Search results for ""Saqi Books""

A Mouth Full of Salt uncovers a country on the brink of seismic change as its women decide for themselves which traditions are fit for purposeand which prophecies itâs time to rewrite.

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Hassan Massoudy's elegant calligraphy depicts the four seasons of the garden. From the icy palettes of winter and the fading hues of autumn to delicate spring growth and the dazzling sunshine and blooms of summer, he captures in calligraphy what countless poets have wrought with words. Massoudy draws his seasonal inspirations from writers and artists, including Kahlil Gibran, Henri Matisse, Lao Tzu, William Blake and Victor Hugo, as well as from Hungarian, Spanish, Turkish and Japanese proverbs.

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Based on the masterful twelfth-century Sufi poem, "The Conference of the Birds", this enchanting poem is accompanied by original illustrations painted on ceramic tiles, typical of the Medieval Persian style.

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Distinguished literary critic Bodour is trapped in a loveless marriage and carries with her a dark secret. She fell in love in her youth and gave birth to an illegitimate daughter, Zeina, whom she abandoned on the streets of Cairo. Bodour doesn't know that Zeina has blossomed into one of Egypt's most beloved entertainers. Pining for her estranged daughter, she writes a fictional account of her life in an attempt to find solace. But as the revolution in Cairo begins to gain fire, the novel goes missing and Bodour must find who has stolen it. Will her hunt for the thief bring mother and daughter together? Or is Bodour destined to lose her daughter to Cairo forever?

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Recent developments in the Middle East and North Africa have radically destabilised the region, which is beset with rising religious and political tensions, sectarian conflict and terrorism. Though in crisis and suffering from a paralysis of will, the region is also vastly rich in culture, and vital for the stability of the international order. There is an urgent need for an accurate understanding of these complex developments. What does the future hold for this geopolitically critical region? In this vital multidisciplinary volume, leading Middle Eastern and Western scholars present constructive, long-term solutions to endemic socio-cultural, economic and political issues facing the MENA region - issues which require a fundamental transformation of the current system of values and patterns of thought. They offer expert analysis on critical facets of the region, including globalisation, the environment and sustainability, education, nonviolence, human rights, inter-religious coexistence, Islamic social principles, and Qur'anic ethics. Enriching our understanding of the contemporary affairs of the MENA region, Winds of Change is essential reading for achieving peace, socio-cultural progress and prosperity in the region.

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In this provocative book Joumana Haddad uses the format of the political pamphlet to describe the liberating impact of literature on her life. She tells of reading the Marquis de Sade at twelve, of her metamorphosis into an award-winning poet, and reflects upon how this has shaped her as an Arab woman, as a writer and as a magazine editor. Joumana challenges prevalent notions of identity and womanhood in the Middle East and speaks of how she came to create the Arab world's first erotic literary magazine, Jasad (Body), that has earned her both admiration and censure. Fiery and candid, I Killed Scheherazade is a provocative exploration of what it means to be an 'Arab woman' today.

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WINNER OF THE ENGLISH PEN AWARD Walid Dahman is going home. Returning to Gaza after nearly four decades in exile, he looks forward to embracing his mother and reconnecting with the people and place he once left behind. Boarding the flight from London, Walid's life intersects with that of Dana, an Israeli actress, on her way back to Tel Aviv. As the night sky hurtles past, what each confides and conceals will expose the chasm between them in the land they both call home. The Lady from Tel Aviv a powerful and poetic story of love, loss and belonging.

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Since emerging as a settlement in the seventh century, Dubrovnik held a significant position beyond what could have been expected of this tiny city-state. Its merchants, trading throughout the huge Ottoman Empire, enjoyed privileges denied to other Western states. A politically skilled and commercially enterprising ruling class took every opportunity to maximise the Republic's wealth. Dubrovnik also faced the extreme dangers posed by Venetian aggressors, Ottoman plotters, a terrible earthquake in 1667 and, finally, the will of Napoleon. In 1991-92, the city survived the besieging Yugoslav army, which heavily damaged but did not destroy Dubrovnik's cultural heritage. This book is a comprehensive history of Dubrovnik's progress over twelve centuries of European development, encompassing arts, architecture, social and economic changes and the traumas of war and politics.

