How to make Arabic PDFs with Markdown and pandoc
Here’s one way to write Arabic articles in Markdown format and typeset them as PDF files. This assumes you’re using Linux or a similar environment, and are comfortable with the command line. The basic idea is to to use pandoc to convert the Markdown to $\mathrm{\LaTeX}$ markup, and tell pandoc to run LuaTeX to generate the PDF. You’ll need: A Markdown editor that handles Arabic text well. I recommend Obsidian, which is user-friendly and has good built-in right-to-left text support. You can add the Obsidian RTL Plugin to get a few improvements. A good Arabic font that’s convenient for text editing, such as Noto Naskh Arabic. Some good Arabic fonts for your PDFs, such as Amiri for body text and Cairo for headings. The LuaTeX typesetter, which you can get by installing TeXlive. If you’re not sure what you need, just install the whole TeXlive distribution. pandoc GNU Make An ordinary text editor for writing Makefiles and the like, such as Visual Studio Code. Top-level directory # Obsidian expects you to put Markdown files in a directory tree that it configures as a “vault”. You can have multiple vaults, but it stores its own configuration and plugins separately in each vault.
كوكبنا
An Arabic-language podcast that I started in 2021 on ecology, migration, and inequality, and would like to continue someday: كوكبنا.شبكة.
Tondauer
In 2020 I started a project called Tondauer, to make Creative Commons licensed editions of sheet music. It happened because of the Covid-19 lockdown that year: I was learning to play Felix Mendelssohn’s Prelude Op. 104a, No. 2 (MWV U 123), because it suited my mood of restless frustration at the time. I started with a 19th-century edition that could be downloaded for free. Then I bought an edition with fingerings, and wondered why it had different notes. I looked in vain for the composer’s manuscript, but found only an earlier draft. I had been reading R. Larry Todd’s biography of Mendelssohn, so I emailed him to ask if he knew where the manuscript of the final version was, and he replied that it hadn’t been found. This meant that the only sources were the first editions, which were published after the composer’s death.
SocioResources
My old blog (2013-2021) on the sociology of autonomy and the autonomy of sociology.
أبحاث لفتت نظري
My old Arabic blog (2009-2014) on which I summarised research that I thought was interesting: أبحاث لفتت نظري.