The Ottoman Empire had absorbed Bosnia by the middle of the 15th century, and the Ottomans were to leave indelible marks on the Balkans for centuries to come. One demonstration of prowess was built in 1566 through the inspired vision of the architect Mimar Hajrudin: the Stari Most, which was, and is again, one of the world’s most imposing bridges, soaring over the Neretva River at Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

The bridge, which in our time connects the largely Catholic population on the Neretva’s west bank to the Muslim population on the east bank, was destroyed in 1993 during the Yugoslav conflict. On an earlier visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina, I found many of Mostar’s walls still pockmarked by shellfire. The Stari Most, however, was rebuilt between 2001 and 2004 to perfect proportions of the original, at a cost of 12.5 million euros and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The houses around it were still in a sorry state, though.

What did it all mean? Perhaps historically it was meaningless as far as our inclinations for war are concerned. The war had come and gone. Bosnia and Herzegovina were disputed on all sides and abused when the former Yugoslavia splintered. The Bozniak Muslim population was cornered and fired upon from the heights surrounding the city. It was horrible. It is always devastatingly horrible. We should hang our heads in shame. In fact, we saw a book titled Shame On You Europe. It seemed pointless to buy the book. There are many ambitious forces in the world, and ambition, geopolitically, seems to have led to war.

Eighteen years on, and we were about to visit again Bosnia and Herzegovina. We drove down from Austria, through Slovenia and Croatia. As we drew closer to Sarajevo, passing through what is a lush green landscape, we saw minarets spiking the sky, marking even the smallest villages.

Sarajevo today is gorgeous and not a little hectic. They sure drive fast in the city, and there seemed to be a Dervish-like whirl of dense traffic. The call to prayer must be something of a novelty for many of the tourists. The magic prevails, however, for there can be no more compelling sound in a public place than this most evocative call to piety. Many of the women in Sarajevo wore the hijab. True, some of the souvenirs may possibly be Made in China, but there is sufficient local color and exoticness to make your head swivel. We drank an awful lot of Turkish coffee, and none of it was awful. Nor was the baklava, or the ubiquitous Turkish delight. You can have falafel and doner kebabs coming out of your ears.

There are more restaurants of all stripes than is decent for any capital city, and they are densely concentrated in Baš?aršia, which as the word suggests is a bazaar district, and is situated close to the Miljacka River. Our favorite restaurant was just across the river. Check out Inat kucá (House of Spite), which obviously has a history that explains the name. The ambience, the interior design and architecture—and the food—are wonderful, and they speak perfect American English.

In the heart of the bazaar, the famous Gazi Husrev-Beg Mosque rests serenely amid the clamor and flow of the crowded lanes around it. I approached the door but the prayers had just finished, the imam was deep in conversation, and I turned away. 

The Caffe Divan is situated in a lovely inner courtyard. There are many Muslim customers, and the background music is a part of the Islamic atmosphere. Within the courtyard, flanking the cafe, is the magnificent “Isfahan” carpet shop. Their motto is, “The purpose of our art is to wipe off the dust of everyday life from our souls.” They have carpets, and plenty more artefacts besides, that are the stuff of dreams and ruined bank accounts. Above the courtyard, up a steep flight of stairs, was an exhibition of calligraphy. The artist is a genius, or a genii, probably both.

The visit was too short with respect to what Sarajevo has to offer. Our taste for the Islamic world briefly sated, we left heading south. A book fell to hand that told more about Sarajevo and the Balkans than could ever be recorded on what was little more than our weekend trip. Tharik Hussain has an impressive body of work to his name, including an award-winning radio program for the BBC on America’s earliest mosques and his recently published Minarets in the Mountains – a Journey into Muslim Europe was excitedly purchased. Hussain receives top marks for this book, in which he traces the footsteps of Evliya ?elebi, the Turkish Marco Polo, to seek out the Muslims of the Balkans. Evliya ?elebi’s Seyahatname – Book of Travels runs to ten volumes and is widely available in Turkish. Only extracts are apparently available in English. An Ottoman Traveller: Selections from the Book of Travels of Evliya ?elebi, edited and translated by Robert Dankoff and Sooyong Kim appears to be a standard work.

Due to the massive influx of refugees, there is today a burgeoning Muslim presence in Europe. Tharik Hussain’s quest, however, was to visit and research the indigenous Muslim populations within the Balkan states, populations that have been in Europe for centuries. Other than the obvious attractions of Sarajevo, Mostar, and Dubrovnik, the central mass of Balkan territories generally pass unseen beneath the wings of tourists flying south seeking Mediterranean sunshine. Hussain undertook a circuitous motor tour—taking his wife and two daughters with him—that included Bosnia and Herzegovina (population around 52% Muslim), Serbia (3%), Kosovo (95%), Bulgaria (10.8%), North Macedonia (32%), Albania (82.1%), and Montenegro (20%). Almost none of these countries are hot-spot tourist destinations, but there is a hugely diverse and rich cultural heritage to be found, and as the statistics show, an appreciable percentage of it is Muslim.

Hussain begins and ends his tour in Sarajevo. He writes, “The minarets seemed to be everywhere and is testimony that Sarajevo had always been a Muslim city, founded in 1461, two years before Sarajevo became an Ottoman district.” As a Muslim, Hussain’s first duty was to visit the Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque. He relates that the proceedings there were attuned to Turkish inspiration, in which chapters of the Qur’an were recited ahead of congregational prayer. Hussain’s text is beautifully written and explanatory of Islamic history in the city. The first chapter alone makes purchasing this book worthwhile. The war and the fate of Sarajevo are covered, of course. But Hussain does not dwell too much upon what is common knowledge concerning the horrors the people endured. The text otherwise sparkles.

His first stop after Sarajevo was Mostar, and then some smaller Muslim centers. Then came Visigrad and the border to Serbia. The part of Serbia they then headed for was “…so Muslim it was like Turkey,” Tharik relates. Despite the low percentage of 3% Muslim throughout Serbia, this amounted to the biggest surprise of the entire trip: Novi Pazar in Serbia is 80% Muslim. The entire atmosphere of the place tells of Ottoman influence. Hussain relates: “…I had to check that we had not crossed a border somewhere into Turkey.” There are a reported 66 mosques in Novi Pazar serving a Muslim population of almost 83,000. The obvious conclusion for any traveler seeking Muslim culture in the region, is that Novi Pazar would be a must visit. Tharik devotes more than 20 pages of sparkling prose to the town.

The journey continued to Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, and a chapter titled “The Grandfather of Muslim Europe.” The grandfather was Sultan Murad I who reigned in the 14th century. His tomb was visited by Evliya ?elebi and one Melek Pasha. What followed was a very enlightening description of Kosovo’s history. The modern history of Kosovo is devastatingly depressing. The 1998 conflict saw the rise of the Kosovo Liberation Army when autonomy was refused. Independence was achieved only in 2008 after NATO intervention. 95% Muslim, Kosovo is the most Muslim country in Europe. The chapter covered a great deal of Ottoman history and was enhanced by some excellent descriptions of religious observance.

Then over the border again into Serbia and the city of Niš, which is where resolute tourists stop overnight on their drive from the north of Europe to Thessaloniki and the rest of Greece.

Niš is now a modern metropolis and described as “…an orthodox town, with only the faintest whiff of its lengthy Muslim heritage.” Nevertheless, it turned out to be as full of Ottoman history as elsewhere, but there are now pedestrian zones, malls, and shopping centers. There’s a sufficiency of monuments, as well as a fortress of the 1st century AD covering 22 acres of parkland. There were additions to the architecture and plaques confirming 18th century Ottoman origins.

Then came the short drive across the border to North Macedonia and the capital, Skopje. The chapter began with an obscene rant by a Greek who was very upset about Macedonia, which amounted to a Hellenic nightmare since, as Tharik mentions, “I stood before a Disneyfied Hellenic fairground – though even Disney wouldn’t have got it this wrong.” Greeks are angry about the situation, claiming Macedonia to have originally been Greek. Alexander the Great, however, employed a great many Macedonians in his army, which probably added to the confusion. With 32% of the population being Muslim, there is a fair amount of Ottoman influence to counteract what can only be described as modern misdemeanors. The Sultan Murad Mosque is in a tourist-free area.

Albania followed. Some visitors speak of safety concerns, but Tharik Hussain, his wife, and two young daughters in tow were warmly welcomed and given all manner of assistance. In the deep south of the country lies Gjirokastër, which is designated “A Town Addicted to Prayer.” In Evliya ?elebi’s day, it was known as Egiri, and there had been at least fifteen mosques. It was where scholars of the Hadith came to train. In fact, it is the birthplace of the dictator Enver Hoxha who between 1944 and 1985 undertook to make Albania the first atheist state. Paradoxically, Hoxha’s father had been an imam. But Hoxha killed religion and all who dared oppose him in Albania in purge after purge of vicious excess. Together with some beautiful villages and sites of interest, including the capital, Tirana, a goodly amount of Albanian history was given in the following chapters.

