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Alex Shams Profile picture
@alexshams_
Jul 15, 2020 • 6 tweets • 3 min read • Read on X
.@HAZINEblog publishes reviews of archives across the Middle East and helpful tips for researchers - from Tehran's best archives to Istanbul's best historical libraries, and everywhere in between.

Check out their work - and support their fundraiser:

hazine.info/donate/
"The al-Hakim Library services the tens of thousands of students and scholars of the Najaf seminary, and thus can be considered the chief reservoir of Shi’ism as a school of thought"

hazine.info/al-imam-al-hak…
"Famed for its large collection of ancient Georgian manuscripts and Imperial Russian documents, the archive also preserves primary sources that are of great value to Ottoman and Middle Eastern scholars."

hazine.info/georgiaarchive…
"The Museum of Textbooks or “Matḥaf al-Kitāb al-Madrasī” is a unique resource for historians interested in education, not only in Jordan, but also in Palestine, Egypt, Syria and Iraq."

hazine.info/museumoftextbo…
"The Archive and Library of the Topkapı Palace Museum (Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi) contain some of the most important documents and manuscripts pertaining to Ottoman and Islamic history."

hazine.info/topkapiarchive…
"Located on the grounds of the National Garden in the Topkhane district of Tehran, The Malek National Library and Museum (Ketābkhāna va mūza-ye melli-ye Malek) is a must-see not only for researchers but also anybody visiting Iran’s capital."

hazine.info/maleklibrary/

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More from @alexshams_

Alex Shams Profile picture
Feb 9
Last night Biden referred to Egypt's dictator Sisi as the "President of Mexico"

The Egyptian internet is going NUTS

For years Egyptians have used "Mexico" as code for Sisi to avoid censorship since it's forbidden to criticize his regime

So the memes are just rolling out...
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This guy on the left was apparently the first one to call Sisi "the Mexican" in a viral video

More on the backstory:


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Read 8 tweets
Alex Shams Profile picture
Oct 22, 2023
Anyone calling for a "two-state solution" is totally checked out of reality.

Israel has spent five decades building settlements across the West Bank that make a Palestinian state an impossibility

That was literally the point - and the US sent Israel billions of $ to do it
Image
Israelis and Palestinians live in a one-state reality.

Israel controls land and sea borders and airspace.

It controls everyone's lives, directly or indirectly, through civilian or military rule.

Either this one state will be democratic or, as it is now, an apartheid state.
The two-state solution is “not a serious idea if you’ve been paying attention to reality for the last 15+ years”
Read 4 tweets
Alex Shams Profile picture
Jul 27, 2023
The other day I stumbled upon this pin at a flea market in Mexico.

It resembles a flamenco dancer’s fan, and in the center is what looks like Arabic - but not quite...

It's Pseudo-Arabic!

An unexpected legacy of Islamic rule that made its way to Mexico. A thread... Image
I could almost read Allah (الله). Staring harder, I realized the writing didn't make sense.

It was seemingly copied from an Arabic seal that was reversed and added to by someone who didn’t understand it and thus garbled it.

The point wasn't the words - it was the aesthetic Image
When you reverse the pin, you can get a clearer sense of the original Arabic. It seems to be a royal seal

But by reversing it, whoever made the pin ignored the text's original meaning - and by adding it onto a flamenco pin, made it recall an Arab Andalusi aesthetic Image
Read 14 tweets
Alex Shams Profile picture
Sep 23, 2022
Some are asking whether Iran's uprising is against religion

It's not. It's a rebellion for freedom and against tyranny

For 40 years, the state has used religion to repress. It has killed and tortured in God's name

It is Iran's government that has done the most to profane Islam
If a gov't smacks people over the head with a Bible every day for 40 years, is it really so hard to understand that people will resent the Bible?

This is the problem with a state that defines itself as God's representative:

Every act of violence is done in the name of God
In 2009 I went to the streets asking “Where is my vote?” demanding transparency after a rigged election.

I was pulled off the street by Basijis, taken into a mosque, and beaten.

The govt has put Basiji offices in mosques as a strategy to equate their dictatorship with religion
Read 10 tweets
Alex Shams Profile picture
Sep 19, 2022
In recent days, protests have broken out across Iran condemning the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, at the hands of morality police.

United in anger at police brutality and restrictive moral codes, Iranians are demanding freedom and an end to government repression: ImageImage
The protests are astonishing in their scope and also the bravery of protestors. Many are women who have removed their scarves to protest the mandatory veiling law

Many veiled women have also joined in, disgusted by the use of Islam and religion as a weapon to punish other women: ImageImage
One of the most common chants has been:

Zan, Zendegy, Azadi
Woman, Life, Freedom

Pointing to the central place of women in the cause and the demonstrations themselves:

Image
Read 43 tweets
Alex Shams Profile picture
Jun 16, 2022
Situating the Malay World in the Persianate Cosmopolis

Dozens of Malay words attest to role of Persian in trade and governance: pasar (bazar), angur (grape), bandar (port), dewan (council), istana (palace), ...

The question is how and when they arrived:

journals.openedition.org/moussons/3572?…
"Iranians dominated trade in the area until as late as the 17th century, with Persian nakhodas in charge of great portions of the Indian Ocean trade, including long-haul links such as between the Persian Gulf, Surat and Masulipatnam and the Thai Kingdom of Ayutthaya (Siam)"
I'm currently studying some Indonesian and was pleasantly surprised that I kept encountering very familiar looking words all over the place...
Read 4 tweets

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