Al-Quraysh

News wires report that Radwan Kasmiya's Dar El-Fikr, maker of Arab games Under Ash and UnderSeige, plan a Civilization-style game that focuses on the history of the Muslim world:

Set to be released in September, "Al-Quraysh" is a strategy game that tells the story of the first 100 years of Islam's history from the viewpoint of four different nations - Bedouins, Arabs, Persians, and Romans.

One can choose to command any of the armies of the four nations or lead the army of the main character, Khaled Ibn Waleed, a Muslim warrior who defeated the Roman and Persian empires and never lost a battle. Or one can play the role of the Bedouin sheikh, who must earn the respect of his tribe. The player has the task of building and protecting trade routes and water sources, building armies, conducting battles, and freeing slaves.

Kasmiya:

"I get very embarrassed by the way we are showing our civilization," says Kasmiya. "There were rational laws that were governing Muslims at that time. This allowed this civilization to last for a long time and to accept the other civilizations that they came in touch with. It was not a conservative or sectarian civilization. But people have stopped taking the ideas behind the laws, and are taking the laws themselves. They do not understand the essence of the laws."

Comments

[Al-Quraysh]

seems like a great game.

[ed]

Joe: dunno, haven't seen it yet, but from Kasmiya's statement, it sounds like he regards the game as a corrective to fundamentalist idiocy.

[Joe Cino]

Is it gonna glorify the Muslims, or will it be completely true to the facts?