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Khor Fakkan | Khorfakkan has a long history of human settlement. There is evidence of post holes from the wooden uprights of the traditional barasti huts known as areesh, similar to those found at Tell Abraq which dates from the 3rd to 1st millennium BC. Excavations by a team from the Sharjah Archaeological Museum have identified 34 graves and a settlement belonging to the early-mid 2nd millennium BC. These are clustered on rock outcrops overlooking the harbor.
Around 1500, Duarte Barbosa described it as a village “around which are gardens and farms in plenty”. The town was captured by the Portuguese Empire in the 16th century by naval commander General Afonso de Albuquerque and was referred to as Corfacão. It was part of a serial of fortified cities that the Portuguese used to control access to the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, including Muscat, Sohar and Hormuz. At the dawn of the 16th century, it and its port were defended by a wide walled belt facing the land, closing the gorge that, in the mountain range parallel to the coast, allows communication with the interior. In this monumental structure a single door was torn, defended by a tower. The ensemble was responsible for safeguarding eventual tribal attacks.
In 1580 the Venetian jeweler Gasparo Balbi noted "Chorf" in a list of places on the east coast of the United Arab Emirates, which is considered by historians to indicate Khor Fakkan. The Portuguese built a fort at Khor Fakkan that was a ruin by 1666. The log book of the Dutch vessel the Meerkat mentions this fort and another one, describing "Gorfacan" as a place on a small bay, with about 200 small houses built from date branches, near the beach. It refers to a triangular Portuguese fortress on the northern side, in ruins, and a fortress on a hill on the southern side, also in ruins, without garrison or artillery. As well as date palms, the Meerkat's log also mentions fig trees, melons, watermelons and myrrh. It notes several wells with "good and fresh water" used for irrigation.
One reason suggested for the ruinous state of the forts is an invasion in 1623 of the Persian navy under the control of Omani Sheikh Muhammad Suhari. Suhari, facing a Portuguese counterattack, withdrew to the Portuguese forts, including that of Khorfakkan. When the Persians were expelled, the Portuguese commander Rui Freire urged the people of Khorfakkan to remain loyal to the Portuguese crown and established a Portuguese customs office as well.
In 1737, long after the Portuguese had been expelled from Arabia, the Persians again invaded Khor Fakkan, with some 5,000 men and 1,580 horses, with the help of the Dutch, during their intervention in the Omani civil war. In 1765 Khor Fakkan belonged to a sheikh of the Al Qasimi, Sharjah's ruling family, according to the German traveler Carsten Niebuhr. There is a map by the French cartographer Rigobert Bonne dating to about 1770 that shows the Arabian Peninsula and the Persian Gulf and includes Khor Fakkan.
At the turn of the 19th century, Lorimer notes that Khor Fakkan had about 5,000 date trees and was home to about 150 houses of Naqbiyin and Arabicised Persians, amounting to some 800 people. The population lived by cultivation and pearling, and the town had seven shops.
The German submarine U-533 sank about 25 miles (40 km) off the coast on 16 October 1943 during World War II. Divers found the wreck at a depth of 108 metres (354 ft) in 2009. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khor_Fakkan |
Dick Dale | Dale began playing in local country western rockabilly bars where he met Texas Tiny in 1955, who gave him the name "Dick Dale" because he thought it was a good name for a country singer.
Dale employed non-Western scales in his playing. He regularly used reverb, which became a trademark of surf guitar. Being lefthanded, Dale would become known for his unorthodox method of playing a right-handed guitar upside-down, doing so (like Albert King) without restringing the guitar (while Hendrix, by comparison, would restring his guitar). Even after he acquired a proper left-handed guitar, Dale continued to use his reverse stringing. He often played by reaching over the fretboard, rather than wrapping his fingers up from underneath.
He partnered with Leo Fender to test new equipment. In interviews Dale noted that Fender had stated "When it can withstand the barrage of punishment from Dick Dale, then it is fit for the human consumption." His combination of loud amplifiers and heavy gauge strings led him to be called the "Father of Heavy Metal". After Dale blew up several Fender amplifiers, Leo Fender and Freddie Tavares saw Dale play at the Rendezvous Ballroom, Balboa, California, and identified the problem arose from him creating a sound louder than the audience screaming. The pair visited the James B. Lansing loudspeaker company and asked for a custom 15-inch loudspeaker, which became the JBL D130F model, and was known as the Single Showman Amp. Dale's combination of a Fender Stratocaster with a Fender Showman Amp allowed him to attain significantly louder volume levels unobtainable by then-conventional equipment. Furthering the development, the Showman Amp later added a second 15-inch JBL D-130 speaker, and it was named the Dual Showman Amp.
Dale's performances at the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa in mid to late 1961 are credited with the creation of the surf music phenomenon. Dale obtained permission to use the 3,000 person capacity ballroom for surfer dances after overcrowding at a local ice cream parlor where he performed made him seek other venues. The Rendezvous ownership and the city of Newport Beach agreed to Dale's request on the condition that he prohibit alcohol sales and implement a dress code. Dale's events at the ballrooms, called "stomps", quickly became legendary, and the events routinely sold out.
"Let's Go Trippin'" is one of the first surf rock songs. This was followed by more locally released songs, including "Jungle Fever" and "Surf Beat" on his own Deltone label. His first full-length album was Surfers' Choice in 1962. The album was picked up by Capitol Records and distributed nationally, and Dale soon began appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show, and in films where he played his signature single "Miserlou". He later stated, "I still remember the first night we played it ("Misirlou"). I changed the tempo, and just started cranking on that mother. And ... it was eerie. The people came rising up off the floor, and they were chanting and stomping. I guess that was the beginning of the surfer's stomp." His second album was named after his performing nickname, "King of the Surf Guitar".
Dale later said "There was a tremendous amount of power I felt while surfing and that feeling of power was simply transferred into my guitar". His playing style reflected the experience he had when surfing, and projecting the power of the ocean to people.
Dale and the Del-Tones performed both sides of his Capitol single, "Secret Surfin' Spot" in the 1963 movie Beach Party, starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. The group performed the songs "My First Love", "Runnin' Wild" and "Muscle Beach" in the 1964 film, Muscle Beach Party. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Dale |
Leopard | The leopard has the largest distribution of all wild cats, occurring widely in Africa and Asia, although populations are fragmented and declining. It inhabits foremost savanna and rainforest, and areas where grasslands, woodlands and riparian forests remain largely undisturbed. It also persists in urban environments, if it is not persecuted, has sufficient prey and patches of vegetation for shelter during the day.
The leopard's range in West Africa is estimated to have drastically declined by 95%, and in the Sahara desert by 97%. In sub-Saharan Africa, it is still numerous and surviving in marginal habitats where other large cats have disappeared. In southeastern Egypt, an individual found killed in 2017 was the first sighting of the leopard in this area in 65 years.
In West Asia, the leopard inhabits remain in the areas of southern and southeastern Anatolia.
Leopard populations in the Arabian Peninsula are small and fragmented.
In the Indian subcontinent, the leopard is still relatively abundant, with greater numbers than those of other Panthera species. Some leopard populations in India live quite close to human settlements and even in semi-developed areas. Although adaptable to human disturbances, leopards require healthy prey populations and appropriate vegetative cover for hunting for prolonged survival and thus rarely linger in heavily developed areas. Due to the leopard's stealth, people often remain unaware that it lives in nearby areas. As of 2020, the leopard population within forested habitats in India's tiger range landscapes was estimated at 12,172 to 13,535 individuals. Surveyed landscapes included elevations below 2,600 m (8,500 ft) in the Shivalik Hills and Gangetic plains, Central India and Eastern Ghats, Western Ghats, the Brahmaputra River basin and hills in Northeast India.
In Nepal's Kanchenjunga Conservation Area, a melanistic leopard was photographed at an elevation of 4,300 m (14,100 ft) by a camera trap in May 2012.
In Sri Lanka, leopards were recorded in Yala National Park and in unprotected forest patches, tea estates, grasslands, home gardens, pine and eucalyptus plantations.
In Myanmar, leopards were recorded for the first time by camera traps in the hill forests of Myanmar's Karen State. The Northern Tenasserim Forest Complex in southern Myanmar is considered a leopard stronghold. In Thailand, leopards are present in the Western Forest Complex, Kaeng Krachan-Kui Buri, Khlong Saeng-Khao Sok protected area complexes and in Hala Bala Wildlife Sanctuary bordering Malaysia. In Peninsular Malaysia, leopards are present in Belum-Temengor, Taman Negara and Endau-Rompin National Parks.
In Laos, leopards were recorded in Nam Et-Phou Louey National Biodiversity Conservation Area and Nam Kan National Protected Area.
In Cambodia, leopards inhabit deciduous dipterocarp forest in Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary and Mondulkiri Protected Forest.
In southern China, leopards were recorded only in the Qinling Mountains during surveys in 11 nature reserves between 2002 and 2009.
In Java, leopards inhabit dense tropical rainforests and dry deciduous forests at elevations from sea level to 2,540 m (8,330 ft). Outside protected areas, leopards were recorded in mixed agricultural land, secondary forest and production forest between 2008 and 2014.
In the Russian Far East, it inhabits temperate coniferous forests where winter temperatures reach a low of −25 °C (−13 °F). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopard |
Tunisian revolution | On 28 November 2010, WikiLeaks and five major newspapers (Spain's El País, France's Le Monde, Germany's Der Spiegel, the United Kingdom's The Guardian, and the United States' The New York Times) simultaneously published the first 220 of 251,287 leaked documents labeled confidential. These included descriptions of corruption and repression by the Tunisian regime. It is widely believed that the information in the WikiLeaks documents contributed to the protests, which began a few weeks later.
There were reports of police obstructing demonstrators and using tear gas on hundreds of young protesters in Sidi Bouzid in mid-December. The protesters had gathered outside regional government headquarters to demonstrate against the treatment of Mohamed Bouazizi. Coverage of events was limited by Tunisian media. On 19 December, extra police were present on the city's streets.
On 22 December, protester Lahseen Naji, responding to "hunger and joblessness", electrocuted himself after climbing an electricity pylon. Ramzi Al-Abboudi also killed himself because of financial difficulties arising from a business debt by the country's micro-credit solidarity programme. On 24 December, Mohamed Ammari was fatally shot in the chest by police in Bouziane. Other protesters were also injured, including Chawki Belhoussine El Hadri, who died later on 30 December. Police claimed they shot the demonstrators in "self-defence". A "quasi-curfew" was then imposed on the city by police. Rapper El Général, whose songs had been adopted by protesters, was arrested on 24 December but released several days later after "an enormous public reaction".
Violence increased, and protests reached the capital, Tunis, on 27 December where a thousand citizens expressed solidarity with residents of Sidi Bouzid and called for jobs. The rally, organised by independent trade union activists, was stopped by security forces. Protests also spread to Sousse, Sfax and Meknassy. The following day, the Tunisian Federation of Labour Unions held another rally in Gafsa which was also blocked by security forces. About 300 lawyers held a rally near the government's palace in Tunis. Protests continued again on 29 December.
On 30 December, police peacefully dispersed a protest in Monastir, while using force to disrupt further demonstrations in Sbikha and Chebba. Momentum appeared to continue with the protests on 31 December and the Tunisian National Lawyers Order organised further demonstrations and public gatherings by lawyers in Tunis and other cities. Mokhtar Trifi, president of the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH), said that lawyers across Tunisia had been "savagely beaten". There were also unconfirmed reports of another man attempting to commit suicide in El Hamma.
On 3 January 2011, protests in Thala over unemployment and a high cost of living turned violent. At a demonstration of 250 people, mostly students, police fired tear gas; one canister landed in a local mosque. In response, the protesters were reported to have set fire to tires and attacked the RCD offices. Some of the more general protests sought changes in the government's online censorship; Tunisian authorities allegedly carried out phishing operations to take control of user passwords and check online criticism. Both state and non-state websites had been hacked.
On 6 January, 95% of Tunisia's 8,000 lawyers went on strike, according to the chairman of the national bar association. He said, "The strike carries a clear message that we do not accept unjustified attacks on lawyers. We want to strongly protest against the beating of lawyers in the past few days." It was reported on the following day that teachers had also joined the strike.
In response to 11 January protests, police used riot gear to disperse protesters ransacking buildings, burning tyres, setting fire to a bus and burning two cars in the Tunis working-class suburb of Ettadhamen-Mnihla. The protesters were said to have chanted "We are not afraid, we are not afraid, we are afraid only of God". Military personnel were also deployed in many cities around the country.
On 12 January, a reporter from Italian broadcaster RAI stated that he and his cameraman were beaten with batons by police during a riot in Tunis's central district and that the officers then confiscated their camera. A curfew was ordered in Tunis after protests and clashes with police.
Hizb ut-Tahrir organised protests after Friday prayer on 14 January to call for re-establishing the Islamic caliphate. A day later, it also organised other protests that marched to the 9 April Prison to free political prisoners.
Also on 14 January, Lucas Dolega, a photojournalist for the European Pressphoto Agency, was hit in the forehead by a tear gas canister allegedly fired by the police at short range; he died two days later. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunisian_revolution |
Sudan | In 1821, the Ottoman ruler of Egypt, Muhammad Ali of Egypt, had invaded and conquered northern Sudan. Although technically the Vali of Egypt under the Ottoman Empire, Muhammad Ali styled himself as Khedive of a virtually independent Egypt. Seeking to add Sudan to his domains, he sent his third son Ismail (not to be confused with Ismaʻil Pasha mentioned later) to conquer the country, and subsequently incorporate it into Egypt. With the exception of the Shaiqiya and the Darfur sultanate in Kordofan, he was met without resistance. The Egyptian policy of conquest was expanded and intensified by Ibrahim Pasha's son, Ismaʻil, under whose reign most of the remainder of modern-day Sudan was conquered.
The Egyptian authorities made significant improvements to the Sudanese infrastructure (mainly in the north), especially with regard to irrigation and cotton production. In 1879, the Great Powers forced the removal of Ismail and established his son Tewfik Pasha in his place. Tewfik's corruption and mismanagement resulted in the 'Urabi revolt, which threatened the Khedive's survival. Tewfik appealed for help to the British, who subsequently occupied Egypt in 1882. Sudan was left in the hands of the Khedivial government, and the mismanagement and corruption of its officials.
During the Khedivial period, dissent had spread due to harsh taxes imposed on most activities. Taxation on irrigation wells and farming lands were so high most farmers abandoned their farms and livestock. During the 1870s, European initiatives against the slave trade had an adverse impact on the economy of northern Sudan, precipitating the rise of Mahdist forces. Muhammad Ahmad ibn Abd Allah, the Mahdi (Guided One), offered to the ansars (his followers) and those who surrendered to him a choice between adopting Islam or being killed. The Mahdiyah (Mahdist regime) imposed traditional Sharia Islamic laws. On 12 August 1881, an incident occurred at Aba Island, sparking the outbreak of what became the Mahdist War.
From his announcement of the Mahdiyya in June 1881 until the fall of Khartoum in January 1885, Muhammad Ahmad led a successful military campaign against the Turco-Egyptian government of the Sudan, known as the Turkiyah. Muhammad Ahmad died on 22 June 1885, a mere six months after the conquest of Khartoum. After a power struggle amongst his deputies, Abdallahi ibn Muhammad, with the help primarily of the Baggara of western Sudan, overcame the opposition of the others and emerged as the unchallenged leader of the Mahdiyah. After consolidating his power, Abdallahi ibn Muhammad assumed the title of Khalifa (successor) of the Mahdi, instituted an administration, and appointed Ansar (who were usually Baggara) as emirs over each of the several provinces.
Regional relations remained tense throughout much of the Mahdiyah period, largely because of the Khalifa's brutal methods to extend his rule throughout the country. In 1887, a 60,000-man Ansar army invaded Ethiopia, penetrating as far as Gondar. In March 1889, king Yohannes IV of Ethiopia marched on Metemma; however, after Yohannes fell in battle, the Ethiopian forces withdrew. Abd ar-Rahman an-Nujumi, the Khalifa's general, attempted an invasion of Egypt in 1889, but British-led Egyptian troops defeated the Ansar at Tushkah. The failure of the Egyptian invasion broke the spell of the Ansar's invincibility. The Belgians prevented the Mahdi's men from conquering Equatoria, and in 1893, the Italians repelled an Ansar attack at Agordat (in Eritrea) and forced the Ansar to withdraw from Ethiopia.
In the 1890s, the British sought to re-establish their control over Sudan, once more officially in the name of the Egyptian Khedive, but in actuality treating the country as a British colony. By the early 1890s, British, French, and Belgian claims had converged at the Nile headwaters. Britain feared that the other powers would take advantage of Sudan's instability to acquire territory previously annexed to Egypt. Apart from these political considerations, Britain wanted to establish control over the Nile to safeguard a planned irrigation dam at Aswan. Herbert Kitchener led military campaigns against the Mahdist Sudan from 1896 to 1898. Kitchener's campaigns culminated in a decisive victory in the Battle of Omdurman on 2 September 1898. A year later, the Battle of Umm Diwaykarat on 25 November 1899 resulted in the death of Abdallahi ibn Muhammad, subsequently bringing to an end the Mahdist War. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudan |
Galkayo | At its founding, the city was primarily inhabited by pastoralists, who sporadically fought in clan groups over resources like water and grazing land. In particular, the Darod, dominant in the north of the city, and the Hawiye, dominant in the south of the city, fought over the city due to their long-standing rivalry.
Galkayo was formally established in the late 19th century by Sultan Yusuf Ali Kenadid of the Hobyo Sultanate. Kenadid, as part of an ongoing power struggle with his rivals in the Majeerteen Sultanate, signed a treaty with the Kingdom of Italy to become a protectorate, thereby passing the city into nominal Italian control. Under Italian rule, the city's communities were split along the "Tomaselli Line" to prevent further conflict between the Darod and the Hawiye.
After World War II, Italian Somaliland became the Trust Territory of Somalia under the guidance of the United Nations. At this time, the city saw significant unity among rival groups due to growing Somali nationalism, spurred by the growing influence of the Somali Youth League, a Somali nationalist political party. Following the independence of Somalia in 1960, Galkayo was made the center of Galkayo District and the capital of Mudug region.
The city fell back into conflict during the rule of Siad Barre, who actively took advantage of class differences within the city to exercise his power. In particular, Barre, a member of a Darod subclan, backed the Darod people in their struggle over the city. On 12 November 1989, a group of Hawiye officers mutinied against Barre's regime for this clan favoritism. This mutiny was put down a day later by a militia led by Maslah Mohammed Barre, Siad Barre's son. Hawiye villages around Galkayo were punished in response to the mutiny by Barre's militia, furthering the divide between them and the Darod, and leading to a subsequent mutiny in Mogadishu on 5 December 1989.
During the Somali Civil War, the Hawiye rebel organization United Somali Congress attacked Darod elements in Galkayo, starting a major clan war surrounding the city and Mudug region as a whole. The fighting clans drew administrative borders through the city, splitting it between the Darod-controlled Puntland and the Hawiye-controlled Galmudug, strengthening the divide between them. As the fighting of the Somali Civil War became more violent, the United Nations intervened with United Nations Operation in Somalia II, and negotiated peace within the Mudug region and the withdrawal of militant fighters from Galkayo.
Conflicts between Puntland and Galmudug authorities continued to erupt over the status of Galkayo. In November 2015, anger over the construction of a road in Puntland caused a skirmish which left 20 dead, 120 injured, and 90,000 displaced. Another conflict arose in October 2016 over construction rights in a disputed area of the city, which saw a ceasefire agreement meant to allow free transport of goods and people between the two administrations and establish a joint police force to protect the entire city. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galkayo |
History of logic | After Boole, the next great advances were made by the German mathematician Gottlob Frege. Frege's objective was the program of Logicism, i.e. demonstrating that arithmetic is identical with logic. Frege went much further than any of his predecessors in his rigorous and formal approach to logic, and his calculus or Begriffsschrift is important. Frege also tried to show that the concept of number can be defined by purely logical means, so that (if he was right) logic includes arithmetic and all branches of mathematics that are reducible to arithmetic. He was not the first writer to suggest this. In his pioneering work Die Grundlagen der Arithmetik (The Foundations of Arithmetic), sections 15–17, he acknowledges the efforts of Leibniz, J. S. Mill as well as Jevons, citing the latter's claim that "algebra is a highly developed logic, and number but logical discrimination."
Frege's first work, the Begriffsschrift ("concept script") is a rigorously axiomatised system of propositional logic, relying on just two connectives (negational and conditional), two rules of inference (modus ponens and substitution), and six axioms. Frege referred to the "completeness" of this system, but was unable to prove this. The most significant innovation, however, was his explanation of the quantifier in terms of mathematical functions. Traditional logic regards the sentence "Caesar is a man" as of fundamentally the same form as "all men are mortal." Sentences with a proper name subject were regarded as universal in character, interpretable as "every Caesar is a man". At the outset Frege abandons the traditional "concepts subject and predicate", replacing them with argument and function respectively, which he believes "will stand the test of time. It is easy to see how regarding a content as a function of an argument leads to the formation of concepts. Furthermore, the demonstration of the connection between the meanings of the words if, and, not, or, there is, some, all, and so forth, deserves attention". Frege argued that the quantifier expression "all men" does not have the same logical or semantic form as "all men", and that the universal proposition "every A is B" is a complex proposition involving two functions, namely ' – is A' and ' – is B' such that whatever satisfies the first, also satisfies the second. In modern notation, this would be expressed as
∀
x
(
A
(
x
)
→
B
(
x
)
)
{\displaystyle \forall \;x{\big (}A(x)\rightarrow B(x){\big )}}
In English, "for all x, if Ax then Bx". Thus only singular propositions are of subject-predicate form, and they are irreducibly singular, i.e. not reducible to a general proposition. Universal and particular propositions, by contrast, are not of simple subject-predicate form at all. If "all mammals" were the logical subject of the sentence "all mammals are land-dwellers", then to negate the whole sentence we would have to negate the predicate to give "all mammals are not land-dwellers". But this is not the case. This functional analysis of ordinary-language sentences later had a great impact on philosophy and linguistics.
This means that in Frege's calculus, Boole's "primary" propositions can be represented in a different way from "secondary" propositions. "All inhabitants are either men or women" is
∀
x
(
I
(
x
)
→
(
M
(
x
)
∨
W
(
x
)
)
)
{\displaystyle \forall \;x{\Big (}I(x)\rightarrow {\big (}M(x)\lor W(x){\big )}{\Big )}}
whereas "All the inhabitants are men or all the inhabitants are women" is
∀
x
(
I
(
x
)
→
M
(
x
)
)
∨
∀
x
(
I
(
x
)
→
W
(
x
)
)
{\displaystyle \forall \;x{\big (}I(x)\rightarrow M(x){\big )}\lor \forall \;x{\big (}I(x)\rightarrow W(x){\big )}}
As Frege remarked in a critique of Boole's calculus:
"The real difference is that I avoid [the Boolean] division into two parts ... and give a homogeneous presentation of the lot. In Boole the two parts run alongside one another, so that one is like the mirror image of the other, but for that very reason stands in no organic relation to it."
As well as providing a unified and comprehensive system of logic, Frege's calculus also resolved the ancient problem of multiple generality. The ambiguity of "every girl kissed a boy" is difficult to express in traditional logic, but Frege's logic resolves this through the different scope of the quantifiers. Thus
∀
x
(
G
(
x
)
→
∃
y
(
B
(
y
)
∧
K
(
x
,
y
)
)
)
{\displaystyle \forall \;x{\Big (}G(x)\rightarrow \exists \;y{\big (}B(y)\land K(x,y){\big )}{\Big )}}
means that to every girl there corresponds some boy (any one will do) who the girl kissed. But
∃
x
(
B
(
x
)
∧
∀
y
(
G
(
y
)
→
K
(
y
,
x
)
)
)
{\displaystyle \exists \;x{\Big (}B(x)\land \forall \;y{\big (}G(y)\rightarrow K(y,x){\big )}{\Big )}}
means that there is some particular boy whom every girl kissed. Without this device, the project of logicism would have been doubtful or impossible. Using it, Frege provided a definition of the ancestral relation, of the many-to-one relation, and of mathematical induction.
This period overlaps with the work of what is known as the "mathematical school", which included Dedekind, Pasch, Peano, Hilbert, Zermelo, Huntington, Veblen and Heyting. Their objective was the axiomatisation of branches of mathematics like geometry, arithmetic, analysis and set theory. Most notable was Hilbert's Program, which sought to ground all of mathematics to a finite set of axioms, proving its consistency by "finitistic" means and providing a procedure which would decide the truth or falsity of any mathematical statement. The standard axiomatization of the natural numbers is named the Peano axioms eponymously. Peano maintained a clear distinction between mathematical and logical symbols. While unaware of Frege's work, he independently recreated his logical apparatus based on the work of Boole and Schröder.
The logicist project received a near-fatal setback with the discovery of a paradox in 1901 by Bertrand Russell. This proved Frege's naive set theory led to a contradiction. Frege's theory contained the axiom that for any formal criterion, there is a set of all objects that meet the criterion. Russell showed that a set containing exactly the sets that are not members of themselves would contradict its own definition (if it is not a member of itself, it is a member of itself, and if it is a member of itself, it is not). This contradiction is now known as Russell's paradox. One important method of resolving this paradox was proposed by Ernst Zermelo. Zermelo set theory was the first axiomatic set theory. It was developed into the now-canonical Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory (ZF). Russell's paradox symbolically is as follows:
Let
R
=
{
x
∣
x
∉
x
}
, then
R
∈
R
⟺
R
∉
R
{\displaystyle {\text{Let }}R=\{x\mid x\not \in x\}{\text{, then }}R\in R\iff R\not \in R}
The monumental Principia Mathematica, a three-volume work on the foundations of mathematics, written by Russell and Alfred North Whitehead and published 1910–1913 also included an attempt to resolve the paradox, by means of an elaborate system of types: a set of elements is of a different type than is each of its elements (set is not the element; one element is not the set) and one cannot speak of the "set of all sets". The Principia was an attempt to derive all mathematical truths from a well-defined set of axioms and inference rules in symbolic logic. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_logic |
History of mathematics | Although ethnic Greek mathematicians continued under the rule of the late Roman Republic and subsequent Roman Empire, there were no noteworthy native Latin mathematicians in comparison. Ancient Romans such as Cicero (106–43 BC), an influential Roman statesman who studied mathematics in Greece, believed that Roman surveyors and calculators were far more interested in applied mathematics than the theoretical mathematics and geometry that were prized by the Greeks. It is unclear if the Romans first derived their numerical system directly from the Greek precedent or from Etruscan numerals used by the Etruscan civilization centered in what is now Tuscany, central Italy.
Using calculation, Romans were adept at both instigating and detecting financial fraud, as well as managing taxes for the treasury. Siculus Flaccus, one of the Roman gromatici (i.e. land surveyor), wrote the Categories of Fields, which aided Roman surveyors in measuring the surface areas of allotted lands and territories. Aside from managing trade and taxes, the Romans also regularly applied mathematics to solve problems in engineering, including the erection of architecture such as bridges, road-building, and preparation for military campaigns. Arts and crafts such as Roman mosaics, inspired by previous Greek designs, created illusionist geometric patterns and rich, detailed scenes that required precise measurements for each tessera tile, the opus tessellatum pieces on average measuring eight millimeters square and the finer opus vermiculatum pieces having an average surface of four millimeters square.
The creation of the Roman calendar also necessitated basic mathematics. The first calendar allegedly dates back to 8th century BC during the Roman Kingdom and included 356 days plus a leap year every other year. In contrast, the lunar calendar of the Republican era contained 355 days, roughly ten-and-one-fourth days shorter than the solar year, a discrepancy that was solved by adding an extra month into the calendar after the 23rd of February. This calendar was supplanted by the Julian calendar, a solar calendar organized by Julius Caesar (100–44 BC) and devised by Sosigenes of Alexandria to include a leap day every four years in a 365-day cycle. This calendar, which contained an error of 11 minutes and 14 seconds, was later corrected by the Gregorian calendar organized by Pope Gregory XIII (r. 1572–1585), virtually the same solar calendar used in modern times as the international standard calendar.
At roughly the same time, the Han Chinese and the Romans both invented the wheeled odometer device for measuring distances traveled, the Roman model first described by the Roman civil engineer and architect Vitruvius (c. 80 BC – c. 15 BC). The device was used at least until the reign of emperor Commodus (r. 177 – 192 AD), but its design seems to have been lost until experiments were made during the 15th century in Western Europe. Perhaps relying on similar gear-work and technology found in the Antikythera mechanism, the odometer of Vitruvius featured chariot wheels measuring 4 feet (1.2 m) in diameter turning four-hundred times in one Roman mile (roughly 4590 ft/1400 m). With each revolution, a pin-and-axle device engaged a 400-tooth cogwheel that turned a second gear responsible for dropping pebbles into a box, each pebble representing one mile traversed. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_mathematics |
Constitution of Pakistan | Constitutional crisis grew further when the AL refused to make concessions over its six points to draft the constitution and instead maintaining that the AL was able to frame a constitution and to form a central government on its own.
The PPP was not willing to dilute the authority of the federal government in spite of assuring full provincial autonomy for all the provinces of Pakistan. Negotiations on framing the work on constitution were held between January and March 1971 between leaders of the PPP, the AL, and the military government of Yahya Khan, which turned out to be a failure. Under the LFO, the President was to decide when the National Assembly was to meet. By 13 February 1971, the President Yahya announced that the National Assembly was to meet at Dhaka on 3 March 1971. By this time the differences between the main parties to the conflict had already crystallized. Over the six-point issue, the PPP was convinced that a federation based on the six points would lead to a feeble confederation in name only and was part of a larger Indian plan to break up and destroy Pakistan. These fears were evidently shared by the military leaders in the west, including President Yahya Khan who had publicly described Sheikh Mujibur Rehman as the 'future Prime Minister of Pakistan' on 14 January 1971. Bhutto announced on 15 February that his party would not attend the National Assembly unless there was 'some amount of reciprocity' from the Awami League. Sheikh Mujib replied at a press conference on 21 February, asserting that "Our stand is absolutely clear. The constitution will be framed on the basis of the six points".
Such an announcement led the PPP to demand the removal of the National Assembly session, or the opening session to be postponed. The PPP threatened to stage a large scale general strike all over the country. Under pressure by the PPP, President Yahya postponed the National Assembly session on 25 March which came as a shattering disillusionment to the AL and their supporters throughout East Pakistan. It was seen as a betrayal and as proof of the authorities of the Pakistan to deny them the fruits of their electoral victory. This resulted in the outbreak of violence in East Pakistan. The Awami League launched a non-co-operation movement as they virtually controlled the entire province. Due to disturbances in East Pakistan, no National Assembly session was called and the military moved into East Pakistan and executed Operation Searchlight. The civil disobedience movement turned into an armed liberation movement backed by India.
With India successfully intervening in the conflict, the Pakistan military surrendered to the Indian military and almost 93,000 military personnel were taken as prisoners of war on 16 December 1971. Demoralized, gaining notoriety in the country, and finding himself unable to control the situation, President Yahya ultimately handed over the national power to the PPP, of which Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was sworn in on 20 December 1971 as President and as the (first civilian) Chief Martial Law Administrator. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Pakistan |
Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine | In the 1920s, the British imposed restrictions on Jewish immigration to Palestine and the ability of Jews to buy land, claiming that these decisions were taken due to concerns over the economic absorptive capacity of the country. In the 1930s, British authorities set a quota for immigration certificates and authorised the Jewish Agency to hand them out at its discretion. Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, the British introduced the White Paper of 1939. The White Paper rejected the concept of partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states and announced that the country would be turned into an independent binational state with an Arab majority. It severely curtailed Jewish immigration, allowing for only 75,000 Jews to migrate to Palestine from 1940 to 1944, consisting of a yearly quota of 10,000 per year and a supplementary quota for 25,000 to cover refugee emergencies spread out over the same period. Afterward, further Jewish immigration would depend on the consent of the Arab majority. Sales of Arab land to Jews were to be restricted.
In reaction to British restrictions, illegal immigration to Palestine began. Initially, Jews entered Palestine by land, mainly by slipping across the northern border, where they were aided by the border settlements. In the early 1930s, when crossing the northern border became more difficult, other routes were found. Thousands of Jews came to Palestine on student or tourist visas, and never returned to their countries of origin. Jewish women often entered into fictitious marriages with residents of Palestine to be granted entry for family reunification purposes. In 1934, the first seaborne attempt to bring Jews to Palestine happened when some 350 Jews of the HeHalutz movement in Poland who were unwilling to wait for certificates sailed to Palestine on the Vallos, a chartered ship. Two more ships carrying illegal immigrants arrived in 1937, and several more arrived in 1938 and 1939. These voyages were mainly organised by the Revisionist Zionist Organisation and the Irgun. Until 1938, the Jewish Agency opposed illegal immigration, fearing that it would impact the number of immigration certificates issued.
Overall, between 1929 and 1940, a period of mass Jewish immigration known as the Fifth Aliyah occurred despite British restrictions. Nearly 250,000 Jews (of whom 20,000 later left) immigrated to Palestine, many of them illegally. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_insurgency_in_Mandatory_Palestine |
African Union | From the early 1990s up until 2000, Somalia was without a functioning central government. A peace agreement aimed at ending the civil war that broke out following the collapse of the Siad Barre regime was signed in 2006 after many years of peace talks. However, the new government was almost immediately threatened by further violence. In February 2007, the African Union (AU) and European Union (EU) worked together to establish the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). The purpose of AMISOM was to create a foundation that would hopefully provide aid to some of Somalia's most vulnerable and keep the peace in the region. They are tasked with everything from protecting federal institutions to facilitating humanitarian relief operations. Much of the AU's opposition comes from an Islamic extremist group named al-Shabaab. To temporarily shore up the government's military base, starting in March 2007, AU soldiers began arriving in Mogadishu as part of a peacekeeping force that was intended by the AU to eventually be 8,000 strong. Eritrea recalled its ambassadors to the African Union on 20 November 2009 after the African Union called on the United Nations Security Council to impose sanctions on them due to their alleged support of Somali Islamists attempting to topple the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, the internationally recognised government of Somalia which holds Somalia's seat on the African Union. On 22 December 2009, the United Nations Security Council passed UNSCR 1907, which imposed an arms embargo on Eritrea, travel bans on Eritrean leaders, and asset freezes on Eritrean officials. Eritrea strongly criticised the resolution. In January 2011, Eritrea reestablished their mission to the AU in Addis Ababa.
In the fall of 2011, AMISOM forces, along with Kenyan and Ethiopian forces, launched a set of offensive attacks on the al-Shabaab. In these attacks, AMISOM forces were able to reclaim key cities including the Somali capital of Mogadishu. In September 2013, political scientist Ethan Bueno de Mesquita argued that with the help of AMISOM forces, they had made it "nearly impossible for al-Shabaab to hold territory even in its former strongholds in southern Somalia". Although much progress has been made towards peace in the region, it should still be noted that African Union forces' still get attacked regularly. Despite AMISOM being effective, it is vastly underfunded and many forces lack the resources required. Funding for humanitarian relief and the formation of armies tends to be vastly undercut. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Union |
Shuruppak | Andrae, W., "Aus einem Berichte W. Andrae's über seineExkursion von Fara nach den südbabylonischen Ruinenstätten(TellǏd, Jǒcha und Hamam)", Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft,16, pp. 16–24, 1902 (in german)
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Yusuf Za'arur | Za'arur was born in 1902 in Baghdad to a noble family with many children. As a child, he was swept away by the music and melodies in the synagogue and built himself a qanun-like instrument against the wishes of his parents, who feared that music would disrupt his general studies and Torah studies at the yeshiva. At the age of fourteen, he joined a group of people who made a living from the songs of blessings on celebrations. At the age of eighteen he bought himself his first qanun and soon mastered the intricate instrument and began to play flute, violin and cello as well. At the age of twenty, he opened a school for various musical instruments that was very successful. Being such an expert in the vast knowledge he acquired and in his absolute pitch, his playing on the qanun turned from a popular tune to modern and artistic playing, and he gained a much respectable status in the music world of Baghdad. In 1931, he even participated in a performance by Sami Al-Shawwa, one of the greatest violinists of Arab music, and met the greatest composers and singers, Mohammed Abdel Wahab and Umm Kulthum, who came to Iraq.
Zaarur was an accompanied player to the famous Iraqi singer Mohammad Al Gubenchi, and together they traveled to Berlin to record on records and recitals. Many of these were broadcast in Berlin on a station in Arabic. In addition, he and his band performed in Berlin to the Iraqi community there.
