Thirsty Arabia was written over a century before the first English translation of the Qur’an was published. Despite this shortfall in primary sources about Islam, this comedy incorporates with unbiased research a wealth of theological and cultural details. Information flowed into Britain from Muslim countries alongside general trade in goods after Pope Pius V excommunicated Elizabeth I in 1570, but trade was halted shortly after this play was written in 1603. The narrative is launched when Muhammad declares he will destroy all mortals in Arabia for their sins in forty days with a drought. Muhammad’s angelic council objects that there might be good people in the region worth saving, so Muhammad allows Harut and Marut to travel across Arabia disguised as humans to attempt to find any do-gooders to save Arabia. The main romantic entanglement across this plot is the unsuccessful courtship of Marquess of the Deserts Epimenides by most of the eligible bachelors, including two imams (Caleb and Tubal), the wealthy magician astrologer Geber, the two disguised angels (Harut and Marut) and Muhammad himself. While most of the characters are distracted with love, the Arabian people are dying of thirst, and fraudsters such as Çavuş work to capitalize on this desperation with tricks such as selling water-licenses. Spirits, magic, time travel and fortune telling are used to gain favor and preferment, while angels and good spirits punish evil-doers. The Aristotelian “Square of Opposition” in a logic game the angels play with Muhammad is only one of the many educational and entertaining devices. The poetic, wooing love songs, and witty refusals alone are sufficient for readers to explore the surprises along this narrative.

172pp, 6X9”: $22: 979-8-75007-065-7; Hardcover: $27: 979-8-75007-142-5; Kindle EBook: $9.99. LCCN: 2021949413. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09K262FLS

The first 14 volumes of the British Renaissance Re-Attribution and Modernization Series have been released. Volumes 1-2 describe the computational-linguistic authorial-attribution method I used to re-attributed 284 texts from the British Renaissance, and provide other types of proof to support these re-assignments. Volumes 3-14 present never-before modernized to be readable dramas, poetry and historical sources with annotations, introductions, and visuals that explain these texts and their re-attributions. The author/translator, Anna Faktorovich, is available for interviews or to write articles about this project similar to those already posted on this project’s main website: https://anaphoraliterary.com/attribution.