Category Archives: Countries

The Book Of Death #28

Contemporary Art, Lebanon, Literature, Poetry


[Illustration: “Refugees” by Palestinian artisit Ibrahim Hijazy, 1996.]

by George El-Hage

Today, the seventh day of the month of Death, I decided to end our relationship. I decided to pack my suitcase and leave. Everything in our spring-like room I left for you: the velvet drapes, old books, notebooks of memories and red roses. All the silk pillows, and the ivory chairs, and the chandelier of carnations, the big bed in the other corner of the room remain for you. I took with me one bleeding suitcase which is my heart. It was so filled with surprise and sorrow that I did not have room for one little pencil. I left empty-handed except for an armful of ashes. I held dejection to my breast, the harvest of a full year of love. I embraced it with anguish and washed its forehead with dew from my eyes. Continue reading The Book Of Death #28 →

“when I asked him what a Moslem was”

Books You Should Read, Egypt, Humor and Satire, Travel

According to all three major monotheisms even God needed time to take a rest and so the sabbath was created. With the spate of mosque bombings, torture of prisoners and outright mayhem dominating the news about the Middle East these days, it might help to sit back and read what the American humorist Mark Twain wrote about his Missouri-born creation Tom Sawyer set loose in the Holy Land more than a century ago. Continue reading “when I asked him what a Moslem was” →

Gibran Kahlil Gibran: A Timeless and Universal Vision

Lebanon, Poetry

By George Nicolas El-Hage

Poetry and art are twins. Both are the offspring of suffering and joy. Gibran translated Blake’s “Innocence and Experience” into a “Tear and a Smile.” Nevertheless, the unending drama of human existence unfolds itself in the pages of both men. Only the elected and gifted soul is capable of creativity, of reading the world differently, and of rebelling against evil clothed in a lamb’s garment. Art knows no boundaries. It transcends all national limits and is only satisfied with the universal. There, time and place lose their ability to imprison the artist in a closed cell. The inspired poet becomes a winged soul floating over life, embracing the infinite. It is in the midst of this vast expanse where the responsibility of the artist becomes eternal and his mission turns holy that we can speak of Kahlil Gibran and William Blake together. Continue reading Gibran Kahlil Gibran: A Timeless and Universal Vision →

The Founding of Baghdad

Iraq, Islamic History

The Founding of Baghdad
by
Ahmad ibn Abu Ya’qub ibn Ja’far ibn Wahb Ibn Wadih Yaqubi (died ca. 897 CE)

“I mention Baghdad first of all because it is the heart of Iraq, and, with no equal on earth either in the Orient or the Occident, it is the most extensive city in area, in importance, in prosperity, in abundance of water, and in healthful climate. It is inhabited by the most diverse individuals, both city people and country folk; people emigrate to it from all countries, both near and far; and everywhere there are men who have preferred their own neighborhoods there, their trade and commercial centers; that is why there is gathered together here what does not exist in any other city in the world. Continue reading The Founding of Baghdad →

A Sailor and His Camel Ride

Animals, camels, Travel, Yemen


[Illustration: Arabian Camel from George Shaw, Zoology (1801)]

[Joseph Osgood was a Black American sailor who visited the Yemeni port of Mocha about a dozen years before the start of the American Civil War. He offers a rich, descriptive account of his visit to the Yemeni coast, including a sailor’s view of the ship of the desert.]

No wheel carriages are used here, the most general mode of transportation being by camels, for which the males along are serviceable. The flesh of the camel forms a staple article of food, the head and neck being excepted, because one of the race unwittingly rendered these parts unholy by obtrusively poking his head and neck into Mahomet’s tomb. Wellsted says that a camel is welcomed at its birth, by the Arab, with “another child is born unto us.” Continue reading A Sailor and His Camel Ride →

Napoleon Tried It: He Failed

Egypt, Iraq War, Islamic History, Orientalist Art


Illustration: “Napoleon and his General Staff in Egypt” by Jean-Léon Geróme, 1867

In 1798 the French leader Napoleon, a seemingly mature 28 year old at the time, set off from France with a fleet of 400 ships and 36,000 men. The goal was to conquer Egypt and “liberate” it from the corrupt Mamluk overlords. No CNN or BBC reporters were around; nor had al-Jazeera set up a satellite feed. It did not take long for the French to overwhelm the Egyptians with about 25,000 French against 15,000 local Mamluks. Napoleon won in sight of the Pyramids, but very soon after the entire mission was doomed to failure when Lord Nelson obliterated the French fleet. Napoleon himself left Cairo secretly a year later, returned to France and turned his conquest machine against fellow Europeans.
Continue reading Napoleon Tried It: He Failed →

The Book of Sanaa

Poetry, Sanaa, Yemen

One of the Arab World’s most important modern poets is the Yemeni ‘Abd al-‘Aziz al-Maqalih. Dr. al-Maqâlih received his Ph.D. from ‘Ayn Shams University in 1977. He was President of Sanaa University from 1982-2001. He has received the title of “Knight of the First Rank in Arts and Letters” in 2003 from the government of France. The poem (translated here by Bob Holman and Sam Liebhaber) was written during the 70 day siege of Sanaa in 1968 when the poet was 31 years old. Sanaa is the capital of the modern Yemeni nation state, as it was for the Zaydi imamate when Dr. al-Maqalih was born.

The 26th Qasida
By ‘Abd al ‘Aziz al-Maqalih

Where are the gardens of Sanaa?
Dusty souqs have killed them,
covered them with corruption.
Nothing remains of their walls,
no one marched in their funeral.

Continue reading The Book of Sanaa →