Further reading may include Journals of a Landscape Painter in the Balkans – Edward Lear in Albania. A wonderful, almost poetic book by a sensitive artist about a 1848 tour. The paintings are lovely. Ottoman references abound in what in those times was known as Turkey in Europe. One can’t resist mentioning that Lear also wrote immortal verses for children, including the irresistible The Owl and the Pussycat.

What followed for Hussain, of course, was another border crossing and the Bay of Kotar in Montenegro. Here your correspondent is on familiar ground. We were astonished to find that the euro was the given currency. Apparently, a dispensation from Brussels had acknowledged the inevitable: that Montenegro would eventually be a member state of the EU, and that they needed a new currency following Yugoslavia’s splintering. But Montenegro is not just meant for tourists. 20% of the population is Muslim; there is reason enough for Hussain to visit. The capital, Podgorica, is related to have been little more than a provincial town in the 15th century when the Ottomans arrived. But Evliya notes the town was sufficiently important for the conquering sultan, Mehmet II, to build a fortress there. Together with a visit to the Osmanagic Mosque, Hussain’s indefatigable drive to see everything and, above all, to meet people, continued.

Then back to Bosnia and Herzegovina he went, visiting sites of interest both large and small. Not to be missed was Blagaj, about ten kilometers southwest of Mostar, and the traditional Dervish House. This Sufi brotherhood residence has been called the “the most peaceful place in Bosnia”—and it’s gorgeous, too. Mostar was visited on an extended tour of the country, ending in Sarajevo. There was again an extensive chapter about the city. Followed by a very useful glossary of terms.

With 338 pages of vividly related travel and religious history, the book also sparkles with some excellent color photographs. Who would have known that the Ottomans were so interesting? Tharik Hussain has reminded us that Muslims have long been in Europe. The book is wonderfully descriptive of a European Muslim presence, which has been there for centuries and has often been overlooked. It should be read by everyone, especially Muslims, interested in taking a vacation or study trip in the Balkans.

Considered as a World Heritage Site, Kilwa (or “Quiloa”) bears testimony to the rich heritage and flourishing Indian Ocean trade from the 13^th to the 16^th century. Kilwa Kisiwani and Songo Mnara are the islands with two port cities which lie about 300 kilometers south of Dar es Salam. These islands can only be accessed by boat. Today, they are marked by ruins; but the islands give a deep understanding of prosperity in Tanzania even before the island of Zanzibar lead the world in the clove trade.

In the 14^th and 15^th century, Kilwa Kisiwani, larger of the two islands, basked in glory and was considered one of the wealthiest Swahili city-states with the finest harbors in East Africa. Much of the trade in the Indian Ocean passed through this port city. Business prospered and its fame spread far and wide, attracting merchants and traders, and bringing caravans loaded with valuable commodities. Impressed buyers came from the Middle East, India, Persia, and Europe looking for gold. The world demand for gold soared and Kilwa had the supply controlling and dominating the gold trade. The years from 1300 to 1330 were an era of exceptional wealth. This was the only time where the rulers were known to have minted gold coins. Traders brought with them goods from India, the Persian Gulf, and China and exchanged from Kilwa’s bounty, thus there was a lot of trading commodities such as pearls, silver, ivory, perfumes, resins, cowrie shells, local cotton materials, tortoise shells, Rhinoceros horns, expensive Indian fabrics, Arabian crockery, Chinese porcelain, and Persian ceramics.

Sultan Al-Hasan bin Sulaiman, who ruled from 1310–1335, was a generous man known as the “Father of Gifts.” Ibn Battuta described the Sultan in his compilation called, al-Rihla or “The Travels” as follows:

When I arrived, the Sultan was Abu al-Muzaffar Hasan, surnamed Abu al-Mawahib (father of gifts) on account of his generosity. This Sultan is very humble: he sits and eats with beggars, and venerates holy men and descendants of the Prophet.

He also said the Sultan wore, “fabrics imported from Jerusalem and Egypt” [1].

It is said that there were nearly 99 mosques on Kilwa Kisiwani and the town was said to be built on pure marble. The Great Mosque was grandiose with its 16 domed and vaulted bays, and is believed to be the oldest standing mosque on the East African coast [2].

The Sultan built a magnificent Palace named Husni Kubwa, believed to be the only structure of such grand scale and complexity along the coast, like no other. There were about 100 rooms in the Palace. Many scholars visited this island, one of them was a fourteenth century Moroccan traveler known as Ibn Battuta, who left his hometown to complete the pilgrimage to Mecca and ended up journeying around the world for almost 30 years.

He visited Kilwa in 1331 and fell in love with the islands and its people and described Kilwa as “one of the most beautiful and well-constructed towns in the world… Its people … are for the most part religious and upright…” It is written that Ibn Battuta married one of the daughters of the Sultan, worked as a lawyer for the Sultan, and lived on the island for about 2 years.

The Portuguese were also impressed by the power of Kilwa. When they first set eyes on it, they were amazed at its splendor. Duarte Barbosa, the commercial agent visited Kilwa in 1512 and said, 

“When the King of Portugal discovered the island, the Moors of Sofala, Cuama, Angoche, and Mozambique were all under obedience to the King of Kilwa, who was a great King amongst them. And there is much gold in this town, because all the ships which go to Sofala touch at this island, both in going and coming back.” [3]

He also said,

“…a Moorish town with many fair houses of stone and mortar, with many windows after our fashion, very well laid out in streets, with many flat roofs and doors that are of wood, well carved with excellent joinery and in this town, was plenty of gold as no ships passed to or from Sofola without coming to this island. Of the people, most of whom are Moors and are clad in many rich garments of gold and silk and cotton with the women adorned with much gold and silver in chains and bracelets and many jeweled ear-rings in their ears.” (c1516)

Both European and Arab nations tried to conquer it, envying Kilwa’s power. Ruins of the majestic palaces, Persian designs, massive boulders and mosques are a legacy of its years of power and dominion. Inhabited by a few locals today, many tourists visit the island, to witness the place of great pride in the history of Tanzania.

References

1. African History: http://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-152
2. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/144
3. Karen Moon. 2005. Kilwa Kisiwani: Ancient Port City of the East African Coast.

In Xanadu: A Quest, William Dalrymple’s first book, is a work that amassed critical acclaim from the likes of Sir Alex Guinness (“The delightful, and funny, surprise mystery tour of the year”), and the doyen of modern travel literature Patrick Leigh Fermor (“…a most gifted book touched by the spirits of Kinglake, Robert Byron and Evelyn Waugh”), which must have made the twenty-two-year-old author’s head spin. It is by turns a very funny book. He changed his female traveling companion halfway but still managed to produce a work loaded with history and knowledge acquired when the author set off in the footsteps of Marco Polo from Jerusalem to the fabled city court of Kubla Khan in China. But those were early days and William Dalrymple has now become the chronicler of all things pertaining to the subcontinent of India, with doorstopper books to match. His Nine Lives is a personal favorite and amounts to research beyond the call of duty in which the writer sets off in search of the sacred in modern India. Again, marvelous writing as the author attaches himself to some of the adventurers within the life of the soul who have devoted their lives to extremes.

Music

After being made aware of World Music, we have been given a novel approach to Orientalism   through what has been termed “fusion.” Jan Garbarek is a Norwegian jazz musician who has felt an attraction to the music of the Orient. He is a saxophonist of great ability, an ability that that has enabled him to transcend common musical performance for he is able to assimilate the themes and rhythms of the East without seemingly imposing the conventions of the West. Any reader wishing to experience Garbarek’s music is advised to purchase the CD Madar, which has been released on the excellent German ECM label. Given that all musical appreciation is subjective, your correspondent suggests that this is currently the most exciting music on the planet. Grabarek plays tenor- and soprano saxophones on this recording, with Anouar Brahem from Tunis on the lute-like oud, supported admirably by the scintillating tabla of Ustad Shaukat Hussein from India. It is perfectly apparent that despite pessimistic and obviously conflicting academic views, East will meet West as sure as there exists any attraction between the sexes, and above all between musicians. Which medium could bring it about better than music, for some the highest of the arts?

