Description
In a philosophical and reflective piece shedding light on his recently published book, Al-Koni asks, “Why strangers above all others? Strangers are angels because they alone embody freedom, because their presence in the lost dimension is stronger than their presence in the dimension of existence. If we have attempted to observe presence in the lost dimension through dozens of metaphorical works published so far, are we not finally entitled to observe presence in the dimension of existence by contemplating the journey from this perspective as well? For what is our world if not a labyrinth of alienation in which each of us is a night journey?”
The book comes after a long journey exploring the secrets of the desert and its dense worlds, his own personal journey of merging with the spirit of the desert and becoming an instrument for writing its universal wisdom and philosophical visions.
The phrase “Night Journey” is derived from Ibn Duraid, where it appears in several places and refers to a man capable of “night travel.”
While the reader might seek details of a personal biography, al-Koni takes them into the very womb of the myth from which they were born, beginning with their first “shepherd’s journey” during which they were lost. Their safe return from this journey is considered a rebirth, a re-entry into the world. This isn’t a birth that granted them life after their escape from the wolf, but rather a birth from the womb of myth through which they rediscovered a message, as if it were an “exodus” from which life draws them back to entrust them with their mission: the “message of the desert.” Every time they tried to forget or ignore it in the early days of their exile, it persisted, demanding their attention.
Those who regularly read al-Koni’s works will recognize this “circle of the desert message,” which has been pressing upon them since their “first exodus”—the forced departure from the desert following the events of “the revolution that stole the homeland.”
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