David Van Reybrouck / Mohamed El Bachiri & David Van Reybrouck – A Jihad for Love

Mohamed El Bachiri & David Van Reybrouck – A Jihad for Love

Mohamed El Bachiri & David Van Reybrouck – A Jihad for Love

Rights sold

  • Head of Zeus (UK)
  • Fischer Verlag (Germany)
  • J.C. Lattès (France)

 About the book

Mohamed El Bachiri is a Belgian of Moroccan origin, a Muslim and a native of Molenbeek, the Brussels district regularly referred to as the breeding grounds for the recent attacks in Paris and the Belgian capital. He is also the husband of Loubna Lafquiri, the love of his life and the mother of his children, who died on 22 March 2016 in the Brussels bombings. In late December of 2016, his loving speech on the television show De Afspraak stirred millions of viewers and went on to become the most frequently viewed video ever on Flemish television.

In A Jihad for Love—written down and arranged by best-selling Flemish author David Van Reybrouck—Mohamed speaks about his growing-up years in Molenbeek, his love for his wife and his life after the attacks. As an homage to Loubna, Mohamed channels the pain he suffered with resilience and bravery into a message of love and humanity, in which he appeals to western Muslims for a more humanist approach to Islam. The result is a sober text of astonishing wisdom. A Jihad for Love is the answer to the hatred of those who wish to divide us, of those who propagate violence and terrorism.

A passionate plea against hate, revenge and the urge to destroy. – De Volkskrant

This magnanimous appeal from a widower deserves many readers: both the young and the old, and those wishing to drive out immigrants from our country. – De Volkskrant

It is an impressive, stirring story. – De Volkskrant

In clear, concise sentences and chapters of at most a few pages, David Van Reybrouck publishes El Bachiri’s message, “an homage to his wife and a humanist message of love and humanity.”– NRC Handelsblad / NRC Next

This book is the best about Islam, but also about Christian belief, that the father and widower could write. – Nederlands Dagblad

Everyone should have to read, own and love this book, as reference work for in times of doubt, envy and anger. – Nederlands Dagblad

Author

David Van Reybrouck (b. 1971) is a journalist, a writer of literary non-fiction, a poet and a playwright. He made his literary debut in 2001 with the award-winning The Plague. His greatest success is Congo, a History, for which he received a slew of national and international prizes, including the Libris History Prize 2010, the Jan Greshoff Prize 2010 and the AKO Literature Prize 2010. The book was a runaway success in Germany, France and Norway, and has been translated into many other languages. A Plea for Populism won him the Jan Hanlo Essay Prize 2009 and the Flemish Cultural Prize for Criticism and the Essay 2009. Against Elections, an urgent call for the reform of democracy, was published in 2013 and has since been sold to seventeen territories. In March 2016, Zinc was the official ‘Dutch Book Week Essay 2016’. La paix, ça s’apprend! by David Van Reybrouck and Thomas d’Ansembourg was published in January 2017 by Actes Sud (France) and will be published by De Bezige Bij in late May of 2017.

© Stephan Vanfleteren

Additional book information

  • novel
  • ISBN 9789023471622
  • Number of pages: 132
  • World rights: De Bezige Bij
  • Price: € 7,99
  • English sample available