#books on the complexities of Arab identity

[unsolicited-opinions]

Truthiness in a Keffiyeh

A conversation in the replies about the Gen Z folks who relentlessly try to cram a complex world into the oppressor/victim framing, regardless of facts, reasoning, history, context, or nuance made me time travel 20 years back.

@bluecityrose writes:

There’s also a sense [which we perceive in the Gen Z anti-Israel leftists] that knowledge of the conflict, its history and nuance, doesn’t matter.  

I’ve had many conversations where people know nothing of the history of Jews and Arabs in the Levant, or how many of those countries were formed, or what Hamas really is, or what Israel is really like, or the role of other countries in the region.

They are surprised by everything I say.  

At some point I ask them - why do you feel comfortable having such strong opinions about a highly complex situation when you know so little about it? Would you make such confident statements about conflicts in other countries you are unfamiliar with?

Agreed! I think their anti-Israel drive has virtually nothing to do with facts, principals, or reasoning. It's serving their emotional needs.

Then @doomhamster put their finger on it:

I agree. I think it's about the...almost fetishization of "emotional truth" and experience. 

Saying you understand what someone else is going through when you don't have their exact mix of identities gets you ripped apart [by other leftists, but] saying you understand a chain of events when you don't know shit about it is just fine though, in most people's eyes, because that's "just" facts. They can be bent and twisted freely to serve what they FEEL is true.

I'm showing my age here, but isn't that Truthiness?

If you weren't alive or watching late night comedy in 2005, let me catch you up:

Truthiness was first introduced by Stephen Colbert on the premiere episode of The Colbert Report on October 17, 2005. Colbert did every episode of this show in character as as a right wing talking head pundit like like Fox News' Bill O'Reilly (who was later replaced by Tucker Carlson). His characer was a satire of right wing punditry. Here's the segment:

Truthiness is the belief in something that feels true in one's gut, regardless of evidence, logic, or facts. 

Facts take a back seat to feelings, vibes, and baseless moral certainty. It's truth because it feels true...regardless of its falsity.

if you look around the media and politics environment today...it seems clear that Truthiness now rules most of the political spectrum.

The right is still awful about this, but now the far left is, too.

The Gen Z leftists (particularly the tankies, but it's all of them) have taken their foreign policy and geopolitical ideologies based on feelings, vibes, and and whatever makes them feel righteous.

Feeling righteous is important because it permits them to vent that righteousness with impunity, with no criticism from their contemporaaries no matter how false, bigotted, or violent it is. Because when you're up against the ultimate evil (the Jews/Israel), all things are permitted. And it feels so good to have a license to hate!

It's not about the real people who are dying, it's about maintaining that sense of righteousness.

They don't need to read a book about the history of the middle east because they saw an infographic on Instagram which appealed to their emotional needs...and all the fandoms they're in agree, so they must be good people!

They don't have to deal with the pressure of needing to know anything because moral clarity is delivered to them, algorithmically optimized for outrage and completely free of any confusing complexity. Real people are dying, but all they care about is feeling righteous.

Truthiness doesn't demand research or reasoning, just retweets/reblogs/reshares.

For fuck's sake, children.

"Love with your heart, use your head for everything else."

-Captain Disillusion

[qqueenofhades]

I would love to hear about how you came up with the names for the characters in “Empire of Bones”.

Aha, an EOB question, which is a nice break from the heavy stuff! It may have gotten buried due to the uh, Everything of the last few days, but still. (If you are wondering what this refers to, trot over here and buy my book take a look. Ahem.)

As I think I mentioned in an earlier ask from you, the names and societies in the EOB universe are based on, if not strictly correlated to, their real-world counterparts, and thus we can see how the choices were made in historical and linguistic context. Take the city of Qart-Hadesht (which is just the un-Latinized name for Carthage). Because it's a matriarchal Islamic-equivalent society, the name of a character like Aliyah is based on her matrilineal descent: Aliyah bet Zadia ur-Namasqa. The "bet" particle means "daughter of" as it does in other Semitic languages ("ben" means "son of") and the feminine form of her surname, with an a, is used. Her brother, in this case, would be referred to as Aljafar ben Zadia ur-Namasq, and her father took his wife's last name when they were married. The medieval Arabic way to refer to a family group or dynastic house was as the Banu Family Name, meaning sons of, children of, so I changed that to Batu [Family] to suggest that the family is primarily conceived as matriarchal and thus uses a t (as in bet, daughter of) instead of n (ben, son of). Hence, the Batu Namasqa means "the [matriarchal] Namasqa family or the daughters of Namasqa."

The Meronite characters' names are obviously based on Latin (Lanuvian is a real predecessor language of Latin and is used as the in-universe name for Latin) and imperial Roman naming customs. Ionius is a loose Latinization of the Slavic Ivan; Ion is the Romanian form of John, and thus equivalent to Ivan. Coriolane is an obvious reference to Coriolanus; his second name, Aureus, means "gold." Khasmedeus is a variation of Asmodeus, the demon most famously associated with King Solomon/Tselmun in the kabbalistic tradition and rabbinical literature, and some of Asmodeus's other historical names can be heard when Khasmedeus introduces itself to its various unsuspecting human masters throughout the course of the story. Julian uses two forms of his name; the Ruthynian (Russian) "Julian Janovynich" and the Vashemysh/Yerussalan (Yiddish/Hebrew) "Yulian ben Yanov" to demonstrate how he attempts to navigate his identity and its complexities as an Eastern European Jew (or Ruthynian Vashemite in EOB-verse). Place names such as Qin come from the actual medieval or ancient dynasties; the emperor of China has in the past been known as the "Thearch of Qin," just as they are addressed in the book. "Sardarkhand" is an expy of "Samarkand." And so forth.

(Yes, since you ask. Yes, I had great fun.)

[zerogate]

I am sure that many readers can relate if I say that learning about Byzantium feels like discovering the sunken civilization of Atlantis. You can read a thousand books about the “Middle Ages”, even do a Ph.D. in “Medieval Studies” (as I did), and hardly ever hear about Byzantium. And then, one day, when you thought you knew your basics about the turn of the first millennium AD, you read something like this:

At the turn of the first millennium the empire of New Rome was the oldest and most dynamic state in the world and comprised the most civilized portions of the Christian world. Its borders, long defended by native frontier troops, were being expanded by the most disciplined and technologically advanced army of its time. The unity of Byzantine society was grounded in the equality of Roman law and a deep sense of a common and ancient Roman identity; cemented by the efficiency of a complex bureaucracy; nourished and strengthened by the institutions and principles of the Christian Church; sublimated by Greek rhetoric; and confirmed by the passage of ten centuries. At the end of the reign of Basileios II (976-1025), the longest in Roman history, its territory included Asia Minor and Armenia, the Balkan peninsula south of the Danube, and the southern regions of both Italy and the Crimea. Serbia, Croatia, Georgia, and some Arab emirates in Syria and Mesopotamia had accepted a dependent status.

[...]

Byzantine revisionism starts by putting Constantinople back on the map. Throughout the Middle Ages, it was by far the largest city in the Christian world. According to Runciman, its population reached one million in the twelfth century, counting the suburbs. Its wealth deeply impressed all newcomers. In the twelfth-century French roman Partonopeu de Blois, Constantinople is the name of Paradise, a city of gold, ivory and precious stones. Robert de Clari, who was among the crusaders who sacked it in 1204, marveled: “Since the creation of this world, such great wealth had neither been seen nor conquered.” Up to that point, Constantinople was the greatest international trade center, linking China, India, Arabia, Europe and Africa.

