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The decree for the first time grants Kurdish Syrians rights, including recognition of Kurdish identity as part of Syria’s national fabric
It designates Kurdish as a national language alongside Arabic and allows schools to teach it.
Syria’s President Ahmed Al-Sharaa issued a decree affirming the rights of the Kurdish Syrians, formally recognizing their language and restoring citizenship to all Kurdish Syrians, state news agency SANA reported on Friday.
Sharaa’s decree came after fierce clashes that broke out last week in the northern city of Aleppo, leaving at least 23 people dead, according to Syria’s health ministry, and forced more than 150,000 to flee the two Kurdish-run pockets of the city.
The clashes ended after Kurdish fighters withdrew.
The violence in Aleppo has deepened one of the main faultlines in Syria, where Al-Sharaa’s promise to unify the country under one leadership after 14 years of war has faced resistance from Kurdish forces wary of his Islamist-led government.
The decree for the first time grants Kurdish Syrians rights, including recognition of Kurdish identity as part of Syria’s national fabric. It designates Kurdish as a national language alongside Arabic and allows schools to teach it.
It also abolishes measures dating to a 1962 census in Hasaka province that stripped many Kurds of Syrian nationality, granting citizenship to all affected residents, including those previously registered as stateless.
The decree declares Nowruz, the spring and new year festival, a paid national holiday. It bans ethnic or linguistic discrimination, requires state institutions to adopt inclusive national messaging and sets penalties for incitement to ethnic strife.
The Syrian government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), that controls the country’s northeast, have engaged in months of talks last year to integrate Kurdish-run military and civilian bodies into Syrian state institutions by the end of 2025, but there has been little progress.
source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)
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Syria’s President Ahmed Al-Sharaa issued a decree affirming the rights of the Kurdish Syrians, formally recognizing their language and restoring citizenship to all Kurdish Syrians, state news agency SANA reported on Friday. (Reuters/File)
His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Ruler of Sharjah, inaugurated the 44th Sharjah International Book Fair on Wednesday, where he honoured Egyptian writer and playwright Mohamed Salmawy as the Cultural Personality of the Year.
The opening ceremony was attended by His Highness Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed bin Sultan Al Qasimi, Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of Sharjah, and Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, Chairperson of the Sharjah Book Authority (SBA).
In his keynote address, Sheikh Sultan welcomed guests and the delegation from Greece, this year’s Guest of Honour, noting that Sharjah is marking 100 years since the establishment of its first library, a milestone he said reflects the emirate’s enduring commitment to knowledge and culture.
During the ceremony, Sheikh Sultan honoured Egyptian writer and playwright Mohamed Salmawy, naming him the Cultural Personality of the Year in recognition of his distinguished literary career and contributions to Arab theatre, fiction, and cultural life.
In his acceptance speech, Salmawy expressed heartfelt gratitude, saying: “Sharjah honoured me and all Arab intellectuals when it first honoured the written word over four decades ago by founding this book fair as a celebration of thought and knowledge. It honoured us again when it built museums, hosted exhibitions and conferences to celebrate our heritage and contemporary arts. Sharjah chose to embrace culture and has rightfully become one of the most important beacons of cultural enlightenment in the Arab world.”
“Our gathering here at the Sharjah International Book Fair is a renewed call to continue along the path of faith in culture and ideas—through words and books. It is a call to believe in the unity of the Arab human spirit—from Egypt to the UAE, from Yemen to Morocco, from Syria to Somalia. This meeting reminds us of the role of the Arab intellectual—not as a mere observer of his time, but as an active, influential force responsible for lighting the way amid the darkness some would impose upon us,” he added.
The ceremony also saw the presentation of the Turjuman Award to Dr Ondřej Beránek for his Czech translation of The Mission of Ibn Fadlan, published by Academia Publishing House in the Czech Republic. Organized by the SBA, the AED 1.4 million prize is the world’s most valuable award for the translation of an original Arabic work into another language.
The Ruler of Sharjah also announced the completion of the first phase of the Comprehensive Arabic Encyclopedia of Sciences, Arts, and Humanities, which aims to document Arabic and Islamic sciences, literature, and the humanities, including biographies of scholars, philosophers, writers, linguists, poets, rulers, and thinkers from the dawn of Arab history through the Islamic civilization.
