Sharbat Gula(b. c. 1972). An Afghan woman who became famous for her photo taken by photojournalist Steve McCurry during the Soviet-Afghan War, when 12-year-old Gula was living in a refugee camp in Pakistan. The photo, known as Afghan Girl, became famous in June 1985 after appearing on the cover of National Geographicmagazine. Gula's identity was unknown until 2002, when her whereabouts were verified and she was photographed for the second time in her life.
Gula was born into a Pashtun family. In the early 1980s, her village was attacked by Soviet helicopters and during the attacks her parents were killed. Her sisters, brothers and grandmother moved to Pakistan to the Nasir Bagh refugee camp on the border with Afghanistan. It was whilst Gula was attending school there, that McCurry photographed her and other girls. It was later alleged that McCurry did not obtain permission to take the images, which contradict Pashtun culture, where women should not show their faces to men outside the family.
In the mid 1980s, Sharbat was married to baker Rahmat Gula when she was aged 13, and returned to Afghanistan in 1992. As of 2002, Gula had three daughters, Robin, Zahid and Alyan – her fourth daughter died shortly after birth; she later had a son. Her husband died in 2012.
In late October 2016, Gula was arrested by Pakistani police on suspicion of forging an identity document. She was deported by the Pakistani Courts to Afghanistan, where the government promised to take care of her family housing, education and health. In 2017 she was given a house by the Afghan government and a $700 per month stipend for living and medical costs. As of 2016, she was living in Kabul.
Following the crisis which occurred after the Taliban capture of Kabul in 2021, Gula was evacuated to Italy, where she received refugee status.
In 1984 National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry travelled to Afghanistan to document the effects of the war, visiting refugee camps, many of which were on the Afghan-Pakistan border. Whilst there, McCurry took what was to become one of the most iconic cover photographs for National Geographic. Initially, the magazine's editor did not want to use the image, but eventually gave in, publishing a cover image which was simply called Afghan Girl. The photo, which shows a girl with a unique green eye color, looking straight into the lens, became a symbol of the Afghan conflict and the problems affecting refugees around the world.
The identity of the girl remained unknown for more than 17 years. In the 1990s, the journalist made several unsuccessful attempts to find out the girl's name. In January 2002, a National Geographic team led by Steve McCurry travelled to Afghanistan to find her, however during this search several women and men came forward, claiming to either be Gula, or to be married to her. Eventually she was tracked down through a camp resident who knew her brother. Her identity was verified by John Daugman using iris recognition software.
In the intervening years, Gula had no idea how globally symbolic her face had become. It is the only image to have been used three times on National Geographic covers.
The Finnish metal band Nightwish dedicated an instrumental work to Gula, on the 2015 album Endless Forms Most Beautiful entitled "The Eyes of Sharbat Gula".Here Be Dragons, an album by The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble includes a composition called "Sharbat Gula".
In 2017, the New England Reviewpublished a new work by poet Gjertrud Schnakenberg, entitled "Afghan Girl", which the author had been composing since 2012.
‘A’isha bint Abu Bakr ‘A’isha bint Abu Bakr (‘A’isha) (Aishah) (Ayeshah)(c.614-678).Abu Bakr’s daughter and one of Muhammad’s wives.‘A’isha was born in Mecca and became the third and favorite wife of the Prophet Muhammad after the death of Muhammad’s first wife, Khadija (c.555-619).In order to strengthen ties with Abu Bakr, his chief legal adviser, Muhammad married ‘A’isha, Abu Bakr’s daughter, when she was about nine years old, shortly after the hijra.When ‘A’isha went to live in an apartment in Muhammad’s house, she took her toys and games.This childhood innocence coupled with her charm and beauty made her Muhammad’s favorite.Even after subsequent marriages of the Prophet, ‘A’isha remained devoted to Muhammad.
