I Feel Like A Person Again. I Feel Real As I Taste The Salt On My Skin After A Run. I Feel The Bitter

Arabic dark academia

Having tea first thing in the morning, the afternoon, evening, night and whenever you have nothing to do and whenever you have everything to do

Practicing calligraphy, hoarding calligraphy pens and quills like a dragon hoards its jewels

Youre now a calligragon btw

Pretentious hand written letters

Fragments of poetry and prose on the wall

In Egypt you can buy a vintage gramophone (as far as I remember)

Wrinkling your nose at orientalists who have clearly never been anywhere near the culture they're trying to portray.

Appreciating the orientalists who have in fact been there and paint like it. (Sorry to disappoint but there were never sexy slave babes roaming the streets)

Mourning for the scholars of Al Andaluas and times when Arabic was the language of science

Arguing over e'arab (the value of a word with regard to others in the sentence) and balagha (it translates to "eloquence" but is more like a complex version of figures of speech) of words

Arabic being such a complex language you get carried away sometimes

Passing the allotted wordcount so you start going over your paper and compressing a whole sentence, consisting of a conjunction, a subject, a verb and two objects into a word in desperation

Words like فأسقيناكموه (faa'skainakumooh) meaning "and so we have let you drink it" being an example.

Tea over burning coal. Over logs (hatab) tea over bokhour/oud hits different and you know it.

Brewing coffee over low heat and humming to Layali Al Ouns

"No offense but I like real coffee" when someone mentions starbucks

Um Kulthoum and Asmahan are superior you cant change my mind.

NO I DID NOT FORGET ABDUL HALIM HAFEZ I WANTED HIM A BULLET OF HIS OWN.

Fareed al atrash concerts at 3 am.

Nothing you ever cook will be under seasoned.

Reciting poetry to yourself in the mirror

Big chunks of jewelry (usually gold) engraved or woven through with intricate patterns and swirls. Wearing four bracelets in one hand is absolutely fine and under dressing is a myth

Owning swords is not out of fashion (ancient arabs were well known for their swordsmanship) but using them is, unfortunately <3

Wondering how they won wars with these swords. I couldn't even lift it enough to stab myself if I wanted

Extra names. People called شهد honey (shahd), جمال beauty (jamal), زهرة flower (zahra), ليلى night (laila), سماء sky (samaa), مهند/سيف sword (mohanad/saif) and صفاء purity (safaa) like it's the most normal thing in the world (which it should be, along with names of ancient gods)

Poetry from the abbasid era describing palaces and fountains and music so eloquently your heart skips several beats and you wonder how it is still beating at all and if, after all, you have been born in the wrong era.

Classic poetry from the school of Apollo brimming with romance and yearning you have never seen matched.

Poems that tear at your heart and stitch it whole with every bayt (verse? The equivalent for it) and you keep coming back for more.

Stories so well told that you swear you can see the princes and charmers and musicians and dancers all flicker to life in the flames before you

Historical masjids and churches.

Going to the palaces and shrines and towers from the ancient days of yore

Not exclusively (as neither is anything on this list) arabic but BRAIDS and braid jewellery that clinks when you shake your head

The unwavering belief that poetry is meant to be sung.

Singing poetry because it is meant to be sung

Thick eyebrows

Lining already lash lined eyes with kohl.

Beautiful brown eyes. Honey eyes. Chocolate eyes. Freshly turned earth eyes. Eyes that hold all the ethereal beauty of the world.

Hair styled in dark, thick curls or braids

Savouring the way the words move around from your throat to your chest to the tip of your tongue, like liquid gold,

The sweet music from the strings of a qitharah (string instrument)

Scented candles are cute, but have you ever heard of oud (perfume infused wood)? Anyhow one of my Sudanese friends make it AND IT IS BEAUTIFUL.

Wanting to study with the scholars of baghdad and azhar so bad

Recognizing that for all your culture, some of it is inspired by others and that's okay.

Please add what you can to this list. It is far from complete.

fill your soul with stars

i’m fasting for 15 hours

How long are you guys fasting for?

I’m interested in seeing who’s suffering (i.e., me) and who got it easy lol

Reblog with how long your fasts are

I’m fasting for 17 hours

summer (desi? stem? chaotic?) academia

swearing heavily while solving questions; going for a walk and ending up contemplating how i’m ever going to crack my entrance exam while sipping diet coke; blasting instrumentals on speaker to out-noise the construction work going on right outside my window; breathing heavily after a swim, gazing up at the sky that looks like an erin hanson painting; singing all izz well in my morning shower and crying along to give me some sunshine in my evening one; closing the blinds in the afternoon because this is summer, the sun takes a toll on my skin and sunscreen takes a toll on my wallet; missing offline classes; the only thing about my new textbooks that makes me happy is their smell; subsisting on cold coffee and indori poha; by the way, what does a social life look like?

Some dark academia things

textbooks filled with highlighted texts, doodles, annotations and coffee/tea stains from late night study sessions

dry roses on your desks, bookshelves and in random books which you open and discover several pressed flowers

using old cracked teacups as candle stick holders

textbooks being the only books you're not afraid to dogear

dozens of messy to-do lists, scratching the finished tasks and choosing to ignore the remaining ones because you're too busy celebrating your accomplishments

panic because you still have to do the remaining ones

finally taking a breath cuz ur to do list is completely scratched out and you can sleep peacefully

nvm you stayed up all night reading

Dark academia playlist

it has both lyrical and classical!

i want to listen to music but whatever song i put i dont like and nothing suits my mood but idk wat my mood is and i need help

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!

"The most scary part of TMA is the blanket episode- The most scary part of TMA is Jane Prentiss - The most scary part of TMA is the Not! Them creatures -"

Wrong! The most scary part of TMA when you're watching for the first time and realize far too deep in that you really should be have been trying to remember peoples names.

i used to be such a skeptic whenever i came across any mental health advice asking you to “move your body” or “drink more water” or “eat nutritious food and get sunlight” because how can you narrow down my psyche to these physical constraints?

to me, these seemed like empty words ringing across a hallowed hall devoid of any warmth or feeling. only once i started implementing these have i realised what a power the state of your body and biological functions hold over you. i don’t feel that heavy burden of feelings dragging behind me like a phantom, choking me and consuming me and binding me in an inescapable vortex inside my head. physical liberation from that dictator of malaise and despondency has turned me into a changed woman.

i no longer recognise myself and i couldn’t be happier about it. i should learn to forgive those past versions of myself, i really know i should but perhaps i shall need more time. i don’t think it is in my nature to be forgiving yet. does god not require penance in order to unshackle you from the manacles of your sins? perhaps more atonement from my end is required to appease my grieved subconscious. or maybe im just meant to linger in the shades of what could’ve been. either way, i think im liking who im becoming.