In 1932, at the First International Congress of Arab Music in Cairo, the official orchestra representing Iraq in that Congress was conducted and directed by Yusuf Za'arour. He even won first place and received a medal. In 1936, Zaarour was appointed director of the musical department at the Baghdad radio station. The appointment was by then Prime Minister Nuri al-Said. As part of his work, he examined many musicians for the purpose of establishing three musical ensembles: Iraqi, Kurdish and Egyptian. As the editor of the music programs at the station, he examined many musicians for the purpose of integrating them in these programs and worked to integrate Jewish musicians. In addition, he established another band of Muslim musicians from Baghdad who played on Shabbat and Jewish holidays. Outside his formal job at the radio station, he performed before the king, government ministers and the mayor of Baghdad.
He had performed in Mandatory Palestine before the establishment of the State of Israel, in 1944, and returned to Iraq. In 1951 he realized his ambition to make Aliyah to the Land of Israel, despite his great talent and honorable position as director at the Baghdad Broadcasting Station. In 1956, during the Sinai Campaign, the BBC boycotted recitals of his that were recorded in Iraq for the station after World War II, because he was Jewish.
Za'arur Composed many songs and melodies that are still being played. Among others, he is considered to have brought to the recognition and greatness of Nazem al-Ghazali in the Arab music community. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yusuf_Za%27arur |
Arabic hip hop | Refugees Of Rap (Arabic: لاجئي الراب; French: "Les Réfugiés Du Rap") is a Syrian-Palestinian hip-hop group based in Paris, France.
Two brothers, Yaser and Mohamed Jamous, created the group in 2007, in a Palestinian refugee camp in Yarmouk, Syria. The brothers' texts offer a glimpse of life in the camp and denounce the situation in Syria. Forced into exile in 2013, the brothers become refugees in France the same year.
Their collaboration led to several artistic projects. From 2007 to 2012, the band performed concerts and performed in Syria, Egypt, and Lebanon. The group collaborated with multiple other artists, including Tamer Nafar (DAM), Tarabband, and Linda Bitar, to release two albums in 2010 and 2014.
Since their arrival in Europe as refugees, the group has performed in several festivals and participated in several artistic and associated projects (France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway).
(2015 Summer Camps (Rennes), Warm-up Roskilde Festival (Denmark 2017), IMA Institut du Monde Arabe 2017 Poetry Night, Fête de l'Humanité 2016 2017 etc..).
In the continuity of their project, the two brothers offer musical workshops to young teens. These writing workshops are based around the notion of freedom of expression, where messages of peace and tolerance circulate in a humanist approach that democratizes rap and allows young people from all walks of life to express themselves through music and words.
Throughout their career, the group has attracted the interest of several media such as Rolling Stone magazine, the World, BBC or ARTE, Vice, Konbini, The Guardian, Radio France, TV5 Complex.
Refugees of Rap also organized a "rap writing" workshop last one was at Octave Mirbeau College in Trévières.
Omar Offendum is a Syrian American hip-hop artist, designer, poet and peace activist. He was born in Saudi Arabia, raised in Washington, DC, and now lives in Los Angeles, California. His song #Jan25, inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings in Egypt, went viral in 2011, shortly before the resignation of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. Omar Offendum has often collaborated with Yassin Alsalman, also known as Narcy, and with renowned hip-hop artist Shadia Mansour.
Amir Almuarri (Arabic: أمير المعري) is an Idlib-based rapper who achieved worldwide recognition for his music in 2019. His work draws attention to the suffering of the Syrian people under siege. His latest composition, entitled "On all fronts," expresses Almuarri's anger toward all parties involved in the fighting. It received widespread coverage by Arabic and international media. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_hip_hop |
Fiqh | The Quran set the rights, responsibilities, and rules for people and societies to adhere to, such as dealing in interest. Muhammad then provided an example, which is recorded in the hadith books, showing people how he practically implemented these rules in a society. After the passing of Muhammad, there was a need for jurists, to decide on new legal matters where there is no such ruling in the Quran or the hadith, example of Islamic prophet Muhammad regarding a similar case.
In the years proceeding Muhammad, the community in Madina continued to use the same rules. People were familiar with the practice of Muhammad and therefore continued to use the same rules.
The scholars appearing in the diagram below were taught by Muhammad's companions, many of whom settled in Madina. Muwatta by Malik ibn Anas was written as a consensus of the opinion, of these scholars. Muwatta by Malik ibn Anas quotes 13 hadiths from Imam Jafar al-Sadiq.
Aisha also taught her nephew Urwah ibn Zubayr. He then taught his son Hisham ibn Urwah, who was the main teacher of Malik ibn Anas whose views many Sunni follow and also taught by Jafar al-Sadiq. Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr, Hisham ibn Urwah and Muhammad al-Baqir taught Zayd ibn Ali, Jafar al-Sadiq, Abu Hanifa, and Malik ibn Anas.
Imam Jafar al-Sadiq, Imam Abu Hanifa and Malik ibn Anas worked together in Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina. Along with Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr, Muhammad al-Baqir, Zayd ibn Ali and over 70 other leading jurists and scholars.
Al-Shafi‘i was taught by Malik ibn Anas. Ahmad ibn Hanbal was taught by Al-Shafi‘i. Muhammad al-Bukhari travelled everywhere collecting hadith and his father Ismail ibn Ibrahim was a student of Malik ibn Anas.
In the books actually written by these original jurists and scholars, there are very few theological and judicial differences between them. Imam Ahmad rejected the writing down and codifying of the religious rulings he gave. They knew that they might have fallen into error in some of their judgements and stated this clearly. They never introduced their rulings by saying, "Here, this judgement is the judgement of God and His prophet." There is also very little text actually written down by Jafar al-Sadiq himself. They all give priority to the Qur'an and the hadith (the practice of Muhammad). They felt that the Quran and the Hadith, the example of Muhammad provided people with almost everything they needed. "This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion" (Qur'an 5:3).
These scholars did not distinguish between each other. They were not Sunni or Shia. They felt that they were following the religion of Abraham as described in the Quran "Say: Allah speaks the truth; so follow the religion of Abraham, the upright one. And he was not one of the polytheists" (Qur'an 3:95).
Most of the differences are regarding Sharia laws devised through Ijtihad where there is no such ruling in the Quran or the hadiths of Islamic prophet Muhammad regarding a similar case. As these jurists went to new areas, they were pragmatic and continued to use the same ruling as was given in that area during pre-Islamic times, if the population felt comfortable with it, it was just and they used Ijtihad to deduce that it did not conflict with the Quran or the Hadith. As explained in the Muwatta by Malik ibn Anas. This made it easier for the different communities to integrate into the Islamic State and assisted in the quick expansion of the Islamic State.
To reduce the divergence, ash-Shafi'i proposed giving priority to the Qur'an and the Hadith (the practice of Muhammad) and only then look at the consensus of the Muslim jurists (ijma) and analogical reasoning (qiyas). This then resulted in jurists like Muhammad al-Bukhari dedicating their lives to the collection of the correct hadith, in books like Sahih al-Bukhari (Sahih translates as authentic or correct). They also felt that Muhammad's judgement was more impartial and better than their own.
These original jurists and scholars also acted as a counterbalance to the rulers. When they saw injustice, all these scholars spoke out against it. As the state expanded outside Madina, the rights of the different communities, as they were constituted in the Constitution of Medina still applied. The Quran also gave additional rights to the citizens of the state and these rights were also applied. Ali, Hassan and Husayn ibn Ali gave their allegiance to the first three caliphs because they abided by these conditions. Later Ali the fourth caliph wrote in a letter "I did not approach the people to get their oath of allegiance but they came to me with their desire to make me their Amir (ruler). I did not extend my hands towards them so that they might swear the oath of allegiance to me but they themselves extended their hands towards me." But later as fate would have it (Predestination in Islam) when Yazid I, an oppressive ruler took power, Husayn ibn Ali the grandson of Muhammad felt that it was a test from God for him and his duty to confront him. Then Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr's cousin confronted the Umayyad rulers after Husayn ibn Ali was betrayed by the people of Kufa and killed by Syrian Roman Army now under the control of the Yazid I the Umayyad ruler. Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr then took on the Umayyads and expelled their forces from Hijaz and Iraq. But then his forces were depleted in Iraq, trying to stop the Khawarij. The Umayyads then moved in. After a lengthy campaign, in his last hour Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr asked his mother Asma' bint Abu Bakr the daughter of Abu Bakr the first caliph for advice. Asma' bint Abu Bakr replied to her son, she said: "You know better in your own self, that if you are upon the truth and you are calling towards the truth go forth, for people more honourable than you have been killed and if you are not upon the truth, then what an evil son you are and you have destroyed yourself and those who are with you. If you say, that if you are upon the truth and you will be killed at the hands of others, then you will not truly be free." Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr left and was later also killed and crucified by the Syrian Roman Army now under the control of the Umayyads and led by Hajjaj. Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr the son of Abu Bakr the first caliph and raised by Ali the fourth caliph was also killed by the Umayyads. Aisha then raised and taught her son Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr who later taught his grandson Jafar al-Sadiq.
During the early Umayyad period, there was more community involvement. The Quran and Muhammad's example was the main source of law after which the community decided. If it worked for the community, was just and did not conflict with the Quran and the example of Muhammad, it was accepted. This made it easier for the different communities, with Roman, Persian, Central Asia and North African backgrounds to integrate into the Islamic State and that assisted in the quick expansion of the Islamic State. The scholars in Madina were consulted on the more complex judicial issues. The Sharia and the official more centralized schools of fiqh developed later, during the time of the Abbasids. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiqh |
Circassians in Syria | Circassians began a forced migration from their homeland in the Northwest Caucasus region to the Ottoman Empire following the Russian–Circassian War in 1864. While they originally settled in parts of Anatolia and the Balkans, they began emigrating to the empire's Syrian provinces (the Levant) in large numbers (about 70,000) after the Ottoman defeat in the Balkan War of 1877–78. That group of Circassians was mostly resettled by the Ottoman authorities as part of an effort to counterbalance increasing dissent by the local population in Syria, far from the capital Istanbul, with more loyal subjects of the empire. Many Circassians subsequently concentrated their residence in the Golan Heights and Transjordan regions, both part of the Province of Damascus at the time. At around this time, in the late 1870s, the influx of Circassians traveling through Damascus led to the establishment of a number of villages north of Homs and along the borders of the Syrian Desert, as well as in the area surrounding Damascus city itself, namely Marj al-Sultan and al-Dumayr. Circassians eventually abandoned the latter town.
Nearly all of the Circassian villages founded in Ottoman Syria were located on known conflict fronts, mostly involving the Druze and Bedouin tribes, including the 'Annizah and Al Fadl. Since the Circassians were militarily able to resist the khuwwa ("unofficial 'protection' tax") demanded of the local peasantry by various Bedouin tribes—which came at the detriment of government tax collection—they managed to make agreements to mutually benefit the two factions. Nonetheless, clashes still periodically occurred between the Circassians of the Golan and Ghouta (rural Damascus) regions and the Bedouin. The most severe local conflicts the Circassians engaged in at the time was with the often rebellious Druze, who dominated the area of Mount Hermon in the northern Golan Heights and the Jabal al-Druze region to the east. Historians have asserted that the Ottomans encouraged Circassian settlement in this particular region to serve as a pro-sultanate buffer between the two Druze-inhabited areas. In addition, Circassians generally favored residence in the Golan as compared to the city quarters because the area resembled the Caucasian ancestral lands with its wooded mountains, heavy rainfall and snow.
In the first decade of the 20th century the Ottoman government facilitated a wave of Circassian resettlement to the northern Euphrates River. They largely left the Caucasus on their own accord, fearing forcible conversion to the Russian Orthodox Church by Czarist forces. A Kabardian group initially settled in Raqqa, establishing their new settlement immediately west of the Arab-dominated town. Funds from the provincial treasury and local contributors enabled each immigrant family to own a plot of land, a two-room house, a horse stable, two oxen and five grain sacks. Talustan Anzor, the leader of this Kabardian faction, acquired prestige in the Raqqa District as a noted mediator of disputes. Together with Manbij and Khanasser, two other towns in the Euphrates valley, the Kabardian settlements were meant to serve as a strategic ring around Raqqa where the gendarmerie could be conveniently recruited.
In Circassian narratives of these years, there were rarely any negative words against the local Arab population, which welcomed the Circassian immigrants. Because of their Muslim religion, which was the dominant faith in Syria, and their arrival to the region well before the struggle for independence from the Ottomans and later the French, the Circassians played a role in the founding of the modern state of Syria and immediately became full citizens. However, because of the creation of a number of Circassian cavalry units within the French Army of the Levant, and particularly due to their role in quelling the Druze forces of Sultan Pasha al-Atrash during the Great Syrian Revolt (1925–27), relations with the Arab majority became somewhat tense in the early years of the republic. A minority of Circassians in the Golan Heights petitioned for autonomy from Damascus during the French Mandatory years. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circassians_in_Syria |
Marsh Arabs | The marshes had for some time been considered a refuge for elements persecuted by the government of Saddam Hussein, as in past centuries they had been a refuge for escaped slaves and serfs, such as during the Zanj Rebellion. By the mid-1980s, a low-level insurgency against Ba'athist drainage and resettlement projects had developed in the area, led by Sheik Abdul Kerim Mahud al-Muhammadawi of the Al bu Muhammad under the nom de guerre Abu Hatim.
During the 1970s, the expansion of irrigation projects had begun to disrupt the flow of water to the marshes. However, after the First Gulf War (1991), the Iraqi government aggressively revived a program to divert the flow of the Tigris River and the Euphrates River away from the marshes in retribution for a failed Shia uprising. This was done primarily to eliminate the food sources of the Marsh Arabs and to prevent any remaining militiamen from taking refuge in the marshes, the Badr Brigades and other militias having used them as cover. The plan, which was accompanied by a series of propaganda articles by the Iraqi regime directed against the Ma'dan, systematically converted the wetlands into a desert, forcing the residents out of their settlements in the region. Villages in the marshes were attacked and burnt down and there were reports of the water being deliberately poisoned.
The majority of Ahwaris were displaced either to areas adjacent to the drained marshes, abandoning their traditional lifestyle in favour of conventional agriculture, to towns and camps in other areas of Iraq or to Iranian refugee camps. Only 1,600 of them were estimated to still be living on traditional dibins by 2003. The western Hammar Marshes and the Qurnah or Central Marshes had become completely desiccated, while the eastern Hawizeh Marshes had dramatically shrunk. The Marsh Arabs, who numbered about half a million in the 1950s, have dwindled to as few as 20,000 in Iraq, according to the United Nations. As of 2003, an estimated 80,000 to 120,000 have fled to refugee camps in Iran. However, following the Multi-National Force overthrow of the Saddam Hussein regime, water flow to the marshes was restored and the ecosystem has begun to recover, and many have returned to their native lands.
The Observer's Middle East correspondent Shyam Bhatia who spent two weeks with the Marsh Arabs in 1993 wrote the first eyewitness account of Iraqi army tactics at the time of draining the marshes, bombing Marsh villages and then sowing mines in the water before retreating. Bhatia's extensive reportage won him the title of International Reporter of the Year, although exclusive film footage of the time he spent in the area has never been screened. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsh_Arabs |
Constantine the Great | Diocletian had chosen Nicomedia in the East as his capital during the Tetrarchy—not far from Byzantium, well situated to defend Thrace, Asia, and Egypt, all of which had required his military attention. Constantine had recognised the shift of the empire from the remote and depopulated West to the richer cities of the East, and the military strategic importance of protecting the Danube from barbarian excursions and Asia from a hostile Persia in choosing his new capital as well as being able to monitor shipping traffic between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Licinius' defeat came to represent the defeat of a rival centre of pagan and Greek-speaking political activity in the East, as opposed to the Christian and Latin-speaking Rome, and it was proposed that a new Eastern capital should represent the integration of the East into the Roman Empire as a whole, as a centre of learning, prosperity, and cultural preservation for the whole of the Eastern Roman Empire. Among the various locations proposed for this alternative capital, Constantine appears to have toyed earlier with Serdica (present-day Sofia), as he was reported saying that "Serdica is my Rome". Sirmium and Thessalonica were also considered. Eventually, however, Constantine decided to work on the Greek city of Byzantium, which offered the advantage of having already been extensively rebuilt on Roman patterns of urbanism during the preceding century by Septimius Severus and Caracalla, who had already acknowledged its strategic importance. The city was thus founded in 324, dedicated on 11 May 330 and renamed Constantinopolis ("Constantine's City" or Constantinople in English). Special commemorative coins were issued in 330 to honor the event. The new city was protected by the relics of the True Cross, the Rod of Moses and other holy relics, though a cameo now at the Hermitage Museum also represented Constantine crowned by the tyche of the new city. The figures of old gods were either replaced or assimilated into a framework of Christian symbolism. Constantine built the new Church of the Holy Apostles on the site of a temple to Aphrodite. Generations later there was the story that a divine vision led Constantine to this spot, and an angel no one else could see led him on a circuit of the new walls. The capital would often be compared to the 'old' Rome as Nova Roma Constantinopolitana, the "New Rome of Constantinople". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_the_Great |
1991 Iraqi uprisings | In March and early April, nearly two million Iraqis, 1.5 million of them Kurds, escaped from strife-torn cities to the mountains along the northern borders, into the southern marshes, and to Turkey and Iran. By April 6, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) estimated that about 750,000 Iraqi Kurds had fled to Iran and 280,000 to Turkey, with 300,000 more gathered at the Turkish border. The approach towards the refugee immigration was met with a different approach by Iran and Turkey. Iran had opened its borders to the refugees, while Turkey first closed its borders and only opened its borders following international pressure and assurances of financial help to cope with the refugees. Iran also received much less international help to cope with the crisis than Turkey, mainly due to their strained relations with the USA. According to accounts from international relief organizations cited by Nader Entassar, Turkey received more than seven times the amount of help per refugee, as Iran received. Their exodus was sudden and chaotic with thousands of desperate refugees fleeing on foot, on donkeys, or crammed onto open-backed trucks and tractors. Many were gunned down by Republican Guard helicopters, which deliberately strafed columns of fleeing civilians in a number of incidents in both the north and south. Numerous refugees were also killed or maimed by stepping on land mines planted by Iraqi troops near the eastern border during the war with Iran. According to the U.S. Department of State and international relief organizations, between 500 and 1,000 Kurds died each day along Iraq's Turkish border. According to some reports, up to hundreds of refugees died each day along the way to Iran as well.
Beginning in March 1991, the U.S. and some of the Gulf War allies barred Saddam's forces from conducting jet aircraft attacks by establishing the no-fly zone over northern Iraq and provided humanitarian assistance to the Kurds. On April 17, U.S. forces began to take control of areas more than 60 miles into Iraq to build camps for Kurdish refugees; the last American soldiers left northern Iraq on July 15. In the Yeşilova incident in April, British and Turkish forces confronted each other over the treatment of Kurdish refugees in Turkey. Many Shia refugees fled to Syria, where thousands of them settled in the town of Sayyidah Zaynab. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Iraqi_uprisings |
Egyptian Crisis (2011–2014) | The public resentment against the autocratic leadership of President Hosni Mubarak erupted into mass protests in late January 2011, following the Tunisian revolution that overthrew President Ben Ali in mid-January. Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians occupied several public places across Egypt, with Cairo's Tahrir Square as the hub of the anti-government protests. Their demands were diverse but typically included dignity, bread, freedom, democracy, and social justice.
The police and demonstrators clashed violently, and the killing of three protestors remarkably deviated from the harsh but non-lethal repression the police usually deployed. Initially, the government took a hard line by using riot-control tactics and by shutting down the internet and telecom networks, which in turn intensified the protests. On 28 January 2011, Mubarak ordered the deployment of the army as the embattled police forces collapsed, leading to "the largest policing failure in Egypt's history". In a bid to accommodate the public, Mubarak appointed Omar Suleiman to the long-vacant office of vice president on 29 January, and soon after dissolved his cabinet. Later, he announced that he would not seek re-election and promised constitutional reforms, but he refused to step down. As none of these concessions satisfied protesters, the masses on the streets grew and the international pressure on Mubarak increased. The army did not intervene in the protests as they no longer supported Mubarak's rule.
On 11 February 2011, Mubarak resigned as president and handed over power to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces that had "to manage the affairs of the country". Besides eradicating his nearly 30-year authoritarian rule, the nationwide protests marked an unprecedented event in Egypt's history, as it successfully mobilized people from different socioeconomic backgrounds and merged them into one coalition against the government. The 18-day uprising left at least 846 civilians killed and more than 6,400 injured, according to a report commissioned by the Morsi-regime. Human rights activists have been calling for a serious investigation of the real number of revolution victims, as "the total number of casualties could be far higher". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Crisis_(2011%E2%80%932014) |
Ghurabiya | The Ghurabiyya Shi‘a had the following beliefs:
God's knowledge is temporally produced.
God does not know anything until after he creates it.
God may change his mind about matters just like a person who acquires one opinion after another. This belief was an extreme form of Bada’.
Ali was supposed to be the Messenger and Prophet of God.
God dispatched the angel Gabriel to Ali and had ordered him to take the Qur'an to Ali, but Gabriel turned away from him with the message and went to Muhammad due to his enthusiasm for him, or by mistake on his part due to being confused by the exact similitude between Muhammad and Ali and (consciously or not) is said to have revealed and transmitted the Qur'anic message to Muhammad instead of to Ali. When Gabriel returned to God, God said, “Were it not that the Quraysh would say that the Lord of Muhammad is irresolute, I would send you to Ali once again and I would dismiss Muhammad. But go instead back to Muhammad and tell him I am appointing Ali to share prophecy with him as long as both shall live, and say: “but you are only a warner (i.e. Muhammad) and for every nation there is a guide (i.e. Ali).” When Gabriel came back to Muhammad and informed him of the message of God, Muhammad said to Ali at that moment, “You are to me in the position of Harun (Aaron) to Musa (Moses) except that there will not be a prophet after me.”
Muhammad was a warner and Ali was a guide by drawing upon further support from the words of God in the Qur'an: “Can they be like those who accept a clear sign from their Lord and there follows him (i.e Muhammad) a witness (i.e. Ali) from Him.“
They were justified in cursing Gabriel, for the reason of Gabriel going to Muhammad instead of Ali.
They believed that it had been verified in a report that Ali was the partner of Muhammad in prophecy during his lifetime just as Aaron was the partner of Moses in the apostleship. For that reason Muhammad said, “No prophet after me” but did not say, “no prophet alongside me,” since Gabriel visited them both together with the revelation.
When Muhammad died, the inspiration was withdrawn from Ali.
The Imamate is only restricted to the offspring of Ali.
The descendants of Fatimah and the other descendants of Ali all have an equal right to the Imamate.
The descendants of Ali are from the lineages of 5 people: Hasan ibn Ali, Husayn ibn Ali, Umar, al-‘Abbas, and Muhammad.
The Imam is anyone who rises from among the descendants of Ali with sword unsheathed, summoning to the Qur'an and the Sunnah of Muhammad and who is just and knowledgeable. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghurabiya |
Baqashot | There is a total of 66 songs in the Syrian baqashot book, and the collection is now regarded as closed, unlike the general body of pizmonim, where new pizmonim are still composed for special occasions. Each song is shown with its maqam, but they follow a fixed order of recitation which does not depend on the maqamat of the different songs. There are many sections within the baqashot. The sections are separated by different Biblical verses to be chanted in a different maqam.
The songs principally consist of the praise of God, songs for Shabbat, songs of longing for the Holy Land and so on, and include some piyyutim taken from the main body of the prayer book. These songs are considered more ancient and sacred than other pizmonim. Many of the songs contain acrostics identifying the author of that specific composition.
Baqashot are full of mystical allusions and traditions. Some of the songs contain references to some of the most sacred Jewish traditions. The following are examples of thematic songs:
Song 1 and 34: listing of the 10 "Sefirot" (attributes) in the Kabbalah.
Song 2: refers to the return to Zion in the time of redemption.
Song 6 and 7: a song with each stanza ending with "boqer" (morning).
Song 9: a song with each stanza ending with "yom" (day).
Song 14: "Yasad besodo", discusses many different Kabbalistic concepts and how God created the world with his divine instruction.
Song 15: "Eress Varom", discusses the seven days of creation, using one stanza for each day.
Song 23: "Ki Eshmerah Shabbat", a well known song among all Jewish communities that was written by Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra.
Song 28: "Yom Zeh le-Yisrael", a famous song written by Isaac Luria.
Song 33: contains allusions to each of the four "Amidah" services recited on the Sabbath.
The baqashot are interrupted after Song 34 to sing Psalm 92, the Psalm of the Sabbath, one verse at a time, using a different maqam for each verse. There are many other verses of the Psalms scattered throughout the different songs, called "petihot", to serve as markers. Unlike the baqashot themselves, these are rendered by the hazzan or by the elder people as a mawwal (non-rhythmical solo cadenza).
Song 35: "Shalom Vassedek" is a song written by Rabbi Shlomo Laniado. Each stanza ends with "Shlomo".
Song 38: "Esah Libi" contains allusions to each of the nineteen blessings in the daily "Amidah" prayer.
Song 39 and 40: two songs in Aramaic by Israel Najara.
Song 41: "Ani Asaper" discusses the laws of Sabbath (the 39 categories of "work").
Song 43: "Mahalalah" alludes to the Seven Heavens mentioned in the Kabbalah.
Song 46: contains references to all the composers of the baqashot.
Song 51: Halakhot of Shabbat.
Song 53: a song dedicated to R. Shim'on bar Yohai, reputed author of the Zohar.
Song 61 and 62: "Yedid Nefesh" (written by Eleazar Azikri, and also used by Ashkenazim) and "Agadelcha" (written by Abraham ibn Ezra).
The baqashot service concludes with Adon Olam (Song 66) followed by the ancient Kaddish prayer sung in the melody of the maqam for that specific Sabbath. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baqashot |
Middle Ages | The expansion of population, greater agricultural productivity, and relative political stability laid the foundations for the commercial revolution in the 11th century. People with surplus cash began investing in commodities such as salt, pepper, silk, wine and honey in faraway markets. Rising trade brought new methods of dealing with money and gold coinage was again minted in Europe, first in Florence and Genoa. New forms of commercial contracts emerged, allowing risk to be shared within the framework of partnerships known as commenda or compagnia. Bills of exchange also appeared, enabling the easy transmission of money. Since many types of coins were in circulation, money changers facilitated transactions between local and foreign merchants. Loans could be negotiated with them, which gave rise to the development of credit institutions known as banks.
As local commercial centres developed into towns, economic growth caused a new wave of urbanisation. Kings and aristocrats primarily supported the process in the hope of increased tax revenues. Most urban communities received privileges acknowledging their autonomy, but few cities could eliminate all elements of external control. Townspeople engaged in the same trade or profession were united in confraternities known as guilds. These associations typically made rules governing quality, training, and pricing, and only their members had access to local markets.
The Italian maritime republics, such as Amalfi, Venice, Genoa, and Pisa, were the first to profit from the revival of commerce in the Mediterranean. In the north, German merchants established associations known as hansas and controlled trade routes connecting the British islands and the Low Countries with Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. Trading fairs were established and flourished in northern France, allowing Italian and German merchants to trade with one another and with local merchants.
Economic growth provided opportunities for Jewish merchants to spread throughout Europe with the support of local rulers. Jews could not engage in prestigious trades outside their communities, and often took low-status jobs such as ragmen or tax collectors. They were especially active in moneylending, because they could ignore the Christian clerical condemnation of loan interest. Jewish moneylenders and pawn brokers reinforced antisemitism which manifested itself in the blood libel and pogroms. Church authorities' growing concerns about Jewish influence on Christian life inspired legal segregation and the expulsion of the Jews from England. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ages |
Banu Judham | During the lifetime of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, the Judham rejected Islam and remained loyal to the Byzantine Empire. They blocked Muhammad's northward expansion into Syria by fighting alongside the Byzantines at the Battle of Mu'ta in 629. One of their clans, the Dhubayb, afterward converted to Islam, but the tribe as a whole still opposed the Muslims, who launched punitive expeditions against them under the command of Zayd ibn Haritha and Amr ibn al-As. The Islamic prophet's expedition to Tabuk in 630 was partly a response to reports that the Judham and Lakhm were mobilizing with the Byzantine army in the Balqa. A certain leader of the Judham in the area of Amman or Ma'an, Farwa ibn Amr, embraced Islam and was consequently crucified by the Byzantine authorities, though the historian Fred Donner holds the story of Farwa "may be merely a pious legend". After the death of Muhammad in 632, the Dhubayb defected from the nascent, Medina-based Muslim state and was the target of an assault by the Muslim general Usama ibn Zayd at the beginning of Caliph Abu Bakr's reign (632–634).
The Judham formed part of the Arab contingents of Byzantine emperor Heraclius's army at the Battle of Yarmouk in 636, but were defeated. A number of Judham clans also fought in the Muslims' ranks at Yarmouk, suggesting political divisions within the tribe played a role determining a clan's allegiance with the Byzantines or the Muslims. Though the Judham and Lakhm converted to Islam as the Muslim conquest of Syria proceeded, their earlier service with Byzantines was likely the reason Caliph Umar (r. 634–644) excluded the two tribes from the distribution of war spoils during a summit of the Muslim armies at Jabiya in 637 or 638.
In the Muslim military administration of Syria, the Judham became the largest tribe in Jund Filastin (the military district of Palestine). In the First Muslim Civil War, the Judham fought in the army of Syria's governor, Mu'awiya I, against the Iraq-based forces of Caliph Ali (r. 656–661). At the Battle of Siffin in 657, they formed the following contingents: the Judham of Palestine led by Rawh ibn Zinba, the Judham and Lakhm under Natil ibn Qays, and the Judham infantry led by Maslama ibn Mukhallad al-Ansari. Natil belonged to the Judham's preeminent clan, the Sa'd ibn Malik, and was referred to in the sources as sayyid Judhām bi-l-Shām (leader of the Judham of Syria). Rawh was younger than Natil and hailed from the Sa'd ibn Malik's brother clan, the Wa'il ibn Malik. The Sa'd traditionally provided the chiefs of at least a large part of the Judham and there are no indications in the sources of a rivalry between the Sa'd and Wa'il clans during the pre-Islamic period. Rivalries for leadership of the tribe between Natil and Rawh developed during the caliphate of Mu'awiya I (661–680).
During the reigns of Mu'awiya I and Yazid I (r. 680–683), the Quda'a tribal confederation, of which the Banu Kalb were the leading component, obtained high ranks and privileges in the caliphs' courts. The other tribes in Syria sought to join or oust the Quda'a from its position of power. From the pre-Islamic period until the end of the Sufyanid period in 684, the Quda'a claimed genealogical descent from the Ma'add, a northern Arabian tribe mentioned in the 4th-century Namara inscription. During the Sufyanid period, the Judham (along with the Lakhm and Amila tribes) were held by most sources to be of Yemeni (south Arabian) descent, though there were also sources which claimed they were descendants of the Qanas branch of the Ma'add tribe or the Banu Asad, another branch of the Ma'add. As Rawh sought to forge stronger ties to the Banu Kalb, he petitioned Yazid to recognize the Judham as descendants of Ma'add and thus kinsmen of the Quda'a; Natil opposed Rawh's initiative and insisted on affiliation with Qahtan, the progenitor of the Yemenite tribes.
Following the death of Yazid's son and successor Mu'awiya II in 684, the Judham under Natil allied with Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, a rival, Mecca-based claimant to the caliphate, while Rawh supported the Umayyad Marwan I. Following Marwan's victory over the supporters of Ibn al-Zubayr at the Battle of Marj Rahit in 684, the Quda'a and the Kalb changed genealogical affiliation to the Qahtan and formed the Yaman (Yemenite) confederation in opposition to the pro-Zubayrid Qays tribes of northern Syria. The Judham remained allies of the Kalb and together the two tribes formed the linchpin of the Yaman confederation in Syria during the struggle with the Qays. Natil fled Palestine or was killed and by the reign of Caliph Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705), Rawh became the undisputed leader of the Judham. The tribe remained closely allied with the Umayyads until their demise in 750. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banu_Judham |
Abbas the Great | Consorts
A Circassian concubine, mother of Mohammad Baqer Mirza;
Fakhr Jahan Begum, daughter of King Bagrat VII of Kartli and Queen Anna of Kakheti, and mother of Zubayda Begum;
A daughter of Mustafa Mirza (m. 1587), daughter of Mustafa Mirza, son of Shah Tahmasp I;
Olghan Pasha Khanum (m. 1587), daughter of Husayn Mirza, son of Bahram Mirza Safavi, and widow of Hamza Mirza;
Yakhan Begum (m. 1 September 1602), daughter of Khan Ahmad Khan and Maryam Begum;
Princess Helena, daughter of King David I of Kakheti and Queen Ketevan the Martyr;
Fatima Sultan Begum also known a Peri and Lela, née Tinatin (married 1604 – div.), daughter of King George X of Kartli and Queen Mariam Lipartiani;
A sister of Ismail Khan, a Circassian, and Abbas' favourite wife;
A daughter of Shaykh Lotfullah Maisi, a Shia theologian;
Tamar Amilakhori, daughter of Faramarz Amilakhori and sister of Abd-ol-Ghaffar Amilakhori;
Sons
Mohammad Baqer Mirza (15 September 1587, Mashhad, Khorasan – killed 25 January 1615, Rasht, Gilan), was Governor of Mashhad 1587–1588, and of Hamadan 1591–1592. Married firstly at Esfahan, 1601, Princess Fakhr Jahan Begum, daughter of Ismail II, married secondly Dilaram Khanum, a Georgian. He had issue, two sons:
Sultan Abul-Naser Sam Mirza, succeeded as Safi – with Dilaram;
Sultan Suleiman Mirza (killed August 1632 at Alamut, Qazvin) – with Fakhr Jahan;
Sultan Hasan Mirza (September 1588, Mazandaran – 18 August 1591, Qazvin);
Soltan Mohammad Mirza (18 March 1591, Qazvin – killed August 1632, Alamut, Qazvin) Blinded on the orders of his father, 1621. Had issue, one daughter:
Gawhar Shad Begum, married to Mirza Qazi, the Shaykh-ul-Islam of Isfahan;
Sultan Ismail Mirza (6 September 1601, Esfahan – killed 16 August 1613);
Imam Qoli Mirza (12 November 1602, Esfahan – killed August 1632, Alamut, Qazvin) Blinded on the orders of his father, 1627. He had issue, one son:
Najaf Qoli Mirza (c. 1625 – killed August 1632, Alamut, Qazvin);
Daughters
Shahzada Begum, married to Mirza Mohsin Razavi. and had issue two sons;
Zubayda Begum (killed 20 February 1632), married to Isa Khan Shaykhavand, and had issue a daughter;
Jahan Banu Begum, married in 1624, Simon II of Kartli, son of Bagrat VII of Kartli by his wife, Queen Anna, daughter of Alexander II of Kakheti. She had issue, a daughter:
Princess Izz-i-Sharif Begum, married to Sayyid Abdullah, son of Mirza Muhammad Shafi. she had issue, a son:
Sayyid Muhammad Daud, married to Shahr Banu Begum, daughter of Suleiman I. She had issue, two sons including:
Suleiman II.
Agha Begum, married to Sultan al-Ulama Khalife Sultan, and had issue four sons and four daughters;
Havva Begum (died 1617, Zanjan), married firstly to Mirza Riza Shahristani (Sadr), married secondly to Mirza Rafi al-Din Muhammad (Sadr), and had issue three sons;
Shahr Banu Begum, married to Mir Abdulazim, darughah of Isfahan;
Malik Nissa Begum, married to Mir Jalal Shahristani, the mutvalli of the shrine of Imam Riza; | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbas_the_Great |
Meknes | The palace complex or "imperial city" of Sultan Moulay Isma'il was constructed over his entire 55-year reign from 1672 to 1727 (with some elements finished or remodeled shortly after). It occupies the site of the city's former medieval kasbah (citadel) and stretches over an area approximately four times larger than the old city itself. It was composed of several autonomous palaces along with vast gardens, religious buildings, and other amenities. The complex was also notable for its impressive infrastructure, which included a water supply system with a hydraulic system of wells, norias (water extraction mechanism powered by wheel), canals, and underground pipes which distributed water to the royal city's many buildings. It also contained numerous monumental granaries and underground warehouses which stockpiled supplies that could allegedly sustain the city for a siege of ten years. Below is a list of some of its main areas and monuments.
Place Lalla Aouda: A vast open square which stands behind (southeast of) Bab al-Mansur, which served as the former mechouar of the palace. It precedes the former Dar al-Kebira palace and gives access to the Lalla Aouda Mosque.
