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CONTENTS
CONTENTS................................................................................................................. I
SCIENTIFIC ETHICS STATEMENT .................................................................. III
TEZ KABUL VE ONAY ......................................................................................... IV
FOREWORD............................................................................................................. V
ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. VI
ÖZET ...................................................................................................................... VII
LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................. VIII
1. INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................. 1
2. THE CONCEPT OF ISLAMIC HERITAGE ..................................................... 5
3. THEATRE IN THE ISLAMIC HERITAGE ...................................................... 7
4. ISLAMIC THEATRE: GOALS & ASPIRATIONS ........................................ 14
5. THEATRE IN THE TURKISH ISLAMIC HERITAGE................................. 16
6. ARAB ISLAMIC THEATRICAL TYPES ........................................................ 17
6.1. STORYTELLERS ................................................................................................................... 19
6.2. DANCE IN THE ABBASID ERA ........................................................................................... 20
6.3. THE SCENE OF GOING OUT TO PRAY ............................................................................ 21
6.4. RECEPTION CEREMONY FOR AMBASSADORS OF STATES ..................................... 21
7. SHADOW THEATRE ......................................................................................... 22
8. DESCRIPTION OF SHADOW THEATRE ..................................................... 27
9. SHADOW THEATRE THEMES ....................................................................... 28
10. CHAPTERS OF SHADOW THEATRE ......................................................... 35
11. ARAB PLAYS IN THE SHADOWS ................................................................ 35
11.1. CROCODILE PLAY ............................................................................................................. 36
11.2. WONDERLAND PLAY ........................................................................................................ 36
11.3. COFFEE PLAY ...................................................................................................................... 37
11.4. ABU JAAFAR PLAY ............................................................................................................. 37
12. SHADOW THEATRE ARTISTS ..................................................................... 37
13. SHADOW THEATRE IN THE ARAB-ISLAMIC SOCIETY ...................... 41
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14. SHADOW THEATRE IN OTTOMAN EMPIRE .......................................... 45
15. KARAGÖZ AND HACIVAT ........................................................................... 54
16. PLAYS FROM THE TURKISH SHADOW THEATRE .............................. 58
16.1. TURKISH SHADOW PUPPET (KARAGÖZ) .................................................................... 58
16.2. TURKISH SHADOW PUPPET (KAYSERILI) .................................................................. 59
16.3. TURKISH SHADOW PUPPET (ZAIN) .............................................................................. 59
16.5. THE GENTLEMAN OR ÇELEBI........................................................................................ 61
16.6. FRENK, OR THE FRANK .................................................................................................... 61
16.7. ACEM OR PERSIAN ............................................................................................................ 62
16.8. TUZSUZ DELI BEKIR ......................................................................................................... 62
CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................ 64
REFERENCES ......................................................................................................... 67
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SCIENTIFIC ETHICS STATEMENT
I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work.
02 /02 / 2022
Nooruldeen AL-MARSOOMI
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The shadow theatre plays a major role in public life and for several centuries it occupies an aspect of the people’s thought, as the public takes it as a way of entertainment and leisure. However, what was presented is a representation of real-life matters in a framework of criticism and irony; in addition, the performances were emptying of people's concerns, which bear various forms of hatred for their foreign rulers. Shadow plays paved the way for the Islamic audience to adopt the art of theatre, which came to the Arab and Islamic world through France, in its European form. Shadow play in the Islamic world included music and song as well as acting. These works were shared with a lyrical type, as music and songs play the main role, as in the plays of “The Spectrum of Fantasy”, “Weird and Strange”, and “The Lost Lover”. These are the three initials of shadow theatre left by Muhammad Bin Daniel Al-Mawsili who was the author of the oldest shadow plays in Arabic. These pioneers are formed their final shape by him and continued until the beginning of the twentieth century. This research relies on the descriptive-analytical method to trace the emergence and development of the form of the shadow play with all its components through different ages. So that, because of its importance, it has been included in the UNESCO Heritage Organization. In this research, it is aimed to research the past and present heritage of this type of theatre for current and future generations and to contribute to its continuation.
Keywords: shadow theatre, Islamic art, puppetry
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ÖZET

Gölge tiyatrosu, kamusal yaşamda önemli bir rol oynar ve halk onu bir eğlence ve serbest zaman geçirme yolu olarak gördüğünden, birkaç yüzyıl boyunca halkın düşüncesinin bir yönünü işgal etmiştir. Ancak sunduğu şey, gerçek hayattaki meselelerin eleştiri ve ironi çerçevesinde bir temsilidir. Ayrıca gösteriler, insanların yabancı yöneticilerine karşı çeşitli nefret biçimleri taşıyan endişelerini boşaltmaktadır. Gölge oyunları, İslam seyircisinin Fransa üzerinden Arap ve İslam dünyasına gelen tiyatro sanatını Avrupai biçimiyle benimsemesinin yolunu açmıştır. İslam dünyasında gölge oyunu, oyunculuğun yanı sıra müzik ve şarkı da içeriyordu. “The Spectrum of Fantasy”, “Weird and Strange” ve “The Lost Lover” oyunlarında olduğu gibi müzik ve şarkılar ana rolü oynadığı için bu eserler lirik bir türle paylaşıldı. Bunlar, Arapça'nın en eski gölge oyunlarının yazarı olan Muhammed Bin Daniel Al-Mawsili'nin gölge tiyatrosunun üç baş harfidir. Bu öncüler onun tarafından son şeklini almış ve yirminci yüzyılın başlarına kadar devam etmiştir. Bu araştırma, gölge oyunu formunun tüm bileşenleriyle farklı çağlar boyunca ortaya çıkışı ve gelişiminin izini sürmek için betimsel-analitik yönteme dayanmaktadır. Öyle ki öneminden dolayı UNESCO Miras Örgütü'ne dâhil edilmiştir. Bu araştırmada şimdiki ve gelecek nesiller için bu tiyatro türünün geçmişini ve günümüzdeki mirasını araştırarak yaşatmak ve varlığına devam etmesine katkı sunmak amaçlanmıştır.
Anahtar Kelimeler: gölge tiyatrosu, İslam sanatı, kuklacılık
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LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE 1. KARAGÖZ, 19TH CENTURY (YAKOB, 1938, P.4). ......................................... 58
FIGURE 2. TURKISH SHADOW PUPPET (KAYSERILI), 19TH CENTURY, (YAKOB,1938, P.7) ............................................................................................................................ 59
FIGURE 3. TURKISH SHADOW PUPPET (ZAIN), 19TH CENTURY (RAPHAELA,1973, P. 129). .................................................................................................................... 60
FIGURE 4. THE JEWISH MAN, 19TH CENTURY (RAPHAELA, 1973, P. 132). .................... 60
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1. INTRODUCTION
The early Arabs knew the "narrators", whom the Islamic tradition tells a lot about, as undoubtedly theatrical artists, artists of an excellent style, there is no one writes for them a scenario or stories, but their sharp eyes capture the characteristics and defects of humans, and they combine these characteristics and defects into a comprehensive or complex character. As modern criticism explains, they make the shadow play a material for humor that pleases the common people, even the kings among them. However, the Islamic heritage bears an “official statement” issued by the Caliph al-Mu'tamid prohibiting the activities of these artists, which proves that they had become excessively numerous during his reign, and they used mosques and palaces as their headquarters, in which they told stories in this clear and representative way.
Al-Jahiz has preserved with his expert eye, an accurate figure of the art of these narrators or actors, immediate actors who take their material stories directly from reality, an art close to the art of modern theatrical improvisation. Al-Jahiz said: "We find the narrator of the people reciting the words of the people of Yemen with their expressions. Likewise, his narration is for the Khorasani, the Ahwazi, the Negro, the Sindhi, the Abyssinian, and so on, until you find him as if he is better than them, and we find him telling stories about blind with images and faces that he creates for his face, eyes, and organs that we hardly find in a thousand blind one who collects all of that as if he had combined all the movements of the blind into one blind person (Al-Jahiz, 2009, p. 7).
The Arab people in the Arabian countries like Yemen, Iraq, and Egypt used to enjoy themselves in those times with various primitive arts. Caliph al-Mutawakkil had a special affection for actors and narrators, there is no social occasion passed by him but invited them to play in front of him. When he finished building his “Al-Jaafari” palace, he invited the owners of the nightclubs and gave them after the ceremony two million Dirhams. Caliph Al-Mutawakkil is considered one of the first theatrical directors, as he once drank in his palace called “Al-Barkouar.” He said to his tapsters: “I want to celebrate by roses", so they said to him: These are not the days of roses, but the Caliph ordered to collect five million of light weight Dirhams and he
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requested to be colored: black, yellow, and red, then wait until coming of a windy day. So, he commanded to make a dome with forty doors, so the Caliph sat in it, then he started to scatter the Dirhams as roses and the wind carried them because of their lightness, so they flew like roses (Ali, 1978, p. 32).
In addition to this tendency to theatrical arts, Al-Mutawakkil had a special affection for the group of comic actors. One day Ishaq bin Ibrahim visited him, and he found these actors disguised as cats and dogs, and the Caliph was generously scattering money on them. When Ishaq saw them in this state, he came out in anger, muttering: "What is the use of guarding the kingdom with all this waste?" Al-Mutawakkil saw him leaving and said to his guards: Bring him back to us, he came out angry, so they returned him until he reached Al-Mutawakkil. The Caliph said to him: What made you so angry? Ishaq said: "I hope that you will not be under the illusion that this kingdom has no enemies like it has guardians! You are sitting in your palace, where these dogs "actors" exploit you, and each of them disguises itself in un unacceptable manner, perhaps among them is an enemy of yours trying to kill you, or someone who has a bad intention and try to harm you". Al-Mutawakkil said: O Abu Al-Hussein! do not be angry, I swear that I will not return to something like that. After that incident, a theatre was built for Al-Mutawakkil to watch these actors. Thus, Al-Mutawakkil did not abandon his love for acting, but rather made for himself a view from which he could see the show from a distance. It means that he built a primitive theatre where is the first beginning of building an Arab theatre that developed after that to the conventional form (Abu Al-hassan, 2015, p. 9).
The Arab heritage contains a lot about the beginnings of a theatre that later became the nucleus of Arab theatre. The greatest impact of those initial attempts was to create the contemporary Arab theatre, as its existence required experiments and attempts that lasted for hundreds of years. The group of the first comedians was called "Al-Samaja", who they used to imitate the movements of some people and act them in funny appearances to make people laugh. The way was so long and difficult for the contemporary theatre actors in the theatres of the Arab world.
The Arab heritage contains many theatrical images, as many of the celebrations and official occasions were perfectly directed so that the Caliph’s sitting on his throne
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was in itself a ceremony full of colors, lights and movement arranged before, as he sits on a high chair in a throne of silk, and above his head is a black turban, also wears a sword and red slippers, carries The Holy Quran in his hands, boys and servants stand behind him and wearing swords, they have some weapons of war in their hands, and a curtain is extended in front of him when people enter it is raised. It is an integrated theatrical scene that did not miss even the curtain, which is raised if the scene begins with people entering and is closed after the show ends. Rather, there was a high view of these arts in the era of the Abbasid Caliphs, especially during the era of Al-Mutawakkil, as his wife “Fareeda” who was skilled in singing. For this reason, the spread of singing began, which prompted the establishment of what resembles the role of musical theatres in our time, except for the absence of the element of artistic trade (Al-Nadim, 1997, pp. 4-8). As for the houses, which undoubtedly were commercial amusement parks in the modern sense, they are the bars that were visited by members of the middle class, including poets, in which drinking circulated, singing was heard, and dancing took place in the absence of the law.
These various arts continue throughout that period, but an art that is as close to theatrical art as possible is the real beginnings of Arab theatre appeared. It is the "shadow play" that the Arabs knew during the Abbasid days, and it is the first kind of performance associated with Arabic literature. The shadow play was built on some artistic theoretical foundations by Ibn Daniel, which are: Popular theatre for the audience, and diverse art that mixes reality with imagination, the seriousness with humor, which depends on the widest amount of people’s participation, with money, attendance, and enjoyment.
Ibn Daniel presents real theatrical material, where he puts all his diverse experiences and creates some of the popular theatrical characters that still exist today, for instance: "Umm Rashid" who is the matchmaker, "the pimping", "the deceitful Coptic writer", "the fake poet" who scorns with empty words, and "the quack doctor" who sees profit much more important than the lives of its victims, all of these could be noticed in the "The Spectrum of Fantasy" section. As for the second section, which was created by Ibn Daniel and whose name is “Weird and Strange”, the main
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objective is to entertain and fascinate the audience with scenes and characters selected from the market, for instance: "the preacher and the hawker", "the herbalist", "the sorcerer and the astrologer", "the elephant trainer", and "the dancer and the black slave" who combines the acrobat and the singer, etc. All these characters were discovered by Ibn Daniel from the reality of the market and made an artistic presence on the stage through scraps, that is, by drawing them on the skin and referring them to two-dimensional puppets moved by the performer from behind a curtain (Abdel Rahman, 1984, pp. 77-79).
Ibn Daniel's view of his art, which is a serious look from behind the humor, makes him give his scraps the real life, which adds to the dolls a third dimension, and almost makes them real human figures moving on the stage. All these testify that the Arabs have known a full drama, with clear theory and practice. What was presented in the Arab world is not only a true theatre, with its applied examples of theatrical art, but perhaps planted from theatrical traditions that instilled the idea of theatre in the hearts of people and preserved it from loss, until the time when the modern Arabs knew the human theatre. Through the shadow play, the Egyptians know for centuries the habit of going to the theatre, where the theatre at that time contained: lighting, colors, costumes, dialogue, and various performing arts such as dance, singing, and music, then another type of theatrical story based on a type of dialogue. Another result is that Egypt was more prepared than other neighboring Arab countries to accept the idea of theatre in general, and human theatre, when theatrical groups and ideas themselves began to appear in the Arab region starting at the end of the eighteenth century.
There were no difficulties other than some obstacles related to how to obtain additional books dealing with the subject of shadow play in the ancient Islamic heritage, because the theatre itself faced strong difficulties, starting from the prohibition of theatre by extremist religious jurists to the wars that destroyed many books of art and literature in those eras. In addition, the researcher did not find many foreign sources talking about the shadow theatre so that we could supplement the research with sources that strengthen it more, because the topic talks about Arab and
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Islamic countries, especially in an ancient time when there were no strong cultural relations between the Islamic and foreign world.
The thesis aims to show the beauty of the shadow theatre and how it managed to preserve its legacy from hundreds of years ago to the present day. It also aims to put Arabic and Islamic countries in the position of supporters and defenders of all kinds of arts, especially the advanced Islamic countries such as Ottoman Empire, Egypt, and Iraq. The thesis focuses light on this theatre as it directly affects social and political life, which made kings and presidents interested in its role in criticism and investigation about the defects and problems facing people in those times. Therefore, after completing the study, the researcher hopes to provide a benefit through it to those interested and researchers in the field of theatrical arts in general.
2. THE CONCEPT OF ISLAMIC HERITAGE
Islamic heritage is a comprehensive term that includes everything related to Islam from the texts of the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and the interpretations of previous scholars in understanding these texts and applying them to reality. It is treated as a history that conveys to us a human experience that is subject to criticism, rebuttal, modification, and development in proportion to the time, place, and circumstances specific to each era (Khalid & Ahmed, 2014, p. 10). The Islamic heritage is not necessarily limited to knowledge production in religious sciences alone, such as interpretation, hadith, jurisprudence, and so on, but it extends to include all the books left by Muslim scholars throughout the ages in various branches of knowledge, and various languages. The Islamic heritage can be defined as all that was left by the Muslim ancestors of religious belief “the Qur’an and Sunnah” and civilizational sciences “material and moral” (Haroun, 2014, p. 3).
