User talk:Stabby the Misanthrope/Essay:Promised Lands

This began as a research paper for geography class. I'm adapting and expanding it into a more personal essay because... well, because I want to. 04:22, 20 June 2012 (UTC)
 * Wrong namespace much? :P Peter Urist for Mod! 04:50, 20 June 2012 (UTC)
 * Fixed. Thanks, Peter.   05:03, 20 June 2012 (UTC)

interesting ^_^
Ahh yes, the ability of religion to turn a ancient trade route superseded long ago in importance and practicality into the center of world changes. This seems like an interesting idea for an Essay. Doesn';t hurt that it's also part of my area of interest. -- il' Dictator   Mikal  05:02, 20 June 2012 (UTC)

Muhammad
Died/was buried in Medina, not Palestine. 05:11, 20 June 2012 (UTC)
 * Hm. I may have misunderstood the "rose to heaven" thing.  There you go, killing my sentences' rhythm with facts.   05:20, 20 June 2012 (UTC)
 * On the other hand, Moses kicked the bucket somewhere in the general vicinity. 05:23, 20 June 2012 (UTC)
 * Wasn't he a mountain on the other side of the jordan?-- il' Dictator   Mikal  05:49, 20 June 2012 (UTC)
 * Yes, as I recall he was not allowed to enter the land itself because of some legal quibble with God. 05:54, 20 June 2012 (UTC)

Fewer muslims that Cairo
I don't think this is the best example, Cairo is one of the largest muslim cities in the world, so it's a bit like like saying LA has fewer Americans than New York. A good alternative might be Moscow which does have a higher muslim population than the West Bank, though people might not expect that. It also only has slightly more muslims than London. VOX HUMANA  05:27, 20 June 2012 (UTC)
 * Even when I first wrote it, I was fully aware the comparison to Cairo was a cheap shot. I was even ready to write a footnote explaining just how cheap it was, so I appreciate your suggested alternative.   05:32, 20 June 2012 (UTC)
 * The West Bank's Muslim population is about 2,000,000; Moscow's was counted at 300,000. Now if you were to look at the Muslim population of Paris, you might find the requisite number of warm bodies. 05:36, 20 June 2012 (UTC)
 * Wow, don't you just love stats. My source put the Moscow population at 2,000,000, and the Paris population at 155,000. http://islamineurope.blogspot.com.au/2007/11/muslim-population-in-european-cities.html VOX  HUMANA  05:42, 20 June 2012 (UTC)
 * FWIW, the 2 million in Moscow is sourced from the NY Times - make of it what you will. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/17/world/europe/17iht-islam.1.8781438.html?_r=1 VOX  HUMANA  05:44, 20 June 2012 (UTC)
 * Is "Ile de France" the same as Paris? If so, the numbers get more useful, 1.7m. http://www.economist.com/node/12724966?story_id=12724966 VOX  HUMANA  05:47, 20 June 2012 (UTC)
 * (EC) Ah, I was about to ask you for a source to the 2 million figure. The only sources I could turn up in googling were reposts of a no-longer-available AP article and the Christian Broadcasting Network, the latter of which I refuse to cite.   05:48, 20 June 2012 (UTC)

Nitpick alert!
It's usually written as "the Levant." Nebuchadnezzar (talk) 06:14, 20 June 2012 (UTC)
 * Sorry, my mind appears to have dropped the "the" whenever I read it. Thanks, Nebby!   06:24, 20 June 2012 (UTC)
 * Correcting trivial grammatical mistakes is what I live for! Er...pretend you didn't see that. Nebuchadnezzar (talk) 06:29, 20 June 2012 (UTC)