[3] Upon being banned from writing in 1975,[4] he left Egypt and travelled widely in Africa and Asia seeking work as a translator.

[4] Qalat Duha (1985) (Arabic: قالت ضحى) Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery (1991) (Arabic: خالتي صفية والدير) His third novel, set in Upper Egypt, concerns a blood feud as a result of which a young Muslim man, fleeing vengeance, finds sanctuary in a Coptic monastery.

Love in Exile (1995) (Arabic: الحب في المنفى) His fourth novel deals with the massacre of Palestinians at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon in 1982.

[6][7] In his youth he was involved in left wing causes,[1] and was a supporter of Gamal Abdel Nasser’s development program for Egypt.

[4] He felt that Westerners want to see exoticism, gender discrimination, and problems between minorities in the works of Arab writers, but he refused to comply with these stereotypes.