East West

The image of the father between two cultures

Dr..

Kamal Abdul Malik

July 22 2022

Al-Hamadhani craved Azad while he was in Baghdad, and I craved a luxurious “koshary” meal while I was in Cairo.. I met a dear Egyptian friend in the middle of the country and we ate “koshary” with fried onions and hot peppers, then we sat in a nearby café and drank coffee.

During all this, my friend did not stop talking about his newborn son, Atef: ("Taifa" smiled in Wushi, (Taifa) saw the fan and laughed. The logical error in his last sentence, because his son "Taifa" was born has already happened.

These memories made me search for the image of the father in our Arab culture and its Western counterpart.

The strange thing is that it is generally a negative image and is reflected in representations that seem hostile to paternity and the father's personality.

We read in Greek myths about Cronus, the god of time, who eats his children as soon as they are born, forcing the mother to hide them away from him, thus saving the life of Zeus, who grew up and killed this unjust father.

The father's murder is also evident in the play "King Oedipus" by Sophocles, and the novel "The Brothers Karamazov" by the Russian writer Dostoevsky.

In our Arabic literature, Abu Al-Ala Al-Ma’arri (died 1057 AD) writes accusing his father: “This is what my father committed against me, and I did not do it for anyone.” It is as if he says: “My presence in this world is a crime that my father committed against me. As for me, because I did not marry and did not have children, I did not commit this crime against anyone.”

The somber suggestion here is that the birth of Al-Maarri was a tragedy - committed by his father as a crime - and that the great poet's not having children was a service to humanity.

In European literature, the writings of Franz Kafka reflect the fear of the father, and the attempt to escape his grip, but he could not, life is impossible without his father, and also impossible with his father.

Kafka expresses the psychological harm caused by the tyrannical father, and details the enormity of the disappointment in obtaining his love in a 47-page letter he wrote to his father, Hermann in November 1919, blaming him for his refusal to marry his beloved Phyllis Bauer;

What led to the breakup of the engagement.

Kafka, aged 36 at the time, criticizes his father for his harsh treatment, confusing double standards, and persistent resentment.

In Naguib Mahfouz's trilogy, we meet the father's character represented by "Si al-Sayed", which ranges from tenderness, rudeness, outward care and neglect.

In the first part of the trilogy, we see "Si El Sayed" the hero - the father, a strong person who believes that he is loyal in everything he does and espouses, and leads his family with harsh values ​​and ideals.

The children are afraid of him, and his wife is kneeling under his feet, as he wakes up and relives the scenes of his evening with Sultana and Zubaydah, and does not see any contradiction between what he shows of his grandfather and his strictness during the day and what he hides of his immorality and pornography in his night nights.

Mahfouz excelled in describing the dictator’s father’s treatment of his children in a condensed and condensed way when he described the time of breakfast: “Si al-Sayed” sits and calls out to his three sons who are waiting for the call.

The image of the father in literature embodies our awareness of the enormity of this human tragedy: the father’s approval and love for us is not a right of ours, but rather a gift from him and an honor.

Visiting Scholar at Harvard University

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