For the general record-purchasing public the music of Asia more or less began with George Harrison who learned to play the sitar (“I started 15 years too late,” he said), and sang My Sweet Lord, his emotionally charged yearn for transcendence, with a brief intro on the instrument that beguiled everyone. The book that documents, in a fascinating way, all of the Asian music that revolutionized and widened the West’s appreciation of it is The Dawn of Indian Music in the West by Peter Lavezzoli, with an introduction by the master, Ravi Shankar. The author, himself a musician, tells of the violin virtuoso Yehudi Menuhin’s impassioned support of Indian classical music as early as 1955. Lavezzoli’s relentless research is a magnificent tribute and includes some fascinating and extensive in-depth interviews with classical, jazz and rock musicians who had willingly succumbed to the art of the raga. The interviews reveal that the rock musicians of the 1950s and ’60s were endowed with sensibilities that went beyond the norm and showed that they were not always interested in musical excitement based on a series of riffs and little else. David Crosby, who went on be a part of the successful Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young band, and Roger McGuinn of the Byrds, were both intelligent men who were at home with John Coltrane’s jazz and were also intrigued with the intricacies of Indian classical music. The sarod drone, the sitar’s first notes – like tin-foil blossoms cascading down – tinkles seductively to your ears. Then comes the pervasive backwash of delicate, reverberating sound the way an artist gives the foundation to a picture, followed by the pulsating ever-present sheets of sound. John Coltrane would have felt perfectly at home. The tabla player waits, resisting any urge to intrude until, there it is, the sudden opening, the sudden right moment, and with a decisive whack he was a part of it all. His insistent accents, punctuations, and singing taps made everything perfect. The sarod, the sitar and the tabla become instrumental friends. They literally hit a groove.

Lavezzoli’s book is a kaleidoscopic, dense appraisal for anyone with any interest in music of what can only be termed spiritual inspiration. This has to be the definitive work.

The Orientalists

Kristian Davies has produced a book of unsurpassed beauty. The Orientalists – Western Artists in Arabia, The Sahara, Persia & India is utterly irresistible. Published in 2005 and sold at an unbelievably reasonable $70, one will now need to consider spending around $200 for the cheapest on the market, then think in terms of $2,000 for a pristine copy. For anyone wishing to own great books, the outlay is worth it. There are 300 pages of text, and color plates in which to drench your eyes. We are not excused the debate around the theme that has raged for a while.

Orientalism has become the catchword for all that could be seen as negative. It is again, addressed here, that one finds the debate about blame apportioned to the West in respect of attitudes against all that is by definition “other.” On the one hand Mr. Davies rightly defends his position by presenting great works of art that are reason enough in themselves to make pointless all intellectual contention. One sides with Mr. Davies because – what the heck – who gives two figs for politics when one is confronted with such unsurpassed beauty? To be fair, however, one also reads something rather damning in The Brown Sahib (revisited) by Varindra Tarzie Vittachi in which he quotes from Lord Macaulay in 1835: “We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern, a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect.” The West has looked down on the East, but then humans apparently need something or someone to look down on for reasons best known to their own inner worlds. The argument that an excess of Oriental color and physical voluptuousness is not without reason, however, and one can be startled by what appears to be an exaggeration of physical prowess or physical beauty. Then something otherwise commonplace is seen. The tiles portrayed, quite rightly, in many Oriental pictures are here at a level of gorgeousness beyond comparison. The carpets are sublime, and the camels magnificently haughty. Kristian Davies has given us a dream made apparent with additional essays on Arthur Rimbaud, Jean-Louis Burckhardt, Sir Richard F. Burton, Jean-Léon Gérôme, JamesTissot and Jane Digby el-Mezrab. The color plates, which dazzle and delight are by such painters as Gustav Bauernfeind, and the American James Fairman, together with the British painter David Roberts, Eugène Delacroix, and many, many more.

In the “footnotes of Ibn Battuta”

Tim Mackintosh-Smith gives us Travels with a Tangerine: A Journey in the Footnotes of Ibn Battutah. The title may suggest a less than adept juggler, but a Tangerine meant here is a person from Tangiers. Mr. M-S (he abbreviates his hero throughout to IB) has a way with words and once underway is hardly stoppable when his pen doth riotous flow. His knowledge of all things Oriental will astonish, he is mind-bogglingly informed about God and the world and, of course, Ibn Battuta. Book two within his IB trilogy is The Hall of a Thousand Pillars, and it is here that M-S, faithfully follows IB’s journeys in India, which started in 1332. Book three is Landfalls: On the Edge of Islam from Zanzibar to the Alhambra. There is a free-for-all exposition of IB’s Islamic acquaintances and, again, M-S shows the depth of his own reading and research on the ground (try foot-slogging around India and you will know what that means). This is premier-league travel writing, which also makes Tim Mackintosh-Smith an Orientalist of note.

Istanbul

There have been many books written about the city of Constantine, but probably the most famous in modern times is Strolling Through Istanbul by Hilary Sumner-Boyd and John Freely. These two American expatriate academics produced a book, first published in 1972, that the Times of London reviewed as “the best travel guide to Istanbul.” This book is exhaustive in detail and is meant for people who will be obliged to walk the walk and have little breath remaining to talk. Chapter for chapter, day by day, each city landmark is given an itinerary, with maps, that will appeal to visitors who will definitely wish to go beyond the Grand Bazaar (your correspondent remembers it before the Coca-Cola machines), although it is also described, of course. The Haghia Sophia is given elucidation, as is Topkapi, and an endless series of museums, monuments, palaces, bazaars, markets, mosques, streets and alleys, schools of religion and, quite obviously, the ubiquitous public baths. History is writ large and architecture larger still. One of the wonders is the Şehzade mosque, also known as the Prince’s Palace, which was created by Süleyman the Magnificent to commemorate his son who died at the age of only 22. Determination and well-worn-in shoes are called for because the book urges one to go forth and inspect a further Süleyman edifice, the Süleymaniye mosque complex, considered by the authors to be the most important Ottoman building in Istanbul. The book continues to be a fascinating read and there is little, if anything, of the history of the city that has been left out. This book is highly recommended as a proper guide for visitors with both physical and intellectual stamina that will probably not inform one of a good restaurant, but will get you deeply immersed in the history of one of the world’s most fascinating cities.

Published in 2016 by the American University in Cairo Press, and edited by the Turkish novelist and essayist Kaya Genç, An Istanbul Anthology – Travel Writing through the Centuries comprises a selection of vignettes by famous men and women of letters. Mark Twain remains true to character with his sardonic wit, while André Gide and Gustav Flaubert are dismissive to an extreme. Ernest Hemingway is positively lyrical (“…the Golden Horn with its minarets rising out of it slim and clean towards the sun…”), and also included are brief extracts from the writings of Hans Christian Anderson, Herman Melville, and many more. Lady Hester Stanhope tells of her experiences in the Cağaloğlu hamam, after which she awakens hungry and refreshed. Gérard de Nerval describes a Dervish lodge at Pera. Théophile Gautier offers a knowledgeable introduction to Ramadan in the city. Twenty-four writers are here, some with more than one piece included. This delightful little book contains a number of beautiful illustrations of seemingly antique vintage.

Jerusalem

One of my favorite books is by the now demised but still celebrated author, Amos Oz. In his revealing In the Land of Israel the writer undertook a tour of the Holy Land in the 1980s to interview Jews and Arabs of all kinds. This amounts to worldly wisdom strictly according to the status quo. Amos Oz, however, was a peacenik and he included an interview with an elderly person who was quoted as saying, “This land belongs to nobody but God, when both the Arabs and the Israelis realize that there will be peace.” What is most evident is the view from the ground, of the ordinary people of all political or religious persuasions. We read of the internal worlds of those inhabiting a land in conflict. Israel exists in a state of cause and effect. In an interview that your correspondent had with the now demised Teddy Kollek, the mayor of Jerusalem for 28 years, he said, “I don’t think Jerusalem is worth the loss of a single life.” Amos Oz’s interviews end for the most part in expressions of bitter resolve or a sheer sense of helplessness. Above all else this book is as good as it gets when one wishes to become acquainted with the turmoil that is prevalent in the land of Israel. The writing is superb, pithy, factual, and embarrassingly honest.

And so to bed, and what better read than The Middle East Bedside Book to help one end the day with a contented smile or two. Edited by Tahir Shah, we find a selection of proverbs by Abdesalam Tunisi, who suggests that “too many captains sink the ship,” which obviously rings a culinary bell. There are extracts from The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan (sic) as well as A Thousand and One Nights. Among The Saying from the Prophet Mohammed is one example that will give pause for thought at the end of Ramadan: “How many who fast who know nothing of fasting except its thirst, and how many pray who know nothing of prayer but its sleeplessness.” Quite understandably Tahir has included some of the writings by his famous father, Idries Shah, who contributes a bantering essay about British expats in Bahrain. The writer on all things pertaining to Sufism actually offers less spiritual wisdom but all the more of his Travel Notes, which can be fully enjoyed in his book Destination Mecca. There are stories galore, each under their own title, such as Chivalry and Teachers, Customs and Social Habits, Rituals and Human Nature, Eating Customs among the Turks and Arabs (including several recipes), Wisdom and Honor, most of which are taken from early manuscripts. Under “behavior” we read from Ibn Amru: the Prophet said “The most beloved of mine among you is whoever has the best manners.” Suffice it to say, this book is a gem.

