A historical novel about the life and adventures of an Andalusian adventurer and Sufi mystic has taken the most prestigious prize in Arabic fiction.

Saudi author Mohammed Hasan Alwan won the $50,000 (£39,000) International prize for Arabic fiction for A Small Death, his fictional account of the life of Sunni scholar Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi. The novel follows him from his birth in Muslim Spain in 1165 to his death in Damascus in 1240, taking in journeys from Andalusia to Azerbaijan, and his reflections on the violence witnesses in Morocco, Egypt, the Hejaz (now part of Saudi Arabia), Syria, Iraq and Turkey. A contentious figure in history, Ibn ‘Arabi has been declared the foremost spiritual leader in Sufism by some, but condemned as an apostate by others.

Alwan, who was born in Riyadh but now lives in Toronto, received the award at a ceremony in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday night. The author of five novels, he was previously shortlisted for the prize in 2013 for The Beaver, the French translation of which won the Arab World Institute’s Prix de la Littérature Arabe in 2015.

Alwan said it may seem odd to readers that he wrote about Ibn ‘Arabi “whilst residing in this distant cold corner of the world in Canada”. He added: “I realised that being exposed to what is seemingly foreign or different is what drives me to reconnect with myself, as well as with my heritage and old culture.”

Short story: Oil Field by Mohammed Hasan Alwan, translated by Peter Clark Read more

Chair of judges Sahar Khalifeh said of A Small Death: “With striking artistry and in captivating language, it sheds light on Ibn ‘Arabi’s view of spiritual and temporal love in their most refined forms.”

The International prize for Arabic fiction, which has been running for 10 years, provides a boost in sales and recognition for Arab authors by providing additional funding for an English translation of the winner each year. Thirty-three of the prize’s winning and shortlisted novels have been translated into 24 languages over the last decade. The 2016 winner Destinies: Concerto of the Holocaust and the Nakba by Palestinian author Rabai al-Madhoun will be published in English for the first time this autumn.

A Small Death was picked from a six-book shortlist whittled down from 186 novels from 19 countries. The other shortlisted writers – Najwa Binshatwan (Libya), Ismail Fahd Ismail (Kuwait), Elias Khoury (Lebanon), Mohammed Abdel Nabi (Egypt) and Saad Mohammed Raheem (Iraq) – receive $10,000.



