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Mullah Mohammed Omar (born c. 1959), often simply called Mullah Omar, is the spiritual leader of the Taliban movement that operates in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. He was Afghanistan's de facto head of state from 1996 to late 2001, under the official title of Head of the Supreme Council. He held the title Commander of the Faithful of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which was officially recognized by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. He lost an eye during the war against Soviet occupation.<br/><br/> There are at most one or two indistinct photographs of Mullah Omar, who follows a strict Salafist interpretation of the Islamic prohibition on making images of living things, including via photography. In a more mundane sense, this has served him well as a guerrilla commander by protecting his anonymity.<br/><br/> It was reported on 29 July 2015, that Mullah Omar had died in 2013. These reports were confirmed by the National Directorate of Security and the Taliban the following day.
The Buddhas of Bamiyan were two 6th century monumental statues of standing Buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamiyan valley in the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan, situated 230 km (143 miles) northwest of Kabul at an altitude of 2,500 meters (8,202 ft).<br/><br/> Built in 507 CE, the larger in 554 CE, the statues represented the classic blended style of Gandhara art. The main bodies were hewn directly from the sandstone cliffs, but details were modeled in mud mixed with straw, coated with stucco. This coating, practically all of which was worn away long ago, was painted to enhance the expressions of the faces, hands and folds of the robes; the larger one was painted carmine red and the smaller one was painted multiple colors. The lower parts of the statues' arms were constructed from the same mud-straw mix while supported on wooden armatures. It is believed that the upper parts of their faces were made from great wooden masks or casts.<br/><br/> The rows of holes that can be seen in photographs were spaces that held wooden pegs which served to stabilize the outer stucco. They were intentionally dynamited and destroyed in 2001 by the Taliban, on orders from leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, after the Taliban government declared that they were ‘idols’.<br/><br/> International opinion strongly condemned the destruction of the Buddhas, which was viewed as an example of the intolerance of the Taliban. Japan and Switzerland, among others, have pledged support for the rebuilding of the statues.
The Buddhas of Bamiyan were two 6th century monumental statues of standing buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamiyan valley in the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan, situated 230 km (143 miles) northwest of Kabul at an altitude of 2,500 meters (8,202 ft).<br/><br/> Built in 507 CE, the larger in 554 CE, the statues represented the classic blended style of Gandhara art. The main bodies were hewn directly from the sandstone cliffs, but details were modeled in mud mixed with straw, coated with stucco. This coating, practically all of which was worn away long ago, was painted to enhance the expressions of the faces, hands and folds of the robes; the larger one was painted carmine red and the smaller one was painted multiple colors.<br/><br/> The lower parts of the statues' arms were constructed from the same mud-straw mix while supported on wooden armatures. It is believed that the upper parts of their faces were made from great wooden masks or casts. The rows of holes that can be seen in photographs were spaces that held wooden pegs which served to stabilize the outer stucco.<br/><br/> They were intentionally dynamited and destroyed in 2001 by the Taliban, on orders from leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, after the Taliban government declared that they were ‘idols’. International opinion strongly condemned the destruction of the Buddhas, which was viewed as an example of the intolerance of the Taliban. Japan and Switzerland, among others, have pledged support for the rebuilding of the statues.
Islam was introduced to Yunnan in 1253 when Kublai Khan, the fifth emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, pacified Dali. In 1273, Sayyid All Omer Shams al-Din was appointed Prime Minister (now called governor) of Yunnan. During his reign, he established 12 mosques in Kunming. Islam has since spread all over Yunnan Province, mainly in Kunming, Yuxi, Honghe, Wenshan, Dali, Baoshan, Zhaotong, Chuxiong, Simao, and Qujing prefectures and municipalities. Many ethnic Hui, some Dais, Bais, Tibetans and Zhuangs have converted to Islam. There were an estimated 500,000 Muslims in Yunnan in May 1996, and some 717 mosques in service.
The Buddhas of Bamiyan were two 6th century monumental statues of standing buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamiyan valley in the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan, situated 230 km (143 miles) northwest of Kabul at an altitude of 2,500 meters (8,202 ft).<br/><br/> Built in 507 CE, the larger in 554 CE, the statues represented the classic blended style of Gandhara art. The main bodies were hewn directly from the sandstone cliffs, but details were modeled in mud mixed with straw, coated with stucco. This coating, practically all of which was worn away long ago, was painted to enhance the expressions of the faces, hands and folds of the robes; the larger one was painted carmine red and the smaller one was painted multiple colors.<br/><br/> The lower parts of the statues' arms were constructed from the same mud-straw mix while supported on wooden armatures. It is believed that the upper parts of their faces were made from great wooden masks or casts. The rows of holes that can be seen in photographs were spaces that held wooden pegs which served to stabilize the outer stucco.<br/><br/> They were intentionally dynamited and destroyed in 2001 by the Taliban, on orders from leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, after the Taliban government declared that they were ‘idols’. International opinion strongly condemned the destruction of the Buddhas, which was viewed as an example of the intolerance of the Taliban. Japan and Switzerland, among others, have pledged support for the rebuilding of the statues.
