"Kitabat" is Arabic for writings. Picking a name for a book is definitely more challenging than I thought it would be. You have to look into having the name resonate with its contents, make it catchy and a bit dramatic for that whiff of pizzazz, and (most importantly) it HAS to contain a part of you within its spirit. The name Kitabat simply checked these boxes for me. Because, at the end of the day, this book is just that: a bunch of my writings. A bunch of Kitabat.

This book offers a new approach to the vexing question of how to write the early history of Islam. The first part discusses the nature of the Muslim and non-Muslim source material for the seventh- and eighth-century Middle East and argues that by lessening the divide between these two traditions, which has largely been erected by modern scholarship, we can come to a better appreciation of this crucial period. The second part gives a detailed survey of sources and an analysis of some 120 non-Muslim texts, all of which provide information about the first century and a half of Islam (roughly A.D. 620-780). The third part furnishes examples, according to the approach suggested in the first part and with the material presented in the second part, how one might write the history of this time. The fourth part takes the form of excurses on various topics, such as the process of Islamization, the phenomenon of conversion to Islam, the development of techniques for determining the direction of prayer, and the conquest of Egypt. Because this work views Islamic history with the aid of non-Muslim texts and assesses the latter in the light of Muslim writings, it will be essential reading for historians of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, or Zoroastrianism--indeed, for all those with an interest in cultures of the eastern Mediterranean in its traditional phase from Late Antiquity to medieval times.

The book examines the destruction of the architectural heritage in Mosul perpetrated by Islamic State between 2014 and 2017. It identifies which structures were attacked, the ideological rationale behind the destruction, and the significance of the lost monuments in the context of Mosul’s urban development and the architectural history of the Middle East. This methodologically innovative work fills an important gap in the study of both current radical movements and the medieval Islamic architecture of Northern Iraq.

A historical survey of the Iraqi media from its beginning up to the present day, focusing on the post-2003 media scene and the political and societal divisions that occurred in Iraq after US-led occupation. Investigates the nature of the media outlets and offers an analysis of the way Iraqi satellite channels covered the 2010 general elections.

Shahnama Studies III focuses on the hugely successful afterlife of the Shahnama or Book of Kings, completed by the poet Firdausi around 1010 AD. This long epic grew out to be an icon of Persian culture and served as a source of inspiration for art and literature, leaving its traces in manifold ways. The contributors to this volume each treat an aspect of the rich legacy of the Shahnama and offer new insights in Shahnama manuscript studies, the illustration of the Shahnama, the phenomenon of later epics, and the Shahnama in later texts and contexts.

Ahmed Fagih, PhD. is a writer of international standing. His writings include the award winning trilogy Gardens of the night and a large body of novels, plays, short story collections, and essays. His dramas were performed in so many countries and his books widely read and translated. He found and chaired many institutions in his county and abroad among the posts he occupied the chairman of Arab Cultural Trust. The general secretary of union of writers and artists, the director of the national institute of drama and music. He directed and performed many plays for the theatre group he founded in Tripoli The New Theatre. He served as the head of his countries diplomatic missions in Athens and Bucharest. He is the chairman of the Mizda heritage society and was awarded the highest medal in his country The grand al-fatah medal.

This unique volume illuminates a fascinating area of cinema. Each chapter covers the history and major issues of film within that area, as well as providing bibliographies of the leading films, directors and actors.