He said the team, working under the supervision of the Arabic Language Academy in Sharjah, has completed 44 volumes covering linguistic and religious sciences, with the second phase, focused on the humanities, expected to be finalized next year.
Representing Greece, Guest of Honour, Deputy Minister of Culture Jason Fotilas expressed deep gratitude to Sheikh Sultan, highlighting the centuries-old cultural ties between Greece and the Arab world and thanking Sharjah for choosing Greece for this year’s edition.
In a related event, the Egyptian General Book Organization (EGBO) will host a special book signing for Salmawy on 6 November at 4pm at its pavilion within the fair. Organized by Egypt’s Ministry of Culture, the event will honour one of the Arab world’s most distinguished literary figures and celebrate his lifetime achievements.
A distinguished gathering of Arab and Egyptian writers, intellectuals, and media figures will attend the ceremony, where Salmawy will sign several of his notable works published by EGBO, including The Fairy, Beyond the Moon, The Last Station, and his memoir My Journey, which chronicles his rich literary and cultural life.
Inspired by his childhood in Amman, Malek AlQadi’s latest project, ‘The Folly Mojave’, injects desert minimalism with sustainable luxury.
Born in Amman, Jordan, raised in Florida, and based in Los Angeles, Jordanian-American architect Malek AlQadi has dedicated his life to his follies. In architecture, a folly is a building that serves no purpose aside from aesthetics. But AlQadi’s follies? They are worlds unto themselves; portals to places only visited in daydreams and memories.
His first folly came about as part of his thesis project, during which he designed and executed a humble, fully self-sustaining stay in California’s Joshua Tree National Park. Though his design language has evolved over the years, his core principles remain the same: sustainability, minimalism, and a reconnection with nature, all rooted in a childhood spent marvelling at Jordan’s deserts.
In Jordan, ancient structures like Petra dominated his early experiences. In Florida, his exposure to contrasting environments shaped his understanding of space, structure and purpose. AlQadi’s obsession with follies finds its roots in his desire to push the boundaries of design. He’s not interested in the grandiosity of skyscrapers or the utility of commercial buildings. Instead, his work delves into the ethereal, focusing on creating spaces that encourage introspection, exploration and escape.
The Folly Mojave, a series of standalone suites dotted across 200 acres at the intersection of The Mojave National Preserve and Joshua Tree National Park, is AlQadi’s most recent and most ambitious project to date. The project is a retreat that blends into the arid environment while providing visitors with an isolated, immersive experience. “A lot of it was navigating childhood memories and connecting them with real-life scenarios and architectural elements, tying vastly different places in the world together, yet still grounded in similar principles and environments.” AlQadi tells SceneHome.
For AlQadi, the desert isn’t just a backdrop. It’s a critical component of the project, shaping the way the Folly Mojave interacts with the land. The retreat’s location in such an extreme environment is intentional; it encourages guests to detach from their everyday lives and engage more fully with their surroundings.
At first glance, the Folly Mojave may appear simple, but its simplicity belies the thoughtfulness of its design. The structure is fully off-grid, powered by solar energy, and equipped with self-sustaining water systems. The retreat is designed for minimal impact on the surrounding environment. Inside, the space is surprisingly open, with large windows that frame the vast desert views.
“A big part of the experience is having less light pollution and being able to see the stars at night. All of that fed into the idea of disconnection,” AlQadi explains. “It’s about having the luxury of time and space to relax and take in nature, which, at its core, is the ultimate healer.”
Malek AlQadi emphasises the “site-responsive” nature of his architectural philosophy. Unlike architects who adhere to a singular aesthetic, AlQadi’s approach is shaped by the environment he works within, adapting to the unique qualities of each location. “No two projects are ever the same,” he explains, yet there’s always a recognisable touch that connects his work. Symmetry, the use of natural materials, and a minimalist design language are core to his style, while he doesn’t shy away from incorporating brutalist elements when appropriate.
For AlQadi, creating spaces that resonate beyond the present – lasting decades or even centuries – is a key part of his architectural philosophy. “Guests often describe the experience as surreal, unique and unplugged,” AlQadi reflects. “Many mention feeling a deep connection while staying there. It’s rewarding to know that people from all walks of life have been able to share in that experience.”
Pioneering scientist behind revolutionary weight-loss drugs, global scholars, innovators among winners.
