The Book of Exodus, lately penned by Ali Amiri, is the author’s account and analysis of the event of the fall of the Afghan government and the story of the narrator’s displacement. Considering writing as a means of political struggle, he begins the book with the Greek myth of Icarus. Icarus and his father Daedalus are imprisoned on the island of Crete. Daedalus is an artist. To save his son from prison, he makes his son artificial wings, attaching them to his body with wax. He advises his son not to soar so close to the sun while flying. After flying, Icarus soared and approached the sun and the sun melted the wax, resulting in Icarus falling and drowning in the sea.
The author analogizes the United States to a Daedalus, who made wings for Afghanistan out of wax in the name of government, democracy, army, and administration. They were not only artificial and fake but were far from the social and cultural realities and ethnic diversity of Afghanistan. Ashraf Ghani or Icarus, “America’s adopted son”, is riding on an artificial wing from the side, and on the other hand, out of ignorance and pride, he does not listen to his father, drowning himself with his artificial wings. Ironically, the innocent young people who fell from the plane’s wing on the ground also evoke the artificial wings of the legend of Icarus. The Book of Exodus, if not a trial and verdict against the United States, Ghani, and the world, it is at least a strong indictment that has been filed in the court of history “for tomorrow and to be heard”.
According to the author, “the wrong hand of the United States in the noisy program of establishing democracy by spending billions of dollars had built a dependent and corrupt force that” did not belong to the country. Ghani is “the president who comes to office with fraud, rules with malice, speaks with hatred, sings like idiot clowns, and in the end runs away like cowardly thieves.”The author’s language in judgment is unexpectedly sharp, frank, open, and without the usual conservatism. For example, he says about Ghani: “Ashraf Ghani was ill-tempered and complex, being surrounded by a collection of stupid, ambitious and arrogant people and a union of thugs. Ashraf Ghani never has a guilty conscience. In his utopia, Afghanistan is an ideal country where a king settles in a tent. Maybe supporting Ashraf Ghani has benefited the United States, but dominating a sick, thieving, despicable creature full of hatred over a desperate people is not a stain that can be feasibly washed away with media justifications.”
Amiri defended this tone and words both in the book and in the debates that were held later in the book review. Expressing relief, he considered Ashraf Ghani especially deserving of such words because of the situation he brought about to the country. The Book of Exodus saw the issue of the fall of a young man named Zaki Anwari from the wing of the plane at Kabul airport as a very significant sign, focusing his indictment against the world on this incident. Firstly, Amiri criticized the US and the media for calling the process of leaving and fleeing the “evacuation” process, which has a positive charge, assisting others. Secondly, he reminded us that this incident is the most lasting image of the fall of Afghanistan. According to him, this incident revealed the disgrace of the US, damaging democracy, political Islam, and moral failure. The United States and Zalmay Khalilzad, former U.S. Special Envoy for Afghanistan’s Reconciliation, wanted to state that the Taliban are insiders in Afghanistan, fitting with the social and tribal structure of the people. They believed that these people did not deserve anything better, denying the collapse of teenagers to this scenario. According to Amiri, Iran, and Kayhan newspaper, who considered the fall of Afghanistan as “the end of mercenary” and the Taliban as popular resistance, gave up on their aspiration. Later, it became clear that these were not local forces and people were hanging on the wings of the plane out of fear. Political Islam and the moral system of the world also faded away. The world had welcomed cruelty and tolerated violence, and this is a sign of old age and disease.
The Book of Exodus also depicts the life and aspirations of a culture, a teacher, and an Afghan citizen, with how their dreams and plans are overturned and disappear. The book delves into the suicide attacks in the twenty years of the Republic regime, the incident of the fall, the fear of the Afghan people, especially the situation of the Hazaras, the draining of the sewers at the Abi Gate of Kabul Airport, the Dubai camp and the narrator’s life in Australia, in a tangible and significant way. Frank expression is one of the strengths of the book, and the author has shared his feelings and hadith with the reader. The author focused on the life of Hazaras and, in his own words, “the tragedy of being a Hazara in Afghanistan”, describing a situation that might not have been tangible for a non-Hazara. Hazaras hold a special place in the book. The book talks about many people, but the narrator’s memories and reports take place in the Hazara-surrounded environment. From the author’s classmates in Qom to his colleagues at Ibn Sina University and his fellow travelers on the way, to his roommates in Australia, such as Jawad Sultani, Asad Bouda, Mustafa Hazara, Hadi Miran, Mohammad Amin Ahmadi, Binazir Taherian, Khadim Hossain Karimi, Ateka and others’ names are mentioned in the book.
