- published: 28 Sep 2012
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- author: AlJazeeraEnglish
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![Sa Ovcara i Kablara [Druze Tito, Bela Lica]](http://web.archive.org./web/20130305124038im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/8CQ1lMJGQWE/default.jpg "In old Slavic")
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Aleppo
Aleppo (Arabic: حلب Ḥalab [ˈħalæb], other names) is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,132,100 (2004 census), it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant. For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppo is distinct in identity, architecture and culture, all shaped by a markedly different history and geography.
Aleppo is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world; it has been inhabited since perhaps as early as the 6th millennium BC. Excavations at Tell as-Sawda and Tell al-Ansari, just south of the old city of Aleppo, show that the area was occupied since at least the latter part of the 3rd millennium BC; and this is also when Aleppo is first mentioned in cuneiform tablets unearthed in Ebla and Mesopotamia, in which it is noted for its commercial and military proficiency. Such a long history is probably due to its being a strategic trading point midway between the Mediterranean Sea and Mesopotamia.
wn.com/Aleppo -
Alexandria
Alexandria (Arabic: الإسكندرية Al Iskandariyya, Coptic: Ⲣⲁⲕⲟⲧⲉ Rakotə, Greek: Αλεξάνδρεια Alexándria, Koine Greek: Ἀλεξάνδρεια ἡ κατ' Αἴγυπτον IPA: [ɑlɛˈksɑndɾiɑ e kɑt ˈɛʝypton] "Alexandria in Egypt", Egyptian Arabic: اسكندريه [eskendeˈrejːæ]) is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about 32 km (20 mi) along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving approximately 80% of Egypt's imports and exports. Alexandria is also an important tourist resort. It is home to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (the new Library of Alexandria). It is an important industrial centre because of its natural gas and oil pipelines from Suez.
Alexandria was founded around a small pharaonic town c. 331 BC by Alexander the Great. It remained Egypt's capital for nearly a thousand years, until the Muslim conquest of Egypt in AD 641, when a new capital was founded at Fustat (Fustat was later absorbed into Cairo). Alexandria was known because of its Lighthouse of Alexandria (Pharos), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World; its library (the largest library in the ancient world); and the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa, one of the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages. Ongoing maritime archaeology in the harbor of Alexandria, which began in 1994, is revealing details of Alexandria both before the arrival of Alexander, when a city named Rhacotis existed there, and during the Ptolemaic dynasty.
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Aley
Aley is a picturesque town in Mount Lebanon. It is located 17 km uphill from Beirut, just south of the summer resort of Bhamdoun and north of the strategic town of Souk El Gharb.
The natives of Aley are predominantly Druze; however, there are Christian Melkite, Orthodox, and Maronite populations. Many outsiders, especially from Arab countries of the Persian Gulf, own homes in Aley where they spend their summers, escaping the heat and humidity in their own countries.
The word "aley" derivatives from Aramaic, and means "high place," referring to the town's high altitude above sea level.
Aley gained prominence when the railroad that passed through it was built between 1892 and 1895. The railroad linked the Lebanese capital of Beirut to Damascus. The railroad provided the residents of Beirut easy means of transportation to the mountains, and this made Aley a popular destination to spend the summer months and enjoy its pleasant climate. The town was for a while the summer capital of the Ottoman governors of Mount Lebanon. A Jewish community once frequented this multi-cultural town, and they maintained a synagogue [1], but it has since been abandoned. In 2001, the municipality of Aley began renovating the town center, especially its historic souk, and the town quickly revived its role in Lebanon's tourism.
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Amadiya
Amadiya (also spelled "Amediyah", "Amadia", "Amedi", "al-Amadiyah" or other variations), is a small Assyrian and Kurdish town along a tributary to the Great Zab in the Dahuk Governorate of Iraqi Kurdistan. The town is perched on a mountain, formerly only accessible by a narrow stairway cut into the rock. The history of this city goes back to 3000 years B.C. to the time of ancient Assyria, since it has always been a strategic place as it is built on the flat top of a mountain. For several centuries, after the expulsion of the caliphs from Baghdad, it was ruled by a pasha, a prince who was from the royal Abbas family, reputed to be one of the richest rulers in the region.
The region in which the city rests is also believed to have been the home of the Magi or priests of Ancient Persia. Amedia is believed to be the home of some of the most significant Magi priests, the Biblical Magi or the "Three Wise Men", who made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to see Jesus Christ shortly after his birth.
There are also ruins from the Assyrian era and ruins of a synagogue and a church in the small town. At the turn of the 19th century, the population already numbered 6,000, of whom 2,500 were Kurds, 1,900 Jews and 1,600 Assyrians.
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Amman
Amman (Arabic: عمان
/ɑːˈmɑːn/; ʿAmmān; Rabat Ammon) is the capital and largest city of Jordan. It is the country's political, cultural and commercial centre and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The Greater Amman area has a population of 2,842,629 as of 2010. The population of Amman is expected to jump from 2.8 million to almost 6.5 million by 2025 due to constant and rapid immigration. The recent economic growth experienced in Amman is unmatched by any other Arab city except those located in the Gulf. Amman is also the administrative seat of the homonymous governorate. Amman is also ranked a Gamma global city on the World city index.
Amman was named one of the MENA's best cities according to economic, labour, environmental, and socio-cultural factors. Amman is among the most popular locations for multinational corporations to set up their regional offices, alongside Doha and only behind Dubai. Furthermore, it is expected that in the next 10 years these three cities will capture the largest share of multinational corporation activity in the region. It is a major tourist destination in the region and the capital is especially popular among Gulf tourists. Amman is considered one of the richest and most Western-oriented cities in the Middle East.
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Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes (Greek: Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Δάφνῃ, "Antioch on Daphne"; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ Μεγάλη, "Antioch the Great"; Syriac: ܐܢܛܝܘܟܝܐ Anṭiokia; Hebrew: אנטיוכיה, antiyokhya; Georgian: ანტიოქია; Armenian: Անտիոք Antiok; Latin: Antiochia ad Orontem; Arabic:انطاکیه, Anṭākiya; also Syrian Antioch) was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.
Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the Near East and was a cradle of Christianity. It was one of the four cities of the Syrian tetrapolis. Its residents are known as Antiochenes. Once a great metropolis of half a million people, it declined to insignificance during the Middle Ages because of repeated earthquakes, the Crusaders' invasions, and a change in trade routes following the Mongol conquests, which then no longer passed through Antioch from the far east.
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Aqaba
Aqaba (Arabic: العقبة, Al-ʻAqabah) is a coastal city in the far south of Jordan, the capital of Aqaba Governorate at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba. Aqaba is strategically important to Jordan as it is the country's only seaport. Aqaba is best known today as a diving and beach resort, but industrial activity remains important to the area, and the town is an exporter of phosphate and some shells. Aqaba is also the largest city on the Gulf of Aqaba.
Aqaba has been an inhabited settlement since 4000 BC profiting from its strategic location at the junction of trading routes between Asia, Africa, and Europe. The early settlement was presumably Edomite in ancient times. It was a centre of the Edomites, and then of the Arab Nabataeans, during the first century B.C. who populated the region extensively. The oldest known text in Arabic alphabet is an inscription found in Jabal Ram 50 km east of Aqaba.
The Bible refers to the area in (1 Kings 9:26) "King Solomon also built ships in Ezion-Geber, which is near Ayla in Edom, on the shores of the Red Sea." This verse probably refers to an Iron Age port city on the same ground as modern Aqaba.
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Australia
Australia ( /əˈstreɪljə/), officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent as well as the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area. Neighbouring countries include Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north; the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east.
For at least 40,000 years before European settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who belonged to one or more of roughly 250 language groups. After discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606, Australia's eastern half was claimed by Great Britain in 1770 and settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales from 26 January 1788. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades; the continent was explored and an additional five self-governing Crown Colonies were established.
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Beirut
Coordinates: 33°53′13″N 35°30′47″E / 33.88694°N 35.51306°E / 33.88694; 35.51306
Beirut (Arabic: بيروت Bayrūt, Greek: Βηρυττός, Latin: Berytus, French: Beyrouth, Hebrew: ביירות Beyrut) is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. As there has been no recent population census, the exact population is unknown; estimates in 2007 ranged from slightly less than 1 million to slightly more than 2 million. Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coast, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport. The Beirut metropolitan area consists of the city and its suburbs. The first mention of this metropolis is found in the ancient Egyptian Tell el Amarna letters, dating from the 15th century BC. The city has been inhabited continuously since then.
Beirut is Lebanon's seat of government and plays a central role in the Lebanese economy, with many banks and corporations based in its city centre, Hamra Street, Rue Verdun and Ashrafieh. The city is the focal point of the region's cultural life, renowned for its press, theatres, cultural activities and nightlife. After the destructive Lebanese Civil War, Beirut underwent major reconstruction, and the redesigned historic city centre, marina, pubs and nightlife districts have once again made it a tourist attraction. Beirut was named the top place to visit by The New York Times in 2009, and as one of the ten liveliest cities in the world by Lonely Planet in the same year.
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Caliphate of Córdoba
The Caliphate of Córdoba (Arabic: خلافة قرطبة; trans. Khilāfat Qurṭuba) ruled the Iberian peninsula (Al-Andalus) and part of North Africa, from the islamic Qurtuba (Córdoba) city, from 929 to 1031. This period was characterized by remarkable success in trade and culture; many of the masterpieces of Islamic Iberia were constructed in this period, including the famous Great Mosque of Córdoba. In January 929, Abd-ar-Rahman III proclaimed himself Caliph (Arabic: خليفة) of Qurtuba in place of his original title Emir of Córdoba (Arabic: أمير قرطبة 'Amīr Qurṭuba). Abd-ar-Rahman III was a member of the Umayyad dynasty; the same dynasty who held the titles of Emir of Córdoba since 756. The rule of the Caliphate is known as the heyday of Muslim presence in the Iberian peninsula. The Caliphate was practically disintegrated due to civil war (fitna) between descendants of the last legitimate Caliph Hisham II and the successors of his prime minister (hayib) Al-Mansur. The shell of the Caliphate existed until 1031 when, after years of infighting, it fractured into a number of independent Taifa kingdoms. Despite these fractures, the Islamic civilisation in Iberia, one of the most culturally florid periods of European civilisation, continued until 1492 when its last bastion, the Alhambra in Granada, was formally surrendered to the Christians.
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Canada
Canada ( /ˈkænədə/) is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean. Spanning over 9,900,000 km2 (3,800,000 sq mi), Canada is the world's second-largest country by total area, and its common border with the United States is the longest land border in the world.
The land that is now Canada has been inhabited for millennia by various Aboriginal peoples. Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French colonial expeditions explored, and later settled, along the region's Atlantic coast. France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years' War. In 1867, with the union of three British North American colonies through Confederation, Canada was formed as a federal dominion of four provinces. This began an accretion of provinces and territories and a process of increasing autonomy; the Canada Act 1982 severed the vestiges of legal dependence on Britain.
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Colombia
Colombia (
/kəˈlʌmbiə/ kə-LUM-biə, or /kəˈlɒmbiə/ kə-LOM-biə), officially the Republic of Colombia (Spanish: República de Colombia [reˈpuβlika ðe koˈlombja]), is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the northwest by Panama; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; and to the west by the Pacific Ocean. Colombia has maritime borders with Ecuador, Panama, Venezuela, Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Colombia is the 26th largest country by area and the fourth largest in South America after Brazil, Argentina and Peru. With over 46 million people, Colombia is the 27th largest country in the world by population and has the second largest population of any Spanish-speaking country in the world, after Mexico. Colombia is a middle power, with the fourth largest economy in Latin America, and the third largest in South America. Colombia is famous for the production of coffee, flowers, emeralds, coal, and oil. All of these products make up the primary sector of economy.
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Constantinople
Constantinople (Greek: Κωνσταντινούπολις, Konstantinoúpolis; Latin: Constantinopolis; Ottoman Turkish: قسطنطینیه, Qostantiniyye; and modern Turkish: İstanbul) was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Latin and the Ottoman Empires. It was founded in AD 330, at ancient Byzantium as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Constantine I, after whom it was named. The city was the largest and wealthiest European city of the Middle Ages, and shared the glories of the Byzantine Empire, which was eventually reduced to the city and its environs.
Although besieged on numerous occasions by various peoples, it was taken only in 1204 by the army of the Fourth Crusade, in 1261 by Michael VIII, and in 1453 by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II. An inner wall was erected by Constantine I, and the city was surrounded by a triple wall of fortifications, begun during the 5th century by Theodosius II. The city was built on seven hills as well as on the Bosporus, and thus presented an impregnable fortress enclosing magnificent palaces, domes and towers. The Church of Hagia Sophia, the sacred palace of the emperors, the hippodrome, and the Golden Gate were among the largest of the many churches, public edifices, and monuments lining the arcaded avenues and squares.
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Damascus
Damascus (Arabic: دِمَشق / ALA-LC: Dimashq; commonly known in Syria as al-Sham (Arabic: الشام / al-Shām), and as the City of Jasmine (Arabic: مدينة الياسمين / Madīnat al-Yāsmīn), is the capital and the second largest city of Syria. Both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major cultural and religious center of the Levant. The city has an estimated population of 1,711,000 (2009 est.).
Located in southwestern Syria, Damascus is the center of a large metropolitan area of 2.6 million people (2004). Geographically embedded on the eastern foothills of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range 80 kilometres (50 mi) inland from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean on a plateau 680 metres (2,230 ft) above sea-level, Damascus experiences a semi-arid climate due to the rain shadow effect. The Barada River flows through Damascus.
First settled in the 2nd millennium BC, it was chosen as the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate from 661 to 750. After the victory of the Abbasid dynasty, the seat of Islamic power was moved to Baghdad. Damascus saw a political decline throughout the Abbasid era, only to regain significant importance in the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods. During Ottoman rule, the city decayed completely while maintaining a certain cultural prestige. Today, it is the seat of the central government and all of the government ministries. Damascus was chosen as the 2008 Arab Capital of Culture.
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Golan Heights
The Golan Heights (Arabic: هضبة الجولان Haḍbatu 'l-Jawlān or مرتفعات الجولان Murtafaʻātu l-Jawlān, Hebrew: רמת הגולן, Ramat ha-Golan (audio) (help·info)), referred to as the Syrian Golan by the United Nations, and as the Golan by other sources, forms a rocky plateau in the Anti-Lebanon mountains that overlooks southern Syria. The plateau has an average altitude of 1,000 metres (3,300 ft), an area totaling 1,800 square kilometres (690 sq mi), and straddles the boundary between Syria and Israeli-held territory. Elevations range from 2,814 metres (9,232 ft) in the north at Mount Hermon, to below sea level along the Sea of Galilee and the Yarmuk River in the south. Internationally recognized as Syrian territory, it has been occupied and administered by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War. The region attracts three million tourists a year and supplies Israel with one-third of its water.
The earliest evidence of human habitation dates to the Upper Paleolithic period. According to the Bible, an Amorite Kingdom in Bashan was conquered by Israelites during the reign of King Og. Throughout the Old Testament period, the Golan was "the focus of a power struggle between the Kings of Israel and the Aramaeans who were based near modern-day Damascus." The Itureans, an Arab or Aramaic people, settled there in the 2nd century BCE and remained until the end of the Byzantine period. Organized Jewish settlement in the region came to an end in 636 CE when it was conquered by Arabs under Umar ibn al-Khattāb. In the 16th century, the Golan was conquered by the Ottoman Empire and was part of the Vilayet of Damascus until it was transferred to French control in 1918. When the mandate terminated in 1946, it became part of the newly independent Syrian Arab Republic.
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Hasbaya
Hasbeya or Hasbeiya (Arabic: حاصبيا) is a town in Lebanon, situated about 36 miles to the west of Damascus, at the foot of Mount Hermon, overlooking a deep amphitheatre from which a brook flows to the Hasbani. In 1911, the population was about 5000.
Hasbaya is the capital of the Wadi El Taym, a long fertile valley running parallel to the western foot of Mount Hermon. Watered by the Hasbani river, the low hills of Wadi El Taym are covered with rows of silver-green olive trees, its most important source of income. Villagers also produce honey, grapes, figs, prickly pears, pine nuts and other fruit.
Mount Hermon, 2745 meters high, is a unifying presence throughout the Wadi El Taym. This imposing mountain held great religious significance for the Canaanites and Phoenicians, who called it the seat of the All High. The Romans, recognizing it as a holy site, built many temples on its slopes. The Some identify Hasbaya with the Old Testament's “Baal – Hermon,” while in the New Testament the mountain is the site of the transfiguration of Jesus.
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Homs
Homs (Arabic: حمص Ḥimṣ), previously known as Emesa (Greek: Ἔμεσα, Emesa), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is 501 metres (1,644 ft) above sea level and is located 162 kilometres (101 mi) north of Damascus. Located on the Orontes River, Homs is also the central link between the interior cities and the Mediterranean coast.
Homs is a major industrial center, and with a population of at least 652,609 people (2004 census), it is the third largest city in Syria after Aleppo to the north and the capital Damascus to the south. Its population reflects Syria's general religious diversity, composed mostly of Arabic-speaking Sunni Muslims and Alawite and Christian minorities. The city boasts a number of historic mosques and churches and is close to the Krak des Chevaliers, a world heritage site.
Homs did not emerge into the historical record until the 1st-century BCE at the time of the Seleucids. It later became the capital of a kingdom ruled by the Emesani dynasty who gave the city its name. Originally a center of worship for the sun god El-Gabal, it later gained importance in Christianity under the Byzantines. Homs was conquered by the Muslims in the 7th-century and made capital of a district that bore its current name. Throughout the Islamic era, Muslim dynasties contending for control of Syria sought after Homs due to the city's strategic position in the area. Homs began to decline under the Ottomans and only in the 19th century did the city regain its economic importance when its cotton industry boomed. During French Mandate rule, the city became a center of insurrection and, after independence in 1946, a center of Baathist resistance to the first Syrian governments. Homs has played a central role in the ongoing Syrian uprising against the Baathist government and since May 2011 has been under siege by the Syrian Army.
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Iran
Coordinates: 32°N 53°E / 32°N 53°E / 32; 53
Iran (
i/ɪˈrɑːn/ or /aɪˈræn/;Persian: ایران [ʔiˈɾɒn] (
listen)), officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian: جمهوری اسلامی ایران Jomhuri-ye Eslāmi-ye Irān), is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran", which in Persian means "Land of the Aryans", has been in use natively since the Sassanian era. It came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia ( /ˈpɜrʒə/ or /ˈpɜrʃə/). Both "Persia" and "Iran" are used interchangeably in cultural contexts; however, "Iran" is the name used officially in political contexts.
The 18th-largest country in the world in terms of area at 1,648,195 km2 (636,372 sq mi), Iran has a population of around 79 million. It is a country of particular geopolitical significance owing to its location in the Middle East and central Eurasia. Iran is bordered on the north by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. As Iran is a littoral state of the Caspian Sea, which is an inland sea, Kazakhstan and Russia are also Iran's direct neighbors to the north. Iran is bordered on the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan, on the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by Iraq and on the northwest by Turkey. Tehran is the capital, the country's largest city and the political, cultural, commercial and industrial center of the nation. Iran is a regional power, and holds an important position in international energy security and world economy as a result of its large reserves of petroleum and natural gas. Iran has the second largest proven natural gas reserves in the world and the fourth largest proven petroleum reserves.
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Irbid
Irbid (Arabic: إربد), known in ancient times as Arabella or Arbela, is the capital and largest city of the Irbid Governorate. It also has the second largest metropolitan population in Jordan after Amman, with a population of around 660,000, and is located about 70 km north of Amman on the northern ridge of the Gilead, equidistant from Pella, Beit Ras (Capitolias), and Umm Qais.
The city of Irbid is the second largest city in Jordan by population (after Amman). Metropolitan Irbid is the second largest. The province of Irbid Governorate has the second largest population, and the highest population density in the kingdom.
The city is a major ground transportation hub between Amman, Syria to the north, and Mafraq to the east.
The Irbid region is also home to several colleges and universities, the two most prominent being Jordan University of Science and Technology and Yarmouk University.
Artifacts and graves in the area show that Irbid has been inhabited since the Bronze Age. Pieces of pottery and wall stones found at Tell Irbid were estimated to be made in the year 3200 B.C. In the Hellenistic period, Irbid, then known as Arabella was a major trade center. Before the advent of Islam, Arabella was famous for producing some of the best wines in the ancient world. The area in the region had extremely fertile soil and moderate climate, allowing the growing of high quality grapes.
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Israel
Coordinates: 31°N 35°E / 31°N 35°E / 31; 35
Israel, officially the State of Israel ( /ˈɪzriːəl/ or /ˈɪzreɪəl/; Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, Medīnat Yisrā'el, IPA: [me̞diˈnät jisʁäˈʔe̞l] ( listen); Arabic: دَوْلَة إِسْرَائِيل, Dawlat Isrāʼīl, IPA: [dawlat ʔisraːˈʔiːl]), is a parliamentary republic in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan and the West Bank in the east, Egypt and the Gaza Strip on the southwest, and the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea to the south, and it contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area. Israel is defined as a Jewish and Democratic State in its Basic Laws and is the world's only Jewish-majority state.
Following the adoption of a resolution by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 29 November 1947 recommending the adoption and implementation of the United Nations plan to partition Palestine, on 14 May 1948 David Ben-Gurion, the Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization and president of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel, a state independent from the British Mandate for Palestine. Neighboring Arab states invaded the next day in support of the Palestinian Arabs. Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states, in the course of which it has occupied the West Bank, Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. Portions of these territories, including east Jerusalem, have been annexed by Israel, but the border with the neighboring West Bank has not yet been permanently defined.[neutrality is disputed] Israel has signed peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, but efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have so far not resulted in peace.
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Istanbul
Istanbul (Turkish: İstanbul) is the largest city in Turkey, forming the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With a population of 13.4 million, the city is at the center of the second-largest urban area in Europe after Moscow, and among the world's largest cities by population within city limits. Istanbul's vast area of 5,343 square kilometers (2,063 sq mi) is coterminous with Istanbul Province, of which the city is considered capital. Straddling the Bosphorus—one of the world's busiest waterways—in northwestern Turkey, between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea, Istanbul is a transcontinental city, with one third of its population living in Asia but its commercial and historical center in Europe.
Founded around 660 BC as Byzantium on the Seraglio Point, the city now known as Istanbul developed to become one of the most significant cities in history. For nearly sixteen centuries following its reestablishment as Constantinople in 330 AD, it served as the capital of four empires — the late classical Roman Empire (330–395), the Eastern Roman ("Byzantine") Empire (395–1204 and 1261–1453), the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922). It was instrumental in the advancement of Christianity during Roman and Byzantine times, before the Ottomans conquered the city in 1453 and transformed it into an Islamic stronghold from which the last caliphate ruled. Although the Republic of Turkey established its capital elsewhere, in Ankara, remnants of Istanbul's previous central role still remain highly visible across the city, with palaces and imperial mosques lining its hills.
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Jezzine
Jezzine (also spelled Jizzin) is a town in Lebanon, located 22 km (14 mi) from Sidon and 40 km (25 mi) south of Beirut. Surrounded by mountain peaks, pine forests, and at an average altitude of 950 m (3,117 ft), it is the main summer resort and tourist destination of South Lebanon. The town is also famous in Lebanon for its production of handmade, traditional cutlery and daggers with decorative inlays as well as the shrine of Our Lady of the Waterfall.
The inhabitants of Jezzine are mainly Catholic Christian followers of the Maronite Catholic Church or the Greek Melkite Catholic Church.
Festivals
Libraries
Theatres
Agriculture
Handcrafts
Tourism
The name, Jezzine, derives from the Aramaic (Syriac) word, meaning "depot" or "store". Many historians believe that Jezzine served as a storing location for traders because of its strategic location on the caravan route that connected the ancient port city of Sidon to the Chouf, the Beqaa Valley, and to Syria.
The Australian 7th Division, with British and Free French forces, supported by the Royal Australian Air Force, Royal Australian Navy, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, fought for Jezzine against Vichy French forces in 1941.
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Jordan
Jordan ( /ˈdʒɔr.dən/;Arabic: اَلأُرْدُنّ, Al-'Urdunn), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (Arabic: اَلمَمْلَكَة اَلأُرْدُنِيَّة اَلهَاشِمِيَّة), Al-Mamlakah Al-Urdaniyyah Al-Hashimiyyah) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing control of the Dead Sea with the latter. Jordan's only port is at its south-western tip, at the Gulf of Aqaba, which is shared with Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. Over half of Jordan is covered by the Arabian Desert. However, the western part of Jordan is arable land and forests. Jordan is part of the Fertile Crescent. The capital city is Amman. According to the CIA World Factbook, Jordan has the second highest life expectancy in the Middle East, after Israel. The average life expectancy is one position behind the United Kingdom, although the age remains exactly the same (80.05 years).
The precursor to modern Jordan was founded in 1921 as the Hashemite Emirate, and it was recognized by the League of Nations as a state under the British mandate in 1922 known as The Emirate of Transjordan. In 1946, Jordan became an independent sovereign state officially known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. After capturing the West Bank area of Cisjordan during the 1948–49 war with Israel, Abdullah I took the title King of Jordan and Palestine, and he officially changed the country's name to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in April 1949.
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Keserwan District
Keserwan (Qadaa' Keserwèn) (Arabic قضاء كسروان) is a district (qadaa) in the Mount Lebanon Governorate (Arabic: محافظة جبل لبنان), Lebanon, to the northeast of the Lebanon's capital Beirut. The capital is Jounieh.
The name "Keserwan" (also spelled "Kesrouane" by francophones and "Kesrouan" by some anglophones) comes from the Arabic word "kesrah" (Arabic كسره) which means a little piece (as in a little piece of a crunchy or dried bread or a little piece of a broken rock) or the Arabic word "kasar" (Arabic كسر) which means to break.
Other historical sources suggest the name was named in honor of the leader of the Maronites in "Kosra", who won decisive battles against the Umayyad Caliphate invasion of Mount Lebanon in the early 8th century.
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Knesset
The Knesset (Hebrew: הַכְּנֶסֶת [haˈkneset] ( listen); lit. the gathering or assembly; Arabic: الكنيست) is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.
The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister (although the latter is ceremonially appointed by the President), approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government. In addition, it also recommends a candidate for the State Comptroller to the President, who appoints someone to the post. It also has the power to waive the immunity of its members, remove the President and the State Comptroller from office, remove a Prime Minister convicted of an offense involving moral turpitude, and to dissolve itself and call new elections. The Prime Minister may dissolve the Knesset. However, until an election is completed, the Knesset maintains authority in its current composition.
Knesset members annually convene for plenary assemblies, or plenums, for two annual sittings of at least eight months' duration. The two sittings together form a session. The Knesset may be convened at any other time if thirty or more members demand this in writing or if the government requests. As well as approving or rejecting proposed legislation, the plenum also elects the Speaker and one or more Deputy Speakers.
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Kurdistan
Kurdistan ( (listen) (help·info) "Land of the Kurds"; also formerly spelled Curdistan; ancient name: Corduene) is a roughly defined geo-cultural region wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population, and Kurdish culture, language, and national identity have historically been based.
Contemporary use of Kurdistan refers to parts of eastern Turkey (Turkish Kurdistan), northern Iraq (Iraqi Kurdistan), northwestern Iran (Iranian Kurdistan) and northern Syria inhabited mainly by Kurds. Kurdistan roughly encompasses the northwestern Zagros and the eastern Taurus mountain ranges, and covers small portions of Armenia.
