The Muslim conquest of Persia, the latest chapter?

(Non-Arab) Iran has been in the news lately due to the country’s so-far-unsuccessful attempt to win the 1948 Arab League war against Israel (armies from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt invaded while Saudi Arabia sent troops). Although the majority of the Arab belligerents of 1948 are still technically at war with Israel (Jordan and Egypt being the exceptions), they have mostly delegated the hard work of attacking Israel to Iran and its proxies. Could this be seen as a chapter in what Wikipedia calls “The Muslim conquest of Persia”?

As part of the early Muslim conquests, which were initiated by Muhammad in 622, the Rashidun Caliphate conquered the Sasanian Empire between 632 and 654. This event led to the decline of Zoroastrianism, which had been the official religion of Persia (or Iran) since the time of the Achaemenid Empire. The persecution of Zoroastrians by the early Muslims during and after this conflict prompted many of them to flee eastward to India, where they were granted refuge by various kings.

While Arabia was experiencing the rise of Islam in the 7th century, Persia was struggling with unprecedented levels of political, social, economic, and military weakness; the Sasanian army had greatly exhausted itself in the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628. Following the execution of Sasanian shah Khosrow II in 628, Persia’s internal political stability began deteriorating at a rapid pace. Subsequently, ten new royal claimants were enthroned within the next four years. Shortly afterwards, Persia was further devastated by the Sasanian Interregnum, a large-scale civil war that began in 628 and resulted in the government’s decentralization by 632.

Amidst Persia’s turmoil, the first Rashidun invasion of Sasanian territory took place in 633, when the Rashidun army conquered parts of Asoristan, which was the Sasanians’ political and economic centre in Mesopotamia. Later, the regional Rashidun army commander Khalid ibn al-Walid was transferred to oversee the Muslim conquest of the Levant, and as the Rashidun army became increasingly focused on the Byzantine Empire, the newly conquered Mesopotamian territories were retaken by the Sasanian army. The second Rashidun invasion began in 636, under Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas, when a key victory at the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah permanently ended all Sasanian control to the west of modern-day Iran. For the next six years, the Zagros Mountains, a natural barrier, marked the political boundary between the Rashidun Caliphate and the Sasanian Empire. In 642, Umar ibn al-Khattab, eight years into his reign as Islam’s second caliph, ordered a full-scale invasion of the rest of the Sasanian Empire. Directing the war from the city of Medina in Arabia, Umar’s quick conquest of Persia in a series of coordinated and multi-pronged attacks became his greatest triumph, contributing to his reputation as a great military and political strategist. In 644, however, he was assassinated by the Persian craftsman Abu Lu’lu’a Firuz, who had been captured by Rashidun troops and brought to Arabia as a slave.

The Persians had more than 4,000 years of history before the Muslim Conquest. They were peers to the Romans and Chinese. The Persians had their own language and religion (Zoroastrianism). Today they adhere to a religion developed by Arabs, are governed by a system developed by Arabs, need to learn Arabic to read their religious texts, and endure economic isolation as well as, recently, military attacks in order to participate in a fight started by Arabs.

Would it be fair, then, to say that Iran taking over the fight against Israel from Arabs is another chapter in the Muslim Conquest of Persia? Arab nations get all of the benefits of peace while still technically being at war with Israel. Iran suffers many of the hardships of war while still technically being at peace with Israel.

Separately, let’s check in with how Iran is doing. Elon Musk says that humans are going extinct. Let’s see how the modern-day Persians are trending in terms of population:

According to the World Bank, Iranians were rapidly getting wealthier when they decided to overthrow their Shah. They are slightly richer today, in nominal GDP, than they were when the Islamic Republic of Iran was established in 1979, a remarkable achievement considering that population has more than doubled over that time period and a lot of Iran’s wealth is derived from natural resources.

What about the Arab countries that have handed off their fight against the Jews to the Persians?

Loosely related, a sophisticated analysis of the Iran-Israel fight and its interaction with U.S. policy…

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Conclave movie notes

(spoiler alert)

My notes to a group chat:

Just watched movie Conclave about choosing a Pope. The bad guys are the conservatives who say that male Catholics shouldn’t go to the bathhouse and have sex with five different guys every night. What the movie calls “liberal” cardinals are heroes. They suggest continuing a program of throwing out everything that was sacred to Catholics in the 19th century. The best of the cardinals, who ultimately wins, is a hermaphrodite. He/she says “I am as God made me” and claims that being a hermaphrodite makes him/her a way better Pope. The movie’s villain is a cardinal who wants Muslims out of Italy, partly due to the potential for jihad, and points out that Muslims don’t tolerate the presence of Christians in Muslim countries.

