cargoes

When doing some research recently I chanced upon this passage in Philip Hitti's History of the Arabs, in the chapter entitled 'Abbāsid Society'. It follows a description of the kind of jewellery made at that time:

The leading mineral resources of the empire which made the jeweller's industry possible included gold and silver from Khurāsān, which also yielded marble and mercury; rubies, lapis lazuli and azurite from Transoxiana; lead and silver from Karmān; pearls from al-Bahrayn; turquoise from Naysābūr, whose mine in the latter half of the tenth century was farmed out for 758,720 dirhams a year; carnelian from San'ā; and iron from Mt. Lebanon. Other mineral resources included kaolin and marble from Tibrīz, antimony from the vicinity of Isbahān, bitumen and naphtha from Georgia, marble and sulphur from Syria-Palestine, asbestos from Transoxiana and mercury, pitch and tar from Fargānah.

The paragraph, with all its contrasting elements, is quite evocative and even poetic; in fact it reminded me of a poem I loved when I was young, Cargoes by John Masefield. (I remember painting a picture at school to illustrate it.)

Cargoes

Quinquireme of Nineveh from distant Ophir,
Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine,
With a cargo of ivory,
And apes and peacocks,
Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine.

Stately Spanish galleon coming from the Isthmus,
Dipping through the Tropics by the palm-green shores,
With a cargo of diamonds,
Emeralds, amethysts,
Topazes, and cinnamon, and gold moidores.

Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack,
Butting through the Channel in the mad March days,
With a cargo of Tyne coal,
Road-rails, pig-lead,
Firewood, iron-ware, and cheap tin trays.

There is a plaque with this poem in Cardiff Bay. Actually Masefield's famous poem Sea-Fever came to my mind when I was reading Moby Dick, so I'll include it when I post my review of the book.

cult books

The Telegraph recently had a piece on the '50 best cult books'; I was a bit surprised at some of the books included, but the definition of 'cult' was pretty broad:

In compiling our list, we were looking for the sort of book that people wear like a leather jacket or carry around like a totem. The book that rewires your head: that turns you on to psychedelics; makes you want to move to Greece; makes you a pacifist; gives you a way of thinking about yourself as a woman, or a voice in your head that makes it feel okay to be a teenager; conjures into being a character who becomes a permanent inhabitant of your mental flophouse. We were able to agree, finally, on one thing: you know a cult book when you see one.

I found I'd read twelve of the fifty (some of which did influence me greatly when I read them), and own another three that I haven't got around to reading yet. The list may have been called the 'fifty best', but their reviewers obviously think otherwise; I've included some of the funniest and most scathing descriptions here:

The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield (1993)
Deep in the South American jungle an intrepid explorer is about to stumble on a sequence of ancient prophecies that could change our way of living, even save the world. If only we didn’t have to buy the other novels in that the series to find out what they were! For a similar effect on the cheap, rent an Indiana-Jonesalike film – Tomb Raider, say – and ask a hippy to whisper nonsense in your ear while you're watching it.

Dianetics: the Modern Science of Mental Health by L Ron Hubbard (1950)
Do you often feel unhappy? Depressed? Ill at ease with others? You will if you read this. Creepy bit of mind-mechanics by the indifferent sci-fi novelist who founded Scientology.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach and Russell Munson (1970)
The book that gave 1970s idealism a bad name, the nauseating story of a seagull who defies his fellows to soar into the heavens. "The only true law," the bird solemnly tells us, "is that which leads to freedom." Richard Nixon's FBI director, L Patrick Gray, ordered all his staff to read it. Later, he resigned for gross corruption, a fitting punishment for his dreadful taste.

The Outsider by Colin Wilson (1956)
Required reading in the coffee bars of the East Midlands in the late 1950s; unbelievably, some people paid good money for this study of the outsider figure in Western literature. The TLS found 285 mistakes in a sample of 249 lines, but in its young author’s eyes, it confirmed him as "the major literary genius of our century". Modesty was not one of his virtues; nor, sadly, was literary ability.

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran (1923)
Pocket-sized set of aphorisms that sound like they were written by a medieval monk but were actually the product of a Lebanese-American alcoholic who died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1931. The Prophet is a beautifully phrased exercise in pointing out the obvious but Sixties hippy kids loved it.

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám tr by Edward FitzGerald (1859)
This is among the best-selling volumes of poetry of all time, and does all that a translation should: it introduces the idea of an exotic, different culture; and it expresses what its readers feel, but lets them blame it on someone else. Here, in an age of doubt, aesthetics and Darwinism, these mysterious verses, drawn from 11th-century Persian, stand as little examples of how to celebrate life even as it slips away.

