The body as a terrorist issue in Khalifa and al-Ahdal

Through a reading of the novels of al-Ahdal and Khalifa, this article examines the use of bodies in the fictionalization of terrorism. A personal and political battleground, the body is mistreated, reified, a source of suffering but also liberation. It is a concrete manifestation of the oppression that tyrants inflict on the people, and simultaneously a site of exploration between life and death for every individual. Therein, the inscrutable, incomprehensible, and inexplicable nature of terrorism is etched onto the body.