A friend:

So basically a Netflix show

Here’s someone who might have been pope:

From the same article on Cardinal Robert Sarah:

“By losing its faith, Europe has also lost its reason to be. It is experiencing a lethal decline and is becoming a new civilization, one that is cut off from its Christian roots.”​

“All migrants who arrive in Europe are penniless, without work, without dignity,” Sarah reportedly said. “This is what the Church wants? The Church cannot cooperate with this new form of slavery that has become mass migration.”​

“If truth no longer exists, if everything is relative, then man becomes a slave to his passions.”

Sarah argued that gender ideology is an affront to God’s creation and cannot fundamentally change whether a person is male or female in “The Day is Now Far Spent.”

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How many migrants will the Catholic Church settle on its 177 million acres?

The Catholic Church has selected a new pope, a man who fled the violence and dysfunction of his native Chicago to live in comparatively peaceful/safe Peru and, more recently, in the migrant-free environment of Vatican City:

New York Times:

Taking the name Pope Leo XIV, he shares Francis’ commitment to helping the poor and migrants.

The Catholic Church owns 177 million acres of land worldwide (source). The Church does make changes to its real estate portfolio periodically. For example, in 2024 it sold a church in the Northeast:

Father Larochelle said Muhammad Quandil and Sadaf Ali of North Attleboro purchased St. Augustine Church for $675,000 on Aug. 23. The sale included the church with an attached parish center, a separate rectory building and a parking lot.

Father Larochelle said the buyers plan to use buildings for functions and events for the religious community at the mosque they belong to in North Smithfield, Rhode Island, about 10 minutes away. The mosque, a place of worship for Muslims, has no room to expand on site in Rhode Island because of wetlands, Father Larochelle said.

(No matter how many churches are turned into mosques we should remember that in no way are Christians in the U.S. being “replaced” by Muslims. That’s a discredited conspiracy theory.)

The question for today: of the 1,400+ parishes that the Catholic Church has shut down in the U.S. during this most recent immigration wave (not a “replacement”), how many were turned into migrant housing? California, New York, and Maskachusetts are packed with rich Catholics, for example. Where are the Catholic-funded apartments or houses for migrants in California, New York, and Maskachusetts? We can find articles about Church property becoming mosques. Who can find an article about Church property becoming a permanent home for enrichers?

Also, in September the new pope will be 70 years old. Wouldn’t it make more sense for a younger executive to assume this role? Pope John Paul II started the job at age 58.

Here’s what ChatGPT 4o thinks Vatican City would look like if some apartment towers for migrants were added:

This is the best that ChatGPT could do for a church-to-migrant-housing transformation:

Loosely related…

Speaking of Illinois, should we give the new pope credit for having escaped the violence, dysfunction, and high taxes of his native Chicago in favor of the relative safety, order, and efficiency of Peru? (He was there 2014-2023.)

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End-stage American Judaism is Rainbow Flagism?

A year ago: Santiago de Compostela and End Stage Christianity (the holiest city in Europe covered in the sacred Rainbow Flag).

Tonight, an event to which I was invited by email:

Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County warmly invites you to the Inaugural Community-Wide Pride Shabbat, a joyous celebration of Jewish values.

Here’s the page header:

In order to dispel any rumors that children are the targets of Pride events, kids 10 and younger are encouraged to attend via a fee waiver.

Let’s circle back to “a joyous celebration of Jewish values”. Unless End-stage American Judaism is Rainbow Flagism, what is the “Jewish value” within the World of Pride?

See also “The Bible on Homosexual Behavior”, 2015, by a Catholic scholar, on Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13. And here’s Google AI on the intersection between Jewcraft and transgenderism:

In Orthodox Judaism, gender reassignment surgery is generally not permitted, as it is interpreted to be a violation of the laws against castration and alteration of the body. Leviticus 22:24, which prohibits offering sacrifices with “anything which is mauled, crushed, torn or cut,” is extended to cover human castration. Additionally, Leviticus 19:28 prohibits making “gashes in your flesh for the dead or incise any marks on yourselves,” which is interpreted as a prohibition against altering the body.

(Leviticus is generally understood by Jews to forbid tattoos, e.g., the noble Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia’s full set of not-in-any-way-linked-to-MS-13 hand and arm tattoos.)

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Where will Palestinian and other migrants who’ve settled in Vatican City move now that Pope Francis has died?

Pope Francis was celebrated by U.S. media primarily for two positions:

  • it is immoral for a country to refuse to accept welfare-dependent migrants
  • the fighting in Gaza is the only war to which anyone need pay attention and Israel is the evil aggressor behind the fighting (although any Pope is infallible, Israelis would probably take issue with this and point out that Arabs started the overall war in 1948 and the Gazans started the most recent battles by invading Israel and taking civilians hostage on October 7, 2023)

Presumably the Vatican, therefore, under Pope Francis’s direction, took in at least thousands of migrants with a special emphasis on Palestinians (built up with Chinese-style apartment blocks, Vatican City’s 121 acres should be able to hold at least 50,000 cherished migrants). Where will these folks go now that Pope Francis is gone and his replacement might not share Francis’s love for the Islamic Resistance Movement (“Hamas”), UNRWA, Hezbollah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad?