Addendum

A force to be reckoned with is Alfred Guillaume’s The Life of Muhammad – a translation of Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah. First published in Pakistan by the Oxford University Press in 1955, and now available in an edition of 1983, Guillaume’s work amounts to more than 800 pages of small print, which covers just about every aspect of the Prophet’s life. This work amounts to detail to the ultimate degree and should be on any serious Muslim’s bookshelf.

• The Orientalists – Part 1

ENIAC had cost around $500.000 and was capable of 5000 simple operations per second. Today, basic personal computers (PC) cost around $500 with enough processing power to perform millions of operations per second. An average PC is enough in terms of computing power for everyday use like word processing, checking emails, and computer games. However, some areas in scientific research require computers at the frontline of current processing capacity, called Super Computers. Twice a year, the TOP500 project, which started in 1993, ranks and publishes details of the 500 most powerful super computers in the world. The IBM Roadrunner, located at Los Alamos National Laboratory, was announced as the fastest supercomputer in the world as of May 2008.

In computing, “flop” (Floating Point Operations Per Second) is a measure of a computer’s performance which is similar to calculations per second. The IBM Roadrunner had cost $133 million and had a peak performance of 1.7 petaflops, which is around 1.7×1015 operations per second. The Roadrunner was delivered on 21 tractor-trailer trucks to its current location. Supercomputers are an essential component of research in areas like computational biology, fluid dynamics, structural mechanics and cancer research, which requires high computing power.

While computers get faster every year, their computing power is way behind when compared to a human brain. They consume hundreds of times more energy than a brain. It is estimated that a computer will be able to simulate a human brain in seven years, yet we are decades away from expecting a computer that can think like a human and make decisions. The brain is one of the most miraculous parts of the human body, full of mysteries. It works more efficiently than any machine developed in the last 50 years of the computer history.

However, the human brain is not the only body part which has an incredible computing power. In 1994, Leonard M. Adleman, a professor at the University of Southern California, introduced the idea of using DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) to solve computational problems [3]. This idea then led to a new field of science, called DNA Computing, which combines two disciplines, biology and computer science, to build the fastest and smallest computers ever. DNA is known as the blueprint of life, with unique properties such as self-assembly, molecular recognition, minute size and high information density.

Computationally challenging problems have known solutions, but enormous amounts of resources (time and/or cost) are required to find the optimum solution. Some problems, such as optimization, can be solved by generating many possible solutions, and then selecting the optimum one. Standard computing methods can generate or test a possible solution one at a time. On the other hand, parallel computing methods can carry out this process simultaneously for thousands of possible solutions.

Similarly, enzymes can work in parallel for replicating and repairing DNA strands. They can even work on the next strand before the first one is replicated. An enzyme can replicate a DNA strand 500 times in a second, which is equal to 0.001 MIPS (million instructions per second). The computations in DNA can reach to 1014 MIPS, while a modern computer runs at an average of 1000 MIPS. DNA computing is not only faster in processing, but also much more efficient in energy consumption. The energy consumption of a DNA operation (on one strand) is about 1010 times less than the energy consumption of an operation on modern computers.

The Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) is one of the most studied problems in computational mathematics. Here is an example of the problem: a traveling salesman needs to visit 20 cities once, with predefined starting and ending locations, and certain rules. The complexity of the TSP problems increases exponentially with the number of cities, so problems with only hundreds of cities will take thousands of years to solve by modern computers. If there are 18 factorial possible paths in this problem, it will take 2 whole years for a computer with 100 MIPS of processing power to generate the possible paths and find the correct answer. However, all possible paths can be generated in a very short time by using DNA computing. A simplified version of the Traveling Salesman problem presented by Adleman involves the following scenario:

A salesman wants to visit the cities (Figure 3) Monroe, Gainesville, and Conyers, starting from Athens, and arriving at Atlanta last. Each city should be visited only once. The cities are not fully connected. While some cities are connected to another in one direction, others are connected in both directions. Our objective is to find the shortest route to visit all cities once. The solution for this problem is a travel from Athens -> Gainesville -> Monroe -> Conyers -> Atlanta.

When we convert the problem to a molecular language, each city is coded as a single-stranded DNA molecule with 8 nucleotides. We can think of nucleotides as bytes in computer programming, which will take the value 0 or 1. Nucleotides exist as four bases: adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G) and cytosine (C). All cities are coded with eight nucleotides as follows:

City Code

Athens ATGC CATG

Gainesville TCAG GTCA

Monroe GACT TGAC

Conyers CGTA ACGT

Atlanta AGCT TAGC

Connections between two cities are coded with the last 4 nucleotides of the departure city and the first 4 nucleotides of the arrival city. For example, the connection between Athens (ATGCCATG) and Monroe (GACTTGAC) is coded as CATGGACT. The complementary codes for connections (the Watson-Crick complements), where every C is replaced by a G, every G by a C, every A by a T, and every T by an A, and connection codes are given below:

Connection Code Complementary Code

Athens – Gainesville CATG TCAG GTAC AGTC

Athens – Monroe CATG GACT GTAC CTGA

Gainesville – Atlanta GTCA AGCT CAGT TCGA

Gainesville – Monroe GTCA GACT CAGT CTGA

Monroe – Conyers TGAC CGTA ACTG GCAT

Conyers – Atlanta ACGT AGCT TGCA TCGA

Conyers – Monroe ACGT GACT TGCA CTGA

The mixture for performing reactions will include DNA strands and their complements for 5 cities and 7 connections between cities in our example. If an Athens molecule (ATGC CATG) encounters the complement strand of an Athens-Monroe (GTAC CTGA) connection in the mixture, a hydrogen bond will be formed between strands (Figure 4). Other strands will continue forming bonds for valid connections between cities, building a complete travel path with the help of DNA ligase. There needs to be enough copies of each DNA strand to generate all possible travel paths.

ATGC – CATG

| | | |

GTAC – CTGA

Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) will be used to make multiple duplicates of DNA strands containing Athens (start) and Atlanta (end) cities. The result of PCR will be the amplification of correct travel from Athens to Atlanta, which makes it easy to separate. PCR is a method by which a few strands of DNA can be copied into millions in a very short amount of time. This also makes PCR a very important method to increase small amounts of DNA found in blood or hair samples, which could be enough to carry out analysis and reveal a person’s identity in forensic science.

Electrophoresis follows the PCR process to sort the resulting paths according to their sizes. Since every city is coded with 8 nucleotides, the correct path should include exactly 40 nucleotides representing a full path for 5 cities. The gel electrophoresis process uses an electric field to separate DNA strands by size as they travel through a gel matrix. The speed of DNA molecules differs by their size, which results in the sorting of the molecules by size. After this step, DNA strands starting with the code of Athens, ending with the code of Atlanta and with a size of 40 nucleotides are separated from the mixture.

The last step will be reading the code and removing the DNA strands that didn’t contain all the cities. Adleman used a common method known as affinity purification for the separation process. Finally, the mixture has the DNA strands with the correct travel path, starting from Athens and arriving to Atlanta, and traveling through every city once. All the laboratory work looks complex for this simple problem, but as a new concept for computing, it is revolutionary. In its ability to perform parallel computations, DNA computing shows great promise over traditional computing approaches.

Data density is another unique advantage of DNA. Billions of DNA strands can be stored in a regular laboratory tube. A DNA strand is composed of bases A, T, C and G spaced evenly, 0.35 nanometers apart from each other. The data density of DNA is around 106 GB (gigabytes) per square inch, which is 100,000 times larger than the data density of today’s storage technologies (7 GB per square inches). Moreover, DNA is a durable and strong molecule; the information stored within it can be kept for thousands of years in the right conditions. In 2008, 80% of the woolly mammoth genome, several thousand years old, has been identified from tufts of frozen woolly mammoth hair [4].

DNA is also created with remarkable mechanisms such as built-in error correction. The double stranded nature of DNA provides a double check on pairing. Error repairing enzymes are always ready to search for anomalies during the DNA replication process. It results ina ratio of one error per billion replications. DNA is located and protected at the center of each cell with a perfect balance. The miraculous architecture of DNA has waited for thousands of years to be understood by humans and be used for the benefit of the world. Further studies on DNA might open new opportunities to help researchers in solving technologically challenging problems.

Acknowledgment: This article was produced at MERGEOUS [5], an online article and project development service for authors and publishers dedicated to the advancement of technologies in the merging realms of science and religion.

Halil I. Demir is a postdoctoral scholar in the area of Informatics, and lives in Iowa.

References

[1] ENIAC, Image Credit: Wikimedia, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Eniac.jpg

[2] IBM Roadrunner, Image Credit: Wikimedia,

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Roadrunner_supercomputer_HiRes.jpg

[3] Leonard M. Adleman (1994-11-11). “Molecular Computation of Solutions to Combinatorial Problems.” Science, 266 (11): 1021–1024.

[4] Miller, W (et al). 2008. “Sequencing the nuclear genome of the extinct woolly mammoth”, November, Nature.

