From pendragon-l-owner@cathos.telmaron.com Sat May 18 11:51:37 1996 From: Timothy Ferguson To: pendragon-l@cathos.telmaron.com Subject: Islam: In-Reply-To: <960518095346_116183342@emout12.mail.aol.com> Message-Id: Alright to get the Islamic ball rolling, here are some details: In "Pendragon", despite anachronisms, Islam certainly exists. Palmodies the Saracen converts from Islam to Christianity. He is a memeber of a group of Saracens living in Ireland. Additionally, many of the knights who survive the battle of Cammlan die Crusading. The Crusades occur in the 12th and 13th centuries, which, in the "Pendragon" timeline, are the first and second phases. Within the game the continue as small raids during the third and fourth phases, then flower again in the fifth phase, before collapsing utterly and being forgotten by everyone as the culture shatters under incursions from the East and reverts to C.5th AD Arabic. In 570 Mohammed is born and Real History begins. Yes, it's convuluted, but then so is the French history if you look at it carefully. Dates: 507: The Emporer Michael asks the Pope to assist him in turning back the invading Arabs. He expects a few mercenary companies. The Pope instead preaches Pilgrimage and Crusade. Whole peasant villages go on the road and wend their way into the Byzantine Empire. The Pope tells people that religious murder is, of itself, a penitential act, for which much is forgiven. The Celtic Church and its Orthodox bretheren declare this a load of cobblers, so few English people are involved. 508: Peter the Hermit and his followers arrive in Constantinople, sparking a refugee crisis. Michael ships them over the Bosphorous, where they slaughter everyone they can get their hands on. That these people are Orthodox Christians is not discovered by Peter's followers. A Muslim army arrives and the pilgrims are butchered, forming a mountain of bones. 509: Following a series of miracles and some of the greatest depravity seen in the nameof religion, the Crusaders take Jerusalem. The Knights of the Temple of Jerusalem and the Hospitaliers make up for thier lack of manpower by building fortresses of stone. 513: The Fatimid rulers of the Levant are conquered by Saladin, a general of theirs who had earlier siezed Egypt. 515: Saladin defeats virtaully all of the "Franc" forces in Outremer at the Battle of Hittin. He takes back all of the Holy Land save the city of Antioch, which serves as a base for later Crusading, as does the island of Cyprus, temporarily a possession of Arthur's, which he flogs to the Templars for a huge wad of cash. Traits: The Islamic religion has five pillars, which are faith, prayer, the giving of alms, fasting and pilgrimage. These are represented in "Pendragon" by Piety for the first two, then Generosity, Temperance and Energy. As the game system seems to require a fifth trait, Chastity would seem to fit the Muslim ideal. The Religious Benefits for Muslims are an added three hit points and an extra 1d3 damage on blows. The section below deals with the Pillars of Faith and is designed to sort-of slot into the Religions chapter. It is a bit of a ramble. It's mostly material from "Early Islam" which was written by D. Stewart & published by Time-Life Books. *** *** *** The Muslim faith centres around three lesser articles. The first one is that God is singular and that Mohammed is his last prophet. The other two are that the Koran is the word of God and that angels are the messengers of God. A person becomes a Muslim by stating before any Muslim that there is no God but God and that Mohammed is his prophet. This is a beautifully musical phrase in Arabic: "La ilaha illa Allah, Mohammed rasul Allah". This is called the shahada and is often preceeded by the Arabic words for "I testify..." Turning from the religion is punishable by death under the sharia, the Holy Law. The Islamic God is more similar to the Jewish God than the Catholic One, although Muslims claim he is actually the same guy, they just hav the newer release of the religion with the bugs now thoroughly shaken out. He forbids a lot of things that the Christians allow, for instance the eating of certain foods, so he seems similar to the Jewish divine in that respect. Most import to characters in play are his forbiddance of alcohol or any other mood altering substance. The Last Prophet was the final chance makind had prior to Judgement. There had been many before, although five were the key figures; Adam; Noah; Abraham; Moses; Jesus. It was not hat any of these people were wrong, merely that their followers had strayed from the truth and did not properly remember the teaching, so a new teacher was needed. At this stage in history, the Koran is mostly known by rote learning, the word-perfect memorisation of about 78 000 words. There is some variance in the rotes, however, which are not redacted until after the game period. The role of angels is up to you to decide in play. The most important thing to note is that they look a little different than the Angels of the West. In the pictures I have they tend to wear crowns, have dark hair and wear Arabic robes. The most important Angel for P.Cs is Isra'il, who takes their final breath. This is the same role Uriel plays in the West, but Isra'il does not have the "Grim Reaper" appearance sometimes given his Western equivalent. He and Jibreel seem to have four wings in my pictures, although the other angels have the usual two. Their wings are red and green with yellow bands. Muslims have two types of prayer, private and ritual. Private prayer can be done at any time and for any good purpose. Salat, ritual prayer, is to be done five times daily facing a certain city. When the religion first begins, Medina is its focus, but it is later shifted to Mecca. Muslims are called to prayer by a person standing in the minaret of their mosque, using a set series of phrases. Before the first prayer of the day, and after any contamination during the day, a Muslim must wash himself to purify his body. If no water is to be had, sand or dust will also do. Before parayer a Muslim removes his shoes and covers his