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The National
2 days ago
- General
- The National
‘Handasa': Why the Arabic word for engineering is built to last
From the shaping of things to finely honed skill, the Arabic word for engineering is more than the sum of its parts. Handasa, this week's word, stems from the root letters ha, noon, dal and seen, and is believed to have originated from the Persian word andazah, meaning measurement or dimension. The term entered the Arabic language in the ninth century during the Abbasid era, when Baghdad's Bayt Al Hikma, the historical House of Wisdom and library, became a centre of translation. Scientific texts from Greek, Persian and Indian traditions were rendered into Arabic, and the word handasa appeared in several of these translations of mathematical theories and treatises. These mathematical roots informed the early Arabic use of handasa, which at first referred specifically to geometry. In the ninth century, the Iraqi scholar Thabit ibn Qurra translated Euclid's Elements and expanded the use of handasa to include spatial reasoning and architectural design. His interpretations helped define how early Islamic cities were planned, from water irrigation systems to the curvature of domes. Handasa is now used as an umbrella term for engineering, with various branches ranging from handasa madaniyya (civil engineering) and handasa kahraba'iyya (electrical engineering) to handasa ijtima'iyya (social engineering). In literature and the arts, the word is often used metaphorically as a reference to precision and intricacy of craft. A well-executed event might be described as muhandasa, while a solution that feels overly calculated can be hailed, or derided, as masnu' bi handasa, meaning artificially engineered. Perhaps this explains some of the affection directed towards Iraqi singer Majid Al Mohandis, whose full name is Majid Al Attabi. While his stage name, translated as 'Majid the Engineer,' began as a nod to his former profession, it has come to describe the carefully calibrated pop hits he has continued to release over the past two decades. A term that spans science and structure, concept and culture, handasa can be used to construct everything from great ideas to remarkable buildings, when shaped by ambition and precision. Like many words in the Arabic language, it has evolved beyond its standard definition to carry deeper meanings. It is a word built to last.
See - Sada Elbalad
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- See - Sada Elbalad
Mohamed Ramadan, Ahmed Dash Reunite in Film "Assad"
Yara Sameh Ahmed Dash and Mohamed Ramadan are teaming up again on Mohamed Diab's historical action thriller film "Assad". Maged El Kedwany, Khaled Elsawy, Razane Jammal, and Aly Kassem are also on board to star. Mohamed Diab directs from a script he co-wrote with Sherine Diab and Khaled Diab. "Assad" is set in 1280 AD in the Mamluk era and features Ramadan portraying Ali bin Muhammad Al-Farsi, who is sold in the slave market and later leads the revolution against the Abbasid army. It reunites Ramadan with Dash for the third time after working together on the 2023 TV series " Gaafar El Omda " and the 2020 TV series " Al Prince ". Ramadan previously said that the film took three years to prepare for, and because of it, he didn't make any new TV series due to the film's complexity and time frame. "Assad" marks the actor's second foray into the historical genre, after starring in 2017's "The Treasure" and its follow-up, 2019's "The Treasure 2: Love and Destiny", both directed by Sherif Arafa. read more New Tourism Route To Launch in Old Cairo Ahmed El Sakka-Led Play 'Sayidati Al Jamila' to Be Staged in KSA on Dec. 6 Mandy Moore Joins Season 2 of "Dr. Death" Anthology Series Don't Miss These Movies at 44th Cairo Int'l Film Festival Today Amr Diab to Headline KSA's MDLBEAST Soundstorm 2022 Festival Arts & Culture Mai Omar Stuns in Latest Instagram Photos Arts & Culture "The Flash" to End with Season 9 Arts & Culture Ministry of Culture Organizes four day Children's Film Festival Arts & Culture Canadian PM wishes Muslims Eid-al-Adha News Egypt confirms denial of airspace access to US B-52 bombers News Ayat Khaddoura's Final Video Captures Bombardment of Beit Lahia News Australia Fines Telegram $600,000 Over Terrorism, Child Abuse Content Arts & Culture Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban's $4.7M LA Home Burglarized Sports Former Al Zamalek Player Ibrahim Shika Passes away after Long Battle with Cancer Sports Neymar Announced for Brazil's Preliminary List for 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers News Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly Inaugurates Two Indian Companies Arts & Culture New Archaeological Discovery from 26th Dynasty Uncovered in Karnak Temple Business Fear & Greed Index Plummets to Lowest Level Ever Recorded amid Global Trade War Arts & Culture Zahi Hawass: Claims of Columns Beneath the Pyramid of Khafre Are Lies
Economic Times
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Economic Times
Chess, a chequered Islamic past & present: Banned by Taliban, backed by Saudi as it hosts its debut WC
