pumpkinstrokemarrow

Then move onto the tubes. It turns out that I have just cracked into 'Colgate Advanced White with Micro-Cleansing Crystals' having been using 'Colgate Total Plus Whitening' hitherto. The flecks presumably being the Micro-Cleansing Crystals. Maybe somebody should tell the Colgate marketing people that most of us are quite picky about what we put into our mouths, something hanging over from our infantile training with mother, and sudden changes are not a good plan, particularly to a colour and texture more like oven cleaner than tooth cleaner.

Moving onto more serious matters, I was moved, when visiting the library the other day, to learn something about Islam, as distinct from the Arabs which I have been learning about over the last couple of weeks. Find that there is not very much at all in the way of general introductions, which rather surprised me, but did find a general introduction as part of the religious life of man series published by Wadsworth, this being the brand name of a publishing company from California rather than the brand name of a beer brewed in Devizes. Or perhaps formerly brewed in Devizes. They may have sold out. This introduction was called 'The House of Islam', and they do companion volumes on other religions, including, interestingly, one on religion in Africa. Anyway, as a general introduction, I thought it was rather good.

I have learnt, what seems obvious after the event, that many of the toils and turmoils inside Islam have quite close parallels with those inside Christianity. How seriously do we take the word itself? What role and standing do we accord to our priests? What is the proper relation between church and state? Who pays for the church? What about spirits, angels and saints?

Then about some of the attractive features of Islam. Its simplicity, with its five straightforward pillars of faith. And I saw much more point in Ramadan having read a little about it. Its not being that keen on poking around it matters which it regards as the province of the divinity. The absence of flummery and hierarchy in their worship, which remains, importantly, an impressive peice of communal activity. The equality of all before Allah, although they do admit to a certain amount of more equal than others, leaving here aside the standing of Mohammed himself.

Then some factlets. That, for example, the Muslims were in Spain for a longer time than they have been out of it. That Islam spread most of the way around the coasts of Africa and southern Asia. That a lot of stuff from the Greeks has come to us through the Arabs, who were civilised at a time when we were still doing the Middle Ages.

Then on Sunni and Shia. With, it seems, the Sunnis allowing rulings, progress and change to come through consensus, while the Shias give far more authority to their (unelected) religious leaders, dead and alive.

I think I shall look out for something at the next level.