I fail to see the connection between Islam and Fine Damascus gun barrels....truth is I don't want or care to see it.
Drew-
Allow me to be among your first customers, I am sold. In fact I would be surprised if there was no connection between damascus and the Indo Persian and/or Islamic Arab cultures.
It would surprise many to learn that Western culture owes a great and long unacknowledged debt to the Indo Persian culture and the later Islamic Arab culture. Without Arab scholars and libraries much of the ancient Greek and Roman knowledge which now forms the basis for many of our laws and much of culture would have been lost forever had we not "re-discovered it".
It would also surprise many to learn that English is an Indo European language or to learn that "Arian" as a regional designation, is in fact "Iran." The similarity in the two words is not co-incidental. Speaking of words; in Farsi the word for father is "padar", mother "madar", brother "baridar", and the word for right "rost" to mention only a few. Familial and common words tend to evolve less over time.
People, ideas and technology moved around back then, only more slowly. As I am sure you will note, one only has to look to the Bible to see how Paul and the early church managed to move around.
While on the subject of common ground, Jews, Christians and Moslems all worship the God of Abraham. That Catholics and Protestants have killed each other for years over real and imagined difference "worth dying over", it really should come as no surprise to anyone that greater differences (those between these three major religions) have proven fuel enough for senseless killing. Passions are high this day and age, but it should not blind the pursuit of truth in any forum.
Doug