Iraqi Kurdistan first gained autonomous status in 1970 agreement with the Iraqi government and its status was re-confirmed as an autonomous entity within the federal Iraqi republic in 2005. There is also a province by the name Kurdistan in Iran, although it does not enjoy self-rule.
Some Kurdish nationalist organizations seek to create an independent nation state of Kurdistan, consisting of some or all of the areas with Kurdish majority, while others campaign for greater Kurdish autonomy within the existing national boundaries.
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Lebanon
Lebanon (i/ˈlɛbənɒn/ or /ˈlɛbənən/; Arabic: لبنان Libnān or Lubnān, Lebanese Arabic: [lɪbˈneːn]), officially the Lebanese Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية اللبنانية al-Jumhūrīyah al-Libnānīyah, Lebanese Arabic: [elˈʒʊmhuːɾɪjje l.ˈlɪbneːnɪjje]), is a country in the East Mediterranean. It is bordered by Syria to the north and east, and Israel to the south. Lebanon's location at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian hinterland has dictated its rich history, and shaped a cultural identity of religious and ethnic diversity.
The earliest evidence of civilization in Lebanon dates back more than 7,000 years—predating recorded history. Lebanon was the home of the Phoenicians, a maritime culture that flourished for nearly 2,500 years (3000–539 BC). Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, the five provinces that comprise modern Lebanon were mandated to France. The French expanded the borders of Mount Lebanon, which was mostly populated by Maronite Catholics and Druze, to include more Muslims. Lebanon gained independence in 1943, and established a unique political system, known as confessionalism, a power-sharing mechanism based on religious communities – Bechara El Khoury who became independent Lebanon's first President and Riad El-Solh, who became Lebanon's first prime minister, are considered the founders of the modern Republic of Lebanon and are national heroes for having led the country's independence. French troops withdrew from Lebanon in 1946.
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Mosul
Coordinates: 36°20′N 43°08′E / 36.34°N 43.13°E / 36.34; 43.13
Mosul (Arabic: الموصل al-Mawṣil; North Mesopotamian Arabic: el-Mōṣul; Syriac: ܢܝܢܘܐ Nînwe; Kurdish: Mûsil/Nînewe; Turkish: Musul), is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Nineveh Province, some 400 km (250 mi) northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial areas on both banks, with five bridges linking the two sides. The majority of its population is Arab (with Assyrians, Turcoman and Kurdish minorities). It is Iraq's third largest city after Baghdad and Basra.
The fabric Muslin, long manufactured here, is named after this city. Another historically important product of the area is Mosul marble.
In 1987, the city's population was 664,221 people; the 2002 population estimate was 1,740,000, and by 2008 was estimated to be 1,800,000. People from Mosul are called Maslawis.
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Naples
Coordinates: 40°50′42″N 14°15′30″E / 40.845°N 14.25833°E / 40.845; 14.25833
Naples (Italian: Napoli [ˈnaːpoli] ( listen), Neapolitan: Napule; Latin: Neapolis; Ancient Greek: Νεάπολις, meaning "new city") is the capital of Campania and the third-largest city in Italy, after Rome and Milan. As of 2012[update], around 960,000 people live within the city's administrative limits. The wider Naples urban area, covering 777 km2 (300 sq mi), has a population of over 3 million, and is the 10th-most populous urban area in the European Union. Between 4.1 and 4.4 million people live in the overall Naples metropolitan area, one of the largest European cities on the Mediterranean Sea.
Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Greek settlements were established on the island of Megaride in the Gulf of Naples as early as the 9th century BC. A larger mainland colony – initially known as Parthenope (Παρθενόπη) – developed around the 7th century BC, and was refounded as Neápolis (Νεάπολις) in the 5th century BC. Naples became a lynchpin of Magna Graecia and played a key role in the merging of Greek culture into Roman society, eventually becoming a cultural centre of the Roman Republic. Naples remained influential after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, serving as the capital city of the Kingdom of Naples between 1282 and 1816. Thereafter, in union with Sicily, it became the capital of the Two Sicilies until the unification of Italy in 1861. During the Neapolitan War of 1815, Naples strongly promoted Italian unification.
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Near East
The Near East (French: Proche-Orient) is a geographical term that covers different countries for geographers, archeologists, and historians, on the one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other. The term originally applied to the maximum extent of the Ottoman Empire, which had been settled to the north by the Great Turkish War of the late 17th century, ending with the Treaty of Karlowitz, June 26, 1699. This war determined that Austria, Hungary and the Ukraine would not be in the Ottoman Empire and therefore ultimately would not be Near Eastern.
The term Near East was in use exclusively during the 2nd half of the 19th century. In the 1st half of the 20th century it began to share the geographical stage with the term, Middle East. Since then Near East and Middle East have been approximately synonymous. Near East is used in some historic contexts and Middle East in others with no major semantic difference.
At the beginning of the 19th century the Ottoman empire included all of the Balkan Peninsula north to the southern edge of the Hungarian plain, but by 1914 had lost all of it except Constantinople to the expansion of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the independence of Greece and various smaller wars of independence resulting in the creation of "the Balkan States". Some of these states were independent and some were still nominally under the Ottomans although occupied by Austro-Hungarian troops. Up until 1912 the Ottomans retained a band of territory including Albania, Macedonia and Thrace, which were lost in the two Balkan wars of 1912 and 1913.
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Pakistan
Pakistan (
i/ˈpækɨstæn/ or i/pɑːkiˈstɑːn/; Urdu: پاکستان) (Urdu pronunciation: [paːkɪˈst̪aːn] (
listen)), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (Urdu: اسلامی جمہوریۂ پاکستان), is a sovereign country in South Asia. It sits at the crossroads of the strategically important regions of South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046-kilometre (650 mi) coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by India to the east, Afghanistan to the west and north, Iran to the southwest and China in the far northeast. It is separated from Tajikistan by Afghanistan's narrow Wakhan Corridor in the north, and it shares a marine border with Oman.
The territory of modern Pakistan was the site of several ancient cultures, including the Neolithic Mehrgarh and the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation, and has undergone invasions or settlements by Hindu, Persian, Indo-Greek, Islamic, Turco-Mongol, Afghan and Sikh cultures. Thus the area has been ruled by numerous empires and dynasties, including the Indian Mauryan Empire, the Persian Achaemenid Empire, the Arab Umayyad Caliphate, the Mongol Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Durrani Empire, the Sikh Empire and the British Empire. As a result of the Pakistan Movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and India's struggle for independence, Pakistan was created in 1947 as an independent nation for Muslims from the regions in the east and west of India where there was a Muslim majority. Initially a dominion, Pakistan adopted a new constitution in 1956, becoming an Islamic republic. A civil war in 1971 resulted in the secession of East Pakistan as the new country of Bangladesh.
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Palmyra
Palmyra (Aramaic: ܬܕܡܘܪܬܐ;Hebrew: תדמור; tiḏmor, Greek: Παλμύρα, Arabic: تدمر; Tadmur, English pronunciation: /ˌpælˈmaɪrə/) was an ancient city in central Syria. In antiquity, it was an important city located in an oasis 215 km northeast of Damascus and 180 km southwest of the Euphrates at Deir ez-Zor. It had long been a vital caravan stop for travellers crossing the Syrian desert and was known as the Bride of the Desert. The earliest documented reference to the city by its Semitic name Tadmor, Tadmur or Tudmur (which means "the town that repels" in Amorite and "the indomitable town" in Aramaic) is recorded in Babylonian tablets found in Mari.
Though the ancient site fell into disuse after the 16th century, it is still known as Tadmor in Arabic (aka Tedmor), and there is a newer town of the same name next to the ruins. The Palmyrenes constructed a series of large-scale monuments containing funerary art such as limestone slabs with human busts representing the deceased.
Palmyrans bore Aramaic names, and worshipped a variety of deities from Mesopotamia (Marduk and Ruda), Syria (Hadad, Baʿal, Astarte), Arabia (Allāt) and Greece (Athena). Palmyrans were originally speakers of Aramaic but later shifted to the Greek language. At the time of the Islamic conquests Palmyra was inhabited by several Arab tribes, primarily the Qada'ah and Kalb.
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Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf is located in Western Asia between Iran (Persia) and the Arabian Peninsula. It is an extension of the Indian Ocean.
The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers. In 1991, the Persian Gulf again was the background for what was called the "Persian Gulf War" or the "Gulf War" when Iraq invaded Kuwait and was subsequently pushed back, despite the fact that this conflict was primarily a land conflict.
The Persian Gulf has many good fishing grounds, extensive coral reefs, and abundant pearl oysters, but its ecology has come under pressure from industrialization, and in particular, oil and petroleum spillages during wars in the region.
Historically and internationally known as the Persian Gulf, this body of water is sometimes controversially referred to as the Arabian Gulf or simply The Gulf by most Arab states, although neither of the latter two terms are recognized internationally. The name Gulf of Iran (Persian Gulf) is used by the International Hydrographic Organization.
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Sidon
Coordinates: 33°33′38″N 35°23′53″E / 33.56056°N 35.39806°E / 33.56056; 35.39806
Sidon or Saïda (Arabic: صيدا, Ṣaydā; Phoenician:
, Ṣydwn; Greek: Σιδών; Latin: Sidon; Hebrew: צידון, Ṣīḏōn, Turkish: Sayda) is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean coast, about 40 km (25 mi) north of Tyre and 40 km (25 mi) south of the capital Beirut. In Genesis, Sidon is the son of Canaan the grandson of Noah. Its name coincides with the modern Arabic word for fishery.
Sidon is a city of 200,000 inhabitants who are overwhelmingly Muslims.
Sidon has been inhabited since very early in prehistory. The archaeological site of Sidon II shows a lithic assemblage dating to the Acheulean, whilst finds at Sidon III include a Heavy Neolithic assemblage suggested to date just prior to the invention of pottery. It was one of the most important Phoenician cities, and may have been the oldest. From here, and other ports, a great Mediterranean commercial empire was founded. Homer praised the skill of its craftsmen in producing glass, purple dyes, and its women's skill at the art of embroidery. It was also from here that a colonizing party went to found the city of Tyre. Tyre also grew into a great city, and in subsequent years there was competition between the two, each claiming to be the metropolis ('Mother City') of Phoenicia. Glass manufacturing, Sidon's most important enterprise in the Phoenician era, was conducted on a vast scale, and the production of purple dye was almost as important. The small shell of the Murex trunculus was broken in order to extract the pigment that was so rare it became the mark of royalty.
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Syria
Syria (/ˈsɪriə/ ( listen) SIRR-ee-ə; Arabic: سورية Sūriyya or سوريا Sūryā; Syriac: ܣܘܪܝܐ; Kurdish: Sûrî), officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية العربية السورية al-Jumhūriyyah al-‘Arabīyah as-Sūriyyah Arabic pronunciation (help·info)), is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest.
In English, the name Syria was formerly synonymous with the Levant, known in Arabic as Sham, while the modern state encompasses the sites of several ancient kingdoms and empires, including the Eblan civilization of the third millennium BC. In the Islamic era, its capital city, Damascus, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate, and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt.
The population of Syria is 74% Sunni, 12% Alawi, 10% Christian, and 3% Druze. Combined, 87% of the Syrian population is Muslim, while the other 10% is Christian, which includes mainly Arab Christians but also Assyrians and Armenians. Major ethnic minorities in Syria include Kurds (9%), Assyrians, Armenians, Turkmens and Circassians. The majority of the population is Arab (90%).
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Tripoli
Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Tripoli-of-the-West (Arabic: طرابلس الغرب Ṭarābulus al-Gharb), to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean (Arabic: عروسة البحر ʼarūsat el-baḥr; lit: "bride of the sea"), describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli (English pronunciation: /ˈtrɪpɵli/) is a Greek name that means "Three Cities", introduced in Western European languages through the Italian Tripoli. In Arabic: طرابلس it is called Ṭarābulus ( pronunciation (help·info), Libyan Arabic: Ṭrābləs pronunciation (help·info), Berber: Ṭrables, from Ancient Greek: Τρίπολις Trípolis). As of 2011, the Tripoli metropolitan area (district area) had a population of 2.2 million. The city is located in the northwest part of the country on the edge of the desert, on a point of rocky land projecting into the Mediterranean and forming a bay.
The city includes the Port of Tripoli and the country's largest commercial and manufacturing centre. It is also the site of the University of Tripoli. The vast Bab al-Azizia barracks, which includes the former family compound of Muammar Gaddafi, is also located in the city; Gaddafi largely ruled the country from his residence in this barracks.
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Turkey
Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( Türkiye Cumhuriyeti (help·info)), is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia (mostly in the Anatolian peninsula) and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan (the exclave of Nakhchivan) and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus are to the south; the Aegean Sea is to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. The Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between East Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia.
Turkey is one of the six independent Turkic states. The vast majority of the population are Muslims. The country's official language is Turkish, whereas Kurdish and Zazaki languages are spoken by Kurds and Zazas, who constitute 18% of the population.
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United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, or Britain) is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The country includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea.
The United Kingdom is a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system, with its seat of government in the capital city of London. It is a country in its own right and consists of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There are three devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff, the capitals of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Associated with the UK, but not constitutionally part of it, are three Crown Dependencies. The United Kingdom has fourteen overseas territories. These are remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in 1922, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface and was the largest empire in history. British influence can still be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former territories.
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United States
The United States of America (commonly abbreviated to the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity). Per capita income is the world's sixth-highest.
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Venezuela
Venezuela (i/ˌvɛnɨˈzweɪlə/ VEN-ə-ZWAY-lə), officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Spanish: República Bolivariana de Venezuela [repuˈβlika βoliβaˈɾjana ðe βeneˈswela]), is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south. Its northern coastline of roughly 2,800 kilometres (1,700 mi) includes numerous islands in the Caribbean Sea, and in the north east borders the northern Atlantic Ocean. Caribbean islands such as Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Curaçao, Bonaire, Aruba and the Leeward Antilles lie near the Venezuelan coast. Venezuela's territory covers around 916,445 square kilometres (353,841 sq mi) with an estimated population of 29,105,632. Venezuela is considered a state with extremely high biodiversity, with habitats ranging from the Andes mountains in the west to the Amazon Basin rainforest in the south, via extensive llanos plains and Caribbean coast in the center and the Orinoco River Delta in the east.
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Zahlé
Zahlé (Arabic: زحلة / ALA-LC: Zaḥlah; also transliterated Zahleh) is the capital and largest city of Beqaa Governorate, Lebanon. With around 320,000 inhabitants, it is the third largest city in Lebanon, after Beirut, Tripoli. It is situated 55 km (34 mi) east of the capital Beirut, close to the Beirut-Damascus road, and lies at the junction of the Lebanon mountains and the Beqaa plateau, at a mean elevation of 1000m. Zahlé is known as the "Bride of the Beqaa" and "the Neighbor of the Gorge" due to its geographical location and attractiveness, but also as "the City of Wine and Poetry" It is famous throughout Lebanon and the region for its pleasant climate, numerous riverside restaurants and quality arak. Its population is predominantly Catholic and known as Zahlawis.
The name Zahlé is derived from the Arabic verb زحل zahhala, which means to slide, to displace. The occasional landslides which take place on the deforested hills around the town are probably at the origin of this name.
Zahlé was founded in the early 18th century, in an area whose past reaches back some five millennia. It enjoyed a brief period as the region’s first independent state in the 19th century, when it had its own flag and anthem.
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Adib Shishakli
Adib ibn Hasan Shishakli (Arabic: أديب بن حسن الشيشكلي, 1909 - 27 September 1964) was a Syrian military leader and President of Syria (1953–54).
Born in Hama in 1909, Shishakli served with the French Army during the mandate era. He studied at the Military Academy of Damascus (which later was relocated to Homs) and became an early member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) of Antun Saadeh, promoting the concept of a Greater Syria. His brother Salah was also a prominent member of the SSNP. After independence, Shishakli fought in a volunteer Arab army, known as the Army of Deliverance, against the Zionist militias in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
Although he was born in Ottoman-Syria, and he is considered Syrian, his origin is doubtful. His family name Shishakli is a common Turkish surname, and written as "Çiçekli" in Turkish. "Çiçek" means flower in Turkish, and Çiçekli (Shishakli) means someone or some place with flowers. The known fact about his family is his father Ali Hasan Shishakli was a Turk, who was born in Ankara, and his mother was of Syrian origin. Also argued is that, his family was a notable Syrian-Kurdish family. But his claim is questionable as his father was a Turkish man, and his mother's ethnic origin is not known only she was Syrian. They were a family living in the Hama province of Ottoman Syria, since during his early childhood, Syria was a part of Ottoman Empire.
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Aga Khan IV
Prince Karim, Aga Khan IV,NPk, NI, KBE, CC, GCC, GCIH, GCM (born December 13, 1936; Aga Khan is also transliterated Aqa Khan and Agha Khan) is an international businessman, racehorse owner and breeder, as well as the 49th and current Imam of Nizari Ismailism — a minority denomination of Shia Islam with 5-15 million adherents (under 10% of the Shia population). He has held the position of Imam under the title of Aga Khan IV since July 11, 1957, when, at the age of 20, he succeeded his grandfather, Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan, also known as Aga Khan III. The Aga Khans indicate that they are direct descendants of Prophet Muhammad through his cousin and son-in-law, Ali, considered the first Imam in Shia Islam, and his wife Fatima az-Zahra, the Prophet’s daughter from his first marriage. As the Imam of Nizari Ismailism, the Aga Khan IV is considered by his followers to be the proof or hujjah of God on earth as well as infallible and immune from sin (just as an Imam is viewed in most other denominations of Shia Islam). He is further considered by his followers to be the carrier of the eternal Noor of Allah ("Light of God" - a concept unique to certain denominations of Shia Islam). In 1986, the Aga Khan ordained the current Ismailia Constitution - an ecclesiastical decree affirming to Nizari Ismailis his "sole right to interpret the Quran and provide authoritative guidance on [all] matters of faith" and formalizing his sole discretion, power and authority for the governance of Nizari Ismaili jamats (places of worship) and institutions.
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Ahmad Faris Shidyaq
Ahmad Faris Shidyaq (known also as Fares Chidiac, Faris Al Chidiac, Arabic: أحمد فارس الشدياق ) was an Ottoman scholar, writer and journalist. Maronite by birth, he converted to Protestantism and then to Islam. He is considered to be one of the founding fathers of modern Arabic Literature.
Mystery shrouds the life of Ahmad Faris Shidyaq. Among the many autobiographical references found in his writings, we cannot easily differentiate romanticizing from reality.
Ahmad Faris Shidyaq was born in 1804 in Ashqout (Arabic: عشقوت ), a mountain village of the Keserwan District in the modern Mount Lebanon Governorate. At birth, his given name was Faris. His father's name was Youssef. His mother came from the Massaad family, from Ashqout.
His family, Shidyaq, was a notable family, tracing its roots to the Maronite muqaddam Raad Bin Khatir (Arabic: رعد بن خاطر الحصروني ) from Hasroun. His family was very well educated and its members were working as secretaries for the governors of Mount Lebanon.
In 1805, the family was obliged to leave Ashqout following a conflict with a local governor that cost the life of Butrus Ash-Shidyaq, the grandfather of Faris. The family settled in Hadath, in the suburbs of Beirut at the service of a Shihabi prince.
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Ali
Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib (Arabic: علي بن أﺑﻲ طالب, Transliteration: ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, [ʕaliː ibn ʔæbiː t̪ˤɑːlib]; 13thRajab, 24 BH–21stRamaḍān, 40 AH; approximately October 23, 598 or 600 or March 17, 599 – January 27, 661). The son of Abu Talib, Ali was also the cousin and son-in-law of Islamic prophet Muhammad, ruling over the Islamic Caliphate from 656 to 661, and was the first male convert to Islam.Sunnis consider Ali the fourth and final of the Rashidun (rightly guided Caliphs), while Shias regard Ali as the first Imam and consider him and his descendants the rightful successors to Muhammad, all of which are members of the Ahl al-Bayt, the household of Muhammad. This disagreement split the Ummah (Muslim community) into the Sunni and Shia branches.
Muslim sources, especially Shia ones, state that since Muhammad's time, Ali was the only person born in the Kaaba sanctuary in Mecca, the holiest place in Islam. His father was Abu Talib and his mother was Fatima bint Asad, but he was raised in the household of Muhammad, who himself was raised by Abu Talib, Muhammad's uncle, and Ali's father. When Muhammad reported receiving a divine revelation, Ali was the first male to accept his message, dedicating his life to the cause of Islam.
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Armenians in Israel
The Armenian community has been resident in the Levant for two millennia. After the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and the establishment of the State of Israel, a number of Armenians residing in what had been the British Mandate of Palestine took up Israeli citizenship, whereas other Armenian residents of Old City of Jerusalem and the territory captured by Jordan took on the Jordanian nationality.[citation needed].
Armenians in Israel are Armenians with Israeli citizenship. There are around one thousand Armenian-Israelis with Israeli citizenship, residing mainly in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv Jaffa and Haifa. When taking into account the total number of Armenians in the areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority, the Armenian community in Israel and the West Bank added, the number of Armenian may total around five thousand.
Thus, after 1948, two groups of Armenians emerged:
After the 1967 Six-Day War, the Armenian population, especially in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, experienced a decrease in its numbers because of emigration.
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Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim (Hebrew: אַשְׁכֲּנָזִים, pronounced [ˌaʃkəˈnazim], singular: [ˌaʃkəˈnazi]; also יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכֲּנָז, Y'hudey Ashkenaz, "the Jews of Ashkenaz"), are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north.[citation needed]
The name Ashkenazi derives from the bibilical figure of Ashkenaz, the first son of Gomer, and a Japhetic patriarch in the Table of Nations (Genesis 10). In the Rabbinic literature, Ashkenaz's kingdom was first associated with the Scythian region, then later on with the Slavic territories, and from the 11th century onwards with Northern Europe and Germany. The Jews living in the northern regions, associated with Ashkenaz's kingdom, thus came to call themselves the Ashkenazi Jews. Later, Jews from Western and Central Europe also came to be called "Ashkenazi" because the main centers of Jewish learning were located in Germany.
Many Ashkenazi Jews later migrated, largely eastward, forming communities in non German-speaking areas, including Bohemia, Hungary, Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, and elsewhere between the 11th and 19th centuries. With them, they took and diversified Yiddish, a High German language written using the Hebrew alphabet. It had developed in medieval times as the lingua franca among Ashkenazi Jews. The Jewish communities of three cities along the Rhine: Speyer, Worms and Mainz, created the SHUM league (SHUM after the first Hebrew letters of Shpira, Vermayza, and Magentza). The ShUM-cities are considered the cradle of the distinct Ashkenazi culture and liturgy.
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Assyrians in Israel
Assyrians in Israel number approximately 1,000 people. They mostly live within the city of Jerusalem. Most adhere to the Syriac Orthodox Church, with smaller numbers following the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Church. The Assyrian Church of the East is represented by the Assyrian Archbishop of Jerusalem, while the Chaldean Catholic members have been represented since 1903 by a non-resident apostolic vicar. The most notable symbol of the Assyrian presence in Israel is the Syriac Orthodox monastery of Saint Mark in Jerusalem.
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Ayoob Kara
Ayoob Kara (Hebrew: איוב קרא, Arabic: أيوب قرا also Ayoub or Ayub or Qara; born 12 March 1955) is a Druze Israeli politician. He is currently a member of the Knesset for Likud and Deputy Minister for Development of the Negev and Galilee. He lives in Isfiya, Haifa District.
He is one of the most conservative and outspoken members of the Knesset and a strong supporter of Israel. He opposed the Gaza disengagement, is hawkish on Iran, supports the three-state solution and supports Jewish settlement in the West Bank.
Kara was born in Daliyat al-Karmel, a Druze town near Haifa, in 1955. He went to an agricultural high school in Kfar Galim. He served in the Israel Defense Forces reserve and attained the rank of major before being discharged for posttraumatic stress disorder. Serving alongside Jews before and after the establishment of Israel has been a source of family pride. His uncle was killed during Arab riots in 1939. His father served in the IDF during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Another uncle was also killed by Arabs then and two of his brothers were killed in action in the 1982 Lebanon War. Following his national service, Kara studied Business Administration. Today, he lives in Daliyat al-Karmel with his wife and five children.
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Bashir Shihab II
Bashir Chehab II (1767 in Ghazir – 1850 in Constantinople) was a Lebanese emir who ruled Lebanon in the first half of the 19th century.
Bashir was born 2 January 1767 , son of Emir Qasim ibn Umar Chehab of the noble Chehab family which had came to power in 1697. Despite his noble roots he was born into poverty and married a rich cousin.
In 1788, after abdication of his predecessor, Emir Yussef Chehab, he was elected an emir and would rule under Ottoman suzerainty, being appointed wali or governor of Mount Lebanon, the Beqaa Valley and Jabal Amel, together forming about two thirds of modern day Lebanon. He would reform taxes and attempt to break the feudal system, in order to undercut rivals, the most important of which was also named Bashir: Bashir Jumblatt, whose wealth and feudal backers equaled or exceeded Bashir II – and who had increasing support in the Druze community.
In 1799 Bashir refused to assist either Napoleon or al-Jazzar during Napoleon's -siege on Acre. This was one of the factors causing Napoleon's failure and eventual return to Egypt.
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Brethren of Purity
The Brethren of Purity (Arabic: اخوان الصفا Ikhwān aṣ-Ṣafā; also The Brethren of Sincerity) were a secret society of Muslim philosophers in Basra, Iraq, in the 10th century CE.
The structure of this mysterious organization and the identities of its members have never been clear. Their esoteric teachings and philosophy are expounded in an epistolary style in the Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity (Rasa'il Ikhwan al-safa'), a giant compendium of 52 epistles that would greatly influence later encyclopedias. A good deal of Muslim and Western scholarship has been spent on just pinning down the identities of the Brethren and the century in which they were active.
The Arabic phrase Ikhwan al-Safa (short for, among many possible transcriptions, Ikhwān aṣ-Ṣafāʾ wa Khullān al-Wafā wa Ahl al-Ḥamd wa abnāʾ al-Majd, meaning "Brethren of Purity, Loyal Friends, People worthy of praise and Sons of Glory") can be translated as either the "Brethren of Purity" or the "Brethren of Sincerity"; various scholars such as Ian Netton prefer "of Purity" because of the group's ascetic impulses towards purity and salvation.
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Dom people
The Dom (also called "Domi"; Arabic: دومي / ALA-LC: Dūmī; دومري / Dūmrī) of the Middle East are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group. Some authors relate them to the Domba people of India.
They have an oral tradition and express their culture and history through music, poetry and dance. Initially it was considered that they are a branch of the Romani people, but recent studies of the Domari language suggest that they departed earlier from the Indian subcontinent, probably around the 6th century. The world wide used name for Gypsies to identify themselves was term “Rrom”, which in Romani language means a man. The words Rom, Dom and Lom was used to describe proto-Romani people that split in 6th century. Several tribes moved forward into Western Europe and were called Rom, while the ones that remained in Persia and Turkey were called Dom.
Among the various Domari subgroups, the Ghawazi are the most famous for their dancing and music. The Ghawazi dancers have been associated with the development of the Egyptian raqs sharqi style which ultimately gave rise to Western schools of belly dance.