Dar el-Kebira: The oldest palace in the kasbah, finished in 1679 and itself composed of multiple palaces. Its name means "the Great House". It was the private residence of the sultan and his family, connected directly to the Lalla Aouda Mosque and the later royal mausoleum. The palace fell into ruin after Moulay Isma'il's death (and after the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake), and has since become a residential neighbourhood where common people built their houses amidst the remains of Isma'il's massive palace walls, still visible in various places.
Mausoleum of Moulay Isma'il: The royal mausoleum and funerary complex of Moulay Isma'il and some of his family members and successors. It was built under his reign but significantly modified by Ahmad ad-Dhahabi between 1727 and 1729. The funerary complex was originally entered from the dar al-Kebira to the north but is nowadays entered by a 20th-century gate to the south. Still considered a religious site today, it is also open to tourists. It is composed of relatively austere courtyards leading to a richly-decorated indoor patio chamber, which in turn grants access to the tomb chamber of the sultan.
Qubbat al-Khayyatin and the Qara Prison: The Qubbat al-Khayyatin is a standalone audience chamber or throne room where Moulay Isma'il once received foreign ambassadors. Underground, right next to it, is a large subterranean vaulted space known as the Qara Prison or Habs Qara. Although frequently described as a prison for Christian slaves, scholars agree that it was in fact a storage area and granary, one of many such structures throughout the royal city.
Dar al-Makhzen: This vast walled enclosure, much larger and more rationally organized than the Dar el-Kebira, contained extensive gardens and two more main palaces in Moulay Isma'il's time, some of which have been restored or adapted for current use as one of the royal residences of the King of Morocco. The enclosure, generally known as the Dar al-Makhzen (not to be confused with the royal palaces of the same name in Fez and elsewhere), was divided into two sections. The western section was mostly occupied by the Bahrawiya Gardens but also contained a long narrow palace on its northern edge known as the Dar al-Madrasa ("House of the School"), most likely another private palace of the sultan. The eastern section, which is still entered via an ornate royal gate on its eastern perimeter (north of Heri es-Swani), was mostly occupied by the Qasr al-Muhannasha ("Palace of the Labyrinth"). This palace consisted of roughly eight large courtyards or garden enclosures and acted as both a reception palace and an administrative palace.
Heri as-Swani and the Sahrij (Agdal Basin): The Sahrij or Agdal Basin is an enormous water basin or artificial lake south of the Dar al-Makhzen, which was originally a part of the royal city's water supply system. It measures 148.75 by 319 meters and is, on average, 1.2 meters deep. Next to it, on its eastern side, is an enormous structure composed of two parts: the "House of the Ten Norias" or Dar al-Ma ("House of Water") and the Heri as-Swani (also spelled as Heri es-Souani). The first of these is a monumental building of vaulted passages and domed chambers which contained a number of wheel-powered hydraulic mechanisms (norias) which drew water from the phreatic table underground to the surface, after which it was delivered into the Sahrij or redistributed to the city. The second part, the Heri as-Swani, is attached to the south side of this building and is made up of 22 rows of monumental arches which once held up a vaulted roof (which has since collapsed). Although frequently misidentified as the "royal stables" of the palace, this structure was, once again, a massive granary and storehouse. Grain was originally delivered to the building by mules who climbed onto a roof terrace and dropped the grain directly into holes pierced above each vaulted chamber.
Heri al-Mansur: One of the last constructions of Moulay Isma'il's reign, built between 1721 and 1725, its name means "Granary/silo of Victory", but it was also known as Dar al-Mansur or Qasr al-Mansur ("Palace of Victory"). It is located on the far southern perimeter of the Kasbah and consists of a massive building which seems to have served as a palace, fortress, and storehouse. The basement was taken up by storage rooms while the upper floor held reception rooms for the palace with views over the surrounding area. Located next to it were the Royal Stables of Moulay Isma'il (often misidentified today with the Heri as-Swani), which were reputed to be one of the palace city's most impressive features. It consisted of horse stalls sheltered under two parallel arcades (rows of arches) which stretched for 1200 meters on either side of a water canal which provided water for the horses. Unfortunately, the stables have not been preserved and very little remains of them today.: 396 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meknes |
Human rights in Bahrain | According to The Christian Science Monitor, Bahrain is practicing "a form of sectarian apartheid by not allowing Shiites to hold key government posts or serve in the police or military. In fact, the security forces are staffed by Sunnis from Syria and Pakistan who also get fast-tracked to Bahraini citizenship, much to the displeasure of the indigenous Shiite population."
According to the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, while the Shiites exceeds 70% of the population, "they occupy less than 18% of total top jobs in government establishments. In several government ministries and corporations no Shiite is appointed in leading jobs."
Jobs in the police and armed forced are reserved for Sunni. Sunni Saudis are admitted to Bahrain as citizens to fill these jobs. Shiites and "some Sunnis of Persian origins", are banned from residing in the city of Riffa, where only the Sunni Muslims are permitted to live.
There are also concerns of the Bahraini government's systematic efforts to diminish the Shia majority by promotion of immigration of Sunni Muslims and granting them citizenship. According to Dr. Saeeid Shahabi, a London-based journalist,
On 28 April 2007, the lower house of Bahraini Parliament passed a law banning unmarried migrant workers from living in residential areas. To justify the law MP Nasser Fadhala, a close ally of the government said "bachelors also use these houses to make alcohol, run prostitute rings or to rape children and housemaids".
Sadiq Rahma, technical committee head, who is a member of Al Wefaq said: The rules we are drawing up are designed to protect the rights of both the families and the Asian bachelors... these labourers often have habits which are difficult for families living nearby to tolerate... they come out of their homes half dressed, brew alcohol illegally in their homes, use prostitutes and make the neighbourhood dirty... these are poor people who often live in groups of 50 or more, crammed into one house or apartment," said Mr Rahma. "The rules also state that there must be at least one bathroom for every five people... there have also been cases in which young children have been sexually molested.
Bahrain Centre for Human Rights issued a press release condemning this decision as discriminatory and promoting negative racist attitudes towards migrant workers. Nabeel Rajab, then BCHR vice president, said: It is appalling that Bahrain is willing to rest on the benefits of these people’s hard work, and often their suffering, but that they refuse to live with them in equality and dignity. The solution is not to force migrant workers into ghettos, but to urge companies to improve living conditions for workers – and not to accommodate large numbers of workers in inadequate space, and to improve the standard of living for them.
There was a flurry of racially motivated hate messages sent to naturalized Bahrainis from developing countries after opposition political leaders alleged that immigration was tantamount to ‘cultural genocide’. In November 2006, Al Ayam published a collection of threats sent to naturalized citizens warning that they would have to 'choose between the suitcase and the coffin', promising 'Death and fire are your destiny' and another warned that the author hated all naturalized Bahrainis, "You are detested. You have taken from us, the sons of Bahrain, our homes, jobs and education opportunities. You will face the same destiny as the Egyptians in Iraq [after the end of the Iraq-Iran war]. It will be nails, hammers and a coffin. Your destiny is near."
According to Human Rights Watch, Bahrain's personal status law (Law 19/2009), adopted in 2009 and marriage, divorce, custody, and inheritance cases, applies only to Sunnis although women's groups believe that it should treat all citizens equally.
On 27 September 2017, Bahraini authorities attacked and took down many Ashura banners and slogans. Ashura, the tenth day of the Islamic year, is an event commemorated by Shias annually, marking the date that Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of Muhammad, was killed in the Battle of Karbala. This is not the first time that Bahraini authorities havd attacked the commemoration of Ashura; rather, they do so on a yearly basis. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Bahrain |
Ancient Carthage | Like the republics of the Latin and Hellenistic worlds, Carthage may have had a notion of citizenship, distinguishing those in society who could participate in the political process and who had certain rights, privileges, and duties. However, it remains uncertain whether such a distinction existed, much less the specific criteria. For example, while the Popular Assembly is described as giving a political voice to the common people, there is no mention of any restrictions based on citizenship. Carthaginian society consisted of many classes, including slaves, peasants, aristocrats, merchants, and various professionals. Its empire consisted of an often-nebulous network of Punic colonies, subject peoples, client states, and allied tribes and kingdoms; it is unknown whether individuals from these different realms and nationalities formed any particular social or political class in relation to the Carthaginian government.
Roman accounts suggest that Carthaginian citizens, especially those allowed to run for high office, had to prove their descent from the city's founders. This would indicate that Phoenicians were privileged over other ethnic groups, while those whose lineage traced back to the city's founding were privileged over fellow Phoenicians descended from later waves of settlers. However, it would also mean that someone of partial "foreign" ancestry could still be a citizen; indeed, Hamilcar, who served as a sufete in 480 BC, was half Greek. Greek writers claimed that ancestry, as well as wealth and merit, were avenues to citizenship and political power. As Carthage was a mercantile society, this would imply that both citizenship and membership in the aristocracy were relatively accessible by ancient standards.
Aristotle mentions Carthaginian "associations" similar to the hetairiai of many Greek cities, which were roughly analogous to political parties or interest groups. These were most likely the mizrehim referenced in Carthaginian inscriptions, of which little is known or attested, but which appeared to have been numerous in number and subject, from devotional cults to professional guilds. It is unknown whether such an association was required of citizens, as in some Greek states such as Sparta. Aristotle also describes a Carthaginian equivalent to the syssitia, communal meals that were the mark of citizenship and social class in Greek societies. It is again unclear whether Carthaginians attributed any political significance to their equivalent practice.
Carthage's military provides a glimpse into the criteria of citizenship. Greek accounts describe a "Sacred Band of Carthage" that fought in Sicily in the mid-fourth century BC, using the Hellenistic term for professional citizen-soldiers selected on the basis of merit and ability. Roman writings about the Punic Wars describe the core of the military, including its commanders and officers, as being made up of "Liby-Phoenicians", a broad label that included ethnic Phoenicians, those of mixed Punic-North African descent, and Libyans who had integrated into Phoenician culture. During the Second Punic War, Hannibal promised his foreign troops Carthaginian citizenship as a reward for victory. At least two of his foreign officers, both Greeks from Syracuse, were citizens of Carthage. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Carthage |
Mu'tazilism | Facing the problem of existence of evil in the world, the Mu'tazilis pointed at the free will of human beings, so that evil was defined as something that stems from the errors in human acts. God does nothing ultimately evil, and he demands not from any human to perform any evil act. If man's evil acts had been from the will of God, then punishment would have been meaningless, as man performed the will of God no matter what he did. Mu'tazilis did not deny the existence of suffering that goes beyond human abuse and misuse of their free will granted to them by God. In order to explain this type of "apparent" evil, Mu'tazilis relied on the Islamic doctrine of taklif: "God does not order/give the soul of any of his creation, that which is beyond its capacity." [Qur'an 2:286] This entailed the existence of an "act of god" to serve a greater good, or the existence of evil acts to prevent a far greater evil. In conclusion, it comprised life is an ultimate "fair test" of coherent and rational choices, having a supremely just accountability in one's current state, as well as the hereafter.
Humans are required to have belief, iman, secure faith and conviction in and about God, and do good works, amal saleh, to have iman reflected in their moral choices, deeds, and relationship with God, fellow humans, and all of the creation in this world. If everyone is healthy and wealthy, then there will be no meaning for the obligations imposed on humans to, for example, be generous, help the needy, and have compassion for the deprived and trivialized. The inequalities in human fortunes and the calamities that befell them are, thus, an integral part of the test of life. Everyone is being tested. The powerful, the rich, and the healthy are required to use all their powers and privileges to help those who suffer and to alleviate their suffering. In the Qiyamah (Judgment Day), they will be questioned about their response to Divine blessings and bounties they enjoyed in their lives. The less fortunate are required to patiently persevere and are promised a compensation for their suffering that, as the Qur'an puts it in 39:10, and as translated by Muhammad Asad, is "beyond all reckoning".
The test of life is specifically for adults in full possession of their mental faculties. Children may suffer, and are observed to suffer, given the nature of life but they are believed to be completely free from sin and liability. Divine justice is affirmed through the theory of compensation. All sufferers will be compensated. This includes non-believers and, more importantly, children, who are destined to go to Paradise.
The doctrine of 'Adl in the words of ʿAbd al-Jabbar: It is the knowledge that God is removed from all that is morally wrong (qabih) and that all his acts are morally good (hasana). This is explained by the fact that you know that all human acts of injustice (zulm), transgression (jawr), and the like cannot be of his creation (min khalqihi). Whoever attributes that to him has ascribed to him injustice and insolence (safah) and thus strays from the doctrine of justice. And you know that God does not impose faith upon the unbeliever without giving him the power (al-qudra) for it, nor does he impose upon a human what he is unable to do, but he only gives to the unbeliever to choose unbelief on his own part, not on the part of God. And you know that God does not will, desire or want disobedience. Rather, he loathes and despises it and only wills obedience, which he wants and chooses and loves. And you know that he does not punish the children of polytheists (al-mushrikin) in Hellfire because of their fathers' sin, for he has said: "Each soul earns but its own due" (Qur'an 6:164); and he does not punish anyone for someone else's sin because that would be morally wrong (qabih), and God is far removed from such. And you know that he does not transgress his rule (hukm) and that he only causes sickness and illness in order to turn them to advantage. Whoever says otherwise has allowed that God is iniquitous and has imputed insolence to him. And you know that, for their sakes, he does the best for all of his creatures, upon whom he imposes moral and religious obligations (yukallifuhum), and that He has indicated to them what he has imposed upon them and clarified the path of truth so that we could pursue it, and he has clarified the path of falsehood (tariq l-batil) so that we could avoid it. So, whoever perishes does so only after all this has been made clear. And you know that every benefit we have is from God; as he has said: "And you have no good thing that is not from Allah" (Qur'an 16:53); it either comes to us from him or from elsewhere. Thus, when you know all of this you become knowledgeable about justice from God. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu%27tazilism |
Zenobia | The Palmyrene monarchy was new; allegiance was based on loyalty to Odaenathus, making the transfer of power to a successor more difficult than it would have been in an established monarchy. Odaenathus tried to ensure the dynasty's future by crowning his eldest son co-king, but both were assassinated. Zenobia, left to secure the Palmyrene succession and retain the loyalty of its subjects, emphasized the continuity between her late husband and his successor (her son). Vaballathus (with Zenobia orchestrating the process) assumed his father's royal titles immediately, and his earliest known inscription records him as King of Kings.
Odaenathus controlled a large area of the Roman East, and held the highest political and military authority in the region, superseding that of the Roman provincial governors. His self-created status was formalized by Emperor Gallienus, who had little choice but to acquiesce. Odaenathus's power relative to that of the emperor and the central authority was unprecedented and elastic, but relations remained smooth until his death. His assassination meant that the Palmyrene rulers' authority and position had to be clarified, which led to a conflict over their interpretation. The Roman court viewed Odaenathus as an appointed Roman official who derived his power from the emperor, but the Palmyrene court saw his position as hereditary. This conflict was the first step on the road to war between Rome and Palmyra.
Odaenathus' Roman titles, such as dux Romanorum, corrector totius orientis and imperator totius orientis differed from his royal eastern ones because the Roman ranks were not hereditary. Vaballathus had a legitimate claim to his royal titles, but had no right to the Roman ones—especially corrector (denoting a senior military and provincial commander in the Roman system), which Zenobia used for her son in his earliest known inscriptions with "King of Kings". Although the Roman emperors accepted the royal succession, the assumption of Roman military rank antagonized the empire. Emperor Gallienus may have decided to intervene in an attempt to regain central authority; according to the Historia Augusta, praetorian prefect Aurelius Heraclianus was dispatched to assert imperial authority over the east and was repelled by the Palmyrene army. The account is doubtful, however, since Heraclianus participated in Gallienus' assassination in 268. Odaenathus was assassinated shortly before the emperor, and Heraclianus would have been unable to be sent to the East, fight the Palmyrenes and return to the West in time to become involved in the conspiracy against the emperor. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenobia |
History of the Jews in Iraq | Mithridates (174–136 BCE) subjugated, about the year 160, the province of Babylonia, and thus the Jews for four centuries came under Parthian domination.
Jewish sources contain no mention of Parthian influence; the very name "Parthian" does not occur, unless "Parthian" is meant by "Persian", which occurs now and then. The Armenian prince Sanatroces, of the royal house of the Arsacides, is mentioned in the "Small Chronicle" as one of the successors (diadochoi) of Alexander. Among other Asiatic princes, the Roman rescript in favor of the Jews reached Arsaces as well (I Macc. 15:22); it is not, however, specified which Arsaces.
Not long after this, the Partho-Babylonian country was trodden by the army of a Jewish prince. The Syrian king, Antiochus VII Sidetes, marched, in company with Hyrcanus I, against the Parthians. When the allied armies defeated the Parthians (129 BCE) at the Great Zab (Lycus), the king ordered a halt of two days on account of the Jewish Sabbath and Feast of Weeks.
In 40 BCE the Jewish puppet-king, Hyrcanus II, fell into the hands of the Parthians, who, according to their custom, cut off his ears in order to render him unfit for rulership. The Jews of Babylonia, it seems, had the intention of founding a high-priesthood for the exiled Hyrcanus, which they would have made quite independent of Judea. But the reverse was to come about: the Judeans received a Babylonian, Ananel by name, as their high priest which indicates the importance enjoyed by the Jews of Babylonia. Philo speaks of the large number of Jews resident in that country, a population which was no doubt considerably swelled by new immigrants after the First Jewish-Roman War (66–73 CE).
How free a hand the Parthians permitted the Jews is perhaps best illustrated by the rise of the little Jewish robber-state in Nehardea (see Anilai and Asinai). Still more remarkable is the conversion of the king of Adiabene to Judaism. These instances show not only the tolerance, but the weakness of the Parthian kings. The Babylonian Jews wanted to fight in common cause with their Judean brethren against Vespasian; but it was not until Trajan's Parthian campaign that they made their hatred felt; so that it was in a great measure owing to the revolt of the Babylonian Jews that the Romans did not become masters of Babylonia too.
At the height of the war, Jerusalem and the Second Temple were destroyed. These events caused a wide dispersion of Jews in which many probably ended up in Babylonia. The Jews of Babylon would for the first time write prayers in a language other than Hebrew, such as the Kaddish, written in Judeo-Aramaic – a harbinger of the many languages in which Jewish prayers in the diaspora would come to be written in, such as Greek, Arabic, and Turkish.
Accustomed in Jerusalem from early times to look to the east for help, and aware, as the Roman procurator Petronius was, that the Jews of Babylon could render effectual assistance, Babylonia became with the fall of Jerusalem the very bulwark of Judaism. The collapse of the Bar Kochba revolt no doubt added to the number of Jewish refugees in Babylon.
In the continuous Roman–Persian Wars, the Jews had every reason to hate the Romans, the destroyers of their sanctuary, and to side with the Parthians, their protectors. Possibly it was recognition of services thus rendered by the Jews of Babylonia, and by the Davidic house especially, that induced the Parthian kings to elevate the princes of the Exile, who until then had been little more than mere collectors of revenue, to the dignity of real princes, called Resh Galuta. Thus, then, the numerous Jewish subjects were provided with a central authority which assured an undisturbed development of their own internal affairs.
In religious matters the Babylonians, like the whole diaspora, were in many regards dependent upon Judea. They went on pilgrimages to Jerusalem for the festivals, and were dependent on Judean authorities to fix the calendar. The early rabbis took for granted that their rulings would be followed in Babylonia as well as locally. That said, the influence was to some extent mutual: a number of early notable rabbis including Hillel the Elder, Nahum the Mede, and Nathan the Babylonian had ancestry in Babylonia or further east. In the 2nd century, Nisibis ("Netzivin") was such a center of rabbinic scholarship that figures like Eleazar ben Shammua could consider traveling there to study.
The Jews of northern Babylonia appear to have suffered severely from the Roman-Parthian and Roman-Sasanian wars; this, and possibly the growing power of Christianity in the area, appear to have led to a weakening of the Jewish community in northern Mesopotamia while the center of Jewish culture shifted to the center and south. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Iraq |
Camel | The United States Army established the U.S. Camel Corps, stationed in California, in the 19th century. One may still see stables at the Benicia Arsenal in Benicia, California, where they nowadays serve as the Benicia Historical Museum. Though the experimental use of camels was seen as a success (John B. Floyd, Secretary of War in 1858, recommended that funds be allocated towards obtaining a thousand more camels), the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 saw the end of the Camel Corps: Texas became part of the Confederacy, and most of the camels were left to wander away into the desert.
France created a méhariste camel corps in 1912 as part of the Armée d'Afrique in the Sahara in order to exercise greater control over the camel-riding Tuareg and Arab insurgents, as previous efforts to defeat them on foot had failed. The Free French Camel Corps fought during World War II, and camel-mounted units remained in service until the end of French rule over Algeria in 1962.
In 1916, the British created the Imperial Camel Corps. It was originally used to fight the Senussi, but was later used in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign in World War I. The Imperial Camel Corps comprised infantrymen mounted on camels for movement across desert, though they dismounted at battle sites and fought on foot. After July 1918, the Corps began to become run down, receiving no new reinforcements, and was formally disbanded in 1919.
In World War I, the British Army also created the Egyptian Camel Transport Corps, which consisted of a group of Egyptian camel drivers and their camels. The Corps supported British war operations in Sinai, Palestine, and Syria by transporting supplies to the troops.
The Somaliland Camel Corps was created by colonial authorities in British Somaliland in 1912; it was disbanded in 1944.
Bactrian camels were used by Romanian forces during World War II in the Caucasian region. At the same period the Soviet units operating around Astrakhan in 1942 adopted local camels as draft animals due to shortage of trucks and horses, and kept them even after moving out of the area. Despite severe losses, some of these camels ended up as far west as to Berlin itself.
The Bikaner Camel Corps of British India fought alongside the British Indian Army in World Wars I and II.
The Tropas Nómadas (Nomad Troops) were an auxiliary regiment of Sahrawi tribesmen serving in the colonial army in Spanish Sahara (today Western Sahara). Operational from the 1930s until the end of the Spanish presence in the territory in 1975, the Tropas Nómadas were equipped with small arms and led by Spanish officers. The unit guarded outposts and sometimes conducted patrols on camelback. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camel |
Mu'awiya I | Mu'awiya initiated the Arab naval campaigns against the Byzantines in the eastern Mediterranean, requisitioning the harbors of Tripoli, Beirut, Tyre, Acre, and Jaffa. Umar had rejected Mu'awiya's request to launch a naval invasion of Cyprus, citing concerns about the Muslim forces' safety at sea, but Uthman allowed him to commence the campaign in 647, after refusing an earlier entreaty. Mu'awiya's rationale was that the Byzantine-held island posed a threat to Arab positions along the Syrian coast, and that it could be easily neutralized. The exact year of the raid is unclear, with the early Arabic sources providing a range between 647 and 650, while two Greek inscriptions in the Cypriot village of Solois cite two raids launched between 648 and 650.
According to the 9th-century historians al-Baladhuri and Khalifa ibn Khayyat, Mu'awiya led the raid in person accompanied by his wife, Katwa bint Qaraza ibn Abd Amr of the Qurayshite Banu Nawfal, alongside the commander Ubada ibn al-Samit. Katwa died on the island and at some point Mu'awiya married her sister Fakhita. In a different narrative by the early Muslim sources, the raid was instead conducted by Mu'awiya's admiral Abd Allah ibn Qays, who landed at Salamis before occupying the island. In either case, the Cypriots were forced to pay a tribute equal to that which they had paid the Byzantines. Mu'awiya established a garrison and a mosque to maintain the Caliphate's influence on the island, which became a staging ground for the Arabs and the Byzantines to launch raids against each other's territories. The inhabitants of Cyprus were largely left to their own devices and archaeological evidence indicates uninterrupted prosperity during this period.
Dominance of the eastern Mediterranean enabled Mu'awiya's naval forces to raid Crete and Rhodes in 653. From the raid on Rhodes, Mu'awiya remitted significant war spoils to Uthman. In 654 or 655, a joint naval expedition launched from Alexandria, Egypt and the harbors of Syria routed a Byzantine fleet commanded by the Byzantine Emperor Constans II (r. 641–668) off the Lycian coast at the Battle of the Masts. Constans II was forced to sail to Sicily, opening the way for an ultimately unsuccessful Arab naval attack on Constantinople. The Arabs were commanded by either the governor of Egypt, Abd Allah ibn Abi Sarh, or Mu'awiya's lieutenant Abu'l-A'war.
Meanwhile, after two previous attempts by the Arabs to conquer Armenia, the third attempt in 650 ended with a three-year truce reached between Mu'awiya and the Byzantine envoy Procopios in Damascus. In 653, Mu'awiya received the submission of the Armenian leader Theodore Rshtuni, which the Byzantine emperor practically conceded when he withdrew from Armenia that year. In 655, Mu'awiya's lieutenant commander Habib ibn Maslama al-Fihri captured Theodosiopolis and deported Rshtuni to Syria, solidifying Arab rule over Armenia. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu%27awiya_I |
Kalam cosmological argument | Given that the Kalam cosmological argument is a deductive argument, if both premises are true, the truth of the conclusion follows necessarily.
In a critique of Craig's book The Kalam Cosmological Argument, published in 1979, Michael Martin states:
"It should be obvious that Craig's conclusion that a single personal agent created the universe is a non sequitur. At most, this Kalam argument shows that some personal agent or agents created the universe. Craig cannot validly conclude that a single agent is the creator. On the contrary, for all he shows, there may have been trillions of personal agents involved in the creation."
Martin also claims that Craig has not justified his claim of creation "ex nihilo", pointing out that the universe may have been created from pre-existing material in a timeless or eternal state. Moreover, that Craig takes his argument too far beyond what his premises allow in deducing that the creating agent is greater than the universe. For this, he cites the example of a parent "creating" a child who eventually becomes greater than he or she.
In the subsequent Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology, published in 2009, Craig discusses the properties of the cause of the universe, arguing that they follow as consequences of a conceptual analysis of the cause of the universe and by entailment from the initial syllogism of the argument:
A first state of the material world cannot have a material explanation and must originate ex nihilo in being without material cause, because no natural explanation can be causally prior to the very existence of the natural world (space-time and its contents). It follows necessarily that the cause is outside of space and time (timeless, spaceless), immaterial, and enormously powerful, in bringing the entirety of material reality into existence.
Even if positing a plurality of causes prior to the origin of the universe, the causal chain must terminate in a cause which is absolutely first and uncaused, otherwise an infinite regress of causes would arise, which Craig and Sinclair argue is impossible.
Occam's Razor maintains that the absolute unity of the First Cause should be assumed unless there are specific reasons to believe that there is more than one causeless cause.
Agent causation, volitional action, is the only ontological condition in which an effect can arise in the absence of prior determining conditions. Therefore, only personal, free agency can account for the origin of a first temporal effect from a changeless cause.
Abstract objects, the only other ontological category known to have the properties of being uncaused, spaceless, timeless and immaterial, do not sit in causal relationships.
Craig concludes that the cause of the existence of the universe is an "uncaused, personal Creator ... who sans the universe is beginningless, changeless, immaterial, timeless, spaceless and enormously powerful"; remarking upon the theological implications of this union of properties. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalam_cosmological_argument |
Simeon I of Bulgaria | Having dealt with the pressure from the Magyars and the Byzantines, Simeon was free to plan a campaign against the Magyars looking for retribution. He negotiated a joint force with the Magyars' eastern neighbours, the Pechenegs, and imprisoned the Byzantine envoy Leo Choirosphaktes in order to delay the release of the captives until after the campaign against the Magyars. This would allow him to renegotiate the peace conditions in his favour. In an exchange of letters with the envoy, Simeon refused to release the captives and ridiculed Leo VI's astrological abilities.
Using a Magyar invasion in the lands of the neighbouring Slavs in 896 as a casus belli, Simeon headed against the Magyars together with his Pecheneg allies, defeating them completely in the Battle of Southern Buh and making them leave Etelköz forever and settle in Pannonia. Following the defeat of the Magyars, Simeon finally released the Byzantine prisoners in exchange for Bulgarians captured in 895.
Claiming that not all prisoners had been released, Simeon once again invaded Byzantium in the summer of 896, heading directly to Constantinople. He was met in Thrace by a hastily assembled Byzantine army, but annihilated the Byzantine forces in the Battle of Bulgarophygon (at modern Babaeski, Turkey). Arming Arab captives and sending them to fight with the Bulgarians as a desperate measure, Leo VI managed to repel the Bulgarians from Constantinople, which they had besieged. The war ended with a peace treaty which formally lasted until around Leo VI's death in 912 and under which Byzantium was obliged to pay Bulgaria an annual tribute. Under the treaty, the Byzantines also ceded an area between the Black Sea and Strandža to the Bulgarian Empire. Meanwhile, Simeon had also imposed his authority over Serbia in return for recognizing Petar Gojniković as their ruler.
Simeon often violated the peace treaty with Byzantium, attacking and conquering Byzantine territory on several occasions, such as in 904, when the Bulgarian raids were used by Arabs led by the Byzantine renegade Leo of Tripoli to undertake a maritime campaign and seize Thessaloniki. After the Arabs plundered the city, it was an easy target for Bulgaria and the nearby Slavic tribes. In order to dissuade Simeon from capturing the city and populating it with Slavs, Leo VI was forced to make further territorial concessions to the Bulgarians in the modern region of Macedonia. With the treaty of 904, all Slavic-inhabited lands in modern southern Macedonia and southern Albania were ceded to the Bulgarian Empire, with the border line running some 20 kilometres north of Thessaloniki. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simeon_I_of_Bulgaria |
Early modern European cuisine | For most of Europe, the many varieties of grain were the most important crop and formed the daily staple for segments of society. The differentiation was in the varieties, its quality and how it was prepared. The lower classes ate bread that was coarse and of considerably higher bran content while the upper classes enjoyed the finely ground, white wheat flour that most modern Europeans are used to. Wheat was considerably more expensive than other grains, and rarely eaten by many. Most bread was made with a mixture of wheat and other grains.
Grain remained the undisputed main staple of early modern Europe until the 17th century. By this time the skepticism towards New World imports such as potatoes and maize had softened among the general populace, and the potato in particular found new appreciation in northern Europe, where it was a much more productive and flexible crop than wheat. In Ireland, this would later have disastrous results. In the early 19th century, when much of the country depended almost exclusively on potato, the potato blight, a fungus that rotted the edible tubers of the potato plant while still in the ground, caused a massive famine that killed over a million people and forced another two million to emigrate. In regions of Europe such as Scotland, Scandinavia, and northern Russia, the climate and soil types were less suited for wheat cultivation, and rye and barley were far more important. Rye was used to bake the dense, dark bread that is still common in countries like Sweden, Russia, and Finland. Barley was more common in the north, and was often used to make beer.
Oats made up a considerable minority of the produced grain but stood very low in status and was commonly used as animal feed, especially for horses. Millet, grown in much of Europe since prehistoric times was still used throughout much of the early period, but had largely disappeared by the 18th century although its exceptional storage period of up to twenty years meant it was used for emergency reserves. For example, the Italian dish polenta, previously made from millet, later was made with maize. Pasta had been a common food since the middle of the medieval period, and gained in popularity during the early modern period (notably in Naples, where it was not often seen until the late 18th century), but it was not yet usual to use the hard variety of durum wheat or semolina to make dried pasta until the Industrial era. Rice became established in many places, especially Italy and Spain, during the period, but was regarded as a low-status food; the well-off might occasionally have rice pudding but otherwise ignored it.
Peas and beans, which made up a very large part of the diet of the medieval poor, were still often treated as a staple food, but to a diminishing extent over the period, to be replaced by cereals and the potato. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_modern_European_cuisine |
National Liberation Front (Algeria) | A historical reference of socialist values is the implementation of the Warnier Law of 1873, which allowed the selling of community land at an individual base toppled the economic power of the Algerian indigenous elites; the elimination of class structure undertoned the later FLN populism and socialist agendas. Such egalitarianism, which implies a liberation struggle, reflects the FLN's militant socialism during Ben Bella's period, who considered the struggle was to invent a new society to release the peasantry's potential.
This ideological construct of the FLN is controversial and disputed but can be analyzed through lenses of different socio-economic contexts. Given the global background of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Cold War, Algeria was considered the entry point into the Third World in this ideological conflict; the FLN's ideologies under Ben Bella and Boumédiène were largely shaped by the fundamental needs of the country such as radical economic reforms, getting international aids and recognition, along with the domestic Islamic pressure.
Facing the grave economic consequences of the Algerian War of Independence that included the destruction of 8,000 villages and millions of acres of land, a centralized authority, in this case, the FLN, was forced to act and redress the problem through a Leninist and corporatist framework. In response, Ben Bella also experimented the socialist autogestion among the Muslim workers who entered industrial and agricultural businesses that featured profit-sharing and equity. Ben Bella and his supporters in the FLN believed in the harmony between religion and socialism and it was in their political interest to renew the FLN party by leading a popular revolution to integrate Islam and socialism.
Despite being challenged by the Algerian Ulema and other domestic conservatives who criticized Ben Bella on the shallowness of his intentionally Islamism-leaning policies, the FLN kept its Marxist–Leninist organization principles that featured a secular institutional dominance over religion. The later FLN's ideological change towards anti-socialism and anti-communism can be illustrated by Kaid Ahmed's opposition towards Boumédiène's leftist agenda, which featured the radical agrarian revolution that hurt rich landowners who defended themselves on the religious ground and fueled the Islamic movement, which gradually took over the national sentiment later in the century. Starting in 1971 and ending in 1992, the government under Chadli Bendjedid was authoritative but collegial, less rigid on ideologies but more moderate on domestic and international issues, while Bendjedid and his advisers believed in socialism. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Liberation_Front_(Algeria) |
Omar al-Bashir | Since 1968, Sudanese politicians had attempted to create separate factions of "Africans" and "Arabs" in the western area of Darfur, a difficult task as the population were substantially intermarried and could not be distinguished by skin tone. This internal political instability was aggravated by cross-border conflicts with Chad and Libya and the 1984–1985 Darfur famine. In 2003, the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudanese Liberation Army –accusing the government of neglecting Darfur and oppressing non-Arabs in favor of Arabs – began an armed insurgency.
Estimates vary of the number of deaths resulting from attacks on the non-Arab/Arabized population by the Janjaweed militia: the Sudanese government claim that up to 10,000 have been killed in this conflict; the United Nations reported that about 300,000 had died as of 2010, and other reports place the figures at between 200,000 and 400,000. During an interview with David Frost for the Al Jazeera English programme Frost Over The World in June 2008, al-Bashir insisted that no more than 10,000 had died in Darfur.
The Sudanese government had been accused of suppressing information by jailing and killing witnesses since 2004, and tampering with evidence, such as covering up mass graves. The Sudanese government has also arrested and harassed journalists, thus limiting the extent of press coverage of the situation in Darfur. While the United States government has described the conflict as genocide, the UN has not recognized the conflict as such. (see List of declarations of genocide in Darfur)
The United States Government stated in September 2004 "that genocide has been committed in Darfur and that the Government of Sudan and the Janjaweed bear responsibility and that genocide may still be occurring". On 29 June 2004, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell met with al-Bashir in Sudan and urged him to make peace with the rebels, end the crisis, and lift restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian aid to Darfur. Kofi Annan met with al-Bashir three days later and demanded that he disarm the Janjaweed.
After fighting stopped in July and August, on 31 August 2006, the United Nations Security Council had approved Resolution 1706 which called for a new UN peacekeeping force consisting of 17,300 military personnel and 3,300 civilians and named the United Nations–African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID). It was intended to have supplanted or supplemented a 7,000-troop African Union Mission in Sudan peacekeeping force. Sudan strongly objected to the resolution and said that it would see the UN forces in the region as "foreign invaders". A day after rejecting the UN forces into Sudan, the Sudanese military launched a major offensive in the region. In March 2007, the United Nations Human Rights Council accused Sudan's government of taking part in "gross violations" in Darfur and urged the international community to take urgent action to protect people in Darfur. A high-level technical consultation was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 11–12 June 2007, pursuant to the 4 June 2007 letters of the secretary-general and the chairperson of the African Union Commission, which were addressed to al-Bashir. The technical consultations were attended by delegations from the Government of Sudan, the African Union, and the United Nations.
