Alaa Al Aswany - The Yacoubian Building

Today, though, he did not go to the university, specifically so that he could see her. He waited for her at the entrance to the building as she came out in the morning and accosted her, saying, “Good morning, Busayna. I want a word with you, please.”

“I’m busy.”

Such was her uncivil answer as she ignored him and proceeded for a few steps. He, however, could not control himself and pulled her by the hand, though she resisted for a moment before yielding and whispering in panic, “Let go of my hand! No scenes!” The two then walked silently and warily among the people in the street till they got to their favorite place in Tawfikiya Square. As soon as they sat down, she burst out angrily, “What do you want from me? Do you have to make problems every day?”

Strangely, his own anger disappeared rapidly, as though it had never been, and he waited for a moment. Then he said in a voice that he tried hard to make calm, as though he wanted to conciliate her, “I beg you, Busayna, don’t be angry with me!”

“I’m asking you, what do you want from me?”

“I want to confirm something I heard.”

“Confirmed.”

“Meaning what?”

“Meaning everything you’ve heard is true.”

She was challenging him and pushing the conversation to the edge.

“You’ve left Talal’s store?”

“I left the job at Talal’s and I’m working for Zaki el Dessouki. Is that bad, or a sin, Your Reverence?”

In a weak voice he said, “Zaki el Dessouki has a bad reputation.”

“Sure, he’s got a bad reputation and he likes women, but he pays me six hundred pounds a month. And seeing that I have a family to support and seeing that your good self can’t pay me the cost of schools, food, and drink, it’s none of your business!”

“Busayna, fear God! You’re a good person. Take care you don’t make Our Lord angry! Do what’s right and leave it to God to provide!”

“I agree, it’s up to God to provide. Unfortunately, we just aren’t finding enough to eat.”

“I can find you a respectable job.”

“Find yourself a job, sweetheart! I’m perfectly happy with mine.”

“That’s how you want it?”

“Yes, that’s how I want it. Anything else?”

She asked him this sarcastically, then irritation swept over her again, so she got up and stood in front of him and said, arranging her hair in readiness to depart, “Listen, Taha. I’m telling you — bottom line, it’s over between us. Each one goes his own way. And there’s no call for us to meet again, if you don’t mind.”

Then she smiled ambiguously and said as she moved away, “You’ve even grown your beard and become observant, and I wear short skirts and go about uncovered. We don’t look right together.”

Sheikh Shakir’s apartment is cramped and humble. The house consists of two stories built of red brick in a narrow alley in Dar el Salam. In the two bedrooms and a parlor live Sheikh Shakir, his two wives, and his seven sons and daughters, who are at different stages of their schooling. The sheikh and his student visitors have agreed on a signal by which he can recognize them — three knocks with spaces in between.

This was the knock that Taha el Shazli used, and he heard the voice of the sheikh saying from inside, “Coming!” Then he heard a sound which told him that the women had gone into the farther room and the slow, heavy footsteps of the sheikh and the sound of him clearing his throat were audible. After a short while the sheikh opened the door, saying “In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate” as he did so.

“Taha! Welcome, my boy.”

“Sorry to disturb you but I want to talk to you a little.”

“Come in, please. You didn’t go to the university today?”

Taha sat on the sofa next to the window and recounted what had happened with Busayna. He told everything and described his feelings to the sheikh, who listened carefully, playing with his prayer beads. The talk was interrupted for a few minutes when the sheikh got up to bring the tea tray, after which he continued to listen until Taha had finished talking. He thought for a while, and then said, “My boy, the True Religion does not forbid love so long as it is legitimate and does not lead to disobedience to God’s Law. Indeed, the noblest of God’s creations, the Chosen One — blessings and peace be upon him — loved the Lady Aisha and spoke of this in sound reports whose validity is generally accepted. The difficulty lies in choosing the woman deserving of your emotions. What should the specifications of this woman be? The Prophet — God bless him and give him peace — said, ‘A woman may be taken in marriage for her beauty, her wealth, or her religion. Take you the religious woman, and, God willing, wealth will follow’ (God’s Prophet has spoken truly). A proper Islamic upbringing would have prevented you from falling into a difficulty such as that from which you are now suffering. You and all the children of your generation did not receive an Islamic upbringing because you grew up in the secular state and received a secular education. Thus you grew accustomed to thinking in a way that excludes religion. Now you have returned to Islam with your hearts, but your minds will take a while before they rid themselves of secularism and are purified for Islam. Learn, as I have said to you so many times, how to love in God and hate in God, for otherwise your Islam will never be complete. The distress from which you are now suffering is a natural and inevitable result of your distance from God, even though this be in only one aspect of your life. If you had asked yourself at the beginning of your relationship with this friend of yours how observant she was, if you had made her adherence to Islam a condition for your having a relationship with her, you would not find yourself where you are now.”

The sheikh poured out two glasses of tea and offered one to Taha. Then he placed the pot on the metal tray, whose color had been transformed by age, and said, slowly sipping his tea, “God knows how much I love you, my boy, and I hate you to come to your sheikh in sorrow only for him to give you a lecture instead of consoling you. But, by God, my sincere advice to you is this: forget this young woman, Taha, because she’s gone astray. You are an observant young man, a believer, and a girl who is a Muslim like you would be better for you. Force yourself to forget and seek help in prayer and the recitation of the Qur’an. It will be difficult at the beginning but will get easier for you later, God willing. Then again, have you forgotten your religion, Taha? What’s become of gihad, Taha? What’s become of your duty to Islam and the Muslims? Yesterday the filthy war began, with our rulers allowing themselves to be forced into fighting Muslims and under the command of unbelievers. It is the duty of all young Muslims in Egypt to rise up against this unbelieving government. Are you willing, Taha, to hang back in aiding the Muslims, who are being killed in their thousands every day, and occupy yourself with an erring young woman who has deserted you in favor of abomination? God, Mighty and Glorious, will not ask you on the Day of Resurrection about Busayna, but He will hold you to account for what you did to support the Muslims. What will you say to God on the day of the Great Gathering?”

Taha hung his head and appeared moved. Then he said in grief and shame, “I have promised God more than once that I’d forget her, but unfortunately I start thinking of her again.”

“Satan will not give your soul up easily and you will not achieve true devotion in one go. The gihad of the soul, Taha, is the Greater Gihad, as the Messenger of God — God bless him and give him peace — called it.”