This website hosts many examples of poetry from the jahiliyyah period to the present in an attempt to create a comprehensive diwan of Arabic poetry. Some poems have an audio component. Users can browse poetry by time period, by audio file, by author's name, or by custom search. The website is also in English and there are many poems that have been translated into English, although some poems that are on the website in English are not on the website in Arabic and vice versa. Users can submit poetry to the website via a submission system.

Al-Bab is a portal website designed to introduce non-Arabs to Arab culture by providing links to news sources, country profiles, articles, and a blog on Middle East current events. There are also specific links related to learning Arabic: dictionaries, language classes, textbooks, and other information pertaining to the study of Arabic. A free e-book, The Birth of Modern Yemen, is available for download.

This webpage provides elementary information on aspects of Arab culture and history, including religion, politics, naming conventions, and Persian influence on Arab culture and language. The information seems to have been authored by the site's administrator, and contains no references or citations.

The collection of Arabic papyrus, parchment, and paper at the J. Willard Marriott Library is the largest in the U.S. It contains several parchment pieces, 770 Arabic papyrus documents, and over 1,300 Arabic paper documents. The collection was compiled by Professor Atiya and his wife who purchased the collection over several years, largely from dealers in Egypt, Beirut, and London. Most of the collection originated in Egypt and the vast majority of the material is from 700 AD to the start of Ottoman rule. The collection is not yet cataloged.

The Bedouins of ancient Arabia and Persia made poetry a conversational art form. Several poetic forms developed from the participatory nature of tribal poetry. Today in most Arabic cultures, you may still experience public storytelling and spontaneous poetry challenges in the streets. The art of turning a rhyme into sly verbal sparring is considered a mark of intelligence and a badge of honor. Students will learn about the origins and structure of Arabic Poetry.

This paper speaks about Arabic and the problem of diglossia. In the paper, the author discusses the place of Arabic in the world of languages. The author also speaks about some of the aspects that make Arabic a difficult language to learn for speakers of Indo-European languages and discusses the problem of diglossia in modern Arabic. Ultimately, he makes a proposal on a possible way to teach Arabic that directly addresses the diglossia issue.

Cairo is the quintessential Islamic city. Founded in 634 at the strategic head of the Nile Delta, the city evolved from an Islamic military outpost to the seat of the ambitious Fatimid caliphate which flourished between the 10th and 12th century. Its most spectacular age, however, was the Mamluk period (1250-1517), when it became the uncontested center of a resurgent Islam and acquired an architectural character that symbolized the image of the Islamic city for centuries to come.
Cairo today still shines as a cultural and political center in its three spheres of influence: the Arab world, Africa, and the Islamic world. Moreover, many of its monuments (456 registered by the 1951 Survey of the Islamic Monuments of Cairo) still stand, although they remain largely unknown to the world’s architectural community and their numbers are dwindling at an exceedingly alarming pace.

The Art of Arabic Calligraphy is a collection of four articles by Mamoun Sakkal, a professional calligrapher. The site explains the history of the Arabic alphabet, the history of Arabic calligraphy, and presents articles on the two largest schools of Arabic calligraphy, Kufic and cursive. Articles are informative and succinct and are accompanied by helpful charts and illustrations. The first section demonstrates all the connected and unconnected forms of the Arabic letters in the most basic script.

The events of the Arab Spring, beginning in December 2010, saw renewed hope for Arab Civil Society. However, the fall of authoritarian regimes did not always seem to benefit Civil Society – whilst Political Islamic movements often took advantage. In Syria, Iraq, and beyond, groups like the Islamic State are declaring Caliphates in the territories they seize in an attempt to fulfil the Political Islam ideal of a ‘global Islamic Caliphate’ encompassing the Muslim world. This collection of articles aims to address common questions about Political Islam, as well as to provide an assessment of the Islamic State/ISIS/ISIL and finally challenge common understandings on the issue of Islam and democracy.

Calligraphy Qallam offers visitors information about the Arabic alphabet, various styles of scripts, and the process and history of calligraphy. It offers tutorial videos which demonstrate the various shapes of the Arabic characters both within one script and between different scripts. There is also a "script quiz" which allows visitors to test their ability to recognize different calligraphic scripts. The site also includes a blog and a forum where topics surrounding calligraphy are discussed.

