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Gold dinar minted in Aleppo in the name of Salih ibn Mirdas and recognizing the suzerainty of Fatimid caliph az-Zahir, 1028/29 CE
Abu Ali Salih ibn Mirdas (Arabic: ابو علي صالح بن مرداس, romanized: Abū ʿAlī Ṣāliḥ ibn Mirdās), also known by his laqab (honorific epithet) Asad al-Dawla ('Lion of the State'), was the founder of the Mirdasid dynasty and emir of Aleppo from 1025 until his death in May 1029. At its peak, his emirate (principality) encompassed much of the western Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia), northern Syria and several central Syrian towns. With occasional interruption, Salih's descendants ruled Aleppo for the next five decades.
Salih launched his career in 1008, when he seized the Euphrates river fortress of al-Rahba. In 1012, he was imprisoned and tortured by the emir of Aleppo, Mansur ibn Lu'lu'. Two years later he escaped, capturing Mansur in battle and releasing him for numerous concessions, including half of Aleppo's revenues. This cemented Salih as the paramount emir of his tribe, the Banu Kilab, many of whose chieftains had died in Mansur's dungeons. With his Bedouin warriors, Salih captured a string of fortresses along the Euphrates, including Manbij and Raqqa, by 1022. He later formed an alliance with the Banu Kalb and Banu Tayy tribes and supported their struggle against the Fatimids of Egypt. During this tribal rebellion, Salih annexed the central Syrian towns of Homs, Baalbek and Sidon, before conquering Fatimid-held Aleppo in 1025, bringing "to success the plan which guided his [Banu Kilab] forebears for a century", according to historian Thierry Bianquis.
Salih established a well-organized administration over his Aleppo-based domains. Militarily, he relied on the Banu Kilab, while entrusting fiscal administration to his local Christian vizier, policing to the aḥdāth (urban militia) under Salim ibn Mustafad, and judicial matters to a Shia Muslimqāḍī (head judge). His rule was officially tolerated by the Fatimids, to whom he paid formal allegiance. His alliance with the Banu Tayy ultimately drew him into conflict with the Fatimid general, Anushtakin al-Dizbari, whose forces killed Salih in battle near Lake Tiberias. Salih was succeeded by his sons Nasr and Thimal. (Full article...)
... that Lebanese LGBT rights activist Sandra Melhem, one of the foremost promoters of drag culture in Beirut, was given an award for her humanitarian relief work after the 2020 Beirut explosion?
This is a Good article, an article that meets a core set of editorial standards.
Elias Abu Shabaki (also spelled Ilyas Abu Shabaka; Arabic: الياس أبو شبكة, May 3, 1903 – January 27, 1947) was a Lebanese writer, poet, editor, translator and literary critic, he was one of the founders of the literary League of Ten and is considered as one of the leading figures of the ArabicNahda Movement.
Born into a well-to-do Lebanese family, Abu Shabaki became interested in poetry at a young age. The son of a merchant, he was left fatherless in his youth, an experience that would mark his earlier works. Elias worked as a teacher, translator and -in addition to publishing several volumes of poetry- as a journalist writing for many Arabic newspapers and literary magazines. Being an adherent to the Romantic school, Abu Shabki believed in inspiration and denounced conscious control in poetry. His poems were gloomy, deeply personal and often contained biblical overtones centering on his internal moral conflicts. Some of Abu Shabaki's work was very controversial in its time, particularly his poetry collection Serpents of Paradise which was regarded as obscene due to its overt sexual content. The poet's obsession with the spiritual consequences of carnality that was manifested in his writings was attributed to the guilt brought upon by his sexual escapades with various women when he was married and until his death from leukemia in 1947.
Abu Shabaki called for the renewal and modernization of Arab literature, he inspired succeeding generations of poets. His contributions to literature were commemorated by turning his house in his hometown of Zouk Mikael into a museum. (Full article...)
The following are images from various Lebanon-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1Map showing power balance in Lebanon, 1983: Green – controlled by Syria, purple – controlled by Christian groups, yellow – controlled by Israel, blue – controlled by the United Nations (from History of Lebanon)
Image 16Portrait of Fakhreddine while he was in Tuscany, stating "Faccardino grand emir dei Drusi" translated as "Fakhreddine: great emir of the Druze" (from History of Lebanon)
Image 27Map showing power balance in Lebanon, 1976: Dark Green – controlled by Syria; Purple – controlled by Maronite groups; Light Green – controlled by Palestinian militias (from History of Lebanon)
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