Islamic heritage in the shadow theatre

The shadow theatre plays a major role in public life and for several centuries it occupies an aspect of the people's thought, as the public takes it as a way of entertainment and leisure. However, what was presented is a representation of real-life matters in a framework of criticism and irony; in addition, the performances were emptying of people's concerns, which bear various forms of hatred for their foreign rulers. Shadow plays paved the way for the Islamic audience to adopt the art of theatre, which came to the Arab and Islamic world through France, in its European form. Shadow play in the Islamic world included music and song as well as acting. These works were shared with a lyrical type, as music and songs play the main role, as in the plays of "The Spectrum of Fantasy", "Weird and Strange", and "The Lost Lover". These are the three initials of shadow theatre left by Muhammad Bin Daniel Al-Mawsili who was the author of the oldest shadow plays in Arabic. These pioneers are formed their final shape by him and continued until the beginning of the twentieth century. This research relies on the descriptive-analytical method to trace the emergence and development of the form of the shadow play with all its components through different ages. So that, because of its importance, it has been included in the UNESCO Heritage Organization. In this research, it is aimed to research the past and present heritage of this type of theatre for current and future generations and to contribute to its continuation.