"Two gangs. My people, be aware of both!"

Khaled Khalifa's novel, 'In praise of hatred' was originally published in Syria in 2006. It was subsequently banned in Syria by the regime and then republished in Lebanon a year later. In 2008, it was short-listed for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction. Since then, the book has been translated from Arabic into other languages. Throughout this post, I've referenced Leri Price's (2012) English translation of the novel.

The novel deals essentially with fundamentalism in a 1980's Aleppo. Both the secular regime and the Islamic organisation mentioned (although not acknowledged by name, the novel implies the Muslim Brotherhood and the Assad government) are portrayed as two sides of the same coin and hence portrayed as two fundamentalisms at war. Both of whom are engaged in a cycle of hatred and violence; both bring out the worst in each other and both display extremes in their behaviour. What's interesting, is that whilst the novel was a fictional portrayal of the events that occurred during the 1980's and published in 2006, it could easily describe the events taking place in Aleppo, and the wider country, over the past six years.

Continuing on from the idea of two fundamentalisms at war, it's interesting to note the narrator's own thoughts when she stated: "I used to think: if people die as martyrs for God, how do both the killers and killed enter paradise?" Both sides often claim superiority over the other (as the narrator does as the novel develops) and believe truth and right are on their side. The author's underlying message encapsulates the idea that violence would never really achieve much other than breeding a cycle of further violence, death and hatred. Consequently, only non-violence initiatives and dialogue will break the cycle and will bring about change and peace. In the novel, we don't see any dialogue between the "other sect", a reference to the Alawites who've dominated major positions within the government and army, and the majority Sunni population. Even between the secular and religious groups, little dialogue takes place. The little interactions we see between these groups in the novel illustrates the friction between them for example when the secular girls at the school mock those who wear the hijab by calling them the penguin club. They were even "frank about their hostility to us". The narrator continues to relate that "there was an unwritten pact between us and those girls. We openly exchanged spiteful glances and hatred as we sat in school like respectable classmates...we also concurred tacitly in our hatred of the Mukhabarat sympathisers". There is little respect and dialogue between the different groups and on the most part they all try to ignore each other, which can be illustrated the most when the narrator mentions that "the city was secret, the streets were secret, so were the stones and the people, houses, rooms, hearts...even laughter was secret in a city that celebrated secrecy ad where everything was enacted far from others' eyes. Recently I had started feeling that everyone was conspiring against everyone else." Even now, in reality, we can see how little the Assad regime wants to listen to the Syrian population with any dissent is met with imprisonment, bullets and barrel bombs. Or whether it's the Islamic State whose ideology is far from Islamic and a world away from representing the thoughts, wishes and demands of the typical Syrian yet they force their ideals by bullets or chemical weapons as well as hurling people off buildings and setting people on fire.

Sectarianism is prominent throughout the novel which portrays elements seen within Syrian society today. As previously mentioned, the novel refers to the Alawites as the "other sect" and describes how they dominate major positions across the country whether in government or in the army.

It's interesting how the author narrated the story through a female fundamentalist rather than through the eyes of a male "mujahid". Intriguingly, over the past few years we have heard of women leaving Western countries to join ISIS in Syria and Iraq. Obviously, the situations of the women and girls leaving to Syria are very different to the scenario painted in the novel but it's interesting to realise that women can be very much involved and impacted in fundamentalism when traditionally we only envision men being a part of. In the novel, the narrator is very much propelled into fundamentalism which she somewhat tries to use an escape from her home life and an attempt to find freedom and meaning. Furthermore, it was a way for her to show agency on her own merits but it only leads to further imprisonment within herself and society.

The novel highlights quite well that hatred is never inbuilt and it takes time to be cultivated. No one is born to hate and there's an inherent compassion within us all as shown with the narrator herself. The author proposes that the lack of dialogue and understanding between people are what causes us to hate each other. Furthermore, the regime, from its inception had built itself by force which further fuelled hatred as the regime wasn't built on Syrians' wishes or dreams nor did the regime wish to represent Syrians.

In Leri Price's translation of the novel, Robin Yassin-Kassab quotes Hassan al-Khayyer (an Alawi poet who was kidnapped and killed in 1980) in his foreword. The quote is incredibly powerful and summarises the extremes that has plagued Syrian history as well as current day-to-day life:

"There are two gangs: one is ruling in the name of patriotism but has none of it.

Another gang claims good faith; and religion forbids their sayings and acts.

Two gangs. My people, be aware of both! Both drink from the same evil waters."