‘A’isha became the leader in the harem, but her relations with Muhammad were marked by an incident in which she was accused of infidelity.In 627, while waiting in a camp from which the caravan had moved off, ‘A’isha was found by a young man who escorted her to Medina.This led to gossip concerning possible infidelity which was countered by a revelation to the Prophet.‘A’isha’s innocence was proved by the Qur’an in Sura 24:11-20, but 'Ali ibn Abi Talib was among those who advised Muhammad to send ‘A’isha back to her father to avoid even the hint of impropriety.This advice earned 'Ali, ‘A’isha’s bitter enmity.
Nevertheless, for her faithfulness, ‘A’isha is known among Muslims as “Mother of the Believers.”After the death of Muhammad in 632, ‘A’isha, a childless widow of 18, helped her father become the first caliph, or ruler, of the Muslims.
‘A’isha was always loyal to Muhammad and to her father, but seems to have played no major role in politics until the caliphate of ‘Uthman, whom she opposed on moral grounds.‘A’isha was not implicated in ‘Uthman’s death, being in Mecca at the time, but she may have been there organizing her own party, for shortly after the murder she was found in Basra with an army of a thousand, including Talha and Zubayr, who were, while claiming to seek vengeance for ‘Uthman, also opposed the caliphate of 'Ali.
‘A’isha’s forces were defeated by the forces of 'Ali at the Battle of the Camel in December of 656. However, after the defeat, ‘A’isha herself was well treated and lived until July of 678.
Because of her unique stature in Islam, ‘A’isha is the source of many hadith.
Aisha (Aisha meaning "she who lives"), was the third wife of Muhammad. In Islamic writings, she is thus often referred to by the title "Mother of the Believers" (in Arabic: umm-al-mu'minīn), per the description of Muhammad's wives as "Mothers of Believers" in the Qur'an (33.6), and later, as the "Mother of Believers", as in Qutb's Ma'alim fi al-Tariq. She is quoted as the source for many hadith, sacred traditions about Muhammad's life, with Muhammad's personal life being the topic of most narrations. She narrated 2210 hadiths out of which 316 hadiths are mentioned in both Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim.
Aisha was the daughter of Um Ruman and Abu Bakr of Mecca. Abu Bakr belonged to the Banu Taym sub-clan of the tribe of Quraysh, the tribe to which Muhammad also belonged. Aisha is said to have followed her father in accepting Islam when she was still young. She also joined him in his migration to Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 615.A number of Mecca's Muslims emigrated then, seeking refuge from persecution by the Meccans who still followed their pre-Islamic religions.
According to the early Islamic historian Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari, Aisha's father tried to spare her the dangers and discomfort of the journey by solemnizing her marriage to her fiance, Jubayr ibn Mut'im, son of Mut‘im ibn ‘Adi. However, Mut’am refused to honor the long-standing betrothal, as he did not wish his family to be connected to the Muslim outcasts. The emigration to Ethiopia proved temporary and Abu Bakr's family returned to Mecca within a few years. Aisha was then betrothed to Muhammad. Aisha was initially betrothed to Jubayr ibn Mut'im, a Muslim whose father, though pagan, was friendly to the Muslims. When Khawla bint Hakim suggested that Muhammad marry Aisha after the death of Muhammad's first wife (Khadijah bint Khuwaylid), the previous agreement regarding marriage of Aisha with ibn Mut'im was put aside by common consent.It is suggested that Muhammad hoped to strengthen his ties with Abu Bakr, and that the strengthening of ties commonly served as a basis for marriage in Arabian culture.
According to the traditional sources, Aisha was six or seven years old when betrothed to Muhammad. She stayed in her parents' home until the age of nine, when the marriage was consummated. The marriage was delayed until after the Hijra, or migration to Medina, in 622. Aisha and her older sister Asma bint Abu Bakr only moved to Medina after Muhammad had already migrated there. After this, the wedding was celebrated very simply. The sources do not offer much more information about Aisha's childhood years, but mention that after the wedding, she continued to play with her toys, and Muhammad entered into the spirit of these games.
Most early accounts say that Muhammad and Aisha became sincerely fond of each other. Aisha is usually described as Muhammad's favorite wife, and it was in her company that Muhammad reportedly received the most revelations. Some accounts claim it was the curtain from her tent that Muhammad used as his battle standard.