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Esarhaddon
Esarhaddon (Akkadian: Aššur-ahhe-iddina "Ashur has given a brother to me"; Aramaic: ܐܵܫܘܿܪ ܐܵܗܐܹ ܐܝܼܕܝܼܢܵܐ; Hebrew: אֵסַר חַדֹּן;Ancient Greek: Ασαραδδων;Latin: Asor Haddan), was a king of Assyria who reigned 681 – 669 BC. He was the youngest son of Sennacherib and the Aramean queen Naqi'a (Zakitu), Sennacherib's second wife.
When, despite being the youngest son, he was named successor by his father, his elder brothers tried to discredit him. Oracles had named Esarhaddon as the person to free the exiles and rebuild Babylon, the destruction of which by Sennacherib was felt to be sacrilegious. Esarhaddon remained crown prince, but was forced into exile at an unknown place beyond Hanilgalbat (Mitanni), that is, beyond the Euphrates, most likely somewhere in what is now southeastern Turkey.
Sennacherib was murdered in 681 BC, some[who?] claim at the instigation of Esarhaddon, though this seems hardly likely, as he was not in a situation to exploit unrest arising from the death of his father. The biblical account is that his brothers killed their father after the failed attempt to capture Jerusalem and fled (2 Kings 19:37). He returned to the capital of Nineveh in forced marches and defeated his rival brothers in six weeks of civil war. He was formally declared king in spring of 681 BC. His brothers fled the land, and their followers and families were put to death. In the same year he began the rebuilding of Babylon, including the well-known Esagila and the Ekur at Nippur (structures sometimes identified with Tower of Babel). The statues of the Babylonian gods were restored and returned to the city. In order not to appear too biased in favor of Babylonia, he ordered the reconstruction of the Assyrian sanctuary of Esharra in Ashur as well. Foreigners were forbidden to enter this temple. Both buildings were dedicated almost at the same date, in year two of his reign.
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Felix von Luschan
Felix Ritter von Luschan (11 August 1854 – 7 February 1924) was an Austrian doctor, anthropologist, explorer, archaeologist and ethnographer.
Note that the Ritter is not part of the name but a title, equivalent to the English knight or baronet.
He was born the son of a lawyer in Hollabrunn in Lower Austria and attended the Akademisches Gymnasium in Vienna, whereafter he studied medicine at the Vienna University and anthropology in Paris, with an emphasis on craniometry. After he gained his doctorate in 1878, he was an army doctor in Austro-Hungarian occupied Bosnia and, together with the British archaeologist Arthur Evans, travelled through Dalmatia, Montenegro and Albania. From 1880 he worked as a medical assistant at the Vienna General Hospital and a lecturer (Privatdozent) at the Vienna University in 1882. In 1885 he married Emma von Hochstetter, daughter of the German geologist Ferdinand von Hochstetter, a close friend of his father.
On 1 January 1886 von Luschan took up his position as an assistant of Director Adolf Bastian at the Königliches Museum für Völkerkunde in Berlin (the present-day Ethnological Museum), where upon Bastian's death in 1905 he became Director of the Africa and Oceania Department. In this capacity he acquired one of the most important collections of Benin antiquities, ivory carvings and bronze figures he published in his multivolume opus magnum.
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Franks
The Franks (Latin: Franci or gens Francorum) were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as populating a broad strip of land on the right bank of the Lower and Middle Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a kingdom on Roman-held soil that was acknowledged by the Romans after 357. In the climate of the collapse of imperial authority in the West, the Frankish tribes were united under the Merovingians and conquered all of Gaul except Septimania in the 6th century. The Salian political elite was one of the most active forces in spreading Christianity over western Europe. The Franks had created one of the most strong and stable barbaric kingdoms.
The Merovingian dynasty, descended from the Salians, founded one of the Germanic monarchies which replaced the Western Roman Empire from the fifth century. The Frankish state consolidated its hold over large parts of western Europe by the end of the eighth century, developing into the Carolingian Empire which dominated most of Western Europe. This empire would gradually evolve into France and the Holy Roman Empire.
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Hasan ibn Ali
Al-Hasan ibn ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib (Arabic: الحسن بن علي بن أبي طالب) ( born March 1, 625 CE (Ramadhān 15th, 3 AH) – died 669CE (Safar 7th or 28th, 50 AH) aged 47) is an important figure in Islam, the son of Fatimah the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and of the fourth Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib. Hasan is a member of the Ahl al-Bayt and Ahl al-Kisa. He briefly succeeded his father Ali ibn Abi Talib as the righteous Caliph following the latter's death, before retiring to Madinah and entering into an agreement with the first Umayyad ruler, Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan, who assumed the Caliphate. Both Sunni and Shia Muslims regard Hasan as a martyr.
According to Shia and Sunni sources, Muhammad, upon the birth of his grandson in 3 AH, was ordered by the archangel Gabriel to name him Hasan - a name not used in the pre-Islamic period.Muhammad also honoured his grandson by reciting the Adhān in his right ear, the Iqāmah in his left ear, shaving his head, and sacrificing a ram for the sake of his birth.
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Hashemite
Hashemite is the Latinate version of the Arabic: هاشمي, transliteration: Hāšimī, and traditionally refers to those belonging to the Banu Hashim, or "clan of Hashim", a clan within the larger Quraish tribe. It also refers to an Arab dynasty whose original strength stemmed from the network of tribal alliances and blood loyalties in the Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia, along the Red Sea.
The Hashemites trace their ancestry from Hashim ibn Abd al-Manaf (died c. 510 AD), the great-grandfather of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, although the definition today mainly refers to the descendants of the prophet's daughter, Fatimah. The early history of the Hashemites saw them in a continuous struggle against the Umayyads for control over who would be the caliph or successor to Muhammad. The Umayyads were of the same tribe as the Hashemites, but a different clan. After the overthrow of the Umayyads, the Abbasids would present themselves as representatives of the Hashemites, as they claimed descent from Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, an uncle of Muhammad. Muhammad's father had died before he was born, and his mother died while he was a child[citation needed], so Muhammad was raised by his uncle Abu Talib, chief of the Hashemites.
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Hittites
The Hittites were a Bronze Age Indo-European speaking people of Anatolia. They established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia c. the 18th century BC. The Hittite empire reached its height c. the 14th century BC, encompassing a large part of Anatolia, north-western Syria about as far south as the mouth of the Litani River (in present-day Lebanon), and eastward into upper Mesopotamia. The Hittite military made successful use of chariots. By the mid-14th century BC (under king Suppiluliuma I), they had carved out an empire that included most of Asia Minor as well as parts of the northern Levant and Upper Mesopotamia. After c. 1180 BC, the empire disintegrated into several independent "Neo-Hittite" city-states, some surviving until the 8th century BC.
Their Hittite language was a member of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family. Natively, they referred to their land as Hatti, and to their language as Nesili (the language of Nesa). The conventional name "Hittites" is due to their initial identification with the Biblical Hittites in 19th century archaeology. Despite the use of "Hatti", the Hittites should be distinguished from the Hattians, an earlier people who inhabited the same region until the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, and spoke a non-Indo-European language known as Hattic.
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Ibn Taymiyyah
Taqi ad-Din Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah (January 22, 1263–1328 CE), full name: Taqī ad-Dīn Abu 'l-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm ibn ʿAbd as-Salām Ibn Taymiya al-Ḥarrānī (Arabic: تقي الدين أبو العباس أحمد بن عبد السلام بن عبد الله ابن تيمية الحراني), was an Islamic scholar (alim), theologian and logician born in Harran, located in what is now Turkey, close to the Syrian border. He lived during the troubled times of the Mongol invasions. He was considered by his followers to be a member of the school founded by Ahmad ibn Hanbal and sought the return of Islam to what he viewed as earlier interpretations of the Qur'an and the Sunnah.
Ibn Taymiyya was born in 1263 at Harran into a well-known family of theologians and died in Damascus, Syria, outside of the Muslim cemetery. His grandfather, Abu al-Barkat Majd ad-deen ibn Taymiyyah al-Hanbali (d. 1255) was a reputable teacher of the Hanbali school of law. Likewise, the scholarly achievements of ibn Taymiyyah's father, Shihab al-deen 'Abd al-Haleem ibn Taymiyyah (d. 1284) were well known. Because of the Mongol invasion, ibn Taymiyyah's family moved to Damascus in 1268, which was then ruled by the Mamluks of Egypt. It was here that his father delivered sermons from the pulpit of the Umayyad Mosque, and ibn Taymiyyah followed in his footsteps by studying with the scholars of his time. Although some claim that he was of Kurdish origin there seems to be no evidence indicating such claim.[citation needed]
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Israeli Jews
Israeli Jews, also known as Jewish Israelis, can refer to:
Israeli Jews are found mostly in Israel and Western world countries, as well as many other countries worldwide, not necessarily only in Jewish communities. Israeli Jews mostly speak Hebrew and most practice Judaism in some form. Israel, the Jewish state, currently has almost half the world's Jews.
The Jewish community in Israel is composed from all Jewish ethnic divisions, including Ashkenazi Jews, Sephardi Jews, Mizrahi Jews, Beta Israel and some converts. The Israeli Jewish community manifests a wide range of Jewish cultural traditions, as well as encompassing the full spectrum of religious observance, from the Haredi communities to the Hilonim Jewish communities who live a secular lifestyle.
Despite the ongoing debate over the question of who is a Jew among Israeli Jews, the Jewish status of a person, which is considered a matter of "nationality" by the Israeli authorities, is registered and controlled by the Israeli Ministry of the Interior, which requires a person to meet the halakhic definition to be registered as a "Jew". Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics estimated the Israeli Jewish population was 5,901,000 in December 2011 (75.3% of the total population). Depending on religious definitions and varying population data, Israel is home to the largest or second largest (after the United States) Jewish community in the world.
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Israelis
Israelis (Hebrew: ישראלים, Yisra'elim), are citizens or nationals of the modern state of Israel. Although Israel is a Jewish state, it has a multiethnic society, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds. The largest ethnic group is that of Israeli Jews, followed by Arab citizens, mostly Arab Muslims, with smaller numbers of Arab Christians in addition to Druze, Circassians, and others. As a result, some Israelis don't take their nationality as an ethnicity, but identify themselves with both their nationality and their ancestral origins.
Due to the multi-ethnic composition, Israel is a multicultural nation, home to a wide variety of traditions and values. Large-scale immigration in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries from Europe and Yemen and more recent Large-scale immigration from North Africa, Western Asia, North America, Former Soviet Union and Ethiopia introduced many new cultural elements and has had broad impact. The resulting cultural mix may be described as a melting pot.
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John Esposito
John Louis Esposito (born 19 May 1940, Brooklyn, New York City) is a professor of International Affairs and Islamic Studies at Georgetown University. He is also the director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University.
Esposito was raised a Roman Catholic in an Italian neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York City, and spent a decade in a Catholic monastery. After taking his first degree he worked as a management consultant and high-school teacher.[citation needed] He then studied and received a masters in theology at St. John's University. He earned a PhD at Temple University, Pennsylvania in 1974, studying Islam and held postdoctoral appointments at Harvard and Oxford. He is well known as a promoter of strong ties between Muslims and Christians and has challenged the Vatican to make greater efforts to encourage such ties [citation needed]
For nearly twenty years after completing his PhD, Esposito had taught religious studies (including Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam) at the College of the Holy Cross, a Jesuit college in Massachusetts. At Holy Cross, Esposito held the Loyola Professor of Middle East Studies position, was the chair of the Department of Religious Studies, and the director of college's Center for International Studies. At Georgetown University, Esposito holds the position of University Professor and teaches as both Professor of Religion and International Affairs and Professor of Islamic Studies. Esposito also works as a Senior Scientist at the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, where he co-authored Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think, which was published in March 2008.
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Kamal Jumblatt
Kamal Jumblatt (Arabic: كمال جنبلاط) ; (December 6, 1917 – March 16, 1977) was an important Lebanese politician. He was the main leader of the anti-government forces in the Lebanese Civil War until his assassination in 1977. He is the father of the present Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt.
Kamal Jumblatt was born in 1917 in Moukhtara, in the Chouf area of Lebanon. He was born into the prestigious Jumblatt family, who were traditional leaders of the Lebanese Druze community. The origin of the Jumblatt family is the Kurdish Janpoulad family coming from Shamel Janpoulade and dating back to Janboulad Ibn Kassem al Kirdi al Kaisari, known as Ibn Arabou (1530–1580), and governor of Aleppo. His father, the powerful Druze chieftain Fouad Joumblatt, director of the Chouf District, was assassinated on August 6, 1921. After his father’s death, Kamal Jumblatt’s mother Nazira played a significant political role in the Druze community for over a quarter of a century.
In 1926, the young Kamal Jumblatt joined the Lazarus Fathers Institute in Aintoura, where he completed his elementary studies in 1928. He achieved his high school diploma, having studied French, Arabic, science and literature, in 1936, and a philosophy diploma in 1937.
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Lebanese Civil War
The Lebanese Civil War (Arabic: الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية) was a multifaceted civil war in Lebanon. The war lasted from 1975 to 1990 and resulted in an estimated 150,000 to 230,000[citation needed] fatalities. Another one million people (a quarter of the population) were wounded,[citation needed] and today approximately 350,000 people remain displaced within Lebanon.[citation needed] There was also a mass exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon.
It has been argued that the antecedents of the war can be traced back to the conflicts and political compromises reached after the end of Lebanon's administration by the Ottoman Empire. The Cold War had a powerful disintegrative effect on Lebanon, which was closely linked to the polarization that preceded the 1958 political crisis. The establishment of the state of Israel and the displacement of a hundred thousand Palestinian refugees to Lebanon (around 10% of the total population of the country) changed the demographics of Lebanon and provided a foundation for the long-term involvement of Lebanon in regional conflicts. By 1975, the presence of a foreign armed force in the form of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) guerrillas, who exercised a veto on Lebanese politics, had a serious effect on Lebanon. The militarization of the Palestinian refugee population, with the arrival of the PLO guerrilla forces, sparked an arms race amongst the different Lebanese political factions.
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List of Druze
The list of Druze includes prominent Druze figures who are notable in their areas of expertise.
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Maan family
The Banu Ma'an tribe (also Ma'n, ALA-LC: Ma‘nī, adjective:Ma'anid, Ma'nid), were a tribe & dynasty of Qahtani Arab some of which later became Druze and rulers of the Lebanon Mountains during a period of the Ottoman Empire, and one of the most successful ruling dynasties in Druze history. They originated from coastal Hadramaut in southern Yemen.They moved into the Levante via Al Ahsa and formed a tribal alliance with the larger Al Azd tribe during the journey.
Their authority began to rise with Fakhr ad Din I, who was permitted by Ottoman authorities to organize his own army, and reached its peak with Fakhr ad Din II (1570–1635). Fakhr ad Din II's rule extended "from Antioch in the north to Tsfat (Safed) in the south." Although Fakhr ad Din II's aspirations toward complete independence for Lebanon ended in his execution by Ottoman authorities, he greatly enhanced Lebanon's military and economic development. Noted for religious tolerance and suspected of being a Christian, Fakhr ad Din attempted to merge the country's different religious groups into one Lebanese community.The dynasty's rule as Druze leaders in the Lebanon Mountains lasted from 1517 to 1697.
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Mamluk
A Mamluk (Arabic: مملوك mamluk (singular), مماليك mamālīk (plural)), "owned"; also transliterated mamlouk, Turkish: Memlük, also called Kölemen; , mamluq, mamluke, mameluk, mameluke, mamaluke or marmeluke was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans or Kipchak and later Circassian and Georgian. The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior class, was of great political importance and was extraordinarily long-lived, lasting from the 9th to the 19th century AD. Over time, mamluks became a powerful military caste in various Muslim societies. Particularly in Egypt, but also in the Levant, Iraq, and India, mamluks held political and military power. In some cases, they attained the rank of sultan, while in others they held regional power as amirs or beys. Most notably, mamluk factions seized the sultanate for themselves in Egypt and Syria in a period known as the Mamluk Sultanate (1250–1517). The Mamluk Sultanate famously beat back the Mongols at the Battle of Ayn Jalut and fought the Crusaders effectively driving them out from the Levant by 1291 and officially in 1302 ending the era of the Crusades.
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Manichaeism
Manichaeism ( /ˈmænɨkiːɪzəm/; in Modern Persian آیین مانی Āyin e Māni; Chinese: 摩尼教; pinyin: Móní Jiào) was a major gnostic religion, originating in Sassanid era Babylonia. Although most of the original writings of the founding prophet Mani (in Persian: مانی, Syriac: ܡܐܢܝ, Latin: Manichaeus or Manes) (c. 216–276 CE) have been lost, numerous translations and fragmentary texts have survived.
Manichaeism taught an elaborate cosmology describing the struggle between a good, spiritual world of light, and an evil, material world of darkness. Through an ongoing process which takes place in human history, light is gradually removed from the world of matter and returned to the world of light from which it came. Its beliefs, based on local Mesopotamian gnostic and religious movements, contained elements of Christianity, Zoroastrianism and Buddhism.
Manichaeism thrived between the third and seventh centuries, and at its height was one of the most widespread religions in the world. Manichaean churches and scriptures existed as far east as China and as far west as the Roman Empire. It was widespread among the legions of the Roman Empire, who considered it a soldier's religion, and it was briefly the main rival to Christianity in the competition to replace classical paganism. Manichaeism survived longer in the East than in the West, and it appears to have finally faded away after the 14th century in southern China, contemporary to the decline in China of the Church of the East – see Ming Dynasty.
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Maronites
Maronites (Arabic: الموارنة; al-mawārinah, Syriac: ܡܪ̈ܘܢܝܐ; maronāyé) are a 'Pre-Arab' Semitic Christian ethnoreligious group in the Levant. They derive their name from the Syriac saint Mar Maron whose followers moved to Mount Lebanon from northern Syria establishing the Maronite Church.
The Maronite were able to maintain an independent status in Greater Syria after the Arab Islamic conquest, maintaining their religion and language until the 13th century.
The Ottoman Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate and later the Republic of Lebanon were created under the auspice of European powers with the Maronites as their main ethnic component. Mass immigration to the Americas at the wake of the 20th century and the Lebanese Civil War decreased their numbers greatly in the Levant. The Maronites today form less than one quarter of the total population in the country of Lebanon.
A number of Maronite historians claim that the Maronites were the descendants of the Canaanite/Phoenician Marada (ܡܪܕܐ), residents in parts of Greater Syria, who kept their identity under both Byzantine and Arab authorities. The reason for their adoption of the name is disputed and historian disagree whether this is attributed to Mar Maron, a 4th century Syriac Christian saint, or to John Maron, the first bishop of Lebanon.
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Maronites in Israel
The Maronites are a Middle Eastern ethnoreligious group, which has historically been tied with Lebanon. They derive their name from the Syriac saint Mar Maron, whose followers moved to Mount Lebanon from northern Syria establishing the Maronite Church, most of whose members currently live in Lebanon. The Maronite community in Israel numbers about 6,700, most of whom live in the Galilee, close to the Lebanese border. The Maronites in Israel encompass the long existing community in Jish area and the families of former South Lebanon Army militia members who fled South Lebanon in April-May 2000.
The Maronite Church has been in formal communion with the Roman Catholic Church since 1182, and is the only Eastern church which is entirely Catholic. As a Uniate body (an Eastern Church in communion with Rome, which yet retains its respective language, rites and canon law) they possess their own liturgy, which is in essence an Antiochene rite in the Syriac language. The Maronite Patriarchal Vicariate in Jerusalem dates from 1895.
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Mazdak
Mazdak (in Persian مزدک) (died c. 524 or 528) was a proto-socialistPersian reformer and religious activist who gained influence under the reign of the Sassanian Shahanshah Kavadh I. He claimed to be a prophet of God, and instituted communal possessions and social welfare programs.
Mazdak was the chief representative of a religious and philosophical teaching called Mazdakism, which he viewed as a reformed and purified version of Zoroastrianism, although his teaching has been argued to display influences from Manichaeism as well. Zoroastrianism was the dominant religion of Sassanid Persia, and Mazdak himself was a Zoroastrian priest, or mobed, but most of the Zoroastrian clergy regarded his teaching as a heresy. Information about it is scarce and little is known beyond what is listed below; some further details may be inferred from the later doctrine of Khurramism, which has been seen as a continuation of Mazdakism.
Some sources claim that the original founders of this sect lived earlier than Mazdak. These were another mobed named Zardusht (of the same name, but not the same person as the founder of Zoroastrianism) and/or a Zoroastrian philosopher known as Mazdak the Elder, who taught a combination of altruism and hedonism: "he directed his followers to enjoy the pleasures of life and satisfy their appetite in the highest degree with regard to eating and drinking in the spirit of equality,to aim at good deeds; to abstain from shedding blood and inflicting harm on others; and to practice hospitality without reservation". This doctrine was further developed by the best known Mazdak, Mazdak the Younger, son of Bāmdād. At later stages the opposition to Mazdak blamed them for heresy and sharing women etc. which is not true. They are considered to be the first real socialists of human history who emphasized the community work and benefits for all.
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Mizrahi Jews
Mizrahi Jews or Mizrahim (Hebrew: מזרחים), also referred to as Adot HaMizrach (עֲדוֹת-הַמִּזְרָח) (Communities of the East; Mizrahi Hebrew: ʿAdot(h) Ha(m)Mizraḥ) are Jews descended from the Jewish communities of the Middle East, North Africa and the Caucasus. The term Mizrahi is used in Israel in the language of politics, media and some social scientists for Jews from mostly Arab-ruled geographies and adjacent, primarily Muslim-majority countries. This includes Jews from Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Azerbaijan, Iran/Persia, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kurdish areas, Northern and Eastern Sudan, as well as Ethiopia, and within and nearby Israel. Sometimes, Sephardi Jews such as Jews from Morocco, Algeria, or Turkey are erroneously grouped into the Mizrahi category for some historical reasons.
Despite their heterogeneous origins, Mizrahi Jews generally practice rites identical or similar to traditional Sephardic Judaism, although with some differences among the minhagim of the particular communities. This has resulted in a conflation of terms, particularly in Israel, and in religious usage, where "Sephardi" is used in a broad sense to include Mizrahi Jews as well as Sephardim proper. Indeed, from the point of view of the official Israeli rabbinate, the Mizrahi rabbis in Israel are under the jurisdiction of the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel who, in most cases, is a Mizrahi Jew. Today they make up more than half of Israel's Jewish population, but before the mass immigration of 1,000,000 mostly Ashkenazi immigrants from the former Soviet Union in the 1990s they made up over 70% of Israel's Jewish population.
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Mohammed Burhanuddin
Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin (Arabic: محمد برھان الدین) (Abul-Qaid Johar Mohammed Burhanuddin) (born 6 March 1915) is the 52nd Dā‘ī l-Muṭlaq (Dai, or Unrestricted Missionary) of the Dawoodi Bohras. The Dawoodi Bohras are a sub group within the Mustaali, Ismaili Shia branch of Islam.
Burhanuddin was born in Surat, Gujarat, India. He completed recitation of the Quran in 1921. In 1929, he escaped an accident when bridge railing collapsed while on travel in Colombo, where his vehicle got hung on one wheel. At the early age of 15 he performed his first Hajj. He got lakab(sub title) of Burhanuddin at age of 15 on his occasion of misaq. He received the designation of hadiyath (Sheikh) from 51st Dai in 1931 and later designated as mazoon in 1934. He was appointed to be the future Dā‘ī at the age of 19 by his father, his predecessor Dā‘ī l-Muṭlaq, Taher Saifuddin. He became hafiz in 1935 and married Amatullah Aai two years later.
In 1961, he made a trip to Yemen to visit the earlier Dais of Yemen and consequently received the designation of "Mansural-Yaman In 1965, he became 52nd Dai on death of his father Taher Saifuddin. He has seven sons and three daughters and all members of his family reside at Saifee Mahal, Mumbai.
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Mordechai Nisan
Mordechai Nisan is an Israeli professor and scholar of Middle East Studies at the Rothberg International School of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His most recent book, Only Israel West of the River: The Jewish State and the Palestinian Question, appeared in July, 2011.
Mordechai Nisan is a contributing expert to the Ariel Center for Policy Research and a research consultant for the Jerusalem Institute for Western Defense. Nisan has written extensively in English and Hebrew. Other books include Identity and Civilization: Essays on Judaism, Christianity and Islam (1999) Minorities in the Middle East: A History of Struggle and Self-Expression (2002) and The Conscience of Lebanon: A Political Biography of Etienne Sakr (Abu-Arz) (2003). He holds a Ph.D. from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
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Muhammad
Muhammad (c. 26 April 570 – 8 June 632; also transliterated as Mohammad, Mohammed, or Muhammed; Arabic: محمد), full name: Muhammad Ibn `Abd Allāh Ibn `Abd al-Muttalib (Arabic: محمد بن عبدالله بن عبد المطلب ) was a leader from Mecca who unified the tribes of Arabia into a single religious polity under Islam. He is believed by Muslims and Bahá'ís to be a messenger and prophet of God. Muslims believe that Islam was not his own invention but was revealed by God, and most consider him to be the last prophet of God Muslims thus consider him the restorer of an uncorrupted original monotheistic faith (islām) of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and other prophets.
Born in 570 CE in the Arabian city of Mecca, he was orphaned at an early age and brought up under the care of his uncle Abu Talib. He later worked mostly as a merchant, as well as a shepherd, and was first married by age 25. Being in the habit of periodically retreating to a cave in the surrounding mountains for several nights of meditation and prayer, he later reported that it was there, at age 40, that he received his first revelation from God. Three years after this event Muhammad started preaching these revelations publicly, proclaiming that "God is One", that complete "surrender" to Him (lit. islām) is the only way (dīn) acceptable to God, and that he himself was a prophet and messenger of God, in the same vein as other Islamic prophets.
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Muhammad ibn Ismail
Muhammad ibn Ismail was the son of Ismail ibn Jafar and an Ismaili Imam. The majority of Ismaili follow his descendants through his son Wafi Ahmad (Abdullah ibn Mohammad) who founded the Fatimid Empire, including the Nizari and Mustaali.
He was born on 12 th Rabi ' al- Awwal 128 AH/746 AD. The period of his Imamate was 45 years. He died on 11 th Shawwal 193 AH/27 July 809 AD in the region of Farghana.
He spent his early childhood under the protection of his grandfather Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq (as). He stayed in Medina for most of the time under disguise. Only the selected missionaries (da'is) and few loyal and faithful members knew about his identity. Abbasid caliph Haroon Rasheed was in constant search of him and he had deployed his detectives throughout the city of Medina. The wife of Haroon Rasheed, Zubaida, was loyal and devoted to the rank and status of Imam Mohammad ibn Isma'il just like the wife of Fir'aun (Pharaoh) who was faithful and a believer of Moosa (Moses). Zubaida gave all the information to Mohammad ibn Isma'il about the plans of Haroon Rasheed. It was because of her assistance and help that Imam Mohammad ibn Isma'il remained alert and migrated to the city of Kufa with his brother 'Ali. He stayed there for a long time under disguise.
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Murad IV
Murad IV Ghazi (Ottoman Turkish: مراد رابع Murād-i rābi‘) (July 26/27, 1612 – February 9, 1640) was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1623 to 1640, known both for restoring the authority of the state and for the brutality of his methods. Murad IV was born in Constantinople, the son of Sultan Ahmed I (1603–17) and the ethnic AustrianValide Sultan Kösem Sultan (also known as Mahpeyker), originally named Anastasia. Brought to power by a palace conspiracy in 1623, he succeeded his uncle Mustafa I (1617–18, 1622–23). He was only 11 when he took the throne. He married Aisha, without issue.