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The democratic promise of Yemen's 2011 uprising quickly unravelled, triggering a shocking political and social crisis with serious implications for the future of the country and region. Fuelled by Arab and Western intervention, the infighting in Yemen descended into civil war, with hundreds of thousands of Yemenis killed, and millions facing starvation and deep social and political fragmentation. The people of Yemen face a desperate choice between the Huthi rebels on the one side and, on the other, a range of forces propped up by a Saudi-led coalition using Western arms. In her incisive, invaluable analysis, Helen Lackner uncovers the roots of the conflicts threatening the survival of the Yemeni state and its people. This fully updated edition features a new chapter on the problems of humanitarian aid in the country.

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Celebrated master calligrapher Hassan Massoudy carries the desert within him. Through majestic, sweeping strokes, he depicts its breath-taking beauty and wonder. Massoudy draws inspiration from the words and wisdom of some of our greatest poets and writers - Rumi, Paul Bowles, Goethe, Baudelaire, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Khalil Gibran - who have lost themselves in the mysteries of the desert. Beautifully illustrated, Calligraphies of the Desert offers inspiration for meditation. Speaking to the senses, it is a treasure for travellers, poets and dreamers.

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In 1920 an Arab revolt came perilously close to inflicting a shattering defeat upon the British Empire's forces occupying Iraq after the Great War. A huge peasant army besieged British garrisons and bombarded them with captured artillery. British columns and armoured trains were ambushed and destroyed, and gunboats were captured or sunk. Britain's quest for oil was one of the principal reasons for its continuing occupation of Iraq. However, with around 131,000 Arabs in arms at the height of the conflict, the British were very nearly driven out. Only a massive infusion of Indian troops prevented a humiliating rout. Enemy on the Euphrates is the definitive account of the most serious armed uprising against British rule in the twentieth century. Bringing central players such as Winston Churchill, T. E. Lawrence and Gertrude Bell vividly to life, Ian Rutledge's masterful account is a powerful reminder of how Britain's imperial objectives sowed the seeds of Iraq's tragic history.

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Revered by some as the Arab Garibaldi, maligned by others as an intriguer and opportunist, Fawzi al-Qawuqji manned the ramparts of Arab history for four decades. As a young officer in the Ottoman Army, he fought the British in World War I and won an Iron Cross. In the 1920s, he mastered the art of insurgency and helped lead a massive uprising against the French authorities in Syria. A decade later, he reappeared in Palestine, where he helped direct the Arab Revolt of 1936. When an effort to overthrow the British rulers of Iraq failed, he moved to Germany, where he spent much of World War II battling his fellow exile, the Mufti of Jerusalem, who had accused him of being a British spy. In 1947, Qawuqji made a daring escape from Allied-occupied Berlin, and sought once again to shape his region's history. In his most famous role, he would command the Arab Liberation Army in the Arab-Israeli War of 1948. In this well-crafted, definitive biography, Laila Parsons tells Qawuqji's dramatic story and sets it in the full context of his turbulent times. Following Israel's decisive victory, Qawuqji was widely faulted as a poor leader with possibly dubious motives.The Commander shows us that the truth was more complex: although he doubtless made some strategic mistakes, he never gave up fighting for Arab independence and unity, even as those ideals were undermined by powers inside and outside the Arab world. In Qawuqji's life story we find the origins of today's turmoil in the Arab Middle East.

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European and Arab versions of the Crusades have little in common. For Arabs, the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were years of strenuous efforts to repel a brutal and destructive invasion by barbarian hordes. In "The Crusades Through Arab Eyes", Amin Maalouf has sifted through the works of a score of contemporary Arab chroniclers of the Crusades, eyewitnesses and often participants in the events. He retells their stories in their own vivacious style, giving us a vivid portrait of a society rent by internal conflicts, and shaken by a traumatic encounter with an alien culture. He retraces two critical centuries of Middle Eastern history, and offers fascinating insights into some of the forces that shape Arab and Islamic consciousness today.

