Can we portray God? Can we judge our creator? Can we accuse Him for all the crimes that are happening in the world? Can we portray His messengers with their real characters without any disguises and set imaginary conversations between them? Can we question the idea of creation and the fact of having a “GOD” in the first place?

Well… the Egyptian feminist, activist, and writer “Nawal El Saadawi” did all that and more in her Play “الإله يقدم إستقالته فى إجتماع القمة” or “God Resigns in the Summit Meeting” that was published in Egypt through “Madbouli” publishing house in January 2007.

Although the basic idea in most of her writings is linking the liberation of women and the human rights with the liberation of the country in terms of cultural, social and political aspects. However, usually, when the name of Nawal El Saadawi comes into context, it is always related to being charged with heresy and contempt of religions, which eventually resulted in putting her name on the “Death Lists” of the extremist fundamentalist groups.

The interesting thing about banning El Saadawi’s book is that it was banned by her own publisher, “Madbouli” publishing house, after it was already published because its owner found the book of impropriety and insulation to God. Every single copy of the book was shredded, and even El Saadawi wasn’t given a copy of her own book. Hajj Mohamed Madbouli, owner and manager of the publishing house, who took that decision and kept the manuscript of the novel, said the decision was not political and that the police only witnessed the destruction of the copies but did not initially request it.

The book is in the form of a Play that does not depend on building a dramatic plot rather than a philosophical point of view through which the author comprised the endless debate between religion, politics, ethics, and women rights.

The play includes one chapter with four scenes; its plot is mainly conversations between ten characters: GOD, Moses, Jesus, Prophet Mohammed, Abraham, Eve, Virgin Mary, the devil, and a character with the name “بنت الله” or “daughter of God”, in addition to Radwan – the Paradise gate keeper who was envisaged by the writer as the Private Secretary of God.

By and large, the controversy during the novel’s plot comes in the form of floundering between opposite ideas to reflect the reality that the writer calls for its reformation, even if this overhaul is going to be through penetrating such sanctuaries and shaking its stability.

I have read the book several times during the few past days, thanks to Meto for providing me with its soft copy, and on a very personal note, I believe that Nawal El Saadawi’s imagination went way too far this time; crossing every red, blue and purple line.

All the best,

Rou…

On January 31, 2008

Do you know what the reasons of banning books are?  Religion, Sex, and Politics…?

Well, let me tell you that it is not always the case; in the Middle East, there are other reasons too…

In 2005, a firestorm occurred all across Kingdom of Saudi Arabia due to the publishing of a – shortly after, bestseller across much of the Middle East – book named “بنات الرياض” or “Girls of Riyadh” written by the young female Saudi author “Raja’a alSani’e” (23 years old back then). The novel was immediately banned all across the Kingdom for the sake of preserving the image of the Saudi people and avoiding the controversies it might cause within the Saudi community. However, black-market copies of the book circulated and created uproar not only across the Kingdom, but all over the Arab world due to its daring originality and inflammatory content.

The distinctiveness of its writing approach added a lot to the novel’s excitement, as it is based on a narrative structure that is subject to the voice of the narrator who tells stories of her friends – four upper class Saudi girls studying at the university in Riyadh, the Capital of Saudi Arabia: Sadeem, Qamrah, Lamees and Mashael – through emails sent via a yahoo group to the subscribers, recording the trials and tribulations of the young women and their successes and failures in love and life.

Written over a six-year period, the novel includes a mix of classical and colloquial Arabic and is peppered with transliterated English phrases. In addition, it – deliberately – uses an informal writing style, common in internet forums.

The title of the novel is full of irony as it was taken from a song by a famous Saudi singer*. Also, the email address of the group that the narrator used was called “سيرة و انفضحت” or “Memoirs Exposed” which is a twist on the name of a famous TV show called “سيرة و انفتحت” or “Memoirs Disclosed”.

Generally speaking, the novel is alive with lots of wittiness and laughs as the narrator commented on the events with her humorous style. For instance, she described how the girls danced in the wedding in a hilarious way along with the way women looked at each other with jealousy. She also described how men walked in their “ugly underwear” in their houses after marriage and made fun of that.  