Mini-Unit Rationale:In this unit, the content to be covered will all fall under the subheading of early Muslim Civilizations. Previously the students have studied early river valley civilizations such as in the Fertile Crescent, the Indus River Valley, the Americas, the Huang River Valley and the Nile River Valley. The students will be able to use their previous knowledge of the basic constructs of a civilization to build upon the content in this chapter (10) that outlines the creation, spread and division of the Muslim political and religious empires of the Middle East. This mini-unit will lead students to the next mini-unit, which covered the spread of Islam into South and Southeast Asia through religious, cultural and political diffusion among other varying factors.This mini-unit will consist of five 45-minute lessons to be taught to a college-prep level freshman World Studies course in a private, co-educational Catholic high school classroom. There are sixteen students in the class, of varying academic abilities. Some students in the general education class have 504 accommodation plans and two have IEP’s, but they are grouped heterogeneously into this social studies course with all college-prep level students. The school is a 1 to 1 school, and all students have iPads with Ebook textbooks, internet capability, QR code readers and the whole slate of Google Apps downloaded onto their tablets. The students will all have multiple new applications downloaded onto their iPads prior to this mini-unit, and will learn how to use them during tutorial portions within this mini-unit.Overall Goal:This mini-unit is designed to help students develop as historical thinkers, critical thinkers, and digital citizens through the lens of analyzing the origins, division and spread of early Muslim civilizations.Overall Objectives:1. Students will be able to... identify the prophet of Islam, Muhammad, and explain how his teachings spread the Islamic beliefs throughout the Middle East and eventually, the world.2. Students will be able to... explain how Islam affected all aspects of religious and secular society for Muslims, and how this led to advancements and innovation in many parts of the world.3. Students will be able to... explain the divisions that emerged within Islam and the differences between their major beliefs.4. Students will be able to... explain the rise of the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates and how those empires affected the Middle East and the surrounding lands.5. Students will be able to… read and understand detailed maps and virtual reality images of the important historical sites of Mecca and Medina, and explain their significance to the rise and spread of Islam.Overall Standards:NCSS Standards Strands:Time, Continuity and Change: Evaluate the impact of the institutions, values, and beliefs of people in the past on important historical decisions and developments, and compare different interpretations of the causes and consequences of these decisions and developments.Individuals, Groups and Institutions: Evaluate different interpretations of the influence of groups and institutions on people and events in historical and contemporary settings.Individuals, Groups and Institutions: Analyze examples of tensions between belief systems and governmental actions and policies.Power, Authority and Governance: Examine persistent issues involving the rights, responsibilities, roles, and status of individuals and groups in relation to the general welfare.Global Connections: Describe and explain conditions and motivations that contribute to conflict, cooperation, and interdependence among groups, societies, and nations.CSDE Common Core Social Studies Standards:GEO 6–7.2 Use maps, satellite images, photographs, and other representations to explain relationships between the locations of places and regions, and changes in their environmental characteristics.GEO 6–7.3 Explain how cultural patterns and economic decisions influence environments and the daily lives of people.GEO 6–7.4 Analyze the cultural and environmental characteristics that make places both similar to and different from one another.GEO 6–7.5 Explain the connections between the physical and human characteristics of a region and the identity of individuals and cultures living there.CIV 6–7.1 Explain specific roles played by citizens (such as voters, jurors, taxpayers, members of the armed forces, petitioners, protesters, and officeholders).CIV 6–7.3 Compare historical and contemporary means of changing societies and promoting the common good.HIST 6–8.1 Use questions about historically significant people or events to explain the impact on a region.INQ 9–12.5: Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration multiple points of view represented in the sources, the types of sources available, and the potential uses of the sources.Connecticut Common Core Literacy Standards:CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.8: Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the strengths and limitations of each source in terms of the task, purpose, and audience; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and overreliance on any one source and following a standard format for citation.CCSS.ELA Literacy and Reading RH.11-12.2: Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.Diocese of Bridgeport Standards:Historical Thinking: Students will develop historical thinking skills, including chronological thinking and recognizing change over time; contextualizing, comprehending and analyzing historical literature; researching historical sources; understanding competing narratives and interpretation; and constructing narratives and interpretation.Diocese of Bridgeport Historical Thinking Skills:Skill 1: Trace the emergence and decline of Muslim civilizations.Skill 2: Explain how geography and history are linked.Skill 3: Describe the