Within the context of the keen interest exhibited by the Polish Cracow University in the works authored by His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah as evidenced by the visit of a large student delegation from the university’s Arab and Islamic Studies division to Sheikh Dr. Sultan’s cultural hub in Sharjah to study up close the works of his highness in indigenous arts and knowledge.
The student delegation from Cracow University’s Arab and Islamic Studies division chose four plays to be translated in order to gain further insight into the works of his highness, which were eventually published under the title of “Theatrical Anthology.”
This interest in the theatrical works authored by His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi is attributable to his use of well-known mythical and historical characters, such as Nimrod of ancient Babylon, Samson (Shamshoun Al Jabbar) and Hulako as political parallels to contemporary characters in Asia and the Arab world. In fact, the play entitled “Dahes and Ghabra” which portray the bloody tribal war that raged in the pre-Islamic era, was an applied example of fine political theater which is but a reflection of real life politics.
Nimrod
The play “Nimrod” is one of a collection of plays authored by His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, which uses incidents of the distant past as parallels to similar present day or even future incidents. This theatrical work though of limited dialogue abounds in significance and lessons to be learned and strives to keep pace with the current Arab and human causes, which it presents to the Arab and int’l audience in the best artistic form that combines showmanship and thinking, depicts the nation’s past and present and predicts the future without distortion of facts, abuse, bias or prejudice.
“Daesh wal Ghabra”
In the play entitled “Daesh and Ghabra”, the author uses the devastating tribal war that raged in the pre-Islamic era as a nucleus of this pioneering theatrical work, based on historical interpretative parallelism. His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi with consummate intelligence used this historical war to draw a parallel between the pre-Islamic violence and the present-day terrorism by extremist movements like ISIS. Perhaps, that was the reason why the play’s title was transliterated into Daesh and Ghabra in an obvious linkage between Dahes and Ghabra war that split the Arab tribes, lasted forty years and left countless dead and the wars currently raging in the Arab region, felling thousands of dead and rendering many more homeless because of the senseless extremism.
Samson (Shamshoun Al Jabbar)
In the play “Shamshoun Al Jabbar” His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah draws a parallel between that biblical character and the Arab-Israeli conflict and in in so doing asserts the rights of Palestinians to recover the lands which have been theirs from the dawn of time. His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah wove an intricate theatrical web involving characters of biblical myths, perpetuated by movies and novels up to the present day, to expose facts and lay bare the malicious intentions of the Israeli enemy who used every weapon at its disposal to win the psychological war against the Arabs, using the superhero to portray the might of the enemy against Palestinian Arabs.
“Holako's Return”
The play “Holako's Return” takes us back to a pivotal historical event, namely the downfall of the Abbasid Caliphate, where the events that preceded that momentous cataclysm were very much like the events currently unfolding in the Arab region as if history is repeating itself. In fact, this play which was written from a historical perspective reflects a painful present, with every character in the play and every word in the dialogue implicitly evoking real characters, places and names and expressly pointing to the sad situation in the Arab nation. The author further used the downfall of Baghdad at the hands of Hulago’s armies in 1258 to draw public attention to the present perils threatening the Arab culture, which is currently facing a fierce cultural invasion, along with other factors that potentially affect the genuine Arab values. They play is a warning cry and a desperate call for the protection of genuine values and principles.