In the following I am sending a few notes on the German survey of Damascus. The copy I am sending, from which the accompanying plan is taken, was torn down on the last day of the German occupation, from the wall of a German official’s room, and with his permission. Those who knew Damascus before...Read More

During World War i two camps for Muslim prisoners of war were established in Wünsdorf and Zossen about 50km south of Berlin: the Halbmondlager and the Weinberglager. In the Halbmondlager a mosque was built and a cemetery for the prisoners was located in the nearby village of Zehrensdorf. (Fig. 8.1) These efforts were not an...Read More

In November 1914 the fatwas issued by the Shaykh ül Islam Hayri Efendi, in which Muslims were called upon to take up arms against those who attacked Islam, who seized and looted Muslim countries and who made the Muslim populations captive, were read to an audience of allegedly almost 100,000 Muslims at the Fatih Mosque...Read More

During the period of the jealously guarded absolute power of the cup, from the Bab-ı âli (Sublime Porte) Raid of 23 January 1913 until the defeat in 1918, the government banned the publication of even the slightest opposition in newspapers and periodicals. In particular, the outbreak of war in 1914 in Europe and the declaration...Read More