Arabic Culture

Ali Ahmed Bakathir عَلِي أَحْمَد بَاكَثِيْر Born in Surabaya Indonesia in 1910, Ali Ahmed Bakathir is a renowned and highly regarded Arab literary figure and playwright. As was the case with many Yemeni fathers in southeast Asia at the time, namely Indonesia and Malaysia, his father decided that the family go back to their homeland—Say’un سَيْئون city in Hadhramautحَضْرَمُو…

Shafoot شَفُوْت: A Starter Yemeni Dish saltah سَلْتَة, faHsah فَحْسَة, mandi مَنْدِي, fattah فَتَّة, sousi سُوْسِي, ‘aSiiT عَصِيْد, bint aS-SaHn بِنْت الصَّحْن and shafoot شَفُوت are very popular local dishes that are unique to Yemen. You might have tried or heard of mandi because it has found its way to neighboring gulf states and other Arab countries and will soon become int…

Pre-Islamic Beliefs of Arabs In the pre-Islamic period or Jahiliyyah الْجَاهِلِيَّة, Arabs were not all monotheists. Like many other nations at the time, they had more than one faith دَيَانَة. Quraish قُرِيْش and neighboring tribes were principally paganist وَثَنِي. Judaism was the main religion in Yemen. Across different tribal regions, Individuals and small groups practiced …

Sherine Abdel-Wahab شِرِين عِبْدَ الوَهَاب In this post, some differences between Egyptian dialect and MSA (Modern Standard Arabic) are highlighted through a song by a popular Egyptian singer, Sherine Abdel-Wahab. The song is called حُبُه جَنَّة ‘his love is heaven’, and it is taken from a recent album of hers entitled نَسَّاي ‘the one who forgets me.’ This album includes twel…

Following the death of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), there was never a discord about the essence of Islam. The pillars of Islam, the Quran, the matters of worship, and all other principles that guided and organized Muslims’ lives were all incontrovertible. Political conflicts, however, began to emerge. These differences were attributed to Arab partisanship and quarrel over who sho…

Yemeni music is mostly oud-based. This post gives a taste of Yemeni and Arabic oud music. العُوْد ‘the oud’ is a musical instrument used in the Middle East and North Africa. Its name was derived from the Arabic word عُوْد ‘a piece of wood’ as it is made of wood. Although it is an ancient instrument, it is still very popular in many countries. In Yemen, a piece of music wi…