Adel  S. Bishtawi has been proclaimed "One of the most important contemporary Arab novelists." His first novel, Traces of a Tattoo, is considered "One the most beautiful Arab novels and bound to be a major landmark in contemporary Arab fiction." An English version of this novel will be published in 2008.

Bishtawi's second novel, Times of Death and Roses, was described by other critics as a "great fiction work". "With it," said one, "Mr. Bishtawi has succeeded in recording an entire epoch of history. For all that, he has assumed a distinguished status among Arab novelists and made the Times of Death and Roses a time of enjoyable reading."

In Traces of a Tattoo, the theme of he novel centres around a journey from death (Hisham's wife), to life (Wissam and Aroob). If this interpretation is correct, then Gardens of Despair takes the opposite direction and moves slowly but surely from life to death. Still, those who hold this view, may not have sufficiently realised that death was not offered by the novelist as a means by itself but rather as a means to life i.e. the determination of the heroine (Rasha) to have a child despite warnings that it may cost her life.

Origin of the Arabic Numerals

A new book by Adel Bishtawi

We have two stories to tell in Origin of the Arabic Numerals, both of which have never been told in a book before. Because they are naturally simple, they may sound outrageous. This should not be of concern, since shocking one’s readership with simple facts is one reason why many authors write their books. We are confident that most of what we have discovered is probably correct, but we have no problem at all with people calling our assertions ‘claims’ until they can be evaluated by experts who are better suited to judging the significance of what we have found. Some of our findings will bring immense relief to millions. They may also bring immense frustration to others. We were guided in our research by a sincere desire to bring closure to a serious controversy that was sparked essentially by two orientalists hired by the East India Company two centuries ago.

Their story is the best-kept secret in the history of numbers and now is a good time to reveal our findings. For this reason we decided to provide an English version of the book that was originally prepared in Arabic, a time-consuming and laborious undertaking, and not without its faults. The temptation to rewrite large sections of the book was strong. However, the scope of our research was extended unexpectedly, and the confidentiality of our work was compromised. This book, therefore, should be viewed as a first attempt to present a complex argument in the clearest terms possible, and not to subvert established histories.

The best reward for our many months of arduous work is for this contentious issue to be settled conclusively once and for all, but we are not certain that all involved will see it this way. We are fully aware that a great deal may be at stake. The possibility that an entire historiography could be exposed as a construct founded on narrative and misunderstood concepts is unlikely to be acceptable. For this and other reasons, we expect to be criticised. This is fine with us. Before a story is told, one must be prepared to tell it. If the price for telling it is criticism, then so be it.

Our other story is much older, simpler, and therefore potentially more outrageous. If we are correct, it may be one of the oldest stories ever told about those little “things” that are so essential to human civilisation, the sudden dissipation of which could cause it to grind to a halt. Symbols that can be recognised by a computer must be special. Symbols that can be recognised by monkeys must also be special, but symbols that can be recognised by machines, apes and humans must be the only universal script invented by human beings in a time beyond the horizon of our remotest past. Speech is rightly described as one of the main discoveries that changed history, writing is the other, and both were essential tools for the creation of civilisations and the recording of history. Sadly, neither of our stories was recorded. An account claiming the non-Arabic origination of our numeric system was proven by our research to have been false. It was merely one of several other stories constructed by a number of orientalists and debunked by new research.

How old the universal numeric system we use today is, we cannot say. What can be said is that most of our numerals have an ancient Arabian origin, and they even exhibit close connections with ancient Egyptian, an old dialect of a “mother tongue” in its earliest form before it was temporarily separated from its linguistic sister tongues across the Sinai and the Red Sea. This may also sound outrageous. Like so many issues related to the Middle East, the Egyptian antiquity is controversial due mainly to biblical traditions. Attention in the 19^th century shifted suddenly from how magnificent the ancient Egyptian civilisation was, to how dazed the Egyptians were by their strong sun. Out of this dichotomous argument, a new classification of Middle Eastern cultures emerged: “Afro-Asian”. The eminent and independently-minded scholar Philip Hitti is in no doubt that around 3500 BC, a migration from the Arabian Peninsula forked at the Sinaitic peninsula to the fertile valley of the Nile and “planted itself on top of the earlier Hamitic population of Egypt, and the amalgamation produced the Egyptians of history. These Egyptians laid down so many of the basic elements in our civilisation. It was they who first built stone structures and developed a solar calendar.”

Read on ...

Martyrdom of the Andalusian Nation was said by a review published in Al Hayat Newspaper of London to provide a thorough analysis of historical facts in a lucid style. A new edition is scheduled for 2008 with an additional chapter co-authored by María Elvira Mesagarzazu, an old friend of the author and a recognised authority on the Moriscos.

A powerful and courageous book and now a bestseller
"What are the chances of the Arab Nation wrestling control of its destiny from the three main powers locking horns in the region to usurp the wealth and future of the Arab World: The Arab dictatorial regimes, Bush's America and the militants"? "Never been greater in the past 100 years," A. S. Bishtawi, author of History of Injustice in the Arab World, said in answer to journalists during the launch of his new book at the Sharjah International Book fair. "Through his totally unexpected moral, political and military failure in Iraq, US President George W. Bush did not just fail to uphold the high moral standards of the founding fathers of the United States of America but also failed all Arab dictatorial rulers who betted on a quick victory and provided him with all the support they could muster despite the opposition of the populace to the invasion and occupation of Iraq," he said.

Manifest Destiny of Imperial Decline – A History of American Injustice,
Adel S. Bishtawi's new book, is a message of hope the author tries to convey even as he chronicles the killing and suffering in the Middle East since the mid-1950s. American policy in the Arab and Islamic worlds is responsibe for a great deal of suffering but Arabs are not blameless. Their vast oil wealth has presented Arabs with a historical opportunity to lead all Muslims toward a new age and pioneer the renewal of Islamic civilization, but this opportunity has not been realized. Rather than enriching the Arab and Islamic civilizations with a new Ibn Sina, Ibn Khaldoun and Averroes, the Arabs have contributed Osama Bin Laden, Al-Zawahiri, Al-Zarqawi, suicide bombers and experts in explosives, torture and beheading. We are all responsible for this tragic situation – the man of the street, regimes and intellectuals alike. The hope of the nation does not lie in an organization like Al Qaeda because it does not lie in terrorism. The emphasis by some on such organizations for salvation is nothing but a deliberate invitation for others to occupy the birthplace of the Arab nation, ensure its enslavement, and perpetuate injustice, oppression and tyranny.

Short Stories
Five new short stories are now available to the English reader including There Remains a Farewell, Home Graves and  A Travel Document to Hell that was inspired by a true story of a Palestinian refugee who was briefly known in the early 1980s as the "Flying Palestinian" as he was stranded in the transit lounges of a number of Arab airports waiting to be allowed to return to his distraught family in Beirut.

Arabic Version
Close to 100 articles, research papers, studies and features in Arabic are now ready to be viewed by readers at  http://www.creativityinwriting.com/ many of which are not in this site yet. The translation tool provided by Goggle offers a fast rendering of Arabic articles into 'rough' English. New poems appear to be popular with two in the first 5 most viewed items in the site.