Constantinople must also be restored to its proper place in the timeline. Anthony Kaldellis writes:

Byzantine civilization began when there were still some people who could read and write in Egyptian hieroglyphics; the oracle of Delphi and the Olympic games were still in existence; and the main god of worship in the east was Zeus. When Byzantium ended, the world had cannons and printing presses, and some people who witnessed the fall of Constantinople in 1453 lived to hear about Columbus’s journey to the New World. Chronologically, Byzantium spans the entire arc from antiquity to the early modern period, and its story is intertwined with that of all the major players in world history on this side of the Indus river.

-- Laurent Guyénot, Byzantine Revisionism Unlocks World History

[justforbooks]

Elias Khoury

Lebanese novelist best known for his 1998 book Gate of the Sun, which he said was an act of love for the Palestinian people

Throughout his life and in his 14 novels, the Lebanese writer Elias Khoury, who has died aged 76 after a long illness, explored his region’s contemporary history, whether it was identity politics, social inequality and injustice, or the expulsion and dispossession of Palestinians that he witnessed first-hand.

His best-known work, Gate of the Sun (1998), translated into English by Humphrey Davies, is both an epic love story between a husband and wife, and one of the first novels to describe the 1948 Palestinian Nakba, giving faces, names and histories to the voiceless.

Khoury used stories that he had collected over seven years from Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, and testimonials from Palestinians who remained in the Galilee region, today part of Israel. Gate of the Sun was an act of love for the Palestinian people, Khoury said, and in it he wove those stories together to give the full sweep of Palestinian history. The novel has been translated into 14 languages and in 2004 was made into a film by the Egyptian director Yousry Nasrallah.

Khoury was part of what is known as the civil war generation of Lebanon (1975-90), which includes writers such as Hanan al-Shaykh, Hoda Barakat, and Jabbour Douaihy, all of whose works were a significant departure from earlier Lebanese authors through their modern style and content. Khoury experimented with narration and form, as well as the way he wrote in fus’ha, or classical Arabic, bringing the language as close as possible to the spoken word, increasing its fluidity.

His first novel, On the Relations of the Circle (1975), was published the year the civil war began. He participated in the war with a leftist alliance, and was injured, losing his sight temporarily. In between fighting he wrote his second book, Little Mountain (1977), which describes the early years of the war through the eyes of three characters. In White Masks (1981), Khoury wrote about the social fragmentation and disintegration of Lebanese society undergoing the complexities of a civil war.

Born in Beirut, into a Christian middle-class family, he was the son of Adèle Abdelnour and Iskandar Khoury, who worked for Mobil Oil. He came of age in the 1960s and early 70s, when the city had become a flourishing intellectual and artistic regional capital. However, this was against a backdrop of sectarianism and profound economic inequality, deeply influenced by regional tensions.

While studying history at the Lebanese University in Beirut, in 1967 Khoury travelled to Jordan to work in a Palestinian refugee camp, then joined the Palestinian Liberation Organisation. In an interview with the Paris Review in 2017, Khoury said: “We trained in Syria, in the camps at Hama and Maysaloun, just off the Beirut- Damascus highway … Later on, we worked in the south of Lebanon as well as around Beirut.”

However, Khoury decided he wanted to become an “intellectual”, leaving for Paris in 1970 to study social history at the École Pratique des Hautes Études. There, he worked on a thesis about the 1840-60 Mount Lebanon war between the Druze and Maronite communities that provided a base for his subsequent writings on the civil war.

Two years later he returned to Lebanon where he worked at the Palestine Research Center and for its journal, Palestinian Affairs, where he became editor-in-chief in 1975. He was culture editor of the Lebanese daily As-Safir from 1983 to 1990 then, once the civil war ended, he ran the cultural supplement of the An-Nahar newspaper.

Khoury was actively involved in the region’s secular, leftwing intellectual scene, working with the poets Mahmoud Darwish and Adonis, and the writer and critic Edward Said in New York, where Khoury taught Arabic literature at Columbia University (1980-81), then held the title of global distinguished professor at New York University (2000-14). He also taught at the University of London, and universities in Switzerland and Lebanon.

According to his French-language translator, Rania Samara, who worked with him for 25 years, Khoury was “someone who lived his Arab society to the fullest with his political positions and commitments. He was courageous and frank about everything he thought, and all this was reflected in his work. There was no dissociation between life and the man.”

Although he always supported the Palestinian people, Khoury never hesitated to criticise Arab leaders, including the PLO, and he sought to understand Israel, teaching himself Hebrew and reading Israeli novelists. Indeed, his Children of the Ghetto trilogy (2016-23) is set in Lydda, Palestine, which becomes Lod, Israel, where his Palestinian characters speak Hebrew, but also in New York and Warsaw, where Jewish and Israeli histories are explored.

The trilogy characteristically follows a form of circuitous storytelling – Khoury spoke of his love for the One Thousand and One Nights, and the infinity and continuity of Scheherazade’s stories. His own stories often feel as if each narrator is passing a baton to the next. The protagonist of the three books in the trilogy, My Name Is Adam (2016), Star of the Sea (2019) and A Man Like Me (2023), Adam Dannoun, is a complex character whom Samara thought that Khoury most resembled, saying: “He didn’t know if the character resembled him or if he was the character. We no longer know who the author is and who the reader is. The reader is the author’s mirror. He loved this dizzying kind of game.”

In A Man Like Me, the character of Khalil, who originally appeared in Gate of the Sun attempting to revive a comatose leader of the Palestinian resistance by telling him stories, resurfaces, circling back to Khoury’s previous work.

As well as his novels and articles, Khoury wrote a collection of short stories, three plays and a number of literary studies.

Throughout his recent illness and nearly year-long hospitalisation suffering from ischaemia, Khoury wrote articles for the London-based Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper. He was also the editor of the Arabic Journal of Palestine Studies and was working on a novel set in contemporary Beirut.

Two months before his death, Khoury wrote in Al-Quds al-Arabi: “Can he whose ordeal has been rooted in the land since the beginning of the Palestinian resistance lose heart? Gaza and Palestine have been savagely attacked for nearly a year, yet they continue to resist, unwavering. A model from which I have learned to love life every day.”

He is survived by his wife, Najla Jraissati Khoury, a writer and researcher whom he married in 1971, his daughter, Abla, his son, Talal, a grandson, Yamen, and three siblings, Samira, Souad and Michel.

🔔 Elias Khoury, author, editor and journalist, born 12 July 1948; died 15 September 2024

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[latenightcinephile]

Film #918: 'Lawrence of Arabia', dir. David Lean, 1962.

Like many of David Lean's epic films, Lawrence of Arabia has had an enduring legacy, with its depictions of the desert landscape so impactful that almost every subsequent desert film is indebted to it in some regard. From Dune to The Lion King, the cinematic imagination of the desert has been set by this particular film. What interests me about the film is the way in which this visual style sets the tone for the film's themes - to me, Lawrence of Arabia is a film about identity, and how it is sculpted, and the sculpting of identity requires an extreme environment.

During the First World War, T. E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) is scouted for an undercover mission to determine the intentions and allegiances of the Iraqi Prince Faisal (Alec Guinness). Faisal intends to overthrow the Turkish regime, but Lawrence encourages him over time to engage in this attack in a way that is aligned with the British intentions in the region. Despite Lawrence's orders to make his assessments quietly, Lawrence is too outspoken, a quality which intrigues Faisal and further distances Lawrence from the British generals. Lawrence's first encounters with the Prince's commander, Sherif Ali (Omar Sharif), are antagonistic, and Ali is particularly doubtful when Lawrence conceives of a plan to attack the fortified port of Aqaba by riding across a punishing desert. Lawrence seemingly works a miracle by rescuing one of the Arab men, who was left behind while crossing the desert, but when this same man kills another in a blood feud, Lawrence executes him himself, rather than risk his strategy. The attack on Aqaba is successful, and Lawrence returns to Cairo to inform his superiors, who tactfully assure him that the British do not intend to annex parts of Arabia (despite the existence of a treaty which plans precisely that).

