The center has issued the sixteenth edition of Riwaq of History and Heritage; a refereed academic magazine. As mentioned in the introduction, the issue deals with a variety of topics in history, heritage, and archaeology.
The issue opens with an article on an Ottoman historian unknown to the Arab World. In his article “Ahmed Jevdet Pasha: Official Historian to the Ottoman Empire”, Professor Suhail Saban introduces this historian, his writings and academic ranking, especially in history. The author also explains how far his historical works agree with documents of the Ottoman Archive. He starts with introducing the official historians of the Ottoman Empire and the conditions under which they had to be appointed at the time of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566) until the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1924, then he introduces Ahmed Jevdet Pasha, the official historian of the Ottoman Empire during the first half of the nineteenth century. He mentions his writings and describes in detail his method in his book that covers the events of the Ottoman Empire from the Kuchuk-Kainarji treaty in 1188 AH/ 1774 AD until the disbandment of Janissary in 1241 AH/1826 AD.
In his article “Books of Biographies, Classes, and Life Histories as a Source to Study Islamic Archeology”, Professor Mohamed Hamza Al Haddad mentions the most important of those books throughout the historical periods, highlighting their historical significance in this respect, as they have a major role unknown to many. Those sources cover all stages of Islamic history, constituting a continuous and organized chain where each part complements the other. This was applied on the most important fields of Islamic archaeology, to which these sources added new concepts, through which only its image becomes complete and clear. An example on this is arts and industries, Islamic architecture. Those sources revealed valuable information in the field of archaeological inscriptions and architectural additions, and provided the names of some engineers and calligraphers, etc.
In her article “The Technique of Using Wood in the Alepian Traditional Architecture”, Professor Maha Al-Shaar sheds light on the hidden engineering techniques in the Alepian Islamic architectural buildings, where Alepian architects used to use wood in their work. These techniques were discovered by the architects who worked in repairing the buildings. This indicates that Aleppo was distinguished in its richness of charitable, defensive, governmental, religious, and other Islamic buildings. This is why the Organization of Islamic Cooperation declared it the capital of Islamic culture in 2006. Since some of those buildings suffered damage, some architects worked on repairing them, where they discovered hidden engineering represented in using wood by Alepian architects. This is why the buildings of the city were known for their permanence and durability.
In his article “The Other Chrisitan in the Writings of Muslim Travelers: Abu Bakr Al-Harawi as an Example”, Professor Ali Al-Sayed draws attention to the role of a Muslim traveler in raising awareness on the Other Christian during Crusades in the Levant. By the Other Christian, he means all the Eastern crusaders, Latin Catholics, Christians of Sicilia, and Byzantine Orthodox leaders whom the traveler met. He mentions that Al-Harawi was interested in visiting shrines, buildings, and cities that were under Islamic and Crusade powers in the Levant, Sicilia, and Byzantine. He explored the places of the Crusaders in Tiberias, Nazareth, and Nablus. He was also interested in visiting Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, where he clarified the changes and additions made by the Crusaders. He also visited the most significant churches and shrines. He visited the Ibrahimi Mosque and inquired about the news of discovering the graves of prophets therein. He visited the holy places of Byzantine. Al-Harawi proved that he was aware of the Other Chrisitan through using their narratives and quoting from the Old and New Testaments as a historical source. He showed respect to the Other; he never belittled them, their religion or beliefs.
In their English article “Egyptian Post… Journey of Strategic Transformation Towards Integrated Governmental Services Platform”, Professors Zutan Brantner and Abdullah Abdel-Ati Al-Najjar reviews the evolution of the Egyptian Post since Pharaonic era, focusing on the period (1865-2023), especially the period of transformation to an integrated governmental platform since 2006. They clarify that the Egyptian post system, classified as one of the oldest worldwide organized communication networks, is considered a reflection of the social, political, and economic developments throughout its history. Since the Pharaonic era -where a network of messengers have been used to facilitate communication- and until the contemporary post systems, the history of the Egyptian post demonstrates the capability of adaptability and innovation. The importance of this development exceeds the technical aspect to include the deep social and economic impacts left by the post service on the Egyptian society. Postal system represented a main framework for communications, trade, and digital services. The article especially focuses on two main stages: the stage of institutional challenges and complicated issues (1990-2006), and the stage of transformation towards an integrated governmental platform (2006-2023), with evaluating the evolution of the Egyptian Postal Museum and the most prominent current challenges it encounters.
