#prince of Sharaf

[elettraml]

𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐥𝐬

My Ashtaroth and Ljlith, inspired by an original artwork of frostbite.studios ❤️🌻

[jordanianroyals]

Official Cousins Portrait: Crown Prince Al Hussein & Princess Rajwa Al Hussein in a group photo with the groom’s siblings & paternal cousins at Zahran Palace after the wedding. The family members include:

Siblings: Princess Iman & Jameel Thermiotis, Princess Salma & Prince Hashem

Princes Omar, Abdullah Muhammad, Princesses Ayah, Aisha, Sara & Mohammed, Raiyah, Nasmah Halawani (children of Prince Feisal & Ayah’s family)

Prince Abdullah & Jalila (children of Prince Ali)

Princesses Hala, Rayet Al-Noor, Fatima Al Alia & Princes Hussein Haidara, Mohammad Al Hassan (children of Prince Hashim)

Princes Muhammad, Hussein & Princess Rajaa (children of Prince Talal)

Princesses Tasneem (daughter of Prince Ghazi)

Prince Hussein Mirza, Talal & Abdul-Hamid Al Saleh, Luma Haddad, Danah Shishan, Sharifa Shouq bint Hamed (sons of Princess Alia & spouses)

Aoun & Muna Juma (children of Princess Aisha)

Ja'afar & Jumana Al Saleh & Aisha Qutta, Tariq Khalaf (children of Princess Zein & spouses)

Arif & Aisha Batayneh (children of Princess Rahma)

Zein Al Sharaf, Sukayna Judeh & Tariq Judeh, Zane Abu Hantash (children of Princess Sumaya & spouse)

Ali Blair (son of Princess Badiya)

[tiny-librarian]

Royal Birthdays for today, August 2nd:

John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg, 1455

Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, 1674

Mahmud I, Ottoman Sultan, 1696

Dietrich of Anhalt-Dessau, German Prince, 1702

Francisca of Brazil, Princess of Joinville, 1824

Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont, Queen of the Netherlands, 1858

Constantine I, King of Greece, 1868

Ingeborg of Denmark, Duchess of Västergötland, 1878

Zein al-Sharaf, Queen of Jordan, 1916

Marie Gabrielle of Luxembourg, Countess of Holstein-Ledreborg, 1925

[richincolor]

So many fantastic books came out in the first months of 2022, and I plan to spend some of my spring break catching up on my TBR list. Which books will you be reading this spring?

Salaam, with Love by Sara Sharaf Beg Underlined

Being crammed into a house in Queens with her cousins is not how Dua envisions her trip to New York City. But here she is, spending the holy month of Ramadan with extended family she hasn’t seen in years.

Dua struggles to find her place in the conservative household and to connect with her aloof, engaged-to-be-married cousin, Mahnoor. And as if fasting the whole day wasn’t tiring enough, she must battle her hormones whenever she sees Hassan, the cute drummer in a Muslim band who has a habit of showing up at her most awkward moments.

After just a month, Dua is surprised to find that she’s learning a lot more than she bargained for about her faith, relationships, her place in the world—and cute drummers. . . .

The Red Palace by June Hur Feiwel & Friends

Joseon (Korea), 1758. There are few options available to illegitimate daughters in the capital city, but through hard work and study, eighteen-year-old Hyeon has earned a position as a palace nurse. All she wants is to keep her head down, do a good job, and perhaps finally win her estranged father's approval.

But Hyeon is suddenly thrust into the dark and dangerous world of court politics when someone murders four women in a single night, and the prime suspect is Hyeon's closest friend and mentor. Determined to prove her beloved teacher's innocence, Hyeon launches her own secret investigation.

In her hunt for the truth, she encounters Eojin, a young police inspector also searching for the killer. When evidence begins to point to the Crown Prince himself as the murderer, Hyeon and Eojin must work together to search the darkest corners of the palace to uncover the deadly secrets behind the bloodshed. -- Cover image and summary via Goodreads

No Filter and Other Lies by Crystal Maldonado Holiday House

You should know, right now, that I'm a liar.

