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WALK PROUD. WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN.

By | February 20, 2011 | Egypt, Pax Islamica, Politics | 3 Comments

Opposition supporters wave flags amid the crowd in Tahrir Square in Cairo February 9, 2011. Egyptians counted the economic cost of more than two weeks of turmoil on Wednesday as re-invigorated protesters flocked again to Cairo's Tahrir Square to demand President Hosni Mubarak quit immediately. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

by Islam El Shazly

For the first time in history a revolution has been organized as a public event with an open invitation, more like a date between two lovers, the time and the place was known almost two weeks in advance. Without further confirmation, people from all over Greater Cairo started converging onto Midan Al-Tahrir – Tahrir Square – and it was not just left at that, people started gathering at major squares in every governorate in the country. A new day was dawning on Egypt. A new era that no one saw coming. The date was January 25, 2011. Read more…

TUNISIA THE GREEN

By | January 15, 2011 | Politics | 1 Comment

The flag of Tunisia. By gablackburn, Flickr.

By Islam El Shazly

Since Tunisia gained independence from France and it has been known all over the world as a beacon of freedom and economic stability in the Arab world; it was more liberal than Lebanon and with a stability that Lebanon cannot achieve in the near future.

But that was an illusion, the “freedom” that Tunisia enjoyed was not real. The stability it revelled in masked a different reality. When France moved out, they left behind a group of people bred to rule in favour of their masters in Paris. Read more…

MASR – THE PEOPLE

By | January 12, 2011 | Egypt, Politics, Travel + Leisure | 1 Comment

Egypt: Partly submerged palms above Nile dam, Upper Egypt. Lantern Slide Collection, Brooklyn Museum.

By Islam El Shazly

The people of Egypt are for the most part gentle emotional people, they have been deprived of their right to participate in the way this great country is being governed. From the time of Mohammed Ali Pasha, through the British occupation then the calamity that was the Coup d’état of 1952 and its disastrous after-effects, the people have not been able or allowed to voice their concerns about their country. Read more…

JOURNEY TO UPPER EGYPT

By | January 8, 2011 | Egypt, Travel + Leisure, Travel Chronicles | 1 Comment

By Dean Chartier

This is my first effort in writing about my travels here in Egypt, I’m kind of starting in the middle of the trip, odd I know, why not start at the beginning? Well my journey to up the Nile was a pretty amazing trip for me, even though it was kind of touristy. I was able to peel most of the tourism away and have a good look at life in that part of Egypt. I will not speak much of visits to the temples and other historic sites, I’m sure you can find that information elsewhere, and for me it was kind of secondary anyways. This was my first trip to a Muslim country since I became Muslim and my trip up the Nile allowed me to get away from most of the western influence I have seen in Cairo and Alexandria. I will write more about those experiences a little later.

Fishermen in Alexandria.

Another reason this was a special experience for me is that being from Canada, I don’t get to hear the call to prayer from a Masjid, or have the luxury of having a Masjid within an easy walk of wherever I am. Read more…

AL-MU’IZZ STREET – CAIRO’S GRAND STREET

By | December 18, 2010 | Egypt, History, Travel + Leisure, Walking Tours | 1 Comment

A long time ago in Cairo, with the pyramids in the distance, farm lands and the aqueduct. From the book "The Grand Street".

By Islam El shazly

The Grand Street of Historic Islamic Cairo, the heart of the once capital of the Fatimid Empire; as old as Cairo, it saw its fair share of kings and vagabonds. Walking through it amidst the ancient villas and the architectural marvels left behind by four dynasties, is like being transported into the world of the Prince of Persia – without all of the sand demons.

