Very honest photo dump about how the month is going (i need a miracle to get me through these exams)
everyone gangster until you pull on your not so platonic friend's armor
so apparently it’s cool to wear your boyfriend’s clothes now?
but when i, patroclus-
Muslim Dark Academia Things:
Being torn between the black hijab and the slightly less black hijab
Islamic architecture being so beautiful it found its way unto western countries
Islamic. Art.
Learning arabic calligraphy.
Staying up late, hearing athan (call for prayer) and going "holy shit its already fajr (sunrise prayer) ?????"
Not being able to sleep after Fajr (sun rise prayer) and going into a wiki search rabbit hole
Wanting to sleep after fajr (sun rise prayer) but reading one chapter and then the suns already out there and the birds have the audacity to chirp chirp ughh
Not everyone gets an Assalamu Alaikum (peace and blessing be upon you) because some people just don't deserve wishing them peace
Everyone gets a hey tho
Petting kittens because its sunnah (the prophet used to do it, and its preferable that we do although not an obligation) and you get hasanat (at least you try to convince yourself that's why)
Always having pocket change for charity cause you never know
Tiny but elaborate copies of the qur'an in case you get five minutes of silence
Being at peace 24/7 because God's mercy is bestowed upon all
No more peace your paper is late
Reading nawader (little stories from the middle ages! Like Kaleela Wa Dimna)
Mourning the library of baghdad, that had so many books that when it was destroyed the river turned black with ink
mourning the library of Alexandria
Having a favourite mo'athen (one who calls for prayer) or quare'a (one who recites Quran)
Messy Arabic notes. Studying nahw (arabic grammar.) Arabic prose.
Khalil Jabran (mostly known as Khalil Gibran) and people who pronounce his name correctly (no problem of you cant tho!)
Arabic poetry
Arabic poetry
Arabic poetry
Reading Shakespeare critically
"With every hardship comes ease"
"The best amongst you are those who own knowledge and share it"
Kohl just because
Reading about the golden age of islam and wishing you lived there
Knowing that your race, gender, colour, language, religion wouldn't have stopped you from learning back then because islam is a religion of equality
Having so many badass women to look up to
That bellowing abaya/bisht/dishdasha/khimar (middle eastern clothing? It's real hard to explain/desctibe these guys but they're very very loose for dramatic effect and modesty) that is just sooo pretty and mysterious
Arriving at your masjid just on time for prayer
The imam (one who leads prayer) asking people to "fill the gaps and straighten the lones"
That one sheikh that gives beautiful lectures/sermons and makes you want to learn even more
That other sheikh that tells you stories so elaborately you forget who you are
THE SHEIKH THAT IS BOTH OF THESE BEAUTIFUL SOULS
Going to harems with your fellow sisters
Smiling at people and complimenting them because its sadakah (charity you get rewarded for) and because it low key makes you happy
Knowing every little thing is rewarded
Reading from all your copies of the qur'an so that none of them feels lonely
Buying a lavish prayer matt because why not
"The prophet had a cat, mom, its sunnah" (sunnah means things the prophet did that we get good deeds to do)
I'll post a part 2 when anything comes to mind <3
Feel free to add more! In fact I would be over the moon if you do!
Dark Academia is a complex aesthetic... Let's all think of as many sub genres of DA as we can. A lot come to mind, right? In this post I've tried to narrow some down. Hope you enjoy :) (& perhaps you might find the sub genre of DA that best suits you) ~ THE 1940s ACADEMIC~ These folks don't necessarily have a passion for ancient history or the classics… instead, they spend their time researching The Great War as thoroughly as possible. They wear brick red lipstick no matter the occasion. If you look around their home, you may find a collection of portable typewriters, or perhaps an envelope filled with old photographs of their parents or forgotton acquaintances. Their go-to wardrobe colour is either a rich brown or an army green. Cigars are their best friends, just like their idol, the newly elected prime minister, Winston Churchill. ~THE GOTHIC POET~ This person has as many candles as they do hairs on their head. True to their name, they spend hours writing elaborate lines of poetry, usually not bothering to change out of their lacy night gown, with ruffled cuffs and puffy sleeves. They are confident, flamboyant, & a sucker for Pre-Raphelite paintings. While their friend, «1940s Academic» happily taps their foot along to The Andrews Sisters, they prefer to stare at themselves dramatically in their looking glass, blasting Mozart until their stained glass windows begin to tremble. ~THE GENTLE FLORIST~ (Light Academia) A typical «Gentle Florist» will wake on rainy spring mornings & peacefully pour themselves a steaming cup of mint tea. They spend their evenings with a light read, accompanied by their cat & the warm glow of their vintage floor lamp. If they are religious, they like to help out with charity events at their place of worship. If they are not, they happily volunteer wherever they are needed on weekends. They like to have lunch with their friend «Gothic Poet» although their re-enactments of Romeo & Juliet can get tiresome after a while. Their wardrobe colours are dark greens, browns, tans & creamy whites. ~THE MAD WRITER~ (Chaotic Academia) A strong black coffee