In This Issue

All of the stories that have been carefully curated for the issue, from our feature story that explores the world of matchmakers in the Gulf region to our profile interview with H.H. Sayyida Meyyan Shihab Al Said from Oman on her first solo digital gallery in our sister venture, the Khaleeji Art Museum, explore the theme of love in their own unique way. We present them to you, for the first time in Sekka’s history, in a downloadable digital issue format, allowing you to read the issue anywhere, at any time.
Letter from the editors

The Love Issue: Letter from the editors
Inside The Love Issue
Features

The secret behind Sayyida Meyyan Shihab Al Said’s passion for surreal digital art
Our Storyteller In Chief Manar Alhinai speaks to H.H. Sayyida Meyyan Shihab Al Said, a rising photographer and digital artist from Oman about her first digital solo art gallery in the Khaleeji Art Museum and out of Oman, and why it is important now more than ever to increase the representation of female photographers and artists across the industry.

Amal Al Sahlawi: The poet who writes us
للعربية By Manar Al Hinai You may have come across her writings while you were browsing through social media, or a friend may have shared an extract of one of her poems with you. Amal Al Sahlawi is an Emirati poet and writer whose Arabic writings and poems touch something in the soul of every […]

Witchcraft: The promise of love and marriage online
Love related solutions are the most prominent services offered by “spiritual sheikhs.”
Arts and Culture

Ismail Zaidy’s photography: A family affair
Family is important to this rising Moroccan photographer.

Meet the Khaleeji artist who depicts love between the elderly
This UAE based artist has a distinct style.

Love in Arab Art
See how these female Arab artists have depicted love.
Opinion

The greatest Arabian love story: Man and camel
The relationship between the two is one that transcends all other connections man might have with an animal.

Are Arabs romantic?
“We have all heard people say ‘as romantic as the French’ or ‘as romantic as the Italians’, but we have yet to hear someone say ‘as romantic as the Arabs’.”
Creative

Poem: Fog and Roses
“Love melts, /then apart we go.”

Poem: 23 Days
“you polluted my heart”

Poem: Viral Lovers
“Love is infectious.”

Poem: Life’s Embrace
“Being in love with life betrayed me”

Poem: Loves Me, Loves Me Not
“It is known that love is built on sacrifice”

Fiction: Tiny Things
“Even if he couldn’t afford the big gestures, Assim would do the tiny things to make her happy.”

Fiction: Torn
“Mom, find me a wife,” is not the typical beginning of a love story.