THE HAJ by LEON URIS
Every Muslim with means and able body is required to perform a pilgrimage to Mecca in their lifetime. It is called— "The Haj", and that is where this intriguing book draws its title from.
It captures the story of a Palestinian Arab family who lives through the social and political disturbance of the Middle East between the 1920s and the 1950s.
After completing his pilgrimage to Mecca, a young Ibrahim al Soukori al Wahhabi, the muktar (who also is known as "Haj Ibrahim") and community leader in the town of Tabah in Palestine, in the area that is now known internationally as Israel, takes a wife and starts a family. In 1936, Ibrahim's wife gives birth to his youngest son, Ishmael, a boy who proves himself resourceful and naturally intelligent in comparison with his less driven elder brothers, and through whose eyes the story is told.
The story takes an upbeat when a rich Palestinian landlord, Effendi Fawzi Kabir sells a parcel of nearby land to their age long enemies; a group of Jewish farmers who use it to establish Kibbutz Shemesh. It sparks conflict and the Palestinian villagers attack the Jewish settlement.
To ease growing tension in his lands, Haj Ibrahim makes an ally of Gideon Asch, one of the Jewish kibbutz farmers. A man who eventually becomes a close and trusted friend.
With war eminent, Ibrahim makes an enemy of Fawzi al-Qawuqji, an Arab General, after violently refusing his orders to evacuate Tabah so the village can be used as a military stronghold against the Jews.
When he finally succumbs to mounting pressures, The Haj leaves Tabah with his family and followers, leaving his treacherous brother Farouk behind.
But General al-Qawaqji wouldn’t have it that Ibrahim would escape his revenge. He sends his troops after them, and forces the family into hiding.
But while Ibrahim is away meeting with Gideon, and making arrangements for safe passage for his family, al-Qawuqji’s troops find and gang rape the women of his family, a barbaric incident that young Ishmael witnesses, but swears to his mother that he will keep to himself.
With the help of his friend Gideon, the family later escape to the West Bank.
When they arrive in Nablus, the mayor and an undercover military officer in King Abdullah’s Arab Legion try to convince Ibrahim to support them, but he is reluctant. Afraid that his refusal would bring him trouble, Ibrahim escapes with his family again to live in a desert cave in Qumran near the Dead Sea.
The family suffers harsh desert life till 1949 when they locate and settle at a refugee camp in Jericho. There they meet an archaeologist named Dr. Nuri Mudhil, through whose help Ibrahim reconnects with Gideon.
At Gideon’s encouragement, Ibrahim becomes a political icon of peace with goal to bring together Jews and Palestinians.
To send a message to Ibrahim and disrupt his peace keeping aims, members of the Arab Legion murder his “activist” son, Jamil.
When Ibrahim realizes his daughter Nada is no longer a virgin, he takes his dagger and leaves the house. Her body is later found in the street drainage.
Ishmael finds out, and is enraged and seeks to avenge his sister by talking the old muktar to death. He reveals that all the women of their family were raped in Jaffa by al-Qawuqji’s troops, including his mother— Ibrahim’s wife.
This information shocks The Haj much that he grips his chest and writhes to the ground as a heart attack lulls him gently to his death.
At Ibrahim’s funeral, the narrator observes that, “the display of grief was of a nature usually reserved for high holy men or great heads of state.”
Overwhelmed by the series of tragedies that have befallen his family, especially the murder of Nada his sister, the story ends with Ishmael losing his mind and becoming insane.
In summary, though the book echoes a subtle prejudice against the Arabs, Uris masterfully paints a richly detailed portrait of Arab life and culture. And for that, I recommend this great work of art by a master storyteller.
-Review Compiled by May Joseph Ndubueze
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