"The Harafish" by Naguib Mahfouz

The Novel and Its Author

The novel The Harafish (published in 1977) is one of the most prominent works by the Egyptian Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1988. The novel reflects Mahfouz’s vision of the struggle between good and evil, justice and oppression, through the story of a family spanning ten generations in an unspecified Egyptian alley (believed to be set in Cairo's Al-Hussein district during the Ottoman era). The novel blends social realism with philosophical symbolism, infused with Sufi and existentialist elements, offering a profound analysis of power dynamics, revolution, and society.

The Meaning of "Harafish" and Social Context
The term "Harafish" refers to the class of the poor and marginalized who inhabit the fringes of Egyptian alleys, living on the margins of society without property or influence. Mahfouz chose this name to symbolize:

Class Struggle: Between the Harafish (the people) and the notables (the ruling elite).
The Historical Role of the Marginalized: As a revolutionary force demanding justice.
Social Critique: Highlighting the corruption of elites and their exploitation of the vulnerable.

Novel Structure: The Ten Tales and Generations
The novel is divided into ten tales, each representing a generation in the lineage of Ashur al-Naji, the family's founder, showcasing the evolving fates of his descendants through rise and fall:

Tale No.	Title	Central Character	Main Conflict
1	Ashur al-Naji	Ashur al-Naji	Establishing justice, then imprisonment and betrayal.
2	Shams al-Din	Shams al-Din	Greed and deviation from the father’s principles.
3	Love and Bars	Sulayman al-Naji	Worship of wealth and family sacrifice.
4	The Fugitive	Samaha al-Naji	Fleeing authority and forced confrontation with reality.
5	Apple of My Eye	Wahid al-Naji	Sexual desires and family collapse.
6	Queen’s Martyr	Aziz al-Naji	Sibling rivalry and inheritance conflict.
7	His Majesty Jalāl	Jalāl Abdel Rabbuh	Quest for immortality and death by pride.
8	The Ghosts	Jalāl Abdallah	Fear of paternal authority and transformation into a tyrant.
9	The Tune Thief	Fath al-Bab	Obsession with glory without wisdom.
10	Mulberry and Club	Ashur al-Naji (the new)	Collective revolution against injustice.

Key Transformations Across Generations:

First Generation (Ashur): Represents the just futuwwa (chivalrous leader) who protects the weak and distributes wealth fairly, yet is imprisoned after being accused of seizing others' property.
Middle Generations (Shams al-Din, Sulayman, Wahid): The family descends into corruption (greed, lust, betrayal), symbolizing the collapse of original values.
Tenth Generation (The New Ashur): Revives the principles of the founding ancestor through a popular revolution against the tyrannical futuwwa "Hassuna al-Saba," affirming that justice requires collective—not individual—power.

Key Symbols and Ideas

The Alley as a Symbol of Egyptian Society:
Represents Egypt in microcosm, with its class struggles and cyclical history of revolutions and coups. It shows how events (revolutions, plagues, corruption) recur across generations, as if history is a "closed circle."
Futuwwa: Between Justice and Tyranny:
- The Just Futuwwa (Ashur I): Embodies the "ideal ruler" who protects the weak.
- The Corrupt Futuwwa (e.g., Hassuna al-Saba): Symbolizes despotism and exploitation.
  The evolution of the futuwwa illustrates power’s shift from "protecting society" to "oppressing it."
Philosophy of Revolution:
In the tenth tale, the new Ashur rejects the idea of a "sole savior" (the awaited Mahdi) and convinces the Harafish that salvation comes through collective revolution, declaring:
"Humiliation will always be realized by those who accept it."
Here, revolution entails not just destruction but also material rebuilding (establishing schools) and moral restoration (justice and equality).
Existentialism and Spirituality:
Characters like Jalāl Abdel Rabbuh seek immortality, reflecting an existential struggle between death and life’s meaning. Verses from the takiyya (inspired by Hafez Shirazi’s poetry) symbolize existential mysteries and the search for life’s hidden meaning.

Artistic Features and Style

Poetic Language: Mahfouz blends formal Arabic with colloquialisms and inserts Persian poetry to create Sufi and existential atmospheres.
Magic Realism: Events like Ashur I’s mysterious disappearance or prophetic dreams (e.g., Ashur’s dream of a plague) blend reality with the supernatural.
Epic Structure: The ten-generation sequence resembles ancient epics (e.g., Homer’s Iliad), where each tale carries an independent moral lesson while collectively forming a unified narrative.

The Novel’s Impact and Adaptations

Film and TV Adaptations:
Adapted into a TV series (1987) and films like Al-Harafish (1986) and The Fugitive (1985). Some adaptations were criticized for prioritizing "drama" over the novel’s philosophical depth.
Translations:
Translated into English as The Harafish (1994) by Catherine Cobham, introducing Mahfouz’s work globally.
Status in Mahfouz’s Oeuvre:
Considered the pinnacle of his artistic evolution after The Cairo Trilogy, merging the trilogy’s realism with the symbolism of Children of the Alley.

Notable Quotes and Their Significance

"It will not remain empty forever; no sorrow lasts, nor does joy." [Ashur al-Naji]
Significance: Philosophical optimism in life’s ability to renew itself after destruction.
"Justice is the best remedy." [The New Ashur]
Significance: Rejects post-revolution vengeance, emphasizing building a just system.
"Ashur’s trial was among the events too stubborn to be forgotten... He stood in the cage, proud of the warmth of the hearts surrounding him."
Significance: The power of popular solidarity against injustice.

Mahfouz’s Vision of Humanity and Society
The Harafish is not merely a family saga but a mirror reflecting Egyptian society across ages. It shows that:

Justice is not inherited but earned through collective struggle.
Corruption is inherent in humanity, but revolution becomes possible when the oppressed refuse to "accept humiliation."
History repeats, yet hope persists with the emergence of a "new Ashur" in every generation.

This epic remains a testament to Mahfouz’s genius in transforming an Egyptian alley into a complete human universe, embodying the eternal struggle between oppression and liberation, and affirming that the Arabic novel can rival the world’s greatest epics.