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identity, conflict, traditions, and human behavior

Young Syrian artists revive Andalusian heritage through poetry and music

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By N.J/ R.K | sana.sy Damascus, Oct. 26 (SANA) Young poets and performers gathered at the Arab Cultural Center in Mazzeh on Sunday for “Guests from Córdoba,” event, a cultural evening featuring poetry, recitation, singing and music inspired by Andalusian heritage. The program included literary and musical performances celebrating Córdoba and Andalusia, alongside poems reflecting Damascus’s cultural significance. The event…

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Simurgh: The most mystical mythical bird species on Earth

AbdulBaseer al-Buhairi

As the Amazon book description has it: My “ornithological treatise” Bad Birder’s Birding Report is actually illustrated nonsense verse in the tradition of Edward Lear, Lewis Carroll, Gillette Burgess, and Dr. Seuss. Featuring 125 poems and 130 illustrations, it mentions more than 150 species of birds, including virtually all of the most common North American species as well as several”exotics,”…

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Europe is in trouble, and it is blaming Muslims

AbdulBaseer al-Buhairi

A recent European Parliament resolution shows the European mainstream is fully embracing an Islamophobic agenda.  By Farid Hafez, Senior researcher with Georgetown University’s The Bridge Initiative, for AlJazeera As protests in France turned violent late last week, the French far right quickly resorted to racist language to blame the Muslim youth for the violence. Weeks earlier, when thousands of migrants…

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Cities Of Light: The Rise And Fall Of Islamic Spain

AbdulBaseer al-Buhairi

YouTube link From the film’s website: Islamic Spain Explore the fascinating history of Islamic Spain, as well as the developments in science and cultureand arts and literature that paved the way for European discoveries and the Renaissance. However, none of this would have been possible without the cooperation and flourishing of different faiths and cultures under Muslim rule. A Lost…

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American Muslim Sociologist Musa al-Gharbi Takes a Road Trip Across USA

AbdulBaseer al-Buhairi

In March 2016, long before anyone thought Trump had a chance to win the presidency, Musa al-Gharbi and I predicted it on my podcast. (Write-up here.) Since then Musa got witch-hunted, sort of like I did in 2006, but he handled it more “professionally” (ahem) and still has an academic career. I’ve been following his work ever since. His latest…

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Saidia as Sophronia: The Government is Gone, but the Roller Coaster Remains

AbdulBaseer al-Buhairi

The beach town of Saidia, Morocco, is made up of two half-cities. In one there is the great roller coaster with its steep humps, the carousel with its chain spokes, the Ferris wheel of spinning cages, the ATV-riders and motorcyclists emitting ear-splitting auditory mayhem, the summer exhibits and fairs and displays, the Marina district with its pampered yacht-owning golfers, the…

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The Islamic roots of the American Republic

AbdulBaseer al-Buhairi

Many Muslims find Claire Khaw’s Secular Koranism congenial but unnecessary. After all, the Islamic way of life, complete with rules to live by a.k.a. legal principles and even some clear injunctions, is already based on the Qur’an, so why secularize it? But Khaw isn’t telling Muslims they ought to live by Qur’anic principles. We already know that. Her primary audience…

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October 7, 2023 Was Revelatory: And So Will Be Its Abiding Significance in History

AbdulBaseer al-Buhairi

by Salim Mansur Auden’s lines, “Those to whom evil is done / Do evil in return”, recall the oldest counsel of the wise elders – the shamans, oracles, avatars, priests. In Vedantic scripture Auden’s lines is akin to the meaning of “karma”, the moral principle of consequence of consequence. Or inversely, as Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount,…

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