head. He then silently declares to God that he will perform the Salat for that time of day and the number of rak'as he would perform. A rak'a is a series of perscribed movements accompanied by a low prayer. Each salat calls for a different number, but extras may be done to please God more. Prayer begins with the Muslim standing, palms at head level and facing forward, calling "Allah Akbar!" which means "God is great!". This may happen multiple times. He then bows, prostrates himself, recites bits of the Koran and says the shahala. He then says to the angels on his left and right shoulders "Peace be with you and the Mercy of God." Prayer is the prime duty of a good Muslim. It can be said anywhere, although at noon on Friday it is considered very worthwhile for communities to pray together. Courtyards are favoured for worship. These communal prayers are lead by a prayer leader and a preacher, but there is no formal priesthood within the religion, at this stage. Ulama, religious scholars, are the nearest thing that Islam had at that time. Some buildings are constructed deliberately for use in worship, although the Prophet saw this as the best way to beggar his followers. These buildings have a carved niche, or mihrab, pointing to Mecca so people know which way to face during prayer. They serve as community halls, so that lecturers teach here, courts are held in them and pilgrims or travleers can sleep in them and drink from their fountain, which is otherwise used for ritual purifications. There are two types of alms, voluntary and involuntary. Giving alms purifies the rest of a person's wealth. Involuntary alms are takne by the ruler and dispensed to the needy, such as orphans, widows, slaves and holy warrior short on armaments. Fasting is observed during the lunr month in which Mohammed received his vision. While it is light enough to tell a black thread from a white one, no Muslim, save the infirm, travellers or children, may eat. They are alos forbidden to have sex. Extremes of fasting are considered stupid, as the point is not to hurt yourself, but to separate yourself from the mundanities around you and to gain compassion for the poor. At night, the mood was extremely festive. Remembering the ban on alchohol, it was also genteelly festive, with most of the people on the streets and in the markets, with none of them drunk. Personally, I like this sort of idea a great deal and I wish the rest of the people at my university shared my sentiments. At the end of Ramadan, a great feast is held and new clothes are worn for the first time. All Muslims are expected to undertake the pilgrimage to Mecca during their lifetime. This earns them the title "Haji" and acts as a social glue for the world of Islam, as many Haji hang around Mecca for some time, trading ideas with other Haji and learning the customs of far-away places, which they then take back to their own villages. Eventually the religion reaches Mindano in the Phillipines and Java in Indonesia and even they have the occassional Haji, although that is after the "Pendragon" period. These five pillars are woven together to form the sharia, the divine law, the path that a Muslim should follow. The fine detail of the path is drawn from the Koran, previous decisions, consensus of scholars and Traditions, which are sayings passed down verbally from the Prophet. Later these are codified as people of an unscrupulous nature made them up at times. Acts are devided into five categories: Obligatory, like some types of alms-giving. Good: Like alms-giving. Neutral: Tourism. Bad: Eating garlic or onions. Forbidden: Murder. Generally, the Old Testament is very similar in terms of what is forbidden, although you'd do best to read the Koran, or a text for outsiders, to grasp the finer details. Islam almost had a sixth pillar, but not quite. That was "Jihad" or holy war. In this respect Islam and Christ's teachings differ markedly. Turning the other cheek is wrong, from the perspective of this religion, as is passive martyrdom. Even during holy war, however, people had to be given a chance to either accept Islam or accept erule by Islamic overlords. These overlords tended to treat the other Peoples of the Book well compared to their Christian contemporaries. The following foods are forbidden: That which dies on its own, in other words, carrion. Pig products. Blood. That which has been sacrificed in the name of anything but God. Strangled animals or those beaten to death. Animals which have died of a fall, have been gored, have been eaten by wild animals. Animals burned to idols. Fish, game caught with domesticated dogs and approved animals, which is most everything else a "Pendragon" character eats, is fine. In this respect, it is less restrictive than the Jewish practice. In dire emergencies, you are allowed to eat anything. Alcohol: Although it is banned, those rich enough to imbime often do. Going drunk to prayer while under the influence is however, very sinful. Marriage: A Muslim may have four wives, but all must be treated equally and cared for. A son might inherit his father's wives, not in any sexual sense, but as dependants that it was right he should care for. Westerners often get the wrong idea about harems, projecting their own sexual fantasies on what is basically a space for servants, women and children. Men may divorce their wives at will, merely by saying "I dismiss you" three times to them. They may not remarry soon after, which prevents people doing it in anger, but a couple in, if I recall correctly, Pakistan, were acting in a soap where their characters divorced and local religious leaders ruled that as the man had said the works, the couple was divorced. The bridal gift is paid to the wife personally, not her family and she keeps it if they divorce. Certain religious students discovered a loophole by which they could marry a woman, have a night of sex, then dismiss her in the morning, giving her a nominated fee as a bridal price and therefore legalising prostitution. Although this has been closed in some modern-day areas, certain Muslims in the "Pendragon" period might practice it.