Ali A Olomi
@aaolomi
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Writer, Asst. Prof, Historian of MiddleEast & Islam: politics, gender, Islamic esotericism, astrology & science. Host of #HeadOnHistory Podcast / UCI alum
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Joined November 2012
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A master thread organizing all the threads I've done-
On angels in Islam-
On dreams and their interpretation in Islam and Middle Eastern folklore-
On the Zodiac in Islamic astrology-
Islamic astrology shares a lot of commonalities and influence with European medieval astrology. For example how they interpret the different signs of the zodiac, or dairat al buruj
A thread on the signs in Islamic astrology:
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this is who Netanyahu called the “children of darkness”
“Her name is Lulu…she is scared of the loud bombing just like us.”
The beautiful children of Gaza who risked their lives to save their cat from Israeli bombing
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someone said americans will invade your country and kill your people then 20 years later make a movie about how invading your country and killing your people made their soldiers sad
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what the coverage forgot to mention is there were 39 babies. 8 died during Israel’s siege of al-Shifa hospital. The 31 are survivors
Thirty one premature babies have been safely evacuated from al Shifa hospital to a hospital in Rafah.
🔗
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me when the hyaluronic acid hits my face
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the most heart wrenching sentence I’ve ever read: “The boy keeps asking for his parents, and he wants to get up and walk, but his parents are dead and his legs have been amputated.”
Bombarded twice in Gaza, 4-year-old Ahmed lost his parents in the first then his legs in the second attack - Reuters.
The boy keeps asking for his parents, and he wants to get up and walk, but his parents are dead and his legs have been amputated.
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olive trees live and grow for hundreds of years
many of these olive trees are older than the state of Israel
many of these olive trees are older than the Ottoman Empire
these olive trees are an ancient cultural heritage and sacred in the Qu’ran and Bible
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during the Great Famine, the Ottoman sultan moved by the suffering of the Irish tried to donate 10,000 (equivalent of 1 mil today). Queen Victoria personally intervened asking him not.
So Sultan Abdulmejid I secretly sent ships of food & medicine to Ireland
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By Israel’s own estimates, 94% of the deaths have been civilian casualties.
If you’re killing 94% civilians you can’t claim collateral damage
If you’re killing 6x more children than Hamas you can’t claim collateral damage
It’s intentional
This is insane: we've destroyed half of Gaza, displaced over 1.5 million people from their homes, murdered at least 6,000 children & were only able to kill 1,000-2,000 Hamas militants?
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no one held them accountable for the flour massacre so they did it again
The Israeli military has targeted Palestinians waiting for flour trucks near the Kuwaiti roundabout in Gaza City.
The health ministry says dozens of people have been killed and injured, reports Al Jazeera's Tareq Abu Azzoum.
🔴 LIVE updates:
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the devil works hard but the empire’s propaganda machine works harder
Channing Tatum and Tom Hardy have been cast in an untitled drama about
3 former special forces team members who go back to Afghanistan to rescue families and allies left behind amid the rapid fall of Afghanistan last August.
(Source: Deadline)
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Your god is a Middle Eastern Jew, your theology North African, your science is Arabic, your numbers Indian, and most of your politics southern Mediterranean.
Western Civ is a lie you tell yourself to avoid the reality that all you’ve got you stole from the rest of the world
White men have produced most of the great art and literature, not because whiteness or maleness are superior, but because western civilization was largely the product of white men and only moved toward liberalization and inclusion slowly.
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CNN, BBC, ABC News, & MSNBC didn’t stream South Africa’s case charging Israel with genocide yesterday
but today all of them are streaming and covering Israel’s defense
this is how you manufacture consent
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they uncovered a mass grave in Gaza where children had their hands zip tied before being executed so naturally our entire media machine is working overdrive to make this all about campus protests
Some of the 400 bodies discovered in mass graves at Nasser Hospital in Gaza.
According to reporting, these bodies include children with their hands tied behind their backs — murdered while in captivity, a direct breach of the Geneva Convention.
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The Taliban are the ugly offspring of the Cold War who came to power in the 90's as a result of US and Soviet meddling in Afghanistan.
