his suspicion. That was only to be expected from a young man whose
emotional life was centered on a single goal which could be pictured
only in the form of a wife and under the rubric "marriage." Fahmy
was disturbed to have his irresponsible brother attack this revered
category with such bitter sarcasm. He muttered in evident astonishment,
"But your wife's perfect... a perfect lady."
Yasin cried out sarcastically, "A perfect lady! That she is. Isn't she
the daughter of a respected gendeman? And her stepmother's from a
distinguished family. Beautiful?... Pefined?... Yes, but some unknown
demon in charge of married life turns these qualities into
trivial characteristics of little interest through the sickening boredom
of marriage. These noble but meaningless qualities are like the noble
and happy expressions we rain down on a poor person when we offer
him our condolences for his poverty."
Fahmy replied simply and truthfully, "| don't understand a word
you've said."
"Wait till you learn for yourself."
"Why have people kept on getting married, then, since the beginning
of creation?"
"Because warnings and caution are as futile for marriage as for
death." Yasin continued as though to himself: ".My imagination really
tricked me. It lifted me up to worlds of delight superior even to those
of my dreams. | kept asking myself: Is it actually true that I'll share
a house with a beautiful maiden forever? What a dream!... But I
assure you that there's no disaster more oppressive than being united
with a beautiful woman under one roof forever."
With the bewilderment of a person so buffeted by youthful passions
that he found it difficult to imagine boredom, Fahmy murmured,
"Perhaps yc,'ve discovered something else concealed inside a flawless
exterior?"
Laughing bitterly, Yasin replied, "I'm not complaining about anything
except the flawless exterior.... My complaint is actually based
I
on the beauty itself.... It's beauty that's made me so bored I'm sick.
It's like a new word that dazzles you the first time. Then you keep
repeating it and using it until it's no different for you than words like
'dog,' 'worm,' 'lesson,' and other commonplace expressions. It loses
its novelty and appeal. You may even forget its meaning, so that it
becomes a strange, meaningless word you can't use. Perhaps someone
else will come across it in your essay and be amazed at your
brilliance, while you're amazed at their ignorance. Don't wonder
about the disaster of being bored by beauty. It's a boredom that appears
inexcusable and consequently totally condemnable. It's difficult
to try to avoid groundless despair. Don't be surprised at what I'm
saying. I excuse you because you're looking at the situation from a
distance. Beauty is like a mirage that can only be seen from afar."
In spite of his brother's bitter tone, Fahmy doubted it was justified,
since from the beginning he had been inclined to blame his brother
and not human nature for Yasin's deviant behavior. Was it not possible
that his complaint could be attributed to his shameless behavior
before he got married? Fahmy held firm to this assumption because
he refused to allow his fondest dreams to be destroyed. Yasin was
not as interested in what his brother thought as in getting some
things off his own chest. Smiling sweetly for the first time, he continued:
"I've come to understand my father's position perfectly. I
know what turned him into that boisterous man who's always chasing
after romance. How could he have put up with a single dish for
a quarter century when I'm dying of boredom after five months?"
Fahmy was upset that his father had been dragged into the conversation.
He protested: "Even if we suppose that your complaint
arises from some misery that's an integral part of human nature, the
solution you so cheerfully announce..." he was about to say, "is far
removed from being harmonious or natural," but to seem more logical
he switched to: "is far removed from religion."
Yasin was content to limit his observance of religion to belief and
paid no serious attention to its commandments or prohibitions. He
responded, "Religion supports my view, as shown by its permission
to marry four wives, not to mention the concubines with whom the
palaces of the caliphs and wealthy men were packed. Religion acknowledges
that even beauty itself, once familiarity and experience
make it seem trite, can be boring, sickening, and deadly."
Fahmy observed with a smile, "We had a grandfather who spent
the evening with one wife and the morning with another. Perhaps
you're his heir."
Naguib Mahfou
Yasin murmured with a sigh, "Perhaps."
