{"id":9834,"date":"2025-03-13T13:29:43","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T11:29:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/twistislamophobia.org\/en\/?p=9834"},"modified":"2025-03-13T13:29:50","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T11:29:50","slug":"literature-and-the-construction-of-historical-memory-a-review-of-children-of-gebelawi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/twistislamophobia.org\/en\/2025\/03\/13\/literature-and-the-construction-of-historical-memory-a-review-of-children-of-gebelawi\/","title":{"rendered":"Literature and the construction of historical memory: A review of Children of Gebelawi"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Mahfuz, Naguib, <em>Children of Gebelawi<\/em>, trad. D. G. Villaescusa, Madrid, Mart\u00ednez Roca, 2006.<\/p>\n<p>Naguib Mahfuz (1911-2006), Nobel Prize in Literature, published in 1959 <em>Children of Gebelawi<\/em> (\u0623\u0648\u0644\u0627\u062f \u062d\u0627\u0631\u062a\u0646\u0627), a novel characterized by symbolism and metaphysical perspective <a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a>. The text refers to a Cairo neighborhood and its inhabitants, descendants of the same progenitor, Gabalaui, who could be understood as a representation of God. In structural terms, the book is divided into five chapters that deal with the misery and injustice prevailing in the neighborhood from prehistoric times to the present day, and introduce the story of Adham (Adam), Gabal (Moses), Rifaa (Jesus), Qasem (Muhammad) and Arafa (science, knowledge in Arabic \u0623\u0639\u0631\u0641).<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_9830\" style=\"width: 352px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a class=\"post-gallery cboxElement\" href=\"https:\/\/twistislamophobia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/2-hijos-de-nuestro-barrio.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9830\" class=\"size-full wp-image-9830\" src=\"https:\/\/twistislamophobia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/2-hijos-de-nuestro-barrio.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"342\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/twistislamophobia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/2-hijos-de-nuestro-barrio.jpg 342w, https:\/\/twistislamophobia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/2-hijos-de-nuestro-barrio-205x300.jpg 205w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 342px) 100vw, 342px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-9830\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Book Children of\u00a0Gebelawi<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The work has almost always been analyzed in a religious or political light, being both controversial and banned from sale in many Arab countries. Mahfuz never revealed a correct interpretation of his work, he only pointed out the multiplicity of symbols and the freedom of their interpretation, defining himself as an artist and a fiction writer, not as a historian or a theologian <a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[2]<\/a>. In the prologue, Mahfuz declares, based on an anonymous narrator born in Arafa&#8217;s time, that the book intends to narrate the \u201chistory of our neighborhood\u201d as accurately as possible, without confusing information and without sympathies of any kind. In the prologue, Mahfuz declares, based on an anonymous narrator born in Arafa&#8217;s time, that the book intends to narrate the \u201chistory of our neighborhood\u201d as accurately as possible, without confusing information and without sympathies of any kind.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>Children of Gebelawi<\/em> is an artistic expression that offers a reconstruction of the past, promoting an allegorical reading of reality and raising reflections on the most transcendental issues of humanity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The<strong> historical importance of the past and the construction of memory<\/strong> is a constant in the work. This materialized, for example, in the character of the poets, who come to the caf\u00e9s every night to tell the stories of the neighborhood, singing verses about the justice and goodness of Gabalaui as well as praising the administrator and the chiefs, despite their tyranny. The neighborhood is gradually divided into sectors as rebellions for liberation from oppression and injustice take place: \u201cthose of Gabal, those of Rifaa and those of Qasem\u201d, easily identifiable with Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In each sector, the poets keep using literature and music to tell the legends of their ancestors, thereby consolidating a certain interpretation of history and contributing to the generation of different collective identities based on the importance of heritage. <em>Children of Gebelawi<\/em> is, like the stories of the poets in the caf\u00e9s, an artistic expression that offers a reconstruction of the past, promoting an allegorical reading of reality and raising reflections on the most transcendental issues of humanity.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"post-gallery cboxElement\" href=\"https:\/\/twistislamophobia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/1-naguib-mahfouz.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-9828 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/twistislamophobia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/1-naguib-mahfouz.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"268\" height=\"376\" srcset=\"https:\/\/twistislamophobia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/1-naguib-mahfouz.jpg 640w, https:\/\/twistislamophobia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/1-naguib-mahfouz-214x300.jpg 214w, https:\/\/twistislamophobia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/1-naguib-mahfouz-620x870.