The Arab world has a vibrant and rich literary scene. Al Majalla picks out some choice titles in our fortnightly round-up of the latest Arabic books, which aims to highlight some trends and thinking in the Arab world.
Feminist Criticism of Judaism in Contemporary Western Thought
By: Dr Reem Badr Al-Barikan
Publisher: Awqaf Centre – Saudi Arabia
This is a rigorous examination of Western feminist critiques of religious texts, with a primary focus on Jewish scriptures.
Western feminist movements, long engaged in deconstructing gender hierarchies within religious traditions, have subjected Jewish texts to intense scrutiny, revealing the constraints these traditions imposed on women.
However, Al-Barikan instead looks at the impact of these critiques within Islamic feminist thought, exploring how Islamic feminism has woven its way between inherited religious frameworks and the intellectual paradigms of Western feminism.
Al-Barikan asks whether Islamic feminist thought has assimilated, contested, or reinterpreted Western feminist critiques, highlighting the tension between embracing external feminist narratives and preserving religious and cultural authenticity.
Western intellectual traditions let religious texts be interrogated through hermeneutic, psychoanalytic, sociological, and historical lenses. Among the most prominent critics were Jewish and Christian feminists, who reinterpreted or outright rejected Old and New Testament passages that they deemed antithetical to feminist principles.
Al-Barikan provides a thorough genealogy of these, tracing their philosophical, psychological, and sociological underpinnings, shows how they may have changed, and looks at how these critiques have permeated Islamic feminist thought.
The author is sceptical as to what she sees as the excesses of Jewish feminist critique, arguing that it has sometimes veered into ideological extremism, and prepares her readers for a potentially provocative engagement with the text, warning that some of its conclusions may challenge established assumptions.
People’s Questions
By: Dr. Ahmed Barqawi
Publisher: Believers Without Borders – Morocco
In this book, a long-standing misconception—that philosophy is an abstract pursuit divorced from real-world concerns—is dismantled. In fact, the author shows that it is deeply entangled with the existential anxieties of human life, addressing fundamental questions of freedom, mortality, existence, and consciousness.
For Barqawi, the philosopher is no passive recipient of public inquiries but an active pursuer of the latent questions that permeate human consciousness. He challenges the idea that philosophy is preoccupied with abstract theorisation at the expense of practical concerns, suggesting instead that a philosopher’s duty is to expose and articulate the concealed tensions and dilemmas that define human existence.
In defiant defence, Barqawi rebukes the accusation that philosophy is elitist and irrelevant to ordinary life. He dismisses this charge as a rhetorical strategy deployed by those who fear the transformative potential of philosophical inquiry.
According to him, the true adversaries of philosophy are not those who question its relevance, but those who seek refuge in intellectual inertia, who reject the challenge of critical thinking in favour of pre-packaged, dogmatic certainties.
This book is also a sustained meditation on the intellectual and cultural challenges afflicting contemporary Arab thought. The author roams into political consciousness, the mechanisms of collective awareness, the role of writing and critique, and the shifting landscape of cultural discourse.
People’s Questions emerges as a bold intervention, reclaiming philosophy as an indispensable force in shaping public consciousness, not a luxury reserved for an academic elite.
Living in the Library of the World
By: William Marx
Translator: Idriss El-Khadraoui
Publisher: United New Book House – Lebanon
This book takes aim at the entrenched cultural hierarchy that positions Western (particularly European) literature as the epistemological benchmark and aesthetic standard for what constitutes ‘world literature’.
To Marx, literature belongs to a global, inclusive canon, one that is not dictated by Eurocentric frameworks but rather by the sheer multiplicity of literary traditions that coexist across different cultures. Translator Idriss El-Khadraoui describes the book as a manifesto that challenges the dominance of European thought in comparative literature.
Marx has an alternative vision: replacing the traditional model of comparative literature with a truly global “library of the world,” consisting of all the books ever written, including those still unread or marginalised by the dominant literary establishment. It is an argument for a more expansive, historically and geographically diverse perspective.
He calls for creating a universal literary archive where texts are not confined to elite academic classifications but are instead integrated into the lived experiences of diverse communities. At its core, this is a radical act of literary democratisation.
Marx says that literature should not be housed in exclusive intellectual spaces. It should be accessible to all, shaping and being shaped by local and global readerships alike. In other words, leave the ivory towers of literary hierarchy and embrace a shared human legacy—one that is as fluid, complex, and inclusive as the cultures that produce it.
The Surprising in the Ordinary
By: Faiza Ahmed Khemkani
Publisher: Dar Fikra Koum Publishing – Algeria
In The Surprising in the Ordinary, Faiza Ahmed Khemkani seeks to uncover the hidden marvels in the mundane. This is a look at the unnoticed elements of daily life, exploring how seemingly trivial objects and experiences—doors, windows, rain, thunder, solitude, silence—hold layers of symbolic meaning.
Khemkani’s work asks readers whether they have ever truly looked at the things around them—the objects encountered every day yet barely noticed. In doing so, it challenges the habitual blindness with which we navigate our surroundings, arguing that the ‘ordinary’ is, in fact, rich with metaphorical and emotional significance.
The book’s subtle yet profound premise suggests that the way we engage with the physical world is deeply intertwined with our emotions and preoccupations. It is not merely an invitation to observe but a call to rediscover—to awaken a more attentive, reflective way of seeing.
In this way, a window functions as the eyes of a place, offering both illumination and an expanded perspective beyond our immediate confines, while a roof carries the symbolic weight of security, a protection we take for granted until it is fractured.
Khemkani’s work is deeply introspective, blending philosophy, phenomenology, and poetic insight to illuminate the extraordinary textures of the seemingly banal. The Surprising in the Ordinary is not simply a book—it is an exercise in perception.
Through its quiet reflections, it reminds us that meaning is not always found in grand narratives or abstract theories but embedded in the details of daily life, waiting to be rediscovered through the act of mindful contemplation.
The Road to Beauty
Author: Star Kawoosh
Publisher: Cultural Affairs House – Iraq
Artist and writer Star Kawoosh embarks on a captivating journey through the world of visual art in The Road to Beauty, selecting 100 exceptional paintings that left a lasting impression on him, weaving a narrative and asking fundamental questions about art.
What defines a masterpiece? Why does one painting resonate more deeply than another? What elements imbue certain works with an ineffable allure, setting them apart from the rest? These questions and more are asked.
Kawoosh says he sought to understand “what makes a work of art significant, aiming to bridge the distance between viewers and paintings”. In his quest, he visited museums in cities around the world, searching for extraordinary paintings, “works before which I stood in awe, mesmerised by their brilliance”.
The artworks he chooses are disparate, yet “united by the enduring beauty their creators bestowed upon us”. It was a personal journey for the author, who says: “I felt as though a piece of my heart remained within those vibrant canvases, my soul lingering among the figures immortalised in paint.”
Kawoosh does not simply describe the paintings or celebrate their aesthetic appeal; he delves into the historical, cultural, and personal circumstances and contexts that shaped them and influenced the artists. This gives a richly layered reading of each work, with insights into the creative process.
The Road to Beauty is both an intellectual and an emotional inquiry into the essence of artistic expression, in which the author lets readers see art as a living dialogue, one that transcends time and space, connecting the observer with the artist’s vision in an intimate and transformative encounter.
