Bro Why They Say "archivist" Like A Slur

Gift ideas for arabic academia?

Thats really sweet of you!

Arabic calligraphy equipment

Silk/satin headscarves (esp for the curlyheads!)

Ornate silver rings

Their favourite diwan (poetry collection revolving around a certain topic/ aesthetic) for their favourite poet

Jewellery

Qahwa (or gahwa or ahwa) sets

Tea sets with arabic calligraphy decroations on them

A sword if youre rich (i demand one too, as it was i who guided you into buying one)

Pretty silk slippers

koḥl asmad and a pretty makḥala

Henna and equipment

Classics (the hardcovers with ornate gold shit we love them)

A tapestry

Nawader collection

Bake them something you know they love (not necessarily arabic da but you can make it so)

Oud/bokhour

Qithara/mizwad/any traditional instrument they prefer

Big earrings/bracelets/head jewllery thingy but i forgot its name

Dancing outfit ;)

Persian rugs/carpets

That's all i can think about atm! Feel free to add more <3

Muslim Dark Academia Things:

Being torn between the black hijab and the slightly less black hijab

Islamic architecture being so beautiful it found its way unto western countries

Islamic. Art.

Learning arabic calligraphy.

Staying up late, hearing athan (call for prayer) and going "holy shit its already fajr (sunrise prayer) ?????"

Not being able to sleep after Fajr (sun rise prayer) and going into a wiki search rabbit hole

Wanting to sleep after fajr (sun rise prayer) but reading one chapter and then the suns already out there and the birds have the audacity to chirp chirp ughh

Not everyone gets an Assalamu Alaikum (peace and blessing be upon you) because some people just don't deserve wishing them peace

Everyone gets a hey tho

Petting kittens because its sunnah (the prophet used to do it, and its preferable that we do although not an obligation) and you get hasanat (at least you try to convince yourself that's why)

Always having pocket change for charity cause you never know

Tiny but elaborate copies of the qur'an in case you get five minutes of silence

Being at peace 24/7 because God's mercy is bestowed upon all

No more peace your paper is late

Reading nawader (little stories from the middle ages! Like Kaleela Wa Dimna)

Mourning the library of baghdad, that had so many books that when it was destroyed the river turned black with ink

mourning the library of Alexandria

Having a favourite mo'athen (one who calls for prayer) or quare'a (one who recites Quran)

Messy Arabic notes. Studying nahw (arabic grammar.) Arabic prose.

Khalil Jabran (mostly known as Khalil Gibran) and people who pronounce his name correctly (no problem of you cant tho!)

Arabic poetry

Arabic poetry

Arabic poetry

Reading Shakespeare critically

"With every hardship comes ease"

"The best amongst you are those who own knowledge and share it"

Kohl just because

Reading about the golden age of islam and wishing you lived there

Knowing that your race, gender, colour, language, religion wouldn't have stopped you from learning back then because islam is a religion of equality

Having so many badass women to look up to

That bellowing abaya/bisht/dishdasha/khimar (middle eastern clothing? It's real hard to explain/desctibe these guys but they're very very loose for dramatic effect and modesty) that is just sooo pretty and mysterious

Arriving at your masjid just on time for prayer

The imam (one who leads prayer) asking people to "fill the gaps and straighten the lones"

That one sheikh that gives beautiful lectures/sermons and makes you want to learn even more

That other sheikh that tells you stories so elaborately you forget who you are

THE SHEIKH THAT IS BOTH OF THESE BEAUTIFUL SOULS

Going to harems with your fellow sisters

Smiling at people and complimenting them because its sadakah (charity you get rewarded for) and because it low key makes you happy

Knowing every little thing is rewarded

Reading from all your copies of the qur'an so that none of them feels lonely

Buying a lavish prayer matt because why not

"The prophet had a cat, mom, its sunnah" (sunnah means things the prophet did that we get good deeds to do)

I'll post a part 2 when anything comes to mind <3

Feel free to add more! In fact I would be over the moon if you do!

