Catching Fire – The Story of Khalid Al-Dhahab
From the first episode of “V” (translated from Arabic), “Al-Baghdadi”, we get to see that the team working on the story of Khalid Al-Dhahab is well versed in Arabic. “Catching Fire” gives us a further clue about the team behind the series and their heritage. The local dialect they speak is spoken only by these people. It is apparent from the names of localities, “Hayyat Al-Quds”al-Sakhoor” that it is derived from Arabic. For those who do not know Arabic, that sounds like some translation of Jewish as “Shabbat” and for those who speak German and French, that is also pronounced like Shabbat. It is a special blend of languages and is spoken by the Iranian community.
The people of this region have lived in the area for several centuries and are now an indigenous population of the rian tribal clans. The same people may have migrated to various parts of the world, but they would still be the same as their ancestors. These are the basic facts about the family of Khalid Al-Dhahab.
The story of Khalid Al-Dhahab is also based on some history. In this episode, we learn about the family of Kamal Al-Jaziri and how they adopted Khalid’s younger brother, Abdul-Aziz, as their adopted son. Kamal and Abdul-Aziz were related by marriage to Muhammad the Prophet, as were most of the people who lived during that era. These people knew that Khumalo would want to adopt their adopted son, as he was a Muslim.
“Catching Fire” picks up with Kamal’s son, Thammalya, and the question of whether he can be trained to become an army commander. This is a very important issue for Kamal as he wants the best among his sons. This episode also shows how his son, Thammalya, grows up. We get to see how he interacts with Kamal, as they both go through various trials and tribulations. The interactions of the two are very natural, and the story is very entertaining, as each boy is keen to achieve a dream.
The author, Djalal Al-Khalifa, gives us a very clear view of the history of this region, which is very interesting. His writing style is also very fluent and easy to follow. All the characters seem to have an individuality that does not seem to be exaggerated, so that every reader will come away from the book smiling.
“Catching Fire” is the second book in the series and is also written by Djalal Al-Khalifa. He has written three books in the series, and they have been very successful. If you are into history and love long historical stories, then this is the series for you. It is available at Amazon.com and at bookstore sites.
