????? ?????? Fires of Toubkal

Ever since I was a child racing the gusts of wind in Sijilmasa, ever since I left my hometown and started climbing the trees west of the town, ever since I observed the bird fly in the sky and toil in the fields, I would always be drawn to the mystery of things, always trying to find what I considered my destiny. One of the major stops in my life was no exception, my settling in the Attarine school in Fez, seeking knowledge there until I became its top brightest pupil (ibn abi mahli) that would be known all over Fez and beyond until the sheikh (alzroi) acknowledges me and hands down his staff, his cape, and his sandals to me. Strange how all those destines intertwined in the remainder of the 16th century. Stranger still is how the window of destiny showed me a narrow path towards my biggest dreams. Divine inspiration looms before me on the horizon of days. Goodness does not stop running through my tongue, my fingers, and my feet, and fate does not take long to respond to the destiny I feel. Faisal Muhammad Al-Ansari is a Qatari novelist born and raised in Doha. He earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Qatar University in 1999, and an MBA from the University of Plymouth in Britain in 2015. He is a writer of media and social affairs, and has written a series of awareness books, You Are Not Alone. He won the 2021 Katara Prize for Arabic Fiction in the Boys Fiction category for his novel “When the Ogres Return.” His other works include novels “The Book of Time” and “What’s Next?” His writing style reflects the influences of Arab culture and heritage, and is distinguished by his masterful use of imagery, analogy, and dramatic storytelling.