Middle East Monitor Conversations

Imagining the future of Palestine isn't a fictional dream, but rather a radical attempt to rediscover and resistance

In an effort to beat the Abbasid Caliph Al-Nasir, the shah of the Khwarezmian Empire turned to magician Siraj Al-Din Al-Sakaki to create a magical statue that would help win the battle. But things took an unexpected turn. Join MEMO's conversation to find out more about the importance of magic in Middle Eastern history.

Siraj Al-Din Al-Sakaki (1160-1229) is best known for his work on Arabic grammar, which students of the language throughout the world use until this day, but very few know he worked as a magician in both the Khwarazmian and Mongol courts. The author of grimoire, a how-to guide for budding magicians, Al-Sakaki offers instructions to students on how to conjure Jinns, how to draw up contracts with the devil, how to cast love spells and how to inflict a humiliating defeat on your enemies as well as a deep dive into the world of magical donkeys. Al-Sakaki was taken very seriously by the rulers of his day, he even managed to survive a talisman gone-wrong, where he was asked by the shah of the Khwarezmian Empire to create a magical statue that would enable them to beat the Abbasid Caliph Al-Nasir in battle and take Baghdad. Al-Sakaki created the talismanic statue and buried it - however the statue magically changed direction while underground causing the shah to lose the battle. Al-Sakaki takes us into the fascinating world of medieval sorcery popular in Middle Eastern and Islamic societies. MEMO in Conversation is joined by Emily Selove, who is translating Al-Sakaki's works into English, to help us understand the man and his magic.

Dr Emily Selove is an associate professor in Medieval Arabic Language and Literature at the University of Exeter. She is also the convener of the University of Exeter’s Centre for Magic and Esotericism. Her most recent publication is a short monograph for the Cambridge Elements Series: The Donkey King: Asinine Symbology in Ancient and Medieval Magic. She was the PI of a Leverhulme-funded research project, "A Sorcerer's Handbook," (2019-2022) which will create an edition and translation of Siraj Al-Din Al-Sakkaki's magic handbook, Kitab Al-Shamil wa-baḥr Al-kamil (The Book of the Complete). Her early research focused on the figure of the uninvited guest (or "party-crasher") in medieval Arabic literature. Her translation of another 11th-century book of party-crashing is titled Selections from the Art of Party-Crashing in Medieval Iraq. She also co-authored a textbook to introduce beginning students to the city of medieval Baghdad, Baghdad at the Centre of a World: 8th-13th Century, and has created a collection of cartoons titled Popeye and Curly: 120 Days in Medieval Baghdad to accompany this textbook.

In an effort to absolve Zionist militias of charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes, a number of stories spread within Israeli society, they have been disproven but the denial of the horrors of the Nakba remains. Something Professor Pappe hopes to tackle through his new project the Nakba Memorial Foundation.

In 1948, just under one million Palestinians were expelled from their homes by Zionist militia groups that would go on to form Israel. 48 was the culmination of half a century of settler colonialism, a cornerstone of the project to establish a Jewish state in historic Palestine, was the idea that there were no people in the Holy Land or the people who were there were immigrants from elsewhere? The denial of the existence of Palestinians was a key feature of pre-1948 Zionism. After 1948, the denialism extended to the Nakba itself, myths such as Palestinians left because a radio broadcast from neighbouring Arab states told them to temporarily leave their homes and thus absolving Zionist forces of charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes, became part of the Israeli imagination. While ideas like these have been disproven through work of diligent historians and testimonies from Palestinians, attempts to discuss or study the Nakba have at times been suppressed in the West. But resistance from activists, students and scholars challenged and continues to challenge attempts to shut this down. MEMO conversations sits down with Professor Ilan Pappe to discuss the history of Nakba denialism, how it functions today, his new project the Nakba Memorial Foundation and his new book Lobbying for Zionism.

Professor Pappe is the director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter. He received his D. Phil from the University of Oxford. From 1984 to 2006, Pappe taught at the University of Haifa, Israel ,from which he resigned in 2006 after various failed attempts to expel him due to his ideological positions. He moved to the University of Exeter in 2007. Pappe has written 22 books to date, among them the Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine and On Palestine. His most recent books are the Ten Myths of Israel , the Biggest Prison on Earth: A History of the Israeli Occupation, A Historical Dictionary of Palestine and Our Vision for Liberation with Dr Ramzy Baroud.

Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser is a divisive figure, to some he is the North African state's saviour to others he betrayed its people and destabilised the region, but could he have been both?

Ever wondered why certain words cross borders and are used the world over? Fadi BouKaram has made it his business to find out why

Did you know the Arabic word for Austria - An-Namsa - comes from Proto-Slavic language and means 'mute' or someone who doesn't speak and this was applied to anyone who could not speak a Slavic language? Why is the loquat fruit in Turkish called yeni dunya or 'new world' while in Arabic it's called akideneh and iskidenya derived from the Turkish word eski dunya or the 'old world'? Why do foreign learners of a language have a hard time understanding certain sounds in the language they are learning? Fadi BouKaram, better known as Cedrusk on Instagram, set out to explore the roots of different languages and the human stories behind them.

A former professional photographer turned tax transparency lawyer by day and Instagram language nerd with a loyal following by night, BouKaram has popularised the study of etymology, or the origin of words, which takes him across different languages. Having grown up in Lebanon, lived in the United States and Ireland, different cultures, habits and customs have always interested him. His photography allowed him to explore the world and led him on the path to investigate languages.

BouKaram grew up in Lebanon and earned a degree in engineering and business. However, by his thirties, he decided he needed a career change and went into the world of photography. In 2013, he was part of a collective of photographers who set up Observers Collective, a group dedicated to capturing the diverse humanity around them.