Culture & Heritage

New York, New York – To hear Americans and Muslims talk about each other over the past years, you’d think the relationship between the United States and the Muslim world has been permanently belligerent. The violence and inflammatory polemics generated by the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan make it difficult to think otherwise. But if …

My new place in Hyderabad, India, is a little, two-story affair that looks rather large to us after spending seven years in a two-bedroom apartment in Dubai. It’s not great, but offers a rare view of the magnificent Golconda Fort built by the Qutub Shahis. When threatened by the Moghals, the last Qutub Shahi King Abulhassan Tana Shah withdrew himself …

The tulip has become synonymous with the Netherlands. Tourists from around the world visit the country just to see the bright colored flower and the astonishing view over the flower fields. The small Dutch town called Keukenhof is considered the world’s largest flower garden. According to the Keukenhof Park officials, approximately seven million flower bulbs are planted annually in the …

437 BC – King Pandukabhaya ascends the throne. Sets up a separate quarter for the residence of the Yonas, probably Arabs, in Anuradhapura 712 AC – The Arab invasion of Sind prompted by the capture of some Arab women, daughters of merchants who had died in Sri Lanka whom the Sri Lankan sovereign was sending to Iraq 1214 – Magha, …

The Muslims of Sri Lanka Brief History of the Muslims of Sri Lanka Introduction Sri Lanka, known to the ancients as Ceylon, has been recorded in history books as a country that has had many visitations from foreign travelers throughout the ages. The people are mainly Buddhist, with a complex mixture of Hindus, Muslims, Roman Catholics and other Christian denominations. …

Islam in many verses of the Holy Quran urges mankind to travel through the earth. Travelling to perform the Haj in Makkah is compulsory for Muslims meeting certain conditions. Haji Ismail Effendi the father of the late Mohamed Sameer (Ex Chief Trustee of the Maradana Mosque) and late Mohamed Anis & late Sithy Saleema was one traveler who was bitten …