A thread on origins of the mujahideen and the Taliban
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In a generation Rashida Talib will have been proven right by history and the world. On that day a lot of politicians and journalists and pundits who vilified her will try to rewrite history to pretend they stood with her
I am the only Palestinian American serving in Congress, and my perspective is needed here now more than ever. I will not be silenced and I will not let anyone distort my words.
I’m from Detroit, where I learned to speak truth to power, even if my voice shakes.
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Yemen is one of the poorest counties yet the Houthis are forcing the world’s empires to their knees
BREAKING: BP has announced it is pausing shipments of oil through the Red Sea after recent attacks on vessels by Houthi rebels
🔗 Read more
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The djinn/jinn are the most famous beings of the Middle East and Islam, but Middle Eastern folklore is full of fantastic creatures. Some of them are terrifying and others benevolent.
A thread on mythic and legendary beasts and monsters
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we all shake our head at stuff this obvious but we don’t talk enough about how pernicious and effective american propaganda actually is
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This a UN school. They filled it with explosives and blew it up from within. It was never about Hamas
My middle school
@UNRWA
in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip blown apart by demolition explosives.
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In Middle Eastern and Islamic cosmology, the djinn/jinn are a class of spirits that inhabit a hidden world, al ghayb. Belief in them predates Islam and they feature in folklore and religion both in a variety of shapes and forms
A thread on the djinn:
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Imam al-Shafi’i once said: “there is a verse in the Quran that should terrify every oppressor and comfort the oppressed”
the people asked: “what is it”
he replied: “And your Lord never forgets”
(Quran 19:64)
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an entire generation of Palestinian children are going to grow up without arms and legs. tens of thousands of them disabled for life
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In honor of
#Juneteenth
here is a paper talisman written by enslaved African Muslims in early America.
These paper talismans were used for protection and to organize resistance. They also highlight the high levels of literacy.
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school in the 9/11 era was so surreal your middle and high school teachers were asking why your fellow Muslims hated americans then some kid named michael would raise his hand and propose we nuke Baghdad and 30 kids plus the teacher would agree
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why, oh why did those barbarians make me into a killer…
when i tell you how effective american propaganda is, this is what i mean. They think it’s only propaganda when it “glorifies”
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In Islamic belief, angels have no free will and are the perfect servants of the God. There is however a debated narrative of two angels who came to earth and taught humanity forbidden knowledge.
A thread on the angels Harut and Marut and the knowledge of astrology and magic-
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The jinn are invisible beings said to live alongside humanity. The trope of jinn haunts is a common one throughout the Islamic world, but equally compelling are the stories of jinn as builders crediting them with building many cities and monuments of the ancient world
A thread-
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In popular depictions like Disney’s Aladdin, genies are trapped in lamps with possession of the lamp granting the owner dominion over the genie and its powers via wishes. But the relationship between jinn and vessels is an ancient one of mystery, folklore, and magic.
A thread
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put that shit back have you see the mess 2020 already is
30 lead tablets, engraved with curses, that invoked the gods of the underworld in order to cause harm to others, have been discovered at the bottom of a 2,500 year old well in Athens.
#archaeology
#Greece
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muslims believe the devil is chained up during the month of Ramadan so if you don’t hear from your ex for a while now you know
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Islamic history is full of famous women scholars, scientists, and teachers who defying the odds shaped their intellectual worlds.
A thread-
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Islamic history is full of powerful women who defying all odds became queens and rulers, shaping their own destiny and the fortune of their realms
A thread-
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Islamic history is full of warrior women who fiercely fought for what they believed in, defended what they cherished, and defied all expectations and became legends.
A thread on warrior women-
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they boarded the dogs and cats onto the plane then left the Afghan staff behind
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they’re using all the tiktoks Israeli soldiers made to brag against them in the international court of justice. The most devastating legal “this you” in history.
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to paraphrase Edward Said, every empire imagines itself “civilizing” or “liberating” those people over there. To maintain that fiction, it manufactures consent repeatedly through a vast propaganda arm.
empire is relies on willing people like this
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The jinn are invisible beings said to live alongside humanity. They are associated with ancient ruins for it is believed they once built great civilizations of their own in a time long since forgotten by humans.