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 268px) 100vw, 268px\" \/><\/a>One of the main reflections of the work revolves around the failure of the revolutions of the protagonists. At the beginning of each chapter, Adham, Gabal, Rifaa, Qasem and Arafa, respectively, succeed in putting an end to the previous corruption and establishing a period of peace and stability in the neighborhood. However, corruption and tyranny soon emerge again, at the hands of the thugs, the chief and the administrator of the neighborhood, who possess the force and the habiz assets, the usufructs of the neighborhood delegated by Gabalaui. This consideration is important, especially because of its parallelism with the historical and current reality. On many occasions and in many Arab countries it has been possible to observe this cycle in which, although peace and social stability have been achieved at certain moments, degeneration soon emerges, which seems to converge with Mahfuz&#8217;s pessimism regarding the persistence of oppression and social injustice in society.<\/p>\n<p>The work places at the center of the success of the rebellions <strong>the religious values of equality, peaceful coexistence and social justice<\/strong>, and criticizes their socio-political outcome in the medium-long term, as the new social order becomes corrupted very quickly when it approaches power. The last chapter of the work redirects this critique to science, as a contemporary paradigm of approaching truth. Although Arafa initially presented his discoveries in the name of progress and development, he quickly sold out to the administrator, with both of them dividing up the habiz assets at the expense of the misery of the people of the neighborhood, and making evil use of Arafa&#8217;s discoveries, such as the creation of explosive weapons.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Religions, as well as any other philosophical and ethical system, have a crucial importance in promoting universal values around equality, plural coexistence and social peace.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Mahfuz&#8217;s work is absolutely relevant and reflects not only the story of an Egyptian neighborhood, but also the contemporary global reality. Today, despite scientific and technological advances, as well as the considerable economic growth that the world has been experiencing since the Industrial Revolution, poverty and inequality have not only remained unchanged, but have increased significantly. 76% of the world&#8217;s wealth corresponds to 10% of the population, while the poorest 50% of the population owns only 2% of the total wealth <a href=\"#_ftn2\" name=\"_ftnref2\">[3]<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>Children of Gebelawi<\/em> induces a reflection that allows to think that, beyond religions and science, peace and social prosperity do not derive from a certain paradigm of knowledge that reveals itself as the authentic and real one, but from the individual and collective agency for social progress and human welfare, as the protagonists of this novel did. In this exercise, religions, as well as any other philosophical and ethical system, have a crucial importance in promoting universal values around equality, plural coexistence and social peace.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ainara Garc\u00eda S\u00e1nchez<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\"><\/a>References<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> Del Amo M. (1996): \u201cNa\u0177\u012bb Ma\u1e25f\u016b\u1e93: del realismo al simbolismo\u201d,\u00a0<em>Miscel\u00e1nea de Estudios \u00c1rabes y Hebraicos. Secci\u00f3n \u00c1rabe-Islam<\/em>, 450, pp. 15-24. Disponible en: <a href=\"https:\/\/revistaseug.ugr.es\/index.php\/meaharabe\/article\/view\/14488\">https:\/\/revistaseug.ugr.es\/index.php\/meaharabe\/article\/view\/14488<\/a> [Consulta: 28 de diciembre de 2022].<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref2\" name=\"_ftn2\">[2]<\/a> Stagh, M. (1993): <em>The limits of freedom of speech. Prose literature and prose writers in Egypt under Nasser and Sadat<\/em>. Stockholm: Almqvist &amp; Wiksell International.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref3\" name=\"_ftn3\">[3]<\/a> Chancel, L., Piketty, T., Saez, E., Zucman, G. et al. (2022) \u201cWorld Inequality Report 2022\u201d, <em>World Inequality Lab<\/em>. Disponible en: <a href=\"https:\/\/wir2022.wid.world\/\">https:\/\/wir2022.wid.world\/<\/a> [Consulta: 28 de diciembre de 2022].<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mahfuz, Naguib, Children of Gebelawi, trad. D. G. Villaescusa, Madrid, Mart\u00ednez Roca, 2006. Naguib Mahfuz (1911-2006), Nobel Prize in Literature, published in 1959 Children of Gebelawi (\u0623\u0648\u0644\u0627\u062f \u062d\u0627\u0631\u062a\u0646\u0627), a novel characterized by symbolism and metaphysical perspective [1]. The text refers to a Cairo neighborhood and its inhabitants, descendants of the same progenitor, Gabalaui, who could be understood as a representation of God. In structural terms, the book is divided into five chapters that deal with the misery and injustice prevailing in the neighborhood from prehistoric times to the present day, and introduce the story of Adham (Adam), Gabal (Moses), Rifaa (Jesus), Qasem (Muhammad) and Arafa (science, knowledge in Arabic \u0623\u0639\u0631\u0641). The work has almost always been analyzed in a religious or political light, being both controversial and banned from sale in many Arab countries. Mahfuz never revealed a correct interpretation of his work, he only pointed out the multiplicity of symbols and the freedom of their interpretation, defining himself as an artist and a fiction writer, not as a historian or a theologian [2]. In the prologue, Mahfuz declares, based on an anonymous narrator born in Arafa&#8217;s time, that the book intends to narrate the \u201chistory of our neighborhood\u201d as &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9842,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[117],"tags":[721,857],"class_list":["post-9834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-twist-en","tag-literature","tag-review"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Literature and the construction of historical memory: A review of Children of Gebelawi - Twist