Introduction I first thought of writing my own version of this play back in 1987 when I was still in college, spurred on by my professor of creative writing at the time, professor William Clark. My own identity crises at the time did not help matters and I ended up abandoning the project and quitting college (I only returned in 1990). So the project lay dormant until I had a conversation at the Sheraton pool with my good friend, the Syrian-Dutch Theater Director, Ola Mafaalani. Ola was telling me how nice it will be to find a nice theatrical piece dealing with Islamic history that she can produce in Amsterdam. All of the sudden, the whole idea of writing something based on the story of At-Tanbūrī sprang back to life in my head. And though I knew the piece would not be the kind of plays Ola would be interested in, that did not stop me from sitting in front of my computer in November 1997 and writing the play. As usual, I had no idea how the play would turn up. And I cannot explain why it came out the way it did. I never thought of it as a very deep play, but, hopefully, it is an amusing one.
The Shoes
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lust for salvation, Brother, as though it were a woman, and I - a man.
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