دراسة فنیة وتحلیلیة لروایة’صلاح الدین‘لجرجی زیدان

A Technical and Analytical Study of the "Salah Uddin" for Gurji Zedan

Abstract

The beginnings of a fictional tradition in Modern Arabic literature are part of the wider process of revival and cultural assimilation. This process involved a creative fusion of two separate forces. One is the rediscovery of the treasures of the Arabic literary heritage and the emergence therefore of a ‘neoclassical’ movement. The other is the translation of works of European fiction into Arabic, their adaptation and imitation, and the eventual appearance of an indigenous tradition of modern Arabic fiction.Jurjī Zaydān was a prolific Lebanese novelist, journalist, editor and teacher, most noted for his creation of the magazine Al Hilal, which he used to serialize his 23 historaical novels.His primary goal, as a writer and intellectual during the Nahda, was to make the common Arabic population know their own history through the entertaining medium of the novel. He has enjoyed a widespread popularity. He is also considered to have been one of the first thinkers to help formulate the theory of Arab Nationalisam.In This Article, Romance and intrigue, woven in the context of the broader picture of important historical events, are a distinctive feature of Zaidān's novels and Saladin and the Assassins is no exception. Princess Sittalmulk, the "Lady of the Realm" and sister to the Caliph Al-Aādid, has many suitors. Saladin has been persuaded that his political ambitions would be enhanced by a union with the caliph's sister. Hasan is also a man with political ambitions who wants to become caliph. He claims Fatimid ancestry and is trusted by the people. He too believes that a union with the Caliph's sister would enhance his claim to the caliphate after Al-Aādid's death. A conspirator with few scruples he arranges to abduct the caliph's sister after she rejects his overtures. And then he conspires to get rid of Saladin by every means -- first by exploiting the rising tension between Salāhud-Dīn and Sultan Nuradin, ruler of Syria, and then by using the Assassins, a religious sect first to threaten and then to do away with him. One morning Saladin wakes up with a dagger firmly planted over his head with a threatening letter signed by the "old man of the mountains" the Imam of the famous Assassins ready to sacrifice their lives in the service of their cause.  But lurking in the background was ‘Imadin, a loyal and courageous commoner who has been admitted be a member of Salāhud-Dīn’s inner circle and who is determined to come to his master's rescue by personally confronting the Assassins. Princess Sittalmulk for her part is a strongwilled woman who knows her mind and falls madly in love with ‘Imadin after he saves her life and honor. But he embarks on a far away and dangerous mission to save his master from all the dangers he is facing. Meanwhile, Hasan is intent on having his way with her, even though the caliph would like his sister to marry Saladin who had come to his rescue.