Category Archives: Women

The Battle of the Camel, 656

Posted on May 30, 2021 by Ruth

Ali’s army from Medina, joined by several thousand men from Kufa, camped on a wide plain outside Basra in Iraq. Facing them on the plain was an equally large army from Mecca, joined by several thousand men from Basra. But … Continue reading →

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A’isha in Opposition, 656

Posted on May 30, 2021 by Ruth

The first challenge to Ali as Caliph or Imam came quickly. A’isha had gone to Mecca during the revolt against Uthman, and she was returning to Medina when she heard that Ali had been acclaimed as the next Caliph. A’isha … Continue reading →

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Umar At Fatimah’s House

Posted on March 24, 2021 by Ruth

The first crisis of the post-Muhammad Islamic State came quickly. Ali and Fatimah had retired to their own house to complete their mourning for her father. But outside the house, Abu Bakr was seizing power as rapidly as he could. … Continue reading →

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The Mothers of the Faithful

Posted on January 31, 2021 by Ruth

Muhammad acquired six new wives during this time. After the Banu Qurayza Jews were executed or expelled, he took the chief’s daughter Rayhanah as a captive, and she became his servant. That meant concubine, but some narratives say that she … Continue reading →

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A’isha on Trial

Posted on January 18, 2021 by Ruth

Pagan Mecca and Muslim Medina continued to put on shows of strength and seek out alliances that would hurt the other. One of the most significant events in Muhammad’s family happened when he had led a contingent to the coast … Continue reading →

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Four Wives and Three Grandchildren

Posted on January 12, 2021 by Ruth

We focus a lot on the most sensational aspects of Muhammad’s marriages: A’isha’s age and the sheer number (8 or 9) of the widows he left at his death. He spent most of his life as an ordinary man with … Continue reading →

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The Prophet’s Third Wife, A’isha

Posted on December 19, 2020 by Ruth

One of the diciest parts of Muhammad’s story is that as soon as his new house was completed, he and Abu Bakr decided it was time for A’isha to move into her wife-apartment in the house. Until this time, she … Continue reading →

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Muhammad’s First Marriage

Posted on November 30, 2020 by Ruth

Muhammad is said to have been 25 when his employer, Khadijah, asked him to marry her. She was trying to run a business inherited from her deceased husband, having to depend on relative strangers and men whose interests might go … Continue reading →

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Latin drama used to teach Latin

Posted on July 12, 2020 by Ruth

Christianity went west and east during the latter years of the Roman Empire. Of course, its language going west was Latin, while its language traveling east was Greek. Priests and monks needed to read Latin sounds at the minimum, so … Continue reading →

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The Fall of Granada, 1492

Posted on April 5, 2018 by Ruth

Granada’s fall was as inevitable as Constantinople’s. In both cases, there was a sorting process in which boundary territories that had wavered between Islam and Christendom had final settlements. By the time each last enclave fell, it was well surrounded … Continue reading →

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