I Caught You Red-Handed

"Trembling with rage, al-Sayyid Ahmad began to examine Yasin's face grimly and silently, dragging out the silence. Without taking his pitiless eys off Yasin, he pointed with his han to the door, ordering him inside. Although at that moment disappearing would have been dearer to yasin than even life itself, he was paralyzed by fear and confusion. The father was outraged, and his scowl showed he was about to explode.... He rebuked him loudly,'Go upstairs you criminal...'"- Page 279

In this passage, Mahfouz uses pathos rethoric to illustrate both Ahmad's strong reply to Yasin's madness for trying to rape the house servant and Yasin's reaction to a horribe nightmare.

Mahfouz's most used method in this section is body movement. From "trembling" to "paralyzed", Mahfouz does a wonderful job in using body movement in his writing to set up the tone and mood of the scene. He shows Ahmad's anger simply by the way he stares at Yasin's. Yasin, on the other hand, shows fear through silence. That is something I found very peculiar in this scence- There is a lot of silence going on. In fact, there are only two shorts sentences of dialog. Mahfouz does this because he wants to emphasize the importance of silence in this scene. Not only does it contribute to the gloomy mood, but it shows the huge respect and fear that Yasin has for his father's mere presence.

Looking at the entire chapter, Yasin committed a deadly mistake. Obviously. But that's not the whole point of the passage. Mahfouz wants to convey to the readers how body language solely does the trick in a Muslim patriarchy. What does it signify? Fear. Respect. Authority. Power.

Afterwards, Ahmad can't hold back his tounge and uses very, very strong langauge. Calling your son a "criminal" isn't something a father does often. Mafhouz wants to show how Ahmad takes into account that Yasin defiles the family name. He probably wouldn't care less if Yasin wasn't his son, but since he is has a big problem in his hands. As soon as the word gets out, Ahmad is going to be looked upon. This is a big influence in his tantrum.

I also found it a bit ironic. Ahmad does this all the time, except it isn't rape. A clear sign of hypocrisy.

Yasin's Lust

In Naguib Mahfouz’s Palace Walk, Yasin is a character that takes after his father, Ahmad, but not in the dealings of business or being someone of high respect. Yasin takes after his father’s vices: partying and women. In the novel, we immediately see that Yasin is a lustful creature. Every time he talks about a woman, it is entirely sexual. He describes their bodies and treats them as objects, always referring to them with obscenities. When he attempts to rape Umm Hanafi, his father feels that it is best to marry him off to one of his friend’s daughters. Ahmad does this in hopes that Yasin will settle down and stop tainting his name; if he is married, he will be seen with more respect than being a single, licentious rapist.


Before his marriage, Yasin was entertaining himself with a woman named Zanuba. He was vey lustful with her and would call her whenever he was in need of pleasure. However, when he gets married to Zaynab, he comes to realize that Zanuba means nothing to him emotionally and now that he has a wife, nothing to him at all (even physically).

“When Yasin thought about his bride, a bestial tremor passed

through his body. Then he remembered the last night... with

Zanuba. He had informed her of his impeding marriage and told her

he was saying goodbye to her... Zanuba no longer meant anything to

him, nor did any other woman. He had lowered the curtain on that

side of his life forever. He might return to drinking, because he

thought his desire for that would not die, but as for women, he could

not imagine his eyes straying when he had a beauty at his disposal.

His bride was a renewable resource and a spring of water for the wild

thirst that had troubled his existence so frequently” (299).

Ahamd was right: If Yasin were given a beautiful wife, he would settle down and then have someone to submit to his lusts. Yasin and Zaynab’s marriage was proving just this until Yasin’s lusts began to resurface. There were times when she would satisfy them, “...her vivacity and desire had increased. When he would think that sleep had become a necessity after such a long period of activity, before he knew it her leg would be flung over his as if of its own accord. So he told himself, ‘How amazing...she’s the one who’s realizing my dreams for our marriage’” (308), but most of the time he was just disappointed that he had left his lustful life behind.