Heritage in its simplest definition is the complete record of human activity in a society over a long period. This heritage record may be a poetic poem, a historical document, a literary creation, a scientific invention, a cultural author, a plastic painting, an artistic sculpture, an architectural form, a mythical story, a folk ideal, a popular celebration, a family tradition, or a social custom. In short, heritage is a long multi-branched historical accumulation (cultural, literary, economic, social, political,
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architectural, etc.), and this record with its full load constitutes the identity of each community and its specificity that distinguishes it from other societies.
Most of the Islamic heritage is represented in the Arabic library, which dates back to the dawn of Islamic history, when the codification movement took place in the first century, then ended in classification in the second century, and flourished greatly in the third and fourth centuries. It does not mean denying other aspects of heritage their rights or minimizing their effects. Social norms and moral traditions are inherited by subsequent generations and acquired from previous generations. But the Arabic library is the most important aspect of the Islamic heritage. In addition to another source is the Ottoman archive, which dates back to the Ottoman era. It contains documents of 39 different countries, including 19 countries in the Middle East, 11 countries in the Balkans, three countries in the Caucasus, two countries in Central Asia, Cyprus, in addition to Ottoman Empire itself. The Ottoman archive is considered very important in the history of most Islamic countries due to the various documents it contains in all fields of literary, human, and scientific fields (Saban, 1997, pp. 54-57).
The Islamic heritage is a comprehensive term that includes all the heritage produced by the Islamic civilization and the societies belonging to it, whether it is Arabic, Turkish, Persian, or other languages that Muslims made in formulating their knowledge production. The Islamic heritage is a manifestation of the individual and collective creativity of the nation during its long history, and the heritage is considered the best expression of the cultural identity of the nation. The Islamic heritage includes various cultural, artistic, and intellectual forms inherited from the nation's past, which vary according to times and places. There is also a social heritage represented in the customs, norms, and traditions prevailing in society and the extent of their impact on its members. Therefore, it had a close relationship with cultural practices and its outlook on the future and the link between the nation's present and its past.
Some of the modernists view the Islamic heritage as human jurisprudence governed by human minds and concepts - on the one hand - and a special reality on the other hand, and therefore it is subject to acceptance and response because it is a human
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interpretation, and it is linked to a particular time and place which may not be compatible with others. Most of them do not care about all this heritage and stripped it of any religious features. According to those, it is just a call to reformulate it in a way that fits the era. For example, Taha Hussein calls for the Holy Qur'an to be subjected to criticism like any literary text, and Nasr Abu Zayd considers The Qur'an to be special texts that were revealed to deal with specific facts for specific people and times, and it is not correct - in his view - to generalize on other than these facts, like Muhammad Shahrour and others who they are called modernists, and what they have in common is that they subject the entire Islamic heritage, including the Qur’an and Sunnah, to criticism or acceptance and rejection, meaning that the Islamic heritage - according to them is that history itself contains nothing sacred. The main task of reviving the Islamic heritage is to reformulate the principles of the social sciences of Islam from history, sociology, economics, politics, education, and psychology, as well as literature and its critical theories.
Heritage is the legacy of past generations, and it varies in its material, moral and cultural elements to the extent that it is difficult to enumerate its types and forms. It is passed on from generation to other through language, imitation, simulation, teaching, and learning (Al-hashimi, 2002, p.146). Religious heritage, in its diversity and multiplicity of forms, is one of the most important types of heritage, and if it is difficult to enumerate the types of religious heritage, the most important of them can be referred to as follows:
First: Documents and manuscripts are preserved in international museums and libraries.
Second: The values, customs, and traditions that distinguish Muslim peoples from other peoples.
3. THEATRE IN THE ISLAMIC HERITAGE
The subject of art and Islam is one of the most difficult and sensitive topics that have sparked a lot of discussion and disagreement which continues, to this day, of concern to scholars, jurists, thinkers, and researchers. Especially Islam's position on the arts
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in general, and its position on theatre. Islam's relationship to the theatre has long been the subject of controversy; as black fingers point at him, it is rumored that Islam forbids this beautiful art, while Islam stands by welcoming theatrical works and encouraging moral art, just as it encourages creativity and praises creators. Islamic theatre is an integrated theatre in form, content, and vision, which carries many values that benefit the individual and society, and it contributes to the sublimity and integrity of man on the moral and ethical level towards virtue.
Islamic theatre is characterized by a harmonious Islamic vision in its view of the universe, man, life, and values, and therefore it is an integrated human vision, possessing a balanced view that combines matter and spirit, the world and afterlife, mind and emotion, worship and work, then body and soul. So it can be noted that Islamic theatre deals with issues society faces in a wise manner that encourages obedience, responsibility, and compliance with God’s law in intention, word, and deed.
While theatrical forms differ among the Arabs, such as the shadow play known as the puppet theatre, which came to them from the Far East (the island of Java in Indonesia), and flourished first in Egypt, during the era of the Fatimids, and left written traces represented in the works of Ibn Daniel, before moving to Istanbul, it took its form known as "Karagöz", which spread under different names throughout the Ottoman Empire, in addition to the “Hakawati” theatre, which woven an entire play with the layers of its voice. Shadow play remains the most common today (Ghassan, 2009, pp. 5-8).
Until this day, there are discussions among the intellectuals about the Arab theatre, where the controversy revolves around its inception and the reasons for its delay, and the division still prevails among them. The Arabic studies that have been written to refute this issue are numerous and are almost equal to the volume of theatrical texts that have been written. The scholars are divided into sections, some of whom reviewed some phenomena in the Arab heritage and considered them a theatre of a special kind, and some considered that representational literature did not exist in the heritage of the Arabs, but rather it is an immigrant art that was presented with the
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French campaign against Egypt in 1798, so the Arabs heard about it only in the middle of the nineteenth century.
The first group argued that the Greek-European model of theatre is not alone, but that there are other types. The scholars mentioned the name of the Arab literary seasons in the pre-Islamic era that were associated with the pilgrimage seasons, and the literary markets such as Okaz, Dumat Al-Jandal, Majanah, and Dhu Al-Majaz. They also noticed in the poetic sessions a kind of theatre, and they mentioned the storyteller who sits around him with listeners, and he is the only actor who tells the story of all people in the novel or epic he seeks and tries to change his features or feelings to match the character he imitates. Some of them likened this to the Italian comedy of art (Delarte Theatre), which was popular in the Renaissance, and they stopped at the storyteller who was known in Egypt as “Al-Mahbez”, in Morocco as “Al-Qawwal”, in the Levant as “Al-Hakawati”, and in Tunisia as “Al-Ruayah”. They added to this the art of the“kara-Koz”, in which puppets act as actors, while the puppeteer tells a story drawn from heritage or reality, and this art has developed into what is called puppet theatre (Al-Khatib, 1994, pp. 20-25).
Theatre in Islam is considered late for several factors, including the “religious factor”, as its companions state that the religions of the Arabs before Islam were simple paganism not based on the thought that tries to explain the world and human beings, and these religions did not develop or lead to the emergence of the art of acting as happened to the Greeks in their worship. After Islam, the Arabs believed in one God, while the Greek plays were full of multiple gods and their struggles with each other or with humans. Ahmed Amin, in his book “The Dawn of Islam,” attributes the absence of theatrical factors from Arab and Islamic thinking to religious reasons. The second cause is added to religious reasons, which is the “civilized” factor, where Zaki Tulaimat says in his book “The Art of Arab Acting” that the Arabs did not know theatre because their civilizational state was an initial stage that did not bear the seeds of development, and the Arabian Peninsula was not a civilization in the full sense, where they were always nomads (Farhan, 2000, p. 56).
Some scholars went further in their interpretation of the reasons for the theatrical delay in the Arabs to a “mental” factor, as they saw that the reason lies in the Arab
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mind and its nature, which is not based on analysis like Greece and other nations but is based on looking at the universals. The Orientalists exploited the theory and used it in a racist discourse, where they differentiated between the Semites - including the Arabs - and the Aryans, the sons of the West. The fourth and last of the factors come at the artistic-linguistic level, and the owners of this opinion have found that the Arabic language does not support the language of the theatre with its vitality and liberation, and it is a language that is living in the borders of kings or princes and not in the shadow of the people. The theatre has finally arrived, or emerged from somewhere it was hiding, in the middle of the nineteenth century, in response to a social and cultural need that the Arab community found itself driven to. For instance, Lebanon knew foreign theatre a century before its spread among other Arab countries. As for Egypt, foreign theatre groups have been visiting it since the beginning of the nineteenth century.
A European traveler said: “I used to think on the road between Alexandria and Cairo that I was in Italy. Wherever I looked, I would see the Italians who were members of the opera, ballet, and circus troupes that the Khedive had brought in for the winter season, while the French were only presenting comedy” (Farhan, 2000, pp. 60-61). These groups used to present their performances to Arabs and foreigners, but this early acquaintance with the theatre did not push the Arabs to acquire theatrical art only when they felt the need for it. Because of this need, the theatre has been associated since its inception with specific intellectual, political, and social goals, and the early theatre pioneers emphasized these goals in their speeches.
Despite the distribution of Arab theatre in different countries, it bears common features and similar characteristics that make it one in its plurality. In its beginnings, it was based on historical material, where writers drew from books of history and Arab heritage, and their resort to history was based on the characteristics that it carries: First, Arab history is unbroken, and at the same time, it is the history of Islam that most Arabs owe, and that is why all Arabs considered it their history. Since the relationship between the historical event and the Arab human being is not only strong in major events, but in small events that pertain to one country without the other, for example, the Denshaway’s incident in Egypt, Omar Mukhtar revolution in Libya, Ibn
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Badi’s revolution in Algeria and the French attack on Damascus, all have an Arab feeling collectively, just as each country has its history before Islam, the history of the pharaohs in Egypt, the history of the Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians and Aramaic in Iraq and Syria. But the integration of Arabs into Islamic history made the pre-Islamic eras a history for all Arabs, which allowed the Arab playwright a temporal and spatial space to choose whatever historical events he wanted (Al-Raei, 1988, pp. 70-72).
Second, throughout the century and a half, which is the age of the Arab theatre, the Arab countries were living in a similar situation. When it was born, during its emergence and expansion, the countries were under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. After that period ended, Western colonialism came, and then independence from it began in the middle of the twentieth century. The ambition towards independence was the same despite the special reality of each Arab country. It was the period that has been termed the "Arab Renaissance", in which the Arab theatre faced the concerns of liberation and the concerns of the Renaissance together, in a holistic manner. Ahmed Shawky’s historical plays were shown in Arab theatres, while his play “Al-Sitt Huda” remained within the borders of Egypt. Third, the theatre was an emergency art that had no roots in the ancient Arab social and cultural life. In all countries, this birth was suffering from one problem: the emerging theatre was discouraged because it was immoral in the views of many clergymen and others. At the same time, Arab playwrights were still learning the origins of this art. The playwrights fought a double battle, on the one hand, they wanted to establish a theatre in Arab life, and on the other hand, they wanted to develop their tools. In this battle, history was the most powerful tool, as it presents people with what they know of historical events and personalities that they appreciate, such as Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi, Tariq ibn Ziyad, Khalid ibn al-Walid, Saqr Quraish, and others (Al-Raei, 1988, pp. 72-74).
On the other hand, Arab scholars identified the directions or goals of the historical material in the Arab theatre in three axes, each of which appeared in a stage of Arab history from the end of the nineteenth century until today. Enlightenment and the political renaissance of fighting the colonizer was the first axis, as the historical play
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proceeded in this way since its appearance after the stage of the first pioneers until the middle of the twentieth century, and the authorities were confronting these plays, as happened with “Hassan Marei” author of the play “Denshaway”, or with “ Farah Antoun, author of the play “Sultan Salah al-Din and the Kingdom of Jerusalem,” said to the men of power: “Exile has become easier to bear than this harassment.” (Sabri, 1997, p.100). The second axes come in defense of the Arab revolutions and the new society, as the Arab countries began to gain their independence, and the realistic theatrical stage emerged in this stage. But the Arab revolutions against the ruling regimes after independence brought out the historical play again in a different way, instead of selecting periods of confrontation for foreign intruders, the periods to confront the ruling authorities were chosen, and the conflict began to take place between the Arab authority and the Arab people, and instead of choosing the bright periods with victories, the dark periods were chosen, instead of the conquest of Andalusia, the conquests of the Levant, the conquest of Constantinople, and the fall of Baghdad, even heroes are no longer leaders famous for their victories, but martyrs or common people. As for the third and final axis, it is a reconsideration of history, as the writers of this period began to question the validity of what was mentioned in the books, and accused historians of complimenting the ruling authorities, distortion, and forgery, so they began to read the historical event in a new way. Salah al-Din was before this stage a hero, but during this stage, the heroism was returned to the people, in the play “Bab al-Futuh” by Mahmoud Diab, who announced his play as a trial of official history and its hired historians (Sabri, 1997, p.105).
The Arab theatre lived a century and a half and then retreated, and its life can be divided into several historical stages: The “first stage” extends from its inception in Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt until the First World War. The theatre was born in those countries between 1847 and 1871 when Maroun al-Naqqash brought it to Lebanon for the first time, then time slowed down for twenty years to be reborn in Damascus, and after two years in Egypt. After the end of the First World War, the Arab theatre entered the “second stage”, where it took from the first its least features and acquired new features for itself. In Syria, it extended from Damascus and Homs to the largest cities such as Aleppo and Hama and began to enter the Arab countries at the hands of the Egyptian teams that toured there. Since the mid-forties of the twentieth century,
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the second stage began to decline, while the Arab countries were achieving their independence and facing post-independence crises of class inequality, social injustice, ignorance, and poverty. The Arab theatre entered the “third stage”, where it found itself facing the task of renewing and protecting the independent society and contributing to change during the Arab revolutions calling for socialism. Then came the defeat of June 1967, and the theatre lived this stage until the mid-eighties when it ended in a desperate and rapid decline (Al-Raei, 1988, pp. 90-95).
“After the third stage”, where there are no other stages that the theatre has experienced, as the decline began in the early eighties, and this was directly reflected in festivals such as the Damascus Festival for Dramatic Arts. All ambitions have failed and diminished, and the theatre has lost its call for change because the Arabs themselves are no longer able or willing to change. As for the current theatre, it is the son of the current circumstances. It may win once, but it is defeated many times.
This art found its way to the Arab countries by the Mongols and the Seljuks during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries through Persia and Anatolia. It kept pace with Islamic life, and the middle classes contributed to its enrichment, so it flourished and spread throughout the Arab countries and Islam. It is said that while the workers were building a mosque for the Ottoman Sultan Orhan (born 1281; reign 1323/4-1362) in Bursa, there were two men among the workers named Karakoz and Aywaz, but they were distracted by telling jokes and comic tales, which distracted the workers from work, and thus the delay in building the mosque, the governor of Bursa learned of this and ordered their execution, but he regretted what he had done and was deeply distressed. At that time, a man named Muhammad Kushtari wanted to remove the cloud from Hakimadar, so he made for him a form of leather and moved it every evening behind a beacon screen and told in their style and on their tongue jokes and jokes )Munir, 1995, p. 21).
Ibn Iyas mentions the knowledge of the Ottoman Turks of the shadow theatre from the Arabs. After the Ottomans entered the Levant and Egypt following the Battle of Marj Dabiq, they pursued the remnants of the Mamluks to Egypt and defeated them, and arrested the Mamluk ruler Tuman Bay and hanged him at Bab Zuweila in Cairo. In the evening, the Ottoman Sultan celebrated his victory, and the representatives of
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the shadow theatre represented him in this battle. The Sultan was impressed by that, and he took with him to Istanbul many skilled, craftsmen and several actors. The demand for them was great due to their mastery of their art and their quick intuition in adapting to the necessities of life in the city. As a result of the Ottoman rule over the Arab countries and their encouragement of this art, the Ottoman influences were evident in the texts and costumes. Despite the impact that the Egyptians had on the Ottoman shadow art, the Ottoman actors left their mark on the Arab shadow theatre, especially in the Levant (Martin,1996, pp. 241-243).