In the early years of Murad's reign, he was under the control of his relatives. During this period, peace and harmony in the Ottoman lands were completely lost and tyrants took control of the cities. His absolute rule started around 1632, when he took the authority and repressed all the tyrants, and he re-established the supremacy of Sultan.
Murad IV was for a long time under the control of his relatives and during his early years as Sultan, his mother, Kösem Sultan, essentially ruled through him. The Empire fell into anarchy; the Safavid Empire invaded Iraq almost immediately, Northern Anatolia erupted in revolts, and in 1631 the Janissaries stormed the palace and killed the Grand Vizier, among others. Murad IV feared suffering the fate of his elder brother, Osman II (1618–22), and decided to assert his power.
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Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte (French: Napoléon Bonaparte [napoleɔ̃ bɔnɑpaʁt]) (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the latter stages of the French Revolution. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815. His legal reform, the Napoleonic Code, has been a major influence on many civil law jurisdictions worldwide, but he is best remembered for his role in the wars led against France by a series of coalitions, the so-called Napoleonic Wars. He established hegemony over most of continental Europe and sought to spread the ideals of the French Revolution, while consolidating an imperial monarchy which restored aspects of the deposed Ancien Régime. Due to his success in these wars, often against numerically superior enemies, he is generally regarded as one of the greatest military commanders of all time and his campaigns are studied at military academies throughout much of the world.
Napoleon was born in Corsica to parents of noble Genoese ancestry, and trained as an artillery officer in mainland France. He rose to prominence under the French First Republic and led successful campaigns against the First and Second Coalitions arrayed against France. In 1799, he staged a coup d'état and installed himself as First Consul; five years later the French Senate proclaimed him emperor. In the first decade of the 19th century, the French Empire under Napoleon engaged in a series of conflicts—the Napoleonic Wars—involving every major European power.
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Negev Bedouin
The Negev Bedouin (Arabic: بدو النقب, Badū an-Naqab; Hebrew: הבדואים בנגב Habeduim Banegev) are traditionally pastoral semi-nomadic Arab tribes living in the Negev region in Israel who hold close ties to the Bedouin of the Sinai Peninsula. The government sponsored move away from their traditional lifestyle in modern times has led to sedentarization. Most of the Negev Bedouin tribes migrated to the Negev from the Arabian Desert, Transjordan, Egypt, and the Sinai from the eighteenth century onwards.
Estimated to number some 160,000, they comprise 12% of the Arab citizenry of Israel. Of Israel's total population, 12% live in the Negev, and Negev Bedouin constitute approximately 25% percent of the total population therein.
Negev Bedouin are defined today as Arab nomads who live by rearing livestock in the deserts of southern Israel. The Negev Bedouin community consists of tribes that used to be nomadic/semi-nomadic. The community is traditional and conservative, with a well-defined value system that directs and monitors behaviour and interpersonal relations.
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Nizar
Abū Manṣūr Nizār al-Muṣṭafá liDīnillāh (1045-1097, Arabic: أبومنصور نزار المصطفى لدين الله) was a Fatimid Caliph and a Nizāri Ismā‘ilī Imām. He was deposed by his brother, Aḥmad al-Musta‘lī but his son, al-Hādī ibn Nizār, escaped to Alamūt and took refuge with believers there, thereby continuing the Imāmate.
The followers of Nizār's descendants constitute the majority of the Ismā‘ilī today, with the smaller Musta‘lī branch accepting his younger brother who overthrew him and the Druze ending the Imāmate before either of them.
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Persian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians. The synonymous usage of Iranian and Persian has persisted over the centuries although some modern Western sources use Iranic/Iranian as a wider term that includes the term Persian as well as related Iranian languages and ethnic groups. However, these terms have been used both synonymously as well as in a complementary fashion since ancient times; as the Ancient Iranian peoples such as the Old Persians, Medes, Bactrians, Parthians and Avesta peoples considered themselves to be part of the greater Iranian ethnic stock.
The term Persian translates to "from or of Persis" which is a region north of the Persian Gulf located in Pars, Iran. It was from this region that Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid empire, united all other Iranian empires (such as the Medes and the Elamites), and expanded the Persian cultural and social influences by incorporating the Babylonian empire, and the Lydian empire. Although not the first Iranian empire, the Achaemenid empire is the first Persian empire well recognized by Greek and Persian historians for its massive cultural, military and social influences going as far as Athens, Egypt, and Libya.
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Pir Sadardin
Pir Sadardin or Pir Sadruddin was a fourteenth century Ismaili Da'i and is regarded as the founder of the Khoja Ismaili sect, also called Satpanth. Born in Persia, Sadardin later travelled to the Indian sub-continent, settled in the Sindh area, founded the Khoja community and developed the Khojki script.
Pir Saryyid Sadruddin Al-Husayni, the Ismaili missionary of the 15th Century, is also designated as Bargur, Pir Sadar Din, Sohodev, Vasimuhammad. and Haji Sadar Shah. He was born on Monday 2nd Rabiul of the year 700 after Hijra in the village Sabzwar in Persia. His year of birth is uncertain and sources differ from between twenty and fifty years. For example, Tawarikh-e-Pir gives the year as 650 A.H. whereas the Shajara, from which Professor W. Ivanow derives his information as published in his paper "The sect of Imam Shah in Gujrat" (1938) places his birth in 689 A.H. or 1,290 of the Common Era.
Pir Sadar Din, who traces his descent from Imam Ja'far-as-Sadiq (d. 148/763), arrived in India during the period of Imamat of Imam Kasim Shah (bet. 1310 C.E. and 1370 C.E.) and was raised to the dignity of Pirship by Imam Islam Shah - the 30th Imam in the traditional genealogical list of the Nizari branch of the Ismaili persuasion. His name appears in the 26th place amongst the authorised Pirs mentioned in the Holy Du'a. His father's name, as given in the Gulzar-e-Shams and corroborated by "Satveni Moti" and "Satveniji Vel" both alleged to have been written by Sayyid Muhammad Shah Bin Imam Shah, was Pir Shihabuddin or Sahebdin, to whom five of the Ginans are attributed and his mother was Noor Fatima bi'nt Ibrahim Sabzawari.
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Rabi Abdullah
Rabi Abdullah / Husain ibn Ahmed( born: 219AH, Died: 268AH, 881 AD, Askar, Syria, Imam: 225-268AH) is the tenth Ismaili Imam, surnamed az-Zaki. Tenth Imam as per Ismaili/Mustali/Dawoodi Bohra is Imam Husain ibn Ahmed. He is successor to the ninth Imam, Ahmed ibn Abdellah and father of next Imam Al Mahdi who was first Fatimid Caliphate.
The 8th to 10th Ismaili Imams were hidden from the public, because of threats from Abbasid caliphate, and were known by their nicknames. However, the Dawoodi Bohra in their religious text, Taqqarub, claim to have the true names of all 21 imams in sequence including those "hidden" imams: 8th Imam Abdillah-ibne-Mohammad the true name/ (Wafi Ahmad), 9th Imam "Ahmed-ibne-Abdillah (Taqi Muhammad), and the 10th Imam Husain-ibne-Ahmed(Rabi Abdullah).,
wn.com/Rabi_Abdullah -
Rashidun
The Rightly Guided Caliphs or The Righteous Caliphs (الخلفاء الراشدون al-Khulafā’u r-Rāshidūn) is a term used in Sunni Islam to refer to the first four Caliphs who established the Rashidun Caliphate. The concept of "Rightly Guided Caliphs" originated with the Abbasid Dynasty. It is a reference to the Sunni tradition, "Hold firmly to my example (sunnah) and that of the Rightly Guided Caliphs" (Ibn Majah, Abu Dawood).
The first four Caliphs who ruled after the death of Muhammad are often quoted as the Khulafah Rashidun.
The Rashidun were either elected by a council (see The election of Uthman and Islamic democracy) or chosen based on the wishes of their predecessor. In the order of succession, the rashidun were:
Hasan ibn Ali was appointed as Caliph in 661 following the death of Ali and is also regarded as a righteous ruler by Sunni Muslims, although he was recognized by only half of the Islamic state and his rule was challenged and eventually ended by the Governor of Syria, Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan.
wn.com/Rashidun -
Rashidun Caliphate
The Rashidun Caliphate (Arabic: الخلافة الراشدية al-khilāfat ar-Rāshidīyah), (c. 632-661) comprising the first four caliphs in Islam's history, was founded after Muhammad's death in 632 (Year 10 A.H. in the Islamic calendar). At its height, the Caliphate extended from the Arabian Peninsula, to the Levant, Caucasus and North Africa in the west, to the Iranian highlands and Central Asia in the east. At its greatest extent it was one of the largest empires in history. It is also known as the Patriarchal Caliphate.
After Muhammad's death in 632, the Medinan Ansar debated which of them should succeed him in running the affairs of the Muslims while Muhammad's household was busy with his burial. Umar (a Quraish) and Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah pledged their loyalty to Abu Bakr, with the Ansar and the Quraish soon following suit. Abu Bakr thus became the first Khalifa Rasul Allah (Successor of the Messenger of God), and embarked on campaigns to propagate Islam. First, though, he would have to subdue the Arabian tribes which had gone back on their oaths of allegiance to Islam and the Islamic community. As a Khalifa or Caliph he was not a monarch and never claimed such a title nor did his three successors do so.
wn.com/Rashidun_Caliphate -
Saladin
Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb (Arabic: صلاح الدين يوسف بن أيوب, Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb, Kurdish: سهلاحهدین ئهیوبی, Selah'edînê Eyubî) (ca. 1138 – March 4, 1193), better known in the Western world as Saladin, was a KurdishMuslim, who became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He led Muslim opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant. At the height of his power, his sultanate included Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, Hejaz, Yemen, and parts of North Africa.
Under his personal leadership, his forces defeated the Crusaders at the Battle of Hattin, leading the way to his re-capture of Palestine, which had been seized from the Fatimid Egyptians by the Crusaders 88 years earlier. Though the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem would continue to exist for a period, its defeat at Hattin marked a turning point in its conflict with the Muslims and Arabs. As such, Saladin is a prominent figure in Kurdish, Arab, and Muslim culture. Saladin was a strict adherent of Sunni Islam. His noble and chivalrous behavior was noted by Christian chroniclers, especially in the accounts of the Siege of Kerak, and despite being the nemesis of the Crusaders, he won the respect of many of them, including Richard the Lionheart; rather than becoming a hated figure in Europe, he became a celebrated example of the principles of chivalry.
wn.com/Saladin -
Samaritans
The Samaritans (Hebrew: שומרונים Shomronim, Arabic: السامريون as-Sāmariyyūn) are an ethnoreligious group of the Levant. Religiously the Samaritans are adherents of Samaritanism, an Abrahamic religion closely related to Judaism. Based on the Samaritan Torah, Samaritans claim their worship is the true religion of the ancient Israelites prior to the Babylonian Exile, preserved by those who remained in the Land of Israel, as opposed to Judaism, which they assert is a related but altered and amended religion brought back by those returning from exile.
Ancestrally, Samaritans claim descent from a group of Israelite inhabitants from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh (the two sons of Joseph) as well as some descendants from the priestly tribe of Levi, who have connections to ancient Samaria from the period of their entry into the land of Canaan, while some suggest that it was from the beginning of the Babylonian Exile up to the Samaritan Kingdom of Baba Rabba. The Samaritans, however, derive their name not from this geographical designation, but rather from the Hebrew term Shamerim שַמֶרִים, "Keepers [of the Law]".
wn.com/Samaritans -
Sami Makarem
Sami Makarem (Arabic: سامي مكارم) (born April 14, 1931) is a Druze Lebanese scholar, writer, poet and artist; he was born in the village of Aitat in Aley district and is best known for his academic contributions in the fields of Islamic studies, Sufism, and Islamic history.
He obtained his Bachelor's degree in literature and philosophy in 1954 and his Master's degree in Arabic literature in 1957 from the American University of Beirut and 1963 he achieved his PhD in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Michigan, where he taught Arabic language and was specializing in Islamic Batini Studies.
Professor Sami Makarem wrote over twenty five books mainly concerning the Islamic history and studies, Lebanese history and the Druze faith, in addition to a great number of articles in different specialized periodicals, and hundreds of art works.
In addition to his academic contributions in the fields of Islamic studies, Sufism, Islamic history, and his artistic contribution, he published three works of poetry:
wn.com/Sami_Makarem -
Selim I
Selim I, Yavuz Sultân Selim Khan, Hâdim-ül Haramain-ish Sharifain (Servant of the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina) (Ottoman Turkish: سليم اوّل, Modern Turkish: I.Selim), nicknamed Yavuz "the Stern" or "the Steadfast", but often rendered in English as "the Grim" (October 10, 1465/1466/1470 – September 22, 1520), was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1520. His reign is notable for the enormous expansion of the Empire, particularly his conquest between 1516-1517 of the entire Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt, which included all of Sham, Hejaz, and Egypt itself. With the heart of the Arab World now under their control, the Ottomans became the dominant power in the region, and in the Islamic world. Upon conquering Egypt, Selim took the title of Caliph of Islam, being the first Ottoman sultan to do so. He was also granted the title of "Khâdim ül Haramain ish Sharifain" (Servant of the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina), by the Sharif of Mecca in 1517.
Selim's reign represented a sudden change in the expansion policy of the empire, which was working mostly against the West and the Beyliks before his reign. On the eve of his death in 1520, the Ottoman Empire spanned almost 1 billion acres (trebling during Selim's reign).
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Sephardi Jews
Sephardi Jews (Hebrew: סְפָרַדִּי, Modern Sfaraddi Tiberian Səp̄āraddî) is a general term referring to the descendants of the Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula before their expulsion in the Spanish Inquisition. It can also refer to those who use a Sephardic style of liturgy or would otherwise define themselves in terms of the Jewish customs and traditions which originated in the Iberian Peninsula. Accordingly, the term Sephardic Jew refers to the Jews following the Sephardic Halakha.
The term essentially means "Spanish". It comes from Sepharad (Hebrew: סְפָרַד, Modern Sfarád Tiberian Səp̄āráḏ), a Biblical location. This location is disputed, but "Sepharad" was identified by later Jews as the Iberian Peninsula, and still means "Spain" in modern Hebrew.[citation needed]
In other languages and scripts, "Sephardi" translates as plural Hebrew: סְפָרַדִּים, Modern Sfaraddim Tiberian Səp̄āraddîm; Spanish: Sefardíes; Portuguese: Sefarditas; Catalan: Sefardites; Basque: Sefardiak; Galician: Sefardís; Italian: Sefarditi; Greek: Σεφαρδίτες Sefardites; Bulgarian: Сефаради Sefaradi; Bosnian: Sefardi; Serbian: Сефарди Sefardi; Turkish: Sefarad, Judaeo-Spanish: Sefaradies/Sefaradim; and Arabic: سفارديون Safārdīyyūn.
wn.com/Sephardi_Jews -
Talal Arslan
Emir Talal Arslan (Arabic: الأمير طلال أرسلان) is the Lebanese Druze leader and the head of the Lebanese Democratic Party. He is the chief of the Arslan family, descendants of the Lakhmids.
Arslan was born in Choueifat to the late Druze leader Emir Majid Arslan. He studied at Charley Saad school in Choueifat, now known as SABIS International School. He then moved to London to continue his studies because of the war in Lebanon. Before taking over his duties, his mother, Emirah Khawlah Majeed Arslan, was the family chief. During her reign his brother, Emir Faysal, was also involved in politics.
Arslan has a bachelor's degree in political sciences from George Washington University and a master's degree from the American University of Beirut.
Arslan met his wife Zeina Kheireddin, now known as Emirah Zeina Talal Arslan, in London. They got married on 17 July 1993. On 8 April 1994 their first child, Emir Majid was born; he is now the Heir to the Lakhmids and House of Arslan. Their daughter Emirah Kinda was born on 30 April 1996 in Beirut.
wn.com/Talal_Arslan -
Tsvi Misinai
Tsvi Jekhorin Misinai (Hebrew: צבי מסיני; born 15 April 1946) is an Israeli researcher, author, historian, computer scientist and entrepreneur. A former pioneer of the Israeli software industry, he now spends most of his time researching and documenting the common Hebrew roots shared by world Jewry and the Palestinians (including Arab citizens of Israel).
Tsvi Misinai was born in Jerusalem, British Mandate of Palestine, in 1946 to Ashkenazi Jewish parents who immigrated from Ternopil in Galicia in 1939. He graduated in Physics from the Haifa Technion in 1968. He was the first Israeli to receive the Rothschild Award for industrial development in the field of software in 1992.
Misinai is the founder of Sapiens International Corporation and served as its president until 1994. He embedded the principal of Positive Thinking in computers and invented the Rule Based Object Oriented technology for developing data processing applications, the development of which he started in the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1972. He self-identifies as a secular Jew and currently resides in Rehovot.
wn.com/Tsvi_Misinai -
Turks in Israel
Turks in Israel are either Turkish people who live in Israel even though having been born outside Israel, or are Israeli-born, but have Turkish roots. By Turkish roots, this could mean roots linking back to Turkey, the island of Cyprus or the communities of the Turkish diaspora. Turks living in Israel are relatively recent immigrant workers who work in construction projects.
Turks first began to settle in Israel during Ottoman rule when the area was part of the province of Syria.
wn.com/Turks_in_Israel -
Walid Jumblatt
Walid Jumblatt (Arabic: وليد جنبلاط) (born August 7, 1949) is a Lebanese politician and the current leader of the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP). He is the most prominent leader of Lebanon's Druze community.
The origin of the Jumblatt family is the Kurdish Janpoulad family coming from Shamel Janpoulad and dating back to Janboulad Ibn Kassem al Kirdi al Kaisari, known as Ibn Arabou (1530–1580), and governor of Aleppo. Walid Jumblatt is the son of Kamal Jumblatt, the founder of the PSP, the party which Walid Jumblatt currently leads. He is the maternal grandson of Prince Shakib Arslan. His first wife was Gervette "Gigi," a Jordanian woman of Circassian origin who is the mother of his child Timour. His current wife is the Syrian Nora Sharabati, the daughter of the former Syrian Minister of Defense Ahmed Al-Sharabati. Walid Jumblatt graduated from the American University of Beirut in Political Science.
The BBC describes Jumblatt as "the smartest leader of Lebanon's most powerful Druze clan and heir to a leftist political dynasty based around the Progressive Socialist Party".Assem Qanso of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party of Lebanon accused Jumblatt of abandoning his father's beliefs.
wn.com/Walid_Jumblatt -
Yahya of Antioch
Yahya of Antioch, full name Yaḥya ibn Saʿīd al-Anṭākī (Ar. يحيى بن سعيد الأنطاكي), was a Melkite Christian physician and historian of the 11th century.
He was born in Fatimid Egypt, and was related to the Melkite Patriarch Eutychius of Alexandria, but was not his son, as has been variously claimed. He became a physician, but the anti-Christian pogroms of Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (r. 996–1021) forced him to flee to Byzantine-held Antioch.
His chief work is a continuation of Eutychius' Annals, stretching from 938 to 1034. Drawing on a variety of sources, his history deals with events in the Byzantine Empire, Egypt, as well as Bulgaria and the Kievan Rus'. Whilst in Antioch, he also wrote theological works in defence of Christianity and refutations of Islam and Judaism. He died ca. 1066.
His history was published, edited and translated into French in Volume 18 of the Patrologia Orientalis in 1928, and in English (The Byzantine-Arab Chronicle (938-1034) of Yahya b. Sa’id Al-Antaki) as a PhD thesis by John Harper Forsyth in 1977.
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Yazidi
The Yazidi (also Yezidi, Kurdish: ئێزیدی or Êzidî) are a Kurdish ethnoreligious group with Indo-Iranian roots. They currently live primarily in the Nineveh Province of northern Iraq. Additional communities in Transcaucasia, Armenia, Turkey, and Syria have been in decline since the 1990s, their members having emigrated to Europe, especially to Germany. Their religion, Yazidism, is a branch of Yazdânism, and is seen as a highly syncretic complex of local Kurdish beliefs that contains Zoroastrian elements and Islamic Sufi doctrine introduced to the area by Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir in the 12th century. The Yazidi believe in God as creator of the world, which he placed under the care of seven holy beings or angels, the chief of whom is Melek Taus, the Peacock Angel.
Historically, the Yazidi lived primarily in communities in what are now Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, and also had significant numbers in Armenia and Georgia. However, events since the 20th century have resulted in considerable demographic shift in these areas as well as mass emigration. As a result population estimates are unclear in many regions, and estimates of the size of the total population vary.
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Zenobia
Zenobia (240 – c. 274) was a 3rd-century Queen of the Palmyrene Empire in Roman Syria. She led a famous revolt against the Roman Empire. The second wife of King Septimius Odaenathus, Zenobia became queen of the Palmyrene Empire following Odaenathus' death in 267. By 269, Zenobia had expanded the empire, conquering Egypt and expelling the Roman prefect, Tenagino Probus, who was beheaded after he led an attempt to recapture the territory. She ruled over Egypt until 274, when she was defeated and taken as a hostage to Rome by Emperor Aurelian.
Zenobia was born and raised in Palmyra, Syria. Latin and Greek writers referred to her as Zenobia. Her Roman name was Julia Aurelia Zenobia and in Greek, she is known as Zēnobía (ἡ Ζηνοβία) or Septimia Zenobia, having added Septimia after marrying Septimius Odaenathus. The Aramaic form of her name was Bat-Zabbai (בת זבי), and this is how she signed her name. To Arabic writers she is known as al-Zabbā’ (الزباء).
She belonged to a family with Aramaic names. She herself claimed to be of the Seleucid line of the Cleopatras and the Ptolemies.Athanasius of Alexandria reported her being "a Jewess follower of Paul of Samosata", which explains her strained relationship with the rabbis. Later doubtful Arabic sources provide indications of her Arab descent.Al-Tabari, for example, writes that she belonged to the same tribe as her future husband, the 'Amlaqi, which was probably one of the four original tribes of Palmyra. According to him, Zenobia's father, ‘Amr ibn al-Ẓarib, was the sheikh of the 'Amlaqi. After he was killed by members of the rival Tanukh tribal confederation, Zenobia became the head of the 'Amlaqis, leading them in their nomadic lifestyle to summer and winter pastures.
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Divisions emerge among Druze in Syria's Golan
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:45
- Updated: 12 Jan 2013
A Druze community in the Golan Heights still consider themselves Syrian, even though Israelis have occupied their land for more than four decades. They have been supporting the Assad government for years, but as the fighting intensifies, divisions are appearing among them. Al Jazeera's Charles Stratford has this report from the Village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights.
http://wn.com/Divisions_emerge_among_Druze_in_Syria's_Golan
A Druze community in the Golan Heights still consider themselves Syrian, even though Israelis have occupied their land for more than four decades. They have been supporting the Assad government for years, but as the fighting intensifies, divisions are appearing among them. Al Jazeera's Charles Stratford has this report from the Village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights.
Israeli Army Druze Battalion
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:01
- Updated: 01 Mar 2013
The Israeli army's 'Herev' Battalion is comprised almost entirely of Druze soldiers. What does it feel like to serve with soldiers who are like brothers to you? For more from the IDF: www.idfblog.com twitter.com www.facebook.com www.idf.il
http://wn.com/Israeli_Army_Druze_Battalion
The Israeli army's 'Herev' Battalion is comprised almost entirely of Druze soldiers. What does it feel like to serve with soldiers who are like brothers to you? For more from the IDF: www.idfblog.com twitter.com www.facebook.com www.idf.il
- published: 24 Jun 2012
- views: 37319
- author: idfnadesk
Charlie Rose - Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:26
- Updated: 27 Feb 2013
Progressive Socialist Party chairman Walid Jumblatt with Charlie Rose discussing Hezbollah, Syrian intervention in Lebanese affairs, the Iraq war, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
http://wn.com/Charlie_Rose_Lebanese_Druze_leader_Walid_Jumblatt
Progressive Socialist Party chairman Walid Jumblatt with Charlie Rose discussing Hezbollah, Syrian intervention in Lebanese affairs, the Iraq war, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
- published: 04 Jun 2011
- views: 8272
- author: darkillity
Controversial Motives of Mukhtar Al Thaqafi; Origins of Druze Sect of Ismailism - Dr. Husein Khimjee
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:49
- Updated: 04 Mar 2013
Dr. Khimjee discusses the controversy over Mukhtar Al-Thaqafi's character and his motives for avenging the perpetrators of the Karbala massasure on the day of Ashura. In the second half of the lecture, Dr. Khimjee discusses the origins of the Druze sect of Islmailism. KautharWaNahr Safar 1434 - December 2012
http://wn.com/Controversial_Motives_of_Mukhtar_Al_Thaqafi;_Origins_of_Druze_Sect_of_Ismailism_Dr_Husein_Khimjee
Dr. Khimjee discusses the controversy over Mukhtar Al-Thaqafi's character and his motives for avenging the perpetrators of the Karbala massasure on the day of Ashura. In the second half of the lecture, Dr. Khimjee discusses the origins of the Druze sect of Islmailism. KautharWaNahr Safar 1434 - December 2012
- published: 04 Mar 2013
- views: 1
- author: KautharWaNahr
Adnan Zenunovic - Istina Je Druze
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:19
- Updated: 04 Mar 2013
Adnan Zenunovic - Istina Je Druze BY Muamer Amko Cehic
http://wn.com/Adnan_Zenunovic_Istina_Je_Druze
Adnan Zenunovic - Istina Je Druze BY Muamer Amko Cehic
- published: 19 Aug 2011
- views: 122683
- author: DieseLL83
Druze Soldiers in Israeli Army Herev Unit
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:13
- Updated: 05 Feb 2013
http://wn.com/Druze_Soldiers_in_Israeli_Army_Herev_Unit
Sa Ovcara i Kablara [Druze Tito, Bela Lica]
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:30
- Updated: 03 Mar 2013
In old Slavic "belo" usually meant "pretty". Thus, not "Comrade Tito, Pale Face" but "Comrade Tito, Pretty Face".
http://wn.com/Sa_Ovcara_i_Kablara_Druze_Tito,_Bela_Lica_
In old Slavic "belo" usually meant "pretty". Thus, not "Comrade Tito, Pale Face" but "Comrade Tito, Pretty Face".
