Skip to main content

The story "Zaabalawi" by Naguib Mahfouz can be interpreted as: a. a spiritual quest b. a portrait of mental illness/obsession...

While all of these answers have some validity, the most convincing answer is that the story "Zaabalawi" can be interpreted as answer A, a spiritual quest. The narrator is "afflicted by that illness for which no one possesses a remedy." He is "overcome with despair," so he goes in search of Sheikh Zaabalawi, a saint who takes away people's troubles. 


Most people the narrator encounters are disinterested in finding Zaabalawi. The lawyer, named Sheikh Qamar, does not even recall the saint, as the lawyer lives a life of material luxury that occupies his mind. The shopkeeper, who sells books of theology and mysticism from the entrance of a dilapidated house that is filled with garbage, is too tired and careworn to search for the saint. The sheikh of the district approaches the task of finding the saint in a systematic way that deprives it of its spiritual quality. He says he has been too preoccupied with "the cares of the world" to think about the saint lately. The only people who seem interested in finding Zaabalawi are the calligrapher and musician, who are both spiritual men.


When the narrator goes to a bar in search of the saint and gets drunk, he has a beautiful and serene dream, and when he wakes, he hears that Zaabalawi has been with him. In his state of drunkenness, he has entered a spiritual state in which the saint can visit him. He vows to continue to search for Zaabalawi at the end of the story. It is clear the saint is not a material presence but a spiritual presence who only visits people who are spiritual in nature and who are carried away, as the narrator was by drink, into a state of ecstasy or mysticism. The other characters are too focused on earthly matters to find the saint, but the narrator, carried into the spiritual realm, finds his saint. The tale is one of a spiritual quest.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

etymology - Origin of the greeting "Sweet dreams".

Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are the similarities between the relationships of the characters in The Outsiders and Romeo and Juliet?

At first glance, it might appear as if the characters in  The Outsiders  by S. E. Hinton and  Romeo and Juliet  by William Shakespeare do not have much in common; however, when one isolates the core of the conflicts, it becomes clear that the relationships in both stories are rooted in rivalry and secrecy.  In both  The Outsiders  and  Romeo and Juliet , an overarching theme is rivalry. While   socioeconomic status separates the greasers from the Socs in The Outsiders , last names separates the Montagues from the Capulets, who appear to be relatively equal in terms of socioeconomic status. Due to these rivalries, there are instances of deadly interactions in both stories. In  The Outsiders , Johnny kills Bob (whether his actions were justified or not is debatable). In  Romeo and Juliet , Romeo kills Tybalt and Paris, and Tybalt kills Mercutio. These deaths have profound effects on the main characters. In Ponyboy's case, the Johnny's death and other events in the novel inspire h...
Post a Comment
Read more