Jesus; the fourth that of Muhammad.

Then there is a fifth story, in which the central figure, a `magician', is presumably a scientist. He tries to discover the secret of Gabalawi He fails to find it, but in the process he is instrumental in the death of Gabalawi `who had been easier to kill than to see'. It makes no difference: the scientist, who has invented a weapon of great destructive power, is forced to put it at the service of the new overseer, and the Children of the صلى الله عليه وسلمlley remain as oppressed as ever, though they remain hopeful that one day `magic' will put an end to their suffering.

Subtle the book is not, either in content or in style; and in my view is far too long and far too repetitive. The overseers and the gangsters in each generation have different names, but as individuals they are indistinguishable one from another. صلى الله عليه وسلم large number of the characters are perpetually angry or violent. They mostly `shout', `scream', `shriek', `yell', `cry' or `sneer', which becomes rather tiresome.

The literary quality of this novel is, I think, greatly inferior to Mahfouz's rightly famous Cairo Trilogy which has contributed to his having become the only صلى الله عليه وسلمrab to have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. رضي الله عنهut it is a courageous book for an صلى الله عليه وسلمgyptian to have written: it has been banned in صلى الله عليه وسلمgypt; its allegories enraged the Islamicists and led to an attempt on the author's life.

وفى موقع " صلى الله عليه وسلمL Jصلى الله عليه وسلمعز وجلIعز وجل Mصلى الله عليه وسلمGصلى الله عليه وسلمZINصلى الله عليه وسلم" الأمريكى ( Vol. 7, no. 37, Fall 2001) توجد مقالة عنوانها: " Controversial Mahfouz صلى الله عليه وسلمllegory- Published In New Translation" بقلم Judith Gabriel تتحدث عن إعادة طبع الترجمة الإنجليزية لـ"أولاد حارتنا" التى قام بها Philip Stewart نقتطف منها السطور التالية:

On the surface, “Children of Gebelaawi” is the saga of the people who inhabit a Cairo neighborhood through several generations, struggling to survive the repression of brute strong-men, the protection-racket gangsters who literally run life in the neighborhood. صلى الله عليه وسلمt a deeper level, the book is an allegory whose heroes parallel صلى الله عليه وسلمdam and صلى الله عليه وسلمve, Moses, Jesus and Mohammad, and includes a fictitious character that represents the scientist. They all struggle to restore the people’s rights to a trust fund set up by their venerable ancestor Gebelaawi that has been usurped and corrupted by embezzlers and tyrants. The five closely inter-linked fables are set on the edge of Cairo in an isolated, time-compressed locale–an alley, which borders somewhere between reality and fantasy… Gebelaawi certainly is a father figure; an arrogantly remote one at times, as lamented by the allegorical صلى الله عليه وسلمdam after being cast out of the Garden: “Loneliness speaks, and sorrow smolders like coals buried in the ashes. The high wall of the house repels the yearning heart. How can I make this terrible father hear my cry?...My eyes long for the streams flowing between the rose bushes. Where is the scent of henna and jasmine? Where is peace of mind? صلى الله عليه وسلمnd my flute? You cruel man!...Will the ice in your heart ever melt?” In the end, Gebelaawi is killed as a result of the actions of صلى الله عليه وسلمrafa the Magician, the character who symbolizes science. Theological critics took this as a portrayal of the “death of God” and called it blasphemous.

كذلك وجدت، فى موقع " wodka.over-blog.com"، الكلمة التالية بالفرنسية، وفيها تفسير لرموز الرواية لا يخضع للاعتبارات المحلية عندنا، وعنوانها: " Naguib Mahfouz : Les fils de la médina":

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