They're usually little lies. Tiny lies. Baby lies. Not so much lies as lie adjacent.

But they're still lies.

Twenty one-year-old Max Monroe has it all: beauty, friends, and a glittering life filled with adventure. With tons of followers on Instagram, her picture-perfect existence seems eminently enviable.

Except it's all fake.

Max is actually 16-year-old Kat Sanchez, a quiet and sarcastic teenager living in drab Bakersfield, California. Nothing glamorous in her existence--just sprawl, bad house parties, a crap school year, and the awkwardness of dealing with her best friend Hari's unrequited love. But while Kat's life is far from perfect, she thrives as Max: doling out advice, sharing beautiful photos, networking with famous influencers, even making a real friend in a follower named Elena. The closer Elena and "Max" get--texting, Snapping, and even calling--the more Kat feels she has to keep up the facade.

But when one of Max's posts goes ultra-viral and gets back to the very person she's been stealing photos from, her entire world - real and fake -- comes crashing down around her. She has to figure out a way to get herself out of the huge web of lies she's created without hurting the people she loves.

But it might already be too late.

Survive the Dome by Kosoko Jackson Sourcebooks Fire

Jamal Lawson just wanted to be a part of something. As an aspiring journalist, he packs up his camera and heads to Baltimore to document a rally protesting police brutality after another Black man is murdered.

But before it even really begins, the city implements a new safety protocol...the Dome. The Dome surrounds the city, forcing those within to subscribe to a total militarized shutdown. No one can get in, and no one can get out.

Alone in a strange place, Jamal doesn't know where to turn...until he meets hacker Marco, who knows more than he lets on, and Catherine, an AWOL basic-training-graduate, whose parents helped build the initial plans for the Dome.

As unrest inside of Baltimore grows throughout the days-long lockdown, Marco, Catherine, and Jamal take the fight directly to the chief of police. But the city is corrupt from the inside out, and it's going to take everything they have to survive.

[groupfazza]

سمو الشيخ حمدان بن محمد بن راشد آل مكتوم ولي عهد دبي مع السيد شرف الدين السيد محمد حسين شرف.

H.H Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, with Mr. Sharafuddin Al Sayed Mohammed Hussein Sharaf.

[fuukonomiko]

Do you have a 40k oc list for someone a little out of the loop? 😊

Hello anon! Well I have some of them but I don’t have all. Some folks also have multiple muses. I’m going to put the ones on here who I know and who were in my RP tag list. Please feel free to add, folks! Also please free to correct Fuuko-mun too! (This took me forever, sorry about that)

@aeonsancient (multiple OCs, Amenhotekh is main)

@aforgottenraven (Khakir, Raven Guard OC)

@an-imperial-dog (Lore’Lei)

@anotherbotchedjump (Sgt. Evan and his crew)

@arch-magister-khnemu (TS Khnemu)

@archon-khromys (Canon, actually)

@ask-archon-skourna (Archon OC)

@ask-astorath (canon)

@ask-40k-morathi (Drukhari)

@askakhenatenimhotep (Akhen, TS OC)

@ask-artemis-prima (Primarch OC)

@ask-a-tempestus-scion (Tempestor Prime Sharaf and Co)

@askbranwen (Shadow Captain Branwen of the Raven Guard)

@ask-cannoness-gwyne  (Cannoness Gwyne of the Order of the Bloody Rose)

@ask-colonel-straken (Canon)

@ask-commandar-farsight (Canon)

@ask-ephraelrhiannon (Psyker and Inquisitor Ephrael Rhiannon)

@ask-jack-hammer (Jack Hammer, he’s anabhuman)

@askjenetiakrole  (Canon)

@asklordcaptaincastronova (Rogue Trader Castranova)

@ask-lord-commander-dante  (Canon)

@askmalal  (Canon)

