Yaq̈teenya

After ruling the territory of Al-Andalus (now modern-day Spain and Portugal) for hundreds of years, the Moors’ reign came to an end with the 1492 fall of Granada. According to Bahjatt’s alternative history, the Moors fled Al-Andalus and came upon the warring tribes of Yaqteenya, whom they joined under the unifying flag of Islam. Claiming to be the last surviving Muslims, the Moors made a deal: they would help build Yaqteenya into a great civilization as long as nobody there returned to the old world and told Allah’s enemies about Yaqteenya’s existence. This agreement resulted in nearly 300 years of isolation and peace. Now, five chieftains deny the existence of the old world, question the veracity of Islam, and issue an ultimatum: the Moors and their followers must leave Yaqteenya or die. After a grueling year of bloodshed, Al-Baz Al-Monqad, the son of a chieftain who supports the Moors, decides to defy his father’s wishes and venture beyond Yaqteenya’s borders to determine whether the Moors have been telling the truth. An Arabic science fiction novel.