Ben Salem Himmich (born in 1948 in Meknes

Meknes

Meknes is a city in northern Morocco, located from the capital Rabat and from Fes. It is served by the A2 expressway between those two cities and by the corresponding railway. Meknes was the capital of Morocco under the reign of Moulay Ismail , before it was relocated to Marrakech. The...

) is a novelist, poet and philosopher who teaches at the Mohammed V University

Mohammed V University

Mohammed V University was founded in 1957 under a royal decree . It is the first modern university in Morocco.The university is named after Mohammed V d. 1961, the former King of Morocco. In 1993, it was divided into two independent universities:* Mohammed V University at Agdal* Mohammed V...

, Rabat

Rabat

Rabat , is the capital and third largest city of the Kingdom of Morocco with a population of approximately 650,000...

 in Morocco.

He has published 26 books, both literary and scientific works, in Arabic and French. As a liberal philosopher, Himmich is concerned with matters including ideological education in Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

. He advocates the division of church and state.

His work deals with the problems and conflicts with which Morocco

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

 is faced today.

Books

• De la formation idéologique en Islam
• Le Calife de l'épouvante (Le serpent à plumes)
• The Polymath, ed.: American University in Cairo
• Au pays de nos crises

Awards

• Bensalem Himmich won the prize of the critics (1990) for his novel le fou du pouvoir, a book elected by the Arab union of writers as one of the hundred best books of the 20th century.
• He won the prize Charika of the Arab culture of jury composed of UNESCO and well known literary personalities.
• Ben Salem Himmich won the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature
  Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature
  The Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature is a literary award for Arabic literature. It is given to the best contemporary novel written in Arabic, but not available in English translation. The winning book is then translated into English, and published by American University in Cairo Press...
  
   for his book Al-'Allamah (2001; The Polymath, a book about the great Arab writer Ibn Khaldoun) (The award was established in 1996 and awarded for the best contemporary novel published in Arabic. The winning work is translated into English and published in Cairo, London, and New York.)