Naguib Mahfouz’s Religious Ideologies

Naguib Mahfouz’s Religious Ideologies

Naguib Mahfouz, an Egyptian novelist and a winner of the Nobel Prize, was stabbed after expressing his religious philosophies in Children of the Alley (Najjar 1). The writer serves as a threat to the conservative Egyptian society. Religious militants feel endangered by the introduction of westernized ideas, which do not conform to the Egyptian culture and tradition, especially in the 1990s. Mahfouz’ stance regarding religion is veiled in his superficial neutrality in novels such as Sugar Street and Children of the Alley, both being published in the 1950s. In both novels, the writer claims that religion and science do not coexist. Therefore, science and socialism, rather than religion, are regarded as the solutions for the constantly operating social and political injustices in the modern society. In Sugar Street and Children of the Alley, Mahfouz uses multiple techniques to explore the constant battle between religion and science in mankind’s advancement, which enables the reader to interpret his philosophies.

In Sugar Street, Mahfouz presents the adversarial relationship between religion and science through two intellectual siblings representing each idea. Ahmad and Abd al-Mun'im Shawkat are two brothers that go to the same university and live in the same house. However, Abd al-Mun'im Shawkat is a Muslim fundamentalist, while Ahmad is an atheist. Mahfouz uses the technique of making both characters as closely related as possible to emphasize the idea that no social relationship is capable of preventing the inevitable conflict between the two forces. Additionally, the author reveals a certain degree of preference to Ahmad through characterization and imagery. For instance, Abd al-Mun'im ...

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...elancholy. Mahfouz states, “Islam looks for a solution to social injustice inside the human conscience, whereas the solution lies in the development of society itself” (107).

Works Cited

Aboul-Ela, Hosam. “The Writer Becomes Text: Naguib Mahfouz and State Nationalism in Egypt.” Biography. 27.2 (2004): 339-356. JSTOR. Web. 24 May 2014.

Al-Mousa, Nedal. “The Nature and Uses of the Fantastic in the Fictional World of Naguib Mahfouz.” Journal of Arabic Literature. 23.1 (1992): 36-48. JSTOR. Web. 24 May 2014.

El-Enany, R. “Religion in the Novels of Naguib Mahfouz.” British Society for Middle Eastern Studies. 15.1/2 (1988): 21-27. JSTOR. Web. 23 May 2014.

Najjar, M. “Islamic Fundamentalism and the Intellectuals: The Case of Naguib Mahfouz.”British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 25.1 (1998): 139-168. JSTOR. Web. 24 May 2014.