The Red Conquest

foreword & glossary

[ BEFORE YOU READ ]

THE ARABIC LANGUAGE

All the dialogues and quoted written passages in this book have been translated from the original Arabic into English, and as always the natural idiom of the speakers cannot be fully preserved in another language. We have attempted to compensate for this in some ways, such as by varying the style of speech to indicate whether formal or informal Arabic is being used. Terms in the Arabic language are usually marked in italics, except for proper names. The meaning of all such italicized words can be found in the glossary below. It may be helpful to keep this tab open for easy reference during reading. Technical or archaic English words are also listed in the glossary with their meanings, and new words will be added as the story progresses.

The Islamic greeting, "As-salaamu alaikum" and the response "Wa-alaikum salaam" is mandatory whenever people meet each other. In this book the exchange is considered implicit when any person of Islamic faith greets another, while the text itself is sometimes omitted for the sake of avoiding repetition.

NAMES

Arabic names differ from Western ones. Names can have up to four parts. The ism is the name a person is usually called with, by family and friends (for example: Dayfa, Isa or Ahmed). It is sometimes preceded by a laqab, an honorary title granted by a sovereign to commemorate an important achievement (e.g. Sayf-ad-Din, which means 'Sword of the Faith'). Important figures may have more than one laqab. The name is usually rounded off by the nasab, or the paternal lineage (e.g. ibn Ayyub, which means 'Son of Ayyub'). A nisbah, which indicates the person's tribe or ancestral home may follow (e.g. al-Dimashqi, which means 'a person of the city Dimashq'). Click the external link to read more on Islamic names.

DATES

The Islamic calendar is divided into 12 months like the Gregorian calendar in use all over the world today, but the total number of days in a year are only 354-355. Hence the Islamic year is out of sync with the common year, and the Islamic ninth month Ramadan will rarely coincide with the Gregorian ninth month September.

The list of months are:

Muharram, Safar, Rabi'al-awwal, Rabi'ath-thani, Jumada'al-ula, Jumada'al-akhirah, Rajab, Sha'baan, Ramadan, Shawwal, Dhu'al-Qa'dah, Dhu'al-Hijjah.

The week has seven days, as follows:

al-Ahad (Monday), al-Ithnayn (Tuesday), ath-Thulatha (Wednesday), al-Arba'a (Thursday), al-Khamis (Friday), al-Jumah (Saturday), as-Sabt (Sunday)

Dates at the head of a chapter are given in both the western AD and the Islamic Hijri (or AH) systems. AH indicates the number of years since the Hijri or the migration of the prophet Muhammad and his followers to Mecca. This occurred in approximately AD 622, but as the Islamic year has a different number of days Hijri dates cannot be found simply by subtracting from AD dates. AH dates are referred to within the story, while AD dates are given for the readers' convenience.

RELIGION

The religion of Islam requires everyone, regardless of gender, to say five prayers daily. The adhan, the call to prayer, is called out before each one:

 Salat al-Fajr [the morning prayer] is said in the time between dawn and sunrise.

Salat al-Zuhr [the early afternoon prayer] is said just after noon when the sun begins to decline.

Salat al-'Asr [the late afternoon prayer] is said when the sun is about midway on its course to setting.

Salat al-Maghrib [the sunset prayer] is said immediately after the sun sets.

Salat al-'Isha [the early night prayer] is said when the red glow in the west disappears, and its time extends to midnight. It must be said before going to bed.

  Before saying prayers it is necessary to wash the parts of the body which are generally exposed [in order: hands, mouth, nose, face, right and then left arm, head, feet]. This is called wudzu, or ablution.  

Please note that references made to God and faith by the characters in this book are for the purposes of realism and world-building, in an attempt to reflect the views and attitudes held during that period in history. Both Muslims and Christians in medieval times harboured much hatred towards each other and vilified accounts of the other's religion were not uncommon. These criticisms are of course hardly relevant in today's age.

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GLOSSARY

Allah: The one supreme god in Islam
As salaamu alaikum: Peace be upon you; the traditional greeting observed when two people meet. The correct response is Wa alaikum salaam, meaning "and unto you peace as well"
Dimashq : The city now known as Damascus, in present-day Syria
Insh'allah: If Allah wills
Iwan: An open vaulted space inset into the side of a building, usually as part of an entrance.
Khatun: A title given to an important or royal woman
Madrasah: A place of study, learning, and teaching within a large city, equivalent roughly to a small college.
Maktabah: A quiet place for scholars to read and write, similar to a library
Mawla: A title denoting a man of great wisdom
Muezzin: A person who stands in the minaret of a mosque and calls people to prayer at the appropriate times
Qanun: A many-stringed Turkish and Arabic instrument
Sharia: Islamic religious law, used to settle civil disputes at the time.
Souq: A large open marketplace 
Sultan: An Islamic ruler of a great empire

Refer to the above section dates for a list of days and months.

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It is not our intention to cause any offence or insult to anyone's beliefs. Please let us know if anything we have mentioned in this story is incorrect or disrespectful to the religion and/or culture of the area.

And lastly - enjoy the story!