@askmalcador  (Canon)

@ask-night-haunter  (Canon)

@ask-rune-priest-ulfric (Space Wolf and Rune Priest Ulfric)

@ask-the-crimson-king  (Canon)

@askthepurgedprimarch (OC Primarch Ahaseurus )

@ask-the-sensual-primarch  (Canon)

@ask-trajann-valoris  (Canon)

@ask-tribune-ra  (Canon)

@askvicothefallenbloodangel (Chaos Blood Angel and Fuuko’s champion, Vico di Viari) 

@ask-vox-hailer-boy (Boy from TTS)

@betteroffdred

@bloodiedtanithghost (Keelan MkByrne, A Tanith Ghost)

@bouddicathesavage (Primarch OC Bouddica)

@brother-captain-aodhan (OC Captain Aodhan)

@cadian-remnant (OC Sgt. Veronika Reeve)

@calibansfallenangels  (Canon) and OC Sivier

@catachan-jungle-fighter (John Geist and the Mad Wolves of Catachan)

@commorritestreettrash (Drukhari OC Taphamela)

@corsair-princess-nenime (Aeldari OC Nenime)

@empress-of-xerxes (Seras Kyne OC)

@exhausted-drone

@fandomlessmultimuse (Sombra et al)

@feraseos (Drukhari Wych Feraseos)

@ii-and-the-sun (Primarch Gavmieltus Gariq)

@inquisitortyrosaldwin (Inquisitor Tyros Aldwin OC)

@just-another-guardsman (OC Guardsman Tobias Lorik and company)

@kainzalin

@kalle-and-lita (NL Kalle and Lita of Nostramo)

@lord-kallig (Kallig and his merry crew of heretics)

@lost-little-lamb (Egun Ko the astropath and crew)

@magsnagadaunkyllyble (Magsnaga the gentleman ork)

@marcusmettalus (multiple muses)

@mortars-and-martyrs (aka Mun with a million OC, LOL)

@navigator-bethany (Astropath Bethany)

@ophidian-mystic

@overlord-velathain (Necron Overlord Velathain OC)

@particularcustodian (Arden, Custodian OC)

@primarch-legio-xi (Asomodus the Stag Lord, Primarch OC)

@primaris-angel (Bellophoron of the Dark Angels OC)

@primaris-templar (Gareth Arden OC)

@psykerscum (Scum aka Quincy OC)

@rains-of-hell (many OCs)

@randomnightlord (Claw Commander Absinthe OC)

@raptor-prince-zydan (NL Zydan, Prince of Raptors OC)

@second-company-captain-therak (Captain Therak, OC)

@sightless-steersman (Astropath Draco, formerly of the Night Lords)

@slaanesh-is-my-boy

@smolcatachan (Vin Stav, Catachan OC)

@space-meow-wolf (Space Wolf Lee OC)

@stresseddemon

@tavernofthescattered (Kana Morta, Necromunda OC)

@the-commissar-and-the-beast (Commissar Novikov OC)

@the-jay-of-paradise (Jackie, abhuman)

@thelostflyboy (Imperial Guard OC)

@the-obsidian-mystic (Suleiman, TS OC)

@the-officers-club (Aaron Carter of the Imperial Guard, OC)

@the-ossium-court (multiiple OCs)

@thesilentinquisitor (Inquisitor Evren and co)

@the-wandering-lady (Psyker Anastasia M’rez OC)

@those–of–the–unlight–of–the–unlight (multiple OCs)

@tired-space-politician  (Canon)

@traveling-freebootah (Ork Captain Zagbad)

@tzeentchs-secretary (Secretary of Tzeentch, Kyete)

@valossian-sythrac  (Canon)

@warpfire-art

@warp-fuckery-trio (multiple OCs)

@waywardinquisition (Inquistor Eirasa OC)

@wearetheblacklegion (Icarus and Drogon of Fuuko’s legion of Eternal Keepers, former Blood Raven and Black Dragon)

