Inheritors of Sound and Song: Arab Music and the Legacy of Al-Andalus

By Sami Asmar

In our childhood, they taught many of us that Al-Andalus was the center of a grand golden era of Arab civilization. As we lament the current state of Arab civilization, we were also taught that European civilization benefited immensely during this period. These notions are self-evident in the realm of music since, to this day, there is a highly popular genre of Arab music attributed to Andalusian heritage. Do these notions have the historical support needed for academic research, or do they remain mythological?

Books

Muslim Americans Negotiate the Public Sphere: 'Civic Purdah' and Civic Engagement in Metro Detroit

By Pamela Nice

This academic book is an ethnographic study of Muslim communities within Hamtramck, a small incorporated city within the boundaries of greater Detroit. As such, the subtitle is somewhat misleading, as Detroit has differing demographics and ethnic and religious dynamics from Hamtramck, and the two are, in fact, compared periodically by the author. Alisa Perkins lived and worked among Hamtramck’s Muslims — primarily women — during 2005-2007, with follow-up research through 2017.

Books

Historical Overview of Arab American Women from 19th Century to Present Honors the Works of Michael Suleiman

By Lynne Rogers

“Arab American Women: Representation and Refusal,” a collection of 19 essays edited by Michael W. Suleiman, Suad Joseph and Louise Cainkar, provides a moving and appropriate tribute to the seminal work of the late Michael Suleiman. A public intellectual whose important contributions like his book, “Arabs in America” and founding of the Association of Arab American University Graduates (AAUG), Suleiman vastly broadened Arab American studies. The collection offers essays for both the interested lay reader and the serious scholar and Suleiman’s immense founding contribution to the field of Arab American Studies can easily be seen in the frequency he is cited in the articles’ references. 

Books

Nudity Overshadows Betrayal in 'Huda's Salon'

Arab Audience and Critics Riled Over Controversial Film
By Naomi Pham and Elie Chalala
The controversy over Palestinian-Dutch director Hany Abu-Assad’s “Huda's Salon” will not be the last furor over an Arab film. Not long ago, the film "Amira" and its director Mohamed Diab (more on “Amira” can be found in Al Jadid, Vol. 25, Nos. 80-81, 2021) met with similar disapproval. Most of the outrage against these two films did not center on the plots, themes, acting, directing, special effects, or cinematography, but on politics and what they considered immoral elements — which in “Huda’s Salon” is female nudity. The Palestinian creative community, including in the diaspora, has not been spared from harsh, and at times treasonous, accusations. Reasonable critics dismiss this latest controversy as being uninformed, superficial, and ideological. But the long-term consequences of these "populist" campaigns against Palestinian cinema carry intellectual costs. Many Palestinian talents, whether in the diaspora or inside Palestine, may retreat or abandon creative attempts to further the interests of their communities, given the chilling treatment met by their fellow directors. Despite the opposition's reasoning, profound ideological legacies of Palestinian politics still direct and guide some activists' campaigns that continue the old tactics and direct cultural politics to agree with their rejectionist political positions.
 
Films

Examining the Past to Understand Present Controversy Over ‘The Image’ in Islamic Jurisprudence and Art

By Sausan Hasan

The Lebanese scholar and poet Charbel Dagher has written over 70 books, ranging from collections of poetry, novels, and translations to literary criticism and original research. Indeed, we can clearly recognize his various and rich creative achievements. What distinguishes Dagher’s academic works is his devotion to the quality of his writing – his rigorous documentation, sound methodology, and commitment to objective analysis are a testament to the earnestness and patience with which he approaches his craft. At the same time, Dagher’s writing maintains a vivacity often missing in academic research, which can often be dry and even burdensome to the reader. Dagher’s style flows with ease, and he delivers his arguments in a logical progression of documentation. One could even argue that in his fictional works, which he has taken care to separate from his poetry – he is, after all, a poet who has built his own experimental style and language – documentation is ever-present.

