Salaam and Greetings of Peace: In the days before Christmas, I
confess that one of my favorite parts of the story of the birth
of Jesus, or Isa ibn Mariyam, is the coming of the Magi, and the
legends that have grown up around them. In Christian tradition,
the Magi, also referred to as the Three Wise Men, Three Kings,
or Kings from the East, are said to have visited the baby Jesus
after his birth, bearing gifts of gold, myrrh and frankincense.
The word Magi is a Latinization of the plural of the Greek word
magos, itself from Old Persian maguŝ from the religious/priestly
caste into which Zoroaster was born. As part of their religion,
these priests paid particular attention to the stars, and gained
an international reputation for astrology, which was at that
time highly regarded as a science. Their religious practices and
use of astrology caused derivatives of the term Magi to be
applied to the occult in general and led to the English term
magic. The Gospel of Matthew (2:1-16), the only one of the four
Gospels t