@your-commissar (Commissar Atticus OC)

@zakthefiend (multiple muses including a TS Josirus, aeldari farseer Ysedra, SoB Teresa, Canonness Elizabeth)

[fuukoseternalvaults]

Halloween art (do your worse to Vince >:3)

SEND ME ‘HALLOWEEN ART’ AND I WILL DRAW A CHARACTER OF YOUR CHOICE IN A RANDOMLY SELECTED HALLOWEEN COSTUME (requests closed)

31/38

Pirate Prince Vince as Freddie Mercury (do I have to tell you where he hails from….), one of Fuuko-mun’s favorite vocalists of all time!

He will rock you! @ask-vincetheprince

MORE HALLOWEEN ART:

Adeptas Sororitas Teresa as an Archangel

,Shadow Captain Branwen as Snow White

Space Wolf Vali as a Garden Gnome

Maribella Agosti-Sicarius as a Circus Clown

Morathi as Miss Marvel

Apothecary Khyron as a hippie

Feraseos as The Little Mermaid

Magnus the Red as a Pirate Captain!

Fall Barros as a Cowboy

Khad Blackbyrne as Super Mario

Katharena as Princess Peach

Tempestor Sharaf Madzhab as a harlequin

Necron Overlord Velathain as Superman

Inquisitor Rhiannon as Princess Leia

Ferrus Manus as Elvis Presley

Azarel as a Mummy

Kelari Cuddles as a Bulbasaur

Lolth the Spider Queen as Ursula from the Little Mermaid

Kana Morta as Tinkerbell

Farseer Saerahlyn as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz

Ysrill as a Zombie

Ulfric Seiorfang  as Han Solo

Lorgar Aurelian as Imhotep of The Mummy

Night Lord Kalle as Robin

Artemis Prima as The Chiquita Banana Lady

Catachan John Geist as Mr. Clean

Primaris Templar Gareth as Freddy Krueger

Lazarath as Samurai Jack

Minerva Guilliman as Alice in Wonderland

As requested by @zakthefiend​

[shejustcalledmeafish]

R for the OC post! or A!

Full Name: General Bela Reynolds

Nicknames, If Any: Reynolds

Hogwarts House: Griffindor

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Bisexual Aromantic

A Song I Associate With Them: I Am The Fire by Halestorm

3 Important Relationships: King Maile, her boss, and confidant. Prince Keanu, basically her son. Private Secora, her apprentice in wind magic

2 Fears: Death of the royal family, loss of her magic

1 Element of their backstory: Born and raised to members of the guard

***

Full Name: Amir Trask née Sharaf

Nicknames, If Any: None

Hogwarts House: Griffindor

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Queer

A Song I Associate With Them: Harlem by Cathedrals

3 Important Relationships: Kevyn Trask, his spouse. Miyamoto Akari, his boss and one of his closest friends. Gareth, his bro.

2 Fears: Breaking a vow, Kevyn dying

1 Element of their backstory: Born to an Arabic crime family built on deceit, he moved to America and started to do crime his way

[abdghanim]

Do you know why the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood was named by this name? The Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood was named after this honorable Sheikh, who was the private doctor of Nasser Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi who used to treat Salah al-Din from his wounds during the battles for the liberation of Jerusalem, and his name was Prince Doctor Hussam al-Din bin Sharaf al-Din Issa

Al-Jarrahi died in 1220 AD and was buried in the surgical corner of the Jerusalem neighborhood, and since that time, that area has become known as the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, may God have mercy on Salah al-Din and Sheikh Jarrah, and all those who fell in defense of Jerusalem and its most distant

[elettraml]

𝚁𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐

My Ash and Lilith, inspired by the original artwork of adamszkiart 💫✨⚡

[jordanianroyals]

Queen Zein Al Sharaf & her son Prince Mohammad of Jordan

[sciencespies]

Success! The United Arab Emirate's Hope spacecraft just entered Martian orbit

https://sciencespies.com/space/success-the-united-arab-emirates-hope-spacecraft-just-entered-martian-orbit/

Success! The United Arab Emirate's Hope spacecraft just entered Martian orbit

The United Arab Emirates’ “Hope” probe on Monday successfully entered Mars‘ orbit, making history as the Arab world’s first interplanetary mission.

