Qutuz, Part Two of the Knights and Priests Trilogy

Era after era, literature is becoming an increasingly complex instrument that only the capable can wield and only those who are lurking can confront. Literary talent is of no avail without artistic awareness and knowledge of thought, philosophy, history, and culture in general. This places the writer and critic under a great responsibility in what they present to the public. It also justifies the legitimacy of judging a text based on intentionality and premeditation. From this perspective, we can look at the novel “Qatar” by the Saudi physician and novelist Munther Qabbani, the second part of the Knights and Priests trilogy. It is a unique literary work that blends and intertwines history, literature, philosophy, religion, and science. It is crafted according to a unique artistic vision, with heroes known from ancient history and others known from modern history. Thus, it is the story of the search for the lost truth from the time of the first human being on this earth until today. In this novel, Munther Qabbani follows the life journey of his hero, Murad Qatar, between Saudi Arabia and America. He was introduced to us in the first part of “Knights and Priests.” He is a doctor who searches for someone to share his madness to answer many puzzling questions that have been occupying his mind since he discovered himself as a child in his ancestral town (Atrar) until his arrival in America and his work there. The reason that drives him to ask this question is that he still sees himself living in two worlds: an ancient one belonging to the history of his ancestors in Bukhara, and a modern, urban one that he lives as a doctor and scientist trying to discover more about the issue of death and life and what lies between them: the world of spirit and matter, thorny ideas about incarnation and revelation, and other philosophical problems that seem like a maze beyond answers. Perhaps the following passage from the novel is more explanatory and elucidating of a riddle the author intended to be difficult to explain: “Nothing will ever be unless it has been. Nothing will ever disappear unless it has disappeared. It is as if today came yesterday. It is as if yesterday will come tomorrow…” This sentence, the last thing he heard from his previous life, kept coming to Murad Qatar’s mind, along with the voice that seemed familiar to him. But this was only part of a series of riddles that besieged his mind and astonished his being… A series of riddles that grew with each passing day. Every time he felt he was getting closer to solving one of these riddles, another group would emerge. But two riddles he felt were the most important at the moment. If he could decipher them, perhaps many things would be revealed to him. The first riddle was the one that happened in front of Bukhara Fortress, when that dark, gelatinous creature besieged him. Yasmi looked toward him… Did she see them at that moment?! The second thing was his vision of himself as a child with his father on a visit to Uzbekistan, and of that shrine located in the same place where he found himself after falling from the skyscraper and being transported to this strange state. For this strange time, and for those verses that were inscribed on its wall,
O questioner, where are you? Are you walking in this world or in a world of imagination? I have stayed up many nights, my eyes never sleeping. I search for something that I find from you, elusive. If the heart is knowing, why is it so confused? And if the mind is searching, why is it wandering from the truth?