Author Archives: Arab America

TThe 15th edition of the annual International Oud Festival is almost upon us. The 10-day event, which takes place under the auspices of Confederation House in Jerusalem and its director Effie Benaya, takes in wide musical, genre and cultural hinterlands, with artists due in from Greece, Germany, Azerbaijan, Holland and Morocco, besides the large contingent … Continued

The Arabic language is very ancient, but it was not a written language until perhaps the third or fourth century. The Arabic language and its 28 letters, written from right to left, spread with the spread of Islam. The letters are derived from only 17 distinct forms, distinguished from one another by a dot or … Continued

AppyKids™ release their highly anticipated Arabic cartoon webisode series, The Adventures of Zee – Season 1. The first webisode premieres today on the AppyKids YouTube channel and each subsequent episode will be released on a weekly basis thereafter.

Dozens of Americans of Arab and Indian descent are running for office in the midterm elections on November 4 driven by a motivation to serve the country that their forefathers embraced as their own.

Have you heard the joke by Iraqi Kurds about ISIS fighters milking male goats? The comedy comes from fact that you can’t milk a male goat but you can perform a sexual act on the goat using a similar motion. Enough said. Well, many in the Middle East have heard that one and many others … Continued

Egyptian Lotfiya al-Nady, the first woman pilot in the Arab world and Africa, would have turned 107 today, and Google designed a doodle to celebrate it. The doodle reached Google users in Arab countries, including Egypt, North African and GCC countries. Born into an upper-middle class family in 1907’s Egypt, al-Nady developed a love for … Continued

Judge Gershwin Drain handed down a series of outrageous and unjust decisions, Oct 27 – 28, in the case of revered Palestinian American leader Rasmea Odeh. The government is going all out to railroad Rasmea, to jail and deport her. There was nothing fair about her being indicted on trumped up immigration charges in the … Continued

An unlikely collaboration between two countries will offer a new set of lens into the traditional fashion of a place we may not be so familiar with. H.E. Mohamed Alharthy, the Ambassador of the Sultanate of Oman (known simply as Oman) has joined hands with Jung Jae-min, the President of the Korean Culture Association, for … Continued

Famous singer Beyonce shared two verses from the Quran on Instagram on Sunday. She shared the fifth and sixth verses from Surah ash-Sharh, meaning “For indeed, with hardship [will be] ease. Indeed, with hardship [will be] ease.” The quotation stirred her fans, especially Muslims all around the world. Many Muslims shared tweets implying that Beyonce … Continued

Judge Gershwin Drain handed down a series of outrageous and unjust decisions, Oct 27 – 28, in the case of revered Palestinian American leader Rasmea Odeh. The government is going all out to railroad Rasmea, to jail and deport her. There was nothing fair about her being indicted on trumped up immigration charges in the … Continued

Macy’s Inc. is opening stores in the Middle East – the first time a Macy’s will locate overseas. The retailer is opening Macy’s (NYSE: M) and Bloomingdale’s stores in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, in 2018 as part of a partnership with UAE-based Al Tayer Group. The stores will anchor Al Maryah Central, a new … Continued

Often enough, I hear from new readers that ArabLit is just “too much,” and that the site lacks a good entry point for the reader who wants to know: Where do I start? Unless you insist on entering literature by strict chronology (and even there, things are terribly tricksy), there is no natural place to … Continued