Word: allah
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Under Turkish rule, Constantinople's famed Christian shrines, like the great basilica of Saint Sophia, were restored and refurbished to the glory of Allah. Slim minarets rose skyward alongside rounded Byzantine domes. New architectural jewels, like the Blue Mosque of Sultan Ahmed I, sprang up to rival the old, and the hiving humanity drawn by commerce to this natural crossroads of land and sea began to fill every available crevice with the insignificant architecture of its daily life...
Above the visitors was a two-ton chandelier of solid bronze inlaid with nickel; around them were porcelain and plaster tiles of blue, green and gold in geometric designs. Verses from the Koran and the 99 formal Arabic titles of Allah gleamed in gold inscriptions on the walls and ceilings. Outside, the sun sparkled on the crescent that tops the minaret 160 ft. above Washington's stately Massachusetts Avenue. The $1,250,000 mosque (built with the contributions of 15 Moslem nations) stands canted to the street in order to face Mecca.*The world's only air-conditioned...
...oases of human interest, from Mohammed's legendary prayer ("Honor your aunt, the palm, which was made of the same clay as Adam") to vignettes of Arabs setting their watches by the sun and "sweetening" their beards with incense. There is still only one God and that is Allah, but oil is profit, and Author Morris is happy that he saw Muscat and Oman before its rulers became the Cadillackeys of their fate...
...Praise be to Allah and to Israeli justice," cried Mustafa. "Court adjourned," snapped the Israeli judge as the cows were led across the border into Jordan...
...loss of his hand; public amputations are commonplace (one result: Arabia has probably the lowest crime rate in the world). Social reform comes hard when slavery, sanctioned by Mohammed, still exists, though Saudis protest that slaves are well treated and often freed by owners eager to gain credit with Allah (old Ibn Saud used to release one every Friday after prayer). Tax reform is blocked by the Koran's ban on any personal tax on believers except the Zakaah, a small yearly levy paid to the sheik, who is instructed to use it to support his own family...