tenets of Islam.Skill 4: Analyze the reason for the division of Islam.Skill 5: Evaluate the role of religion in the development of the Muslim empires in the Middle East.Skill 6: Describe the major characteristics of Muslim empires.Skill 7: Describe examples of cultural diffusion from the Muslim Empires.Skill 8: Describe the characteristics and advances of the Golden Age of Islam.Local, United States and World History: Students will use historical thinking skills to develop an understanding of the major historical periods, issues and trends in United States history, world history, and Connecticut and local history.Historical Themes: Students will apply their understanding of historical periods, issues and trends to examine such historical themes as ideals, beliefs and instructions; conflict and conflict resolution; human movement and interaction; and science and technology in order to understand how the world came to be the way it is.Applying History: Students will recognize the continuing importance of historical thinking and historical knowledge in their own lives and in the world in which they live.ISTE Net Standards for Students:Empowered Learner: 1C: Students use technology to seek feedback that informs and improves their practice and to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways.1D: Students understand the fundamental concepts of technology operations, demonstrate the ability to choose, use and troubleshoot current technologies and are able to transfer their knowledge to explore emerging technologies.Digital Citizen: 2B: Students engage in positive, safe, legal and ethical behavior when using technology, including social interactions online or when using networked devices.2C: Students demonstrate an understanding of and respect for the rights and obligations of using and sharing intellectual property.Knowledge Constructor: 3A: Students plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other resources for their intellectual or creative pursuits.3C: Students curate information from digital resources using a variety of tools and methods to create collections of artifacts that demonstrate meaningful connections or conclusions.Innovative Designer: 4A: Students know and use a deliberate design process for generating ideas, testing theories, creating innovative artifacts or solving authentic problems.Creative Communicator: 6B: Students create original works or responsibly repurpose or remix digital resources into new creations.6C: Students communicate complex ideas clearly and effectively by creating or using a variety of digital objects such as visualizations, models or simulations.6D: Students publish or present content that customizes the message and medium for their intended audiences.Global Collaborator: 7B: Students use collaborative technologies to work with others, including peers, experts or community members, to examine issues and problems from multiple viewpoints.7C: Students contribute constructively to project teams, assuming various roles and responsibilities to work effectively toward a common goal.7D: Students explore local and global issues and use collaborative technologies to work with others to investigate solutions.Overall Unit Assessments:Formative Assessments: Teacher will monitor student progress by circulating and assessing student on-task behavior while providing immediate feedback and redirection if necessary.Teacher will check daily student progress via student-group Google Doc sheets.Students will take various Google Forms formative assessments to gauge their individual understanding of the content knowledge, as well as reflect on their collaboration and participation in lesson activities.Answer Garden formative assessment will be posed to gauge their individual understanding of the content knowledge, as well as reflect on their collaboration and participation in lesson activities.Students will participate in interactive Kahoot Quizzes to help both teacher and student understand individual real-time comprehension levels.Summative Assessments:Students will create an original telecast in small groups of three to display their knowledge and understanding of the Umayyad and Abbasid Empires and/or the Golden Age of Muslim Civilization, and this mini-unit overall.Students will take a summative assessment at the end of Chapter 11 (after multiple mini-units are completed) in the form of a pen-to-paper Unit test.Summary of Mini-Unit:Students will begin this unit by learning about the context of the time period, and the geography of the land and cities from where the early Muslim civilizations emanated. Then, they will learn about the major tenets of Islam and a religion and Muslims as a culture and the political systems of the early empires. Next, students will analyze the origins and spread of conflict that lead to the division of Islam into the two major sects of the religion: Sunni and Shi’a. Finally, students will learn about the Umayyad and Abbasid empires and analyze their contributions to society and culture in the Middle East, as well as trace the emergence and decline of those Muslim empires.Technology Rationale:The 9th grade students will be using various technologies each day of this mini-unit, ranging from iPad applications, to QR codes, to engaging Smart-board technology. The integration of technology into this mini-unit will optimize students’ learning experience by encouraging student collaboration, providing innovative ways of communicating their own ideas, and engaging students as global citizens who demonstrate an understanding of digital citizenship and proper use of technology in an academic setting. Some of the technologies used by the teacher and students are included to streamline the transition process and create a paperless classroom environment, which will provide many benefits for the class and even transcend the classroom, such as environmental and economical.