The Arabic and Ottoman texts were based on fictional literature and folk legends, and aspects of behavior in ordinary life. It was also close in terms of technical level and moral content. It was common to have an element of humor, as it was intended to dispel boredom in the public. This humor could provoke colors of irony, and this humor in various ways exploited all the possibilities offered by the shadow theatre, from colors and movement in changing the imaginations (persons) as well as the arts of simulation in its various forms, even accompanied by music and singing.
4. ISLAMIC THEATRE: GOALS & ASPIRATIONS
The Islamic theatre aims to elevate man to the levels of perfection and raise him to the highest levels of advancement, morally to the pinnacle of virtue and worldly happiness, then rid him of the consequences of life caused by material and bodily lusts and animal pornography. It aims to rid man from the world of reckless whims and demonic tendencies to another happy world far from evil and sins. Islamic theatre rejects free seduction, false hypocrisy, exaggeration, and chaotic absurdity. On the other hand, it calls for sincere faith, good deeds, and patience in life to obtain the clear victory that God calls for. Thus, it can be said that the theatre came in support of the goals of Islam and contributed to ridding people of their concerns through theatrical scenes that touch people's feelings and directly integrate with them until the whole moral idea is conveyed to the viewer ) Munir, 1995, p. 66).
The western theatre has known a set of different theories, schools, and doctrines in conception and practice. Hence, the Greek theatre conveyed to the world a tragic vertical struggle between man and the crowds of the gods, despite the strict challenge
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to achieve victory. The Roman theatre traced the impact of the Greek theatre in depicting the insignificance of man in front of the power of the gods, and the tyranny of the ruling masters. Then came the medieval theatre which was dominated by the religious and educational aspect, and the dramatic scenes remained with a missionary tinge that combined a distorted Christian religious vision, and a false educational tone, embodying the human struggle with whims and demons. If it is also possible to move from the theatre of the Renaissance to the theatre of the nineteenth century, the Western theatre glorified the human individual and praised him with reason, emotion, and sense. Then the theatrical conflict took on a human dimension, in which man quarrels with his fellow man, within a dialectical conflict based on aggression, hatred, and exploitation; especially with the theories of power and will, such as (Nietzsche, Hegel, and Schopenhauer), and theories of Marxist materialistic perception, such as (Marx, Feuerbach, Plekhanov, Antonio Gramsci, and Louis Althusser).
After the collapse of Europe after the two world wars, a group of theatrical doctrines emerged that denounced reason and logic, and frivolous philosophies emerged, and skeptical artistic theories were formed calling for chaos, absurdity, madness, anger, despair, pessimism, and revolution against the existing reality, such as Surrealism, Symbolism, existentialism, and the theatre of the absurd. In contrast to these atheistic currents with a dark vision, Islamic theatre declares its war on absurdity and chaos, and it stands in the face of all desperate ideas and deadly poisons. This Islamic theatre continues to this day calls for work, giving, building, creativity, creation, and innovation, arming with faith, hope, and patience to achieve happiness in the world, and to sing - dramatically - of the values of goodness, love, truth, beauty, and freedom ) Munir, 1995, p. 37).
So, it can be said that the Islamic theatre aims, in general, to liberate man from immorality, purify him morally, religiously, and spiritually, and raise his human and civilizational status to become a creative human being, with a great goal on earth that represented in purposeful construction and serious succession. Humans should seek to build human civilization and reconstruction the universe for the common good. Hence, the Islamic theatre must have a purposeful and constructive message that
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serves the human being wherever he goes and travels. A message transcends his mind, conscience, body, morals, and destiny so that it takes moderation as its doctrine in this life which is full of contradictions and psychological and social conflicts. Shadow play in Islamic theatre played a major role in shaping the goals of Islam, although it was used at times in negative imitation and criticism of well-known personalities in Islam, or in humor and laughter where there is no purpose in that. But it has been used for many years in delivering honorable messages in charting the path of a righteous society.
5. THEATRE IN THE TURKISH ISLAMIC HERITAGE
The cultural roots of Turkish theatre go back to the oldest civilizations that settled in Anatolia, as it contains rich references from the diverse cultures of several societies. In the period of the Ottoman Empire, this cultural diversity had a significant impact on the daily life of the people and the traditional folk theatres. It can be seen that the ancient plays in the Ottoman theatre contain legends, epics, and rituals. At the beginning of the era of reform witnessed by the Ottoman Empire, the theatre was neglected due to the cultural confusion that occurred at the time due to the influence of European cultures. However, with the transition to a new era, popular concepts have changed, and there has become a necessity for an artistic and symbolic reference that reflects the ordinary life of the people, so the theatre was chosen to serve as an artistic and cultural symbol (Ezici, 2017, p. 65).
Theatrical performances spread in the Ottoman Empire, such as the shadow theatre and Karagöz, with the increase of popular cafes, and these performances continued until the nineteenth century. These theatrical productions attracted audiences interested in a satire on the political class and sexual humor. Plays abound during Ramadan, when people flock to cafes at night, in addition to festive periods (Öztürk, 2006, p. 294). During that period, the Ottoman theatre presented a quick critique of the social restrictions that restricted society, meaning that the theatre was an element in the lofty challenge to the men of power. Theatre in the Ottoman era (19th century) was an effective weapon full of political satire, as officials considered this type of theatre a fair game (Hattox, 1996, p. 106). This interaction around theatres increased
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interest in him, which led to the multiplicity of plays, widespread in the Ottoman lands.
Historical documents testify that the first Turkish theatre was woven by the Ottoman Turkish artist Ahmed Vefik Paşa, who converted more than 6 French plays into a Turkish Ottoman format and established the first Turkish theatre in Bursa in 1879 (Ay, 1957, p. 28; Güray, 1966, p. 13-14). Ahmed Paşa succeeded when he was ambassador in Paris and was able to develop its culture and establish relations with French and French thinkers, such as Ernest Renan, which has many literary acts, including Ahmed Vefik Paşa in the transfer and translation into Turkish, which saw a theatre building Market (Mardin, 1985, p. 51).
It is also clear that Ahmed Vefik Paşa paid great attention to theatre, where he bases his literary works on his scientific research and studies. Where his literary works became more than his scientific works. He left an imprint in Turkish literature through his translations and adaptations of many French and Western plays, such as: Cimri, Gülünç Kibarlar, Zor Nikâhı, Kocalar Mektebi İnfial-i Aşk, Kadınlar Mektebi, Okumuşlar, Yorgaki-Dandini Aşkib, Merakî ve Dekbazlık...etc (Ay, 1957, p. 28-29; Çeri, 1997, p. 203-208; Tansel, 1964, p. 249-265). He continued to use popular expressions and vocabulary despite criticism from many. Therefore, as a result of these many contributions, Ahmed Paşa is one of the most important contributors to the formation of the Turkish theatre.
6. ARAB ISLAMIC THEATRICAL TYPES
It is known that the Islamic conception of the theatre was derived from religious and literary texts and was also derived from dramatic writings and theatrical performances with an artistic, aesthetic, and creative dimension. It means the extent to which theatrical theory is related to practice, description, and interpretation. The theory was not based on emptiness, obsession, and free imagination, rather, the theory of Islamic theatre relied on many targeted plays, whether they were Arab-Islamic or universal and humane.
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The Arabs and the Islamic peoples, in general, had known forms of theatre and theatrical activity for many centuries before the middle of the nineteenth century. And if the reader quickly passes on the social and religious rituals that the Arabs knew in the Arabian Peninsula before Islam, which did not develop into a theatrical art, as happened in other parts of the earth, the reader will find clear indications that Muslims during the Abbasid Caliphate knew at least one form the recognized play which is "Shadow theatre". The earliest indication of this fact is found in the book Al-Diyar by Al-Shabishti when the writer mentions that the famous poet "Daabal" threatened the son of Al-Mamoun's cook that he would slander him. The son replied: "if you did, I would take your mother out in the shadow!" That is, he warned him that he would suggest to one of the shadow artists by showing the image of Daabal's mother with the images he was playing with in front of his spectators - showing her in a ridiculous appearance (Jamil, 2016, p. 41).
Shadow puppets in ancient performances differ from those used now, and the Museum of the Geographical Society in Cairo has preserved a rare and distinguished collection of puppets that may belong to Hassan al-Qashash, which Timur describes them by saying: “Characters are made of cow hides, which are mostly skins that come from Sudan to be treated with, then they dye them with dyes as required by the colors of faces, clothes, animal bodies, tree trunks, leaves, fruits, stones of buildings, and so on so that if the images are displayed in front of the light of a blazing fire, they appear bright and shining through the lips of those skins” (2019, p. 19). These dolls depend on the repetition of decorative units through holes that form the internal structure of the doll. The required display is not the doll, but its shadow and the shadows depend in its composition on the overall shape, and some dolls in its composition depend on embodying the details in a realistic way, such as the doll "Elm" inside a Hodge that kept by the Museum of the Geographical Society.
The semantic reading reveals the shadow artist’s understanding of the social context and his awareness of the nature of relationships. Also, shadow art at that time realized the laws of pattern making by controlling proportions and focusing on certain defects. Perhaps “the marble doll” was one of the proofs of that, It is also hinted at with attention to architectural details, as in "Al-Manara" doll, which is
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crowded with characters of different roles, there are those who watch the sea, who prepare the cannon, who guard the doors, and others, in a way that makes us feel that we are in front of one of the designs of the Lighthouse of Alexandria. This type of shadow puppet consists of one or two pieces, which makes them limited in movement. Two types of dolls that were used at that time can be distinguished:
- Al-Qousura: It is an architectural formation placed on the right of the screen and it consists of one piece.
- Muppets: It consists of two or three pieces.
And this heritage in doll making gradually disappeared until it reached a deplorable state with its kindness, who relied on pieces of "solid cardboard" without any decorations or inscriptions in a way that announced the death of this art, he did not care about decorative details, colors, etc., and used leather only With Lieutenant Colonel and Officer Doll.
Al-Shabishti mentions in another place in his book that playing with the imagination of the shadows was known in his time, and was based on humor, irony, and laughter. The Caliph Al-Mutawakkil was the first to introduce games, entertainment, music, and dance to the palace, and that he was inclined to clowning and comic songs. Hence the palaces of the Caliphs became a place of gathering and cultural exchange with foreign countries. Some representatives came from the near and far East to perform in the palaces of the Caliphs. Like travelers returning from long journeys, they were telling the caliphs of their travel’s news that entertained and astonished. This study will briefly deal with certain models of theatre at that time:
6.1. STORYTELLERS
As for the common people, they used to find their favorite entertainment in storytellers scattered on the roads of Baghdad, telling them tales and strange news. Many funny people mastered the ways of humor, mixing it with the imitation of the dialects of those arriving in Baghdad from the Arabs, Khorasanis, Negroes, Persians, Indians, and Romans, or imitating the blind, and they may imitate donkeys. Among the most famous of these in the era of Al-Mutadid: Ibn Al-Maghazili who used to
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speak on the road and tell people news, tales, and jokes. Al-Mu'tadid heard about him, then he brought him to his palace. Al-Maghazili still mentioned stories to him and the Caliph held firm until he brought him out of his state and dignity to laughter, so Al-Mutadid struck his hand and examined the ground with his foot and lay down from laughter a lot. So, these storytellers are undoubtedly theatrical artists that are no one writes anything to them, but their sharp eyes capture the characteristics of humans and the defects of individuals, and they combine these characteristics and defects into a complete or complex personality, as modern criticism says and make them a material for humor that pleases the common people and their own (Ali, 1978, pp. 32-33).
6.2. DANCE IN THE ABBASID ERA
Ibn Khaldun talks about dance in the Abbasid era that it was much more art than mere sensual excitement. He describes a type of dance in which the dancers ride horses made of wood suspended and simulate horse riding and hit and run as if they are at war. The Caliph Al-Amin was riding this wooden horse in his palace, while the women around him sang to the drums and danced.
Al-Ma’mun, as the last Calipha, personally participated in acting and dancing. Many ceremonies and official events were elaborate theatrical productions. On the occasion of Al-Ma’mun’s marriage to the daughter of Al-Hassan ibn Sahl, named Buran, the theatrical production was as follows: Patches were distributed to Al-Ma’mun’s entourage bearing many names of villages and packets of dinars, each with ten thousand dinars. Then her grandmother scattered over her a thousand pearls when Al-Mamoun sat with her. Rather, the Caliph’s sitting on his throne was a party full of colors, lights, and movement arranged before. The Calipha sits on a highchair on an Armenian throne made of silk, wears a black silk cape, and on his head is a black turban, he wears the sword of the Messenger Muhammad and puts in his hands The Quran and on his shoulder the mantle of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and holds a rod (Ali, 1978, p. 37).
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6.3. THE SCENE OF GOING OUT TO PRAY
Al-Rasheed and Al-Mamoun used to go out to pray on Friday with the greatest manifestations of the caliphate. The procession would be preceded by a group of infantries carrying fluttering banners, preceded by a music band in its dress, resounding with melodious music, then strong men carrying bows, wielding their swords, and the group of ministers, princes, and heads of state came in decorated horses, and the Caliph is shown wearing a black talon, riding one of the finest Arab horses, followed by statesmen and guards. This show is at its core a carefully directed theatrical show, its place is the Baghdad roads and its theatrical movement from the Caliph’s palace to the mosque and its main hero: the Caliph and its spectators are the crowds of people. The aim of the show - besides showing majesty- is to make the enjoyment, spread fear in people's hearts, and inform people of the strength and wealth of the state, so they commit loyalty to their Calipha and state. (Ali, 1978, p. 39).
6.4. RECEPTION CEREMONY FOR AMBASSADORS OF STATES
As for the pomp and festivals of palaces, the intention was often political. For example, the Caliph al-Muqtadir received messengers from the Romans who came to ask for a truce. The palaces were furnished with the most beautiful mattresses, and the Caliphate’s houses and corridors were filled with soldiers and weapons, and that started from the Al-shams gate to the Caliphate’s house, and the number of soldiers was 160,000 with armor and weapons, and under them were horses with gold and silver saddles, with seven thousand servants and seven hundred janitors in magnificent uniform. Then the inhabitants of Egypt hung lanterns in their homes. Thus, theorizing for Islamic theatre was not based on free space or imaginative and virtual abstraction, but rather on a set of textual, artistic, and creative references that are represented in the Islamic Qur’an, the honorable Sunnah of the Prophet, and Islamic theatrical creations (Jamil, 2016, p. 45).
Hence, it can be concluded that the most important thing in the Islamic theatre is the content that is characterized by privacy, uniqueness, and distinction because the
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content stems from the divine law and the Prophet's guidance. The content contradicts all Western artistic philosophies that are involved in abstraction, pornography, and absurdity. As for artistic and aesthetic forms and directing experiences, it is possible to benefit from them as much as possible, if global and human experiences do not contradict their theoretical and applied concepts with Islamic values.
So, the Islamic heritage conveys that the Muslim artist accepts theatre as an art form that carries moral and educational principles. Islam has never stood against the theatre that carries this content in all economic, administrative, social, and even political fields. Thus, the Islamic theatre will be the alternative civilized and moral theatre, if that theatre is based, in its tolerant principles, on enlightening man mentally, morally educating him, and building his civilization in the light of the correct Islamic Sharia. Each theatre, in turn, spreads the philosophy of absurdity and futility, seeks moral abstraction, encourages immorality, permits corruption, and disregards moral and religious values, Islam will not support this type of theatre.
