This article addresses the misleading nature of the rewrite of the October 1973 Arab–Israeli war as portrayed in Moroccan Mubārak Rabī´’s 1976 novel Rifqat al-Silāḥ  …  wa-l-Qamar (Comrades in Arms … and the Moon). Papers partially burned by a retreating Moroccan officer lure the ‘enemy’ into attacking a fortified position, thus leading to an Arab victory. The fantastical nature of the war narrative informs a different reading of the novel, focused on Rabī´’s critique of and scepticism toward the possibility of unity among Arabs that such a victory would require. Rabī´’s critique centres on the distinction between jundī, regular soldier, and fidā’ī, freedom fighter; he explores Arab culture's relation to the two archetypes and redraws the fidā’ī in order to provide a broader and more progressive understanding of the goals and behaviour of those who desire radical change.