Assignment No.

2: Sins in Midaq Alley

Areeba Aftab
(SAP ID: 1709)
Department of English Literature and Linguistics
ENG-432: Comparative Literature
Sir Abrar Ahmad
May 4, 2020
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Sins in Midaq Alley

Literature being dynamic, multidimensional and endless; is the manifestation of human life. It is
an embodiment of words based on humans, their feelings and their desires. It also serves as a
mirror of the human society, its values and its transgressions. Literature is not only a reflection of
humans but also a source of guidance for them. For ages, man and his sins have been the pivotal
subject in literature. These sins have been highlighted in both prose and poetry to improve the
sense of good and bad in humans. From Dante’s Inferno and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales to
Naguib Mahfouz’s Midaq Alley, sins have been the main theme for writers. Like others,
Mahfouz has also portrayed the seven deadly sins: pride, greed, gluttony, wrath, lust, envy and
sloth in his novel Midaq Alley.

The novel revolves around the inhabitants of a poor alley called Midaq Alley in Cairo
during World War II in the 1940’s. Abbas, Hamida, Dr Booshy, Husniya, Mr. and Mrs. Kirsha,
Hussain, Zaita, Uncle Kamil, Afify, Alwan and many more are the centre of this novel. These
characters represent the seven deadly sins. Among these seven sins, pride is the deadliest of all.
It is considered as the root of all sins. Pride makes a person selfish, self-centred, and self-
seeking. In the novel, the character exhibiting the most sins was Hamida. She also displayed
pride. Hamida was proud and conscious of her looks. She was aware of her beautiful body and
took pride in her appealing features. Her pride in her appearance was quite excessive. This
excessive pride made her feel unsuited for the alley she resided in and that is why she started
looking at others with prejudice. She often stood in front of the mirror examining herself and
muttering: “Oh, what a pity, Hamida, what a shame and a waste.” (Mahfouz, 1947)

This pride became the root of all her misdeeds. She was aware of the fact that she was
popular among the men of Midaq Alley. She knew they gazed her from time to time: “Hamida
set out, wrapping her cloak around her and listening to the clack of her shoes on the stairs as she
made her way to the street. She walked slowly, conscious of both her gait and her appearance,
for she was aware that four eyes were examining her closely. The eyes belonged to Salim Alwan,
the company owner, and to Abbas, the barber. She was well aware...” (Mahfouz, 1947)

But Hamida did not care for these men. She wanted more. Her conceited nature made her
believe that she did not fit in the alley and could not find a worthy suitor in this locality. This is
the reason why she fell in the trap of Ibrahim Faraj who was a pimp and knew the real nature of
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Hamida. He knew the pride and the ego that settled in Hamida, that is why he trapped her by
showing her dreams of luxuries that she can attain after becoming a prostitute. Hamida’s pride in
her beauty was the reason why she always treated Abbas as an unfitting partner even after
agreeing to the engagement. She never loved Abbas and the only reason why she kept him close
was that his glances pleased her, she loved how much bewildered he was by her beauty: “he was
the only young man in the alley who would make a suitable husband for her, while she, on the
other hand, dreamed of a husband like the rich contractor her neighbor had married. The truth
was she neither loved nor wanted him; at the same time she could not dismiss him. Perhaps his
passionate glances pleased her.” (Mahfouz, 1947) It was because of her pride in her looks that
she was ready to leave Abbas, first for Alwan and later for Ibrahim Faraj. Hamida’s pride made
her self-centred, greedy, envious and violent.

Like Hamida, her foster brother, Hussain Kirsha also became self-centred and regarded
the people of the alley as low beings when his excessive pride took over. Hussain Kirsha took
pride in his job at the army and started mistreating his parents and friends. He thought that the
luxurious lifestyle that his temporary job provided will stay forever, but at the end of the story he
is left empty-handed, jobless and at the mercy of the alley that he despised so much. It was the
excessive pride of both Hamida and Hussain that resulted in their downfall at the end of the
story.

Another sin prevailing among the people of Midaq Alley was greed. The poor people of
this alley had a great love for materialistic possessions. They all had insatiable greed for money.
The character, Salma Afify personified greed. She was a rich lady and she only cared for her
money. She used to fight with her renters if they refused to pay rent and was often seen raising
rent for her tenants. Her obsession with money is described as following in the novel: “Her only
passions were a fondness for coffee, cigarettes, and hoarding bank notes. She kept her new
banknotes in a small ivory casket hidden in the depths of her clothes closet and arranged them in
packages of fives and tens, delighting herself by looking at them, counting and rearranging them.
Because the bank notes, unlike metal coins, made no noise, the money was safe and none of the
alley's clever people, despite their great sensitivity, knew of its existence. She had always
inclined toward avarice and was one of the earliest contributors to the savings bank.” (Mahfouz,
1947)
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Like, Salma Afify, Hamida and her mother were also greedy for money. The reason why
Hamida got engaged to Abbas was that he went to the army to earn money. Her reason for her
inclination towards all her lovers was because of her greed. Umm Hamida was also a greedy
woman and she supported her daughter’s stupid decisions just because of her love for money.
The cripple maker, Zaita and the fake dentist, Dr. Booshy also exhibited greed. The greed of both
these characters changed them into animals. They were not afraid to play with the lives of the
innocent. Both these characters used to work together and steal gold teeth from the deceased and
place them into the mouth of the living. Zaita used to carry other inhuman operations on beggars
and turn them into cripples, he also used to collect what the beggars earned daily. These two
characters are caught by the police at the end of the novel and pay the price for their greed.