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Vanessa Henman, a plucky but accident-prone white writer, flies out to Uganda for an African writers' conference. She also means to visit her former cleaner, Ugandan Mary Tendo, now the successful Executive Housekeeper of Kampala's Sheraton Hotel. But Mary has her own agenda: her son Jamil is missing, and she has secretly summoned Vanessa's beloved ex-husband Trevor, a plumber, to her village to help build a new well. Vanessa sets off alone on safari to distant Bwindi Impenetrable Forest to see the mountain gorillas. But then Vanessa quarrels with her driver and a bloody war closes in on Bwindi from Congo. Can anyone save her? Will Mary Tendo find her son?

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Ziya Bey has six months left to live. From his mansion on Farewell Fountain Street, the Ottoman aristocrat plans to tie up some questionable business affairs and say goodbye to the people he cherishes. He hires Artvin, a disillusioned professor with a troubled past, to assist him. Intrigued by his employer's mysterious household, Artvin spends the days uncovering Ziya Bey's turbulent life story. The two men become bound together as they reveal dark elements from their pasts. But when Ziya Bey releases Artvin from his duties sooner than expected, Artvin inherits a spiral of violence he cannot control. In this gripping ride through the streets of Istanbul, two men learn one another's secrets. But can either of them learn to live with themselves?

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Claire and Gabrielle Sahli are sisters growing up in 1920s Cairo. Of Levantine descent, they occupy a precarious position in Egypt's increasingly nationalist world. With the early death of their father, the sisters find themselves dependent on others as they attempt to maintain their position in a volatile society. Over the decades, against the backdrop of anti-British sentiment, civil unrest, and Nasser's socialist rule, the Sahlis cling to their homes and livelihoods in Cairo. Tracing the lives of Claire and Gabrielle from childhood to old age, Anne-Marie Drosso vividly portrays the bittersweet relationship of two intelligent, complex women forced to adapt, each in her own way, to the unexpected.

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The actors in these short stories quietly and unobtrusively assume their place in the world. An older woman rids herself of social shackles in the hypnotic title story as she moves towards the sea and freedom, a man packs in his day job to sell miniature suitcases, while a woman converts a freelance evangelist after their plane nearly crashes. Maggie Gee deftly encapsulates a world in which a moment of impatience with a spouse can cost a family their lives and a dying man's last thoughts are of gathering his wife's favourite flowers in a bouquet. Her characters are all too familiar in their struggle for fulfilment and their efforts to come to grips with bittersweet, but enduring love. These exquisite stories of everyday life are set against an intricately woven backdrop encompassing larger issues of poverty, race relations, and social prejudices. They are stories about love that tell us something about life, and how people negotiate a path for themselves.

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The Kurdish people have begun to establish themselves as a political force. Their situation illuminates the burning question of the Middle East: how do ethnicity and self-determination interact? Bringing together several disciplines, including history, anthropology, sociology, politics, and linguistics, the contributors here consider the factors that make the case of the Kurds so critical. Examples are drawn from the modern histories of Iraq, Turkey, and Iran.

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Nowhere in the world is university education expanding as rapidly as in the six-member state of the Gulf Cooperation Council. In two generations the region has gone from having the Middle East's least educated population to boasting a younger generation whose educational achievements are approaching Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) standards. This unique study, with contributions by key decision makers, charts this dramatic development, exploring the challenges faced and placing the accomplishments within the social, economic and political context of the region.

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It is a truth universally acknowledged ... Esma is a modern Muslim woman with an age-old dilemma. She is well-educated, well-travelled and has excellent taste in music, but the hunt for Mr Right leads her to a number of Mr Wrongs. Together with wild-haired Ruby, principled Lisa, and drop-dead gorgeous Nirvana, Esma forms the No Sex in the City Club. Her quest for The One (or Mr Almost-Perfect) was never going to be easy, but soon enough it takes an unexpected and thrilling detour.

