|
A Thousand Splendid Suns
''A Thousand Splendid Suns'' is a 2007 novel by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini, following the huge success of his bestselling 2003 debut '' The Kite Runner''. Mariam, an illegitimate teenager from Herat, is forced to marry a shoemaker from Kabul after a family tragedy. Laila, born a generation later, lives a relatively privileged life, but her life intersects with Mariam's when a similar tragedy forces her to accept a marriage proposal from Mariam's husband. Hosseini has remarked that he regards the novel as a "mother-daughter story" in contrast to ''The Kite Runner'', which he considers a "father-son story". It continues some of the themes used in his previous work, such as familial dynamics, but instead focusing primarily on female characters and their roles in contemporary Afghan society. ''A Thousand Splendid Suns'' was released on May 22, 2007, and received favorable widespread critical acclaim from ''Kirkus Reviews'', ''Publishers Weekly'', ''Library Journal'', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Khaled Hosseini
Khaled Hosseini or Khalid Husseini (; Pashto/Persian: , ; born March 4, 1965) is an Afghan-American novelist, UNHCR goodwill ambassador, and former physician. His debut novel '' The Kite Runner'' (2003) was a critical and commercial success; the book and his subsequent novels have all been at least partially set in Afghanistan and have featured an Afghan as the protagonist. Hosseini's novels have spread awareness about Afghanistan's people and culture. Hosseini was briefly a resident of Iran and France after being born in Kabul, Afghanistan, to a diplomat father. When Hosseini was 15, his family applied for asylum in the United States, where he later became a naturalized citizen. Hosseini did not return to Afghanistan until 2003 when he was 38, an experience similar to that of the protagonist in ''The Kite Runner''. In later interviews, Hosseini acknowledged that he suffered from survivor's guilt for having been able to leave the country prior to the Soviet invasion and sub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saib Tabrizi
Saib Tabrizi (, , ''Mīrzā Muḥammad ʿalī Ṣāʾib'', ) was an Iranian poet, regarded as one of the greatest masters of a form of classical Persian lyric poetry characterized by rhymed couplets, known as the ''ghazal''. He also established the "Indian style" (''sabk-i Hind'') in the literature of his native language, Azerbaijani, in which he is known to have written 17 ''ghazals'' and ''molammaʿs''. Saib was born in Tabriz, and educated in Isfahan and at some time around 1626, he traveled to India, where he was received into the court of Shah Jahan. He stayed for a time in Kabul and in Kashmir, returning home after several years abroad. After his return, the emperor of Persia, Shah Abbas II, bestowed upon him the title ''King of Poets''. Saib's reputation is based primarily on some 300,000 couplets, including his epic poem ''Qandahār-nāma'' (“The Campaign Against Qandahār”). (The city of Qandahār or Kandahar in today's Afghanistan was in Saib Tabrizi's lifetime ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sufism
Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are referred to as "Sufis" (from , ), and historically typically belonged to "orders" known as (pl. ) — congregations formed around a grand (saint) who would be the last in a Silsilah, chain of successive teachers linking back to Muhammad, with the goal of undergoing (self purification) and the hope of reaching the Maqam (Sufism), spiritual station of . The ultimate aim of Sufis is to seek the pleasure of God by endeavoring to return to their original state of purity and natural disposition, known as . Sufism emerged early on in Islamic history, partly as a reaction against the expansion of the early Umayyad Caliphate (661–750) and mainly under the tutelage of Hasan al-Basri. Although Sufis were opposed to dry legalism, they strictly obs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxonian Review
''The Oxonian Review'' is a literary magazine produced by postgraduate students at the University of Oxford. Every fortnight during term time, an online edition is published featuring reviews and essays on current affairs and literature, alongside creative work including photo essays, poetry, fiction and artwork. It is the largest university-wide postgraduate-student publication at the University of Oxford. History ''The Oxonian Review'' was established in 2001 at Balliol College, Oxford, as the ''Oxonian Review of Books'', as a termly print magazine featuring essays and reviews of recently published work in literature, politics, history, science, and the arts, written mostly by postgraduate students of the University of Oxford. It now also serves as a venue featuring creative writing work by both "University members and non-Oxford affiliates". As a term-based magazine, its Editor in Chief and the editor of the ORbits, shorter pieces published throughout the week during term tim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Denver Post
''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in the Denver metropolitan area. it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 million page views, according to comScore. Ownership The ''Post'' was the flagship newspaper of MediaNews Group, MediaNews Group Inc., founded in 1983 by William Dean Singleton and Richard Scudder. On December 1, 1987, MediaNews, a national newspaper chain with over 60 daily newspapers and over 160 non-daily publications in 13 states, bought ''The Denver Post'' from Times Mirror Company. Since 2010, ''The Denver Post'' has been owned by hedge fund Alden Global Capital, which acquired its bankrupt parent company, MediaNews Group. In April 2018, a group called "Together for Colorado Springs" said that it was raising money to buy the ''Post'' from Alden Global Capital, stating: "Denver deserves a newspaper owner who supports its newsroom." Hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tajiks