To Yasin: “Marriage’s external appearance was beguiling, tempting enough to die for, but inside it was so staid and sedate that a person might become indifferent of disgusted” (307). He began to lose interest in having a permanent woman at his disposal. Ahmad’s idea had failed because Zaynab was unable to satisfy Yasin’s thirst for lust. Yes, she did try to satisfy him as best she could, but Yasin wants more than one woman can give him and this is what Ahmad failed to take into account. One good thing, in Ahmad’s view, did come from Yasin’s marriage: Yasin’s honor was secured. Because he got married, his offenses of sleeping with other women are not as costly as they would be if he were single.

Work Cited
Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace Walk. Toronto: First American Edition, 1991. Print.

It's NOT love

“He glanced at Zaynab. He found her examining his face with a look that seemed to say resentfully, ‘Why are you so inattentive? Why are you so glum? Doesn’t my presence cheer you up at all?’ Yasin felt her resentment in the fleeting moment their eyes met, but he did not respond to her sorrowful criticism. To the contrary, it annoyed and riled him. Yes, he disliked nothing so much as being forced to spend a whole evening with her, deprived of desire, pleasure, and the intoxication on which he relied to endure married life.
He began to look at her stealthily and wonder in amazement, ‘Isn’t she the same woman? . . . Isn’t she the one who captured my heart on our wedding night? . . . Isn’t she the one who drove me wild with passion for nights and weeks on end? . . . Why doesn’t she stir me at all? What has come over her? Why am I so restless, disgruntled, and bored, finding nothing in her beauty or culture to tempt me to postpone getting drunk?’” (378)
Naguib Mahfouz demonstrates the loss of love in a marriage in his novel, Palace Walk. Yasin and Zaynab’s relationship is clearly at a loss of love in this section of the novel. Yasin has become “bored” of his relationship and no longer looks at his wife for pleasure. But, why could this be? Could this be that Yasin has just grown tired of his wife? Could it be because he feels no connection to her? Could this be a result of an arranged marriage? Does this tend to happen in all arranged marriages? Are they an exception to the so called, “success” of arranged marriages?
Yasin and Zayanab’s marriage was a customary arranged marriage and, at first, Yasin was quite enthusiastic. But, as the novel progresses, we see that Yasin loses interest in his wife, Zayanab. On page 378, we see that he begins to question his feelings and why he no longer feels the same way for her that he once did. According to Dictionary.com, the word “lust” means, Intense or unrestrained sexual craving, an overwhelming desire or craving, a lust for power, or an intense eagerness or enthusiasm. This definition allows me to assume that the feelings that Yasin once had for his wife weren’t any sort of love feelings, but feelings of lust. The eagerness that Yasin had to marry and his raging hormones caused for him to marry someone who he wouldn’t be very happy with as time progressed. In Dee’s blog, “Yasin has gone crazy!” she explains the attitude that Yasin has towards women and how the Lust he has for them came to be.
In my research, I found that countries that practice arranged marriages have higher success rates than those countries that don’t. One thing that the author wrote was that the reason that most marriages that aren’t arranged fail is that the couple bases their decision to marry on the belief that love will conquer all and that everything will be okay just as long as they’re in love, but when push comes to shove, love isn’t everything and their marriage ends up failing (Seabastian). But, what about Yasin and Zaynab’s marriage? It was arranged and had nothing to do with love yet it is still coming apart. Could it be that Yasin just wants to be with more than one woman? Or, could it be that he wants love and not just lust? Yasin and Zaynab's marriage is an example of how arranged marriages aren’t always as successful as people make them seem. Sure, some learn how to deal with one another without being in love, but some don’t and what happens then? Is it okay for Zaynab to leave or should she stay in a marriage where she’s not happy simply because it’s the “right” thing to do in her society?

Bibliography
Dee. "Yasin has gone crazy!" 17 February 2010. diggingevendeeper.blogspot.com. 04 March 2010 .
Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace Walk. New York: Anchor Books, 1991.
Seabastian. "Arranged Marriages - Past and Present 78." February 2010. HubPages.com. 4 March 2010 .

Did He Really Rape Her?

In this week's reading of Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz, there an interesting revelation. It had previously been obvious that Yasin had problems controlling his sexual urges. Before, he crossed the line when thinking of how to approach Zubayda. This time, he went way beyond the limit by forcing
Nur, his wife's maid, to have sexual relations with him. He definitely has problems controlling his urges, but did he actually rape her?
The following passage seems to be half Yasin's view, and the other half seems pretty neutral. Just as an alcoholic will never admit that he is drunk, and a smoker won't give up the cigarette, Yasin finds excuses to justify his actions.