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From his rich, colourful and uncompromising oeuvre, it's easy to see why Khosrow Hassanzadeh is one of Iran's leading contemporary artists. A former fruit seller and volunteer soldier, he cuts an unusual figure in Tehran's high society art scene. Hassanzadeh works primarily with photography, collage, painting and mixed media, often layering contemporary images and photographs with figures drawn from Persian illuminated manuscripts and Farsi calligraphy. His stark paintings of figures wrapped in burial shrouds are reminiscent of Philip Guston's cartoon-like style but with a sinister immediacy; these images of shrouded corpses are seen all too often in today's tormented Middle East. Treating subjects as diverse as the Iran-Iraq war, murdered prostitutes, women in chadors and Iranian wrestlers, Hassanzadeh's multi-layered, humanist works place individuals at the centre of things and unflinchingly examine harsh political realities. The fact that his work is mainly exhibited outside Iran despite its focus on contemporary Iranian society makes for an intriguing, though slightly uneasy relationship with the Western art world. Each series is prefaced with an essay by leading scholars and critics contextualizing the work.

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Mai Ghoussoub A A A A - artist, writer and co-founder of Saqi A A A A- commented widely on culture, aesthetics and the Middle East, and published many books in English, Arabic and French. Gathered here is a selection of her finest writings A A A A - on war (in the Middle East and elsewhere), the sexist gaze, censorship, Abu Ghraib, the city, art A A A 's encounter with tragedy A A A A - always laced through with Ghoussoub A A A 's signature humor and an enduring sense of humanity.

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The establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979 meant women were forced to wear the hijab and photographs of them uncovered were forbidden. As a result, many photographers' studios were burnt to the ground, while remaining archives of invaluable glass-plate negatives were left to moulder in attics. Parisa Damandan spent over ten years accumulating an impressive collection of pioneering photographs from the early twentieth century, in her hometown of Isfahan. Recently emancipated women posing in various state of dress, Polish war refugees on their tortuous journey home after fleeing the Nazis, men in fashionable hats or in traditional turbans and cloaks - these portraits offer a remarkable window on the changing face of Iranian society during a period of transition from a traditional to a modern culture. Alongside these stunning images are essays on the development of portraiture in Isfahan, the social dimensions of portrait photography in Iran, and the power of the gaze.

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The Bourj in central Beirut is one of the world's oldest and most vibrant public squares. Named after the mediaeval lookout tower that once soared above the city's imposing ramparts, the square has also been known as Place des Canons (after a Russian artillery build-up in 1773) and Martyrs' Square (after the Ottoman execution of nationalists in 1916). As an open museum of civilizations, it resonates with influences from ancient Phoenician to colonial, post-colonial and, as of late, postmodern elements. Over the centuries it has come to embody pluralism and tolerance. During the Lebanese civil war (1975-90), this ebullient entertainment district, transport hub and melting-pot of cultures was ruptured by the notorious Green Line, which split the city into belligerent warring factions. Fractious infighting and punishing Israeli air raids compounded the damage, turning the Bourj into a no-man's-land. In the wake of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri's assassination (14 February 2005), the Bourj witnessed extraordinary scenes of popular, multi-faith and cross-generational protest. Once again, Samir Khalaf argues, the heart of Beirut was poised to re-invent itself as an open space in which diverse groups can celebrate their differences without indifference to the other. By revisiting earlier episodes in the Bourj's numerous transformations of its collective identity, Khalaf explores prospects for neutralizing the disheartening symptoms of reawakened religiosity and commodified consumerism.

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The small boy was trying to climb over the wall surrounding the labyrinth when he heard the elderly people back home shouting at him to go back to bed. His grip on the wall loosened and he fell, awaking from his dream to find himself now seventy years older, seated as usual in his armchair watching people around him involved in busy discussions. His problem of not hearing well sometimes placed him in 'a cage without bars' whenever he happened to be in a big group. The dream of the labyrinth took on different aspects: he waded through multiple environments crowded with people who, coping with different problems themselves, faced the same isolation that left them all politely ignored by others. Coming out of the labyrinth, he found that the circumstances of his dream had evaporated. All the same, the beauty in life does not evaporate ...