Islamophobia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/twistislamophobia.org\/en\/2025\/03\/13\/literature-and-the-construction-of-historical-memory-a-review-of-children-of-gebelawi\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Literature and the construction of historical memory: A review of Children of Gebelawi - Twist Islamophobia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mahfuz, Naguib, Children of Gebelawi, trad. D. G. Villaescusa, Madrid, Mart\u00ednez Roca, 2006. Naguib Mahfuz (1911-2006), Nobel Prize in Literature, published in 1959 Children of Gebelawi (\u0623\u0648\u0644\u0627\u062f \u062d\u0627\u0631\u062a\u0646\u0627), a novel characterized by symbolism and metaphysical perspective [1]. The text refers to a Cairo neighborhood and its inhabitants, descendants of the same progenitor, Gabalaui, who could be understood as a representation of God. In structural terms, the book is divided into five chapters that deal with the misery and injustice prevailing in the neighborhood from prehistoric times to the present day, and introduce the story of Adham (Adam), Gabal (Moses), Rifaa (Jesus), Qasem (Muhammad) and Arafa (science, knowledge in Arabic \u0623\u0639\u0631\u0641). The work has almost always been analyzed in a religious or political light, being both controversial and banned from sale in many Arab countries. Mahfuz never revealed a correct interpretation of his work, he only pointed out the multiplicity of symbols and the freedom of their interpretation, defining himself as an artist and a fiction writer, not as a historian or a theologian [2]. In the prologue, Mahfuz declares, based on an anonymous narrator born in Arafa&#8217;s time, that the book intends to narrate the \u201chistory of our neighborhood\u201d as ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/twistislamophobia.org\/en\/2025\/03\/13\/literature-and-the-construction-of-historical-memory-a-review-of-children-of-gebelawi\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Twist Islamophobia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"Fundaciondeculturaislamica\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-13T11:29:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-13T11:29:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/twistislamophobia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/yousef-salhamoud-R9oCkCUcvBo-unsplash-1-1024x683.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fundaci\u00f3n de Cultura Isl\u00e1mica\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fundaci\u00f3n de Cultura Isl\u00e1mica\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/twistislamophobia.org\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/13\\\/literature-and-the-construction-of-historical-memory-a-review-of-children-of-gebelawi\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/twistislamophobia.org\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/13\\\/literature-and-the-construction-of-historical-memory-a-review-of-children-of-gebelawi\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Fundaci\u00f3n de Cultura Isl\u00e1mica\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/twistislamophobia.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ad747f2d69cf56db855e7341a1478d0d\"},\"headline\":\"Literature and the construction of historical memory: A review of Children of Gebelawi\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-13T11:29:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-13T11:29:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/twistislamophobia.org\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/13\\\/literature-and-the-construction-of-historical-memory-a-review-of-children-of-gebelawi\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1025,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/twistislamophobia.org\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/13\\\/literature-and-the-construction-of-historical-memory-a-review-of-children-of-gebelawi\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/twistislamophobia.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/yousef-salhamoud-R9oCkCUcvBo-unsplash-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"literature\",\"Review\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Twist\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/twistislamophobia.org\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/13\\\/literature-and-the-construction-of-historical-memory-a-review-of-children-of-gebelawi\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/twistislamophobia.org\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/13\\\/literature-and-the-construction-of-historical-memory-a-review-of-children-of-gebelawi\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/twistislamophobia.org\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/13\\\/literature-and-the-construction-of-historical-memory-a-review-of-children-of-gebelawi\\\/\",\"name\":\"Literature and the construction of historical memory: A review of Children of Gebelawi - 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D. G. Villaescusa, Madrid, Mart\u00ednez Roca, 2006. Naguib Mahfuz (1911-2006), Nobel Prize in Literature, published in 1959 Children of Gebelawi (\u0623\u0648\u0644\u0627\u062f \u062d\u0627\u0631\u062a\u0646\u0627), a novel characterized by symbolism and metaphysical perspective [1]. The text refers to a Cairo neighborhood and its inhabitants, descendants of the same progenitor, Gabalaui, who could be understood as a representation of God. In structural terms, the book is divided into five chapters that deal with the misery and injustice prevailing in the neighborhood from prehistoric times to the present day, and introduce the story of Adham (Adam), Gabal (Moses), Rifaa (Jesus), Qasem (Muhammad) and Arafa (science, knowledge in Arabic \u0623\u0639\u0631\u0641). The work has almost always been analyzed in a religious or political light, being both controversial and banned from sale in many Arab countries. Mahfuz never revealed a correct interpretation of his work, he only pointed out the multiplicity of symbols and the freedom of their interpretation, defining himself as an artist and a fiction writer, not as a historian or a theologian [2]. 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