- ʿAbdallah Khalīfah (1948-, Bahrain) – Al-Aqlaf (‘The uncircumcised’, 2002). This novel focuses on the conflict between religious doctrines in the Gulf and the tensions brought to the region by foreign colonial forces. The author refers to the missionary missions that spread their religion and influence through humanitarian work (reference). Hero of the novel is Yaḥīy, who falls in love with the American nurse Mīrī. The novel displays the development of their romantic relationship in a context of power struggles and a changing social climate (also in L: Love, Lust, and Relationships: Inter- religious and ethnic (romantic) relationships: Between Muslims and Christians).
- Suhayl Idrīss (1925 – 2008, Lebanon) – Al-Khandaq al-Ghamīq (‘The deep trench’, 1958). This autobiographical novel chronicles the revolt of a young Muslim living in a village, Sāmī, against his religious training and background and his father, Fawzī (reference). Fawzī, a patriarch, represents the older and more traditional values based on religion while the more secular values of Lebanese society are represented through his children (reference).
- ʿAbd al-Ḥakīm Qāsim’s (1934 – 1990, Egypt) – Ayyām al-Insān al-Sabʿa (1969, English trans. The Seven Days of Men, 1989). The novel traces a boy’s progressive alienation from the traditional world of his family, steeped in mystic religion and Islamic folklore (reference). This alienation occurs during his education in two different cities where he learns to look at his family life as a city dweller. Yet, however much he disagrees with them intellectually, he is still bound to them because of their love and friendship in a world which he finds more peaceful that the city-harshness (reference) (also in F: Family Life: Children and Adolescents: Bildungsroman and R: Religion and Sectarianism: Islam: Sufism).
Refrences:
In order of appearance
- Faysal ʿAbd al-Ḥassan. 2007. “Al-Aqlaf li-ʿAballah Khalīfah: Ḥāḍir wa Māḍī al-Kutub al-Jinsī wa al-Taṭaruf al-Dīnī fī Duwal al-Khalīj.” www.alquds.co.uk, 1 March 2007, https://www.alquds.co.uk/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%82%D9%84%D9%81-%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A8%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%84%D9%87-%D8%AE%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%81%D8%A9-%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%B6%D8%B1-%D9%88%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B6%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D8%A8/ (last accessed 6 July 2023)
- Muḥammad Qarāsh. 2015. “Ṣirāʿa al-Qadīm wa al-Jadīd fī Riwāyat ‘al-Khandaq al-Ghamīq’ li-Suhayl Idrīss: Dirāsah fī al-Ishkāl wa al-Bunā al-Sardiyyah.” Dirāsāt wa Abḥāth 7(20): 160-186, p. 164, 165
- Roger Allen. 1992. “The Mature Arabic Novel Outside Egypt.” in Modern Arabic Literature. eds. Muhammad Mustafa Badawi. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 193-223, p. 210
- EAL, p. 633-4
- Hilary Kilpatrick. 1992. “The Egyptian novel from Zaynab to 1980.” In Modern Arabic Literature. eds. Muhammad Mustafa Badawi. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 223-270, p. 262-3