One of the quickest ways to understand a people or a culture is to learn their proverbs. This anthology, first published in 1984, compiles in dictionary form proverbs from the Islamic world, particularly the Middle East and North Africa. The Arabs were the first to gather and annotate their own proverbs – the earliest collections date from the ninth century AD. These proverbs – earthy, witty and wise – present a vivid portrait of the Islamic world, and provide a guide to the folk-wisdom of the Arabic-speaking and Islamic peoples.
One of the quickest ways to understand a people or a culture is to learn their proverbs. This anthology, first published in 1984, compiles in dicti...
One of the quickest ways to understand a people or a culture is to learn their proverbs. This anthology, first published in 1984, compiles in dictionary form proverbs from the Islamic world, particularly the Middle East and North Africa. The Arabs were the first to gather and annotate their own proverbs – the earliest collections date from the ninth century AD. These proverbs – earthy, witty and wise – present a vivid portrait of the Islamic world, and provide a guide to the folk-wisdom of the Arabic-speaking and Islamic peoples.
One of the quickest ways to understand a people or a culture is to learn their proverbs. This anthology, first published in 1984, compiles in dicti...
The origins of 'Aladdin' continue to fascinate scholars and readers of the tales. The story is believed to have first been written in French, by Antoine Galland, having been told to him in Paris in 1709 by Hanna Diyab - the author of this travel memoir. Written some five decades after this encounter, 'The Life and Times of Hanna Diyab' is part autobiography and part storytelling, a fascinating record of experiences, cultural observations, international relations, medicine, and hearsay. It traces a journey across land and sea from the author's home in Aleppo - through early eighteenth-century...
The origins of 'Aladdin' continue to fascinate scholars and readers of the tales. The story is believed to have first been written in French, by Antoi...
