Category Archives: Travel

Images from the Hadramawt

Photography, Travel, Yemen

Note: The following images were taken in the early part of the 20th century when the British were in control of the Aden Protectorate.


Shibam, looking down the Wadi Hadhramaut towards Seiyun. Shibam is built on a low hill at the tip of a plateau spur and, for lack of space, grew upward; the buildings are eight to ten stories high. The landlord occupies the upper stories and these parts are whitewashed; the more whitewash, the wealthier the owner. Note the abandoned fields embanked to prevent runoff of water. The upper right-hand margin shows the plateau topography in the direction of the sea, a hundred miles distant.

Continue reading Images from the Hadramawt →

Damn the Vuvuzelas

Islamic Law, Travel, United Arab Emirates


For those of us watching the World Cup in South Africa the din of the vuvuzelas is muted by the voices of the announcers. I can only imagine the deafening roar experienced by those attending the games in what has to be the noisiest World Cup ever. Now, courtesy of a fatwa from the United Arab Emirates, Muslims no longer need to put up with the noise. In Fatwa #11625 of July 6, the verdict is in. All this noise really is haram. The fatwa quotes Imam Malik as saying he disapproved of a festivity with loud horns, a handy precedent for the current noise pollution in the sporting world. Of course, Imam Malik did not measure decibels, but we sure can today.

For those who are interested, here is the argument: Continue reading Damn the Vuvuzelas →

Berbers out of Yemen?

Anthropology/Sociology, Languages, Travel, Yemen


Why they thought the Berbers came from Yemen

by Lameen Souag, Jabal al-Lughat, June 23, 2010

A long-standing tradition in North Africa, convincingly rejected by Ibn KhaldÅ«n but perpetuated by poets and curricula alike, claims that some major Berber tribes descend from Yemeni Arabs through semi-mythical pre-Islamic kings and their wholly mythical vast conquests. This idea has little to support it, and probably became popular because it allowed these tribes to claim prestigious connections in the context of a high culture dominated by Arab ideas; but why should the connection be specifically Yemeni, rather than, say, North Arabian or perhaps Persian? Linguistics suggests a possible answer. Continue reading Berbers out of Yemen? →

Ibn al-Mujâwir and the al-Huthi Rebellion

Architecture, Food and Drink, Huthis, Saudi Arabia, Travel, Yemen


Traditional buildings in Sa‘da, Yemen

Over the past few years a major civil war has been simmering, at times brewing over into neighboring Saudi Arabia, in the north of Yemen. It has been called the al-Huthi rebellion and much of the fighting took place around the historic town of Sa‘da, the main entry of the Zaydi imams in the 10th century C.E. The exquisite travel text of Ibn al-Mujâwir, penned and quilled in the early 13th century, has a brief account of the overall region. Here is what Ibn al-Mujâwir, as ably translated by G. Rex Smith, said:

A description of these areas. The [previous] informant, [al-Kirmani], informed me as follows: All these areas [are made up of] settlements similar in size to one another to a greater or lesser degree. Each settlement has its own people. Every Arab tribal group and even bedouin section is [represented] in a settlement. As a result of their behaving badly [towards others], no one can settle with them, either on a temporary or a permanent basis.

A stronghold of stone and plaster has been built in every settlement and everyone living in the settlement has a store in the stronghold in which he keeps all his possessions, taking only from it what he needs on a daily basis. the inhabitants of the settlement surround the stronghold on all four sides. Each settlement is ruled over by an old shaykh of some power, clever and intelligent. When he gives a ruling, no one else shares in, nor opposes, what he advises them to do and what judgement he gives. There is no other authority ruling over all those in these areas and they pay no tax, nor do they hand over any levy at all, except whatever one wishes. thus they are constantly fighting, one getting the better of another’s wealth and the relatives of Zayd taking the wealth of ‘Amr. They do this all the time.

Their crops are wheat and barley; their trees are vines, pomegranates and almonds. All [kinds] of fruits and choice things are to be found among them. Their food is ghee and honey and they [bask] in their God[-given] ease and security. They are tribes who go back to Qahtân and others in their family trees.

Quoted by Ibn al-Mujâwir in his early 13th century travel text, translated by G. Rex Smith, A Traveler in Thirteenth-Century Arabia: Ibn al-Mujâwir’s Târîkh al-Mustabsir (London: The Hakluyt Society, 2008), p. 65.

Alger Postcard

Algeria, Photography, Travel

While looking over the postcards my grandmother saved from the start of the last century, I came across a beautiful street scene in Algiers, reproduced above. The card was sent from Italy in July, 1914 so it was obviously printed before then. It was addressed to my grandmother’s aunt, whose papers my grandmother inherited. The message itself is interesting in large part because it is so ordinary. The message reads:

Rome, 7/19/14
Dear Ida,
We have had a safe and happy journey so far, enjoying the beautiful stars en route. Went thro’ an Arab St. like this. I have bought some statuary which is being sent home to your address, and of necessity the duty, 75 cents about, must be paid at that end of the line. Am sorry to ask you to do it, but see no other way. We have seen some of the wonders of the “Eternal City.” Move on to Pisa and Florence tomorrow. A. K. Joy

Following Seward’s Folly: #4 The Dome of the Rock

Archaeology and Antiquities, Bible and Holy Land, Lithographs, Palestine, Travel


Illustration of Cairo from Seward’s Travels (1873)

William H. Seward, the American Secretary of State who is forever linked with the “folly” of acquiring Alaska from the Russians, spent a year traveling around the world near the end of his life. In three previous posts I posted the comments he and his daughter made about India and Aden, and Egypt. The journey continued to Palestine and the city of Jerusalem:

Yussef Effendi, with the brother and secretary of the pacha, attended us to the Mosque of Omar. It is only within the last five years that this mosque, scarcely less sacred in the eyes of Mussulmans than the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is in ours, has been opened to Christian travelers. Even now a careful, though somewhat disguised surveillance, is practiced over them. The mosque stands in an area enclosed with a high, parapeted wall, overlooking the vally of Jehoshaphat, and confronting the Mount of Olives. This occupies one-sixth of the land of the entire city. On the eastern side of this wall is a gate-way, built of marble, called by the Mussulmans the “Golden Gate,” which they are fond of representing as the “gate of the temple called Beautiful,” but its modern architecture does not support that claim. It is only interesting from the tradition that it was closed with the Roman conquest, and has never been reopened. The so-called Mosque of Omar is not single. It consists of two distinct mosques, placed at some distance from each other – the one here named Kubbet-es-Sukhrah, or “the Dome of the Rock,” commonly called the Mosque of Omar, and the Mosque-el-Aqsa. Though differing entirely from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Mosque of Omar is not less unique and peculiar in its sacred antiquities. Twelve hundred years ago, on the surrender of the Greek Patriach, the Caliph Omar demanded to be shownt he site of the Jewish temple. He was taken to the sacred rock, he knelt and prayed over it, and he built over it a mosque, which, with subsequent repairs, is the present “Dome of the Rock,” or Mosque of Omar. In architectural design and execution it rivals the finest in Cairo and Constantinople. Continue reading Following Seward’s Folly: #4 The Dome of the Rock →