Historical novels

Walīd Dammāj (1973-, Yemen) – Waqash (‘Waqash’, 2019). This novel retells the story of the Zaydi sect al-Muṭarafiyyahh, which differed…

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sharqāwī’s (1920 – 1987, Egypt) play’s al-Ḥusayn, Thāʾiran (‘al- Husayn, a revolutionary’, 1969) and its sequel al-Ḥusayn, Shahīdan

Assiya Jabbār (written elsewhere as Assia Djebber, 1936 – 2015, Algeria) – Baʿīdan ʿan al-Madīnah (1991, English trans. Far from

Khālid Muḥyī al-Dīn al-Barādiʿī’s (1934-, Syria) play al-Salām Yuḥāṣir Qarṭājannah (‘Peace besieges Carthage’, 1979) uses the theme of war between

Choice for a Pharaonic historical setting is often made to affirm Egyptian nationalism and the specificity of Egyptian culture ().

Jamāl al-Ghīṭānī (1945 – 2015, Egypt) – al-Zaynī Barakāt (1985, English trans. Zayni Barakat, 1988). Situated against background of the

The word Jāhilīyyah means the ‘state of ignorance’ and refers to pre-Islamic times.   ʿĀʾishah Ibrāhīm (1969-, Libya) – Ḥarb

Raḍwā ʿĀshūr (1946 – 2014, Egypt) – Sirāj (1992, English trans. Siraaj: An Arab Tale, 2007). This novel describes Arab

Binsālim Ḥimmīsh (1948-, Morocco) – Majnūn al-Ḥukm (1989, English trans. The Theocrat, 2005). This novel centers the tyrannic Fatimid caliph