The King Faisal Prize 2026 winners were announced at a ceremony in Riyadh on Wednesday night.
The event honored pioneering scientists, global scholars and innovators for their transformative contributions to medicine, science, Arabic language, Islamic studies and the service of Islam.
Prof. Svetlana Mojsov was named winner in the medicine section for her groundbreaking discoveries that are now reshaping how we treat obesity.
Prof. Carlos Kenig was announced as science laureate in the field of mathematics for helping to revolutionize understanding of nonlinear partial differential equations.
Mojsov, the Lulu Chow Wang and Robin Chemers Neustein research associate professor at The Rockefeller University in New York, pioneered research on glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) that has fundamentally transformed how obesity and diabetes are treated.
She discovered and characterized the biologically active form of GLP-1, a natural intestinal hormone that regulates blood sugar and appetite, and identified its receptors in the human pancreas, heart, and brain.
Through cutting-edge biochemistry and physiological studies, Mojsov demonstrated that GLP-1 powerfully stimulates insulin secretion while reducing hunger and managing glucose levels.
Her groundbreaking work enabled the development of an entirely new class of medications that mimic this natural hormone, sparking a paradigm shift in obesity treatment.
These therapies today provide life-changing benefits for hundreds of millions of people worldwide living with obesity and its complications — a global health crisis affecting 890 million adults and 160 million children and adolescents in 2022 alone, according to the World Health Organization.
Mojsov’s groundbreaking contributions have earned numerous prestigious honors, including Time magazine naming her one of the 100 Most Influential People in 2024.
Kenig was honored for his groundbreaking contributions to mathematical analysis. His work has transformed understanding of nonlinear partial differential equations — the mathematical equations describing how things change and move in the physical world — and provided researchers with a now-ubiquitous set of techniques. His insights have opened new research frontiers with applications spanning fluid mechanics, optical fibers, and medical imaging.
Kenig, the Louis Block distinguished service professor at the University of Chicago, is recognized for applying harmonic analysis techniques across different areas of partial differential equations.
His work on free boundary problems — determining unknown boundaries such as where ice meets melting water or how fluids flow through soil — has been particularly influential.
Kenig has spent three decades figuring out how complex waves behave over long periods of time, especially in tricky situations where they could either spread out peacefully or build up dangerously.
This matters for understanding everything, from ocean waves to light pulses in fiber optics and to how energy moves through different materials.
His work helps explain phenomena in quantum mechanics, optics, and ocean waves. By combining different mathematical techniques, he has solved longstanding problems that had puzzled mathematicians for decades.
In addition to medicine and science, the King Faisal Prize recognized the achievements of outstanding thinkers and scholars in the field of Arabic language and literature, Islamic studies, and exemplary leaders who have played a pivotal role in serving Islam, Muslims, and humanity at large.
Pierre Larcher, an emeritus professor of Arabic linguistics at Aix-Marseille University and emeritus researcher at the Institute for Studies and Research on the Arab and Muslim Worlds, won this year’s King Faisal Prize for Arabic Language and Literature on “Arabic literature in French.”
His novel presentation of Arabic literature to French readers has earned widespread acclaim from critics and specialists, while his rigorous scholarly approach to classical Arabic literature has made it accessible and appropriate for French culture.
His critical translation project of “Al-Mu’allaqat” and rigorous study of pre-Islamic poetry demonstrate exceptional scholarly depth.
For this year’s Islamic Studies Prize, Abdelhamid Hussein Mahmoud Hammouda, the professor of Islamic history and civilization at Fayoum University, and Mohamed Waheeb Hussein, the professor of archaeology and history of art at the Hashemite University, were announced as co-laureates.
Hammouda’s work encompasses the trade routes across the Islamic world — the Mashreq, Iraq and Persia, Arabian Peninsula, Greater Syria, Egypt, Sahara, Maghreb, and Al-Andalus. This expansive scope delivers coherent understanding of Islamic trade trajectories across history, serving as an authoritative reference for both specialized research and broader scholarship.
Hussein’s groundbreaking work uses archaeological surveys, GPS documentation, and analytical mapping to systematically correlate Qur’anic texts with geographical data. His research offers definitive scholarly interpretation, significantly advancing documentation of early Arabian Peninsula trade routes.
