Ḥarām: Persian 1404

The story “Al-haram” unfolds in the heart of Egypt’s villages, where poverty, grueling farm labor, and rigid social norms shape the destinies of its people. The novel’s central character is a rural woman who, amid hardship and deprivation, is unwillingly thrust into a tragic situation: she becomes pregnant without the possibility of marriage or social support. This event shakes not only her life but the entire community. With bold prose, Idris narrates both the woman’s personal catastrophe and the social and cultural mechanisms that make such a tragedy possible—and even inevitable. In truth, the novel is less about an individual’s mistake and more about the unjust structures that place a person in a position of sin and exclusion.