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Apr 3, 2023·edited Apr 3, 2023Liked by weird medieval guys

Abu ‘Amir (the author of your cat poem) lived in the late 11th century CE, and not in Egypt but Gorgan (northern Iran), as indicated by his surname al-Jurjani. Otherwise, nice work.

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author

Oh dear, thank you for the correction! I'll update the text.

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Apr 4, 2023Liked by weird medieval guys

Yay so glad you are on Substack now!

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Another fabulous post!! You are opening up whole new areas of human (and feline) history and culture to this ancient reader. And your writing voice is such a delight!

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author

Thank you so much!! This is high praise, I'm very glad you enjoyed :)

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I think this distinction is clear since dogs in Islam are mainly used as a utility animal not a pet (with shepherds, security), cats take this place in most Muslim cultures as the favorite pet. Hence, all those IG cat videos from Turkey. They're still free roaming in the country. Another anecdote is the statue of the cat that died. https://www.boredpanda.com/laid-back-cat-statue-tombili-istanbul/

The muslim tradition is filled with animal cuteness in so many ways anyways hah.

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