- published: 06 Apr 2009
- views: 226499
- author: MarshalRedDog
Ogneni Momcinja - Ferus - Zasto su ti kose pobelele druze
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:23
- Updated: 27 Feb 2013
www.facebook.com Macedonian Music - Goran Stoilkov ima Zlaten Glas King Ferus Ogneni momcinja najdobrite muzicari This song is Muharem Serbezovski song
http://wn.com/Ogneni_Momcinja_Ferus_Zasto_su_ti_kose_pobelele_druze
www.facebook.com Macedonian Music - Goran Stoilkov ima Zlaten Glas King Ferus Ogneni momcinja najdobrite muzicari This song is Muharem Serbezovski song
- published: 02 Mar 2012
- views: 15047
- author: makedoncheto
Dva dinara druze - RIBLJA CORBA (cover by Nitro)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:41
- Updated: 02 Mar 2013
DOWNLOAD mp3 - www.nitro-acoustic.com NITRO'S FACEBOOK PAGE - www.facebook.com NITRO OFICIAL SITE - www.nitro-acoustic.com NITRO'S BLOG - http ovde mozete ostavljati muzicke zelje, postavljati pitanja i naravno komentarisati sta vam se dopada a sta ne a neko od nasih moderatora ce vam odgovoriti u najkracem roku Mozete posetiti i DOWNLOAD sekciju na mom sajtu i preuzeti pesmu u MP3 formatu potpuno besplatno. Hvala
http://wn.com/Dva_dinara_druze_RIBLJA_CORBA_cover_by_Nitro
DOWNLOAD mp3 - www.nitro-acoustic.com NITRO'S FACEBOOK PAGE - www.facebook.com NITRO OFICIAL SITE - www.nitro-acoustic.com NITRO'S BLOG - http ovde mozete ostavljati muzicke zelje, postavljati pitanja i naravno komentarisati sta vam se dopada a sta ne a neko od nasih moderatora ce vam odgovoriti u najkracem roku Mozete posetiti i DOWNLOAD sekciju na mom sajtu i preuzeti pesmu u MP3 formatu potpuno besplatno. Hvala
- published: 29 Apr 2012
- views: 12428
- author: Nitrodex
Vaso Bozic Vidjas li je, stari druze
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:08
- Updated: 22 Nov 2012
http://wn.com/Vaso_Bozic_Vidjas_li_je,_stari_druze
Ivan Kuki Kukolj - Nemoj Druze (by-Senchy22)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:19
- Updated: 21 Feb 2013
http://wn.com/Ivan_Kuki_Kukolj_Nemoj_Druze_by-Senchy22
ZAIM IMAMOVIC ... Kazi mi druze,bol i jad
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:59
- Updated: 28 Feb 2013
ZAIM IMAMOVIC ... Kazi mi druze,bol i jad,text RADE JOVANOVIC
http://wn.com/ZAIM_IMAMOVIC_Kazi_mi_druze,bol_i_jad
ZAIM IMAMOVIC ... Kazi mi druze,bol i jad,text RADE JOVANOVIC
- published: 18 Jun 2010
- views: 12436
- author: TOCILOVAC
Adut Bend - AJMO DRUZE UZIVO !! NOVO
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:31
- Updated: 02 Mar 2013
Adut Bend AJMO DRUZE Zoran Simeunovic mile ajmo druze u prvu kafanu uzivo www.facebook.com
http://wn.com/Adut_Bend_AJMO_DRUZE_UZIVO_!!_NOVO
Adut Bend AJMO DRUZE Zoran Simeunovic mile ajmo druze u prvu kafanu uzivo www.facebook.com
- published: 09 Feb 2012
- views: 25430
- author: Mario Markovic
Darko Aleksendric - Druze Tito, cvece nase - uzivo
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:56
- Updated: 05 Mar 2013
http://wn.com/Darko_Aleksendric_Druze_Tito,_cvece_nase_uzivo
Rade Lackovic - Druze
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:53
- Updated: 01 Mar 2013
Druze...=)
http://wn.com/Rade_Lackovic_Druze
DRAGOLJUB DJORDJEVIC SARBANAC- DAJ MI DRUZE TO TVOJE ODELO - By Bosancica1
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:15
- Updated: 05 Mar 2013
www.radiodvojkachicago.com dijaspora.forumj.biz
http://wn.com/DRAGOLJUB_DJORDJEVIC_SARBANAC_DAJ_MI_DRUZE_TO_TVOJE_ODELO_By_Bosancica1
Munir Fiuljanin Muki - Stari druze
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:35
- Updated: 02 Mar 2013
http://wn.com/Munir_Fiuljanin_Muki_Stari_druze
Allegro band - Dok ti u kafani pijes druze ♯ uzivo ♯ ballantines ♯
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:03
- Updated: 01 Mar 2013
Like & Subscribe ;)
http://wn.com/Allegro_band_Dok_ti_u_kafani_pijes_druze_♯_uzivo_♯_ballantines_♯
Lebanon Factions: Druze
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:22
- Updated: 10 Jan 2013
Insight into the Druze Militia & their involvement in the civil war. Intvw Walid Jumblatt, Druze Leader on day to day problems of the Druze. Date: 31/01/1984
http://wn.com/Lebanon_Factions_Druze
Insight into the Druze Militia & their involvement in the civil war. Intvw Walid Jumblatt, Druze Leader on day to day problems of the Druze. Date: 31/01/1984
- published: 18 May 2009
- views: 6340
- author: hijazna
GILE AMAR JASARSPAHIC - ISTINA JE DRUZE
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:08
- Updated: 03 Mar 2013
zvezde granda 02.03.2013
http://wn.com/GILE_AMAR_JASARSPAHIC_ISTINA_JE_DRUZE
Sinan Sakic Uzivo Tasmajdan 2008 20 Miko, druze moj
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:54
- Updated: 27 Feb 2013
http://wn.com/Sinan_Sakic_Uzivo_Tasmajdan_2008_20_Miko,_druze_moj
Munir Fijuljanin Muki -nije druze sve u casi
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:15
- Updated: 25 Feb 2013
http://wn.com/Munir_Fijuljanin_Muki_-nije_druze_sve_u_casi
Druze Tito Mi Ti Se Kunemo/Jugoslavijo
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:45
- Updated: 02 Mar 2013
Rascist comments about any of the peoples of former Yugoslavia will be deleted. This video doesn´t necessarily reflect my own view.
http://wn.com/Druze_Tito_Mi_Ti_Se_Kunemo_Jugoslavijo
Rascist comments about any of the peoples of former Yugoslavia will be deleted. This video doesn´t necessarily reflect my own view.
- published: 25 Dec 2007
- views: 171683
- author: Peter Zrinski
photo: AP / Lai Seng Sin
05 Mar 2013
KUALA LUMPUR. Malaysian security forces attacked a group of armed Filipinos early Tuesday to end the group's three-week occupation of a Borneo village, the prime minister said after the siege turned violent and became Malaysia's biggest security crisis in years ... The Philippine government asked Malaysia on Monday to exercise maximum tolerance to avoid further bloodshed ... 9 ... ....(size: 4.7Kb)
photo: AP / Aaron Favila
04 Mar 2013
VICE President Jejomar Binay on Monday urged the Sultanate of Sulu and the Malaysian authorities to sit down and discuss the ongoing conflict in Sabah peacefully. "What is important is that the lines of communication are open and there is continuing dialog. We should avoid taking hardline positions because it will not resolve anything," he said in Cagayan de Oro City ... "The Embassy needs to verify these reports so we can act accordingly....(size: 3.9Kb)
photo: US Army
04 Mar 2013
Bradley Manning obviously still believes in America, in a country that cares about the rule of law, fairness and human rights for all. His naivete might well cost him his freedom for the rest of his life ... Now he knows ... It is a system whose true nature he had begun to uncover through his work as an intelligence analyst - a position Manning's recruiter recommended he pursue when he enlisted ... Clearly, Manning did his job too well ... If only ... ....(size: 15.3Kb)
photo: AP / Vincent Thian
04 Mar 2013
Posted. March 4, 2013. China military spending is reportedly soaring, causing some concerns about territorial disputes among nearby Asian nations. The booming defense spending budget details were not released during a press conference during the nation’s annual legislative session on Monday ... China military spending increases coincide with Xi Jinping’s takeover as the head of the Central Military Commission ... [Image Via ... Category. Politics ... ....(size: 2.8Kb)
photo: AP / Narciso Contreras
04 Mar 2013
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- More than 40 Syrian soldiers who had sought temporary safety in Iraq from rebel fighters along the border were killed on Monday in an attack by unidentified gunmen as the Iraqi military was transporting the soldiers back to Syria in a bus convoy, the government said ... He said Iraq would deploy more security forces on the border ... "We will not allow any terrorist to enter the Iraqi lands," Mr ... Mr ... Mr ... Mr ... But last week, Mr ... ....(size: 7.0Kb)
Ha'aretz
03 Mar 2013
Apple exports to Syria from Druze orchards in the Golan Heights will resume Monday after a ......(size: 0.5Kb)
Ha'aretz
03 Mar 2013
Iran is building about 3,000 advanced uranium-enrichment centrifuges, Iranian media reported on Sunday, in a development likely to add to Western concerns about the Islamic state's disputed nuclear program ... "We retaliated in our own way, and only the Israelis know what we mean," he said. Apple exports to Syria from Druze orchards in the Golan Heights will resume Monday after a year’s hiatus because of the Syrian civil war ... ....(size: 2.2Kb)
WorldNetDaily
02 Mar 2013
JERUSALEM – A delegation of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards arrived in Lebanon to oversee the reinforcement of Hezbollah positions throughout South Lebanon amid Iranian concerns the U.S. and other nations are seeking to arm Christian and Druze opposition groups there, according to informed Middle Eastern security officials ... Iran’s reported reinforcement of Hezbollah comes as the U.S ... Ex-Obama official funding al-Qaida-tied rebels ... Facebook.....(size: 6.8Kb)
Deutsche Welle
28 Feb 2013
US Secretary of State John Kerry has pledged $60 million (45.75 million euros) in "nonlethal" aid to the Syrian opposition. The news came during a meeting of the Friends of Syria Group at a meeting in Rome. "We are determined to find a way forward to a better day that we know awaits Syria ... "Assad cannot shoot his way out of this," Kerry said ... But the prospects for the Christian, Druze and Alawite minorities are all very different ... ....(size: 3.5Kb)
Caijing
28 Feb 2013
We think at the beginning of a revolution that freedom and justice have prevailed over dictatorship and cruelty. But history teaches us that what follows is usually nothing good ... What will happen with Syria's Kurds and Palestinians, or its Christians, Druze, and smaller Muslim minorities? And what about the Alawites (the backbone of Assad's regime), who could face a terrible destiny, regardless of whether the country splits up? ... ....(size: 5.4Kb)
noodls
28 Feb 2013
(Source. The Heritage Foundation) ... allies concerned about the Administration's passive "leading from behind" approach to Syria's worsening crisis ... Strengthening nationalist and secular leaders can also help contain the rising influence of Islamist extremists and reassure Syria's nervous Christian, Kurdish, and Druze minorities-many of whom are sitting on the fence-that they will have a welcome role to play in a post-Assad government....(size: 7.5Kb)
Scoop
28 Feb 2013
Friday, 1 March 2013, 12.03 pm. Article. Oilprice.com. Be Careful. Russia is Back to Stay in the Middle East. Russia is back. President Vladimir Putin wants the world to acknowledge that Russia remains a global power. He is making his stand in Syria ... The four or five million Aliwites, Christians, and Druze would have agricultural land, water, a deep water port and an international ... They saw the U.S involvement in the Ukraine and Georgia ... By ... ....(size: 8.0Kb)
CNBC
26 Feb 2013
Russia is back. President Vladimir Putin wants the world to acknowledge that Russia remains a global power. He is making his stand in Syria. The Soviet Union acquired the Tardus Naval Port in Syria in 1971 without any real purpose for it ... Read More from Oil Price. Human Batteries ... The four or five million Alawites, Christians, and Druze would have agricultural land, water, a deep water port and an international airport ... « First ... ....(size: 6.7Kb)
noodls
25 Feb 2013
The Israeli police, on Tuesday February 12, 2013, sent an order of imprisonment of the young guy "Omar" in case of the non-compliance to the medical examinations required, on Wednesday, February 13, 2013, in the office of conscription in Tiberias, which was rejected by Saad, as he sent a letter to the Minister of the Israeli Defense, in which he asserted on the suffering of the Druze Palestinians of repression and arbitrary actions....(size: 2.5Kb)
Deutsche Welle
24 Feb 2013
The fronts in the Syrian conflict are increasingly hardening along religious lines. But the prospects for the Christian, Druze and Alawite minorities are all very different. The various religious communities in Syria lived together peacefully for decades ... On top of that, several hundred thousand Druze, Shiites and Yazidi also live in the country ... Religion and the regime ... But it could be very different for the Druze, says Lund ... ....(size: 5.3Kb)
The Independent
24 Feb 2013
A senior member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard – with two names - dies mysteriously on the Damascus-Beirut highway earlier this month ... Being Lebanese these days is like taking part in a crime drama. First, the Iranian ... Hariri and the Druze leader Walid Junblatt have been suggesting that the Shia Hezbollah, which claims to be a “resistance movement” – against Israel – should support the Syrian resistance against the Assad government....(size: 5.8Kb)
Middle East Online
23 Feb 2013
Syria’s problem, like Iraq’s and Lebanon’s, is that the nature of its pluralistic population means that major demographic groups have strong ties with fellow populations in nearby countries, such as Alawites, Kurds, Druze, Sunnis and even Christians ... Druze, Shiites and Sunnis, rather than in terms of coherent states with satisfied citizenries....(size: 5.3Kb)
Star Tribune
23 Feb 2013
In Syria’s largest city of Aleppo, three explosions that appeared to be caused by missiles killed at least 14 people, activists said, adding that dozens of others were feared to be trapped under the rubble of damaged buildings ... Other religious minority communities, like Christians and Druze, have largely remained on the sidelines ... ....(size: 1.6Kb)
For other uses, see Druse (disambiguation).
 Druze star |
|
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 1,000,000 to 2,500,000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Syria |
700,000[1] |
 Lebanon |
400,000[1] |
 Israel |
100,000[1] |
 Jordan |
20,000[2] |
| Outside the Middle East | 100,000 |
 United States |
20,000[3] |
 Canada |
10,000 |
 Venezuela |
5,000 |
 Australia |
3,000[4] |
 Colombia |
3,000 |
 United Kingdom |
<1,000 |
| Religions | |
| Unitarian Druze | |
| Scriptures | |
| Qur'an, Rasa'il al-hikmah (Epistles of Wisdom) | |
| Languages | |
|
Arabic |
|
 |
| Part of a series on Shī‘ah Islam |
| Ismāʿīlism |
|---|
 |
| Concepts |
| The Qur'ān · The Ginans Reincarnation · Panentheism Imām · Pir · Dā‘ī l-Muṭlaq ‘Aql · Numerology · Taqiyya Żāhir · Bāṭin |
| Seven Pillars |
| Guardianship · Prayer · Charity Fasting · Pilgrimage · Struggle Purity · Profession of Faith |
| History |
| Shoaib · Nabi Shu'ayb Seveners · Qarmatians Fatimids · Baghdad Manifesto Hafizi · Taiyabi Hassan-i Sabbah · Alamut Sinan · Assassins Pir Sadardin · Satpanth Aga Khan · Jama'at Khana Huraat-ul-Malika · Böszörmény |
| Early Imams |
| Ali · Ḥassan · Ḥusain as-Sajjad · al-Baqir · aṣ-Ṣādiq Ismā‘īl · Muḥammad Abdullah /Wafi Ahmed / at-Taqī Husain/ az-Zakī/Rabi · al-Mahdī al-Qā'im · al-Manṣūr al-Mu‘izz · al-‘Azīz · al-Ḥākim az-Zāhir · al-Mustansir · Nizār al-Musta′lī · al-Amīr · al-Qāṣim |
| Groups and Present leaders |
| Nizārī · Aga Khan IV Dawūdī · Dr. Burhanuddin Sulaimanī · Al-Fakhri Abdullah Alavī · Ṭayyib Ziyā'u d-Dīn |
The Druze (Arabic: درزي, derzī or durzī, plural دروز, durūz, Hebrew: דרוזים druzim) are a monotheistic religious community, found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, which emerged during the 11th century from Ismailism. Druze beliefs incorporate several elements from Abrahamic religions, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism and other philosophies. The Druze call themselves Ahl al-Tawhid the People of Monotheism or al-Muwaḥḥidūn "the Unitarians".
Contents |
Location[link]
The Druze people reside primarily in Syria, Lebanon, and Israel. which is home to about 20,000 Druze.[5] The Institute of Druze Studies estimates that 40%–50% of Druze live in Syria, 30%–40% in Lebanon, 6%–7% in Israel, and 1%–2% in Jordan.[6][7]
Large communities of expatriate Druze also live outside the Middle East in Australia, Canada, Europe, Latin America, the United States, and West Africa. They use the Arabic language and follow a social pattern very similar to those of the other peoples of the eastern Mediterranean region.[8]
The number of Druze people worldwide exceeds one million, with the vast majority residing in the Levant or East Mediterranean.[9]
History[link]
Origin of the name[link]
The name Druze is derived from the name of Anushtakīn ad-Darazī (from Persian, darzi, "seamster") who was an early preacher. Although the Druze consider ad-Darazī a heretic[10] the name had been used to identify them.
Before becoming public, the movement was secretive and held closed meetings in what was known as Sessions of Wisdom. During this stage a dispute occurred between ad-Darazi and Hamza bin Ali mainly concerning ad-Darazi's ghuluww (Arabic, "exaggeration"), which refers to the belief that God was incarnated in human beings, especially 'Ali and his descendants, including Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah who was the current Caliph, and ad-Darazi naming himself "The Sword of the Faith" which led Hamza to write an epistle refuting the need for the sword to spread the faith and several epistles refuting the beliefs of the ghulat.
In 1016 ad-Darazi and his followers openly proclaimed their beliefs and called people to join them, causing riots in Cairo against the Unitarian movement including Hamza bin Ali and his followers which led to the suspension of the movement for one year and the expulsion of ad-Darazi and his supporters.[11]
Although the Druze religious books describe ad-Darazi as the "insolent one" and as the "Calf" who is narrow minded and hasty, the name "Druze" is still used for identification and for historical reasons. In 1018 ad-Darazi was assassinated for his teachings; some sources claim that he was executed by Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah.[10][12]
Some authorities see in the name "Druze" a descriptive epithet, derived from Arabic dâresah ("those who study").[13] Others have speculated that the word comes from the Arabic-Persian word Darazo (درز "bliss") or from Shaykh Hussayn ad-Darazī, who was one of the early converts to the faith.[14] In the early stages of the movement, the word "Druze" is rarely mentioned by historians, and in Druze religious texts only the word Muwaḥḥidūn ("Unitarian") appears. The only early Arab historian who mentions the Druze is the 11th century Christian scholar Yahya of Antioch, who clearly refers to the heretical group created by ad-Darazī rather than the followers of Hamza ibn 'Alī.[14] As for Western sources, Benjamin of Tudela, the Jewish traveler who passed through Lebanon in or about 1165, was one of the first European writers to refer to the Druzes by name. The word Dogziyin ("Druzes") occurs in an early Hebrew edition of his travels, but it is clear that this is a scribal error. Be that as it may, he described the Druze as "mountain dwellers, monotheists, who believe in 'soul eternity' and reincarnation."[15]
Early history[link]
The Druze faith began as a movement in Ismailism, that was mainly influenced by Greek philosophy and gnosticism and opposed certain religious and philosophical ideologies that were present during that epoch.
The faith was preached by Hamza ibn 'Alī ibn Ahmad, a Persian Ismaili mystic and scholar. He came to Egypt in 1014 and assembled a group of scholars and leaders from across the world to establish the Unitarian movement. The order's meetings were held in the Raydan Mosque, near the Al-Hakim Mosque.[16]
In 1017, Hamza officially revealed the Druze faith and began to preach the Unitarian doctrine. Hamza gained the support of the Fātimid Caliph al-Hakim, who issued a decree promoting religious freedom prior to the declaration of the divine call.
Remove ye the causes of fear and estrangement from yourselves. Do away with the corruption of delusion and conformity. Be ye certain that the Prince of Believers hath given unto you free will, and hath spared you the trouble of disguising and concealing your true beliefs, so that when ye work ye may keep your deeds pure for God. He hath done thus so that when you relinquish your previous beliefs and doctrines ye shall not indeed lean on such causes of impediments and pretensions. By conveying to you the reality of his intention, the Prince of Believers hath spared you any excuse for doing so. He hath urged you to declare your belief openly. Ye are now safe from any hand which may bring harm unto you. Ye now may find rest in his assurance ye shall not be wronged. Let those who are present convey this message unto the absent so that it may be known by both the distinguished and the common people. It shall thus become a rule to mankind; and Divine Wisdom shall prevail for all the days to come.[17]
Al-Hakim became a central figure in the Druze faith even though his own religious position was disputed among scholars. John Esposito states that al-Hakim believed that "he was not only the divinely appointed religio-political leader but also the cosmic intellect linking God with creation",[18] while others like Nissim Dana and Mordechai Nisan state that he is perceived as the manifestation and the reincarnation of God or presumably the image of God.[19][20][page needed]
Some Druze and non-Druze scholars like Samy Swayd and Sami Makarem state that this confusion is due to confusion about the role of the early preacher ad-Darazi, whose teachings the Druze rejected as heretical.[21] These sources assert that al-Hakim rejected ad-Darazi's claims of divinity,[12][22][23][page needed] and ordered the elimination of his movement while supporting that of Hamza ibn Ali.[24]
Al-Hakim disappeared one night while out on his evening ride – presumably assassinated, perhaps at the behest of his formidable elder sister Sitt al-Mulk. The Druze believe he went into Occultation with Hamza ibn Ali and three other prominent preachers, leaving the care of the "Unitarian missionary movement" to a new leader, Bahā'u d-Dīn.
Closing of the faith[link]
Al-Hakim was replaced by his underage son, 'Alī az-Zahir. The Unitarian Druze movement, which existed in the Fatimid Caliphate, acknowledged az-Zahir as the Caliph, but followed Hamzah as its Imam.[12] The young Caliph's regent, Sitt al-Mulk, ordered the army to destroy the movement in 1021.[10] At the same time, Bahā'a ad-Dīn as-Samuki was assigned the leadership of the Unitarian Movement by Hamza Bin Ali.[12]
For the next seven years, the Druze faced extreme persecution by the new caliph, al-Zahir, who wanted to eradicate the faith.[25] This was the result of a power struggle inside of the Fatimid empire in which the Druze were viewed with suspicion because of their refusal to recognize the new Caliph, Ali az-Zahir, as their Imam. Many spies, mainly the followers of Ad-Darazi, joined the Unitarian movement in order to infiltrate the Druze community. The spies set about agitating trouble and soiling the reputation of the Druze. This resulted in friction with the new caliph who clashed militarily with the Druze community. The clashes ranged from Antioch to Alexandria, where tens of thousands of Druze were slaughtered by the Fatimid army.[10] The largest massacre was at Antioch, where 5000 Druze religious leaders were killed, followed by that of Aleppo.[10] As a result, the faith went underground in hope of survival, as those captured were either forced to renounce their faith or killed. Druze survivors "were found principally in southern Lebanon and Syria." In 1038, two years after the death of al-Zahir, the Druze movement was able to resume because the new leadership that replaced him had friendly political ties with at least one prominent Druze leader.[25]
In 1043 Bahā'a ad-Dīn declared that the sect would no longer accept new pledges, and since that time proselytization has been prohibited.[12][25]
During the Crusades[link]
It was during the period of Crusader rule in Syria (1099–1291) that the Druze first emerged into the full light of history in the Gharb region of the Chouf Mountains. As powerful warriors serving the Muslim rulers of Damascus against the Crusades, the Druze were given the task of keeping watch over the crusaders in the seaport of Beirut, with the aim of preventing them from making any encroachments inland. Subsequently, the Druze chiefs of the Gharb placed their considerable military experience at the disposal of the Mamluk rulers of Egypt (1250–1516); first, to assist them in putting an end to what remained of Crusader rule in coastal Syria, and later to help them safeguard the Syrian coast against Crusader retaliation by sea.[26]
In the early period of the Crusader era, the Druze feudal power was in the hands of two families, the Tanukhs and the Arslans. From their fortresses in the Gharb district (modern Aley Province) of southern Mount Lebanon, the Tanukhs led their incursions into the Phoenician coast and finally succeeded in holding Beirut and the marine plain against the Franks. Because of their fierce battles with the crusaders, the Druzes earned the respect of the Sunni Muslim Caliphs and thus gained important political powers. After the middle of the twelfth century, the Ma'an family superseded the Tanukhs in Druze leadership. The origin of the family goes back to a Prince Ma'an who made his appearance in the Lebanon in the days of the 'Abbasid Caliph al-Mustarshid (1118–35 AD). The Ma'ans chose for their abode the Chouf district in the southern part of Western Lebanon, overlooking the maritime plain between Beirut and Sidon, and made their headquarters in Baaqlin, which is still a leading Druze village. They were invested with feudal authority by Sultan Nur-al-Dīn and furnished respectable contingents to the Muslim ranks in their struggle against the Crusaders.[27][page needed]
Persecution during the Mamluk and Ottoman period[link]
Having cleared Syria of the Franks, the Mamluk Sultans of Egypt turned their attention to the schismatic Muslims of Syria. In 1305, after the issuing of a fatwa by the scholar Ibn Taymiyyah calling for jihad against all non-Sunni Muslims like the Druze, Alawites, Ismaili, and twelver Shiites. al-Malik al-Nasir inflicted a disastrous defeat on the Druze at Keserwan and forced outward compliance on their part to orthodox Sunni Islam. Later, under the Ottoman Turks, they were severely attacked at Ayn-Ṣawfar in 1585 after the Ottomans claimed that they assaulted their caravans near Tripoli.[27][page needed]
Consequently, the 16th and 17th centuries were to witness a succession of armed Druze rebellions against the Ottomans, countered by repeated Ottoman punitive expeditions against the Chouf, in which the Druze population of the area was severely depleted and many villages destroyed. These military measures, severe as they were, did not succeed in reducing the local Druze to the required degree of subordination. This led the Ottoman government to agree to an arrangement whereby the different nahiyes (districts) of the Chouf would be granted in iltizam ("fiscal concession") to one of the region's amirs, or leading chiefs, leaving the maintenance of law and order and the collection of its taxes in the area in the hands of the appointed amir. This arrangement was to provide the cornerstone for the privileged status which ultimately came to be enjoyed by the whole of Mount Lebanon in Ottoman Syria, Druze and Christian areas alike.[26]
Ma'an dynasty[link]
Main article: Maan family
File:Fakhreddincastle.jpg
Fakhreddin castle in Palmyra
With the advent of the Ottoman Turks and the conquest of Syria by Sultan Selim I in 1516, the Ma'ans were acknowledged by the new rulers as the feudal lords of southern Lebanon. Druze villages spread and prospered in that region, which under Ma'an leadership so flourished that it acquired the generic term of Jabal Bayt-Ma'an (the mountain of the Ma'an family) or Jabal al-Druze. The latter title has since been usurped by the Hawran region, which since the middle of the 19th century has proven a haven of refuge to Druze emigrants from Lebanon and has become the headquarters of Druze power.[27][page needed]
Under Fakhr-al-Dīn II (Fakhreddin II), the Druze dominion increased until it included almost all Syria, extending from the edge of the Antioch plain in the north to Safad in the south, with a part of the Syrian desert dominated by Fakhr-al-Din's castle at Tadmur (Palmyra), the ancient capital of Zenobia. The ruins of this castle still stand on a steep hill overlooking the town. Fakhr-al-Din became too strong for his Turkish sovereign in Constantinople. He went so far in 1608 as to sign a commercial treaty with Duke Ferdinand I of Tuscany containing secret military clauses. The Sultan then sent a force against him, and he was compelled to flee the land and seek refuge in the courts of Tuscany and Naples in 1614.
In 1618 political changes in the Ottoman sultanate had resulted in the removal of many enemies of Fakhr-al-Din from power, signaling the prince's triumphant return to Lebanon soon afterwards.
In 1632 Ahmad Koujak was named Lord of Damascus. Koujak was a rival of Fakhr-al-Din and a friend of the sultan Murad IV, who ordered Koujak and the sultanat navy to attack Lebanon and depose Fakhr-al-Din.
This time the prince decided to remain in Lebanon and resist the offensive, but the death of his son Ali in Wadi el-Taym was the beginning of his defeat. He later took refuge in Jezzine's grotto, closely followed by Koujak who eventually caught up with him and his family.
Fakhr-al-Din finally traveled to Turkey, appearing before the sultan, defending himself so skillfully that the sultan gave him permission to return to Lebanon.
