The Rahwan recounts a man's descent into animality through his involvement in sorcery. Hank Westland, an American Muslim, journeys from Bamako to Bandiagara in search of a mystical sound that will enable him to conjure the dead. But his appetite for women, drugs, alcohol, and sorcery may be his undoing. In the meantime, war rages in the far north of Mali. A former colleague has been kidnapped by an Al Qaeda affiliated Islamist group in Timbuktu. Before journeying to ransom his friend, Westland must seek the blessing of the Shaykh of a Fulani Sufi order. He must discover the mystical sound that he seeks and the truth about animal metamorphosis. Is it really possible to turn oneself into an animal through the use of sorcery? Only the Haji of Bandiagara knows for certain.