Last week I took a short trip to Ramlat as Saba’tayn in Marib just southeast of Safir. See photos from my earlier post. The desert area is part of the Empty Quarter, but it is not as desolate as one might think. In addition to Bedouin settlements there are numerous oil and electricity facilities dotting the region. At night, their lights can be seen glowing over the sand dunes from miles away.
The latest news out of Yemen is that militants led by Tariq Al-Zahab (طارق الذهب), who has family ties to Anwar al-Awlaki, took over the town of Rada'a (رداع) and occupied the famous al Amiriya mosque and madrasa. The locals complained that the military, with their tanks and armored vehicles stationed nearby, let the militants [...]
I meant to post this last week, but the daily rain shower means that we’ve been having problems with both electricity and internet. Last Friday we lost power for about 24 hours because the transformer was shorted out. I’m not complaining too much though. While everywhere else in the Middle East is baking in the [...]
Classical Arabic or Quranic Arabic is the language of the Quran, Hadith, and classical literature. It shares the same grammar with its direct descendant Modern Standard Arabic, but differs from it in style and word choices. Most non-Muslim Arabic students concentrate on Media Arabic, modern literature, or dialects after they reach an advanced level, while [...]
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