Essays & Arabic reading editions
Readings
in Arab and Islamic history, with their fact-checks.
Essays and books, in Arabic and English. Every essay is published with an independent, neutral check of the facts in it.
From the shelves of the library
Essays
Newest firstWhat Does the Man Behind the Stanford 2% List Say About It?
English onlyThe man who built the Stanford 2% list warned, in his own papers, against using it to rank people.
History of science & medicineWhen You Are Free
فإذا فرغتَWhy does emptiness kill us, and when is solitude its cure?
General essaysIf Harm Comes to You, They Rejoice
وإن تصبكم سيئة يفرحوا بهاWhy a group gloats when its nearest neighbour stumbles, and why giving can make the envy worse.
General essaysAnd God Prevails in His Purpose
﴿والله غالبٌ على أمره﴾At the Trench the hearts reached the throats, and the relief came as a wind rather than a battle.
Qur'an & languageBack from Death
العائدون من الموتTwenty-four centuries of near-death accounts agree — and the agreement is not the evidence it looks like.
General essaysThe Art of Managing Risk
فنّ إدارة المخاطرHow to define risk, measure it, and fear it in the right measure.
General essaysCriticism Is Easy
ما أسهل النقدWhat does a critic actually know about the thing being criticized?
General essaysAl-Ghazal and the Constantinople Embassy
الغزال وسفارة القسطنطينيةWhat actually happened when Cordoba’s poet reached the Byzantine court?
Al-Andalus & ByzantiumThe Engineering of Equilibrium
هندسة التوازنHow do our choices settle — with other people, and with ourselves?
Game theory & decisionHealing Through Reading
الاستشفاء بالقراءةWhat does science say about what books do to our minds?
History of science & medicineA Wake for Knowledge
مأتم العلمHow salaried teaching was born a thousand years ago, and what we lost the day we forgot why we learn
History & civilisationExcept Those on Whom Your Lord Has Mercy
إلا من رحم ربكHow the mind is freed from its moulds — the completion of “And They Will Not Cease to Differ”
Method & thinkingAnd They Will Not Cease to Differ
ولا يزالون مختلفينThe moulds we see through: one idea from al-Ghazali to the psychology laboratory
Method & thinkingA Verb, Not an Organ
أفلا يعقلونReason in the Qur'an — a count and a second look
Qur'an & languageMankind Was One Community — Part Two
كان الناس أمة واحدة — الجزء الثانيA series on the philosophy of being — the last six essays
Philosophy & beliefMankind Was One Community
كان الناس أمة واحدةA series on the philosophy of being — the first six essays
Philosophy & beliefThinking vs. Tafakkur
ما بين التفكير والتفكُّرDid the machine rise to our level — or did we settle at the lowest form of thinking?
Qur'an & languageA View of the History of Science among the Arabs
رأيٌ في تاريخ العلوم عند العربFrom a physician's failing shop in Baghdad to a chapter of the Muqaddima brandished against the Arabs
History of science & medicineThe Discovery Buried in a Book of Theology
الكشف المدفون في كتاب لاهوتMichael Servetus: how the pulmonary circulation burned along with its author in 1553
History of science & medicineThe Psychology of Money
سيكولوجية المالAn expanded reading of Morgan Housel's The Psychology of Money
Book readingsThe Sultan and the Queen
السلطان والملكةA reading of Jerry Brotton's The Sultan and the Queen
Book readingsA Glossary of the Eloquent Idiom
معجم النَّفَس الفصيحClassical Arabic alternatives to the borrowed, the coined, and the literally translated — free to use.
Qur'an & languageThey Imitate the Saying of Those Before Them
يضاهئون قول الذين كفروا من قبلFrom Deir el-Bahari to the Andes: three patterns of divine sonship, and an answer in four words
Philosophy & beliefThe End of Atheism
نهاية الإلحادTwo questions, not one: atheism has ended as an argument, and refusal remains as long as desire does
Philosophy & beliefWhat Did Isaac Newton Discover, and Fear to Share?
ماذا اكتشف إسحق نيوتن وخاف من مشاركته؟The story of two letters written by the greatest scientist of his age, who then ordered the printing stopped
History of science & medicineHow the Sciences Develop
كيف تتطور العلومThe logic of inference, and how knowledge is actually made.
Method & thinkingThe Arians and the Unitarian Christians
الأريوسيّون والنصارى الموحِّدونA historical reading of the Christian creed between oneness and Trinity
Philosophy & beliefThe Cycle of History
دورة التاريخMiddle powers in the age of machine intelligence.
History & civilisationThe Missing Evidence
الدليل الغائبThe life of one idea across twenty-five centuries — from a temple on the Aegean to the clinical-trial registries.
Method & thinkingLibrary
By shelfThe History of the Conquest of al-Andalus
تاريخ افتتاح الأندلسThe oldest surviving history of al-Andalus, by a Cordoban grammarian descended from its last Gothic kings — an analytical reading in four parts, with the full text alongside.
Analytical summary Ibn al-KhatibThe Comprehensive Account of Granada's History
الإحاطة في أخبار غرناطةIbn al-Khatib's history of Granada — an analytical summary in five parts: the author, the history, the biographies, the places, and the poetry.
Analytical summary al-MaqqariThe Breath of Perfume
نفح الطيبal-Maqqari on the history of al-Andalus, its civilisation, and its vizier Lisan al-Din ibn al-Khatib.
Analytical summary George SartonA History of Science
تاريخ العلمSarton's history of science — from the science of antiquity to the end of the Hellenistic age.
Analytical summary Duchess of Medina SidoniaAfrica versus America
من إفريقيا إلى أمريكاThe Duchess of Medina Sidonia's archival reappraisal of the "discovery" of America — a complete Arabic translation in six parts.
Translation Fakhr al-Din al-RaziThe Great Logic
المنطق الكبير — مختصرٌ للدراسةal-Razi's Great Logic — a study digest of all four parts on a single repeating shape: a definition, an example, then a practical test for telling cases apart.
Study digestما في هذا الموقع قراءاتي، والآراءُ فيها آرائي. وقد استعنتُ في إخراج هذه الأعمال بالذكاء الاصطناعي وأفدتُ من قدرته؛ فأشرفتُ عليها، وراجعتُها، وحرَّرتُها، وأجزتُ ما تقرؤه. ومع ذلك أتواضعُ عن أن أزعُمَ هذا العملَ لي وحدي؛ ولعلّ الأيّامَ تُبيّن لنا ما هو من صنعنا وما ليس منه. وإلى أن يتبيّن ذلك — إن كنتَ مثلي محبًّا للتاريخ: فاقرأ واستمتع.
What you read here are my readings, and the opinions in them are mine. I made use of the power of AI to generate this content; I supervised, edited, and approved it. Even so, I am too humble to claim this work as mine alone — and I trust the future will teach us more about what is ours and what is not. Until then: if you are interested in history, as I am, read and enjoy.