Islam was introduced to Yunnan in 1253 when Kublai Khan, the fifth emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, pacified Dali. In 1273, Sayyid All Omer Shams al-Din was appointed Prime Minister (now called governor) of Yunnan. During his reign, he established 12 mosques in Kunming. Islam has since spread all over Yunnan Province, mainly in Kunming, Yuxi, Honghe, Wenshan, Dali, Baoshan, Zhaotong, Chuxiong, Simao, and Qujing prefectures and municipalities. Many ethnic Hui, some Dais, Bais, Tibetans and Zhuangs have converted to Islam. There were an estimated 500,000 Muslims in Yunnan in May 1996, and some 717 mosques in service.
The Buddhas of Bamiyan were two 6th century monumental statues of standing buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamiyan valley in the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan, situated 230 km (143 miles) northwest of Kabul at an altitude of 2,500 meters (8,202 ft).<br/><br/> Built in 507 CE, the larger in 554 CE, the statues represented the classic blended style of Gandhara art. The main bodies were hewn directly from the sandstone cliffs, but details were modeled in mud mixed with straw, coated with stucco. This coating, practically all of which was worn away long ago, was painted to enhance the expressions of the faces, hands and folds of the robes; the larger one was painted carmine red and the smaller one was painted multiple colors.<br/><br/> The lower parts of the statues' arms were constructed from the same mud-straw mix while supported on wooden armatures. It is believed that the upper parts of their faces were made from great wooden masks or casts. The rows of holes that can be seen in photographs were spaces that held wooden pegs which served to stabilize the outer stucco.<br/><br/> They were intentionally dynamited and destroyed in 2001 by the Taliban, on orders from leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, after the Taliban government declared that they were ‘idols’. International opinion strongly condemned the destruction of the Buddhas, which was viewed as an example of the intolerance of the Taliban. Japan and Switzerland, among others, have pledged support for the rebuilding of the statues.
The Buddhas of Bamiyan were two 6th century monumental statues of standing buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamiyan valley in the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan, situated 230 km (143 miles) northwest of Kabul at an altitude of 2,500 meters (8,202 ft).<br/><br/> Built in 507 CE, the larger in 554 CE, the statues represented the classic blended style of Gandhara art. The main bodies were hewn directly from the sandstone cliffs, but details were modeled in mud mixed with straw, coated with stucco. This coating, practically all of which was worn away long ago, was painted to enhance the expressions of the faces, hands and folds of the robes; the larger one was painted carmine red and the smaller one was painted multiple colors.<br/><br/> The lower parts of the statues' arms were constructed from the same mud-straw mix while supported on wooden armatures. It is believed that the upper parts of their faces were made from great wooden masks or casts. The rows of holes that can be seen in photographs were spaces that held wooden pegs which served to stabilize the outer stucco.<br/><br/> They were intentionally dynamited and destroyed in 2001 by the Taliban, on orders from leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, after the Taliban government declared that they were ‘idols’. International opinion strongly condemned the destruction of the Buddhas, which was viewed as an example of the intolerance of the Taliban. Japan and Switzerland, among others, have pledged support for the rebuilding of the statues.
The Great Ottoman Empire or Turkish Empire or Sublime Ottoman State was a Turkish empire which lasted from 27 July 1299 to 1 November 1922 (623 years), when the Sultanate was abolished.<br/><br/> The Ottoman Empire was one of the largest and longest lasting empires in history; such that the Ottoman State, its politics, conflicts, and cultural heritage in a vast geography provide one of the longest continuous narratives. During the 16th and 17th centuries, in particular at the height of its power under the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the empire was one of the most powerful states in the world – a multinational, multilingual empire that stretched from the southern borders of the Holy Roman Empire to the outskirts of Vienna, Royal Hungary (modern Slovakia) and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the north to Yemen and Eritrea in the south; from Algeria in the west to Azerbaijan in the east; controlling much of southeast Europe, Western Asia and North Africa.<br/><br/> With Constantinople as its capital and vast control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, the empire was at the center of interactions between the Eastern and Western worlds for over six centuries.
The flag of the Islamic Amirate (Emirate) of Afghanistan, government of Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001, and also the flag of the Afghan Taliban movement (1994 - continuing) shows the shahadah, or Muslim declaration of faith, in black on a white field. The shahahdah, always written in Arabic, states 'There is no God but God, Muhammad is the Prophet of God'.
Justin Perkins (1805-1869) was born on a farm in Massachusetts, and educated at Amherst and the Andover Theological Seminary. From 1833 until shortly before his death in 1869, he served as missionary to the Nestorian Christians of Qajar Iran (1794-1925) under the auspices of the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions. He was the first American missionary in Qajar Iran, as well as an eminent scholar of Syriac. He developed an alphabet for the writing of modern Syriac, which was the Nestorians' vernacular, and established a press at Urmia (spelled Oroomiah by Perkins) in western Azerbaijan to print his translations of the New Testament (1846) and the Old Testament (1852) in both liturgical and modern Syriac.<br/><br/> Urmia, sometimes spelled, Orumieh, during the majority of the Pahlavi Dynasty (1925–1979) called Rezaiyeh), is a city in Northwestern Iran and the capital of West Azerbaijan Province. The city lies on an altitude of 1,330 m above sea level on the Shahar Chay river (City River). Urmia is the 10th most populated city in Iran with a population of about 600,000. The population is predominantly Azerbaijani with significant Kurdish, Assyrian and Armenian minorities.