The Forge, CHAPTER NINE.
Catholicism, Islam and Sikhism survive into the future of Poul Anderson's Technic History. Several characters are Catholics. We see one Sikh and a couple of guys with Muslim names (here and here).
SM Stirling and David Drake tell us more about Islam in their The General series:
"His beard was dyed green, sign of one who had made the pilgrimage to the Holy City of Sinar; where the first ships from Old Earth had landed, bearing a fragment of the Ka'bah from the ruins of burning Mecca." (p. 146)
(Next, this pilgrim is subjected to sickening violence, which I will not repeat here.)
How might a religious tradition be maintained across an interstellar distance? Stirling and Drake present one credible answer.
(This might be an appropriate place for a story about the Hajj, the Pilgrimage to Mecca. A man had saved the money for the journey but, just before he was due to depart, his friend needed an expensive operation so instead he paid for the operation and was unable to go on pilgrimage. When his friends returned, they congratulated him on making such a good pilgrimage and when he said, "But I was never there!," they replied, "While we were in Mecca, we saw you there many times.")
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I remembered and agree that bit of "sickening violence" you alluded to was revolting. I think it's only fair to say Muslims themselves were not innocent of such things in THE GENERAL books. I recall how the Civil Government border irregulars who perpetrated this atrocity bitterly recited how many time Muslim raiders had perpetrated such things, such as burning Star priests alive in their churches. And Center showed Raj a scenario in which a Muslim merchant was complacently contemplating castrating boys (to be sold as eunuchs) captured from CG territory in a successful raid from the Colony.
Muslim crimes does not justify what the irregulars did, but it shows both sides were not innocent.
Sean
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