Haidar Haidar ( ar, حيدر حيدر, born 1936 in
Husayn al-Baher
Husayn al-Baher ( ar, حصين البحر, also spelled Husain al-Bahr or Hussein al-Baher) is a village in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Tartus Governorate, located north of Tartus. Nearby localities include Maten al-Sahel to t ...
) is a
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
n writer and
novelist
A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...
.
His novel ''Walimah li A'ashab al-Bahr'' was banned in several Arab countries, and even resulted in a belated angry reaction from the clerics of
Al-Azhar University
, image = جامعة_الأزهر_بالقاهرة.jpg
, image_size = 250
, caption = Al-Azhar University portal
, motto =
, established =
*970/972 first foundat ...
upon reprinting in Egypt in the year 2000. The clerics issued a
Fatwa
A fatwā ( ; ar, فتوى; plural ''fatāwā'' ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (''sharia'') given by a qualified '' Faqih'' (Islamic jurist) in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist i ...
banning the novel, and accused Haidar of
heresy
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...
and offending
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
.
Al-Azhar University
, image = جامعة_الأزهر_بالقاهرة.jpg
, image_size = 250
, caption = Al-Azhar University portal
, motto =
, established =
*970/972 first foundat ...
students staged huge protests against the novel, that eventually led to its confiscation.
Cairo book protesters released
BBC 12 May 2000
Works
Novels
* Al-Fahd ( ar, الفهد, lit=The Cheetah), 1968
* Az-Zaman al-Muhish ( ar, الزمن الموحش, lit=The Desolate Time), 1973
* Walimah li A'ashab al-Bahr ( ar, وليمة لأعشاب البحر, lit=A Feast for the Seaweeds) 1983
* Maraya an-Nar ( ar, مرايا النار, lit=The Mirrors of Fire)'', 1992''
* Shumous al-Ghajar ( ar, شموس الغجر, lit=The Suns of Gypsies), 1996
* Haql Urjuwan ( ar, حقل أرجوان, lit=A Field of Purple), 2000
* Marathi al-Ayyam ( ar, مراثي الأيام, lit=The Elegies of Days), 2001
Short stories
* Hakaya an-Nawrass al-Muhajir ( ar, حكايا النورس المهاجر, lit=Tales of the Migrating Seagull), 1968
* Al-Wamdh ( ar, الومض, lit=The Flash), 1970
* Al-Faiadhan ( ar, الفيضان, lit=The Flood), 1975
* Al-Wu'ul ( ar, الوعول, lit=The Ibecis), 1978
* At-Tamawujat ( ar, التموجات, lit=The Ripples), 1982
* Ghasaq al-Aalihah ( ar, غسق الآلهة, lit=The Dusk of Gods), 1994
Other works
* Capucci ( ar, كبوتشي, lit=biography of Capucci), 1978
* Awraq al-Manfa ( ar, أوراق المنفى, lit=Exile Papers), 1993
* Olumona ( ar, علومنا, lit=Our Sciences)
References
Haidar Haidar’s ‘Banquet for Seaweed’ Attempts Balancing Act
MAHMOUD SAEED. Al Jadid, Vol. 6, no. 31 (Spring 2000)
Living people
Syrian novelists
1936 births
Syrian Alawites
People from Tartus
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