The Wedding of Zein is a contemporary Arabic novel written in 1969 by late Sudanese author Tayeb Salih. Within the realm of Arab literature

Arabic literature

Arabic literature is the writing produced, both prose and poetry, by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is adab which is derived from a meaning of etiquette, and implies politeness, culture and enrichment....

, the book is considered a classic.

The author portrays the life of average villagers in the North of Sudan

Sudan

Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...

, which is influenced by Islamic heritage and Sudanese culture

Culture of Sudan

Sudanese culture melds the behaviors, practices, and beliefs of about 578 tribes, communicating in 145 different languages, in a region microcosmic of Africa, with geographic extremes varying from sandy desert to tropical forest.-Ethnicity:...

. Zein, an eccentric simpleton whom everybody loved yet was scary to look at, lives his simple life full of laughter, humor and craze. Falling in love with Ni'ma, was beyond the villagers' expectations.

Film

Zein (Ali Mahdi) and Ni'ma (Tahiya Zaroug) were cast in the film. It was first released in 1976 and directed by Kuwaiti

Kuwait

The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...

 director Khalid Alsiddig.