04 14 F A T E Allah baa

[littleblackduck]

In my agenda I have a note for April 14 about a Fortean story of a man in Salt Lake City, Utah who found a banana squash with odd markings (2003):

4 14 F A T E Allah baa

I will do some research and see if I can find this story again, in the meantime I googled the above "message" and so far I have discovered this:

Al Fatihah

The most noteworthy portion being this:

al-Fatihah
To the holy presence of our Master
and our Beloved Muhammad,
may Allah bless and bestow upon him
and his Family and Companions peace:
and to the spirit of our beloved master
'Umar ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-'Attas,
the composer of the Ratib,
and to Shaykh 'Ali ibn 'Abd Allah Baa Raas
(one of his disciples).
Al-Fatihah

Ilaa hadrati Sayyidina wa Habibina Muhammad-in
Sallallahu 'alaihi wa aalihi wa sahbihi
wa Sallam
wa ilaa ruhi Sayyidina al-Habib
'Umar ibni Abd-i'r Rahman al-'Attas
Sahib- i'r Ratib
wa'sh-Shaykh 'Ali ibn 'Abd Allah Baa Raas

Notice that there is a Sheik Ali ibn Abd ALLAH BAA mentioned in this prayer, which is called AL FATIHAH.

The ressemblance between FATIHAH and the letters F A T E is suggestive. Also, the ressemblance between the letters F A T E and the word fate, of course.

I put this note for April 14 on the assumption that 4 14 could be a date. It could, of course, be interpretted many other ways. But I will look at the date April 14 to see if there is anything interesting synchronicities.

 

[littleblackduck]

Salt Lake Tribune Story

Squash Appears Filled With Letters, Symbols

An opened banana squash at Kasim Barakzia's downtown Salt Lake City restaurant on Thursday yielded seeds that appeared to be marked with letters or symbols from several languages. Barakzia has been cutting squash for years, and says ordinarily, seeds are smooth and unmarked.
(Ryan Galbraith/The Salt Lake Tribune)
BY KATHY STEPHENSON
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE

Cutting into a 15-pound banana squash Thursday, Kasim Barakzia thought perhaps he had lost his gourd.
The owner of Salt Lake City's Baba Afghan Restaurant, 55 E. 400 South, noticed strange white etchings on the normally smooth seeds, which resemble those from a pumpkin, inside the thick-skinned winter squash.
"I looked at one seed, and then another," said Barakzia, soon realizing that almost all had unusual white markings. The restaurateur said he thought the squash was rotten or diseased, but after inspection and a tasting, Barakzia declared "it was perfect."
Barakzia said his restaurant has cut into two or three banana squash every day for the past nine years and he has never seen anything like this. Two other banana squash also supplied to the restaurant were filled with the usually smooth seeds.
"It's a bizarre situation," he said, pointing out the etchings, some that resemble the letters A, T, E and F and the numbers 4 and 14. Other seeds had markings that looked like a tree and bird. Barakzia said a few of the seeds had the symbol for Allah, the Arabic word for God. One seed had the Arabic letter baa, a kind of "u" with a dot underneath.
Barakzia, whose fingers had turned yellow by Thursday afternoon from sifting through the squash's hundred or so seeds, said he believes some of the etchings look like Japanese, Chinese and even Hindu letters.

"I would like someone who knows these languages to come and look," he told The Salt Lake Tribune. "Maybe there is a message for someone."
On the other hand, it could be that "the seed coat has cracked and it is basically opening up and starting to germinate inside the squash," Maggie Wolf, a horticulturist with Utah State University Extension Office, surmised. "Although we would probably have to look at it to see what was happening."
Barakzia asked numerous lunchtime diners to look at the unique seeds, which he had laid out on black trays near the cash register of his adjacent Oriental rug and pottery business.
At least one customer wondered if some sort of insect had created the etchings since the thin film that characteristically covers the seeds was still intact.
"It was probably worms," said diner Lori McConnel.
"They are very interesting," added Andrew Sanders, another diner who is fluent in Arabic and confirmed the Allah symbol.
When asked if someone could be playing a hoax on him, Barakzia shook his head. "It's a lot of work if it's a joke."
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© Copyright 2004, The Salt Lake Tribune.
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[littleblackduck]

April 14

Anniversary of the U.S. bombing of Libya.

Anniversary of the assassination of President Lincoln in Ford's Theatre.

Not a particularly rich hawl of coincidences but I didn't look very far or hard.

 

[Alexius4]

It is not Al Fatiha....

Al Fatiha is the opening chapter of the Quran, and is the Muslim equivalent of the Lord's prayer. In this case, it is being employed as the opening and closing of another prayer, which appears nameless.

For what it's worth, the prayer is probably for the memory of an Islamic divine - and may be part of a longer sequence (a common formula - calling benediction on the Prophet and his family and then naming the person you want to bless - or connect to).

Hmm...there is a media tradition of arabic script cropping up in vegetables...this one sounds very elanborate...perhaps too elaborate. This Islamic mystic reckons it is simulcra gone crazy, a wind up or a UL