His greedy appetite overcame his hesitation. He put his hand on her waist. Then he pulled her gently toward his breast. She put up some resistance and kept him from achieving his goal. Putting his cheek next to hers, he whispered in her ear, "Come to the room."
She muttered uneasily, "Shame on you, master."
Her voice rang out in the silence in a way that disturbed him. She had not raised her voice intentionally, but it did not appear easy for her to whisper or her whisper had a resonance to it, even if less pronounced than that of her normal voice. His panic quickly deserted him, both because his lust was fully ignited and because her tone lacked the protest that her words suggested. He took her by the hand as he murmured, "Come along, sweetheart."
She did not attempt to free her hand, either because she was pleased or because she was obedient. He was lavishing kisses on her cheek and neck, swaying from the intense emotional impact, in a delirium of happiness. He began to say, "What's kept you from me all these months?"
She answered him in her normal tone of voice, lacking any ring of protest, "Shame on you, master."
Smiling, he commented, "Your objections are very attractive. Make some more."
She did resist a little when they reached the entrance to the room and said, "Shame on you, master. . . ." Then, as though to caution him, she added, "The room's full of bedbugs."
He pushed her inside, whispering with his mouth at the nape of her neck, "I'd lie among scorpions for your sake, Nur." (382)

Scarleteen says “Rape is when one person wants and pursues a sexual act on, to or inside another person who does not want to participate, and who does not fully and freely consent to take part in that act. (1) In this passage, Nur seems to fit the description pretty well. It is Yasin's twisted mind that confuses the reader. He makes the reader think that Nur is being kinky. That when she says no it means yes. If there was a history of Yasin and Nur flirting in the book it would be more believable, but there was nothing before. Mahfouz also describes Yasin as being someone so lustful that the only characteristic he looks for in a woman is that she is a woman. He will engage in intercourse with any woman no matter how ugly or old. The odds are against him. In a previous essay I had mentioned that in Islam, the woman has to satisfy her husband's sexual desires no matter what they are as long as it doesn't affect someone's health. Their religion justifies that, so there can't be any “rape” in an Islamic marriage. In a marriage! Yasin and Nur had nothing going on at all, and definitely nothing remotely close to marriage. Yasin has no excuse. He raped Nur. She didn't want to cohabitate with him and he forced her to.
Yasin still has problems with his sexual urges that he has to control at this point of the novel. Hopefully, these urges won't get him in any trouble the remainder of the novel.


Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace Walk (Cairo Trilogy). New York: Anchor, 1990. Print.

"What Is Rape & What Is It Like to Be Raped? Scarleteen." Scarleteen Sex Education For The Real World. Web. 03 Mar. 2010. .

Love, Lust, and Custom

Author Naguib Mahfouz introduces a new perspective in how we view love and lust in his novel, Palace Walk. What makes this particular vantage point of the dealings of lust and love so different from those we are accustomed to hearing about is that the customs of the characters’ culture hinder them at times; their customs influence their decisions when both lust and love present themselves. We see this occurrence become more pronounced in this section of the book (chapters 14 through 29) when almost all of the main characters in the novel are conflicted in their desires and their realities. True, love seems to be of a delicate subject for some whereas lust seems to come naturally to others, but no matter what it may be labeled, all of the characters are forced to take their cultural customs into consideration before any act on their desires.

When Ahmad goes to Madam Zubayda’s residence in hopes of an evening’s entertainment, he becomes conflicted when he begins flirting with her. When he is pursuing her in her home, she teasingly rejects his advances. In one instance, she claims that she must repeat her ritual ablutions. Ahmad, in return, discloses that he hopes they may pray together. In his head, however, is where conflict begins. “He privately asked God’s forgiveness as soon as he had made this joke. Although there were no limits to his impudence when he was intoxicated by his sense of humor, his heart was always troubled and uneasy until he secretly and sincerely asked God’s forgiveness for the humorous excesses of his tongue” (93). Although Ahmad demonstrates the lust that comes with being a sexual being in this scene, he does feel some remorse for abusing God in the process.