At that time, Yasin had not yet realized any of his rebellious
dreams. Although he had returned to the coffeehouse and the bar, he
had hesitated before taking the final step of slipping back to Zanuba
or some other woman. What had made him reflect and hesitate...
some feeling of responsibility toward married life? Perhaps he had
not freed himself from respect for the religious view that distinguished
between an unmarried fornicator and a married adulterer and
punished the latter far more severely? Perhaps until he recovered
from the disappointment of the greatest hope he had ever nurtured
he would be alienated from worldly pleasures? None of these reasons
would have been a serious obstacle capable of restraining him, had
he not found an unavoidable and irresistible temptation in the example
provided by his father's life.
Yasin associated the reasonableness of his wife with that of his
stepmother. His imagination busied itself sketching out a plan for her
future with him based on Mrs. Amina's life with his father. Yes, he
deeply wished that Zaynab would settle down in the life for which
she was destined the way his father's wife had. Then he would embark
on a series of daring escapades like his father's. He would come
home at the end of the night to a calm house and a compliant wife.
In that manner and that alone, marriage appeared bearable. Indeed,
it would be desirable, with qualities he would otherwise miss out on.
"What more does any woman want than a home of her own and
sexual gratification? Nothing[ Women are just another kind of domestic
animal, and must be treated like one. Yes, other pets are not
allowed to intrude into our private lives. They stay home until we're
free to play with them. For me, being a husband who is faithful to
his marriage would be death. One sight, one sound, one taste incessantly
repeated and repeated until there's no difference between motion
and inertia. Sound and silence become twins.... No, certainly
not, that's not why I got married.... If she's said to have a fair
complexion, then does that mean I have no desires for a brownskinned
woman or a black? If she's said to be pleasingly plump, what
consolation will I have for skinny women or huge ones? If she's
refined, from a noble and distinguished family, should I neglect the
good qualities of girls whose fathers push carts around in the streets?
... Forward... forward."
AI-Sayyid Ahmad was bent over his ledgers when he heard a pair of
high-heeled shoes tapping across the threshold of the store. He naturally
raised his eyes with interest and saw a woman whose hefty
body was enveloped in a wrap. A white forehead and eyes decorated
with kohl could be seen above her veil. He smiled to welcome a
person for whom he had been waiting a long time, for he had immediately
recognized Maryam's mother, or the widow of the late Mr.
Ridwan, as she had recently become known. Jamil al-Hamzawi was
busy with some customers, and so the proprietor invited her to sit
near his desk. The woman strutted toward him. As she sat down on
the small chair her flesh flowed over the sides. She wished him a
good morning.
Although her greeting and his welcome followed the customary
pattern repeated whenever a woman customer worth honoring came
into the store, the atmosphere in the corner near the desk was
charged with electricity that was anything but innocent. Among its
manifestations were the modest lowering of her eyelids, visible on
either side of the bridge connecting her veil to her scarf, and the
glance of his eyes, which were lying in wait above his huge nose.
The electricity was hidden and silent but needed only a touch to make
it shine, glow, and burst into flame.
He seemed to have been expecting this visit, which was an answer
to whispered hopes and suppressed dreams. The death of Mr. Muhammad
Ridwan had made him anticipate it, arousing his desires the
way the death of winter excites youthful hopes in creatures. With his
neighbor's passing, al-Sayyid Ahmad's chivalrous scruples had vanished.
He reminded himself that the deceased man had merely been
a neighbor, never a friend, and that he was now dead. Today he could
recognize the woman's beauty, which he had previously tried to ignore
to help preserve his honor. He could express this recognition
and allow it a measure of enjoyment and life.
His affection for Zubayda was starting to go bad, like a fruit at the
end of its season. In contrast to the last time, now the woman found
him an uninhibited male and uncommitted lover. The unwelcome
34o
Naguib Mahfou
idea that this might be an innocent visit crossed his mind, only to be
banished on the evidence of the tender and exquisitely provocative
hints she had let drop at their last encounter. The fact that she was
making an unnecessary call on him proved that his doubts were unfounded.
An old hand at this game, he finally decided to try his luck.
Smiling, he told her tenderly, "What a fine idea!"
Somewhat uneasily she replied, "May God honor you. I was just
returning home when I passed by the store and it occurred to me to
do my shopping for the month myself."
He considered her excuse but refused to believe it. That it had
seemed a good idea to do her shopping for the month was not convincing.
