The world is finally seeing #palestine #freedom #usa #gaza #uk #news

 

The world is finally seeing #palestine #freedom #usa #gaza #uk #news 

Dar al-Hajar ِAnd Jambiya In Yemen

Sana'a, Yemen

Buying a SIM card for your phone in Yemen entails giving a copy of the picture page and visa stamp of your passport to the store-owner which he presumably passes along to the appropriate authorities, and filling out an application form which must be stamped with your left thumbprint.  A phone call is then made to some mysterious entity and only then do you get your cellphone number. One assumes in these disturbing times, that the Yemeni government wants to keep tabs on who’s who. (It is interesting to note which countries keep close tabs on such things. In Algeria, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon and Syria you pay cash and trundle off with the new SIM and phone number, nary a piece of paperwork in sight. In Tunisia, Libya and Yemen your passport is required and recorded. I cannot quite find the common thread there.....)  The good news is that the SIM card and a charge card costs the grand total of $12.  Email is also very cheap here at 50 cents an hour (100 Yemeni Riyals) for relatively fast connection, with internet cafes everywhere in the major cities.

A view of Old Sana'a from the rooftop of one of the city's many samsarahs.

Sana’a has a long history. It is said to have been founded by Shem, son of Noah. Arabs are descended from Shem, hence the term Semitic......Arabs, like their Jewish brethren, are a Semitic people - a little known fact, especially in the US where the term ‘Semitic’  has come to be associated exclusively with Jews  - an absurd, but by now well-established, nonsense.

Yemenis or South Arabians, are often considered to be ‘pure’ Arabs, being descended from Qahtan, (associated with Joktan a descendant of Shem, in the book of Genesis), while ‘northern Arabians’ are descended from Ishmael, son of Abraham and Hagar. (Adnan, who was mentioned in an earlier post as father of north Arabians, is a descendant of Ishmael.) The term ‘Arab’ seems to have been recorded in written records for the first time in Assyrian texts dating back to 853BC. There may be frequent reference to lineage in the coming posts and this is because it is extremely important in Bedouin or 'pure' Arab culture. But as Ibn Battuta would say, "but we will talk of this later."

Like other areas of the Arabian peninsula, Christianity was well established in Yemen by the mid-4th century but the last Himyarite King, Dhu Nuwas, who ruled from 495-525AD converted to Judaism and began to persecute Christians, culminating in the massacre of the entire Christian population of Najran, now in SW Saudi Arabia. The Byzantines, both affronted and powerless, asked their fellow Christian Ethiopians to attack Yemen to protect the remnants of the Christians, which they did under the Axumite General, Abraha.  He destroyed the Himyarite regime and installed himself as ruler, but the Yemenis asked the Persians for help in ousting the Ethiopians, and by 575AD they were installed as governors.

Another view of the unique and magnificent architecture of the old City of Sana'a

Judaism has lengthy roots in Yemen and although it is not known exactly when it was established, it is assumed that after the destruction of the Temple in 70AD, some Jews made their way south to Yemen. Until 1948, there was a strong Jewish community but today the numbers are reduced to only a few hundred, mainly in the north in Sa’ada. Christianity did not fare so well - one of the reasons it did not take root long enough to survive in depth the coming of Islam, was the Byzantine Church’s heavy handedness in dealing with what it considered its heretical elements, i.e. the monotheistic creed that was embraced by many of the Eastern churches.  When the Muslims marched out of Arabia into neighboring lands not requiring - indeed initially not even wanting - their subjects to convert, paradoxically many elected not only to live under Muslim rule which was more benign than that of Constantinople, but to convert. (The benefit of conversion was exemption from the tax that all non-Muslims paid.)

But back to present-day Sana’a. The open-air medieval souk is the heart of old Sana’a. Now called Souk al-Milh, or Salt Souk, this name used to refer only to the segment of the souk designated for that trade - in years gone by 40 trades were conducted in the souk.

Creating some small metal part the old-fashioned way - no protective clothing in sight...