Sheikh Abdullatif Al-Fozan and Dr. Mohammad Abou Moussa were announced as co-laureates in the Service to Islam Prize.
Laureates’ names were announced by Prince Turki Al-Faisal and the King Faisal Prize’s Secretary-General Dr. Abdulaziz Alsebail.
Selection committees included experts, specialists, and scholars who met in Riyadh and examined the nominated works. They selected the laureates in an objective and transparent manner, in accordance with the rules and regulations.
The KFP was established in 1977, and was awarded for the first time in 1979 in three categories: service to Islam, Islamic studies, and Arabic language and literature. Two additional categories were introduced in 1981: medicine and science. The first medicine prize was awarded in 1982, and in science two years later.
Since 1979 the KFP has given awards to more than 300 laureates who have made distinguished contributions to different sciences and causes.
Each prize laureate is endowed with $200,000, a 24-carat gold medal weighing 200 grams, and a certificate inscribed with the laureate’s name and a summary of the work that qualified them for the prize.
source/content: arabnews.com (headlines edited)
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King Faisal Prize laureates’ names for 2026 were announced in Riyadh on Wednesday night by Prince Turki Alfaisal and the Prize’s Secretary General Dr. Abdulaziz Alsebail. (Supplied)
The Arab Media Forum kicked off in Beirut on Wednesday with an opening ceremony honoring a group of distinguished journalists and media figures. Minister of Information Dr. Paul Morcos and Secretary-General of the Arab Media Forum Madi Abdullah Al-Khamis presented the awards.
Honorees included Yolande Khoury, Rafic Khoury, Jacques Wakim, Nicolas Sabbagh, producer Sadiq Al-Sabah, Dr. Sami Kleib, Mounir Al-Hafi, Fares Yawakim, and Rose Farah Zamel (Warda), among others.
The event also recognized MEA Chairman Mohammad El-Hout, research CEO Mohammad Ali, Voco Hotel GM Roy Yougharios, and Phoenicia Hotel Director Marie Choueiri.
Minister Paul Morcos himself was also honored for his role in reviving Lebanon’s media vision and strengthening Arab media cooperation.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid praises novelist’s insights into intricacies of Arab societies.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, congratulated Algerian Professor Waciny Laredj on winning the Great Arab Minds Award in Literature and Arts.
The novelist, short story writer and academic is one of the Arab world’s most prominent literary figures and well-known throughout the Arabic-French speaking countries.
“We congratulate Professor Waciny Laredj on winning the Great Arab Minds Award in Literature and Arts, honouring his exceptional literary contributions. Professor Waciny has presented over 30 novels that delve into the intricacies of Arab societies, culture, and the environment. His impactful works have been translated into more than 20 languages and endorsed by numerous universities worldwide,” Sheikh Mohammed said in a congratulatory message posted on his official X account.
نبارك للبروفيسور واسيني الأعرج فوزه بجائزة نوابغ العرب فئة الأدب والفنون تقديراً لإسهاماته الأدبية الكبيرة .. حيث قدم البرفيسور واسيني أكثر من 30 رواية ترتبط بالمجتمعات العربية وثقافتها وبيئتها .. وتم ترجمة رواياته لأكثر من 20 لغة واعتماد دراستها في عدد من جامعات العالم .. ويشغل… pic.twitter.com/e4FPpAQJkg
“Holding the esteemed position of Chair Professor at the Central University of Algiers and the Sorbonne University in Paris, Professor Waciny’s achievement is a testament to his remarkable dedication to literature. We commend his efforts and deeply appreciate his profound contributions to Arabic literature, enriching the global readership.”
source/content: gulfnews.com (headline edited)
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Laredj’s works have been translated into over 20 languages and endorsed by numerous universities worldwideX/@HHShkMohd
Sarah Goher has become the first Egyptian director included in Variety’s “10 Directors to Watch” list.
Among the 10 emerging directors on Variety’s list are Kristen Stewart, Walter Thompson-Hernandez and Akinola Davies. Goher’s selection follows the runaway success of her debut feature film, Happy Birthday, a tender yet powerful story about class and longing, told through the eyes of an 8-year-old maid.
Goher co-wrote the script with Mohamed Diab; production is handled by Ahmed El Desouky, Ahmed Abbas, Ahmed Badawy, along with Hollywood-heavyweights Jamie Foxx and Datari Turner.
