Ted Chiang

“The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate” by Ted Chiang is a short story published in 2007 that combines fantasy with a philosophical exploration of time and destiny. Set in medieval Baghdad, it follows Fuwaad ibn Abbas, a merchant who discovers the shop of an alchemist named Bashaarat, who has created a gate capable of taking people twenty years into the past or future. Through intertwined stories, the story raises questions about free will, the inevitability of destiny, and the true meaning of repentance and redemption.