Some dark academia things

textbooks filled with highlighted texts, doodles, annotations and coffee/tea stains from late night study sessions

dry roses on your desks, bookshelves and in random books which you open and discover several pressed flowers

using old cracked teacups as candle stick holders

textbooks being the only books you're not afraid to dogear

dozens of messy to-do lists, scratching the finished tasks and choosing to ignore the remaining ones because you're too busy celebrating your accomplishments

panic because you still have to do the remaining ones

finally taking a breath cuz ur to do list is completely scratched out and you can sleep peacefully

nvm you stayed up all night reading

Arabic dark academia

Having tea first thing in the morning, the afternoon, evening, night and whenever you have nothing to do and whenever you have everything to do

Practicing calligraphy, hoarding calligraphy pens and quills like a dragon hoards its jewels

Youre now a calligragon btw

Pretentious hand written letters

Fragments of poetry and prose on the wall

In Egypt you can buy a vintage gramophone (as far as I remember)

Wrinkling your nose at orientalists who have clearly never been anywhere near the culture they're trying to portray.

Appreciating the orientalists who have in fact been there and paint like it. (Sorry to disappoint but there were never sexy slave babes roaming the streets)

Mourning for the scholars of Al Andaluas and times when Arabic was the language of science

Arguing over e'arab (the value of a word with regard to others in the sentence) and balagha (it translates to "eloquence" but is more like a complex version of figures of speech) of words

Arabic being such a complex language you get carried away sometimes

Passing the allotted wordcount so you start going over your paper and compressing a whole sentence, consisting of a conjunction, a subject, a verb and two objects into a word in desperation

Words like فأسقيناكموه (faa'skainakumooh) meaning "and so we have let you drink it" being an example.

Tea over burning coal. Over logs (hatab) tea over bokhour/oud hits different and you know it.

Brewing coffee over low heat and humming to Layali Al Ouns

"No offense but I like real coffee" when someone mentions starbucks

Um Kulthoum and Asmahan are superior you cant change my mind.

NO I DID NOT FORGET ABDUL HALIM HAFEZ I WANTED HIM A BULLET OF HIS OWN.

Fareed al atrash concerts at 3 am.

Nothing you ever cook will be under seasoned.

Reciting poetry to yourself in the mirror

Big chunks of jewelry (usually gold) engraved or woven through with intricate patterns and swirls. Wearing four bracelets in one hand is absolutely fine and under dressing is a myth

Owning swords is not out of fashion (ancient arabs were well known for their swordsmanship) but using them is, unfortunately <3

Wondering how they won wars with these swords. I couldn't even lift it enough to stab myself if I wanted

Extra names. People called شهد honey (shahd), جمال beauty (jamal), زهرة flower (zahra), ليلى night (laila), سماء sky (samaa), مهند/سيف sword (mohanad/saif) and صفاء purity (safaa) like it's the most normal thing in the world (which it should be, along with names of ancient gods)

Poetry from the abbasid era describing palaces and fountains and music so eloquently your heart skips several beats and you wonder how it is still beating at all and if, after all, you have been born in the wrong era.

Classic poetry from the school of Apollo brimming with romance and yearning you have never seen matched.

Poems that tear at your heart and stitch it whole with every bayt (verse? The equivalent for it) and you keep coming back for more.

Stories so well told that you swear you can see the princes and charmers and musicians and dancers all flicker to life in the flames before you

Historical masjids and churches.

Going to the palaces and shrines and towers from the ancient days of yore

Not exclusively (as neither is anything on this list) arabic but BRAIDS and braid jewellery that clinks when you shake your head

The unwavering belief that poetry is meant to be sung.

Singing poetry because it is meant to be sung

Thick eyebrows

Lining already lash lined eyes with kohl.

Beautiful brown eyes. Honey eyes. Chocolate eyes. Freshly turned earth eyes. Eyes that hold all the ethereal beauty of the world.

Hair styled in dark, thick curls or braids

Savouring the way the words move around from your throat to your chest to the tip of your tongue, like liquid gold,

The sweet music from the strings of a qitharah (string instrument)

Scented candles are cute, but have you ever heard of oud (perfume infused wood)? Anyhow one of my Sudanese friends make it AND IT IS BEAUTIFUL.

