Tales from Arabian and Persian Deserts

About the Book

In the Desert of Emptiness, or also famously known as Empty Quarters (Arrob’o in Arabic), located in the Arabian Gulf countries, there lived one poor man. The poor man’s name was Fairuz bin Haddad. He lived with his mother, wife, and son, who was known as Saqr (the meaning of this name in Arabic is a “falcon”). Saqr had reached adolescence; he was already a young adult. His body was big and well built, and he was very handsome. Even at this age, he was taller than his father. He had the opportunity to study both religious and earthly education. In spite of the hard life they led, his father made sure that Saqr would get all the education he needed. So he worked hard day and night to provide for his family and pay for his son’s education. So every morning, Saqr would go to the Quran class before going to his other school, where he learned language and other subjects on human issues and how best to be a better person.

About the Author

Mr. Jawad Ibrahim Ahmed Al Bahrani was born in Zanzibar Island, which is now part of Tanzania. He was born at the area known as Mkunazini in the stone town, in a small house that faces Sunni Madrassa School. He got the education at the Mnazi Moja Zanzibar government school. He joined the school in 1944 to 1948 and then transferred to Mashimoni Primary School to complete his studies. He left school by his own and joined the African wharf age at the Zanzibar harbor as a fender-making boy. He then was transferred as seaman in the Commander Hall boat, which was in charge of the African Wharfage. He then left African Wharfage and joined Port and Marine and also as a seaman in a pilot boat. In 1953 he joined a ship (MV Mombasa), seeking adventures as high-sea seaman. He was in the same ship when Sir Edward Twining, the governor of Tanganyika, went to open the Mtwara harbor in 1953. And then he joined one of the local schooners by the name of Rosy, owned by Messer Fazal Bhanji. In 1961 he joined Zanzibar Electricity board as an engine attendant in the Saateni power station. In 1964 he got married to Miss Saida Allbdalla Ali Al Shaibani, and the same year, God blessed them with their first child; his father named him Naqeeb. In 1968 he opened his photo studio by the name of Studio Tropicana in Zanzibar near Majestic Cinema. In 1971 he was arrested and detained for four months by the revolution government. In 1972 he was again arrested with so many other young Arabian and Asian youths when the first Zanzibar president was killed by an Arab army officer. In 1975 he opened a first of its kind audio cassettes recording shop, selling musical audio cassettes. In 1975 he left Zanzibar and went to Bahrain to his elder brother, looking for a better and secure life for his family. In Bahrain, he got a job as a time keeper in a Swedish company building prefabricated houses. In 1976 he left Bahrain and went to Dubai and got a job in United Color Films, a company dealing with photo film processing and printing. And then he was transferred to a sister company, Middle East Film Production Company in Ajman, UAE. In 1977 he left Ajman and went to Oman and got a job in the Oman Television as a film cameraman for filming news and documentaries. He then became a documentary film director and produced his own films, and one of his film won the first prize in AGCC Bahrain Film Festival in 2000. The title was Nature in Oman. In the same year, he was retired, and till this day, he did not work anywhere but became an author, writing classical-story novels.