Zabibah and the King
Encyclopedia
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
in 2000, that was purportedly written by Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
. The CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
believes that it was written by ghostwriter
Ghostwriter
A ghostwriter is a professional writer who is paid to write books, articles, stories, reports, or other texts that are officially credited to another person. Celebrities, executives, and political leaders often hire ghostwriters to draft or edit autobiographies, magazine articles, or other written...
s with the direct influence of Hussein.
Characters
- Arab — The protagonist of the story, the novel follows 'Arab as he becomes king and rules over Iraq. The character represents Saddam Hussein.
- Zabibah — A poor woman in an unhappy marriage, she is the love interest of 'Arab. Zabibah represents the people of Iraq.
- Zabibah's husband — Zabibah's cruel, unnamed husband. The character symbolizes the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
- Hezkel — An emirEmirEmir , meaning "commander", "general", or "prince"; also transliterated as Amir, Aamir or Ameer) is a title of high office, used throughout the Muslim world...
and an antagonist to 'Arab. Zabibah lives in a small hut next to Hezkel's palace. Hezkel represents IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
.
- Shamil — Another enemy of 'Arab, Shamil represents both Jews and merchantMerchantA merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...
s.
- Nuri Chalabi — An antagonist to 'Arab and a feudal lord. Both the character and the name are a reference to Ahmad Chalabi.
Plot summary
The plot is a love story about a powerful ruler of medieval IraqIraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and a beautiful commoner girl named Zabibah. Zabibah's husband is a cruel and unloving man who rapes her. The book is set in 7th or 8th century Tikrit
Tikrit
Tikrit is a town in Iraq, located 140 km northwest of Baghdad on the Tigris river . The town, with an estimated population in 2002 of about 260,000 is the administrative center of the Salah ad Din Governorate.-Ancient times:...
, Hussein's home town. Although the book is on the surface a romance novel
Romance novel
The romance novel is a literary genre developed in Western culture, mainly in English-speaking countries. Novels in this genre place their primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Through the late...
, it is (and was intended to be read as) an allegory
Allegory
Allegory is a demonstrative form of representation explaining meaning other than the words that are spoken. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation...
. The hero is Hussein and Zabibah represents the Iraqi people. The vicious husband is the United States and his rape of Zabibah represents the U.S. invasion of Iraq at the end of the Persian Gulf war.
Distribution
The book was a best-seller in Iraq when it was originally published for 1,500 Iraqi dinarIraqi dinar
The dinar is the currency of Iraq. It is issued by the Central Bank of Iraq and is subdivided into 1,000 fils , although inflation has rendered the fils obsolete.-History:...
s (less than USD$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
1.00). It is estimated that over one million copies were sold. Royalties, according to the back cover, were to go to "the poor, the orphans, the miserable, the needy, and [other] charities". The Iraqi publishers appropriated four paintings of Canadian artist Jonathon Earl Bowser, to illustrate the novel, putting his "The Awakening" on the cover. Bowser did not authorize their use of his work and has attempted with no success to obtain compensation for copyright infringement.
An American businessman commissioned the book's translation into English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
in 2004. Saddam Hussein received no money from sales of the English translation as the copyright is owned by the editor, Robert Lawrence.
Adaptations
A 20-part television serial and a musicalMusical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
based on it were later produced.
Two days after Saddam's execution, an unabridged recital of the book in British Sign Language
British Sign Language
British Sign Language is the sign language used in the United Kingdom , and is the first or preferred language of some deaf people in the UK; there are 125,000 deaf adults in the UK who use BSL plus an estimated 20,000 children. The language makes use of space and involves movement of the hands,...
was uploaded to the video site YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
. It was broken down into 122 sections but, due to terms of use violations, was removed less than 48 hours later.
Sacha Baron Cohen
Sacha Baron Cohen
Sacha Noam Baron Cohen is an English stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and voice artist. He is most widely known for his portrayal of three unorthodox fictional characters: Ali G, Borat, and Brüno...
is slated to adapt the novel into a black comedy
Black comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
film called The Dictator
The Dictator (2012 film)
The Dictator is an upcoming 2012 film by Sacha Baron Cohen. Cohen's fourth film will "tell the heroic story of a dictator who risked his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed", according to Paramount Pictures, which will distribute the film...
.