Talk:Kamal Salibi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography. For more information, visit the project page.
Biography Portal
Start This article has been rated as start-Class on the project's quality scale. [FAQ]
This article is supported by the Science and academia work group.
Lebanon Portal

This article is part of WikiProject Lebanon, an attempt to create a comprehensive, neutral, and accurate representation of Lebanon on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page.
Start This article has been rated as start-Class on the quality scale.
Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the importance scale.

[edit] Name

His name literally means "Crusader" in Arabic, but some extreme Islamists are fond of quoting from him nevertheless... AnonMoos 08:28, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

His name does not mean "crusader" and has nothing to do with crusaders. It was given to his family centuries before crusades even happened. A true definition of the name and origins of it can be found here Saleeby Saliba Association of Families . Any islamists quoting him are probably aware of his families history and how they fought against the crusaders. 125.237.247.61 10:05, 6 March 2007 (UTC)
His name means, Cross, not Crusader (even though Crusader is a cognate of Cross). — EliasAlucard (Discussion · contribs) 10:24, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
It's the adjective form of the word for "cross", which can indeed mean Crusader, according to my dictionary. Look at the interwiki at the bottom of article Crusade -- it's ar:حملات صليبية... AnonMoos (talk) 16:04, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
In any case, Salib, in Lebanese Arabic (which I speak), means Cross. If fundamentalist Muslims want to interpret this as him being a crusader, that's their point of view. — EliasAlucard (Discussion · contribs) 19:33, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
Could Mr. AnonMoos helpfully give a source for "some extreme Islamists are fond of quoting from him"? I've seen no evidence for it. I'm also intrigued by the implication of the "but" and "nevertheless". Is Mr. AnonMoos implying that it is logical or sensible to make any inferences about a person's character or loyalties from a mere surname? If the alleged "extreme Islamists" take no notice of it, is that not a tribute to their good sense?SamuelTheGhost (talk) 21:27, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
Good points, Samuel. — EliasAlucard (Discussion · contribs) 21:49, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
I've seen it in Usenet postings, such as http://groups.google.com/group/alt.religion.islam.arabic/msg/e464c709f22b8c45 by the well-known Usenet bigot "Abu-Alwafa" (or as I like to call him, ابو الوفاة), who has posted over 100,000 spam messages to various Muslim-related, Jewish-related, and middle-eastern Usenet groups (using many endearing aliases, such as "Ilan Ramon: Kike Lost in Space"). Forgive me if it's merely trivia, but it tickles my fancy when I see a Muslim bigot posting anti-Jewish and anti-Christian messages to Usenet, relying on the work of someone whose name translates as "Crusader"... AnonMoos (talk) 16:20, 11 February 2008 (UTC)
lol, you're forgiven. Either way though, his name merely means "Cross". It's a cognate in many Semitic languages. For instance, in Syriac, we say "Boslibo" (means, "swear on the Cross"). Salibi is simply Cross. — EliasAlucard (Discussion · contribs) 16:37, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Spelling

First line of second paragraph misspells "extensively". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.160.118.3 (talk • contribs)

Thanks. Fixed. — EliasAlucard (Discussion · contribs) 10:24, 10 February 2008 (UTC)


[edit] Salibi's Less Controversial Work

I think it is a little unfair that that Kamal Salibi's wikipedia page focuses mainly on his controversial theory "The Bible came from Jerusalem" theory. Kamal Salibi is a highly recognised historian: "The Modern History of Lebanon" is a reference book. The same can be said of "House of Many Mansions - The History of Lebanon Reconsidered". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 135.196.63.214 (talk) 20:10, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Nobody's taken any decision to be "a little unfair". The way wikipedia works is that people add material they feel competent to write about. So if you can write a pragraph about Salibi's work as a historian of Lebanon, please do so. But rather than just saying he's "highly recognised" etc, although I'm sure you're right about that, you'll need to find some reference which demonstrates that fact. (If you feel inhibited from interfering with the article yourself, put the text here and I'll edit and insert it.)SamuelTheGhost (talk) 20:59, 11 March 2008 (UTC)