Aisha was traveling with her husband Muhammad and some of his followers. Aisha claimed that she had left camp in the morning to search for her lost necklace, but when she returned, she found that the company had broken camp and left without her. She waited for half a day, until she was rescued by a man named Safwan ibn Al-Muattal and taken to rejoin the caravan. This led to speculation that she had committed adultery with Safwan. Muhammad's adopted son Zayd ibn Harithah defended Aisha's reputation. Shortly after this, Muhammad announced that he had received a revelation from God confirming Aisha's innocence and directing that charges of adultery be supported by four eyewitnesses. These verses also rebuked Aisha's accusers, whom Muhammad ordered to receive forty lashes.
Ibn Kathir wrote in his biography of Muhammad that Muhammad's wife Umm Salama Hind bint Abi Umayya was given a skin filled with honey, which she shared with her husband. Muhammad was fond of sweets and stayed overlong with Umm Salama Hind bint Abi Umayya.At least in the opinion of Aisha and her co-wife Hafsa bint Umar. Aisha and Hafsa conspired. Each of them was to tell Muhammad that the honey had given him bad breath. When he heard this from two wives, he believed that it was true and swore that he would eat no more of the honey. Soon afterwards, he reported that he had received a revelation, in which he was told that he could eat anything permitted by God.
Word spread in the small Muslim community that Muhammad's wives were taking advantage of their husband, speaking sharply to him and conspiring against him. Umar, Hafsa's father, scolded his daughter and also spoke to Muhammad of the matter. Muhammad, saddened and upset, separated from his wives for a month. By the end of this time, his wives were humbled; they had admitted their wrongdoing, and harmony was restored.
Ibn Ishaq, in his Sirah Rasul Allah, states that during Muhammad's last illness, he sought Aisha's apartments and died with his head in her lap. It highlighted Muhammad's fondness for Aisha. Aisha never remarried after Muhammad's death. Indeed, a passage in the Qur'an (Sura 33:53) forbade any Muslim to marry a widow of Muhammad.
After Muhammad's death in 632, Aisha's father, Abu Bakr, became the first caliph, or leader of the Muslims. This matter of succession to Muhammad is extremely controversial to the Shi'a. The Shi'a believe that 'Ali had been chosen to lead by Muhammad, but the Sunni maintain that the Muslim community chose Abu Bakr, and did so in accordance with Muhammad's wishes.
Abu Bakr's reign was short, and in 634 he was succeeded by Umar, as caliph. Umar reigned for ten years, and was then followed by Uthman Ibn Affan in 644 AD. Both of these men had been among Muhammad's earliest followers, were linked to him by clanship and marriage, and had taken prominent parts in various military campaigns. Aisha, in the meantime, lived in Medina and made several pilgrimages to Mecca.
In 656, Aisha took part in provoking the people to kill Uthman. The rebels then asked Ali to be the new caliph. Many reports absolve Ali of complicity in the murder. Ali is reported to have refused the caliphate. He agreed to rule only after his followers persisted.
Aisha raised an army which confronted Ali's army outside the city of Basra.It was during this engagement that Muslim slaughtered Muslim for the first time.A battle ensued and Aisha's forces were defeated. Aisha was directing her forces from a howdah on the back of a camel.Accordingly, this 656 battle is called the Battle of the Camel.
Ali captured Aisha but declined to harm her. He sent her back to Medina under military escort headed by Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr (a brother of Aisha), who was one of the commanders in Ali's army
Historians see Aisha as a learned woman, who tirelessly recounted stories from the life of Muhammad and explained Muslim history and traditions. She is considered to be one of the foremost scholars of Islam's early age with some historians accrediting up to one-quarter of the Islamic Sharia (Islamic religious law), based on the collection of hadiths, to have stemmed from her narrations. Aisha became the most prominent of Muhammad’s wives and is revered as a role model by millions of women.
