Category Archives: Plants

Leaves from an old Bible Atlas #6

Bible and Holy Land, Orientalism, Palestine, Photography, Plants, Syria


Hurlbutt’s Atlas, p. 118

The Christian fascination with the Holy Land as a window into interpretation of the Bible has a long and indeed fascinating history of its own. Here I continue the thread on Jesse Lyman Hurlbutt’s A Bible Atlas (New York: Rand McNally & Company, 1947, first published in 1882). Ah, those cedars of Lebanon, hewn for Solomon’s temple but a few being left for the intrepid explorer, in this case Rev. Hurlbutt himself. Here is his sketch of that temple. Continue reading Leaves from an old Bible Atlas #6 →

Camels in Vienna

Animals, Anthropology/Sociology, Archaeology and Antiquities, camels, Conferences and Talks, Languages, Plants, Scholars


Today I am leaving for Vienna and the forthcoming “Camels in Asia and North Africa
Interdisciplinary workshop” to be held Tuesday & Wednesday 5-6 October, 2010 at the
Austrian Academy of Sciences, AAS, Dr.-Ignaz-Seipel-Platz 2, 1010 Vienna. If you have an interest in any aspect of camels and are near Vienna, Austria, you might want to join in.

Here are the details, also available in pdf from the website.

This workshop aims at a comprehensive discussion on Old World camels (Dromedary and Bactrian camel) including the following topics:
• Origin and domestication
• Conservation of the wild Bactrian camel
• Veterinary folk medicine
• Socio-economic significance: Breeding, caring, trading
• Art: Petroglyphs, poetry and music
• History and Symbolism of camels in Asia and Austria
These issues will be addressed by scholars from the natural sciences as well as from the social sciences and humanities Continue reading Camels in Vienna →

Ibn Abī Bakr al-Azraq on Massage Oils: #1

Islamic Sciences, Miniatures, Plants, Scholars, Yemen


The Arab physician Ibrāhīm ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Abī Bakr al-Azraq, wrote an important medical text near the end of the 9th century A.H./fifteenth century C.E. This is his Tashhīl al-manāfi‘ fī al-ṭibb wa-al-ḥikma, which was published in Cairo in the late 19th century and has been republished many times since then. One of his chapters deals with adhān, that is oils and lotions that were rubbed on the body either in the hot bath or just for general health. Here is my translation of his account on oils.

Section on the Benefit and Influence of Oils (adhān)

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him salvation, said: “Eat olive oil (zayt) and rub it on the body.” It is a remedy for seventy illnesses, one of these being leprosy (judhām). He said: “For forty nights, Satan will not come near anyone who has olive oil applied.” Zayt is the extraction of the olive, according to al-DÄ«wān. Cold and wet, but said to be hot. It softens (yadbughu) the stomach, strengthens the body, energizes movement, and there is benefit for one in old age in applying it to the eyes against dimming of vision. According to Ibn ‘Amr the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him salvation, said: “Use it to season bread and rub it on the body, because it comes out of the blessed tree (al-shajara al-mubāraka). Continue reading Ibn AbÄ« Bakr al-Azraq on Massage Oils: #1 →

Plant Diversity in Saudi Arabia

Plants, Saudi Arabia


Adenium from Saudi Arabia

While preparing a talk for a conference in October on camels, I came across a very useful website maintained by Professor Jacob Thomas of the Herbarium in the Department of Botany & Microbiology at King Saud University in Riyadh. This is Plant Diversity in Saudi Arabia, with sections on topography, vegetation, flora, the history of botanical studies, conservation, and a major bibliography. There is also a checklist of species recorded.

Warren’s Geography #1

Anthropology/Sociology, Environment, Lithographs, Orientalism, Plants

An Elementary Treatise on Physical Geography at the start of the civil war. While rummaging through old books and pictures of my late grandmother I found a copy of the 1873 edition of Warrens’ basic geography text which belonged to my great, great aunt, Ida Hoyt. There are several interesting lithographs in the text on Middle Eastern themes, which I show here.

Continue reading Warren’s Geography #1 →

Karim Ben Khelifa in Yemen

Architecture, Journalism and Media, Plants, Sanaa, Yemen


The newly built presidential mosque, which cost an estimated $60 million; photography by Karim Ben Khelifa

Much of the reporting on recent events in Yemen is pathetic. A rare exception is the work of photojournalist Karim Ben Khelifa, who is currently on assignment in Yemen. Thus far he has posted two sets of photographs, one on the Wall Street Journal, and the other for the New York Times. Check out these websites for superb photographs, two of which I reprint here with the permission of the photographer.


Qât market in Sanaa, Yemen; photography by Karim Ben Khelifa

Ignorance is no Excuse

Anthropology/Sociology, Development, Journalism and Media, Plants, Qat (Catha edulis), Travel, Yemen


Selling qât in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital. Photo: Bryan Denton

These days if you run across an article on Yemen, it will no doubt feature a scenario of gun-toting tribesmen swearing allegiance to Al-Qaeda, the latest German tourist hijackings or feigned shock at the terrible, terrible addictive drug called qât. At least this was the case in Sunday’s New York Times in another piece of mixed journalistic pablum by roving reporter Robert Worth. Entitling the article “Thirsty Plant Dries Out Yemen,”, the author seems unaware that the site of his posting (Jahiliya) is in fact the Arabic term for the time of “Ignorance” before the rise of Islam. I doubt this reporter stepped out of a Queen-of-Sheba-era time machine and interviewed Abraha about his recent defeat at the “Battle of the Elephant” before Mecca. So where exactly is the fabled posting site of Jahiliya? Ironically, it is part of a World Bank irrigation project. I will leave the irony about IMF money being poured into Jahiliya in the strict sense to the imagination of the reader. And I strongly suspect the posting was made from a fancy hotel in the capital Sanaa and not from a rural internet cafe, while sipping qishr. But for a front page article on a major newspaper, ignorance is no excuse. Continue reading Ignorance is no Excuse →

Hashish in the Muslim World

Books You Should Read, Ethics, Islamic Law, Plants, Scholars, Sufism

Webshaykh’s note: In the process of researching the medical aspects of the chewing of qât (Catha edulis) leaves in Yemen, I consulted an important study published almost forty years by the distinguished historian Orientalist (in the best sense — and there is a best sense — of the word) Franz Rosenthal. This was his The Herb: Hashish versus Medieval Muslim Society (Leiden: Brill, 1971). Appearing at a time when hashish had become a household word in America, Rosenthal sorts through legal, medical and literary sources to provide a historical overview of the issues surrounding the use of hashish, the plant known as qinnab in Arabic (Cannabis sp). This is a valuable resource, but also worth a good read to get a sense of how an addictive socially popular drug was viewed for almost the last full millennium. Fortunately for those of us who cannot afford massive libraries, this book is available as a Google Book online. I quote from the conclusion.]

Hashish, the Individual, and Society

In conclusion we must state again that our knowledge is very limited. The gaps are tremendous. The nature of the information we do have is not easily assessed. Its applicability to the realities prevailing over the immense extension in time and space of medieval Islam is often suspect. Partisanship pro or con, coupled with a seemingly widespread ignorance of hard facts, obscures everything. Statistics naturally are non-existent.

Our sources give the impression of a westward march of hashish that had its serious beginnings int he twelfth century and gathered speed during the thirteenth century. Continue reading Hashish in the Muslim World →