Arabic is hard. No – Arabic is really ****ing hard, and everyone from university students to linguists to Arabs themselves agree that it’s exceptionally difficult to learn Arabic. According to the American Foreign Service , Arabic is ranked as a “Category V language” – requiring a minimum of 2,200 hours of continuous study to become proficient (i.e., not fluent, but able to handle yourself with the language). Compare that with Spanish, French, Norwegian, and other “Category I languages” which require a relatively tame 575 hours of study to reach similar ...

It’s the game everyone’s talking about. Across the Middle East, people are playing Pokémon Go-the app that allows you to capture-or rather “catch”-the famed digital creatures in an augmented reality. The creatures appear on the phone’s screen based on the player’s actual location. You may see a Pikachu (an electricity-spewing mouse) on Hamra street in downtown Beirut. You may find a squirtle (a squirrel-turtle hybrid that shoots water) while fighting Daesh (ISIS) on the frontlines north of Mosul, Iraq, as one American volunteer in a Christian paramilitary group did, later ...

Far from today’s reality, the Arab world of only a century ago was home to multicultural communities of Jews dating back millennia. From the Jews of cosmopolitan Baghdad, who spoke their own distinctive dialect of Arabic, to the Jewish villagers who lived and worshipped alongside their Berber neighbors in rural Libya, the Arab world’s perhaps most controversial religious group made its cultural mark on the region in ways that are now largely forgotten. A few traces of Jewish life still remain active in places like Tunisia, where the El Ghriba ...

The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs has warned their citizens against wearing national costumes abroad after an Emirati man wearing a traditional white kandura was handcuffed in Ohio over suspicions he had links to Daesh. According to news reports from Dubai, local women visiting the West were also urged to skip that abaya and abide by bans on face veils “to ensure their safety”. But what about when the fashion shoe is on the other foot? Some international celebs insist on donning that thobe or head scarf out of 'when ...

A French football team supporter flashes the sign for victory as he watches the UEFA Euro 2016 final football match between France and Portugal, hosted in Paris, at the French Institue in Kuwait City on July 10, 2016. YASSER AL-ZAYYAT / AFP

Last Friday marked the second anniversary of Operation Protective Edge, Israel’s military siege on Gaza. The benign-sounding offensive caused catastrophic carnage - killing more than 2,100 Palestinians. It destroyed schools, hospitals, places of worship, and damaged half a million homes. Two years after the 50-day war, not much has changed. Reconstruction is painfully slow. Only 10 percent of the 11,000 fully destroyed homes have been rebuilt. World leaders pledged $3.5 BIL towards reconstruction, now thwarted by Israeli restrictions on critical building materials entering Gaza. A coalition of top-tier NGOs urged ...

Eid al-fitr is a joyous time of delicious meals and family gatherings that ends the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. But this year it was the opposite for millions across the Muslim world. Daesh (ISIS) - calling itself the Islamic State - is thought to have targeted and attacked four Muslim countries during and leading up to this year’s Eid, killing hundreds. When they should’ve been gathering with their loved ones, families instead buried them in Iraq, Bangladesh, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. The recent violence has sent shockwaves through the ...

Eid al-Fitr is the holiest day in the Muslim calendar. It's a day of feasting, charity, and prayer that celebrates the end of Ramadan fasting and the return a more normal daily calorie intake. It goes without saying that Muslims around the world will observe the holy day with the requisite gift giving and gathering of family members that characterize any religious holiday, but you might be surprised to learn that Eid is a bit more complex than a family dinner and a group prayer. In fact, Eid is often ...

Paris Saint-Germain's new recruit French attacking midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa poses with his jersey at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris on July 4, 2016. PHILIPPE LOPEZ / AFP

It’s nearly the end of the Holy Month, good on you for your admirable endurance! But you’re exhausted by nightly interrogations from the auntie brigade as to why you have no mate, no kids, are too thin or too fat. And if you have to squeeze between couch-potato cousins catching another Ramadan soap, you’ll howl at the waxing moon. Al Bawaba has a solution. Grab a few of your tiniest iftar tablemates and find a quiet spot. Pull out a few of these Ramadan reads , and tuck into a ...

Poland's and Portugal's players line up during a moment of applause in memory of victims of the Istanbul airport attack prior to the Euro 2016 quarter-final football match between Poland and Portugal at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille on June 30, 2016. Valery HACHE / AFP