In 2009, General Martin Luther Agwai, head of the UNAMID, said the war was over in the region, although low-level disputes remained. "Banditry, localised issues, people trying to resolve issues over water and land at a local level. But real war as such, I think we are over that," he said. This perspective is contradicted by reports which indicate that violence continues in Darfur while peace efforts have been stalled repeatedly. Violence between Sudan's military and rebel fighters has beset South Kordofan and Blue Nile states since disputed state elections in May 2011, an ongoing humanitarian crisis that has prompted international condemnation and U.S. congressional hearings. In 2012, tensions between Sudan and South Sudan reached a boiling point when the Sudanese military bombed territory in South Sudan, leading to hostilities over the disputed Heglig (or Panthou) oil fields located along the Sudan-South Sudan border. Omar al-Bashir sought the assistance of numerous non-western countries after the West, led by America, imposed sanctions against him, he said: "From the first day, our policy was clear: To look eastward, toward China, Malaysia, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, and even Korea and Japan, even if the Western influence upon some [of these] countries is strong. We believe that the Chinese expansion was natural because it filled the space left by Western governments, the United States, and international funding agencies. The success of the Sudanese experiment in dealing with China without political conditions or pressures encouraged other African countries to look toward China."
Chadian President Idriss Déby visited Khartoum in 2010 and Chad kicked out the Darfuri rebels it had previously supported. Both Sudanese and Chadian sides together established a joint military border patrol.
On 26 October 2011, al-Bashir said that Sudan gave military support to the Libyan rebels, who overthrew Muammar Gaddafi. In a speech broadcast live on state television, al-Bashir said the move was in response to Gaddafi's support for Sudanese rebels three years ago. Sudan and Libya have had a complicated and frequently antagonistic relationship for many years. President al-Bashir said the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), a Darfuri rebel group, had attacked Khartoum three years ago using Libyan trucks, equipment, arms, ammunition and money. He said God had given Sudan a chance to respond, by sending arms, ammunition and humanitarian support to the Libyan revolutionaries. "Our God, high and exalted, from above the seven skies, gave us the opportunity to reciprocate the visit," he said. "The forces which entered Tripoli, part of their arms and capabilities, were 100% Sudanese," he told the crowd. His speech was well received by a large crowd in the eastern Sudanese town of Kassala. But the easy availability of weapons in Libya, and that country's poorly guarded border with Darfur, are also of great concern to the Sudanese authorities.
Al-Bashir in his speech said that his government's priority was to end the armed rebellion and tribal conflicts in order to save blood and direct the energies of young people towards building Sudan instead of "killing and destruction". He called upon youth of the rebel groups to lay down arms and join efforts to build the country. Al Bashir sees himself as a man wronged and misunderstood. He takes full responsibility for the conflict in Darfur, he says, but says that his government did not start the fighting and has done everything in its power to end it.
Al Bashir had signed two peace agreements for Darfur:
The 2006 Darfur Peace Agreement, also known as the "Abuja Agreement", was signed on 5 May 2006 by the government of Sudan along with a faction of the SLA led by Minni Minnawi. However, the agreement was rejected by two other, smaller groups, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and a rival faction of the SLA led by Abdul Wahid al Nur.
The 2011 Darfur Peace Agreement, also known as the "Doha Agreement", was signed in July 2011 between the government of Sudan and the Liberation and Justice Movement. This agreement established a compensation fund for victims of the Darfur conflict, allowed the president of Sudan to appoint a vice-president from Darfur, and established a new Darfur Regional Authority to oversee the region until a referendum can determine its permanent status within the Republic of Sudan.
The agreement also provided for power sharing at the national level: movements that sign the agreement will be entitled to nominate two ministers and two four ministers of state at the federal level and will be able to nominate 20 members to the national legislature. The movements will be entitled to nominate two state governors in the Darfur region. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_al-Bashir |
Cradle of civilization | Drawing on archaeology, geology and anthropology, modern scholars do not see the origins of the Chinese civilization or history as a linear story but rather the history of the interactions of different and distinct cultures and ethnic groups that influenced each other's development. The specific cultural regions that developed Chinese civilization were the Yellow River civilization, the Yangtze civilization, and Liao civilization. Early evidence for Chinese millet agriculture is dated to around 7000 BC, with the earliest evidence of cultivated rice found at Chengtoushan near the Yangtze River, dated to 6500 BC. Chengtoushan may also be the site of the first walled city in China. By the beginning of the Neolithic Revolution, the Yellow River valley began to establish itself as a center of the Peiligang culture, which flourished from 7000 to 5000 BC, with evidence of agriculture, constructed buildings, pottery, and burial of the dead. With agriculture came increased population, the ability to store and redistribute crops, and the potential to support specialist craftsmen and administrators. Its most prominent site is Jiahu. Some scholars have suggested that the Jiahu symbols (6600 BC) are the earliest form of proto-writing in China. However, it is likely that they should not be understood as writing itself, but as features of a lengthy period of sign-use, which led eventually to a fully-fledged system of writing. Archaeologists believe that the Peiligang culture was egalitarian, with little political organization.
It eventually evolved into the Yangshao culture (5000–3000 BC), and their stone tools were polished and highly specialized. They may also have practiced an early form of silkworm cultivation. The main food of the Yangshao people was millet, with some sites using foxtail millet and others broom-corn millet, though some evidence of rice has been found. The exact nature of Yangshao agriculture, small-scale slash-and-burn cultivation versus intensive agriculture in permanent fields, is currently a matter of debate. Once the soil was exhausted, residents picked up their belongings, moved to new lands, and constructed new villages. However, Middle Yangshao settlements such as Jiangzhi contain raised-floor buildings that may have been used for the storage of surplus grains. Grinding stones for making flour were also found.
Later, Yangshao culture was superseded by the Longshan culture, which was also centered on the Yellow River from about 3000 to 1900 BC, its most prominent site being Taosi. The population expanded dramatically during the 3rd millennium BC, with many settlements having rammed earth walls. It decreased in most areas around 2000 BC until the central area evolved into the Bronze Age Erlitou culture. The earliest bronze artifacts have been found in the Majiayao culture site (3100–2700 BC).
Chinese civilization begins during the second phase of the Erlitou period (1900–1500 BC), with Erlitou considered the first state level society of East Asia. There is considerable debate whether Erlitou sites correlate to the semi-legendary Xia dynasty. The Xia dynasty (2070–1600 BC) is the first dynasty to be described in ancient Chinese historical records such as the Bamboo Annals, first published more than a millennium later during the Western Zhou period. Although Xia is an important element in Chinese historiography, there is to date no contemporary written evidence to corroborate the dynasty. Erlitou saw an increase in bronze metallurgy and urbanization and was a rapidly growing regional center with palatial complexes that provide evidence for social stratification. The Erlitou civilization is divided into four phases, each of roughly 50 years. During Phase I, covering 100 hectares (250 acres), Erlitou was a rapidly growing regional center with estimated population of several thousand but not yet an urban civilization or capital. Urbanization began in Phase II, expanding to 300 ha (740 acres) with a population around 11,000. A palace area of 12 ha (30 acres) was demarcated by four roads. It contained the 150x50 m Palace 3, composed of three courtyards along a 150-meter axis, and Palace 5. A bronze foundry was established to the south of the palatial complex that was controlled by the elite who lived in palaces. The city reached its peak in Phase III, and may have had a population of around 24,000. The palatial complex was surrounded by a two-meter-thick rammed-earth wall, and Palaces 1, 7, 8, 9 were built. The earthwork volume of rammed earth for the base of largest Palace 1 is 20,000 m³ at least. Palaces 3 and 5 were abandoned and replaced by 4,200-square-meter (45,000 sq ft) Palace 2 and Palace 4. In Phase IV, the population decreased to around 20,000, but building continued. Palace 6 was built as an extension of Palace 2, and Palaces 10 and 11 were built. Phase IV overlaps with the Lower phase of the Erligang culture (1600–1450 BC). Around 1600 to 1560 BC, about 6 km northeast of Erlitou, a culturally Erligang walled city was built at Yanshi, which coincides with an increase in production of arrowheads at Erlitou. This situation might indicate that the Yanshi city was competing for power and dominance with Erlitou. Production of bronzes and other elite goods ceased at the end of Phase IV, at the same time as the Erligang city of Zhengzhou was established 85 km (53 mi) to the east. There is no evidence of destruction by fire or war, but, during the Upper Erligang phase (1450–1300 BC), all the palaces were abandoned, and Erlitou was reduced to a village of 30 ha (74 acres).
The earliest traditional Chinese dynasty for which there is both archeological and written evidence is the Shang dynasty (1600–1046 BC). Shang sites have yielded the earliest known body of Chinese writing, the oracle bone script, mostly divinations inscribed on bones. These inscriptions provide critical insight into many topics from the politics, economy, and religious practices to the art and medicine of this early stage of Chinese civilization. Some historians argue that Erlitou should be considered an early phase of the Shang dynasty. The U.S. National Gallery of Art defines the Chinese Bronze Age as the period between about 2000 and 771 BC; a period that begins with the Erlitou culture and ends abruptly with the disintegration of Western Zhou rule. The Sanxingdui culture is another Chinese Bronze Age society, contemporaneous to the Shang dynasty, however they developed a different method of bronze-making from the Shang. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cradle_of_civilization |
Maslaha | The concept was first clearly articulated by al-Ghazali (died 1111), who argued that maslaha was Allah's general purpose in revealing the divine law, and that its specific aims was preservation of five essentials of human well-being: religion, life, intellect, offspring, and property. Although most classical-era jurists recognized maslaha as an important legal principle, they held different views regarding the role that it should play in Islamic law. Some jurists viewed it as auxiliary rationale constrained by scriptural sources and analogical reasoning. Others regarded the concept as an independent source of law, whose general principles could override specific inferences based on the letter of scripture. The latter view was held by a minority of classical jurists, but in modern times, it came to be championed in different forms by prominent scholars who sought to adapt Islamic law to changing social conditions by drawing on the intellectual heritage of traditional jurisprudence. Along with the analogous concept of maqasid, it has come to play an increasingly prominent role in modern time because of the need to confront legal issues that were unknown in the past.
There are several other equivalent or analogous concepts in Uṣūl al-fiqh, some of each associated with respective maddhabs. The concept of maqasid (aim or purpose) is comparable in a sense that connotes both the ultimate objective and the goal of the application of the Sharia. The concept of istislah is a related subject, which is employed by Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal. The meaning of maslaha is "public interest", and the meaning of istislah is "to seek the best public interest", the Sharia's object and purpose. The concept of istihsan means equitable preference for finding solutions to the legal issues. The term is used by the Hanafi school of law, and according to the understanding, the results of qiyas can be overridden when it is considered harmful or undesirable. The term was also used by the Hanbali scholar Ibn Qudamah and by the Maliki jurist Averroes. The Shafi'i school does not recognize the application of maslaha, as it may open the door to the unrestricted use based on fallible human opinions, but it has a corresponding concept, istidlal, which is induced when necessary to avoid the strict application of qiyas. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslaha |
Muslim conquest of Persia | After the Ridda wars, a tribal chief of northeastern Arabia, Al-Muthanna ibn Haritha, raided the Sasanian towns in Mesopotamia, actions that generated a considerable amount of booty was collected. Al-Muthanna ibn Haritha went to Medina to inform Abu Bakr about his success and was appointed commander of his people, after which he began to raid deeper into Mesopotamia. Using the mobility of his light cavalry, he could easily raid any town near the desert and disappear again into the desert, beyond the reach of the Sasanian army. Al-Muthanna's acts made Abu Bakr think about the expansion of the Rashidun Caliphate.
To ensure victory, Abu Bakr used a volunteer army and put his best general, Khalid ibn al-Walid, in command. After defeating the self-proclaimed prophet Musaylimah in the Battle of Yamama, Khalid was still at Al-Yamama when Abu Bakr ordered him to invade the Sasanian Empire. Making Al-Hirah the objective of Khalid, Abu Bakr sent reinforcements and ordered the tribal chiefs of northeastern Arabia, Al-Muthanna ibn Haritha, Mazhur bin Adi, Harmala and Sulma to operate under Khalid's command. Around the third week of March 633 (first week of Muharram 12th Hijrah) Khalid set out from Al-Yamama with an army of 10,000. The tribal chiefs, with 2,000 warriors each, joined him, swelling his ranks to 18,000. After entering Mesopotamia, he dispatched messages to every governor and deputy who ruled the provinces calling on them to either embrace Islam or pay tribute. Khalid did not receive any responses and continued with his tactical plans.
Khalid went on to win decisive victories in four consecutive battles: the Battle of Chains, fought in April; the Battle of River, fought in the third week of April; the Battle of Walaja the following month (where he successfully used a double envelopment manoeuvre), and the Battle of Ullais, fought in mid-May. The Persian court, already disturbed by internal problems, was thrown into chaos. In the last week of May, the important city of Al-Hirah fell to the Muslims. After resting his armies, in June, Khalid laid siege to the city of al-Anbar, which surrendered in July. Khalid then moved south, and conquered the city of Ayn al-Tamr in the last week of July. At this point, most of what is now Iraq was under Islamic control.
Khalid received a call for aid from northern Arabia at Dawmat al-Jandal, where another Muslim Arab general, Iyad ibn Ghanm, was trapped among the rebel tribes. Khalid went there and defeated the rebels in the Battle of Dawmat al-Jandal in the last week of August. Upon his return, he received news of the assembling of a large Persian army. He decided to defeat them all separately to avoid the risk of being defeated by a large unified Persian army. Four divisions of Persian and Christian Arab auxiliaries were present at Hanafiz, Zumiel, Sanni and Muzieh. Khalid divided his army into three units, and employed them in well-coordinated attacks against the Persians from three different sides at night, in the Battle of Muzayyah, then the Battle of Saniyy, and finally the Battle of Zumail, all during the month of November. These devastating defeats ended Persian control over Mesopotamia, and left the Persian capital Ctesiphon vulnerable. Before attacking Ctesiphon, Khalid decided to eliminate all Persian forces in the south and west. He accordingly marched against the border city of Firaz, where he defeated the combined forces of the Sasanian Persians, the Byzantines and Christian Arabs in December. This was the last battle in his conquest of Mesopotamia. While Khalid was on his way to attack Qadissiyah (a key fort en route to Ctesiphon), Abu Bakr ordered him to the Roman front in Syria to assume command there. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_conquest_of_Persia |
Islamic calligraphy | In the post-colonial era, artists working in North Africa and the Middle East transformed Arabic calligraphy into a modern art movement, known as the Hurufiyya movement. Artists working in this style use calligraphy as a graphic element within contemporary artwork.
The term, hurufiyya is derived from the Arabic term, harf for letter. Traditionally, the term was charged with Sufi intellectual and esoteric meaning. It is an explicit reference to a medieval system of teaching involving political theology and lettrism. In this theology, letters were seen as primordial signifiers and manipulators of the cosmos.
Hurufiyya artists blended Western art concepts with an artistic identity and sensibility drawn from their own culture and heritage. These artists integrated Islamic visual traditions, especially calligraphy, and elements of modern art into syncretic contemporary compositions. Although hurufiyyah artists struggled to find their own individual dialogue within the context of nationalism, they also worked towards an aesthetic that transcended national boundaries and represented a broader affiliation with an Islamic identity.
The hurufiyya artistic style as a movement most likely began in North Africa c. 1955 with the work of Ibrahim el-Salahi. However, the use of calligraphy in modern artworks appears to have emerged independently in various Islamic states. Artists working in this were often unaware of other hurufiyya artists's works, allowing for different manifestations of the style to emerge in different regions. In Sudan, for instance, artworks include both Islamic calligraphy and West African motifs.
The hurufiyya art movement was not confined to painters and included artists working in a variety of media. One example is the Jordanian ceramicist, Mahmoud Taha who combined the traditional aesthetics of calligraphy with skilled craftsmanship. Although not affiliated with the hurufiyya movement, the contemporary artist Shirin Neshat integrates Arabic text into her black-and-white photography, creating contrast and duality. In Iraq, the movement was known as Al Bu'd al Wahad (or the One Dimension Group)", and in Iran, it was known as the Saqqa-Khaneh movement.
Western art has influenced Arabic calligraphy in other ways, with forms such as calligraffiti, which is the use of calligraphy in public art to make politico-social messages or to ornament public buildings and spaces. Notable Islamic calligraffiti artists include: Yazan Halwani active in Lebanon, el Seed working in France and Tunisia, and Caiand A1one in Tehran.
In 2017 the Sultanate of Oman unveiled the Mushaf Muscat, an interactive calligraphic Quran following supervision and support from the Omani Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs, a voting member of the Unicode Consortium. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_calligraphy |
M60 tank | The High Performance M60, also called Super M60, was a comprehensive update package for the M60A1 and A3 tanks, first demonstrated and tested in 1985 by Teledyne Continental. The vehicle was developed as a private venture for the export market and was never evaluated for US military service. Unofficially called the M60AX, the upgrade offered to increase the protection, firepower and mobility for the M60A1 and A3 tanks.
The Super M60 prototype was based on an M60A1 leased from the US Army. It featured the AVCR-1790-1B engine producing 1,200 hp (890 kW) coupled to a Renk RK-304 transmission with four forward and four reverse gears. The torsion bar suspension system of the M60 was replaced with a hydropneumatic suspension system (HSS) developed by the National Waterlift Company as seen on the HIMAG, General Motors XM1, and the Jordanian Centurion (Tariq). Over the M60A1, the Super M60's top speed increased to 45 mph (72 km/h) and power/weight ratio increased to 23.1 hp/t (17.2 kW/t), despite the 9,500 lb (4,300 kg) increase in weight. This High Performance configuration was demonstrated and tested at Fort Knox in January 1985 but was not designated. Although the US Army chose not to adopt the installation of a new power pack or suspension system in the M60 series, General Dynamics formed a co-operative private venture with Teledyne Continental to develop a comprehensive upgrade package.
Survivability was enhanced with a layer of Chobham spaced applique armor built around the turret and frontal arc of the hull that noticeably changed its appearance. The applique armor consisted of an outer layer of high-hardness steel armor panels and an inner layer of ceramic inserts covering the base M60A1 vehicle. Track skirts consisted of Sitall and high-hardness steel for the hull sides as well as Kevlar spall liners for the fighting compartment. Like the vehicle it is based on, it retained a crew of four: the commander, loader and gunner positioned in the turret and the driver in the front of the hull.
The weapons of the Super M60 are similar to those of the M60A3. The main gun is the rifled 105 mm/L52 M68A1E2 with a thermal sleeve. The 7.62 mm M73 coaxial machine gun used on the M60A1 was replaced with a 7.62 mm M240C, with the same number of rounds. The M19 cupola was replaced with a low silhouette model with a pop-up hatch for the commander and a 12.7 mm M2HB machine gun on a pintle mount with 600 rounds. The Fire Control System (FCS) used was designated the Advanced Laser Tank Fire Control System (LTFCS).
The FCS configuration was largely similar to that used on the M60A3, but instead of replacing the optical rangefinder with an AN/VVG-2 laser rangefinder, a Nd:YAG laser emitter was installed on the roof and the M35 gunner's sight was modified to include a laser visual unit. Also, the stabilization configuration was changed to that of the M1 Abrams where the sight itself was fully stabilized and the gun followed the sight. The prototype did not have an optical range finder but one could have been easily installed.
After initial tests with only the new engine and suspension, additional modifications such as the armor upgrade intended to increase protection from shaped charged projectiles were applied. Testing conducted not only showed that the new suspension system smoothened the off-road ride, but also allowed the Super M60 to handle well in spite of its considerable weight increase over the original M60A1. As one of the first upgrade packages offered for the M60 series, the Super M60 prototype demonstrated the potential for upgrading the M60A1/A3 and was offered by GDLS as one of their many possible upgrade packages.
Even though this update package offered M60 users an opportunity to dramatically increase the combat capabilities of their tank fleets, no country ever bought the update and the program effectively ceased by the end of the Cold War. Only one prototype was built. The overall failure of the Super M60 program was likely due to the lack of immediate necessity for such a vehicle. This design was similarly developed independently by Israel in their Magach 7 series. Additionally the German company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann offered the Super M48, applying this design's technology to the M48A2/A3. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M60_tank |
Othello | Adaptations of – or borrowings from – Shakespeare's Othello began shortly after it first appeared, including Middleton & Rowley's 1622 The Changeling, John Ford's 1632 Love's Sacrifice, Thomas Porter's 1662 The Villain and Henry Nevil Payne's 1673 The Fatal Jealousy. Edward Young's 1721 play The Revenge reversed the racial roles, featuring the "swagger part" of a black villain called Zanga whose victim was a white man.
Voltaire's 1732 French play Zaïre was a "neoclassical refurbishment" of Shakespeare's "barbarous" work. And across continental Europe through most of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the play was better known than Shakespeare's in Jean-François Ducis' adaptation and its subsequent translations, in which a heroine renamed Hédelmone is stabbed to death by Othello.
Part of the explosion of the Romantic movement in France was a fashion for re-writing English plays as melodrama, including Alfred de Vigny's 1829 Othello adaptation Le More de Venise.
After the Restoration, London Theatres other than the patent companies got around the illegality of performing Shakespeare by allusion and parody, such as Charles Westmacott's Othello The Moor of Fleet Street at the Adelphi in 1833.
In the 19th-Century United States, Othello was often used in parody, sometimes allied with minstrel shows: with the contrast between Shakespearean verse and African-American dialect a source of racist humour. Indeed, racist parodies were common in the aftermath of the abolition of the slave trade in the UK and, later, in the US: for example Maurice Dowling's 1834 Othello Travestie, George W H Griffin's 1870 Othello (Ethiopian Burlesque), the anonymous Desdemonum An Ethiopian Burlesque of 1874 and the anonymous Dar's de Money (Othello Burlesque) of 1880.
The Black Arts Movement appropriated Othello in an entirely different vein. Amiri Baraka's twinned 1964 plays Dutchman and Slave are said to "represent the ultimate African American revision of Othello", especially in Dutchman's murder of Clay, a black man, by Lulu, a white woman.
The Othello story became the rock opera Catch My Soul in 1968, depicting Othello as a charismatic religious cult leader, Desdemona as a naive convert, and Iago as a malcontent cult member who thinks himself to be Satan. In Murray Carlin's 1969 Not Now Sweet Desdemona the protagonist says of Shakespeare's play that it was "the first play of the Age of Imperialism ... Othello is about colour and nothing but colour." Charles Marowitz's 1974 An Othello reworked the play in the context of the Black Power movement. C. Bernard Jackson's 1979 Iago made Iago himself a Moor and a victim of racism. And Caleen Sinnette Jennings' 1999 Casting Othello is a metadrama about a performance of Shakespeare's play, and the racial tensions it evokes.
Roysten Abel's Othello - A Play in Black and White is set among a group of Indian actors rehearsing a Kathakali version of Othello whose own story begins to mirror the play's plot: with Iago's seduction of Othello played as a guru-disciple relationship.
Among feminist appropriations of the Othello story, Paula Vogel's 1994 Desdemona, A Play about a Handkerchief sets the story in a kitchen in Cyprus, where only Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca appear. In Djanet Sears' 1998 Harlem Duet, Othello's lover challenges his subservient passion: "...why you trying to please her? ... I'm so tired of pleasing White folks." And Toni Morrison and Rokia Traoré's 2012 Desdemona sets its story in a timeless afterlife of the characters, in which Othello and Desdemona have leisure to talk through all facets of their relationship, and in which Desdemona is reunited with her former maid Barbary, whose actual name is Sa'ran.
Othello is parodied in the form of a rap song in the stage show The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). In 2012, the Q Brothers debuted Othello: The Remix, a 90-minute hip-hop version of Othello that was part of the Globe to Globe Festival and World Shakespeare Festival. It was one of the few sold-out shows during the festival and went on to have several successful international tours. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Othello |
First Syrian Republic | On 23 December 1925, Henri de Jouvenel was appointed as French High Commissioner for Syria, and on 28 April 1926, the High Commissioner appointed Ahmad Nami as Prime Minister and Head of State, who formed a government consisting of six ministers, three of whom were nationalists, and it was agreed with the French High Commissioner on the government's work agenda made known the ten points, the most important points were:
Election of the constituent assembly.
Replacement of the mandate by a treaty between Syria and France for a term of thirty years that would safeguard the rights, duties, and interests of both parties identically to the agreement between Iraq and Great Britain.
Completion of Syrian unity.
Creation of a national army so that French troops can gradually withdraw from Syrian territory.
France's aid in having Syria admitted to the League of Nations.
A general amnesty for all political crimes, especially those related to the great revolution.
The three governments which were formed by Ahmed Nami between May 1926 and February 1928 were unable to fulfill their agenda. High commissioner Henri de Jouvenel’s replacement by Henri Ponsot in September 1926 with a change of direction regarding the Syrian question, and contrary to the general amnesty, the French arrested the three national government ministers in September 1926 and exiled them to Lebanon.
The French High Commissioner began a series of discussions in Beirut with the main Syrian national leaders Hashim al-Atassi and Ibrahim Hananu on the future constitution, which failed to reach any agreement. On 15 February 1928, Ahmed Nami resigned, and the High Commissioner appointed Sheikh Taj al-Din al-Hasani as the new interim head of state.
The High Commissioner decreed an amnesty before the elections, terming it a general amnesty but excluding charges related to the great revolution and key Syrian-Lebanese nationalist leaders such as Shukri al-Quwatli, Abdel Rahman Shahbandar, Fawzi Qawukji, Ihsan Jabri (Syria), Amin Rouhaiaha and Mohamed Shureiki (Alawi region), Sultan al-Atrash (Jabal Druze), as well as Shakib Arslan, and Shaib Whab (Lebanon). Therefore, Syrian armed resistance leaders were unable to participate in the elections.
The nationalists formed a new political grouping in preparation for the elections that included the former National Party, some members of the People's Party, and independent figures, most of which are local, and called themselves the National Bloc, and Hashim al-Atassi was elected as its president. Elections were held in April 1928 and 70 members were elected, and the results were not decided, but in favor of urban nationalists and rural moderates.
The project of a new constitution was discussed by a Constituent Assembly elected in April 1928, but as the pro-independence National Bloc had won a majority and insisted on the insertion of several articles "that did not preserve the prerogatives of the mandatary power".
The Constituent Assembly convened on 9 May 1928, at the Government Premises, and unanimously elected Mr. Hashem al-Atassi as its president, and after the arrival of Henri Ponsott, the High Commissioner, and Taj al-Din al-Hasani, the Prime Minister and his ministers. The Constituent Assembly began to recite of the articles of the Constitution, then the meeting was suspended to the date of 11 August 1928, when the session opened again in the presence of the High Commissioner, the Prime Minister and his ministers, then the rest of the articles of the constitution were recited, and upon voting on it as a whole, approved by the Constituent Assembly for all its 115 articles, including the six articles (2, 72, 73, 75, 110, 112 and many relate to the authorities of the President and the Army), which was the men of the mandate are expecting for its abolition from the constitution, for inconsistency with the mandate system.
The High Commissioner withdrew from the session angry and followed by the Prime Minister and ministers, and he issued a decision to postpone the convening of the Constituent Assembly for a period of three months, hoping that an agreement would be reached on the six articles of the Constitution that contradict the mandate policy, and postponement of the negotiations were repeated to no avail. Then when the Constituent Assembly opened its session on 5 February 1929, the head of the political division of the High Commission surprised them and read to the deputies the High Commissioner's memorandum containing the eliminate the six articles opposing the mandate's policy and declaring the suspension of the Constituent Assembly indefinitely. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Syrian_Republic |
Refugees of Iraq | On August 2, 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. The ensuing 1991 Gulf War produced nearly three million refugees, many of them from Iraq. Almost all them left Iraq and Kuwait before the war started or after Desert Storm was over. The largest groups were the Kurds and Shi'as fleeing Saddam Hussein after a failed uprising, as well as the Palestinians. Palestinians were the second largest group uprooted by the war, and 300,000 resettled in Jordan. There were a smaller number of Iraqi Arab refugees, only about 37,000, mostly shia who moved to Saudi Arabia. About 100,000 Iraqis escaped to Jordan and Syria.
Shia comprise 55% of the Iraqi population, but are excluded from the government by the Sunni Arabs. There was a Shia uprising in March 1991. Saddam Hussein regained control of the Shia dominated South in mid-March, and his cousin, Ali Hasan Majid, conducted public executions, bombarded city centers, and destroyed homes and mosques. 200,000 people died in the South between March and September 1991 from the violence. In 2003, there were 530,000 Iraqi refugees in Iran, mostly Shi’ite Arabs.
1.85 million Kurds fled to the borders of Turkey and Iran. Unlike the Shi'ites, the Kurds had a recognized political leadership—the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) that took control of northern Iraq. As a result of this formal political leadership, the revolution in the Kurdish north was much less violent than in the Shi’ite South, and produced relatively few refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
In late March 1991, the Bush administration gave the Iraqi government permission to use helicopters against the Kurds. These were used to terrorize the Kurdish population. About 450,000 Kurds fled to the mountains bordering Turkey and Iran, and the Hussein government had retaken control of the main Kurdish cities by April 3, 1991. Turkey refused to allow the Kurds into the country, but there was significant media attention to the refugee population. The Kurds on the Iranian border were more isolated and received less media attention, but Iran admitted some groups of refugees and the physical conditions were less harsh than on the Turkish border.
In response to this humanitarian crisis, on April 8, 1991 the UN agreed to establish a safe haven in northern Iraq. To this end, two days later the US and its allies established the northern no-fly zone. This was in conjunction with the highly successful British initiative Operation Provide Comfort.
In response to the humanitarian crisis, the US tried to station unarmed aid workers in northern Iraq, but the Kurds refused to return. The US, the UK, France, the Netherlands, and Turkey then created a safe area between the cities of Amadiya, Dihok, and Zakho, and excluded the Iraqi military and police from the area. Near Zakho, the US military built a tent city to hold refugees, but it was not extensively used. The Kurds eventually moved to the safe area.
On February 15, 1991, President George H.W Bush called upon the Iraqi people to overthrow Saddam Hussein, which did not occur until 2003 under the administration of his son, President George W. Bush, and incited the recent Iraq War. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugees_of_Iraq |
Algerian People's National Army | The major part of Algeria's armed forces are directed towards the country's western border with Morocco and Western Sahara. Algeria supported the guerrilla Western Sahara War (1975–1991) against Moroccan control of Western Sahara by the Polisario Front, a national liberation movement of Sahrawi Bedouin exiled in Algeria's Tindouf Province. Algeria has had longstanding border disagreements with Morocco, due to the non-recognition of the colonial borders by the Moroccan regime. Although now basically resolved, these continue to linger as a factor in the consistently troubled but generally non-violent relations between the two neighboring states. The Algeria-Morocco border has been closed since 1994. Both countries' armed forces have engaged in costly equipment upgrades in recent years, clearly viewing each other as the principal threat to their sovereignty, and equally reluctant to let the other nation gain the upper hand militarily.
By contrast, Algeria's post-independence border disagreements with Tunisia and Libya, which were at times a cause for poor relations, both appear to have been peacefully resolved (to its advantage). The Algerian army has also, especially in later years, been very active along the Algeria-Mali border, where various insurgent movements are based. Algeria has fought only two brief wars and battles after independence (the Sand War, a border conflict with Morocco in 1963 and the First battle of Amgala in 1976), but the country is also, like most Arab nations, formally at war with Israel since 1948.
In 1984, after promoting eight colonels to become the first generals in independent Algeria, Chadli Benjedid announced the establishment of an ANP general staff. Previously, the armed forces had relied on the secretary general of the Ministry of National Defence to coordinate staff activities. The previous secretary general of the ministry, Major General Moustafa Benloucif, was named the first chief of staff. Benloucif had risen quickly in the ANP and was also an alternate member of the FLN Political Bureau. However, he was dismissed in 1986 without explanation; in 1992 the regime announced that Benloucif would be tried for corruption and the embezzlement of US$11 million, which had been transferred to European accounts.
Bouteflika sought to reassert the power of the presidency over the largely autonomous armed forces. As Minister of Defence, he nominated new commanders for military regions in August 2004. He also issued a presidential decree creating the position of General Secretary within the Ministry of Defence. Nevertheless, current and retired officers—"le pouvoir"—remain important decision-makers. In order to encourage Algerian military reforms, the U.S. decided to allow Algeria to receive International Military Education and Training (IMET) funds.
Algeria has the largest defence budget in Africa. Historically, Algeria bought weapons and military equipment from the Soviet Union. United Press International reported in March 2013 that Algeria was undergoing a process of military modernization, which includes the introduction of new, more modern warships, aircraft, and tanks.
On 19 January 2013, Algerian troops killed 32 militant hostage-takers and freed more than 650 hostages held at the Tigantourine gas facility, situated near in Amenas in the Illizi Province. Nearly 48 hostages are confirmed to be dead. The kidnappers said the assault on the gas plant was launched in retaliation for French intervention against Islamist groups in neighboring Mali. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algerian_People%27s_National_Army |
Mansour al-Nogaidan | al-Nogaidan's ideological transformation started in the mid-nineties when he been introduced to the heritage of Islamic rationalists and writings of contemporary Muslim thinkers from Morocco and Jordan.
In 1999, al-Nogaidan published his first article which highlighted the dispute between the Hadith School "rigid followers of Prophet Mohammed preaching" and the Aqel school "followers of more flexible interpretation of Prophet Mohammed preaching" in the early period of Islamic civilization. The article lead to al-Nogaidan's exclusion by the Wahhabi scholars and abandonment by his colleagues and the comrades in his path.
In December 2002, al-Nogaidan gave a cyber-interview at an Islamic forum on the Internet that gained wide publicity because of its bold ideas and harsh criticism of Islamic extremists. The thoughts and arguments against the classical concept of Wahabbism raised concern among clerics of Saudi Arabia; consequently, al-Nogaidan was sentenced for 75 lashes and worse gained a fatwa of blasphemy and call for waste of blood or announcement of his repentance publicly.
al-Nogaidan's articles revolve around Islamic Sunni religious thoughts and issues, also he writes about religious history in Saudi Arabia, issues of faith, and the discrepancy over its concept among the forefathers of Islam. In addition, he writes about the history of the Saudi religious figures in the modern era. al-Nogaidan published research that discussed topics such as the map of the Islamists in Saudi Arabia and the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
He is currently a member of the Editorial Board at Al Mesbar Studies and Research Centre in Dubai, UAE.
al-Nogaidan was described by British historian Robert Lacey as one of characters influencing the new generation of young Saudis.
Formerly a radical imam, al-Nogaidan had, by his late thirties, altered his thinking and his life. He now speaks out against the training of terrorists in schools and mosques in the Islamic world, which put his safety at risk. In the eyes of Saudi liberals, al-Nogaidan, through his transition from ex-bomber to liberal and activist, represents the hope of transformation in Saudi Arabia. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansour_al-Nogaidan |
David in Islam | David's narrative in the Quran, in many respects, parallels that given in the Bible. He is named a prophet (nabī) and also a messenger (rasūl), David is included in lists of those who received revelation (waḥy; Q4:163) or guidance (hudā; 6:84) from God. In both lists his name appears next to that of his son Solomon. Elsewhere, the Quran explains that God gave to both of them the gifts of "sound judgment" (ḥukm; 21:79) and "knowledge" (ʿilm; 21:79; 27:15). Yet the Quran also ascribes to David merits that distinguish him from Solomon: David killed Goliath (2:251) and received a divine revelation named "the Psalms" (Quran 17:55 uses an indefinite form, while 21:105 uses the definite form al-Zabūr), presumably a reference to the Psalms or the Psalter (the term Zabūr is perhaps related to the Hebrew term mizmōr or Syriac mazmūrā, "psalm"). The mountains and the birds praised God along with David (21:79; in 34:10 God commands them to do so; cfr. Psalm 148:7–10). God made David a "vicegerent" (khalīfa; 38:26), a title that the Quran otherwise gives only to Adam (2:30). This title suggests that, according to the Quran, David was something more than a messenger: he was a divinely guided leader who established God's rule on Earth. This role is also suggested by 2:251: "God gave him authority (mulk) and wisdom (ḥikmah) and taught him what He willed. If God did not drive back some people by others, the earth would become corrupt."
