Turki al-Hamad
Encyclopedia
Turki al-Hamad is a Saudi-Arabian political analyst, journalist, and novelist, best known for his trilogy about the coming-of-age of Hisham al-Abir, a Saudi Arabian teenager, the first installment of which, Adama, was published in 1998. Although banned in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain
, and Kuwait
, the Arabic edition of the trilogy — called in Arabic Atyaf al-Aziqah al-Mahjurah (Phantoms of the Deserted Alley) — has sold 20,000 copies.
The novels explore the issues of sexuality
, underground political movements, scientific truth
, rationalism
, and religious
freedom against the backdrop of the late 1960s and early 1970s, a volatile period in Saudi Arabia, sandwiched between the 1967 Six Day War and the 1973 oil boom. Hamad is quoted on the cover of one of his novels: "Where I live there are three taboo
s: religion, politics and sex. It is forbidden to speak about these. I wrote this trilogy to get things moving." http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=4&article_id=11756
As a result of his work, four fatwa
s have been issued against him by the country's religious clerics, and he has been named as an apostate in a statement by al-Qaeda
. http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/article/0,13005,901050117-1015836,00.html He continues nevertheless to live in Riyadh
, calling the fatwas "more of a nuisance than anything else," according to the Daily Star. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=4&article_id=11756
to a family of merchants that originated from Buraydah, Qasim province in Saudi Arabia
. The family moved when he was a child to Dammam
in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia. He later moved to the United States
, where he obtained his Ph.D.
from the University of Southern California
, later returning to Riyadh
to teach political science. He retired in 1995 to take up writing full-time.
, who succeeded to the throne of Saudi Arabia in August 2005, offered al-Hamad bodyguards for his protection.
The next three were issued after the publication of the third in the trilogy, Karadib, in which the main character wonders whether God
and the devil
are the same thing, and which the clerics regarded as heresy
. As a result, he was threatened by the mutaween
by e-mail, and accused of apostacy by al-Qaeda
. http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/article/0,13005,901050117-1015836,00.html One fatwa was withdrawn in 2003 by Sheikh Ali Al-Khudair
, a well-known Saudi scholar. http://www.ain-al-yaqeen.com/issues/20031128/feat6en.htm Karadib will be published in English in 2006.
Al-Hamad's latest novel, The Winds of Paradise, is about the September 11, 2001 attacks
and was published in Arabic in 2005. It has been described as a "thinly disguised sketch of the lives of four of the hijackers." http://www.metransparent.com/texts/neil_macfarquhar_saudi_reformers_seeking_rights_paying_a_price.htm
He has elsewhere called 9/11 the "consequence of a chronic disease in the Arab psyche," a "culture of illusion
":
Bahrain
' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...
, and Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
, the Arabic edition of the trilogy — called in Arabic Atyaf al-Aziqah al-Mahjurah (Phantoms of the Deserted Alley) — has sold 20,000 copies.
The novels explore the issues of sexuality
Human sexuality
Human sexuality is the awareness of gender differences, and the capacity to have erotic experiences and responses. Human sexuality can also be described as the way someone is sexually attracted to another person whether it is to opposite sexes , to the same sex , to either sexes , or not being...
, underground political movements, scientific truth
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
, rationalism
Rationalism
In epistemology and in its modern sense, rationalism is "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification" . In more technical terms, it is a method or a theory "in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive"...
, and religious
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
freedom against the backdrop of the late 1960s and early 1970s, a volatile period in Saudi Arabia, sandwiched between the 1967 Six Day War and the 1973 oil boom. Hamad is quoted on the cover of one of his novels: "Where I live there are three taboo
Taboo
A taboo is a strong social prohibition relating to any area of human activity or social custom that is sacred and or forbidden based on moral judgment, religious beliefs and or scientific consensus. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society...
s: religion, politics and sex. It is forbidden to speak about these. I wrote this trilogy to get things moving." http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=4&article_id=11756
As a result of his work, four fatwa
Fatwa
A fatwā in the Islamic faith is a juristic ruling concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar. In Sunni Islam any fatwā is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as binding, depending on his or her relation to the scholar. The person who issues a fatwā...
s have been issued against him by the country's religious clerics, and he has been named as an apostate in a statement by al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
. http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/article/0,13005,901050117-1015836,00.html He continues nevertheless to live in Riyadh
Riyadh
Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of Riyadh Province, and belongs to the historical regions of Najd and Al-Yamama. It is situated in the center of the Arabian Peninsula on a large plateau, and is home to 5,254,560 people, and the urban center of a...