The probe is designed to reveal the secrets of Martian weather, but the UAE also wants it to serve as an inspiration for the region’s youth.

“To the people of the UAE, to the Arab and Muslim nations, we announce the successful arrival to Mars’ orbit. Praise be to God,” said Omran Sharaf, the mission’s project manager.

Officials at mission control broke into applause, visibly relieved after a tense half-hour as the probe carried out a “burn” to slow itself enough to be pulled in by Martian gravity, in what was the most perilous stage of the journey.

Success!

Contact with #HopeProbe has been established again.

The Mars Orbit Insertion is now complete.#ArabsToMars

— Hope Mars Mission (@HopeMarsMission) February 9, 2021

Hope is the first of three spacecraft to arrive at the Red Planet this month after China and the US also launched missions in July, taking advantage of a period when the Earth and Mars are nearest.

The UAE’s venture is also timed to mark the 50th anniversary of the unification of the nation’s seven emirates.

“What you have accomplished is an honour for you, and an honour for the nation. I want to congratulate you,” said Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed after entering the control room.

The probe, named “Al-Amal”, Arabic for “Hope” rotated and fired all six of its powerful thrusters to dramatically slow its average cruising speed of 121,000 kilometres (75,000 miles) per hour to about 18,000 kph.

Artist’s rendition of the Hope orbiter around Mars. (UAE SPACE AGENCY)

As the clock ticked down, Dubai’s needle-shaped Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower, lit up in red with blue laser lights, and erupted into a light and fountain show with news of the success.

Landmarks across the Gulf state have been illuminated in red at night and government accounts and police patrol cars emblazoned with the #ArabstoMars hashtag.

The UAE this week also projected onto the Dubai night sky images of Mars’ two moons – Phobos and Deimos – to allow residents “to see what the probe sees”.

Bigger objective

While the probe is designed to provide a comprehensive image of the planet’s weather dynamics, it is also a step towards a much more ambitious goal – building a human settlement on Mars within 100 years.

And apart from cementing its status as a key regional player, the UAE also wants to engage youth in a region too often wracked by sectarian conflicts and economic crises.

“This project means a lot for the nation, for the whole region, and for the global scientific and space community,” Sharaf told AFP before the launch.

“It’s not about reaching Mars; it’s a tool for a much bigger objective. The government wanted to see a big shift in the mindset of Emirati youth… to expedite the creation of an advanced science and technology sector in the UAE.”

The wealthy Gulf state now becomes the fifth space entity to reach Mars, with the China mission due to become the sixth on Wednesday.

Only the US, India, the former Soviet Union and the European Space Agency have successfully reached the Red Planet in the past.

“As a young nation, it is a particular point of pride that we are now in a position to make a tangible contribution to humanity’s understanding of Mars,” said Sarah al-Amiri, the 34-year-old UAE minister who is one of the drivers behind the project.

“Hope” will orbit the Red planet for at least one Martian year, or 687 days, using three scientific instruments to monitor the Martian atmosphere.

It is expected to begin transmitting information back to Earth in September 2021, with the data available for scientists around the world to study.

Unlike the other two Mars ventures, China’s Tianwen-1 and the Mars 2020 Perseverance from the United States, the UAE’s probe will not land on the Red Planet.

“Dear @HopeMarsMission, congratulations on arriving at Mars!” NASA’s Perseverance Twitter account said, citing the words of the great 10th century poet Al Mutanabbi.

“If you ventured in pursuit of glory, don’t be satisfied with less than the stars.”