[5] Mergeous, http://www.mergeous.com

Driver Information

The most recent applications sought to complement the driver’s ability by targeting such “hands-off, feet-off” driving systems (Fig. 1) as PATH (Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways) and PROMETHEUS (Program for European Traffic with Highest Efficiency and Unprecedented Safety).

For transportation, IT generally can be classified into four groups: Driver Information and Route Guidance, Traffic Flow and Parking Control, Public Transport and Fleet Management, and Automatic Debiting. Only the first item will be discussed in this article.

Driver Information and Route Guidance

Driver Information (DI) and Route Guidance (RG) systems help drivers navigate unfamiliar roads or find the quickest route. The information, especially that given by more advanced systems, consists of advice that drivers can accept or ignore, or a directive with which they are expected to comply. DI and RG can help them reduce or curtail poor route choice as well as excess distance and travel times. The most likely information requested is shortest recommended path, state of the road and weather conditions, unexpected incidents ahead, and the general traffic situation (to estimate travel time).

Disseminating Information

Roadside displays, consisting of fixed road signs and variable message signs, are the simplest DI systems (Fig. 2). The relevant technology is quite basic, as the goal is to give all drivers general information about existing roadway conditions. Variable message signs are used mainly on highways. In urban areas, they are particularly well-suited for providing information about roadway conditions and parking lot availability.

The second method, cellular-radio networks such as the Radio Data System-Traffic Message Channel (RDS-TMC) proposed by the European Broadcasting Union, enable digital information to be superimposed on normal VHF/FM broadcasts. Information can be filtered (drivers call up only what they need and when they need it), updated any time, and broadcast in different languages.

Also, there is no need to lay cables, as is the case with beacon-based RG techniques.

The third (and most sophisticated) method is the electronic RG system, which consists of in-vehicle units, roadside equipment, and control centers (Fig. 3 ). It is usually difficult to start installing the ground infrastructure before ensuring the wide use of onboard systems. Onboard equipment for dynamic navigation comprises a transceiver, a router with a display, a locator with sensors, dead-reckoning devices, and a map memory. The usual indicators of route selection criterion are shorter distance, minimum cost, less traffic, fewer stops, and greater safety. The result of route optimization is the recommendation of how to reach a destination from a given starting point. This can be done by calculating the optimum route for an origin-destination, and by determining the turning directions from the vehicle’s route and position.

Some Examples in Use

CARIN (CAR Information and Navigation System) is an autonomous (static) navigation system used in route planning and guidance. A simplified digital map, stored on a CD, shows the best route. It also offers verbal guidance via a speech synthesizer and gives general tourist information. Other in-vehicle equipment consists of a sensor (magnetic compass) and a navigation computer that carries out the main task. Data collection, in terms of positioning and directing, is implemented by the moving vehicle’s sensors. This information, updated every 3 seconds, is used for map-matching.

The system’s basic advantage is that it does not rely on any external sources, like expensive beacon infrastructures. The route planner algorithm determines the best route for minimizing travel time and distance. However, as CARIN cannot receive current network and traffic situation reports, it is being modernized so that it can receive external information via the car radio with the introduction of RDS-TMC. Moreover, in the future CARIN will offer a fully interactive traffic management opportunity using the European D-net telephone system.

TrafficMaster was one of the first in-vehicle information systems introduced. It was applied first to the M25 London orbital highway, and then to the whole UK highway network. Data is obtained through sensors installed on highway bridges. In case of congestion, messages (such as locations and types of traffic jams and average traffic speed) are generated and transmitted by the control center. The in-vehicle unit displays the current status of the roadway network covered by the sensors. This dissemination is performed minute-by-minute. enabling the driver to make convenient route choices.

In Euro-Scout, the driver enters a destination into a small in-vehicle computer. As the vehicle moves, the in-vehicle navigation equipment determines its position. Whenever it passes a beacon, the user receives the best route, generated by the central computer, for all destinations.

Communication is performed through a two-way infrared link. Beacons located next to the signal heads can use existing cables when they are mounted with traffic lights. Guided vehicles can measure link travel times, which are then returned to the central computer via the beacons in a so-called vehicle telegram. This information is updated continually by the center. The system, therefore, is characterized by its centralized feature: The main data process is carried out in the control office rather than in-vehicle units.

The system has been introduced in Stuttgart by installing 130 beacon heads on traffic lights. A second system of 340 beacons is located in Berlin, and a third one is in Oakland county, Michigan, with 100 beacons and 1,000 equipped vehicles. Start-up costs are high, but in-vehicle equipment costs and the cost of increasing users are low.

In comparison, SOCRATES’ start-up costs are much lower, while the costs of equipping each vehicle and adding additional users are high. This system does have some weak points, though:

The routing algorithm does not take multi-destination users into account, the system is heavily dependent of roadside infrastructure, and a breakdown in the center may cause a system-wide failure.

SOCRATES (System Of Cellular RAdio for Traffic Efficiency and Safety), a two-way communication system, is based on the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) cellular radio network. SOCRATES measures the travel times of all guided vehicles from point to point, and uses this information to determine the best routes. In-vehicle units, an odometer, a compass for dead reckoning, and a map pass information to and from roadside units, which are connected to the central computer over telephone lines that allow medium-range communication.

The downlink from the base station to the vehicle is operated in a broadcast mode for disseminating traffic information. The uplink to the base station allows multiple access by floating cars in order to collect travel time patterns. The system’s main disadvantage is the cost of using the mobile phone network. However, a significant benefit is that using the cellular radio requires no additional infrastructure investment because of the introduction of GSM.

The Need for Such Systems

Transport enables socioeconomic relationships to be developed and sustained. This is clear in the continuous dependence on various means of transport to move goods and people. Neglecting transport would bring society to standstill, literally and metaphorically. The introduction of the car put personal transport on the top and increased the need for more roads. The greater the demand for individual mobility, and hence roads, the more complex road transport problems become.

The number of cars per mile of road grows daily. At the same time, lack of space, budgetary priorities, and environmental considerations restrict the extent to which new road construction and increased capacity can be undertaken. But people still want to travel as smoothly as possible.

Therefore, the central idea is that traffic information and communication systems will offer effective solutions-especially where physical changes to the existing infrastructure, such as constructing new links or widening roads, are almost impossible. Closer following distances between intelligent vehicles on automated highways will eventually increase road network capacity.

The Advantages of RG Systems

The main appeal of dynamic RC systems is their ability to recommend paths based on current traffic conditions. Recent research and systems development have focused mainly on dynamic RC systems, which are superior to static systems. Dynamic RC is particularly well-suited for tackling urban congestion, and has advantages over other technological measures, such as vehicle-actuated traffic signals or a system of dynamically updated VMS.

Drivers normally reach their destination by following a route based on previous experience, maps, street signs, and radio traffic bulletins. However, studies show that drivers are unable to select the shortest route, leading to some 6 to 8 percent errors. Preventing this by even static RG could save millions of dollars per year. Driver misperceptions, due to the absence or scanty amount of information about travel time and alternative routes, as well as about specific route incidents, lead to delay and wasted mileage. In Orlando, tourists driving RC-equipped vehicles made 30 percent fewer wrong turns and shortened their travel times by 20 percent, compared to drivers who used paper maps.

Research indicates that applying dynamic RG systems shows great potential for improving travel times, safety, and environmental effects. This is based on the assumption that more drivers will opt to use the services. Other benefits could include satisfaction derived from choosing the best route and being better informed, reduction in the total distance travelled, and incident detection and warning. The real benefit will depend largely on the quality of information provided. With more computing power becoming available and increased technological advancement, more high-quality information is available to drivers.

RG not only guides vehicles through unfamiliar areas, but also increases roadway safety. For example, research indicates that 60 percent of crashes at intersections, and about 30 percent of head-on collisions, could be avoided if drivers had an additional half-second to react. Systems like automatic collision notification (not readily available yet) immediately signal for help if a vehicle’s airbag deploys. In addition, drowsy-driver warning systems keep drivers from falling asleep at the wheel.

The Shape of Things To Come

The discussion so far has focused on the present state of intelligent transport systems. In-vehicle information systems provide information on road conditions and offer advice. They also can provide information about a city’s hotels, catering, theater, cinemas, and even the entire yellow pages. In-vehicle systems can function as hand-held car locators, whether in a busy parking lot or in the remote countryside.

The future of such systems already is taking shape. Dual-purpose and hand-held in-vehicle systems can be used as personal security guards that send a discrete message to a control center when a user is in danger. They could sound an alarm to scare off potential attackers and draw attention to oneself. They also could be built into a car’s security system to prevent theft and send messages in case of an accident.

Hands-free cars are being developed to navigate the road network by the use of a button relying on in-built computers. In addition, car prototypes are being developed that do not require roads-they will fly from origin to destination. All of these require intelligent navigation through a combination of computing and communication. The merging of computing and communication is the bedrock of a revolution to unify all technologies. Journeying intelligently will be at the forefront of this revolution.

