 times in your lifetime! I strolled to the nearby garage - there just weren't any 24 hour food stores in those times - to get some treats, with my buddy Crabby, taking approximately half a hr.

0 notes

devil1205 · 7 years ago

Text

BANNED MENACE NOT FESTIVAL

Yesterday the government banned bursting of firecrackers in Delhi which was a correct measure taken. But since the announcement of Ban there have been a lot of oppositions and foul victim crying on name of religion.

Chetan Bhagat Noted Novel writer also tweeted in opposition to this ban.

Chetan Bhagat ✔ @chetan_bhagat

Banning crackers on Diwali is like banning Christmas trees on Christmas and goats on Bakr-Eid. Regulate. Don’t ban. Respect traditions.

11:40 AM - Oct 9, 2017

This was Mr CHetan Bhagat’s tweet in aopposition to the ban. Not only him there were many people who felt that burning firecrackers are a part of Traditions. Really?? What are the traditions of diwali in general??

Though it differs in many ways like some do a Laxmi pujan,then meet relatives and give gifts,light diyas and distribute sweets.The firecracker tradition was introduced by people not by any God in any scriptures.Diwali is a festival of lights and happiness not causing harm to others.If people say that in DIwali bursting firecrackers is a ritual or mandatory or cry victim that Government is being partial and why they do not ban other festivals. Then My answer is during Bakra eid They do not blast goats and during Muharram they are hurting themselves but in Diwali when you are bursting firecrackers,how much harm it causes other people.Forget environment totally.

I am not stating that it is polluting environment or no as firecrackers are not only source of pollution there are others too. But Every year in Diwali the firecrackers like Sutli Bomb and Ladi constantly become a source of irritation to others. Add to this small children who burn crackers or anyone can get hurt or injured What about that?? Even keep this aside there are so many asthma patients and the smoke emitted out gives so much problem to them.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Many-suffer-injuries-during-Diwali/articleshow/44937054.cms

The above link proves the statement that the menace which is caused by firecrackers.

There are so many ways to celebrate this beautiful festival of lights.

1.The yearly laxmi pujan which can be done in house or wiorkplace with family.

2.Distribute sweets and gifts to relatives

3.call your buddies for a diwali party or go for a dinner in restaurants

4.Light diyas and decorate rangolis

5. Have a program like musical nights in your house

6. Lighten up some one else’s diwali like visit orphanages or old age homes and celebrate diwali with those people.

These ways are much better than bursting firecrackers and causing harm to others. Even if you want to burst you can burst Anaar,chakri or some less noisy crackers but Rockets,bombs and ladis are a source of disturbance. The eventual truth is not environment but the harm it causes to fellow human beings.

THen comes the point that why only on diwali dont burst even during India’s victory or New Years. Then yes do not burn then also and again the government did not tell you to burn right. It was your own choice or decision to burn crackers in such events.One should stop these people from burning crackers during such times.

Famous cricketer Yuvraj Singh also tweeted Not to burst crackers to which he got badly trolled and someone tweeted him saying that “ we burnt crackers for you” or some statement like that. I say he should not have burnt crackers Did Yuvi tell that person to burn crackers.It was out of personal choice.

https://daily.social/yuvraj-singh-firecrackers/

To all the people Government has not banned celebrating diwali they just banned firecrackers so stop victim foul crying on name of religion ok??THere is no such tradition to burn firecrackers and cause harm to others.I do not care what repercussions I might face but what is the truth is the truth. Celebrate Diwali with lights and not noise..

BYE Happy Diwali

#Firecrackers Deepavali #Festivals Problems #healthissues

0 notes

music-research-strategies · 7 years ago

Text

Characteristics of Bone: A Memorie

https://amerarcana.wordpress.com/

...bone represents the very source of life, both human and animal. To reduce oneself to the skeleton condition is equivalent to re-entering the womb of this primordial life, that is, to a complete renewal, a mystical rebirth.

-Mircea Eliade, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy

The characteristics of bone describes the music of Glenn Spearman (tenor saxophone) and Marco Eneidi (alto saxophone). They have moved beyond bone now, yet bone is eternal. Civilization can never defeat bone. For the sake of the memory of Glenn and Marco, I will skip the rigmarole of making an acrostic of their names, and whatnot. You need only to find recordings and listen: listen to their material. You need to run it down from before the beginning for yourself, and after. Many others are more qualified than I to give detailed accounts of the lives of Glenn Spearman and Marco Eneidi. It was only dumb luck and poverty that led me across their paths in the first place.