© Agence France-Presse

#Space

[heavyarethecrowns]

Those that have married in to Royal Families since 1800

Jordan

Zein al-Sharaf Talal

She was born in Alexandria, Egypt into a family of Turkish origin.

Her mother was Wijdan Hanim, the daughter of Shakir Pasha, who was the grandnephew of the Ottoman-Turkish Cypriot Governor of Cyprus Kâmil Pasha. Her father, Sharif Jamal bin Nasser, was the Governor of Hauran; he was the nephew of Sharif Hussein bin Ali of Mecca.

Zein married her first cousin Prince Talal bin Abdullah of Jordan on 27th November 1934, with whom she bore four sons and two daughters:

King Hussein (14 November 1935 – 7 February 1999) Princess Asma (deceased, at birth in 1937)  Prince Muhammad (born 2 October 1940) Prince Hassan (born 20 March 1947) Prince Muhsin (deceased) Princess Basma (born 11 May 1951)

Queen Zein played a major role in the political development of the Jordanian Kingdom in the early 1950s, by supporting efforts in charitable works and women's rights.

She took part in the writing of the 1952 Constitution that gave certain rights to women and enhanced the social development of the country. She also created the first women’s union of Jordan in 1944.

Queen Zein further filled a constitutional vacuum after the assassination of the late King Abdullah I in 1951, while the newly proclaimed King Talal was being treated outside the Kingdom.

The Queen again performed this role during the period between August 1952, when her son, King Hussein, was proclaimed monarch, and May 1953, when he assumed constitutional duties at the age of eighteen.

Following the arrival of Palestinian refugees into Jordan after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, she led national relief efforts to help the tens of thousands of refugees.

She was also instrumental in establishing the women's branch of the Jordan National Red Crescent Society in 1948.

Throughout her life, Queen Zein dedicated time and energy to the Um Al Hussein orphanage in Amman.

[archon-skourna]

Skourna's eyebrow rose, but she chose not to dispute Sharaf's claim.

'He's a Corsair Prince of sorts, and probably the source of Aera's wild streak.' Skourna sighed. 'He visits from time to time but for the most part she's mine to raise as I see fit.'

"You seem worried"

'Worried my dear Sharaf? Whatever gave you that idea?' Skourna looked up from the mirror she had been listlessly staring into for some time now.

[fuukonomiko]

Halloween art Leman russ in a wulfen form would be awesome

37/38 or i it 38/38? I lost count. I promise I didn’t forget your request bud. So here he is in his hairy glory! I had to reference him from actual werewolf art instead of the canon more furry looking Wulfen. 

MORE HALLOWEEN ART:

Adeptas Sororitas Teresa as an Archangel

,Shadow Captain Branwen as Snow White

Space Wolf Vali as a Garden Gnome

Maribella Agosti-Sicarius as a Circus Clown

Morathi as Miss Marvel

Apothecary Khyron as a hippie

Feraseos as The Little Mermaid

Magnus the Red as a Pirate Captain!

Fall Barros as a Cowboy

Khad Blackbyrne as Super Mario

Katharena as Princess Peach

Tempestor Sharaf Madzhab as a harlequin

Necron Overlord Velathain as Superman

Inquisitor Rhiannon as Princess Leia

Ferrus Manus as Elvis Presley

Azarel as a Mummy

Kelari Cuddles as a Bulbasaur

Lolth the Spider Queen as Ursula from the Little Mermaid

Kana Morta as Tinkerbell

Farseer Saerahlyn as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz

Ysrill as a Zombie

Ulfric Seiorfang  as Han Solo

Lorgar Aurelian as Imhotep of The Mummy

Night Lord Kalle as Robin

Artemis Prima as The Chiquita Banana Lady

Catachan John Geist as Mr. Clean

Primaris Templar Gareth as Freddy Krueger

Lazarath as Samurai Jack

Minerva Guilliman as Alice in Wonderland

Pirate Prince Vince as Freddie Mercury

Amaukwor as Thor, God of Thunder

Ysrill as Link

Saint Celestine as Fuuko

Archon Skourna as Catwoman

Happy Halloween from Konrad Curze and his Pumpkin Fuuko

Leman Russ as a Furry Thundercat or something that isn’t a Wulfen

Sgt. Bourne as A Scarecrow

Lin Manuel Miranda as Jack Skellington

[tanadrin]

