Table of Contents

Introduction 7Note on Transliteration 11Abbreviations 12Izz al-Din al-Madani 13The Tale of the Lamp 15Zakariyya Tamir 41A Lonely Woman 43Muhammad al-Zafzaf 56The Sacred Tree 58Ibrahim al-Faqih 70Excerpt from The Book of The Dead 72Najib Mahfuz 104Qismati and Nasibi 107Hanan al-Shaykh 144Yasmine's Picture 147Muhammad Shukri 162The Night and the Sea 164Idwar al-Kharrat 178At the Theatre 180Salwa Bakr 198Ancestral Hair 200Fu'ad al-Takarli 220A Hidden Treasure 222Layla al-Uthman 247Night of Torment 248Yusuf Idris 265A Tray from Heaven 267Bibliography 295

About the Author

Ronak Husni is a senior lecturer at Heriot-Watt University where she teaches Arabic language, literature and translation.Daniel L. Newman is Course Director of the MA in Arabic/English Translation at the University of Durham. He has also published An Imam in Paris (Saqi).