Month: July 2018

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Saudi Arabia 1977, the oldest Mosque, before it was torn down to make something bigger

The Haj must be big business. How else to explain tearing down the oldest Mosque with a cornerstone set by Mohammed himself. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your tea, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This stamp perplexes me. Here on the stamp is a Mosque, perhaps the earliest one, that dates from 622 AD. To have survived into the twentieth century means it made it through many different periods. Protecting the Holy Sites is perhaps the top charge of the Saudi Royal line. Yet it was torn down shortly afterward to build something much bigger to accommodate the many Muslims that make the Haj.

The stamp today is issue A98 a 50 Halalas stamp issued by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1977. It was part of a 2 stamp issue in 20h and 50h denominations displaying the Quba Mosque in Medina. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

The Quba Mosque was completed in 622 AD. While the great Mosques in Mecca and Jerusalem are older, they are associated with the Prophets in Islam notably Abraham. The Mosque In Medina had it’s cornerstone laid by Mohammed himself after he emigrated to Medina from Mecca.

The Haj is now big business. Although Medina is not an official part of the Haj, there has long been a tradition of a following trip to Medina including the Quba Mosque. The numbers making  the Haj went up dramatically until recently. The annual numbers went from 300,000 a year in the 1960s to over 3 million about five years ago. For what it’s worth the numbers have begun to trend down lately falling below 2 million in 2017.

With the oil boom and the increase in Haj numbers the decision was taken to expand the Quda Mosque. Noted Egyptian architect Abdel-Wahed El-Wakil was brought in to renovate a much larger structure. It was supposed to incorporate much of the old structure but in the end the old building was taken down. There seems no mention of whether Mohammed’s cornerstone is still in place. See Below.

Quba Today

The Mosque has a mention in the Koran as a place that was founded on Duty to Allah wherein are men who love to purify themselves. Allah loves the purifier. I am of course not qualified to pass judgement on the decision to tear down the Mosque and expand it. As a non Muslim I think of it more in a historical sense. From that limited perspective, it seems a harsh thing to do.

Well my drink is empty and so I will open the discussion in the below comment section. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

 

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USA on the 4th, to remind you of the sacrifice before the being reminded of the bravery at the parade

I chose a Trumbull battle scene for my Fourth offering. At the battle of Bunker Hill, the British were bloodied and changed the wat they fought to lose less and the Americans realized to just stay in the game till the British tire. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and raise the flag. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Todays stamp is issue A967, a 10 cent stamp showing the Battle of Bunker Hill outside Boston in 1775. It was part of a series of stamps honoring the American Bicentennial in 1976. It is worth 25 cents whether mint or used.

The Battle of Bunker Hill came about when rebelling colonists tried to fortify the hills overlooking British held Boston. The British succeeded in taking the hill the same day but at a cost of shocking casualties. After this battle, the British changed their tactics to not confront dug in troops as much. This allowed the Continental Army to break away and escape from many encounters that otherwise might have spelled doom. The British also resolved to hire more mercenaries to fill out their ranks and further limit British casualties.

John Trumbull was an artist and a veteran of the Continental Army. He was the son of the Governor of Connecticut and attended Harvard. His paintings of American Revolutionary figures and battles are synonymous with the time. Other paintings of his grace the back of the two dollar bill and the Hamilton portrait on the ten. Post war he plied his trade in London and Paris but was only financially secure when he sold a large group of paintings to Yale in exchange for an annuity. Trumbull got his own stamp in 1968.

Well remembering the sacrifice that the painting and it’s stamp showed. It is time to watch the parade. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Housekeeping around the 200th post.

John C Publisher

Since I started this endeavor last October, I have now published 200 articles. That is about 120,000 words. I have personally succeeded greatly in that the research I am now constantly doing is greatly expanding my knowledge and I have come across many new personal revelations. As I hoped it would, the archive of articles is perhaps the biggest asset of the enterprise. When you search it on the sidebar, sometimes the website only gives you a thumbnail. Remember to click on the picture of the stamp to get the whole thing.

Here are links to a few of my favorites if you missed them.

