Georgetown Professor Explains Libyan Writer’s Inspiration

What do songs, silence and the heart have in common? All three pave the way to understanding the concept of unity of existence that runs through Libyan author Ibrahim al-Koni’s books as discussed by Associate Professor at SFS-Q Amira El-Zein at Georgetown’s CULP-IPOL seminar on February 21. Dr. El-Zein kept the Doha audience enraptured with her spiritual analysis of three of Al-Koni’s novels: The Bleeding of the Stone, The Seven Veils of Seth and Anubis.

A Libyan Tuareg writer whose work has earned him international standing and esteemed academic appreciation, Al-Koni’s books are primarily placed in a desert context, usually the sub-Saharan world, and his novels narrate the desert as a link and a vibrant blend of cultures and ethnicities. Translated into many languages, Al-Koni’s novels have been classified as post-modern, polyphonic, mysterious and mostly Sufi.

Dr. El-Zein explained to attendees her interpretation of Al-Koni’s work as Sufi-inspired and as expressing a quest for “unity of existence” or “unity and multiplicity,” also known as wahdat al-wujud. She gave vivid examples of illusory reality as presented by Al-Koni and also helped the audience understand the author’s emphasis on the interconnectedness of the human spirit to all forms of life including animals and nature, especially the desert.

Dr. El-Zein is known for her contribution to the recently released book Gulf Women, published by Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing. She is currently working on a book project on Gulf literature dealing especially with gender issues and globalization. Dr. El-Zein has authored several books including, Islam, Arabs, and the Intelligent World of the Jinn and is co-editor of Culture, Creativity and Exile. She is the author of more than a dozen articles and has published poetry in Arabic, French and English, including The Bedouins of Hell and The Jinn and Other Poems.