Dec
05
2008
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What is in a name? |
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Written by JD Johannes
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Friday, 05 December 2008 |
This item from Powerline caught my eye. Specifically the name of the captured terrorist: Ansari.
Ready for a lesson in obscure and possibly irrelevant Muslim/Arab/Afghan/Indian history?
The 'Ansari' were people from Medina, in the Arabian peninsula, who follow the prophet Mohammed during his flight from Mecca. Families who use the name 'Ansari' do so because they claim to be descended from the families who orginally joined Mohammed.
Whether or not any true Ansari made it to Afghanistan during the Muslim invasions we do not know for sure, but there was a group of purported Ansari popped up around 1550 AD in the mountains near Peshawar.
These Ansari formed a schizmatic sect that orthodox Muslims consider heresy called the Roshanis. (There is dispute on whether these back woods men were truly Ansari. They may have adopted the name to lend credibility to their cause.)
For two generations they were a constant thorn in the side of the Mughal Empire in the areas of the Kyber and what is now Waziristan.
These Ansari/Roshanis were eventually subdued and presented themselves in surrender before the Emperor Shah Jahan in Dehli. The Emperor allowed them and their followers to migrate to the Deccan provinces where they served the empire--often under arms carrying the banner of the empire. Whether they carried on their heresy is not fully addressed, but the British chronicler of things Afghan, Sir Olaf Caroe, points to the notion they came back to Orthodox Muslim beliefs and practices.
The Deccan Provinces are in the southern peninsula, below the Narmada river.
If the Afghan/Peshawar Ansari were relocated to the Deccan provinces, that would explain a terrorist with the Ansari name popping up in Mumbai.
Or, he could be taking the Ansari title as a Nom de guerre--a signal to those who know their Islamic history that he sees himself as one who is a true follower of the prophet Mohammed. In the world of the Islamic extremist, following the ways of the unique Quranic generation, which the true Ansari were members of, is the highest of goals.
Now, is any of this relevant to anything? I will not make that leap. But it does show that there is more to events of today than what happened yesterday.
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