Category Archives: Blog

Leisurely Islam: Negotiating Geography and Morality in Shi’ite South Beirut

A Panel Discussion at The Center for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies (CAMES)
American University of Beirut

Friday, March 28, 2014 at 4 pm
West Hall, Auditorium A

South Beirut has recently become a vibrant leisure destination with a plethora of cafés and restaurants that cater to the young, fashionable, and pious. What effects have these establishments had on the moral norms, spatial practices, and urban experiences of this Lebanese community? From the diverse voices of young Shi’i Muslims searching for places to hang out, to the Hezbollah officials who want this media-savvy generation to be more politically involved, to the religious leaders worried that Lebanese youth are losing their moral compasses, Leisurely Islam provides a sophisticated and original look at leisure in the Lebanese capital…

 

Dr. Nesreen Ghaddar, a professor of mechanical engineering at the American University of Beirut, went from being a lone female engineer to sitting at the top of academia. At AUB, Professor Ghaddar holds the Qatar chair of energy studies–and she’s vocal about the challenges that successful women face in both the academy and the professional world…

Here’s a video of the musician Balawan demonstrating the 8 Finger Touch Style technique while playing his double neck guitar. Hailed as the fastest guitarist in Indonesia, Balawan combines the sounds of traditional Balinese gamelan music with jazz…

Earlier today, my colleagues and I were discussing the music of Ruhaniyet–with its fusion of Sufi-influenced Baul music, and Bollywood pop rhythms…

Every time I passed by this mosque in Damascus, while researching Sufi shrines in Syria, I stopped to admire its fading pink blush…

Said one oyster to a neighboring oyster, “I have a very great pain within me. It is heavy and round and I am in distress.”
And the other oyster replied with haughty complacence, “Praise be to the heavens and to the sea, I have no pain within me. I am well and whole both within and without.”
At that moment a crab was passing by and heard the two oysters, and he said to the one who was well and whole both within and without, “Yes, you are well and whole; but the pain that your neighbor bears is a pearl of exceeding beauty.”

— Khalil Gibran

This morning, when I saw this sign at the Children’s Cancer Center of Lebanon/St. Jude in Beirut, I remembered that Mother’s Day was being celebrated today in Lebanon–as well as in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia. As an expat living in the Middle East, it can be hard sometimes to keep up with the many holidays that are celebrated on different dates around the world.

I spent most of my time this morning with a young girl from Iraq whose family had traveled from Baghdad to Beirut for the best cancer care available in the Middle East. After we took some photos with her ipad, I encouraged her to start using its video feature to make videos from her bed. Though we spoke mostly in Arabic, her father switched to English when he said: “Baghdad is tired.” In the midst of the ongoing violence in Baghdad and Beirut, her parents feel incredibly grateful that their daughter is able to receive the highest level of medical care at no cost to their family. To help make free cancer treatment available to more children in Lebanon, please consider making an online donation here–every little bit of generosity helps to improve the lives of my young friends here in Beirut.

Clashes in Beirut last night turned deadly–as more spillover from the war in Syria struck the capital. Elsewhere in Lebanon, a Maronite Bishop escaped a kidnapping attempt on the Iaat-Deir al-Ahmar road. In response, residents of his town rang the bells of their churches to protest the abduction attempt…

To visit Morocco is still like turning the pages of some illuminated Persian manuscript
all embroidered with bright shapes and subtle lines…

– Edith Wharton, 1927

When I was in Morocco this fall, I made a point of exploring as many “Old City” districts as I could. From Casablanca to Fez, I got hopelessly lost in a number of medieval medinas–which was part of the fun. To view this week-end’s slideshow in the NYTimes of various medinas in Morocco, please click here.

Sudan is not Arab enough for Arabs and not African enough for Africans.

— Leila Aboulela

Defying geographical and cultural boundaries, writer Leila Aboulela is often categorized by the media as “Sudanese-British,” though trying to fit her writing into a box is an even more daunting task. In her novels and radio plays, which explore themes like racism, sexism, and spirituality, Aboulela aims to “create dialogue among peoples and generations.” To read my friend Isma’il’s recent interview with Leila Aboulela for the NYTimes, please click here.

Many times have I stolen gems from the
Depths and presented them to my beloved
Shore. He takes them in silence, but still
I give for he welcomes me forever…

— Khalil Gibran

Today in Lebanon, Syrian planes raided Arsal, and 300 Syrians fled to Wadi Khaled to escape the shelling of Al-Hosn. A rapid rise in refugees, air raids, and kidnappings has been plaguing Lebanon’s eastern Beqaa, especially since the Syrian army seized the rebel bastion of Yabrud several days ago. Elsewhere, in Tripoli, the highway which passes through Bab al-Tebbaneh has just come under heavy sniper fire, as the death toll there continues to rise.