Al-Khidr

The cult of St George in the Eastern Mediterranean is one of the most extraordinary
examples of cohabitation among different religious communities. For a long time, Greek Orthodox,
Latins, and Muslims shared shrines dedicated to the Cappadocian warrior in very different places.
This phenomenon touches on two aspects of the cult—the intercultural and the transcultural—that
should be considered separately. My paper mainly focuses on the cross‐cultural value of the cult
and the iconography of St George in continental and insular Greece during the Latinokratia (13th–
14th centuries). In this area, we face the same phenomenon with similar contradictions to those
found in Turkey or Palestine, where George was shared by different communities, but could also
serve to strengthen the identity of a particular ethnic group. Venetians, Franks, Genoese, Catalans,
and Greeks (Ῥωμαῖοι) sought the protection of St George, and in this process, they tried to
physically or figuratively appropriate his image. However, in order to gain a better understanding
of the peculiar situation in Frankish‐Palaiologian Greece, it is necessary first to analyze the use of
images of St George by the Palaiologian dynasty (1261–1453). Later, we will consider this in relation
to the cult and the depiction of the saint on a series of artworks and monuments in Frankish and
Catalan Greece. The latter enables us to more precisely interrogate the significance of the former
cult of St George in the Crown of Aragon and assess the consequences of the rulership of Greece for
the flourishing of his iconography in Late Gothic art.

The Green Man is a deictic trans-historical figure and motif shared by both interconnected canons and folklores, as well as those seemingly disparate. Revered in varying capacities in mythology, literature, and architecture, the figure’s analogs and accretions have manifold associations to religiously significant personalities like St. George, Elijah, Gilgamesh, Buddha, Christ, and Melchizedek. Often bridging the sacred and profane, the figure’s literary function is unusually polyvalent and associative readings flexibly range from prophetic guide and reconciler of paradoxes, to boundary-crossing and subverting trickster. However, the trickster figure archetypally imparts moral lessons by upsetting conventions and norms; he can teach his lessons through terror, but he can also beguile. If this is the case only because his telos redounds to a pantheon of polytheism, how do these features obtain when bound by monotheistic-based canons? The enigmatic character in the Qurʾān, dubbed al-Khiḍr and revered in canonical contexts, similarly has a didactic trickster-like encounter with Moses, whom he guides on a journey of paradoxes and reconciliations. As they manifest in other contexts, various permutations are only reconciled if a division is based on telos because the character’s abundantly operative meaning is predicated on the realism of established canonical boundaries, which evinces why nominalist ontology struggles to cohere with various folkloric interpretations. Consequently, despite the recent pushback against canons, making such a compulsory distinction for a boundary-crossing character argues for affirming the continued relevance of such boundaries.

Okuyucu bu metinde oldukca garip, ayni olcude zengin bir tarihe sahip olan bir yiyecegin oykusunu bulacaktir. Antropolojik kokleri en ciplak haliyle olasilikla yazili tarih oncesinin cig et yeme pratigine dayandirilabilen, ancak medeniyetle birlikte farkli kulturler (gocebe-yari gocebe-tarimci) ve dinsel gelenekler (Yunan ve Dogu, ayrica Girit gibi guneyli ve adali) uzerinden surdurulegelmis ve o kulturlerce iceriklendirilmis, dahasi, arka planindaki olasi insan kurbani ve yamyamliga ragmen, once Orfiklerce, sonra Yeni Pisagorcularca modifiye edilmis olan bir yiyecekle karsi karsiyayiz. Yani, gercekte insan kurbaniyla iliskili olsun ya da olmasin, belli belirsiz arkaik ya da kannibalistik bir imaja sahip olan cig kofte, aslinda ayni zamanda ve ozellikle felsefi bir yiyecektir. Yine de o sadece Yeni Pisagorcular araciligiyla edinmis oldugu felsefi yaniyla da tarif edilemez. Cig koftenin astrolojiyle ilgili bir yani da vardir ve biz bunu onun geleneksel yedi baharatindaki sayi sembolizminde goruruz. Ote yandan, gayrimedeni, avam ve tasrali imajina ragmen, onun belki de simyevi bir yanindan bile soz edilebilir. Bu calismada ilk kez cig koftenin kokleri, tarihi, yaslandigi sembolizm, iliskilendigi dinsel ve dinsel olmayan gelenekler ve mitolojiler gibi konular irdelenmistir.