7. SHADOW THEATRE
Historians almost unanimously agree that the origin of this type of theatre came from ancient India, and some say that its origin is from China and moved from it to the Arab countries through India and the Persians, then moved to Egypt through Syria. There is another opinion that states the shadow plays originated in the Far East, and from there it moved to many countries of the world. It seems difficult to determine the country in which it grew up, as some studies indicate that it originated in China, but there is another indication that the word (shadow imagination) appeared in an ancient Indian text, and a third reference indicates that the shadow imagination (maybe) came to Islamic World from Mongols, and from it moved to neighboring states, in particular to Japan and the islands of Java. The shadow likely plays moved to the Arab countries from Java, where it was transmitted by early Muslim merchants, it may date back to the tenth or eleventh century, and it is confirmed by the early references to this art, especially during the reign of Al-Ma’mun (386 - 833). However, some sources indicate that the leader Salah Al-Din Al-Ayyubi attended one of the shadow performances in Egypt in 1171, accompanied by the honorable
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judge. But there is no doubt that shadow fiction was widespread in both Iraq and Egypt in the twelfth or thirteenth century, at least, the century in which the well-known imaginary (Ibn Daniel Al-Mawsili) appeared as a pioneer of this art (Zaki,1965, p.103). In Greece, its roots go back to ancient Greek history, although research and studies have not conclusively resolved this matter. The studies that dealt with the history of the emergence of the Greek Karakos, were characterized by the disagreement among its researchers about the existence of shadow art as part of the ancient Greek Mysterian theatre.
The reason for this is that such studies did not produce conclusive evidence or historical evidence. There are popular opinions that the Turks took it from the people of China through the Mongols, and it is possible to prove a link between the Chinese shadow and the Islamic world, and since the road from China and India to the Islamic world extends through Persia, it could notice among the Persians many passages that refer to the shadow plays, which it remains in modern Persia under the name (Kajal Pahlawan). The art has been elevated in the field of Arab culture, although only the plays of Ibn Daniel remained from the Arab representative poetry in the Middle Ages (Zaki,1965, p.104). The Arabs likely knew the shadow’s shadow through East and Southeast Asia, and Egypt certainly knew it in the thirteenth century, and it remained popular, but it was somewhat affected by the Turkish art of Karagöz, which was also influenced by Egyptian art.
The shadow image was first known to the Arabs in the Abbasid era, and it came to Egypt during the Fatimid era in the eleventh century. That is, it was characterized by a kind of flexibility in movement so that it could be performed in the courtyard of the house or inside a certain place, so it later became a means of reviving the seasons, wedding parties, circumcision, and the like. It was mentioned that Salah Al-Din Al-Ayyubi attended a shadow show with his minister Al-Qadi Al-Fadil in 1171. After the show, Salah Al-Din said to him "How did you see that?", The minister said: "I saw wisdom, then I saw countries go and others come, and when the curtain was raised, he saw that the mover and the actor are one (Ghazouli,1978, p. 35). The shadow plays continued throughout the Ayyubid and Mamluk eras, representing one of the most important means of entertainment in Egypt until the entry of the Ottoman
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Sultan to Egypt, who was keen to take some imaginaries with him to Istanbul upon his return.
Ibn Yas mentions in the incidents of the year 1917 that Sultan Selim I (born 1470; reign 1512-1520) of the Ottoman Empire had brought some nights an actor of shadow theatre. When he sat for watching, it was said that the actor took a figure of Bab Zuweila and a figure of Sultan Tuman Bay when he was hanged and cut the rope twice. So, The Sultan was very happy with that show, and gave the actor eighty dinars and a gilded cloak, and told him that if he traveled, he would take him to Istanbul. But Ibn Yas was not sure of the verification of this narration and commented on it as a rumor spread, and it can be said that Sultan Selim I transferred to Istanbul skilled people in all trades and industries. Some of those who excel in the art of shadow theatre was transferred to the capital, such as the actor who was mentioned in the story by Ibn Yas. It can be understood from the narration that the art of shadow theatre in Egypt was a craft, and it became able to express historical events, so that shadow performances in this era were not limited to displaying fun and funny comedies, but rather had goals higher than that, which confirms the art of Arab imagination took a long time to complete and gain its ingredients (Ghazouli,1978, pp. 37-38).
The Islamic tradition mentions that shadow theatre is a popular art that was transferred to the Islamic world from China or India through Persia and was famous for it in the Mamluk era (Al-Shabishti, 1966, P. 187). Shadow theatre was inscribed on the UNESCO List of Cultural Heritage in need of urgent maintenance in 2018. This art relies on puppets of dried leather of different colors, their lengths range between thirty and fifty centimeters, and they are moved with a stick behind a curtain of white cloth that is illuminated by light. which makes her shadow is what stand out to viewers by puppeteer, who is a professional artist, known as "Makheel" or "makeover of characters".
The Arabs knew the shadow theatre for the first time in the Abbasid era, which is mentioned in the book "Al-Mustatrif", three verses of poetry on the basis that it is the oldest mentioned in the spectrum of imagination or shadow theatre, attributed to the poet Wajih Al-Din Dia bin Abdul Karim in which he said:
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“I saw the shadow's imagination as the greatest lesson,
for those who are sophisticated in the knowledge of the truth.
Characters and voices that contradict each other,
for each other and forms without harmony”.
Throughout the Ayyubid and Mamluk era, the shadow plays, which were known in the Mamluk era as "Babat", were among the most important means of entertainment and were accepted by people to watch. of occasions. It was accepted by people from all strata of society. The plays discussed political, social, and historical themes in a satirical way (Shawky, 1985, p. 62). Some Muslim mystics refer to the shadow theatre and give an accurate description of this art, expressing through it the relationship between humans and the divine Self. Those interested in this art could not accurately identify the place of its origin, but they agreed that it came from somewhere in Asia (China or India), and then moved to the Arab countries.
In addition, a shadow theatre is a form of a humorous parade, as it dominated the Arab countries for nearly eight centuries. Its traces remained until the early twentieth century, and it had a wide market at weddings, rarely would a wedding be held without it, until the Franks invented the moving pictures where the places where it was shown increased, so people turned to the moving pictures and abandoned the places of shadow plays, so its time was over (Al-Daly, 2005, p. 48).
Shadow theatre is an ancient art that was associated with the East in terms of location and was associated with preaching and education in terms of function, regardless of the imaginative tools in which the imaginary presents his illustrated scenes, whether puppets, cartoon clippings, leather, or wood, because the theory of shadow reflection by projecting the back light on an object its shadow appears on a place, not far from human perception, but rather it is part of man’s daily journey with the sun and shadow, and not far from this perception is what Plato presented in his analogy derived from (illusions of caves) with which he supported his theory in (the parable). So, it is not strange that the shadow imagination turns into a self-contained art, and that the imaginations specialize in it in different eras according to the job required of them.
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Ibn Daniel, who came from Mosul to Cairo during the reign of Sultan Al-Zahir Baybars in 1267, to escape from the Mongols, is the most famous of those who wrote in “Babat” and he developed the shadow theatre and excelled in acting. Three manuscripts of the texts of the chapters written by Ibn Daniel survived. They are “Fantasy Spectrum” which is preserved in the Egyptian Book House in Cairo, “Weird and Strange” and “The Loved One and the Lost Orphan”. Some dolls, including one from the Mamluk period, are preserved in the Islamic section of the Berlin Museum. Among the dolls of Ibn Daniel was a doll called "The Contracts of the Regime regarding the rulers of Egypt". He also had other personalities with funny names, such as Ajeeb Al-Din, the preacher, Asaliya Al-Maajini, Awad Al-Shermat, Mubarak Al-Fayal, Abu Al-Qatat, Zaghbar Al-Kalbi, Nato Al-Sudani, and Abu Al-Ajab Sahib Al-Jadi (Nassar, 1999, p. 337-340).
The Ottomans were impressed with the shadow art, that they transported many of its artists from Cairo to Istanbul to set up their performances there. The performances continued for a long time in the Islamic world until the beginning of the twentieth century. There are famous names such as Hassan Al-Qashash, Sheikh Saud, and Sheikh Ali Al-Nahla, which were associated with the shadow art in Egypt during the 19th and 20th centuries (Franklin Foundation, 1972, p. 433).
It is known that the audience's demand for shadow theatre was great, and it kept increasing until the theatre and cinema became popular, then the activity stopped there. At that time, it was a popular means of entertainment and self-entertainment. So, people and writers cared for it specially. There is no clear indication in history as to its first source, because some scholars say that it moved from Ottoman Empire to the Arabs and Europe, and another goes to its departure from the Far East, from China in particular, and its transmission through the peoples advancing to the west, to the Turks, and then to the Arab and Western world.
The Syrians, the Lebanese, and the Egyptians may be among the Arab peoples most concerned with shadow theatre. Some of them focused on this art, identifying its origins, putting stories, assigning melodies to it, and aiming in all of this to entertain the viewers and benefit them from the lessons of life, taking from it a tool for entertainment and guidance at the same time. There are some references to shadow
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plays written by Egyptians, Syrians, Algerians, or Tunisians, the most famous of which has come down to us by the Egyptian Muhammad ibn Daniel (1248-1311), mixing prose with poetry and sermons with humor. There is a kind of theatre known to the Algerians, which is like the shadow theatre known in the Arab countries, it is the Karagöz theatre (Nassar, 1999, p.345).
8. DESCRIPTION OF SHADOW THEATRE
In describing the shadow theatre, the Islamic heritage conveys different descriptions of the theatres through which the shadow plays were presented, as Ahmed Taymour describes one of these theatres by saying: They take for it a square house, built with wooden beams and covered with burlap or something similar on three sides, and a white curtain is drawn on the fourth side, tightened on its four sides tightly on the wood, and in it, there are usually five. Among them is a boy imitating a woman, and another has a good voice for singing, so if they want to play, they light a fire made of cotton and oil that will be in the hands of the players, that is, between them and the characters, the person moves with two fine sticks made of beech wood (Timur, 2017, p. 19).
Jacob refers to the existence of the shadow theatre in Cairo at the beginning of the twentieth century. Another theatre was added to it in 1903, but it soon closed. He describes one of the theatres he saw, saying: “Above a platform erected in its [headquarters] outside a café or a private place, and on specific occasions such as wedding ceremonies, for example, a piece of thin transparent cloth is hung [to be noted] and a strong light shines on it from behind. The figures are installed in bright colors, transparent leather, and a height of about thirty to seventy centimeters. The most elaborate of these forms are copied from the old ones, though in the provinces these forms are simpler and less complex. The presenter moves the figures using sticks that are inserted into holes. He is only able to move all these forms by himself, except in rare cases, so, he hires some helpers. The presenter is also assisted by four assistant musicians, two of whom kick the drums, the third blow the oboe, and the fourth plays the Tablas (1973, p.75).
Abdul Hamid describes a second home he used to frequent in his youth, saying:
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After the first great war, this house was located at the entrance to (Fam al-Khaleej) in the Sayyida Zainab neighborhood, the house was a single spacious hall, just like the thatched house that is held at weddings, and entry to it was not for a fee, but was free. In the closed part of that spacious hall, opposite its door, was set up a platform that we might call [the theatre], but it was not a theatre that leads to the corridors beyond, but rather a white screen with a leather lamp behind it, and it is most likely that these drawings were moving on bars and appearing on the screen in front of the audience.” He points to two people who were moving the cartoons, assisted by two others, and the show was empty of women (1985, p.30). Farouk refers to the nature of the group's roles, saying: "The working group consists of the official the keeper of Al-Babat, a boy who plays the female roles, a singer-songwriter, and a vocalist. (1991, p.176)
As for the last figure of shadow theatre in which Khanufa used to present his performances, it was a screen of white twill tapestry on a wooden frame forming a rectangle approximately 240 cm long and approximately 140 cm wide. The bottom is covered with a black curtain of approximately 120 cm in length, this curtain allows the players' feet to be hidden behind the screen. Thus, the length of the screen is 120 cm, and its width is 140 cm, and an electric lamp is placed behind the screen so that the light falls in front of the player, preventing the appearance of his shadow on the screen where it is dismantled after the display to turn into its primary components. The show is performed by four players: the official (Hassan Hanufa), the keeper of Babat, and a permanent assistant who Khufufa teaches him all the time what to say, and two musicians, one of whom helps move the characters sometimes (Abdul Hamid, 1985, p. 178).
9. SHADOW THEATRE THEMES
The themes of the shadow theatre varied between political and social criticism and depiction of the relationship with the other, as entertainment and enjoyment had a share of these performances, and Ibn Daniel’s chapters provided a model for political and social criticism, where "bab" of the Spectrum of Imagination revolves around the
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repentance of a prince and his search for integrity and righteousness. He prefers to marry through the matchmaker Umm Rashid, who deludes him that she has a beautiful bride. On his wedding night, he discovers that he married the ugliest woman on earth, so he divorces her, the matchmaker dies, and he goes on pilgrimage. It bears a direct criticism of the method of marriage through the matchmaker and reveals the trick of the prince, who, by declaring his repentance, seeks to re-accept him at the political level after the defeat he suffered on the ground, but his actions expose him. Instead of resisting the Tatars, he starts looking for a beautiful bride, and the prince carries within himself all forms of contradiction, which reflects the corruption of standards and the imbalance of the value system.
The three hunters, "The Crocodile", "Al-Awlani" and "Al-Ajaeb", come to address one topic that is shaped by the daily struggle for livelihood, which is evident in "Al-Awlani" from the authorities' pursuit of the Egyptian fisherman and the besieging of his livelihood. And in “Al-Ajaeb” the soldier kills the hunter after he fails to get what he hunted, so the struggle over livelihood turns into the levels of life and death, and thus the political authority pushed its narrowing in "Bab Al-Awlani” until people fight over the sustenance in “Bab Al-Ajaeb". As for the “Bab Crocodile”, it may have carried a reference to the need for unity to get rid of tyrants. After the crocodile swallowed the Egyptian farmer, the barbarian and Moroccan came to free him, and this Bab was exposed in general to the beauty of life in the Egyptian countryside (Timur, 2017, p. 25-27). The "Weird and Strange" section presents several social criticism patterns by presenting examples of some professionals who have turned their professions into a means of defrauding the public and deluding them into the possibility of achieving miracles (Ibrahim, 1970, p. 187).
Bab "Sheikh Taleh and his maidservant, the hidden secret" also presents models of social corruption through a model that is as close as possible to the character of "Mahfouz Abdel-Dayem" in "Naguib Mahfouz's novel", where the sheik presents his maidservant to the judge to make him his deputy and acquire financial and moral gains until his case is exposed. Bab "Sheikh Sumaisem" presents an example of a corrupt woman who marries two men at the same time (Farouk, 1930, p. 622).
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The relationship with the other constitutes a few chapters, including: “The Ancient and Modern Lighthouse Game”, “The Battle Game between Nubians and Non-Nubians”, “The Sudan War”, and “Alam and Ta'adir”, where the first Bab represents the forms of the Arab Crusader conflict and took Alexandria as a place for the events, and it provides a detailed description of the Lighthouse of Alexandria. In its entirety, it emphasizes the necessity of resisting the enemy and the inevitability of victory. This topic constitutes most of the chapters that have been presented to the Arab Crusader conflict. As for the chapter on the Sudan War, it presents the conquest of Sudan in the wake of the Mahdi State. "Alam and Ta'adir" carries the concepts of the so-called soft conflict with the other, as it narrates a love story between a Muslim man "Alam " of and the Christian woman "Ta'adir", which ends with their marriage after she declares her Islam. The end comes to constitute a victory for Arab and Islamic values, and this chapter contains many spectacles. Indeed, a number of these scenes were separated to be presented independently, such as the chapters "The Pigeon", "The Engineer" and "The Wise and Crazy", for entertainment and displaying the skills of the imaginations. The shadow theatre chapters also presented several sexual themes in the chapter "The Loved One and the Lost Orphan" and "The Café". Thus, it dealt with the topics of the shadow plays, political and social criticism, and the relationship with the other. The actor tries to reveal the contradictions of his reality to overcome his crises and reform them (Farouk, 1930, p. 629-633).