Among the things taught to David was the ability to make armour (21:80, 34:10–11), a suggestion that David's military exploits were the act of God. It is also important that the Quranic reference to David's "wisdom" was sometimes explained by the classical exegetes as the gift of prophecy. The Quran also connects David and Jesus, by insisting that both cursed Jews against their prophecy who did not believe (5:78). Moreover, according to the Quran, David was given the ability to distinguish between truth and falsehood when dispensing justice (faṣl al-khiṭāb, 38:20). Furthermore, there is the allusion to a test David was put through, wherein he prayed and repented and God forgave him (38:24-5). Surat Sad (the 38th chapter of the Quran) is also called "the sūra of David" Exegetes explain that since David prostrated when asking God to forgive him, Muhammad was ordered to imitate him and to perform a prostration when reading this chapter. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_in_Islam |
Shaitan | Islamic theology usually accepts three types of invisible creatures: angels (malāʾikah), djinn, and devils (šayāṭīn). While good jinn rarely draw the attention of scholars of the Quran (mufassirūn), the supposed negative influence of evil jinn and devils on humans are studied in depth.(p21) The evil jinn are distinguished from shayāṭīn by their attributes: Whereas jinn share common characteristics with humans (i.e. they are mortal and die, follow different religions, and can, at least theoretically, be converted to Islam), the shayāṭīn are exclusively evil and are immortal until Judgement Day. Furthermore, the father of the jinn is al-Jann and the father of the shayāṭīn is Iblis. Like the jinn, the shayāṭīn are supposed to be created from fire, because their leader claims to be made from fire (nār). It is probably this supposed substance they share with the jinn, which allows them to ascend into the air in an attempt to listen to the angels.(p182)
Details about the negative influences of the devils largely derive from the Quran and the ḥadīṯ. The devils promote their own sinful characteristics among humans, including pride, envy, acquisitiveness, anger, lust, and gluttony. Some scholars explained their influences from a rationalistic perspective. Al-Ghazali (c. 1058 – 1111) reconciles the literal meaning (Ẓāhir) with Avicennan cosmology based on reason. According to the philosophers (falsafa), the word 'angel' refers to "celestial intellects" or "immaterial souls". Ghazali opined that devils might be of a similar nature, that is, that they are celestial immaterial objects influencing human minds.: 101 By that, Ghazali does not mean to deny the reality of devils, rather that devils can only be known by their impact.
In his response to the question, how devils, who are conceptualized as creatures of a subtile body (i.e. either fallen angels or evil jinn) in early kalām, can run through the body of humans, he explains that it is not the devil himself, but the effects of the devil (athar ash-shayṭān) that run through human body and influence the soul.: 102 Humans were to discover temptations within themselves,described as devilish whisperings (waswās).: 103 Such devilish whisperings are of the same nature than inspirations (ilhām) of the angels. The only difference between ilhām and waswās lies in the cause: Ilhām is caused by an angel and inspires good that benefits humanity, while waswās is caused by a devil (šayṭān) and inspires sin mostly to enrich the ego.: 104 According to the Islamic conception of the cosmos, such inspirations are not worldly, but are considered to derive from the celestial realm (malakūt).: 104 However, devils attempt to distract a human's mind towards earthly matters, drawing it back to the material world. A similar conceptualization on angels and devils is given by Ali Hujwiri.
Some scholars differentiate between the waswās al-shayṭān and waswās al-nafs ("vices" also called dīv in Persian literature). Al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi argues that the latter are internal to humans and result from passion (hawā). Others equate nafs and the whisperings of the shayāṭīn. Najm al-Din Kubra states "the lower soul, Satan, and the angels are not external things to you; rather they are you".
Athari scholar (al-atharīyah) Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (1292–1350) elaborates on three possible states of a human soul (heart), depending on its relationship with devils: the first one is devoid of ʾīmān (faith), the devil does not whisper since he is already in complete control of that soul; the second heart is illuminated by ʾīmān, the devil whispers to, sometimes winning and sometimes losing; the third heart is brimming with ʾīmān and light (nūr) like heaven, from which the veils of passion have been lifted, so whenever a devil were to approach this heart, the devils are burned by a meteor when they approach. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaitan |
Michel Aflaq | Al-Razzaz, Aflaq's successor as secretary general, came from the pro-Aflaq faction. With the defection of al-Hafez, he ordered that the National Command was the de jure ruling body of the Ba'ath Party. He appointed al-Bitar Prime Minister, Umran defence minister, Mansur al-Atrash as Chairman of the National Council of the Revolutionary Command and al-Hafiz retained his post as President of Syria. Salah Jadid, the Military Committee's strongman, responded by arresting several Umran supporters. Umran responded by dismissing a handful of pro-Jadid officials. The most important of these dismissals was the removal of Ahmad Suwaydani from the post of head of the country's military intelligence to head of the Officer Administration. On 23 February a coup d'état led by Jadid and Hafez al-Assad overthrew the Syrian Government and the Ba'ath Party leadership. Aflaq was exiled from Syria, and ordered never to return to his homeland. Members of the party's other factions fled; Aflaq was captured and detained, along with other pro-Aflaq supporters, in a government guest house. When the new rulers launched a purge in August that year, Aflaq managed to make his escape, with the help of Nasim Al Safarjalani and Malek Bashour, both closely trusted friends and colleagues, and hence was able to flee to Beirut, Lebanon, and later to Brazil.
Aflaq's downfall caused a split within the Ba'ath Party; the party was de facto dissolved and two Ba'ath Parties were established, one Iraqi-led Ba'ath Party and one Syrian-led Ba'ath Party. The Syrian-led party was led by Jadid and his supporters and hailed Zaki al-Arsuzi, the founder of the Arab Ba'ath in 1940, as the father of Ba'athist thought, while the Iraqi-led party led by Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr and Saddam Hussein, still proclaimed Aflaq to be the founder of Ba'athist thought. In February 1966 at the Ninth National Congress, held after the coup which ousted the pro-Aflaq faction, the Iraqi delegation split with the Syrian Ba'athists. The Iraqis held the true Ninth National Congress in February 1968 in Beirut, and elected Aflaq as Secretary General of the National Command. Aflaq's election to the secretary generalship also proved to be his final break with al-Bitar; before the congress convened al-Bitar announced that he had left the Ba'ath Party and given up on the Ba'athist movement as a whole. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Aflaq |
Culture of Saudi Arabia | While women were forbidden to drive motor vehicles until June 24, 2018 and were consequently limited in mobility, they traditionally have often had considerable informal power in the home. According to journalist Judith Miller, "some Saudi women were veritable tyrants in their own homes. They decided where their children would go to school, when and whom they would marry, whether their husbands would accept new jobs, with whom the family socialized, and where the family would live and spend vacations. They promoted their friends' husbands, sons and relatives to key jobs." David Long, a former American diplomat who had taught in the kingdom, has described Saudi men as "the world's most henpecked".
Outside the home, a number of Saudi women have risen to the top of some professions or otherwise achieved prominence; for example, Dr. Salwa Al-Hazzaa is head of the ophthalmology department at King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh and was the late King Fahad's personal ophthalmologist. However employment for women is limited, and urban middle and upper-class women spend much time in socializing with the extended family and close friends. Writing in National Geographic Marrianne Alireza noted: "For city women like us the only activity besides living communally within the extended family was leaving our quarters to visit other women in their quarters."
As of 2014, child marriage is still legal
but no longer common, with the average age at first marriage among Saudi females being 25 years old. However, in 2019 Members of the Saudi Shoura Council in 2019 approved fresh regulations for minor marriages that will see to outlaw marrying off 15-year-old children and force the need for court approval for those under 18. Chairman of the Human Rights Committee at the Shoura Council, Dr. Hadi Al-Yami, said that introduced controls were based on in-depth studies presented to the body. He pointed out that the regulation, vetted by the Islamic Affairs Committee at the Shoura Council, has raised the age of marriage to 18 and prohibited it for those under 15. Female literacy (81%) is lower than that of males, but the percentage of university graduates who are women (60%) is higher.
While the kingdom states that the status of women is "a very noble and lofty one", according to leading Islamic scholars, women in Saudi do not have equal rights with men. Outside of Saudi, foreign sources have shown that discrimination of women is a significant problem and that there is an absence of laws criminalizing violence against women.
The World Economic Forum 2010 Global Gender Gap Report ranked Saudi Arabia 129th out of 134 countries for gender parity.
Under Saudi law, every adult female must have a male relative as her "guardian", whose permission she is required to have in order to travel, study, or work. The guardian is legally entitled to make a number of critical decisions on a woman's behalf. However, women above 18 will soon be allowed to travel abroad without taking their guardians permission as a new law is going to be enacted in this regard in 2019. In August 2019, the law has been already enacted and women above 21 are allowed to travel without a prior permission. The law came into effect at the end of August 2019.
In the courts, the testimony of a woman equals half of a man's and the testimony of one man equals that of two women in family and inheritance law. Men are permitted up to four wives, but women are permitted no more than one husband. Men need no legal justification to unilaterally divorce their wives (talaq), while a woman can only obtain a divorce with the consent of her husband or judicially if her husband has harmed her. With regard to the law of inheritance, the Quran specifies that fixed portions of the deceased's estate must be left to the "Qu'ranic heirs" and so daughters of the deceased will receive half of their brothers.
Saudi women's lives are also shaped by Wahhabi religious policy of strict gender segregation. In health, obesity is a problem among middle and upper class Saudi women, who have domestic servants to do traditional work and have limited ability to leave their house. School sports for girls is forbidden, but as of April 2014, Saudi authorities in the education ministry have been asked by the Shoura Council to consider lifting that ban (with the proviso that any sports conform to Sharia rules on dress and gender segregation, according to the official SPA news agency).
In the public sphere restaurants have specially designated family sections women are required to use. They are also required to wear an abaya and at the very least cover their hair. Women, until June 2018 were forbidden to drive (though exception prior to 2018 were usually made in rural areas). (These restrictions are usually enforced by the "religious police", known as the mutaween.) Women have been promised the vote in 2015 municipal elections. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Saudi_Arabia |
Marinid Sultanate | Not many Marinid textiles have survived, but it is assumed that luxurious silks continued to be made as in previous periods. The only reliably-dated Marinid textiles extant today are three impressive banners which were captured from Sultan Abu al-Hasan's army in the Battle of Rio Salado in 1340 by Alfonso XI. Today they are housed at the Cathedral of Toledo. Ibn Khaldun wrote that Abu al-Hasan possessed hundreds of silk and gold banners which were displayed in palaces or on ceremonial occasions, while both the Marinid and Nasrid armies carried many colourful banners with them into battle. They thus had great symbolic value and were deployed on many occasions.
The oldest of the three banners is dated, according to its inscription, to May or June 1312 (Muharram 712 AH). It was made in the "kasbah" (royal citadel) of Fes for Sultan Abu Sa'id Uthman (father of Abu al-Hasan). The banner measures 280 by 220 cm and is made of predominantly green silk taffeta, along with decorative motifs woven in blue, white, red, and gold thread. Its visual layout shares other general similarities with the so-called Banner of Las Navas de Tolosa from the earlier Almohad period (13th century). The central part of the banner is filled with a grid of sixteen green circles containing short religious statements in small cursive inscriptions. This area is contained in turn within a large rectangular frame. The band of the frame is filled with monumental and ornamental inscriptions in white Kufic letters whose style is similar to the Kufic inscriptions carved into the walls of the Marinid madrasas of Fes, which in turn are derived from earlier Kufic inscriptions found in Almohad architecture. These inscriptions feature a selection of Qur'anic verses very similar to those found in the same positions in the Banner of Las Navas de Tolosa (mainly Qur'an 61:10-11). At the four corners of the rectangular band are roundels containing golden cursive letters against a deep blue background, whose inscriptions attribute victory and salvation to God. The whole rectangular band is in turn lined on both its inner and outer edges by smaller inscription bands of Qur'anic verses. Lastly, the bottom edge of the banner is filled with two lines of red cursive script detailing the titles and lineage of Abu Sa'id Uthman and the date of the banner's fabrication.
The second banner was made for Abu al-Hasan and is dated, according to its inscriptions, to Jumada II 740 AH (corresponding to either December 1339 or January 1340). It measures 347 by 267 centimeters. It is made with similar weaving techniques as its older counterpart and uses the same overall visual arrangement, although this time the predominant colour is yellow, with details woven in blue, red, gold thread, or different shades of yellow. It features a grand Arabic inscription in cursive letters along its top edge which calls for the victory of its owner, Abu al-Hasan. The central part of the banner once again has sixteen circles, arranged in a grid formation, each containing a small Arabic cursive inscription that repeats either the words "Eternal power and infinite glory" or "Perpetual joy and infinite glory". These circles are in turn contained within a large rectangular frame whose band is occupied by four more cursive inscriptions, of moderate size, which again call for Abu al-Hasan's victory while attributing all victory to God. Four more small inscriptions are contained within circles at the four corners of this frame. Finally, the bottom edge of the banner is occupied by a longer inscription, in small cursive letters again, which gives the full titles and lineage of Abu al-Hasan.
A third banner, undated and less well-preserved, is also believed to date from Abu al-Hasan's time. It is curious for the fact that its inscriptions are painted onto the fabric instead of woven into it, while the orientation of its inscriptions is inversed or "mirrored". Some scholars have suggested that it may have been a cheaper reproduction of Abu al-Hasan's banner intended for the use by soldiers or that it was intended as a template drawn by the calligrapher from which artisans could weave the real banner (and as weaving was done from the back, the letters would have to appear reversed from the weaver's perspective during production). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marinid_Sultanate |
Sunni Islam | When the expression 'ahl as-sunna wa l-jama'ah appeared for the first time, is not entirely clear. The Abbasite Caliph Al-Ma'mūn (reigned 813–33) criticized in his Mihna edict a group of people, who related themselves to the sunnah (nasabū anfusa-hum ilā s-sunna) and claimed, they are the "people of truth, religion and community" (ahl al-ḥaqq wa-d-dīn wa-l-jamāʿah). Sunna and jamāʿah are already connected here. As a pair, these terms already appear in the 9th century. It is recorded that the disciple of Ahmad ibn Hanbal Harb ibn Ismail as-Sirjdshani (d. 893) created a writing with the title as-Sunna wa l-Jamāʿah, to which the Mutazilite Abu al-Qasim al-Balchi wrote a refutation later. Al-Jubba'i (d. 916) tells in his Kitāb al-Maqālāt, that Ahmad ibn Hanbal attributed to his students the predicate sunnī jamāʿah ("Jammatic Sunnite"). This indicates that the Hanbalis were the first to use the phrase ahl as-sunna wa l-jamāʿah as a self-designation.
The Karramiyya founded by Muhammad ibn Karram (d. 859) referred to the sunnah and community. They passed down in praise of their school founder a hadith, according to which Muhammad predicted that at the end of times a man named Muhammad ibn Karram will appear, who will restore the sunna and the community (as-sunna wa l-jamāʿah) and take Hidraj from Chorasan to Jerusalem, just how Muhammad himself took a Hidraj from Mecca to Medina. According to the testimony of the transoxanian scholar Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi (d. 1099) the Kullabites (followers of the Basrian scholar Ibn Kullab (d. 855)) dayed about themselves, that they are among the ahl as-sunna wa l-jama too.
Abu al-Hasan al-Ashari used the expression ahl as-sunna wa l-jamāʿah rarely, and preferred another combination. Later Asharites like al-Isfaranini (d. 1027) nad Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi (d. 1078) used the expression ahl as-sunna wa l-jamāʿah too and used them in their works to designate the teachings of their own school. According to al-Bazdawi all Asharites in his time said they belong to the ahl as-sunna wa l-jamāʿah. During this time, the term has been used as a self-designation by the hanafite Maturidites in Transoxiania, used frequently by Abu al-Layth al-Samarqandi (d. 983), Abu Schakur as-Salimi (d. 1086) and al-Bazdawi himself. They used the term as a contrast from their enemies among them Hanafites in the West, who have been followers of the Mutazilites. Al-Bazdawī also contrasted the Ahl as-Sunnah wa l-Jamāʻah with Ahl al-Ḥadīth, "because they would adhere to teachings contrary to the Quran".
According to Schams ad-Dīn al-Maqdisī (end of the 10th century) was the expression ahl as-sunna wa l-jamāʿah a laudatory term during his time, similar to ahl al-ʿadl wa-t-tawḥīd ("people of Righteousness and Divine Unity"), which was used for Mutazilites or generally designations like Mu'minūn ("Believer") or aṣḥāb al-hudā ("people of guidance") for Muslims, who has been seen as rightoues believers. Since the expression ahl as-sunna wa l-jamāʿah was used with a demand on rightoues belief, it was used in academic researches translated as "orthodox".
There are different opinions regarding what the term jama in the phrase ahl as-sunna wa l-jama actually means, among Muslim scholars. In the Sunni Creed by at-Tahawi (d. 933), the term jama contrasts several times the Arabic term furqa ("division, sectarianism"). Thus at-Tahāwī explains that jama is considered as true or right (ḥaqq wa-ṣawāb) and furqa as aberration and punishment (zaiġ wa-ʿaḏāb). Ibn Taymiyyah argues, that jama as opposite term to furqa inherents the meaning of iǧtimāʿ ("Coming together, being together, agreement"). Furthermore, he connects it with the principle of Ijma, a third juridical source after the Book (Quran), and the Sunnah. The Ottoman scholar Muslih ad-Din al-Qastallani (d. 1495) held the opinnion that jama means "Path of the Sahaba" (ṭarīqat aṣ-ṣaḥāba). The modern Indonesian theologican Nurcholish Madjid (d. 2005) interpreted jama as an inclusivistic concept: It means a society open for pluralism and dialogue but does not emphasize that much. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunni_Islam |
Yemenite Jews | A Tunic (Hebrew: חלוק) and habit (Hebrew: סודרא), the latter made with a central hat (Hebrew: כומתא), were the traditional items of clothing worn by a married Jewish man in Yemen. Leading rabbinic scholar and sage, Rabbi Yosef Qafih, described the manner in which they would wrap their habits, saying that the habit was sometimes worn while wrapped around a man's head, or simply partly draped over his head. German ethnographer Erich Brauer (1895–1942) described the differences between Jewish and Gentile garb, making note of the fact that the differences existed only in their outer garments, but not in their undergarments. He also offered the following description:
Instead of trousers, the Yemenite Jews (as well as Yemen's Arabs) carry a piece of cloth worn around the hip (loincloth), called maizar. The expression fūṭa, quoted by Sapir (Jacob Saphir), is used [for the same piece of clothing] by the Jews in Aden and partly also by Arabs from Yemen. The maizar consists of one piece of dark-blue cotton that is wound a few times around the waist and which is held up by a belt made of cloth material or leather. The maizar is allowed to reach down to the knees only. Today, the Yemenites will, therefore, wear [underwear made like unto] short-length trousers, called sirwāl, [instead of the traditional loincloth beneath their tunics].
A blue shirt that has a split that extends down to the waistline and that is closed at neck level is worn over the maizar. If the shirt is multicolored and striped, it is called tahṭāni, meaning, 'the lower.' If it is monochrome, it is called antari. Finally, the outer layer of clothing, worn over the maizar and antari, is a dark-blue cotton tunic (Arabic: gufṭān or kufṭān). The tunic is a coat-like garment that extends down to the knees which is fully open in the front and is closed with a single button in the neck. Over the tunic, the Jewish people were not allowed to wear a girdle.
As noted, some of the men's dress-codes were forced upon them by laws of the State. For example, formerly in Yemen, Jews were not allowed to wear clothing of any color besides blue. Earlier, in Jacob Saphir's time (1859), they'd wear outer garments that were "utterly black." When German-Danish explorer, Carsten Niebuhr, visited Yemen in 1763, the only person he saw wearing the blue-colored tunic was the Jewish courtier, the Minister and Prince, Sālim b. Aharon Irāqi Ha-Kohen, who served under two kings for a period of no less than twenty-eight years.
The traditional Yemenite tallīt is a full-length tallīt made from fine wool or goat's hair of a single black or brown color, called šämläh, but it was not unique unto Jews alone. Muslims would also wear similar items of covering, to protect them from the heat or rain. Jewish garments, however, bore the ritual fringes prescribed for such garments. The wearing of such garments was not unique to prayer time alone, but was worn the entire day. Later, decorative black and white striped shawls were imported into the country from Europe, and which were highly valued by the Jews of Yemen who wore them on special occasions and on the Sabbath day. The small tallīt (ṭallīt kaṭan) was introduced into Yemen via Aden from European centers, and principally worn by rabbis and educated persons. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemenite_Jews |
Arab Peace Initiative | From its inception in 2002, the Initiative deeply divided the organization. While some leaders have spoken positively about it, others didn't accept the Initiative, which alienated Jordan and Egypt. Some later reports that Hamas accepted the initiative. By 2006, Hamas would sign agreements with Fatah that would agree to the 1967 borders as a basis for a Palestinian state, and by 2017 Hamas published a new charter that accepted a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders.
Hamas' spokesman Ismail Abu Shanab told The San Francisco Chronicle in April 2002 that the organization would accept it, saying "That would be satisfactory for all Palestinian military groups to stop and build our state, to be busy in our own affairs, and have good neighborhood with Israelis." The reporters who interviewed Shanab asked if he was speaking for the entire Hamas organization and Shanab answered "Yes." They then tried to contact other Hamas leaders to confirm Shanab's remarks, but they could either not be reached or were unwilling to comment on the matter.
One of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' conditions of forming a national coalition government with Hamas after the 2006 election was that Hamas had to recognize the Initiative, but he was unsuccessful. Hamas' foreign minister Mahmoud al-Zahar said in June 2006 that the organization rejects the initiative. Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said in October 2006 that the "problem with the Arab peace initiative is that it includes recognition of the state of Israel, the thing that the Palestinian government rejects" and dismissed it. That month, Mahmoud al-Zahar declared unequivocally: "Hamas will never change its position regardless of the pressure's intensity" and "We will never recognize the Arab initiative." In January 2007, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said in an interview that Hamas supports "the Arab position," presumably referring to the Arab Peace Initiative.
After the revival of the initiative in March 2007, Hamas continued a policy of ambiguity with many officials giving mixed responses. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum told Haaretz that "the issue is not a 'yes' or 'no' by Hamas regarding the initiative. We respect the Arab efforts to attain Palestinian rights and we will act within the Arab consensus. Nonetheless, the Zionist enemy continues to reject the initiative and we will not determine our position in reference to it before it has been accepted." Haaretz sources in Palestine state that Hamas wanted to oppose the initiative outright but did not do so because it did not want to break with the Saudi Arabian government.
In November 2008, PLO Negotiations Affairs Department published ads promoting the Arab Peace Initiative in Israeli dailies. Meshaal in response stated that "The rights of Palestinians can be achieved only through resistance, not advertisements." However, in an interview with BBC's Jeremy Bowen in April 2008, Meshaal threw his support behind the initiative.
Time stated in January 2009 that "In the Arab world, only Hamas and Hizballah, with the backing of Tehran, reject the Arab peace initiative." Left-wing Israeli commentator and former Minister of Justice Yossi Beilin also said in January 2009 that "Hamas considers its adherence to the three "nos" of Khartoum from 1967, which the entire Arab world abandoned in adopting the Arab peace initiative, to be its primary distinctive feature Fateh. Even a prolonged battering by the IDF will not bring Hamas to make this change." The Khaleej Times editorialized in December 2008 that "The Arab peace plan remains the best and most pragmatic solution to Palestine-Israel conflict.... Even though Hamas and Islamic Jihad are not prepared to accept anything short of the entire Palestine occupied in 1940s, if the plan is accepted by Israel and US, the Arabs could possibly persuade Islamists to embrace it too."
In May 2017, Hamas updated its covenant, expressing a willingness to accept a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. However, it maintained its stance on several key issues: it did not abandon its commitment to resistance and the military option against Israel to achieve a Palestinian state, insisted on the right of return for the 1948 Palestinian refugees and the 1967 displaced to all Palestinian territories, and continued to view jihad, as a legitimate and strategic option for defending and reclaiming Palestinian rights. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Peace_Initiative |
2015 European migrant crisis | In September 2015, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg noted that NATO could play a long-term role stabilizing war-torn countries in the Middle East, North Africa, and in Afghanistan, but that "immediate measures, border, migrant, the discussion about quotas, so on – [are] civilian issues, addressed by the European Union."
The Russian Federation released an official statement on 2 September 2015 reporting that the United Nations Security Council was working on a draft resolution to address the European migrant crisis, likely by permitting the inspection of suspected migrant ships.
The International Organization for Migration claimed that deaths at sea increased ninefold after the end of Operation Mare Nostrum. Amnesty International condemned European governments for "negligence towards the humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean" which they say led to an increase in deaths at sea.
In April 2015, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch criticised the funding of search and rescue operations. Amnesty International said that the EU was "turning its back on its responsibilities and clearly threatening thousands of lives".
Australian prime minister Tony Abbott said the tragedies were "worsened by Europe's refusal to learn from its own mistakes and from the efforts of others who have handled similar problems. Destroying the criminal people-smugglers was the centre of gravity of our border control policies, and judicious boat turnbacks was the key."
Then-U.S. President Barack Obama praised Germany for taking a leading role in accepting refugees. During his April 2016 visit to Germany, he praised German Chancellor Angela Merkel for being on "the right side of history" with her open-border immigration policy.
In a report released in January 2016, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) denounced the EU response to the refugee crisis in 2015 and said that policies of deterrence and chaotic response to the humanitarian needs of those who fled actively worsened the conditions of refugees and migrants and created a "policy-made humanitarian crisis". According to MSF, obstacles placed by EU governments included "not providing any alternative to a deadly sea crossing, erecting razor wire fences, continuously changing administrative and registration procedures, committing acts of violence at sea and at land borders and providing completely inadequate reception conditions in Italy and Greece".
In March 2016, NATO General Philip Breedlove stated, "Together, Russia and the Assad regime are deliberately weaponizing migration in an attempt to overwhelm European structures and break European resolve. .. These indiscriminate weapons used by both Bashar al-Assad, and the non-precision use of weapons by the Russian forces – I can't find any other reason for them other than to cause refugees to be on the move and make them someone else's problem." He also expressed concern that criminals, extremists and ISIS fighters might be among the flow of migrants.
On 18 June 2016, United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon also called for international support and praised Greece for showing "remarkable solidarity and compassion" towards refugees. The lack of action by UNESCO in this area was the subject of controversy. Some scholars, like António Silva, blamed UNESCO for not denouncing racism against war refugees in Europe with the same vigor as the vandalism against ancient monuments perpetrated by fundamentalists in the Middle East. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_European_migrant_crisis |
History | History of Africa begins with the first emergence of modern human beings on the continent, continuing into its modern present as a patchwork of diverse and politically developing states.
History of the Americas is the collective history of North and South America, including the Caribbean and Central America.
History of North America is the study of the past passed down from generation to generation on the continent in the Earth's Northern and Western Hemispheres.
History of the Caribbean begins with the oldest evidence where 7,000-year-old remains have been found.
History of Central America is the study of the past passed down from generation to generation on the continent in the Earth's Western Hemisphere.
History of South America is the study of the past passed down from generation to generation on the continent in the Earth's Southern and Western Hemispheres.
History of Eurasia is the collective history of several distinct peripheral coastal regions: the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Europe, linked by the interior mass of the Eurasian Steppe of Central Asia and Eastern Europe.
History of Europe describes the passage of time from humans inhabiting the European continent to the present day.
History of Asia can be seen as the collective history of several distinct peripheral coastal regions, East Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East, linked by the interior mass of the Eurasian Steppe.
History of East Asia is the study of the past passed down from generation to generation in East Asia.
History of India is the study of the past passed down from generation to generation in the sub-Himalayan region.
History of the Middle East begins with the earliest civilizations in the region now known as the Middle East that were established around 3000 BC, in Mesopotamia (Iraq).
History of Southeast Asia has been characterized as interaction between regional players and foreign powers.
History of Oceania is the collective history of Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands.
History of Australia starts with the documentation of the Makassar trading with Indigenous Australians on Australia's north coast.
History of New Zealand dates back at least 700 years to when it was discovered and settled by Polynesians, who developed a distinct Māori culture centered on kinship links and land.
History of the Pacific Islands covers the history of the islands in the Pacific Ocean.
History of Antarctica emerges from early Western theories of a vast continent known as Terra Australis, believed to exist in the far south of the globe. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History |
Al-Nasir Muhammad | During the third reign of an-Nasir Muhammad, Egypt did not witness any major external threats as both the Crusaders and the Mongols had been weakened by losses in battle and their internal conflicts. However, Mongol ruler Oljeitu besieged Mamluk fortresses but withdrew due to deadly summer heat in 1312–1313. In 1314 the city of Malatya was captured by Tankiz, the deputy of an-Nasir in the Levant. An-Nasir's forces launched raids on the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, and in 1316, the Mongols raided Aleppo with a small army, but the Turkomen confronted them, killed them, and sent their prisoners to Cairo, but matters did not develop into major wars.
In 1321, soldiers belonging to Egypt entered the city of Baghdad, which was at that time under the rule of the Ilkhanate. These soldiers had a royal order from al-Nasir Muhammad ordering them to close the Baghdad Bazaar, which was a place for bad deeds such as prostitution and drinking, and in a challenge to the authority of the Mongols in Baghdad, the soldiers closed the bazaar. One of al-Nasir Muhammad’s orders was that the women who worked in the bazaar should be pardoned and all of them should get married. This was in addition to his orders to throw away all the wine in the place. The historian Ibn Habib al-Halabi describes the scene of the pouring of wine on that day and says: “And the drink was spilled so that if it were poured into the Tigris River, it would flood Baghdad.” Prayers were made and the name of al-Nasir Muhammad was mentioned on the city's mosques minbars (pulpits).
In February 1321, there was a serious disturbance between the Egyptian Muslim and Christian communities which developed after a few Christian churches were destroyed simultaneously in various parts of Egypt. This was followed by a series of fires at mosques and other buildings in Cairo. A few Christians were arrested while trying to set fire to some buildings and mosques, and one of them admitted that some people gathered and made rags with oil and tar in them and distributed them to some people to start fires in retaliation for the attacks on some churches. An-Nasir ordered the summoning of the patriarch, who condemned what happened. Some Muslims were arrested and rioters on both sides were punished. The Crusader attack on Muslim countries led to the arousal of hostility at times between Muslims and local Christians in Muslim countries. In response to the persecution of the Christians in Egypt and the demolition of churches, the Ethiopian emperor Amda Seyon I wrote a letter to al-Nasir Muhammad in 1325 which threatened to divert the waters of the Nile River upstream if these actions did not stop. Al-Nasir Muhammad treated the emperor's envoys with contempt and dismissed them.
Though the economy of Egypt flourished during the third reign of an-Nasir, there were financial problems and a rise in prices caused by the circulation of underweight and alloyed coins. An-Nasir minted a few thousand new coins to replace the spurious coins. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Nasir_Muhammad |
2021 Sudanese coup d'état | According to The New York Times, factors motivating the military to halt the transition to democracy included their personal risk of national or international war crimes charges and their risk of losing control of the gold trade.
Jonas Horner of the International Crisis Group predicted strong civilian resistance to the coup and judged that the military had underestimated the likely strength of civil disobedience. He stated that the military "[had not] learned their lesson. As we saw post the revolution and post-Bashir, the streets were determined and civilians were willing to die for this."
Alex de Waal, researcher in African politics and executive director of the World Peace Foundation, saw multiple reasons motivating al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemetti) to carry out the coup. Under rule 10.(c) of the 39-month transition to democracy agreed between military and civilians in 2019, the Chair of the Sovereignty Council of Sudan should be transferred to a civilian selected by the FFC civilian members of the Sovereignty Council in November 2021, leading to certain risks for al-Burhan and Hemetti. Al-Burhan and Hemetti would risk being implicated as perpetrators in the expected International Criminal Court trial of former Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. They would also risk being charged in the Khartoum massacre investigation led by Nabil Adib into the 3 June 2019 Khartoum massacre.
In de Waal's view, after the transfer of the Sovereignty Council Chair to a civilian, al-Burhan and Hemetti would risk loss of military control of the national budget. They would also risk being affected by the Commission for Dismantling the 30 June 1989 Regime, Removal of Empowerment and Corruption, and Recovering Public Funds that could expose and disrupt military-owned commercial interests. De Waal also listed a shift to civilian control of the military in the second phase of the transition period as a concern for the two generals. De Waal described the coup as a "gamble" offering no practical solutions and risking "turmoil and bloodshed at home and pariah status abroad".
Oscar Rickett, writing in Middle East Eye, argued that Hemetti was a key person in the coup, with "Hemetti's troops [out] on the streets killing and injuring civilians" while Hemetti himself had "hardly been seen," "lurking in the background," Hemetti was seen by "smarter diplomats" and street protestors as backing the coup, but waiting to see how the situation developed, as in 2019, when he switched from defending president Omar al-Bashir to arresting him. Both al-Burhan and Hemetti had been "fierce, reliable lieutenants" of al-Bashir when he was in power. Both had "plundered the resources of Sudan for decades" according to Rickett. As of October 2021, in Rickett's view, al-Burhan, trained in Cairo, is mostly supported by Egypt, while Hemetti and his brothers, owning gold mines and providing mercenaries for the Saudi war in Yemen, are mostly supported by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia. According to Rickett, both al-Burhan and Hemetti "had to" carry out the coup to preserve their "sources of power and wealth" and prevent being investigated or charged for war crimes by the International Criminal Court investigation in Darfur. Nesrine Malik expressed concern that a massacre like the Egyptian August 2013 Rabaa massacre could take place if Hemetti replaced al-Burhan. Rickett described Hemetti as "know[ing] that he is repellent to the Sudanese out on the streets" and "that the coup is stumbling and that the people are holding firm," and waiting to make a decision on how to act.
In an analysis on Eurasia Review, James M. Dorsey wrote that the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed and the UAE Deputy Prime Minister Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan had supported the grassroots opposition and rebel groups after the ousting al-Bashir in 2019. A former Sudanese intelligence head based in Abu Dhabi, General Abdel Ghaffar al-Sharif, also allegedly helped Sheikh Mansour in the background. The UAE and Saudi Arabia had pledged $3 billion in aid after the deposal of al-Bashir, and in return, the Sudanese military leaders and the RSF had deployed their military personnel alongside the forces of the UAE and Saudi Arabia in Libya and Yemen. Dorsey wrote that by October 2021, the existence of the UAE-supported components of the Sudanese military led the UAE to favour the coup, and oppose Hamdok, who the UAE saw as "a thorn in the side of the armed forces." The former finance minister of Sudan, Ibrahim al-Badawi, had also claimed that state revenues from meat exports to Saudi Arabia had been diverted to military funds and that a Swiss-based firm had collected the income of the civil aviation authorities and transferred it to an Emirati bank account. The UAE was active in encouraging Sudan to recognize Israel, after the Emirates signed the Abraham Accords. The UAE organized a secret meeting between the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Sudan's General al-Burhan in early 2020, according to Middle East Eye, in which Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok was absent. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Sudanese_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat |
Safavid Iran | Isfahan bears the most prominent samples of the Safavid architecture, all constructed in the years after Shah Abbas I permanently moved the capital there in 1598: the Imperial Mosque, Masjid-e Shah, completed in 1630, the Imam Mosque (Masjid-e Imami) the Lutfallah Mosque and the Royal Palace.
According to William Cleveland and Martin Bunton, the establishment of Isfahan as the Great capital of Iran and the material splendor of the city attracted intellectual's from all corners of the world, which contributed to the city's rich cultural life. The impressive achievements of its 400,000 residents prompted the inhabitants to coin their famous boast, "Isfahan is half the world".
A new age in Iranian architecture began with the rise of the Safavid dynasty. Economically robust and politically stable, this period saw a flourishing growth of theological sciences. Traditional architecture evolved in its patterns and methods leaving its impact on the architecture of the following periods.
Indeed, one of the greatest legacies of the Safavids is the architecture. In 1598, when Shah Abbas decided to move the capital of his Iranian empire from the north-western city of Qazvin to the central city of Isfahan, he initiated what would become one of the greatest programmes in Iranian history; the complete remaking of the city. By choosing the central city of Isfahan, fertilized by the Zāyande roud ("The life-giving river"), lying as an oasis of intense cultivation in the midst of a vast area of arid landscape, he both distanced his capital from any future assaults by the Ottomans and the Uzbeks, and at the same time gained more control over the Persian Gulf, which had recently become an important trading route for the Dutch and English.
The Chief architect of this colossal task of urban planning was Shaykh Bahai (Baha' ad-Din al-`Amili), who focused the programme on two key features of Shah Abbas's master plan: the Chahar Bagh avenue, flanked at either side by all the prominent institutions of the city, such as the residences of all foreign dignitaries. And the Naqsh-e Jahan Square ("Examplar of the World"). Prior to the Shah's ascent to power, Iran had a decentralized power-structure, in which different institutions battled for power, including both the military (the Qizilbash) and governors of the different provinces making up the empire. Shah Abbas wanted to undermine this political structure, and the recreation of Isfahan, as a Grand capital of Iran, was an important step in centralizing the power. The ingenuity of the square, or Maidān, was that, by building it, Shah Abbas would gather the three main components of power in Iran in his own backyard; the power of the clergy, represented by the Masjed-e Shah, the power of the merchants, represented by the Imperial Bazaar, and of course, the power of the Shah himself, residing in the Ali Qapu Palace.