always helps to wake this academic up in the morning. They stumble out of bed late after an intense night of scribbling out ideas for plots and characters. They seem to fixate on the prospect of murder, which their secret lover, «Gentle Florist», finds slightly suspicious. Their room is littered with paper. Is that a receipt or an important writer's note lying beside the antique camera? We might just never know. They hate most people, especially crying babies on the train. They are brutally cold & sarcastic, but people can't stop falling for them. Their wardrobe colours are black, blood red, cold white & the occasional navy blue. ~THE VICTORIAN EXPLORER~ (Rachel Maksy has a great Victorian Treehouse vidéo which is a perfect example of this aesthetic) Picture a vast room, its surfaces clad with antique brass artefacts. Things like old gramophones, flashlights, clocks, globes & magnifying glasses. There are maps pinned on every wall, & old atlases in foreign languages amongst yellowed illustrations of the English coastlines. Now picture the person who inhabits this room. They love old hats & sunglasses. Perhaps they have tan lines on their arms from when they were out searching for islands in Micronesia. People say this person & «Mad Writer » had a mysterious past, but neither of them ever mention it. Their favourite wardrobe piece is their trademark, a pair of antique boots, perfect for exploring various types of terrain. ~THE INQUISITIVE MYCOLOGIST~ (Cottagecore X Dark Academia) This academic is obsessed with nature, but prefers to live in urban areas. They draw illustrations in the margins of their schoolbooks/ work notes of mushrooms & leaves & will often spend hours in the local library with their potential love interest, « Victorian Explorer », poring over mycology textbooks. Their favourite wardrobe item is of course their dark brown oxfords, with the laces replaced with red ribbons.
Gift ideas for arabic academia?
Thats really sweet of you!
Arabic calligraphy equipment
Silk/satin headscarves (esp for the curlyheads!)
Ornate silver rings
Their favourite diwan (poetry collection revolving around a certain topic/ aesthetic) for their favourite poet
Jewellery
Qahwa (or gahwa or ahwa) sets
Tea sets with arabic calligraphy decroations on them
A sword if youre rich (i demand one too, as it was i who guided you into buying one)
Pretty silk slippers
koḥl asmad and a pretty makḥala
Henna and equipment
Classics (the hardcovers with ornate gold shit we love them)
A tapestry
Nawader collection
Bake them something you know they love (not necessarily arabic da but you can make it so)
Oud/bokhour
Qithara/mizwad/any traditional instrument they prefer
Big earrings/bracelets/head jewllery thingy but i forgot its name
Dancing outfit ;)
Persian rugs/carpets
That's all i can think about atm! Feel free to add more <3
Locking yourself in your room for hours to analyze and study Ahmed Shawqi's poems.
Laughing at a pun present in the poem (also, known as "تورية ". Pronounced "Taw-re-ya") , just to follow it up with crying because of how hard the Analytical Grammer is.
Buying second hand items from tiny businesses present in flats.
Not being able to afford a dark academia aestheticaly pleasing wardrobe or having a full say in what you want to get because you still live with your parents.
Getting yelled at because you had "way too many" cups of qahwa/ready made coffee (qahwa is Arabic coffee. Ready made coffee like Nescafé).
Romantacizing studying physics (or any "hard" subject) , and focusing on it so much that you forget to study the easy subjects and now you have a load of said left out subjects.
Not being able to give enough fucks about a colonizers language to have someone correct you , but also needing to study it because it will be added up at the end of the year with the rest of your subjects.
Wanting to learn coptic (or what's supposed to be your native language) but not being able to due to the little to no time that you've got and feeling very guilty with not being in touch with your ancestry.
Not being able to get in touch with your ancestry due to the lack of information about them and knowing little about them, causing you to feel guilty again.
Having an identity crisis because "who do I belong to??" (in my case, 'am an Arab, a Copt or should I identify with both? What about the white washed part of my family?? ')
Listening to Fairouz, Chopin and hozier (and /or anyone in between) , in the morning, with a cup of coffee.
Trying to comprehend the white folks running 1st world countries with 2 paramecuims for brains, in the morning. Just to shake the thought out, because who needs to give themselves a headache, when you can simply watch a 4 hour long Arabic session and cry afterwards.
I'm an Egyptian, who lives in Egypt . And most of the posts that I see in this format, are written by folks living in 1st world countries. And of course, I don't quite relate to them. Feel free to reblog and add more to this post :)
Quick time lapse of me studying the femoral triangle ^
I'm overcome with nostalgia for a life that may or may not have been a dream.
i feel like a person again. i feel real as i taste the salt on my skin after a run. i feel the bitter winter current seeping through my bones. i feel the soft kiss of my quilt at every point it touches on my body as it embraces me in the cold, i see the cranberry and amber hues of the sunrise every morning as i wake to chase the sun, and i smell the fragrant aroma of the garlic cloves as they sizzle in olive oil in my pan while i cook dinner for my family. winter i love you.