I thought they would never select an Eastern writer for the Nobel. I was surprised.

We are passing through a very sensitive time, and on the whole, this country is facing very big problems.

I was a government employee in the morning and a writer in the evening.

The Koran and the laws of all civilized nations legislate against the vilification of religions.

It's clearly more important to treat one's fellow man well than to be always praying and fasting and touching one's head to a prayer mat.

One effect that the Nobel Prize seems to have had is that more Arabic literary works have been translated into other languages.