There had to be some other motive, especially since she
would know instinctively that a second visit after the overtures of the
past one would be apt to excite his suspicions and inevitably appear
provocative. Her haste to apologize also increased his confidence. He
commented, "It's an excellent opportunity for me to greet and serve
you."
She thanked him briefly, but he did not give her his full attention.
He was busy thinking about what to say next. Perhaps he ought to
mention her late husband and ask God's mercy on him, but he abstained
for fear it would destroy the mood. Then he wondered
whether he should go on the offensive or encourage her advances?
Either method had its pleasures, but he could not forget that for her
to come alone to see him was a giant step on her part that deserved
a warm reception from him. He added to his previous greeting: "Indeed
it's an excellent opportunity to see you."
Her eyelids and eyebrows moved in a way that revealed modesty
or discomfort, or both at once, but most of all that she understood
the hidden meanings behind his flattery. Yet he viewed her embarrassment
more as a reaction to her own feelings, which had moved
her to visit him, than to his statement. He felt certain his hunch was
correct and proceeded to repeat his words tenderly: "Yes, an excellent
opportunity to see you."
At that, she replied in a tone with a bite of concealed criticism, "I
doubt that you consider seeing me an 'excellent opportunity.'"
Her criticism pleased and delighted him, but he protested,
"Whoever said that some forms of doubt are sinful was right."
She shook her head to tell him that such talk proved nothing. Then
she said, "It's not merely a doubt. I'm certain of it. You're a man
who doesn't lack understanding. Even if you suspect otherwise, I'm
PALACE ALK
that way too.... So it wouldn't be right for either of us to try to
deceive the other."
He felt scornful and bitter that a woman would say such things
only two months after the death of her husband but thought up an
excuse for her, something he would not have considered doing in
other circumstances, and told himself, "Her patience during his long
illness has to be considered on her behalf." Spurning this uninvited
feeling, he told her with feigned regret, "You're angry with me?...
That's an evil fate I don't deserve."
She said somewhat impetuously, perhaps because the restrictions
of time and place did not allow much playful repartee, "I told myself
when I was on the way here, 'You shouldn't go.' So now I have only
myself to blame."
"Why so angry, lady? I ask myself what crime I've committed."
She asked provocatively, "What would you do if you greeted
someone and he didn't return your greeting?"
He realized immediately that she was referring to her display of
affection on her previous visit, which he had met with silence, but he
pretended not to understand the reference. Imitating her allusive
style, he said, "Perhaps he wasn't able to hear the greeting for one
reason or another."
"His hearing's excellent and so are his other senses."
His mouth opened in an uncontrollable and self-satisfied smile.
Like a sinner starting to confess, he said, "Perhaps he was too bashful
or pious to return the greeting."
With a candor that pleased and stirred him, she replied, "As for
bashfulness, he's not at all bashful, and how could a serious person
accept the remainder of the excuse?"
A laugh escaped from him, but he cut it short and glanced at Jamil
al-Hamzawi, who seemed engrossed in the business of assisting some
customers. Then al-Sayyid Ahmad said, "I would prefer not to rehash
the complications troubling me at the time. All the same, I shan't
despair so long as regret, repentance, and forgiveness remain."
She asked skeptically, "Who says there's regret?"
In an ardent tone that he had perfected over the years, he replied,
"With God as my witness, I have been consumed by regret."
"And repentance?"
Boring deep into her with a flaming look, he said, "The greeting
is returned ten times over."
She asked flirtatiously, "How do you know there's forgiveness?"
Naguib Mahfou
He answered suavely, "Isn't forgiveness one of the qualities of
noble people?" Then he continued with delirious intoxication: "Forgiveness
is frequently the secret word granting entry into paradise."
Gazing at the sweet smile he detected in her eyes, he concluded, "The
paradise I refer to is located at the intersection of Palace Walk and
al-Nahhasin. Fortunately, the door opens onto a side alley far from
prying eyes and there's no watchman."
It crossed his mind that her late husband, who had been the watchman
guarding the terrestrial paradise he was attempting to enter, was
now an occupant of the heavenly paradise. His mind was troubled by
fear that the woman might have realized the same ironic truth, but
he found she was daydreaming. He sighed and secretly asked God's
forgiveness.
