Pathological exploration of rewriting ancient religious stories for children and adolescents: A case study of “Malja al-khaefin” (shelter of the frightened) and “Hedie al-shams” (gift of the sun)

Introduction: Rewriting and simplifying ancient religious texts is one of the most important branches of religious literature for children and adolescents. To this end, some authors have rewritten the biographies of Shiite Infallibles (PBUH) in order to transmit cultural values ​​to new generations. "Oyoun Akhbar al-Reza" and "Manaqib al-Abi Talib" are among the works which have been the source of many rewritten stories such as "Malja al-khaefin" and "Hedie al-shams" focusing on the life of Imam Reza (PBUH). In recent years, following the expansion of Iran's cultural and social ties with Arab countries such as Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, many of these stories have been published in Arabic in the form of cultural packages or tourism products presented to Arabic-speaking children who enter cities such as "Mashhad" and "Qom" for the purpose of religious tourism. The themes of most of these books are religious and seek to establish a link between the present and the past in order to inform the Arabic-speaking children of the glorious past of great Islamic civilization, create Islamic unity in the coming generations by enumerating the religious commonalities as well as develop a positive religious attitude in young Arab audience. However, regarding the difficulties of these works, authors that sometimes get involved in the process of rewriting a work are not able to take the work out of its historical form and present it to their young audience as an interesting story. The present article intends to focus on the artistic problems of the stories rewritten in Arabic and to analyze the requirements for the simplification of ancient religious texts on a case-by-case basis in the stories "Malja al-khaefin" and "Hedie al-shams”.
Methodology: The research method of this research is qualitative and descriptive using content analysis, which is done for the objective and qualitative explanation of the content and concept of the written texts in a systematic way. In the present article, the studied components are the rewritten text (including words and sentences), the elements of the story (including the point of view, plot, character, time and place) and the visual effects of "Malja al-khaefin" and "Hedie al-shams” books, which have been rewritten for age groups (b) and (c) and derived from "Oyoun Akhbar al-Reza" written by Muhammad ibn Babawiyyah Qomi also known as Sheikh Saduq (died in 381 AH) and "Manaqib Al Abi Talib" written by Abu Ja'far Muhammad bin Ali bin Shahr Ashob (died in 588 AH). Excerpts from these two stories have been selected with an emphasis on the age group of the audience, the publisher (with an emphasis on domestic publishers) and the language of the work (with an emphasis on Arabic). After the two rewritten stories were adapted to their original manuscripts, information about the basics of rewriting children's stories were collected and classified in a library study using research sheets, and the advantages and limitations of rewriting in composition of this type of story were considered. Due to the fact that the visual effects of children's book are of special importance, the role of illustrator in preparation and attraction of these stories was also taken into account. This type of research dates back to several decades ago. For example, Sahir Ahmad Mahfouz in a study entitled "Tabsit Adab al-Kebar L-atfal" (1991) has examined the complete works of Al-Kilani with respect to simplifying the stories of One Thousand and One Nights, Sinbad Bahri, etc.
Results and Discussion: The research findings are reviewed in two areas: structure (appearance of children's book) and content. Based on the criteria of rewriting and simplification of ancient texts, the rewriters in the two stories in question have been mostly historians rather than literary rewriters, which means that their dependence on historical and educational aspects of the child has deviated them from addressing the literary aspects of the story. Regarding the structure and appearance of books, the publishers and stakeholders in the field of children's books should pay more attention when choosing the type of paper, colors, coordination of text and image, and so on.
Conclusion: The drawbacks of the authors in rewriting "Malja al-khaefin" and "Hedie al-shams” are that none of them has noticed the basic knowledge of their audience in the rewriting process; they have used words and sentences in the structure of the text outside the scope of Arabic-speaking child's knowledge. At the level of narration, too, Molla Aydi has been more dependent on the text than Mirzaei, so his story is a historical account of the original text lacking the necessary dynamism and movement.
To apply the elements of story, both authors have acted in the same way, and there is no change in of the viewpoint or ups and downs in the plot. Mirzaei has managed to portray the personality traits of his protagonist somewhat more creatively only in the element of characterization, which seems to be due to lack of innocence of the main character in his story (Ryan). There was no significant change in the rewriting of stories in the element of time, which goes on linearly throughout the narrative. However, Mirzaei has been able to act more dynamically than Molla Aydi in defining the place of events, and his descriptions of the place of the story are more sensitive and imaginative.