A Reading of Dr. Adwan Nimer Adwan's Novel "The Return of the Morisco from His Sighs"

Author: A. Areen Salama

In a world where events are accelerating and life is evolving in all its frameworks, the Palestinian novel emerges, which has always amazed us with its themes and captivated us with its narrative to a reality we can hardly escape from, a reality imposed upon us that we have come to coexist with, becoming a part of us and the fabric of our daily lives.

However, the narrative of "The Return of the Morisco from His Sighs" by Dr. Adwan Nimer Adwan takes us to a broader imagination that oscillates between two places, Andalusia and Palestine, and two times, the fifth century and the twenty-first century, from the sigh of the past to the pain of the present in a journey where events and characters intertwine as a tightly woven braid whose threads blend until they become a complete single fabric, pushing the recipient into a state of readiness to soar towards previous worlds, experiencing their atmospheres and touching their features, making them present before his eyes; any process of diagnosing an important historical era.

The events of the novel revolve around Musa Al-Nabulsi, a young man in the prime of his life who travels to Spain to complete his education and obtain a master's degree. Amid his visits to Spanish cities (Madrid, Granada, the Alhambra, etc.), he experiences a strange feeling as time seems to mix, as if his memory has rung the bell to start recalling the details of places and events, and how is that? Even though he is visiting them for the first time in his life, he ultimately discovers after visiting the Moroccan doctor (Al-Tahir Ben Aloun) that he carries the spirit of the valiant warrior (Musa bin Abi Al-Ghassan) who fought until his last breath in the year (1492) until he fell from his saintly horse into the Chanel River.

Here, the author has woven an artistic approach between the old wound of Granada, which is unforgettable like a scar, embodied in the character of Musa bin Abi Al-Ghassan, and the bleeding wound of his homeland represented in the character of Musa Al-Nabulsi, who lived in a whirlpool that made it difficult for him to know whether he remembers a history he read or heard about or a life he lived and experienced in its entirety, in a fantastical scenario resembling the reincarnation of souls, where the spirit of Musa bin Abi Al-Ghassan has settled in the spirit of Musa Al-Nabulsi, allowing the latter to experience the feelings, thoughts, desires, and heroic essence of the former.

The narrative concludes with the return of Musa al-Nabulsi to his homeland, Nablus, and his fall drenched in blood in a heroic manner reminiscent of the heroism of Ibn al-Ghassan. His beloved (Jessica) joins the volunteers to rescue the injured and finds him covered in blood... she collapses, wails, and mourns.

The author employs symbolism (characters and places) and a fractured timeline in his novel. At times, you read events related to Granada in ancient times, only to quickly find yourself in similar events in present-day Palestine. This is a strange magic... the author plays a symphony of time, adding a sense of renewal and modernity to the novel in a balanced and clear manner, making the transition from one time to another akin to moving from one street to another, both ends connected to each other.

It is evident to the audience that the character (Jessica) in the present is a mirror of the character (Victoria) in the past, who lingers in the mind of Ibn al-Ghassan, representing his freedom, as if the woman was his window to freedom amidst calamities and disasters.

The author believes that history often repeats itself, but in different forms and environments. What happened in Andalusia can recur in other ways. He says: "I believe that God still performs miracles in His own ways, and the return of souls is one of His signs."

Freedom has a price that cannot be paid off. The two main characters of the novel, whether in the past or the present, believe that freedom is not given for free, nor on a silver platter, but requires sacrifices and endless patience.

The human dimension prominently appeared in two characters: the first character (the Italian Jakbo), who is Moses's colleague, friend, and a source of endless wisdom, and the second character (Jessica), the beloved who freed him from chains and shackles, and was his refuge from the troubles, fatigue, and sorrows of the world. Her loyalty was evident when she followed him to Nablus because she found in him the true love that was missing in her place and time.

The writer highlighted the ugly internal division in the narrative, as each of (Abdullah the Younger, Bazmat, Muhammad bin Abdullah, Ibn Kamasha, and others) supported the fragmentation of the state, increasing its weakness against a formidable enemy, which led to conflicts and concessions. This image resembles the current Palestinian situation of divisions, factions, and meaningless fragmentation that only serves to weaken and destabilize the Palestinian existence.

History must repeat itself; what happened to Musa bin Abi al-Ghassan in the past happened to Musa al-Nabulsi, who refused to submit and continued to fight until the last moment. He remembered his father and family, but all of that faded before what he believed in, and then he closed his eyes and slept forever (preferring the individual solution over the collective solution).

The title of the novel (The Return of the Morisco from His Sighs) refers to the Morisco, a Muslim who remained in Andalusia under Spanish rule and was baptized against his will. The symbolism of the novel becomes clear with the return of the Morisco with his memory and the events surrounding him, repeating in a time different from his own. The echo of the Morisco appears in the spirit of a person far removed from him in terms of identity and geography, yet his spirit and cause are very similar, almost identical.

The writer says: "I will return to you one day, renewed and free. I will leave my body to burn in the furnace of this war, and one day, somewhere, I will be resurrected anew, and I will rise from the ashes, and my spirit will return as another phoenix in another body, so wait for me."

At the end of the narrative, there is something that invites hope and renewal, filling the reader's heart with joy and providing a dose of antidote. Issues do not die; rather, they renew and return from the ashes like the phoenix. There must be a space of hope for the reader to breathe a sigh of relief and gather their scattered thoughts after this fear and psychological exhaustion, instilling in them strength, motivation, and positivity in life. Physical death is not an eternal dark end but rather a precursor to a new beginning in another spirit. Everything we lose and that disappears from our sight does not die in the physical sense; rather, it has metaphysical meanings that remain alive and present within us and in this vast universe around us.