Fahmy has fallen for the neighbor girl, Maryam and wishes to ask for her engagement, but his father protests. His father does not understand why Fahmy would request this when he has not even seen her. When he asks Amina if Fahmy has laid eyes on Maryam, she replies, “Of coarse not sir. My son doesn’t lift his eyes to look at a neighbor girl or anyone else,” to which Ahmad returns by saying, “How can he want to get engaged to her if he hasn’t seen her? I didn’t know I had sons who were sneaking looks at the respectable women of our neighbors” (129). This is one of the factors that effects Ahmad’s decision in declining Fahmy’s request to marry Maryam. He is concerned that people will jump to the same conclusion as he did about his son viewing Mayam and that it would taint his family’s name. When Fahmy receives this news, he is upset that his father will not allow him to marry whom he wants whenever he sees fit, but as it is custom to obey the head of house, Fahmy complies.

Another character who has fallen victim to customs concerning the head of house that denies her love is Aisha. Everyday, an officer passes by her window and they look at one another and Aisha feels her heart fill with affection for this man. When her sister, Khadija, catches them glancing at one another she reprimands her sister. She says, “Nothing remains a secret forever, no matter how long it may be concealed. Imagine the situation for all of us if someone on the street or one of our neighbors noticed you. You know very well how people talk. Imagine what would happen if the news reached Daddy. God help us!” (141). Aisha decides to put the officer in the back of her mind as not to risk the family’s honor. When the young man requests her engagement, her father becomes furious and, like his son Fahmy, forbids it. Aisha is sure she loves the officer, but custom holds her from speaking her mind. “There was not a thing she could do about it. This was her father’s will and she could not criticize it. All she could do was submit and obey. In fact, she had to be happy and content. To be despondent would be an unforgivable offense. To protest would be a sin her conscience and sense of etiquette could not allow” (159).

Mahfouz is able to portray the thoughts and feeling of every character in a light that makes us feel like we are the ones who are conflicted. In this section of the novel, we are able to learn a lesson in Muslim culture and customs and we are able to see how these characters’ love and desires must be suppressed for the sake of the love and respect they feel for their own culture. During the talk of Aisha’s possible engagement, Yasin says. “Marriage is the fate of every living creature. Anyone not getting married today will marry tomorrow” (152). Love is something all of these characters aspire to feel, but they all understand that marriage is the custom of their culture, and submit regardless of their feelings.

Work Cited

Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace Walk. Toronto: First American Edition, 1991. Print.

Confusing Compliments

In the Muslim culture, a man has to provide for his wife, and the woman in return has to satisfy her husband's desires, all of them which do not harm her, or others. Their customs are to hide a woman's body with clothing most of the time only exposing her eyes for her to be able to see where she is going. This is done to prevent lustful thoughts in men, and it also eliminates the probability of choosing a mate based on physical attraction. To the Muslims, this lowers the chance of a divorce because marriages are nos based on the outside, but the inside (Islam the Eternal Path to Peace). But there is something in the XY chromosomes that makes men go crazy when a foxy lady walks by them. Yasin has too much of this, and has no idea of how to handle it.
About half way through the novel, Mahfouz shows us a little of Yasin's overexcited hormones. This is what was going through his head,
'Isn't it time yet, bitch? I've melted away, Muslims. I've dissolved like a bar of soap. Nothing's left but the suds. She knows this and doesn't care to open the window. Go ahead, play the coquette, you bitch. Didn't we agree on a date? But you're right to hold back ... one of your breasts could destroy Malta. The second would drive Hindenburg out of his mind. You've got a treasure. May our Lord be gracious to me. May our Lord be gracious to me and to every poor rogue like me who can't sleep for thinking about swelling breasts, plump buttocks, and eyes enhanced by kohl. Eyes come last, because many a blind woman with a fleshy rump and full breasts is a thousand times better than a skinny, flat-chested woman with eyes decorated with kohl. You're the performer's daughter and a neighbor of al-Tarbi'a Alley. The performer has taught you to flirt, and the alley has supplied you with its secret beauty potions. If your breasts have grown full and round, it's because so many lovers have fondled them. We agreed on this date. I'm not dreaming, open the window. Open up, bitch. Open up. You're the most beautiful creature ever to arouse my passion. Holding your lip between mine ... sucking on your nipple.... I'll wait until dawn. You'll find me very docile. If you want me to be the rear end of a donkey cart that you rock back and forth on, I'll do it. If you want me to be the ass pulling the cart, I'll do that. What a mishap, Yasin! Your life is destroyed, you son of Ahmad Abd al-Jawad. How the Australians gloat at your fate. Woe to me, expelled from the Ezbekiya entertainment district, a prisoner in al-Gamaliya. It's all the fault of the war. Kaiser Wilhelm launched it in Europe and I have become its victim here in al-Nahhasin. Open the window, delight of your mother. Open up, my delight...' (Mahfouz, 242)
Not much of a pick-up line, but it sure gives him a lot to talk about. When the reader takes a look at this passage the first thought that comes to mind is, “Is a woman supposed to reply positively to this?” If this isn't their first thought, it must be something along the lines of, “This is kinky.” Yasin gives Zubayda back to back backhanded compliments. He compliments the size of her breasts, but attributes it to the many men who have fondled with them. He also calls her a bitch right before calling her the most beautiful creature he has seen. Clearly, lust is a part of Yasin's life, and his religion doesn't seem to be very important to him. In the reader's eyes, Yasin might appear to be a good example of a bad Muslim.
Yasin's lustful comments to Zubayda wouldn't only confuse her during the attempt to decipher their vulgarity if she had heard them, but they also confuse the reader about his faith and his effectiveness. Yasin's XY chromosomes are way out of tune, and in order to get to any woman's heart, he is going to have to tone it down, and be aware of what he is saying.




