Shimon Ballas a jewish born Iraqi expatriate now living in Israel and the author of this novel about a jewish born civil engineer/government functionary of the Baath party and also a published historian on Judaism and the middle east who also happens to be a convert to Islam. Haroun Soussan has his reasons for making this switch and much of the book revolves around defending those reasons. Educated in the west--he's determined that Iraq follow a course which will define it in its own terms as non-western though Soussan is no fundamentalist nor does he feel real antagonism toward western thoughts or ideals. Having been brought up in a mostly Jewish section of Baghdad--with his conversion to Islam he leaves behind many of those friendships and family ties not only because of that coversion but because of his antagonism towards the Zionistic aspirations of the culture he comes from.

Ballas prose style tends to blend philosophical/politcal concerns. Though there is a religious element as well--his conclusions throughout tend to be worked out from a more secular viewpoint--and like these viewpoints or not Hasoun is nothing if not a pragmatic thinker. One major tenet of his thinking is that Iraqi zionists are not patriots or put another way--Iraq does not come first in their eyes--a Zionist state does instead. Roughly covering a period before WWI to the mid 1980's we are shown the fulfillment of the aspiration in the creation of the state of Israel--post WWII for which Hasoun does feel antagonism.

What also stands out about this novel is Ballas's strength as a prose writer and thinker. Throughout reading it--it reminded me in so many ways of Albert Camus. Maybe someone else might not get that but this is very beautifully written and the tones and the careful thoughtfulness of the protagonist's point of view and the descriptions of his two marraiges, his children's lives etc. give the book the balance it needs. Whether the author has in mind to change people's perspectives on things Middle Eastern goes without saying--though there are enough entrenched views on all sides that this work is not likely to change many minds at all. Even so--it is still a compelling book and well worth reading IMO. ( )