, calling the fatwas "more of a nuisance than anything else," according to the Daily Star. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=4&article_id=11756
Early life
Al-Hamad was born in JordanJordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
to a family of merchants that originated from Buraydah, Qasim province in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
. The family moved when he was a child to Dammam
Dammam
Dammam is the capital of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, the most oil-rich region in the world. The judicial and administrative bodies of the province and several government departments are located in the city. Dammam is the largest city in the Eastern Province and third largest in Saudi...
in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia. He later moved to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, where he obtained his Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
from the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
, later returning to Riyadh
Riyadh
Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of Riyadh Province, and belongs to the historical regions of Najd and Al-Yamama. It is situated in the center of the Arabian Peninsula on a large plateau, and is home to 5,254,560 people, and the urban center of a...
to teach political science. He retired in 1995 to take up writing full-time.
His novels and the response
After the first of four fatwas was issued in 1999, Crown Prince AbdullahAbdullah of Saudi Arabia
Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, is the King of Saudi Arabia. He succeeded to the throne on 1 August 2005 upon the death of his half-brother, King Fahd. When Crown Prince, he governed Saudi Arabia as regent from 1998 to 2005...
, who succeeded to the throne of Saudi Arabia in August 2005, offered al-Hamad bodyguards for his protection.
The next three were issued after the publication of the third in the trilogy, Karadib, in which the main character wonders whether God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
and the devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
are the same thing, and which the clerics regarded as heresy
Heresy
Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...
. As a result, he was threatened by the mutaween
Mutaween
The word mutaween most literally means "volunteers" in the Arabic language, and is commonly used as a casual term for the government-authorized or government-recognized religious police of Saudi Arabia....
by e-mail, and accused of apostacy by al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
. http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/article/0,13005,901050117-1015836,00.html One fatwa was withdrawn in 2003 by Sheikh Ali Al-Khudair
Sheikh Ali Al-Khudair
Sheikh Ali al-Khudair , also known as Sheikh Ali bin al-Khudair, or Ali bin al-Khudayr is a well-known and influential Saudi Arabian cleric and scholar. He was arrested in 2003.-Before his 2003 arrest:...
, a well-known Saudi scholar. http://www.ain-al-yaqeen.com/issues/20031128/feat6en.htm Karadib will be published in English in 2006.
Al-Hamad's latest novel, The Winds of Paradise, is about the September 11, 2001 attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
and was published in Arabic in 2005. It has been described as a "thinly disguised sketch of the lives of four of the hijackers." http://www.metransparent.com/texts/neil_macfarquhar_saudi_reformers_seeking_rights_paying_a_price.htm
He has elsewhere called 9/11 the "consequence of a chronic disease in the Arab psyche," a "culture of illusion
Illusion
An illusion is a distortion of the senses, revealing how the brain normally organizes and interprets sensory stimulation. While illusions distort reality, they are generally shared by most people....
":
It is an illusion when we think that all the world is against us, and [an] illusion when we think that there will not be any existence for us without the perishing of the others. It is illusion when we have either to get the best for ourselves or we have to die. According to this logic either we possess all the rain or let the rain to be stopped if we were thirsty. It is also an illusion if we think that the past is the route to the future and it is illusion if we think that the world without us will not be able to survive; for this reason they compete against each other to exploit us like hyenaHyenaHyenas or Hyaenas are the animals of the family Hyaenidae of suborder feliforms of the Carnivora. It is the fourth smallest biological family in the Carnivora , and one of the smallest in the mammalia...
s struggling for their prey. The greater illusion is that we are GodGodGod is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
's angelAngelAngels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
s on His land and all the rest of the world are devilDevilThe Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
s. http://www.arabnews.com/9-11/?article=18&part=2
External links
- Rawafed: documentary interview Turki al-Hamad "part one". Alarabiya.net
- Rawafed: documentary interview Turki al-Hamad "part two". Alarabiya.net
Further reading
- Review of Adama by Mary Whipple, DesiJournal, October 24, 2003
- Excerpts from an interview with al-Hamad, first broadcast on Al-Arabiya, Middle East Media Research Institute, August 25, 2004
- Will the Gulf Monarchies Work Together? by Turki al-Hamad, The Middle East Quarterly, March 1997
- Letter to President Bush by Turki al-Hamad, The Palestine File, Christmas 2002
- Kingdom of contradictions by Dudley Althaus, Houston Chronicle, Dec. 17, 2004
- Excerpts from an interview with al-Hamad, first broadcast on Al-Arabiya, Middle East Media Research Institute, February 15 and 22, 2008