Later, however, the Sultan changed his orders and had Fakhr-al-Din and his family killed on 13 April 1635 in Istanbul, bringing an end to an era in the history of Lebanon, which would not regain its current boundaries until it was proclaimed a republic in 1920.
Fakhr-al-Din was the first ruler in modern Lebanon to open the doors of his country to foreign Western influences. Under his auspices the French established a khān (hostel) in Sidon, the Florentines a consulate, and Christian missionaries were admitted into the country. Beirut and Sidon, which Fakhr-al-Din beautified, still bear traces of his benign rule.
Shihab Dynasty[link]
Main article: Shihab family
As early as the days of Saladin, and while the Ma'ans were still in complete control over southern Lebanon, the Shihab tribe, originally Hijaz Arabs but later settled in Ḥawran, advanced from Ḥawran, in 1172, and settled in Wadi-al-Taym at the foot of mount Hermon. They soon made an alliance with the Ma'ans and were acknowledged as the Druze chiefs in Wadi-al-Taym. At the end of the 17th century (1697) the Shihabs succeeded the Ma'ans in the feudal leadership of Druze southern Lebanon, although they reportedly professed Sunni Islam, they showed sympathy with Druzism, the religion of the majority of their subjects.
The Shihab leadership continued until the middle of the 19th century and culminated in the illustrious governorship of Amir Bashir Shihab II (1788–1840) who, after Fakhr-al-Din, was the most powerful feudal lord Lebanon produced. Though governor of the Druze Mountain, Bashir was a crypto-Christian, and it was he whose aid Napoleon solicited in 1799 during his campaign against Syria.
Having consolidated his conquests in Syria (1831–38), Ibrahim Pasha, son of the viceroy of Egypt, Muhammad Ali Pasha, made the fatal mistake of trying to disarm the Christians and Druzes of the Lebanon and to draft the latter into his army. This was contrary to the principles of the life of independence which these mountaineers had always lived, and resulted in a general uprising against Egyptian rule. The uprising was encouraged, for political reasons, by the British. The Druzes of Wadi-al-Taym and Ḥawran, under the leadership of Shibli al-Aryan, distinguished themselves in their stubborn resistance at their inaccessible headquarters, al-Laja, lying southeast of Damascus.[27][page needed]
Qaysites and the Yemenites[link]
Main article: Battle of Ain Darra
The conquest of Syria by the Muslim Arabs in the middle of the seventh century introduced into the land two political factions later called the Qaysites and the Yemenites. The Qaysite party represented the Ḥijaz and Bedouin Arabs who were regarded as inferior by the Yemenites who were earlier and more cultured emigrants into Syria from southern Arabia. Druzes and Christians grouped in political rather than religious parties so the party lines in Lebanon obliterated racial and religious lines and the people grouped themselves regardless of their religious affiliations, into one or the other of these two parties. The sanguinary feuds between these two factions depleted, in course of time, the manhood of the Lebanon and ended in the decisive battle of Ain Dara in 1711, which resulted in the utter defeat of the Yemenite party. Many Yemenite Druzes thereupon immigrated to the Hawran region and thus laid the foundation of Druze power there.[27][page needed]
Civil War of 1860[link]
Main article: 1860 Lebanon conflict
The Druzes and their Christian Maronite neighbors, who had thus far lived as religious communities on friendly terms, entered a period of social disturbance in the year 1840, which culminated in the civil war of 1860.[27][page needed]
After the Shehab dynasty converted to Christianity, the Druze community and feudal leaders came under attack from the regime with the collaboration of the Catholic Church, and the Druze lost most of their political and feudal powers. Also, the Druze formed an alliance with Britain and allowed Protestant missionaries to enter Mount Lebanon, creating tension between them and the Catholic Maronites, who were supported by the French.
The Maronite-Druze conflict in 1840–60 was an outgrowth of the Maronite Christian independence movement, directed against the Druze, Druze feudalism, and the Ottoman-Turks. The civil war was not therefore a religious war, except in Damascus, where it spread and where the vastly non-Druze population was anti-Christian. The movement culminated with the 1859–60 massacre and defeat of the Christians by the Druzes. The civil war of 1860 cost the Christians some ten thousand lives in Damascus, Zahlé, Deir al-Qamar, Hasbaya, and other towns of Lebanon.
The European powers then determined to intervene, and authorized the landing in Beirut of a body of French troops under General Beaufort d'Hautpoul, whose inscription can still be seen on the historic rock at the mouth of Nahr al-Kalb. French intervention on behalf of the Maronites did not help the Maronite national movement, since France was restricted in 1860 by Britain, which did not want the Ottoman Empire dismembered. But European intervention pressured the Turks to treat the Maronites more justly.[28] Following the recommendations of the powers, the Ottoman Porte granted Lebanon local autonomy, guaranteed by the powers, under a Christian governor. This autonomy was maintained until World War I.[27][page needed][29][page needed]
Rebellion in Hauran[link]
Main article: Hauran Druze Rebellion
The Hauran rebellion was a violent Druze uprising against Ottoman authority in the Syrian province, which erupted in 1909. The rebellion was led by al-Atrash family in an aim to gain independence, but ended in brutal suppression of the Druze, significant depopulation of the Hauran region and execution of the Druze leaders in 1910.
Modern history[link]
In Lebanon, Syria, and Israel, the Druze have official recognition as a separate religious community with its own religious court system. Druze are known for their loyalty to the countries they reside in,[30] though they have a strong community feeling, in which they identify themselves as related even across borders of countries.[31]
Despite their practice of blending with dominant groups in order to avoid persecution and because the Druze religion doesn't endorse separatist sentiments, urging the Druze to blend with the communities they reside in, nevertheless the Druze have had a history of brave resistance to occupying powers, and they have at times enjoyed more freedom than most other groups living in the Levant.[31]
In Syria[link]
In Syria, most Druze live in the Jebel al-Druze, a rugged and mountainous region in the southwest of the country, which is more than 90 percent Druze inhabited; some 120 villages are exclusively so.[32][page needed]
The Druze always played a far more important role in Syrian politics than its comparatively small population would suggest. With a community of little more than 100,000 in 1949, or roughly three percent of the Syrian population, the Druze of Syria's southeastern mountains constituted a potent force in Syrian politics and played a leading role in the nationalist struggle against the French. Under the military leadership of Sultan Pasha al-Atrash, the Druze provided much of the military force behind the Syrian Revolution of 1925–27. In 1945, Amir Hasan al-Atrash, the paramount political leader of the Jebel al-Druze, led the Druze military units in a successful revolt against the French, making the Jebel al-Druze the first and only region in Syria to liberate itself from French rule without British assistance. At independence the Druze, made confident by their successes, expected that Damascus would reward them for their many sacrifices on the battlefield. They demanded to keep their autonomous administration and many political privileges accorded them by the French and sought generous economic assistance from the newly independent government.[32][page needed]
Well-led by the Atrash household and jealous of their reputation as Arab nationalists and proud warriors, the Druze leaders refused to be beaten into submission by Damascus or cowed by threats. When a local paper in 1945 reported that President Shukri al-Quwatli (1943–49) had called the Druzes a "dangerous minority", Sultan Pasha al-Atrash flew into a rage and demanded a public retraction. If it were not forthcoming, he announced, the Druzes would indeed become "dangerous" and a force of 4,000 Druze warriors would "occupy the city of Damascus." Quwwatli could not dismiss Sultan Pasha's threat. The military balance of power in Syria was tilted in favor of the Druzes, at least until the military build up during the 1948 War in Palestine. One advisor to the Syrian Defense Department warned in 1946 that the Syrian army was "useless", and that the Druzes could "take Damascus and capture the present leaders in a breeze."[32][page needed]
During the four years of Adib Shishakli's rule in Syria (December 1949 to February 1954) (on 25 August 1952: Adib al-Shishakli created the Arab Liberation Movement (ALM), a progressive party with pan-Arabist and socialist views),[33] the Druze community was subjected to a heavy attack by the Syrian regime. Shishakli believed that among his many opponents in Syria, the Druzes were the most potentially dangerous, and he was determined to crush them. He frequently proclaimed: "My enemies are like a serpent: the head is the Jebel al-Druze, the stomach Homs, and the tail Aleppo. If I crush the head the serpent will die." Shishakli dispatched 10,000 regular troops to occupy the Jebel al-Druze. Several towns were bombarded with heavy weapons, killing scores of civilians and destroying many houses. According to Druze accounts, Shishakli encouraged neighboring bedouin tribes to plunder the defenseless population and allowed his own troops to run amok.[32][page needed]
Shishakli launched a brutal campaign to defame the Druzes for their religion and politics. He accused the entire community of treason, at times claiming they were agents of the British and Hashimites, at others that they were fighting for Israel against the Arabs. He even produced a cache of Israeli weapons allegedly discovered in the Jabal. Even more painful for the Druze community was his publication of "falsified Druze religious texts" and false testimonials ascribed to leading Druze sheikhs designed to stir up sectarian hatred. This propaganda also was broadcast in the Arab world, mainly Egypt. Shishakli was assassinated in Brazil on 27 September 1964 by a Druze seeking revenge for Shishakli's bombardment of the Jebel al-Druze.[32][page needed]
He forcibly integrated minorities into the national Syrian social structure, his "Syrianization" of Alawite and Druze territories had to be accomplished in part using violence, he declared: "My enemies are like serpent. The head is the Jabal Druze, if I crush the head the serpent will die" (Seale 1963:132).[32] To this end, al-Shishakli encouraged the stigmatization of minorities. He saw minority demands as tantamount to treason. His increasingly chauvinistic notions of Arab nationalism were predicated on the denial that "minorities" existed in Syria.[34][page needed]
After the Shishakli's military campaign, the Druze community lost a lot of its political influence, but many Druze military officers played an important role when it comes to the Baathist regime currently ruling Syria.[32][page needed]
In Lebanon[link]
File:Prophet Job Shrine.jpg
Prophet Job shrine in Lebanon the Chouf region
The Druze community played an important role in the formation of the modern state of Lebanon, and even though they are a minority they played an important role in the Lebanese political scene. Before and during the Lebanese Civil War (1975–90), the Druze were in favor of Pan-Arabism and Palestinian resistance represented by the PLO. Most of the community supported the Progressive Socialist Party formed by the Lebanese leader Kamal Jumblatt and they fought alongside other leftist and Palestinian parties against the Lebanese Front that was mainly constituted of Christians. After the assassination of Kamal Jumblatt on 16 March 1977, his son Walid Jumblatt took the leadership of the party and played an important role in preserving his father's legacy and sustained the existence of the Druze community during the sectarian bloodshed that lasted until 1990.
In August 2001, Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir toured the predominantly Druze Chouf region of Mount Lebanon and visited Mukhtara, the ancestral stronghold of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt. The tumultuous reception that Sfeir received not only signified a historic reconciliation between Maronites and Druze, who fought a bloody war in 1983–84, but underscored the fact that the banner of Lebanese sovereignty had broad multi-confessional appeal[35] and was a cornerstone for the Cedar Revolution. The second largest political party supported by Druze is the Lebanese Democratic Party led by Prince Talal Arslan the son of Lebanese independence hero Emir Majid Arslan. Many Druze also support the Syrian Social Nationalist Party.
In Israel[link]
Main article: Israeli Druze
The Israeli Druze are a religious minority in Israel. In 2004, there were 102,000 Druze living in the country.[36] In 1957, the Israeli government designated the Druze a distinct ethnic community at the request of its communal leaders. The Druze are Arabic-speaking citizens of Israel who serve in the Israel Defense Forces. Members of the community have attained top positions in Israeli politics and public service.[37] They live mainly in the north of the country.[38]
Beliefs of the Druze[link]
The Druze are considered to be a social group as well as a religious sect, but not a distinct ethnic group. Also complicating their identity is the custom of Taqiya—concealing or disguising their beliefs when necessary—that they adopted from Shia Islam and the esoteric nature of the faith, in which many teachings are kept secretive. Druze in different states can have radically different lifestyles. Some claim to be Muslim, some do not. The Druze faith is said to abide by Islamic principles, but they tend to be separatist in their treatment of Druze-hood, and their religion differs from mainstream Islam on a number of fundamental points.[39]
God in the Druze faith[link]
The Druze conception of the deity is declared by them to be one of strict and uncompromising unity. The main Druze doctrine states that God is both transcendent and immanent, in which he is above all attributes but at the same time he is present.[40]
In their desire to maintain a rigid confession of unity, they stripped from God all attributes (tanzīh) which may lead to polytheism (shirk). In God, there are no attributes distinct from his essence. He is wise, mighty, and just, not by wisdom, might and justice, but by his own essence. God is "the whole of existence", rather than "above existence" or on his throne, which would make him "limited." There is neither "how", "when", nor "where" about him; he is incomprehensible.[41][page needed]
In this dogma, they are similar to the semi-philosophical, semi-religious body which flourished under Al-Ma'mun and was known by the name of Mu'tazila and the fraternal order of the Brethren of Purity (Ikhwan al-Ṣafa).[27][page needed]
Unlike the Mu'tazilla, however, and similar to some branches of Sufism, the Druze believe in the concept of Tajalli (meaning "theophany").[41][page needed] Tajalli, which is more often misunderstood by scholars and writers and is usually confused with the concept of incarnation,
...is the core spiritual beliefs [sic] in the Druze and some other intellectual and spiritual traditions.... In a mystical sense, it refers to the light of God experienced by certain mystics who have reached a high level of purity in their spiritual journey. Thus, God is perceived as the Lahut [the divine] who manifests His Light in the Station (Maqaam) of the Nasut [material realm] without the Nasut becoming Lahut. This is like one's image in the mirror: one is in the mirror but does not become the mirror. The Druze manuscripts are emphatic and warn against the belief that the Nasut is God.... Neglecting this warning, individual seekers, scholars, and other spectators have considered al-Hakim and other figures divine....In the Druze scriptural view, Tajalli 'takes a central stage.' One author comments that Tajalli occurs when the seeker's humanity is annihilated so that divine attributes and light are experienced by the person."[41][page needed]
The concept of God incarnating either as or in a human seems "to contradict with what the Druze scriptural view has to teach about the Oneness of God, while tajalli [sic] is at the center of the Druze and some other, often mystical, traditions."[41][page needed]
Scriptures[link]
Druze Sacred texts include the Kitab Al Hikma (Epistles of Wisdom).[42]
Esotericism[link]
The Druze believe that many teachings given by prophets, religious leaders and holy books have esoteric meanings preserved for those of intellect, in which some teachings are symbolic and allegorical in nature, and divide the understanding of holy books and teachings into three layers. These layers, according to the Druze, are:
- The obvious or exoteric (zahir), accessible to anyone who can read or hear;
- The hidden or esoteric (batin), accessible to those who are willing to search and learn through the concept of exegesis; and
- The hidden of the hidden, a concept known as anagoge, inaccessible to all but a few really enlightened individuals who truly understand the nature of the universe.[43]
Unlike some Islamic esoteric movements, known as the batinids at that time, the Druzes don't believe that the esoteric meaning abrogates or necessarily abolishes the exoteric one. Hamza bin Ali refutes such claims by stating that if the esoteric interpretation of taharah (purity) is purity of the heart and soul, it doesn't mean that a person can discard his physical purity, as salah (prayer) is useless if a person is untruthful in his speech and that the esoteric and exoteric meanings complement each other.[44]
Precepts of the Druze faith[link]
Main article: Seven pillars of Ismailism
The Druze follow seven precepts that are considered the core of the faith, and are perceived by them as the essence of the pillars of Islam. The Seven Druze precepts are:
- Veracity in speech and the truthfulness of the tongue.
- Protection and mutual aid to the brethren in faith.
- Renunciation of all forms of former worship (specifically, invalid creeds) and false belief.
- Repudiation of the devil (Iblis), and all forces of evil (translated from Arabic Toghyan meaning "despotism").
- Confession of God's unity.
- Acquiescence in God's acts no matter what they be.
- Absolute submission and resignation to God's divine will in both secret and public.[45]
Religious symbol[link]
The Druze strictly avoid iconography but use five colors as a religious symbol: green, red, yellow, blue, and white. Each color pertains to a metaphysical power called Haad, literally meaning a limit, as in the limits that separate humans from animals, or the powers that makes the animal body human. Each Haad is color coded in the following manner: green for Aql "the Universal Mind/Nous", red for Nafs "the Universal Soul/Anima mundi", yellow for Kalima "the Word/Logos", blue for Sabiq "the Potentiality/Cause/Precedent", and white for Tali "the Future/Effect/Immanence". The mind generates qualia and gives consciousness. The soul embodies the mind and is responsible for transmigration and the character of oneself. The word which is the atom of language communicates qualia between humans and represent the platonic forms in the sensible world. The Sabq and Tali is the ability to perceive and learn from the past and plan for the future and predict it.
The colors can be arranged in a vertically descending stripes or a five-pointed star. The stripes is a diagrammatic cut of the spheres in neoplatonic philosophy while the five pointed star embodies the golden ratio, phi, as a symbol of temperance and a life of moderation.
ʻUqqāl and Juhhāl[link]
The Druze are divided into two groups. The largely secular majority, called al-Juhhāl (جهال) ("the Ignorant") are not granted access to the Druze holy literature or allowed to attend the initiated Uqqal's religious meetings. They are around 80% of the Druze population and are not obliged to follow the ascetic traditions of the Uqqal.
The initiated religious group, which includes both men and women (about 20% of the population), is called al-ʻUqqāl (عقال), ("the Knowledgeable Initiates"). They have a special mode of dress designed to comply with Quranic traditions. Women can opt to wear al-mandīl, a loose white veil, especially in the presence of other people. They wear al-mandīl on their heads to cover their hair and wrap it around their mouths and sometimes over their noses as well. They wear black shirts and long skirts covering their legs to their ankles. Male ʻuqqāl grow mustaches, and wear dark Levantine/Turkish traditional dresses, called the shirwal, with white turbans that vary according to the Uqqal's hierarchy.
Al-ʻuqqāl have equal rights to al-Juhhāl, but establish a hierarchy of respect based on religious service.The most influential 5% of Al-ʻuqqāl become Ajawīd, recognized religious leaders, and from this group the spiritual leaders of the Druze are assigned. While the Shaykh al-ʻAql, which is an official position in Syria, Lebanon, and Israel, is elected by the local community and serves as the head of the Druze religious council, judges from the Druze religious courts are usually elected for this position. Unlike the spiritual leaders, the Shaykh al-ʻAql's authority is local to the country he is elected in, though in some instances spiritual leaders are elected to this position.
The Druze believe in the unity of God, and are often known as the "People of Monotheism" or simply "Monotheists". Their theology has a Neo-Platonic view about how God interacts with the world through emanations and is similar to some gnostic and other esoteric sects. Druze philosophy also shows Sufi influences.
Druze principles focus on honesty, loyalty, filial piety, altruism, patriotic sacrifice, and monotheism. They reject tobacco smoking, alcohol, and consumption of pork. Also, in contrast to most Islamic sects, the Druze reject polygamy, believe in reincarnation, and are not obliged to observe most of the religious rituals. The Druze believe that rituals are symbolic and have an individualistic effect on the person, for which reason Druze are free to perform them, or not. The community does celebrate Eid al-Adha, however, considered their most significant holiday.
Origins of the Druze people[link]
Ethnic origins[link]
The Druze faith extended to many areas in the Middle East, but most of the surviving modern Druze can trace their origin to the Wadi al-Taymour in South Lebanon, which is named after an Arab tribe Taymour-Allah (formerly Taymour-Allat) which, according to Islamic historian, al-Tabari, first came from Arabia into the valley of the Euphrates where they were Christianized prior to their migration into the Lebanon. Many of the Druze feudal families whose genealogies have been preserved by the two modern Syrian chroniclers Haydar al-Shihabi and al-Shidyaq seem also to point in the direction of this origin. Arabian tribes emigrated via the Persian Gulf and stopped in Iraq on the route that was later to lead them to Syria. The first feudal Druze family, the Tanukh family, which made for itself a name in fighting the Crusaders, was, according to Haydar al-Shihabi, an Arab tribe from Mesopotamia where it occupied the position of a ruling family and apparently was Christianized.[27][page needed]
The Tanukhs must have left Arabia as early as the second or third century A.D. The Ma'an tribe, which superseded the Tanukhs and produced the greatest Druze hero in history, Fakhr-al-Din, had the same traditional origin. The Talhuq family and 'Abd-al-Malik, who supplied the later Druze leadership, have the same record as the Tanukhs. The Imad family is named for al-Imadiyyah — the Kurdish town of Amadiya, northeast of Mosul inside Kurdistan, and, like the Jumblatts, is thought to be of Kurdish origin. The Arsalan family claims descent from the Hirah Arab kings, but the name Arsalan (Persian and Turkish for lion) suggests Persian influence, if not origin.[27][page needed]
The 1911 edition of Encyclopædia Britannica states that the Druzes are "a mixture of refugee stocks, in which the Arab largely predominates, grafted on to an original mountain population of Aramaic blood."[46]
According to Jewish contemporary literature, the Druze, who were visited by Benjamin of Tudela, were described as descendants of the Itureans — an Ismaelite Arab tribe, which used to reside in the northern parts of the Golan plateau through Hellenistic and Roman periods.
Nevertheless, many scholars formed their own hypotheses: for example, Lamartine (1835) discovered in the modern Druzes the remnants of the Samaritans;[47] Earl of Carnarvon (1860), those of the Cuthites whom Esarhaddon transplanted into Palestine;[48] Professor Felix von Luschan (1911), according to his conclusions from anthropometric measurements, makes the Druze, Maronites, and Alawites of Syria, together with the Bektashis, 'Ali-Ilahis, and Yezidis of Asia Minor and Persia, the modern representatives of the ancient Hittites.[49]
During the 18th century, there were two branches of Druze living in Lebanon: the Yemeni Druze, headed by the Hamdan and Al-Atrash families; and the Kaysi Druze, headed by the Jumblat and Arsalan families.
The Hamdan family was banished from Mount Lebanon following the battle of Ain Dara in 1711. The battle was fought between two Druze factions: the Yemeni and the Kaysi. Following their dramatic defeat, the Yemeni faction migrated to Syria in the Jebel-Druze region and its capital, Soueida. However, it has been argued that these two factions were of political nature rather than ethnic, and had both Christian and Druze supporters.
Genetics[link]
In a 2005 study of ASPM gene variants, Mekel-Bobrov et al. found that the Israeli Druze people of the Carmel region have among the highest rate of the newly evolved ASPM haplogroup D, at 52.2% occurrence of the approximately 6,000-year-old allele.[50] While it is not yet known exactly what selective advantage is provided by this gene variant, the haplogroup D allele is thought to be positively selected in populations and to confer some substantial advantage that has caused its frequency to rapidly increase.
According to DNA testing, Druze are remarkable for the high frequency (35%) of males who carry the Y-chromosomal haplogroup L, which is otherwise uncommon in the Mideast (Shen et al. 2004).[51] This haplogroup originates from prehistoric South Asia and has spread from Pakistan into southern Iran.
Cruciani in 2007 found E1b1b1a2 (E-V13) [one from Sub Clades of E1b1b1a1 (E-V12)] in high levels (>10% of the male population) in Turkish Cypriot and Druze Arab lineages. Recent genetic clustering analyses of ethnic groups are consistent with the close ancestral relationship between the Druze and Cypriots, and also identified similarity to the general Syrian and Lebanese populations, as well as a variety of Jewish lineages (Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Iraqi, and Moroccan) (Behar et al 2010).[52]
Also, a new study concluded that the Druze harbor a remarkable diversity of mitochondrial DNA lineages that appear to have separated from each other thousands of years ago. But instead of dispersing throughout the world after their separation, the full range of lineages can still be found within the Druze population.[53]
The researchers noted that the Druze villages contained a striking range of high frequency and high diversity of the X haplogroup, suggesting that this population provides a glimpse into the past genetic landscape of the Near East at a time when the X haplogroup was more prevalent.[53]
These findings are consistent with the Druze oral tradition, that claims that the adherents of the faith came from diverse ancestral lineages stretching back tens of thousands of years.[53]
Israeli Knesset member Ayoob Kara, a Druze himself, speculated that the Druze are descended from one of the Lost Tribes of Israel, probably Zebulun. Kara stated that the Druze share many of the same beliefs as Jews, and that he has genetic evidence to prove that the Druze were descended from Jews.[54]
That was after the Israeli author Tsvi Misinai claimed that the cultural and genetic background of Arabs living west of the Jordan River, proved that the majority of them descended from the Jewish nation, and that the genetic cluster of Druze coincides closely with those of the Samaritans, and is very close to the genetic clusters of Ashkenazim, Sephardim, and Jews from the Caucasus, but he asserted that such findings do not prove Kara's conclusion since several Jewish villages in Palestine converted to Druze faith which means the samples can be linked to those lineages and not a broad Druze linkage.[54]
See also[link]
Notes[link]
- ^ a b c The Economist. 390. 2009. p. 49. http://books.google.com/?id=ub8aAQAAMAAJ&q=%22The+Druze+are+an+ancient+sect+within+Islam.+The+Golan+ones+are+part+of+a+Syrian+Druze+community+that+numbers+700000.+Another+250000+live+in+Lebanon+and+about+100000+in+Israel+proper%22&dq=%22The+Druze+are+an+ancient+sect+within+Islam.+The+Golan+ones+are+part+of+a+Syrian+Druze+community+that+numbers+700000.+Another+250000+live+in+Lebanon+and+about+100000+in+Israel+proper%22. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
- ^ International Religious Freedom Report, US State Department, 2005, http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2005/51602.htm .
- ^ Druze Traditions, Institute of Druze Studies, archived from the original on 2009-1-14 3h29min29, http://web.archive.org/web/20090114032929/http://www.druzestudies.org/Druzes.html .
- ^ "Druze Population of Australia by Place of Usual Residence (2006)". Australian Bureau of Statistics. http://www.abs.gov.au/CDataOnline. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
- ^ Jordanian Druze can be found in Amman and Zarka; about 50% live in the town of Azraq, and a smaller number in Irbid and Aqaba. "Localities and Population, by District, Sub-District, Religion and Population Group" (PDF). Statistical Abstract of Palestine. IL: Palestine Central Bureau of Statistics. 2006. http://www1.cbs.gov.il/shnaton57/st02_07x.pdf.
- ^ Druzes, Institute of Druze Studies, http://www.druzestudies.org/druzes.html
- ^ Dana 2003, p. 99.
- ^ Halabi, Rabah (in Hebrew), Citizens of equal duties—Druze identity and the Jewish State, p. 55
- ^ "Druze set to visit Syria". News Online (BBC). 30 August 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3612002.stm. Retrieved 8 September 2006. "Around 80,000 Druze live in Israel, including 18,000 in the Golan Heights."
- ^ a b c d e Moukarim, Moustafa F, About the Faith of The Mo’wa’he’doon Druze, http://www.druze.ca/AboutDruze.html .
- ^ Hodgson, MGS (1962), Al-Darazî and Ḥamza in the Origin of Druze Religion, http://www.jstor.org/stable/595974l .
- ^ a b c d e Swayd, Samy (1998). The Druzes: An Annotated Bibliography. Kirkland, WA, USA: ISES Publications. ISBN 0-9662932-0-7.
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica, 1911, p. 606, http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/DRO_ECG/DRUSES_or_DRUZES_Arab_Druz_.html .
- ^ a b Al-Najjar, 'Abdullāh (1965) (in Arabic). Madhhab ad-Durūz wa t-Tawḥīd (The Druze Sect and Unism). Egypt: Dār al-Ma'ārif.