Wanting to study with the scholars of baghdad and azhar so bad

Recognizing that for all your culture, some of it is inspired by others and that's okay.

Please add what you can to this list. It is far from complete.

summer (desi? stem? chaotic?) academia

swearing heavily while solving questions; going for a walk and ending up contemplating how i’m ever going to crack my entrance exam while sipping diet coke; blasting instrumentals on speaker to out-noise the construction work going on right outside my window; breathing heavily after a swim, gazing up at the sky that looks like an erin hanson painting; singing all izz well in my morning shower and crying along to give me some sunshine in my evening one; closing the blinds in the afternoon because this is summer, the sun takes a toll on my skin and sunscreen takes a toll on my wallet; missing offline classes; the only thing about my new textbooks that makes me happy is their smell; subsisting on cold coffee and indori poha; by the way, what does a social life look like?

I'm overcome with nostalgia for a life that may or may not have been a dream.

aesthetic for @mathemaphia

the glide of a fountain pen across paper

wanting to understand the world and your place in it

an organized desk, everything in its place

finding satisfaction in the precision of mathematics

a freshly steeped cup of tea with fragrant steam

your favorite tea mug set out on your desk

splotches of ink on your hands, worn like badges of honor

always hungry for knowledge, eager to know more about everything

books that make you contemplate your own existence

novels by kafka by your bed

using math as a lens through which to decipher the world and its rules

gazing out the window on long car rides

language textbooks - french, german, korean - stacked by your desk

finding order and patterns in the world 

a contemplative soul, mulling over big philosophical ideas

pages filled with long strings of calculations

muttering verb conjugations as you work on memorization

wanting everyone to see beauty in math the way you do, even though it’s considered a frightening subject

researching your favorite authors

studying language, shaping your mouth around unfamiliar words

Dark Academia is a complex aesthetic... Let's all think of as many sub genres of DA as we can. A lot come to mind, right? In this post I've tried to narrow some down. Hope you enjoy :) (& perhaps you might find the sub genre of DA that best suits you) ~ THE 1940s ACADEMIC~ These folks don't necessarily have a passion for ancient history or the classics… instead, they spend their time researching The Great War as thoroughly as possible. They wear brick red lipstick no matter the occasion. If you look around their home, you may find a collection of portable typewriters, or perhaps an envelope filled with old photographs of their parents or forgotton acquaintances. Their go-to wardrobe colour is either a rich brown or an army green. Cigars are their best friends, just like their idol, the newly elected prime minister, Winston Churchill. ~THE GOTHIC POET~ This person has as many candles as they do hairs on their head. True to their name, they spend hours writing elaborate lines of poetry, usually not bothering to change out of their lacy night gown, with ruffled cuffs and puffy sleeves. They are confident, flamboyant, & a sucker for Pre-Raphelite paintings. While their friend, «1940s Academic» happily taps their foot along to The Andrews Sisters, they prefer to stare at themselves dramatically in their looking glass, blasting Mozart until their stained glass windows begin to tremble. ~THE GENTLE FLORIST~ (Light Academia) A typical «Gentle Florist» will wake on rainy spring mornings & peacefully pour themselves a steaming cup of mint tea. They spend their evenings with a light read, accompanied by their cat & the warm glow of their vintage floor lamp. If they are religious, they like to help out with charity events at their place of worship. If they are not, they happily volunteer wherever they are needed on weekends. They like to have lunch with their friend «Gothic Poet» although their re-enactments of Romeo & Juliet can get tiresome after a while. Their wardrobe colours are dark greens, browns, tans & creamy whites. ~THE MAD WRITER~ (Chaotic Academia) A strong black coffee always helps to wake this academic up in the morning. They stumble out of bed late after an intense night of scribbling out ideas for plots and characters. They seem to fixate on the prospect of murder, which their secret lover, «Gentle Florist», finds slightly suspicious. Their room is littered with paper. Is that a receipt or an important writer's note lying beside the antique camera? We might just never know. They hate most people, especially crying babies on the train. They are brutally cold & sarcastic, but people can't stop falling for them. Their wardrobe colours are black, blood red, cold white & the occasional navy blue. ~THE VICTORIAN EXPLORER~ (Rachel Maksy has a great Victorian Treehouse vidéo which is a perfect example of this aesthetic) Picture a vast room, its surfaces clad with antique brass artefacts. Things like old gramophones, flashlights, clocks, globes & magnifying glasses. There are maps pinned on every wall, & old atlases in foreign languages amongst yellowed illustrations of the English coastlines. Now picture the person who inhabits this room. They love old hats & sunglasses. Perhaps they have tan lines on their arms from when they were out searching for islands in Micronesia. People say this person & «Mad Writer » had a mysterious past, but neither of them ever mention it. Their favourite wardrobe piece is their trademark, a pair of antique boots, perfect for exploring various types of terrain. ~THE INQUISITIVE MYCOLOGIST~ (Cottagecore X Dark Academia) This academic is obsessed with nature, but prefers to live in urban areas. They draw illustrations in the margins of their schoolbooks/ work notes of mushrooms & leaves & will often spend hours in the local library with their potential love interest, « Victorian Explorer », poring over mycology textbooks. Their favourite wardrobe item is of course their dark brown oxfords, with the laces replaced with red ribbons.

