"We're not very polite."
Yasin laughed and replied, "Time has disciplined us too often. When excessive emphasis is placed on something, the opposite occurs. That's why we're rude but generally good-natured. In the end, most of us repent."
"I'm a pensioner, and I haven't repented yet."
"Repentance doesn't follow the civil service structure. Besides, you're not doing anything wrong. You get drunk several hours every night, and there's no harm in that. One day ill health or the doctor they amount to the same thing will prevent you from drinking. By nature we're weak. Otherwise we would not have developed a taste for liquor and we would not put up with married life. With the passing days we grow ever weaker, but our desires remain limitless. How absurd: We suffer and then get drunk again. Our hair goes gray, betraying our age, and some insolent oaf accosts you on the street, saying, 'You shouldn't be chasing women now that your hair is white.' Glory to God! 'What difference does it make to you whether I'm young or old and chasing a woman or a donkey?' You may imagine at times that people are conspiring with your wife against you. Add to that, the officer's truncheon and the aggravations of coquetry, for even the serving girl struts flirtatiously through the vegetable market. You find yourself in a quarrelsome world without a friend to your name save the bottle. Then along come mercenary physicians to tell you as bluntly as possible: 'Don't drink!' "
"Even so, do you deny that we love this world with all our hearts?"
" With all our hearts! Even evil has some good in it. Even the English have redeeming qualities. I once knew some of them intimately. I had some English friends during the revolutionary era."
The attorney cried out, "But you were fighting against them! Have you forgotten?"
"Yes… yes. There's a time and place for everything. I was once suspected of being a spy, but the leader of the students rushed to my aid in the nick of time to tell the crowd who I really was. Then they cheered me. That was in the mosque of al-Husayn!"
" 'Long live Yasin! Long live Yasin!' But what were you doing in the mosque of al-Husayn?"
"Answer him! This is an extremely important point."
Yasin laughed and replied, "We were at the Friday prayer sendee. My father used to take us with him to the Friday prayers. Don't you believe it? Ask the people at al-Husayn."
"You prayed to butter up your father?"
"By God… don't think ill of us. We're a religious family. Yes, we're dissolute inebriates, but we all plan to repent eventually."
Moaning, the attorney asked, "Shouldn't we sing a bit more?"
Yasin shot back, "Yesterday when I left the bar singing, a policeman stopped me and cried out to warn me: 'Mister!' I asked him, 'Don't I have a right to sing?' He answered, 'Screeching after midnight is forbidden.' I protested, 'But I'm singing!' He said sharply, 'As far as the law's concerned it's all the same thing.' I asked, 'What about bombs that explode after midnight — shouldn't that be considered screeching?' He answered threateningly, 'It's plain that you want to spend the night at the station.' I backed away, saying, 'No, I'd rather spend the night at home.' How can we be a civilized nation when we're ruled by soldiers? At home you find your wife on the lookout for you, at the ministry there's your boss, and it's said that even in the grave two angels with truncheons will be waiting to examine you."
The attorney suggested again, "Let's have a tidbit of singing to go with our drinks."
The dean of all pensioners cleared his throat and began to chant: My husband took a second wife When wedding henna still was fresh Upon my hands. The day he brought Her home, her presence seared my flesh.
With savage enthusiasm they took up the refrain. Yasin was laughing so hard that tears came to his eyes.
164
Khadija often felt lonesome. Ibrahim Shawkat tended to stay home all winter long especially now that he was approaching seventy but his presence did little to drive away her loneliness. Performing her household chores hardly lessened it either, for they were no longer arduous enough to absorb all of her energy. Although over forty-six, Khadija was still strong and active — and even plumper. Worst of all, her career as a mother had ended before she could assume that of a mother-in-law. It appeared that she would be permanently denied this opportunity, since one of tier daughters-in-law was also her niece and the other worked outside the home and thus was visible only on rare occasions.
In a conversation with her husband, who was wrapped up in his cloak, she voiced her buried feelings: "Our sons have been married for more than a year, and we haven't lit any candles for a baby yet."
The man shrugged his shoulders but did not reply. She continued: 'Perhaps Abd al-Muni'm and Ahmad consider having children a fad as outmoded as obeying their parents."
The man answered irritably, "Calm down. They're happy, and that should be enough for us."
She asked sharply, "If a bride doesn't get pregnant and have children, what use is she?"
"Perhaps your sons don't share that opinion."
"They disagree with me about everything. All my efforts and hopes have been in vain."
"Are you sad you're not a grandmother?"
She retorted even more acidly, "I'm sad for them, not for me."
"Abd al-Muni'm has taken Karima to the doctor, who said every thing would be fine."
"The poor boy spent a lot of money, and he'll have to spend more in the future. Brides like tomatoes and meat — are expensive today."
When the man's only response was laughter, she added, "As for the other girl, I'm imploring God's assistance with her by way of the saint at Bab al-Mutawalli."
"You'll have to admit that her words are as sweet as honey,"
"That's just shrewd cunning. What do you expect from a laborer's daughter?"
"Fear God, my good woman."
"When do you suppose the 'professor' will take her to the doctor?"
"They refuse."
"Naturally…. She has a job. How could she find time to become pregnant and have a baby?"
"They're happy together. That can't be doubted."
"There's no way a woman who works can be a good wife. He'll realize that when it's too late."
"He's a man and can handle it."
"No other pair of young men in this district are as big a loss as my sons."
With the crystallization of Abd al-Muni'm's character and orientation, he established himself as a capable civil servant and an energetic member of the Muslim Brethren. Leadership of their branch in al-Gamaliya devolved upon him. Named a legal adviser to the organization, he helped edit its journal and occasionally delivered sermons in sympathetic mosques. He had turned his apartment into a meeting place where the Brethren talked till all hours of the night under the guidance of Shaykh Ali al-Manufi. The young man was extremely zealous and more than prepared to place everything he possessed — his industry, money, and intelligence at the service of the cause, which he believed wholeheartedly to be, as its founder put it, "a pure revivalist mission, a brotherhood based upon the Prophet's example, a mystic reality, a political organization, an athletic association, a cultural and scientific league, an economic partnership, and a social concept."
Shaykh Ali al-Manufi said, "The teachings and precepts of Islam provide a comprehensive answer to the problems people confront in reference to this world and the next. Those who assume that its doctrines apply only to the spiritual and devotional aspects of life are mistaken. Islam is a creed, a way of worship, a nation and a nationality, a religion, a state, a form of spirituality, a Holy Book, and a sword."
One of the young men present commented, "This is what we believe, but we're slowed down by inertia. Pagan secularism rules us with its laws, traditions, and people."