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"There is no judgment except for God", the motto of the Kharijites, in Arabic
"There is no judgment except for God", the motto of the Kharijites, in Arabic
The Kharijites were an Islamic sect which emerged during the First Muslim Civil War (656–661). The first Kharijites emerged from the supporters of Caliph Ali while protesting against his peace talks with Mu'awiya at the Battle of Siffin in 657. After Ali defeated the Kharijites, he was assassinated in 661 by a vengeful Kharijite. As caliph, Mu'awiya kept them in check until the power vacuum caused by the Second Muslim Civil War allowed them to seize large areas in Persia and Arabia. Weakened by internal disputes, they were defeated by subsequent governments, although their revolts lingered on into the Abbasid period. Ibadis are the sole surviving sect. Rejecting noble descent as a requirement for the caliphal office, the Kharijites held that any pious Muslim could become caliph. Most Kharijite groups branded other Muslims as unbelievers. Mainstream Muslims have viewed the Kharijites as religious extremists, although some modern Arab historians have stressed their egalitarian tendencies. (Full article...)
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Did you know ...
John Caffey
John Caffey
... that John Caffey (pictured) was the first to describe the condition now known as shaken baby syndrome?
... that people in Loli traditionally derive their social identity from the village in which they were born?
... that Thomas Jeremiah, a slaveowner, was executed for inciting a slave insurrection?
... that Don't Pay UK plan to encourage UK households to cancel their energy bill payments on 1 October 2022 if their pledge reaches 1 million signatures?
... that PJ and Thomas were the first gay couple to host an HGTV show?
... that in 2018, Donald Trump disinvited the Philadelphia Eagles from a Super Bowl LII victory ceremony at the White House after several players said they were not going to attend?
... that at the end of the siege of Petra in 551 AD, the Romans discovered that there was yet another pipe beneath the ones they destroyed that was supplying water to the besieged garrison all along?
... that Edward N. Hall is known as the "father of the Minuteman ICBM" but his brother Ted was a Soviet spy?
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In the news
Salman Rushdie in 2018
Salman Rushdie
A church fire in Giza, Egypt, kills 41 people, including at least 18 children.
Salman Rushdie (pictured), author of The Satanic Verses, is critically injured after a stabbing at a speech in the United States.
A mass fish kill occurs in the river Oder in Poland and Germany.
A mass shooting in Cetinje, Montenegro, leaves 11 people dead and 6 others injured.
Ongoing: COVID-19 pandemic Russian invasion of Ukraine
Recent deaths: Darius Campbell Danesh Nicholas Evans Steve Worster Maung Paw Tun Corky Palmer Jean-Jacques Sempé
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On this day
August 18: Krishna Janmashtami (Hinduism, 2022)
Statue of Alice Nutter, hanged during the Pendle witch trials
Statue of Alice Nutter, hanged during the Pendle witch trials
684 – Second Fitna: Umayyad partisans defeated the supporters of Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr near Damascus, cementing Umayyad control of Syria.
1612 – The trials of the Pendle and Samlesbury witches (statue pictured), among the most famous of England's witch trials, began at the assizes in Lancaster.
1945 – World War II: Amid a Soviet invasion of Japanese-held Sakhalin, Japanese police massacred 18 Koreans in Kamishisuka.
1948 – Australia won the fifth Test of the 1948 Ashes series, becoming the first Test cricket team to go undefeated in England, earning them the nickname "The Invincibles".
1983 – Hurricane Alicia made landfall near Galveston, Texas, causing $3 billion in damage and 21 fatalities.
Ruth Norman (b. 1900)Maria Ulfah Santoso (b. 1911)Edward Norton (b. 1969)
More anniversaries: August 17 August 18 August 19
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Today's featured picture
Glyphoglossus molossus
Glyphoglossus molossus is a species of frog in the family Microhylidae. Its common names include the blunt-headed burrowing frog and the balloon frog. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, moist savanna, intermittent freshwater marshes, rural gardens, temporary ponds, and heavily degraded former forest in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. This G. molossus frog was photographed in the district of Mueang Loei in northern Thailand.
Photograph credit: Rushen
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