"Marriage in Islam." Jannah.Org :: Islam the Eternal Path to Peace. Web. 25 Feb. 2010. .

Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace Walk. New York: Anchor, 1990

Consumed by Lust

A lot of people, including myself, believe that it is natural that an individual has a desire for a companion and pleasure. From my knowledge of the bible and the story of creation, it was intended and wired into a beings makeup to desire a member of the opposite sex. But when does this desire become too much? When this desire becomes untamed or illicit, this desire becomes lust. In Naguib Mahfouz's Palace Walk, we see Ahmad Abd al-Jawad's eldest son, Yasin, battle with controlling his lust and desire. As a young man, Yasin grapples with respect for women as it relates to his lust for women.
In the Qur'an 33:51, it is stated, "You may have whomever you desire; there is no blame." Does this make it okay for Muslim men to sleep with whomever they please and think of women how ever they'd like? If you'd say yes, I'd beg to differ. God took women from the flesh of men and commanded that they be respected and honored in that respect. Repeatedly in the this novel, Yasin, not only in actuality, but within his head, is seen struggling with his lust for women and respecting them. At a point when Yasin finds his lust overwhelming, he says:

Isn't it time yet bitch?...Didn't we agree on a date? But you're right to hold back...one of your breasts could destroy Malta. The second would drive Hidenburg out of his mind. You've a great treasure...May our Lord be gracious to me and to every poor rogue like me who can't sleep for thinking about swelling breasts, plumps buttocks, and eyes enhanced by kohl...Open up, bitch. Open up. You're the most beatiful creature to arouse my passion. Holding your lips between mine...sucking on your nipples...I'll wait till dawn” (242).

Wikipedia.com defines lust as the “craving for sexual intimacy, sometimes to the point of assuming a self-indulgent character.” In Islam, including many other Abrahamic religions, lust is considered an abominable sin, and to engage in sexual acts that stem from lust before marriage is also a sin. (Wikipedia). When hearing this, pay attention to the words “before marriage”. The part that says before marriage implies that after marriage, it is perfectly okay to indulge in sexual activity that stem from lust. I believe that in the novel when Ahamd says that he is going to marry off Yasin, he has this notion in mind. It seems that sexual activity before marriage is a sin, but any sexual activity after a marriage has taken place is fine, whether it's with a wife or not. As a religious person myself, I think it's safe to say that lusting for someone is wrong.
The Prophet Muhammad and the founder of Islam once said, "The fornication of the eyes is to look with lust; the fornication of the tongue is to speak lustful things; the fornication of the hands is to touch with lust; the fornication of the feet is to walk towards lust; the fornication of the heart is to desire evil." Through looking at the quote above, which is the thought of Yasin, it is easy to see that Yasin, through his lust, has sinned. Yasin's sin is not only a sin of the eye and tongue, it is also a sin of the heart, meaning that within him is evil according to Muhammad.
The novel states, “He was blinded by lust. What kind of lust was it? A lust kindled by a woman simply because she was a woman, not because of any of her qualities or associations. It was a lust that loved beauty but would not turn away from ugliness. In these crises, everything was equivalent. He was like a dog that eagerly devours whatever scraps it finds" (277). If Sigmund Feud was still living and would have read this book he'd say something to the effect of lust is a natural part of the human Psyche and is hidden deep in the Id and that it is inevitable that it will manifest itself. Because the Id, unlike the ego and super-ego, is driven by a desire for pleasure caused by tension, it is expected that Yasin would exhibit some lustful feelings and sexual tension.
As readers, should we condemn Yasin for his thoughts and acts of lust or it only natural that he reacts to women the way he does? When does desire become lust and when does looking at a women and admiring her become the uncontrollable desire known as lust?
Work Cited

