Category Archives: Animals

Where’s the Beef?

Animals, Food and Drink, United Arab Emirates

Camel Burger Newest “Healthy” Option on Dubai Menu

DUBAI (Reuters), February 2, 2010
A traditional Emirati restaurant in Dubai has added a new entree to its menu billed as a fat-free choice for carnivorous but health-conscious diners: the Camel Burger.

For 20 UAE dirhams ($5.45), the Local House restaurant offers a quarter pound camel burger, loaded with cheese and smothered in burger sauce, the Xpress weekly newspaper reported on Thursday.

Ali Ahmad Esmail, Local House assistant manager, told the paper that the burger patties were fat- and cholesterol-free. But he declined to say how the outlet tenderized the tough camel meat. Continue reading Where’s the Beef? →

Darwin, Egyptian Style

Animals, Anthropology/Sociology, Conferences and Talks, Egypt, Islamic Sciences

MEMO FROM ALEXANDRIA
Harnessing Darwin to Push an Ancient Intellectual Center to Evolve

By MICHAEL SLACKMAN, The New York Times, November 26, 2009

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt — It is not that Charles Darwin and the theory of evolution are unknown here. But even among those who profess to know something about the subject, the common understanding is that Darwin said man came from monkeys.

Darwin, of course, did not say man came from monkeys. He said the two share a common ancestor. But to discuss Darwin anywhere is not just to explore the origin of man. It is inevitably to engage in a debate between religion and science. That is why, 150 years after Darwin published “On the Origin of Species,” the British Council, the cultural arm of the British government, decided to hold an international conference on Darwin in this conservative, Sunni Muslim nation.

It was a first.

“A lot of people say his theories are wrong, or go against religion,” said Martin Davidson, chief executive of the British Council. “His ideas provoke, but if we are going to understand each other, we have to discuss things that divide us.” Continue reading Darwin, Egyptian Style →

Monkeying Around in Old Aden

Aden, Animals, Photography, Yemen

Here is an old photograph entitled “Donkey Man with Trick Monkey,” taken in Aden during the days of the British protectorate. It is not just any kind of “monkey,” of course. Sitting on the donkey is Papio hamadryas, the baboon, usually called rubâh in Yemen. It appears, in deference to the British colonial presence, that the monk is wearing britches.

Where else would you find an Arab?

Animals, camels, Iraq, Photography

Here is a postcard from a century ago entitled “Arab on Camel … BAGDAD.” I guess for the postcard title writer, a camel rider outside the city of Baghdad might as well be down town. But one wonders why the title was even needed. Where else would the person receiving the postcard at the time have imagined an “Arab” would be?

Walk a Mile for a Chocolate Bar?

Animals, camels, Food and Drink, United Arab Emirates

World’s First Camel-Milk Chocolates Going Global

Asharq Alawsat, July 22, 2009

DUBAI (Reuters) – Dubai’s Al Nassma, the world’s first brand of chocolate made with camels’ milk, is in talks to expand into new Arab markets, Europe, Japan and the United States, its general manager said Tuesday.

Martin Van Almsick said the United Arab Emirates company planned to enter Saudi Arabia first, followed by Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the United States within the next few months.

Al Nassma is also in talks with British department store Harrods and San Francisco’s Chocolate Covered to sell its products.

Founded and owned by Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, Al Nassma was formally established in October last year and aims to produce 100 tons of premium camels’ milk chocolate a year. Continue reading Walk a Mile for a Chocolate Bar? →

Even Iraqi Snakes are Terrorists

Animals, Apocalypse Watch, Iraq, Iraq War


The Desert Horned Viper lurks in sand, only eyes, nostrils and horns above the surface.

Webshaykh’s Note: Cyberspace harbors a host of apocalyptic websites that relate current events in the Middle East to biblical prophecy. From the site Heaven Awaits it would seem that even Iraqi snakes are suspected of being terrorists… after all these snakes have horns. The following commentary stems from a news item in The Independent.

Snakes preparing the way for demons?

from Heaven Awaits website

The Desert Horned Viper lurks in sand, only eyes, nostrils and horns above the surface. Interesting ….that it has “horns.”

The Bible predicts that the Euphrates River will dry up, and demons will come out. See the latest headlines from Iraq. Continue reading Even Iraqi Snakes are Terrorists →

Kill the Pigs

Animals, Egypt, Food and Drink, Israel

“Kill the pigs.” After all, they are a bunch of swine. Were this the rallying cry of a terrorist group or the mantra of war-torn propaganda, such a phrase would not be a surprise. But beyond the barricades in the pigpen, there is a new strain in the refrain. It’s bad enough that the pig has been a symbolic target for censure by the orthodox in Judaism and Islam (Christians were saved by St. Peter’s dream), but now it is subject to literal swinocide. That is what is happening in Egypt, a country where pig bones are as much a part of the rich archaeological record as mummies. Here is the AP story, written by Maamoun Youssef:

CAIRO – Egypt began slaughtering the roughly 300,000 pigs in the country Wednesday as a precaution against swine flu even though no cases have been reported here, infuriating farmers who blocked streets and stoned vehicles of Health Ministry workers who came to carry out the government’s order. Continue reading Kill the Pigs →

Lithographica Arabica 6: Rev. Wood’s Bible Animals, 3

Animals, Bible and Holy Land, Lithographs, Orientalism, Palestine

This is the third in a series on the illustrations in Rev. John George Wood’s Story of the Bible Animals. What do you get if you strain at a gnat? Read on…

Gnats

It has already been stated that only one species of fly is mentioned by name in the Scriptures. this is the Gnat, the name of which occurs in the familiar passage, “Ye blind guides, which strain at a ghat and swallow a camel” (Matt. xxiii. 24).

I may again mention here that the words “strain at” ought to have been printed “strain out,” the substitution of one for the other being only a typographical error. The allusion is made to a certain custom which is explained by reference to the preceding article on the fly. In order to avoid taking flies and other insects into the mouth, while drinking, a piece of thin linen stuff was placed over the cup, so that if any insects, as was usually the case, had got into the liquid, they would be “strained out” by the linen. Continue reading Lithographica Arabica 6: Rev. Wood’s Bible Animals, 3 →