Cities of Salt Five Parts

Cities of Salt is an Arabic novel by the Saudi novelist Abdul Rahman Munif. It is considered one of the most famous Arabic novels and consists of five parts.
The novel depicts life at the beginning of the discovery of oil and the rapid transformations that befell the cities and villages of the Arabian Peninsula as a result of the discovery.

Parts of the Novel:
1- The Labyrinth: The first part explores the beginnings of the emergence of oil in the Arabian Peninsula through its inhabitants. The character of Mutab al-Hathal, a rebel, is presented as an expression of the spontaneous position of the landowners, which forced the authorities to resort to violence. This part describes in detail the construction of new cities (Harran was the model) and the harsh and turbulent changes taking place at the spatial and, especially, human levels.
2- The Trench: In the second part, Munif moves on to depict the people of power and politics in the desert, which is being transformed into an oil field. The starting point is the transfer of power from Sultan Kharbit to his son Khazal, who grants the Americans every facility to implement their plans. The main character in this part is the new sultan’s advisor, Subhi al-Mahmaliji, nicknamed “the Wise.” He is of Lebanese origin and first came to Harran as a doctor. He then moved to the capital, Moran, with an adventurous streak, rising to the highest positions and expanding his influence. In this part, the pace of transformations increases so rapidly that no one can predict how things will unfold. This part ends with Fanar’s revolt against his brother while he was outside Moran.
3- The Divisions of Night and Day: The third part goes back to the roots of the ruling family, to the years of tribal conflict that crowned Kharbit as the most important ruler in the region, just as the West invaded the desert. He found in his alliance with Kharbit a means to acquire the wealth he was seeking, and the sultan exploited this circumstance to dominate everything within his reach. This part goes back to the origins of both Khazal and Fanar. 4- Al-Munbit: The fourth part is a biography of Khazal in exile until his death, observing the revolutionary changes imposed by Fener and his attempt to redirect the desert once again, ridding himself of the remnants of his father’s and brother’s policies and American influence. He began to establish a state with loyal apparatuses as harsh as the desert.
5- Badia Al-Dhulamat: After Fener’s position has been unchallenged, Munif returns to observe the condition of the people in light of these changes, where customs and places no longer remain the same, and even the form of belonging and identity changes. In this final part, the name of the land becomes the Al-Hadibiyya State, and Fener becomes a legendary figure, but he ends up being assassinated by his own people. Considered a banned novel in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, it represents a qualitative shift in historical narrative and personal history of an era that many in the new generation find incomplete, lost by describing the aftermath of that era or the present in a rosy, yet also incomplete, way (60% of the Saudi population was aged 21 or under, between 2004 and 2007). Cities of Salt is an important document that chronicles and documents the civilizational winds that swept through Bedouin life, which undoubtedly influenced it. The author accurately monitors Bedouin life and expresses the turmoil within the souls of many Bedouins, their transformation into sudden wealth, and the resulting effects.