The Birth of the Ottoman Empire

Source: http://lostislamichistory.com/

According to the political philosophy of Ibn Khaldun, empires have lifespans like humans. They are born, grow, reach maturity, and then decline and die. Understanding the infancy of empires is crucial to understanding why an empire became powerful, and where it derives its strength from.

This article will look at the infancy of the Ottoman Empire. From a small Turkish state in Anatolia in the 1300s, the House of Osman ended up ruling a state that extended throughout Eastern Europe, Southwest Asia, and North Africa in the 1500s. The early period of the Ottoman State sowed the seeds for this great empire.

Subhana’llah: Yosemite National Park, California (IMAGES)

 Yosemite National Park is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in the central eastern portion of the U.S. state of California. The park, which is managed by the National Park Service, covers an area of 747,956 acres (3,026.87 km²) and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain. Over 3.7 million people visit Yosemite each year.

Palestinians “struggling for survival” in Jerusalem

Source: electronicintifada.net

Israeli occupation forces blocked Palestinian worshipers from accessing al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City of Jeruslem Friday

“The message the Israelis are sending is that Jerusalem Palestinians are unwanted here and they are doing everything to reassert their control and squash any form of dissent and resistance to Israeli policies of ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem,” Twitter user @BDS4Justice, orZalameh, told The Electronic Intifada from his home in the eastern occupied Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat on 29 October.

EASTERN TEXTS MEETING WESTERN QUILLS – THE FIRST ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE QURAN

By: Lubaaba Amatullah

Source: http://muslimmatters.org

When asking fellow Muslims about the first English Qur’an, the response is frequently a reference to the 1930 translation by Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall. Less frequently an excited voice speaks of the George Sale Qur’an of 1734. However, British Islamic – and Quranic – history extends long beyond that.

The first rendering of the Qur’an into a European Western language, Latin, was completed by the English scholar Robertus Retenensis. It was entitled ‘Lex Mahumet Pseudoprophete’ (‘The Law of Mahomet the False Prophet’) and was completed in 1143. The translation enjoyed popularity and wide circulation, later to become the main basis for further contemporary translations into Italian, German and Dutch.[1] Between 1480 and 1481, not long after the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453, the first bilingual translation into Latin, with accompanying Arabic, appeared composed by the Jewish convert to Christianity, Flavius Mithridates.[2] In 1647, Andrew Du Ryer produced the first French translation in Paris. This first translation directly from Arabic since the Middle Ages[3] was a marked improvement from those produced over the years since 1143.

 

Amazed Diver Swims With Mother Whale and Calf (Video)

 During a recent voyage along South America’s eastern coast, Justin Hofman was surprised to get close-up footage of an unfazed mother whale and her newborn calf.

Scores dead in China factory explosion

At least 68 people killed and more than 180 injured in blast at factory making car wheels in eastern Jiangsu province.

Source: http://www.aljazeera.com/

An explosion has killed 68 people and injured 187 at a Chinese factory that makes wheels for US carmakers, including General Motors, state media said.

The blast happened in Kunshan, a city in the eastern Jiangsu province, on Saturday morning.