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About Razan Masri

I love exploring, researching, finding and sharing. I love to learn and to teach, I love to live and to laugh, I wish to speak to the world as an Arab Woman using the most beautiful language through photographs and writing.

What does life look like in Beirut? – كيف شكل العيشة في بيروت ؟

Forget about politics, am here to talk about the city of Beirut.

Where modern architecture is embedded with the old. Beirut is rich in history. The citizens  of Beirut take good care of it. You walk between its streets to see modern on top of vintage. It gives you the feeling that layers of stories are topped one on top of the other. They leave the old in it, and just glue the new like plastic surgery on top of it.

Art and culture.

Beirut makes you feel at home, even if you are not Lebanese, you will still feel home. It may let you feel in chaos, as it is a very busy fast paced city, it can let you walk slow, but then it runs over you.

There is so much to find in Beirut, scattered hiding around the corners, ask about new areas, hip shops, look for them and browse them. There is too much of everything, and it is always changing, just don’t stop yourself from exploring the cities deepest wonders.

And once your anywhere, just look at the art that surrounds you. Beirut is full of art.

The Reflection of Architecture. A Creative Writing Piece.

One morning, while I was in Tripoli, I woke up with an urge to go study the architecture of few monuments in the old town city. It felt more like… it was an internal study, a study of my own soul architecture. As I went gazing and zooming in with my camera, into what looked like an Ottoman design, I was able to see a reflection of myself. Refined architecture. That is hidden between several other elements, creating some sort of haziness. They are there, right there, but no one can see them. They are too busy with their every day routine, that they never get to once sit, and enjoy the beauty that lies between their own reflection. They have taken everything for granted. They don’t really question the meaning of their existence, seeing them standing out, not noticing that they do not look like the rest of the other buildings. So they have been blended along with all the other buildings, and they will only rise again when someone takes initiative to pull the curtains off. They are curtains covering the eyes of the people, and not covering the work of art. The work of art, is there, visible. And that is when, people will question, “how did we grow up to become so blinded?” And that is my soul architecture, it has been created in a way no other can see but myself. I can see it, so clearly, if I give myself the opportunity to. I can sit and watch my own soul stand out. I can sit and watch my own soul put, as it was put in the first place. Watch the design, it was created to appear to be, and let it be what it is here to be.

The Scent of Jasmine & Cardamom in Tripoli – رآحة الياسمين و الهيل في مدينة طرابلس

Tripoli is so poetic; it is just like Jasmine and Cardamom mixed together and sprayed between the tree leaves. This city is ancient wonderland located Northern side of Lebanon. I have a weakness for architectural art. I would walk all day for it, I would stand still and look at it for hours, I can leave everything, find a bench and sit as I gaze at it. If I sound like you, then book your next destination to Tripoli, Lebanon.

You will experience understanding the mixology between architectural art, or maybe not truly understand it, but sense it. I am unfamiliar with architecture studies myself, but I am obsessed with it. I have seen art in Tripoli that dates back to the Mamluk times, Art Nouveau, Islamic Art and of course Ottomans. You walk the old city of Tripoli and it is just like a walk through history. There is also a Spanish Breeze as you explore the city, I felt like I was somewhere in Spain several times as I was exploring Tripoli.

I have taken few photos below of the Old city of Tripoli, Grand Mosque Mansouri Mosque, a popular dish by the name Maghrbieh, a popular dessert by the name Ma’jouka, a famous game that the elderly enjoy playing by the name Doma that is very similar to chess, and the Citadel of Raymond de Saint-Gilles or Qal’at Sanjil Castle.

What about Byblos in the Mount side of Lebanon? عن جبيل في لبنان

If you have been to Lebanon, you sure have been to Byblos, and if you haven’t then here is a little bit about it. A beautiful destination, small very old and authentic Mediterranean city located north of Beirut. Byblos is eye gazing, so much to see all around, the old houses, stairs, the old market, the old trees, the sea, the skies, it is truly one of the places that is hard to find the right words to describe it. And then in the evening, it is sleepless. People from all over Lebanon head towards this authentic city to enjoy their evening outdoors.

Go there, find ancient temples, find the Byblos castle, find the Medieval city wall, find the Mamluk Mosque, find St John the Baptist church, and if you are there during the summer try to attend their annual summer festival.

Free yourself 

“Ignorance is God’s prison. Knowing is God’s palace.” Rumi – it is always right to unlock the prison within ourself & start by asking life for help. Ask life to help you clear out the way for you, to show you what is good for you & what is confusing you, ask life to show you the way out of closed doors & into open doors, ask God to help you find your answers & not stay stuck around question marks, ask God to help you learn, acknowledge, free yourself, free your mind, free your soul. True love is free, so be free. Look for the palace within you, look for knowledge, look for comfort, look for ease, look for imagination, exploration, space, look for joy, for contribution, for unity, look for resemblance, for alike spirits, for positivity. Believe in the spirit within you, it all takes.   

How will you know the good if you have never tried the bad? 

Even the skies have two faces for what is having one face if you did not get to know the other? How do you choose good from bad if you don’t know the bad? How do you distinguish love from anything else if you haven’t try anything else? How do you know high when you have never been so low? Let life treat you the way it should without holding any grudges just try your very best to be true to yourself & to others… How will the skies turn into colors if they don’t experience sunset nor sunrise? How will you tell the difference if you never watch them? How do you get to know yourself if you never try to free yourself from your own thoughts? Even the skies sing under the rain, the moon sings under the shadows, the sun sings under the clouds & the rainbow rises above the skies, so free yourself to dance, dance to life, be faithful to your true self be honest to your soul, be genuine to those who give you a hand to climb your own stairs up and rise upon the miracles of life. 
  

