CAIRO -

As Egyptians follow the news of World War II and the advance of the Axis forces led by Nazi General Erwin Rommel into western Egypt in 1942, Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz tells the stories of Ramadan nights in Cairo in his novel "Khan El Khalili", where the month of Ramadan is accepted and rituals and customs change.

In the world of Mahfouz, Ramadan never comes by surprise, it must be preceded by a habit of preparedness worthy of its sacred position, so Umm Ahmad makes it the talk of her day, and says to the family, “It is a month that has its rights as well as its duties,” when Son Ahmed tells her that the war is unjust to all rights. "And the kunafa and the Qatayef?" the astonished mother reminds him.

Mahfouz describes the hero’s feeling when he hears the mother’s speech, and how “these things fell on him in a charming position - to his displeasure - not only because of his desire for her, but because of the memories of the beloved month and the times of youth in particular”, but he remembers the high prices and reminds his mother, saying, “Let us leave the luxuries in our present circumstances.” Let us pray to God the Honorable to help us meet the necessities of life.”

As the family tries to make ends meet, the Khan al-Khalili neighborhood turns into something else;

“It is the light and the joy, it is the luminous, vigilant night, it is the night that is full of bliss, singers, and innocent amusement, and in the days of fatwa and health, I used to go to my family before suhoor in a group of brothers from Sakakini to our neighborhood. Mahmoud and then come back early in the morning..."

In his novel "The Mirrors", Mahfouz describes the nights of Ramadan, when young children of both sexes gather in the street without mixing and celebrate by the light of lanterns, waving them in their hands, singing Ramadan songs;

"They are waving small lanterns, asking passers-by, owners of homes and shops, while they chant a song, I went Shaaban, I came, Ramadan."

Idris and Ramadan

The story “Ramadan” came within the short story “The Republic of Farhat” published by the writer and storyteller Youssef Idris in 1956, and it tells the story of Fathi, a ten-year-old child who dreams of going through the experience of fasting alone, like adults.

The boy wanted to fast 3 years ago, but the father refused, and told him, “It is not valid until you reach eight.” Fathi waited until the next year, until he was glad of the beginnings of the holy month.

Idris describes the preparation of people in the countryside for the month of Ramadan, as they clean the roads in front of the houses, buy lanterns for the little ones, and provide coffee, sugar, tea and other Ramadan supplies. sugar and onions.

Fathi decides that he will fast this year after seeing the goods fill the sacks in front of the shops, and confronts his father;

“He took the opportunity and reminded him of what he had said last year, adding that he had decided to fast.”

The boy fasts, until he becomes as big as adults, but he is surprised by the difficulty of fasting, and that he cannot bear thirst, so he breaks the fast secretly, and he waits for days of divine punishment, until his mother catches him drinking during the day in Ramadan, and Fathi is forced after that to actually fast;

“Not out of fear of Ramadan and its stumbles, but out of fear of its people who do not benefit from raising an arm or conducting experiments, for they know everything, sooner or later, and they are the ones who take the punishment themselves, strike the leeches, flatten and have no mercy.”

 In our house, a man

“One day in the month of Ramadan, at five o’clock in the evening, an hour and a half before breakfast, and he was lying in bed in one of the rooms of Qasr Al-Aini Hospital.. A private room at the door of which stood two soldiers, each carrying a rifle.”

This is how Ihsan Abdel Quddous begins his famous novel “In Our Home is a Man” (1961), which was turned into a movie starring Omar Sharif, Rushdi Abaza, Hassan Youssef, Zubaida Tharwat and Zahrat Al-Ula, and directed by Henry Barakat.

Ramadan attends strongly in the atmosphere of the novel, the hero Ibrahim Hamdi chooses the time of sunset to escape from the hospital, where he was treated during his imprisonment, due to the guard being busy eating breakfast, “and he waited until the muezzin finished the Maghrib call to prayer, then opened the door of his room, and met the two soldiers and they each sat down On a bench and he put his rifle on the wall, and in the middle of them there was a third seat on which they put their breakfast..."

In the family home of university student Mohie El-Din Zaher, we learn about the rituals of the month of Ramadan from time to time;

“The sound of the Iftar cannon went off, and the radio reciter had not yet concluded the recitation, and Mohie said as he rose from his seat: I think the cannon was struck.”

fasting notes

In his book "Memoirs of a Fasting", the late writer and writer Ahmed Bahjat tells about his adventures in the month of Ramadan in his ironic style, as he reviews tales of hunger, thirst, breakfast and suhoor, past between the marital home and his mother's house, describing the nights of the Cairo neighborhood of Hussein, especially in Al-Fishawy Café.

Bahjat tells about the nights of Ramadan, between the prayer in the Al-Hussein Mosque, and the Sufi circles of remembrance on the nights of Ramadan, stopping at the memories of the special Ramadan days such as Laylat al-Qadr and the sad night.

Bahjat says, "Why is Ramadan different these days from the old months of Ramadan? I used to find Ramadan sweetness at the age of 20, and now I do not find the same old taste or glow... Has Ramadan changed? Ramadan has not changed, I am the one who has changed... It has increased in darkness, worse and sins." And hypocritical."