Said el Haji

(Morocco, 1976) moved to the Netherlands age six as part of a family reunification scheme and grew up in Berkel-Rodenrijs. When he studied Dutch language and literature he began work on his debut De dagen van Sjaitan (The days of Sjaitan, 2000). The critics were very enthusiastic about this novel in which El Haji puts paid to the hypocrisy of Islam, embodied in the authoritarian father figure. Pieter Steinz (NRC Handelsblad) called the novel ‘the first Islamic novel in Dutch breaking down traditional religious and socio-political barriers’ and likened him to Maarten ’t Hart. In 2006 Goddelijke Duivel (Godly Devil) appeared, in which a writer of Berber descent goes in search of his god. His third novel, De aankondiging (The announcement, 2011) is set in the century before the birth of Islam. The main character is Mutalieb, the prophet Mohammed's grandfather. Mecca in those days was a tolerant town in the periphery of the Byzantine and Persian empires. El Haji's work distinghuishes itself on account of his original points of view, the provoking dilemmas which he raises, good rthythmicity and remarkable composition.