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"The Theocrat" takes as its subject one of Arab and Islamic
history's most perplexing figures, al-Hakim bi-Amr Illah ('the
ruler by order of God'), the Fatimid caliph who ruled Egypt during
the tenth century and whose career was a direct reflection of both
the tensions within the Islamic dominions as a whole and of the
conflicts within his own mind. In this remarkable novel, Bensalem
Himmich explores these tensions and conflicts and their disastrous
consequences on an individual ruler and on his people. Himmich does
not spare his readers the full horror and tragedy of al-Hakim's
reign, but in employing a variety of textual styles-including
quotations from some of the best-known medieval Arab historians;
vivid historical narratives; a series of extraordinary decrees
issued by the caliph; and, most remarkably, the inspirational
utterances of al-Hakim during his ecstatic visions, recorded by his
devotees and subsequently a basis for the foundation of the Druze
community-he succeeds brilliantly in painting a portrait of a
character whose sheer unpredictability throws into relief the
qualities of those who find themselves forced to cajole, confront,
or oppose him.
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My Torturess (Paperback)
Bensalem Himmich; Translated by Roger Allen
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R546
R456
Discovery Miles 4 560
Save R90 (16%)
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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In this harrowing novel, a young Moroccan bookseller is falsely
accused of being involved in jihadist activities. Drugged and
carried off the street, Hamuda is “extraordinarily rendered” to
a prison camp in an unknown location where he is interrogated and
subjected to various methods of torture. Narrated through the voice
of the young prisoner, the novel unfolds in Hamuda’s attempt to
record his experience once he is finally released after six years
in captivity. He paints an unforgettable portrait of his captors’
brutality and the terrifying methods of his primary interrogator, a
French woman known as Mama Ghula. With a lucid style, Himmich
delivers a visceral tale that explores the moral depths to which
humanity is capable of descending and the limits of what the soul
can endure.
Award-winning novelist Bensalem Himmich's third novel to be
translated into English is a vertiginous exploration of one of
Islam's most radical thinkers, the Sufi philosopher Ibn Sab'in.
Born in Spain, he was forced to immigrate to Africa because of his
controversial views. Later expelled from Egypt, Ibn Sab'in made his
way to Mecca, where he spent his final years. Himmich follows the
philosopher's journey, outlining an array of characters he meets
along the way who usher in debates of identity and personal
responsibility through their interactions and relationships with
Ibn Sab'in. Set against the backdrop of a politically charged
thirteenth-century Islamic world, Himmich's novel is a rich blend
of fact and imagination that re-creates the intellectual debates of
the time. As the culture of prosperity and tradition was giving way
to the chaos created by political and social instability, many
Arabs, as Ibn Sab'in does in the novel, turned inward toward a
spiritual search for meaning. In his fictional portrait of Ibn
Sab'in, Himmich succeeds in creating a character, with his many
virtues and flaws, to whom all readers can relate.
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