Al-Sayyid Ahmad Holds His Own

"It was based most of all on his innate desire to continue to be loved and enjoy a fine reputation." On page 223 in the last two paragraphs of the page, Naguib Mahfouz displays the books moral theme: reputation and order. In this section of the book, the children were getting close friends of the family to convince Ahmad to bring back Amina. While doing so he believes that his neighbor, Umm Maryam, tries to hit on him. Though he fights temptation, he doesn't give in but instead chooses his fine reputation to uphold.

Throughout the book, Ahmad's reputation and order/place within his community and household, comes up frequently with precise illustrations displayed in order to get the theme across like on page 223. "Umm Maryam represented nothing more to him than a delicious kind of food, which threatened his digestion, he could easily turn down in favor of some of the other tasty but wholesome dishes that covered the table." This example of illustration is exact in portraying the them of reputation and order. Ahmad referring to Maryam as a food that would "threaten his digestion," meant that she would threaten his reputation, and he'd rather not go for that "dish."