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3 days agoBrewing Controversy: How Coffee Sparked Fierce Debate in the 16th-Century - Medievalists.net
Sharif traces coffee's journey from Abyssinia to Yemen, where Sufi mystics used it to stay awake for night-time dhikr (remembrance of God), before it reached Mecca around the year 1500 (AH 905). Its rapid popularity with pilgrims and townspeople provoked suspicion from conservative jurists. The very word qahwa - traditionally a poetic synonym for wine - cast a shadow over the new beverage.
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