Novel
من مكة إلى هنا
Not translated into English
Sadeq al-Neihum · 1970
Synopsis
Mas'ud al-Tabbal, a poor Black fisherman who came from Benghazi in the time of Italian rule, has settled with his wife in Sousse, on the coast of Cyrenaica, in a village inhabited by families from Crete. The couple dream of going to Mecca one day; he would first like an engine for his boat, in order to sell his sea turtles to the village's Italian restaurant owner. But the imam declares the turtles sacred and accuses him of defying God; the village listens to him, and the fisherman refuses to be persuaded.
Context
The novel first appeared as a serial in the Benghazi newspaper al-Haqiqa, then in volume form in 1970, and caused a scandal. It is its author's first novel, in which he asks what the road from Mecca to this shore has done to Islam, which has become a mixture of the faith of its origins and the Mediterranean heritages of the place. Critics also read in it a reminder of the Senussi movement, born of the same need for reform. Two other novels followed, in 1973 and in 1984, in the same vein of allegory and satire.
Who it is for
A novel in Arabic, with no known French translation. A few points of reference on popular Islam and the society of Cyrenaica shed light on the story.
Prizes and reception
It is regarded as its author's first accomplished novel, and the debate it provoked still continues in Arab culture.