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Last week, the Taliban government in Afghanistan suspended chess citing 'religious considerations' and on the grounds that chess may be a form of gambling. This is not the first time chess has been suspended or banned in a country. It was banned during the first Taliban regime in bans on chess have emanated from varying interpretations of Islamic scriptures. These have included concerns about gambling, potential interference with observance of prayer discipline, perceived symbol of decadence and notions of wastage of time. Iran, which ironically has produced world-class chess players, prohibited it in 1979, the ban lifted in mufti Abdulaziz al-Sheikh of Saudi Arabia declared chess 'haraam' in 2016, even though it did not lead to any ban in the country. In fact, chess is making a grand debut at the Esports World Cup being held in Saudi Arabia this I first visited New York's Metropolitan Museum in 2023, I was fascinated to see a nearly complete chess set–31 pieces with 1 missing pawn–from 12th c. Iran. Made of stonepaste, possibly hand-moulded and glazed in turquoise green and manganese purple, the beautiful pieces were extremely shapes were interesting in themselves—the 'shah' (king) was denoted by a throne; the 'vazir' (minister, now queen) by a smaller throne; the 'fil' (elephant, now bishop) had a triangular top with two protruding ends denoting tusks; the 'firas' (horse, now knight) had a small triangle jutting out of a rounded top, and the 'rukh' (chariot, now rook) had a rectangular b a s e w i t h a wedged v-shape on pawns were in the shape of a lantern or dome with a small knob on top. Other chess pieces (mostly individual pieces made of ivory and rock crystal) in the Met collection were from even earlier vintages from Islamic countries. Intrigued, I dug into the history of chess and its origins and learnt that chess has had a long history and deep heritage in the Islamic originated in what is today India as a game of military strategy in the 6th c. ' Chaturanga ' referred to four divisions of military—infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariots—which evolved into the modern pawn, knight, bishop and rook. The game reached Persia by the 6th c. where it evolved into ' shatranj '. Persians modified some rules and standardised some the Arab conquest of Persia in the 7th c., the game spread rapidly through the Arab world. Shatranj flourished during the Abbasid era between the 8th c-13th c. Caliphs, jurists, writers, and intellectuals patronised the game, denoting its association with strategy and al-Rasheed, the fifth caliph of Abbasid era, was known to be a big patron of shatranj, and actively promoted its adoption and play in his court and across his empire. Some of the earliest treatise on shatranj strategy were written in this era. Al-Adli al-Rumi authored 'Kitab ash-Shatranj,' and Abu Bakr bin Yahya al-Suli wrote 'Kitab al-Shitranj'. Shatranj travelled with the Arabs to al-Andalus (today's southern Spain), and from there spread to Europe, where it became chess, and onwards to the Americas with European history is closely intertwined with the history of migrations and conquests. A game played by the royals and masses alike, chess is (not) gambling—in fact, with its precision thinking and informed predictive play, it's the very opposite. And it is certainly (not) a symbol of writer is an international master in chess.
Business Times
09-05-2025
- Business
- Business Times
How golden ages really start
Peak Human By Johan Norberg. Atlantic Books; 400 pages; US$32.99 and £22 THE way to start a 'golden age' is to erect big, beautiful barriers to keep out foreign goods and people. That, at least, is the view of the most powerful man on the planet. Johan Norberg, a Swedish historian, makes the opposite case. In Peak Human, Norberg charts the rise and fall of golden ages around the world over the past three millennia, ranging from Athens to the Anglosphere via the Abbasid caliphate. He finds that the polities that outshone their peers did so because they were more open – to trade, to strangers and to ideas that discomfited the mighty. When they closed up again, they lost their shine. Consider the Song dynasty in China, which lasted from 960 to 1279AD. Song emperors were much keener on the rule of law than their predecessors, who tended to rule by whim. To enforce predictable rules, they hired lots of officials via meritocratic exams. The first Song emperor enacted the 'unconventional policy reform' of '(not) killing officials who disagreed with him'. Peasants were granted property rights and allowed to move around, rather than being tied to a lord's land. Farm output more than doubled, and the extra food supported much larger cities. In the 1100s Kaifeng, the capital, had 65 times the population of London. Canals made domestic trade easier. International trade followed. Merchants started issuing paper money, six centuries before Europeans did, and the government embraced this brilliant idea – so much easier than carrying heavy strings of copper coins. 'Crowded cities set the stage for an unparalleled exchange of ideas, goods (and) services,' notes Norberg. Artisans devised new industrial processes, such as burning coal to smelt iron. The invention of movable type in the 1040s allowed the printing of books so cheap that one philosopher griped that people would stop learning the classics by heart. By 1200, Song China had the world's richest economy, a merchant navy with 'the potential to discover the world', and a habit of tinkering that could have brought on an industrial revolution centuries before Europe's. But then the Mongols arrived. The popular image of Genghis Khan and his mounted hordes sweeping across the world slaughtering and burning is accurate as far as it goes. However, the Mongol dynasty took pains to preserve its predecessor's technological marvels – even if it did not add much to them. It was only when the Ming emperors took over in 1368 that China really turned in on itself. