Ma Wara' al-Tabi'a

The series is anthological and does not have an overarching plot, with each installment dealing with a new story or threat, although some plots and characters do recur. The stories are told from a first-person perspective, where the protagonist, Refaat (رفعت), is nearing seventy years of age and is recounting and narrating his adventures starting when he was in his late thirties. Each installment often covers one story or adventure from Refaat's life, although some of them are told over multiple installments. Refaat is often accompanied by secondary characters that aid him on his adventures, some of them recurring.

Occasionally, Refaat will tell stories that focus on other main characters. Stories starring other characters are often framed as letters that were sent to Refaat from people who have experienced paranormal events that he found entertaining enough to share with the readers. These people, having learned of Refaat's reputation as an expert on the supernatural, decide to mail him their stories either to seek advice or share their peculiar experiences.

All of the stories are of a paranormal nature or are related to the supernatural in one way or another. Notably, some of the events, especially during the earlier installments, are revealed to have a logical and scientifically compliant explanation as they often turn out to be intentionally caused by culprits who are faking supernatural phenomena or events for personal gain. Despite that, most of the stories in the series do deal with actual supernatural phenomena and events. The stories often end with Refaat solving the mystery, figuring out a clever way to deal with a supernatural threat, or managing to survive a deadly encounter.

One notable feature of the series is that some of the stories end with Refaat not having a full understanding or an explanation for what had transpired, logical or otherwise.

The stories are noted for the character's anti-heroic nature, which was uncommon for Egyptian young adult fiction at the time. Refaat is a cynical, disgruntled, and sarcastic hematologist who suffers from various health issues including chronic heart problems, making him an unlikely hero. He is described as an unattractive disagreeable, and impatient man, although he is kind and idealistic on the inside. He is also described as highly intelligent, skeptical, and deeply cynical, and so the series start with him being a firm denier of the paranormal and end with him becoming a reluctant expert on supernatural phenomena after having been forced to encounter such events.

The writing style and story structure is varied, with the author often experimenting with different writing techniques and story structures. For example, some of the installments are told entirely in fragments, through newspaper clippings, excerpts from diaries, transcripts of interviews, etc...

Despite focusing on horror and thriller, the author has occasionally experimented with different genres, such as science fiction (e.g. Installment #55, The Myth of φ99###) and fantasy (e.g. Installment #11, The Myth of the Last Monk).

The stories also sometimes feature multiple POVs. One example of this is the 7th installment (Ostorat Allahab Alazrak, translated as The Myth of the Blue Flames), which is told from multiple POVs across multiple chapters, forming one clear picture of events by the end of the story.

A distinctive feature of the writing style is sarcasm, which is often heavily featured in these stories. Characters are often cynical and/or very sarcastic, lending a unique flavor to the novellas.

