The Andalusian Messiah
Shortlist 2025
Al-Mutawassit

Set in part of the harshest era in Islamic history in Andalusia after its fall to the Christians, The Andalusian Messiah covers the Morisco period, when Muslims were forcibly converted and monitored to determine the “sincerity of their Christianity” by the Inquisition. The novel opens in 1592 with the trial and killing of a Morisco woman. Her son Gonzalez, a devout Spanish Catholic man, has grave doubts about the court’s story and the real reason for the death of his mother. He cannot stop thinking about her last words and the secrets that may lie behind them: “You are an Arab Muslim, and your name is Issa bin Muhammad”.
Translation Rights: Al-Mutawassit
Email: info@almutawassit.org
About the author
Taissier Khalaf is a Palestinian-Syrian novelist and researcher, born in 1967.
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