Chapters 11, 12, 13

While reading chapter 11 all that was coming to my mind was:

Blah, blah, blah.

Blah, blah, blah.

Then I read, Muslims can have four wives. My attention sharpened and then I started getting into what I was reading. As I kept reading then more...

Blah, blah, blah.

Blah, blah, blah.

All kidding aside, I already knew that Muslims men are able to marry up to 4 wives providing that he is able to provide a decent life for all of his wives.

What I didn't know was about Muhammad wanting and encouraging war or jihad. I have always wondered and observed that some areas where Muslims and Christians co-existed then there seems to be a lot of fighting between them. The reasons that I hear why they are fighting is because the Muslims wants their own land or create their own country separate from the country in which they currently belong to.

I was born in the Philippines and the southern part of the Philippines is predominantly Muslim in faith. From when I was young up until now, fighting has never stopped. There are constant fighting and the Muslims always claim that they want to be separated and have their own country.

I guess you can tell from my writing so far that I am not of the Muslim faith. I am indeed Catholic as majority of the Philippines are. I really have no biases one way or another. As a matter of fact, I have a few friends that are Muslim and I think they are actually good hearted people.

I think in each religion, you will find good people and bad people. God knows that I have met plenty of people that are Catholic who are just evil to their core. Well maybe not to their core but let's just say they are not very nice people.

Anyways, going back to my observation. I remember in the early 2000s that in Jakarta, Indonesia a governor there put a price on the head of every Christian's head creating a mass killing and rampage throughout the streets of Jakarta. I have seen pictures of young girls beaten, raped and killed. I saw a picture of a teenage girl tortured and killed. She had cigarette burns all over her body and the pole of the broom inserted in her with almost the entirety of the broom handle in her. I know it's quite graphic but I kid you not this is what happened there during that time. I even saw pictures of men/teenage boys holding a decapitated head by its hair with a demonic smile on his face. If you have ever seen the movie Exorcist then you can somewhat picture the look of happiness on this guys face for killing someone and holding the head as if it was his trophy to show off to everyone. There were stories also with those pictures that said fathers were held at gunpoint/knife point while their female child or wife are raped right in front of them. I vividly recall telling a coworker of mine at the time that I would not stand for that if I was the father and/or the husband. No matter how many of the attackers were there I would fight for my family no matter what the consequences are.

Again, let me reiterate that this is by no means anything against Muslims. Christians have done their share of killings throughout history. They have conquered countries and have killed natives who would not convert to their religion and justified it because they called those people heathens.

I remember my grandmother telling me that rebels in the Philippines would confess what they were about to do and ask for forgiveness for the battle and possible killings that were going to happen to the Spanish Catholic priests. These same priests who are supposed to keep the confession private between you and God would warn the Spaniard soldiers and therefore betraying the rebels, the church, their oath and everyone else except for the Spaniard army.

Speaking of Catholics, priests were allowed to marry at one point but a bishop decided that priests are no longer allowed to marry. The reason behind this was when the priests were allowed to marry and have children then all of their possessions went to their eldest son. The bishop didn't like this and therefore outlawing the priests to marry so that the Earthly possessions of the priests goes to the bishop and the church.

What a corruption. I sometime wonder about religions. Religions are supposed to make people good and make people believe in God, Allah, Yahweh, Buddha or whatever name each religion have for God. Instead, they have promoted killing and other evil ways. I know people who such fanatics in their given faith and pray to God on a daily basis in church but who has the foulest mouth and would talk bad about everybody and would mistreat others as well. Now, is this what religion suppose to give us?

Let us not forget that religions are created by people. People are known for their imperfections. People have written the Bible and the Quran. Just draw your own conclusions.

As a child, have you ever played a game where you tell something to one person and then that person tells another and so on until the story reaches back to you. Well most times than not, that story would be altered and twisted by the time that it returns to you. Now who's to say that the Bible or the Quran didn't have this effect. It's just one of those things that make you say hmmm.

The Mongol empire was the largest empire ever amassed in human history. Funny how older history books never mentioned this because they were solely focused on the European and Northern American history.

I enjoyed reading and learning about the Mongols. I especially enjoyed the movie "Mongol" which portrays the life of Temujin and his transformation to Chinggis Khan. I highly recommend this movie.

I actually thought the Mongols only occupied up to Persia or just Pakistan. I didn't know that they made it as far as Europe and even went to Japan. I guess this would explain why some Europeans have Asian features. I don't think they ever ventured into the Philippines. I think the book said they stopped somewhere in Southeast Asia around Vietnam somewhere.

It kinda sounds like the American Indians and maybe the Eskimos were originally from Mongolia. American Indians have the same lifestyle as the Mongols in which they lived in tents and moved from area to area. American Indians have some Asian features which beg me to think they may have originated from Asia.

Mongols were brutal warriors. I've met a few present day Mongolians and they seemed a bit crazy too. There was one guy that I met and he found pleasure in punching fist to fist meaning his fist and your fist would hit each other. I think it gave him some kind of pleasure to think that he's tough especially when he sees the other person complaining of pain. Well unfortunately for him, I didn't feel the pain when we punched fist to fist. I think he felt it more than I did.

Well this was just a small sample and I'm sure not everyone is this way. A friend of mine married a Mongolian lady and she seems quite nice as well as her other friends. There are always exceptions to everything in life.

I think good and bad may be found in each country, region or continent. One can never assume that a country is full of bad people or good people. There are always a mixture of both. Just like not everyone is beautiful, you will also find your share of non-attractive people. This is of course both inner and outer beauty.

15th Century is the Exploration Age. You will find a few countries venturing out to find new trade routes to Asia. Even Christopher Columbus wisely (being sarcastic here) ventured off West ward of the Atlantic Ocean thinking he will land in India. That's why the American natives were came to be known as American Indians because of Christopher Columbus' poor navigational skills.

The book also seem to have left out that people during those times thought that the World was flat and Christopher Columbus would fall off the face of the Earth.

As Strayer had pointed out, this World would be quite different had Zheng He continued sailing and had met the European ships along the way. The power of China during that time would've overwhelmed all European ships/navy during that time.

I believe sometimes that life is set by predetermined circumstances. Things tend to happen because that is how they are supposed to happen. No way that any of the European ships would've stood a chance against Zheng He's hundreds of ships but for some reason he and China chose for him to stop sailing the seas. This caused the Portuguese, Spaniards and the English to flourish during this era.

In one's life, you will notice that there are certain events that you have totally no control over. No matter what you do to prevent it or avoid it, it will still happen as if it were destined to happen. Luck also plays a part within our life. Just like in the 15th century, the European explorers had luck on their side and the avoided Zheng He's ships and were able to sail to othere countries/continents. It's as if they were destined to do so.