What would you put on your list of books that have 'rewired your head'?

shaikh maitham al bahrani

Bahrain used to be an important centre of Islamic theology and philosophy, and one of its most renowned thinkers was Shaikh Maitham Al Bahrani:

Sheikh Maitham bin Ali Al Bahrani (d. 1280AD) was a leading 13th Century Twelver Shi'a Islamic theologian who lived in Bahrain. Al Bahrani wrote on Twelver doctrine, affirmed free will, the infallibility of prophets and imams, the appointed imamate of Ali, and the occultation of the Twelfth Imam. Along with Kamal al-Din Ibn Sa’adah al Bahrani (d. 1242), Jamal al-Din ‘Ali ibn Sulayman al-Bahrani (d. 1271), Maitham Al Bahrani was part of a 13th century Bahrain school of theology that emphasised rationalism. At the same time, Maitham Al Bahrani was profoundly influenced by the disciplines of philosophy and mysticism. He wrote widely on such theology related philosophical issues as epistimology and ontology. Al Bahrani's scholarship took in both Imami and Sunni sources. … The Bahrain school of thought's integration of philosophy and mysticism into Imami Shi'ism had an enduring legacy.

Today I went (along with two fellow bloggers) to visit the mosque where Shaikh Maitham Al Bahrani's tomb is. It's a very peaceful, quiet place (even though it's in the middle of Um Al Hassam), with a graveyard alongside. (Click on the photos for larger versions.)

If you're interested in going to visit the mosque, you can see the location of it here. There are tombs or maqamat all over Bahrain and I hope to visit more of them in the weeks to come, and post something about the history of them.

three-year sentence for syrian blogger

The State Security Court in Damascus has sentenced Tariq to three years after lessening it from six years to three years (originally, Tariq received three years for each of the following charges):

1- Dwindling the national feeling.

2-Weakening the national ethos.

The military security arrested Tariq on 7-7-2007 for leaving a comment on websites considered “suspicious” by the Syrian government.

imponderables

Why does the person in the fifth car back at a traffic light usually believe that beeping as soon as the light turns will make the queue move more quickly?

Why do some men grow their little fingernail really long?

Why does Jerry Seinfeld never turn the lights out when he leaves his flat?

Why did that girl I saw recently wearing a tight short-sleeved top and knee-length trousers feel the need to wear a headscarf?

Why do friends who have chosen not to call you for a long time then call and complain that you didn’t call them?

suffering for my art

I'm still not up to writing normally, though I'm much better now; wrist splints and rest have done the trick. Please accept my apologies for not responding to comments; I have been reading them, and do appreciate them.

I have a confession to make; my carpal tunnel syndrome was not caused by using the computer, as I have been letting everyone think. It was actually due to a newfound enthusiasm for drawing and painting, which found me holding an oil pastel or a brush for hours on end. That was obviously too much of a strain for my right hand, then the problem arose in my left hand because I started overcompensating. It seems to run in the family; my mother told me she got carpal tunnel syndrome in exactly the same way.

In better news, I have discovered a fantastic place for secondhand (no pun intended) books in Bahrain: Khalid's, an antique shop on Budaiya Road (just past Bookcase). A friend recommended it months ago, and I finally visited on Saturday. They have a great mix of books, some of them beautiful old editions. I picked up four paperbacks (500 fils each): Naked ; Phantoms in the Brain ; The Door ; and The Winter Queen .

I was particularly happy about coming across the Magda Szabo book as I wanted to read some Hungarian literature before a trip to Budapest in June (for this). And David Sedaris is possibly the funniest writer in the world. I once randomly found a copy of his Me Talk Pretty One Day in Isa Town market and laughed all the way through it (the book not the market).

Anyway, try to visit Khalid's; it's a lovely place (the books are upstairs).

I'd better go, as my hands are not feeling too good. But I hope to be back to blogging soon, as I miss writing, and I miss you all!

bhangra billie jean

A bit of silliness, but it cheered me up!

just a whale of a time

Please excuse my silence - I haven't been responding to comments, nor have I posted about our Gatsby get-together last weekend. I'm trying to avoid using the computer as I have inflamed tendons in both arms, but with rest and medicine I should be back in action soon.

There is a silver lining in not being able to type or even use a pen - I have finally made progress with Moby Dick! I'm more than halfway through now, and am really enjoying it.

For those that have read the novel, I leave you with this apt comparison of Dick Cheney to Captain Ahab:

Dick Cheney: Mad Like Ahab

typo eradication advancement league

A group of grammar nerds called the Typo Eradication Advancement League (TEAL) are travelling around the States, on the 2008 Typo Hunt Across America:

This March through May, we, sworn members of TEAL, will be taking a road trip around the country to stamp out as many typos as we can find, in public signage and other venues where innocent eyes may be befouled by vile stains on the delicate fabric of our language. We do not blame, nor chastise, the authors of these typos. It is natural for mistakes to occur; everybody will slip now and again. But slowly the once-unassailable foundations of spelling are crumbling, and the time has come for the crisis to be addressed. We believe that only through working together with vigilance and a love of correctness can we achieve the beauty of a typo-free society.

Marvellous! You can see examples of their sterling work on their blog. My contribution to the campaign is the cartoon above (click on it for a larger version). I know it shouldn't bother me, but I get irritated by people confusing "its" and "it's"; there's really nothing complicated about the rule...

market fresh

As fresh as you can get - taken today by writer and photographer Hussain Al Mahroos.