The Catholic Church did not take sides in World War II (i.e., it was neutral regarding the policies and actions of Nazi Germany), but Pope Francis was quick to weigh in the Hamas side of the recent fighting in Gaza. Example from state-sponsored NPR:

See also this January 2025 Catholic World Report:

In a decree issued last month by the Holy See, the monetary sanctions and prison sentences for those who violate the strict security regulations of Vatican City have been considerably increased.

The document, signed by Cardinal Fernando Vérguez Alzaga, president of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State, provides for monetary fines ranging from 10,000 to 25,000 euros (about $10,200 to $25,700) and prison sentences ranging from one to four years.

These fines will apply especially to those who enter by means of violence, threats, or deception, bypassing border controls or security systems. In addition, those who enter with expired permits or do not meet the established requirements will receive administrative sanctions ranging from 2,000 to 5,000 euros (about $2,060 to $5,145).

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Our Easter Experience

About half of the people we encountered today (in the neighborhood, at the Norton Museum of Art, at Tropical Smokehouse) wished us a “Happy Easter”. It wasn’t so happy for the turkey whose breast I roasted in the LG steam oven (not very steamy, actually), but the kids enjoyed their Thanksgiving-inspired Easter dinner.

A Louise Nevelson is one of the highlights of the sculpture garden for me.

Back in the neighborhood (let’s hope that our kids don’t demand this level of signage!):

Easter should be more important than Christmas, I think, even for non-Christians, and yet a lot more effort is made to communicate the Christmas story.

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Grab your masks for an anti-Zionist Passover Seder

Flash back to 2024 when the Western Washington University Jewish Voice for Peace (unclear if there are any actual Jews involved in JVP; major funding is from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Lannan Foundation, neither of which seem to have any Jewish heritage) invited everyone who hates Israel and loves wearing masks (“required”) to a Seder starting at 5:30 pm (Jewish law says to start at 8:13 pm, sunset in Bellingham, Washington).

Readers: What are you doing for Passover this year? I’m going to join a medical school professor and his kids. Maybe masks will be required since, as an MD and PhD, he personifies The Science.

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Eid Mubarak from Apple

Eid al-Fitr is now a “US Holiday” according to Apple:

(Separately, nobody can write precisely precisely?)

How about some new phrases, e.g., “As American as Eid al-Fitr”?

(Eid al-Fitr is not on the analogous Google Calendar “Holidays in the United States”. Hatefully, neither Apple nor Google includes International Transgender Day of Visibility (March 31 every year) on the list of US Holidays.)

Related:

  • Profiles in Corporate Courage (Apple offered Pride Edition products in 2021 and “is proud to support LGBTQ advocacy organizations”, but at the same time does not offer these sacred rainbow items in places where full LGBTQ rights have already been achieved, e.g., in the UAE (Wokipedia 2021: “Male homosexuality is illegal in the UAE, and is punishable by the death penalty under sharia law”))
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Is the Sacred Rainbow Flag the new Golden Calf?

Today is the big day for the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County:

Here’s the organization’s “Inclusivity Statement”:

Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County embraces a culture of diversity and inclusivity in accordance with our Jewish values. We celebrate the uniqueness of our community members, lay partners and staff as varied perspectives enrich our learning and reinforce our commitment to making the world a better place. We aim to create an accessible environment that accommodates individual needs and welcomes the full participation of our community. Learn more at jewishpb.org/inclusivity.

I’m wondering why attending a Pride parade is a specifically Jewish activity, especially in light of Leviticus 20:13. My conclusion is that the Sacred Rainbow Flag is to modern-day Jews (at least the non-Deplorables) what the Golden Calf was to ancient Israelites.

Update… let’s look at a few photos. From the Palm Beach Post

A child on the sidelines…

… learns that the Future is Trans:

The 2SLGBTQQIA+ religion is not promoted in public schools, but the public school police department actually paraded in the parade:

Here’s a T-shirt from the “Jewish Dems” and, apparently, the trans-enhanced rainbow flag is something everyone at the intersection of Judaism and the Democratic Party could agree on back in 2023:

Loosely related, a tweet from Tim Cook, who identifies as a member of the 2SLGBTTQIA+ community, today:

What is the traditional way for the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community to celebrate Eid al-Fitr?

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How are Islamic groups able to hold Islamic hostages?

