Gaza hopes to welcome blockade-busting flotilla

You —

Preparations are under way in Gaza to receive a convoy of ships that is trying to break Israel's economic blockade of the Palestinian territory.

The ships, carrying up to 10,000 tonnes of aid and human rights activists from around the world, will try to reach Gaza on Sunday.

Israel is adamant it will not allow them into Gaza.

Read more @ BBC News

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You — Wed, 2 Jun 2010 - 18:59

There have been "caliphates" til 1924. Not in the singular and I think I have quite convincingly proven that with the help of pretty pictures from a single time in history (though we can go both forwards and backwards from there).

Anonymous1 (not verified) — Wed, 2 Jun 2010 - 19:04

I have not disputed from the start there have not been parallel Caliphates - Andalus and Fatimids come to mind which the scholars addressed historically.

The point I raised which it appears you agree is that there has been one continuous legitimate Caliphate (Rashida, Umawiyya, Abassiya, Uthmaniya) till 1924 all of whom faced problems of their time which they had to address.

You — Wed, 2 Jun 2010 - 19:11

I disagree with the "one" in "one continuous". I would say "multiple overlapping" is more accurate.

and if we be lax about the rules, we can say that there are multiple caliphates now and thus it did not end in 1924 (but that would be disingenious of me - Most muslim governments are a disgraceful farce).

And ofcourse they would all have their own "issues of the time".

Anonymous1 (not verified) — Wed, 2 Jun 2010 - 20:06

It's probably more inaccurate to say multiple overlapping through history as there were not multiple overlapping caliphates in many periods of history (rashida, umawwiyya, ottoman etc).

Why is it inaccurate to say there was one continuous chain of caliphs (albeit 3 years in 1258) with some periods where there 1 or 2 competing Caliphates(Fatimid/Andalus - any others who claimed to be caliphates?) ?