Jamil al-Hamzawi had finished taking care of his customers and
approached to attend to her requests. AI-Sayyid Ahmad had an opportunity
to mull things over. He began to remember how his son
Fahmy had once wanted to get engaged to Maryam, this woman's
daughter, and how God had inspired him to turn Fahmy down. At
that time he had believed he was merely acting according to his principles.
It had not occurred to him that he was sparing his son the
most terrible tragedy that can befall a husband. What course would
a girl follow but her mother's?... And what a mother! A thoroughly
dangerous woman.... Although she was a precious jewel to skirt
chasers like him, on the domestic front she would be a bloody disaster.
What had she been up to during the long years when her husband
was as good as dead? All the evidence pointed in one direction. Perhaps
many of the neighbors knew. Indeed, if anyone in his home had
been skilled at observing.these affairs, he would have known all
about it, and his wife, who even now believed in her, would not have
remained a friend. He felt once more a desire, which had first seized
him after her doubt-provoking visit, to separate this wanton woman
from his pure family. He had found no way then to fulfill it without
arousing suspicion. Because of his anticipated liaison with her, he saw
that it was time to act on this desire. He would suggest that she
gradually terminate her friendship with his wife, and thus, without
any damage to her reputation, he would achieve his goal by making
use of a legitimate excuse. The closer this woman got to his heart,
the farther she was removed from his respect.
When al-Hamzawi finished getting what she needed, she rose and
held out her hand to al-Sayyid Ahmad. He accepted it with a smile
and said softly, "Until we meet again."
PALACE WALK
As she started to leave, she murmured, "We'll be waiting for you."
She left behind her a man who was overjoyed and intoxicated by
pride at his conquest, but she had also created a problem for him that
would occupy a prominent place among his daily concerns. He would
have to think about the safest way to withdraw from Zubayda's
house, as seriously as he pondered what the military authority was
doing, what the English were up to, and what Sa'd was planning.
Yes, as usual, this new happiness carried a tail of thought behind it.
If he had not craved for people to love him--and it was this love
that brought him his happiest moments--it would have been easy
for him to leave the entertainer. His love had become threadbare, its
bloom had faded, and satiation had plunged it into a brackish swamp,
but he was always apprehensive about leaving behind an angry heart
or a spiteful soul. Whenever he got bored with a relationship he
would hope for his lover to initiate the separation so that he would
be the one left, not the one departing. How he wished that his relationship
with Zubayda could end like those previous ones when a
temporary unpleasantness had been washed away by choice farewell
presents. Then this former liaison would evolve into a solid friendship.
He
suspected that Zubayda was as satiated as he was. Would she
accept his apologies graciously? Could he hope that his presents
would adequately compensate for his leaving her, which he was determined
to do? Would she prove to be as bighearted and generous
as her colleague Jalila, for example? He would have to think about
these questions at length to prepare the most satisfying excuses for
himself. He sighed deeply, as though complaining that love should
be so transitory. If it were lasting, it would spare the heart troublesome
passions. Then his imagination wandered off to nightfall. He
could see himself creeping along in the darkness, groping his way to
the appointed house where the woman was waiting with a lamp in
her hand.
"England proclaimed the Protectorate of its own accord without asking
or receiving permission from the Egyptian nation. It is an invalid
protectorate with no legal standing. In facti it was one of those things
necessitated by the war and should end now that the war has ended."
Fahmy dictated these words, one at a time, deliberately and in a
clear voice, while his mother, Yasin, and Zaynab followed this new
dictation exercise Kamal was tackling. He concentrated his attention
on the words without understanding anything he wrote down,
whether he got it right or not. It was not unusual for Fahmy to give
his younger brother a lesson in dictation or some other subject during
the coffee hour, but the topic seemed different, even to the mother
and Zaynab.
Yasin looked at his brother with a smile and remarked, "I see these
ideas have gained control of you. Has God not inspired you with any
dictation for this poor boy except this nationalist address that could
get a person thrown into prison?"
Fahmy quickly corrected his brother: "It's an address Sa'd gave in
front of the occupation forces in the Legislative and Economic Assembly."
Yasin asked with interest and astonishment, "How did they reply?"