A thread on jinn and ancient ruins and historical sites-
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South Asia and Southeast Asia are rich in folklore and tales of monsters, creatures, and legendary beings. Sprits stalk the forests, revenants haunt the night, and monsters creep through the land.
A thread-
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today thousands of pro Israel people are rallying in DC chanting “no ceasefire”
this is what they are cheering on, this is what they want more of ⬇️
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Islamic history is full of brilliant women scholars who took knowledge to new heights but who have rarely gotten their due.
For International Women’s Day a thread-
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1,000 children have had amputations. 1,000. I’ve read that line over and over again. Somewhere in Gaza there is a small graveyard of children’s limbs
Children with disabilities in Gaza have nowhere to go and are struggling to escape Israel’s bombs.
And UNICEF estimates about 1,000 children have suffered limb amputations since Israel’s attacks began.
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the omens are omening
Lightning struck the Statue Of Liberty during a thunderstorm in the New York City area this week ⚡
📸:
@DanTVusa
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When Palestinians tried to move south they bombed them on the road
When Palestinians tried to shelter in refugee camps they bombed the camps
CNN's Wolf Blitzer: You knew that there were innocent civilians in that refugee camp, right?
IDF spox: This is the tragedy of war. We told them to move south.
Blitzer: So you decided to drop the bomb anyway.
IDF spox: We’re doing everything we can to minimize civilian deaths.
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Islamic astrology shares a lot of commonalities and influence with European medieval astrology. For example how they interpret the different signs of the zodiac, or dairat al buruj
A thread on the signs in Islamic astrology:
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they say scholarly jinn take on the form of cats to hang out in bookstores or attend lectures
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flour massacre
try to wrap your head around that phrase
it is genuinely one of the most horrific things I’ve ever read
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In Islam, the devil is known as Iblis. He is the leader of the evil jinn, or shaiytan. Some of these evil jinn are actually his direct descendants and family
a thread
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Queen Victoria had donated 2,000 to Ireland so Sultan Abdulmejid’s offer of 10,000 was unacceptable to the British monarch.
The sultan was forced to lower the amount to 1,000 but feeling it was not enough decided to also send ships full of provisions to the harbor of Drogheda
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Barry Keoghan is set to star in Johan Renck’s next film ‘AMO SADDAM’.
The film follows the final days of Saddam Hussein through the eyes of the
American soldier tasked with guarding him.
(Source: )
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The djinn/jinn are a race of invisible beings in Middle Eastern and Islamic folklore. While there isn’t a lot written about them, they are said to live in tribes and nations with their own rulers.
A thread on the djinn kings:
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after watching video after video of dead Palestinian kids then hearing Biden wave it all away I keep coming back to this quote from Orwell’s 1984:
“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
Biden doesn't have confidence in the Gaza death toll: "I have no notion if Palestinians are telling the truth...I'm sure innocents have been killed & it is the price of waging war..Israel should be incredibly careful to ensure they're going after the folks propagating this war."
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The Moon is one of the most important placements in a person’s birth chart. In astrology from the Islamic world, the Moon is central after the Ascendant for determining the character and nature of a person.
A thread on the Moon and its meanings-
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there’s no animal on earth more of an embodiment of chaos than pandas
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3 people.
3 people voted to hand the internet over to corporations.
3 people accountable to no one and with conflicts of interests tied to corporations.
3 people voted against what 80% of Americans wanted.
This is the definition of a plutocracy
#NetNeutrality
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Every few hundred years, Jupiter and Saturn meet in a Great Conjunction. For medieval Muslim astrologers the cycles would represent the rise and fall of empires, the coming of messiahs, and foretell the apocalypse.
The next conjunction is December 20th 2020.
A thread-
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in some legends they say jinn hang out among the branches of trees
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these are the type of student protests which eventually helped bring down apartheid in South Africa
There have now been Palestine solidarity & anti-war student actions on at least 75 U.S. college campuses in the past week
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Throughout the centuries cats have earned a revered and beloved position is Islamic societies. From Prophet Muhammad’s reputed love of them to their connection to the jinn.
