The Theocrat takes as its subject one of Arab and Islamic history’s most perplexing figures, al-Hakim bi-Amr Illah ("the ruler by order of God"), the Fatimid caliph who ruled Egypt during the tenth century and whose career was a direct reflection of both the tensions within the Islamic dominions as a whole and of the conflicts within his own mind. In this remarkable novel Bensalem Himmich explores these tensions and conflicts and their disastrous consequences on an individual ruler and on his people. Himmich does not spare his readers the full horror and tragedy of al-Hakim’s reign, but in employing a variety of textual styles - including quotations from some of the best known medieval Arab historians; vivid historical narratives; a series of extraordinary decrees issued by the caliph; and, most remarkably, the inspirational utterances of al-Hakim during his ecstatic visions, recorded by his devotees and subsequently a basis for the foundation of the Druze community - he succeeds brilliantly in painting a portrait of a character whose sheer unpredictability throws into relief the qualities of those who find themselves forced to cajole, confront, or oppose him.

BENSALEM HIMMICH has written a number of philosophical works as well as several novels and collections of poems. The Theocrat received the al-Naqid Award and was chosen by the Authors’ Union in Egypt as one of the best novels of the twentieth century. He is the vice-president of the Moroccan and Arab World Writers’ Union and is professor of philosophy at Mohamed V University in Rabat.

The Theocrat is a lively, varied work of historical fiction.   -- The Complete Review, January 2007

"Rather than a clear chronological account of Al Hakim's quarter-of-a-century rule, The Theocrat offers a mosaic of factual historical documents and fictional narrative. It is made up of a fusion of history and fiction, a style which provides the chance to tackle subjects, like absolute rule, which would be troublesome if approached in the form of essays for instance.

The gripping complexity of Himmich's The Theocrat rhymes with the writer's career as an essay writer, a novelist, but also as a philosopher."--Morocco Times