Distinctive monuments like the Sheikh Lotfallah (1618), Hasht Behesht (Eight Paradise Palace) (1469) and the Chahar Bagh School (1714) appeared in Isfahan and other cities. This extensive development of architecture was rooted in Persian culture and took form in the design of schools, baths, houses, caravanserai and other urban spaces such as bazaars and squares. It continued until the end of the Qajar reign. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safavid_Iran |
Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi | As the primary vehicle of human expression, language has the capacity to convey the most profound experiences available to human beings. For Qūnavī, its “devices of conveyance” (adawāt al-tawṣīl) disclosed “incorporeal and immaterial meanings,” which he explored at a certain remove from the original experience that presumably lay at the core. He may not have differed markedly from Rūmī in this respect, but he was not a “literary practitioner” (i.e., a poet) after the manner of Rūmī, nor was he even a grammarian by profession.
The challenge was to take the demonstrative science of traditional philosophy toward an exegetical grammar that could act as a quintessential language of experience, where knowledge implied the obligation to instruct in the intricacies of spiritual peregrination, but without substituting this derived knowledge for direct personal experience. This model remained legitimate so long as the central fact and semantic unity of divine speech was maintained.
What we find in the mystical reflections of Ibn 'Arabī and Qūnavī alike are encoded utterances embodying an asymmetrical division between two components of instructive knowledge. Philosophically, they consist of the mawḑū' (subject) and the maṭlūb (object of inquiry); in theological dialectics and religious sciences they are generally known as aṣl (root) and far' (branch). Thus, in Qūnavī's view the idea was not merely to posit the “root” but to know it and to determine the precise modalities of our knowledge of it. A simple, unreflective cognizance of pregiven religious fundamentals, in the manner advocated by the Salafi-minded Ibn Taymīyyah, was still knowledge; yet nothing could disentangle it from the mundane influences that normally impinge upon the human faculty of comprehension.
The central question posed in the “theological science” envisioned by Ibn Sīnā was that of “existence.” In the form of a syllogism, the theological knowledge it imparted consisted of indemonstrable premises and a conclusion. Indemonstrables were given elements in any syllogism (“givens” were posited through the senses, imagination, intellect, etc.). As a science, this grand concept of theology assembled all the pregivens derived in the lower sciences that came under its own jurisdiction, because theological science was the very ground of all sciences.
Furthermore, Ibn Sīnā saw existence as something that required more than just a natural awareness of things. In his "Nafaḥāt ilāhiyyah," Qūnavī admitted that in that banal sense one could argue the awareness of existence was simply posited by way of intuition as the “first cognizance,” for which there was no demonstrable proof or true definition and which has merely an indistinct unity. However, this was not the biggest issue, he insisted. The difficulty arose with the “second cognizance,” namely, knowledge of the “reality distinguishable in itself from other realities”—in other words, the uniqueness of the reality.
This constituted the locus of the classical philosophical dilemma that preoccupied Qūnavī. The goal of knowledge was “knowledge of the realities of things.” One may either deny this knowledge to man, on the grounds that his natural faculties were imperfect, or affirm it at the risk of according him absolute knowledge. Contrasted to the second cognizance stood the first, which consisted of the “awareness of existence” and the perception of its “thingness.” His demarcation between this indistinct thingness and singular reality corresponded to the theological division of “subject” (mawḍūc) and “object of inquiry” (maṭlūb)—what is given and what is sought by way of knowledge. The realities, in the plural, consisted of the branches, the manifold qualities of the divine essence, by which God manifests Himself.
Behind this structural view or formulation remained the vexing question: Should what is sought in the quest for knowledge be considered nothing but the original knowing subject revealed? Because the shay’ (thing) is given as the subject, like mawjūd (existent), the “cause of its knowledge is the predominance of that precept by which there is unity with the [thing] known, whatever it may be.” This “unity” between knower and known is what any claim to a knowledge of the reality ultimately had to rest upon; but it is a unity which indicated that we knew the reality in the manner in which it has revealed itself to the other reality, that of the knower, and is not a simple identity of two entities.
At any rate, it is the knower's radical otherness that renders any simple unity impossible. How then could we expect man, in his finitude and imperfection, to know not merely the “realities of things,” but God his Creator and the ultimate Reality? However, unity can be rendered viable, in a didactic sense, through the notion of the “consonance” between the two realities by way of their predominant attributes. This is possible only by virtue of “pre-existing knowledge.” Hence, in philosophy, the process of discovery moves procession-like from what is known to what is unknown. Every “theological science” from Aristotle's to Ibn Sīnā's to Qūnavī's—no matter how formal and however mellifluous or spiritually meager its utterances may be—accepted this rudimentary principle.
To Qūnavī's credit, he took pains to describe the passage, or supersession, that occurred with the knowledge of the thing as a unique reality by way of a special “unity” through consonance. In other words, knowledge of it in the form of an object of inquiry or “branch.”
There is more to this than meets the eye. Movement here is not a mechanical passage from one point to the other. The possibility of transmutation, at some given level of commonality between two distinct realities (the knower and the known), is opened up through their consonance, or munāsabah. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadr_al-Din_al-Qunawi |
Fatimid Caliphate | By 1072, in a desperate attempt to save Egypt, al-Mustansir recalled general Badr al-Jamali, who was at the time the governor of Acre. Badr led his troops into Egypt, entered Cairo in January 1074, and successfully suppressed the different groups of the rebelling armies. As a result, Badr was made vizier, becoming one of the first military viziers (Arabic: امير الجيوش, romanized: amīr al-juyūsh, lit. 'commander of the armies') who would dominate late Fatimid politics. In 1078 al-Mustansir formally abdicated responsibility for all state affairs to him. His de facto rule initiated a temporary and limited revival of the Fatimid state, although it was now faced with serious challenges. Badr reestablished Fatimid authority in the Hejaz (Mecca and Medina) and the Sulayhids were able to hold on in Yemen. Syria, however, saw the advance of the Sunni-aligned Seljuk Turks who had conquered much of the Middle East and had become the guardians of the Abbasid Caliphs as well as independent Turkmen groups. Atsiz ibn Uwaq, a Turkmen of the Nawaki tribe, conquered Jerusalem in 1073 and Damascus in 1076 before attempting to invade even Egypt itself. After defeating him at a battle close to Cairo, Badr was able to start a counter-offensive to secure coastal cities, such as Gaza and Ascalon, and later Tyre, Sidon, and Byblos further north in 1089.
Badr made major reforms to the state, updating and simplifying the administration of Egypt. As he was of Armenian background, his term also saw a large influx of Armenian immigrants, both Christian and Muslim, into Egypt. The Armenian church, patronised by Badr, established itself in the country along with a clerical hierarchy. He commanded a large contingent of Armenian troops, many (if not all) of whom were also Christian. Badr also used his relations and influence with the Coptic Church for political advantage. In particular, he enlisted Cyril II (Coptic Pope from 1078 to 1092) to secure the allegiance of the Christian kingdoms of Nubia (specifically Makuria) and Ethiopia (specifically the Zagwe dynasty) as vassals to the Fatimid state.
The Juyushi Mosque (Arabic: الجامع الجيوشي, lit. 'the Mosque of the Armies'), was commissioned by Badr and completed in 1085 under the patronage of the caliph. The mosque, identified as a mashhad, was also a victory monument commemorating vizier Badr's restoration of order for al-Mustansir. Between 1087 and 1092, the vizier also replaced the mudbrick walls of Cairo with new stone walls and slightly expanded the city. Three of its monumental gates still survive today: Bab Zuweila, Bab al-Futuh, and Bab al-Nasr. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatimid_Caliphate |
Wild boar | Boars are typically social animals, living in female-dominated sounders consisting of barren sows and mothers with young led by an old matriarch. Male boars leave their sounder at the age of 8–15 months, while females either remain with their mothers or establish new territories nearby. Subadult males may live in loosely knit groups, while adult and elderly males tend to be solitary outside the breeding season.
The breeding period in most areas lasts from November to January, though most mating only lasts a month and a half. Prior to mating, the males develop their subcutaneous armour in preparation for confronting rivals. The testicles double in size and the glands secrete a foamy yellowish liquid. Once ready to reproduce, males travel long distances in search of a sounder of sows, eating little on the way. Once a sounder has been located, the male drives off all young animals and persistently chases the sows. At this point, the male fiercely fights potential rivals. A single male can mate with 5–10 sows. By the end of the rut, males are often badly mauled and have lost 20% of their body weight, with bite-induced injuries to the penis being common. The gestation period varies according to the age of the expecting mother. For first-time breeders, it lasts 114–130 days, while it lasts 133–140 days in older sows. Farrowing occurs between March and May, with litter sizes depending on the age and nutrition of the mother. The average litter consists of 4–6 piglets, with the maximum being 10–12. The piglets are whelped in a nest constructed from twigs, grasses and leaves. Should the mother die prematurely, the piglets are adopted by the other sows in the sounder.
Newborn piglets weigh around 600–1,000 grams, lacking underfur and bearing a single milk incisor and canine on each half of the jaw. There is intense competition between the piglets over the most milk-rich nipples, as the best-fed young grow faster and have stronger constitutions. The piglets do not leave the lair for their first week of life. Should the mother be absent, the piglets lie closely pressed to each other. By two weeks of age, the piglets begin accompanying their mother on her journeys. Should danger be detected, the piglets take cover or stand immobile, relying on their camouflage to keep them hidden. The neonatal coat fades after three months, with adult colouration being attained at eight months. Although the lactation period lasts 2.5–3.5 months, the piglets begin displaying adult feeding behaviours at the age of 2–3 weeks. The permanent dentition is fully formed by 1–2 years. With the exception of the canines in males, the teeth stop growing during the middle of the fourth year. The canines in old males continue to grow throughout their lives, curving strongly as they age. Sows attain sexual maturity at the age of one year, with males attaining it a year later. However, estrus usually first occurs after two years in sows, while males begin participating in the rut after 4–5 years, as they are not permitted to mate by the older males. The maximum lifespan in the wild is 10–14 years, though few specimens survive past 4–5 years. Boars in captivity have lived for 20 years. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_boar |
River delta | River deltas form when a river carrying sediment reaches a body of water, such as a lake, ocean, or a reservoir. When the flow enters the standing water, it is no longer confined to its channel and expands in width. This flow expansion results in a decrease in the flow velocity, which diminishes the ability of the flow to transport sediment. As a result, sediment drops out of the flow and is deposited as alluvium, which builds up to form the river delta. Over time, this single channel builds a deltaic lobe (such as the bird's-foot of the Mississippi or Ural river deltas), pushing its mouth into the standing water. As the deltaic lobe advances, the gradient of the river channel becomes lower because the river channel is longer but has the same change in elevation (see slope).
As the gradient of the river channel decreases, the amount of shear stress on the bed decreases, which results in the deposition of sediment within the channel and a rise in the channel bed relative to the floodplain. This destabilizes the river channel. If the river breaches its natural levees (such as during a flood), it spills out into a new course with a shorter route to the ocean, thereby obtaining a steeper, more stable gradient. Typically, when the river switches channels in this manner, some of its flow remains in the abandoned channel. Repeated channel-switching events build up a mature delta with a distributary network.
Another way these distributary networks form is from the deposition of mouth bars (mid-channel sand and/or gravel bars at the mouth of a river). When this mid-channel bar is deposited at the mouth of a river, the flow is routed around it. This results in additional deposition on the upstream end of the mouth-bar, which splits the river into two distributary channels. A good example of the result of this process is the Wax Lake Delta.
In both of these cases, depositional processes force redistribution of deposition from areas of high deposition to areas of low deposition. This results in the smoothing of the planform (or map-view) shape of the delta as the channels move across its surface and deposit sediment. Because the sediment is laid down in this fashion, the shape of these deltas approximates a fan. The more often the flow changes course, the shape develops as closer to an ideal fan, because more rapid changes in channel position result in more uniform deposition of sediment on the delta front. The Mississippi and Ural River deltas, with their bird's-feet, are examples of rivers that do not avulse often enough to form a symmetrical fan shape. Alluvial fan deltas, as seen by their name, avulse frequently and more closely approximate an ideal fan shape.
Most large river deltas discharge to intra-cratonic basins on the trailing edges of passive margins due to the majority of large rivers such as the Mississippi, Nile, Amazon, Ganges, Indus, Yangtze, and Yellow River discharging along passive continental margins. This phenomenon is due mainly to three factors: topography, basin area, and basin elevation. Topography along passive margins tend to be more gradual and widespread over a greater area enabling sediment to pile up and accumulate over time to form large river deltas. Topography along active margins tend to be steeper and less widespread, which results in sediments not having the ability to pile up and accumulate due to the sediment traveling into a steep subduction trench rather than a shallow continental shelf.
There are many other lesser factors that could explain why the majority of river deltas form along passive margins rather than active margins. Along active margins, orogenic sequences cause tectonic activity to form over-steepened slopes, brecciated rocks, and volcanic activity resulting in delta formation to exist closer to the sediment source. When sediment does not travel far from the source, sediments that build up are coarser grained and more loosely consolidated, therefore making delta formation more difficult. Tectonic activity on active margins causes the formation of river deltas to form closer to the sediment source which may affect channel avulsion, delta lobe switching, and auto cyclicity. Active margin river deltas tend to be much smaller and less abundant but may transport similar amounts of sediment. However, the sediment is never piled up in thick sequences due to the sediment traveling and depositing in deep subduction trenches. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_delta |
Atatürk's reforms | The adoption of the Latin script and the purging of foreign loan words was part of Atatürk's program of modernization. The two important ends were sought, which were the democratization of writing and language, and the 'secularization' of the Turkish language.
Turkish had been written using a Turkish form of the Perso-Arabic script for a thousand years. It was well suited to write the Ottoman Turkish vocabulary that incorporated a great deal of Arabic and Persian vocabulary and even grammar. However, it was poorly suited for older, Turkic grammar and vocabulary, which was rich in vowels and poorly represented by the Arabic script, an abjad which by definition only transcribed consonants. It was thus inadequate at representing Turkish phonemes. Some could be expressed using four different Arabic signs; others could not be expressed at all. The introduction of the telegraph and printing press in the 19th century exposed further weaknesses in the Arabic script.
Use of the Latin script had been proposed before. In 1862, during Tanzimat, the statesman Münif Pasha advocated a reform of the alphabet. At the start of the 20th century, similar proposals were made by several writers associated with the Young Turks movement, including Hüseyin Cahit, Abdullah Cevdet, and Celâl Nuri. The issue was raised again in 1923 during the first Economic Congress of the newly founded Turkish Republic, sparking a public debate that was to continue for several years. Some suggested that a better alternative might be to modify the Arabic script to introduce extra characters to better represent Turkish vowels.
A language commission responsible for adapting the Latin script to meet the phonetic requirements of the Turkish language was established. The resulting Latin script was designed to reflect the actual sounds of spoken Turkish, rather than simply transcribing the old Ottoman script into a new form. The current 29-letter Turkish alphabet was established. It was a key step in the cultural part of Atatürk's Reforms. The Language Commission (Dil Encümeni) consisting of the following members:
Atatürk himself was personally involved with the commission and proclaimed an "alphabet mobilisation" to publicise the changes. In 1926 the Turkic republics of the Soviet Union adopted the Latin script, giving a major boost to reformers in Turkey. On 1 November 1928, the new Turkish alphabet was introduced by the Language Commission at the initiative of Atatürk, replacing the previously used Perso-Arabic script. The Language Commission proposed a five-year transition period; Atatürk saw this as far too long and reduced it to three months. The change was formalized by the Turkish Republic's law number 1353, the Law on the Adoption and Implementation of the Turkish Alphabet, passed on 1 November 1928. The law went into effect from 1 January 1929, making the use of the new alphabet compulsory in all public communications. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atat%C3%BCrk%27s_reforms |
Adultery | Both Judaism and Christianity base their injunction against adultery on passages in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament in Christianity), which firstly prohibits adultery in the Seventh Commandment: "Thou shalt not commit adultery."
(Exodus 20:12). However, Judaism and Christianity differ on what actually constitutes adultery.
Leviticus 20:10 defines what constitutes adultery in the Hebrew Bible, and it also prescribes the punishment as capital punishment. In this verse, and in the Jewish tradition, adultery consists of sexual intercourse between a man and a married woman who is not his lawful wife:
And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
Thus, according to the Hebrew Bible, adultery is not committed if the female participant is unmarried (unless she is betrothed to be married), while the marital status of the male participant is irrelevant (he himself could be married or unmarried to another woman).
If a married woman was raped by a man who is not her husband, only the rapist is punished for adultery. The victim is not punished: as the Bible declares, "this matter is similar to when a man rises up against his fellow and murders him"; just as a murder victim is not guilty of murder, a rape victim is not guilty of adultery.
Michael Coogan writes that according to the text wives are the property of their husband, marriage meaning transfer of property (from father to husband), and adultery is violating the property right of the husband. However, in contrast to other ancient Near Eastern law collections which treat adultery as an offense against the husband alone, and allow the husband to waive or mitigate the punishment, Biblical law allows no such mitigation, on the grounds that God as well as the husband is offended by adultery, and an offense against God cannot be forgiven by man. In addition, Coogan's book was criticized by Phyllis Trible, who argues that that patriarchy was not decreed, but only described by God. She claims that Paul the Apostle made the same mistake as Coogan.
David's sexual intercourse with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, is described by the Bible as a "sin" whose punishment included the ravishment of David's own wives. According to Jennifer Wright Knust, David's act was adultery only according to the spirit and not the letter of the law, because Uriah was non-Jewish, and (according to Knust) the Biblical codes only technically applied to Israelites. However, according to Jacob Milgrom, Jews and resident foreigners received equal protection under Biblical law. In any case, according to the Babylonian Talmud, Uriah was indeed Jewish and wrote a provisional bill of divorce prior to going out to war, specifying that if he fell in battle, the divorce would take effect from the time the writ was issued. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adultery |
Impalement | Within the Ottoman Empire, some civil crimes (rather than rebel activity/treasonous behavior), such as highway robbery, might be punished by impalement. For some periods at least, executions for civil crimes were claimed to have been rather rare in the Ottoman Empire. Aubry de La Motraye lived in the realm for 14 years from 1699 to 1713 and claimed that he had not heard of twenty thieves in Constantinople during that time. As for highway robbers, who surely had been impaled, Aubry heard of only 6 such cases during his residence there. Staying at Aleppo from 1740 to 1754, Alexander Russell notes that in the 20 years gone by, there were no more than "half a dozen" public executions there. Jean de Thévenot, traveling in the Ottoman Empire and its territories like Egypt in the late 1650s, emphasizes the regional variations in impalement frequency. Of Constantinople and Turkey, de Thévenot writes that impalement was "not much practised" and "very rarely put in practice." An exception he highlighted was the situation of Christians in Constantinople. If a Christian spoke or acted out against the "Law of Mahomet", or consorted with a Turkish woman, or broke into a mosque, then he might face impalement unless he converted to Islam. In contrast, de Thévenot says that in Egypt impalement was a "very ordinary punishment" against the Arabs there, whereas Turks in Egypt were strangled in prison instead of being publicly executed like the natives. Thus, the actual frequency of impalement within the Ottoman Empire varied greatly, not only from time to time, but also from place to place, and between different population groups in the empire.
Highway robbers were still impaled into the 1830s, but one source says the practice was rare by then. Travelling to Smyrna and Constantinople in 1843, Stephen Massett was told by a man who witnessed the event that "just a few years ago", a dozen or so robbers were impaled at Adrianople. All of them, however, had been strangled prior to impalement. Writing around 1850, the archaeologist Austen Henry Layard mentions that the latest case he was acquainted with happened "about ten years ago" in Baghdad, on four rebel Arab sheikhs.
Impalement of pirates, rather than highway robbers, is also occasionally recorded. In October 1767 Hassan Bey, who had preyed on Turkish ships in the Euxine Sea for a number of years, was captured and impaled, even though he had offered 500,000 ducats for his pardon. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impalement |
1991 Iraqi uprisings | In southeastern Iraq, thousands of civilians, army deserters, and rebels began seeking precarious shelter in remote areas of the Hawizeh Marshes straddling the Iranian border. After the uprising, the Marsh Arabs were singled out for mass reprisals, accompanied by ecologically catastrophic drainage of the Iraqi marshlands and the large-scale and systematic forcible transfer of the local population. The Marsh Arab resistance was led by the Hezbollah Movement in Iraq (completely unrelated to the Hezbollah of Lebanon), which after 2003 became the Marsh Arabs' main political party. On July 10, 1991, the United Nations announced plans to open a humanitarian center at Lake Hammar to care for those hiding out in the southern marshlands, but Iraqi forces did not allow UN relief workers into the marshlands or the people out. A large scale government offensive attack against the refugees estimated 10,000 fighters and 200,000 displaced persons hiding in the marshes began in March–April 1992, using fixed-wing aircraft; a U.S. Department of State report claimed that Iraq dumped toxic chemicals in the waters in an effort to drive out the opposition. In July 1992, the government began trying to drain the marshlands and ordered the residents of settlements to evacuate, after which the army burned down their homes there to prevent them from returning. A curfew was also enforced throughout the south, and government forces began arresting and moving large numbers of Iraqis into detention camps in the central part of the country.
At a special meeting of the UN Security Council on August 11, 1992, Britain, France, and the United States accused Iraq of conducting a "systematic military campaign" against the marshlands, warning that Baghdad could face possible consequences. On August 22, 1992, President Bush announced that the U.S. and its allies had established a second no-fly zone for any Iraqi aircraft south of the 32nd parallel to protect dissidents from attacks by the government, as sanctioned by UN Security Council Resolution 688.
In March 1993, a UN investigation reported hundreds of executions of Iraqis from the marshes in the preceding months, asserting that the Iraqi army's behavior in the south is the most "worrying development [in Iraq] in the past year" and added that following the formation of the no-fly zone, the army switched to long-range artillery attacks, followed by ground assaults resulting in "heavy casualties" and widespread destruction of property, along with allegations of mass executions. In November 1993, Iran reported that as a result of the drainage of the marshlands, marsh Iraqis could no longer fish or grow rice and that over 60,000 had fled to Iran since 1991; Iranian officials appealed to the world to send aid to help the refugees. That same month, the UN reported that 40% of the marshlands in the south were drained, while unconfirmed reports surfaced that the Iraq army had used poisonous gas against villages near the border of Iran. In December 1993, the U.S. Department of State accused Iraq of "indiscriminate military operations in the south, which include the burning of villages and forced relocation of non-combatants." On February 23, 1994, Iraq diverted waters from the Tigris river to areas south and east of the main marshlands, resulting in floods of up to 10 feet of water, in order to render the farmlands there useless and drive the rebels who have been hiding there to flee back to the marshes which were being drained of water. In March 1994, a team of British scientists estimated that 57% of the marshlands have been drained and that in 10 to 20 years the entire wetland ecosystem in southern Iraq will be gone. In April 1994, the U.S. officials said Iraq was continuing a military campaign in Iraq's remote marshes.
Iraq saw further unrest in its Shia dominated provinces in early 1999 following the killing of Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr by the government. Like the 1991 uprisings, the 1999 uprising was violently suppressed. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Iraqi_uprisings |
Egyptian Arabic | Egyptian Arabic has no official status and is not officially recognized as a language. Standard Arabic is the official language of the state as per constitutional law with the name اللغة العربية al-luġa al-ʿarabiyyah, lit. "Arabic language". Interest in the local vernacular began in the 1800s (in opposition to the language of the ruling class, Turkish) , as the Egyptian national movement for self-determination was taking shape. For many decades to follow, questions about the reform and the modernization of Arabic were hotly debated in Egyptian intellectual circles. Proposals ranged from developing neologisms to replace archaic terminology in Modern Standard Arabic to the simplification of syntactical and morphological rules and the introduction of colloquialisms to even complete "Egyptianization" (تمصير, tamṣīr) by abandoning the so-called Modern Standard Arabic in favor of Masri or Egyptian Arabic.
Proponents of language reform in Egypt included Qasim Amin, who also wrote the first Egyptian feminist treatise, former President of the Egyptian University, Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed, and noted intellectual Salama Moussa. They adopted a modernist, secular approach and disagreed with the assumption that Arabic was an immutable language because of its association with the Qur'an. The first modern Egyptian novel in which the dialogue was written in the vernacular was Muhammad Husayn Haykal's Zaynab in 1913. It was only in 1966 that Mustafa Musharafa's Kantara Who Disbelieved was released, the first novel to be written entirely in Egyptian Arabic. Other notable novelists, such as Ihsan Abdel Quddous and Yusuf Idris, and poets, such as Salah Jahin, Abdel Rahman el-Abnudi and Ahmed Fouad Negm, helped solidify vernacular literature as a distinct literary genre.
Amongst certain groups within Egypt's elite, Egyptian Arabic enjoyed a brief period of rich literary output. That dwindled with the rise of Pan-Arabism, which had gained popularity in Egypt by the second half of the twentieth century, as demonstrated by Egypt's involvement in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War under King Farouk of Egypt. The Egyptian revolution of 1952, led by Mohammed Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser, further enhanced the significance of Pan-Arabism, making it a central element of Egyptian state policy. The importance of Modern Standard Arabic was reemphasised in the public sphere by the revolutionary government, and efforts to accord any formal language status to the Egyptian vernacular were ignored. Egyptian Arabic was identified as a mere dialect, one that was not spoken even in all of Egypt, as almost all of Upper Egypt speaks Sa'idi Arabic. Though the revolutionary government heavily sponsored the use of the Egyptian vernacular in films, plays, television programmes, and music, the prerevolutionary use of Modern Standard Arabic in official publications was retained.
Linguistic commentators have noted the multi-faceted approach of the Egyptian revolutionaries towards the Arabic language. Whereas Egypt's first president, Mohammed Naguib exhibited a preference for using Modern Standard Arabic in his public speeches, his successor, Gamal Abdel Nasser was renowned for using the vernacular and for punctuating his speeches with traditional Egyptian words and expressions. Conversely, Modern Standard Arabic was the norm for state news outlets, including newspapers, magazines, television, and radio. That was especially true of Egypt's national broadcasting company, the Arab Radio and Television Union, which was established with the intent of providing content for the entire Arab world, not merely Egypt, hence the need to broadcast in the standard, rather than the vernacular, language. The Voice of the Arabs radio station, in particular, had an audience from across the region, and the use of anything other than Modern Standard Arabic was viewed as eminently incongruous.
In a study of three Egyptian newspapers (Al-Ahram, Al-Masry Al-Youm, and Al-Dustour) Zeinab Ibrahim concluded that the total number of headlines in Egyptian Arabic in each newspaper varied. Al-Ahram did not include any. Al-Masry Al-Youm had an average of 5% of headlines in Egyptian, while Al-Dustour averaged 11%.
As the status of Egyptian Arabic as opposed to Classical Arabic can have such political and religious implications in Egypt, the question of whether Egyptian Arabic should be considered a "dialect" or "language" can be a source of debate. In sociolinguistics, Egyptian Arabic can be seen as one of many distinct varieties that, despite arguably being languages on abstand grounds, are united by a common Dachsprache in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Arabic |
Battle of the Nile | As the sun rose at 04:00 on 2 August, firing broke out once again between the French southern division of Guillaume Tell, Tonnant, Généreux and Timoléon and the battered Alexander and Majestic. Although briefly outmatched, the British ships were soon joined by Goliath and Theseus. As Captain Miller manoeuvred his ship into position, Theseus briefly came under fire from the frigate Artémise. Miller turned his ship towards Artémise, but Captain Pierre-Jean Standelet struck his flag and ordered his men to abandon the frigate. Miller sent a boat under Lieutenant William Hoste to take possession of the empty vessel, but Standelet had set fire to his ship as he left and Artémise blew up shortly afterwards. The surviving French ships of the line, covering their retreat with gunfire, gradually pulled to the east away from the shore at 06:00. Zealous pursued, and was able to prevent the frigate Justice from boarding Bellerophon, which was anchored at the southern point of the bay undergoing hasty repairs.
Two other French ships still flew the tricolour, but neither was in a position to either retreat or fight. When Heureux and Mercure had cut their anchor cables to escape the exploding Orient, their crews had panicked and neither captain (both of whom were wounded) had managed to regain control of his ship. As a result, both vessels had drifted onto the shoal. Alexander, Goliath, Theseus and Leander attacked the stranded and defenceless ships, and both surrendered within minutes. The distractions provided by Heureux, Mercure and Justice allowed Villeneuve to bring most of the surviving French ships to the mouth of the bay at 11:00. On the dismasted Tonnant, Commodore Du Petit Thouars was now dead from his wounds and thrown overboard at his own request. As the ship was unable to make the required speed it was driven ashore by its crew. Timoléon was too far south to escape with Villeneuve and, in attempting to join the survivors, had also grounded on the shoal. The force of the impact dislodged the ship's foremast. The remaining French vessels—the ships of the line Guillaume Tell and Généreux and the frigates Justice and Diane—formed up and stood out to sea, pursued by Zealous. Despite strenuous efforts, Captain Hood's isolated ship came under heavy fire and was unable to cut off the trailing Justice as the French survivors escaped seawards. Zealous was struck by a number of French shot and lost one man killed.
For the remainder of 2 August Nelson's ships made improvised repairs and boarded and consolidated their prizes. Culloden especially required assistance. Troubridge, having finally dragged his ship off the shoal at 02:00, found that he had lost his rudder and was taking on more than 120 long tons (122 t) of water an hour. Emergency repairs to the hull and fashioning a replacement rudder from a spare topmast took most of the next two days. On the morning of 3 August, Nelson sent Theseus and Leander to force the surrender of the grounded Tonnant and Timoléon. The Tonnant, its decks crowded with 1,600 survivors from other French vessels, surrendered as the British ships approached while Timoléon was set on fire by its remaining crew who then escaped to the shore in small boats. Timoléon exploded shortly after midday, the eleventh and final French ship of the line destroyed or captured during the battle. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Nile |
1986 FIFA World Cup | Belgium beat the Soviet Union 4–3, despite a hat-trick by the Soviets' Igor Belanov. The game was level at 2–2 after 90 minutes, and in extra time Stephane Demol and Nico Claesen put Belgium 4–2 up. Belanov scored from the penalty spot with nine minutes remaining, but neither he nor any of his teammates could find a fourth goal for the Soviet Union. At the Olympic University Stadium in Mexico City, the European champions France ended Italy's reign as world champions with a 2–0 victory thanks to goals from Michel Platini and Yannick Stopyra. In the rematch of the 1930 FIFA World Cup Final, Argentina just edged out South American champions Uruguay in Puebla thanks to a 42nd-minute strike from Pedro Pasculli. The all-South American affair had a Diego Maradona goal disallowed.
In Querétaro, Denmark were eliminated as they went from a 1–0 lead to a 5–1 battering against Spain; key player Frank Arnesen was suspended for the game after being sent off against West Germany in their last group match, for taking a swipe at German playmaker Lothar Matthäus. The Danes scored first, with a Jesper Olsen penalty, but they were then taken apart by a devastating performance from Butragueño of Spain, who scored four of his team's five goals. At the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, England progressed to the quarter-finals comfortably when they saw off Paraguay 3–0, while Brazil brushed aside Poland 4–0. West Germany had a much harder time getting past Morocco, for whom goalkeeper Badou Zaki had an outstanding game. Morocco held out until the 87th minute, when Lothar Matthäus scored the only goal of the match with a free kick. Mexico won 2–0 against Bulgaria with an outstanding scissor-kick goal by Manuel Negrete which is honored by a remembrance plaque at the Azteca.
In the quarter-finals, France faced three-time world champion Brazil in Guadalajara. Brazil were well on top in the early stages, and Careca put them one up after 18 minutes. Five minutes before half-time, France drew level when Michel Platini scored his 41st goal after converting a cross from Dominique Rocheteau. Brazil had a chance to regain the lead in the second half when Branco was fouled by French keeper Joël Bats in the penalty area. Zico got up to take the kick, but Bats saved Zico's penalty.
The match went to extra time, and France finished slightly the stronger of the two sides. No more goals were scored, and so it was time for a penalty shoot-out. Socrates, who had earlier missed an open goal and headed an easy chance straight into the French keeper's arms, failed with the first kick for Brazil. The next six penalties were all converted, and then Platini fired over the bar. Brazil were back on level terms – but not for long. Julio Cesar struck the post with his penalty, and Luis Fernández then scored to put France through 4–3 on penalties.
Two other quarter-finals were also decided on penalties. Jan Ceulemans put Belgium ahead against Spain in the 35th minute, but Spanish substitute Señor equalised with five minutes to go. No more goals were scored in extra time, and Belgium won the shoot-out 5–4. On the hosts' first game outside of the Azteca, Francisco Javier Cruz saw a goal disallowed as West Germany and Mexico drew 0–0 after extra time. The West Germans eliminated the hosts 4–1 on penalties. As a curiosity, the German goalkeeper Harald Schumacher jumped to the right in the three Mexican penalties (stopping two of them).
The quarter-final between Argentina and England at the Azteca featured two very different goals in the second half by Diego Maradona: the first was scored illegally, as he punched the ball into the goal past England goalkeeper Peter Shilton. The referee did not see the handball and the goal was given as valid. After the game, Maradona claimed the goal was scored "A bit with the head of Maradona and another bit with the hand of God"; it became known as the "Hand of God" goal. For his second goal, voted "Goal of the Century" in 2002 on the FIFA website, Maradona dribbled half the length of the field past five English players before scoring. With 20 minutes to go, the introduction of John Barnes as a substitute changed the tide of play in England's favour, as he pinged cross after cross into the Argentine penalty area: with 9 minutes to go, Lineker got on the end of one and scored, then almost repeated the dose six minutes later but was just unable to reach the ball thanks to a timely block by Olarticoechea: 2–1 to Argentina was the final score. In Argentina, the game was seen as revenge for the Falklands War. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_FIFA_World_Cup |
Mediterranean Sea | The Ancient Egyptians called the Mediterranean Wadj-wr/Wadj-Wer/Wadj-Ur. This term (literally "great green") was the name given by the Ancient Egyptians to the semi-solid, semi-aquatic region characterized by papyrus forests to the north of the cultivated Nile delta, and, by extension, the sea beyond.
The Ancient Greeks called the Mediterranean simply ἡ θάλασσα (hē thálassa; "the Sea") or sometimes ἡ μεγάλη θάλασσα (hē megálē thálassa; "the Great Sea"), ἡ ἡμετέρα θάλασσα (hē hēmetérā thálassa; "Our Sea"), or ἡ θάλασσα ἡ καθ’ ἡμᾶς (hē thálassa hē kath’hēmâs; "the sea around us").
The Romans called it Mare Magnum ("Great Sea") or Mare Internum ("Internal Sea") and, starting with the Roman Empire, Mare Nostrum ("Our Sea"). The term Mare Mediterrāneum appears later: Solinus apparently used this in the 3rd century, but the earliest extant witness to it is in the 6th century, in Isidore of Seville. It means 'in the middle of land, inland' in Latin, a compound of medius ("middle"), terra ("land, earth"), and -āneus ("having the nature of").
The modern Greek name Μεσόγειος Θάλασσα (mesógeios; "inland") is a calque of the Latin name, from μέσος (mésos, "in the middle") and γήινος (gḗinos, "of the earth"), from γῆ (gê, "land, earth"). The original meaning may have been 'the sea in the middle of the earth', rather than 'the sea enclosed by land'.
Ancient Iranians called it the "Roman Sea", and in Classical Persian texts, it was called Daryāy-e Rōm (دریای روم), which may be from Middle Persian form, Zrēh ī Hrōm (𐭦𐭫𐭩𐭤 𐭩 𐭤𐭫𐭥𐭬).
The Carthaginians called it the "Syrian Sea". In ancient Syrian texts, Phoenician epics and in the Hebrew Bible, it was primarily known as the "Great Sea", הים הגדול HaYam HaGadol, (Numbers; Book of Joshua; Ezekiel) or simply as "The Sea" (1 Kings). However, it has also been called the "Hinder Sea" because of its location on the west coast of the region of Syria or the Holy Land (and therefore behind a person facing the east), which is sometimes translated as "Western Sea". Another name was the "Sea of the Philistines", (Book of Exodus), from the people inhabiting a large portion of its shores near the Israelites. In Modern Hebrew, it is called הים התיכון HaYam HaTikhon 'the Middle Sea'. In Classic Persian texts was called Daryāy-e Šām (دریای شام) "The Western Sea" or "Syrian Sea".