A thread-
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the act was commemorated by letters of thanks and mentioned in the Irish Freeman Journal:
“a believer in Modammedanism, he acted in the true spirit of a follower of Christ, and set an example which many professing Christians would do well to imitate”
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Islam, like Christianity and Judaism, has a devil. But Iblis, as he’s known to Muslims, differs from the red-skinned and horned devil popular in “Western” imagination.
A thread on the devil in Islamic tradition and folklore
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Belief in the evil eye is found in many global cultures but particularly in the Middle East, Africa, India, and the Mediterranean. It is based on the idea that the malicious or envious gaze of some can disrupt your health and luck
A quick thread
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Santa is magical and travels the whole world in a single night and sneaks into people’s houses and eats their food, yeah Santa is a jinn
all your childhood Christmas favorites are jinn
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On April 4th Mars and Saturn will align in the heavens in an occurrence which held great significance for the people of the past. Medieval astrologers and astronomers of the Islamic world watched the cycles of Mars and Saturn as omens of things to come.
A thread-
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You mean like Haiti? Or the countless decolonization struggles of the African continent? Or Palestine? Or the Indigenous resistance against colonizers?
These struggles have always existed, the problem is you all only valorize one type of people...
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Middle Eastern and Islamic folklore is full of legendary beasts and creatures of all shapes and sizes. Some of the most unique are the winged creatures who fill the pages of epic tales, bestiaries, and encyclopedic works.
A thread on the creatures of sky and air-
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According to some account before humanity, the jinn walked the earth. The various factions of the jinn waged a mighty war until God intervened.
a thread on the jinn war at the beginning of time
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in honor of yesterday’s eclipse my favorite image from Islamic manuscripts depicting one
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Libra has earned the reputation of harmony and beauty among the zodiac. For medieval Muslim astrologers, Libra was the pinnacle of justice and has a forgotten relationship with war.
A thread on Libra in astrology from the Islamic World-
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While the djinn/jinn are the most iconic and famous creatures from the Middle East, there are many fantastic and wonderous monsters and beasts found in Middle Eastern and Islamic folklore
A thread on legendary and mythic creatures
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In the writings of medieval Muslim astrologers, Scorpio takes on contradictory meanings as a sign of prophecy and sorcery. One of the more complex zodiac signs, it offers us interesting insight.
A thread on Scorpio in astrology from the Islamic World
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if you’re feeling ugly today just remember the jinn watching you from your mirror thinks you’re pretty
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i love how in Islamic art, Virgo is depicted as harvesting.
Abu Ma’shar says those born under Virgo are pleasant, but anxious about the future, playful, but restrained.
They grow to be wise, are just, generous, judgmental, and cultured.
They enjoy music.
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In Islam, King Solomon is a wise monarch and prophet who ruled over humans, beasts, and djinn.
A race of fantastical invisible beings, the djinn served Solomon and were the focus of legend and folklore
A thread on the magic and djinn of Solomon
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The djinn are said to be an invisible race living alongside humankind. While some inhabit our cities & even our homes, stories also tell of legendary lands & remote locations where they reside.
A thread on the realms and kingdoms of djinn in Middle Eastern and Islamic folklore
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The legendary Queen of Sheba is one of the most fascinating figures in Islam. The wife of King Solomon and a queen in her own right, her story is full of mystery and jinn.
a thread-
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In Islam, King Solomon is a prophet granted dominion over man, beast, & djinn/jinn.
But Islamic folklore expand on the legends of Solomon and his djinn. He becomes the archetype for esoteric traditions on binding and controlling them
A thread on Solomon’s djinn
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Just as Merlin is famous in European lore as a great wizard, so too do we find mages, witches, sorcerers, and sorceresses in the Middle East and Islamic world.
A thread on the legendary and historic magic-workers of the Middle East
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if you want to learn more about the history of what is happening in Israel and Palestine these are the books I highly recommend.
A 🧵
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Women played an important role in shaping Islamic history and yet like most history the lives of women are often silenced. What we can glean from their lives however reveals a great deal about the societies they lived in.
A thread-
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In Islamic cosmology humanity is not alone in this world, but rather the world is shared with the jinn an invisible race of beings born of smokeless fire. Some places in the world are said to be especially connected to them.
A thread on the realms of the jinn
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