Guest Lecturer Gives Insight Into 10th-Century Baghdad
February 4, 2009 - 12:00amSeventeen professors and students gathered around a table yesterday to hear Sidney Griffith, professor at Catholic University of America, speak about 10th-century Baghdad. Griffith used the personage of Yahaya ibn Adi, a prominent Christian Intellectual of the time, as a tool to describe Baghdad at the time: a society comprised of Jews, Christians and Muslims willing to correspond and talk with each other.
The Swatted Sultan
October 23, 2008 - 11:00pmISTANBUL — It’s Sunday morning. I’ve been sleeping for the past eleven hours and wake exactly how I feared — hurting all over. This is a product of my own doing. I’ve grown up my whole life watching football and have always had a burning desire to play. When the opportunity came along, albeit in Turkey, there was no chance I was turning it down.
My first practice started a bit shaky — “Stretch your calves, Aleks!” yelled Jokson, the burly team captain leading stretches at the center of our circle. As I repositioned my legs, the whole team went up in fits of laughter, thoroughly enjoying their leader’s elementary English. “Hello by the way,” I thought after this fine introduction, “My name is Alex, pleased to meet you!”
Interfaith Dinner Fosters Dialogue
October 5, 2008 - 11:00pmCornell students enjoyed a night of delicious food and stimulating discussion at a Jewish-Muslim Dialogue Dinner last night.
With Rosh Hashanah and the end of Ramadan coinciding together this year, Jewish and Muslim students on campus gathered in the One World Room at Annabel Taylor Hall in the hopes of bridging a dialogue between the two communities. Cornell Hillel, Muslim Education Cultural Association (MECA), Cornell Israel Public Affairs Committee and the Islamic Alliance for Justice were the four hosts of the dinner.
Empty Seats
September 25, 2008 - 11:00pmISTANBUL — As a university student coming to Turkey, I knew there was a chance of encountering today’s incarnation of the brutal and bloody struggle for this country’s soul. While I had that knowledge, I never thought I would actually see it. When I saw it, it took me a few hours to comprehend what actually took place. Here I will relay to you what I saw, what I think it means and why it is important. This is not simple subject matter to write about and I do not claim to be an expert in any way on the topic. I can only record and observe. The following is just that.
Arabs Denounce Cleric's Fatwa on "Immoral" TV
September 19, 2008 - 7:54amRIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Arabs across the ideological spectrum, from secular-minded liberals to Muslim hard-liners, are denouncing a top Saudi cleric's edict that it was permissible to kill the owners of satellite TV stations that show "immoral" content.
Many expressed worry the recent comments by Sheik Saleh al-Lihedan — chief of the kingdom's highest tribunal, the Supreme Judiciary Council — would fuel terrorism, encouraging attacks on station employees and owners.
