Taissier Ahmad Khalaf (also written Taysir Khalaf), (Arabic: تيسير أحمد خلف, born in Quneitra 1967), is a Syrian-Palestinian novelist, critic and researcher. He has written over 50 books including his novels The Slaughter of the Philosophers and The Andalusian Messiah that were both nominated for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction.
Career
Khalaf studied media and graduated from the University of Damascus in 1993. He started writing novels and joined the Arab Writers Union. He was also interested in historic research and produced several works focusing on Arab history, the Levant and especially Palestine. His historical research works include an edition of Mawāniḥ al-uns bi-riḥlatī li-Wādī al-Quds by 18th century traveler Al-Luqaimi, which describes Jerusalem under Ottoman rule; a history of the Golan Heights based on the writings of Arab historians, and a research regarding the authenticity of Abu Khalil Qabbani's journey to the United States in the late 19th century.
In literature, Khalaf utilized historical events in many of his novels; The Slaughter of the Philosophers, which was nominated for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, has the Roman conquest of Palmyra and the life of Queen Zenobia in Rome as a background for the protagonist, but the novel focuses more on the philosophical life of Palmyra rather than the political history. His 2024 novel The Andalusian Messiah takes place in 16th-century al-Andalus after the Christian reconquista, when Muslims were forcibly converted to Christianity. It was nominated for the 2025 International Prize for Arabic Fiction.
Khalaf, Taissier (2016). Madhbaḥat al-Falāsifah (The Slaughter of the Philosophers) (in Arabic). al-Muʼassasah al-ʻArabīyah lil-Dirāsāt wa-al-Nashr. OCLC945115504.
Khalaf, Taissier (2018). 'Aṣafīr Darwin (The Birds of Darwin) (in Arabic). al-Muʼassasah al-ʻArabīyah lil-Dirāsāt wa-al-Nashr. ISBN978-614-419-869-8.
Khalaf, Taissier (2022). Malek al-Lusus: Lafa'ef Yunos al-Suri (King of Thieves: the Scrolls of the Syrian Eunus) (in Arabic). Almutawassit. ISBN979-1-280-73833-2.
Khalaf, Taissier (2024). Almaseh al-Andalwse (The Andalusian Messiah) (in Arabic). Almutawassit. ISBN979-1-255-91036-7.
Historical research
Khalaf, Taissier (2004). Ṣūrat al-Jūlān fī al-Turāth al-Jughrāfī al-ʻArabī-al-Islāmī (The Image of the Golan in the Arab-Islamic Geographical Tradition) (in Arabic). Qadmus lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʻ. OCLC609010203.
Khalaf, Taissier (2005). al-Jūlān fī Maṣādir al-Tārīkh al-ʻArabī: Ḥawliyāt wa-Tarājum (The Golan in the Sources of Arab History: Annals and Biographies) (in Arabic). Dār Kanʻān. OCLC74716561.
Khalaf, Taissier (2006). al-Kitāb al-ʻAzīzī (The Azizi Book) (in Arabic). al-Takwīn lil-Ṭibāʻah wa-al-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʻ. OCLC66387271.
Khalaf, Taissier (2006). Istikshāf al-Jūlān: Mughāmirūn wa-Jawāsīs wa-Qasāwisah, 1805-1880 (Exploring the Golan: Adventurers, Spies and Pastors, 1805-1880) (in Arabic). al-Takwīn lil-Ṭibāʻah wa-al-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʻ. OCLC84850853.
Khalaf, Taissier (2006). al-Masīḥ fī al-Jūlān: Tārīkh wa-Athār (Christ in the Golan: History and Traces) (in Arabic). Dār Kanʻān. OCLC191877963.
Khalaf, Taissier (2007). Rujm al-Hirī wa-Ḥaḍārat al-Dawāʼir al-Ghāmiḍah (Rujm el-Hiri and the Culture of the Mysterious Circles (in Arabic). Tanfīdh wa-tawzīʻ al-Takwīn lil-Taʼlīf wa-al-Tarjamah wa-al-Nashr. OCLC792883381.
