The story “Zaabalawi” starts out with the narrator talking about his father and his stories about this saint of God. That if it was not for him, he would have died miserably a long time ago. The narrator also says that he has heard many stories from his father about this saint and the miracles he performed. Whenever he was sick, they could find a cure to it without much trouble, until one day he had an illness that no one possessed a remedy for. He tried everything to find a cure, until one day he thought why not seek the Sheik Zaabalawi and bumps into Sheikh Qamar who was one of those sheiks that practiced law. To his surprise, when he went there, Zaabalawai had left “quarter ages” ago. Then he is told that Zaabalawai is living in Garden City and has an office in al-Alzhar Square.
The narrator proceeds to go there and is told that he was actually living in Birgawi Residence and the narrator graciously thanks him and continues on his journey. He goes to Birgawi Residence, and finds an old man selling books of theology and mysticism. He asks where Zaabalawai is and the only thing the old man can tell him was that how great he was and how long ago he used to live here. Feeling dejected, he asked many of the shopkeepers around the area and a lot of them have never heard of Zaabalawai while some remember the good times they had with him, and others making fun of the great Zaabalawai and how he should go to a doctor instead for the cure of his illness.
The narrator feels hopeless now, with his pain of the illness he has becoming greater, but then he remembers a local sheikh, and asks where is Zaabalawai The man smiles and reveals that Zaabalawai is still alive and well. The man then proceeds to give him a drawing and says that this was his best bet in finding Zaabalawai. The narrator then takes the map and continues on his journey. He goes to the street and finds an old Hassanein and asks if he knows Zaabalawai. The narrator introduces himself and proceeds to say that the he was a friend of Zaabalawai and he says he was, once upon a time. The Hassanein proceeds to talk to the narrator about him but does not offer any help in actually finding Zaabalawai. As the narrator continues, he meets a musician who tells the narrator that it will be hard to find Zaabalawai because he is being pursued by police on a charge of false pretenses. Losing hope, he wanders around and goes into a bar and drinks with a random man. He drinks until he passes out and never finds Zaabalawai.
As the translation by Denys Johnson-Davies, he states that in the folklore “Zaabalawai” the narrator illness is unclear. As well as who Zaabalawai is anyone’s guess. Only some knows who he actually is from the past, and others know of him. The narrator’s quest in finding Zaabalawai can be read as a spiritual one, and that he was looking for certainly and assurance in the face of despair. My thoughts are that maybe the narrator isn’t sick after all, and he just wants hope. Hope and belief that there is a saint called Zaabalawai and he wants to be assured by him that he will be okay. The narrator is probably going though tough times, and he just needs guidance and who else would be best to give it, than the man his father used to tell him stories about.
Questions:
1) Was the narrator really in pain, while looking for Zaabalawai? If he really was, how could he find the strength to search for Zaabalawai even though he had no clue where he was? Is the pain actually only mental and not physical?
2) In the end of the folklore, he states that some people regard him only as a myth. Why does the narrator still say he must find Zaabalawai even though some say he’s a myth and doesn’t actually exist?
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