Lawrence continues with guerrilla tactics against the Turks, but seems to increasingly buy into his own hero complex. During an undercover mission, Lawrence is captured by the Turkish Bey, who humiliates Lawrence - Lawrence is in disguise, but the suspicious Bey asks where he is from. No longer feeling like he has a purpose, and anxious about the aspects of his personality he has discovered, Lawrence returns to the British forces, but is immediately encouraged to join in the British capture of Damascus. Unlike his prior groups, who were committed to the cause of Arab independence and have been alienated by Lawrence's recklessness, Lawrence instead hires violent mercenaries. Despite Ali's protestations, this ragtag battalion engages in the slaughter of injured Turkish troops who are in retreat. Lawrence's army arrives in Damascus and conquers the city before the British arrive. A broken Lawrence attempts to unite the arguing forces, but is abandoned by them all, including Ali. He is recalled to Britain where, no longer useful to anybody in the war effort, he retires until his death in 1935.

The thing that first made me think about the themes of identity in Lawrence of Arabia was a short biography of Lawrence in the Robert Aldrich book Gay Lives, where the author acknowledges that most of what we think we know about Lawrence comes from his own writings in books such as The Seven Pillars of Wisdom. This makes any attempt to tell Lawrence's story a little suspect from the beginning, as we can easily believe that Lawrence's own story embellishes and burnishes the events that he was involved in. To its credit, the film deftly sidesteps any hagiography. Instead, it goes in the other direction, portraying Lawrence as an egomaniac and as someone who finds himself buying into his own mythology. Even in the historical record, there is no denying the charismatic power that Lawrence held, and O'Toole's performance exaggerates this in a number of subtle ways - his youthful glee at just how much he is doing early in the film means that every scene is made more buoyant (which only makes his descent into difficulty and eventual despair more pronounced). Some of this is also completely coincidental: one way to make the 5-foot-5 Lawrence seem larger-than-life would be to cast the 6-foot-2 O'Toole to play him, but I can't imagine that was a deliberate choice on the part of Lean. The potential differences between how Lawrence portrays himself in his writing, and who he really was and what he did, means that the film has a complicated task ahead of it. It must mine that gap for the contradictions in T. E. Lawrence, which are precisely the contradictions that can't easily be articulated in a screenplay. Very few people will deliver monologues in which they explain the differences between their presentation and their true self, and definitely not in the 1910s. So the film has to find a visual language in which to convey these ideas.

Taking out the specifics of Lawrence's life, this film has one consistent thematic through-line: the desert is the place where identity can be lost and the place where it can be found. From the very beginning of the film, it is clear that Lawrence doesn't fit comfortably within the strictures of his British identity. This is not just limited to the British army, but also seen in the distant and ambivalent way the attendees of his funeral speak about him. One of his enduring personality traits is his independence in dealing with the Arabs - he takes pains to specify to Prince Faisal and Ali that he is providing his own advice, not the advice of the British Army, and often seeks reassurance from his military superiors that he is not deceiving his Arab friends. When he is given specific orders, recommendations, or told that something is impossible, he frequently ignores this advice. As the Lawrence 'of Arabia', though, he is given permission to indulge these more reckless endeavours and tactics. Even in this, he finds it possible to go beyond what those familiar with the Arabian desert claim can be done, such as when he goes into the desert alone to retrieve the fallen man. He is rewarded for this with a white robe that he clearly adores - not only is it far more convenient than his former outfit, which unavoidably marks him out as a foreigner, but it represents the extent to which he has been accepted into a new culture, and the degree to which he embodies that culture's values. This security is short-lived, however. His triumph in rescuing Gasim, Prince Faisal's fallen man, immediately comes back to haunt him. Executing Gasim is the honourable thing to do, and it has the far more immediate benefit of allowing Lawrence's strategy to attack Aqaba to continue. On the other hand, it apparently awakens a bloodlust that Lawrence finds uncomfortable, and one that he will later cite to his superiors as evidence that he should be discharged. By going into the desert, he has been able to shed his ill-fitting identity and find one that suits him better. Like many experiences of cultural immersion, the process is uncomfortable, and forces Lawrence to face for the first time his violent desires. In England, he has never had to even consider whether these desires exist - there is no place in British society where they could be contemplated. Lawrence discovers himself in Arabia, and doesn't like what he finds.

A modern viewer has the opportunity to go even further. The accuracy of the film to Lawrence's life is mostly irrelevant - Lean's film presents us a character and invites us to analyse them. From a contemporary perspective I am inclined to ascribe to Lawrence some of the worst colonial traits. His white robes mark him out as an obvious interloper within the Arab world, even though they have been bestowed upon him as a mark of belonging. He seeks to immerse himself completely in this new culture, one that he feels at home in, but the film also presents him as being an egotist, and as such being quite proud of his successes. He has become an Arab, and gained their acceptance, but his ability to move back and forth between Arabia and the British Empire, however imperfect, makes him appear to be an improvement over either culture. "No Arab loves the desert," Ali tells him, but Lawrence does seem to love the desert - does that make him an improvement? Somehow, this man born in Wales rides into the desert and performs untold heroic feats, and the film provides no explanation for how he accomplishes them. It's merely that he believes in himself. And that self-belief is almost certainly a relic of a stern British imperialism that leads him to believe he can continue to defy the odds.

In order for the desert to be a place where identity can be lost and gained, Lean's film sets it apart in an impressive way, using all the techniques of the epic genre to astonish the viewer. Where Lean has always succeeded in his epics is the employment of the astonishing. Throughout the film there are many sequences that rely on the spectacle of film production - of amassing a large number of extras, building a large and impressive set, or conducting a tremendous stunt on camera - but some of the most powerful moments of spectacle here are the ones that consist of pointing the camera at something big or impressive that nobody thinks to point a camera at. The sun rises in real time, hypnotically: first a straight line of orange over the horizon, as thin as a hair, and then it grows.Lawrence and his guide ride on camels that appear as tiny specks in the distance. When Lawrence looks through his binoculars at a caravan in the distance, the caravan is still just a row of tiny specks in the distance. It's a powerful technique for showing just how sparse this region really is, and how for most of his time here, Lawrence is truly alone with himself.

At nearly four hours, Lawrence of Arabia is not the most approachable of films, but then epics seldom are. Rather than tell a basic biography of its subject, the film instead tries to encompass a number of different and sometimes contradictory perspectives on who T. E. Lawrence was. At times, it presents such an unvarnished view of this man that it feels less like a biopic and more like a rebuttal. There are hints here of the deeper recesses of Lawrence, including his supposed queer identity and his fascination with masochism. In a shorter or choppier film, one steered with a less skillful hand, these hints would be unsettling - the contradictions would feel like mistakes or clumsiness, rather than different aspects of the one figure. But Lean has one of the most skillful hands in the business, and he lets these hints slip back and forth within the film, so that we're aware of them if we choose to be, but never distracted by them. If nothing else, Lawrence of Arabia is a showcase of how to weave themes into a film. Fortunately, it's a lot more than just that.