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This publication presents a selection of her most startling work so far, created in response to the dramatic social and political upheaval that she experienced after the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the murder of her parents in Tehran. Though the inspiration behind Forouhar's subject matter may be tragic, her work has a great emotional range: the results are sometimes macabre, occasionally darkly humorous and often purely joyful. Published to coincide with artist's first solo show in the UK at Leighton House Museum, London, in October 2010, this is the first English-language monograph of her work. The Artist's work is in the permanent collections of The Queensland Art Museum, Queensland; Belvedere, Vienna; Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe; Musem of Modern Art, Frankfurt; and the Deutsche Bank Art Collection. Rose Issa provides a forword and there are essays by the curator and film-maker Lutz Becker and the author and art critic Russell Harris.

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These seven short essays provide a brief and cogent overview of selected Hadiths (traditions of the Prophet Muhammad used as sources for religious law) that, argues the author, were not only revolutionary for their time but have retained their potential to drastically revolutionise Islamic societies today. Each Hadith is presented in the words of classical Muslim commentators, followed by Algosaibi's interpretation. He frames the Hadiths as they can and should be applied to contemporary circumstances, lending new vitality to modern Muslim social and political life. A bold and clearly reasoned call for reform, "Revolution in the Sunnah" concisely demonstrates the progressive urge at the core of Islamic tradition. The topics covered are political integrity, the role of women in society and the military, civil rights, privacy, cruelty to animals, family planning, and torture.

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This is no ordinary cookbook. Some of the world's great chefs have come together here to share their favourite Turkish recipes. Sample Nigella Lawson's hummus with seared lamb and toasted pinenuts; Huseyin Ozer's almond cake; Antony Worrall Thompson's freshwater trout; Claudia Roden's yoghurt soup; or Gary Rhodes Turkish Delights. Not only are there classic Turkish recipes for falafel, kebabs and baklava but there are also wonderful introductions to the famous wines, raki and coffee that complement these dishes. Alongside these are fascinating insights into how this exquisite cuisine evolved in the Ottoman Empire to rank as one of the world's finest.

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What could a ballerina, an anarchist, an Islamic terrorist and a banker possibly have in common? Our narrator, the enigmatic, piano-playing, rum drinking, Baron S knows. And he's ready to tell. Moving between the seventies and the present-day, between London, Italy and Surinam, Pauline Melville marshals a brilliant cast of characters to tell an explosive tale of greed, passion and revolutionary ideals.

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Arab women poets have been around since the earliest of times, yet their diwans (collected poems) were not given the same consideration as their male counterparts''. Spanning 5,000 years, from the pre-Islamic to the Andalusian periods, Classical Poems by Arab Women presents rarely seen work by over fifty women writers for the first time. From the sorrowful eulogies of Khansa to the gleeful scorn of Wallada bint al-Mustakfi, this collection exclusively features the work of Arab women who boldly refused to be silenced. The poems are excursions into their vibrant world whose humanity has been suppressed for centuries by religious and political bigotry. With poems in both English and Arabic, this remarkable anthology celebrates feminine wit and desire, and shows the significant contribution Arab women made to the literary tradition.

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Mohammad Rawas stands today at the peak of an outstanding artistic career. Those familiar with his work will welcome this volume as a much-needed permanent source of reference, while those encountering the artist for the first time can enjoy a unique introduction to his work in the 235 reproductions presented here. In the accompanying text, the artist himself provides a fascinating insight into his life and work, his compositional techniques and sources of inspiration. A painting by Rawas, offers a complex visual and conceptual experience - both compelling and enigmatic, charming yet vigorously challenging. Constructing our own shifting narratives around the diverse elements of his paintings, we also explore the thought processes that led the artist to assemble these particular groups of images to form his original statements.

