The Arab world has a vibrant and rich literary scene. At Al Majalla, we highlight some of our favourite picks—from philosophy and history to science, politics, and culture.
Napoleon’s Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History
By: Penny Le Couteur and Jay Burreson
Translator: Suhaila Ramadan
Publisher: Al-Riwaq – Egypt
Taking an unconventional perspective on history, this book looks at some of the bigger landmark moments of the past with an atomic and cellular eye. This micro-level interpretation differs significantly from the usual macro-level explanation of events.
The authors argue that chemistry has been a driving force behind significant historical developments. For instance, they cite one of Napoleon’s greatest defeats during his 1812 campaign against Russia—when his 600,000-strong army was reduced to a mere 10,000 men—and suggest that the reason may have been molecular, not military.
The soldiers’ uniforms, including coats, trousers, and other garments, were secured with tin buttons. Yet tin is known to disintegrate in the extreme cold, which is exactly what the continental Russian landmass offered.
The buttons were rendered ineffective, leaving the soldiers vulnerable to temperatures that dropped as low as -34°F. Researchers think this alone cost 22,000 lives and played a critical role in the emperor’s defeat.
Another example is sugarcane. Cultivated in India and Persia for millennia and later by Native Americans, it became a profitable trade commodity when it transformed into white sugar, becoming a profitable trade commodity.
After arriving in the Americas, Portuguese and Spanish colonialists struggled to subjugate the indigenous populations to cultivate and process sugar, so instead, they turned to African labour, thereby giving birth to slavery and the grotesque displacement of five million Africans over two centuries, all driven by the demand for sugar.
The 17 molecules are each discussed in a separate chapter. They include pepper, nutmeg, glucose, cellulose, nylon, dyes, contraceptive pills, morphine, and heroin. The authors show how each influenced history.
Pain in Arabic – A Cognitive Linguistic Study
By: Habib Al-Moqaddimeni
Publisher: Dar Al-Kitab – Tunisia
This book explores the concept of pain within the Arabic language, focusing on its definition and methods of expression.
The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as an unpleasant sensory or emotional experience resulting from actual or potential tissue damage. It may also encompass psychological pain, as inferred from signs of tissue damage.
The distinction between physiological and psychological pain, however, is regarded by some doctors and researchers as a myth. The expression of pain forms an integral part of the pain experience itself and varies depending on how people communicate.
Pain can be expressed verbally or symbolically, but linguists highlight the importance of verbal articulation, as society primarily comprehends pain through the sufferer conveying, through words, the pain’s nature and location, so understanding the pain of a child or animal is particularly challenging.
The book looks at the expression of pain within the grammatical, phonological, morphological, and lexical systems and their relationship to cognitive mechanisms in perceiving and conceptualising pain. It also examines the cultural-cognitive representation of pain, including pain metaphors.
The Challenges of Translating Religious Discourse
By: Baha Mahmoud Alwan Al-Janabi
Publisher: Abjad – Iraq
Translating the Qur’anic text has long posed significant challenges and sparked extensive debate among Muslim religious and cultural circles. There are those who argue for the necessity of its translation and those who ask if it is needed.
For believers, the difficulty stems from the sacred nature of the Qur’an as the word of God, revealed in eloquent and flawless Arabic, meaning there cannot be even the slightest margin for error or mistranslation. Yet, this is the inherent risk when transferring words from one language to another.
Iraqi author Baha Mahmoud Alwan Al-Janabi’s book acknowledges these concerns, which have garnered so much attention, study, and analysis throughout the ages, noting how poets and writers have admired the beauty of Qur’anic expressions and the refinement or coordination of its prose.
Translating such features into other languages often proves impossible, regardless of the translator’s skill and linguistic proficiency, the author explains since the translator must also have a profound knowledge of the religious text itself.
The book considers an example: the verse "حرّمت عليكم الميتة" "hurrimat alaykum almaitata” (prohibited to you are dead animals). This verse uses ellipsis, a stylistic feature and rhetorical device common in Arabic, in which certain words are omitted for brevity.
Translating a verse like this into German proved difficult because this is a language in which the ellipsis is not used, meaning that the translator had to add the omitted words for clarity, resulting in the translation: “God has prohibited you from eating the meat of dead animals.” Hence, the original three-word Arabic phrase is now a seven-word German translation.
The author concludes that without a profound understanding of religious texts, a translator cannot effectively undertake the translation process.
Comments on the Arabic Dialect of Baghdad
By: Louis Massignon
Translator: Dr. Akram Fadel
Publisher: Dar Al-Jamal – Iraq
This book by the renowned orientalist Louis Massignon examines the decentralised nature of Baghdad’s Arabic dialect, highlighting its variations across different city areas and among different communities. He attributes these to specific, case-dependent factors.
For instance, residents of Haydar Khana use the word "جائع" (ja’i) to mean hungry, while those in the Bab Al-Sheikh district use "خاوي" (khawi). Similarly, Muslims use the term "جوز" (jowz) for nut, while Christians say "جوزي" (jowzi), as per the Mosul dialect.
Massignon draws upon both ancient sources and modern references to provide a comprehensive overview of this linguistic diversity. He also ponders the future of the Baghdadi dialect, referencing the opinion of the poet Jamil Sidqi Al-Zahawi, who predicted that it might replace Classical Arabic.
This caused controversy because many argued that Classical Arabic—the language of the Qur’an—is eternal and unchanging. Massignon likens this linguistic conflict to the ‘Battle of the Gospels’ in ancient Greece.
His book explores this subject through songs, their melodies, and musical modes, including those in Levantine or Aleppine style. He provides rich and detailed insights, discussing lyrics, musical scales, and arrangement, among other aspects.
In the introduction, translator Akram Fadel expresses gratitude to Massignon for drawing attention to the importance of preserving Iraqi folk heritage, saying he “deserves our thanks for documenting these glimpses”.
Fedel adds: “May these observations by a dear foreigner inspire us Iraqis to cherish and preserve our heritage before it is too late. For me, that critical moment is when I fear the generation that recounts our folk traditions disappears, taking with it our noble heritage.”
This is, without a doubt, a rich, engaging, and delightful book.
From Coffee to Google – 10 Things I Wish I Knew at 20
Author: Abdulrahman Hamad Al-Hazmi
Publisher: Tashkeel – Saudi Arabia
A senior manager at Google who started out as a barista in 2004, Abdulrahman Hamad Al-Hazmi has penned a deeply personal book detailing his journey from coffee to coding at one of the world’s biggest companies, in an effort to inspire others.
It tells the story of striving to achieve a goal and offers motivation and hope to ambitious youth whose personal or social circumstances may appear to stand in their way.
Al-Hazmi, from Saudi Arabia, describes working in a coffee shop to earn money to study at a British university and recounts the mistakes he made along the way to becoming the tech giant’s Strategic Partnership Manager for the Arab World.
The book also highlights the cultural significance of serving coffee in Arab tradition, particularly in Gulf countries, where it is a core aspect of the region’s social heritage and emblematic of its customs and traditions.