Nowadays you can still find metalworkers, jambiya makers, carpenters and potters at work in their tiny shops while in the retail section of the souk are spices, dates, tobacco, coffee, tea, perfumes, incense, silver, jambiyyas and embroidered belts, basketry, jewelry, textiles, and household items. In former times goods arrived on camelback to a samsarah or khan where they were bought from local merchants - some of those samsarahs have been converted into art galleries although a few are still used for storage. 

Jambiya - the curved dagger no self-respecting Yemeni would step outside his home without.

As for the tower houses of old Sana’a, the most iconic in the country is in Wadi Dahr, Beit al-Hajjar. Located on a limestone outcrop north of the capital it was originally built in the 18th century but was renovated in the 1930s as a summer residence for Imam Yahya. It is still used by the government for official functions. 

It has all the components of a traditional tower house; several storeys of gypsum-traced windows, extravagant colored glass qamariyya windows, and shubaq, the protruding encased window ledge used for keeping meat and dairy products cool in the days before refrigeration. 

The most famous house in Yemen - Beit al-Hajjar in Wadi Dahr, near the capital.

I had been hospitably entertained in a tower house in the old City currently being rented by a friend - all five storeys of it.  Now I was about to go off into the wilds of Yemen with Abdullah Khawlani, driver and trusted friend. It promised to be memorable... Abdullah does not speak much English, although he understands far more than he lets on,  and my Arabic is execrable especially when I have to translate pages of text relating to the 14th century, text that dwells on matters most sensible people have long ago left off thinking about. Back on the trail of Ibn Battuta who landed in northern Yemen by boat, I am doing no such thing -  I am traveling in a Land Cruiser from Sana’a. But first I had to visit the pharmacy - it is the rainy season, albeit the short one, and as I am going to be spending some time on the coast where the climate is noxious at the best of times and mosquitoes abound, a dose of malaria would be tiresome even if Sana’a does have some perfectly good hospitals now. In Yemen as in many Middle Eastern countries, you can buy most drugs over the counter for a fraction of the cost you pay at home, so here's to $2 Larium and hypnotic dreams......

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh looks down protectively over his flock at Bab Yemen, principal gate of the Old City.

Experts plan to fix King Tut mask after glue gaffe

Experts plan to fix King Tut mask after glue gaff

The head of the conservation department at the Egyptian Museum was demoted to a low-profile post in the wake of an inappropriate restoration of the 3,000 year-old funerary mask of King Tutankhamun using household epoxy glue.

Elham Abdelrahman, who supervised restoration work at the museum of over 180,000 artifacts, was transferred to the Royal Carriages Museum in the Citadel of Saladin, Antiquities Minister Mamdouh el-Damaty announced Thursday.

Damaty also referred other conservators involved in the irresponsible repair of the golden mask to investigations, and stressed that legal proceedings would follow.

Abdelrahman was replaced by Saeed Abdel Hamed, who was head of restoration department at the Coptic Museum.




 Images of the mask showing conspicuous globs of glue around the gap between the braided beard and the chin recently circulated on social media and drew sharp criticism.

Last week, media outlets reported the mask’s beard broke off in 2014 and was hastily glued back on by conservation staff. Moreover, the piece was reattached with epoxy, which, while sometimes used, is considered a debatable material among conservators.

Damaty said in a press conference Sunday that Tutankhamun’s mask is safe and the reaction to the incident was “overexcited and unjustified” and would have a negative impact for Egypt’s reputation and tourism sector.

Saint Samaan #Church #Christian #Jew #Islam #egypt #Coptic

Saint Samaan #Church  #Christian #Jew #Islam #egypt #Coptic 

In the Mokattam, every Thursday evening mass and public exorcisms take place in one of the cave churches. Dive into an area where miracles are often, and the people extraordinary.

By Louise Sarant, Community Times

Mansheyet Nasser is mostly a Coptic area situated on the lowest slope of the Mokattam hill. This is the residence of the Zabaleen, or slum dwellers, who cart away the rubbish of Cairo metropolis. Apart from a dozen houses inhabited by Muslims and a small “masged” (mosque) among the dusty roads deprived of asphalt of the neighbourhood, mostly Copts are installed there.

