Rounded Analysis On Contested Issues; Spotlighting Blind Spots; Politics, Religion, Travel, Books
Jordan's ruling Hashemite dynasty maintained secret ties with Israel since the foundation of the Zionist state so much so that King Hussein met Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir to warn her that an attack was imminent ahead of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan overcame decades-old domination of secularists, who saw themselves as the guardians of the secular Turkish Republic Mustafa Kemal Ataturk founded and shaped through sweeping top-down Westernization and suppression of religious citizens
Former Oxford professor Avi Shlaim’s book Three Worlds: Memoir of an Arab-Jew uncovers what he calls ‘undeniable proof' of Zionist involvement in the attacks that forced Iraqi Jews to emigrate to Israel after over 2,500 years of presence in Babylon
Israel's dispossession of Palestinians has blighted Jewish-Muslim ties, but the seven-decade conflict is a blip if seen from the perspective of centuries of cordial ties dating back to the rise of Islam By Sameer Arshad Khatlani In September 2020, an imam at Islam's holiest shrine—Mecca’s Grand Mosque—spoke about Prophet Muhammed’s kindness to a Jewish neighbour. … Continue reading Medina Charter To Nakba: Highs, Lows in Jewish-Muslim Ties
Iraq reaped the bitter fruits post-2003 of the adventurism of another Westerner Paul Bremer, who fell back upon the colonial divide-and-rule policy to counter a broad-based challenge to the American occupation and prepared the ground for ISIS to tap into resentment over the Sunni purge
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
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
A tapering gateway of inscriptions and geometric themes now leads to Mustansiriya University, one of the world’s oldest universities which survived the Mongol onslaught, floods, and manmade and natural calamities that claimed much of Baghdad’s heritage over centuries
A culture of openness, pluralism, and innovation has transformed the United Arab Emirates into one of the most advanced countries globally in less than five decades after the country was formed encompassing tribal lands