Being an anonymous solo voice gave the narrator enough space to reveal and talk with verbosity about the different kinds of suppression that the Arabian women in general and Saudi women in particular are subjected to. Focusing on the opinions, situations and beliefs of women in the Saudi society, the novel fiercely exposed a section of the society that was previously hidden due to culture, traditions and religion.

All the best,

Rou…

On January 28, 2008 

* The song name is “يا بنات الرياض”, sung by “عبد المجيد عبد الله”.

There are different reasons for banning books in every part of the world, most of which are Religion, Sex, and Politics. However, the fact remains that in the Middle East and particularly the Islamic world the constraints applied on the three taboos that cause the banning of some books are stricter than any other culture, and even though the restraints on books with sexual content and politics are a bit loosen nowadays, yet those put on books crossing lines with religions are still applied strictly…

One of the most controversial novels in the history of the Arabic literature that was banned for decades for religious reasons was “أولاد حارتنا” or “Children of Gebelawi”, as better known in the western world, written by the Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006); the winner of the 1988 Noble prize for literature.

It was first written in 1959 and posted in Al-Ahram daily newspaper in serialized form, causing huge discordant in Egypt because of the close imitation to sacred symbols that it included. The idea of publishing the novel in the form of a book was fiercely fought from all religious authorities in Egypt, and even though it was published in Lebanon in 1962, the novel was banned throughout the Arab world including Egypt, except for Lebanon, until December 2006 when “Dar el Shorouk” publishing house, which bought exclusive rights to print Mahfouz’s works in Arabic in 2000, published it in Egypt after 47 years of its writing and 4 months of Mahfouz’s death. It is well worth mentioning that Mahfouz had refused several attempts from publishers to issue his book contrary to Al-Azhar’s wishes in earlier years, and that until this moment – even after its publication – the novel was not officially endorsed from Al-Azhar, which is the highest Islamic religious authority in Egypt.

The conflict-ridden this novel caused was pertaining to how far the use of allegorical portrayal with sacred religious symbols such as God and his messengers can be tolerable, and whether this should be considered blasphemy or just pure literature…?

The plot of the novel imitates four divine stories in four successive sections of the book. The first section starts with “Gebelawi”, representing God and the idea of religion in general, who built a mansion described as an oasis in the middle of desert, which, supposedly, symbolizes Paradise, then starts emulating the story of Adam & Eve and their expel from Heaven as a result of Satan’s temptations, all the way till the story of Cain and Abel. Followed by three consecutive sections representing the stories of the three messengers of the Abrahamic religions; Judaism, Christianity, and Islam respectively symbolized through average Egyptians living in an alley in Cairo . Finally, in the fifth section of the book comes “Arafa”; which is a name derived from the Arabic verb “عرف” which literally means “Know”, symbolizing science and pointing up the eternal conflict between science and religion. 

Although Mahfouz stated more than once that the novel is merely an illustration of a typical Egyptian alley, yet it is very noticeable that even the names he chose for his characters were related to the real religious symbols in some way or another, whether by the name rhyming, such as (Adam – Adham), (Satan/Iblees – Idrees), and (Gabriel/Gebreel – Qandeel), or by the meaning such as (Moses – Gabal); which literally means “Mountain” to symbolize “Moses’ Mountain”, and (Jesus – Refa’a); which is derived from the Arabic verb “رفع” that literally means “Raised” referring to the Quranic idiom that God has raised Jesus to Heavens, or by a name derived from the real characters’ names such as (Muhammad – Qassem); which is basically one of Prophet Muhammed’s names, and (Abu Bakr as-Sadiq‎ – Sadek). 

Even though the novel was mainly inspired by the stories of the prophets, but the purpose of it was not to narrate their lives in a fictional style. However, it was merely desired to benefit from their legends in portraying the humanitarian community of values that the prophets sought to achieve, such as justice and truth.

All the best,

Rou…

On January 27, 2008