After Khadijah al-Kubra (the Great) and Fatimah az-Zahra (the Resplendent), Aishah as-Siddiqah (the one who affirms the Truth) is regarded as the best woman in Islam by Sunni Muslims. She often regretted her involvement in war but lived long enough to regain status and position. She died peacefully in the year 678 in the month of Ramadan. As she instructed, she was buried in the Jannat al-Baqi -- in the City of Light -- beside other companions of Muhammad.
The Sunnis' view of 'A'isha is a positive one. Many believe that she was Muhammad's favorite wife and the best woman of her time. They consider her (amongst other wives) to be Umm al-Mu'minin and among the Ahl al-Bayt.
However, the Shi'a view of 'A'isha is generally a negative one. This is primarily due to what they see as her contempt for the Ahl al-Bayt (Muhammad's family) and her attempts to stir up the fitnah of the time. Her participation in the Battle of the Camel is widely considered her most significant sign of such contempt. They also do not believe that she conducted herself in an appropriate manner in her role as Muhammad's wife .
‘A’isha see ‘A’isha bint Abu Bakr Aishah see ‘A’isha bint Abu Bakr Ayeshah see ‘A’isha bint Abu Bakr “Mother of the Believers”see ‘A’isha bint Abu Bakr "She Who Lives" see ‘A’isha bint Abu Bakr
William Lombardy, Chess Grandmaster Turned Priest, Dies at 79
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William J. Lombardy in an undated photograph.CreditUnited States Chess Federation
William J. Lombardy, who was one of the most talented and promising chess players of his generation, winning titles and accolades while he was still a teenager, but who all but gave up the game at the height of his career to become a priest, died on Friday in Martinez, Calif. He was 79.
His son, Raymond, confirmed the death. Mr. Lombardy, who was born in the Bronx and had long lived in New York City, collapsed and died suddenly while staying with a friend in Martinez, his son said. The cause had not been determined.
Mr. Lombardy was the first American to win the World Junior Chess Championship — doing so with a perfect score, a feat that has never been duplicated — and he led the United States to victory over the Soviet Union in the 1960 World Student Team Championship, beating Boris Spassky, the future world champion. He was later named a grandmaster, the World Chess Federation’s highest title.
“His abilities were native, with a natural talent,” Anthony Saidy, an international master who played with Mr. Lombardy on the top American teams in the 1950s and ’60s, told The New York Times in 2016. “He always seemed to drag his matches out so long, getting out of jams until his opponent couldn’t.”
But he came of age in the shadow of Bobby Fischer, the phenomenon out of Brooklyn six years his junior. Virtually all the sponsorship money and support available for American players went to Mr. Fischer.
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Mr. Lombardy, left, at a news conference at the world championship in 1972, with Paul Marshall, center, lawyer for the United States chess team, and Fred Cramer, Bobby Fischer’s representative.CreditAssociated Press
Raymond Lombardy said his father had felt that if Mr. Fischer had not come along, he might have become world champion himself. But Mr. Lombardy was not resentful of Mr. Fischer, with whom Mr. Lombardy had an almost brotherly relationship, the son said. “He was not jealous,” he said.
Mr. Fischer was not the only impediment to an even more successful chess career for Mr. Lombardy, however. Brought up in the Roman Catholic faith, he had a competing interest — his church.
William James Joseph Lombardy was born on Dec. 4, 1937. Though he would be known as Bill in both his personal and professional life, he disliked the name, his son said. His father, Raymond, of Italian heritage, was a supervisor for the Savarin restaurant chain, and his mother, Stella, with Polish roots, was a beautician.
Though both his parents worked, the family struggled to pay the rent living in a less-than-adequate apartment in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx. Bill Lombardy, while attending St. Athanasius School in the Bronx, slept in a room that had little insulation.
“I think we could have stored meat in there — like a refrigerator,” he was quoted as saying in the 1974 book “My Seven Chess Prodigies,” by the renowned American chess coach John W. Collins, who taught Mr. Lombardy informally for many years. (Mr. Fischer was another of his students.)
No one in the Lombardy family played chess, but when Bill was 9, a 10-year-old neighbor, who played the game but who always lost, decided to teach him. The neighbor wanted a sparring partner whom he could beat. In a couple of years, Bill was already showing unusual talent and playing regularly, often in city parks.
