Midaq Alley

Midaq Alley (1947) is a historical realist novel by Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz, the 1988 Nobel Prize laureate in Literature. In this work, Mahfouz addresses the changes taking place in Egyptian society of the 1940s. The book tells the story of a group of neighbors living in Midaq Alley, a bustling market street, in the poor quarter of Cairo’s historic city center. The story is set at the end of World War II, during Britain’s colonial occupation of Egypt, and Mahfouz uses the world of Midaq Alley as a microcosm of Egypt at that time. The novel’s main themes are tradition and modernity, love and sexuality, and the negative impact of class divisions.

Midaq Alley was translated into English in 1966 and remains one of the most highly regarded and popular of Mahfouz’s novels. The novel was adapted into the movie El Callejón de los Milagros (Spanish for The Alley of Miracles) in 1995 by director Jorge Fons and starred Bruno Bichir and Salma Hayek. The film is set in Mexico City instead of Cairo, and many of the historical and socio-cultural themes central to Mahfouz’s novel are translated into a more modern North American setting.

This study guide references the Kindle version of the Anchor Books edition, translated by Trevor Le Gassiek.

Content Warning: The guide contains discussions of domestic and public violence, sex work, torture, and anti-LGBTQ+ themes that are present in the source text.

Plot Summary

The story takes place in mid-1940s Cairo and uses a third-person omniscient narrator. The beginning of the novel introduces a large cast of characters; these include a barber, Abbas; his friend and candy store owner, Uncle Kamil; a lonely widow, Saniya Afify; her tenant, Umm Hamida, who professionally arranges marriages; and her beautiful foster daughter, Hamida. There is also a bakery owned by a wife and husband, Husniya and Jaada. The bakery’s small auxiliary house is rented by Zaita, a man who maims panhandlers so that they can make more money. He gets his customers via a fraudulent budget “dentist,” Dr. Booshy. The novel is episodic and follows the plots of several groups of individuals, which occur in parallel to one another.

As night falls, the inhabitants of Midaq Alley gather at Kirsha’s café. An old poet enters, carrying a fiddle and a book. He has been playing for the café’s visitors for 20 years; however, the owner, Kirsha, is having a radio installed. As a result, the traditional poetry recitations are no longer needed. Sheikh Darwish, a mystic who often uses English words and phrases, and Radwan Hussainy, the spiritual guide of Midaq Alley, disapprove of the change but are powerless to stop it.

Saniya tells Umm Hamida that she wishes to find a new husband and asks for her help. Umm Hamida agrees, asking for a permanent exemption from paying rent in return. Hamida is highly critical of the men in the area, believing none are eligible partners, including Abbas, who is very smitten with her. She hopes that a rich man will one day marry her and take her away from Midaq Alley. Abbas, in contrast, considers the alley his true home. Hussain Kirsha, who has worked in the British Army that now occupies part of Cairo, recommends that Abbas use their occupation to make money and win Hamida’s attention. Hussain boasts to Abbas about his high income, supplemented by the illegal trading of goods that he does on the side. After following Hamida on the street and confessing his love, Abbas promises to improve his material circumstances by following Hussain’s advice and working for the British Army. Hamida, although not in love with Abbas, accepts his engagement proposal, hoping that his work for the British Army will bring enough wealth to give her the glamorous modern life she desires. Before Abbas leaves, the families perform the traditional ritual for the engagement of the couple.

The story of Mr. Kirsha and Mrs. Kirsha runs parallel to that of Abbas and Hamida. In the evenings, Kirsha solicits young men at the café for sex. This goes on for some time until Mrs. Kirsha finds out, and Kirsha’s behavior becomes an open secret. Meanwhile, a wealthy man named Salim Alwan runs an illicit market operation in the alley. Using a homemade aphrodisiac to increase his sexual drive, he becomes attracted to Hamida while growing increasingly detached from his wife.

Abbas leaves to serve the army for a minimum of one year. Hussain Kirsha leaves the alley, bitter that Abbas has escaped poverty before him. Umm Hamida finds a husband for Saniya Afifi: a 30-year-old civil employee named Ahmad Effendi Talbat. Though Talbat is not wealthy, Mrs. Afify is elated. Salim Alwan asks Umm Hamida for permission to marry Hamida as his second wife. Umm Hamida is shocked to hear this because Hamida is already engaged to Abbas. When she finds Salim Alwan to break the news, she learns that he has just had a heart attack. Salim Alwan recovers from his heart attack, but decides not to pursue Hamida for the sake of his health.

The momentary possibility of marrying a rich man compels Hamida to cancel her engagement to Abbas. She later meets Ibrahim Faraj, a charming middle-class man in a European suit, during a political rally in Midaq Alley. Ibrahim takes Hamida to his beautiful home in a wealthier part of town, where she discovers he runs a “school” for sex workers. Hamida moves in with him anyway, learns how to speak English and dance, and learns the ins and outs of the trade. She adopts the name Titi and continues to cling to the hope that Ibrahim might love her.

Two months later, Abbas returns to Cairo, eager to marry Hamida but finds out that she has disappeared. Along with Hussain, who has lost his job in the British Army, Abbas seeks solace in alcohol. By chance, Abbas sees Hamida in a carriage and manages to talk to her. As Hamida has grown dissatisfied with Ibrahim’s indifference toward her, she decides to manipulate Abbas and get rid of Ibrahim by telling him that Ibrahim abducted her. Meanwhile, Radwan Hussainy is leaving for a pilgrimage to Mecca and advises Abbas to control his passions, but Abbas ignores him. Abbas agrees to attack Ibrahim, believing this will restore his honor. Attempting to plan the attack, Abbas and Hussain enter the tavern where Hamida works. Seeing her surrounded by English and American soldiers, Abbas is enraged and throws a glass at her face. A fight ensues, culminating in the soldiers killing Abbas, with Hussain as a passive witness.

Midaq Alley reels from the tragic death but soon rebounds. Hamida’s physical and emotional wounds begin to heal, and she reconnects with her adoptive mother. Zaita and Dr. Booshy were imprisoned after being caught robbing a grave for the deceased’s gold teeth, and now a new family occupies Dr. Booshy’s apartment. The alley expectantly awaits Radwan Hussainy’s return from his pilgrimage, suggesting an eventual return to harmony.