Both novels are on topical and sensitive themes. Alem's The Doves' Necklace explores the "secret life" of the holy city of Mecca. It presents a world of crime, corruption, prostitution and the exploitation of foreign workers by a mafia of building contractors bent on destroying the historic areas of the city.
Alem is the first female winner of the prize, which was established in 2007 to promote international recognition of the best Arabic literary writing, with funding from the Booker Foundation, as well as the Emirates Foundation for Philanthropy.
Meanwhile Achaari's The Arch and the Butterfly is a story about the effects of terrorism, not upon the west, but upon a Muslim family who discover their son, who they thought was studying in Paris, has died as an al-Qaida "martyr" in Afghanistan. The novel explores the effects of the traumatic discovery upon the young man's father and on his relationship with his wife. The author, a poet and journalist, is also a former minister of culture inMorocco.
Chair of the judges, Iraqi poet Fadhil al-Azzawi, announced the winners at an Abu Dhabi ceremony on the eve of the city's book fair. He said the winning books were "two wonderful novels with great literary quality" which both deal with important problems in the Middle East, including "problems which have been reflected on banners during the recent protests that have shaken the Arab world, demanding change".
Jonathan Taylor, the prize's chair of trustees, said: "These are interesting times for Arabic fiction, which are reflected in today's exceptional announcement. For the first time the judges decided that the prize should be shared between two extraordinary books selected from an outstanding shortlist."
Achaari and Alem were chosen from a shortlist that also featured novels from two Egyptian writers, An Oriental Dance by Khaled al-Berry and Brooklyn Heights by Miral al-Tahawy, as well as My Tormentor by Moroccan writer Bensalem Himmich, and The Larvae Hunter by Amir Taj al-sir from Sudan.
The winning novels now find their prospects for translation radically increased. While two of Alem's novels, Fatma and My Thousand and One Nights, have already seen English translation, Achaari's work has not.
Previous winners of the prize Sunset Oasis by Bahaa Taher (2008) andAzazel (2009) by Youssef Ziedan both secured English and other international translations, while news of an English translation of last year's winner, Spewing Sparks as Big as Castles by Abdo Khal, is said to be "imminent".
