During the Nineties, in Algeria, together with a number of friends I found courage and support in a book entitled “Naqd al Khitab al Dini” (Critique of the Religious Discourse), written by Nasr Abu Zayd, an Egyptian intellectual who was a professor at Cairo university. I was lucky enough to meet him in Rome in December 2005 and gave him a copy of a novel I had written, “Scontro di civiltà per un ascensore a piazza Vittorio” [A clash of Civilizations over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio] , in the Arabic version. He called me the next day to pay his compliments. He had read it in just one night!