Abu Hurayrah, the protagonist of this novel, lives in Mecca in an environment where religion is a social setting for social relations and traditions. He invites his friend to come out on a trip with him, and on their first day, they see a girl and a boy dancing naked. Abu Hurayrah attempts to resist the seduction, returning to praying and family life in Mecca, but in the end, he decides to leave Mecca and take a journey into self exploration and pleasure.

The novel does not have a specific setting, except for Mecca, as imagined by the author. Each of the characters become an allegory or a social archetype. It is more of a philosophical novel, written over a period of ten years. The author took inspiration from the Arabic canon by composing twenty two tales narrated in various accounts. The novel resembles the way the Prophet Muhammad’s hadith are stylistically structured. Even the protagonist is named after the prophet’s companion Muhammad who documented many of his hadith.

Approximate number of pages: 209 p.

Foreign rights: contact publisher