- Wāsīnī al-Arʿaj (1954-, Algeria) – Ṭawq al-Yāsmīn (‘Jasmine annular’, 2003). The novel centers on two love stories in Damascus. The first is between Wāsīnī and the Maryam, both Algerian, which ends with Maryam’s maternal death during the birth of her daughter Sārāh. The second love story is between the Algerian Muslim ʿAīd and the Syrian Christian Sīlfiyā. This story also ends with death: that of ʿAīd caused by alcohol. Al-Arʿaj bases his descriptions on letters, memoires, and refers to and quotes from Ibn ʿArabī (note). The annular in title of the novel refers to the collar of the dove in the work of Ibn Ḥazm al-Andalusī, while ‘jasmine’ refers to the sweet-smelling tree near every house in Damascus.
- Jamāl al-Ghīṭānī (1945 – 2015, Egypt) – Kitāb al-Tajalliyāt (1983-86 English trans. Book of Epiphanies, 2012). Containing three volumes, the novel uses Ibn ʿArabī’s al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya and Kitāb al-Isrā Ilā Maqām al-Asrā as sources for a work that mingles personal and mystical elements with social and political criticism of contemporary Egypt (reference). In the novel, the protagonist goes through different spiritual phases similar to those of Sufis when he is granted the opportunity to witness life with the help of the Diwan, a mythical-mystical council that oversees world events. This happens after the narrator returns from a long trip abroad and learns that his father has passed away in his absence.
- Muḥammad Hasan ʿAlwān (1979-, Saudi Arabia) – Mawt Saghīr (2016, English trans. Ibn Arabi’s Small Death, 2022). Fictional biography of Ibn ʿArabī from his birth in Andalusia in 1165, to his death in Damascus in 1240. It shows Ibn ʿArabi’s travels and attempts to pass the Sūfi stations (maqām) of enlightenment. During this quest, bin ʿArabī travels to Mecca where he falls in love with Nithām, for whom he writes a diwān titled Turjumān al-Ashwāq (expressing desires). He dies without discovering the 4 stations (reference). This novel won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) in 2017.
Refrences:
In order of appearance
- EAL, p. 253
- Amīnah Mustār. 2010. “Al-Buniyyah al-Ṣufiyyah fī Riwāyah ‘Kitāb al-Tajalliyāt, al-Asfār al-Thalātah’ li-Jamāl al-Ghitānī. Qirāʾah Tanāṣiyyah.” Insāniyāt / Insaniyat (50): 59-70. Retrieved through https://journals.openedition.org/insaniyat/5126?gathStatIcon=true&lang=ar (last accessed 27 November 2023)
- Mubārak al-Khālidi. 2017. “al-Taqaniyya al-Sardiyya wa al-Ṣawt ghayr al-Ṭabīʿī fī ‘Mawt Saghīr’.” www.alfaisalmag.com, 30 June 2017, https://www.alfaisalmag.com/?p=5611 (last accessed 17 November 2021)