Comparing Islam In Mahfouz's Arabian Days And Nights

Islam in Arabian Days and Nights

Arabian Days and Nights is a novel by Naguib Mahfouz, reinterpreting the classic Middle Eastern tale of Arabian Nights. He does this by continuing the story after Shahrazad gets wed to the Sultan, how he changes, and how magical genies change and corrupt the innocent people in the novel. While the novel isn’t focused on Islam and it’s teachings, it is a large part of the character’s lives, and in some cases resulted in a deus ex machina. Arabian Days and Nights is a fascinating allegorical novel about power, corruption, and faith. The novel is split into many short stories about characters in the city, and many stories are connected, if not by people then by place alone. However, most of the characters we see are devout Muslims. They often exclaim praise towards god, or ask for his guidance. The devout people are seen as more noble and saintlike than the others in …show more content…
That is because he has given genie's free will, thus dooming the powerless humans to be the playthings of the genies. This is shown in the story of the lovers, when Nur Al-Din and Dunyazad are forced into love by two evil genies only because they are both attractive and have caught the eyes of evil genies. This is accurate though, as most religions believes that God restrains his interference in order to give us free will.
While the novel stays true to Islam, it seems to also have a bit of criticism towards it, or at least shows the limitation of it’s laws. For example, in the story of the lovers, Dunyazad is forced to marry Karam as if she doesn’t she threatens the lives of Shahrzad and many of the innocent girls in the empire. While Islam requires a woman to consent to the marriage, it doesn’t say that she has to be in love with her husband, or even happy with it. The story almost ends with her running away and possible suicide if it wasn’t for divine