He went on to graduate from La Salle Academy, a Catholic school in Lower Manhattan; attended City College for three years; and later enrolled at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers with the intention of becoming a Roman Catholic priest. He was ordained in 1967 by Cardinal Francis Joseph Spellman of New York and remained in the priesthood until the late 1970s.
Most great players start out as tacticians, always looking to attack, before they evolve into strategists, plotting a long-range path to victory from the very first move. Mr. Lombardy was a strategic player, and a good one, from the beginning.
By 14 he was a master, and in 1954 he won the New York State Championship, becoming, at 16, the youngest champion in the state’s history until then.
Two years later he tied for first in the Canadian Open, and in 1957, in Toronto, he won the World Junior Chess Championship with a perfect score of 11 wins, no draws and no losses. “Clearly, he towered over the field,” Mr. Collins wrote.
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Mr. Lombardy, pointing, observed chess matches in 2016 at a cafe in Stuyvesant Town, the apartment complex in Manhattan in which he lived at the time.CreditJohn Taggart for The New York Times
In 1960, Mr. Lombardy was the top board for the United States team that competed in the World Student Team Championship in Leningrad — now St. Petersburg — in Russia. It was there that he beat Mr. Spassky while winning a total of 11 games, drawing two and losing none as he led the United States to victory over the heavily favored Soviet team.
It was the only time the United States ever finished ahead of the Soviet Union in any team competition, and it caused a crisis in Soviet chess circles.
Later that year, Mr. Lombardy played in the Chess Olympiad in Leipzig, Germany, and again had an outstanding result, including a draw with Mikhail Botvinnik, the former world champion, who had lost his title several months earlier. (He regained it the following year.)
Mr. Lombardy was named a grandmaster after the Olympiad.
At the 1960-61 United States championship, he finished second to Mr. Fischer, qualifying him for the 1962 Interzonal in Stockholm, the next step on the road to the world championship. But instead of entering the tournament, Mr. Lombardy, by then enrolled at St. Joseph’s Seminary, decided to pursue ordination.
He continued to compete, though intermittently, for the next 20 years. He won or tied for first in the 1963, 1965 and 1975 United States Open Championships, and he played on United States national teams in the 1968, 1970, 1974 and 1976 Chess Olympiads, winning an individual gold medal and three individual silver medals, all as a reserve. But for all intents and purposes, the serious part of his chess career was over.
In 1972, when Mr. Fischer qualified to play a match for the world championship in Reykjavik, Iceland, against Mr. Spassky, the reigning champion, he asked Mr. Lombardy to assist him by analyzing adjourned games. In the Fischer-Spassky event, which became known as the Match of the Century, 14 of the 21 games were adjourned. Mr. Fischer won and was crowned world champion.
Mr. Lombardy eventually left the priesthood, his son said, because he had lost faith in the Catholic Church, which he believed was too concerned with amassing wealth. Soon after, while competing in a tournament in the Netherlands, he met and married a Dutch woman, Louise van Valen, who moved to Manhattan to live with Mr. Lombardy in his two-bedroom apartment at the Stuyvesant Town complex. Mr. Lombardy had moved there in 1977 to help care for his friend and coach Mr. Collins, who died in 2001.
The couple’s son, Raymond, was born in 1984. The marriage ended in divorce in 1992 after Mr. Lombardy’s wife had returned to the Netherlands with their son. Besides the son, Mr. Lombardy is survived by an older sister, Natalie Pekala.
He had been staying with friends since he had fallen on hard times and been evicted from his apartment at Stuyvesant Town for being behind in his rent — an episode that was the subject of an article in The Times in 2016.
Though he was a good student in school, Mr. Lombardy did not like to study chess from books; he preferred to hone his skills through practice. “There is nothing like plenty of experience,” he told Mr. Collins, “doing it on the board, getting your head knocked about a bit, and learning from every win, draw and loss.”
