- Binsālim Ḥimmīsh (1948-, Morocco) – Majnūn al-Ḥukm (1989, English trans. The Theocrat, 2005). This novel centers the tyrannic Fatimid caliph al-Ḥākim bi Amr Allāh (996 – 1021) from when he started to rule the caliphate when he was only eleven years old (reference). Using historical records, the novel portrays the suffering that the caliph put his subordinates through, the relationship the caliph had with religion, and the challenge he faced by Abū Rakwā who led a rebellion against him (reference). It also talks about his sister Sitt al-Mulk, who eventually put an end to her brother’s rule.
- ʿIzz al-Dīn al-Madanī’s (1938-, Tunisia) play Thawrat Ṣāḥib al-Ḥimār (‘The donkey owner’s revolt’, 1970). This play retells the story of an Amazigh rebellion which started in the Tunisian city of al-Mahdiyyah in 937 against the reign of the second caliph of the Fatimid Caliphate, Al-Qa’im. It was led by Abū Yazīd, who used a donkey to spread anti-Fatimid sentiments (reference). The play was directed by ʿAlī bin ʿAyyād in 1970, and is part of a series of historical plays by al-Madanī that reflect on popular revolution and include Riḥlat al-Ḥallaj (Al-Hallaj’s Journey, 1973, see Religion and Sectarianism: Islam: Sufism) Dīwān al-Zanj (1973, English trans. The Zanj Revolution, 1995, see above under Abbasid period), and Mawlay al-Sulṭān al-Ḥasan al-Hafsī (Our Lord, Sultan al-Hasan the Hafsi, 1977) (reference).
- Shurūq ʿUṭayfah (?, Yemen) – Riḥlat al-Rūḥ (‘A Journey of a Soul’, 2019). In this novel, a young Yemeni man named Ādam, falls asleep in one of the public places in Old Sanaa and starts dreaming. The novel primarily takes part in the protagonist’s dream: one in which he travels to Fatimid Cairo and meets the tolerant, rational, and free citizens of that Caliphate, a context with diametrically opposes his real-life context of Yemen during the war (reference).
Refrences:
In order of appearance
- Adham Masʿūd al-Qāq. 2020. “Riwāyah Majnūn al-Ḥukm bayn Ijrām al-Ṭāghiyyah al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allah wa-Samū al-Thāʾir Abī Rakwā.” www.ahewar.org, 19 May 2020, https://www.ahewar.org/debat/show.art.asp?aid=678036 (last accessed 26 April 2023)
- Aḥmad al-Zāʾir Sālmī. 2015. “Al-Iḥtijāj Lughat al-Naṣṣ fī Masraḥ al-Madanī ‘Thawrat Ṣāḥib al-Ḥimār’ Namūthijan.” www.alfurja.com 4 June 2020 https://www.alfurja.com/?p=12440 (last accessed 14 November 2020)
- Roger Allen. 1998. The Arabic Literary Heritage: The Development of Its Genres and Criticism. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, p. 355
- Osama Ali, Fadhilah Gubari, Julia Gurol, and Abdelsalam al-Rubaidi. 2022. “Narratives of (In)Justice in Contemporary Yemeni Novels: Representations of Socio-Political Practices and Normative Constructions.” CARPO Study no. 11, 22 March 2022, p. 6 (retrieved from https://carpo-bonn.org/en/narratives-of-injustice-in-contemporary-yemeni-novels/ 6 May 2023)