phoenixzeze
Reader
Hello Everyone, It's been a quite while since I last logged into here, but it is always nice to be back (for me at least).
When I logged in, I saw a yellow line telling me to start writing about about a book that I have recently read. Well, It's been a quite while as well that I read anything because I was busy being a Mom (Yes, in two year I had two babies, two boys and you can imagine how busy and crazy it gets.)
That last book I remember reading (and actually enjoying) is Al-Nabati by the famous Egyptian writer Youssef Zeidan (writer of the Arabic Booker Prize Winning Novel Azazel).
The Book is plotted and narrated by a girl (an Arab Christian girl) living in Egypt in the era before Islam, and while Islam was actually starting to emerge in Mecca and spread in the Arab World. The neutral girl, who is forced to marry a man she doesn't know before only because she is aging and afraid to be called a spinster, narrates her journey to the area where her husband lives and the life she spends over there before the Muslims start their mission in spreading their message of Islam and thus having to start a war wherever they go. The title name is actually the name of a man who is the brother of the husband. It literally means a person who is from Al-Petra of Jordan. He is the person who criticizes the coming religion, and claims to be the real nabi (messenger of God). His Sufism and love for life in all of its forms fascinates Mariam , the narrator, and she falls in love with him and lives his spirituality and special world. Finally, She is forced to travel with her family to avoid the war expected to happen between the muslims and the natives. Her husband decides to become a muslim, and the story ends leaving Mariam , and the reader, wondering which way to go : back to Al-Nabati and his amazing world and love, or leave with her husband who has already married another woman and live a safe life as the "old wife".
The Novel, presents Islam as a coming invader, but it is actually neutral about the identity of Mohammad, the Muslim Nabi. Opinions vary, However, about Al-Nabati, is he the messenger of God that the Christian Books talk about? or is he the person later adopted by Mohammad and claimed to be his cousin (Ali Bin Abi Taleb), since many history books talk about Ali as a man found in the Egyptian Desert and that he was actually a sufi man who was later adopted by Mohammad. Many Muslims believe that if Islam was to be founded, Mohammad wasn't the chosen one (for example , The Durzi sect talks about someone who came after Mohammad and he was the Nabi). However, far from all the religious crap, this novel is really worth reading. The magic world that combines Al-Nabati and Mariam is worth reading about, and the way Mariam perceives the world from a post-generation point of view is also genuine and rarely found in Arabic Novels.
Strongly recommended.
Enjoy!
Youssef Ziedan
When I logged in, I saw a yellow line telling me to start writing about about a book that I have recently read. Well, It's been a quite while as well that I read anything because I was busy being a Mom (Yes, in two year I had two babies, two boys and you can imagine how busy and crazy it gets.)
That last book I remember reading (and actually enjoying) is Al-Nabati by the famous Egyptian writer Youssef Zeidan (writer of the Arabic Booker Prize Winning Novel Azazel).
The Book is plotted and narrated by a girl (an Arab Christian girl) living in Egypt in the era before Islam, and while Islam was actually starting to emerge in Mecca and spread in the Arab World. The neutral girl, who is forced to marry a man she doesn't know before only because she is aging and afraid to be called a spinster, narrates her journey to the area where her husband lives and the life she spends over there before the Muslims start their mission in spreading their message of Islam and thus having to start a war wherever they go. The title name is actually the name of a man who is the brother of the husband. It literally means a person who is from Al-Petra of Jordan. He is the person who criticizes the coming religion, and claims to be the real nabi (messenger of God). His Sufism and love for life in all of its forms fascinates Mariam , the narrator, and she falls in love with him and lives his spirituality and special world. Finally, She is forced to travel with her family to avoid the war expected to happen between the muslims and the natives. Her husband decides to become a muslim, and the story ends leaving Mariam , and the reader, wondering which way to go : back to Al-Nabati and his amazing world and love, or leave with her husband who has already married another woman and live a safe life as the "old wife".
The Novel, presents Islam as a coming invader, but it is actually neutral about the identity of Mohammad, the Muslim Nabi. Opinions vary, However, about Al-Nabati, is he the messenger of God that the Christian Books talk about? or is he the person later adopted by Mohammad and claimed to be his cousin (Ali Bin Abi Taleb), since many history books talk about Ali as a man found in the Egyptian Desert and that he was actually a sufi man who was later adopted by Mohammad. Many Muslims believe that if Islam was to be founded, Mohammad wasn't the chosen one (for example , The Durzi sect talks about someone who came after Mohammad and he was the Nabi). However, far from all the religious crap, this novel is really worth reading. The magic world that combines Al-Nabati and Mariam is worth reading about, and the way Mariam perceives the world from a post-generation point of view is also genuine and rarely found in Arabic Novels.
Strongly recommended.
Enjoy!
Youssef Ziedan