Extreme poverty is high in every developping nation, also in those situated in the so called “Muslim world”.
I’m not familiar with the book you mention as “influential”. But nevertheless I have to disappoint you since its author got it right. So I’m sorry, but your comment “nonsense” and the following sentence is nonsense.
Arabic - and that includes also Modern Standard Arabic - is a language that holds an open invitation to poetry and thus also invites to dramatize and to rethoric. Which are all inherent to the Arab culture in general since history begins to talk about “Arabs” and their language(s), upto this very day.
Al-Sahaf made me smile more then once because of his play with the language, upto using it in a way the common Arab-in- the-street failed to understand the meaning of words he used.
The fact that he was pushed in the position of defending an inclining regime in public surely must have frustrated him. Thus he most probably began to use his extensive knowlegde of the language to compensate for this on a personal level.
Let’s cover it with the mantle of love because there are some other details (like " in the process eradicating the last vestige of the Roman empire."…hm…)
Using a large brush and a few slightly wrong coloured shades to paint a few centuries of world history in a few lines should be considered as somewhat permissable seen the limited amount of words one can use, no?
And one must admit that technically speaking Attaturk- and-crew were “born” Ottoman as in “Ottoman subject”
and that the name “Istanbul” was known …
and that there is a lot of discussion about its origin…
And no, I don’t follow in this the " popular etymology"…
Salaam. A