Fahmy said passionately, "Their answer hasn't come yet. Everyone's
anxiously and apprehensively wondering what it will be. The
speech was an outburst of anger in the face of a lion not known for
restraint or justice." He sighed with bitter exasperation and continued:
"This angry outburst was inevitable after the Wafd Delegation
was prevented from making their journey and Rushdi resigned as
Prime Minister. Sultan Abroad Fuad disappointed our hopes when he
accepted the Prime Minister's resignation."
Fahmy hurried to his room, returning with a piece of paper, which
he unfolded. He presented it to his brother and said, "The speech
isn't all I've got. Read this handbill, which has been distributed secretly.
It contains the letter from the Ward Delegation to the Sultan."
Yasin took the handbill and began to read:
"Your Majesty,
PALACE WALK
"The undersigned, members of the Egyptian Wafd Delegation, are
honored to represent the Nation by presenting these concerns to
Your Majesty:
"Since the belligerents agreed to make the principles of freedom
and justice the basis for the peace treaties and announced that peoples
whose status had been altered by the war would be consulted about
self-government, we have taken upon ourselves an effort to liberate
our country and to defend its case at the Peace Conference. Since the
traditionally dominant power has disappeared from the arena and
since our country, with the dissolution of Turkish sovereignty over
it, has become free of every claim against it, and since the Protectorate,
which the-English proclaimed unilaterally without any agreement
from the Egyptian nation, is invalid and merely one of the
necessities of war, which ends with the end of the war, based on
these circumstances and the fact that Egypt has suffered as much as
could be expected of her while serving in the ranks of those claiming
to protect the freedom of small nations, there is nothing to prevent
the Peace Conference from acknowledging our political freedom pursuant
to the principles it has adopted as its foundation.
"We submitted our request to travel to your Prime Minister, His
Excellency Husayn Rushdi Pasha. He promised to assist us, confident
that we expressed the views of the Nation as a whole. When we were
not permitted to travel and were confined within the borders of our country by a tyrannical force with no legal authority, we were prevented
from defending the cause of this distressed nation. When His
Excellency the Prime Minister was unable to bear the responsibility
for retaining his post while the will of the people was obstructed, he
resigned along with his colleague His Excellency Adli Yeken Pasha.
Their resignations were welcomed by the people, who honored these
men and acknowledged the sincerity of their nationalism.
"People believed that these two men in their noble stand in defense
of liberty had a powerful ally in Your Majesty. Therefore no one in
Egypt expected that the final solution to the question of the journey
of the Ward Delegation would have been acceptance of the resignation
of the two ministers, which will further the purposes of those
desiring to humiliate us and strengthen the obstacle placed in the path
of the delivery of the Nation's plea at the Conference. It also makes
it appear that we consent to the perpetuation of foreign rule over us.
"We know that Your Majesty may have been forced for dynastic
considerations to accept the throne of your illustrious father when it
became vacant on the death of your late brother Sultan Hasan, but
Naguib Mahfou
the Nation, for its part, believed that when you accepted this throne
during a temporary, invalid protectorate for those dynastic considerations,
you would not be deterred from working for the independence
of your country. Resolution of the problem by accepting the resignation
of the two ministers who demonstrated their respect for the
will of the Nation is impossible to reconcile with the love for the
good of your country to which you are naturally disposed or with
your respect for the wishes of your subjects. Therefore, people have
been amazed that your advisers have not sided with the Nation at
this critical time. That is what is requested of you, O wisest of the
descendants of our great liberator Muhammad All, so that you will
be the mainstay in the achievement of the Nation's independence, no
matter what the cost to you. Your zeal is too lofty to be limited by
the circumstances. How did it escape the attention of your advisers
that Rushdi Pasha's resignation guarantees that no patriotic Egyptian
will agree to replace him? How did it escape them that a cabinet
dedicated to programs contrary to the wishes of the people is destined
to fail?
"Pardon, Your Majesty, if our intervention in this affair seems
inappropriate. In other circumstances perhaps it would be, but the
matter has now gone beyond consideration of any concern other than
the good of the Nation, of which you are the faithful servant. Our
Sovereign holds the highest position in the country and therefore
holds the greatest responsibility for it. The greatest hopes are placed
in him. We will not be misrepresenting our advice to him if we
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