SEE ALSO my other text, because the last and new one (2019) is a revision of my opinion on the origins of the Khidr and Dhu'l-Qarnayn: Helenistik ve Enohçu Yahudilik Bağlamında Kehf Suresi; Musa, Hızır ve Zülkarneyn (Bir Revizyon)-ANA METİN/Surat al-Kahf in the Context of the Hellenistic and Enochic Judaism; Moses, Khidr and Dhu'l-Qarnayn (A Revision)-THE MAIN TEXT

Khidr (Xızır) is known as a central figure in the folk beliefs of Alevi Kurds in Dersim. He has taken the place of the God (Heq/Haq) in many religious practices from the fast to rituals. His functions such as forgiveness, compassionate and generosity are also typical features of God. Therefore this research is especially focused on the problem of deification of Khidr in the folk religiosity of Raa Haqî/Riya Heqî and his functions are compared with some characteristic features of Allah, like rahmân and rahîm. Moreover, in the context of cultural history it is pointed to the parallelism between the theological status of Khizr and Zoroastrian divinity Surush (Sraosha). Their common or similar features and some belief elements which belong to their ritualistic practices show us once again that the strong position of Khidr in this folk religiosity in Dersim, is originated from Zoroastrianism.

The similarities between St George and the Muslim saint Khidr are striking. When looking for the mentifacts at the root of the similarities, we come across the Greek god Zeus, the Hebrew prophet Elijah, and the Phoenician weather-god Baal. This leads us to believe that the St. George we know today has little in common with the Palestinian martyr he is named after. We maintain that the modern St George is a conglomeration of mentifacts that are thousands of years old.

La difusión de la Novela de Alejandro en Oriente a lo largo de la Antigüedad tardía y la Edad Media ha de ser considerada como parte inseparable de un movimiento mucho más amplio: la transmisión en bloque de la cultura grecolatina a Oriente, y en especial su absorción y apropiación por el mundo islámico. Este trabajo estudia la presencia de elementos de origen griego, no necesariamente procedentes de la tradición del Pseudo-Calístenes, en seis obras sobre la vida de Alejandro/Eskandar escritas en persa en el período 1000-1300: los libros 33-35 del Šāhnāmé de Ferdōsí, el Šarafnāmé y el Eqbālnāmé de Neẓāmí Ganŷaví, el Dārābnāmé de Ṭarsusí, el Eskandarnāmé en prosa anónimo y el Āyiné-ye Sekandarí de Amir Josró. A partir del análisis de estos elementos, algunos de los cuales aparecen intactos y otros significativamente alterados, podemos hacernos una idea de la incidencia y recepción de la cultura grecolatina en la Persia medieval, así como de las vías por las que se operó su transmisión y su fusión con las tradiciones locales sobre Alejandro.

Nonostante il suo ruolo nell’Antico e nel Nuovo Testamento, il profeta Elia non è oggetto di un culto particolarmente diffuso in occidente.
Poiché, ad eccezione delle chiese carmelitane, i casi nei quali il profeta viene offerto alla venerazione dei fedeli non sono numerosi come si ci potrebbe attendere, indagare su quali e quante opere raffiguranti il fondatore dei Carmelitani esistano in una città come Genova può aiutare a riflettere sui motivi di questa presenza limitata.
Obiettivo del presente lavoro è dunque quello di effettuare una prima ricognizione in territorio genovese per valutare, senza addentrarsi nel dibattito critico né ponendosi limiti cronologici, quali siano stati e siano tuttora i messaggi e i temi che hanno condizionato, positivamente o negativamente, la diffusione del culto di Elia.

This article examines how Farmer blends mythological and scientific ideas to present a universe where science and religion are reconciled in a single paradigm.  I use Fauconnier and Turner's theory of conceptual blending to analyse Farmer's blending of science and religion in the psyche of his protagonist Ramstan. I then argue that The Unreasoning Mask blends Ramstan's psyche with the universe through the stages of Joseph Campbell's monomyth. To conclude I suggest that Farmer adopts the Dionysian impulse in an attempt to unravel the unconscious of the universe itself.

A consideration of prayer, zikr and meditation as all having an identical purpose of 'making into One' (Tawhid), through the realisation that we ARE a prayer, that Zikr is proceeding in us...that prayer, zikr and meditation are not essentially "added-on" knowledges but ways to consciously re-member and re-cognise an intrinsic knowledge through Being.

Catfish otoliths excavated from two archaeological sites in Kuwait, Sabiyah (ca. 7000 Years Before Present) and Al-Khidr, ca. 4000 YBP, were compared with those of Kuwait’s modern catfish. Otoliths from Kuwait’s four species of catfish, Netuma bilineata, N. thalassina, Plicofollis dussumieri, and P. tenuispinis were collected after recording total length and weight. Data recorded for both ancient and modern otoliths, including annual ring (age), weight, length and four otolith radii from transverse sections, were subject to discriminant analysis to differentiate among species and develop classification functions for otoliths. Comparisons of the results from the ancient and modern otoliths showed that most of the excavated otoliths (78% from Sabiyah and 100% from Al-Khidr) belong to the two presently dominate species N. bilineata and P. tenuispinis, indicating that ichthyofauna of Kuwait Bay may not have changed much in the past 7000 years.

