Yesterday the indoor critic and I set out for a Carol Service in Benalmadena.
The service was for the English Speaking congregations who meet in the Catholic Church of The Virgen del Carmen in Bonanza Square, Benalmadena, both Anglican and Roman Catholic.
As we drove down from Alhuarin el Grande the temperature was a steady 24 degrees centigrade, hardly an appropriate temperature for attending a service of Christmas Carols.
We had set out early, quite intentionally, because it was such a beautiful day with hardly a cloud in the sky and we intended to treat ourselves to a little promenade, what in Genoa we came to call passeggiata and which in Spain we have learned is paseo.
We parked the car in Benalmadena near to a Mosque on the sea front, the Palm Trees, and the gentle wash of the sea on the sand below made a perfect combination.
As we set out on our walk we passed a Statue and in the way of those with time on their hands we went across to look at the Sculpture and read the Memorial.
The sculpture was of a man called Ibn al Baitar, he was born in Ben al Madina, as it was then called in 1197.
He was a Pharmacist, although in practice that meant herbalist and a Botanist.
Looking at the statute reminded us not only that this part of Spain was then part of the Caliphate, but that science and knowledge and a concern for human advancement was, in the time of Ibn al Baitar very much part of the heritage of Islam.
Ibn al Baitar died in 1248 in Damascus, at the age of 51 having served as herbalist to the Ayyubid sultan Al Kamil.
Later that day on the News we saw the pictures of the people assassinated by the Taliban for innoculating children against Polio.
There is something essentially tragic in comparing these two expressions of Islam one a careful, lifelong commitment to understanding the healing nature of plants, the other a woeful ignorance, seeking to turn the clock back to an altogether darker age, whilst claiming to be operating in the tradition of Islam and calling for the return of the Caliphate.
But Ibn al Baitar also pointed to another link.
His birth in Ben al Madina, is duly celebrated by the memorial but, as a Citizen of the Caliphate he was free to travel and his research into the healing properties of plants took him from mainland Spain to North Africa, Asia Minor and the Middle East.
He published two books which were a resource to healers around the world far into the 19th Century.
But his death in Dasmascus draws another connection; with a tragic nation being bombed into the dark ages not by an enemy without, but by its own Government.
Having enjoyed our walk and as the sun began to set, we drove up to Bonanza Square and the huge Church of the Virgen del Carmen.
When we arrived the daily distribution of food was underway.
This important ministry of the Church, supported by Catholic and Anglicans together, is another aspect, not only of the deepening recession in Europe but also of the manner in which Southern Spain, along with Italy and France have become the gateway for refugees, both economic migrants and refugees from war and hunger, seeking a better life in the West.
As long as Britain and other wealthy nations continue to allow their economies to be shaped by desire for profit and the pursuit of materialism the steady decline in public values will continue and a return to a darker age, where the Barbarians will not be camped at the gates because they have been running things for sometime, will happen.
After the service we called in to view the Bellen in Fuengirola, a Nativity Diorama set up in a private home and showing the story of the Nativity from Bethlehem to the flight into Egypt.
The Bellen and the Carol Service were both part of the annual reminder of the essential message of Christmas, that the peace we seek has arrived in the form of a vulnerable and gentle child, born to a woman whose first response to the threats made against her child was to seek refuge in another country.
The service was for the English Speaking congregations who meet in the Catholic Church of The Virgen del Carmen in Bonanza Square, Benalmadena, both Anglican and Roman Catholic.
As we drove down from Alhuarin el Grande the temperature was a steady 24 degrees centigrade, hardly an appropriate temperature for attending a service of Christmas Carols.
We had set out early, quite intentionally, because it was such a beautiful day with hardly a cloud in the sky and we intended to treat ourselves to a little promenade, what in Genoa we came to call passeggiata and which in Spain we have learned is paseo.
We parked the car in Benalmadena near to a Mosque on the sea front, the Palm Trees, and the gentle wash of the sea on the sand below made a perfect combination.
As we set out on our walk we passed a Statue and in the way of those with time on their hands we went across to look at the Sculpture and read the Memorial.
The sculpture was of a man called Ibn al Baitar, he was born in Ben al Madina, as it was then called in 1197.
He was a Pharmacist, although in practice that meant herbalist and a Botanist.
Looking at the statute reminded us not only that this part of Spain was then part of the Caliphate, but that science and knowledge and a concern for human advancement was, in the time of Ibn al Baitar very much part of the heritage of Islam.
Ibn al Baitar died in 1248 in Damascus, at the age of 51 having served as herbalist to the Ayyubid sultan Al Kamil.
Later that day on the News we saw the pictures of the people assassinated by the Taliban for innoculating children against Polio.
There is something essentially tragic in comparing these two expressions of Islam one a careful, lifelong commitment to understanding the healing nature of plants, the other a woeful ignorance, seeking to turn the clock back to an altogether darker age, whilst claiming to be operating in the tradition of Islam and calling for the return of the Caliphate.
But Ibn al Baitar also pointed to another link.
His birth in Ben al Madina, is duly celebrated by the memorial but, as a Citizen of the Caliphate he was free to travel and his research into the healing properties of plants took him from mainland Spain to North Africa, Asia Minor and the Middle East.
He published two books which were a resource to healers around the world far into the 19th Century.
But his death in Dasmascus draws another connection; with a tragic nation being bombed into the dark ages not by an enemy without, but by its own Government.
Having enjoyed our walk and as the sun began to set, we drove up to Bonanza Square and the huge Church of the Virgen del Carmen.
When we arrived the daily distribution of food was underway.
This important ministry of the Church, supported by Catholic and Anglicans together, is another aspect, not only of the deepening recession in Europe but also of the manner in which Southern Spain, along with Italy and France have become the gateway for refugees, both economic migrants and refugees from war and hunger, seeking a better life in the West.
As long as Britain and other wealthy nations continue to allow their economies to be shaped by desire for profit and the pursuit of materialism the steady decline in public values will continue and a return to a darker age, where the Barbarians will not be camped at the gates because they have been running things for sometime, will happen.
After the service we called in to view the Bellen in Fuengirola, a Nativity Diorama set up in a private home and showing the story of the Nativity from Bethlehem to the flight into Egypt.
The Bellen and the Carol Service were both part of the annual reminder of the essential message of Christmas, that the peace we seek has arrived in the form of a vulnerable and gentle child, born to a woman whose first response to the threats made against her child was to seek refuge in another country.
No comments:
Post a Comment