‘Happy Birthday’ premiered at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival, winning Best International Narrative Feature, Best Screenplay and the Nora Ephron Award for Outstanding Female Director.
The film was also Egypt’s official submission to the Oscars.
Egyptian novelist Salwa Bakr has won the inaugural BRICS Literary Prize, receiving one million Russian rubles at a ceremony in Khabarovsk, Russia.
The first edition of the prize drew nominees from across the BRICS bloc—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—as well as the United Arab Emirates.
Bakr’s victory reflects the growing international recognition of Arab authors on major literary platforms.
The BRICS Prize Board of Trustees had previously announced a longlist of 27 writers competing in the literature category.
Egyptian authors included Ibrahim Abdel Meguid, Salwa Bakr, and Fathi Imbabi, alongside UAE writers Sheikh Ali bin Tamim, Maisoon Saqr, and Reem Al Kamali.
The longlist also featured Russian writers Alexey Varlamov, Andrey Gelasimov, and Dmitry Danilov; Brazilian authors Ana Maria Gonçalves, Patrícia Melo, and Ricardo Aleixo; Indian writers Jay Vasavada, Dr. Rajan Kumar.
It also included Sonu Saini; Chinese authors Ma Boyong and Ai Yi; South African nominees Ntabiseng Jah Rose Jafta, Bongiwe Mhlongo, and Zainab Khan; Ethiopian writer Abere Adamu; Iranian authors Mansour Ali Moradi, Majid Ghasemi, and Reza Amerihani; and Indonesian writers Ekasakti Panu, Intan Paramaditha, and Deni Jha.
The winner receives a cash prize, a commemorative shield and a certificate of appreciation.
Organizers said the award aims to promote cultural exchange among BRICS nations and highlight literature’s role in advancing shared human values, including solidarity and peace.
Salwa Bakr (born 1949, Cairo) is a renowned Egyptian writer, novelist, and critic. She is the author of seven short story collections, seven novels, and a play.
Bakr graduated from Ain Shams University and has worked as a film and theatre critic for leading Arab publications, as well as a professor at the American University in Cairo.
Her works, including the novel The Golden Chariot, often explore the lives of the disadvantaged and marginalized, with a particular focus on the challenges faced by women in Egyptian society.
Bakr’s books and stories have been translated into numerous European languages. Her novel The Man from Bashmour was selected for the Arab Writers Union’s list of the 100 Best Arabic Novels.
She has received the Deutsche Welle Literary Prize and is a member of Egypt’s Supreme Council for Culture and the Egyptian Writers’ Union.
The award was established by participants of the BRICS Forum “Traditional Values” in Moscow, November 2024.
Egyptian Islamic scholar and geologist Zaghloul El-Naggar, a leading figure in the field of scientific interpretation of the Qur’an, has died at the age of 92.
El-Naggar passed away in Amman, Jordan, after a battle with illness, according to statements released on his official social media accounts on Sunday.
His funeral prayer will be held on Monday at Abu Aisha Mosque in Amman, followed by burial at Umm Al-Qutain Cemetery.
Born on 17 November 1933 in the village of Mashal in Egypt’s Gharbia Governorate, El-Naggar showed an early passion for science.
He graduated with honours in geology from Cairo University in 1955, earning the Mustafa Baraka Award in Earth Sciences. He obtained a PhD from the University of Wales in 1963 and became a full professor in 1972.
El-Naggar’s career spanned decades of teaching and research at universities in Egypt, the UK, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Yemen, Jordan, and the United States.
He chaired the geology department at Qatar University, taught at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, and served as a visiting professor at UCLA.
He also directed Al-Ahqaf University in Yemen and later taught at the World Islamic Sciences and Education University in Jordan.
He became one of the Arab world’s most recognised voices on the relationship between science and faith, authoring numerous books and delivering hundreds of lectures on what came to be known as the “scientific miracles of the Qur’an and Sunnah”.
His popular TV programme Ayat Bayyinat (“Clear Verses”) aired across Arab channels, exploring Quranic descriptions of natural phenomena.
El-Naggar was a member of the International Commission on Scientific Signs in the Qur’an and Sunnah and was honoured several times for his contributions to promoting scientific understanding within an Islamic framework.
source/content: newarab.com (headline edited)
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El-Naggar passed away in Amman, Jordan, after a battle with illness [Al-Araby Al-Jadeed]
Experts at Frankfurt Book Fair bring to light evidence that writing never faded after Abbasid period.
