Al-BAB

Canadian journalist, and friend, Adnan Khan, has been covering South Asia and Middle East for over a decade. When not traipsing around T...

The 20th century has contributed more than its share of political strongmen idolized in propaganda art. Lenin, Mao and Kim Il-Sung are j...

This photograph, likely of a rug merchant in in the 1940s, can be found in the Guardian newspaper's  article  on Chafic Ahmad Sous...

Omar Ibn El Khattab was a Companion of the Prophet, conqueror of Persia, the second Caliph after Abu Bakr, and an expert jurist. He was...

In Ancient Babylon, once upon a time, a lottery helped to create reality.  It began simply enough when commoners drew rectangular bones w...

"There is no humanity in diplomacy," said a commentator on television recently when discussing the Syrian crisis. Indeed, many ...

In 1966, a movie was made about the struggle in Sudan between the British Empire and the 'Mahdi', the awaited redeemer who cam...

The ongoing tragedy in Syria speaks to the failure of the international system and today's politics. There is a reality and a cause b...

Years ago, while living in Cairo, I was invited by some friends to a poor corner of the city to watch a weekly performance of “Sufi music...

Tom Young is a British painter who has developed a fascination for Beirut and Lebanon and depicted it in his work. He points out that...

Once, while having coffee at the Shepherd´s Hotel in Cairo, I was told that Egypt had never had more than 2-3 million people until the e...

By Photographer Angelo Boyadjian, Cairo, 1950s Dalida, singer (left); Egyptian fruit vendor (centre); Omar Sharif, actor (right)

Most analysis points to economic failure, unemployment and corruption as the lead causes of the uprisings in the Arab world. Certainly, t...

Situated at the far-flung reaches of eastern Turkey, just metres from the border with Armenia, is the ghost city of Ani. The ruins of th...

Of the many historical tales and anecdotes arising out of the Middle East, few offer the kind of salaciousness and intrigue as that o...