I have just finished reading White Mughals, William Dalrymple’s prequel-of-sorts to The Last Mughal. The main events take place about sixty years before, and concern the relationship between the British Resident at the court of Hyderabad, James Achilles Kirkpatrick, and a Muslim woman of Persian descent whom he fell in love with and married, Khair un-Nissa; the way Dalrymple talks it up in the early chapters you think this might be a historical drama with Shakespeare-level tragedy and revenge, but it’s not (though it does end sadly). Mostly, it’s an excuse for Dalrymple to talk about the politics of Hyderabad and south India, to discuss fascinating personalities like Abdul Latif Shushtari, Khair’s Persian cousin who comes to India to make his fortune (and spends the entire time complaining about Indian Muslims, Indian Hindus, the weather, Americans, the British, and the food), and, above all, the cultural moment between the East India Company establishing a solid foothold in the subcontinent and the creation of a sharp cultural line between India and Britain in which it was possible to inhabit a world that was simultaneously of Europe and of India.

There seems to be a period, of indeterminate length of time--perhaps the 1750s to the 1820s or 30s?--when it was perfectly ordinary for a British man, born in Europe or the colonies, to be able to go to India in the service of the Company to make his fortune, to marry an Indian woman (or women, especially if he converted to Islam), to adopt Indian dress and language and habits, and to have children who were as much part of the Mughal aristocratic class as they were of the British aristocratic class or immediately sub-aristocratic stratum. Certain economic incentives worked against a thorough mixing of the cultures. The British presence in India was overwhelmingly male, the women being either wives of officers or high-ranking Company officials or, occasionally, single women seeking eligible husbands (though the stuffier European sexual morality meant that they often struggled to compete with Indian women for the men’s affection). European women were not, as a rule, to be found among the fortune-seekers and adventurers who made their way to India, but there were a couple of notable exceptions, and there are even recorded cases of European women being recruited to Indian harems. Indian wives also very often did not return to Britain with their husbands, but mostly this seems to be because the sorts of European men who married Indian women ultimately preferred to live out the rest of their lives in India, their health permitting. People like David Ochterlony, the Resident at Delhi, amassed large fortunes and settled down quite happily with their families to live out their days in India; many were buried there, in tombs which merge European and Indian architectural styles.

And some officials, like Kirkpatrick, eventually became skeptical of the whole colonial project. When Richard Wellesly (brother to the more famous Arthur) became the Governor-General of India, he initiated a program of expanding the empire’s reach in India pretty much for its own sake, rather than out of any notion of commercial or enterprising spirit. The result was that Residents like Kirkpatrick were told to get the princes they advised to sign unequal treaties by any means necessary, and that vast quantities of blood and treasure were expended on unnecessary wars. Someone like Kirkpatrick, who regarded the Nizam of Hyderabad and his court with as much respect as he would any European prince, and indeed counted many of them among his friends, resisted such wasteful conquest, and saw, quite correctly, that even if Britain managed to establish hegemony over the subcontinent through such means, it would come at a terrible cost.

