Al-Fitn of Ibn Kathîr (prophecies of the prophet (pbuh) about our current situation!

[Maiwand]

Victory is very near, inshallah!

[Catya Sher]

I do remember all that REALLY well...

Iraqis were, especially in Baghdad, terribly bad drinkers, as shown by the Efes [Ephesus] beer cans here.

The whole place was permeated by not just fear but a palpable heaviness due to the lack of belief.

No one talks about the Baath party any longer, but they were horrible.
Founded on the ideas of Michel Aflaq, it was a loathsome combination of the worst in secularism, socialism and Arab nationalism. Thank God they're gone from Iraq.
The country had to almost literally worship Saddam as a deity, rather than Allah.

I watched officials of that era stop in the middle of a sentence, bow their heads and put their hands in a prayer position when Saddam's voice came over in a radio address.

Good riddance.

But Baath still rules next door Syria. I am studying a little about Bashar al-Assad right now.
I believe he's one of those fakes, for he right off the bat invited OBAMA to visit Damascus.

WHO on earth would do THAT ?! His wife chimed in too with warmest words of welcome for Obama.
Probably this tells that these two are toned down Baathists.
But they give signs of being up-and-coming vassals of America. Perhaps satraps for the Middle East region.
Syria, ancient and richly cultured, deserves better leadership than these two offer her !

[abubaker]

any one know if ''al bidaya wal nihaya'' has been translated to England