THE STORY OF NATURAL ARABIC NUMBERS* The second greatest gift of Ancient Arabs in Southern Arabia to humanity after the alphabet We have two stories to tell in The History of Arabic Numerals, both of which have never been told in a book before. Because they are naturally simple, they may sound outrageous. This should not be of concern, since shocking one’s readership with simple facts is one...
Scene: Amman, Jordan: Wissam’s aunt houseOne week later Haytham had to lower his head in order to look inside the taxi that had just pulled over in the middle of the road, right in front of his house. He then ran, opened a metal gate, crossed a large terraced garden and shouted, “Mama! Wissam’s arrived.” He went back to the taxi and waited for Wissam to finish paying the driver.“Haytham!” Wissam...
The 10th International Symposium on: The Moriscos and the Mediterranean in the 16th and 17th Centuries Fondation Temimi – The Temimi Foundation (Tunis, Zaghouan – 9-12 Mai 2001) Abduljelil Temimi, Senen Horensa Ambassadeur d’Espagne, Luce Lopez Baralt A. S. Bishtawi , Taoufik Hajaiej, Louis Imperiale, Luce Lopez Baralt, Joseph V Ricapito, Maria Elvira Sagarzazu, (not recognised...
Cordova, a photo by Danny Bishtawi Featured image is at Sevilla Flight of the Blackbird Robert W. Lebling Jr. Illustrated by Norman MacDonald If you eat asparagus, or if you start your meal with soup and end with dessert, or if you use toothpaste, or if you wear your hair in bangs, you owe a lot to one of the greatest musicians in history. He was known as Ziryab, a colloquial Arabic term...
A Search for Traces of Spain’s Islamic Past Tor Eigeland* I set out on my trip to photograph the traces of Spain’s Moorish past by driving south, down the coast from my home near Barcelona. Valencia In Valencia and its satellite towns of Manises and Paterna I saw some interesting ruins, though in my opinion they are among the ugliest towns in Spain.One attractive aspect of Manises...
Palace at Sevilla. Photo by Danny Bishtawi Names and place names in Spain I was pleasantly surprised a few years ago when I found myself able to trace the route taken by the famous 12-13th century Andalusian traveler Ibn Jubair (1144-1217) – (apparently mount Etna was as active in his times as now) on his return to his native country from a three-year extensive trip to the Arab east just by...
The Palace at Sevilla. Photo by Danny Bishtawi And so it is said… “As to their vanishing from the face of Earth, they have shared the fate of many nations, cultures and languages. It seems useless to speculate if they deserved a destiny different from that of Zoroastrians, Sumerian, Parthian, Mayan, Charrias or Abipones, all of which had their own aims and reasons to survive...
Indira Sounds Nuclear on Diego Garcia From Emirates News Newspaper (Abu Dhabi, UAE), Monday, May 11, 1981 (Front Page) By Adel Bishtawi in New Delhi Abu Dhabi, May 10 (WAM): “The Americans have decided to store nuclear arms in the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia at a time when the international situation is drifting towards confrontation,” according to Mrs. Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister...
𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗜𝗡𝗦 𝗕𝗬 𝗔𝗗𝗘𝗟 𝗕𝗜𝗦𝗛𝗧𝗔𝗪𝗜 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗿𝗮𝗯 𝗖𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: 𝗢𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗹𝗽𝗵𝗮𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘀, 𝗡𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝘀, 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀, 𝗪𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀, 𝗝𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆, 𝗔𝗜𝗥𝗣. This volume of about 700 pages contains most of the research published in the English edition of Origin of Arabic Numerals and additional research on numerics. During several months of numeral etymological research, the question...
𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗜𝗡𝗦 𝗕𝗬 𝗔𝗗𝗘𝗟 𝗕𝗜𝗦𝗛𝗧𝗔𝗪𝗜 THE ORIGIN OF THE ‘“THINGS’” From Chapter 10 Origin of the Arabic Numerals The question as to which came first, the numerals or the letters, was an-swered convincingly a century ago with the conclusion that the “use of visible signs to represent numbers and aid reckoning is not only older than writing, but older than the development of numerical language on the denary...