Islam/Muslim
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How To Behave in the UAE
Today I read on the regular old Internet that the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed, is making his website available as an iPhone application. It’s pretty cool to be an iPhone application. At least it may be my only public appearance that impressed my Apple-a-day-keeps-the-meltdown-away nephews. On these International Herald Tribune apps, I share Apple Continue reading
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Muslims in 2030
Ever wondered what will be the birth rate of Muslims in 2030? The largest Muslim country in Africa in 15 years? Or the Muslim majority country with the lowest number of people living below the poverty line? Neither have I. At first they may seem like trivia questions, but on further thought, the answers can Continue reading
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Osama’s Other Legacy: Conspiracy Buffs
Osama Bin Ladin is credited with being the mastermind behind 9/11. But he should also be given credit for giving birth to a world of conspiracy theory masterminds. Whether you believe Osama bin Ladin was indeed the brains of 9/11 or not (I live in the Middle East, remember), whether you are conservative or liberal, Continue reading
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What Arabs Talk About At Dinner
On a recent work trip to Kuwait, my American colleague started chuckling while he listened to my Syrian cousin and me arguing about the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “Is this what sitting down to dinner with family sounds like in the Middle East?” he asked. Yep. Pretty much always unless there is a divorce Continue reading
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Egypt, Revolution, and Kushari (Koshari)
As the people of Egypt rise up against three decades of corruption, they do so very aware of thousands of years of culture that includes the pharaohs, Cleopatra, some of the greatest scholarship and literature of the Arab world, the wonders of the Nile, the Suez Canal, the Aswan Damn—and, perhaps not as internationally renowned Continue reading
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MY PSYCHIC POWERS AND THE MIDDLE EAST
The other day a colleague told me he was really excited to see how his students would react to a short story he had given them to read. “They’re not going to read it,” I predicted. He didn’t believe me. Sure enough, the next day no one had read it. “How did you know?” he Continue reading
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The Quran and the Quest For Kindness
In the last years of my dad’s life, I spent a lot of time asking him questions about the Quran. It wasn’t because either one of us was having a religious rebirth or even because it gave us some common ground together other than playing backgammon, although it did do that. It was because my Continue reading
Alia Yunis 