Recently published by Dar al-Ain Publishing in Cairo, the novel 'Darb al-Safa' is the first novel by researcher and poet Abdel Rahman al-Tawil. It is a historical novel set in the old city of Fustat during the era of al-Zahir Baybars, chronicling the end of the Ayyubid dynasty and the beginning of the Mamluk era. It addresses the crisis of a young man experiencing existential suffering in his attempt to discover himself, along with real suffering from his family's crises and emotional anguish, in addition to his connection to his city.

The novel is historical but steeped in Sufi atmospheres, and celebrates love, striving, and patience, telling the stories of humanity across time, where historical events intersect with personal experiences in a profound journey of determination and hope. Throughout the text, the author attempts to revive the language of the era being narrated, imitating its vocabulary and structure, so that the reader feels they are living within the old language with its great heritage connotations. The novel also clearly relies on extensive inclusion of poetic verses, making the text a blend of poetry and narrative.

The author has previously published 'Bariq Ghayhabi' (2015), 'Sifr Lam Yakun' (2017), and the book 'Al-Fustat wa Abwabuha' (2024), for which he received the State Encouragement Award in the field of history, archaeology, and heritage preservation.

From the atmosphere of the novel we read: 'Whoever lived in Darb al-Safa became pure.' This was the will that Habib inherited from Omran, and he clung to it, vowing to his heart never to stray from it; hoping to attain the purity of his father, and eager to keep 'Omran' in the path he had advised, and hoping to remain 'beloved' to those he loved. But wishes do not shape destinies. Time outlasted the will, endured longer than the path, was stronger than love, more binding than the covenant, and longer than the lover's patience. In the era of Sultan al-Zahir Baybars, the young Mamluk state was achieving decisive victories over the Crusaders, and the ancient Fustat was entering a new phase of its decline. And Habib ibn Omran was searching for himself in his father's will, in his family that had become a trust in his hands, in his alley where he grew up among its houses and sheltered under its shadows, 'and in his ancient city that had amassed ages in its landmarks, and in his beloved whose face smiled at him with all the world, and in the melodies of songs, the strumming of lutes, and the rhymes of poetry, and in the pages of books and the treasures of travelogues, and in taking vows from sheikhs and receiving the wisdom of saints, and in witnessing wonders and hearing the tales of predecessors, so that news gathered with him, and he would be immortalized by his voice in the memory of time.'