I was homeless San Francisco in 1993 just a few months after coming from San Diego. I came up Highway 5 to attend the state university. I had even sold my drum kit to barely afford the essentials. This is when I discovered the infamous San Francisco burrito and the salsa verde, which my buddies still refer to as “the drug.” El Castillito made them huge, by San Diego standards, and the wasn’t far from my place on 26th and Alabama. My job at the recycling center at school didn’t pay but once a month. I had to starve in between checks. Not dire by any account. I loved it. I was a Creative Writing student after all. I’d starve and smoke and nibble and drink wine. Within a month of living in in the city, sunrise to sunrise. I was pushed out of a ratty apartment in no time. I discovered Food Not Bombs and Homes Not Jails through the Epicenter Zone, a Punk community center. They had a switchboard hot-line service for those in need. No one really had cell phones or the internet. I made my way to a Homes Not Jails meeting. They had left over free soup from Food Not Bombs. A dude I met there let me crash in his attic. Jeremy Graham. We talked about what I thought was music and I what I thought was literature. He is a lawyer now and still comes to my shows 23 years later. Jeremy gave me a tape of John Coltrane’s last album “Expressions”, Frank Wright’s “One for John” album (with Bobby Few and Noah Howard), and Glenn Spearman’s Double Trio.

“...(Cecil) Taylor drafted (Glenn) Spearman for a big band…(t)hat led to a few gigs with Cecil’s other bands, a seven-piece group which played for dancers, and a six-piece Cecil Taylor Unit including (Raphe) Malik, Jimmy Lyons, William Parker and Rashid Bakr ‘That’s where I got my advanced degree in music,’ says Glenn.”

Bassist Lisle Ellis has been a great conduit for me, and the other young pups I ran around with. Lisle was a later addition the Glenn Spearman’s Double Trio. He was the only one as far as I knew. I saw them perform as much as possible. Great musicians, bunch of dudes: William Winant (percussion), Donald Robinson (drum kit), Chris Brown (piano), Larry Ochs (saxophones), Lisle on bass and Glenn. I still don’t really know the other guys well. Lisle linked me to pedagogies and practices of the Creative Music Studio in New York around the mid-70’s, Don Cherry, Cecil Taylor and beyond. Plus, he remains super accessible. He ran a workshop out of his apartment in the Upper Haight in San Francisco. Had us doing all kinds of exercises. He introduced to me violinist India Cooke which led to trio project, ESP, with bassist Kimara Dixon (a dude, now in Atlanta). She was teaching me to listen demonstrating loads of patience. Lisle joined us once on stage at Beanbender’s in Berkeley. India, Glenn, Chris and, maybe, Willie, back then, were on the faculty at Mills College. Larry was/is a part of ROVA Saxophone Quartet as the “O.” He performed the “Bedouin Hornbook,” back in the day. Donald fixed cars and drove the smallest car. It only fit a driver and drums. It was a Le Car or old school Honda Civic or something. Simply legendary.

India and Glenn were my Black Arts Movement - West. I uncovered Ishmael Reed and Marvin X a bit later, after music. Many Black artists, intellectuals and Creative Musicians passed through the San Francisco Bays’ industry of thought, but I wasn’t really hip to it at the time. I was a struggling student and political activist. I staunchly rejected MTV and Hollywood because Chuck D, KRS ONE and Bad Brains told me to, thankfully. I switched majors from Writing to History to Philosophy & Religion and kept yo-yoing in and out of school. I kept up political education and service-based activism. Francis Wong, Jon Jang, Fred Wei-Han Ho and the Asian Improv Arts crew were quite explicitly positioned the music in an international, multi-ethnic nexus of resistance strategies and cultural progress. Rest in power, Fred. His book Sounding Off!: Music as Resistance / Rebellion / Revolution. There remains a lack of radical analysis and language amongst my community of Creative Musicians. Jason McGill and I interviewed back when Royal Hartigan gave him a residency at San Jose State. We heard Free Jazz as get-free-or-die-motherfucker! Years later Fred warned me about my academic language and intellectual tendencies. Fred was an action man. I mean, you just gotta talk to people and build. I find myself now digging through the past relationships and realities I simply missed in the ol’ Bay Area Creative Music scene.

