Culture & Heritage

Most modern coffee-drinkers are probably unaware of coffee’s heritage in the Sufi orders of Southern Arabia. Members of the Shadhiliyya order are said to have spread coffee-drinking throughout the Islamic world sometime between the 13th and 15th centuries CE. A Shadhiliyya shaikh was introduced to coffee-drinking in Ethiopia, where the native highland bush, its fruit and the beverage made from …

The word ‘ Urdu ‘ is derived from Turkish word ‘ Ordu ‘ meaning ‘ Army Camp ‘ or ‘Lashkar ‘ . Exact origin of ‘ Urdu ‘ is some what difficult to trace; but many different theories have been developed to explain it. Mohammad Hussain Azad, an eminent Indian scholar, believes that Brij Bhasha, a dialect of Western Hindi, …

Little is it known that there was a time when the Sultans of Turkey ruled the hearts of the Musalmans of the far-famed isle of Sarandib. Sri Lanka is home to a large number of Muslims many of whom comprise the descendants of Arab traders who had settled down here several centuries ago. It would appear that in the early …

Last week the Sakirin Mosque opened in Istanbul, Turkey. It is the first mosque in the country to have an interior designed by a woman, Zeynep Fadillioglu. An interior designer known for jet setting ways, she nonetheless won a commission to redesign the religious structure in Istanbul. She even recruited women to help in the construction. . Begun last year, …

Suwarn Vajracharya We might stand up for our community, but it cannot be said that we have stood against the interest of the country as a whole. I have always said, and I repeat it today, that I consider the interest of the country as a whole, to be paramount. (Dr. T. B. Jayah1) , 1937) 1. Introduction The Malays2) …