This task necessitates knowing the forms of shadow theatre in some of its ancient homelands and roots, especially in Indonesia. Despite their similarities, some differences can be noted. Therefore, the most popular dolls are colored dolls drawn on thin skin, which are usually attached to thin wood that helps the player to move them when he presses them on a white screen lit from behind, accompanied by dialogue, singing, and music. There is another type in which a embodied, integrated, and undrawn doll called “Wayang” is used, and to control its movement, the player sits on the ground behind the illuminated screen. This type is widely practiced in Indonesia and Asia.
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As for the third type, it depends on a large doll made of leather, usually the size of a human, tied to a thick piece of wood and carried and moved by more than one player, and they have to bring it very close to the screen, which is 2 meters high, which forces them to sit under the screen and not behind it so that they can tell the tale that the puppet performs in front of the amazing audience with these strange and beautiful creatures moving in front of them on this dream screen, it invades his imagination, which does not stop at the limits of reality, to reveal before him a strange mythical and miraculous world.
When the American researcher Pubion Powers analyzes the shadow performances in Indonesia in his book (The Theatre in the East), he asserts that they begin at night and continue until dawn due to their ritualistic character. The audience watches the puppets move like colored shadows on a thin white screen accompanied by historical, mythological, and religious tales such as the sacred poetic epic "The Mahabharata", which has an impact on the consciousness of the Asian audience when the narrator called (Dalang) tells it. The interesting thing is that some shadow shows, especially (Wayang Umg), used various human techniques, whether in the movement of the characters or the nature of the topics they deal with, instead of puppets, the live actor is the center of these performances, thus blending shadow puppetry and live actor techniques as in traditional drama theatre (Orr,1974, p. 69-71). There is another type in which an embodied, integrated, and an undrawn doll called Wayang is used, and to control its movement, the player sits on the ground behind the illuminated screen. This type is widely practiced in Indonesia and Asia.
Shadow theatre relies on comedy and social criticism using gesture, poetry, prose, singing, and music. Therefore, knowledge of the technique of shadow theatre prompts us to see the nature of the topics it deals with, some of which are related to religious rituals and social events. Some Babat deal with an environment with all its contradictions, and it is clear through the study of the chapters of the Iraqi Optometrist Shams Al-Din Bin Daniel, (which is considered the oldest actor lived in the thirteenth century, an Iraqi-born from Mosul and was forced to flee from Iraq to Cairo during the invasion of the Tatars, and he died there in 1211), he is considered
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the first founder of what was later known as the shadow theatre, and from his many texts, we have only three Babat (Abdul Hamid, 1985, p. 180).
It can be concluded that the style of shadow theatre was based on comedy, social criticism, the use of gesture, drawing, music, word, and poetry. Through this technique, the shadow theatre of education imposes facts and strange phenomena in life. The show always begins with an educational song for the audience, in addition to explaining the events and the subject of the play as in the chapters of Ibn Daniel, especially the chapter “Weird and Strange” which was characterized by social criticism. The author took his characters from reality, markets, and popular alleys, the place turns into a theatre where these characters struggle with their destiny. His style in his plays was characterized by satire and criticism that provokes laughter and irony as well, and he relied on singing and music to influence the audience, as well as a mixture of poetry and colloquial and eloquent prose.
In the shadow performances, there is a primitive figure of musical plays in Islamic countries. The musical theatrical performance is necessarily based on the elements of music and singing combined with the elements of acting, decoration, costumes, and lighting, through the efforts of the director who leads all these elements and molds them into a unified theatrical artistic framework, then these elements are available in one way or another, especially the elements of music and singing, which the writer refers to as follows:
The song is an essential element in the shadow performances, Jacob confirms by saying: "The dialogue contained some appropriate emotional songs". The group used to chant these songs through melodies and melodious words, as well as Babat's introductions that a composer (the main actor) sings, so singing plays an important role in entertaining the audience and attracting them to this kind of art. But the songs in the shadow theatre were not directly related to the main theme of the play but were descriptive songs describing the contemporary conditions of the time of the show. Such as the songs in the chapter “fantasy spectrum” and their critical comment on the situation in the era of Al-Zahir Baybars (1973, p.80). As for the music and melodies, they were not rigid templates because they kept pace with events and feelings, Ibn Daniel paid so much attention to the musical aspect of shadow performances that he
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used to specify in his marginal notes the type of melodic "maqam" in which the piece is sung.
As for the features of theatrical decoration in shadow performances, the shadow shows were poor in their material capabilities, not intended to dazzle as much as to inspire and provoke the spectator’s imagination, so they depended on suggesting the different scenes and places in which the event takes place by referring to them through dialogue between the characters, or through drawing and photography, where the popular artist relied on drawing some simple features and modest scenes in a caricature way to suggest the place, and suit the nature of the representation in terms of subject and event, and consistent with the function of shadow play in entertainment (Bobof, 1976, p. 112).
There are no costumes in the known sense in shadow performances because the represented characters were pictures, so they used to portray dolls what they wanted so that they varied and suited human characters with their costumes such as (soldier - woman - farmer - young man) and others, as well as inanimate and animal characters, then dye them with different colors and dyes to highlight fashion and divisions as required by the colors of faces and clothes (Bobof, 1976, p. 113).
As for lighting in the shadow theatre, it is nothing but a means by which the shadow of the puppets is reflected on a transparent white curtain in front of the audience so that the shadows can be seen and the players cannot see, so it was placed between the hands of the players and the puppets, it contains oil, linen, or cotton (Bobof, 1976, p. 114).
Abdul Hamid mentions that the Shadow Performances troupe consists of members of the musicians led by the (director), the (Al-Mukhayl) who moves the characters, the master of the party who opens and closes the performance, and the (actor) imitates the voices of women, and (another) sings. The presence of (Al-Mukhayl) is a kind of suggestion of the actor since the shadow performance lacks the human actor because of the presence of puppets which represents him in acting, the acting in the performances is indirect-acting, that is, it is a representation through a medium of plastic arts that replaces the live actor, accompanied by the vocal performance of the
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Al-Mukhayl - the actor, who animates the drawn characters and performs them, so he represents all the characters, which forces him to color his voice in line with the displayed characters and embodied situations, and he often imitates the sounds of animals (Abdul Hamid, 1985, p. 187).
The presence of an (actor) imitating women's voices provides another element of the acting, which is the female roles required by theatrical work. The presence of (the master of the party) who opens and concludes the work who represents the theatrical narrator - in the European theatre - who presents the play and comments on its events and then concludes it by commenting or giving advice and guidance as was prevalent in moral plays in the Middle Ages. The presence of a (singer) whose performance is required by the musical theatre to bear the burden of the lyrical performance within the work.
The presence of the satirist poet Muhammad ibn Daniel Al-Mawsili with what he wrote in the texts of his chapters of instructions and marginal notes that determined the trends of the represented characters and what they required of costumes, movement, music, musical instruments, and other auxiliary influences in acting, which represent the model of the author-director that European theatres have known since the Greek theatre, and it is what Samir Awad confirms it when he says, "The dialogue included instructions on the methods of directing and presenting" (Abdul Hamid, 1985, p. 189). Thus, the presence of Muhammad bin Daniel with his directing remarks and (the show official) as a leader in organizing the work and the actual implementer of Ibn Daniel’s visions, are among the evidence that reveals the existence of the director’s profession and his functional tasks in its simplest form before entering the theatre in its European form to our lands. The directing method in the shadow performances aims to break the illusion by maintaining the awareness of the viewer and awakening his mind without provoking his emotions and feelings, as the directing method sought from the first moment to break the psychological distance that separates the audience and the shadow show, and achieved participation through direct dialogue with the audience.
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10. CHAPTERS OF SHADOW THEATRE
Timur described some chapters that were performed during his reign, such as "Elm and Ta’adeer”, “The Crocodile, “Abu Jaafar”, “Al-Shouni”, “Al-Awlani”, “Al-Hajjia”, “The Pigeon”, “Theatro” and “The coffee”, “Sheikh Sumaisem,”, “The Wonders,” and “The Sudan War.” Abdul Hamid presents a summary of several chapters, including "My Good Thinking" and "The War of the Ajam", which are close forms of the "Old Manarat" chapter (2017, p. 23-25). The Orientalist Jacob also refers to several shadow performances that were It was presented at the beginning of the twentieth century, including "The Crocodile" and "The Compound", and others from the Cairo markets, and the chapters "Al-Muhandis" and "Ajaeib Al-Bahr" (1973, p.59-62). Farouk divides the Egyptian shadow chapters according to their themes, and divides them into two parts:
1- Long topics: such as the chapter on “The Old Lighthouse”, “Ibn Daniel”, “Sheikh Taleh and his slave-girl, the hidden secret”, “the war of the Persians” or “the modern lighthouse”, “Elm and Ta’adeer”, “The Crocodile", "Al-Shouni”, "Sheikh Sumaisem", "Abu Jaafar" and the Coffee.
2- Short topics: the chapters such as "The Execution of Sultan Tuman Bey", "The Ruler of Khayal", "The Manadam of Umm Mujir", "The Improvised Elephant", "The Pigeon", "The Teatro", "The Engineer", "The Wise and Majnun", "Awlani", "The Wizard", "The Wonders", "Al-Hijjia", "The Naval Battle between the Nubians and the Persians", "The Sudan War", and "The Saffron of Dates and Watermelon". In a recorded interview with Hanoufa, he refers to the chapter “The Sea and the Boat” as one of the shows that are no longer present, while he presents three shows: “The Fisherman,” “The Soldiers,” and “Elm and Ta’eer.” It is noteworthy that the last thing that came to us was three chapters presented by Hasan. Hanufa, which is the same number of gates left by Ibn Daniel.
11. ARAB PLAYS IN THE SHADOWS
As for modern shadow puppets, their design is different, as they depend on sixteen joints, which gives them great flexibility in movement in addition to their interest in
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colors. Modern dolls are made of donkey skin, which is known as "dead skin", and the head consists of two pieces, this allows the jaw to move, and it moves through sticks that are attached to the head and others in the doll's palm. Here are some of the most important shadow plays: (Timur, 2017, p.24-33).
11.1. CROCODILE PLAY
It contains twelve people: the Colonel, the feisty, Al-Burqash, his boss, his wife, his son, Berberian, Maghribi, the crocodile, and the fish. The story summarizes that Al-Barqash was a poor farmer who was expelled by his father and resorted to fishing, but due to his ignorance of the hobby, he lost two hooks, so the Colonel appears to him, then he guides him to the teacher Mansour and they call him the old man of pension - to teach him fishing, so he goes to him, and begins to teach him, then Al-Burqash encounters a crocodile and swallows it in half, and the quarrel appears to search for him because he is his owner, then he brings two barbarians to him who bargain with them to take him out of the crocodile’s mouth, and they both proceed to do so. I started crying over him. Then two Moroccans appear and end the problem by hunting the crocodile and bringing out Al-Burqash and the Berber, and the game ends. This game has value for lovers of fantasy and those who work with it; To the feet of her covenant and the abundance of what is said of the notice in the dialogue of its characters.
11.2. WONDERLAND PLAY
In the past, it was called the "Gharf" game; Because it is based on a fisherman named “Al-Gharraf” who catches fish from the sea, and in that poem, he sings about his misfortune in fishing sometimes and praises his exhortation at other times. Then he appears to him from the wonders of the sea, and the types of fish are many, and the officer presented to oppose him in fishing appears, and he overpowers a boy who steals fish from him until he catches a large fish that the officer wants to share in, but he refuses, so he instructs a group of bastards to beat him until he dies, and the game ends.
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11.3. COFFEE PLAY
It begins with a scene of a coffee in which two men meet: one of them is a womanizer named "Hardan", and the other tends to the boys named "Gramit", where he begins to flirt with the coffee boy, while two Hardan flirt with a woman who brings him a cup of coffee. Then disputes arise between the two men in which they sing poetry, and each one of them wins for his way and ends with the Gramit being guided by his way and beginning to flirt with women. But the colonel sees it on him and knows that it is Hardan’s clothes, so he advises that he watch his wife, and the watch ends by holding him there while he is in disguise, and “Gramit” claims that he came to carry the dough to the oven, then he comes out without Hardan knowing him, where he resents his wife, he carries her to her family. and then the three are called; the colonel, Hardan, and Gramit, to the woman's father's house to find out the reason for the quarrel between the spouses, and each one begins to tell a strange story that happened to him, until the conversation finally ends with Gramit telling his story with the woman without mentioning the names, and the game ends with parting. This game is avoided by playing it at weddings, because of the immortal words it contains.
11.4. ABU JAAFAR PLAY
It contains about fifty pieces, the most important of them all being two people; A tall person is Abu Jaafar and is nicknamed “Arous”, and another is short, which is “Al-Ibs” or “Al-Qabas” and is nicknamed “Arab”. They are enemies who plot against each other, and disputes arise between them until Al-Ibs kills Aba Jaafar, so they perform a funeral for him, as they do in Egypt, where they start with poetry and games.
12. SHADOW THEATRE ARTISTS
It is noteworthy that the first references to this art were in the writings of “Lataef al-Hikma al-Masbahi” in the fifth century, where he said: “People in Egypt used to go out on some feasts and roam the streets with imagination and statues..” and attributed
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to Ibn Abd al-Zahir two verses of poetry in which he refers to one of the flags The theatre of shadow in the sixth century is Jaafar al-Rakis (Ibrahim,1970, p.57).
The seventh-century knew Ibn Daniel, and he is the most famous representative who introduced this art in Egypt. Perhaps his fame came from the fact that his manuscripts are still preserved today, and some describe them as the finest chapters that have come to us. Ibn Daniel is Shams al-Din Muhammad Ibn Daniel, he emigrated from Iraq to Syria after the Tatars invaded it and then moved to Egypt, leaving us three chapters: “The Spectrum of Fantasy”, “Wonderful and Strange” and “The Loved Ones and the Lost Orphan” (Abdul Hamid, 1985, p. 15). Shams al-Din al-Dimashqi indicates in his book “Accidents of Time” that a Mikhael who lived in the eighth century was known as “The Golden Mikhail” and that the son of this Mikhael participated with his father in presenting shadow performances. The book "Nuzhat al-Nofuf wa Mudhik Alubus" indicates that Ibn Soudan al-Bishbaghawi, a Circassian Egyptian, was one of the prominent figures of Egyptian satirical literature in Mamluk Egypt, born in the ninth century, where he was born in 7023 in Cairo and was distinguished by his talent for joking and fun until he became famous and took the game of shadow as a means of living (Farouk, 1991, p.293).
The scenes of Ibn Yas state in 1518 on a text that most scholars and researchers relied on to prove the existence of this art in the sixth century, and to confirm that it moved from Egypt to Ottoman Empire with the arts and crafts that moved during the Ottoman conquest, where it was said: “It was rumored that Sultan Selim Shah brought On some nights the representatives of the shadow theatre when he sat down to watch, it was said that the actor made a figure of Bab Zuweila and a figure of Sultan Tuman Bay when he was hanged and the rope was cut twice. So, the sultan was pleased with that, and bestowed on the representative that night eighty dinars, and took off a kaftan adorned with gold, and said to him: If I travel to Istanbul, go with us so that my son can watch that” (Hamada, 1970, p.83-88). This incident confirms that Egypt was the source from which the shadow theatre moved to Ottoman Empire, which was indicated by many studies. And references to Mikhael Dawood Al-Attar Al-Manawi were found in the manuscript of "Diwan Kads" dating back to the sixteenth century, where he composed poetry that he performed in some
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of his performances about his life and his old profession. References also came to Ali Nakhleh, who participated with him in developing one of these chapters. The reference also came to Sheikh Saud, who was living in an era ahead of Dawood Al-Manawi.