[bookeysnewsletter]

The Stranger: An Existential Tale of Alienation and Absurdity

Chapter 1 What's The Stranger by Albert Camus

"The Stranger" is a novel written by French author Albert Camus, published in 1942. The book tells the story of a detached and apathetic Algerian man named Meursault, who becomes embroiled in a murder case. The protagonist's indifference to societal norms and his refusal to conform to conventional morality make him an outsider in his community. The novel explores existential themes such as the absurdity of life, human freedom, and the meaninglessness of existence. Through Meursault's experiences, Camus challenges readers to question the nature of truth, justice, and the human condition.

Chapter 2 The Stranger by Albert Camus Summary

"The Stranger" is a novel by French author Albert Camus, first published in 1942. The story is set in French Algeria and follows the life of Meursault, a detached and indifferent man who becomes embroiled in a senseless murder.

The novel opens with Meursault receiving news of his mother's death. He attends her funeral, but shows little emotion and behaves in a detached manner. After the funeral, Meursault begins a romantic relationship with a young woman named Marie and befriends his neighbor, Raymond, who is involved in a violent altercation with an Arab man.

One day, Raymond convinces Meursault to accompany him to a beach where they come across the Arab man and his friends. In a fit of rage, Raymond assaults the Arab, leading to a confrontation. Meursault, in a moment of intense heat and sunlight, shoots and kills the Arab man.

Meursault is arrested and put on trial for murder. Throughout the trial, he shows little remorse or regret for his actions, leading the court to view him as a cold and callous individual. Ultimately, Meursault is convicted and sentenced to death by guillotine.

"The Stranger" is a novel that explores themes of existentialism, absurdity, and the meaning of life. Through the character of Meursault, Camus presents a complex and thought-provoking exploration of morality, identity, and the human experience.

Chapter 3 The Stranger Author

Albert Camus was a French Algerian philosopher, author, and journalist. He was born on November 7, 1913, in Mondovi, French Algeria, and died on January 4, 1960, in Villeblevin, France.

Camus released "The Stranger" (L'Étranger) in 1942. The novel is considered one of his most famous works and a classic of existentialist literature.

Apart from "The Stranger," some of Camus's other notable works include "The Myth of Sisyphus," "The Plague," "The Fall," and "Caligula."

In terms of editions, the best edition of "The Stranger" would likely be the original French edition or a reputable English translation, such as the one by Stuart Gilbert. It is always recommended to go for a well-reviewed and critically acclaimed edition to fully appreciate the author's writing and the nuances of the story.

Chapter 4 The Stranger Meaning & Theme

The Stranger Meaning

The Stranger by Albert Camus is a novel that explores the themes of existentialism and absurdism. The protagonist, Meursault, is a detached and indifferent man who struggles to find meaning and purpose in his life. He feels disconnected from society and lacks emotional depth, often behaving in a cold and detached manner towards those around him.

The novel raises questions about the nature of existence and the human experience. Meursault's indifference to social norms and his lack of emotional engagement challenge traditional ideas of morality and ethics. Through Meursault's experiences, the novel examines the meaning of life and the consequences of living in a world that is devoid of inherent meaning or purpose.

Overall, The Stranger is a thought-provoking exploration of the human condition, inviting readers to reflect on the absurdity of life and the challenges of finding meaning and purpose in a world that often seems senseless and indifferent.

The Stranger Theme

One of the main themes in The Stranger by Albert Camus is existentialism. The protagonist, Meursault, embodies the philosophy of existentialism through his detachment from societal norms and values, his belief in the meaningless of life, and his embrace of authenticity and individualism. Meursault's indifference to the world around him and his acceptance of his own mortality reflect the existentialist idea that life has no inherent purpose or meaning, and that individuals are free to create their own meaning through their choices and actions.

Another major theme in the novel is the absurdity of human existence. Camus explores the idea that life is inherently illogical and nonsensical, and that humans are caught in a never-ending cycle of searching for meaning in a world that is fundamentally meaningless. Meursault's experiences throughout the novel, from his casual relationships to his murder of an Arab man on a beach, highlight the absurdity and irrationality of human behavior and the consequences of living in a world devoid of inherent meaning.

The theme of alienation is also prevalent in The Stranger. Meursault's sense of detachment from the world around him, his inability to connect with others on an emotional level, and his lack of empathy for those around him all contribute to his feelings of isolation and alienation. The novel explores the idea that individuals are fundamentally alone in the world, unable to truly understand or connect with others, and that this sense of alienation can lead to feelings of insignificance and futility.

Overall, The Stranger is a powerful exploration of existential themes such as the meaninglessness of life, the absurdity of human existence, and the alienation of the individual. Through the character of Meursault and his experiences, Camus challenges readers to confront the fundamental questions of existence and to consider the implications of living in a world that is indifferent to our struggles and desires.

Chapter 5 Quotes of The Stranger

The Stranger quotes as follows:

1. "Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday; I can't be sure."

2. "When you have once seen the glow of happiness on the face of a beloved person, you know that a man can have no vocation but to awaken that light on the faces surrounding him."

3. "I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world."

4. "I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate."

5. "In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer."

6. "Since we're all going to die, it's obvious that when and how don't matter."

7. "To feel less alone, I spent a lot of time talking with the caretaker."

8. "I had been happy, and I was happy still. For all to be accomplished, for me to feel less lonely, all that remained to hope was that on the day of my execution there should be a huge crowd of spectators and that they greet me with howls of execration."

9. "The feeling of absurdity can strike any man in the face. And when it does, every occupation seems completely meaningless."

10. "Men are never convinced of your reasons, of your sincerity, of the seriousness of your sufferings, except by your death."

Chapter 6 Similar Books Like The Stranger

1. "1984" by George Orwell - A dystopian classic that explores themes of surveillance, government control, and individual freedom.

2. "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee - A powerful and moving novel that addresses issues of racism, injustice, and the importance of empathy and understanding.

3. "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen - A timeless classic that explores themes of love, class, and societal expectations in 19th century England.

4. "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald - A novel that delves into the excesses of the Jazz Age and the hollowness of the American Dream.

5. "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger - A coming-of-age novel that follows the rebellious and disillusioned teenager, Holden Caulfield, as he navigates the complexities of adolescence and adulthood.

Book https://www.bookey.app/book/the-stranger

Author https://www.bookey.app/quote-author/albert-camus

Quotes https://www.bookey.app/quote-book/the-stranger

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKj4NIFCztI

Amazom https://www.amazon.com/Stranger-Albert-Camus/dp/0679720200

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49552.The_Stranger

[totallyhussein-blog]

Exploring the global landscape and the different ways to be American

In 2003, when Kathy Saade Kenny, the granddaughter of Palestinian immigrants, stumbled upon a mysterious cache of letters stored in an old See’s candy box tucked away in the back of a closet in her mother’s Los Angeles home, she was intrigued.

As Susan Bell explains, inside the box were more than 130 letters written by her grandmother, Katrina Sa’ade. A successful businesswoman, Sa’ade had migrated to California from Palestine, via Mexico.

Suspecting the letters could provide a treasure trove of information about her family history, Kenny was excited to read them. However, as a third-generation immigrant, she didn’t possess the necessary key to unlock their secrets: The letters were written in Arabic.

Sarah Gualtieri describes this scene in her book Arab Routes: Pathways to Syrian California (Stanford University Press, 2019), which explores how an Arab American community came into being in Southern California. In doing so, Gualtieri, associate professor of American studies and ethnicity, history and Middle East studies at USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, re-inscribes Arabs into California history.