Conclusion

Applying these systems, both vehicle- or network-based, depend heavily on the society’s living standards and the country’s economic level of development. Variable message signs and TMCs are the most convenient systems for developing countries, due to their simplicity and cheapness. A typical variable message sign only costs about $200,000, while more sophisticated systems requiring computer centers, roadside equipment like beacons and in-vehicle units, are more expensive. However, in cities with high traffic levels, authorities may consider establishing electronic navigation and information systems with the cooperation of private investors and vehicle manufacturers.

People tomorrow will be more mobile than ever. To provide better transportation systems for the twenty-first century requires the integration of people, vehicles, and network, as well as the improved safety and efficiency of transport systems. Therefore, dynamic DI systems should be able to offer improved mobility for travelers, reduced travel times and operation costs, reduced transportation infrastructure costs, improved highway safety, and reduced transportation energy consumption, transport-generated pollution, and noise.

References

• Barco Visual Systems. Traffic Technology International ‘98 (Feb/ March 1998): 18.
• Benz, D. “PROMETHEUS.” High Tech Report (April 1994).
• Catling, I. “SOCRATES.” Advanced Technology for Road Transport: IVHS and ATT. Ed. I. Catling. Boston: Artech House, 1994, 65-78.
• Georg, L. and F. Steinkohl. “Driver Assistance Concepts and Systems.” Traffic Technology International ‘98 (Oct-Nov. 1997): 66
• Hypower Inc. Traffic Technology International December ‘97 – January ‘98 (1997): 10.
• Intellimotion. Research Updates in Intelligent Transportation Systems. 6(4), (1997): 1.
• Jeffery, D. “Route Guidance and In-Vehicle Information Systems.” Information Technology Applications in Transport. Eds. P. Bonsall and M. C. H. Bell. Utrecht, The Netherlands, 1986, 319-51.
• Kontron Elektronik. Traffic Technology International ‘98 (Annual Review 1998): 232.
• Little, C. “The Intelligent Vehicle Initiative.” Public Roads (Sept.- Oct. 1997): 18-25.
• Siemens. The Power of Integration; Traffic Management; Driver Information. France: Siemens Automotive S.A., 1994.

See what is written in these luminous missives of Wisdom:

They are all delivering together this beneficient discourse:

“Each of us is a radiant proof

for the majestic sovereignty of an All-Powerful One of glory.

We bear witness to the existence of the Maker

and also to His Unity and Power.

We are His subtle miracles gilding the face of the skies,

for the angels to make excursions on.

We are the innumerable discerning eyes of the heavens Directed to Paradise, and overseeing the earth.

We are the exquisite fruits

Attached to the heavenly branch of the tree of creation;

And to the twigs of the Milky Way, attached by

The hand of wisdom of the Majestic, All-Gracious Being.

For the inhabitants of the heavens, we are travelling mosques,

revolving houses and exalted homes, light-diffusing lamps, mighty ships, planes.

We are miracles of the Power of the All-Powerful One of Perfection, the All-Wise One off Majesty;

each of us is a wonder of His creative art, a rarity of His Wisdom, a marvel of His creation, a world of light.

To the man who is truly human,

We present hundreds of thousands of proofs in hundreds of thousands of tongues;

The eye of the atheist, may it be blind, never sees our faces,

nor do his ears hear our speech; we are signs that speak the truth.

On us is the same stamp and seal.

We obey our Lord and glorify Him, and mention Him in worship.

We are ecstatic lovers in the widest circle of the Milky Way, the circle reciting our Lord’s Names.

(Said Nursi, The Words I, pp. 293-4.) 

V. Tunniclife was quoted in The Fountain, Jan. Mar. 1996, No 13, p.36:

All life requires energy, nearly all life on earth looks to the sun as the source. But solar energy not the only kind of energy available on the earth. Consider the energy that drives the movement and eruption of the planet’s crust. When you look at an active volcano, you are witnessing the escape of heat that has been produced by radioactive decay in the earth’s interior and is finally reaching the surface. Why should there not be biological communities associated with the same nuclear energy that moves continents and makes mountains? And why could not whole communities be fuelled by chemical, rather than, solar energy?

Most of us associate the escape of heat from the interior of the earth with violent events and unstable physical conditions, with extreme high temperatures and the release of toxic gasses-circumstances that are hardly conducive to life.

The notion that biological communities might spring up in a geologically active environment seemed fantastic. And until recently, few organisms were known to survive without a direct or indirect way to tap the sun’s energy. But such communities do exist, and they represent one of the most startling discoveries of 20th-century biology. They live in the deep ocean, under conditions that are both severe and variable.

This ‘startling’ discovery of modern biology contains clues to some other realities, which sciences should consider. The Qur’an declares:

Surely, We have adorned the world’s heaven with lamps, and We have made them missiles for the devils. (al-Mulk, 67.5)

The ‘startling’ discovery of biology suggests that just as the earth does, the heavens should also have inhabitants of their own. Indeed, reality also requires it to be so, for, as Said Nursi writes (The Words 1, Izmir 1997, pp. 233-42), despite its small size and relative insignificance, the earth being alternately emptied and filled with living and conscious beings suggests-rather, it shows evidently-that the heavens too, which have magnificent constellations and are like decorated palaces, must also be filled with conscious and percipient beings. For the Creator has embellished and ornamented the universe with innumerable decorations, beauties, and inscriptions, and this evidently requires the existence of contemplative and appreciative eyes that will observe and be delighted. Certainly, beauty requires a lover, and food is given to the hungry. Men and jinn are able to perform only a millionth of this boundless duty, this glorious viewing, and this comprehensive worship. This means that countless sorts of angels and spirit beings are necessary to perform these infinite and diverse duties and acts of worship.

The Creator Who continuously creates subtle life and enlightened, percipient beings from dense earth and turbid water, must certainly have created conscious beings from light and even from darkness which are worthier to have a higher life and spirit, and created them in great abundance. In the language of Islam, those inhabitants of various kinds are called angels.

The earth and the heavens are connected to each other like two countries under one government. There are important relations and transactions between them. Things necessary for the earth like light, heat, blessings, and forms of mercy like rain, come, rather, are being sent, from the sky. Also, as unanimously confirmed by all the heavenly religions, which are founded on Revelation, and as is agreed upon by all the saintly scholars who unveil the secret truths of creation on the basis of what they have witnessed, the angels and spirit beings descend to the earth from the heavens. From this, it may be concluded almost as certainly as if it were directly sensed that for the inhabitants of the earth there is a way to ascend to the heavens.

Indeed, everyone can always travel to the heavens through his mind, vision and imagination. So too, freed from or purified of the gross heaviness of their carnal and material being, the spirits of the Prophets and saints travel there by God’s leave, and the spirits of the ordinary people do so after their death. Since those who are lightened’ and have acquired ‘subtlety’ and spiritual refinement travel there, for sure, certain inhabitants of the earth and the air who are clothed in an ‘ideal’ body or energetic envelope or immaterial form, and are light and subtle like spirits, may go to the heavens. Since there is journeying between the earth and the heavens, and important necessities for the earth are sent from the heavens; and since pure spirits travel to the heavens, for sure, imitating the pure spirits, the evil spirits too will attempt to travel to the heavenly abode. For, physically, they are light and subtle. However, they will certainly be repulsed and repelled, for by nature they are evil and unclean. Again, as the silence and tranquillity, the order and serene regularity of the heavens, and their vastness and radiance, show, their inhabitants are not like those of the earth; they are all obedient to God and do whatever He commands them.There is nothing to cause quarrels or disputes among them because they are innocent, their realm is vast, their nature is pure, and their stations are fixed. So, when devils or evil spirit beings attempt to ascend the heavens, the pure inhabitants of the heavens are mobilized to repel them from the heavens.

Without doubt, there must be a sign or reflection in the visible, material world of this important interaction and contest. For the wisdom of the sovereignty of Divine Lordship requires that the Lord should put a sign, an indication, for conscious beings, particularly for man, whose most important duty is witnessing, supervising, and acting as a herald to, His significant disposals in the realm of the Unseen. This is just as He has made rain a sign for men to explain, in physical terms, His countless miracles in spring, and also made apparent (natural) causes the pointers to the wonders of His art, so that He may call the inhabitants of the visible, material world to witness them, indeed to attract the attentive gaze of all the inhabitants of the vast heavens and the earth to that amazing exhibition. That is, He displays the vast heavens as a castle or city arrayed with towers on which sentries are posted, so that those inhabitants of the heavens and earth may reflect on the majesty of His Lordship.

Since wisdom requires the announcement of this elevated contest, there will surely be a sign for it. However, other than some stars being used as ‘missiles’ against the devils, no event among those of the atmosphere and heavens seems to be appropriate to this announcement. For it is evident how suitable for the repulsion of the devils are these stellar events, which resemble missiles and signal rockets fired from the formidable bastions of high castles. Further, unlike other events taking place in the heavens, no other function is known for such stellar events. In addition, this function has been known widely since the time of Adam, and witnessed by those who know the reality of things and events.