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`You may wonder why the Middle East gets so much airtime. Well, regions of the world were competing to host the apocalypse and the Middle East won.' Online sensation Karl reMarks disagreed with the idea that reality had become too strange to satirise. Then he read that bin Laden was radicalised by Shakespeare. Since then, Karl has been bringing the best of the Middle East news and views to his followers around the world. Now Karl's wildly wry observations and sketches are available in one handy collection. With sections on `Geography for Dummies', `Democracy for Realists' and `Extremism: A Study', alongside the best of Karl reMarks's infamous `Bar Jokes', this hilarious book proudly presents views you're guaranteed not to hear on the news ... We're actually very proud of God in the Middle East. He's the local guy who went on to acquire international fame. Wahahahahabism: A fundamentalist Middle Eastern comedy movement. Twelve people just started to follow me. Jesus.

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Lottie Lucas is the luckiest person she knows. She has looks, money, three houses and a teenage son she adores ...So why is her husband Harold walking out on her a few days before Christmas? Light Years is also about zoos and the zodiac; the seasons and the stars; and how humans see the natural world. It is a novel about the possibilities of happiness, a surprising and beautiful contemporary love story.

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The key to understanding the Arab world today is unlocking its past. In this authoritative account, John McHugo takes the reader through the political, social and intellectual history of the Arabs from the Roman Empire right up to the present day. Going beyond the headlines, he describes in vivid detail a series of key turning points in Arab history from the mission of the Prophet Muhammad and the expansion of Islam to the region's interaction with Western ideas and the rise of Islamism. Now fully updated to cover the tumultuous years since the Arab Spring, this lucidly told history reveals how the Arab world came to have its present form and illuminates the choices that lie ahead.

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Complex, innovative and thought-provoking, Iranian art in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries offers fresh insight into a culture and society that have been much misunderstood in the West and elsewhere. In this new, comprehensive study, featuring 379 full-colour images, Hamid Keshmirshekan considers the dynamics at play for Iranian artists as they confront their cultural past as well as issues of contemporaneity and cultural specificity. He contends that the twentieth century in particular proved a crucial period in the art and culture of Iran; it was then that the legacies of tradition and modernism came under critical review, and artistic concerns revealed themselves as indivisible from ideological ones. Contemporary Iranian Art includes major work by acclaimed Iranian artists such as Mahmoud Bakhshi, Shadi Ghadirian, Barbad Golshiri, Marcos Grigorian, Farhad Moshiri, Shirin Neshat, Sohrab Sepehri, Mitra Tabrizian, Parviz Tanavoli and Charles Hossein Zenderoudi. Preface by Hala Khayat, Specialist in Modern and Contemporary Arab, Iranian and Turkish Art, Christie's.

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"Patterns, Costumes and Stencils" is a reflection of the diverse peoples, cultures and traditions that have influenced Chant Avedissian's work, from the colourful textiles of Rajasthan and the glazed bricks of "Samarkand to Egyptian" magazine covers from the 1960s. This unique collection of Chant Avedissian's artwork leads us on a journey that crosses boundaries of all kinds: geographical, cultural and temporal. Here is an artist who continues to provoke through his iconoclastic images, probing ideas of consumerism, art and propaganda, creativity and copyright, tradition and modernity. It offers a fascinating insight into repetition and difference, in life and in art.

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A woman disappears without trace. Nobody, including the police commissioner investigating the case, can understand how a woman could simply walk away, leaving husband and home behind. After all, in the Kingdom of Oil where His Majesty reigns supreme, no woman has ever dared disobey the command of men. When the woman finally reappears, there is a blurring between the men in her life, as she leaves one to join another, then returns to her first husband who has since taken a new wife. She is trapped in a man-made web, unable to escape from a male figure who continually fills urns that she must carry. Surreal and satirical, Love in the Kingdom of Oil is a startling reflection on the limits of female freedom in a patriarchal society.

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Cyprus' capital Nicosia has been split by a militarised border for decades. In this collection, writers from all sides of the divide reimagine the past, present and future of their city. Here, Cypriot-Greeks coexist alongside Cypriot-Turks, the north with the south, town with countryside, dominant voices with the marginalised. This is a city of endless possibilities - a place where an anthropologist from London and a talkative Marxist are hunted by a gunman in the Forbidden zone; where a romance between two aspiring Tango dancers falls victim to Nicosia's time difference; and where an artist finds his workplace on a rooftop, where he paints a horizon disturbed only by birds. Together, these writers journey beyond the beaten track creating a complete picture of Nicosia, the world's last divided capital city, that defies barriers of all kinds.