In Western tradition, St. George is known as the dragon slayer. In the Middle East, he is called Khidr (“Green One”), and in addition to being a dragon slayer, he is also somehow the prophet Elijah. In this book, Robert D. Miller II untangles these complicated connections and reveals how, especially in his Middle Eastern guise, St. George is a reincarnation of the Canaanite storm god Baal, another “Green One” who in Ugaritic texts slays dragons.

Catfish otoliths excavated from two archaeological sites in Kuwait, Sabiyah (ca. 7000 Years Before Present) and Al-Khidr, ca. 4000 YBP, were compared with those of Kuwait’s modern catfish. Otoliths from Kuwait’s four species of catfish, Netuma bilineata, N. thalassina, Plicofollis dussumieri, and P. tenuispinis were collected after recording total length and weight. Data recorded for both ancient and modern otoliths, including annual ring (age), weight, length and four otolith radii from transverse sections, were subject to discriminant analysis to differentiate among species and develop classification functions for otoliths. Comparisons of the results from the ancient and modern otoliths showed that most of the excavated otoliths (78% from Sabiyah and 100% from Al-Khidr) belong to the two presently dominate species N. bilineata and P. tenuispinis, indicating that ichthyofauna of Kuwait Bay may not have changed much in the past 7000 years.

Catfish otoliths excavated from two archaeological sites in Kuwait, Sabiyah (ca. 7000 Years Before Present) and Al-Khidr, ca. 4000 YBP, were compared with those of Kuwait's modern catfish. Otoliths from Kuwait's four species of catfish, Netuma bilineata, N. ...

Catfish otoliths excavated from two archaeological sites in Kuwait, Sabiyah (ca. 7000 Years Before Present) and Al-Khidr, ca. 4000 YBP, were compared with those of Kuwait’s modern catfish. Otoliths from Kuwait’s four species of catfish, Netuma bilineata, N. thalassina, Plicofollis dussumieri, and P. tenuispinis were collected after recording total length and weight. Data recorded for both ancient and modern otoliths, including annual ring (age), weight, length and four otolith radii from transverse sections, were subject to discriminant analysis to differentiate among species and develop classification functions for otoliths. Comparisons of the results from the ancient and modern otoliths showed that most of the excavated otoliths (78% from Sabiyah and 100% from Al-Khidr) belong to the two presently dominate species N. bilineata and P. tenuispinis, indicating that ichthyofauna of Kuwait Bay may not have changed much in the past 7000 years.

Moses ranks among the six great prophets of Islam. Cited in 502 verses and thirty-six sūras, he is mentioned more than any other biblical figure in the Qurʾān. Also known as Mūsā, he is considered the predecessor and model of the Prophet Muḥammad, with whom he shares similar experiences of a theophany and confrontations with political authorities. Moses is a prophet (Arab.: nabī) and messenger (Arab.: rasūl), who received the Torah from God (S 87:18–19; 28:43–53; 37:117–18). Because God directly spoke to him, he is referred to as Kalimu ʾllah, “One who conversed with God” (S 19:52; 4:164).

Drawing on notions from comparative religion, and also Freud's discussion of the death drive, light is shed on the psychodynamic principles behind terrorism, and the bottomless evil of mankind, in general. Terrorism is not foremostly a political problem, or a problem deriving from poverty. Nor is it an evil that springs from unshackled instinctual forces. Terrorism, and the even greater problem of bullying and victimization of our peers, has its roots in an archaic psychic economy of sin transference. Following St Paul, people can be vaccinated against this evil, by forsaking ideological grandiose ideals; by giving up the search for the perfect, blissful, condition of outer life, and instead learn that 'the kingdom is within.'

Keywords: psychology of terrorism, theocracy, human sacrifice, transfer of sin, Khidr, The Green Man, St Paul, death drive, genocide.

This conference presentation explores the devotional practices of St George in the region of Palestine and the East Mediterranean as a case in which material culture challenges the conventional notion of religious identity as a fixed, intransigent marker of an individual. I rely on ethnographic data of rituals performed at various shrines, churches, and monasteries dedicated to St George in order to examine, first, the nature in which material culture is utilized in devotional practices and second, the extent to which material culture effects the individual's understanding of their religious identity.