“Traditionally, California history hasn’t done a very good job of recognizing the deep roots of the Arab community here in the state,” Gualtieri says. “My book also pushes against this idea that circulates very widely in the media that Arabs are new immigrants, and that they are always somehow more Middle Eastern than they are American.”

Enlisting the help of a Palestinian historian and translator, Kenny embarked on a journey to unlock the secrets of her grandmother’s past. The translated letters revealed a complicated divorce case between her grandmother and her then-husband — a case that took her grandmother back and forth to Palestine.

“Kathy comes to understand her grandmother’s journey as a migrant, as a woman who came from Palestine to California through this unfolding mystery that’s revealed through her letters,” Gualtieri says. “Not only does Kathy discover an untold family drama, she starts to understand this whole dimension of her life in a new way. This helps her connect to her sense of Arabness and refine her identity as an Arab American.”

Gualtieri says the Arab American community often works to reconstruct their connection to their Middle Eastern roots. Many of those she interviewed during her research tended to mute their identity as Arab Americans — often, she says, because they came of age in the 1950s and ’60s, when, just as now, there was considerable hostility toward Arab countries.

The Latin American connection

The realization that people’s origins are frequently much more complex than they may appear on the surface is a key theme that runs through Gualtieri’s research. We tend to think of immigration as a unilinear journey, she argues, and don’t pay enough attention to the important role that’s played in shaping immigrants’ identities by the places where they live and spend time along the way.

Since the late 19th century, Syrian and Lebanese migration, in particular, to Southern California has been intimately connected to and through Latin America, and especially Mexico.

“This Latin American dimension of the Arab history in Southern California is not well known, and I wanted to tell that story,” Gualtieri said. “My book looks at what I call ‘other pathways’ to the U.S., and specifically to California, in particular at this southern route that so many Arabic-speaking migrants took to come to L.A.”

Gualtieri’s research goes beyond the Ellis Island stereotypes to uncover the stories of this Syrian American community, one both Arabized and Latinized, revealing important cross-border and multiethnic solidarities in Syrian California.

Sleepy Lagoon murder

Among them, she reveals the Syrian interests in the defense of the Mexican American teens charged in the 1942 Sleepy Lagoon murder.

Twenty-two alleged members of L.A.’s 38th Street Gang were accused of the murder of another Mexican American youth, José Díaz, who had been found unconscious and dying near a Commerce, California, reservoir.

Nicknamed “Sleepy Lagoon,” the reservoir was a popular swimming spot for Mexican Americans denied entrance to segregated pools. Seventeen defendants eventually went to court as the largest mass trial in California history took place in an atmosphere of intense prejudice and racial discrimination.

This scene on the cover of Sarah Gualtieri’s latest book showing acrobats performing at Muscle Beach near Santa Monica, California, is set against the backdrop of a Syrian American cafe.

Gualtieri tells the story of what became an infamous miscarriage of justice through the lens of one of the lead defense lawyers in the case, a Syrian American named George Shibley.

“When we understand this celebrated but difficult trial in California history through the eyes of a Syrian American lawyer, we can see the kinds of solidarities that emerged between Arab Americans and Mexican Americans in Los Angeles at that time,” Gualtieri says. “Rather than telling this story through the lens of conflict, we can shift to understanding it as a fascinating story about solidarity and the potential for interethnic coalition building.”

Different ways to be American

At a period in history when we are facing increased Islamophobia, and increased hostility to immigrants, Gualtieri says she would like people to take away the idea that there are different ways to be American.

“Something that’s always troubled me as a scholar in this field is the way in which Arabs are often seen as being unAmerican. Too often we think of Arabic-speaking migrants and their children as being somehow more connected to the region of origin than they are to the region of settlement,” Gualtieri says.

“This book offers a rich history of how integrated Arabs are into the Southern California fabric.”

The striking cover of Gualtieri’s book is a perfect illustration of this. It shows acrobats performing at the celebrated Muscle Beach in Santa Monica, California, in the 1940s. It’s an iconic Southern California scene and the backdrop is Khoury’s — a Syrian American café.

“I like that idea of thinking about the presence of an Arab cafe owner in such an iconic story of California leisure,” Gualtieri says. “I want readers to obviously be struck by the tumblers, but also to look beyond them and to see another layer — this Syrian American café where people probably went to buy a soda while they watched the acrobatics.”

[joemuggs]

BLACK WHITE YES NO ZERO ONE

A twitter thread from the other day, archived.

Something that's nagged at me for a REALLY long time about how cultural narratives get oversimplified, to the detriment of the best artists, came into relief for me at the weekend: the false dualities at the heart of American canonical criticism are the ghosts of segregation.

Recently on a FB group someone was asking why Latin freestyle wasn't better known. Valid question because it's one of THE keystones of the last 40 years of pop. Thinking back through reporting of the 80s it occurred: because history has been written - literally - as Black And White.

(Before this goes any further, pls note this is NOT to erase Black music or say it's all one big happy clappy melting pot, quite the opposite really)

When I was about 12 and first really into pop - so mid 80s - I got given a fat Rolling Stone tome that presented itself as a definitive history. It presented the birth of rock'n'roll as the Big Bang, the source of everything thereafter: and, crucially, it painted this origin point as what happened when black met white, specifically a fusion of R&B and country.

Very strong implication (possibly made explicit, I can't remember, but I feel like it was) was that this was "African rhythm plus European melody and harmony".

Fine, I was 12, I had no reason to doubt this, I was finding stuff out, great. As I learned more, for years I never came across much to make me question the Creation Myth or its assumptions; it was written into everything.

It was only YEARS later that I read a brilliant book about the Brill Building generation of songwriters, and understood the complexity of the rock'n'roll era and the birth of pop, soul etc. In particular: huge swathes of the songs were written by Jewish kids obsessed with Latin mambo.

(Side note - given that Spanish music contains huge amounts of Arabic influence, it's fun to whimsically think of this interface as a moment of Middle Eastern reunification)

Again, this is not to say that the African, Celtic, Anglo influences previously cited weren't real, even dominant, but suddenly the picture - and all the histories of migration, exile, colonialism, slavery etc -burst open, became three dimensional, came to life.

Around this time I also discovered Paul Gilroy and ideas about the Black Atlantic, i.e. that diaspora was multiple and complex with criss-crossing influences of its own. Realising that ofc "Latin" music included all sorts of African historical influence ("cumbia", or "cumbees", was noted as an African style in the 17th century!) made me realise that history was interwoven all the way down.

Since, it's nagged at me that American culture so often gets presented as Black Music / White Music as monolithic things - until recently, Latin was a category Somewhere Over There (even with its own separate Grammys) - but didn't really think about the root of that assumption.

But then yesterday, responding to that freestyle question, the term "Black And White" leapt out: having that binary opposition written into mainstream as the source of EVERYTHING in popular music is an expression of segregation mentality. The same mentality that kept radio, recording industry, etc so split apart in the US.

Yet as jazz and country hit 100 years old, and we look again at the history of THEIR genesis, they were each, as Beyoncé lately reminded us, SUCH a tangle - even in Jim Crow time, music WAS a place for information exchange that couldn't happen elsewhere.

AGAIN: this is not to say there's no such thing as Black Music in the USA, obviously there is. But as we start talking about decolonising history, reasserting things like the roots of house and disco etc, it's worth being vigilant for false binaries as a vehicle for stereotyping and oversimplification of multiplicities of history and identity.

(Another side note: it made me realise why I hate poptimism vs authentocrats etc, because that is just the FALSEST of false binaries)

(And another: if I see another false binary around "Were Kraftwerk the fathers of techno Y/N?" I'll scream down a vocoder loud enough to be heard in Dusseldorf)

Anyway just jotting that down before I forget. As you were.

