Life stood before him in the image of unattainable desires: always sweet and insurmountable. When there was no one left in the family house and Sadriya was all on her own, he said to her, “You know I’m devoted to you. Come and live with us in Bayn al-Ganayin.”
But his mother replied smiling, “I won’t leave al-Hussein or your grandmother.”
He strove harder to perform his religious duties and reap the fruit of his talents as an engineer. One day he said to his wife, Hikmat, “I don’t want you to spend a day with me that you don’t want to.”
She frowned for a minute then said, “I am completely happy, praise God.”
Doubts about the future of his relationship with his wife began to assail him. He was also possessed by concerns about the future of his country, which was moving from one crisis to the next. He did not breathe easily again until Sadat’s time. He found in the infitah policy a great commercial opportunity that made him forget his doubts and misgivings. He chose property as his business arena, using his savings and the sale of his portion of his father’s property. He made an immense amount of money and worked with remarkable energy until he was over sixty. At that point he asked himself, “Now what?”
He thought for a long time then said to Hikmat, “I’m bored of working. It’s time we enjoyed our money.”
“What do you lack?” she asked guilelessly.
He laughed sarcastically. “Travel. We must travel,” he said. “We’ll see the world and taste its delights.”
She was bewildered. She knew nothing of the world beyond her father’s village and Bayn al-Ganayin, nor did she have any desire to. When he saw her confusion he said, “With me you won’t need a translator.”
He said to himself: If she hates the idea I’ll go alone. But as usual she obeyed him. She began packing suitcases. A spark of doubt shot out from his belly and he examined his surroundings for a while. The airplane will probably burst into flames. I know how these things work! he said to himself. But the airplane did not burst into flames. Nor did his misgivings abate.
Amr Aziz Yazid al-Misri
He was born and grew up in the house in al-Ghuriya with Rashwana and Surur. He took the essence of the quarter into his heart, lovingly and eagerly, thus Egyptian peasant traditions swaggered in his soul and his sleeves exuded their spirit and religion. He was probably the dearest of the three to Aziz and Ni‘ma, as he resembled his father in his well-proportioned body, wheat-colored skin, and wide clear eyes. He was the sensible one, steering and checking Surur and Rashwana as they played and wandered between Bab al-Mutawalli and the fountain of Bayn al-Qasrayn. Later he became known for his wisdom and was consulted on all kinds of matters. He enjoyed a similar status among his uncles, Mahmud and Ahmad, and his cousin Abd al-Azim. He faithfully performed his religious duties from childhood and played the role of policeman in Surur’s frequent outbursts. He entered Qur’an school, memorized what he could from the Holy Qur’an, and learned the principles of reading and writing. At the age of twelve he started primary school and, after much strain and effort, obtained the primary school certificate. With Dawud Pasha’s help he was appointed a bookkeeper in the ministry of education.
He always earned the respect of his superiors and colleagues. He enriched his life with friendships, enlightened it reading the Qur’an and writings of the saints, and varied his sphere of activity through generosity that exuded love of religion and the world. Thus, he attended Sufi gatherings in al-Sanadiqiya, listened to al-Hamuli at weddings, and met his good friends at the Misri Club. He was peaceful by nature, achieving through clemency what could not be achieved through force or anger. The moment his father pronounced marriage a good idea he gave it the welcome of a robust and pious young man. The choice fell on Radia, the eldest daughter of his father’s friend Shaykh Mu‘awiya. She was wedded to him in a newly built house on Bayt al-Qadi Square. It was the beginning of a successful and prosperous marriage. Radia was his opposite. She was nervous and stubborn and her mysteries were unrestrained; were it not for his peaceful nature and clemency, things would not have proceeded along the same peaceful course with his dignity at home remaining intact. He did not escape Radia’s influence, however, for he believed in her heritage and popular medicine and was obliged to let her visit saints’ tombs, even if he would have preferred her to stay in the house like his brother’s wife, Zaynab, and the hanem wives of Mahmud, Ahmad, and Abd al-Azim. “They are all nice hanems but they are ignorant and have no hand in matters of the Unknown,” Radia told him haughtily.
At the same time, she made his house an abode of mercy and love and gave birth to Sadriya, Amer, Matariya, Samira, Habiba, Hamid, and Qasim. Unlike Surur, Amr took pride in his relatives: the mansion on Khayrat Square, the villa on Sarayat Road, the land, money, and rank; and his house enjoyed everyone’s affection accordingly. Carriage after carriage came by, transporting to him the nobles and hanems of Beni Suef and the family of Dawud Pasha with its hanems. They would sit around Amr’s table, shower him with gifts, take pleasure in Radia’s quirks and heritage, and commend the bravery of her father, the hero of the Urabi Revolution. It was these profound friendships that opened the door of marriage into the families of Ata and Dawud, elevating and strengthening Amr’s status and provoking dissension between him and Surur, which could have ruined their relationship, were it not for solid foundations and long memories. Surur often commented regretfully, “If Huda al-Alawzi had died before Ata al-Murakibi we would have inherited!”
“God’s will is unopposed,” Amr would reply.
He surmounted any such twinges with his tolerant faith and it was his habit, when feeling resentful, to remind himself of the many blessings granted him, like good health and children. True, the day Dawud’s family smothered Lutfi’s affection for Matariya he erupted in anger and let Radia rant, saying to himself: They aren’t wrong when they say relatives are scorpions! But it was a cloud that quickly dissolved under the beams of an eternal sun.
His heart was also full of patriotism. He was too young to share his father’s disappointment at the demise of the Urabi Revolution, but he often watched the occupying troops circling the old quarter like tourists and his heart was soon brimming with the speeches of Mustafa Kamil and Muhammad Farid. His excitement reached a climax with the 1919 Revolution; he adored its leader and joined in the civil servants’ strike. He remained loyal to the leader even when his important relatives, Mahmud, Ahmad, and Abd al-Azim, broke away, and eagerly followed the leader’s successor, Mustafa al-Nahhas, by dishing out cups of sherbet the day the treaty was signed. Amr wholeheartedly supported the leader against the new king and, despite the weak heart that was soon to kill him, was angry when he was discharged from government service.