- Walīd Dammāj (1973-, Yemen) – Abū Ṣuhayb al-ʿIzzī (Abu Suhayb al-Izzi, 2019). Abu Suhayb al-Izzi is accused in Yemen of being a member of Al-Qaeda, as his name is identical of an actual member of the terrorist organization (reference). He is imprisoned, and the novel describes is experiences as he meets different people: from Salafists to leftists, and from Ahias to Isahis to Zaydis.
- Nabīhah al-ʿĪysī (1972-, Tunisia) – Mirāyā al-Ghiyāb (‘Mirrors of abscence’, 2016). A Tunisian mother, Āminah, discovers her daughter travelled to Syria to join the war (reference). She does everything possible to get her back and cooperates with a journalist who searches for her in Raqqa before attempting to go to Syria herself. The novel won the Tunisian Comar d’Or prize in 2016 together with the novel Tūjān (‘Tujan’, 2016) by Āminah al-Ramīlī (?, Tunisia).
- Baya Gacemi (1952-, Algeria) – Moi, Nadia, femme d’un émir du GIA (1998, English trans. I, Nadia, Wife of a Terrorist 2006). This autobiography describes a 16-year-old Algerian girl who marries a local hooligan who turns into a leader in the Algerian Armed Islamic Group (GIA). This Islamist group organized several terrorist attacks following the 1992 election. When her husband is forced into hiding, the pregnant Nadia is denied shelter by her family who fear the government and resent to the GIA.
- Fawwāz Ḥaddād (1947-, Syria) – Junūd Allah (‘God’s soldiers’, 2011). A father, an unnamed character in his 50s who has participated in leftist demonstrations against the Syrian government, travels to Iraq to look for his son, Sāmī, who became an important leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. But soon after entering the country with a false passport, he is captured and tortured, only to discover that he will not find his son back the way he dreamed of doing.
- Khawlah Ḥamdī (1984-, Tunisia) – Ghurbah al-Yāsmīn (‘Yasmine’s Exile’, 2015). This novel depicts the discrimination and accusations of terrorism that three Muslims living in France face (see further description in W: Outside of the Arab World: Europe: France).
- Tahar Djaout (1954 – 1993, Algeria) – Le dernier été de la raison (1999, English trans. The Last Summer of Reason, 2001). This novel, which was published posthumously, describes the downfall of its protagonist, a bookstore owner, at the hands of a radical, religious-political tyranny. As his town is taken over by Islamists, he becomes isolated, with great literature being his only comfort as he refuses to abandon his liberal political beliefs (reference). A critic of Islamic fundamentalism, Djaout was assassinated in 1993 by Islamist extremists.
- Nabīl Sulaymān (1945-, Syria) – Layla al-Ālim (‘Night of the world’, ?). The protagonist of this novel, professor Munīb, sees all the dreams of the Syrian revolution turning into a nightmare. As his hometown Raqqa falls into the hands of ISIS, he reflects on the past and present of his country through stories of friendships with people from different backgrounds. But the novel is not all about destruction, as Munīb’s relationship with his fiancé shows the power of love, and his friendship with Kurds is a testimony to a peaceful coexistence between cultures (reference) (also in 2011 Syrian Uprisings and Civil War).
- Aḥmad Ṭarāwinah (1969-, Jordan) – Khubz wa Shāy: Sīrah Abū Wiʾām al-Karkī (‘Bread and water: biography of Abu Wiam al-Karaki’, 2016). Set in Jordan, this novel portrays poverty, as its characters search cemeteries to find something worth selling. Poverty shapes the lives of the two Jordanian brothers, Aḥmad and Khālid, and pushes the former to join an Islamic terrorist organization, while Khālid joins the Jordanian army to fight against Islamic extremists (reference). Both brothers seek fortune but chose different roads that eventually lead them to oppose each other.
Refrences:
In order of appearance
- 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. 7 (retrieved from https://carpo-bonn.org/en/narratives-of-injustice-in-contemporary-yemeni-novels/ (last accesed 6 May 2023)
- Khamīs bin Barīk. 2016. “Mirāyāh al-Ghiyāb.. Miḥnat Umm Tūnisiyyah Hajjarat Ibnatuha li-Sūriyah.” www.aljazeera.net, 6 June 2016 https://www.aljazeera.net/news/cultureandart/2016/6/6/%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%8A%D8%A7-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%BA%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%86%D8%A9-%D8%A3%D9%85-%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%86%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%87%D8%AC%D9%91%D8%B1%D8%AA (last accessed 24 February 2017)
- John C. Hawley. 2010. “Jihad as rite of passage: Tahar Djaout’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. 395
- Nizār al-Farāwī. 2016. “‘Layl al-Ālim’ li-Nabīl Sulaymān.. Qiṣṣa Kābūs Sūrī.” www.aljazeera.net, 23 January 2016 https://www.aljazeera.net/news/cultureandart/2016/1/23/%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85-%D9%84%D9%86%D8%A8%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%B3%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%82%D8%B5%D8%A9-%D9%83%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%B3-%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A (last accessed 26 October 2021)
- ʿAmād al-Damūr. 2016. “Al-Khiṭāb al-Riwāʾī fī ‘Khubz wa Shāy’ li-Aḥmad Ṭarāwinah.” www.alrai.com, 19 August 2016, https://alrai.com/article/1002466/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%A3%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AB%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%81%D9%8A/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AE%D8%B7%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%AE%D8%A8%D8%B2-%D9%88%D8%B4%D8%A7%D9%8A-%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B7%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%88%D9%86%D8%A9 (last accessed 30 November 2021)