Al-Masry confirms that several Aragoz players were presenting this art in the fifties of the last century, including Muhammad Abu Al-Roos, Mahmoud Ali Saleh and Mustafa Al-Rubi, Hassan Khanoufa, who was considered the last of the folk artists who used to present this art, and who died in 2004, indicates that he received this art from Ahmed Al-Koumi and Al-Fasakhani, who continued to present their shows until 1986, he took from them the chapters of "Elm and Ta'adeer", "the fisherman" and "Al-Asaker" (Yüsra, 2005, p.19-20).
Although the shadow theatre characters are not real, the audience communicates by linking them with real people, and through the same actor who performs all the roles alone (narrator, actor, director, author, theatre director). If the image in the shadow theatre is a real imagination of an image that resembles a living being, then these images have their meanings and the ability to influence the linking of reality to the actor himself. Hence, the reasons for the audience’s admiration for shadow art are evident, and it adds to that the text that the actor performs through the language, which is characterized by an essential feature that it is one of the components of the same communication process, but in one direction that proceeds from the actor without the spectators responding to him in the same language, and despite this, it can deny their facial expressions, comments, boredom, and chants, and this is part of expression and communication.
The most important characteristic of the characters of Karagöz play is that they are all types, each with an extension and a reflection, especially in Turkish society. As a result of their appearance, speech, behavior, and relationships with others, they all have their social roles. In games, people wear certain clothes. These clothes reflect their social characteristics. For example, a drunkard has a bottle of alcohol, a thug has a knife, Kabadayı has a gun, and Laz has a kemençe. There is particular music, genre, or dance of each person that defines people. The spoon game is from Kayseri, Sertu is from Rumelia, Horon is from the Black Sea, and there is also a word that
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everyone uses frequently. For example, the Greek "vre", the Albanian "meri", the Persian "help" meaning "yes" or "essence" which means me, and the Arabic "quince" which means yes, as Romilian "baçan" also says "abe" ', the Kurdish "uybabo", and the Armenian "foşgeya" (Hamada, 1970, p.95).
Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Daniel al-Mawsili (1249-1311) was called the Sheikh and the Hakim, a grayish doctor (as a condition), a poet, and an artist who lived in the Mamluk era. He excelled in composing shadow representations, depicting the lives of craftsmen and workers, and their dialects, and funnily, he imitated the dialects of the communities that lived in Egypt at his time. Among his most famous plays, the manuscripts of which are still in existence, are "Tayf Al-Khayal", "Ajeeb and Gharib" and "Al-Mutamim Wa-Dha`i Al-Yatim". His works are a vivid depiction of his era. The historian Al-Maqrizi described him as having a lot of promiscuity and wonderful poetry, and that his book "Taif Al-Khayal" was not classified as similar in its meaning (Al-Maqrizi,1997, p.462).
Ibn Daniel was born in Mosul during an eventful period such as the incursion of the Mongols into the eastern frontiers of the Islamic world. Ibn Daniel studied the Qur’an in Mosul and received knowledge in its schools. At that time, Mosul was one of the most important centers of science and culture in the Islamic world. In 1258, when he was still a young man, the Mongols under the leadership of Hulagu attacked Baghdad, destroying it, killing the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mustasim, and destroying its civilization, arts, and buildings, they chased after its scholars and thinkers, killing some of them, and the rest fled to safe countries far from their oppression. Then the Mongols occupied the Levant and entered Damascus, and there was no safe place for the Muslims except Egypt (Al-Maqrizi,1997, p.463).
In 1267 Ibn Daniel, at the age of nineteen, fled to Egypt with other scholars, writers, and thinkers. And entered Cairo during the reign of Sultan Baybars. The era of Baybars was a time of firmness and jihad against the Mongols and the Crusaders, free from amusement and humor. When Ibn Daniel arrived in Cairo, Baybars found that he had issued decrees prohibiting amusement parks and entertainment. Ibn Daniel mastered the Egyptian dialect and vocabulary quickly, and he was proficient in writing poetry until the historian Ibn Iyas described him as a skilled poet, but he
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lived at the beginning of his life in Egypt in poverty and destitution (Ibn Iyas, 2008, p. 326).
Ibn Daniel turned to shadow art, which was the popular means of entertainment in those days and the most widespread means of entertainment, and people from all social classes accepted to watch his performances, including the sultans. The Egyptians were known in the Mamluk era as “people of joy, pleasure, and amusement,” as described by the traveler Ibn Battuta who visited Egypt in that era. Ibn Daniel excelled in this art, and he was the one who composed the novel, wrote its dialogue, composed it, appointed its costumes, and organized the sounds in it, and he participated in its performance. So, he was the author, director, musician, singer, and actor (Nassar, 1999, p. 340).
In the first stage of his work in the field of shadow art, Ibn Daniel had a shop for eyeliner inside Bab Al-Futuh, and at that time he combined this profession with shadow art, and at night he was composing and writing. However, he did not continue in this state for long, as he quickly became famous and became famous in the field of shadows, and the heads of state and princes began to seek to know him and bless him with gifts and gifts and invite him to their parties and councils to entertain them and their guests with his performances, poems, circumstance and lightness of spirit. In those days, shadow performances were carried to the upper strata of society, and they did not go there. Ibn Daniel continued to work in this way until he was getting a salary from the court, and his condition improved, and the historian Al-Dawadari notes that Ibn Daniel was “one of those who frequented the kings from among the eminent masters of that era” and that he was among “a group of people of virtue and literature, who plundered living with morals” (Ibn Iyas, 2008, p. 439).
13. SHADOW THEATRE IN THE ARAB-ISLAMIC SOCIETY
As for the Middle East, the Islamic-Arab society, like any other society, possesses its advantages and characteristics and is subject to a development governed by a set of social, economic, and cultural conditions, as well as other objective and subjective factors. It is logical to say that the change in historical conditions and the
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development that was imposed on the structure of the ancient Arab society when Islam emerged and emerged as a historical and qualitative new shift, necessitated a change in the superstructure and infrastructure of society, through the emergence of a new intellectual approach that affected the composition of the Islamic and Arab mind in particular, which led to the creation of distinguished awareness in explaining the social phenomena imposed by development. Many of the old social and religious customs, forms, and rituals have disappeared and have been replaced by new social customs and cultural and ritual activities that reflect the spiritual and intellectual aspects that characterized the new Islamic society.
These forms, especially shadow art, are a dynamic expression of the nature of social and political life in the ancient Islamic society because they reflect reality in all its harshness, and refer to political and social problems and overcoming those problems by focusing on the entertainment aspect, which is an aesthetic aspect in line with the standards of the old society. It is the main reason for its permanence in the life of the Eastern society, despite the exposure of those responsible for it to various forms of persecution and prevention. The shadow theatre originates in non-Arab civilizations, but with time it became a popular Arab art, and its characters, tales, and artistic means were characterized by a commitment to the ethics of the ancient Arab society, but it is sometimes considered contrary to it.
Saadallah refers to the politician Fakhri al-Din al-Baroudi about the entertainment of social life in Damascus at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the last century, where he says: "We used to frequent the places of the shadow theatre known as Karagoz coffee, which is the vanguard of cinema today”. The name shadow art sometimes overlaps with the name Karakoz, especially in Ottoman Empire and Greece, where they bear the same name. It is believed that this is the reason why the shadow performances were known as the Karakoz Tent in Syria. This is a contemporary testimony to the beginning of the knowledge of the Arab and Islamic society with the shadow imagination, which dates to the thirteenth century. Through it, it can be emphasized that the techniques of ancient and contemporary shadow theatre, whether in Arab society or East Asian societies, are almost the same, the different techniques and topics related to the nature of that society. In general, the
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shadow theatre in the ancient Arab society, although it dealt with many historical stories and tales, deliberately critiqued reality, and discussed the most important political and social problems with its audience, is considered a basic feature that distinguishes it from its Indonesian counterpart, who has preserved the narration of myths, historical tales and religious epics that have a great impact on the audience (Al-Hanafi, 1984, p. 188-190).
All studies that have been written on the shadow theatre confirm that its first home is the countries of the ancient East, where its historical roots extend to India and China. However, these studies were limited to being analyzes and follow-ups from a historical-heritage point of view. On this basis, the detailed technical and technical studies of the forms and diversity of this popular and theatrical genre are few, and if any, they take the character of personal conclusions. The reason for this is that those who followed the development of shadow theatre historically and wrote about it were European historians, diplomats, and orientalists, not specialists in heritage, theatrical or artistic studies. It is evident from the nature of historical studies and the numerous impressions written by Dutch archaeologists on the Indonesian shadow art, which was known by its original name "wayang". In addition to other reasons, such as the periods of prohibition that shadow art was exposed to in different times and societies.
Examples of this are the art of Islamic decoration, inscriptions, embossing, embellishment, and calligraphy, where the prosperity of this art is attributed to the prohibition of carving statues and pictures - despite the difference in this matter - the unique artistic engineering in the arts of decoration and inscriptions, and this art is a unique addition, and an imprint that distinguishes Islamic art, and a necessary feature in the history of Islamic civilization.
The same applies to the art of theatre, whose presence in early Islamic societies was not mentioned, and history and literature books did not tell us anything about theatre among the Arabs, and its absence may be due to religious or cultural reasons - a topic worthy of research and questioning - but on the other hand, if the search for Parallel alternatives, we found patterns of arts that had a clear and prominent presence, which is the alternative to traditional theatre, so activities with theatrical phenomena emerged, such as “Al-Hakawati”, “Al-Aragoz”, “The Fund of the World”, and
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“Shadow Imagination”, which is the most important of which And the closest to the conventional theatre.
The Arabs got to know the “shadow theatre” through India, and it was said that the Chinese were the ones who transferred it to the Islamic world, according to the historian Rashid Al-Din, who died in 1318, in his book “The Collector of Histories.” The shadow theatre is a stage where representation is performed on a white cloth curtain, on which colored leather figures are reflected from behind, using a lamp that reflects their shadows on the curtain. These characters and their organs (head, hands, and legs) move using sticks, wooden rods, or strings held by Karakozati (Al-Hanafi, 1984, p. 174).
Ghazouli mentions that the oldest news about the art of “shadow theatre” among the Arabs is from the palace amusement parks in Egypt during the Fatimid state (which ended in 1117). The sultans of Egypt had a fondness for the shadow theatre until Sultan Shaaban carried it with him when he made the pilgrimage in the year 1376 with his amusement parks. Sultan Salah Al-Din Al-Ayyubi brought from the palaces of the Fatimids those who attended the “Shadow Theatre” to show it to his judge. So, he got up at the start of it, and the king said to him: “If it is forbidden, then why should we bring it?” and he was newly appointed to serve him before he took over the sultanate, so he did not want to disturb him, then he sat to the end, and when it was over, the king said to him: How did you see that? He said: "I saw a great sermon; I saw countries go, and countries come" (Ghazouli,1978, p. 35). Among the shadow plays that the Arabs knew, the play “Elm Wa Taadeer”, is the most famous and longest, and they used to show it in the coffee shops, divided into seven nights, and it lasted a week, but they cut it short at weddings by deleting games, so they played it in one night, in which the characters are about 160 pieces of a human being, animals, trees, fruits, and buildings.
These performances reveal to us the Arabic version of theatre, the nature of visual and performing arts in Islamic civilization, and the folk tales that people circulate, it shows a figure from the lives of the private and the public, about their longing, their amusement, their play, their well-being, and their entertainment, the diversity of culture and arts, the richness and sophistication of social life in early Islamic
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societies, the art of enjoying life, the rituals of public gatherings, the life of cafés, and the nights of summer. These are topics that did not take due care, study, and analysis (Al-Hanafi, 1984, p. 177).
Shadow theatre in the ancient Arab society, until its complete cessation in the first half of this century, is considered an amusement for the poor groups who are interested in discussing their social and political problems, where the organizers address the most important problems that expose the exploitation of the poor by the political system or by the rich, which led these groups to anger the authorities and incite them against the art of shadow and call for the establishment of the limit on its motivators.
Through the tricks and tricks of the poor main character of the ancient shadow theatre (KaraKoz) and the vitriolic criticism, he directs to his enemies, the other personalities, who are usually those with power and wealthy classes, get involved in a web of complex problems that the poor person suffers, showing their true stupidity and their inability to face them or bear them, which raises joy in the hearts of the poor. As for KaraKoz, he always finds the right trick to get out safely from these problems and the nets he sets up for other characters. So, for many reasons, the shadow’s imagination stopped continuing as a heritage form related to the spectacle that suits the old Arab society, and turned into a phenomenon and a disrespectful profession, and was limited to the entertainment of children and occasions, where it did not turn into contemporary folk art or develop into a distinct form of Arab heritage theatre. It can be said that the art of shadows was banned by the authorities because art is based on addressing the political and social problems that make the public pay attention to them. Thus, embarrassing the ruling authority and inciting people against the rule (Al-Dhahabi, 1982, p. 55).
14. SHADOW THEATRE IN OTTOMAN EMPIRE
Shadow theatre grew throughout the Ottoman Empire to tell epic stories and heroics, as well as criticize their shortcomings, to become the voice of the people and the most popular form of entertainment among the people. Socially, the flourishing of shadow theatre is closely related to religious life. In the Ottoman Empire, Ramadan
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was in one of its dimensions at the time, which was summarized in long patience with fasting and a quick breakfast, followed by a tendency to watch theatre performances as a fixed social and cultural ritual, during which the sounds of laughter emanating from the audience resound with the sounds of music and poetry chanted by "Karakoz" and "Iwaz", the heroes of the play; which played an important role in establishing social identity. Not only that, but these theatrical performances are also the first thing that comes to mind when the circumcision ceremonies are mentioned, as they were an integral part of the celebration.
In each country, there are many names about the shadow theatre, as well as many stories about the nature of its characters, whether they are derived from reality or inspired by the author’s imagination. But the indisputable thing is that this art with a long history made UNESCO recognize it as part of the intangible cultural heritage in 2009 after a journey that began more than seven centuries ago.
Shadow theatre is a folk performing art that relies on visual and kinetic interaction to convey clear messages, as it moved from East Asia such as India, Indonesia, and China to the Islamic world and was famous for the Mamluk era in particular. it made his way to the Ottoman Empire on the remains of the Mamluk state when one of the Mamluk shadow theatre artists represented the incident of the arrival of the Ottoman Sultan "Selim the First" to Egypt in the seventeenth century, his defeat of the last ruler of the Mamluk state "Tuman Bay" and hanging him with the rope that was cut the first time and then having to try again to hang it on Bab Zuweila; The Ottoman Sultan Selim I greatly admired her, and this admiration had an impact on the transfer of this art to the Ottoman lands later (Rozen, 2006, p. 022).
Some researchers believe that Karakoz originated in China, and this opinion is based on the fact that the first shades in China were by paper windows, and then brought from China to the West by the Mongols from Central Asia, some also believe that the art of shadow fiction came from India, which is the place where this art originated and was brought to the Near East by the Gypsy tribes, and also spread from India with the spread of Buddhism in Central Asia and then brought to Asia Minor. Some opinions indicate that this art came from the West, it originated in the country of Greece, and then came to Ottoman Empire through the Byzantines, but this opinion
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is doubtful as there is no evidence that this art was known to the ancient Greeks. There is another opinion that mentions that this art came from Italy during the Ottoman period, where there was commercial and artistic contact with Italy. Moreover, there was a large Italian community in Constantinople even before the Ottoman conquest. There is more concrete evidence that suggests that this influence from Italian theatre on the Karagoz is attributed to the Jews, who came to Ottoman Empire via Italy in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries after their expulsion from Portugal and Spain. About twenty thousand Jews, including physicians, charlatans, and craftsmen shadow puppets (Rozen,2006, p. 260-263). Also, during the reign of Sultan Selim II (1524-1574), the Jews were closely associated with the popular culture of Ottoman Empire until the nineteenth century. And they were participating in shadow shows due to their skills in this art, especially the Spanish Jews, so it cannot be confirmed that this art came to Ottoman Empire from a particular place, ancient Rome was likely India, China, Europe, but it is certain that this art was known in Turkey during the seventeenth century (Rozen, 2006, p. 266).