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The sharp increase in oil revenues since 2002 has left the Arab Gulf States with billions of petro-dollars. But how will these countries fare in the post-oil era? The rulers of these states are taking serious measures to ensure the survival of their economies, and indeed their regimes, in a world with scarce mineral resources. This book explores the extent to which these countries have been and will be able to prepare for the future by transforming themselves into serious international destinations for tourism, finance, healthcare and education. It also considers the implications of failure for the future survival of their regimes. A timely and insightful study into this vibrant and important region, this book will provide food for thought for academics, policy makers and general readers.

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Al-Khwarizmi was a mathematician, astronomer and geographer. He worked most of his life as a scholar in the House of Wisdom in Baghdad during the first half of the 9th century and is considered by many to be the father of algebra. His Algebra (Kitab al-Jabr wa-al-muqabala), written around 820, was the first scientific text in history to systematically present algebra as a mathematical discipline that is independent of geometry and arithmetic. This groundbreaking work is divided into two main sections: one dealing with algebraic theory, and the other focusing on the calculation of inheritances and legacies. Al-Khwarizmi's book laid down the groundwork for a scientific field where mathematics and juridical learning meet, which was furthermore developed through the efforts of successive generations of mathematicians and jurists. This text also highlighted for the first time the deep-rooted possibilities in algebra to extend the use of mathematical disciplines from one to another, such as the application of arithmetic to algebra, or of geometry into algebra, and vice-versa for these three disciplines into one another; hence opening up novel areas of mathematical research. Latin translations of al-Khwarizmi's book began in the 12th century, and these texts held a continuous influence over algebra and mathematics until the 16th century.

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On Valentine's Day 2005 self-made billionaire Rafiq Hariri, Lebanon's former prime minister, was assassinated in Beirut by a massive bomb that destroyed his motorcade. The Lebanese people subsequently took to the streets, and the United Nations Security Council responded by declaring the assassination an international terrorist act with severe regional and international ramifications. An International Independent Investigation Commission was formed by the Security Council to uncover the perpetrators. Mourned as a Lebanese martyr, Hariri's death triggered the protests that led to the withdrawal of Syrian forces in April 2005. From his humble beginnings as a fruit picker, Hariri achieved fame and fortune as a construction magnate in Saudi Arabia. As Prime Minister of Lebanon for ten years, 1992-98 and 2000-04, he was widely credited for its rebirth after years of civil war, overseeing the rebuilding of 90 percent of the country's infrastructure. His resignation in 2004 over the extension of President Lahoud's mandate was viewed as a protest against Syrian interference in Lebanese affairs. Marwan Iskandar offers an in-depth perspective of the Hariri years, including a detailed look at the considerable economic reforms instituted under Hariri's leadership. He shares sensitive new information about such scandals as the al-Madina bank affair, and provides behind-the-scenes revelations about key figures in Lebanese finance and government.

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Meet the people of Cairo's Gamaliya quarter. There is Nabqa, son of Adam the waterseller who can only speak truths; the beautiful and talented Tawhida who does not age with time; Ali Zaidan, the gambler, late to love; and Boss Saqr who stashes his money above the bath. A neighbourhood of demons, dancing and sweet halva, the quarter keeps quiet vigil over the secrets of all who live there. This collection by pre-eminent Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz was recently discovered among his old papers. Found with a slip of paper titled `for publishing 1994', they are published here for the first time. Resplendent with Mahfouz's delicate and poignant observations of everyday happenings, these lively stories take the reader deep into the beating heart of Cairo.

