The last royal family to rule Egypt as a monarchy were the descendants of Mohamed Ali Pasha, a tobacco merchant, and Albanian general in the service of the Ottoman Sultan.First ruling as a viceroy for the Ottoman Sultan, and fighting wars on his behalf (e.g. against the al-Sauds in Arabia), he later became independant, and even challenged the Sultan by campaigns in Syria and Southern Turkey.After the fall of the Ottomans, Egypt's rulers took the title Sultan, then the title king.

One interesting character in the history of Modern Egypt is Soliman Pasha el Faransawi سليمان باشا الفرنساوي (Solomon Pasha the French).

There are many interesting things about the Egyptian desert.The are completely barren areas, like along the road between Cairo and Fayyoum (known as Asuit road).West of Alexandria, the Mariout area blooms with various flowers in late winter.South West of Alexandria, there are high cliffs, desert lakes in oasis settings, and seas of sand.There are fossils of whales in the south, as well as artifacts from ancient human settlements, such as flint arrowheads, rock paintings, and the like.

Before the fall of Granada, the last Muslim emirate in Spain, the Mudejars المدجنين were Muslims living in Christian dominated areas, retaining some degree of religious freedom. In Castille, they had more freedom and autonomy than in Arragon.

They were however losing their language very fast, and hence most of them could not speak Arabic anymore, let alone read it.

There arose the need for the Mudejars to develop religious works in Castillian.

One such person from Segovia شقوبية was Ice de Gebir (الفقيه عيسى بن جابر الشاذلي الشقوبي), a Spanish Andalusian jurist, who wrote his works in Castillian. His name is spelled differently in different sources, for example: 'Isâ b. Jâbir is the closest to the Arabic that can be. Other spellings are Isa, Iça, Içe, Yça, Yza, and Ysa. His father's name can be spelled as Gebir, Jabir, or Yábir. The Gidelli seems to be the corruption of ash-Shadhili.

When reading history, it is interesting to know where exactly the places mentioned are today. If one is reading history in a language that no longer exists in the region studied, then the task is much harder.

One such case is the Arabic names for towns and cities in the Iberian peninsula, in what is now Spain and Portugal. For eight centuries, this area was under Arab rule, and known by the name al-Andalus الأندلس. Many chronicles and history books have been written by the Arab speaking inhabitants of Iberia.

In this article, I try to provide a list of Arabic and Spanish names of the towns and cities, so it is easy to cross reference those for anyone who is studying the region and its history.

My brother Omar is a business man with a background in economics and business.

Two commonly used names for Arabs in movies or in popular cultures are 'Abu' and 'Abdul'. These terms are incorrectly used. Read below to see why.