All posts by tabsir

Security authorities launch massive sweep for al-Qaeda

Osama Bin Laden, Terrorism Issue, Yemen


Yemeni security forces have apprehended thirty terrorist suspects over the course of ten days as part of a massive security sweep.

Security authorities launch massive sweep for al-Qaeda

Abdul-Aziz Oudah, Yemen Observer, Feb 3, 2009

The Ministry of Interior has announced a comprehensive campaign against all suspected al-Qaeda hideouts, following last week’s declaration of the appointment of Nasser al-Wahishi, who has been wanted by Yemeni security since 2006, as the new Amir for Arabia. His compatriots include the former Saudi Guantanamo detainees, Saeed al-Shihri and Mohammed al-Aofi, who escaped Saudi Arabia several months ago.

The manager of the security section at the Ministry of Interior, General Mohammed al-Qosi, said security authorities are observing sites where the organization is likely to be hiding, indicating that public cooperation has been helpful in locating these hideouts. Al-Qosi added that the al-Qaeda threat is not something new in Yemen, but rather has been present for many years. Continue reading Security authorities launch massive sweep for al-Qaeda →

These Sons of Adam

Animals, Books You Should Read, Humor and Satire, Lithographs, Palestine, Travel


Arnaut Blowing Smoke at His Dog by Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1882.

In two previous posts, The Immovable East and An Unbelievable White Man, I published excerpts from the first-person narrative by Philip J. Baldensperger, published in 1913 about experiences in Palestine during the last half of the 19th century. His sense of humor was acute. Here are the words he imagined that a dog would bark out about life as a canine in an Arab village.

“The sons of Adam disdain dogs, but in many places they raise us up and utilise us. Thus, in the camp where I lived, there were shepherd dogs, with thick fur, and watch dogs, with a smooth coat all over, and the tall, thin greyhounds which are raised for hunting the gazelles on the broad plains of Philistia, near my first home.

I was born in camp, south of Beersheba, and belonged to a family of Azazmeh Arabs. On account of my jet black fur the called me Lail – Night… Continue reading These Sons of Adam →

Another President Elected … in Somalia

Somalia

Al-Jazeera, January 31, 2009

New Somali president sworn in

Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has been sworn in as the new president of Somalia just months after his Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS) signed a peace deal with the transitional government.

The ceremony in neighbouring Djibouti on Saturday came after Ahmed, who also led the Islamic Courts Union, won a run-off parliamentary vote.

The new president’s Islamic Courts movement ruled Mogadishu and most of southern Somalia for six months before being ousted by the Ethiopian military at the end of 2006.

Ahmed easily defeated Maslah Mohamed Siad, son of ex-president Mohamed Siad Barre, in Saturday morning’s second round of voting, winning 293 votes to Siad’s 126.

“My government will bring an adequate plan to overcome the difficulties the nation is facing,” he said in a brief inauguration speech. Continue reading Another President Elected … in Somalia →

Lebanon …Without A Daily Star Until Further Notice

Journalism and Media, Lebanon

Lebanon …Without A Daily Star Until Further Notice

By Thair Abbas, Asharq Alawsat, 30/01/2009

Beirut.
The Lebanese English-language newspaper The Daily Star has been temporarily shut down since the middle of January due to a financial lawsuit between the newspaper and Standard Charter Bank. The newspaper was the only source of internal Lebanese news for many of the Lebanese “orphans” living abroad and for foreigners living in Lebanon, who would use it to follow the news of Lebanon which is rife with contradictions, events, and crises.

This is not the first time that The Daily Star has been “temporarily” shut down, indeed the newspaper has been closed down three times since its foundation, but it returned to print each time as a result of the market’s need for a publication to fill this niche. Continue reading Lebanon …Without A Daily Star Until Further Notice →

The Sultan of the East

Humor and Satire, Lithographs, Orientalism, Orientalist Art, Poetry


Illustration of his poem by Palmer Cox, 1882


The Sultan of the East
by Palmer Cox

There was a sultan of the East
Who used to ride a stubborn beast;
A marvel of the donkey-kind,
That much perplexed his owner’s mind.
By turns he moved a rod ahead.
Then backed a rod or so instead.
And thus the day would pass around,
The Sultan gaining little ground.
The servants on before would stray
And pitch their tents beside the way,
And pass the time as best they might
Until their master hove in sight. Continue reading The Sultan of the East →

American Christians and Islam

Apocalypse Watch, Bible and Holy Land, Books You Should Read, Islam and Christianity


Author Thomas S. Kidd

In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, many of America’s Christian evangelicals have denounced Islam as a “demonic” and inherently violent religion, provoking frustration among other Christian conservatives who wish to present a more appealing message to the world’s Muslims. Yet as Thomas Kidd reveals in this sobering book, the conflicted views expressed by today’s evangelicals have deep roots in American history.

Tracing Islam’s role in the popular imagination of American Christians from the colonial period to today, Kidd demonstrates that Protestant evangelicals have viewed Islam as a global threat–while also actively seeking to convert Muslims to the Christian faith–since the nation’s founding. Continue reading American Christians and Islam →

Lithographica Arabica 3: Druse Girl

Gender and Sexuality, Lithographs, Orientalism, Travel


“Druse Girl”(1862) drawn by Henry J. Van-Lennep, Henry J. (1815-1889), Lithographer,
C. Parsons; Printer of plates, W. Endicott & Co. From “The Oriental Album: Twenty Illustrations, in oil colors, of the people and scenery of Turkey, with an explanatory and descriptive text.” By Rev. Henry J. Van Lennep. Online in NYPL Digital Gallery.

For Lithographica Arabica #2, click here.

Islamic Art at the Freer

Calligraphy, Miniatures


Bottle made for the Yemeni Rasulid Sultan al-Malik al-Mujahid ‘Ali ibn Dawud,
Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

One of my favorite haunts in Washington DC is the Freer Gallery of Art, part of the Smithsonian row. It boasts an extraordinary collection of Islamic art, well worth viewing and reviewing. But why wait until a trip to Washington, unless you are still braving the leftover throngs at the upcoming inaugural? The Freer’s website hosts high-quality images of many of the objects in its collection. As a Yemenophile, one of my favorites is a beautiful glass bottle made for the Yemeni Rasulid sultan al-Malik al-Mujahid ‘Ali ibn Dawud, who reigned from 1322-1363. The bottle was crafted in Syria and is “enameled and gilt colorless honey-tinted glass” (Rosamond E. Mack, Bazaar to Piazza: Islamic Trade and Italian Art, 1300-1600, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002, p. 118).