The Journey Of Ibn Fattouma

First published in Arabic in 1983, this brief but powerful parable is presented as the journey of a traveller known as Ibn Fattouma. After being thwarted in marriage, he sets out with a caravan to explore the world. His ultimate destination is the land of Gebel, a country so distant and mysterious that no-one knows of anyone who has ever reached it and returned to tell the tale. His journey will encompass marriage and children, wars and imprisonment and the discovery that his religion, Islam, is regarded as heathen in many other lands. Always vulnerable to the winds of social and political change, it is a journey in search of something that remains intangible - the meaning of life.