The Prophet of the Waterer

Author's name: Hamid Al-Nadhir Publisher: Dar Al-Tanweer for Publishing and Distribution Year of publication: 2015 Literary classification: Novel Brief about the book: Since Fatima learned about her engagement to that officer, she was occupied with questions that bewildered her: - Tell me, Salem, is he handsome? I mean, is he white and tall? Is he young or old? Does he own a big palace and servants? Tell me what you know about him? She bombarded him with questions, speaking eagerly. She pointed her hand in the air and looked up happily, at a high point in the void, at a hypothetical height she imagined for her fiancé, and she pursed her lips like a child. He looked at her tenderly: - Men marry women for their beauty, Fatima, but the opposite is not necessarily so. Fatima interrupted his speech and asked in horror: - Do you mean he's not handsome? - Not exactly, a man like him, like most men in the country, is neither handsome nor ugly. But he is a high-ranking official in the government, do you understand what that means? She looked at him, feeling disappointed, so he continued: - It means he has a position, prestige, wealth, and influence. Men's handsomeness is measured by such things... * * * They returned to their seats, the waiter wiped his face and then smiled kindly at the professor... - I hope it doesn't come to your mind that we do what we do to bring life back to history, for that is surely foolishness. And to be frank with you, I do not believe in superstition, even though Fatima's marriage matter has opened many doors to superstitions about the sacrifice that will save a people. When we started this endeavor, Fatima had not yet been born, but she bore fruit and ripened at harvest time. *** Hamid Al-Nadhir is a writer from Sudan, residing in Doha. His novel "Fereej Al-Murrar" won the Sharjah Award for Arab Creativity and the Vodafone Qatar Award in 2014.