Je suis Charlie. I repost this column, which has attracted constant attention since its publication in September, in a spirit of solidarity with France and Charlie Hebdo. Islam today, in its radical wing and in the relative silence of its dominant populations, is a rebuke to its own history and the supposedly peaceful sentiments of the Koran.
Mecca, Saudi Arabia, in 1951. (mic.com)
Poster for 1955 musical “Kismet.” (stevelensman.hubpages.com)
Makkah Clock Tower Hotel. (evaser.com)
Clock Tower Hotel on chart of tallest buildings. (aaviss.com)
The Kaaba at Mecca. (universalfreepress.com)
Mecca in early 20th century. (aswjmedia.com.au)
Mecca in ancient times. (socialappetizers.com)
Mohammed Atta. (judicial-inc-archive.blogspot.com)
CCTV, by Rem Koolhaas. (e-architect.co.uk)
Stadium in Qatar by Zaha Hadid. (dezeen.com)
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. (bauhaus-online.de)
Philip Johnson. (hulshofschmidt.files.wordpress.com)
Kismet. A useful word. Taking a break yesterday from the authorship of a blog post on the destruction of Mecca by modern architecture, I went downstairs, made myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and turned on the television.
I had no plan to address this Thursday column to the calamity in Mecca. But …
Just beginning on TV was Kismet, a musical filmed in 1955 and set in Baghdad. A poor poet is kidnapped after being mistaken for a…
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