[frantzfanonarchives]

Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask

Isaac Julien United Kingdom, 1995

Isaac Julien’s film is an eloquent and complex exploration of the life and legacy of this century’s most compelling theorist of racism and colonialism.ANGELA Y. DAVIS

FEATURING

Colin Salmon, Halima Daoud, Noirin Ni Dubhgaill, Amir M. Korangy,

This portrait of Frantz Fanon is as visually captivating as it is intellectually stimulating, exploring the life and work of one of the twentieth century’s most intriguing theorists of race, politics, and gender. Fanon is best known for the pioneering books Black Skin, White Mask and Wretched of the Earth. Born in Martinique in 1925, he received his psychiatric training in France, and there he began to explore the concept of postcolonial identity. Fanon was to become deeply involved in the movement for Algerian independence. Using interviews, readings, and dramatic reenactments, Julien’s film reveals the complexity of Fanon’s elegant maneuvers between the personal and the political.

FILM DETAILS 

SCREENWRITER

Isaac Julien

Mark Nash

CINEMATOGRAPHER

Ahmed Bennys

Conor Connolly

Nina Kellgren

Kyle Kibbe

LANGUAGE

English

French

Arabic

with English subtitles

PRINT INFO

Color

DCP

70 mins

SOURCE

Isaac Julien

[digitalphotoco]

 Your 2025 Guide to Getting a Business Visa for the UAE from India

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) continues to be one of the most dynamic business hubs in the world, attracting Indian entrepreneurs, professionals, and investors looking to tap into global markets. Whether you're attending a trade fair in Dubai, meeting with partners in Abu Dhabi, or exploring expansion opportunities, having the right UAE business visa is your first step.

Here’s a simple, updated guide on how to apply for a UAE business visa from India in 2025.

Who Needs a Business Visa for the UAE?

Indian citizens who are traveling to the UAE for:

Attending business meetings or conferences

Signing deals or contracts

Exploring investment or expansion opportunities

Conducting market research or trade exhibitions

...will need to apply for a short-term business visa, unless they already hold a UAE residence visa or Golden Visa.

Validity & Duration

The standard UAE business visa for Indian applicants is usually:

Valid for 14 to 90 days

Single or multiple entry (based on the application and approval)

Can be extended once, depending on the purpose and supporting documents

How to Apply for a UAE Business Visa from India (2025 Process)

Step 1: Choose the Right Visa Type

Most business visitors will apply under the Visit Visa for Business category. It is typically sponsored by a UAE-based company or business partner.

Step 2: Prepare Required Documents

A valid passport (6 months minimum validity)

Passport-size photograph (white background)

Invitation letter from the host company in UAE

Cover letter from your Indian company stating the purpose of visit

Confirmed flight tickets

Hotel booking or accommodation proof

Business trade license copy of the host company (if applicable)

Step 3: Submit the Application

You can apply:

Through approved UAE travel agents or visa service providers in India

Via UAE’s Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship (ICA) or GDRFA portals (in select emirates)

Through airline services (Emirates, Air Arabia, etc.) if flying with them

Step 4: Pay the Visa Fee

Fees vary depending on the visa type and duration:

₹6,000 to ₹10,000 (approximately)

Additional charges may apply for urgent processing

Step 5: Wait for Approval

Visa processing usually takes 2–5 working days. Expedited services are available for urgent business visits.

 Pro Tips for Approval

Ensure all documents are clear and professionally formatted

Avoid any visa overstay history or inconsistencies in previous UAE travel

Use a local sponsor or company with a good immigration track record

Mention a precise itinerary in your cover letter

Post-Visa Arrival Guidelines in UAE (2025 Update)

Once you arrive:

Carry a printed visa copy and invitation letter

Respect the duration of stay; overstays attract heavy fines

Do not engage in paid work unless explicitly authorized (a separate work permit is required)

Final Thought

Getting a UAE business visa from India in 2025 is a smooth process if done right. A strong application with correct documentation and a clear purpose will enhance your chances of approval. For complex or repeat travel needs, consider consulting a business visa specialist.

Need assistance with documentation, visa filing, or local sponsorship? Visit https://btwvisas.com for personalized visa services.

[rakesprogress212]

Celebrating Egypt One Festival at a Time

When people think of Egypt, they imagine pyramids, camels, and ancient history. But Egypt is more than that. It's alive. It’s colourful. It celebrates life with music, food, and faith. Festivals in Egypt aren’t just traditions. They’re part of the country’s identity.

In the book The Yacoubian Building, Egypt’s modern pulse beats through its people. And that same energy comes alive during its festivals.

Ramadan and Eid Bring Families Together

Ramadan in Egypt is special. Streets are decorated with glowing lanterns called fanoos. Cafes stay open late. People gather after sunset for iftar, the meal to break the fast. The city that’s usually fast-paced slows down for reflection.

When Ramadan ends, Eid al-Fitr begins. It’s a time for joy. Kids wear new clothes. Families visit each other. Sweets like kahk—soft cookies filled with dates or nuts—are everywhere. It feels like the entire country is celebrating under one sky.

Moulid Celebrations Mix Faith and Fun

A moulid is a celebration of a saint’s birthday. But it’s not quiet or formal. It’s lively. Colourful tents pop up in the streets. There are food stalls, music, Sufi chanting, and even carnival rides.

The Moulid of Al-Sayyid Al-Badawi in Tanta is one of the largest. Thousands travel from across Egypt. People chant. Some dance. It’s spiritual, yes—but also joyful. These festivals show Egypt’s blend of religion and celebration.

The Cairo International Film Festival

Egypt also celebrates the arts. The Cairo International Film Festival, held each year, brings global cinema to the Middle East. Actors, directors, and fans come together for film screenings, discussions, and awards.

It’s one of the oldest film festivals in the Arab world. If you’ve watched Cairo Time, you’ll recognise the city’s beauty and complexity—both of which the festival embraces.

Sham El-Nessim—Spring, Bread, and Picnics

This is one of Egypt’s oldest festivals. It dates back to ancient times. Celebrated on the Monday after Coptic Easter, Sham El-Nessim marks the start of spring. Families go to parks. They picnic by the Nile. People eat feseekh—a fermented fish dish—and coloured eggs.

It may sound simple, but it’s deeply cultural. For Egyptians, this day is about renewal. Nature, family, and tradition all come together.

Music Festivals Add Modern Vibes

Egypt has modern festivals too. The Cairo Jazz Festival brings musicians from all over the world. It’s held in cool venues like the American University or local outdoor gardens. Locals and tourists enjoy live music, dance, and culture in a laid-back setting.

Then there’s the Red Sea Jazz Festival in El Gouna. Beach by day. Music by night. It’s Egypt’s way of saying tradition and modernity can mix.

The Spirit of the Nile

The Nile isn’t just a river. It’s a symbol of life. During some festivals, boats are decorated with flowers and lights. People take evening rides. Songs float in the air. Laughter echoes over water. You don’t need to speak the language to feel what’s being celebrated.

In Death on the Nile, the setting holds mystery. But in real life, the Nile often holds music, memories, and celebration.

Why These Festivals Matter

Festivals in Egypt are not just about fun. They are about community. They bring together people from different backgrounds. In a world that’s often divided, festivals unite.

They remind Egyptians of who they are—modern and ancient, spiritual and artistic, rooted and evolving.

If You Visit, Join In

Don’t just be a tourist. Join the festival. Eat the sweets. Watch the dances. Listen to the drums. Ask questions. Locals will welcome you with open arms.

