A crime against history

I realize this has nothing to do with my usual themes, but I have to write about the destruction of the Al-Askariya shrine.

This is not an ordinary act of destruction. This is the equivalent of blowing up Canterbury Cathedral or Notre Dame. It is a crime against the whole world.

The shrine is in Samarra. Remember the story of the Appointment in Samarra?

A merchant in Baghdad sent his servant to the market.
The servant returned, trembling and frightened. The
servant told the merchant, "I was jostled in the market,
turned around, and saw Death.

"Death made a threatening gesture, and I fled in terror.
May I please borrow your horse? I can leave Baghdad
and ride to Samarra, where Death will not find me."

The master lent his horse to the servant, who rode away,
to Samarra.

Later the merchant went to the market, and saw Death in
the crowd. "Why did you threaten my servant?" He asked.

Death replied,"I did not threaten your servant. It was
merely that I was surprised to see him here in Baghdad,
for I have an appointment with him tonight in Samarra."

This story is originally far older, and one version, "The Man Who Flew to Hindustan," appears in the Mathnawi of Jalalu'l-Din Rumi (1207-1273).

Comments

[L'Amerloque]

Hi !

Hopefully some of the younger readers will appreciate your reminder about the appointment in Samarra. (smile)

W. Somerset Maugham's retelling might be of interest, since he specifically gave the gender of Death. One wonders if it is the traditional one.

"The speaker is Death.

There was a merchant in Bagdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture, now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me. The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. Then the merchant went down to the marketplace and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, Why did you make a threating getsture to my servant when you saw him this morning? That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Bagdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra."

Best,
L'Amerloque