- ^ Hitti, Philip K (2007) [1924]. Origins of the Druze People and Religion, with Extracts from their Sacred Writings. Columbia University Oriental Studies. 28 (new ed.). London: Saqi. pp. 13–14. ISBN 0-86356-690-1.
- ^ (PDF) Luminaries: Al Hakim, Druze, http://www.druze.com/education/DruzeLuminariesAlHakim-English-level3.pdf .
- ^ Ismaili, Islam Heritage Field, http://ismaili.net/drupal5/node/10766
- ^ Potter, William, Melville's Clarel and the Intersympathy of Creeds, p. 156, http://books.google.com/books?id=lZXTFCN93kkC&pg=PA156&dq=druze+hakim+John+Esposito&ei=bBaDSL-ZAozaigHaxdG8DQ&sig=ACfU3U1jUwRJDGMsL3BIUbiX5DzfmMcawg#PPA156,M1 .
- ^ Nisan 2002, p. 95.
- ^ Dana.
- ^ Meri, Josef W; Bacharach, Jere L (2006), Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia, Routledge, ISBN 0-415-96690-6, http://books.google.com/books?id=H-k9oc9xsuAC&pg=PA217&dq=The+Druzes:+A+New+Study+of+Their+History,+Faith+and+Society+Al-Hakim&ei=bNeFSOnMGZzwigGj_ejbBQ&sig=ACfU3U3BPEoV7YZP4FEgBiqD7Xflt_gLZg#PPA217,M1 .
- ^ Westheimer, Dr Ruth; Sedan, Gil, The Olive and the Tree: The Secret Strength of the Druze, http://books.google.com/books?id=kY0oedX32BwC&pg=PA128&dq=Hamza+bin+Ali+druze&ei=hxV-SLTaB4KijgHJvKXtDw&sig=ACfU3U3Joonyh4sX6X3A6xx9ngHmddJ59w#PPA127,M1 .
- ^ Swayd 2006.
- ^ "M. Th. Houtsma", First encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–36, http://books.google.com/books?id=rezD7rvuf9YC&pg=PA921&vq=druze&dq=druze+god+hakim&lr=&source=gbs_search_r&cad=1_1&sig=ACfU3U2oOT-YmEy4ZP0xOseugnG-PP-HQg#PPA921,M1 .
- ^ a b c Rebecca Erickson. "The Druze". Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements. http://www.sacredtribesjournal.org/images/Encyclopedia/The_Druze.pdf.
- ^ a b History, Druze Heritage, http://www.druzeheritage.org/dhf/Druze_History.asp .
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Hitti 1924.
- ^ Abraham, Antoine (1977). "Lebanese Communal Relations". Muslim World 67 (2): 91–105. DOI:10.1111/j.1478-1913.1977.tb03313.x.
- ^ Churchill, Charles (1862), The Druzes and the Maronites under the Turkish Rule from 1840 to 1860 .
- ^ Totten, Michael J (3 October 2010). "The Tower of the Sun". Pajamas Media. http://pajamasmedia.com/michaeltotten/2010/10/03/the-tower-of-the-sun/.
- ^ a b Kjeilen, Tore. "Druze". http://lexicorient.com/e.o/druze.htm.
- ^ a b c d e f g Landis, Joshua (1998). "Shishakli and the Druzes: Integration and intransigence". In Philipp, T; Schäbler, B. The Syrian Land: Processes of Integration and Fragmentation. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag. pp. 369–96. http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/L/Joshua.M.Landis-1/Joshua_Landis_Druze_and_Shishakli.htm.
- ^ Syrian History, http://www.syrianhistory.com/node/3379 .
- ^ Books, Google, http://books.google.com/books?id=ecTTlytIjswC&pg=PA41 .
- ^ Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir (dossier), Meib, May 2003, http://www.meib.org/articles/0305_ld.htm .
- ^ Amara, Muhammad; Schnell, Izhak (2004), "Identity Repertoires among Arabs in Israel", Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 30 .
- ^ Religious Freedoms: Druze, The Israel project, http://www.theisraelproject.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=ewJXKcOUJlIaG&b=7721235&ct=11546191#.TvwjLdXLa0M, retrieved 23 January 2012 .
- ^ "The Druze", Jewish virtual library, http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/druze.html, retrieved 23 January 2012 .
- ^ Dana, p. 18.
- ^ Makarem, Sami Nasib, The Druze Faith .
- ^ a b c d Swayd, SDSU, Dr. Samy (RTF), Druze Spirituality and Asceticism (an abridged rough draft), Eial, http://www.eial.org/mesp/Swayd.rtf.rtf .
- ^ Religion, AU: Druze, http://www.druze.org.au/religion/ .
- ^ "The Druze", h2g2, UK: BBC, http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3694809 .
- ^ "The Epistle Answering the People of Esotericism (batinids)", Epistles of Wisdom (a rough translation from the Arabic), Second .
- ^ Hitti 1924, p. 51.
- ^ "Encyclopædia Britannica". 1911. http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/DRO_ECG/DRUSES_or_DRUZES_Arab_Druz_.html. "There is good reason to regard the Druses as, racially, a mixture of refugee stocks, in which the Arab largely predominates, grafted on to an original mountain population of Aramaic blood."
- ^ Lamartine (1835), Voyage, II, p. 109 .
- ^ Recollections of the Druses of Lebanon, London, 1860, pp. 42–3 .
- ^ Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, London, 1911, p. 241 .
- ^ "Ongoing Adaptive Evolution of ASPM, a Brain Size Determinant in Homo sapiens", Science 309 (5741): 1720–22, 9 September 2005, http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/309/5741/1720 .
- ^ Shen (2004) (PDF), Evolutsioon, EE: UT, http://evolutsioon.ut.ee/publications/Shen2004.pdf .
- ^ "The genome-wide structure of the Jewish people" (PDF), Nature, http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/pdf/nature09103.pdf .
- ^ a b c "Genetics Confirm Oral Traditions of Druze In Israel", ScienceDaily (American Technion Society), 12 May 2008, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080508182219.htm .
- ^ a b Lev, David (25 October 2010). "MK Kara: Druze are Descended from Jews". Israel National News. Arutz Sheva. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/140251. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
Bibliography[link]
- Dana, Nissim (2003), The Druze in the Middle East: Their Faith, Leadership, Identity and Status, Sussex University Press, ISBN 1-903900-36-0, http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=2nCWIsyZJxUC&dq=druze+Nissim+Dana&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=XqdY8x2TYr&sig=yMfzBjScKqQX7oxYfAkLMx9qyc0&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA3,M1 .
- Hitti, Philip Khūri (1924), Origins of the Druze People and Religion, Forgotten Books, ISBN 1-60506-068-2, http://books.google.com/books?id=B_YJAvND0RwC&pg=PA47&dq=druze+china&hl=en&sa=X&ei=39R9T4znFIuG8QT28cn5DA&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=druze%20china&f=false, retrieved 4 April 2012 .
- Nisan, Mordechai (2002), Minorities in the Middle East: a history of struggle and self-expression (2nd, illustrated ed.), McFarland, ISBN 0-7864-1375-1, http://books.google.com/books?id=keD9z1XWuNwC&pg=PA96&dq=druze+china&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Bw5-T5W4LIy10QHk8ZC8Dg&ved=0CEQQ6AEwBDgK#v=onepage&q=druze%20china&f=false, retrieved 4 April 2012
- Swayd, Samy S (2006), Historical dictionary of the Druzes, 3 (illustrated ed.), Scarecrow Press, ISBN 0-8108-5332-9, http://books.google.com/books?id=TlCHg5EblxEC&pg=PR41&dq=druze+china&hl=en&sa=X&ei=39R9T4znFIuG8QT28cn5DA&ved=0CGUQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=druze%20china&f=false, retrieved 4 April 2012
Further reading[link]
- Sakr Abu Fakhr: "Voices from the Golan"; Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 29, No. 4 (Autumn, 2000), pp. 5–36.
- Aractingi, Jean-Marc; Lochon, Christian (2008 ISBN = 978-2-296-06536-9), Secrets initiatiques en Islam et rituels maçonniques-Ismaéliens, Druzes, Alaouites, Confréries soufies, Paris: L'Harmattan .
- Rabih Alameddine: I, the Divine: A Novel in First Chapters, Norton (2002). ISBN 0-393-32356-0.
- B. Destani, ed.: Minorities in the Middle East: Druze Communities 1840–1974, 4 volumes, Slough: Archive Editions (2006). ISBN 1-84097-165-7.
- R. Scott Kennedy: "The Druze of the Golan: A Case of Non-Violent Resistance"; Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 13, No. 2 (Winter, 1984), pp. 48–6.
- Dr. Anis Obeid: The Druze & Their Faith in Tawhid, Syracuse University Press (July 2006). ISBN 0-8156-3097-2.
- Shmuel Shamai: "Critical Sociology of Education Theory in Practice: The Druze Education in the Golan"; British Journal of Sociology of Education, Vol. 11, No. 4 (1990), pp. 449–463.
- Samy Swayd: The Druzes: An Annotated Bibliography, Kirkland, Washington: ISES Publications (1998). ISBN 0-9662932-0-7.
- Bashar Tarabieh: "Education, Control and Resistance in the Golan Heights"; Middle East Report, No. 194/195, Odds against Peace (May–Aug., 1995), pp. 43–47.
External links[link]
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Look up druze in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
Sources[link]
- Druze History and culture, http://www.druzehistoryandculture.com/ .
- Landis, Joshua, Rise and fall of the Syrian Druze, OU, http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/L/Joshua.M.Landis-1/Joshua_Landis_Druze_and_Shishakli.htm .
- Institute of Druze Studies, San Diego, CA, USA, http://www.druzestudies.org/ .
- , http://www.druzenet.org/ title = Druzenet .
- "Druse, Druze, Mowahhidoon", OCRT, http://www.religioustolerance.org/druse.htm
- , Ismaili, http://www.ismaili.net/Source/1325.html .
- "Druses", Encyclopædia Britannica, 1911, http://59.1911encyclopedia.org/D/DR/DRUSES.htm .
- "Druze", Encyclopædia Britannica (concise ed.), http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/article-9363131/Druze .
- "Druze", Encyclopædia Britannica Concise (concise ed.), http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/article-9031268/Druze (longer article).
- Rohland, Pam, Druze, Every culture, http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Bu-Dr/Druze.html .
- Who are the Druze?, http://www.semp.us/biots/biot_176.html .
- MMouka, http://www.mmouka.com/
- "Who are the Druze?", Wide Angle (photo essay), PBS, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/contestant-no-2/slideshow-who-are-the-druze/5255/ .
- Population, American Druze, http://americandruze.com/Druze%20Population.html .
Communities[link]
- Druze Professional Network, Linked In, http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Druze-Professional-Network-3789577?mostPopular=&gid=3789577/ .
- Druze Chat, http://www.druzechat.com/ .
- Druze Faces, http://www.druzefaces.com/ .
- Druze News, http://www.druzenews.com/ from Lebanon, Israel and the Druze world.
- Druze Online Community, Lebanon, http://www.lebdruze.com/ .
- American Druze Society, USA, http://www.druze.com/ .
- American Druze Society, MI, USA, http://www.druze.org/ .
- The Druze Association, Edmonton, http://www.edmontondruze.com/
- Druze Society, Canada, http://www.druze.net/ .
- Druze Community, Australia, http://www.druze.org.au/ .
- Druze Community, South Australian, http://sa.druze.org.au/ .
- (in Hebrew) Druze, Israel, http://www.druze.org.il/ .
- Druze Society, Europe, http://www.europeandruzesociety.com/ .
- Druze Café, http://www.druzecafe.com/ : Meeting Druze from all over the world.
Other links[link]
- "Staying Druze in America", Wide Angle (video), PBS, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/contestant-no-2/staying-druze-in-america/5322/ .
- Druze: A small peace of Israel, Hack writers, http://www.hackwriters.com/Druze.htm .
- The Druzes and the Maronites under the Turkish Rule from 1840 to 1860, Historical Monographs Collection, Cornell University Library, ISBN 1-4297-3982-7, http://dlxs2.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=cdl;idno=cdl324 .
- "Contestant No. 2", Wide Angle (documentary), PBS, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/contestant-no-2/introduction/5002/ about a Druze teen who challenges her conservative community
- Druze in Israel and Syria, DE: R Benninghaus, http://www.rbenninghaus.de/druzes.htm .
- The Druze, http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/7854/transfer29.html&date=2009-10-25+06:53:56 .
- Abu Saleh, Dr. Abbas, Historical Changes in the Political Role of the Druze in Lebanon, http://www.abbasabusaleh.com/ .
- Aridi, Dr. Naim, The Druze, Jewish virtual library, http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/druze.html .
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Related pages:
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http://ru.wn.com/Друзы
http://nl.wn.com/Druzen
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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druze
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
The list of Druze includes prominent Druze figures who are notable in their areas of expertise.
Contents |
[edit] Academia
- Bassel Abdel Samad - Lebanese physics professor at the University of Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada
- Kamal 'Aamer - Syrian professor of medicine at the University of Damascus and member of parliament
- Ass'ad Abdul Baqi - Lebanese American civil engineering professor - University of Missouri and the American University of Beirut
- Sanaa' Abdul-Samad - Lebanese professor of civil engineering - former dean of the school of fine arts at the Lebanese University
- Khattar Abou Dhiab - Lebanese French professor of political sciences - Paris, France
- Adib Al Awar - Lebanese-American academic and IC chip designer - Three (3) designs in the USA
- Fady Al Awar - Lebanese-American PE, Master Civil Engineer, CalTrans - State of California
- Faraj Al Awar - Lebanese professor of Agriculture - The American University of Beirut
- Ali Abul Fadl - Syrian american professor of electrical engineering - North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University
- Najla Abu-Izzeddin - Lebanese historian and author
- Camelia Abu Jabal - Syria historian
- Faruk Abu-Khuzam - Lebanese mathematics professor, The American University of Beirut
- Hazar Abu-Khuzam - Lebanese mathematics professor, The American University of Beirut
- Amal Abu Shakra - Lebanese American biochemistry professor, North Carolina Central University
- Bassem (Bass) Abu Shakra - Lebanese American engineering professor, Milwaukee School of Engineering
- Salah Abu Shakra - Lebanese American professor of agronomy, The American University of Beirut
- Taher Abu Shakra (Abou Chakra) - Lebanese French professor of physics, University of Lille1
- Wafaa Abu Shakra Shaban - Lebanese American professor of mathematics, The University of North Carolina - Charlotte
- Nezar Andary - Lebanese American researcher and academic, Zayid University - UAE
- Saad Andari - Lebanese professor of mathematics,The American University of Beirut, and deputy governor of the Lebanese central bank (Banque du Liban)
- Bashir Aridhi - Lebanese professor of political science, The American University of Beirut, and political advisor
- Suleiman Bashir - Israeli professor of Middle Eastern Studies, An Najah University - Nablus
- Amal Bouzeineddine - Lebanese professor of education, The American University of Beirut
- Kais Firro - Israeli professor of Middle Eastern studies, University of Haifa
- Raouf Ghusseini - Lebanese professor of education, The American University of Beirut
- Omar Hamadeh - Lebanese American Professor of Medicine, Vanderbilt University
- Bassam Izzuddin - Lebanese British professor of civil engineering, Imperial College - London
- Amal Jammal - Israeli professor of political sciences, Tel Aviv University
- May Jurdi - Lebanese professor of health sciences, The American University of Beirut
- Salwa Makarem - Lebanese professor and director of the school of nursing, The American University of Beirut
- Sami Makarem - Lebanese scholar and expert Islamic studies and Druze philosophy, The American University of Beirut
- Sami Masri - Lebanese American professor of engineering, University of Southern California
- Selma Masri - Lebanese American Molecular Biologist
- Shafiq Masri - Lebanese professor of international law,The American University of Beirut and the Lebanese University
- Hassan Musharrafiyyah - Lebanese professor of physics at the Lebanese University, and cabinet minister
- Samir Najjar - Lebanese professor of medicine - former dean of the school of medicine at the American University of Beirut
- Jamil Nammour - Lebanese American professor of social sciences, California State University - Sacramento
- Iman Nuwayhidh - Lebanese professor of Environmental health, and dean of the School of Health Sciences - The American University of Beirut
- Wadad Hamdan Shayya - Lebanese professor of nursing - former dean of the school of nursing at the American University of Beirut
- Najla Shqer (Shouquair) - Lebanese American academic. Mother of Selwa "Lucky" Roosevelt, the former White House Chief of Protocol
- Dima Suki - Lebanese American professor at the department of neurosurgery at MD Anderson Canser Center, University of Texas - Houston
- Samy Swayd - Israeli-American scholar of Druze studies
- Issam Al Awar - Lebanese-American Director of Business Development, Boston Medical Group - GCC & Middle East
- Fadel Mansour - Israeli scholar of agronomy - Israel Institute of Technology - Technion in haifa
- Abdul Mun'im Talhuq - Lebanese professor of entomology,the American University of Beirut
- Tarek Riad Al Hakim - Lebanese physician, medical oncologist and oncological surgeon - Ukrainian postgraduate medical academy
- Ashraf Alamatouri a Syrian Teacher Trainer and Fulbright student in the United States
[edit] Arts
- Shirin Abu Shaqra (Abu Shakra) - Lebanese Canadian artist
- Ovadia Alkara - Israeli-American painter
- Bahij Andari - Lebanese leading calligrapher
- Fahd Andari - Lebanese leading calligrapher
- Ajaj 'Arawi - Lebanese leading layout designer
- Marwan Aridi - Lebanese-American artist
- Wahib Al Btaddini - Lebanese painter
- Bassam Daou - Lebanese painter
- Dareen Hakim - Lebanese American handbag designer
- Faris Hamdan - Israeli painter
- Rowayda Hamdan - Lebanese-American painter
- Leila Kansao Nasserddine - Lebanese Venezuelan painter
- Nabil Kanso - Lebanese-American painter
- Nassib Makarem - Lebanese leading calligrapher
- Jamil Malaeb - Lebanese painter
- Rabih Ballout- Lebanese painter -ربيع بلوط
- Naji Al Halabi- Lebanese painter and Sculptor
- Aref Al Rayyes - Lebanese painter and sculptor
- Lamia Saab Muhtar - Lebanese painter
[edit] Diplomacy
- Wajib Abdul Samad - Lebanese ambassador
- Hassan Abi Akar - Lebanese ambassador
- Halim Abu-Izzeddin - Lebanese ambassador
- Adeeb Alameddin - Lebanese ambassador
- Dhiyaa Al-Andari - Venezuelan ambassador to Syria
- Jabr Al-Atrash - Syrian ambassador
- Ass'ad Al Faqih - Lebanese - Saudi, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the USA
- Hicham Hamdan - Lebanese ambassador
- Bushra Kanafani - Senior Syrian diplomat
- Bahij Mansour - Israeli ambassador
- Reda Mansour - Israeli ambassador and poet
- Walid Mansour - Israeli ambassador
- Abdalla Najjar - Lebanese ambassador
- Imad Saab Saab - Venezuelan ambassador and former MP
- Melham Talhuq - Lebanese ambassador
- Munir Talhuq - Lebanese ambassador
- Munir Taqieddin - Lebanese ambassador
- Khalil Taqieddin - Lebanese ambassador
- 'Assem Jaber - Lebanese ambassdor
- Latif Abu Al Husn - Lebanese ambassador and academic
- Walid Nasr - Lebanese ambassador
- Khaled Salman - Lebanese ambassador
- Nawaf Adwan - Syrian diplomat and media manager
- Farid Zeineddin - Lebanese Syrian ambassador and statesman
[edit] Literature
- Fuad Abu Ghanem - Lebanese Poet
- 'Aref Abu Shakra - Lebanese Poet
- Abbas Abu Shakra - Lebanese-American poet, journalist and political activist
- Fawzi Abu Shakra - Lebanese poet and translator
- Sami Abu Shakra - Lebanese poet, author and educationist
- Yussef Abdul-Samad - Lebanese-American poet
- Rabih Alameddine - Lebanese American writer, artist and engineer
- Rima Alamuddin - Lebanese poet and writer
- Naim Araideh - Israeli poet and literary scientist
- Nassib Arslan - Lebanese poet
- Shakib Arslan - Lebanese author, poet, historian and politician - known as "Amir Al-Bayan" (The Prince of Literature)
- Mamdouh Azzam - Syrian novelist and writer
- Saber Falhout - Syrian writer, author and politician
- Tali' Hamdan - Lebanese folk poet
- Rabee' Jaber - Lebanese novelist, writer and journalist. The winner of The Internation Prize for Arabic Fiction "Arabic Booker" for 2012
- Nadia Jurdi Nuwayhidh - Lebanese writer
- Salman Masalha - Israeli poet, essayist and researcher
- Fred Massey (Farid Abu-Musleh) - Lebanese-American author and writer
- Ajaj Al Muhtar - Lebanese folk poet
- Tarek Al Nassereddin - Lebanese poet
- Noura Nuwayhidh Halwani - Lebanese writer
- Ali Obeid - Syrian folk poet
- Salaameh Obeid - Syrian poet, author and diplomat
- Dhawqan Qarqout - Syrian writer and author
- Samih al-Qasim - Leading Palestinian-Israeli poet
- Nour Salman - Lebanese author and academic
- Siham Sha'sha' - Syrian poet
- Ahmad Taqieddin - Lebanese Judge and poet
- Amin Taqieddin - Lebanese writer and poet
- Khalil Taqieddin - Lebanese writer, author and former ambassador
- Sa'eed Taqieddin - Lebanese writer, author and politician
- Nadia Hamade Tueini - Lebanese poet
[edit] Media
- Bushra Abdul Samad - Lebanese TV correspondent
- Darine Abdul Samad Abu Alwan - Lebanese TV journalst
- Nada Abdul Samad - Lebanese journalist
- Walid Abi Mershed - Lebanese British journalist
- Mona (Abu Alwan) Abu Hamza - Lebanese TV presenter
- Bahij Abu Ghanem, Lebanese financial news editor
- Eyad Abu Shakra - Lebanese British journalist and writer
- Rabi' Abu Shakra - Lebanese sports editor
- Rula Abu Shakra - Lebanese journalist
- Raouf Abu Zaki - Lebanese financial news editor, publisher and businessman
- Widad Alamuddin - Lebanese French radio journalist
- Bassel Aridhi - Lebanese TV reporter
- Faten Azzam - Lebanese TV journalist
- Rawiya Azzam - Lebanese radio journalist
- William Azzam - Lebanese TV journalist
- Taher Barakeh - Lebanese TV anchor and editor
- Raghida Dergham - Lebanese American journalist
- Kamal Dhebian - Lebanese journalist
- Layal Falhout - Syrian TV journalist
- Ramia Farrage - Lebanese Canadian journalist and TV presenter
- Ruba Hajali - Syrian TV journalist
- Majdi Halabi - Israeli journalist
- Rafik Halabi - Israeli media manager
- Ziad Halabi - Israeli journalist
- 'Ali Hamadeh - Lebanese TV journalist
- Hassan Hamadeh - Lebanese journalist
- Raymond H. Hamden, American [Lebanese descent] Clinical & Forensic Psychologist - In The Psychologist's Chair ® Host on VoiceAmerica
- Suha Hamed - Lebanese British journalist
- Ziad Hamzeh - Syrian-American filmmaker
- Firas Hatoum - Lebanese TV journalist
- Eddie Joseph [Aboul-Hosn] - Lebanese American TV Editor EMMY AWARDS Winner
- Casey Kasem - Lebanese American radio presenter
- Sami Kuleib - Lebanese journalist
- Rula AlKhatib - Lebanese TV journalist
- 'Abir Madhi AlHalabi - Lebanese TV journalist
- Amal Makarem - Syrian TV journalist
- Rima Mustafa - Israeli TV journalist
- Nahida Nakad - Lebanese French senior correspondent and TV executive
- Jumana Nammour - Lebanese TV journalist
- Ali Nasserddin - Lebanese French journalist
- Salman Natour - Palestinian-Israeli journalist and writer
- 'Ajaj Nuwayhidh - Lebanese journalist, writer and radio director
- Bayan Nuwayhidh-Al Hout - Lebanese Palestinian writer, author and journalist
- Maysoun Nuwayhidh - Lebanese TV journalist
- Nidhal Qabalan - Syrian TV journalist and ambassador
- Faisal al-Qassem - Syrian television talkshow host
- 'Izzat Safi - Lebanese journalist and author
- Farid Salman - Lebanese French journalist
- Salman Sarieddin - Lebanese TV journalist
- Rania Sawwah - Lebanese TV journalist
- Luna Al Shibl - Syrian TV journalist
- Walid Shumait - Lebanese journalist and author
- Walid Shuqair - Lebanese journalist
- 'Izzeddin Subh - Lebanese TV executive and journalist
- Randa Taqieddin - Lebanese French journalist
- Hikmat Wahbi - Lebanese radio chat-show host and entertainer
[edit] Music - Drama
- Asmahan (Amaal al-Atrash) - Syrian Lebanese Egyptian female singer & actress (Farid al-Atrash's singer)
- Farid al-Atrash - Syrian Lebanese Egyptian male singer, composer & actor (Asmahan's brother)
- Jamal Aboul-Hosn - Lebanese Composer
- Rima Fleihan - Syrian Scriptwriter and a political activist
- Jihad al-Atrash - Lebanese actor
- Maher Halabi - Israeli singer
- Ramy (Abu) Ayach - Lebanese singer
- Fahd Ballan - Syrian male singer
- Bahjat Hamadeh - Lebanese vocalist and oudist
- Bader Hassan - Lebanese guitarist
- Sharif - Israeli singer
- Asala Yousef - Israeli singer
- Sarah Al-Hani - Lebanese singer
- Hanine (Hanine Abu Shakra) - Lebanese singer
- Majd el-Qassem - Syrian singer
- Samih Shuqair - Syrian singer and lyricist
- Jumana Murad - Syrian actress
- Lilia Al Atrash - Syrian actress
- Marah Jabr - Syrian actress
- Leila Jabr - Syrian actress
- Dana Jabr - Syrian actress
- Dhuha Al Dibs - Syrian actress
- Sawsan Irshaid - Syrian actress
- Mania Nabwani - Syrian actress
- Rula Dhebian - Syrian actress
- Majd Na'eem - Syrian actress
- Hanan Shuqair - Syrian actress
- Naji Jabr - Syrian actor
- Mahmoud Jabr - Syrian actor
- Jihad Al Zoghbi - Syrian actor
- Khaled Al Qish - Syrian actor
- Muhannad Qutaish - Syrian actor
- Adham Murshed - Syrian actor
- Akram AHalabi - Syrian actor
- Ghazwan Safadi - Syrian actor
- Marwan Abu Shaheen - Syrian actor
- Talal Jurdi - Lebanese actor
- Badi' Abu Shakra - Lebanese Canadian actor
- Diana Taqieddin - Lebanese American pianist
- Rafi Wahbi - Syrian actor
[edit] Politics
- Yvonne Khuweis Abdul Baqi (Leila Ivonne Juez de Baki) - Ecuadorian Trade, Industry & Fisheries minister, presidential candidate, President of the Andean Parliament, and ambassador to the USA
- Wael Abou Faour- Lebanese minister and member of parliament (MP)
- Labib-Hussein Abu-Rukn - Israeli MP
- Shibli El Aissami - Syrian politician, Assistant Gen Sec of the Ba'th Arab Socialist Party
- Tarek El Aissami - Venezuelan interior and justice minister
- Najib Alamuddin - Lebanese minister and Chairman of Middle East Airlines
- Ghazi Aridi - Lebanese minister and MP
- 'Adel Arslan - Lebanese - Syrian politician, cabinet minister and leading political figure
- Shakib Arslan - Lebanese politician, writer, poet and historian
- Majid Arslan - Lebanese Druze leader, MP, minister and hero of the independence
- Talal Arslan - Lebanese Druze leader, minister and MP
- Assad Assad - Israeli MP and army colonel
- Tawfiq Assaf - Lebanese MP, minister and leading businessman
- Zeidan Atashi - Israeli MP and diplomat
- Hassan al-Atrash - Syrian minister and MP
- Mansour al-Atrash - Syrian politician, Interim head of state
- Sultan Pasha al-Atrash - Commander of the Syrian Revolt
- Mansour Azzam - Syrian minister
- Basheer Al Awar- Lebanese MP and minister
- Fadi Al Awar- Lebanese MP
- Fakhreddin II - Lebanese regent
- Halim Fayyadh - Governor of South Lebanon province for 20 years (1976–1996)
- Marwan Hamadeh - Lebanese minister and MP
- Sa'eed Hamadeh - Lebanese minister, academic and economist
- Adel Hamiyyeh - Lebanese Minister and engineer
- William Hamzy - American attorney and Republican politician (Connecticut House of Representatives)
- Fuad Hamzeh - Lebanese - Saudi royal adviser and minister of state in Saudi Arabia
- Anwar Al Khalil - Lebanese MP, minister and leading businessman
- Saleh Khnifess - Israeli member of parliament
- Marwan Kheireddin - Lebanese minister
- Kamal Jumblatt - Lebanese leading politician, MP, minister and founding leader of the Progressive Socialist Party
- Khaled Jumblatt - Lebanese minister and director of the Druze Endowments
- Walid Jumblatt - Lebanese leading politician, MP, minister and leader of the Progressive Socialist Party
- Ayoob Kara - Israeli vice-speaker of the Knesset
- Jabr Moade - Israeli MP and deputy minister
- Haditha Murad - Syrian politician
- Issam Na'man - Lebanese MP and minister
- Said Nafa' - Israeli MP and lawyer
- Mohamed Nafa' - Israeli member of MP
- Fu'ad Najjar - Lebanese minister and agricultural engineer
- Hammoud Al Qabbani - A leading member in the Ruling Baath Socialist Party
- Laila Rachid - Paraguayan foreign minister and former ambassador to the USA
- Leila Sharaf (ne Najjar) - Lebanese Jordanian cabinet minister and member of Jordan's Upper House (Majlis Al-A'yaan)
- Fayssal al-Sayegh - Lebanese MP
- Selwa Showker (Shuqair) “Lucky” Roosevelt - White House Chief of Protocol in the United States from 1982-1989 (almost seven years and longer than anyone has ever served in that position). In 1950, she married Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt, Jr., the grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt.