“Lust.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 Feb. 2010. 23 Feb. 2010
Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace Walk. New York: Anchor, 1990

Syed Ahamed. English Translation of the Message of The Quran. Lombard, Illinois: Book of Signs Foundation, 2006.

Yasin has gone crazy!

Photo by Ed Yourdon on Flickr. Woman with high-heeled shoes on.

“He backed away from her, as though fleeing from the tenderness of her words. Nothing could have excited his anger more than that. Filled with anger and despair, he sensed there was no longer anything to be gained from staying on in this hateful atmosphere. Turning around to make his way out, he said, “I wish I could kill you.” She lowered her eyes and said with unconcealed sorrow, “If you do, you’ll relieve me of the sufferings of my life” (120).

This passage interested me because all throughout this scene in the book, I didn’t really understand what made him so angry about his mother marrying different men after some of her marriages had failed. I feel that this is a normal thing. Most women don’t want to be alone all their lives and I don’t understand how she’s wrong for wanting companionship from a man. I feel that Yasin is probably experiencing some jealousy which is normal when boys see the women of their family, especially their mom, with men other than their father. She simply wants to be loved and I don’t feel she should be persecuted for that thinking as an American. But, looking at the source I found this is wrong in there culture. He, as well as, his father, are doing the same thing at this point in the book. They both lust after women, but are persecuting her when other men lust after her and she gives in to them. I think this whole situation shows the double standard in their culture. I don’t like how the father and the other men treat their women like dirt, and when they are ready to find something different and be with someone who wants to be with them, at least temporarily, the men have a problem with it. It’s not fair. It’s okay when the men want to go out and seek “entertainment” and wine knowing that this is against their morals and religion. I feel that this is simply wrong and inconsistent.

This passage also stood out to me because it showed the issues that Yasin deals with deep down. He wants to love women, but he is incapable of trusting them and believing they are more than a body that he can lust after. We can see how he’s like this when he talks about the girl in the window that didn’t come out when he wanted her to. He explodes with anger and calls her a “selfish smart-ass bitch” because he thinks she didn’t want to “let him see her” (73). He has some of the same issues his dad has when it comes to his feelings toward women and what their role in the world should be and is. Yasin sees women as nothing more than sex symbols (73) because he can’t make himself love them, I feel because of the grudge he holds against his mom. He talks about how he’s able to fall in love with wine for it’s own sake when women aren’t there to satisfy him. I don’t mean to sound childish, but I think that that is not fair. The fact that he gets that angry with his mom to say he wishes he could kill her is not cool. He needs to chill and realize that his mom has to have a life too and she is not wrong for trying to find someone to spend the rest of her life with.

He could also be so upset because he simply wants to acquire his mom’s fortune. He might just want to be able to be rich and get the things that his mom has. He mentions it at the end of the same scene when he’s leaving and says he didn’t achieve what he went there after which was to be able to find out if he could acquire her fortune. He wants to be able to control the things his mom plans to do in her future so that she doesn’t lose her fortune and end up broke leaving him with nothing. He once accused the man she’s planning to marry of greed which shows that he simply wants to be able to inherit the fortune that his mom was left. Yasin is a peculiar character and suffers from what I conclude to be abandonment issues that arose from his mom allowing him to leave and constantly remarrying to new men.