Aqeel al-Mosawi

Dara the Zoroastrian (Arabic: دارا الزرادشتي) is the second novel by al-Mosawi. It was published by Dar Soual (Beirut) in January 2021. Like the first novel, this one is also a historical fiction set in Iran. Its events however take place in another time period, namely the 13th century. It revolves around Dara, a young Zoroastrian man who converts to Islam following its spread in Persia and through his spiritual journey many different religions and religious sects are explored. The 408-page novel took the author 3 years to write, and its publication was postponed for one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

al-Mosawi wrote two novels, Aryamehr Nameh in 2017 and Dara the Zoroastrian in 2021. Before that he had published many articles in local papers about his travels.

al-Mosawi is an avid traveler and keeps a wall size map of the world in his practice where he marks places he visited. According to him, he has "seen half of the world". His wife Amani Al Tawwash who is an artist is his travel companion. He often documents his travels with photographs and blogs. In 2004, al-Mosawi organized a photo exhibition about Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. The photos were taken by children.

Aqeel al-Mosawi was born in Noaim neighborhood, one of the neighborhoods of Bahrain's capital Manama. His father, Sayyid Mohamed Saleh al-Mosawi was a well known Shia religious figure, as well as being a poet and a writer. Painter Abbas al-Mosawi is his brother. After graduating with a dental degree from the University of Baghdad in 1989, he worked for Bahrain's Ministry of Health. In 1997, he received a master's degree from the University of Minnesota in the field of endodontics. Two years later he established his own private practice where he still works (as of November 2020). He often participates in Dental Conferences and Exhibitions such as AEEDC Dubai and DLS Bahrain.

Nader Kadhim praised the style of novel, viewing it as quite a bold move for a debut novel. The novel had multiple characters such as Mohammad Mosaddegh and Farah Pahlavi giving their often contradicting perspectives on historical events, and it was set in three different eras of Iranian history, ending with the 1979 Iranian Revolution. In a full review published in Asharq Al-Awsat, Kadhim said that Aryamehr Nameh was one of the good novels that were not only written by the hand, heart and mind of the author, but by his legs too, for he had travelled around the geography of Iran during the research phase, and it took him 5 years to complete. He added that the novel is both captivating and rich, and that its topic is unusual for Arabic novels.

Aqeel Mohamed Saleh al-Mosawi (Arabic: عقيل محمد صالح الموسوي; born 27 January 1966) is a Bahraini dentist, novelist and photographer. He is best is known for being a consultant endodontist.