The Twins or Al-Tawa’aman is a novel by Saudi Arabian writer Abd al-Quddus al-Ansari. It was published in Damascus in 1350 AH (1930 CE) and was the first novel in modern Saudi literature. The novel’s cover stated that it is the “first novel in the Hijaz”, because it was published during the dual monarchy period of the Kingdom of Hijaz and Najd. The Twins is considered to have initiated the art of fiction in Saudi Arabia. Background The Twins was Al Ansari’s first attempt in writing fiction, and was later followed by another story, Merham Al Tanasi, which was published in Sawt Al Hijaz newspaper. He stated that his incentive for writing The Twins was only to "refute Western lies, and not to object against the Western scientific revolution." Plot The Twins tells the story of Saleem, the father of newborn twins named Rasheed and Fareed. On reaching school age, the twins were sent to a preparatory school. After their graduation, Rasheed joined a national school while Fareed joined a foreign one. As time passed, Rasheed advanced in his career and improved his social status, thus becoming a well-respected individual. Fareed, on the other hand, ended up in a tragic situation, where he became morally decayed and died afterwards in exile in a foreign country. Literary style The Twins is a long novel that falls under the genre of social literature. In the novel’s introduction, Al Ansari states that he wanted to demonstrate the harm foreign institutes in the East can cause to the future of the East, because of their teaching about Westernization and vacillation[better expression needed]. Despite being the first modern novel by a Saudi author, The Twins was not so much written for artistic purposes. "Even though it is not well-formulated based on the origins of the modern art of fiction, the reader might find a proper image of the harm caused by foreign institutes", the author states in the introduction. The events are not presented in temporal sequence, but are rather controlled by the forced event element, which aligns with the purpose of the novel. It seems that the author had decided what the end of the story will be before its start, and thus the events moved quickly towards the end. What is noticed is how slowly the events were growing in the large part of the story, while upon reaching the end, some events