The heroes of this theatre are dolls made of animal skins tanned with the technique of glass leather and colored in contrasting natural colors, their lengths range from thirty to fifty centimeters, and during the performance in front of the audience, the performer moves them through a stick behind a curtain of white cloth, shining on it a measure of light, which makes its shadow stand out to the viewers. The themes are dealt with in the shadow theatre by highlighting the only funny elements, but these elements are double meaning and rich in exaggeration and wordplay, with inspiring background music appropriate for the show, it is subject to improvisation based on the performer's talent and performance environment, despite its official classification as text-based theatre. The brilliance of the shadow theatre reached its peak in the era of the Ottoman Empire when it coincided with the national development in Turkish society. Its role was not limited to being a means of entertainment, but rather a tool for developing social and cultural awareness among the people, because its topics are derived from scenes of daily life and are critical of them at the same time.
The function of the shadow theatre was often education, indoctrination, and moral guidance to assert the social self of young people by shedding light on the positive
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morals, customs, and traditions that are praised in society. At other times, the function of the shadow theatre in Ottoman Empire was historical and documentary, by presenting historical profiles and mental images of the Ottoman culture in that period in detail in the language, clothing, education, values, and culture of the Ottoman Turkish people. It also did not neglect to present images of the different characteristics and cultural identities of everyone through the main characters of the show. Although there are differing opinions about the origins of shadow theatre in Ottoman Empire; But the view is that this art spread from Indonesia, India, or Chinese cultures from the 10th century onward (Sevencül,2005, p. 72). The shadow game seen in Muslim countries is believed to have come from the island of Cava. He likely came to Anatolia from Egypt in the 16th century. It is also alleged that he came to the Turks from the island of Cava and India through gypsy players. Over time, the Turks added their creativity to this game; they gave it a livelier and more dynamic look. Therefore, many travelers who visited Egypt in the nineteenth century believed that the shadow came to Egypt through the Turks.
Shadow theatre began in the 16th century in the Ottoman Empire. The performances of the two main characters "Karagöz and Hacivat” and various other characters were intended to amuse the ruler and the people alike. As for the role of the shadow theatre, it was dedicated to reflecting daily coexistence in the multinational Ottoman Empire with all its conflicts and diversity. This type of theatrical art made it possible to address complex themes of social reality on an imaginary level; Those topics were considered taboo away from the stage. Promiscuity and political criticism constituted a constant part of the performances of this theatrical art, so the shadow theatre was considered an outlet for many social tensions. In shadow theatre performances, power relations within society were turned upside down. At the end of the performances, "normal" social conditions were restored. But these performances gave the audience for a short time a sense of the power and possibility of living in an extremely free society (Rozen, 2006, p. 088).
The Turkish shadow theatre spread in the Ottoman Empire with the increase of cafes in that period, which lasted from the seventeenth century until the nineteenth century, especially during the month of Ramadan, when people used to go to the Turkish
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Shadow Theatre during the day while fasting, and also after sunset to enjoy the performances of the Aragoz. Aragoz performances were aimed at criticizing the Ottoman society in that period and the restrictions imposed by the rulers on people's normal lives. As well as an attempt to see the sultan's corruption of his officials, so the performances of Aragoz in Ottoman cafes were full of political satire. The Sufis exploited this game in their depiction of the life of the world, so one of them says (life is an imagination like the shadow, and people in this world are like players behind a curtain".
Since the middle of the nineteenth century, the written documentation of these farcical shows has been increasing and expanding: until that time the dialogue was often improvised on the stage. But the fact that the comic shows are now available in written form, has led to them being more closely monitored by the authorities as well. Suddenly Karagöz was stripped of his sharp tongue, the criticism directed at the ruling class gradually decreased. With the founding of the Turkish Republic by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923, the shadow theatre became completely in the hands of the state and the ruling elite. It was repurposed to become an educational and moral tool. The government hoped to be able to benefit from the performances of this theatrical art as a means of a process of social change for the better. Thus, Karakoz had to become a propaganda tool for modernization in Ottoman Empire and reforms in the field of language, clothing, and education. There is not much left of the rude street of Karagöz, as he no longer embodies the cunning boy who rejects political and social conditions but has become a symbol of the new, civilized and virtuous Turkish citizen (Sevencül, 2005, pp. 02-00).
Shadow theatre in Ottoman Empire is seen as an important part of the cultural tradition, and Karakoz is still present in many linguistic conventions and proverbs. In the Turkish city of Bursa, located in the west of the country between the cities of Istanbul and Ankara, an imaginary tomb of the two main characters Karagöz and Hacivat is still carefully preserved. An example of this care of the shadow theatre is the Turkish film, which swept the box office in 2006, "Why were Karagöz and Hacivat killed?" (Shadow Assassination). The film presents one of the original stories of the Turkish shadow theatre in the form of a comedy play on the big screen.
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This film also provides evidence that the Turkish shadow theatre has not fallen into oblivion. Although many citizens of Ottoman Empire and Germans of Turkish origin did not attend performances of this theatrical art, they all agree in their knowledge of the characters of Karagöz and Hacivat, who still constitute an important part of Ottoman Empire's cultural memory.
This play Karakoz and Hacivat is based on two main characters, "Karagöz" and " Hacivat", which reflect the contradiction resulting from the different cultural and social environments in which each of them grew up. As "Karagöz", the first hero of the play, is an example of the general category of society who did not get their share of education, yet he is brave, excitable and angry, hates lies and hypocrisy, and his speech is in the language of the people, so he does not understand the expressions of the intellectuals and gives them a meaning different from their origin, and from here humor and jokes are born. As for "Hacivat", the other hero of the play, his personality is opposite to that of Karagöz, as he has a stylized body that suits the class of intellectuals he represents, and a measure of information and linguistic flexibility that facilitates him entering different modes of dialogue, he also understands in music and literature and can conduct negotiations as an intelligent businessman. The play consists of four main parts:
In the first paragraph is the introduction, in which "Hacivat" emphasizes in philosophical language that the play is an educational tool and a non-literal mirror of what is going on. During this paragraph, attractive images are presented that are not directly related to the content of the play, such as a ship, a mermaid, a cat, or a tree; To draw the audience's attention to focus on the play. As for the second paragraph, it is the dialogue paragraph, and it is one of the most important paragraphs because it focuses on the features and contradictions in the personality of both Karagöz and Hacivat. The dialogue in it takes the form of a rhyming poem, sometimes accompanied by music. In the third paragraph in the chapter, the origin of the play, in which the topic to be communicated is listed. At the end of this chapter, all the secondary characters are separated from the play, leaving only the central characters. The fourth paragraph, which is the end, in which Karagöz and Hacivat apologize to the audience for the jokes they made and the misunderstanding, and in which the
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theme of the next play is announced to motivate the audience to stay in the theatre
(Sevencül,2005, pp. 06 - 00 ).
This art has gained wide fame all over Ottoman Empire, especially in Istanbul. The name, Karagöz, was given to many names of streets and mosques, and its impact was not limited to Istanbul; One of the late Turkish shadow puppet artists Murat Dogan says "The Turkish city of Gaziantep was not less affected by the shadow theatre than Istanbul, as many of its practitioners used to come from the inner states to the city to organize theatrical performances there, even Karagöz Square in the city center got its name from the characters of the play". Shadow play has been performed all over Ottoman Empire in palaces, cafes, and gardens from the seventeenth century until the middle of the nineteenth century. However, with the decline of the Ottoman Empire, artists lost the ability to complete their performances, and criticism campaigns against them increased, and the ban on political criticism was announced (Sevencül, 2005, pp. 15-16).
At the beginning of the twentieth century, it was a period of wars, and Karagöz artists did not have the opportunity to hold concerts, as many of them abandoned this art. The Turkish Ministry of Culture, which was established after 1970, tried to revive and preserve this art again, and the artists made great efforts to revive it, holding free performances every month. In 1932, during the republican era, these artists had another opportunity to re-present their artworks in “The People’s House”. However, in 1952 these houses were soon closed, and the Karagöz artists entered another period of turmoil, continuing their limited solo work. Now, considering the technological development we are experiencing and the interest that the modern Turkish Republic attaches to preserving its cultural heritage, we find that a group of students and teachers at “The Hurriyet Technical Secondary School” located in Bursa have announced the completion of the project to integrate technology with the shadow theatre, to present a play without a stick or an artist-driven behind the curtain.
Their interest in the shadow theatre came because of the cultural values it holds related to Turkish culture that new generations do not know. One of the teachers who worked on the project says: "The work took 3 months to produce a wooden doll,
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called the technological shade, that can work by itself without interference. We also used powerful lamps called "Power Led" to reach appropriate lighting levels for display, and it came from our belief that the new generation should be acquainted with the heritage of the Ottoman civilization". As one of the students who participated in the project says: “The idea arose while we were sitting and watching one of the Karagöz scenes. We are also now working to integrate other figures from Turkish history with technology”. All this attention to the characters of the shadow theatre came after UNESCO included this art in the list of arts that need urgent protection and continuous renewal. This art not only represented the contradiction between the personalities of society but also presented behind the scenes all those who lived in Istanbul at the time, including Armenians, Jews, Romans, and Arabs, highlighting their role in society (Okasha,2003, p. 13).
Karagöz is one of the most famous Turkish folk arts. The Egyptians and some Arabs pronounce Karagöz as (Aragoz), the Iraqi people call it Qara Quz, and it is one of the oldest popular children's dramatic arts in the history of Turkish culture. Regardless of the continuing disagreement regarding the origin and apex of this classic folk art, the question is: "Did this art come from Egypt at the hands of Sultan Selim I in a campaign in the East, as this art was present in the Mamluk era in Egypt? Sultan Selim watched this art and then took one of the actors with him to Istanbul to entertain his son, who later became a sultan after him and was known as Sultan Selim the Great, or that the art originated from Turkish Anatolia, or did it come from Central Asia to Ottoman Empire? Researchers unanimously agree on the fact that the shadow puppet originated from the Far East and later came to many countries of the world. It seems difficult to determine in which country this art originated.
The Turks of Central Asia used to call this form of art (karogak) because it was largely based on puppets moving by hand and strings tied to the puppets behind a white backlit curtain. The Turkmens in Iraq still call the puppet by the name of Qarogak, and historians confirm that the shadow puppet was in every region to which the Turks came through their successive migrations. What is certain is that folk art in Ottoman Empire dates to the Middle Ages and is believed to have begun in the sixteenth century during the time of Sultan Suleiman XI who was called Al-
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Qenawi. The art, which spread in the Ottoman Empire in the Middle Ages, first began in the palaces of rulers and the aristocracy, whose purpose was to entertain and please the rich (Mühittin,1969, pp. 1-2).
Although Karagöz is on the way to extinction thanks to other means of communication such as cinema, television, and puppet theatre, the name (Karagöz) has been engraved in people's memory, and they give him an example of those who move a lot without interest, and they say that it resembles Karagöz, because it combines excessive wasted effort and a ridiculous image. Some studies indicate that this art originated in China, but there is another quotation that the term “shadow puppet” was mentioned in an ancient Indian text and the third quotation mentions that “shadow puppet” may have come to us from Mughal lands and then moved to neighboring countries, especially Japan and the Java Islands. It is likely that the "shadow puppet" moved to the Arab countries from Java and was carried by Muslim merchants. Some studies indicate that the "shadow puppet" passed from the Chinese to the Majuls and from them to the Turks (Mühittin,1969, p. 4).
Many legends about shadow art appeared in Asia, the most important of which are: It was said that magicians and priests summoned the souls of the dead to relieve the grief of their loved ones. Some Turkish legends mention that there were two personalities, "Karagöz" and "Hacivat", and they participated in building a mosque in Bursa during the reign of Sultan Orhan (1326 - 1340). Karagöz was a builder, while Hacivat was a blacksmith, and their conversations often prevented the workers who were laying down their tools and listening to them from work, which angered the Sultan and ordered their execution, and after a while, he regretted what he had done because he had lost two smart people. Therefore, he wanted to make atonement for his actions, so he ordered one of the craftsmen called (Seyh Kusteri), who is of Persian origin, and is considered one of the specialists in the manufacture of dolls, he ordered him to make puppets in the form of Karagöz and hemispheres and manipulate them behind a lighted screen to revive them (Sabri, 1941, p. 72-73).
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15. KARAGÖZ AND HACIVAT
They are two characters in the Turkish shadow theatres, whose origins go back to the Ottoman era and spread to most regions of the Ottoman Empire, especially in Turkey and Greece. The main theme of the play is the contradictory interaction between the two main characters. Where Karagöz represents the illiterate but frank character, while Hacivat represents the educated character who uses poetry and literature. Shadow theatre representatives were presenting their fun classes or doors at once, in front of each of them a wooden table, and in the front of the café sits the elderly, who have grown hookah, and the tobacco begins to burn, and everyone moves longing for the next on that magic curtain (And, 1975, p. 19).
Karagöz and Hacivat's first shadow theatre play is not exactly known. But some believe that the first play was performed for Sultan Selim I, who ruled between the years (1512-1520) in Egypt after his conquest of the country in 1517. But in the seventeenth century Chalabi wrote that the play was performed in the Ottoman palace early in the reign of Bayezid I, who ruled between year (1389-1402). These two men according to legends are real men. The true story begins when Hacivat (the Sultan's Joker) brings Karagöz from Astana to Bursa after asking the Sultan to bring someone else to help him. On one occasion, they spoke obscene words in front of the sanctuary of the Ottoman Sultan, and the Sultan ordered them to be beheaded. The Sultan also ordered that they be brought to the festival, and he (Bakji Bashi) told him that they had been executed, so he told the Sultan that whoever cut off their heads would receive the same punishment. The man went out and told Abdullah Al-Shashtari the story, so Abdullah ordered the skins and cut them in their shape, and told him how to move the skins and imitate their voices, so the show was presented to the Sultan. Then Al-Shashtari told the Sultan the story. Until he asked the Sultan to go out to the public in the markets, and he allowed it (And, 1975, pp. 86-90).
In the plays "Karagöz and Hacivat", the characters living in the Ottoman Empire and coming from different social and economic layers of the society (bullies, drug addicts, the disabled, etc.) , Albanian, etc.) almost all of them. These typologies come to the fore with the most basic features of the audience they represent (attire, clothing, manners, songs, dances, mani, etc.) and are instantly recognized by these
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features (signs) as soon as they appear on the screen. These types and their main features are:
"Karagöz": He wears a hat called "işkırlak" on his bald head. Karagöz, who never had a decent job, was not educated. He works in temporary jobs that Hacivat finds for him. He is a man of the people who looks like he is, and reveals his reactions quickly. It represents the common sense of the people. He's brave, he's brave, so he's always in trouble. Curious, tactless and obscene. Sometimes he tries to deceive others by cheating. He is constantly bickering with his wife.
"Hacivat": Hacivat, who has a pointed upward curved beard, is a cunning, shrewd type. It is obvious that he has been educated and has good and bad knowledge on every subject. It gives sherbet according to everyone's pulse. He is a more cultured, sane and reliable type than Karagöz. He speaks in a fancy language, in which he often mixes Arabic and Persian words. For this reason, Karagöz often does not understand what he is saying or pretends not to understand. The jokes in the games are usually based on these word games and misunderstandings (Öztürk, 2010, p.45-50).
1. "Çelebi": He is the son of a polite family who speaks the dialect of Istanbul. He lives off his family inheritance. He dresses well and speaks well. He likes to read poetry.
2. "Tiryaki": He is an unemployed drug addict. That's why they always sleep. He is also fond of pleasant substances such as tobacco, hookah, coffee.
3. "Beberuhi": Other names are "six fathoms" and "pisbop". This fussy and fussy character speaks quickly, makes business noisy, and cries frequently.
