The setting of the story is not clearly spatial or temporal; the journey moves through a space that can represent the historical Middle East, an analogical space of different periods of history or a simply imaginary space. It can be viewed as some combination of these spaces.
The story may be allegorical for the rise of Human Civilization. Qindil starts his adventure from his homeland, the Dar al-Islam, which practices traditional, familiar Islamic values but imperfectly, and with a great deal of corruption. When Qindil sets out, the first land he visits is the Land of Mashriq. Mashriq is the land of the sunrise, and may represent early civilization; particularly that of pre-Islamic Arabia. Mashriq employs a very basic religion based on worship of the moon, and incorporates primal, tribal, values representative of early human development.
Haira may thus represent the rise of human civilization and the chaos that accompanied it. Haira means “confusion” in Arabic and features the rule of a divine king and frequent wars. Its values seem to reflect those of absolutism; though without any clear historical period in mind. Qindil travels to the Halba following Haira, Halba is the land of freedom. Halba may represent Western civilization, and includes democracy, wealth, and sophistication. Halba eventually conquers both Mashriq and Haira; plausibly mirroring the historical rise of the West.
Qindil then travels to Aman; the land of security and total justice. Aman employs communism and is engaged with a struggle for influence against Halba; an interesting parallel to the time the book was written in 1983. Finally Qindil stops at Ghuroub; the land of the sunset. Ghuroub is interesting, as it has no obvious parallel in the real world. It is a transitory place, where people train to go forth to the land of Gebel. Qindil then journeys to the Land of Gebel, which is at the top of a mountain. Gebel symbolizes heaven on Earth. No man has ever returned from Gebel, the land of perfect society.
Some of the places mentioned in the book, such as Gebel, Haira and Mashriq were names of historical kingdoms in the Classical and Medieval Middle East. They are not just analogies but also references to the real, if much mythologised past.[4][5]