A little prayer for Eid Al Adha 

Dream… For it is a given gift to our life… Without dreams how will we ever experience everything… Dream… For dreams are what brings our vision into reality… For how would we visualize them otherwise?… Dream… And be happy closing your eyes & reopening them… For what are dreams if they were not to expand and ask for more… Dream… This life is too dull without our dreams… And without them we wouldn’t have accomplished as far as we already have…. So Dream… And teach your kids to dream with hope… Teach them to dream and send their requests to God… Teach them that the impossible is never impossible with a mind that can create the impossible… So teach your kids to dream… And to believe that good dreams can come to reality if they seek them… That dreams are happy thoughts and happy thoughts are happy feelings & happy feeling lead to manifesting happy things from happening… ❤️ to a Happy Eid, Eid Mubarak, Eid Al Adha, may it bring our good dreams into reality, may it bring peace to earth, may it bring true love into our hearts & may it unite us as a one humanity.  

 

What is your status?

It is an incredible feeling to go beyond yourself and realize that it takes more than a status to really tell if the person in front of you is a good soul or a poisoned soul. Poisoned only from the self at most times, but good always with the heart and inner intentions. It is not about religious belief, race or language that defines how good or compatible the person is, and it is not about genre, situations, or stereotype cultivation. But it is always about base intentions. The mind set in harmony with the heart. It is never about general judgment, it can never be about first impression, and it is not about generalization. People are different, and real people are hard to find. So most people are just simply imitations, and some are just trying to find their true souls, questioning; where do they fit in the most? And only few times, the pure pulls the pure, towards one person or another. Your heart speaks to you and when it does, it is truth. “Don’t let your thoughts cast a shadow over your heart” Rumi once said, because your thoughts are noise, only noise that was created by the other, and the other could have been poisoned and so now you have been poisoned too. Don’t generalize. You have never asked or truly tried to see behind that first impression you have received. That status. That same status that is only a label; a label that was possibly imprinted quickly, have you even ever looked at your status? How many people have similar statuses as you? How alike are you? How would you feel when you have been put in a closed circle and you go along those people who have that similar status? How much are they like you? How much of you are they? So don’t generalize. A status is only a label, to define you, but it can never be who you truly are. It is just armor. I don’t even know why we need that armor anymore in a world where it is so wide open to one another, and one status can never identify you as someone else who has the same status as you. Muslim, Arab, single with a Western Mind. What can this mean to you anyway? How could this mean one thing all the time? Do you know how many carry that very same status? But we don’t all like ice-cream, we don’t all enjoy dancing, we don’t all read Rumi, we don’t all speak 3 different languages, we don’t all fast Ramadan, we don’t all enjoy shisha, we don’t all agree about equal rights, and we sure don’t all love pizza!!! So why are we generalizing? Just because he is an Atheist, British, Married, Rock and Roll fan, why can he not have so much in common with me? What is a status today when the status itself does not represent itself anymore? How many Muslim act the very same way? Believe in the very same thing? Practice the very same way? How many Westernized Arabs think the same way? Enjoy the same thing? Agree on the same values? And how many rock and roll fans are Atheists? British? And how many Atheists are not open to learn about religions? Or no longer question the existence of God? Or practice values that were derived from religions? Again you might have started to generalize again, the questions here are not about the status, it is about different people with same status only because they had to be identified to the world, and what did we do? We decided to imprint that first impression, and what did that first impression do? It prevented us from really seeing the true soul of that person we have just met. So Voila, maybe it is time to stop criticizing before feeling annoyed being criticized.

Sunset in Tripoli

A little bit about my first day in Tripoli – Lebanon | عن رحلتي في طرابلس لبنان

Old, authentic, and a great exploration. I spent my first day in Tripoli just browsing around the city to take a glimpse of what it is about. Just to estimate the amount of time I need to explore, and it sure is one of those cities that need at least a good week to find the best of the best inside out. It has so much to offer, but things are a little buried under.

In my photos you will first see a great spacious exhibition area that used to hold alot of concerts in the past and theater shows. Today it is used as an automobile exhibition. We then went for a quick roam around the old city of Tripoli, where the market is, and the old mosques and churches reside. The architecture in Tripoli is brilliant, you will see the Islamic art, the arabesque, the Ottomans, very similar to architecture resemblance found in old Palestine.

We then had lunch at one of the most popular restaurants “Akra”, that can be visited for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. It serves traditional dishes of Tripoli and the Middle East like; Hummus, Fatet Hummus and Fool. After which we walked towards “Khan al Saboun” Soap house to shop for some hand made authentic soaps that are made with lavender, rose, olive oil and more scents and herbal spices. We then went for some Arabic ice-cream from the Mina area as we enjoyed watching one of the most beautiful sunsets to take place ever.

Best part of the day was the evening of it, we ended it at one of the most famous arabian desert making shop “Al Halab”, we had knafeh with chocolate and some lahmeh bajeen. Delicious.

Our rights to return home.

“We will return” those keys are symbolic to the Palestinian Nation … They represent houses in Palestine that once were left & locked and when returned to, locks were changed & strangers were living in the homes of ours. Those keys are symbolic to our hearts and souls, they represent the evasion of our homes, identity & land, those keys represent our rights of return… Those keys are the original keys to homes that we only left because we were forced to, because our ancestors feared the lives of their children who today are our grandparents who gave birth to our parents & to us with a lost identity. Those keys are our keys back in search of our identity .. The Palestinian identity the Palestinian culture… Thousands of homes that are stolen are still stolen today by the Israeli goverment… And we ‘the Palestinians’ are staying here, on earth, we are going nowhere and we will carry those keys around forever telling our stories over & over until our rights return. To a Free Palestine, a Free World💚