Colonnaded thoroughfare Al Rasheed Street was built to commemorate the Ottoman victory in Kut al-Amara during the First World War before the scales tipped in Britain’s favour and the British troops drove Ottomans out with the help of Arabs
Britain and France spawned conflict by secretly hammering out the 1916 Sykes-Picot accord, arbitrarily redrawing borders by marking straight lines with a crude chinagraph pencil and a ruler on the Middle East’s map as their shared spoils of the First World War, without letting the region’s people, especially Palestinians, have a say, condemning them to dispossession
Mutanabbi Street is named after poet Abu al-Tayyib al Mutanabbi, one of the leading lights of the Islamic Golden Age when a spirit of openness fostered the pursuit of knowledge and big science
Saudi Arabia has renewed relations with Iran in line with the changed geo-political realities discarding policies pursued in the aftermath of the 1979 Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini-led Iranian revolution that was sought to be countered partly by stoking sectarianism
Academic powerhouse Bayt al-Hikmah (House of Wisdom) carried the global light of learning in Baghdad for centuries as a centrepiece of the Islamic Golden Age and a hub of knowledge that fostered intellectual pursuits across fields and profoundly influenced Islamic and Western science
Mustansiriya University, one of the world’s oldest universities, founded in 1233, symbolizes Iraq’s rich intellectual heritage as one of its significant educational institutions during the Islamic Golden Age, which survived neglect, the Mongol onslaught, floods, manmade and natural calamities that claimed much of Baghdad’s heritage over centuries
Twelvth-century Muslim saint Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gilani’s impact transcends time and geography and inspires devotees worldwide through his teachings and spiritual presence, fostering a sense of community and acceptance across sectarian and cultural divides through coexistence, empathy, understanding, truth, compassion, unity, and honesty.
The inclusive ethos of Qadiriyya Sufi Order’s mother shrine in Baghdad, housing the tomb of 12th-century saint Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gilani, endures transcending cultural, religious, and bridging sectarian divides as a symbol of coexistence and tranquillity
Sunnis, Shias, Kurds, and Christians continued living cheek by jowl rebuffing the toxic mix of religion and politics inside the warrens of Bab al-Sheikh, drawing inspiration from the 12th-century saint Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gilani, whose final resting place is located there
Baghdad, which was founded as Madīnat as-Salām in 762, quickly emerged as the epitome of Islamic civilization, scholarship, and scientific progress under the Abbasids and contributed to Western enlightenment and global progress
