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Literary commitment (iltizām) became a central concept in literary discussions during the decades of nation-building in the postcolonial Arab world. The demand that writers and poets take responsibility for their people had already been expressed in the 1920s by socialist authors and critics, such as Salāma Mūsā (1887–1959) and Luwīs ʿAwaḍ (1915–90) in Egypt and ʿUmar Fākhūrī (1895–1946) and Raʾīf Khūrī (1912–67) in Syro-Lebanon. The origins of this concept can be traced to the complex sociocultural changes that occurred during the nahḍa (lit., renaissance), the movement of …

Fāṭima, daughter of the prophet Muḥammad and his first wife Khadīja, is venerated throughout the Islamic world. She married her father’s cousin ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, and gave birth to al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn, the only male descendants of the Prophet. Historical sources on her life are scarce and often shaped by religio-political tendencies. Fāṭima is the numinous female figure of Islam, adored in religious traditions and cosmogonic myths of the Shīʿa. As the favourite daughter of the Prophet and bearer of his baraka, she is also honoured in Sunnī Islam and popular belief. 1. Scholarship Decad…