Haidar Haidar

Haidar Haidar was a Syrian writer and novelist who acquired a wide reputation for his critical attitude towards political and religious institutions and his willingness to cover controversial topics in a rational way. He published seventeen books of fiction, short stories, essays and biography, including The Desolate Time (Az-Zaman al-Muhish), which was chosen by the Arab Writers Union as one of the best 105 books of the 20th century. His novel A Feast for the Seaweeds (Walimah li A'ashab al-Bahr) was banned in several Arab countries, and even resulted in a belated angry reaction from the clerics of Al-Azhar University upon reprinting in Egypt in the year 2000. The clerics issued a Fatwa banning the novel, and accused Haidar of heresy and offending Islam. Al-Azhar University students staged huge protests against the novel, that eventually led to its confiscation. In one of the most controversial extracts, God is described as a failed artist. Haidar defended his novel as a work of art and imagination, and not a religious or political statement. He said that he was not against Islam, but against the misuse of religion by the authorities and the fanatics. He also criticized the dictatorship of the ruling regime in his country of Syria, the oppression of dogmatic ideology and the ruling party, and the tyranny of power derived from religion. He advocated for a secular, democratic and pluralistic society, where human rights and freedoms are respected. He lived in exile for many years, mainly in Lebanon and Spain, before returning to Syria in 2005. He died on 5 May 2023, at the age of 87.