Because in Egypt, every festival is an invitation to feel more alive.

[fixallnow]

Coffee Machine Repair Dubai+971 55 109 5416

A malfunctioning espresso gadget can disrupt your day by day routine, whether or not at home or in the office. If you’re attempting to find Coffee Machine Repair Dubai, Fix All Now is your depended on accomplice. We offer expert, green, and inexpensive espresso gadget repairs across Dubai. Our professional technicians are nicely-equipped to deal with all manufacturers and models, ensuring your device is returned in running situation as quickly as viable.

Why Choose Fix All Now for Coffee Machine Repair in Dubai?

When it comes to espresso machine maintenance, selecting the proper provider issuer is essential. Here’s why Fix All Now is the first-class desire:

1.Expert Technicians

Our crew consists of quite professional andhttps://sites.google.com/new who’ve years of revel in in repairing extraordinary kinds of coffee machines. Whether it’s a commercial coffee machine or a home-use drip espresso maker, we’ve got the information to fix it.

2.Quick and Reliable Service

We understand how crucial a coffee gadget is for your daily life. That’s why we provide fast restore services to reduce downtime. Our crew strives to offer identical-day or subsequent-day upkeep, depending at the complexity of the problem.

3.Affordable Pricing

At Fix All Now, we trust in supplying excellent restore offerings at aggressive charges. We provide transparent pricing without a hidden fees, ensuring you get cost on your cash.

4.Four. Genuine Spare Parts

We use best actual and wonderful spare components to make sure the longevity and performance of your espresso gadget. Our purpose is to offer lasting answers in preference to brief fixes.

5.Convenient Location & Easy Contact

Fix All Now is without difficulty located in Dubai, https://www.4shared.com/account/home.jsp#dir=52RFx0-q the intention to drop off your coffee gadget for maintenance. You also can contact us thru WhatsApp or telephone for a trouble-loose booking.

Phone: +971 55 109 5416

Address: GS 1/2 – nine & 10 Jumeirah St – Umm Suqeim – Jumeirah three – Dubai – United Arab Emirates

WhatsApp: +971 fifty five 109 5416

Website: Fix All Now

Common Coffee Machine Issues We Repair

Coffee machines can come upon diverse troubles over time. Here are some common troubles we fix:

1.Machine Not Turning On

If your coffee device isn’t turning on, the issue might be related to energy deliver, inner wiring, or a defective circuit board. Our technicians can fast diagnose and fasten the hassle.

2.Water Leakage

Leaking water from your espresso machine may be resulting from a broken seal, broken hose, or a clogged device. We identify the supply of the leak and offer an effective answer.

3.Three. Coffee Not Brewing Properly

If your espresso machine isn’t always brewing espresso as it should, it is able to be because of clogged filters, mineral buildup, or a malfunctioning heating detail. We thoroughly clean and restore the gadget to restore its capability.

4.Strange Noises

Unusual noises from your espresso gadget may additionally suggest a mechanical hassle. Our specialists will inspect the motor, grinder, and different inner components to ensure smooth operation.

5.Poor Coffee Quality

If your coffee tastes weak, sour, or unique than usual, the difficulty is probably with the grinder, temperature settings, or water best. We best-song your device for the great espresso enjoy.

Our Repair Process

At Fix All Now, we follow a streamlined repair technique to make sure efficiency and patron pride.

Step 1: Inspection & Diagnosis

Once we acquire your coffee system, our technicians perform a thorough inspection to become aware of the foundation motive of the difficulty.

Step 2: Repair & Replacement

After diagnosis, we continue with the necessary upkeep, using awesome substitute parts if needed.

Step three: Testing & Quality Check

Before returning the espresso system, we conduct rigorous checking out to make sure it capabilities well.

Step four: Customer Satisfaction

We tell you as soon as the repair is completed and provide beneficial renovation suggestions to prolong the life of your coffee gadget.

Brands We Repair

At Fix All Now, we restore all main coffee system brands, consisting of:

De’Longhi

And many more!

How to Maintain Your Coffee Machine to Avoid Frequent Repairs

Proper maintenance can enlarge the existence of your coffee device and reduce the want for common maintenance. Here are some crucial hints:

Clean Your Machine Regularly

Regular cleaning prevents buildup of coffee residue and mineral deposits, ensuring a higher flavor and smoother operation.

Use Filtered Water

Hard water can reason mineral deposits that affect the system’s overall performance. Using filtered water can help save you clogging.

Descale Your Machine

Descaling eliminates limescale buildup and continues the heating element in true circumstance. Follow the manufacturer’s tips for descaling frequency.

Replace Filters and Seals

Regularly changing filters and rubber seals helps hold pressure and prevent leaks.

Five. Avoid Overloading the Machine

If your coffee machine has a integrated grinder, keep away from overloading it with espresso beans, as it can strain the motor.

Contact Fix All Now for Professional Coffee Machine Repairs

If you’re looking for Coffee Machine Repair Dubai, Fix All Now is right here to help. We provide expert, speedy, and low cost repairs for all coffee machine brands. Don’t allow a faulty espresso machine spoil your day—touch us now and get it constant through the professionals!

Phone: +971 fifty five 109 5416

Address: GS 1/2 – 9 & 10 Jumeirah St – Umm Suqeim – Jumeirah three – Dubai – United Arab Emirates

WhatsApp: +971 fifty five 109 5416

Website: Fix All Now

Tagged 

[myatfal]

Best Quran Tafseer for Kids: Making the Qur’an Easy, Fun, and Meaningful

Introducing children to the meanings of the Qur’an is one of the most powerful ways to help them build a lifelong connection with Islam. While reading and memorizing the Qur’an are important, understanding its message is what brings its teachings to life. That’s why many parents and educators seek the best Quran Tafseer for kids—resources that make the Qur’an simple, engaging, and age-appropriate.

What Is Quran Tafseer?

Tafseer means “interpretation” or “explanation” of the Qur’an. It helps explain the meanings of verses, the reasons they were revealed, and how they apply to our daily lives. The best Quran Tafseer for kids presents these concepts in language and formats that young minds can understand, often using stories, illustrations, and practical examples.

Why Quran Tafseer Is Important for Children

🌱 Builds a Deep Connection with Allah’s Words Understanding the meaning behind verses helps children relate to and love the Qur’an more.

💬 Encourages Practical Living Tafseer helps kids apply Islamic teachings in their daily behavior—kindness, honesty, gratitude, and more.

🧠 Promotes Critical Thinking and Curiosity Children ask questions naturally. Tafseer guides them toward thoughtful and faith-based answers.

🕌 Supports Islamic Identity When children understand their faith from a young age, they grow up confident in their beliefs.

Features of the Best Quran Tafseer for Kids

When searching for the best Quran Tafseer for kids, look for these qualities:

✅ Age-appropriate Language Simple words and short explanations without complex theological terms.

✅ Colorful Illustrations and Visual Aids Engaging visuals help young learners stay interested and absorb information easily.

✅ Stories and Real-life Examples Connecting verses with stories from the Prophets or everyday situations makes learning more relatable.

✅ Interactive Activities Questions, quizzes, coloring pages, and discussion prompts can enhance understanding and retention.

✅ Authentic and Accurate Tafseer must be based on authentic Islamic sources and reviewed by qualified scholars.

Top Recommendations: Best Quran Tafseer for Kids

Here are some highly recommended resources and platforms offering the best Quran Tafseer for kids:

1. My First Quran with Pictures – By Shereen Sharief

A beautifully illustrated book that explains selected Surahs in an easy-to-understand way. It's perfect for visual learners and early readers.

