Two examples of brave men sacrificing their sons
Two characters from history, from different places, but a similar deed that earned them an everlasting legacy: each sacrificed his son when asked to compromise his principles. Al Samaw'al ibn Adiya...
View ArticleHistorical Islamic Cooking: Andalusian and Baghdadi Recipes
When studying history, we often look for literature, archeology, events, and the like. Seldom do we consider food and recipes to be a topic of history. However, there are several sites that have...
View ArticleJewish ancestry as a slander: Che Guevara as a recent example
Over the years, I have seen many people getting "accused" of having Jewish ancestry by their political adversaries. This tactic is used to discredit the person, throw doubts on their loyalty, and...
View ArticlePBS Documentary: Cities of Light: Islamic Spain documentary
A new PBS documentary about Muslim Spain aired on August 22, 2007. The PBS web site does not have much info on the topic. Islamic Spain was the closest thing to what is today a multicultural society....
View ArticleGideon Rachman: The wrong lessons from Munich
An oft-repeated cliche is how Neville Chamberlain appeased Adolf Hitler in 1938 in the Munich conference. By doing so, Chamberlain caused Czecksolvakia to be swallowed by the Nazis, and World War II...
View ArticleMuslim and anti-Semitism: a brief history
Nowadays, it is often taken for granted that Muslims are staunch Anti-Semites. Most people in the West either do not know, or deliberately ignore, historical facts to the contrary. History of Jews in...
View ArticleIl-Cantilena of Malta: How much can a modern day Arab decipher from the...
In a previous article on Arab heritage in Malta, I touched upon how the Maltese language (Ilsan Malti) is definitely derived from Arabic, and more specifically, from the North African dialect of...
View ArticleSeventh Century Quranic Manuscript at Birmingham's Mingana Collection
My friend Ralph Janke who is from Germany and lives here in Waterloo, pointed me to a very interesting project that he worked on. The project is funded by the European Union, and therefore uses open...
View ArticleWere Egyptian hieroglyphs the origin of the alphabet?
The Biblical Archeology Review has an article on how the alphabet was born from Egyptian hieroglyphs. The article focuses on the Serabit El Khadem site in Sinai, and the inscriptions found in the...
View ArticleMaltese poem: Mejju gie, May has arrived - a translation by an Arabic speaker
In a previous article, I attempted a translation of the oldest know literary work in Maltese, Il-Cantilena, without looking up any translations, and relying only on my knowledge of Arabic as a native...
View Articleal-Hakim: Threatening death for trivial things
Al-Hakim also was used to threaten death for seemingly trivial things. For example, he said that death is the punishment for anyone who addressed any other person as Sayedna or Mawlana: معاشر من يسمع...
View Articleal-Hakim: Religious Policies
Al-Hakim's religious policy was as erratic as his other policies. He would issue a decree, then after a while, he would annul it for no apparent reason. His policies were catastrophic for Muslims,...
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