Books

Can a Nation Plagued by Mass Corruption, Decaying Institutions, and Rabid Sectarianism Deliver Justice For those Lost and Victimized by the August Explosion?

By 
Elie Chalala

One cannot miss the irony of the Lebanese officials allegedly responsible for what is possibly the third or fourth largest non-nuclear explosion in the world hiding behind “immunity” from a crime that claimed over 207 people and injured 6,000, while devastating large parts of the Lebanese capital. The Beirut Port explosion in August 2020 measured about one-twentieth the size of Hiroshima’s atomic bomb, according to the BBC. As its one-year anniversary approaches, many Lebanese are still struggling to hold accountable those responsible for the blast.

Important, Sometimes Controversial Iraqi Poet Saadi Youssef (1934 - 2021) Requests a ‘Funeral Without Mourners’

By 
Elie Chalala
 
The legendary and controversial Iraqi poet Saadi Youssef died at 87 in his Harefield home outside of London on June 12 from lung cancer. The poet, whose multitude of works encompassed poetry, prose, literary criticism, translation, and memoir, leaves decades’ worth of work penned in exile and translated into several languages, among them English, French, German, and Italian.

Controversy Over Mohammad Shukri’s Literary Legacy Outlives the Author

By 
Al Jadid Staff
Many students and scholars of Arabic literature would recall the debates on the books of Mohammad Shukri (1935-2003) late last century and a part of the early 21st century. The debates centered primarily on Shukri’s picaresque approach, which included harsh depictions of repression, marginalization, deprivation, morality, breaching taboos and censorship, and of course, the banning of his books in most Arab countries. We can categorize many of his books as autobiographical, and the opposition was not to this type of literature but to the language and details he used. His spontaneity violated all technical and artistic norms in both Moroccan and Arab literature, especially in “The Bare Bread,” “Age of Mistakes,” and “Faces,” his autobiographical trilogy.
 

The Judiciary, Latest Indicator of Lebanon’s Impending Collapse:

A Judge Runs Amok
By 
Elie Chalala
The collapse of the Lebanese state grows imminent as news of different sectors unraveling emerges every day. The latest crisis reached the judiciary, which — though already known for its politicization and sectarianism — currently deals with a judge whose erratic, politicized personality violates all the norms of judicial behaviors and traditions. This controversial judge is Mount Lebanon state prosecutor, Ghada Aoun.
 

In a Statistical Vacuum, Speculating on the Arab-American Vote, 2016 vs. 2020

By 
Elie Chalala
 
While much of the country — and even the world — focused on the last U.S. election and remained engrossed even after its results and consequences, the picture of this historic event in the Arab world was unlike anything that was happening here. Regrettably, the distorted analysis and coverage by Arab media influenced to some extent the attitudes and electoral choices of many Arab immigrants in the U.S.

Beirut’s People Still Waiting: The Government That Left a Bomb on Their Doorstep Now Leaves Them Out in the Cold

By 
Al Jadid Staff
 
The never-ending reports from Lebanon on its social and economic crises are perplexing. Despite the gravity of the situation, officials sitting at the top refuse to relinquish or even reform the system. Recent news reports reveal a collapsing banking sector, a threatened educational system, and an impoverished and broken health system, all while the country watches a judiciary circus played daily on TV and social media, demolishing whatever legitimacy the courts still hold.

German Reinvention: Do a Million Syrian Refugees Bring Down the Curtain on WWII Legacy?

The devastating combination of the Syrian war, the failure of the Arab Spring, and the worsening state of refugee camps in the Middle East culminated in an influx of migrants across Europe. Between 2015-2016, two million migrants fled Syria, Afghanistan, Iran, and Eritrea to European countries. This mass migration produced a crisis across the continent, as several countries refused to undertake the moral and economic responsibilities of housing and feeding newcomers. According to the Pew Research Center, 45% of refugees came to Germany, among whom over 1.2 million were Syrians.

 
The devastating combination of the Syrian war, the failure of the Arab Spring, and the worsening state of refugee camps in the Middle East culminated in an influx of migrant

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