Unlike most cities, homeless persons, street persons, are quite visible up and down certain streets at all hours in San Francisco. I saw my fair share working with organizations affiliated with the Coalition On Homelessness. People have many reasons for escape, I can’t judge. What got me was that I recognized myself in the blatherings and bangings of some ecstatic urchin, high as fuck, banging away on buckets and pans for change, or for no reason at all. I stopped and stared not knowing if I was seeing my future self. A child of an alcoholic, though never an excessive user of any such thing, I only sought something behind the music I craved and worked through. Chasing Creative Music made me feel how that tripped out dude looked. People on the day to day are truly Improvisers: improvising a meal, a living, a laugh, so-called sanity. Navigating these streets and institutions will sure put you on a different plane. Just like how solitary confinement creates insanity. The complexity of the Double Trio saved my life. People say that kind of thing sometimes, and when it’s true it’s true. ROVA also turned me out. Composer, all around musician and bassist for Earth, Don McGreevy recently reminded me of all legacies of complexity, wonder and mastery that we inherited from this continuum of Creative Music. The bar is quite high.

I was hungry for that essential transmission from improvisors with teeth. Experiencing the Double Trio was a kind of an initiation. My crew of musical and personal allies were transitioning into Creative Music enthusiasts at the same time. We imbibed all that we could. Performances spaces took on a sacred and profane quality. I only spoke to Glenn once or twice. I interviewed him on the phone after he quit doing chemo. He said he only wanted to self-medicate and finish his work peacefully. I trust that he did.

Last I saw Marco, it was in February 2015. We ran across each other in Vienna, Austria on a Tuesday night. I was hunting for him. Black Spirituals, my band from Oakland, CA, performed while on tour with the iconic drone Metal unit Earth, from Seattle. We found ourselves in the fortunate circumstances of having our meals, booze, venue and sleeping accommodations all under same roof, or rooves in this case. European venues do it good that way. Drink up and load out in the morning, like a human being. I befriended a Viennese chap, an artist or philosopher unlucky in love, who joined me in a cab at midnight. We cut through the immaculate city in search of Marco. We found him, gray-faced and dogged, preparing to go home. He had been running the New Neu York/Vienna Institute of Improvised Music. Dude looked exhausted as he greeted his former apprentice, sort of looking past me. He was looking for his bed, no doubt. The poor bastard exchanged a few words and promptly left after informing us how avoid the entry fee at the venue door. He disappeared into the night, into history, and, all too soon, into the awaiting arms of the ancestors. I guess I thought he’d be a buoyant Henry Miller with a tart over one shoulder, tobacco smoke pouring out over too many words, a fifth in his breast pocket, and rubber soles under his heals. I think I just wanted to see his horn-playing stance one last time. That night, though, I performed improvisations with no-non-sense, badass musicians and threw back a few with Hans Farb from Festival Konfrontationen in Nicklesdorf. He knows all my Free Jazz family intimately. He is like an uncle I never knew was out there.

Several years before, during one of Marco’s orbits from Vienna to the San Francisco Bay Area, I was able to host him. I booked a gig at Omiiroo Gallery in Downtown Oakland. It was my duty to spotlight him, feed him, give him a $100 bucks, and the stage. My man Githinji set it up. He taught me how to make Kenyan black-eyed peas for the occasion. “Gotta use coconut milk, brottar.” I arranged for additional catering from the Afghan spot down the street. And since the gallery didn’t have a proper bathroom, I made further arrangements with the Afghans to keep everybody comfortable. My band at the time was called Mutual Aid Project, a free jazz collective. We had undergone and performed the very first iterations of Decolonizing the Imagination together. Nick Obando (alto saxophone), Tracy Hui (guitar) & I performed composed analyses and democratic spaces to confront the tenets of colonization that brought our peoples to this land and still persist in our everyday lives. Rarely work with such deep cats. However, they were rightfully annoyed with me because I opted to perform solely with Marco. The next night, I must say, we opened for him at the Hemlock Tavern in San Francisco with Jamaaladeen Tacuma (electric bass), Lisa Mezzacappa (acoustic bass) and Vijay Anderson (drums). That gig with Marco was mine. My brother was shooting video, sort of. Some hot, young thing was sitting in the front row. My pops and his lovely wife brought their friends up from Oxnard and down from Napa-tasting. See, it was my dad’s birthday. I felt like an apprentice when I first pulled Marco’s coat and now I was a journeyman. We did two sets. I never released it. It’s just a thing I had to do.

In early 2000’s, I worked with Marco as his sometime drummer. He was the kind of guy who lived in a van in NYC, so I heard, and schlepped his axe everywhere. Someone actually stopped me from doing that myself when I lived in DC. Back

0 notes