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Free movement within the country was ended. Free exchange gave way to forced labour. Foreign trade was made punishable by death, and even the construction of ocean-worthy ships was banned. Pining for the good old days, a Ming emperor brought back the fashions of 500 years before. Men caught with the wrong hairstyle were castrated, along with their barbers. Largely thanks to reactionary Ming policies, Chinese incomes fell by half between 1080 and 1400. The country did not recover its mojo until it opened up again in the late 20th century. Some of the golden ages Norberg describes will be familiar to readers, but he adds fresh details and provocative arguments. Athens was not just the birthplace of democracy; it grew rich because it was, by ancient standards, liberal. Tariffs were only 2 per cent. Foreigners were welcome: a Syrian ex-slave became one of the richest men in town. On a measure devised by the Fraser Institute, a Canadian think-tank, ancient Athenians enjoyed more economic freedom than citizens of any modern nation, narrowly beating Hong Kong and Singapore. (Such freedom did not apply to women or slaves; a caveat that applies to all golden ages until relatively recently.) Rome grew strong by cultivating alliances and granting citizenship to conquered peoples. It learned voraciously from those it vanquished – Greek slaves taught Roman children about logic, philosophy and drama. During Rome's golden age, one set of laws governed a gigantic empire, markets were relatively free, and 400,000 km of roads sped goods from vessel to villa. As a gobsmacked Greek orator put it: to see all the world's products, either travel the world or come to Rome. The emperor Augustus introduced a flat poll tax and a modest wealth tax. Extra income from hard work or innovation suddenly faced a marginal tax rate of zero. Small wonder Augustan Rome grew as rich as Britain and France were 1,500 years later. Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of America's House of Representatives, thinks Rome collapsed because of 'rampant homosexual behaviour'. Norberg offers a more convincing explanation. Bad luck – plagues and barbarian attacks – was compounded by policy blunders. Cash-strapped emperors debased the coinage, reducing its silver content. This caused wild inflation. Price controls were then slapped on everything 'from sandals to lions'. Trade atrophied. Intellectual freedom gave way to dogma, with the persecution first of Christians and then by Christians. Finally, Rome was too weak to resist the barbarian onslaught. Revisionists say the Dark Ages that followed were not so bad. Archaeological evidence, such as a sudden fall in the number of cargo-ship wrecks, suggests they were 'the biggest social regression in history'. Norberg deftly punctures popular misconceptions. The zealots of Islamic State revere the Abbasid caliphate, but would have hated its tolerance. The Italian Renaissance, which modern nationalists such as Viktor Orban see as evidence of European and Christian cultural superiority, began as a revolt against Christian orthodoxy and in imitation of pagan cultures. Despite what you read in Blake and Dickens, Britain's Industrial Revolution was not miserable for the workers: a study of diaries shows the only group consistently dissatisfied was poets and writers. Could a history book be more timely? Of all the golden ages, the greatest is here and now. Of all the progress of the past 10,000 years in raising human living standards, half has occurred since 1990. Openness went global after the collapse of the Soviet Union. But now it is in rapid retreat, as a multilateral trade war looms and ever more states suppress free inquiry. Previous golden ages all ended like Rome's did, jinxed by a mix of bad luck and bad leadership. Many thriving societies isolated themselves or suffered a 'Socrates moment', silencing their most rational voices. Peak Human does not mention Donald Trump; it was written before he was re-elected. America's president will not read it, but others should. The current age of globalisation could still, perhaps, be saved. As Norberg argues: 'Failure is not a fate but a choice.' ©2025 The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved
Shafaq News
05-05-2025
- General
- Shafaq News
Lost Abbasid city unearthed in Basra
Shafaq News/ A large archaeological site dating back to the Abbasid era was discovered in Basra, Iraq's Antiquities and Heritage Authority announced on Monday. The location, spanning more than 1,000 dunams and including remains of residential quarters, palaces, and urban infrastructure, lies near the Imam Ali Footstep Mosque and offers "new insight" into the urban layout and development of Abbasid cities, Director of the Basra Inspectorate Mustafa al-Husseini told Shafaq News. 'This is one of the most significant finds in recent years reflecting the architectural and civic evolution under the Abbasids,' he added. Among the artifacts recovered were coins minted during the reign of Caliph al-Muti li-llah, who ruled until 363 AH (974 CE), along with others from later periods of Abbasid rule.