The main road of Mansheyet Nasser, lined with cram-full garbage bags that reach impressive heights, bakeries, butcheries and other religious shops, climbs steeply to what the residents call “el dir”, the monastery, even though no monastery is to be seen. However, five amazing churches are established in this secluded and final area of the neighbourhood. A curvy paved road leads to a wide area back by the impressive raw, colored rock of the Mokattam, carved with holy images of the Christ carried out by Marcos, a polish sculptor.

Partly because of the round cafeteria packed with youngsters, who seem to enjoy this moment of rare freedom, and also the huge cave church know as “Saint Samaan Church” excavated in the rock that can host 20,000 people, the common sense of proportion starts to diminish. Thursday evenings sermons of Abouna Samaan, the priest of Mansheyet Nasser, attract thousands of people each week, some from the Mokattam, others from Cairo.

Microbuses also bring faithful Christians through the narrow and smelly streets of this tiny village. The contrast between the pristine and no-smoking area of “el dir” and the smelly streets of Mansheyet Nasser is startling, and gives an impression of sudden serenity and harmony.

THE STORY OF SAMAAN, THE SHOEMAKER

In order to understand why the father of the neighbourhood, whose name is Farahat, has chosen to baptize himself, as well as the church, Abouna Samaan, it is necessary to go back in time, while keeping in mind the legendary aspect of this tale.

A thousand years ago in Egypt, a rather tolerant Caliph encouraged Muslim, Christian and Jewish teachers to debate controversial issues without anger. A battle of wits started between a Jew and a Christian upon religious matters, and the Jewish teacher, in order to force the Coptic patriarch Abraham to the wall, quoted an excerpt of the Bible that says: “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to the mountain move from here to there, and it will move”.

The Caliph was thrilled because through the accomplishment of this miracle, the Christian faith would be validated and there would be a way of expanding the city eastwards, blocked by the mountain. In case of failure, the future of the whole Christian community would be doomed.

The patriarch was granted three days to achieve this miracle, and started by warning the whole community of the imminent threat upon them, inviting them to pray and feast through the day. On the third day, the patriarch, hopeless, had a vision of the Virgin Mary that unveiled the identity of the man who will accomplish the miracle: Samaan, the shoemaker. Indeed, at sunset on the same day, the mountain rose up three times, and while it rose for the last time, the sun was seen under the mountain. The history, or legend, of the miracle that saved the whole Christian community from an assured extinction is still vivid today, which explains the name both of Farahat and the church.

Many miracles happen in those churches of the Mokattam, which also justify the use of the shoemaker’s name.

THE EXORCISM PROCESS

On Thursday evenings, the first hour and a half is devoted to praying in the massive church of Saint Samaan and listening to the sermon of Abouna Samaan.

Around 9 pm, the huge assembly parts in two, those who go back to their homes and those who will follow the mass exorcism that is to take place right after the sermon in Mar Girgis Church. This church is considerably smaller than the previous one; still around 2000 people can be seated without a feeling of claustrophobia.

Originally, this church was a cavern filled with 140,000 tons of rocks. The auditorium-like shape of the cave is filled with rows of quite uncomfortable folding seats. In the middle stands a stage where the acts of exorcism are performed, and on both sides of the central stage, two neat queues (one for women and one for the men) are forming. Dressed in black with a bushy grey beard and a wooden cross in the right hand, Abouna Samaan radiates an impression of solemnity and wisdom that is quite striking to the audience.

A tiny orchestra, led by a dynamic choir and a few instruments is lightening the atmosphere by playing a whole repertoire of songs glorifying Jesus while the exorcisms take place. The lyrics can be easily followed on a big screen that is hung on the wall of the cavern, scrolling on images of happy people. A woman is on stage, standing in front of the priest. Her body is shivering while he firmly presses his wooden cross on her forehead while whispering a prayer. In an instant, she is lying on the stage floor, almost unconscious.

A khadeema immediately covers her body with a white sheet and Abouna Samaan crouches close to the distressed women. Her body is struck by spasms, and her high-pitched screams fill the whole cave. The attention of the audience is total. After hitting her many times with his wooden cross so that her body calms down, he grabs the microphone and asks to the evil spirits inside her: “How many of you are there?” She screams louder, the audience stiffens.

