Download the Book - Islam and Science Fiction

The guards at the gate seem at least as bewildered as Watt and
Krikksen at their mutual sights.
"These guys don't look like Moors at all!"
"What do we know? Talk to them anyway."
While Watt talks to the guards in what he hopes to be fluent
Arabic, their jaws, that were hanging wide open, clap decidedly shut
and their arms are raised threateningly. This forces Watt to take
another approach, quickly.
"Allee, hombre, tu es Espagnol?"
This gives a more positive reaction. Watt excuses himself:
"Sorry, signores, but I thought this beautiful city was still in the hands
of the Moors."
"No, stranger, the Reconquista has claimed this city as well."
"My, my, things move fast in this year of our Lord 1252, don't
they?"
"1252? But it is 1247!"
"Slip of the tongue, a joke. We from Flanders make little jests all
the time. Therefore, let me introduce us: Duke Watterstraal and my
companion Duke Krikkeman, or Manneke Krik, as our beloved people
of the town of Brugge call him. In our function as representatives of
the Hanseatic League we like to talk with the mayor of this major
port."
The Imperfect Ghost
In the eighth lunar month of the Islamic year 644, an old, holy
man returns to his native land. After his long pilgrimage in the
Orient, Ibn al'Arabi wanted to spend his last days in Damascus in
peaceful contemplation, teaching and writing. After finishing his
masterpiece: Fusus al-hakim ("The Bezels of Wisdom") he was ready
to take up his role in the afterlife.
But Allah decided he was not ready yet. A mysterious stranger
saved him from the brink of death. Shortly after that he had a series
of visions, the most intense since the revelations in Murcia fifty years
ago that set him on his famous pilgrimage. This time, though, they
instructed him to go back to his land of birth, incognito, humble and
as an emissary of peace.
The first vision was strange. She didn't look quite as he
remembered her, some of her features were all wrong. In Mecca she
was so much more vibrant and enchanting, not the static, still picture
he was seeing now. It was almost as if Allah was sending his message
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