Vegetarianism in Modern Arabic literature

The focus of this article is the novel Nazīf al-ḥağar(“The Bleeding of the Stone;” 1991), by the Libyan writer Ibrāhīm al-Kawnī. From Sufism it draws its themes and suggests sustainable models for human interactions with nonhuman animals and environments. This novel helps us to link ecocriticism, in its vegetarian/ vegan declinations, with decolonial or postcolonial theory. Apart from that, it can be analyzed through the lens of eco-feminism, human-animal studies and biopolitics approaches.To better understand the context that underlies vegetarianism in the Arabic literary arena, I try to analyze two other contemporary novels that offer interesting insights and perspectives, even if they don’t present this theme as pivotal. Min ḫašab wa ṭīn(“Made of wood and clay;” 2021) by the Moroccan writer and poet Muḥammad al-Aš‘arī, suggests a selective vegetarianism, connected to a perspective of ecocritical philosophy of life, adopted by two socially different characters.The last text to be analyzed in this article, Krīsmās fi Makka(“Christmas in Mecca;”2019), by the Iraqi writer Aḥmad Ḫayrī al-‘Umarī.