Wake-Up Call

After having everyone regard Ahmad as a hero throughout the entire book, we finally see that Ahamd is human just like everyone else. For one thing, his friend Muhammad Iffat takes a stand and defends his daughter from the injustices that Ahmad and Yasin put women through. After Zaynab finds her husband cheating on her with her maid, Nur, she flees to her father’s home and tells him everything that Yasin has done. Iffat says, “Is my daughter destined to share a husband with her in a polygamous marriage? By the Lord of Heaven, no”.(406) Muhammad Iffat feels that his family’s honor has been disrespected and therefore requests for Zaynab and Yasin to get a divorce. Ahmad reacts as if it is only natural for a man to have other women whenever he pleases and that shows he is a hypocrite and a narcissist. Since Ahamd seems to be only concerned with his honor, he scolds Yasin and for the first time Yasin doesn’t look at his father as a hero, instead he thinks, “Discipline yourself. Give yourself some advice. Have you forgotten Zabuyda? Jalila? The music and the wine? After all that, you appear before us wearing the turban of the most authoritative Muslim legal scholar…”(410) As Lauren describes in her blog, “Ahmad leads a double-life”. According to Dr. Gail Saltz, “secrets can cause people to behave in ways that seem entirely out of character — to go to any desperate length to conceal what simply must be hidden, at all costs”. This is exactly what Ahmad is trying to do with his life because he knows he feels ashamed for the things he has done.

Unfortunately Ahmad only realizes where he has gone wrong when he learns that Fahmy has died while at a demonstration. This is the turning point in Ahmad’s life. It becomes the wake-up call that Ahmad needs to realize that he is not the almighty and that he is human just like everyone else. Ahmad asks, “Won’t you allow me to begin his funeral procession at his home”.(496) This is the first time Ahmad asks for permission to do something. It is incredible to see Ahmad would ask if he could bury his son because before he would usually just do as he pleases. Now he questions, “ How can I have a home without him? How can I be a father if he’s gone?….This really is pain.”(496-497) As Daniela mentions, “he admits….that he is not God”. This is the moment when Ahmad knows that that things have to change.










Works Cited


Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace Walk. New York: Anchor, 1990
Saltz, Gail. “When does a secret become a double life?” MSNBC. April 11, 2006. Web. March 17, 2010. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/12191728/
Barajas, Daniela. “He’s Human After All” Digging Even Deeper. Web. 27 Mar. 2010.
Clemons, Lauren. “Leading a Double Life” Digging Even Deeper. Web. 27 Mar. 2010