Zarb Al-Dabsh...
The Emirati writer, Juma Al-Laim, takes us to the world of Emirati heritage, in his novel recently published by Madad Printing and Publishing House, where he takes us between his lines to the old Furjan of Sharjah, in a narrative attempt to restore some of the images that are filled in the Emirati popular memory, about the period that witnessed the beginnings of transformation. Change and reform, and the period after the establishment of the United Arab Emirates, which embodied the aspirations of the people of the Emirates for a dear and civilized homeland.
In his novel, the writer focuses on the main hero in it, who is Abdul Rahman, and some of the contradictions and challenges that he experienced, like other young men at that stage, dealing in an interesting narrative style with social issues, such as the negatives that were prevalent in dealing with women, in terms of giving them the right to education, and obtaining... Its rights, many of which it was able to achieve, most notably education under the Union State.
It also brilliantly depicts the lifestyle that characterizes Emirati society, and the values and moral principles on which the people of the Emirates grew up, through the dialogues of the novel’s heroes, which embodied the image and features of that important stage in the history of the Emirates.
In his novel, the writer deliberately used the names that existed in that beautiful time, such as Zarb Al-Dabash, Al-Farij, Al-Mrayhana, Al-Saray, and other names that take us back to that beautiful time, full of kindness and simplicity, especially that intimacy and social solidarity that seems prominent in the novel. The lines of the novel, which are deservedly considered an evocation of the past in a brilliant narrative style, in which the writer depicts in words the details of social life, in the Emirates, and in Sharjah in particular.
سوزان نيومان بصيرة عميقة حول أهمية القدرة على قول لا في مختلف جوانب حياتنا، يعد هذا الكتاب مصدر إلهام وتوجيه لكل من يجد صعوبة في رفض الطلبات أو التصدي للضغوطات الاجتماعية والمهنية، تشير الدكتورة نيومان إلى كيف أن الرضوخ المستمر لرغبات الآخرين يمكن أن يؤدي إلى فقدان السيطرة
With every meter that Rudy passed, his resistance to the influence of the fortune teller’s words became more intense, but at the same time, the fortune teller’s words became more deeply rooted in his soul and mind. Although he did not admit it, the fortune teller's words had completely controlled him. “Indeed, what knowledge do we, the inhabitants of this vile grain of dust called the Earth, claim to say, ‘This is possible and this is not possible?’ If we were merely irrational beings, we would say that we were created as a result of certain interactions between different chemical elements, such as mushrooms, algae, and others. But where does the soul come from and where does it go?” Do you go? And the mind and feelings? It is impossible for a bone or muscle in my body to feel love or hatred or to think and make a decision. All of this is carried by an energy that resides in my body, an energy that is stronger and bigger than me. It does not even reveal to me who it is or what it is made of I am just a dead battery for this energy, what a worthless piece of junk I am, but why should I accept that the fortune teller’s words are true? He, too, is just a piece of junk like me! These thoughts were fighting inside Rudy, and he did not know which idea was victorious over the other