On the Anniversary of Jurji Zaydan’s Birth, that Bad Bitch Shajar al-Dur and 5 More

Earlier this month, historian Kurt Werthmuller took the opportunity of the “badder than Taylor Swift” meme to direct our attention to Shajar al-Dur, or “Tree of Pearls”:

Although there were no Top 10 singles — of which we know, at any rate — Shajar al-Dur was the hero of one of Jurji Zaydan’s (December 14, 1861-1914) fun historical novels, translated into English by Samah Selim as Tree of Pearls, Queen of Egypt (2012).

Back in 2012, Selim likened Zaydan to Walter Scott, adding that she:

“…felt that Zaydan had even gone beyond Scott in the way his…