• Refaat Ismael: The main character in the series. He is an old and disgruntled hematologist who becomes a reluctant expert on the supernatural after a series of unfortunate misadventures he underwent in his youth. He is the main protagonist for most of the series' books; however, some of the stories star other characters such as Salem and Salma, although he is often still the narrator for these stories, or, absent that role, the narrator for the frame story.
• Maggie McCaleb: Refaat's love interest. She is the daughter of Refaat's Scottish professor, Sir James McCaleb. She studied physics while Refaat was studying medicine under her father. Maggie is described as intelligent, incredibly beautiful, and highly sophisticated. The character makes recurring appearances throughout the series, with one novella "Ostoratha", translated as Her Myth, centering entirely around her. The story features a serial killer targeting Maggie and Refaat's old university friend group. Notably, her and Refaat never end up getting married or even having an official or non-official relationship, even though they often proclaim their undying love for each other. She was introduced in the 3rd installment.
• Ezzat Sherif: Refaat's next-door neighbor and friend. Ezzat is a sculptor from Alexandria who has some fame and success as a local artist. He is known for his love of art, being unorganized, and his love for his home town,Alexandria. He suffers from Addison's disease which makes him vulnerable to fear and often too weak to deal with the supernatural events thrust upon him due to his friendship with Refaat. He was introduced in the 4th installment.
• Adel Tawfik: Adel is Refaat's school friend who grew up to become a high-ranking police officer. He is described as being hotheaded, ill-tempered, and impatient. Since he is usually preoccupied with police work, he often seeks Refaat's help when dealing with supernatural matters encountered by himself or his fellow officers. He was introduced in the 4th installment.
• Harry Sheldon: He is an American programmer and a close friend of Refaat. He is described as hotheaded and Refaat notes that "he has a tendency to solve problems with his fests". He is married to a woman called Linda and they have a child together. Whenever Refaat travels to the US, Harry is often there to meet and/or host him. He was introduced in the 5th installment.
• Salem and Salma: Salem and Salma are the same person, only from alternate universes where Salem was born male and Salma was born female. Salem is from a universe very similar to our own while Salma comes from a timeline that's much more technologically advanced than ours where humanity has managed to invent interdimensional travel. They are married, a fact that Salma has said made them "practically amoebas". Refaat came to know the couple through letters they sent to him chronicling their adventures through the multiverse. The stories featuring them star them too, with Refaat taking a backseat and assuming a narrator's role. They were introduced in the 8th installment.
• Dr. Ramzy Habib: An Egyptology professor who is a prominent expert on the Ancient Egyptian Civilization. He is a recurring character throughout the series. He was introduced in the 9th installment.
• Dr. Samy: Refaat's psychologist friend whose house and parties he hosted were the setting for many of the series' installments. He is described as an affluent, sophisticated, intelligent, and extremely social person, which often clashes with Refaat's introverted nature. He was introduced in the 10th installment.
• Hun Cho Kan: Hun Cho Kan is a 16th century Tibetan monk from a fictional religious group known as the Nava-Rae. The Nava-Rae are fighter monks who are trained to become experts on martial arts, specifically practicing a unique fighting style developed by the Nava-Rae. They are implied to possess superhuman strength, speed, and precession, due to a combination of their rigorous training and their religious practices, which give them access to some form of magical power. They have a sacred religious text known as the Shokara which contains instructions on how to perform magical rituals, one of which can transport the practitioner through space and time. When he's first introduced, Hun Cho Kan is forced to use said ritual to escape after being betrayed by a member of the Nava-Rae temple, resulting in the whole clan being killed, with him as the sole survivor. Serendipitously, the ritual transports him to modern day Egypt where he meets Refaat. Hun Cho Kun is extremely intelligent, managing to learn a number of foreign languages in a very short span of time, becoming fluent in almost all of them. He is also very strong, agile, and an extremely skilled fighter. He was introduced in the 11th installment.
• Dr. Camilia: A philosophy professor Refaat met during one of his usual supernatural misadventures, the events of which caused a colossal misunderstanding between the two, but they end up warming up to each other and becoming friends later on. She is described as an intelligent, slightly disagreeable, and self-managed feminist. She was introduced in the 21st installment.
• Sam Colby: An acquaintance of Refaat. He is a Jewish-American con-artist and fraudster. He pretends to possess legitimate knowledge of magic and esoteric arts but is actually an impostor who has little to no knowledge of the paranormal. He was introduced in the 19th installment.
• Dr. Frantz Lucifer: Refaat's main rival and one of the series' principal antagonists. He has a distinctive look, and is described as a tall, "darkly man", with prominent eyebrows, neat black clothing, and heavy jewelry made of gold that he is quite fond of wearing. When he is first introduced, he poses as a Hungarian expert on the supernatural. Later on, he is slowly revealed to be more than that. He has successfully deceived Refaat on several occasions and has had the chance to destroy or kill him; however, he ultimately decides against it, and even ends up saving and helping Refaat on occasion, as he found it more entertaining to let him live. He viewed his relationship with Refaat as a perpetual game of Cat and Mouse that he was reluctant to put an end to. He is revered, respected, and even feared among demons, monsters, and otherworldly creatures. Dr. Lucifer possesses telepathic abilities as well as other supernatural abilities that are not fully explored. He was heavily implied to be the devil himself throughout the series, but the penultimate story reveals that he is actually the eldest son of Satan. Lucifer was first introduced in the 20th installment.

