Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Rivalry That Unravelled the Middle East

by Kim Ghattas

Trying to answer the question “What happened to us?” led me to the fateful year of 1979. Three major events took place in that same year, almost independent of one another: the Iranian Revolution; the siege of the Holy Mosque in Mecca by Saudi zealots; and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan,

The combination of all three was toxic, and nothing was ever the same again.

The dynamics unleashed in 1979 changed who we are and hijacked our collective memory.

Although this is neither a work of historical scholarship nor an academic study, it is more than a reported narrative: I dug deep into archives, pored over thousands of newspapers, interviewed dozens of people, and built a virtual library of the history of those four decades.

Instead, these pages bring the untold story of those—and they are many—who fought and continue to fight against the intellectual and cultural darkness that slowly engulfed their countries in the decades following the fateful year of 1979.

Peace died in the homeland of peace Justice succumbed When the City of Jerusalem fell Love retreated and in the hearts of the world, war settled The child in the grotto and his mother Mary are crying, and I am praying. —Fairuz, lyrics from “Jerusalem Flower of all the Cities” (1971)