  1. https://the-philatelist.com/2017/11/09/communism-provides-smokes-for-atheists-and-then-a-refugee-camp-for-muslims/
  2. https://the-philatelist.com/2018/03/27/fiume-the-city-state-whose-principle-was-music-and-weapon-was-castor-oil/
  3. https://the-philatelist.com/2018/03/05/india-suggests-an-anti-communist-aid-program-that-the-usa-should-pay-for-and-australia-and-britain-agree/

Here are some of the worst.

  1. https://the-philatelist.com/2018/04/20/peak-japan/
  2. https://the-philatelist.com/2018/06/01/hungary-swimming-at-the-helsinki-olympics/

I hope over time my writing and proofreading skills will improve and that if my readership continues increasing that eventually we will all enjoy a lively comment section. Thanks for reading and come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Ruanda-Urundi 1959, if we are leaving the Congo, we are not staying here

As recently as World War I, Belgium was still actively trying to add to its colonies in central Africa. Just 40 years later, there was pressure everywhere to just leave. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

A stamp with a gorilla on it from a European colony in Africa. In todays world we are on dangerous ground. I considered not doing the stamp. At least the gorilla is native to the territory. I will report the intentions of the Belgian colonial administration and why it failed in it’s stated and real objectives. This I believe will show a large contribution to why the post independence countries were such failures.

Todays stamp is issue A29, a 10 Centimes stamp issued by the Belgian administration of the United Nation Trust Territory of Ruanda-Urundi in 1959. It was part of a 14 stamp issue in various denominations showing examples of the local wildlife. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is mint or used.

During World War I Belgium sent an invasion force into the area from neighboring Belgian Congo. The area was then part of German East Africa. The attack was successful and the wars end saw Belgium occupying the territory. Post war the League of Nations recognized Belgium’s administration of the area but put forth conditions that Belgium was to ready the area for independence by investing in education and economic development. The Belgians had invaded under the old profit model where the economic output of the area is first used to make remittances back to Belgium with only a fraction remaining in the area to fund progress in the colony. The Belgians stated their goals this way so as to justify an extended time of the area as a profitable colony. “The real work is to change the African in his essence, to transform his soul, to do that one must love him and enjoy daily contact with him. He must be cured of his thoughtlessness, he must accustom himself to living in society, he must overcome his inertia.” Not sure any amount of time or money could achieve all that.

The money to accomplish it was miniscule. The education system was mainly just charity through the Belgian Catholic Church. The economic output was mainly coffee plantations of the type that rarely survive independence. At the time of independence the two new countries had less than 100 native college graduates between them. There were Royal lines in the two countries that predated colonial times and still ruled aspects of the administration of natives. These were not popular and were from a minority tribe. It was still Belgium’s intention to turn the countries fully over to them.

The Crown Prince in Burundi tried a stunt to give the Royal line more legitimacy. He returned early from his Belgian education with no degree but marketing himself as a labor leader who was going to rid the place of the Belgians. His party did well in the Belgian organized elections. The Prince and now soon to be Prime Minister was then assassinated. The heads of the rival party were blamed and quickly executed. The show trials purported to show the Belgian Colonial Governor Jean-Paul Harroy was behind it. This got rid of the rival party and surely sped up Belgium’s departure.

The unproven accusations greatly damaged the reputation of Governor Harroy. He had been somewhat a star with a PhD in Colonial Sciences. Something I am sure that is not much studied anymore. His thesis on African soil erosion resulting from colonial agricultural methods was quite influential worldwide and part of the decolonization movement. In any case Harroy returned to Belguim to become a University Professor and both Royal lines were overthrown within a few years.

There was a well known movie called “Hotel Rwanda” that showed scared locals and westerners marooned there desperately trying to get the Belgians to intervene during one of Rwanda’s many troubled periods 30 years post independence. They didn’t of course, by then they knew that their original mission was impossible and the Africans were themselves the ones to end their troubles.

The Mountain Gorilla is native to that part of Africa. They are critically endangered  with only about 880 remaining. This is a small improvement over a low of 410 estimated in 1981. There is a black market trade in gorilla babies stolen to be sold as pets or for Asian zoos. This also usually results in the death of an adult who will fight to the death for the baby.

Well my drink is empty and so I will open the discussion in the below comment section. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.