Al-Hijari, an Andalusian historian, traveled to the city of Cordoba and explained how, “…the city’s climate is one of research and investigation in the variety of sciences and literature.” Al-Hijari is trying to say that many Muslim cities in the post-classical period, including Cordoba, value research and education. We also are aware of technological advances Muslim cities were experienced to. In Document 4, a layout of the round city of Baghdad is shown. In the layout, it shows that there are four gates protecting the city, markets, and public mosques. The round layout of the city is extremely significant and shows a unique way of constructing a city. Baghdad is shown as a compact and enclosed city that values safety and protection from outside invaders. Muslim cities in the post-classical era show technological advances with city layouts and show the importance of sciences and…
“The New Mecca” is an essay in which author George Saunders engraves different experiences he had throughout his Dubai trip. In the beginning he tells the readers that everything they are going to assume about Dubai is going to be wrong unless they see Dubai by themselves first. He admits falling in love with everything he perceived in Dubai even the hotels. As he continued talking about Dubai, he introduced the reader with the history of Dubai. He informs that few years ago there was only sand. Dubai has improved a lot in a very short amount of time. He gets amazed at the beauty of Dubai; however, he gets surprised twice the amount of that because of the difference between the reality of Dubai and what people think about Dubai. The author mentions numerous examples where he meets lower class working people and sees them suffering. However, he realizes that those lower class working people don’t apprehend that. They think they are lucky enough to stay in Dubai. The author finds this gap between what these people think is happening and what’s happening in reality which makes him feel helpless and miserable. He expresses the urge of helping them in his essay; still ends up not doing it because according to him it’s not his job to fix it. The author starts his essay with what people think Dubai is. As he moves forward he talks about what the reality is behind all these misapprehensions. By the end of the essay he concedes that everyone has been victimized by this fallacy. The main focus of this essay is the…
Historians have often divided the life of Malcolm X, also referred to as El-Hajj Malik Shabazz, into 3 periods. First, from 1948 to 1964, he was established in the Nation of Islam. Then, in 1964, he went through the Black Nationalist Period of his life. Lastly, prior to his assassination, from 1964 to 1965, Malcolm X evolved through the Universalist Islamic Period. I, however, have chosen to divide his life into two major periods from which his most poignant ideologies were formed. He demonstrated that reading, learning and reason were indispensable qualities for the economic and social development of the masses. Within these two distinctly opposing periods of Malcolm X's life, his ideologies, prior to and following his holy pilgrimage to Mecca, revealed two very different men. The once militant African-American Nationalist had evolved into an equalitarian Islamic missionary, in search of global brotherhood.…
“Letter to My Son,” written by Ta-Nehisi Coates in 2015, was in all essentiality advice. The article begins with the author describing his own sadness at the distance between a country built on a dream, and the sobering reality he saw. He continues on to talk about how his body, his son’s body, and the bodies of many of their peers around them, are very often going to be at the mercy of people around them. Coates then speaks of escaping the danger of having his own body at the mercy of another, and his desire to rescue himself through “a clash with the streets.” Cue a change of tone in the letter as it moves on to speak of the author’s “Mecca”. Which in this case means a holy city, or a place of light and perfection. For Coates, this place…
According to the article “London on a Roll”, the author states that, “A journey to London used to be a gastronomic Calvary, but with more than 6000 restaurants serving dishes from every corner of the planet, London may now be the most cosmopolitan culinary center anywhere in the world.” (Worall) This claims that different varieties of cuisine exist in London, which favors the tourism industry, Moreover, the article “A Tale of Three Cities” mentions “The United Nations and other international agencies are cooperating with the Egyptian government to finance a new 200-million-dollar Alexandria Library near a possible site of the old one.” (Swerdlow) The quote illustrates that Alexandria preserves the cultural heritage and knowledge well, and that is essential to the tourism industry, that it would attracts tourist from all around the world. Similarly, Dubai also has the features of having an affluent tourism industry. According to the article “Dubai Sudden City”, “Dubai serves as a capital for tourism and trade. It’s clearly very popular.” (Molavi) and “Entering is like crossing the threshold into an alternative reality: a lavish, artificial world of high-end clothing boutiques, edgy music stores, cafes, and restaurants that culminates a massive, plate-glass window with skill lifts in the distance.” (Molavi) The quotes suggest that Dubai…
Not only does Mecca hold the title for the world’s hottest human occupied place but it is also known as one of the areas with the most expensive land. ~…
The air is crisp, and clean. All around you are fields of the most vibrant green, rolling hills and the most beautiful countryside you could imagine. You feel peace, and serenity here. You travel twenty minutes down a small, winding road and arrive in the most beautiful city on Earth. As you cross the London Bridge, you see the Eye of London, the worlds largest Ferris wheel, and Big Ben at the Tower of London. The architecture is amazing, and even the trees have a different kind of beauty. There is no doubt that the beauty and liveliness of this city makes it a perfect place to live.…
The Middle East and the Arab culture that inhabits much of it exists as a powerful political organism and a wealth of ingenuity and yet it is not necessarily viewed by all as a center of stimulating…
Qutb, Sayyid. ""The America I Have Seen": In the Scale of Human Values." In America in an Arab Mirror: Images of America in Arabic Travel Literature, by Kamal Abdel-Malek, 9-29. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.…
B. Thesis- Today I would like to inform you about some of the amazing places and things Dubai’s city has, such as their main attractions, malls and astonishing hotels.…
Jump up ^ Abu-Lughod, Janet L. (1999). New York, Chicago, Los Angeles: America 's global cities. U of Minnesota Press. p. 66. ISBN 978-0-8166-3336-4. Retrieved 2011-10-02.…
Baghdad was one of the most cultural and intellectual centers during its prime. Many scholars would visit this city to gain new knowledge, and it traded with many other nations such as India, China, and parts of East Africa. Although it was once a thriving city, Baghdad’s political, cultural, and structural aspects have changed because of the events that have occurred in its history.…
As I have grown between two countries, I had two aspects of thinking, and at times, the decision-making process is difficult. However, as I grew up and we eventually settled in Dubai, a global city, meeting remarkably different people every day, we eliminate our prejudice, and due to its fast growing, it affected us, as we managed to think fast and make decisions faster, not fully yet it shaped us in a particular way. As an Iraqi who lives in Dubai, I’m familiar with what biodiversity of a city could be, living in such an environment provide the possibility to know the various types of individuals and cultures, as it also shapes you to be a miscellany, who has all in one, who cannot be narrow minded by a tradition or a misunderstanding for…
A few days in the Arabian Peninsula are very difficult, the weather is always changing, in the day it would be super hot, but when the sun goes down… it gets as cold as snow. Over the past few days I Jim Hopper, stayed in the Arabian Peninsula. It was surprising how much I learned so much in a four days. Learning about the how they lived, and the five pillars, and an important person named Muhammad, who “shaped” the land and culture.…
References: Venuti, Lawrence (1995) The Translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation. London and New York: Routledge.…