(W/A/CA) Craig Thompson. Habibi is a deeply romantic story that explores and celebrates the beauty and cruelty, the complexity and depths of the Islamic world. Set in a mythical Middle East, at once contemporary and timeless, Habibi is a parable about our relationship to the natural world and the common heritage of Christianity and Islam. The magic of storytelling allows us to see the fragility embedded in cruelty, to understand how beauty can preserve us from destruction and how love can save us from loss of hope.