Even though, Radwan Hussainy was shown as a pious man in the novel whose kindness,
love and faith were never once doubted. All the people in the alley used to consult him for their
matters and considered his advice in high regard. But, Radwan Hussainy was not as pure as he
seemed. He was filled with greed for power and craved authority. The only person on whom he
could satisfy this greed of power was his wife. Therefore, he mistreated his wife: “having
despaired any authority on earth, Hussainy imposed his influence on the only person who would
submit to his will—his wife. Thus he satisfied his greed for power by inflicting tyranny on her.”
(Mahfouz, 1947)

Hussain Kirsha, Salma Afify and Alwan’s excessive greed for wealth can also be seen as
gluttony. These three characters had no restraint over their greed for money. They were among
the well-settled people of the alley and had more wealth than others. But, throughout the story,
they are seen obsessing over their wealth and never being satisfied with enough. Alwan’s
gluttony made him worship his money and hate his sons and wife. He started seeing his sons as
his enemies, thinking they might take all his wealth away and take over the business. That is
why, he never stopped working even after a heart attack, because he was so obsessed with his
money and wanted more and more. Alwan was also seen eating a bowl of “cooked green wheat,
mixed with pieces of pigeon meat and ground nutmeg” every day in the novel. (Mahfouz,1947)
This represents Nimis, another form of gluttony.

Mr. Kirsha and Salim Alwan are both vanquished by their sexual desires. Mr. Kirsha’s
lust indulges him in homosexuality and destroys his relationship with his wife. Similar is the case
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with Alwan, he is also ready to sacrifice his marital life because he lusts for an already engaged
woman who is half his age. Mr. Kirsha’s lust turns him into an angry and violent man. He and
his wife also portray wrath. They often become the centre of Alley’s gossips as they get involved
in violent fights with each other. This weakens their marital bond and also turns their son away
from them. Furthermore, another seemingly calm character, Abbas, loses his life at the end of the
novel because of his irrepressible anger. Abbas was blind for Hamida but when she left him, he
became outraged. When he saw Hamida dancing in front of the soldiers, he lost himself
completely. He jumped into a fight with the soldiers due to his wrath and lost his life.

Other than pride, Hamida’s envious nature also became one of the leading reasons for her
disgrace. She envied the factory girls and the Jewish women who breathed the air of freedom.
She used to say: “If only you had seen the factory girls! You should just see those Jewish girls
who go to work. They all go about in nice clothes. Well, what is the point of life then if we can't
wear what we want?” (Mahfouz, 1947) Envy towards the factory girls and Jewish girls forced
Hamida into the prostitute lifestyle afterwards and gave her endless miseries.

Although Uncle Kamil and Sheikh Darwish were not like other atrocious characters, they
did have one flaw: sloth. These two characters were seen doing nothing and being sluggish and
lazy throughout the story. Uncle Kamil used to doze off from time to time at the time of work:
“It is Uncle Kamil's habit, even his right, to place a chair on the threshold of his shop and drop
off to sleep with a fly whisk resting in his lap. He will remain there until customers either call out
to him or Abbas, the barber, teasingly wakes him.” (Mahfouz, 1947) Similarly, Darwish used to
show some sluggishness as well. He had left his family and friends and became a Darwish. He
did not earn because all the necessities of life were provided by other people, who considered
Sheikh Darwish among the chosen ones of Allah: “If his gown wore out, someone would bring
him a new one; if his tie became ragged, someone brought him a new one of those too.”
(Mahfouz, 1947)

Naguib Mahfouz helps his readers in the growth of empathy and morality by delineating
the seven sins: pride, greed, gluttony, wrath, lust, envy and sloth through his astounding
characterization and narration in Midaq Alley. Mahfouz’s characters are not merely squiggles
spread on pages; they are very much alive and are fashioning the storyline through their actions.
The characters of Midaq Alley allure the readers into the novel, and describe the human errors
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and felonies through their qualities and wrongdoings. Hence, Naguib Mahfouz in his novel
shows the sins prevailing in human society and strengthens the moral sensibility in his readers
through the characters living in the alley.
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References

Grades Fixer. (2018, December, 05) Personification of The Sins of Midaq Alley. Retrieved May
4, 2020, from https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/the-sins-of-midaq-alley/

Jarrett, C. (2011, February) The Deadly Sins. Retrieved May4, 2020, from
https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-24/edition-2/deadly-sins

Saleh, N. (2020, February, 16) Where Did the 7 Deadly Sins Come From? Retrieved May3,
2020, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-red-light-district/202002/where-did-
the-7-deadly-sins-come