Esraa Gibreen

“Interestingly, the Mawlid (Birthday) of the Prophet probably originated from earlier Shiite celebrations of Ali’s birthday. In 1123 CE, the Shiite Fatimid dynasty in Egypt began holding public celebrations of Muhammad’s birthday in which sweets and charity were dispensed to the public,”
― Jonathan A.C. Brown, Muhammad: A Very Short Introduction

“Ibn Hisham found some of the material that Ibn Ishaq included objectionable, such as the story of the Prophet contemplating suicide after his first revelation and the Satanic Verses (see below). He removed such reports as well as the entire first section of the work, which covered the history of the world (from a very Abrahamic point of view) from Adam and Eve until Muhammad’s birth. Ibn Hisham also added his own selection of stories about Muhammad. Nevertheless, modern historians have tried to reconstruct Ibn Ishaq’s original work by locating his reports in other Muslim historical works of the 9th and 10th centuries.”
― Jonathan A.C. Brown, Muhammad: A Very Short Introduction

“لا نستطيع جميعنا أن نكون سادة ولا طاقة لجميع السادة أن يجدوا خدمًا أمناء. إنك لتلفي٣ بين أولئك الخدم غير واحد من البُلْه الخانعين ذوي الركب اللينة يعجبهم رقهم الثقيل فيفنون أعمارهم على شاكلة الحمير التي تُرهق بالأحمال حتى إذا بلغوا من السن عتِيًا طُردوا بضرب السياط طرد المجرمين. غير أنه يوجد أيضًا بين الخدم أناس غير أولئك يظهرون بكل مظاهر الطاعة ويستعيرون كل أشكال الرعاية لكنهم يصونون ضمائرهم لخدمة أنفسهم، ومع ما يبدونه من الامتثال لولاتهم يوجهون مساعيهم لقضاء مآربهم حتى إذا وشَّوا ملابسهم بالذهب حبسوا تكرماتهم على ما اكتسبوه من رفعة القدر. أمثال هؤلاء لهم بعض النفوس”
― ويليام شكسبير, عطيل‬

“men needed women more than women needed men. In fact, thought Karen, women could get along perfectly fine without men altogether. They tolerated solitude well, took care of their health and cultivated friendships, lasted longer—”
― Olga Tokarczuk, Flights