Yes, it did happen! It happened to me. My ears could hear and my eyes could see. It might have happened to you, but you may not have noticed. This twisting of the senses and sensations happens whenever we see sheer and utter beauty. It happens when you get assimilated into beauty, when you live …
Makkah Designed with polished slabs of blue-gray marble, the outer walls of the Holy Mosque are fascinating, without exaggeration. Equally captivating is the well-polished 560×350 ft. white marble floor. Aided by the air-conditioning system, as well as the underground network of cool water pipes, these marbles help keep the floor cool through the reflection of …
The Architecture of the Three Holy Mosques.. Places to Visit Read More »
Homeland Lost by reportage photographer Alan Gignoux is a photographic essay that juxtaposes the portraits of individual Palestinian exiles and their families with present-day images of the places they left in 1948. The above are the first lines on the invitation to the touring exhibition Homeland Lost held at Cairo’s Contemporary Image Collective (CIC). It …
After Salah ed-Deen liberated Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187, major architectural restorations began which would leave their mark on history. The Haram was cleared of Christian monuments such as the cross on top of the Dome of the Rock and replaced with a golden crescent. The wooden minbar (pulpit) of Salah ed-Deen was placed …
Jerusalem’s Forgotten Architectural Heritage – The Mamluks Read More »
Egypt was home to two of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The Lighthouse of Alexandria and the Great Pyramid at Giza drew the awe and admiration of the people of ancient Rome and Greece. Perhaps it is not surprising that Egypt, “the Mother of the World,” should possess two of these seven wonders. …
In our Profile series, we continue presenting the Major Studios in Motion Picture productions. These huge media conglomerates contributed and continue to influence the globalized world. Profiling them will allow us to Understand: The mechanism of creating successful media giants. The successful psychology displayed by the creators of the studios and other media corporations. What …
The image of post-revolutionary Iran depicted in the Western mass media over the past two decades has been almost uncompromisingly defamatory and vilifying. It would be difficult indeed to locate more than a few references to Iran that do not contain the terms “terrorist state,” “fundamentalist regime,” or “human rights violations.” While this has only …
Despite the numerous studies which were written on women in Andalusia, Dr. Aid’a Khaled insisted on choosing the same topic for her thesis upon which she recently gained her Ph.D. Justifying her choice, she said, “none of the researchers has thoroughly tackled the issues of women in Andalusia. Those researchers tackled the literary and cultural …
History, Architecture, Art? History: a means for understanding the present and a way into the future. Architecture: the faithful mirror that reflects a people’s culture, progress and development. Art: the refining of the soul and elevation of the senses. The architectural nature, which is also called the architectural style or pattern, is only the result …
High intensity conflict is a primary emotion that may reveal the inherent capacities of an individual or a group. The art of writing diaries is one of the pursuits which best reveal this hidden aspect of human nature, perhaps because of its transparency and unpretentiousness which have prompted some critics to classify it as a …
The Early Experiments Prior to 1948, Palestine witnessed little activity in the field of arts. What few attempts or experiments in drawing or painting that materialized at the time were amateurish in nature and had not developed into the professional or full-time involvement which characterized artists in other Arab countries. This was due to the …
In the aftermath of the Romantic Revolution of France, a new art movement emerged called The School of 1830 or The School of Barbizon, which urged artists to emigrate out of cities to the pristine environment of nature and make it a central source of artistic inspiration. Followers of this school sought refuge in the …
Few Muslims have thought about using science fiction as a Da’wah tool. However, Jamshed Akhtar, an electrical engineer with varied interests, has broken this trend. In what can be termed as “religious science fiction,” the author has creatively used his God-given abilities to present Islam through the means of science fiction in his first novel. …
Without a doubt, in many societies the issue of censorship is not blatant anymore. But in Arab and Islamic societies, censorship is central to the lives of the people. The governments throughout the Muslim world remain very preoccupied with censorship methods and ways to deprive their peoples of information. They take this debate seriously, using …
Censorship In The Arab-Islamic World In The Information Age Read More »
Imagine yourself in a rich, prosperous country where there is a surplus in food; the dream of others is to immigrate and live there. Imagine this “shiny” country has the most sophisticated research centers, the “top notch” technologies, the best health providers, but has eleven million children without access to healthcare. Imagine the system is …
Patch Adams: Breaking Down the Wall Between the Patient and the Physician Read More »
Question: As-salamu `alaykum. I own a motor yacht in the Egyptian Red Sea region. I operate it as a business taking tourists (mostly Europeans) out on day trips to nearby islands where they swim and sunbathe on the beaches. Our alcohol policy is the following: we do not sell or serve alcohol; non-Muslim guests are …