Age Group: 4–9 years

Key Features: Colorful illustrations, simple language, emotional connections to each verse

2. Tafseer for Kids by Darussalam Publishers

A child-friendly series that offers clear explanations of selected short Surahs from the Qur’an.

Age Group: 6–12 years

Key Features: Step-by-step verse explanations, exercises, and moral lessons

3. Learning Roots: The Meaning of the Qur’an for Kids

These resources focus on both Arabic and English meanings, with engaging activities to help children reflect on what they read.

Age Group: 5–10 years

Key Features: Dual language, reflection-based questions, colorful and engaging layout

4. Bayyinah Kids (by Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan)

An online platform that offers bite-sized video Tafseer lessons for kids in an animated, fun format.

Age Group: 7+

Key Features: High-quality video content, explained by one of the most popular teachers of Qur’anic Arabic

5. Online Islamic Schools and Programs

Many online academies now offer dedicated Quran Tafseer for kids as part of their curriculum, with live teachers and interactive sessions.

Recommended Platforms: Alhuda International, Ilm Tree, Studio Arabiya, and Tarteel Academy

Tips for Teaching Quran Tafseer to Kids at Home

📚 Read one short Surah or a few verses each week and discuss the meaning together.

🖍️ Use Tafseer books with coloring or activity pages to reinforce key lessons.

🧕 Join online classes with certified teachers who specialize in teaching kids.

🗣️ Encourage questions and turn them into teaching moments.

🎨 Incorporate crafts, storytelling, or role-playing to make it interactive.

Final Thoughts

Choosing the best Quran Tafseer for kids is a beautiful way to nurture faith, strengthen understanding, and shape character from a young age. With so many excellent resources now available in print, digital, and video formats, every child can have access to the wisdom of the Qur’an in a way they understand and love.

Start early, stay consistent, and make learning the Qur’an a joyful journey for your child. The seeds you plant today will grow into strong roots of iman for a lifetime.

[fontfamily56]

The Beauty and Importance of Arabic Fonts in Design

Typography is a fundamental element of design, and Arabic fonts play a vital role in visual communication, branding, and cultural representation. With their intricate curves and diverse styles, Arabic fonts offer a unique aesthetic that balances tradition and modernity. Whether for digital platforms, print media, or branding, Arabic typography enhances readability and artistic appeal.readmore.

What Are Arabic Fonts?

Arabic fonts are typefaces designed for writing in the Arabic script, which is used in languages such as Arabic, Persian, and Urdu. Unlike Latin-based fonts, Arabic script flows from right to left and often incorporates calligraphic elements, making font design a complex and artistic process.

Types of Arabic Fonts

Naskh – One of the most commonly used Arabic fonts, known for its readability and elegant simplicity. It is widely used in books, newspapers, and digital content.

Thuluth – A decorative and artistic script used in calligraphy, mosques, and architectural inscriptions.

Diwani – A highly decorative style with flowing curves, often used in formal invitations and royal decrees.

Kufi – A geometric and structured font style, frequently seen in logos, modern branding, and architectural design.

Ruqʿah – A casual and fast-writing script commonly used for handwriting and informal texts.

Modern Arabic Fonts – Contemporary fonts that blend traditional elements with modern design principles for branding and digital media.

Why Arabic Fonts Matter in Design

Cultural Authenticity – Proper use of Arabic typography ensures cultural and linguistic accuracy in branding and communication.

Readability and Accessibility – Well-designed Arabic fonts improve legibility, especially for digital content and print media.

Brand Identity – Many companies incorporate Arabic fonts into their logos and branding to establish a strong connection with Arabic-speaking audiences.

Artistic Expression – Arabic calligraphy and typography are integral to Middle Eastern art, providing a balance of tradition and innovation.

Popular Arabic Fonts for Branding and Design

Dubai Font – A modern Arabic-Latin typeface designed for branding and corporate communication.

Cairo Font – A highly readable, contemporary font used in web and graphic design.

Geeza Pro – A professional and widely used font for digital interfaces and publishing.

Amiri – A classic Arabic font based on traditional Naskh calligraphy, ideal for editorial design.

Tahoma Arabic – A widely used font that offers clear readability for digital content.

Choosing the Right Arabic Font

When selecting an Arabic font, consider:

Purpose – Is it for branding, editorial, or digital use?

Readability – Can it be easily read at different sizes and resolutions?

Aesthetic Appeal – Does it align with the design theme and cultural context?

Compatibility – Does it work well with Latin script if needed?

Conclusion

Arabic fonts are an essential part of modern design, offering both artistic and functional benefits. From traditional calligraphy to modern typography, Arabic fonts enhance communication, brand identity, and cultural appreciation. Whether for business, art, or media, choosing the right Arabic font can significantly impact the effectiveness and beauty of a design.t

visit our website more content.

[maiega]

Exploring the Beauty of Arabic Writing Styles

Arabic calligraphy is an art form that has evolved over centuries, shaping the visual and cultural identity of many regions. More than just a method of writing, it carries historical depth, aesthetic appeal, and spiritual significance. The diversity of Arabic writing styles reflects the artistic and functional needs of different periods and cultures. From ancient manuscripts to modern digital designs, these styles have played a crucial role in communication and artistic expression.

The Origins of Arabic Calligraphy

The Arabic script developed from the Nabataean and Aramaic scripts, gradually taking on its own unique form. Early Arabic writing was simple and functional, but as Islam spread, calligraphy became a respected art. It was widely used for religious texts, particularly the Quran, which led to the refinement of various scripts over time. Artists and scholars worked meticulously to create styles that balanced readability with artistic beauty.

Major Arabic Writing Styles

1. Kufic

One of the oldest Arabic scripts, Kufic is known for its geometric, angular shapes. It was widely used in early Quranic manuscripts and architectural inscriptions. Over time, different variations of Kufic emerged, including floral and interwoven designs that adorned mosques and coins.

2. Naskh

Naskh is a more fluid and readable script that became popular for everyday use. Its rounded letters and clear structure made it ideal for copying books, legal documents, and religious texts. Today, it remains one of the most common fonts for Arabic printing and digital typography.

3. Thuluth

Thuluth is an elegant, decorative script characterized by elongated verticals and curved letters. Often seen in mosque decorations and official inscriptions, it requires a skilled hand to execute properly. This style is still favored for artistic calligraphy and ceremonial purposes.

4. Diwani

Developed during the Ottoman Empire, Diwani is a highly stylized and intricate script. Its letters intertwine gracefully, making it difficult to read but visually stunning. It was traditionally used for royal decrees and official state documents.

5. Ruq’ah

Ruq’ah is a simple and practical script commonly used in everyday handwriting. It is the preferred style for informal writing due to its ease and speed. Unlike more elaborate scripts, Ruq’ah does not have complex flourishes, making it ideal for quick notes and business correspondence.

6. Maghrebi

This style developed in North Africa and Spain, distinguished by its rounded and looping forms. It is often seen in old manuscripts and Quranic texts from the region. The Maghrebi script stands out due to its unique letter shapes, which differ from those of the eastern Arabic scripts.

Arabic Calligraphy in the Modern World

Despite advancements in digital typography, Arabic calligraphy continues to thrive. Designers and artists incorporate traditional styles into contemporary works, blending history with modern aesthetics. Calligraphy is used in branding, architecture, and digital media, ensuring its continued relevance in today’s world.

The beauty of Arabic writing styles lies in their ability to merge function with artistry. Whether in ancient manuscripts or modern designs, these scripts continue to captivate and inspire, preserving a rich cultural heritage for generations to come.