In Modern Standard Arabic, it is known as al-Baḥr [al-Abyaḍ] al-Mutawassiṭ (البحر [الأبيض] المتوسط) 'the [White] Middle Sea'. In Islamic and older Arabic literature, it was Baḥr al-Rūm(ī) (بحر الروم or بحر الرومي) 'the Sea of the Romans' or 'the Roman Sea'. At first, that name referred only to the eastern Mediterranean, but the term was later extended to the whole Mediterranean. Other Arabic names were Baḥr al-šām(ī) (بحر الشام) ("the Sea of Syria") and Baḥr al-Maghrib (بحرالمغرب) ("the Sea of the West").
In Turkish, it is the Akdeniz 'the White Sea'; in Ottoman, ﺁق دڭيز, which sometimes means only the Aegean Sea. The origin of the name is not clear, as it is not known in earlier Greek, Byzantine or Islamic sources. It may be to contrast with the Black Sea. In Persian, the name was translated as Baḥr-i Safīd, which was also used in later Ottoman Turkish. Similarly, in 19th century Greek, the name was Άσπρη Θάλασσα (áspri thálassa; "white sea").
According to Johann Knobloch, in classical antiquity, cultures in the Levant used colours to refer to the cardinal points: black referred to the north (explaining the name Black Sea), yellow or blue to east, red to south (e.g., the Red Sea) and white to west. That would explain the Bulgarian Byalo More, the Turkish Akdeniz, and the Arab nomenclature described above, lit. "White Sea". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_Sea |
Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba | Abd al-Rahman III added the mosque's first minaret (tower used by the muezzin for the call to prayer) in the mid-10th century. The minaret has since disappeared after it was partly demolished and encased in the Renaissance bell tower that is visible today. It was designed by Hernán Ruiz III and built between 1593 and 1617. The minaret's original appearance, however, was reconstructed by modern Spanish scholar Félix Hernández Giménez with the help archeological evidence as well as historical texts and representations. (For example, the two coat-of-arms on the present-day cathedral's Puerta de Santa Catalina depict the tower as it appeared before its later reconstruction.: 71 )
The original minaret was 47 meters high and had a square base measuring 8.5 meters per side.: 62 Like other Andalusi and North African minarets after it, it was composed of a main shaft and a smaller secondary tower or "lantern" (also with a square base) which surmounted it. The lantern tower was in turn surmounted by a dome and topped by a finial in the shape of a metal rod with two golden spheres and one silver sphere (often referred to as "apples") decreasing in size towards the top. The main tower contained two staircases, which were built for the separate ascent and descent of the tower. About half-way up, the stairways were lit by sets of horseshoe-arch windows whose arches were decorated with voussoirs of alternating colours which were in turn surrounded by a rectangular alfiz frame (similar to the decoration seen around the arches of the mosque's outer gates). On two of the tower's façades there were three of these windows side by side, while on the two other façades the windows were arranged in two pairs. These double pairs or triplets of windows were repeated on the level above. Just below the summit of the main shaft on each façade, above the windows, was a row of nine smaller windows of equivalent shape and decoration. The top edge of the main shaft was crowned with a balustrade of sawtooth-shaped merlons (similar to those commonly found in Morocco). The lantern tower was decorated by another horseshoe archway on each of its four façades, again featuring an arch of alternating voussoirs framed within an alfiz.: 62 : 71, 73
Construction of a new cathedral bell tower to encase the old minaret began in 1593 and, after some delays, was finished in 1617. It was designed by architect Hernan Ruiz III (grandson of Hernan Ruiz I), who built the tower up to the bell's level but died before its completion. His plans were followed and completed by Juan Sequero de Matilla. The bell tower is 54 meters tall and is the tallest structure in the city. It consists of a solid square shaft up to the level of the bells, where serliana-style openings feature on all four sides. Above this is a lantern structure which in turn is surmounted by a cupola. The dome at the summit is topped by a sculpture of Saint Raphael which was added in 1664 by architect Gaspar de la Peña, who had been hired to perform other repairs and fix structural problems. The sculpture was made by Pedro de la Paz and Bernabé Gómez del Río. Next to the base of the tower is the Puerta del Perdón ("Door of Forgiveness"), one of the two northern gates of the building. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosque%E2%80%93Cathedral_of_C%C3%B3rdoba |
Mu'awiya I | After Muhammad died in 632, Abu Bakr became caliph (leader of the Muslim community). He and his successors Umar, Uthman, and Ali are often known as the Rashidun ('rightly-guided') caliphs to distinguish them from Mu'awiya and his Umayyad dynastic successors. Having to contend with challenges to his leadership from the Ansar, the natives of Medina who had provided Muhammad safe haven from his erstwhile Meccan opponents, and the mass defections of several Arab tribes, Abu Bakr reached out to the Quraysh, particularly its two strongest clans, the Banu Makhzum and Banu Abd Shams, to shore up support for the Caliphate. Among those Qurayshites whom he appointed to suppress the rebel Arab tribes during the Ridda wars (632–633) was Mu'awiya's brother Yazid. Afterward, he was dispatched as one of four commanders in charge of the Muslim conquest of Byzantine Syria in c. 634. The caliph appointed Mu'awiya commander of Yazid's vanguard. Through these appointments Abu Bakr gave the family of Abu Sufyan a stake in the conquest of Syria, where Abu Sufyan already owned property in the vicinity of Damascus.
Abu Bakr's successor Umar (r. 634–644) appointed a leading companion of Muhammad, Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah, as the general commander of the Muslim army in Syria in 636 after the rout of the Byzantines at the Battle of Yarmouk, which paved the way for the conquest of the rest of Syria. Mu'awiya was among the Arab troops that entered Jerusalem with Caliph Umar in 637. Afterward, Mu'awiya and Yazid were dispatched by Abu Ubayda to conquer the coastal towns of Sidon, Beirut and Byblos. Following the death of Abu Ubayda in the plague of Amwas in 639, Umar split the command of Syria, appointing Yazid as governor of the military districts of Damascus, Jordan and Palestine, and the veteran commander Iyad ibn Ghanm governor of Homs and the Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia). When Yazid succumbed to the plague later that year, Umar appointed Mu'awiya the military and fiscal governor of Damascus, and possibly Jordan as well. In 640 or 641, Mu'awiya captured Caesarea, the district capital of Byzantine Palestine, and then captured Ascalon, completing the Muslim conquest of Palestine. As early as 640 or 641, Mu'awiya may have led a campaign against Cilicia and proceeded to Euchaita, deep in Byzantine Anatolia. In 644, he led a foray against the Anatolian city of Amorium.
The successive promotions of Abu Sufyan's sons contradicted Umar's efforts to otherwise curtail the influence of the Qurayshite aristocracy in the Muslim state in favor of the earliest Muslim converts (i.e. the Muhajirun and Ansar groups). According to the historian Leone Caetani, this exceptional treatment stemmed from Umar's personal respect for the Umayyads, the branch of the Banu Abd Shams to which Mu'awiya belonged. This is doubted by the historian Wilferd Madelung, who surmises that Umar had little choice, due to the lack of a suitable alternative to Mu'awiya in Syria and the ongoing plague in the region, which precluded the deployment of commanders more preferable to Umar from Medina.
Upon the accession of Caliph Uthman (r. 644–656), Mu'awiya's governorship was enlarged to include Palestine, while a companion of Muhammad, Umayr ibn Sa'd al-Ansari, was confirmed as governor of the Homs-Jazira district. In late 646 or early 647, Uthman attached the Homs-Jazira district to Mu'awiya's Syrian governorship, greatly increasing the military manpower at his disposal. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu%27awiya_I |
Comparative religion | A Taoic religion is a religion, or religious philosophy, that focuses on the East Asian concept of Tao ("The Way"). This forms a large group of eastern religions including Taoism, Confucianism, Jeung San Do, Shintoism, I-Kuan Tao, Chondogyo, and Chen Tao. In large parts of East Asia, Buddhism has taken on some taoic features.
Tao can be roughly stated to be the flow of the universe, or the force behind the natural order. It is believed to be the influence that keeps the universe balanced and ordered and is associated with nature, due to a belief that nature demonstrates the Tao. The flow of qi, as the essential energy of action and existence, is compared to the universal order of Tao. Following the Tao is also associated with a "proper" attitude, morality and lifestyle. This is intimately tied to the complex concept of De, or literally "virtue" or "power." De is the active expression of Tao.
Taoism and Chan Buddhism for centuries had a mutual influence on each other in China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. These influences were inherited by Zen Buddhism when Chan Buddhism arrived in Japan and adapted as Zen Buddhism.
Despite being too far from each other to have had any influence, some have historically noted similarities between traditional Chinese religious beliefs and Christianity. This was noted by Jesuit missionaries who became known as figurists. Figurists promoted the idea that the ancient Chinese knew the truth of Christian revelation and that many of the figures described in Chinese texts are actually figures and concepts from Christianity. Noted parallels include shared flood myths, similarities between Fuxi and Enoch, as well as parallels between Christ and the sages. There is also a noted similarity between the Tao being "the Way" as well as Christ claiming to be "the Way."
While scholarship rejects this view today, it was a notable view in the history of comparative religion. These beliefs were ultimately opposed and disavowed by the Catholic Church in the 18th century.
The introduction of Nestorian Christianity to China under the Tang dynasty also led to increasing similarities between Chinese Buddhism and Nestorian Christianity. Christians began using Buddhist and Taoist concepts to explain their faith. During this time the Jingjiao documents were created, sometimes called sutras, that demonstrated the blending of Christianity with Buddhism. The two also formed a monastic tradition that furthered the similarities. This fusion became so heavy that when Emperor Wuzong of the Tang dynasty began persecuting Buddhists in the 9th century, he claimed that Christianity was merely a heresy of Buddhism rather than its own religion. This equation of the two led to the collapse of Nestorian Christianity in China alongside the persecution of Buddhism. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_religion |
Tannourine | Tannourine hosts a remarkably large number of monuments dating back to the Phoenician, Roman and Greek eras.
In the valley of Tannourine-Al-Tahta lies a nearly-intact Roman aqueduct and a decrepit reservoir and Roman Cistern at its side. It is a testament that the fertility of that valley was being exploited since at least the 1st century AD
Higher up in the mountains, in the now abandoned village of Ain al-Raha, are found a number of 6th century and Crusader-era churches that many scholars believe to be one of the earliest known proofs of the presence of Christianity in the upper Levant. Indeed, according to the legend, Ain al-Raha (literally: source of relief) was during the 11th to 13th century a safe haven for defeated Crusaders.
Also, above the previously mentioned old Lebanese house is an abandoned monastery sheltered in the hollow cave on the face of the mountain. It is believed that the 16th century remains were constructed in a way that it melded into the mountain to create a "camouflage" of sorts; and indeed unless you intend to search for it, you'd be hard-pressed to locate it immediately. Such caution was employed in order to thwart Ottoman army which wished to seize the Levant, which they eventually succeeded in doing.
In Wata Houb there are inscriptions on a rock dating back to the eighth century BC, the statues of a huge man between two smaller ones.
In St. Anthony's monastery in Houb, the remains of a Phoenician temple are preserved. In 1936 the remains of a structure with an elaborate stone sculpture were found and a large font was used to save the blood of the victims. This is all in the middle of a paved opening with stone seats around. It was also found among the rubble, icons inscribed with the name of Alexander the Great and drawings of the god, Jupiter, carrying a lightning symbol in his right hand and a scepter in his left. The other read, "Iskandar, the King and the God and the compassionate father" in addition to the drawings of an eagle and the heads of a man and a woman with the words " the 2 Gods are brothers." There are also writings glorifying the Roman Emperor Hadrian and other writings cautioning from cutting certain types of trees; in addition to pools, restrooms, and forts built to protect convoys from nomadic invasions. In Tannourine, there is today a Roman wall which marks the boundary between Tannourine and Aqoura.
The Romans also built an observatory called Aytamout observatory, which was overlooking the neighboring areas to address those who come to cut the trees. The Greek monuments included icons of the goddess Isis, the goddess and protector of navigation. She has two horns and she is carrying in her hand an Ankh with Greek letters of "Byblos". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tannourine |
Failed state | The term "failed state" has faced criticism along two main strands. The first argues that the term lends itself to overgeneralization, by lumping together different governance problems amongst diverse countries, and without accounting for variations of governance within states. The second is concerned with the political application of the term in order to justify military interventions and state-building based on a Western model of the state.
Olivier Nay, William Easterly, and Laura Freschi have critiqued the concept of state failure as not having a coherent definition, with indices combining various indicators of state performance arbitrarily weighted to arrive at unclear and aggregated measurements of state fragility. Charles T. Call argues that the label of "failed state" has been applied so widely that it has been effectively rendered useless. As there has been little consensus over how to define failed states, the characteristics commonly used to identify a failing state are numerous and extremely diverse, from human rights violations, poverty, corruption to demographic pressures. This means that a wide range of highly divergent states are categorized together as failed (or failing) states. This can conceal the complexity of the specific weaknesses identified within individual states and result in one size fits all approach typically focused on strengthening the state's capacity for order. Furthermore, the use of the term 'failed state' has been used by some foreign powers as a justification for invading a country or determining a specific prescriptive set of foreign policy goals. Following 2001, Call notes that the US stated that failed states were one of the greatest security threats facing the country, based on the assumption that a country with weak – or non-existent – state institutions would provide a safe haven for terrorists, and act as a breeding ground for extremism.
Call suggests that, instead of branding countries as failed states, they could be categorized in more relevant, understandable terms. For example, a "collapsed state" would refer to a country where the state apparatus completely falls apart and ceases to exist for a couple of months. This would only apply to a country where absolutely no basic functions of the state were working, and non-state actors were carrying out such tasks. A "weak state" could be used for states whereby informal institutions carry out more of the public services and channeling of goods than formal state institutions. A "war-torn" state might not be functioning because of conflict, but this does not necessarily imply it is a collapsed state. Rotberg argued that all failed states are experiencing some form of armed conflict. However, the challenges to the state can be very different depending on the type of armed conflict, and whether it encompasses the country as a whole and large territories, or is specifically focused around one regional area. Another type of state that has been traditionally put under the umbrella term "failed state" could be an "authoritarian state". While authoritarian leaders might come to power by violent means, they may ward off opposition once in power and as such ensure there is little violence within their regime. Call argues that the circumstances and challenges facing state-building in such regimes are very different from those posed in a state in civil war. These four alternative definitions highlight the many different circumstances that can lead a state to be categorized under the umbrella term of "failed state", and the danger of adopting prescriptive one-size-fits-all policy approaches to very different situations. As a result of these taxonomical difficulties, Wynand Greffrath has posited a nuanced approach to "state dysfunction" as a form of political decay, which emphasizes qualitative theoretical analysis. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Failed_state |
History of the Middle East | The worldwide change of governance in Eastern Europe, Latin America, East Asia, and parts of Africa following the dissolution of the Soviet Union did not occur in the Middle East. In the whole region, only Israel, Turkey and to some extent Lebanon and the Palestinian territories were considered to be democracies. Some countries had legislative bodies, but these were said to have little power. In the Persian Gulf states the majority of the population could not vote because they were guest workers rather than citizens.
In most Middle Eastern countries, the growth of market economies was said to be limited by political restrictions, corruption, and cronyism, overspending on arms and prestige projects and over-dependence on oil revenues. The successful economies were countries that had oil wealth and low populations, such as Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, where the ruling emirs allowed some political and social liberalization, but without giving up any of their own power. Lebanon also rebuilt a fairly successful economy after a prolonged civil war in the 1980s.
At the beginning of the 21st century, all these factors intensified conflict in the Middle East, which affected the entire world. Bill Clinton's failed attempt to broker a peace deal between Israel and Palestine at the Camp David Summit in 2000 led directly to the election of Ariel Sharon as Prime Minister of Israel and to the Second Intifada, which conducted suicide bombings on Israeli civilians. This was the first major outbreak of violence since the Oslo Peace Accords of 1993.
At the same time, the failures of most of the Arab governments and the bankruptcy of secular Arab radicalism led a section of educated Arabs (and other Muslims) to embrace Islamism, promoted both by Iran's Shi'a clerics as well as by Saudi Arabia's powerful Wahhabist sect. Many of the militant Islamists gained their military training while fighting Soviet forces in Afghanistan. Many of the Afghan jihadists, though supposedly none of the Arab volunteers, were funded by the United States under Operation Cyclone as part of the Reagan Doctrine, one of the longest and most expensive CIA covert operations ever.
One of these Arab militants was a wealthy Saudi Arabian named Osama bin Laden. After fighting against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s, he formed the al-Qaida organization, which was responsible for the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings, the USS Cole bombing and the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. The September 11 attacks led the George W. Bush administration to invade Afghanistan in 2001 to overthrow the Taliban regime, which had been harboring Bin Laden and al-Qaida. The United States and its allies described this operation as part of a global "War on Terror".
In 2002, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld developed a plan to invade Iraq, remove Saddam from power, and turn Iraq into a democratic state with a free-market economy, which they hoped would serve as a model for the rest of the Middle East. The United States and its principal allies—Britain, Italy, Spain, and Australia—could not secure United Nations approval for the execution of the numerous UN resolutions, so they launched an invasion of Iraq and deposed Saddam without much difficulty in April 2003.
The advent of a new western army of occupation in a Middle Eastern capital marked a turning point in the history of the region. Despite successful elections (although boycotted by large portions of Iraq's Sunni population) held in January 2005, much of Iraq had all but disintegrated, due to a post-war insurgency which morphed into persistent ethnic violence that the American army was initially unable to quell. Many of Iraq's intellectual and business elite fled the country, and many Iraqi refugees left as a result of the insurgency, further destabilizing the region. A responsive surge in U.S. forces in Iraq was largely successful in controlling the insurgency and stabilizing the country. U.S. forces withdrew from Iraq by December 2011.
By 2005, President George W. Bush's Road map for peace between Israel and the Palestinians was stalled, although this situation had begun to change with Yasser Arafat's death in 2004. In response, Israel moved towards a unilateral solution, pushing ahead with the Israeli West Bank barrier to protect Israel from Palestinian suicide bombers and unilateral withdrawing from Gaza. In 2006 a new conflict erupted between Israel and Hezbollah Shi'a militia in southern Lebanon, further setting back any "prospects for peace".
In the early 2010s, a revolutionary wave popularly known as the Arab Spring brought major protests, uprisings, and revolutions to several Middle Eastern countries, followed by prolonged civil wars in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Libya. In 2014, a terrorist group and self-proclaimed caliphate calling itself the Islamic State made rapid territorial gains in western Iraq and eastern Syria, prompting international military intervention. At its peak, the group controlled an area containing an estimated 2.8 to 8 million people, 98% of which was lost by December 2017. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Middle_East |
Asia | The polymath Rabindranath Tagore, a Bengali poet, dramatist, and writer from Santiniketan, now in West Bengal, India, became in 1913 the first Asian Nobel laureate. He won his Nobel Prize in Literature for notable impact his prose works and poetic thought had on English, French, and other national literatures of Europe and the Americas. He is also the writer of the national anthems of Bangladesh and India.
Other Asian writers who won Nobel Prize for literature include Yasunari Kawabata (Japan, 1968), Kenzaburō Ōe (Japan, 1994), Gao Xingjian (China, 2000), Orhan Pamuk (Turkey, 2006), and Mo Yan (China, 2012). Some may consider the American writer, Pearl S. Buck, an honorary Asian Nobel laureate, having spent considerable time in China as the daughter of missionaries, and based many of her novels, namely The Good Earth (1931) and The Mother (1933), as well as the biographies of her parents for their time in China, The Exile and Fighting Angel, all of which earned her the Literature prize in 1938.
Mother Teresa of India and Shirin Ebadi of Iran were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their significant and pioneering efforts for democracy and human rights, especially for the rights of women and children. Ebadi is the first Iranian and the first Muslim woman to receive the prize. Another Nobel Peace Prize winner is Aung San Suu Kyi from Burma for her peaceful and non-violent struggle under a military dictatorship in Burma. She is a nonviolent pro-democracy activist and leader of the National League for Democracy in Burma (Myanmar) and a noted prisoner of conscience. She is a Buddhist and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for "his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China" on 8 October 2010. He is the first Chinese citizen to be awarded a Nobel Prize of any kind while residing in China. In 2014, Kailash Satyarthi from India and Malala Yousafzai from Pakistan were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education".
C.V. Raman is the first Asian to get a Nobel prize in Sciences. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics "for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him".
Japan has won the most Nobel Prizes of any Asian nation with 24 followed by India which has won 13.
Amartya Sen (b. 1933) is an Indian economist who was awarded the 1998 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to welfare economics and social choice theory, and for his interest in the problems of society's poorest members.
Other Asian Nobel Prize winners include Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Abdus Salam, Robert Aumann, Menachem Begin, Aaron Ciechanover, Avram Hershko, Daniel Kahneman, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin, Ada Yonath, Yasser Arafat, José Ramos-Horta and Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo of Timor Leste, Kim Dae-jung, and 13 Japanese scientists. Most of the said awardees are from Japan and Israel except for Chandrasekhar and Raman (India), Abdus Salam (Pakistan), Arafat (Palestinian Territories), Kim (South Korea), and Horta and Belo (Timor Leste).
In 2006, Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the establishment of Grameen Bank, a community development bank that lends money to poor people, especially women. He is known for the concept of micro credit which, allows poor and destitute people to borrow money. The borrowers pay back money within the specified period and defaulting is very low. The Dalai Lama received the Nobel Peace Prize, in Oslo, Norway in 1989. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia |
Palestinian Arabic | Prior to their adoption of the Arabic language from the seventh century onwards, most of the inhabitants of Palestine spoke varieties of Palestinian Aramaic (Jewish, Christian, Samaritan) as a native language. Koine Greek was used among the Hellenized elite and aristocracy, and Mishanic Hebrew for liturgical purposes.
The Negev desert was under the rule of the Nabatean Kingdom for the greater part of Classical antiquity, and included settlements such as Mahoza and Ein-Gedi where Judean and Nabatean populations lived in alongside each other, as documented by the Babatha archive which dates to the second century. The earliest Old Arabic inscription most resembling of Classical Arabic is found in Ayn Avadat, being a poem dedicated to King Obodas I, known for defeating the Hasmonean Alexander Jannaeus. Its date is estimated between 79 and 120 CE, but no later than 150 CE at most.
The Nabataeans tended to adopt Aramaic as a written language as shown in the Nabataean language texts of Petra, as well as a Lingua Franca. Nabatean and Palestinian Aramaic dialects would both have been thought of as “Aramaic”, and almost certainly have been mutually comprehensible. Additionally, occasional Arabic loanwords can be found in the Jewish Aramaic documents of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The adoption of Arabic among the local population occurred most probably in several waves. After the Early Muslim Arabians took control of the area, so as to maintain their regular activity, the upper classes had to quickly become fluent in the language of the new rulers who most probably were only few. The prevalence of Northern Levantine features in the urban dialects until the early 20th century, as well as in the dialect of Samaritans in Nablus (with systematic imala of /a:/) tends to show that a first layer of Arabization of urban upper classes could have led to what is now urban Levantine. Then, the main phenomenon could have been the slow countryside shift of Aramaic-speaking villages to Arabic under the influence of Arabized elites, leading to the emergence of the rural Palestinian dialects. This scenario is consistent with several facts.
The rural forms can be correlated with features also observed in the few Syrian villages where use of Aramaic has been retained up to this day. Palatalisation of /k/ (but of /t/ too), pronunciation [kˤ] of /q/ for instance. Note that the first also exists in Najdi Arabic and Gulf Arabic, but is limited to palatal contexts (/k/ followed by i or a). Moreover, those Eastern dialects have [g] or [dʒ] for /q/ .
The less-evolutive urban forms can be explained by a limitation owed to the contacts urban trader classes had to maintain with Arabic speakers of other towns in Syria or Egypt.
The Negev Bedouin dialect shares a number of features with Bedouin Hejazi dialects (unlike Urban Hejazi). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_Arabic |
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Ebeling, Florian (2007). The Secret History of Hermes Trismegistus: Hermeticism from Ancient to Modern Times. Translated by Lorton, David. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-4546-0. JSTOR 10.7591/j.ctt1ffjptt.
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Hesteau, Clovis (1639). Traittez de l'harmonie et constitution généralle du vray sel, secret des philosophes, et de l'esprit universelle du monde, suivant le troisiesme principe du Cosmopolite [Treatise on the harmony and general constitution of true salt, secret of philosophers, and of the universal spirit of the world, following the third principle of the Cosmopolitan.] (in French). The Hague: De l'Imprimerie de Theodore Maire.
Holmyard, Eric J. (1923). "The Emerald Table". Nature. 112: 525–526. doi:10.1038/112525a0.
Hudry, Françoise (1997–1999). "Le De secretis nature du Ps. Apollonius de Tyane, traduction latine par Hugues de Santalla du Kitæb sirr al-halîqa". Chrysopoeia. 6: 1–154.
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Kahn, Didier (1994). La table d'émeraude et sa tradition alchimique. Paris: Les Belles Lettres. ISBN 9782251470054.
Kraus, Paul (1942–1943). Jâbir ibn Hayyân: Contribution à l'histoire des idées scientifiques dans l'Islam. I. Le corpus des écrits jâbiriens. II. Jâbir et la science grecque. Cairo: Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale. ISBN 9783487091150. OCLC 468740510.
Linden, Stanton J. (2003). The Alchemy Reader: From Hermes Trismegistus to Isaac Newton. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781107050846. ISBN 0-521-79234-7.
Litwa, M. David (2018). Hermetica II: The Excerpts of Stobaeus, Papyrus Fragments, and Ancient Testimonies in an English Translation with Notes and Introductions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781316856567. ISBN 978-1-107-18253-0. S2CID 217372464.
Mandosio, Jean-Marc (2003). "La Tabula smaragdina e i suoi commentari medievali". In Paolo Lucentini; Ilaria Parri; Vittoria Perrone Compagni (eds.). Hermetism from late antiquity to humanism. Brepols. pp. 681–696.
Mandosio, Jean-Marc (2004b). "La Tabula smaragdina nel Medioevo latino, I. La Tabula smaragdina e i suoi commentari medievali". In Lucentini, P.; Parri, I.; Perrone Compagni, V. (eds.). La tradizione ermetica dal mondo tardo-antico all'umanesimo. Atti del Convegno internazionale di studi, Napoli, 20–24 novembre 2001 [Hermetism from Late Antiquity to Humanism]. Instrumenta Patristica et Mediaevalia. Vol. 40. Turnhout: Brepols. pp. 681–696. doi:10.1484/M.IPM-EB.4.00121. ISBN 978-2-503-51616-5.
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Manzalaoui, Mahmoud (1974). "The Pseudo-Aristotelian Kitāb Sirr al-asrār: Facts and Problems". Oriens. 23/24: 147–257. doi:10.2307/1580104. JSTOR 1580104.
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Ottoman Turkish | English
V. H. Hagopian (1907). Ottoman-Turkish conversation-grammar: a practical method of learning the Ottoman-Turkish language, Volume 1. D. Nutt. Online copies: [1], [2], [3]
Charles Wells (1880). A practical grammar of the Turkish language (as spoken and written). B. Quaritch. Online copies from Google Books: [4], [5], [6]
V. H. Hagopian (1908). Key to the Ottoman-Turkish conversation-grammar. Nutt.
Sir James William Redhouse (1884). A simplified grammar of the Ottoman-Turkish language. Trübner.
Frank Lawrence Hopkins (1877). Elementary grammar of the Turkish language: with a few easy exercises. Trübner.
Sir James William Redhouse (1856). An English and Turkish dictionary: in two parts, English and Turkish, and Turkish and English. B. Quarich.
Sir James William Redhouse (1877). A lexicon, English and Turkish: shewing in Turkish, the literal, incidental, figurative, colloquial, and technical significations of the English terms, indicating their pronunciation in a new and systematic manner; and preceded by a sketch of English etymology, to facilitate to Turkish students ... (2nd ed.). Printed for the mission by A.H. Boyajian.
Charles Boyd, Charles Boyd (Major.) (1842). The Turkish interpreter: or, A new grammar of the Turkish language. Printed for the author.
Thomas Vaughan (1709). A Grammar of The Turkish Language. Robinson.
William Burckhardt Barker (1854). A practical grammar of the Turkish language: With dialogues and vocabulary. B. Quaritch.
William Burckhardt Barker, Nasr-al-Din (khwajah.) (1854). A reading book of the Turkish language: with a grammar and vocabulary ; containing a selection of original tales, literally translated, and accompanied by grammatical references : the pronunciation of each word given as now used in Constantinople. J. Madden.
James William Redhouse (sir.) (1855). The Turkish campaigner's vade-mecum of Ottoman colloquial language.
Lewis, Geoffrey. The Jarring Lecture 2002. "The Turkish Language Reform: A Catastrophic Success".
Other languages
Mehmet Hakkı Suçin. Qawâ'id al-Lugha al-Turkiyya li Ghair al-Natiqeen Biha (Turkish Grammar for Arabs; adapted from Mehmet Hengirmen's Yabancılara Türkçe Dilbilgisi), Engin Yayınevi, 2003).
Mehmet Hakkı Suçin. Atatürk'ün Okuduğu Kitaplar: Endülüs Tarihi (Books That Atatürk Read: History of Andalucia; purification from the Ottoman Turkish, published by Anıtkabir Vakfı, 2001).
Kerslake, Celia (1998). "La construction d'une langue nationale sortie d'un vernaculaire impérial enflé: la transformation stylistique et conceptuelle du turc ottoman". In Chaker, Salem (ed.). Langues et Pouvoir de l'Afrique du Nord à l'Extrême-Orient. Aix-en-Provence: Edisud. pp. 129–138.
Korkut M. Buğday (1999). Otto Harrassowitz Verlag (ed.). Osmanisch: Einführung in die Grundlagen der Literatursprache. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Turkish |
Somalia | Agriculture is the most important economic sector of Somalia. It accounts for about 65% of the GDP and employs 65% of the workforce. Livestock contributes about 40% to GDP and more than 50% of export earnings. Other principal exports include fish, charcoal and bananas; sugar, sorghum and corn are products for the domestic market. According to the Central Bank of Somalia, imports of goods total about $460 million per year, surpassing aggregate imports prior to the start of the civil war in 1991. Exports, which total about $270 million annually, have also surpassed pre-war aggregate export levels. Somalia has a trade deficit of about $190 million per year, but this is exceeded by remittances sent by Somalis in the diaspora, estimated to be about $1 billion.
With the advantage of being located near the Arabian Peninsula, Somali traders have increasingly begun to challenge Australia's traditional dominance over the Gulf Arab livestock and meat market, offering quality animals at very low prices. In response, Gulf Arab states have started to make strategic investments in the country, with Saudi Arabia building livestock export infrastructure and the United Arab Emirates purchasing large farmlands. Somalia is also a major world supplier of frankincense and myrrh.
The modest industrial sector, based on the processing of agricultural products, accounts for 10% of Somalia's GDP. According to the Somali Chamber of Commerce and Industry, over six private airline firms also offer commercial flights to both domestic and international locations, including Daallo Airlines, Jubba Airways, African Express Airways, East Africa 540, Central Air and Hajara. In 2008, the Puntland government signed a multimillion-dollar deal with Dubai's Lootah Group, a regional industrial group operating in the Middle East and Africa. According to the agreement, the first phase of the investment is worth Dhs 170 m and will see a set of new companies established to operate, manage and build Bosaso's free trade zone and sea and airport facilities. The Bosaso Airport Company is slated to develop the airport complex to meet international standards, including a new 3,400 m (11,200 ft) runway, main and auxiliary buildings, taxi and apron areas, and security perimeters.
Prior to the outbreak of the civil war in 1991, the roughly 53 state-owned small, medium and large manufacturing firms were foundering, with the ensuing conflict destroying many of the remaining industries. However, primarily as a result of substantial local investment by the Somali diaspora, many of these small-scale plants have re-opened and newer ones have been created. The latter include fish-canning and meat-processing plants in the northern regions, as well as about 25 factories in the Mogadishu area, which manufacture pasta, mineral water, confections, plastic bags, fabric, hides and skins, detergent and soap, aluminium, foam mattresses and pillows, fishing boats, carry out packaging, and stone processing. In 2004, an $8.3 million Coca-Cola bottling plant also opened in the city, with investors hailing from various constituencies in Somalia. Foreign investment also included multinationals including General Motors and Dole Fruit. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somalia |
Gamal Abdel Nasser | In Lebanon, clashes between pro-Nasser factions and supporters of staunch Nasser opponent, then-President Camille Chamoun, culminated in civil strife by May. The former sought to unite with the UAR, while the latter sought Lebanon's continued independence. Nasser delegated oversight of the issue to Sarraj, who provided limited aid to Nasser's Lebanese supporters through money, light arms, and officer training—short of the large-scale support that Chamoun alleged. Nasser did not covet Lebanon, seeing it as a "special case", but sought to prevent Chamoun from a second presidential term. In Oman, the Jebel Akhdar War between the rebels in the interior of Oman against the British-backed Sultanate of Oman prompted Nasser to support the rebels in what was considered a war against colonialism between 1954 and 1959.
On 14 July 1958, Iraqi army officers Abdel Karim Qasim and Abdel Salam Aref overthrew the Iraqi monarchy and, the next day, Iraqi prime minister and Nasser's chief Arab antagonist, Nuri al-Said, was killed. The entire Iraqi royal family was killed, and Al-Said's and Iraqi crown prince 'Abd al-Ilah's bodies were mutilated and dragged across Baghdad. Nasser recognized the new government and stated that "any attack on Iraq was tantamount to an attack on the UAR". On 15 July, US marines landed in Lebanon, and British special forces in Jordan, upon the request of those countries' governments to prevent them from falling to pro-Nasser forces. Nasser felt that the revolution in Iraq left the road for pan-Arab unity unblocked. On 19 July, for the first time, he declared that he was opting for full Arab union, although he had no plan to merge Iraq with the UAR. While most members of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) favored Iraqi-UAR unity, Qasim sought to keep Iraq independent and resented Nasser's large popular base in the country.
In the fall of 1958, Nasser formed a tripartite committee consisting of Zakaria Mohieddin, al-Hawrani, and Salah Bitar to oversee developments in Syria. By moving the latter two, who were Ba'athists, to Cairo, he neutralized important political figures who had their own ideas about how Syria should be run. He put Syria under Sarraj, who effectively reduced the province to a police state by imprisoning and exiling landholders who objected to the introduction of Egyptian agricultural reform in Syria, as well as communists. Following the Lebanese election of Fuad Chehab in September 1958, relations between Lebanon and the UAR improved considerably. On 25 March 1959, Chehab and Nasser met at the Lebanese–Syrian border and compromised on an end to the Lebanese crisis.
Relations between Nasser and Qasim grew increasingly bitter on 9 March, after Qasim's forces suppressed a rebellion in Mosul, launched a day earlier by a pro-Nasser Iraqi RCC officer backed by UAR authorities. Nasser had considered dispatching troops to aid his Iraqi sympathizers, but decided against it. He clamped down on Egyptian communist activity due to the key backing Iraqi communists provided Qasim. Several influential communists were arrested, including Nasser's old comrade Khaled Mohieddin, who had been allowed to re-enter Egypt in 1956.
By December, the political situation in Syria was faltering and Nasser responded by appointing Amer as governor-general alongside Sarraj. Syria's leaders opposed the appointment and many resigned from their government posts. Nasser later met with the opposition leaders and in a heated moment, exclaimed that he was the elected president of the UAR and those who did not accept his authority could "walk away". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamal_Abdel_Nasser |
Phoenician language | Phoenician was written with the Phoenician script, an abjad (consonantary) originating from the Proto-Canaanite alphabet that also became the basis for the Greek alphabet and, via an Etruscan adaptation, the Latin alphabet. The Punic form of the script gradually developed somewhat different and more cursive letter shapes; in the 3rd century BC, it also began to exhibit a tendency to mark the presence of vowels, especially final vowels, with an aleph or sometimes an ayin. Furthermore, around the time of the Second Punic War, an even more cursive form began to develop, which gave rise to a variety referred to as Neo-Punic and existed alongside the more conservative form and became predominant some time after the destruction of Carthage (c. 149 BC). Neo-Punic, in turn, tended to designate vowels with matres lectionis ("consonantal letters") more frequently than the previous systems had and also began to systematically use different letters for different vowels, in the way explained in more detail below. Finally, a number of late inscriptions from what is now Constantine, Algeria dated to the first century BC make use of the Greek alphabet to write Punic, and many inscriptions from Tripolitania, in the third and fourth centuries AD use the Latin alphabet for that purpose.