I like this book for two reasons. One, it offers another view of colonialism, one which is rarely discussed. First, the East India Company was, well, a company, and there were moments in its history when you could almost believe it did indeed operate in a morally neutral if mercantile fashion, not intentionally as an agent of destructive colonization. It is a reminder that history is big and complicated and never as simple as we would like to believe, and that even if broadly destructive trends do exist, there are good people on both sides of them, who deserve to be remembered. More importantly, if your view of the British in far-flung places is uniformly as grim, badly-dressed-for-the-climate, gin-and-tonic-swilling colonial overlords, this book offers a dozen named examples (and many more) of British people who showed up in India, quite liked what they saw, and discarded large chunks of their own Britishness to embrace cultures and peoples they fell in love with. Informed as he is by both English-language and Indian (Persian and Urdu and Deccani) sources, Dalrymple is the opposite of Kipling: for him, all cultures are united by their common humanity, even if they exhibit, especially in this time period, dizzying diversity. There is a fantastic episode late in the book where Kirkpatrick’s daughter, Katherine Aurora “Kitty” Kirkpatrick (born Noor un-Nissa, Sahib Begum), by now grown and educated in England, reconnects with her maternal grandmother, Sharaf un-Nissa. The two write a series of emotional letters to one another, both immensely gratified and moved to be reconnecting with beloved family after so many years and the death of Khair. Kitty Kirkpatrick writes in a familiar style--the pleasantries and emotional language and turns of phrase of an Austen character, and Sharaf writes with all the flourishes and religious allusions of an Indian Muslim noblewoman, and yet their clear and evident love for one another, and their powerful familial bond, is what shines through the letters above all. These are two women of utterly different cultural contexts and backgrounds, yet who clearly regard one another as close family, as close as family can possibly be.

This is maybe why I don’t worry much about concepts like cultural appropriation, and why I find it hard to get worked up over the idea that any kind of real harm is perpetuated by one group adopting the superficial elements of other cultural or subcultural groups. In reality, the borders we have drawn between cultures (and races, and nations, and any other kind of human tribe) are of a shockingly recent invention. It was not until the 1830s and 40s, with the arrival of Wellesley’s successors in India--bright-eyed Evangelical protestants, the first generation of Anglicans really committed to the notion that the Church of England wasn’t just a franchise of Catholicism that let the monarch run things, and reform-minded, forward thinking, science-oriented racists with shiny new ideas about the inherent qualities of different human populations, that the dividing lines between the British and the Indians were really drawn. This is when the number of marriages between British men and Indian women begins to decrease; when the British Residents at Hyderabad begin to see the Nizam as their subject, and not as their partner, when British presence in India becomes more about the Empire than about the Company. This, I suspect, is when Indianness begins to develop in opposition to Britishness, laying the groundwork for a unified idenity and a pan-Indian nationalism a hundred years later. And while I don’t want to knock that achievement--in any other part of the world, there’s no way Gujarat and Delhi and Kerala and West Bengal would be part of one country without nationalism and terrorism and ethnic tension--even on the left as we pay lip service to ideas like open borders and mundialization we take it as read that you have your culture and I have mine, and only under certain very narrow and respectful conditions are you allowed to approach mine and sample from it. If you are allowed at all.

I reject this. It is nationalism by another name; it’s certainly tribalism, and an enforced tribalization, and while yes, it’s possible to disprespect and denigrate other cultures in ways that are deeply hurtful and deeply harmful, and possible to cause offense where homage is intended, using the shrinking terror of causing such harm to throw up walls between cultures and subcultures is far more harmful than accidental offense given where none was intended. The history of a place like India--and, of course, Britain--is the history of cultural contact, of the horizontal and vertical mixing of religions and values and arts and languages. We should embrace this. When you spend time embedded in another culture, you can finally begin to understand it--somebody like Kirkpatrick would laugh themselves sick at modern stereotypes of Islam, for instance, considering that all the Muslims he knew (including himself, eventually) had more in common with the vague Deist British intelligentsia of the period, and lived in cosmopolitan surroundings where Hindus celebrated festivals at the shrines of Sufi saints--in a period when religious Christians were soon to become the threat to stability and harmony in India, not religious Muslims.

As Dalrymple says at the close of his book, East and West have mingled before; they will do so again, whether we like it or not. I hope that happens sooner rather than later, but how comfortable we find that association will depend on how strongly we insist on the barriers between our tribes and sub-tribes and classes and cultures. I would just as soon dispense with those, in favor of the things that unite us.