- Ayman Safadi - Jordanian Deputy prime minister
- Najib Salha - Lebanese MP, minister and leading businessman
- Salah Salman - Lebanese minister and professor of medicine
- Col Mohamed Ali Seinaldin (Zein Eddin) - Argentinian coup leader and senior army officer
- Kamal Sharaf - Syrian minister
- Jamil Shayya - Syrian minister
- Akram Shehayeb - Lebanese minister and member of parliament
- Mut'eb Shnaan - Syrian cabinet minister
- Shakeb Shanan - Israeli member of parliament
- Hammoud Al Shoufi - Syrian politician and ambassador
- Jabr Al Shoufi - A leading figure of the Syrian Revolution of 2011
- Ayman Shuqair - Lebanese MP
- Fadhlallah Talhuq - Lebanese MP
- Jamil Talhuq - Lebanese minister and MP
- Saleh Taref - Israeli minister and army captain
- Rashid Tali’- 1st Prime Minister of Transjordan
- Bahij Taqieddin - Lebanese Legal authority, MP and minister
- Majalli Wahabi - Israeli MP and lieutenant-colonel
- Gen Abdul Karim Zahreddin - Syrin Interim military head of state
[edit] Religion
- Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah - central religious figure of the faith and sixth Imam-Caliph of the Fatimid Caliphate
- Hamza ibn-'Ali ibn-Ahmad - founding religious leader
- Bahjat Ghayth - Lebanese religious leader
- Abu Hassan Aref Halaweh - Lebanese religious leader
- Amin Tarif (d. 1993) - religious leader (Israel)
- Mowafak Tarif - religious leader (Israel)
- Mohammad Abu Shakra - Sheikh al-Aql (Lebanon)
- Ahmad al-Hajari (d. 25 March 2012[1]) - Sheikh al-Aql (Syria)
- Abu Mohammad Jawad Walieddine (d. 27 April 2012) - Head of Authority of Senior Sheikhs
[edit] Military - Security
- Raouf Abdul Samad - Lebanese commander of the Judiciary Police
- Mahmud Tayy Abou Dhargham - Lebanese army Chief of Staff (1984–1987)
- Ramzi Abu Hamzeh - Lebanese army Chief of Staff (2002–2005)
- Fadi Abu Shakra - Lebanese army Chief of Staff (2000 - 2002)
- Nassib Abu Shakra - Lebanese commander of the Judiciary Police
- 'Issam Abu Zaki - Lebanese commander of the Judiciary Police
- Imad Fares(Perez) - Israeli brigadier general
- Kamal el Awar - Lebanese Army Colonel. Hero of the 1983 Lebanon's "war of the mountain".
- Nadim Al Hakim - Lebanese army Chief of Staff (1983–1984)
- Majdi Halabi - Israeli missing soldier
- Salim Hatoum - Syrian Colonel and Member of national command council. Overthrew the government of Amin el Hafez in 1966.
- Yousef Mishleb - Israeli general
- Nawaf Ghazaleh - Syrian activist who assassinated, in central Brazil, the former Syrian Adeeb Sushakli in 1964, in revenge for massacre of Druze in Syria.
- Shawqi Al Masri - Lebanese army Chief of Staff (2005–2011)
- Said Nasrallah - Lebanese army Chief of Staff (1971–1976) and minister in Lebanon's only military cabinet
- Hamad Obeid - Syrian general, Member of national command council and defence minister
- Nada Nadim Prouty - American security agent
- Samir El Kadi - Lebanese army Chief of Staff (1997–2000)
- Walid Salman - Lebanese Army Chief of Staff (2011- )
- Fahd Al Sha'er - Syrian general and leading military figure
- Youssef Chmeit - Lebanese army Chief of Staff (1959–1971)
- Shawkat Shuqair - Syrian army Chief of Staff
- Salim Slim - Lebanese commander of the Judiciary Police at the height of its influence
- Munir Tarabay - Lebanese army Chief of Staff (1978–1983)
- Riad Taqieddin - Lebanese Army Chief of Staff (1992–1997)
- Anwar Yehya - Lebanese commander of the Judiciary Police
- 'Abdul-Karim Zahreddin - Syrian general, Interim military head of state
- Salah Fadlallah Masry MD, Major in USAF Medical Corps
Sports[link]
- Ida Alamuddin - Lebanese women's horse riding & eventing champion, and USA resident artist
- Makram Alamuddin - Lebanese men's horse riding & eventing champion
- Walid El Akel - Lebanese karate champion
- Wiyam Amashe - soccer player
- Anan Ferio - Israeli soccer player
- Sa'd Halawi - Lebanese soccer player
- Harry Hamzy - Lebanese-American martial artist
- Shibl Harmoush - Lebanese soccer player
- Afif Hassaniyyah - Lebanese gymnastics champion
- Adnan Khumassi - Lebanese gymnastics champion
- Mohammad Khumassi - Lebanese gymnastics champion
- Nazar Mahmud - Israeli figure skater
- Ruslan Mahmud - Israeli figure skater
- Nabil Moaqqassa - Lebanese long distance swimming champion
- Saleem Rawdha - Lebanese long distance swimming champion
- Walid Zeineddin - Lebanese soccer player
- Raji Abou Said - Lebanese soccer player
Others[link]
- We'am 'Amashe - Syrian freed former political prisoner in Israel
- Hadi Abu Shakra - Lebanese American legal executive - Chief Council, South Asia - The World Bank
- Walid Abu Shakra - Lebanese American engineer, educator and businessman - The founder and chairman of Educational Services Overseas Limited (ESOL)
- Suleyman Alamuddin - Lebanese businessman, author and antique collector/expert
- Muntaha Al Atrash - A leading figure of the Syrian Revolution of 2011, and daughter of Sultan Pasha Al Atrash
- Saleem Israwi - Lebanese American businessman
- Aref Al Nakadi - Lebanese child-welfare worker
- Azzam Azzam - former Israeli prisoner in Egypt
- Angelina Fares - Israeli beauty pageant
- Maan Hamdan - Lebanese-American businessman
- May Al Khalil - Founder and organiser of The Beirut Marathon
- Samir Kuntar - Former Lebanese prisoner in Israel
- Anis Obeid - Lebanese American cardiologist, poet and author
- Ghassan Saab - Lebanese American engineer, contractor and businessman (Soresen Gross Construction Services in Michigan, USA)
- Zahia Salman - Pioneer of Child Care in Lebanon
References[link]
- ^ "Sheikh al-Aql Ahmad Salman al-Hajari Dies in Car Accident". SANA Syrian Arab News Agency. Sweida, Syria. 25 March 2012. http://www.sana.sy/eng/21/2012/03/25/408090.htm. Retrieved April 08, 2012.
http://wn.com/List_of_Druze
Related pages:
http://nl.wn.com/Lijst van bekende druzen
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Druze
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is about the American journalist. For the talk show, see Charlie Rose (talk show). For other people with the same name, see Charlie Rose (disambiguation).
| Charlie Rose | |
|---|---|
 Rose in May 2010 |
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| Born | Charles Peete Rose, Jr. (1942-01-05) January 5, 1942 (age 70) Henderson, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Education | Duke University B.A. (1964) Duke University J.D. (1968) |
| Occupation | Talk show host Journalist |
| Years active | 1972–present |
| Notable credit(s) | Charlie Rose, 60 Minutes II, 60 Minutes, CBS News Nightwatch, CBS This Morning |
| Website | |
| http://www.charlierose.com/ | |
Charles Peete "Charlie" Rose, Jr. (born January 5, 1942)[1] is an American television talk show host and journalist. Since 1991 he has hosted Charlie Rose, an interview show distributed nationally by PBS since 1993. He has also co-anchored CBS This Morning since January 2012. Rose, along with Lara Logan, has hosted the revived CBS classic Person to Person, a news program during which celebrities are interviewed in their homes, originally hosted from 1953 to 1961 by Edward R. Murrow.[2]
Contents |
Early life[link]
Rose was born in Henderson, North Carolina, the only child[3] of Margaret Frazier and Charles Peete Rose, Sr., tobacco farmers who owned a country store.[4][5] As a child, Rose lived above his parents' store in Henderson and helped out with the family business from age seven.[6] Rose admitted in a Fresh Dialogues interview that as a child his insatiable curiosity was constantly getting him in trouble.[7] A high school basketball star, Rose entered Duke University intending to pursue a degree with a pre-med track, but an internship in the office of Democratic North Carolina Senator B. Everett Jordan got him interested in politics.[8] Rose graduated in 1964 with a bachelor's degree in history. At Duke, he was a member of the Kappa Alpha Order fraternity. He earned a Juris Doctor from the Duke University School of Law in 1968.[6] He met his wife, Mary (née King), while attending Duke.[3][4]
Career[link]
After his wife was hired by the BBC (in New York), Rose handled some assignments for the BBC on a freelance basis. In 1972, while continuing to work at Bankers Trust, he landed a job as a weekend reporter for WPIX-TV. His break came in 1974, after Bill Moyers hired Rose as managing editor for the PBS series Bill Moyers' International Report. In 1975, Moyers named Rose executive producer of Bill Moyers Journal. Rose soon began appearing on camera. "A Conversation with Jimmy Carter," one installment of Moyers's series U.S.A.: People and Politics, won a 1976 Peabody Award. Rose worked at several networks honing his interview skills until KXAS-TV in Dallas-Fort Worth hired him as program manager and gave him the late-night time slot that would become the Charlie Rose show.
Rose worked for CBS News (1984–1990) as the anchor of CBS News Nightwatch, the network's first late-night news broadcast. The Nightwatch broadcast of Rose's interview with Charles Manson won an Emmy Award in 1987.[4] In 1990, Rose left CBS to serve as anchor of Personalities, a syndicated program produced by Fox Broadcasting Company, but he got out of his contract after six weeks because of the tabloid-style content of the show. Charlie Rose premiered on PBS station Thirteen/WNET on September 30, 1991, and has been nationally syndicated since January 1993. In 1994, Rose moved the show to a studio owned by Bloomberg Television, which allowed for improved satellite interviewing.[9]
Rose was a correspondent for 60 Minutes II[10] from its inception in January 1999 until its cancellation in September 2005, and was later named a correspondent on 60 Minutes.[11]
Rose was a member of the board of directors of Citadel Broadcasting Corporation from 2003 to 2009.[3] In May 2010, Charlie Rose delivered the commencement address at North Carolina State University.
On November 15, 2011, it was announced that Rose would return to CBS to help anchor CBS This Morning, replacing The Early Show, commencing January 9, 2012, along with co-anchors Erica Hill and Gayle King.
Cameo appearances[link]
Rose has appeared as himself in the 1998 film Primary Colors,[12] in a 2000 episode of The Simpsons[13] and in the 2008 movie Elegy.[14] He and his show were also used in the Wes Anderson film The Royal Tenenbaums. He also appears as himself in the 2011 George Clooney directed film, The Ides of March.
[edit] Accusations of conflict of interest
While hosting the 2002 Coca-Cola Company shareholders' meeting, Rose said "few companies are able to connect as completely with consumers in the way that Coca-Cola is. It is a privilege to be associated with [The Coca-Cola family] ... This is the business of Coca-Cola: being part of a family, being worldwide, doing well and doing good at the same time."[15] Afterward, Coca-Cola agreed to become what Rose called "a leading underwriter" of The Charlie Rose Show, paying "six or possibly seven figures."[16] Even the Charlie Rose mugs used on his PBS show feature a Coca-Cola logo on one side.[17][18] Although CBS News policy bars correspondents from doing commercials and product endorsements, the Washington Post reported CBS was "comfortable" with Rose's actions. Rose insists he "would never do a story on 60 Minutes II about anybody who underwrites my PBS show."[16]
[edit] Quiet influence
The New York Times reported that Rose encouraged a discussion between the leaders of NBC and Fox, that led eventually to a mutual reduction in ad hominem attacks between Keith Olbermann and Bill O'Reilly on their respective news programs.[19]
Rose has attended several Bilderberg Group conference meetings, including meetings held in the United States in 2008;[20] Spain in 2010;[21] and Switzerland in 2011.[22] These unofficial conferences hold guests from North America and Western Europe, most of whom are political leaders and businessmen. Details of meetings are closed off to the public and strictly invitation-only, and critics[who?] speculate the controversial nature of these meetings of highly influential people. Accusations from conspiracy theorists against The Charlie Rose show claim that it has become the US media outlet for Bilderberg.[23][unreliable source?]
Personal life[link]
Rose's twelve-year marriage to Mary Rose (née King) ended in divorce in 1980. Mary is the sister-in-law of Morgan Stanley Chairman John J. Mack. Since 1993, his companion has been socialite and chairman of the New York City Planning Commission and director of the city department of planning Amanda Burden, a stepdaughter of CBS founder William S. Paley.[24]
On March 29, 2006, after experiencing shortness of breath in Syria, Rose was flown to Paris and underwent surgery for mitral valve repair in the Georges-Pompidou European Hospital. His surgery was performed under the supervision of Alain F. Carpentier, a pioneer of the procedure.[25] Rose returned to the air on June 12, 2006, with Bill Moyers and Yvette Vega (the show's executive producer), to discuss his surgery and recuperation.
In a 2009 Fresh Dialogues interview, Rose described his life as "great and glorious."[7] He added, '"I get up every morning with a new adventure. The adventure is fueled by interesting people. I get a chance to control my own destiny. I do something that is immediately either appreciated or not. I get feedback."
Rose owns a 575-acre (2.33 km2) farm in Oxford, North Carolina, an apartment overlooking Central Park in New York City, a beach house in Bellport, New York, an apartment in Washington D.C.[3] and an apartment in Paris, France.
References[link]
- ^ Marks, Peter (January 5, 1993). "The Love Cult of Charlie Rose". Newsday: p. 42.
- ^ "Charlie Rose, Lara Logan on "Person to Person". Person to Person (CBS News). February 8, 2012. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505383_162-57373639/charlie-rose-lara-logan-on-person-to-person/. Retrieved May 3, 2012.
- ^ a b c d Kaplan, David A. (September 28, 2009). "Why business loves Charlie Rose". Fortune. http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/25/magazines/fortune/charlie_rose.fortune/index.htm?section=money_latest. Retrieved December 18, 2009.
- ^ a b c O'Shaughnessy, Elise (September 1993). "The Fame of the Rose". Vanity Fair 56 (9): pp. 172–181. ISSN 0733-8899.
- ^ "Charlie Rose Biography (1942–)". Filmreference.com. January 5, 1942. http://www.filmreference.com/film/1/Charlie-Rose.html. Retrieved December 8, 2011.
- ^ a b Charlie Rose biography from Bloomberg News
- ^ a b van Diggelen, Alison (February 26, 2009). "Transcript of Interview with Charlie Rose". Fresh Dialogues. http://www.freshdialogues.com/2009/02/26/transcript-of-fresh-dialogues-with-charlie-rose/. Retrieved February 7, 2012.
- ^ The North Carolina Awards: Charlie Rose (1942 -) Public Service 2007 from the website of the State Library of North Carolina
- ^ Charlie Rose, Bloomberg News
- ^ 60 Minutes II profile from CBS News
- ^ "Charlie Rose". CBS News. January 17, 2008. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/17/60minutes/bios/main3725276.shtml. Retrieved December 6, 2009.
- ^ Charlie Rose at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ Nancy Basile. ""The Simpsons" Episode Guide – Season Eleven". About.com. http://animatedtv.about.com/od/thesimpsonsepisodes/a/epguidesimp11.htm. Retrieved September 12, 2008.
- ^ Leslie Felperin (February 10, 2008). "Review of Elegy". Variety. http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=review&id=2478&reviewid=VE1117936157&starting=1. Retrieved August 8, 2008.
- ^ audio, aired on Le Show
- ^ a b Lloyd Grove, "The Reliable Source," Washington Post, April 23, 2002, C03
- ^ Orange County Weekly, January 24, 2003
- ^ Fear & Favor 2003: How power shapes the news, Extra!, FAIR, March/April 2003
- ^ Stelter, Brian (August 1, 2009). "Voices From Above Silence a Cable TV Feud". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/01/business/media/01feud.html. Retrieved November 7, 2010.
- ^ Fobes, Stefan (June 23, 2008). "My analysis of Bilderberg 2008". A War of Illusions. WordPress.com. http://warofillusions.wordpress.com/2008/06/23/my-analysis-of-bilderberg-2008. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
- ^ "Bilderberg 2010 list of participants". BilderbergMeetings.org. http://www.bilderbergmeetings.org/participants_2010.html. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
- ^ "Bilderberg 2011 list of participants". BilderbergMeetings.org. http://www.bilderbergmeetings.org/participants_2011.html. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
- ^ Newman, Alex (June 12, 2011). "Awareness of Bilderberg Cabal Explodes in 2011". The New American. http://thenewamerican.com/world-mainmenu-26/europe-mainmenu-35/7841-awareness-of-bilderberg-cabal-explodes-in-2011. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
- ^ Gardner, Ralph (May 13, 2002). "Social Planner". Nymag.com. http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/politics/newyork/features/6005/. Retrieved December 8, 2011.
- ^ Kaplan, David A. (September 28, 2009). "Why business loves Charlie Rose". CNN. http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/25/magazines/fortune/charlie_rose.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2009092811. Retrieved December 8, 2011.
External links[link]
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This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (March 2012) |
- Charlie Rose Official website of his eponymous show
- Charlie Rose official channel on YouTube
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Charlie Rose at the Internet Movie Database
- Charlie Rose collected news and commentary at the Los Angeles Times
- Charlie Rose collected news and commentary at The New York Times
- Charlie Rose at the Notable Names Database
- Charlie Rose shows on Hulu
- celebritynetworth.com, Celebrity Net Worth, Charlie Rose
- Why Business Loves Charlie Rose David A. Kaplan, Fortune, September 28, 2009
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Rose, Charlie |
| Alternative names | Rose, Charles Peete, Jr. |
| Short description | American TV interviewer and journalist |
| Date of birth | 1942-01-05 |
| Place of birth | Henderson, North Carolina |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Charlie_Rose
Related pages:
http://ru.wn.com/Роуз, Чарли
http://fr.wn.com/Charlie Rose
http://de.wn.com/Charlie Rose
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Rose
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
| Walid Jumblatt | |
|---|---|
 Picture of Walid Jumblatt |
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| Born | (1949-08-07) August 7, 1949 (age 62) |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Home town | Moukhtara |
| Title | Chairman of the Progressive Socialist Party |
| Predecessor | Kamal Jumblatt |
| Political party | Progressive Socialist Party |
| Religion | Druze |
| Spouse | Nora Jumblatt |
| Children | Taymour (b. 1982) Aslan (b. 1983) Dallia (b. 1989) |
| Parents | Kamal Jumblatt Princess May Arslan |
| Relatives | Prince Shakib Arslan (grandfather) |
| Lebanon |
 This article is part of the series: |
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Other countries · Atlas Politics portal |
Walid Jumblatt (Arabic: وليد جنبلاط) (born August 7, 1949) is a Lebanese politician and the current leader of the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP). He is the most prominent leader of Lebanon's Druze community.[1]
Contents |
Family[link]
The origin of the Jumblatt family is the Kurdish Janpoulad family coming from Shamel Janpoulad and dating back to Janboulad Ibn Kassem al Kirdi al Kaisari, known as Ibn Arabou (1530–1580), and governor of Aleppo. Walid Jumblatt is the son of Kamal Jumblatt, the founder of the PSP, the party which Walid Jumblatt currently leads. He is the maternal grandson of Prince Shakib Arslan.[2] His first wife was Gervette "Gigi," a Jordanian woman of Circassian origin who is the mother of his child Timour. His current wife is the Syrian Nora Sharabati, the daughter of the former Syrian Minister of Defense Ahmed Al-Sharabati. Walid Jumblatt graduated from the American University of Beirut in Political Science.[3][4]
Political life[link]
The BBC describes Jumblatt as "the smartest leader of Lebanon's most powerful Druze clan and heir to a leftist political dynasty based around the Progressive Socialist Party".[5] Assem Qanso of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party of Lebanon accused Jumblatt of abandoning his father's beliefs.[6]
He was a supporter of Syria after the war but, since the death of Syrian President Hafez al-Assad in 2000, he has campaigned for Damascus to relinquish control. This pitted him against President Émile Lahoud and the Lebanese Shiite party Hezbollah of which he said: "Their fighters have done a good job defying and defeating the Israeli army, OK, but the question we ask is where their allegiance goes: to a Lebanese strong central authority or somewhere else?"[7]
Although, on 21 January 2011, Jumblatt said he supported Hizbollah and Syria stance.[8]"
In Popular Culture and Arts[link]
As many political leaders, Walid Jumblatt originated important imagery since the late 1970s[9]. The photographer Ziad Antar made a portrait of him using a film expired since 1976, provoking ghosty effect. The image supposedly evokes the danger the Lebanese Druze leader faces after having criticized Hezbollah and the Syrian regime[10].
See also[link]
References[link]
- ^ August 3, 2009 (2009-08-03). "LEBANON: Walid Jumblatt's exit could weaken U.S.-backed coalition - latimes.com". Latimesblogs.latimes.com. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2009/08/lebanon-departure-of-druze-ally-could-spoil-us-backed-coalitions-majority.html. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
- ^ "Kamal Jumblatt". Nndb.com. http://www.nndb.com/people/605/000101302/. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
- ^ "Lebanon’s new miracle" (in (French)). 1stjordan.net. http://www.1stjordan.net/actuuk/archivesuk/resultat.php?id=852&debut=0. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
- ^ "Jumblatts family history captured in a painting". Lebanonwire.com. 2002-11-30. http://www.lebanonwire.com/0211/02113026DS.asp. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
- ^ "Middle East | Who's who in Lebanon". BBC News. 2005-03-14. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4348129.stm. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
- ^ "Qanso: Jumblatt abandoned his father’s principles". NOW Lebanon. 6 February 2012. http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArchiveDetails.aspx?ID=361567. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
- ^ Chicago Tibune interview Aug.11, 2006
- ^ "Nasrallah, Jumblatt talk Lebanon future". PressTV. 2011-01-22. http://www.presstv.com/detail/161331.html. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
- ^ "Abbas. LEBANON. Mukhtara. Political poster of Walid JUMBLATT, leader of the Druze community and Pt of the Socialist Progressive Party.". Magnum Photos. http://magnum.orangetest.com/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=SearchDetailPopupPage&VBID=24KL0XDK6SB&PN=27&IID=2TYRYDM1DFYI. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
- ^ Andrew Pulver (Wednesday 9 March 2011). "Photographer Ziad Antar's best shot". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/mar/09/photographer-ziad-antar-best-shot. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
External references[link]
- Rebel with a cause by Massoud A. Derhally, Arabian Business, March 27, 2005
- Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt Accuses Hizbullah, Iran and Syria For Lebanon Crisis, Transcript of interview of Walid Jumblatt, broadcast on Al-Arabiya, July 20, 2006
- We Should Treat the Syrian Regime the Same Way It Treats Us: With Car Bombs, Assassinations and Destruction. Transcript of interview of Walid Jumblatt, broadcast on Al-Arabiya, December 28, 2006
- I Support a Two-State Solution, Not the Liberation of Jerusalem Transcript of interview of Walid Jumblatt, broadcast on Al-Jazeera TV, January 31, 2007
- On Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad: "An Ape Unknown to Nature, a Creature That Is Only Half-Man." Excerpts from an address delivered by Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, aired on Al-Jazeera TV on February 14, 2007.
External links[link]
 |
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Walid Jumblatt |
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Walid Jumblatt on Charlie Rose
- Walid Jumblatt at the Internet Movie Database
- Walid Jumblatt collected news and commentary at Al Jazeera English
- Walid Jumblatt collected news and commentary at The Jerusalem Post
- Walid Jumblatt at the Notable Names Database
- Walid Jumblatt, by Gary C. Gambill and Daniel Nassif, Middle East Intelligence Bulletin, Vol 3, No 5, May 2001
- "It's strange for me to say it, but this process of change has started because of the American invasion of Iraq" quoted in Beirut's Berlin Wall, by David Ignatius, Washington Post, February 23, 2005
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Jumblatt, Walid |
| Alternative names | وليد جنبلاط (Arabic) |
| Short description | Leader of the Progressive Socialist Party of Lebanon |
| Date of birth | August 7, 1949 |
| Place of birth | |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Walid_Jumblatt
Related pages:
http://ru.wn.com/Джумблат, Валид
http://fr.wn.com/Walid Joumblatt
http://nl.wn.com/Walid Jumblatt
http://pt.wn.com/Walid Jumblatt
http://de.wn.com/Walid Dschumblat
http://it.wn.com/Walid Jumblatt
http://pl.wn.com/Walid Dżumblatt
http://es.wn.com/Walid Jumblatt
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walid_Jumblatt
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