Is a ring from a ninth-century Viking grave a surprising find, or a reflection of the larger trade patterns in early medieval Europe and the Middle East? Vikings traded and raided throughout Europe and as far as the Abbasid Caliphate in the Middle East. Political circumstances and environmental factors shaped these patterns of trade.

The Abbasid Caliphate becomes a center of learning from the 9th to the 13th centuries, collecting the knowledge of India, China and ancient Greece while also making significant new contributions to mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, medicine and geography.

The Indian Ocean Basin is becoming an important topic in middle and high school world history and geography courses, but one for which there are few instructional resources. This web-based resource helps teachers incorporate the Indian Ocean into world history studies by illustrating a variety of interactions that took place in the Indian Ocean during each era. The material is assembled into an integrated and user-friendly teaching tool for students in upper elementary, middle and high school. It offers students the chance to investigate primary sources that illustrate historical interactions, helping them to become more adept at the analytical historical thinking skills that are required by virtually all state history standards today.

Arabic for Dummies is a power point that introduces Arabic to non-speakers and gives them an idea about its history and roots.

In this packet we look at works that span nearly a thousand yearsäóîfrom shortly after the foundation of Islam in the seventh century to the seventeenth century when the last two great Islamic empiresäóîthe Ottoman and the Safavidäóîhad reached their peak. Although the definition of Islamic art usually includes work made in Mughal India, it is beyond the scope of this packet. The works we will look at here come from as far west as Spain and as far east as Afghanistan.

Video recreations that teach world legends and folktales will be enjoyed by all audiences.

Afghanistan - Eight Strands for Afghanistan; Albania - The Land of the Eagles; Algeria - The Legend of Tin Hinan; Angola - Kianda Takes a Bride; Azerbaijan - The Dove and Peace; Bolivia - The Legend of Chijchipa; Brazil - The Amazon River; Burma - Moguk - The Legend of the Rubies; Cambodia - The Tale of Thunder and Lightning; China - Journey to Dadu Marco Poso, The Silver Fish and The Great Wall.

Colombia - The Legend of Furatena; Djibouti - The Legend of Hadal Mahiss; DRC - The Kingdom of Kongo; Egypt - Cleopatra; Eritrea - Queen of Sheba; Ethiopia - The Lion's Whisker; Georgia - The Pheasant of Tbilisi; India - Taj Mahal; Indonesia - The Legend of Merong Mahawangsa; Iran - The 1001 Nights; Iraq - Abul Abbas the Elephant; Israel - Solomon the Wise King; Ivory Coast
The Legend of Queen Pokou.

Japan - The Naming of Mount Fuji; Kazakhstan - The Legend of the Dombra; Kenya - The Spirit Wife; Kurdistan - Legend of Zembilfiroz; Kuwait - Mariam and Salim: Defenders of Kuwait; Lebanon - Cadmus The First Teacher; Liberia - The Chief's Wise Wife; Libya - The Legend of Cyrene; Mali - The Lost Manuscripts of Timbuktu; Mexico - The Lengend of Popocateptl & Iztaccihuatle; Mongolia- The Camel and the Rat; Morocco - The Legend of the Almond Tree; Nepal -Boudhanath; Nigeria - Bayajidda; North Korean - The Legend of Tangun; Oman - The Frozen Dates.

Philippines - The Legend of Apo Lakay-Lakay, The Chocolates Hills of Bohol Island, Legend of Alitaptap and the Fireflies; Poland - The Mermaid of Warsaw; Portugal - The Rooster from Barcelos; Saudi Arabia - Poetry in Pre-Islamic Arabia Qays and Layla, Poetry in Pre-Islamic Arabia Antara and 'Abla; Serbia - Marko - Hero and King; Somalia - The Camel in the Sky; Syria - How the West Was Won by the Arabs; Thailand - Ta-in and Ta-na; Tunisia - Queen Ellissar, The Punic Wars; Turkey - Troy; Turkmenistan - Sultan Sanjar and the Fairy; UAE - The Milk Container; Uzbekistan - How Samarkand Got Its Name; Venezuela - The Five White Eagles; Vietman - The Legend of Betel: Cao Tan and Cao Lang; Yemen - The Discovery of Coffee.

This Arabic-only website is an effort to record and preserve information on the culture and history of modern Egypt from the reign of Muhammad 'Ali starting in 1805 to the end of Sadat's presidency in 1981. Materials on this site include pictures of coins from this era, maps, stamps, medals, books, documents, photos, recordings, information on movies, speeches, newspaper articles, magazine covers, and more.

As Ali becomes caliph, the Ummayads under the leadership of Muawiya refuse to recognize him, sparking the first Muslim Civil War. The increased division leads eventually to the Tragedy at Karbala which is a defining event for Shia Muslims.

This is the final text in Thornton's Arabic Series. It contains numerous literary extracts from classical Arabic sources along with explanatory footnotes. Selections come from the Qur'an, classical travel literature, poems, historical sources, some religious texts, grammatical texts, and biographies. A glossary is included.