02-22-2005, 06:33 PM
Shlama Akhi bar-Khela,
This isn't a Christian-only club, and no insults to anyone's faith, creed or person will be tolerated.
That being said, consider that during the majority of the time period pertaining to the history of Aramaic and the survival of the few pockets left of the various communities that still speak it, the people who ruled the region professed Islam.
Whether the profession was in name only, or whether they ill-practiced it is beyond the scope of the original article posted by Akhan Dan Gan.
The Church of the East in general, and the Assyrian people in particular, found themselves at times enjoying the benefits of Islamic tolerance and at other (more frequent times) enjoying the benefits of Islamic intolerance.
It was under the rule of Islam, during the Patriarchate of Timothy in the 12th century, that the CoE found itself at its largest extent - the largest Church of its day.
Likewiese, it was under the rule of Islam, during the rampages of other (less tolerant) rulers such as the Ill-Khans or Tamerlane, that the CoE found itself nearly decimated. The rule of the Ottoman Turks, Persians and Kurds further decimated the CoE through mutliple genocides on a scale (per capita) that surpassed anything the Jews experienced in Nazi Germany. My Grandparents were victims of these atrocities, as were many of our people under Saddam Hussein before being liberated by the U.S.
It went from 80 million people at its height, a full 25% of the world population at the time, to 100,000 people at its lowest in 1918. You have to ask yourself what happened in between 1300 and 1918 to make that drastic decline possible.
The eventual demise of this community (and this language) is tied, historically, to the rise of (intolerant) Islamic rule and to the relegation of this community to second-class status. Something I am sure you can relate to, having witnessed the effects of a similiar discrimination upon your people for two centuries. Imagine fifteen centuries.
If there is anyone on this forum who can appreciate our current condition, and the environment which led to it, it is you.
So please understand.
This isn't a Christian-only club, and no insults to anyone's faith, creed or person will be tolerated.
That being said, consider that during the majority of the time period pertaining to the history of Aramaic and the survival of the few pockets left of the various communities that still speak it, the people who ruled the region professed Islam.
Whether the profession was in name only, or whether they ill-practiced it is beyond the scope of the original article posted by Akhan Dan Gan.
The Church of the East in general, and the Assyrian people in particular, found themselves at times enjoying the benefits of Islamic tolerance and at other (more frequent times) enjoying the benefits of Islamic intolerance.
It was under the rule of Islam, during the Patriarchate of Timothy in the 12th century, that the CoE found itself at its largest extent - the largest Church of its day.
Likewiese, it was under the rule of Islam, during the rampages of other (less tolerant) rulers such as the Ill-Khans or Tamerlane, that the CoE found itself nearly decimated. The rule of the Ottoman Turks, Persians and Kurds further decimated the CoE through mutliple genocides on a scale (per capita) that surpassed anything the Jews experienced in Nazi Germany. My Grandparents were victims of these atrocities, as were many of our people under Saddam Hussein before being liberated by the U.S.
It went from 80 million people at its height, a full 25% of the world population at the time, to 100,000 people at its lowest in 1918. You have to ask yourself what happened in between 1300 and 1918 to make that drastic decline possible.
The eventual demise of this community (and this language) is tied, historically, to the rise of (intolerant) Islamic rule and to the relegation of this community to second-class status. Something I am sure you can relate to, having witnessed the effects of a similiar discrimination upon your people for two centuries. Imagine fifteen centuries.
If there is anyone on this forum who can appreciate our current condition, and the environment which led to it, it is you.
So please understand.
+Shamasha Paul bar-Shimun de'Beth-Younan
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