- Muḥammad al-Ashʿarī (?, Morocco) – al-Qūs wa al-Firāshah (2010, English trans. The Arch and the Butterfly, 2014). This novel focuses on three generations of a Moroccan family: grandfather Muḥammad, his son Yūsuf who narrates the story, and his grandchild Yāsīn. When Yūsuf, a left-wing progressive thinker, learns that his son, an engineer student in France, has died fighting with the Islamic Resistance of the Taliban in Afghanistan, he is forced to rethink the ideology he has adhered to for so many years. Through the story of father and son the novel aims to understand both ideological extremes. This novel was one of the two winners of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2011 (note).
- Khālid al-Barrī (1972-, Egypt) – Al-Dunyā Ajmal min al-Janna (2001, English trans. Life is More Beautiful Than Paradise: A Jihadist’s Own Story, 2009). In this memoir, the author / narrator tells his story of becoming a radical Muslim from the age of 14, leading to his pursuit by the authorities and his eventual arrest and six-week imprisonment (reference). Upon release, the narrator decides to let go of his fanatism. The memoir also reflects on the intersection between soccer and politics, as the soccer field is the first place that the narrator got came in touch with the ‘Jamaʿa Islāmiyya’ (reference) (also in O: Occupations, Professions and Hobbies: Sports).
- Tony Hanania (1964-, Lebanon) – Unreal City (1999). Written in English and set in war-torn Beirut, this novel depicts a young, privileged Lebanese man who returns to his family in Lebanon to find his childhood environment ruined. He turns to the fanaticism of the Islamist Hezbollah, leading him to a suicide mission in London where he drives a car full of explosives into the home of an un-named writer.
- Slimane Benaïssa (1944-, Algeria) – La dernière nuit d’un damné (2003, English trans. The Last Night of a Damned Soul, 2004). Written in response to the 9/11 bombings (also in 2001: 9/11 Twin Towers Attack), this novel tells the story of the 31-year old Raouf, a westernized Muslim and a software developer in Silicon Valley with an American girlfriend, who turns into a suicide bomber after he becomes depressed following his father’s sudden death (reference). Through his friend Uthman and conversations with various Imams, Raouf radicalizes completely, although he eventually he becomes skeptical of his new life (reference).
- Yasmina Khadra (written elsewhere Yāsmīnah Khaḍrāʾ, as pseudonym for Moḥammad Mūlisihūl, 1995-, Algeria) – À quoi rêvent les loups (1999, English trans. Wolf Dreams, 2003). The novel describes the birth of Islamic fundamentalism in Algeria in the aftermath of the Algerian Civil War and the overall rising tide of Islamism following the Iranian revolution and the return of Arab Afghan fighters, through the story of Nafa Walid (reference). Nafa, a young man with high hopes, is frustrated by poverty and disillusioned and becomes the ruthless Emir of a terrorist squad, a function that offers him an escape from the hollowness of life (reference) (also in 1991 – 2002 Algerian Civil War).
- Khālid Khalīfah (1963 – 2023, Syria) – Madīḥ lil-Karāhiyyah (2006, English trans. In Praise of Hatred, 2012). This novel takes place in the 1980s, when Syrian society was caught up in sectarian conflict between the Hafez al-Asad regime and the Muslim Brotherhood. Māyā, a young aristocratic Sunni woman from Aleppo, becomes affiliated with the Brotherhood, something that eventually gets her imprisoned. In her female-only prison cell she is starts to reject extremism (reference). The English translation does not include the final section of the original, which describes Māyā’s re-assimilation into society through Sufi-inspired and humanistic Islamic practices (reference) (also in 1970 Hafez al-Asad Syria).
- Hājir ʿAbd al-Ṣamd (1989-, Egypt) – Ḥabībī Dāʿishī (‘My love is in Daesh’, 2015). This novel focusses on the abuses of Daesh / ISIS through the love story of Laylā and ʿAmr. Laylā is the Egyptian heroine of the novel. It starts by describing the comfortable life she has with her husband Maḥmūd. But when he suddenly divorces her, she becomes susceptive to recruitment by Deash, as she is socially ostracized. She travels to Syria where she meets ʿAmr, who unwillingly became member of Deash. Laylā and ʿAmr are eventually helped by Jabhat al-Nuṣrah in escaping the hardships of live under Deash.
Refrences:
In order of appearance
- Alex Duval Smith. 2010. “Life is More Beautiful Than Paradise by Khaled al-Berry trans. Humphrey Davis: How martyrdom seduces an ordinary boy.” www.independent.co.uk, 1 January 2010 https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/life-is-more-beautiful-than-paradise-by-khaled-al-berry-trans-humphrey-davies-1854571.html (last accessed 8 February 2019)
- Alon K. Raab. 2017. “Sport in the Middle East” in The Oxford Handbook of Sports History, eds. Robert Edelman and Wayne Wilson, Oxford Univesity Press: Oxford: 287-300, p. 296
- John C. Hawley. 2010. “Jihad as rite of passage: TaharDjaout’s ‘The Last Summer of Reason’ and Slimane Benaïssa’s ‘The last Night of a Damned Soul’.” Journal of Postcolonial Writing 46(3-4): 394-404, p. 399, 400
- Mohammed Senoussi and Ilhem Serir Mortad. 2019. “Plotting the Unspeakable in Khadra’s ‘Wolf Dreams’.” In Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction 60(4): 501-513, p. 502, 504, 511
- Anne-Marie McManus. 2014. “The Contemporary Syrian Novel in Translation.” Arab Studies Journal 22(1): 322-333, p. 324, 325