honestly just the first four words are enough to make it very clear this author doesn’t know what “Arab” means
Replies
the number of western authors who legitimately seem unable to comprehend the fact that iranians and arabs have fucking loathed each other since 633 ce is much higher than it should be
sep 8, 2025, 2:17 pm • 8 0 • view
I feel like "Iranians aren't Arabs" should be the absolute knowledge floor for anyone publishing a book in any genre about the Middle East.
sep 8, 2025, 2:22 pm • 5 0 • view
I think the blurb is careful to avoid the word "other" (which would have lumped in Iran with the Arab world) and in exchange it provides the equally credulous claim that Iran would be a *leader* of the Arab world.
sep 8, 2025, 3:24 pm • 0 0 • view
I think you’re giving this book too much credit in assuming it’s careful about anything, seeing as it unironically uses the word “Moslem” like it’s 1873
sep 8, 2025, 3:25 pm • 2 0 • view
Could be worse: they could have dredged up "Musselman".
sep 8, 2025, 3:28 pm • 0 0 • view
I agree entirely
sep 8, 2025, 2:25 pm • 2 0 • view
How can that be, they're all "Moslem"
sep 8, 2025, 2:23 pm • 1 0 • view
they’re all Musselmans, worshippers of the demon Baphomet from farthest Turkia
sep 8, 2025, 2:25 pm • 4 0 • view
This is Aleph Shin but backwards
sep 8, 2025, 2:16 pm • 2 0 • view
I highly recommend reading Aleph Shin, just for the experience. It may be a gross end times Kahanist thriller for a Haredi audience, but the sheer trippiness makes it worth reading once
sep 8, 2025, 2:18 pm • 3 0 • view
is there a way that I can pirate it so that I don’t need to give the publisher any money see also i wanted to get some books on the pesach without giving any money to mekhon hamikdash
sep 8, 2025, 2:19 pm • 1 0 • view
it's on anna's archive
sep 8, 2025, 2:24 pm • 0 0 • view
I don't think it's in print, should easily be available secondhand.
sep 8, 2025, 2:20 pm • 2 0 • view
Plus: Mashiach is Yemenite Neutral: Amalek is just one guy, and he's a Lithuanian neo-Nazi Minus: a lightly fictionalized version of Jonathan Pollard is a major supporting character
sep 8, 2025, 2:21 pm • 4 0 • view
is his name Mashiaḥ Mashiaḥ as goes the old joke (i.e. “In Yemen the word משיח is used as a first name and as a last name for several families. So if someone were born to the משיח family, was named משיח, and was the messiah, he’d be משיח משיח, משיח, oy oy oyoyoyoyoyyyy”)
sep 8, 2025, 2:24 pm • 1 0 • view
No, I don't think so, it works into the mystique of ancient mesorah IIRC
sep 8, 2025, 2:26 pm • 0 0 • view
so is it based on that passage from Sanhedrin 98b where a bunch of different rabbis all say “he’s totally gonna be named after me”
sep 8, 2025, 2:28 pm • 0 0 • view
מָה שְׁמוֹ? דְּבֵי רַבִּי שֵׁילָא אָמְרִי: שִׁילֹה שְׁמוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״עַד כִּי יָבֹא שִׁילֹה״. דְּבֵי רַבִּי יַנַּאי אָמְרִי: יִנּוֹן שְׁמוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״יְהִי שְׁמוֹ לְעוֹלָם לִפְנֵי שֶׁמֶשׁ יִנּוֹן שְׁמוֹ״. דְּבֵי רַבִּי חֲנִינָה אָמְרִי: חֲנִינָה שְׁמוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״אֲשֶׁר לֹא אֶתֵּן לָכֶם חֲנִינָה״. gee i wonder why shela’s school says shiloh, yannai’s says yinnon, and ḥanina’s says ḥanina. v unbiased
sep 8, 2025, 2:30 pm • 1 0 • view
I don't remember. As I recall the Mashiach character - who I won't say much about because it might spoil a plot point - has many pseudonyms and I don't remember if his "real" name is ever established
sep 8, 2025, 2:30 pm • 0 0 • view
I should point out that I've spoken to people well to my right politically - some of whom I'm not on speaking terms with anymore because of said politics - and the idea that this book is both insanely far-right but still worth reading for the weirdness factor was agreed upon across the spectrum.
sep 8, 2025, 2:29 pm • 0 0 • view
Like, the author eliminates* 10s of millions of (modern-day...) Egyptians just because within the first few chapters; the audience who thinks that "yeah this guy has the right ideas" is very small *And I mean by human action orchestrated by the book's protagonists
sep 8, 2025, 2:34 pm • 0 0 • view