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Fetih 1453 - Turkish movie about the conquest of Istanbul/Constantinople

published by You on 29 February, 2012 - 00:01

">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTXljiwsKSc]

Fetih 1453 is a high budget turkish movie about the conquest of Constantinople/Istanbul.

It has surprisingly high production values and does a good job at portraying the history without taking too much of an artistic licence - It is shown as a hard slog instead of something jingoistic.

Some people have complained the the rulers of Constantinople are always shown as evil and conniving and this hasnt gone down well in greece.

Journey to the Centre of the Earth - Part 2

published by Ya'qub on 9 January, 2012 - 21:01
Author: 
Abdullah bin Islam

In part 1 I chronicled the first half of my journey. Now read on for the rest.

Arrival in Makkah

After a short interlude to drop our bags off at the hotel and decipher the a/c controls, we hurried along the crowded streets to the holiest site in Islam. When I try to remember it, the whole experience feels like a vivid dream.

Excitement had returned to my party, and brought with it shortness of breath and a slight tightening of the throat. We were all grinning like idiots, and were doing all we could to stop ourselves pushing and running towards our ultimate target.

Man Of All Time!

published by Sajid Iqbal on 1 August, 2011 - 17:27
Author: 
Sajid Iqbal

There is no other man who has influenced life for all times. There is no other man who is a perfect role model for all humans for all times. There is no other man who has given rights to people of every society for all times.
So who is it then?

Einstein, Darwin, Marx, Socrates, Newton, Plato, Freud… (who?).
OK, is it Jesus, Moses, Napoleon, Julius Caesar, Gandhi, Buddha, Lenin, Mussolini, Stalin, Churchill, Martin Luther King, Shakespeare, Princess Diana or Abraham Lincoln? Or even (God forbid) Ali G, Tu Pac, Michael Jackson or David Beckam?

Muhte?em Y

published by You on 20 March, 2011 - 23:27

Magnificent Century divides Turkish TV viewers over the life of Suleiman

Smash-hit soap opera based on Ottoman empire's most revered leader, Suleiman the Magnificent, provokes 70,000 complaints

For the show's producers, it is nothing less than a magnificent controversy. Muhtesem Yuzyil, or Magnificent Century, a lavish primetime soap opera about Suleiman the Magnificent and Hurrem, the slave who became his powerful wife, is as admired in Istanbul as it is reviled.

How Muslims killed Dracula

published by You on 2 January, 2011 - 02:24

Born in the Ottoman Principality of Wallachia, Romania in 1435 AD, he was known as Radu al III-lea cel Frumos to his Romanian countrymen, Yakışıklı Radu Bey to the Turks, Radu al-Wasim to the Arabs, and Radu the Handsome in English. This ally and childhood friend of Sultan Mehmet II was instrumental in the conquest of Constantinople for Islam. Radu’s participation in that conquest ensured that Mehmet II would go down in history as “Fatih,” or “Conqueror.”

A trip down memory lane.

published by You on 9 November, 2010 - 18:21

About ten years ago around this time of the year, I can remember being gathered around a PC with 'ed and some other guy who I will pretend was called Abdul Alim. The occasion? 'Ed had this big idea that this new thing in the world called the internet would turn out to be pretty big. He had tasked the other guy to design something to put on the internet to give The Revival an online presence.

I have no idea when exactly the first page was put online, but it was around this time of the year, so by my reckoning, the site is now ten years old.

Ain't that something?

Journey to the Centre of the Earth

published by Ya'qub on 4 November, 2010 - 22:24

Kaaba_Mirror_like.jpg

Author: 
Abdullah bin Islam

My friends were due to pick me up from my house at 11am. I'd packed everything the night before (mainly jubbahs and suntan lotion). My passport was in the top draw of my bedside table along with my plane tickets, tucked safely away in a brown envelope. About an hour before my friends were scheduled to arrive, they called me to let me know they were running on time. I calmly went over to open my bedside table draw and... confusion.

There were phone bills, bank statements, some old photos and a passport-sized empty space. Where could my documents be? I had been very careful with them and vividly remembered checking and double-checking the night before. I opened the drawer below: nothing but receipts and warrantee cards. All of a sudden this wasn't looking so good.

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