Sondra Bianca (17 November 1930) is an American born concert pianist and pedagogue who retired early in her career from recording and live performances.[1]
A child prodigy, Bianca first studied with her mother and then with Frank Sheridan at Mannes Music School and Isabella Vergerova at the Curtis Institute of Music. This led to what is documented as an amazing performance as a nine-year-old of a Mozart piano concerto, played from memory, for the New York Philharmonic - which led to her later appearing with said orchestra as a soloist.[2] Her career, therefore, started before the age of ten, at which time she was a soloist with the Schenectady Symphony Orchestra and performed over CBC Radio in their French division.
Later in her career, she performed in Europe with the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hans-Jurgen Walther, the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Carl-August Bünte and the New Symphony Society Orchestra conducted by Walter Goehr among others. One of her notable American performances was on January 20, 1955, when she was the guest soloist with the Florida Symphony conducted by Frank Miller. The programme included Andre Bloch's "Concerto No. 1", Liszt's "Concerto in E flat", Glinka's Overture to "Russian and Ludmilla", Handel's "Water Music" and Georges Enesco's "Roumanian Rhapsody No. 1".[3] Another notable performance was the piece Rhapsody 21 for the Century 21 Exposition, conducted by Paul Whiteman. One of the specialties in her repertoire was George Gershwin's "Piano Concerto in F". Due to its ban in Nazi Germany it was unpopular in that country for many years. Recent study has shown that she may have been the first to perform the concerto in that country after the end of World War II.[4]
After retiring from live performances, she continued teaching other young pianists. Due to her early exit from performing, she is regarded as something of a mystery by modern enthusiasts of her surviving recordings.
For reasons unclear, her recordings were released on various budget record labels under a handful of pseudonyms. Some of these names include: Albert Cohen, Karl Bernhard, Frederick Antenelli and Suzanne Auber.
Bækkelund made his debut with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of eight. His final years of study took place at Stockholm, with Professor Boon, and at Vienna, with Professor Seidlhofer. In 1953 Bækkelund won first prize in the first Scandinavian Musicians' Festival held at Trondheim; and in London the same year, he was awarded the Harriet Cohen Medal as "the finest pianist of the year".
Orion Perseus Howe (December 29, 1848 – January 27, 1930) was among the youngest recipients of the Medal of Honor for his service in the American Civil War as a Union drummer boy. He was awarded the medal on April 23, 1896.[1]
Howe and his brother both served as musicians in the same regiment where their father William, a Mexican–American War veteran, was the regimental band leader.[1][2] He was awarded the Medal of Honor for remaining upon the field of battle until he had reported to GeneralWilliam Tecumseh Sherman the necessity of supplying cartridges for the use of troops under command of ColonelOscar Malmborg on May 19, 1863.[3] However, Malmborg had ordered Howe to fetch the wrong caliber of cartridge—.54 caliber instead of the needed .58 caliber.[2] Howe was one of several men who volunteered to complete this task; while the others were killed, Howe was seriously wounded, and it took several months for him to recover.[4] On December 25, 1863 Howe reenlisted in the same regiment, being discharged as a corporal on November 30, 1864, and taking part in 14 battles.[1][5]
A historian wrote of Howe: "We could see him nearly all the way . . . he ran through what seemed a hailstorm of canister and musket-balls, each throwing up its little puff of dust when it struck the dry hillside. Suddenly he dropped and hearts sank, but he had only tripped. Often he stumbled, sometimes he fell prostrate, but was quickly up again and he finally disappeared from us, limping over the summit and the 55th saw him no more for several months."[2]
Rank and organization: Musician, Company C, 55th Illinois Infantry. Place and date: At Vicksburg, Miss., May 19, 1863. Entered service at: Woken(should be - Waukegan), Ill. Birth: Portage County, Ohio.
In 1982 the Waukegan, IL National Guard Armory was renamed in his honor. The 933rd Military Police Company currently drills there.[9]Citation:
A drummer boy, 14 years of age, and severely wounded and exposed to a heavy fire from the enemy, he persistently remained upon the field of battle until he had reported to Gen. W. T. Sherman the necessity of supplying cartridges for the use of troops under command of Colonel Malmborg.[10]
