The Sons of Cordoba
The city of Cordoba in central Andalusia, Spain, was one of the most enlightened cities in the medieval world under the Muslim Umayyad rulers. Its streets had lighting, there [...]
Places
The ‘fool’ Vizier’s retreat
Nestled at the foot of Shara Mountain in a typically serene location on the outskirts of the town of Tetovo is the idyllic complex of the Arabati Baba Tekke – the [...]
A Parisian Paradise
The Grand Mosquee Paris is in Paris’ Latin Quarter, south of the River Seine, close to the city’s Botanical Gardens. It is the French capital’s little slice of Moorish [...]
The Jewel in the Muslim European crown
Someone once said, “When you have visited the Alhambra once, you spend the rest of your life waiting to go back…” Few phrases better sum up Europe’s most famous [...]
The Greatest Islamic Library Nobody Knows About
There are many reasons people come to Dublin – admiring beautifully decorated ancient Qur’ans is not one of them.Unbeknown to the vast majority of Muslims around the [...]
Romania’s forgotten royal mosque
The bright August sun winked at me every time it caught Lutfi’s large, tinted sunglasses. He gave me a toothless grin, before lifting his walking stick to tap the brown [...]
The Muslim-Christian Shrine of Bulgaria
Deep in the forests of northeast Bulgaria, where green, grassy hills come tumbling down from the Romanian border, there lays an intriguing holy man revered by both Muslims [...]
Europe’s only Arabic language
“Kayf int?” enquired the middle-aged Maltese woman as she greeted her friend. “There, did you hear it that time?” I ask in a hushed tone. My 7-year-old daughter looks [...]
Albania’s medieval mirage
Wandering around Berat’s old town is like stumbling across a medieval mirage. Tiered, snow white, Ottoman houses cling to gentle slopes either side of the River Ossum. The [...]
The Vikings and the Muslims
Last month saw the fascinating claim by Annika Larsson of Uppsala University in Sweden that patterns thought to be Viking on funeral clothing could be Kufic inscriptions [...]