Like angels and other creatures, stars also have many different varieties. Some are extremely small, and some are extremely large. Everything that shines in the sky can be called a star. One sort of stars the Majestic Creator, the Gracious Maker, has created as a sort of jewels on the face of the sky or like the shining fruits of a vast tree. He has also made them the places of excursion or mounts or dwelling-places for His angels. He has made one sort of small stars missiles to drive off devils and kill them. Thus, firing these shooting stars to repulse devils may have three meanings:

The first: It is a sign that the law of contest is in force also in the most vast sphere of existence.

The second: It indicates that in the heavens there are watchful guards and obedient inhabitants, Divine forces, who do not like the earthly evil-doers to mix with and eavesdrop on them.

The third: The spying satans, who are the representatives of the foulness and wickedness on the earth, attempt to soil the clean and pure realm of the heavens inhabited by pure beings, and spy on the talk of their inhabitants in the name of evil spirits [unbelieving jinn and their human companions trying to mislead people especially through sorcery, mediumship and soothsaying]. Shooting stars are fired to prevent them and repulse them from the doors of the heavens.

The Perseid meteor shower observed in almost every year suggests that those meteors are shot for certain, important purposes. For they surprise observers by showing great diversity. The observations made as recently as 1993, demonstrate that the structure of the shower is yet poorly known.

According to information given by the International Meteor Organization about the events of the 1993 shower (Astronomy, October 1993), the first results posted for the night of 11/12 August came from Japan. Up to 20:30 (all times UT), 11 August, the meteor rates were found to be normal. A zenithal hourly rate (ZHR) of 40 meteors per hour (m/h) was tentatively assigned to the shower at this time.

Preliminary data from European observers indicated that the rates had gradually increased to ZHR of order 100 m/h between 20:00, 11 August and 01:00, 12 August. Observers in France reported a noticeable increase in rates after 00:30, 12 August, with the rate being about twice that of ‘normal’. The rates continued to climb between 01:00 and 03:00. A preliminary ZHR of 200 50 was ascribed to this period. The rates appeared to reach a maximum between 03:00 and 03:30. The ZHR at maximum was estimated to be of the order of 500. Observations from the Canary Islands indicated that the rates began to decline after 04:00.

Higher than normal rates were also reported from many observers in the United States and Japan. As commented by Martin Beech in Astronomy, p.11, the results clearly indicated that the shower did not behave as predicted. Speculation about a possible meteor storm proved incorrect. Another unexpected feature in 1993 was the high number of bright fireballs observed. Observers reported something like five times the normal level of Perseid fireballs on the night of 11/12 August The Perseid shower once again demonstrated how difficult it is to predict meteor shower activity.

A. Cressy Morrison (Man Does Not Stand Alone, New York, 1945, p.100) mentions, as a typical human characteristic, the reluctance to give up fixed ideas, the stubborn resistance to accepting unfamiliar truths. The early Greeks knew the earth was a sphere, but it took two thousand years to convince men that this fact is true. New ideas encounter opposition, ridicule and abuse, but truth survives and is verified. Neither scientific studies nor developments in science can offer any excuse not to accept God. What we observe in nature and what we obtain from it must encourage us to know Him more closely and see the strong bridge between science and religion, the world and the Hereafter, and between the reason and the spirit.

You would indeed have a lot to calculate before taking off: What is the most economical flight speed of your aircraft, and how does it vary with winds, flight altitude, and the extra weight of fuel reserves? Perhaps the gliding performance of your aircraft is good enough to permit you to travel some distances by soaring in up- draughts, with the engine off. It may even be economical to make detours in order to stay over regions with strong up-draughts. Would it be favourable to bring along large fuel reserves and fly non-stop for long distances without refuelling, or to travel by numerous short flights, saving transport costs for extra fuel? To solve that problem, you have to know about possible refuelling stations along your route, about petrol prices, landing fees, and the time delay you will face by landing at a particular site.

Which is the optimal route to your destination? Perhaps it pays to follow the Great Circle, or should you make a detour where you can benefit from favourable winds? Of course, you will fly only on days when the weather is as favourable as possible, but which is the best weather? And how can you know which weather condition is most favourable for you? What flight altitude will you prefer under different weather conditions? You must also consider whether and how you will compensate for wind drift, when to fly low along coast-lines and other leading-lines to gain protection from the wind and avoid drift, and how to exploit the winds at high altitudes. And you must also take into account many unpredictable situations that you will face. There are lots of questions and you would spend a long time looking up facts and making calculations before you could arrive at a reasonable strategy for your flight.

Your situation is analogous to that of migrating birds. The migratory strategy of birds, a harmonious mixture of rigid and flexible behaviour to achieve a safe and economical journey which can be affected by a bewildering number of factors, is an astonishing feat – where do they get the skills and capabilities to accomplish it?

There are many animals, not only birds, which migrate on a regular basis. Some examples: Bull elephant seals travel 21,000 km (over 12,000 miles) each year, from California to the Gulf of Alaska, the longest migration of any mammal. Millions of monarch butterflies fly 2,000-3,000 km from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Grey whales swim 10,000 km from the Arctic Ocean to California and Mexico. In Bracken Cave in Texas 20 million free-tailed bats assemble every summer. All are female. They leave their mates 1500 km to the south in Mexico to come here to give birth to their young. Herring migrate annually and cover over 3,000 km. The bison, the wildebeest, the sockeye salmon, the eel are also known to migrate long distances. But here we will consider the migration of birds – one of the most impressive feats in animal behaviour- across thousands of kilometres of ecological barriers, like oceans, mountains and deserts.

Birds store fat for use as fuel during their migratory flights. They start to do so well before migration starts. Stored fat is the most economical type of fuel in terms of high oxidizing energy per unit mass. Once the animal is in the right condition to migrate, it may need some further environmental cues to initiate the actual migratory movement. A bird may wait for the right weather conditions or at least the disappearance of the wrong ones, such as fog or very strong winds.

In order to locate its goal at a different position on the earth’s surface, an animal must possess certain sensory systems and have certain decision-making programmes in its behaviour. The ability to take up a particular direction with respect to some feature or property of the environment is called orientation’. The orienting animal is rather like a man who possesses a compass and an instruction to proceed in some particular direction. Animals may orient with respect to objects on the earth’s surface, to the sun, to the stars, to the earth’s magnetic field, to the directions of current flow and so on. Further, they may use more than one of these environmental sources of information at any one time, and may use different ones at different times.

Birds may use continuous flapping flight or soaring flight. Migration of soaring birds attracts much attention among bird-watchers because of spectacular concentrations of these migrants at passages with favourable soaring conditions. The migrants make long detours to avoid having to use flapping flight over the sea, and the sites most famous for soaring bird migration in Europe, Falsterbo, Gibraltar and the Bosphorus, are situated at minimal sea crossings. Migrants’ coasting behaviour probably is part of their ‘strategy’ to exploit winds and conserve energy at the same time. Coastal migration occurs mainly under opposed and cross-winds, while migrants usually fly across the coast and depart over the open sea with following winds. Due to differences in friction, winds generally are stronger over the sea than over land. Migrants minimize the headwind force by following the coast, where they can use local topography and vegetation to gain additional protection from the wind. Furthermore, over the sea they will be exposed to wind drift, and under certain cross-winds it is beneficial to follow a coastline, some distance in the direction of their goal, rather than to take a direct route over the sea.

Some birds travel by numerous short flights, each of about three to ten hours duration. Many species depart either by day or by night, whenever weather becomes favourable. Flying with a small load of fat is advantageous, since the labour costs for carrying the extra fat can be high. However, there are also drawbacks involved in migrating by numerous short flights: the birds have to refuel often and find suitable resting sites on their route.

Some species undertake enormous non-stop flights. A regular migration route from North to South America directly over the Western Atlantic Ocean, a distance between 3,000-4,000 km, is used by many species. Just to mention some examples of long, nonstop flights over oceans other than the Atlantic: there are some geese that fly almost 4,000 km across the Pacific Ocean from the Alaska Peninsula to the South Californian coast; two species of New Zealand cuckoos fly about 3,500 km to the Solomon and Samoa islands; passerines, bee-eaters and Amur falcons travel almost 3,000 km of the Indian Ocean between India and East Africa.

Many migrants fly between Europe and Africa across the Mediterranean Sea and the Sahara desert in one single non-stop flight, lasting at least 40 hours in the autumn, when winds are generally favourable, and 60 hours in spring when they are less favourable.

