There is, of course, no historical evidence for Muhammad’s journey, and the story of it dates from the ninth century, two hundred years after he is supposed to have lived. However, because the story has Muhammad ascending to paradise from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem (although Jerusalem is not mentioned in the barebones, elliptical allusion […]
Turkey: Poems and Genocides
From December 7 to 17, Turkey celebrated the “Week of Mawlana,” marking the life and legacy of one of the world’s most popular poets. Jalal al-Din Rumi, also known as Mawlana, was a 13th-century Persian poet and mystic philosopher. Born in Balkh (now in Afghanistan), Rumi authored thousands of Persian language lines of poetry, sermons, […]