Tajiks (; ; also spelled ''Tadzhiks'' or ''Tadjiks'') is the name of various Persian-speaking Eastern Iranian groups of people native to Central Asia, living primarily in Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Even though the term ''Tajik'' does not refer to a cohesive cross-national ethnic group,Nourzhanov, K., & Bleuer, C. (2013). Forging Tajik Identity: Ethnic Origins, National–Territorial Delimitation and Nationalism. In Tajikistan: A Political and Social History (pp. 27–50). ANU Press. Link/ref> Tajiks are the largest ethnicity in Tajikistan, and the second-largest in both Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. They speak variations of Persian, a west Iranian language. In Tajikistan, since the 1939 Soviet census, its small Pamiri and Yaghnobi ethnic groups are included as Tajiks. In China, the term is used to refer to its Pamiri ethnic groups, the Tajiks of Xinjiang, who speak the Eastern Iranian Pamiri languages. In Afghanistan, the Pamiris are considered a separate ethn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caesarean Section
Caesarean section, also known as C-section, cesarean, or caesarean delivery, is the Surgery, surgical procedure by which one or more babies are Childbirth, delivered through an incision in the mother's abdomen. It is often performed because vaginal delivery would put the mother or child at risk (of paralysis or even death). Reasons for the operation include, but are not limited to, obstructed labor, twin pregnancy, pre-eclampsia, high blood pressure in the mother, breech birth, shoulder presentation, and problems with the placenta or umbilical cord. A caesarean delivery may be performed based upon the shape of the mother's pelvis or history of a previous C-section. A trial of Vaginal birth after previous C-section, vaginal birth after C-section may be possible. The World Health Organization recommends that caesarean section be performed only when medically necessary. A C-section typically takes 45 minutes to an hour. It may be done with a spinal block, where the woman is awake ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taliban
, leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) , leader2_title = Governing body , leader2_name = Leadership Council of Afghanistan, Leadership Council , clans = Primarily Pashtuns;{{Cite book , last=Giustozzi , first=Antonio , url=https://archive.org/details/decodingnewtalib00anto/page/249 , title=Decoding the new Taliban: insights from the Afghan field , publisher=Columbia University Press , year=2009 , isbn=978-0-231-70112-9 , pag249}{{Cite book , last=Clements , first=Frank A. , title=Conflict in Afghanistan: An Encyclopedia (Roots of Modern Conflict) , publisher=ABC-CLIO , year=2003 , isbn=978-1-85109-402-8 , page=219 minority Tajiks and Uzbeks , ideology = Majority: * Deobandi jihadism{{cite book, last=Maley, first=William, title=Fundamentalism Rebor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country#Countries, second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. Islamabad is the nation's capital, while Karachi is List of cities in Pakistan by population, its largest city and financial centre. Pakistan is the List of countries and dependencies by area, 33rd-largest country by area. Bounded by the Arabian Sea on the south, the Gulf of Oman on the southwest, and the Sir Creek on the southeast, it shares land borders with India to the east; Afghanistan to the west; Iran to the southwest; and China to the northeast. It shares a maritime border with Oman in the Gulf of Oman, and is separated from Tajikistan in the northwest by Afghanistan's narrow Wakhan Corridor. Pakistan is the site of History of Pakistan, several ancient cultures, including the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pashtuns
Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghan (ethnonym), Afghans until 1964 after the term's meaning had become a demonym for all citizens of Afghanistan regardless of their ethnic groups in Afghanistan, ethnic group. The Pashtuns speak the Pashto, Pashto language, which belongs to the Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian branch of the Iranian languages, Iranian language family. Additionally, Dari serves as the second language of Pashtuns in Afghanistan, while those in Pakistan speak Urdu and English. In India, the majority of those of Pashtun descent have lost the ability to speak Pashto and instead speak Hindi and other regional languages. There are an estimated 350–400 Pashtun tribes, Pashtun tribes and clans with a Theories of Pashtun origin, variety of origin theories. In 2021 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet Union, it dissolved in 1991. During its existence, it was the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country by area, extending across Time in Russia, eleven time zones and sharing Geography of the Soviet Union#Borders and neighbors, borders with twelve countries, and the List of countries and dependencies by population, third-most populous country. An overall successor to the Russian Empire, it was nominally organized as a federal union of Republics of the Soviet Union, national republics, the largest and most populous of which was the Russian SFSR. In practice, Government of the Soviet Union, its government and Economy of the Soviet Union, economy were Soviet-type economic planning, highly centralized. As a one-party state go ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Afghan Mujahideen
The Afghan ''mujahideen'' (; ; ) were Islamist militant groups that fought against the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and the Soviet Union during the Soviet–Afghan War and the subsequent Afghan Civil War (1989–1992), First Afghan Civil War. The term ''mujahideen, mujahid'' (from ) is used in a religious context by Muslims to refer to those engaged in a struggle of any nature for the sake of Islam, commonly referred to as ''jihad'' (). The Afghan people, Afghan mujahidin consisted of numerous groups that differed from each other across ethnic and/or ideological lines, but were united by their Anti-communism, anti-communist and pro-Islamic goals. The coalition of anti-Soviet Muslim militias was also known as the "Afghan resistance", and the Western media, Western press widely referred to the Afghan guerrillas as "freedom fighters", or "Mountain Men". The militants of the Afghan mujahidin were recruited and organized immediately after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
