قصة الكتاب :
Children of Gebelawi, also referred to in English as Children of the Alley is a novel by Egyptian author and Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz. It was originally published in Arabic in 1959 and was met with strong opposition from the religious authorities. The book is also known in its Egyptian and Arabic transliterated versions as Awlad Haretna and Awlaadu Haaratena respectively. The novel is an allegorical tale of people and events that collide in a certain alley in Cairo. It depicts the rise and clash of the three major monotheistic religions of the world. Mahfouz was at the receiving end of condemnation in the Arabic world due to his work. After its publication, it worsened to violence and abuse. It was first published in a book form in Lebanon, in 1962 by Dar al-Adab. The English translations were by Peter Theroux in 1966 (as Children of the Alley) and by Philip Stewart in 1990 (as Children of Gebalawi).\r\n
\r\nThe story is told through the several generations of the main ancestor Gebelawi. The controversy was regarding the main character. The allegory used and what most first readers believed it suggested was not met with approval. Set in the backdrop of Cairo the story starts off with one of Gebalawi’s sons being favoured over the oldest son to manage the trust funds. The initial plot includes the story of Cain and Abel albeit with different names. The trust fund eventually becomes an object of obsession for all the people and several greedy tyrants succeed in taking over the money in the funds by force, leaving the rest of the people in the city impoverished. The people are shown as praying to God but their concept of a deity is not completely explained in the novel. The alley in which the inhabitants live is owned by Gebelawi, who also sets up the rules for it. The rules are referred to as The Ten Conditions which clearly refer to The Ten Commandments which many believe indicated that Gebelawi was an allegory for God himself, leading to the controversy. Gebelawi is not seen and lives alone in his house. The story revolves around the five main inhabitants, each of whom tries to help the poor people in the alley. The jealous one is Idris and the favored one Adham. Gabal comes in next to take the people off to the desert when things get bad in the alley. Gabal is followed by Rifaa and Qasim and finally Arafa, who manages to substitute Gebelawi with science and magic. Each of these inhabitants are allegories of the main personalities revered in the three major monotheistic religions. The story ends with Mahfouz offering his readers hope, although it is unclear.\r\n
\r\nDespite being controversial, Children of Gebalawi has been an intriguing literary work that has drawn readers to it along the years. In 1994, a day after the anniversary of the Novel Prize he received, Mahfouz was attacked and stabbed by extremists outside his own home. He survived the attack but suffered as a result of it till he died in 2006. Mahfouz, however, remains an author whose precise refined Arabic made him without a doubt an inspiring author whose contribution to literature cannot be ignored. \r\n