Arabic literature is still partly shaped by a story written in Europe more than a century ago.
It begins in the eighth century, when Baghdad under the Abbasid caliphs became a centre of science, philosophy and poetry – a period regarded as the golden age of Islamic civilisation.
At the heart of that era were poets such as Abu Nuwas and Al Mutanabbi, alongside polymath philosophers Al Farabi and Avicenna, who came to represent the height of an Arabic intellectual culture that illuminated the world.
This framing emerged from 19th century European scholars, including France’s Ernest Renan and the Netherlands’ Reinhart Dozy, who argued that Arabic intellectual life then declined after the 11th century, leading to an 800-year lull before Europe’s Renaissance.
It is a view steeped in Orientalist bias and historical oversimplification, current scholars say, as the Arabic literature never fell silent.
Speaking at a panel organised by the Sheikh Zayed Book Award at the Frankfurt International Book Fair, linguists and literary historians noted that Arabic writing continued to evolve in that it was copied, performed and translated, even when not formally acknowledged.
These reassessments underpin the work of modern researchers such as Germany’s Beatrice Gruendler, German–Turkish scholar Hakan Ozkan and American academic Maurice Pomerantz of NYU Abu Dhabi, who argue that Arabic literature developed unabated.
Gruendler describes the idea of a “lost century” in Arabic literature as a myth. Her non-fiction work The Rise of the Arabic Book, recently shortlisted for 2025 Sheikh Zayed Book Award for Arab Culture in Other Languages, recalls the thriving and competitive literature and publishing industry in ninth century Baghdad that echoes in book fairs today.
“You had professional copyists, bookshops and reading public,” she says. “If you walked through Baghdad, you would have seen scribes taking commissions, arguing over punctuation, advertising their handwriting. It was noisy, competitive and entirely familiar.”
That fact alone, she says, challenges the idea that formal publishing began in the 15th century in Germany with the arrival of Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press.
A reason behind the Western narrative about Arabic literature, she says, lies in the way European Orientalists thought of a civilisation’s trajectory.
“They wanted Arab history to look like theirs, with a beginning, a peak and a fall,” she says. “But Arabic literature doesn’t fit that pattern. It never stopped moving.
“The centres changed from Baghdad to Cairo to Damascus to Andalusia, but the conversation continued. The same poems were copied and reinterpreted, new genres appeared and older ones were reshaped. The language adapted to every place it went.”
That continuity can also be traced through poetry. Ozkan, professor of Arabic literature at France’s Aix–Marseille University, explores the topic in his study The History of the Eastern Zajal: Dialectal Arabic Strophic Verse from the East of the Arab World, shortlisted this year for the Sheikh Zayed Book Award in the category of Arabic Language and Literature.
The research shows how zajal, a rhythmic, dialect–based form of poetry long dismissed by both European and Arab academics as uncouth, continued to evolve long after the Abbasid period.
“These poets broke rules because they could,” he says. “They mixed registers, played with rhyme, mocked scholars and praised saints. Some of it reads like early rap. It’s the sound of a culture that’s alive.”
Further restoration is also happening at New York University Abu Dhabi with its Library of Arabic Literature, a series that helps bring back works from the supposedly lost centuries after the Abbasid period. Published in Arabic and English, it has already produced more than 60 volumes of prose, poetry and philosophy since its launch in 2010.
“Editing these books is like joining a conversation that never stopped,” said Maurice Pomerantz, one of the series editors and a professor of literature at NYU Abu Dhabi. “You can see generations of writers answering one another, authors, commentators, translators, all adding layers. The manuscripts are alive with argument.”
As for why the idea of Arabic literature’s decline took shape over the years, Pomerantz says it has less to do with history than with access. “If a text isn’t translated, it doesn’t exist globally,” he says.
“That’s why awards and institutions matter. The Sheikh Zayed Book Award, for example, recognises scholarship about Arabic culture written in any language. It brings visibility to research that might otherwise stay inside the academy.”
He adds that the real challenge now is ensuring these works live beyond academic circles. “We need to make them part of the public imagination again, taught in schools, read in translation, performed on stage. Otherwise the myth will just grow back.”
