The Fall of the Imam

About the Book

Bint Allah knows herself only as the Daughter of God. Born in a stifling male-dominated state ruled by the Imam and his coterie of ministers, she dreams of one day reaching the top of a distant hill visible through the bars of the orphanage window.

But Bint Allah’s ambitions do not escape the attention of the Imam, who never feels secure no matter how well he protects himself. When the Imam falsely accuses Bint Allah of adultery and sentences her to death by stoning, he is not prepared for what happens next.

This powerful and poetic novel is a call to arms against those who use religion as a weapon against women.

About the Author

Nawal El Saadawi (1931–2021) was an internationally renowned feminist writer and activist from Egypt. She founded and became president of the Arab Women’s Solidarity Association and co-founded the Arab Association for Human Rights. Among her numerous roles in public office she served as Egypt’s National Director of Public Health and stood as a candidate in the 2004 Egyptian presidential elections. El Saadawi held honorary doctorates from the universities of York, Illinois at Chicago, St Andrews and Tromso, and her numerous awards include the Council of Europe North-South Prize, the Women of the Year Award (UK), Sean MacBride Peace Prize (Ireland), and the National Order of Merit (France). She wrote over fifty novels, short stories and non-fiction works which centre on the status of Arab women, which have been translated into more than thirty languages.

Reviews

‘At a time when nobody else was talking, [El Saadawi] spoke the unspeakable.’
Margaret Atwood

‘Haunting and often mesmerising…a powerful and moving exposé of the horrors that women and children can be exposed to by the tenets of faith.’
Philip Womack, New Humanist

‘El Saadawi writes with directness and passion’
New York Times

‘The leading spokeswoman on the status of women in the Arab world’
The Guardian

‘A poignant and brave writer’
Marie Claire