Taking a turn into one of the little alleys that spring out throughout the length of the street on a quiet day, stop for a moment and close your eyes, you can almost feel the ghosts of all the people who walked through here over the ages. There are shadows here. The time of the Fatimid also gave rise to their cousins, the Assassins. They lurked in the shadows. Read more…

HAJJ AND EID AL-ADHA 1431/2010

By | November 16, 2010 | History, Pax Islamica, Travel + Leisure | 3 Comments

Mecca During Hajj, National Geographic magazine, January, 1966.

by Islam El-Shazly

It’s 6:15 AM on the 10th of Dhul-Hijja, 1431, 16 November, 2010. Outside the words: Allah Akbar, Allah Akbar, Allah Akbar, La Ilaha Illa Allah; Allah Akbar, Allah Akbar wa Lillah Al-Hamd (الله أكبر الله أكبر الله أكبر لا إله إلا الله. الله أكبر الله أكبر و لله الحمد) – is all I can hear. Every mosque everywhere in the world is echoing the same call that has been heard on the same day for the last 1431 years.

Today is Eid Al-Adha, the day of sacrifice. Yesterday was the Day of ‘Arafah. More than 3 million Muslims stood on Mount ‘Arafat, from 181 countries. It is the most important day in Hajj. Read more…

TURKISH COFFEE: DELIGHT TO THE SENSES

By | October 22, 2010 | Food + Beverages, Travel + Leisure | Comments Off on TURKISH COFFEE: DELIGHT TO THE SENSES

Turkish Coffee. By ağEl, Flickr.

by M. Butcher

Coffee has long history in the world, from humble beginnings in a story about a goat herder who noticed his goats got excited after eating the coffee berries to the widespread cafés and coffee shops all over the world. Coffee is believed to have been brought to Istanbul in 1555 by two Syrian traders, although others claim that it arrived much earlier than that, around 1517.  Coffee has come a long way since then, we find different types and ways to brew it different parts of the world. The Turkish have a particular way to make coffee and it has been adopted and modified into many cultures in the Arab world and aboard. Read more…

HOW MAY I HELP YOU?

By | October 19, 2010 | Retail + Shopping, Travel + Leisure | 2 Comments

Please ding for assisstnce. By Will Stein www.sxc.hu.

by Islam El-Shazly

Last year, Monocle’s April 2009 issue (issue 22, volume 3) was all about service and retail. They asked a very important question – actually two of them. Are you being served? If not, why not?

Monocle had conducted a global survey on the state of retail; it was about “the smartest shopkeepers, best buyers, happiest consumers and sharpest ideas on the street, in the aisles and online.”

But that was not the best thing about the issue. The best, in my opinion, was on the cover itself. Read more…

WHAT’S IN MY BAG? TRAVEL WITH KIDS

By | October 6, 2010 | Travel + Leisure | Comments Off on WHAT’S IN MY BAG? TRAVEL WITH KIDS

A travel tote loaded up with toys and activities from Travelkiddy. www.travelkiddy.com

by M. Butcher

When travelling with kids, we always end up carry extra things, and somehow we always forget to bring something that we needed or would have found useful if we had only remembered. I can’t count the number of times I forgot that extra change of clothes or wanted the pad of paper and a pencil that I had let on my desk! I generally use a backpack for all the stuff but sometimes I use a small tote bag and everything fits, whatever it ends up in, make sure you can lift it yourself and carry it for long periods of time if need be.

Here is my list of things that are essential when going out with kids, whether it is to the mall, out for coffee/dinner, on a road trip or on a plane. It can be modified to suit any situation and saves a lot of aggravation. Read more…

AHMAD IBN FADLAN (10th Century CE – 4th Century AH): THE EMISSARY EXPLORER

By | September 27, 2010 | Explorers, History, Pax Islamica | 4 Comments

by Islam El Shazly

Unlike his depiction in Michael Critchton’s Eaters of the Dead, or Antonio Banderas’ incarnation of him in The 13th Warrior, Ahmad ibn Fadlan was not expelled from the Court of the Abbasid Caliph because he courted one of the harems; he was actually favoured by the Caliph. His scholastic, literary, religious, and martial qualifications made him the primary candidate to lead a political and religious expedition. Its record would later be one of the earliest detailed descriptions of the Vikings.

Volga Bulgaria in the Eurasian world of AD 1200. Wikipedia.

Read more…