4. "Kayserili": The character, whose real name is Mayısoğlu, speaks with a Kayseri accent and usually appears on the screen as a grocer or pastrami maker. One sign is the egg basket on his arm.
5. "Kastamonulu": The profession of this big man, whose real name is "Uncle Himmet" or "Himmet Ağa", is woodcutter and his mark is the ax in his hand. He is a rude man and speaks with the Kastamonu dialect.
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6. "Laz": The typical sign is the fiddle he carries in his hand. He speaks fast, does not give anyone the opportunity to talk, gets angry quickly, calms down quickly.
7. "Kurd: He usually acts as a porter or watchman, and speaks in a dialect.
8. "Persian (Püser, Nöker): He came either from Iran or Azerbaijan. His profession is generally carpet business, antiques or usury. This rich type is fond of entertainment and scatters money around him.
9. "Arab": It has two different types, it appears on the screen as either "White Arab" or "Black Arabian". He is mostly in the role of a still, butler or camel driver. He sells henna, coffee, peanuts. Other names of Ak Arab are: Hacı Fitil, Hacı Kandil, Hacı Şamandıra.
10. "Albanian" (Mestan Ağa, Bayram Ağa, Celo Ağa, Recep Ağa, Şaban Ağa, Ramazan Ağa): He plays the role of gardener, liver-maker, celep, village guard or boza keeper. He has ignorant courage. He gets angry quickly, immediately picks up his gun, acts like a bully, but runs away when he sees it tight.
11. "Rumelian" ("Muhacir"): This type of screen, which speaks in the Thracian dialect and is mostly called "Hüsmen Ağa", comes as a wrestler and a coachman. When he is defeated in wrestling, he becomes a hooligan.
12. "Jew" ("Double"): This cowardly, fussy and talkative character appears on the screen as an old man, money changer or moneylender. He is stubborn and bargain.
13. "Frenk" ("Greek"): Greek words are often used among Turkish words. His occupation is often a doctor, tavern, tailor or merchant.
14. "Armenian": He is fond of music and poetry. His occupation is either a jeweler or a sewer.
15. "Circassian": He has a cap on his head and a sword on his waist.
16. "Without Salt": The real name of this bully character is "Deli Bekir Without Salt". He relies on his brute strength and constantly scolds and intimidates those around him. He is always ready to start a fight.
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17. "Matiz": In Greek, matiz means drunk. The depiction of Matiz, who always has a bottle of wine in his hand, is approximately the same as the types of drunkards, cigarettes, etc.
18. "Zeybek": It is an armed folk hero who rises up from among the people to protect those who have suffered injustice, injustice and oppression. It is also used in response to banditry.
19. "Zenneler": They appear in different roles according to the theme of the game. They generally speak little. If she is in the role of Zenne Karagöz's wife, she is not seen on the screen, only her voice is heard.
20. "Çengi": The name of this character, who usually appears and plays at the end of the game, is usually "Çengi" or "Afet".
21. "Cazu": Creatures with supernatural abilities such as flying and disguising people. They are mounted on a dragon or a cube and have snake-shaped whips in their hands.
22. "Gin": Another supernatural creature.
The Karagöz-Hacivat plays, known as the Turkish Shadow Theatre, consist of four parts (Öztürk, 2010, pp: 88-90), these:
I. Mukaddime (Introduction, Foreword or Prologue): In this opening part, a picture of a house or a plant-like landscape, called Küsteri Square, is slowly raised upwards, accompanied by the blowing of the whistle made of reed Nareke. First, Hacivat comes to the screen and invites Karagöz by reciting a semai. Karagöz accepts this invitation and starts bickering with Hacivat.
II. Muhavere (Conversation or Shootout): In this episode, Hacivat and Karagöz ask each other riddles. They describe an event or a dream they saw as if they were real.
III. Fasıl (Game): This is the main part of Karagöz plays. In this section, where the main subject develops, other characters are included in the game according to the subject of the game. Ghazals also occupy an important place among the music of this section. The Karagözists, who accepted "Sheikh Küster", known as the person who created Karagöz, as their Pir, named the Karagöz curtain as
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Figure 1. Karagöz, 19th Century (Yakob, 1938, p.4).
Küster Square for this reason. Almost all of the curtain gazelles mention this person's name. For example, “Since the time of Hazrat Sultan-i Orhan Rahmatullah/Yadigar-ı Şeyh Kuşteri is our curtain”.
IV. Ending (Final, Epilogue): In this very short chapter, the subject is over and the events are resolved. When Hacivat's line to Karagöz is heard, "You destroyed the curtain, it's ruined/I'll let the owner know right away", the audience is declared the end of the play. While the other images are taken off the screen, Çengi finally comes and plays with music.
16. PLAYS FROM THE TURKISH SHADOW THEATRE
There are many theatrical models in the shadow theatre in Ottoman Empire, which was very famous at the time. The research will briefly address the most important models to shed light on this wonderful art, which is as follows:
16.1. TURKISH SHADOW PUPPET (KARAGÖZ)
He wears a red and gold jacket, and wide pants that reach his knees, he wears long black boots and a red and gold headdress, with one hand outstretched, and the other holding a stick. Karagöz is the main character, and his name means black eye. He has a doll with a long nose, a thick curly beard, and his arm is long and heavy. It consists of a red coat with a round collar and long sleeves, long pants, long stockings, and low-heeled shoes, and often wearing a hat often dropped and revealed his bald head, always causing laughter among the audience. It was said that his clothes are distinguished by their typical colors and are the clothes of the middle clsass of Turks in the nineteenth century (see figure 1).
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16.2. TURKISH SHADOW PUPPET (KAYSERILI)
He is one of the characters who had a role in the Turkish Shadow Art shows. Kayserili is shown in this painting wearing a red fez, with a handkerchief over his head. He wears a coat and a loincloth. Around his waist is a belt, and he wears black shoes with a long neck, and his face is large with a large nose and wide eyes, and he has a mustache without a chin, one of his hands is extended forward, and the other is holding something behind his back (see figure 2).
16.3. TURKISH SHADOW PUPPET (ZAIN)
It represents a female named Zain, who is one of the characters who played a role in Turkish shadow art. She wears a brown headdress in a semi-circular shape and takes a lobed shape, and she wears a cloak with loose sleeves, and shoes in yellow, a robe flew behind her, and from under the headdress showed her yellow hair, a beautiful face with blushed cheeks, and she held something close to his right cheek. She is one of the women in the Karagöz plays, and her name means (women's clothing), and she is very thin, usually appearing in different forms, whether in terms of age, skin color, or morals. In general, she appears in clothes that are a loose-fitting cloak, and the forms of jewelry she wears vary according to her position in the show, and she appears in some Karagöz shows as his wife or appears as one of the rich women, who manipulate sports equipment such as a fan or an umbrella. It was said that she was seducing all kinds of suitors and luring them to her house, and often luring them
Figure 2. Turkish Shadow Puppet (Kayserili), 19th Century, (Yakob,1938, p.7)
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to take off their clothes, then send them to the street naked without clothes, and her tongue is always fierce (see figure 3).
16.4. TURKISH SHADOW PUPPET (THE JEWISH MAN)
This painting represents the shadow puppet (the Jewish man), wearing a red fez headdress, a long-sleeved coat, and a skirt with long pants, around his waist is a belt from which a red piece of cloth hangs, and on his feet are brown shoes, while his face appears humorously, from a large nose, an unkempt chin, and a mustache. He holds a stick in both hands and raises it: The Jew is a moneylender, a merchant of second-hand, or a peddler, whose personal qualities are almost negative: bargaining, malice, hatred, cowardice, he is always at odds with Karagöz (see figure 4).
Figure 4. The Jewish Man, 19th Century (Raphaela, 1973, p. 132).
Figure 3. Turkish Shadow Puppet (Zain), 19th Century (Raphaela,1973, p. 129).
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16.5. THE GENTLEMAN OR ÇELEBI
This painting represents the Turkish shadow puppet Gentleman, or what is called in Turkish "Çelebi", and the artist represented him, standing elegantly, putting one hand in his pocket, and the other pointing towards his chest, he wears a red fez, and a brown suit divided into squares by black intersecting lines. Çelebi wears black shoes. It is noted in his clothes that he represents the development of fashion in Ottoman Empire, and he is Turkish and speaks the (Istanbul) dialect, and always presents poems about the beauty of women, he always appears in various roles (son of a rich family, young man, unfaithful husband), or organizes a poetry competition as an art lover, and presents prizes to the winners. Çelebi is a separate class with a different job in Karagöz, his role is unusual but important is to strike a certain balance in the extreme genres, he subtly deceives Karagöz (see figure5).
Figure 5. Turkish Shadow Puppet (Gentleman or Çelebi), 19th Century (Raphaela,1973, p. 140)
16.6. FRENK, OR THE FRANK
This painting represents the Turkish shadow puppet (Frank), and it shows him standing with a stick under his left armpit, pointing with the other hand in front of him, and wearing a large hat, he wears a long coat, yellow shirt, and red trousers, divided into squares by black criss-cross stripes, and black shoes. Frank is a character that combines the European with the Levant, and he can appear as a doctor, merchant, tailor, or guard, and he speaks Turkish with difficulty and also speaks French. He always makes fun of Karagöz in shadow fiction shows but is mostly a sympathetic character (see figure 6).
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Figure 6. Turkish Shadow Puppet (Frenk, or the Frank,), 19th Century (Yakob,1938, p.15).
16.7. ACEM OR PERSIAN
Turkish shadow puppet (Acem or Persian), wearing a black headdress that looks like a fez, pulled up from the back, he wears a long yellow caftan with a black frame, with a redshirt underneath, with pants showing at the bottom, which is fastened by a belt. He wears black shoes, has wide eyes, a straight nose, and a long mustache, holding a stick in his right hand. He is from the Azerbaijani Turks, he is a carpet or women's clothing dealer in Karagöz shows, and he is often deceived by Karagöz so he is very angry, he usually wears a black sheepskin top hat (see figure 7).
Figure 7. Turkish Shadow Puppet (Acem or Persian),19th Century (Yakob,1938, p.20).
16.8. TUZSUZ DELI BEKIR
This doll represents Tuzsuz Deli Bekir from the Karagöz shadow fairy shows, wearing a tattered headdress. He wears a coat, a loincloth, short shorts, and black
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shoes. His face is distinguished by a large nose and a long mustache. In his right hand, he holds a bottle, while the left hand holds a sword. Tuzsuz represents authority, is the guardian of public morals in Karagöz performances, and always wishes to establish law and order, and generally bearing a long sword in one hand, and a bottle in the other, and being constantly drunk, though he has a fierce side and a loud voice, he is brave, gentle, and innocuous, but no one dares to contradict him, except for Karagöz who often orders Zen to return the clothes he has managed to seize from the youth and reserving for himself the lion's share (see figure 8).
Figure 8. Turkish Shadow Puppet (Tuzsuz Deli Bekir), 19th Century (Yakob, 1938, p.25)
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CONCLUSION
The Islamic heritage has brought to us an impressive number of theatre news from the Abbasid times to the present day, especially regarding the shadow theatre. The Ottoman era was the golden age of shadow imagination or “Karagöz” in the Islamic East, as a mass expression of social and artistic life in this era, talking about its rise and fall, it was initially accepted by rulers, sultans, and rulers, then soon accompanied the people in their decadence and deterioration in the labyrinths of absurdity and obscenity, to the extent that the elders and the people did not witness the shadow plays except when they felt the need to deviate and degrade. Hence the contempt for the history of literature and the Islamic heritage for this type of popular literature. The authors of shadow theatre in Islamic countries used to write and improvise for their audience what eases them from life, presenting the vicissitudes of life as it is without forgery or pretension, as happens with poets. The pride in creating and writing the Karagöz or Shadow art goes back to Muhammad ibn Daniel al-Mawsili, who was a poet, linguist, and doctor who people loved and enjoyed accompanying and talking with him. He wrote chapters on the art of shadow, which he called “The Spectrum of Imagination” and it oscillates between sound and non-resonant prose, mixed with verses from colloquial or eloquent poetry, lacking a logical sequence, and a basic subject and a clear focused idea. But despite these flaws, which are one of the requirements of this art, we witness through it a complete presentation of human models in Egypt during the era of the Mamluks and others, including the doctor, the astrologer, the preacher, the sorcerer, the herbalist, and others. The attempts of those who came after Ibn Daniel from historians and writers, who were referring to and praising shadow shows, failed, but none of them tried to write new plays despite the arrival of art to kings and palaces. The Islamic tradition holds that the prevalent folk forms (Karagöz, shadow performances, storyteller, religious ceremonies) all served as a theatre, and served as a necessary prelude to the emergence of shadow theatre in its final form. Shadow plays deserve to be highlighted as the first Islamic attempt to create a new theatre for people who did not know theatre in all its forms. If these plays were written for characters from pressed leather or cardboard, their content reflects the social, political, economic, and daily life of large segments of Islamic and Arab society.
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These texts were discovered at a later stage than the time in which they originated, at the hands of orientalists who realized their value in “that they are issued spontaneously and daily and that the way of expression in them is popular”. This discovery was not made easily, because the owners of these texts, their inheritors, and those working in shadow art, considered this craft a secret that depended on them and their offspring, so they kept it in their chests, or wrote it in a very strange way, by inserting hybrid and strange letters between the letters of each word of the text so that It cannot be read by those who do not know the secret, about twenty chapters were discovered in them at different times, or in different places, most of which are of unknown origin. Orientalists were unable to identify who wrote these chapters, and this may be due to moving from one country to another with a change in dialects, distortion, and replacement of words or scenes and endings. It made her more than one author, and it became difficult with time to know her true author or the first author. The oldest texts date back to the twelfth century, such as the plays “The Sudan War, Ajam War, the boat, and Al-Deer.” Then another was written in the thirteenth century that belongs to Ibn Daniel and is considered one of the best books written in this art, which is “The Spectrum of Imagination, Wonderful and Strange, and the Masked Person,” which he wrote in Cairo after coming from Iraq. Then the play “The Crocodile”, which was known in the seventeenth century, and is characterized by the multiplicity of its authors, namely Sheikh Saud, Sheikh Ali Nakhleh, Daoud Al-Attar, and Al-Manawi, who are from Egypt. As for the chapters of "al-Shahadin, al-Franji, al-Markab fi al-Bahr, and others" the date of its writing and its origin is not known, and its authors are not known until now. Including what did not reach the text of our hands or did not arrive completely.
The authors and shadow players were subjected to persecution and persecution by the rulers. All shadow characters were burned by order of Sultan Sayf ad-Din Jaqmaq in 1451, for criticizing the Sultan and his regime in Egypt and other than Egypt. Also, after the colonization of Algeria, the French authorities banned shadow plays from the show. In Homs, the ruler ordered the removal of an obscene scene from the presented play. The next day, the player announced the news of the deletion funnily. From a technical point of view, we note that the dialogue in shadow plays is distributed among the characters in proportion to the thoughts and feelings of each
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character and in harmony with the development of the text to the goal that the author wanted. It is as if we are in front of a play like the plays of the absurd, and the text is adapted to accommodate many and additional characters, due to the illogicality of accidents, and the distribution of roles was not arbitrary but was the result of a psychological study of the nature of each character and its likenesses in public life. Ibn Daniel used poetry and rhyming prose, and his language was often eloquent, but similar plays in history were written in Egyptian colloquial poetry and prose in rhyming sound. The historians consider the texts of the chapters of the shadow theatre to be an extension of the “maqama” art of Badi’ al-Zaman al-Hamadani, but with the progression of time he dispensed with eloquence and rhyme, and the local vernacular was used, every Arab city distorted the text in line with its dialect, and in what was understood in it. Rather, it was rewriting it again. The more it dispensed with classical, the less poetry became, and prose became an overriding subject, and music and singing accompanied the theatrical performance, completely merging in its nature, and sometimes forming an evolution for the narrated story.
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