When protests shook the streets of Tunisia in response to the tyrannical rule of leader President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, no one could have expected the domino effect that would ripple through the region. Dubbed the ‘Arab Spring’, the Tunisian uprising set a precedent for countries across the Middle East to cast off their dictatorship shackles and demand a new system of government. There is barely a country in the Middle East that the Arab Spring (or rather, Arab Summer) that has not tarred with the revolutionary brush. With the ...

For the past couple of years, the Muslim Brotherhood has dominated the political scene in Egypt and beyond. But the extent of its involvement in business and economics is also worth investigating as many high-ranking Brotherhood members are millionaires in both their bank balance and their wasta. As once was said, the Brotherhood has more in common with the Republican Party than Al-Qaeda . A keen eye for business and a sharp mind has allowed many Ikhwan members to dominate the healthcare, manufacturing and fast-food sectors in the Egyptian economy ...

Across cultures and languages and even religious traditions, words and often concepts can get lost in translation. Nuances and subtle undertones don't stand a chance on border crossings and cryptic idioms, well they can just forget it! The Arabs as much as the next people, maybe more, have their own unique phrases and peculiar linguistically- contained notions that cannot conceivably be translated into any other frame of reference. Neologisms and international-speak are a force for universal understanding, making languages more transferrable and providing solutions for the overlaps and fringes, yet ...

It may be an eye-opener to first-timers in the Middle East - those who envision Arab women as Hollywood’s depiction of them in burqas and abayas - to find out that all Arabs are not cut from the same cloth. Although when walking the Arab street you will see women decked from head to toe in conservative Muslim attire, you will also see female fashionistas kitted out in the latest designer gear and towering high heels. And of course, the trend differs from the Levant to the Islamic Republic of ...

When we think of urban regeneration projects, we automatically turn to the Western world or Japan to be wowed by the most futuristic visions. But while people thought the Arabs were sleeping, the Gulf states have been undergoing radical structural overhauls. What makes the transformation of the Gulf all the more miraculous is that before these deserts were developed into metropolises, there was nothing but huge expanses of inhospitable sandy expanse. It's hard to imagine Dubai, Doha or Kuwait City, today's avant-garde cosmopolitan hot-spots, as nothing but sand dunes grazed ...

The Middle East isn't just famous for the biggest falafel in the world; it’s recently broken the surface as an an architectural playground too! Even if it’s not producing new Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Middle East is certainly teeming with modern miracles and rocky riches. Although Arab countries are steeped in a deep and stony history, which is plainly visible to the visitor of its abundant historical monuments and landmarks from the Baalbak to the Jerash ruin, the rapid-developing countries, especially those of the Gulf, have moved away from ...

The sighting of the full moon on Thursday marked the end of Ramadan and beginning of Eid al Fitr for Muslims around the world. It was time for Muslims across the world to celebrate the three-day festive holiday through Eid traditions, including morning Eid prayers, big feasts, family visits, firework shows and festivals. Celebrators shared a mix of gleeful and proud emotions, as the well-deserved celebration came after a hard month of fasting and resisting life's various vices and temptations. Children especially enjoy Eid, as they are traditionally treated to ...

Eid Al Fitr (the festival of fast-breaking) is a three-day long holiday at the end of Ramadan. A time to celebrate with family and friends, for many it is the light at the end of the tunnel after a long and difficult month of fasting and abstaining. Unlike for other holidays that are set in stone or calendar, there's a cool way to spot when the festive celebration has arrived: Muslims strain their eyes for a sighting of the full moon. If it's there, so is Eid! Eid is a ...

Move aside Einstein! Before there was a spate of modern inventions in the 1800s, innovators from across the Arab world were making amazing societal progress and creating objects that we still use today. Paving the way for the Wright brothers, Tessler and all the other big names, we thought it was time to shine the spotlight on all the incredible ways the unsung heroes of the Islamic inventing world have contributed to world civilisation and modern development. With the dangerous double edged sword of Western media intent on portraying Arabs ...

Graffiti, once the trade of thugs and unruly teens, is having something of a second coming in the Middle East. Could graffiti be the new hieroglyphics? Used by the ancient Egyptians to record the events of the day, graffiti is the new public diary of choice. And with the never-ending cycle of change and conflict in the region, there’s no shortage of things to paint about. If the world is a canvas, then the recent spike in graffiti art worldwide can be seen as an attempt to make life more ...

As recently as last year, families used to sit around the telly for late Ramadan nights of family-friendly shows. This holy season, it's as though a switch has been flicked - Grandma suitable conservative shows have been replaced by the raunchy and provocative. Perhaps a dark force has visited scriptwriters to cloud their judgment - sex and violence are common place, rendering the era of comedies and heart-felt and wholesome life lessons a TV memory from a bygone era of Little House on the Prairie or Bab Al-Hara, its Arab ...