Living the Dark academia life

Egyptian student edition

Locking yourself in your room for hours to analyze and study Ahmed Shawqi's poems.

Laughing at a pun present in the poem (also, known as "تورية ". Pronounced "Taw-re-ya") , just to follow it up with crying because of how hard the Analytical Grammer is.

Buying second hand items from tiny businesses present in flats.

Not being able to afford a dark academia aestheticaly pleasing wardrobe or having a full say in what you want to get because you still live with your parents.

Getting yelled at because you had "way too many" cups of qahwa/ready made coffee (qahwa is Arabic coffee. Ready made coffee like Nescafé).

Romantacizing studying physics (or any "hard" subject) , and focusing on it so much that you forget to study the easy subjects and now you have a load of said left out subjects.

Not being able to give enough fucks about a colonizers language to have someone correct you , but also needing to study it because it will be added up at the end of the year with the rest of your subjects.

Wanting to learn coptic (or what's supposed to be your native language) but not being able to due to the little to no time that you've got and feeling very guilty with not being in touch with your ancestry.

Not being able to get in touch with your ancestry due to the lack of information about them and knowing little about them, causing you to feel guilty again.

Having an identity crisis because "who do I belong to??" (in my case, 'am an Arab, a Copt or should I identify with both? What about the white washed part of my family?? ')

Listening to Fairouz, Chopin and hozier (and /or anyone in between) , in the morning, with a cup of coffee.

Trying to comprehend the white folks running 1st world countries with 2 paramecuims for brains, in the morning. Just to shake the thought out, because who needs to give themselves a headache, when you can simply watch a 4 hour long Arabic session and cry afterwards.

I'm an Egyptian, who lives in Egypt . And most of the posts that I see in this format, are written by folks living in 1st world countries. And of course, I don't quite relate to them. Feel free to reblog and add more to this post :)

i used to be such a skeptic whenever i came across any mental health advice asking you to “move your body” or “drink more water” or “eat nutritious food and get sunlight” because how can you narrow down my psyche to these physical constraints?

to me, these seemed like empty words ringing across a hallowed hall devoid of any warmth or feeling. only once i started implementing these have i realised what a power the state of your body and biological functions hold over you. i don’t feel that heavy burden of feelings dragging behind me like a phantom, choking me and consuming me and binding me in an inescapable vortex inside my head. physical liberation from that dictator of malaise and despondency has turned me into a changed woman.

i no longer recognise myself and i couldn’t be happier about it. i should learn to forgive those past versions of myself, i really know i should but perhaps i shall need more time. i don’t think it is in my nature to be forgiving yet. does god not require penance in order to unshackle you from the manacles of your sins? perhaps more atonement from my end is required to appease my grieved subconscious. or maybe im just meant to linger in the shades of what could’ve been. either way, i think im liking who im becoming.