Children of Gebelawi

Children of Gebelawi (alternative title: Children of the Alley; transliterated Arabic: Awlad Haratina) is a novel by the Egyptian writer and Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz.

Related Topics:
Novel - Egypt - Nobel laureate - Naguib Mahfouz

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It was originally published in Arabic in 1959 in serialised form in the Cairo daily Al-Ahram. An English translation by Philip Stewart was published in 1981 and is still in print; when Stewart refused to sell his copyright, Doubleday commissioned a new version by Peter Theroux.

Related Topics:
Arabic - Cairo - Al-Ahram - English - Philip Stewart - Peter Theroux

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It was this book that earned Naguib Mahfouz condemnation from Omar Abdul-Rahman in 1989, after the Nobel Prize had revived interest in it. As a result, in 1994 – a day after the anniversary of the prize – Mahfouz was attacked and stabbed in the neck by two extremists outside his Cairo home.

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The story recreates the history of the monotheistic Abrahamic religions, allegorised

Related Topics:
Monotheistic - Abrahamic religion

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against the setting of an imaginary Cairene alley. The first four sections retell, in succession, the stories of Adam (and his sons), Moses, Jesus and Muhammad; the protagonist of the book's fifth section (who, significantly, comes after the Prophet of Islam) symbolises modern science.

Related Topics:
Adam - Moses - Jesus - Muhammad - Islam

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