Honey buzzards migrate by cross-country soaring over a distance of 7000 km from Europe to tropical Africa without refuelling. Common buzzards cover a distance of 10000 km between East Europe/West Siberia and South Africa by soaring migration. Many young Manx shear waders, in their autumn flight from Britain to Brazil, cover almost 0,000 km without refuelling. Various water species wintering in South Africa cover the total distance to their high Arctic Eurasian breeding grounds, about 13,000 km, in four or so long flights.

Arctic terns are transglobal travellers on a scale unequalled by any other migrant. Some annually commute between the Northern and Southern pack ice, crossing the equator twice. The round trip must be at least 40,000 km (25,000 miles).

Low temperatures seem not to prevent birds from migrating at high altitudes, The highest migrants over Puerto Rico experience temperatures of about –12 C, and over Switzerland migration is perfectly regular at altitudes with temperatures around -IC to -15 C. In fact, the birds’ capacity to fly under conditions of low temperature and low oxygen pressure is so great as to be hardly credible: On 9 December 1967, a radar controller in Northern Ireland reported an echo at high altitude moving south over the Hebrides. The radar height finder indicated an altitude between 8,000 and 8,500 m. The pilot of an aircraft in the vicinity was asked by radio to make a course deviation to pass near the position of the echo. In doing so, the pilot reported a flock of about 30 swans at just over 8,200 m. The observation probably refers to whopper swans, which are known to migrate, sometimes in the middle of the winter; from Iceland to Britain. At 8,200 m, the temperature was -48 C and very strong northerly tailwinds blew at this altitude.

Although, according to some radar studies, probably 90% of birds travel below 2,000 m, two small flocks close behind each other of curlew-like birds were observed at I 0,000 m above sea level.

These observations, indeed, are extraordinary. One wonders, are such enormous flight altitudes merely exceptional or do some birds regularly migrate that high?

We tend to think of events which happen regularly, as ‘normal’ or ‘ordinary’. But are they really? Very often, we do not realize the dimensions of the events. Hundreds of millions of birds migrate from one place to another. Tens of thousands of birds start to fly together. They fly very long distances together and land and feed together. Many of them have never flown that long, nor been to those places. But still they are able to fight against all the odds and finish their journey How do they know when to start? How do they recognize the landscape? How do they decide which route to take? How do they find their way to their destination? How do they know where they can find food? How come so many birds can act together? How and when did they learn to use the sun and other stars, or the earth’s magnetic field, for navigation? How did they acquire the necessary means in the first place?

There are numerous such questions to ask and very often, it is not easy to find the right answers. When the other migrating animals are taken into account, the questions get more complicated and more challenging Hundreds of millions of animals migrate twice a year covering thousands of kilometres. We must ask questions which start with how and why and not take ‘ordinary’ events for granted.

Hostility to Islam and Muslims was an integral part of most of the travellers’ mental makeup. David Roberts, a painter of the idealized landscapes of classical ruins, expresses his frustration in a dislike and hatred of Arabs whose forms litter the otherwise perfect scene: ‘Splendid cities, once teeming with a busy population and embellished …with temples, now deserted and lonely, or reduced by mismanagement and the barbarism of the Muslim creed to a state as savage as wild animals by which they are surrounded. Often have I gazed on them till my heart actually sickened within me.’1

As ‘the idea of travel as a means of gathering and recording information is commonly found in societies that exercise a high degree of political power, the traveler begins his journey with the strength of a nation or an empire sustaining him (albeit from a distance) militarily, economically, intellectually and, as is often the case, spiritually…’2

In 19th century travel accounts, the more routine designation of the Orient is feminine; its main symbols are sensual women, the harem, and the despotic -but curiously attractive- ruler. Moreover, Oriental women, like Victorian housewives, were confined to silence and to unlimited service. The English woman traveller, Miss Irby, who travelled throughout the Ottoman regions, defines the proper place of the oriental women:

‘To the Musulman, a woman was an inferior being, a chattel, to be bought and sold, kept secluded behind the screens of the women’s quarters, or, if produced in public, to be hidden behind the draperies of the litter, or muffled and secreted in long shapeless robes, face covered by the veil; the property of the man as was his dog, his servant, his horse, to wait on his pleasure, to sleep at his feet; yet withal, if the husband be rich, to be cossetted and adorned with jewels and fed with sweetmeats, to spend days in idleness and chatter.’3

In various 19th century Oriental books and tales like Vathek, the Giaour and Don Juan (especially Cantos 5-8) which are more or less fixated on the images of the Oriental harem, the figure of the veiled Eastern girl symbolising the colonial Other is created by a narrative structure in which a male subject’s attempts to liberate a female object from the tyranny of the harem is interrupted or arrested by a stereotypical patriarchal aggressor who prevents the achievement of narrative desire in the possession of the woman. In other words, the Orient is thus refigured as the harem fantasy of European imperialism that shows ‘the East’ as the obscure object of Western desire. The narrative structure of Vathek designates the Orient as a feminized place invaded by the masculine subject.

Reza Hammani and Martina Rieker criticize Ghoussoub’s Marxist approach which deprecates Islam as not good for women. However, they agree that Middle Eastern feminism is vitiated by its involvement in debates whose agenda was set in 19th century travel writing. They develop this idea further with the following explanation:

‘Two issues have dominated Western discourse about Middle Eastern women since the 19th century; the veil and the harem. The harem continues to be treated as a contemporary reality in popular mythology. Thus, Gloria Steiner cites freeing Saudi women from harems as one of her fantasies in her autobiography – we wish her luck in finding a harem in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, it is above all the veil which remains a central preoccupation… The veil is not always imposed; in many contemporary instances women have been instrumental in assuming it. This is not a matter of relativist interpretations but of power… In the case of women in Egypt since Sadat’s Open Door Policy, large numbers of working-class women have themselves mobilized to veil to signify their opposition to the regime.’4

Irene L. Szyliowicz remarks that historians and social scientists arc demonstrating that the traditional portrayal of women in these societies has been biased and based on Western judgements. European ethnocentrism and male chauvinism have combined to account for this phenomenon.5 As she thinks that French travel writer, Pierre Loti’s attitude toward Oriental women is particularly worth studying for several reasons, she points out in her Pierre Loti and the Oriental Woman (1988) that ‘since all the Oriental women essentially support and ratify their Occidental lovers, it is proper to conclude that Loti created these fictional characters as wish-fulfilment fantasies, to simultaneously reinforce and magnify his manhood.’6 When Loti made a speech titled ‘La Femme Turque’ (the Turkish Woman) before a large gathering of European women in the conference on ‘Feminine Life’, he concluded with a message: ‘Open the cages, open all the harems. Yet, don’t open them too quickly, for fear that the young, imprisoned birds should take a frantic flight before knowing properly where their inexperienced and fragile wings will take them.’7 According to Loti’s interpretation of Oriental women, which is quite similar to that of Byron, one might imagine that ‘they could be manipulated easily by their dominating masters, and further, this masculine paradigm presented these women, like their Occidental sisters as actually craving male domination.’8 Eventually, in the case of Oriental or exotic women created by Loti, the reader faces a different form; they are simple, primitive, dependent, often helpless, and they worship the hero as though he was God. ‘And despite the fact that he was still a product of his Occidental milieu and the prejudices with which he was raised, he prided himself on his objectivity toward various lands which he visited.’9

In sum, from the previously quoted remarks by 19th century travellers, it may be concluded that the most general point about travel literature (something also confirmed by Sir John Mandeville’s Travels) is that travel is undertaken for a great variety of purposes; the specific purpose involved in a given case is always, to a greater or lesser degree, determinant of what is noted or considered noteworthy. Consequently, the attention paid by the writer of a travel book is always ideological. A traveller usually comes from somewhere – from a country from a language community, class – and consciously writes the record of his journey for a particular public in the country he came from.10

Notes

1. As quoted in BALLANTINE, J. The Life of David Roberts, R.A. Compiled from his journals and other sources, Edinburgh, 1986, pp. 104-5.

2. KABBANI, R. Europe’s Myths of the Orient, Macmillan, London, 1986, p.1.

3. ANDERSON. D. Miss Irby and her Friends, Hutchinson, London, 1966, pp. 52-3.

4. HAMMANI, R. and RIEKER, M. ‘Feminst Orientalism and Orientalist Marxism’, New Left Review, 170, 1988, p. 93.

5. SZYLIOWICZ, I. L. Pierre Loti and the Oriental Woman, Macmillan, London, 1988, pp.1-3.

6. ibid.

7. ‘Et je dis avec eux, mais non sans inquietude: out ouvrez toutes les cages ouvrez tous les harems. Cependant ne les ouvrez pas trop vite, de peur que les jeunes piseaux prisonniers…’ P. Loti ‘La Femme Turque in Quelques aspect du vertige mondial, Ernest Flammarion, Paris, 1917, p. 182.

8. SZYLIOWICZ, p. 3.

9. ibid, p. 12.

10. PARKER, D. ‘Orientalism and its Problems’ in BOOLE, F. (ed.) The Politics of Theory, University of Essex, John Fletcher.