In May 2020, Netflix released Season 1 of an original Middle Eastern TV series based on Ma Waraa' Al Tabi'aa. The series was produced by Mohamed Hefzy and Amr Salama, who is also the showrunner and the director.^[1][2] He is a fan of the series and Towfik in general, and the adaptation was a passion project for him. The series was successful and reached the Netflix Top 10 Charts in Egypt, although it has faced some criticism for straying too far from the source material. It is currently unknown whether Netflix is planning to renew the series or continue producing it.

The main series consists of 81 published books or novellas. The last installment in the series was considered to be one book by the author, though it was published in two volumes. Below is a list of the books, with the titles translated into English: ^[3]

Every 10th installment in the series is a special installment known as a Circle of Horror. These are usually anthologies featuring multiple characters who each tell a supernatural story that happened to them, the stories often being connected by a theme or a common motif. There are some exceptions to that structure; namely, the 20th installment features stories about multiple characters, but they are told by a tarot reader rather than the character themselves, the 60th installment does feature multiple stories with multiple POV characters, but the stories are told by the curator of a mysterious museum, and the 80th installment is composed of fragments and memories of Refaat that he recalls while on his deathbed.

Below is a list of these special installments and a brief summary for each of them:

• 10. The Circle of Horror: Refaat is invited to a party at an affluent and sophisticated colleague's house. A storm arises and prevents the guests from returning home, so they decide to pass the time by telling real horror stories that happened to them or to someone they know.
• 20. The Tarot Tales: Invited to a New York-based Occultist Society party by his acquaintance Sam Colby, a self-proclaimed expert on the paranormal, Refaat participates in a tarot session where a mysterious man named Frantz Lucifer who claims to be a Hungarian expert on supernatural matters and a professional tarot reader does a reading for those in attendance.
• 30. After Midnight: Episodes from a short-lived paranormal-oriented late-night radio program that Refaat was a recurring guest of. The program is hosted by a talented and energetic radio host called Sherif El-Saadany and accepts live phone calls from listeners who often use their calls to tell supernatural tales they've experienced, often seeking Dr. Refaat's advice on the matter.
• 40. Behind the Closed Door: Refaat is invited to a New Year's Eve party at an affluent colleague's house, though his colleague seems to be running late. It later transpires that his colleague was never coming, since by the time the guests arrive, he had already departed to the United States to seek treatment for a terminal illness. Through a tape recording he made, he reveals that he has rigged all exits but one so that opening any except for the correct door would spell death for the guests. He did this to express disdain for his guests, whom he accuses of shortcomings such as lack of integrity, with the only exception of Refaat, whom he invited because he thought he'd enjoy the experience. Knowing that help would come by morning in the form of a routine police visit, the guests decide to pass the time and spend the night telling their stories dealing with the subject of closed doors and what lies beyond them.
• 50. In the Side of the Stars: While travelling alone by car on a cold night far away from home, Refaat seeks refuge in an abandoned house. He later wakes up to find himself in an alternate dimension where other confused individuals await before a number of demons, having arrived there through a trans-dimensional portal. The demons proclaim that those before them are each evil in some way, and announce that all will be banished to hell, with the exception of he who could prove to be the evilest among them, as the demons decide they are to be spared.
• 60. The Black Museum: An eccentric collector invites Refaat to view his collection of artifacts, each related to a paranormal incident.
• 70. The Lost Episodes: Similar to #30.
• 80. The Myth of All Myths: Refaat is on his deathbed recalling and telling stories and fragments of memories that he has never told before or has only told in part. It is the final installments in the series and was published in two volumes.

• List of titles of Ma Waraa Al Tabiaa series
• Rewayat