A friend sent these photographs of Sanaa, but I do not know the name of the photographer.
Category Archives: Countries
Libya’s novelist Ibrahim al-Koni wins Arab Novel Award
Al-Arabiya, December 16, 2010
CAIRO (Arab Media House)
Libyan novelist Ibrahim al-Koni received in Cairo the Arab Novel Award and dedicated the value of the prize to the children of the Tuareg tribes from which he originally hails.
At the closing ceremony of the fifth round of the Cairo Novel Conference, prominent Libyan author Ibrahim al-Koni was chosen from 23 competitors to receive the Arab Novel Award, whose value is 100,000 Egyptian pounds ($18,000).
“Koni was chosen for his ability to breathe life into the desert on the human, natural, spiritual, and mythological levels,†said Syrian critic Sobhi Hadeedi, who headed the jury.
The committee in charge of choosing the winner praised Koni’s ability to utilize folklore, oral tradition, death rituals, and aspects of everyday life in order to create a literary work.
“He creates his own individual anthropology,†added the committee statement. Continue reading Libya’s novelist Ibrahim al-Koni wins Arab Novel Award
Ablution Pollution
A report in yesterday’s Los Angeles Times is a chilling reminder of the utter absurdity of out-of-control sectarian violence in Afghanistan.
Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan —
A suicide bomber blew himself up Friday at a public bathhouse in southern Afghanistan that was filled with men washing themselves before the main prayers of the Muslim week. At least 17 were killed and 23 injured, provincial officials said.The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in Spin Boldak, in Kandahar province. The district, a main crossing point to and from Pakistan, is a longtime nexus of drug and weapons smuggling. Continue reading Ablution Pollution
Afghan Trucks 3
In a previous post on Afghan Trucks, the Afghan woman could be seen without a chador. The scenes from legends and movies were complemented by religious images as well, as can be seen in the photograph above. But if the man is praying to be delivered from the violence of the bombs, his prayers are yet to be answered.
Sailing Forbidden Coasts
Sheik Issa Embarks on the ‘Altair’ for Arabia. He is honored and respected among the Danakil as a leader and saint. Not only was he a gracious host, but he offered to accompany the Altair’s party from the Somali coast over to Arabia, in order to afford them protection from pirates.
[Webshaykh’s Note: Much attention has been given to the Somali pirates loose in the Gulf of Aden. Piracy is no stranger to this corner of the Horn of Africa, nor to seafaring anywhere in history. Here is an excerpt by an American woman visiting the French Somaliland coast in 1930. Ms. Treat indeed provides a colorful narrative treat of her journey aboard a dhow captained by a French convert to Islam. The whole article is well worth reading, as the following excerpt suggests.]
by Ida Treat, The National Geographic Magazine, 1931
Wading through the warm lagoon, breast deep, we crossed the damp sand among the mangroves, treading down the rubbery shoots among which lay quantities of black sea snails, for it was low tide. Beyond the mangroves, the beach stretched bare and white to the four huts, bleached as driftwood, and of so light a construction it seemed that a puff of wind would scatter them across the sand.
Two downy baby camels, in a narrow inclosure of mimosa thorns, darted snakelike necks through the ranches as we passed. From the largest of the huts a man came toward us. I recognized Sheik Issa, whom I had sen at Obock, his lean torso bare, the wooden prayer beads about his neck, swinging across the sand with a vigorous, youthful stride, for all his sixty-odd years.
The day before he had sent the Altair from the heights of Djebel Ghin and had walked all night to be at Angar to welcome us. Continue reading Sailing Forbidden Coasts
Islam, Science and Creationism
Islam, Science and Concerns About Creationism in the Classroom
by Jalees Rehman, Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Chicago, The Huffington Post, January 3, 2011
I have often been asked why we scientists are so resistant to introducing ideas such as “creation science” in the biology classroom. My first reaction is to say that these ideas are not really scientific and therefore do not belong in a biology class, and I would be similarly opposed to teaching lacrosse rules or musical “song and dance” routines in a biology class. I have also realized that one of my key concerns is the harm that teaching creationist ideas in a biology classroom can do to the development of scientific thought in schoolchildren. I will first briefly illustrate some aspects of scientific work in biology, and then I will use a specific example from recent Muslim creationist literature to show how it can be potentially detrimental for students who want to develop rigorous scientific thought. For the purpose of brevity, I will use the all-encompassing term “creationism” to describe beliefs based on religious scriptures about the development of life on earth. An in-depth discussion of the different types of creationism can be found in the excellent overview by Ronald Numbers entitled “The Creationists: From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design”. Continue reading Islam, Science and Creationism
In praise of perfume
Umar b. al-Khattâb — God be pleased with him — said, ‘If I were a merchant, I would choose to deal in perfume; if I cannot make a profit out of it, I still have its sweet smell!”
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. 111.
Ada Jones sings “An Arab Love Song”
Long before Lady Gaga or even Ella Fitzgerald there was the belle of Edison Record vaudeville. This was the warbler Ada Jones, who often sang duets with the indefatigable Billy Murray. One of her early songs, from 1909, was entitled “An Arab Love Song.” You can hear it on an original Gramophone on Youtube. A better recording is available here.