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This long-awaited sequel to the classic, "The Genesis of Arabic Narrative Discourse (Saqi)", investigates a number of crucial questions related to the genre's development. Why did the Arabic short story take certain trajectories and what determined its path? Can the study of this genre provide us with wider insights into the culture as a whole? How have writers in one Arab country influenced those in others? These are just some of the issues addressed through close reading of authors such as Taha Husain, Yusuf Idris, 'Abd al-Rahman al-Sharqawi, Edwar al-Kharrat and Jamal al-Ghitani, among many others. 'Quest for Identities' has been selected by Choice (Current Reviews for Academic Libraries) in the U.S.A. to appear on their annual Outstanding Academic Title list for 2009. Announced in the January 2010 edition of Choice.

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A unique and extraordinary collection, Desert Songs of the Night presents some of the finest poetry and prose by Arab writers, from the Arab East to Andalusia, over the last 1,500 years. From the mystical imagery of the Qur'an and the colourful stories of The Thousand and One Nights, to the powerful verses of longing of Mahmoud Darwish and Nazik al-Mala'ika, this captivating collection includes translated excerpts of works by the major authors of the period, as well as by lesser known writers of equal significance. Desert Songs of the Night showcases the vibrant and distinctive literary heritage of the Arabs. Beautifully produced, this is the ideal book for lovers of world literature and for those who seek an acquaintance with gems of Arab thought and expression.

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The Arabic culinary tradition burst onto the scene in the middle of the tenth century, when al-Warraq compiled a culinary treatise titled al-Kitab al-Tabikh (The Book of Dishes), containing over 600 recipes. However, it would take another three centuries for cookery books to be produced in the European continent. For centuries to come, gastronomic writing would remain the sole preserve of the Arab-Muslim world, with cooking manuals and recipe books being produced from Baghdad, Aleppo and Egypt in the East, to Muslim Spain, Morocco and Tunisia in the West. A total of nine complete cookery books have survived from this time, containing a total of nearly four thousand recipes. The Sultan's Feast by the Egyptian Ibn Mubarak Shah in the fifteenth century is one such book. Reflecting the importance of gastronomy in Arab culture, this culinary treatise features more than 330 recipes - from bread-making and omelettes, to sweets, pickling and aromatics - and tips on a range of topics, from essentials a cook should know to how to distil drinkable water. Available in English for the first time, this critical bilingual volume offers a sophisticated insight into the world of medieval Arabic gastronomic writing.

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Nabil Anani is one of the most prominent Palestinian artists working today. A painter, ceramicist and sculptor, he has built an impressive catalogue of outstanding, innovative and unique art over the past five decades, pioneering the use of local media such as leather, henna, natural dyes, papier-mache, wood, beads and copper. Considered by many as a key founder of the contemporary Palestinian art movement, Anani's development as an artist has run in parallel with major events in recent Palestinian history. His work reflects the lived Palestinian experience, exhibiting distinctive responses to issues of exile, dislocation, conflict, memory and loss. Anani's artistic vision restores and celebrates a denied and often-forgotten reality, his work re-igniting memory. Bringing together more than 150 of Nabil Anani's works, this monograph also includes contributions from acclaimed Palestinian poet Mourid Barghouti as well as from leading Middle Eastern art historians, Rana Anani, Lara Khaldi, Bashir Makhoul, Nada Shabout, Housni Alkhateeb Shehadeh and Tina Sherwell.

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Selected as Emma Watson's Jan/Feb 2019 pick for her feminist book club, Our Shared Shelf Shortlisted for London's Big Read A Guardian Best Book of the Year Longlisted for The People's Book Prize From established literary heavyweights to emerging spoken word artists, the writers in this ground-breaking collection blow away the narrow image of the 'Muslim Woman'. Hear from users of Islamic Tinder, a disenchanted Maulana working as a TV chat show host and a plastic surgeon blackmailed by MI6. Follow the career of an actress with Middle-Eastern heritage whose dreams of playing a ghostbuster spiral into repeat castings as a jihadi bride. Among stories of honour killings and ill-fated love in besieged locations, we also find heart-warming connections and powerful challenges to the status quo. From Algiers to Brighton, these stories transcend time and place revealing just how varied the search for belonging can be.

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