Middle East - Anthony Ham [568]
qasr – castle or palace
Quran – the holy book of Islam; also Koran
Ramadan – ninth month of the lunar Islamic calendar during which Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset; Ramazan in Turkish
ras (Ar) – cape, headland or head
sahn (Ar) – courtyard of a mosque
Sala – the Muslim obligation of prayer, ideally to be performed five times a day; one of the five pillars of Islam
Saladin – (Salah ad-Din in Arabic) Kurdish warlord who retook Jerusalem from the Crusaders; founder of the Ayyubid dynasty
Sawm – the Muslim month of Ramadan; one of the five pillars of Islam
servees – shared taxi with a fixed route
settler – term used to describe Israelis who have created new communities on Arab territory, usually land captured from the Arabs during the 1967 War
Shabbat – Jewish Sabbath observed from sundown on Friday to one hour after sundown on Saturday
Shahada – Islam’s basic tenet and profession of faith: ‘There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is the Prophet of Allah’; one of the five pillars of Islam
shai (Ar) – tea; çay in Turkish
sheesha (E) – see nargileh
sheikh – venerated religious scholar; also shaikh
sherut (Heb) – shared taxi with a fixed route
Shiite – one of the two main branches of Islam
shwarma – grilled meat sliced from a spit and served
in pita-type bread with salad; also dönerkebap in
Turkish
siq (Ar) – narrow passageway or defile such as the one at Petra
souq – market or bazaar
stele – (plural stelae) stone or wooden commemorative slab or column decorated with inscriptions or figures
Sufi – follower of any of the Islamic mystical orders that emphasise dancing, chanting and trances in order to attain unity with God; see also dervish
sultan – absolute ruler of a Muslim state
Sunni – one of the two main branches of Islam
sura – chapter in the Quran
ta’amiyya (E) – see felafel
Talmud – a collection of 63 Jewish holy books that complement the Torah
tell – ancient mound created by centuries of urban rebuilding
Torah – five books of Moses, the first five Old Testament books; also called the Pentateuch
UAE – United Arab Emirates
Umayyad dynasty – first great dynasty of Arab Muslim rulers, based in Damascus (AD 661–750); also Omayyad dynasty
wikala (E) – see khan
willayat – village
Zakat – the Muslim obligation to give alms to the poor; one of the five pillars of Islam
ziggurat (Far) – rectangular temple tower or tiered mound built in Mesopotamia by the Akkadians, Babylonians and Sumerians
The Authors
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ANTHONY HAM
JAMES BAINBRIDGE
César Soriano
AMELIA THOMAS
JENNY WALKER
RAFAEL WLODARKSI
CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS
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ANTHONY HAM Coordinating Author; Syria
Anthony first landed in Damascus in 1998 and couldn’t bear to leave. He stayed three months and returns at every available opportunity, including with three generations of his family. His first job for Lonely Planet was the Iraq chapter of this guide back in 1999 and he has since written or contributed to guides for Jordan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Libya, and four editions of this Middle East guide. He has also worked in Australia as a refugee lawyer with clients from the Middle East and has a Masters degree in Middle Eastern politics. A full-time freelance writer and photographer, Anthony is now based in Madrid and writes for magazines and newspapers around the world.
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JAMES BAINBRIDGE Turkey
James first visited Turkey as a student at the end of an inter-railing trip through Eastern Europe. He lived on bread and cheese triangles for a week in İstanbul and the Princes’ Islands, before using the last of his meagre funds to get home to Britain. His latest Turkish trip was more successful: wandering Anatolia and making up for student starvation by spending his entire fee on kebaps. When he’s not investigating various countries’ national dishes, James lives in London on Green Lanes, the city’s ‘little Turkey’. He has contributed to half a dozen Lonely Planet guidebooks, and coauthored A Year of Festivals, which features Turkey’s oil- and camel-wrestling festivals alongside hundreds of