Arabian Culture

[Denny Crane!]

We hear so much about the bad things arabian culture is responsible for, how about some of the positive things they have produced or are producing right now?

It is probably the one part of the world I am more ignorant of in comparison to most. So anyone knowledgeable (and no arbitrary crap derogatory comments or rubbish jokes or appendage measuring).

[Yosemite]

mmmhh

i have university teacher from magreb

does it count?

[Copperknickers II]

Arabian culture being the culture of the Arabian peninsula, do you mean Muslim culture?

[removeduser_4536284751384]

Arabian culture being the culture of the Arabian peninsula, do you mean Muslim culture?

no Arab culture as in places where arabs live.

arabs live in Palestine and they're not from Arabia.

[MAXlMUS]

no Arab culture as in places where arabs live.

arabs live in Palestine and they're not from Arabia.

sarcasm i hope? what's with this stupid logic?

[removeduser_4536284751384]

sarcasm i hope? what's with this stupid logic?

what stupid logic?

[MAXlMUS]

what stupid logic?

you saying that gulf arabs =/ arabs, but palestinians = arabs?

[MAXlMUS]

no I didn't...

I said some arabs weren't from Arabia.

arabs live in Palestine and they're not from Arabia.

whatever.

[removeduser_4536284751384]

whatever.

to be interpreted as "Arabs live in palestine and those arabs who live in palestine are not from Arabia"

[MAXlMUS]

We hear so much about the bad things arabian culture is responsible for, how about some of the positive things they have produced or are producing right now?

It is probably the one part of the world I am more ignorant of in comparison to most. So anyone knowledgeable (and no arbitrary crap derogatory comments or rubbish jokes or appendage measuring).

arabian, as in pre-islamic arabian?

[MentshmitT]

We hear so much about the bad things arabian culture is responsible for, how about some of the positive things they have produced or are producing right now?

It is probably the one part of the world I am more ignorant of in comparison to most. So anyone knowledgeable (and no arbitrary crap derogatory comments or rubbish jokes or appendage measuring).

Amin Maalouf
http://www.aminmaalouf.org/english/

He is an author of a language that is characterized by a not too complicate expressionistic narrative. He has been the gate for me to find an aethestic relation to "arabian" culture - a literature that is migrating. My wife finds him a bit too simple. I think there is a beauty in his work that I appericate. There are certainly contemporary egyptian and maghrebin authors who beat him in realism, the subtility of social observations but that's not really my thing or it has not been at the time when I was reading Amin Maalouf.

Interview from EuroNews (meeting the topic vers the end).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kagjl0uBxX4

[Stavroforos]

I can't think of much in present-day contributions, but while Western Europe was stuck with its barbarians, it was enjoying a high level of civilization. Unfortunately for them stagnation didn't really let them move on from it.

[Farnan]

But if you mean from the Arab world?

Many of their cultural acts, like those of most cultures outside of the US, has mostly stayed within the Arab world. However, having said that the classical image we get of Arab culture is the equivalent of looking at the US and seeing only Country Music.

Here are some videos of popular Arabic singers among the youth:




Not what you expected, huh?

[Molly Norris]

The prolog to Amin Maalouf's Samarkande

At the bottom of the Atlantic there is a book. I am going to tell you its history.
Perhaps you know how the story ends. The newspapers of the day wrote about it, as did others later on. When the Titanic went down on the night of 14 April 1912 in the sea off the New World, its most eminent victim was a book, the only copy of the Rubaiyaat of Omar Khayyam, The Persian sage, poet and astronomer.
I shall not dwell upon the shipwreck. Others have already weighed its costs in dollars, listed the bodies and reported peoples' last words. Six years after the event I am still obsessed by this object of flesh and ink whose unworthy guardian I was. Was I, Benjamin O. Lesage, not the one who snatched it from its Asian birth-place? Was it not amongst my luggage that it set sail on the Titanic? And was its age-old journey not interrupted by my century's arrognace?
Since then, the world has become daily more covered in blood and gloom, and life has ceased to smile on me. I have had to distance myself from people in order to hear the voice of my memory, to nurture a naive hope and insistent vision that tomorrow the manuscript will be found. Protected by its golden casket, it will emerge from the murky depths of the sea intact, its destiny enriched by a new odyssey. People will be able to finger it, open it and lose themselves in it. Captive eyes will follow the chronicle of its adventure from margin to margin, they will discover the poet, his first verses, his first bouts of drunkenness and his first fears; and the sect of the Assassins. Then they will stop, incredulous, at a painting the colour of sand and emerald.
It bears neither date nor signature, nothing apart from these words which can be read as either impassioned or disenchanted: Samarkand, the most beautiful face the Earth has ever turned towards the sun.

[Farnan]

Persians are not Arabs.

[Molly Norris]

Persians are not Arabs.

The author is Lebanese.

[skag]

i m european, born from europan parents, lived in europe, but i had lot of contact with arbaics and went over there quite often. so quite unbiased opinion

Arabs are :
-generous
-good hospitality
-quite humbles (exept elites, which are probably among the worst when speaking about humility and modesty)
-have a great respect of the Family
-therefore, a great respects towards eachother position within the family
-believe it or not, but they are a lot more respectfull (in general) with womens than europeans are. Most of all toward inside family females. their protectionism sometimes goes too far
-their food is very good (here speaking about maghreb ... because out of maghreb, and lebanin, their food suxx)
-their females are very beautiful (speaking about maghrebi, and real arabs (gulf ones))
-the females are sooo nice and kind, calm and respectful
-the males are less nice and kinds and calms
-arab is a very beautiful language
-they are altruist, but toward people (speaking about individuals), not toward society (speaking about the entity)

however,
-they are really closed minded regards religion
-they are quite hypocrits toward religion : ooooh this man prays 5 times a day, makes ramadan, and go to mosque all the time, this is a good man !! (but then goes back home and beat his wife). oooooh this guy drinks beer, do not go to mosque, this man is bad (but is very generous, a good father and good husband, a good son also, etc etc)
this mentality
-they are kiddy .... even the old adults (actually, this is not specially a bad trait)
-and finally, as all mediterraneans, they are individualistic & do not really care about Society (which is not specially a bad trait either, because it's the reverse of the medal of being very very careful about the family members and very close people).
-mens tend to be too agressive, but hey, that's mediterranean hot blooded people

this my general view on arabs COMPARED to europeans, these are not specially "absolute traits", but in comparison to european they are more this ... less that ...
so you can see lot of postivie things in arab culture

after you have to add history, art etc, but it's another topic for me

[Farnan]

I thought you meant the book was the Arabic Cultural achievement. Sorry.

[Molly Norris]

Well, insofar the author is an arabic speaking novelist, his books can be seen as having a arabic or levantine background. Some of his books like The Crusades through Arab Eyes or The Rock of Tanois or Leo the African are situated in arabic contextes (mostly historical). The Rock of Tanois ranges from the Second World War to the Begin of the Civil War in Lebanon. It's the story between two brothers.

[Armatus]

I'd say the biggest and most positive achievements are found during the propagation of Islam in the Golden Age. They carried the torch of Greek learning in their quest for the acquisition of knowledge, the furtherance of science and art from all over the world is probably one unsurpassed in the middle ages.