International Journal of Arabic-English Studies (IJAES) Vol. 18, 2018 71 Fiction in CONTEST with History? Faith, Resilience and the War on Terror in Aboulela’s The Kindness of Enemies Yousef Awad The University of Jordan Abstract: This paper examines Arab British novelist Leila Aboulela’s representation of the precarious position British Muslims occupy as a result of the introduction of Britain’s counter-terrorism strategy (CONTEST). In The Kindness of Enemies (2015), Aboulela valorizes the horrendous experiences that members of a British Muslim family with roots in the Caucasus undergo as a result of an unsubstantiated terrorist-linked investigation. When the police arrest Oz, his mother, Malak, launches a campaign to secure the freedom of her son. During these hard times, she draws on the legacy of her great grandfather, Imam Shamil who spearheaded a Sufi Jihadist movement in the Caucasus against the Russians in the 19 th century, for inspiration and solace. By drawing on history, Aboulela exposes the falsity of contemporary radical Islamist groups and presents Imam Shamil’s movement as a bright example of a Jihadist movement that was never involved in terrorist acts. In addition, by depicting how Malak embraces her great grandfather’s Sufi principles of self-control and endurance, the novel highlights the role Sufism could play in curbing radicalization among young Muslims in a hostile and McCarthyist post-9/11 and 7/7 era. “History could be milked out for this cause or that. We observed it always with hindsight, projecting onto it our modern convictions and anxieties” (Leila Aboulela’s The Kindness of Enemies, 41). Keywords: historical fiction, Leila Aboulela, diasporic Arabic literature, British Muslims 1. Introduction And so says Natasha, the narrator of Leila Aboulela’s The Kindness of Enemies (2015). Natasha, the historian, asserts that history is a renewable resource for inspiration and reflection and that it can be appropriated for various causes. By the same token, one may look at recent events in Britain that are pertinent to Muslim communities and make some observations. On 7/7/2005, four Britain-born Muslims launched terrorist attacks on London’s public transport system, killing 52 people and injuring more than 700. The attacks were considered by observers as one of the worst terrorist incidents in recent British history. Eleven years later, on 7/5/2016, Labour Party’s candidate, Sadiq Khan, was sworn in Southwark Cathedral as London’s first Muslim mayor. During the election campaign, Conservative Party’s candidate, Zac Goldsmith, described Khan as a supporter of Muslim extremists. Between these two dates, legislations on anti-terrorism