Gaza is run by three groups:

  • the Islamic Resistance Movement (“Hamas”)
  • UNRWA (an all-Islamic staff except for a handful of white savior European atheists, such as Philippe Lazzarini (there weren’t any qualified Arabs to lead this funnel for US/EU tax dollars headed for Hamas?))
  • Palestinian Islamic Jihad

Today we learned about a man (“Farhan al-Qadi” might be the best transliteration of his name) liberated from Gazan captivity and returned to his family in Israel (military.com):

The military said Qaid Farhan Alkadi was rescued from a tunnel “in a complex operation in the southern Gaza Strip,” without providing further details. It was not immediately known if the rescue was made under fire or if anyone was killed or wounded during the operation. The 52-year-old was one of eight members of Israel’s Arab Bedouin minority who were abducted on Oct. 7. He was working as a guard at a packing factory in Kibbutz Magen, one of several farming communities that came under attack. He has two wives and is the father of 11 children.

Wikipedia says that all Negev Bedouins are Muslim.

So… we have Muslim Gazans who explicitly call themselves “Islamic” holding a hostage who is himself Muslim/Islamic. Where in the Koran or the Hadiths does it say that this is allowed?

Separately, how does the father of 11 children look this good (the photo below was before he was taken hostage by his Arab-Muslim brothers, sisters, and binary-resisters in Gaza)? An American man will often be reduced to overweight wreckage by just one wife and one or two kids, even in those cases where the wife doesn’t turn plaintiff.

Also, let’s see how western media covers this guy’s traditional Islamic lifestyle, i.e., the two wives. Our journalists say that they’re on a mission to combat Islamophobia. If so, it would make sense to suppress the information about this freed hostage having two wives in order to make Islam seem less alien to a Western audience. For example, the New York Times article “Who Is Farhan al-Qadi, the Rescued Hostage?” doesn’t mention his marital status, only a “family”. NBC says he’s “a father of 11”, but there is no mention of any females having participated in the 11 births (as with Pete Buttigieg in the hospital bed with his husband Chasten). (See below for how the same media outlets find polygamy very interesting indeed if it can be tied to the Mormons.) “‘Brought back to life’: Family hails rescue of Israeli hostage from Hamas tunnel in Gaza” (CNN): “On Tuesday evening, his brothers and 11 children, along with their cousins and neighbors, were busy putting up tents, chairs and lights ahead of his return to the village.” (a Buttigieg-style “family” for the “father of 11” according to CNN, with children but no mothers) Wall Street Journal: “Al-Qadi, an Israeli Muslim from an Arab community known as Bedouins, is the father of 11 children and a brother to 10 siblings. He lives in a small village in Israel’s Negev Desert.” (the size of the village where he lives will be more interesting to readers than that he has two wives; no reason to rephrase as “He lives with two wives in Israel’s Negev Desert”)

Finally, what if al-Qadi comes to the U.S. with his wives and 11 children? He claims asylum on the grounds that the Gazans have said that they want to eliminate Israel and Israelis and that he has a reasonable fear of being attacked again because the Biden-Harris administration is continuing to fund Hamas, UNRWA, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. He settles in Rashida Tlaib’s district in Michigan. Wife #1 decides that she’d rather spend time with a neighbor and sues al-Qadi for divorce in the local family court. If Wife #2 also wants her freedom does she have to sue for divorce as well? Or does the first divorce render al-Qadi no longer married to anyone in the eyes of the Michigan family court? In theory, polygamists cannot become U.S. citizens (Nolo), but that shouldn’t affect their right to claim asylum and de facto permanent residence. Non-citizen residents of the U.S. have the same rights to file divorce lawsuits as citizens.

More from Nolo:

a refugee who was practicing polygamy before he immigrated will be required by U.S. immigration law to designate one wife as his legal wife to accompany him to the United States. Years later, after becoming a U.S. citizen, he might divorce that wife, and marry the woman who was formerly his second wife, in order to petition for her (on Form I-130) to immigrate to the United States.

Related:

  • in 2023, the New York Times devotes 20 pages to a tiny polygamist community that spun off from the Mormon Church in 1890
  • “The Persistence of Polygamy” (NYT, 1999) about “Mormon fundamentalists”
  • “Mormons seek distance from polygamist sects” (NBC, 2008)
  • Wikipedia: “The trans-Saharan slave trade, part of the Arab slave trade … In Al-Andalus, the area of medieval Iberia under Islamic control, black Muslims could be legally held as slaves … This all occurred despite the orthodox Muslim jurist position that no Muslim, regardless of race, could be enslaved … Even as late as the 19th century, many of the common people in Islamic society still believed that enslavement based on skin color, rather than based on religion, was approved by the religious laws of Islam” (but Farhan al-Qadi doesn’t have especially dark skin)
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