“Six”, she answers.

The priest starts praying for her in the name of Christ and in the name of the cross, then orders her to lift her left leg. “Irfa!” he yells, while the leg of the young woman begins rising under the sheets, thus creating a very unnatural shape. “Put it back down!” yells the priest, and she obeys promptly. On the third time she lifts her leg, he addresses the devil and tells him that now is time to leave this body, and that he will let go of her when her leg touches the floor for the last time.

At that moment, one of the numerous khadeemas on the stage pours “Baraka” water (from a real Baraka bottle) into the priest’s palm. As soon as the poor woman’s leg is back on the floor, Abouna Samaan sharply splashes her face with the holy water, prompting the immediate release from the evil spirit that inhabited her. She is helped to stand on her two feet again, and is invited by the priest to stomp her feet in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. She then readjusts the veil that has been crumpled in the exorcism process, and leaves the cave.

It could sound unconventional, but many Muslim men and women come to Abouna Samaan for an exorcism. It also happens in the Mar Girgis Cathedral in Ramses, where Abouna Makary Younane proceeds with exorcisms every Friday evenings.

دول مين و دول مين 18+ free speech or free Insult!18

كراهية و عنصرية حتى النخاع ارهاب حرية الفكر 

دية مش اول كرتون لكن 

ة التانى دلوقتى كل الى عملتة انى قلبتة بس مش اكتر ركز بقى شوية فى صورة الوش و العمة!! هاة شايف اية ايوة عضو >كرى بس كدة 

اة مش اول مرة رسولك الكريم يترسم كرتون وسخ وانت بتتفرج على عرب ايدول و تقعد تحت البطانية وتدفى طيزك

الاخ مسلم ,سلفى , اخوانى,علمانى , ملحد

المهم تخاليك كول ومش ارهابى فى فكرك او داعشى اوعى اة لحسن تتلسع فى طيزك 

ومالة!!! بس حريتك تنتهى لم تدخل على حريتى فى معتقد و ايمانى وعدم احترامك وجهالك و المعرصينن يقولو حرية الراى والتعبير لا دة اسمة حرية الوقاحة  و الوساخة بلا حدود 

لية دلوقتى فرنسا تعمل كدة و مين المستفيد!!

يا ترى الاسلام استفد حاجة ! لا 

المسحيين استفدوا حاجة !! لا

الصهاينة اول مستفيد

 او خاليك فى صافيناز و الشلة و اوعى تفكر و تفتح عينك  

 انت جاى تستفز 3 مليار مسلم فى العالم فى الوقت الى الاسلام بتحارب حتى فى الدول العربية وانهيار اقوى دول عربية و تقسيم

سيكس بيكو جديد على حسبالبشرية كلة كل علشان خاطر عيونة!! كلهم فى خدمتة و سكوتك اكبر خدمة لية كل بيلعب دورة وبيجهز  

لية وبيخدمة كويس بعلم او بدون علم 

فرنسا هتبعت كل اسطولة البحرى الاسبوع الى جاى على سواحل سوريا لضرب وانهاء سوريا بالكامل!!

فرنسا بتاخد من ثارة من الدولة العثمانية وصلاح الدين  اية لسة الكلام مش واضح يا بهوات بجد  

قادريين ينسوة و هو عهد عليهم فى كل حرب صليبية انه تكون مدخلهم من سوريا من اول حرب صليبية لحد دلوقتى دور ف اقوى 

االادوار ديما فى مثلث الحروب الصليبية

 لو حرية تعبير كانا شوفنا مرة واحد فرنسا او الالمانية تعمل كارتون ضد الصهاينة 

و فى نفس الوقت و العالم كل مشغول فى داعش و كرتون فرنسا القدس بيتضيع اكتر و عرفت العالم اننا مسلمين و عرب ارهابيين !

 مكملين يا اولاد القحبة طول ما لسة فين نفس

مجموعة المنافقيين

و للتدوينة باقى ,,,,,,,,,