U is for...Unbelievable...and...Universities

is for

Diva no. 1 Unbelievable Umm Kulthum. And if you are an Arab and a Fairouz fan reading this, hang on before you strangle me, I am a Fairouz fan myself.  Speaking only chronologically, Umm Kulthum was born at least 30 years before Fairouz and the first megastar to rock the whole of the Arab world, therefore no. 1. Most Arabs I've come across are conflicted about these two top singers - Fairouz and Umm Kulthum, who is more important or more adored.

Umm Kulthum was an Egyptian singer, composer and film star. Her date of birth is uncertain, end of 19^th century or beginning of 20^th but she was the definitive 20^th century phenomenon in Arab music. Her voice was legendary, her technical skills utterly flawless, her concerts, broadcast on the radio from Cairo on the first Thursday of every month, brought entire cities to a standstill as people left everything else and tuned in. And her audiences stayed riveted for hours – she sang only a few songs, two or three, in a concert lasting typically for as many hours. Epic!

It’s rather difficult to translate ‘tarab’ from Arabic to English, the dictionary calls it rapture, ecstasy, and leaves it at that. Whatever 'tarab' might translate to, Umm Kulthum was capable of delivering it and held her audiences totally spellbound. When she died in 1975, millions of people poured into the streets in spontaneous mourning and waited for her cortege.  Her records continue to sell in the millions even today, more than forty years after her death.

Here is a short clip from one of her performances illustrating her hold over her audience:

And one of her very famous hour-long songs to bookmark for later, if you want to explore further:

Universities

The oldest, continuously operational universities are in the Arablands.  The first is the Karaouine University, in Fez, Morocco, established by a lady called Fatima al-Fihri in 859 CE.  The other is Al-Azhar University in Cairo, established in 970-972 CE by the Fatimid Caliphs.  These were both complexes which included large libraries along with mosques, where scholars gathered to discuss various issues.

Al Azhar Mosque on Al Azhar Street.  The start of the university. The
current campus has moved to a different location in New Cairo.

Al Azhar in particular remains the highest religious authority for Sunni Islam, and it has several thousand schools in Egypt affiliated to it. The attached library is recognised as the second most important collection after the National Library in Egypt. 

The library building at Karaouine has recently been extensively restored, and there’s a lab set up now to treat, moisture-proof, preserve and subsequently digitise the priceless collection of manuscripts.  The architect, another lady of Arab origins - Aziza Chaouni, a Canadian-Moroccan whose grandfather studied at this university, hopes it will become a part of the local residents’ lives.


Ubiquitous

Here is the eight point star, a motif that's present everywhere in Arablands or even Arab influenced lands.  It's made pretty simply, by placing one square over another the same size at half a right angle to each other. It's called Rub al Hizb in Arabic, Rub meaning 'four' or 'quarter' and Hizb meaning 'group.' The symbol existed before the advent of Islam, it was absorbed and made-over by the Arabs into an Islamic one.

The eight-point star on a lantern. Cairo, Egypt.

The eight-point star in the logo for the Metro. Maadi, Cairo.

The eight-pointer in a Moorish mosaic. Seville, Spain.

The central motif in a fountain basin in marble.
Wikala al Ghouri, 16th century, Islamic Cairo.

The 8-pointer etched on glass shutters of the main entrance
to the Beit al Quran (House of Quran) Museum. Bahrain.

The 8-point star motif in the floor of a prominent public building in
Mumbai, India. The cultural exchange between Arabs and India has
been deep and long standing, predating Islam by centuries, even
millennia.

The simple combination of two squares becoming the start of the most complex circular, radiating designs. The passion for stars translated into a pivotal motif present everywhere.  The Arabs have this unique talent for taking very simple lines and fashioning from them some amazingly sophisticated designs. Neat or what? 

Posted for the A-Z Challenge 2017