Amiri stated about the Hazaras and being a Hazara: “I spent many lonely nights thinking about the aversion towards the Hazaras in Afghan culture. The Hazaras are exactly what they were: alien, sinister and unlucky, malevolent and naive. The autocratic Amir who judged Hazaras by their eyes’ size died, Afghanistan witnessed many changes, but the view of Hazara did not change. The Hazaras are what they were: cursed, hated, infernal, disturbing, and deserving of elimination and suppression. I am not upset by slandering a Hazara. The one who despises himself is humble and lowly and worthless. The Hazaras have suffered and endured. It has been pruned, but it has sprouted again. Except for Hazara, maybe no one knows what it is like to be wounded by the hands of rascals and scoundrels. The writer’s sharp tone also left an impact on the personalities and intellectuals of Hazaras, as they were criticized explicitly or implicitly: “A notable sideline was the collapse and displacement of the theoretical confusion of the Hazaras intellectuals.
In the era of democracy, Hazaras played parts very crudely, with their intellectuals being pioneers in this game. One of these naiveties after failure was the plan of non-violent resistance, which neither explained the situation nor its target audience. The realm of this speech could encompass anywhere in the world except Afghanistan. In addition to the confusion of non-violent resistance, the struggles of Abdul Adl Daifuladi are either out of necessity or out of naivety. The author’s reference to non-violent resistance naturally clearly goes back to the author’s former colleagues, Mohammad Amin Ahmadi, and Aziz Royesh, who, according to Amiri, had a daughter born in a camp in Virginia named “Raha”.
In addition to memoirs, politics, and mythology, Amiri is featured as an Islamologist and philosopher as well in this book. The book comments on displacement, death, loneliness, life, hope, coping with the conditions after the fall, and the meaning of these. In addition, there is a great deal of apocalyptic literature and religious myths in the book. References have been made to many novels and films, suggesting that the author has a strong connection with literature, novels, myths, and films. The Book of Exodus is very important and readable. Some audiences in cyberspace noted that when we witness the fall, what is the need to read a book about this? But not all observances are alike. We may have read a ghazal by Hafez ten times, but when that ghazal is read and criticized by a critic and we read that ghazal with the mentality that we got from the critic, we come to things that have never occurred to us before. The story of the fall is the same. I, like millions of other people, who witnessed the fall, saw things in this book that I had not seen on my own.
The book is, in fact, a kind of historical record that has made the atrocities and grudges of former Afghan President Karzai and Ghani permanent in the face of history. The difference is that, unlike Afghan Historian Mullah Faiz Mohammad Kateb, Amiri wrote his poem with clarity, explicitness, pride, and special self-confidence. This frankness and articulation could only appear after Abdul Ali Mazari, Hazara’s deceased leader. Nonetheless, if we want to make a point about the book and offer a suggestion, the Persian version of the book could be much better in terms of page layout, font size, and others. In his book, Amiri noted that he is not a storyteller. He even mentioned that he consulted with Asad Buda, a prominent Afghan writer, and was hesitant about whether he would be able to write his story or not. However, the book’s prose is readable and, for the most part, well-written. Additionally, if this book is granted to a story writer or an editor, the volume of the book may be a little smaller and shorter. In three or four cases, in the middle of the text, to advance the story and narration, verses have been placed that are not sufficiently integrated with the text. Additionally, two or three cases from the text of al-Beyhaqi’s history have been included in the book, which, although it is a sign of the author’s love and affection for Beyhaqi’s history, to some extent is an odd exaggeration. There are some points in the book that Abu Muslim Khorasani mentioned in his review (Khorasani, 2023). For example, at Kabul Airport, people “left the country with their home electricity bills” (p. 90). If these points were more accurate, or if they were not in the book, it would naturally be better.
After publishing the book “Politics of Afghanistan; “A Narrative from Within” in an article, by Rangin Dadfar Spanta, Amiri called Spanta illiterate. Somewhere in this book, he also described former Afghan Presidential Spokesperson Wahid Omar as illiterate. Omar or someone else may be illiterate, but flaunting and talking about other people’s illiteracy, even if it is true, is at odds with Amiri’s humble nature and scientific position, and it does not seem worthy. The final point may be that traces of ethnographic historiography can be observed in the book with a sharper eye. This historiography may not be very convenient for a certain Qomi mullah. However, for Amiri, who is viewed as the guardian of Afghanistan’s tradition of philosophy and intellectualism, a little more reflection, precision, and documentation is needed. Amiri pointed out this spirit in his recent conversation with the Etilaat Roz Newspaper, stating about the correction of Abu Ali Sina’s work: “My job was not only to contribute to Sinai studies and correct the errors of previous publishers and editors… However, I wanted to acquaint temporary Hazara people with their cultural heritage and help them live in difficult times by reviving the cultural heritage and spiritual heritage of “Hazaras”. (Amiri, 2023) Undoubtedly, all the ethnic groups of this country share in the past heritage of this land, but the monopoly and personalization of the history and civilization is the path that Amiri himself is considered as one of its critics.