Khalaf, Taissier (2009). موسوعة رحلات العرب والمسلمين إلى فلسطين (8 مجلدات) (Encyclopedia of Arab and Muslim trips to Palestine [8 Volumes]) (in Arabic). Dār Kanʻān. OCLC949443939.
Khalaf, Taissier (2014). Riḥlāt al-Baṭrīyark Diyūnīsīyūs at-Tilmaḥrī fī ʻahd al-ḫalifatain al-Maʼmūn wa-'l-Muʻtaṣim (The Journeys of Patriarch Dionysius I Telmaharoyo in the era of the two Caliphs Al-Ma'mun and Al-Mu'tasim) (in Arabic). Dār as-Suwaidī li-'n-Našr wa-'t-Tauzīʻ. OCLC905467642.
Khalaf, Taissier (2018). Min Dimashq ilá Shīkāghū, riḥlat Abī Khalīl al-Qabbānī ilá Amīrkā 1893 (From Damascus to Chicago, the Journey of Abu Khalil Qabbani to America 1893) (in Arabic). al-Muʼassasah al-ʻArabīyah lil-Dirāsāt wa-al-Nashr. OCLC1031399379.
Khalaf, Taissier (2018). Nashʼat al-masraḥ fī bilād al-Shām: min hashāshat al-qānūn ilá fatāwá al-taḥrīm, 1847-1917. Wathāʼiq wa-maʻārik Dimashq, Bayrūt, ʻAkkā (The formation of theatre in Bilad al-Sham: from the fragility of law to the fatwas of prohibition, 1847-1917. The documents and battles of Damascus, Beirut, Akre.) (in Arabic). al-Hayʼah al-ʻArabīyah lil-Masraḥ. OCLC1104664985.
Khalaf, Taissier (2019). Waqāʼiʻ masraḥ Abī Khalīl al-Qabbānī fī Dimashq, 1883-1873: ḥaqāʼiq wa-wathāʼiq tunsharu lil-marrah al-ūlá (The events of Abu Khalil Qabbani's theatre in Damascus, 1883-1873: facts and documents published for the first time) (in Arabic). Manshūrāt al-Mutawassiṭ. OCLC1110667615.
Khalaf, Taissier (2019). الحركة النسائية المبكرة في سوريا العثمانية: تجربة الكاتبة هنا كسباني كوراني (The Early Feminist Movement in Ottoman Syria: the case of Writer Hanna K. Korany) (in Arabic). Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies. ISBN978-6-144-45308-7.
Khalaf, Taissier (2021). ملكات عربيات قبل الإسلام (Arab Queens Before Islam) (in Arabic). Dar al-Muheet. ISBN978-9-948-84505-8.
Khalaf, Taissier (2022). سيرة الأجواق المسرحية العربية في القرن التاسع عشر: مذكرات الممثلين عمر وصفي ومريم سماط (Biography of Arab Theater Choirs in the Nineteenth Century: Memoirs of Actors Omar Wasfi and Maryam Samat) (in Arabic). Manshūrāt al-Mutawassiṭ. OCLC1296609741.
al-Salameen, Zeyad; Khalaf, Taissier (2023). "New Nabataean Inscriptions from Ḥaurān, Southern Syria". Abgadiyat. 17 (17): 13–24. doi:10.1163/22138609-01701004. ISSN1687-8280.
Khalaf, Taissier (2023). من عكّا إلى تكساس: مذكّرات قسطنطين أسعد سيقلي (1861 - 1925) (From Acre to Texas: A Memoir by Constantine Asad Saikali, 1861-1928) (in Arabic). Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies. ISBN978-614-445-559-3.
Akkach, Samer (2012). Intimate Invocations: Al-Ghazzī's Biography of 'Abd al-Ghanī al-Nābulusī (1641-1731). Islamic History and Civilization: Studies and Texts (in Arabic). Brill. ISBN978-9-004-21671-6. ISSN0929-2403.
