Kingdom of Peacocks: Mists of Time
Fadel Al Mheiri
(iUniverse)
Dh50
Emirati author Fadel Al Mheiri's new book Kingdom of Peacocks: Mists of Time, the first in a trilogy, is full of swashbuckling pirates battling it out on the high seas. It was not inspired by Captain Jack Sparrow and his band of misfits, but by Arabian history.
Al Mheiri is a film director and producer with his company Tent Pictures Productions, based in Abu Dhabi’s twofour54. It took him seven years to write his first book, which has been published by iUniverse.
The historical novel, set in the 1500s, recounts the tale of young Indian orphan Zahran, who becomes a cabin boy on the ship of one-eyed pirate and smuggler Dayjur. The ship sets sail from India to the Arabian Sea, where they come across a fictional kingdom at its zenith, set at a time when the Portuguese were battling to control trade in the Indian Ocean and coastal Arabian Gulf ports. The pirates stand up against Portuguese oppression.
Abu-Dhabi born Al Mheiri, 36, admits he has always been “a sucker for history”, and recalls seeing the Portuguese forts in the Northern Emirates and Al Ain as a young boy. It left him wondering about the adventures that took place within their crumbling walls.
“People told me they were Portuguese forts but when I asked more questions, they had no idea,” says Al Mheiri. He turned to a public library in Abu Dhabi for more information, where he found what he was looking for within the pages of historical tomes written by Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, the Ruler of Sharjah.
It was the bits about piracy that particularly intrigued Al Mheiri.
“Dr Sheikh Sultan opened this gateway for me,” he says. “I went home and researched a lot.” The summer after high school, before he enrolled at the American University of Sharjah for a degree in film studies, Al Mheiri spent through the nose on a four-volume historical account of life in the Gulf written by a Portuguese general.
“It contained heroic tales set around the forts, which I had been looking for,” says Al Mheiri.
But not everybody approved of AlMheiri’s passion for digging up the past.
“People asked me, ‘Why are you stirring the pot?’” says Al Mheiri. “But you can’t understand the present without going back to the past. These tales are relevant to what’s happening nowadays, when we talk about political problems.”
AlMheiri was aware of similar historical books existing in Arabic, but was not sure about English-language ones. When he quizzed his western expat friends about the UAE’s history, their knowledge only went back as far as the last century.
“I wanted to fill this gap, and at the same time, tell our story from our side.”
These days, Al Mheiri spends time at twofour54 making films, and in the evenings, dreams up more pirate escapades. When they’re all completed, a feature film will follow, he hopes.
In fact, most of the ideas in Kingdom of Peacocks: Mists of Time come from a film script, A Corsair's Tale, which he wrote nine years ago but was never made into a film.
“The script was about the Arabs versus the Portuguese. But now I have produced a multi-layered story in a very entertaining and positive framework.”
Al Mheiri's last movie, Abood Kandaishan – about the comedic capers of an Emirati government control room operator in the western region who tries to use wasta (connections) to prevent a job transfer to Abu Dhabi – went on general release for three weeks in the UAE's cinemas last year. The film starred Abdulrahman Al Nakhi, Jamal H Iqbal, Nooh Al Hamadi and Abdulla bin Hussein.
For his latest film, Al Mheiri is moving on to feline adventures. “I’m now in the process of creating an animated feature film about four stray cats lost in Abu Dhabi,” he says.
• Buy the book at the Tent Picture Productions stall (B18) at Abu Dhabi International Book Fair
* Jessica Hill
