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Al Muqanna - The Veiled One
"All colour is abominable"The following is the first in a series of posts highlighting the writing of the great 20th century Argentinian writer, Jorge Luis Borges, who had a fascination with the...
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An Indian Perspective on the Middle East
(Mughal miniature circa 1600)"If you want to understand this region, just take out a map from the Ganges to the Nile and remove the British lines. It takes you back to the true undercurrents of...
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Humanity on a Tightrope - The Middle East Falling off One
We have added a new section to the sidebar of this blog, titled 'Books on Human Development'. It's a list of a dozen works that we feel are useful in increasing understanding of human behaviour, thus...
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The Cylinder of Cyrus
We don't often refer to specific articles; however, a recent one by Roger Cohen in the New York Times is very much in the spirit of this blog, and a very successful mix of cultural, political and...
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Adelard of Bath
“In my judgment certainly, nothing at all dies in this sensible world... for if any part of it is released from one conjunction, it does not perish but passes over to another association.”- Adelard of...
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Afghanistan Before the Soviet Invasion
The Denver Post recently published a handful of interesting photos from Afghanistan in the 1960s. The images were taken by an American teacher, Dr. William Podlich, who travelled to Kabul on a two-year...
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Al-Azraq Oasis
A unique and little known community that flies below the radar of most tourist itineraries can be found east of Amman, along Jordan’s desert highway to Baghdad. There’s not much on the surface to...
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The White Synagogue of Toledo
Today, Western style skyscrapers have spread to the desert of the Gulf and the Pacific coast of China. Once upon a time, Arabic-Islamic architecture also spread from its origins in the Middle East to...
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Al-Mu'tasim - Mirrors
"He who goes in quest of aid"Al-Mu'tasim is the name of the eighth Abassid ruler who was victorious in eight battles, produced eight sons and eight daughters, owned eight thousand slaves, and ruled for...
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Hassan Sabah and the Assassins
Of the many historical tales and anecdotes arising out of the Middle East, few offer the kind of salaciousness and intrigue as that of the story of “the Assassins”. It is a narrative both entertaining...
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Armenia's City of Ghosts
Situated at the far-flung reaches of eastern Turkey, just metres from the border with Armenia, is the ghost city of Ani. The ruins of this once stately medieval capital - home to over 100,000 Armenians...
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A New Green Arabia
Most analysis points to economic failure, unemployment and corruption as the lead causes of the uprisings in the Arab world. Certainly, the frozen and oppressive political cultures have not delivered...
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Three Portraits of 20th Century Egypt
By Photographer Angelo Boyadjian, Cairo, 1950sDalida, singer (left); Egyptian fruit vendor (centre); Omar Sharif, actor (right)
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The Egyptian People
Once, while having coffee at the Shepherd´s Hotel in Cairo, I was told that Egypt had never had more than 2-3 million people until the early 20th century when the population exploded reaching the 80-90...
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The Joy and Pain of Beirut
Tom Young is a British painter who has developed a fascination for Beirut and Lebanon and depicted it in his work. He points out that the city provided him with the symbols of both 'joy and pain' and...
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'The Sufis' by Idries Shah
Years ago, while living in Cairo, I was invited by some friends to a poor corner of the city to watch a weekly performance of “Sufi musicians”. The no-frills, nighttime shows were set in a dusty,...
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The Tragedy in Syria and the Blindness of all Actors
The ongoing tragedy in Syria speaks to the failure of the international system and today's politics. There is a reality and a cause behind this debacle.All the major actors at play in the Syrian drama...
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'Khartoum' The Movie
In 1966, a movie was made about the struggle in Sudan between the British Empire and the 'Mahdi', the awaited redeemer who came to liberate that country from the colonial yoke. One of the two central...
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Dealing with the Refugees in the Middle East
"There is no humanity in diplomacy," said a commentator on television recently when discussing the Syrian crisis. Indeed, many of the immediate concerns of "humanity" are left to humanitarian...
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The Lottery in Babylon
In Ancient Babylon, once upon a time, a lottery helped to create reality. It began simply enough when commoners drew rectangular bones with symbols on them to see who would gain a certain prize. Some...
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The Sayings of Omar Ibn El Khattab
Omar Ibn El Khattab was a Companion of the Prophet, conqueror of Persia, the second Caliph after Abu Bakr, and an expert jurist. He was also a man known for his justice as well as for his many sayings....
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Rug Merchant, Saida, 1940s
This photograph, likely of a rug merchant in in the 1940s, can be found in the Guardian newspaper's article on Chafic Ahmad Soussi, photographer of Saida (Lebanon).
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The Cult of the Leader
The 20th century has contributed more than its share of political strongmen idolized in propaganda art. Lenin, Mao and Kim Il-Sung are just a few examples of these powerful and enduring cults of...
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Overland by Rickshaw
Canadian journalist, and friend, Adnan Khan, has been covering South Asia and Middle East for over a decade. When not traipsing around Turkey, his home turf, the Maclean's correspondent can usually be...
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