Hikayaat: Stories from Medieval Arabia, by Amr Jayousi, is a book of a 100 non-fiction stories taking place in Medieval Arabia (9th-14th century), and translated from various original medieval Arabic manuscripts. The stories are all meant to be universal and entertaining, and cover common themes in the “stories tradition” of Medieval Arabia, such as witticisms, chivalry, funny comebacks, wisecracks, bizarre occurrences and acts of heroism and genius. The translation style is casual and modern, and the stories are more “re-told” than translated from Arabic to English.
Amr Jayousi is corporate lawyer by profession. Outside of the law, he is a man of many general affairs and interests. He is a real estate investor, a small business owner, an avid reader of the classics, a failed poet, a world citizen who has lived in over 15 countries, and a man who spends more money than he should on clothes, shoes, cigars, booze and other frivolous things. He grew up in Ramallah of Palestine, and he is technically based in New York and Texas. He was born in 1989.
The book is divided among bizarre stories, comedic stories and intelligent stories, all of them being true and non-fictional stories. And with chapter titles as colorful as “Stories of guys who almost had their heads chopped off” and “Stories of guys who shots themselves in the foot,” the book is sure to entertain.
Table of Contents
Part One– Intelligent Stories
Stories of guys who promised something and regretted it
Stories of guys that gave their word and had to find a way around it
Stories of guys who thought outside the box
Stories of guys in power who showed a lot of class
Stories of guys that had to think on their feet
Stories of guys that were big on chivalry
Stories of guys who showed a lot of loyalty
Stories of guys who returned the favor
Part Two– Bizarre Stories
Stories of guys who almost had their heads chopped off
Stories of guys who shot themselves in the foot
Stories of judges who had an interesting concept of justice
Stories of “happily ever after”
Stories of nights of debauchery
Stories of guys who knew how to be subtle but effective
Stories of pranksters and scammers
Stories involving some interesting dreams
Part Three– Comedic Stories
Stories of kings and princes in disguise
Stories of guys who knew how to force it
Stories that became proverbial
Stories with some good one-liners
Stories of guys who had an attitude
Stories of guys who claimed to be divine
Stories of guys who showed up uninvited
Stories of guys that verge on the absurd