Salmiya

I have posted on this blog some time ago an unusual Seh Mihraba rug from the Shindand market area in west Afghanistan. I had bought it from my friendly Afghan carpet sellers Mirwuis and Syed who used to have a small shop in Kuwait’s Souq Mubarakia. They frequently offered a variety of rugs from Afghanistan and Iran on the Friday market in the Al-Rai industrial area next to the notorious 4th Ring Road, just behind the nurseries. Opposite to the animal market, there is what is called the Iranian market where you may find in fact everything you might be looking for. The whole area is very fascinating. My friends and I liked to go there, if possible every weekend. I would like to post another, much more typical, Seh Mihraba rug here. Tareq Rajab, Kuwait’s former Director of the Department of Antiquities and Museums in Kuwait and owner of two most marvelous private museums in Jabriya (the museum for calligraphy I had a chance to visit shortly before leaving Kuwait for good in 2007),...

Timuri prayer rug Dokhtar-i Ghazi design Afghanistan, 150 cm x 98 cm, old (second half of 20th century) Warp: W, Z2S, ivory, light brown Weft: W, S, ivory Pile: W, Z Knots: as1 Density: 17 x 11, ca. 187 kpsi (2900 per sq dm) Height of pile: 2 mm Handle: like velvet, grainy Upper end: - Lower end: - Sides: 0.5 cm wide, W, selvages black Colors: 5, black, dark-purple, dark blue, brown-red, ivory (beige) Classic Dokhtar-i Ghazi (the Qadi’s daughter) design. With considerable density of knots. The origin is sometimes identified as Timuri, an Afghan/Central Asian tribe which, according to George O’Bannon, does no longer exist in Afghanistan. See also a less interesting rug in R. D. Parsons’ Carpets of Afghanistan, plate 98. Good examples may be found on Thomas Cole’s page: http://www.tcoletribalrugs.com/article45YaqubKhani.html , http://www.tcoletribalrugs.com/article30PitOcts.html

I have recently mentioned these two guys in another posting mainly featuring my friends Seyed and Mirwuis from Afghanistan. All of them are dedicated and honest carpet dealers with profound knowledge, selling high quality pieces from their home country, from Iran and Central Asia. I don’t know how carpet business is right now in Kuwait for Ali and Hussain. It all depends on the Westerners, I suppose. Kuwaitis go for different pieces, I was told in the Persian Carpet Exhibition in Salmiya. I had mentioned them in relation to a photo which I have carried for some time even in my wallet. It shows both, Ali and Hussain and a little Afghan girl weaving a carpet. Hussain, the lad on the right, proudly smiles into the camera. Ali, his older brother, seems to be more quiet but very self-confident. The girl doesn’t smile. In fact, you can feel even an atmosphere of embarrassment emanating from the girl. She might not be older than, say, seven or eight. Let’s call her Fatima. The photo is a ki...

Both were introduced to me by a colleague from Sweden who regularly visited them with his wife on the Friday market in Kuwait. When I met them in late 2001, shortly after the bombarding of Tora Bora had begun, they sold plenty of similarly looking Baluchi prayer rugs and, more interesting, so-called Afghan war rugs , with maps of the devastated country and made during the war against the Soviet Union. At that time Mujahiddin were praised as freedom fighters by former U.S. President Ronald Reagan and were heavily supported by CIA. These war rugs were very emotional and I bought several of them for my friends and relatives. Unfortunately, I have not retained a single piece for myself. (If anyone wants to offer me a nice Afghan war rug, please contact me!) Mirwuis and Seyed had also a little shop in Souq Mubarakia, downtown in Kuwait City. I got a special attention there and lots of discount since I dragged my friends and guests always to these rather shy and friendly two men. We had man...

This morning I received a chain email by a friend and colleague with the following content: "Normality March, 02 2008 By Faheem Hussain "It's very nice to be a sort of normal person for once, I think this is about as normal as I'm ever going to get." - Prince Harry on his time in Helmand Province in Afghanistan. The BBC reported these words with approval. It’s nice to know that this is what is considered normal for a young man in the UK. I guess it is normal to send 23 year olds to join an illegal occupation army. It is normal to call in air strikes (this was Harry’s job) to drop 1000-pound bombs on villages killing and destroying men, women, children, animals. It is normal to go on foot patrol in an occupied country and look down with contempt on the poor people of the country and it is normal to feel the hatred emanating from the people of the occupied country. I am sure that Prince Harry feels terribly elated and uplifted by his 10 weeks in Helmand where he di...