Monday 15/3/2010
The Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo - by Hossam all line on Flickr Mohamed Sayed Tantawi, the Grand Sheikh of the Al-Azhar mosque in Cairo, Egypt has died at age 81. Reactions to his death in Middle East blogs have varied from mourning to critical recollections of his many controversial fatwas. Tantawi, who was regarded as one of the most important Sunni Muslim scholars, died of a heart attack during a visit
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Humans are religious creatures. Or are they really? The Middle East has known waves of political ideologies throughout its long history, but it is often associated with Islam, not only as a system of belief or a cultural matrix, but also as a political ideology that is inseparable from the region's politics and forms of government. Islam's pervasiveness in every aspect of life makes it more a way of life than
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Sasa celebrates her 5th year blogging in “Syria News Wire” - a fresh, independent news from the streets of Damascus and beyond.
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On Facebook, around 1,300 members to date have joined a group calling for the suspension of US sanctions on Syrian Air saying: “there is no reason to apply any type of sanctions against [a] civil carrier.”
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If you are someone who is even slightly interested in Technology, then you must have heard the horns of war being blown between Google and Apple. Over the past year the companies grew apart from allies to fierce competitors climaxing with Google's release of Nexus One, the smart phone that is touted as the only real threat to Apple's iPhone. And the Syrian blogosphere joined in the bloggers war. A few
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Syrian Air - Photo courtesy of Fadi Halisso Starting with the Syria Accountability Act (SAA) of 2004, the U.S. has implemented a series of trade and financial sanctions on Syria. The sanctions are affecting the daily lives of Syrian citizens in several areas including: travel restrictions and a ban on software and IT export, as well as business limitations. Also, the sanctions have hit hard the national carrier, Syrian Air. With a
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Damascene Jasmin [AR] writes about Syria's first international marathon. Damascus marathon is planned for April 16, to commemorate Syria's independence day (April 17).
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This week we will take a random walk around different blogs, and different topics in a maze that is little different than the random markets of Aleppo. Our first stop will be at Hanzala's Departure unto God, where he writes about his decision to quit his job: جرت العادة أن يحتفل أحدنا بعيد ميلاده بعيد الحب أو بعيد الشجرة حتى ، و لكني سأحتفل اليوم بمناسبة مرور عام على توظيفي في
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Anas Qtiesh, shares some thoughts about his new life abroad and what homesickness is, among others.
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Medad blog published a sarcastic short story [ar] depicting a Muslim cleric and a Christian cleric passionately discussing virtue and interfaith understanding as each of them tries to claim a spot that allows them to peep through a crack in the wall of a women's bathhouse.
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