At a glance
- Identifiers
- Wikidata
- Review
- Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it
Contested: This record includes matters on which scholars differ. The speaker's views are labelled as his, and other views are marked where no cited source yet exists.
In time
Overview
The novel by Naguib Mahfouz (1959), which provoked the greatest Arabic literary controversy of the twentieth century. Allegorical characters of an Egyptian alley echo the stories of the prophets from Adam to Muhammad, passing through Moses and Jesus, so that the history of religions is read as the history of a popular quarter. 1
Legacy
It was banned from publication as a book in Egypt until it was printed in Beirut and then Cairo, and it has been translated into dozens of languages; today it is read as a key to the relationship between religion and politics in the modern Arab imagination. 1
People and things also explored
Abraham and the one who argued with him about his Lord· al-Amin, the Trustworthy (the Prophet's title before his mission)· Delivery of the message and the limit of the Prophet's charge· Raising the foundations of the House: who built the Ka'ba· al-Tanahmir: the Himyaritic speech remnant· The religious bequest: submission until death· Aljamia (aljamiado: Spanish written in Arabic script, and its literature)· Arab naming of children after plants
Sources
- Wikidata
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Children of Gebelawi”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/work/awlad-haratina/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-17.