In Phoenician writing, unlike that of abjads such as those of Aramaic, Biblical Hebrew and Arabic, even long vowels remained generally unexpressed, regardless of their origin (even if they originated from diphthongs, as in bt /beːt/ 'house', for earlier *bayt-; Hebrew spelling has byt). Eventually, Punic writers began to implement systems of marking of vowels by means of matres lectionis. In the 3rd century BC appeared the practice of using final 'ālep to mark the presence of any final vowel and, occasionally, of yōd to mark a final long [iː].
Later, mostly after the destruction of Carthage in the so-called "Neo-Punic" inscriptions, that was supplemented by a system in which wāw denoted [u], yōd denoted [i], 'ālep denoted [e] and [o], ʿayin denoted [a] and hē and ḥēt could also be used to signify [a]. This latter system was used first with foreign words and was then extended to many native words as well.
A third practice reported in the literature is the use of the consonantal letters for vowels in the same way as had occurred in the original adaptation of the Phoenician alphabet to Greek and Latin, which was apparently still transparent to Punic writers: hē for [e] and 'ālep for [a].
Later, Punic inscriptions began to be written in the Latin alphabet, which also indicated the vowels. Those later inscriptions, in addition with some inscriptions in Greek letters and transcriptions of Phoenician names into other languages, represent the main source of knowledge about Phoenician vowels. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenician_language |
History of Palestinian journalism | The Palestinian press was suppressed due to the outbreak of World War I in 1914, and only two main newspapers from the Ottoman period were reopened during the British Mandate, Al-Karmil and Falastin. During the mandate period, the press became more diverse than in the Ottoman period, and reflected different political factions and national consciousness. According to one survey in the mid-1930s, over 250 Arabic newspapers and 65 in other languages were circulating in Mandatory Palestine. The British had adopted the Ottoman Press Law that had mandated for newspapers the licensing of their franchises and the submission of translations of their work to authorities; however, the British did not interfere in the press until the 1929 Palestine riots between Arabs and Jews. The events of that year led to a radicalization of Arab newspapers, and the British changed their initially tolerant position to a more restrictive approach.
Most of these publications appeared weekly and the number of copies distributed increased gradually. While most newspapers distributed hundreds of copies each during the Ottoman period, this figure increased to 1,000–1,500 during the Mandate period in the 1920s. Falastin, which was the most popular Palestinian newspaper, sold towards the end of the 1920s around 3,000 copies per issue. In Jerusalem, twenty newspapers were established, mainly Mir'at al-Sharq (Mirror of the East) by Boulos Shehadeh, a Palestinian Christian, in September 1919; and Al-Jami'a Al-'Arabiya (The Arab Union), which was the voice of Palestine's Supreme Muslim Council, by Munif Husseini in December 1927. Around six newspapers were established in Jaffa, in addition to Falastin; twelve in Haifa; and some others in Bethlehem, Gaza and Tulkarem.
Falastin became the first Palestinian newspaper to succeed in establishing itself as a daily in October 1929, a month after it had started publishing a weekly English-language edition. And the establishment of Al-Difa in April 1934 was considered an important event in the history of Palestinian journalism during the mandate period, as it managed to attract professional journalists from several Arab countries. A rivalry developed between these two largest dailies, Falastin and Al-Difa, which saw improvements in their quality. Al-Difa expanded its readership to the rural and Muslim communities, portraying itself a counterweight to the Christian-owned Falastin. While Falastin aimed to show that it served the whole nation by highlighting how uneducated people enjoyed reading their paper, in an implied criticism towards Al-Difa which had come to rely on intellectuals with a complex writing style. Many weeklies found it difficult to compete with these two dailies.
In the 1930s, two outspoken newspapers were established in Jaffa: Al-Jami'a Al-Islamiya (The Islamic Union) in 1932; and Al-Difa' (The Defense) in 1934, which was associated with Hizb Al-Istiqlal (The Independence Party). Al-Liwaa (The Banner) was published in Jerusalem in 1934 by Jamal al-Husayni, who was the leader of the Palestine Arab Party. Many of the editors and owners of newspapers were similarly members of political organizations, and used their publications for mobilizing the public.
The British authorities issued a new Publications Law and other regulations in 1933 that gave them the authority to suspend newspapers and punish journalists, which restricted freedom of the press. As a result, the use of colloquial writing style by the press intensified, especially during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine. Many major publications were suspended for extended periods between 1937 and 1938, including Falastin, Al-Difa, and Al-Liwa. After the outbreak of World War II in 1939, emergency laws were enacted and the British closed almost all the newspapers, except Falastin and Al-Difa, due to the publishing of censored news and the adoption of more moderate positions. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Palestinian_journalism |
Pakistan and weapons of mass destruction | Pakistan's uranium infrastructure is based on the use of gas centrifuges to produce highly enriched uranium (HEU) at the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) at Kahuta. Responding to India's nuclear test in 1974, Munir Khan launched the uranium program, codename Project-706 under the aegis of the PAEC. Physical chemist, Dr. Khalil Qureshi, did most of the calculations as a member of the uranium division at PAEC, which undertook research on several methods of enrichment, including gaseous diffusion, jet nozzle and molecular laser isotope separation techniques, as well as centrifuges. Abdul Qadeer Khan officially joined this program in 1976, bringing with him centrifuge designs he mastered at URENCO, the Dutch firm where he had worked as a senior scientist. Later that year, the government separated the program from PAEC and moved the program to the Engineering Research Laboratories (ERL), with A.Q. Khan as its senior scientist. To acquire the necessary equipment and material for this program, Khan developed a procurement ring. Electronic materials were imported from the United Kingdom by two liaison officers posted to the High Commission of Pakistan in London and Bonn Germany. The army engineer and ex-technical liaison officer, Major-General Syed Ali Nawab discreetly oversaw KRL operations in the 1970s including procuring the electronics that were marked as "common items." This ring was also illicitly used decades later, in the late 1980s and 90s to provide technology to Libya (under Muammar Gaddafi), North Korea, and Iran. Despite these efforts, it is claimed Khan Research Laboratories suffered setbacks until PAEC provided technical assistance. Although, A.Q. Khan disputes it and counter claims that PAEC is merely trying to take credit for KRL's success and that PAEC hindered progress at KRL after the two programs had been separated by Bhutto in 1976. In any case, KRL achieved modest enrichment of Uranium by 1978 and was ready to detonate an HEU uranium bomb by 1984. In contrast PAEC was unable to enrich any Uranium or produce weapons grade fissile material until 1998.
The uranium program proved to be a difficult, challenging and most enduring approach to scale up to industrial levels to military-grade. Producing HEU as a fissile material is even more difficult and challenging than extracting plutonium and Pakistan experimented with HEU as an implosion design as contrary to other nuclear states. Little and rudimentary knowledge was available of gas centrifuges at that time, and HEU fissile material was only known to the world for nuclear power usage; its military applications for HEU were non-existent. Commenting on the difficulty, mathematician Tasneem Shah; who worked with A.Q. Khan, was quoted in the book Eating Grass that "hydrodynamical problem in centrifuge was simply stated, but extremely difficult to evaluate, not only in order of magnitude but in detailing also." Many of Khan's fellow theorists were unsure about the feasibility of the enriched uranium on time despite Khan's strong advocacy. One scientist recalled his memories in Eating Grass: "No one in the world has used the [gas] centrifuge method to produce weapon grade material.... [T]his was not going to work, he [A.Q. Khan] is simply wasting time." Despite A.Q. Khan having difficulty getting his peers to listen to him, he aggressively continued his research and the program was made feasible in the shortest time possible. His efforts won him praise from Pakistan's politicians and military science circles, and he was now debuted as the "father of the uranium" bomb. On 28 May 1998, it was the KRL's HEU that ultimately created the nuclear chain reaction which led the successful detonation of boosted fission devices in a scientific experiment codenamed Chagai-I. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction |
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Ziolkowski, Jan M. (2007). Fairy Tales from Before Fairy Tales: The Medieval Latin Past of Wonderful Lies. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-03379-9. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quran |
Edom | The Edomites' original country, according to the Hebrew Bible, stretched from the Sinai peninsula as far as Kadesh Barnea. It reached as far south as Eilat, which was the seaport of Edom. On the north of Edom was the territory of Moab. The boundary between Moab and Edom was the brook of Zered. The ancient capital of Edom was Bozrah. According to Genesis, Esau's descendants settled in the land after they had displaced the Horites. It was also called the land of Seir; Mount Seir appears to have been strongly identified with them and may have been a cultic site. According to biblical narrative, at the time of Amaziah (838 BC), Selah was its principal stronghold, Eilat and Ezion-geber its seaports.
Genesis 36:31-43 lists the kings of Edom "before any Israelite king reigned":
These are the kings who ruled in the land of Edom before a king ruled the children of Israel. And Bela ben Beor ruled in Edom, and the name of his city was Dinhabah. And Bela died, and Jobab ben Zerah from Bozrah ruled in his place. And Jobab died, and Husham of the land of Temani ruled in his place. And Husham died, and Hadad ben Bedad, who struck Midian in the field of Moab, ruled in his place, and the name of his city was Avith. And Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah ruled in his place. And Samlah died, and Saul of Rehoboth on the river ruled in his place. And Saul died, and Baal-hanan ben Achbor ruled in his place. And Baal-hanan ben Achbor died, and Hadar ruled in his place, and the name of his city was Pau, and his wife's name was Mehetabel bat Matred bat Mezahab. And these are the names of the clans of Esau by their families, by their places, by their names: clan Timnah, clan Alvah, clan Jetheth, clan Aholibamah, clan Elah, clan Pinon, clan Kenaz, clan Teman, clan Mibzar, clan Magdiel, clan Iram.
The Hebrew word translated as leader of a clan is aluf, used solely to describe the Dukes of Edom and Moab, in the first five books of Moses. However beginning in the books of the later prophets the word is used to describe Judean generals, for example, in the prophecies of Zachariah twice (9:7, 12:5–6) it had evolved to describe Jewish captains, the word also is used multiple times as a general term for teacher or guide for example in Psalm 55:13. Aluph as it is used to denote teach or guide from the Edomite word for Duke is used 69 times in the Tanakh.
If the account may be taken at face value, the kingship of Edom was, at least in early times, not hereditary, perhaps elective. The first book of Chronicles mentions both a king and chieftains. Moses and the Israelite people twice appealed to their common ancestry and asked the king of Edom for passage through his land, along the "King's Highway", on their way to Canaan, but the king refused permission. Accordingly, they detoured around the country because of his show of force or because God ordered them to do so rather than wage war (Deuteronomy 2:4–6). The King of Edom did not attack the Israelites, though he prepared to resist aggression.
Nothing further is recorded of the Edomites in the Tanakh until their defeat by King Saul of Israel in the late 11th century BC (1 Samuel 14:47). Forty years later King David and his general Joab defeated the Edomites in the "Valley of Salt" (probably near the Dead Sea; 2 Samuel 8:13–14; 1 Kings 9:15–16). An Edomite prince named Hadad escaped and fled to Egypt, and after David's death returned and tried to start a rebellion, but failed and went to Syria (Aramea). From that time Edom remained a vassal of Israel. David placed over the Edomites Israelite governors or prefects, and this form of government seems to have continued under Solomon. When Israel divided into two kingdoms Edom became a dependency of the Kingdom of Judah. In the time of Jehoshaphat (c. 870 – 849 BC) the Tanakh mentions a king of Edom, who was probably an Israelite deputy appointed by the King of Judah. It also states that the inhabitants of Mount Seir invaded Judea in conjunction with Ammon and Moab, and that the invaders turned against one another and were all destroyed (2 Chronicles 20:10–23). Edom revolted against Jehoram and elected a king of its own (2 Kings 8:20–22; 2 Chronicles 21:8). Amaziah attacked and defeated the Edomites, seizing Selah, but the Israelites never subdued Edom completely (2 Kings 14:7; 2 Chronicles 25:11–12).
In the time of Nebuchadnezzar II the Edomites may have helped plunder Jerusalem and slaughter the Judaeans in 587 or 586 BCE (Psalms 137:7; Obadiah 1:11–14). Some believe that it is for this reason the prophets denounced Edom (Isaiah 34:5–8; Jeremiah 49:7–22; Obadiah passim). Evidence also suggests that at that time Edom may have engaged in a treaty betrayal of Judah. The people of Edom would be dealt with during the Messiah's rulership, according to the prophets. Despite this, many Edomites peacefully migrated to southern Judea, which continued even during the reign of Nabonidus.Regarding the territory of Edom, the book of Jeremiah states that "no one will live there, nor will anyone of mankind reside in it".
Although the Idumaeans controlled the lands to the east and south of the Dead Sea, their peoples were held in contempt by the Israelites. Hence the Book of Psalms says "Moab is my washpot: over Edom will I cast out my shoe". According to the Torah, the congregation could not receive descendants of a marriage between an Israelite and an Edomite until the fourth generation. This law was a subject of controversy between Shimon ben Yohai, who said it applied only to male descendants, and other Tannaim, who said female descendants were also excluded for four generations. From these, some early conversion laws in halacha were derived. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edom |
Zinc | Nearly two billion people in the developing world are deficient in zinc. Groups at risk include children in developing countries and elderly with chronic illnesses. In children, it causes an increase in infection and diarrhea and contributes to the death of about 800,000 children worldwide per year. The World Health Organization advocates zinc supplementation for severe malnutrition and diarrhea. Zinc supplements help prevent disease and reduce mortality, especially among children with low birth weight or stunted growth. However, zinc supplements should not be administered alone, because many in the developing world have several deficiencies, and zinc interacts with other micronutrients. While zinc deficiency is usually due to insufficient dietary intake, it can be associated with malabsorption, acrodermatitis enteropathica, chronic liver disease, chronic renal disease, sickle cell disease, diabetes, malignancy, and other chronic illnesses.
In the United States, a federal survey of food consumption determined that for women and men over the age of 19, average consumption was 9.7 and 14.2 mg/day, respectively. For women, 17% consumed less than the EAR, for men 11%. The percentages below EAR increased with age. The most recent published update of the survey (NHANES 2013–2014) reported lower averages – 9.3 and 13.2 mg/day – again with intake decreasing with age.
Symptoms of mild zinc deficiency are diverse. Clinical outcomes include depressed growth, diarrhea, impotence and delayed sexual maturation, alopecia, eye and skin lesions, impaired appetite, altered cognition, impaired immune functions, defects in carbohydrate use, and reproductive teratogenesis. Zinc deficiency depresses immunity, but excessive zinc does also.
Despite some concerns, western vegetarians and vegans do not suffer any more from overt zinc deficiency than meat-eaters. Major plant sources of zinc include cooked dried beans, sea vegetables, fortified cereals, soy foods, nuts, peas, and seeds. However, phytates in many whole-grains and fibers may interfere with zinc absorption and marginal zinc intake has poorly understood effects. The zinc chelator phytate, found in seeds and cereal bran, can contribute to zinc malabsorption. Some evidence suggests that more than the US RDA (8 mg/day for adult women; 11 mg/day for adult men) may be needed in those whose diet is high in phytates, such as some vegetarians. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) guidelines attempt to compensate for this by recommending higher zinc intake when dietary phytate intake is greater. These considerations must be balanced against the paucity of adequate zinc biomarkers, and the most widely used indicator, plasma zinc, has poor sensitivity and specificity. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc |
Huni | The Horus name of Huni is unknown. There are several theories to connect the cartouche name "Huni" with contemporary Horus names.
In the late 1960s, the Louvre Museum bought a stele showing a king whose Horus name is Horus-Qahedjet ("the crown of Horus is raised"). For stylistical reasons the stele may be dated to the late Third Dynasty and it seems possible that it refers to Huni, whose Horus-name it provides. However, its dating and authenticity have been put into question several times, and today the stela is believed to be either fake, or dedicated to king Thutmose III (18th dynasty) while imitating the artistic style of Dynasty III.
Peter Kaplony promotes an ominous name found in the burial shaft of an unfinished pyramid at Zawyet el'Aryan. The monument is connected with a possible pharaoh named Bikheris. The name in question reads Neb-hedjetnwb ("lord of the golden crown") and is thought by Kaplony to be Huni's possible Horus name. However, Egyptologists such as Aidan Dodson contradict this theory and argue that Neb-hedjetnwb, with its gold hieroglyph, should rather be the Golden Horus name of Bikheris.
Other Egyptologists, such as Toby Wilkinson and Rainer Stadelmann, identify Huni with the contemporarily well-attested king Horus-Khaba ("the soul of Horus appears"). Their identification is based on the circumstance that both kings' Horus names appear on incised stone vessels without any further guiding notes. It was a fashion that began with the death of king Khasekhemwy (end of the 2nd dynasty) and ended with king Sneferu (beginning of the 4th dynasty). Thus, it was a very typical practice of the 3rd dynasty. Additionally, Stadelmann points to the Layer Pyramid at Zawyet el'Aryan. This monument was possibly built by Khaba, since a nearby mastaba contained several stone vessels with his Horus name. Since the Turin Canon credits a reign of 24 years to Huni, Stadelmann argues that this time span would perfectly fit to finish the Layer Pyramid. Furthermore, Stadelmann points to the large amount of discovered mud seal impressions, stone bowls and widespread find spots throughout Egypt. In his opinion, the archaeological context also speaks for a longer-lasting reign. Thus, he identifies Khaba with Huni. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huni |
Angel | According to Kabbalah, there are four worlds and our world is the last world: the world of action (Assiyah). Angels exist in the worlds above as a 'task' of God. They are an extension of God to produce effects in this world. After an angel has completed its task, it ceases to exist. The angel is in effect the task. This is derived from the book of Genesis when Abraham meets with three angels and Lot meets with two. The task of one of the angels was to inform Sara and Abraham of their coming child. The other two were to save Lot and to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.
Jewish philosopher Maimonides explained his view of angels in his Guide for the Perplexed II:4 and II
... This leads Aristotle in turn to the demonstrated fact that God, glory and majesty to Him, does not do things by direct contact. God burns things by means of fire; fire is moved by the motion of the sphere; the sphere is moved by means of a disembodied intellect, these intellects being the 'angels which are near to Him', through whose mediation the spheres move ... thus totally disembodied minds exist which emanate from God and are the intermediaries between God and all the bodies [objects] here in this world.Maimonides had a neo-Aristotelian interpretation of the Bible. Maimonides writes that to the wise man, one sees that what the Bible and Talmud refer to as "angels" are actually allusions to the various laws of nature; they are the principles by which the physical universe operates.For all forces are angels! How blind, how perniciously blind are the naive?! If you told someone who purports to be a sage of Israel that the Deity sends an angel who enters a woman's womb and there forms an embryo, he would think this a miracle and accept it as a mark of the majesty and power of the Deity, despite the fact that he believes an angel to be a body of fire one third the size of the entire world. All this, he thinks, is possible for God. But if you tell him that God placed in the sperm the power of forming and demarcating these organs, and that this is the angel, or that all forms are produced by the Active Intellect; that here is the angel, the "vice-regent of the world" constantly mentioned by the sages, then he will recoil. – Guide for the Perplexed II:4 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel |
War crimes during the Sudanese civil war (2023–present) | On 13 July 2023, a UN investigation discovered a mass grave of 87 individuals, all Masalit civilians, near Geneina, allegedly killed by the RSF between 13 and 21 June. The Darfur Bar Association reported the next day that the refugee camps of Kreinik and Sirba were under siege by the RSF. All makeshift shelters and refugee camps had been burned down by 20 June. Numerous villages, neighbourhoods, and cultural sites in and around Geneina were destroyed, including the city's Grand Market and the palace of the Masalit Sultanate.
On 22 June 2023, the Dar Masalit Sultanate also released a statement claiming more than 5,000 civilians had been killed between 24 April and 24 June, the majority of whom were non-Arabs. The Sultanate called the situation a "genocide", and footage emerged of corpses being used as barricades, and the bodies of men, women, and children strewn across the streets. Refugees from West Darfur speaking to Al Jazeera in late June corroborated these claims, adding that similar situations unfolded in the West Darfur towns of Misteri, Konga Haraza, and Tendelti between April and June.
The RSF also attacked civilians in June on the road between Geneina and the Sudanese-Chadian border. Many of these killings were at RSF checkpoints, where a pregnant woman was killed by militiamen for not having enough money for passage. A Geneina refugee stated that "the road along El Geneina and Adré has a lot of bodies, nobody can count them". Another source claimed over 350 people were killed on the road alone.
While Masalit people were often the target of Arab militiamen, refugees claimed the militiamen shot at anyone black. Prominent civil society members, including lawyers, humanitarian officials, and more, were targeted by militias and the RSF after and during the fall of the city. The Darfur Bar Association called the ethnic cleansing "a full-scale genocide". The United Nations released a statement on 24 June deploring "wanton killings", but did not mention perpetrators.
On 12 August 2023, a representative of the Masalit tribe, El Farsha Saleh Arbab Suleiman, gave a press conference in Port Sudan in which he accused the RSF of seeking to conceal evidence of crimes committed in Geneina by burying bodies in hidden locations and forcing the Sudanese Red Crescent Society (SRCS) to hand over bodies. The Coordination of Resistance Committees confirmed the reports of the mass graves and said that, as of 16 August, several bodies were still on the roofs of houses or inside buildings. More than 1,000 bodies were found in 30 more mass graves on August 15. Thirteen more mass graves were discovered on September 14 in Geneina.
In an interview with AllAfrica, Masalit civilians in Adré recounted their experiences in the city, including the killing of a large group of displaced Masalit civilians within the city. Masalit Sultan Saad Bahar el-Deen stated around 10,000 people from his community were killed by the RSF. In CNN interviews on August 16, which included photos collected while the massacres were occurring, the last count of killed civilians was 884, and after June 9, it became uncountable, and that the town was a "ghost town". Civilians also stated that young Masalit children were massacred by the RSF.
Photos from the massacre showed several bodies in a pile in an abandoned and destroyed road in Geneina. A civilian stated that "bodies littered the street from Geneina Teaching Hospital to the southern parts of the city." Civilians who fled Geneina in July stated many bodies had been dumped in ponds in the area of Maragibir, a town west of Geneina. They stated that some of these bodies appeared to have been dead for months and that two groups of tribes had been killed or "practically exterminated" by the RSF, those being the Masalit people and the Burgo tribes. Others added that the RSF would use volunteers and civilians to take these bodies down, especially in the northern suburbs of the city, and provide bulldozers and trucks to bury the corpses. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_crimes_during_the_Sudanese_civil_war_(2023%E2%80%93present) |
Fez, Morocco | Two municipalities (Arabic: جماعتين حضريتين, French: communes) in the Fez Prefecture (Arabic: عمالة فاس) make up the city of Fez. Most of Fez is administered as the municipality of Fez, while the neighborhood of Fes Jdid is administered separately as the municipality of Méchouar Fès Jdid. Outside of the city, there are also three rural municipalities in the prefecture, Aïn Bida, Oulad Tayeb, and Sidi Harazem.
The municipality of Fez has an area of 94 square kilometres (36 sq mi) and recorded a population of 1,091,512 in the 2014 Moroccan census. It is divided into six arrondissements (مقاطعات):
The municipality of Fez is governed by a 91-member council, elected by direct universal suffrage every six years. The arrondissements of Zouagha and Marininyine elect 17 councillors each; Jnane El Ward and Saiss elect 16 councillors each; Agdal elects 13, and Fès-Médina elects 12. Executive power is wielded by a president and ten vice-presidents, which are elected by the council. In 2021, Abdeslam Bekkali, a member of the National Rally of Independents (RNI), succeeded Driss Azami El Idrissi as the new president of the municipality of Fez.
The municipality of Méchouar Fès Jdid consists of the neighborhood of Fes Jdid in the old city and forms an enclave within the municipality of Fez. Established in 1992, it is only 1.6 square kilometres (0.62 sq mi) in extent, and recorded a population of 20,560 in the 2014 census. The municipality possesses a special administrative status as the location of a royal palace (the Dar al-Makhzen or méchouar), one of four such municipalities (French: communes des méchouars) in Morocco. The other three are located in Casablanca, Marrakesh, and Rabat. These four municipalities are governed by special provisions that do not apply to ordinary municipalities.
The subdivisions of Fez Prefecture are grouped into two electoral districts, North Fez and South Fez, each of which elects four members to the House of Representatives. North Fez consists of the arrondissements of El Mariniyine, Fès-Médina, and Zouagha and the municipality of Méchouar Fès Jdid. South Fez consists of the other three arrondissements of Agdal, Jnan El Ouard, and Saiss, and the three rural municipalities outside the city of Fez. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fez,_Morocco |
Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan | Mohamed is married to Sheikha Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan. They married in 1980. They have nine children together, four sons and five daughters. They have two adopted daughters, and together they have 21 grandchildren.
Sheikha Mariam bint Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. She is married to Sheikh Mohammed bin Tahnoun Al Nahyan. The couple has two sons:
Tahnoun bin Mohammed Al Nahyan (born 14 April 2011)
Zayed bin Mohammed Al Nahyan (born 14 May 2014)
Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed Al Nahyan (born on 8 January 1982). He is married to Sheikha Fatima bint Suroor Al Nahyan since 2008 and they have three children:
Shamma bint Khaled Al Nahyan (born 10 October 2011)
Mohammed bin Khaled Al Nahyan (born 20 December 2013)
Salama bint Khaled Al Nahyan (born 20 December 2013)
Sheikha Shamsa bint Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (born on 18 June 1984). She is married to Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al Nahyan. They have six children:
Hessa bint Mohammed Al Nahyan (born 22 May 2003)
Zayed bin Mohammed Al Nahyan (born 29 December 2005)
Salama bint Mohammed Al Nahyan (born 11 July 2007)
Fatima bint Mohammed Al Nahyan
Mohammed bin Mohammed Al Nahyan (born 24 July 2024)
Tahnoun bin Mohammed Al Nahyan (born 24 July 2024)
Sheikh Theyab bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He is married to Sheikha Latifa bint Hamdan Al Nahyan. They have three children:
Fatima bint Theyab Al Nahyan (born 4 June 2014)
Salama bint Theyab Al Nahyan (born 7 February 2016)
Zayed bin Theyab Al Nahyan (born 7 May 2019)
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He married Sheikha Fakhra bint Khalifa Al Nahyan in 2021. They have one son:
Mohammed bin Hamdan Al Nahyan (born 15 August 2022)
Khalifa bin Hamdan Al Nahyan (born 29 February 2024)
Sheikha Fatima bint Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan was born in 1989. She is married to Sheikh Nahyan bin Saif Al Nahyan. They have four children:
Mohammed bin Nahyan Al Nahyan (born 20 November 2012)
Saif bin Nahyan Al Nahyan (born 15 June 2014)
Zayed bin Nahyan Al Nahyan (born 3 December 2018)
Mariam bint Nahyan Al Nahyan (born 16 August 2023)
Sheikha Shamma bint Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan was born in 1992. She is married to Sheikh Zayed bin Hamdan Al Nahyan. The couple has one son:
Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan (born 17 May 2023)
Sheikh Zayed bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan was born on October 24, 1995. Graduated from Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in December 2020.
Sheikha Hessa bint Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan
Amina - adopted daughter
Salha - adopted daughter
A lifelong fan of falconry, Mohamed established the Mohamed bin Zayed Falconry and Desert Physiognomy School with the goal of promoting and sustaining the ancient tradition by teaching it to new generations of Emiratis. He himself learned the practice from his father. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_bin_Zayed_Al_Nahyan |
Babylonia | Medical diagnosis and prognosis
We find [medical semiotics] in a whole constellation of disciplines. ... There was a real common ground among these [Babylonian] forms of knowledge ... an approach involving analysis of particular cases, constructed only through traces, symptoms, hints. ... In short, we can speak about a symptomatic or divinatory [or conjectural] paradigm which could be oriented toward past present or future, depending on the form of knowledge called upon. Toward future ... that was the medical science of symptoms, with its double character, diagnostic, explaining past and present, and prognostic, suggesting likely future. ...
The oldest Babylonian (i.e., Akkadian) texts on medicine date back to the First Babylonian dynasty in the first half of the 2nd millennium BC although the earliest medical prescriptions appear in Sumerian during the Third Dynasty of Ur period. The most extensive Babylonian medical text, however, is the Diagnostic Handbook written by the ummânū, or chief scholar, Esagil-kin-apli of Borsippa, during the reign of the Babylonian king Adad-apla-iddina (1069–1046 BC).
Along with contemporary ancient Egyptian medicine, the Babylonians introduced the concepts of diagnosis, prognosis, physical examination, and prescriptions. In addition, the Diagnostic Handbook introduced the methods of therapy and aetiology and the use of empiricism, logic and rationality in diagnosis, prognosis and therapy. The text contains a list of medical symptoms and often detailed empirical observations along with logical rules used in combining observed symptoms on the body of a patient with its diagnosis and prognosis.
The symptoms and diseases of a patient were treated through therapeutic means such as bandages, creams and pills. If a patient could not be cured physically, the Babylonian physicians often relied on exorcism to cleanse the patient from any curses. Esagil-kin-apli's Diagnostic Handbook was based on a logical set of axioms and assumptions, including the modern view that through the examination and inspection of the symptoms of a patient, it is possible to determine the patient's disease, its aetiology and future development, and the chances of the patient's recovery.
Esagil-kin-apli discovered a variety of illnesses and diseases and described their symptoms in his Diagnostic Handbook. These include the symptoms for many varieties of epilepsy and related ailments along with their diagnosis and prognosis. Later Babylonian medicine resembles early Greek medicine in many ways. In particular, the early treatises of the Hippocratic Corpus show the influence of late Babylonian medicine in terms of both content and form. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonia |
Oromo language | The table below shows the conjugation in the affirmative and negative of the verb beek- 'know'. The first person singular present and past affirmative forms require the suffix -n to appear on the word preceding the verb or the word nan before the verb. The negative particle hin, shown as a separate word in the table, is sometimes written as a prefix on the verb.
For verbs with stems ending in certain consonants and suffixes beginning with consonants (that is, t or n), there are predictable changes to one or the other of the consonants. The dialects vary a lot in the details, but the following changes are common.
Verbs whose stems end in two consonants and whose suffix begins with a consonant must insert a vowel to break up the consonants since the language does not permit sequences of three consonants. There are two ways this can happen: either the vowel i is inserted between the stem and the suffix, or the final stem consonants are switched (an example of metathesis) and the vowel a is inserted between them. For example, arg- 'see', arga 'he sees', argina or agarra (from agar-na) 'we see'; kolf- 'laugh', kolfe 'he laughed', kolfite or kofalte 'you (sg.) laughed'.
Verbs whose stems end in the consonant ' (which may appear as h, w, or y in some words, depending on the dialect) belong to three different conjugation classes; the class is not predictable from the verb stem. It is the forms that precede suffixes beginning with consonants (t and n) that differ from the usual pattern. The third person masculine singular, second person singular, and first person plural present forms are shown for an example verb in each class.
du'- 'die': du'a 'he dies', duuta 'you (sg.) die', duuna 'we die'
beela'-, 'be hungry': beela'a 'he is hungry', beelofta 'you (sg.) are hungry', beelofna 'we are hungry'
dhaga'- 'hear': dhaga'a 'he hears', dhageessa 'you (sg.) hear', dhageenya 'we hear' (the suffix consonants change)
The common verbs fedh- 'want' and godh- 'do' deviate from the basic conjugation pattern in that long vowels replace the geminated consonants that would result when suffixes beginning with t or n are added: fedha 'he wants', feeta 'you (sg.) want', feena 'we want', feetu 'you (pl.) want', hin feene 'didn't want', etc.
The verb dhuf- 'come' has the irregular imperatives koottu, koottaa. The verb deem- 'go' has, alongside regular imperative forms, the irregular imperatives deemi, deemaa. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oromo_language |
Arab citizens of Israel | Surveys of Arab-Israeli self-identification are diverse, and have often presented differing if not contradictory results. In 2017 the Konrad Adenauer Foundation's Program for Jewish-Arab Cooperation at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University conducted a telephone poll, in which the results were:
National identity with Israeli civil component 49.7%, of which
Palestinian (citizen) of Israel 8.9%
Arab (citizen) of Israel 40.8%
Pure national identity 24.1%, of which
Palestinian 15.4%
Arab 8.7%
Civil identity: Israeli 11.4%
Religious identity 9.5%
Other / Don't know 5.3%
The focus groups associated with the poll provided a different outcome, in which "there was consensus that Palestinian identity occupies a central place in their consciousness". reflecting "the strength of Palestinian-Arab identity", and that they do not see a contradiction between that and Israeli civic identity. The focus group revealed strong opposition to the term "Israeli-Arab" and to the concept of Israel's "Independence Day". The study concluded that the focus group findings of strong Palestinian national identity, not conflicting with Israeli civic identity, match those seen in the public sphere.
According to a 2019 survey by University of Haifa professor Sammy Smooha, conducted in Arabic among 718 Arab adults, 47% of the Arab population chose Palestinian identities with an Israeli component ("Israeli Palestinian", "Palestinian in Israel", "Palestinian Arab in Israel"), 36% prefers Israeli Arab identities without a Palestinian component ("Israeli", "Arab", "Arab in Israel", "Israeli Arab"), and 15% chose Palestinian identities without an Israeli component ("Palestinian", "Palestinian Arab"). When these two components are presented as competitors, 69% chose exclusive or primary Palestinian identity, compared with 30% who chose exclusive or primary Israeli Arab identity. 66% of the Arab population agreed that "the identity of 'Palestinian Arab in Israel' is appropriate to most Arabs in Israel."
According to a 2020 survey by Camil Fuchs of Tel-Aviv University, 51% of Arabs identify as Arab-Israeli, 7% identify as Palestinian, 23% identify as Israeli, 15% identify as Arab, and 4% identify as "other." This significantly differs from their 2019 survey, in which 49% identified as Arab-Israeli, 18% as Palestinian, 27% as Arab, and 5% as Israeli. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_citizens_of_Israel |
2014 Gaza War | A total of 67 IDF soldiers were killed, including one who died of his injuries after two and a half years in a coma, two soldiers – Staff Sergeant Oron Shaul and Second Lieutenant Hadar Goldin – whose bodies are believed to be held in Gaza, and an off-duty soldier who was killed in a rocket attack near his hometown while on leave from service in the war. Another 469 soldiers were injured. The IDF said that 5 soldiers were killed and 23 were wounded by friendly fire.
Eleven soldiers were killed, and scores were wounded, in three separate Hamas tunnel attacks on IDF units inside Israel. No Israeli civilian casualties were reported in these attacks.
Nine IDF soldiers and six civilians were killed in Israel by Palestinian rocket and mortar fire. That means that 64 percent of the victims of Hamas rocket and mortar attacks were IDF soldiers.
According to Magen David Adom, 837 civilians were treated for shock (581) or injuries (256): 36 were injured by shrapnel, 33 by debris from shattered glass and building debris, 18 in traffic accidents which occurred when warning sirens sounded, 159 from falling or trauma while on the way to shelters, and 9 in violence in Jerusalem and Maale Adumim.
The first Israeli civilian death occurred at the Erez Checkpoint, where a Chabad rabbi was killed by mortar fire. He had come from the West Bank settlement of Bet Arye to deliver food and drinks to IDF soldiers on the front line.
The second Israeli civilian to be killed was Awda Lafi al-Waj, a 32-year-old Israeli Bedouin, who was hit by a rocket in the Bedouin village of Qasr al-Sir, near Dimona. In spite of having been recognized as a regular settlement in 1999, the village was still not hooked up to the national electricity grid. The rocket alarm system therefore was not operative in the village. The village had still not an approved master plan, which meant that all construction was illegal. There were no shelters, safe rooms or protective walls in the village. The area where the village was located was considered "open area" by military authorities and was therefore not defended by the Iron Dome air defense system.
A Thai migrant worker was also killed by mortar fire while working at a greenhouse in moshav Netiv HaAsara, located a few hundred meters from the Gaza border. The IDF had previously converted the car park in the southern part of the village into an army base and placed tanks there.
The moshav provided no protection for the migrant workers working in the fields or greenhouses, located too far from the shelters.
On 22 August, a 4-year-old Israeli child was killed by a mortar that fell on kibbutz Nahal Oz.
Two Israeli civilians in kibbutz Nirim were killed in a barrage of mortar fire, an hour before a ceasefire went into effect. The two were the settlement's chief and deputy military security co-ordinators.
Both Nahal Oz and Nirim (as well as two other nearby settllements) were used as staging areas for IDF tanks operating inside Gaza. The settlements were used for envelopment, surveillance and military supply. Eyal Weizman commented that "Israel claims that Hamas is endangering its civilian population by locating its installations in inhabited areas... Israel does the same, though it has enough space to choose not to." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Gaza_War |
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