Arabian Nights and Days

I never read One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, but like most people I had heard the premise of the stories and a few popular tales. I was excited for the thrilling, fun-filled adventures of Sinbad the sailor and Aladdin; however my Disney-based illusions were incorrect. I was unsuspecting and unknowledgeable of the cultural setting of the book and how different they are from my westernized views of the world. I am a privileged, Caucasian United States citizen, who is educated and raised in a Christian culture. My life and my experiences are completely different from the lives and experiences of the characters in Arabian Nights and Days. This is a book of differences, a book completely foreign with my own life. Not only does Islam penetrate to the core of this society, but also the views of women, justice, class, and education are completely opposite of my own understanding and upbringing.

But then again is that not the entire purpose of contemporary world literature? In our very first class, we discussed what the concerns of literature are, and how the themes of humanity and our struggles resurface from the past into the present. I have never visited, much less truly knew and was a member of another society. I have never even been in an Islamic community. But through literature, through Mahfouz’s written words, I am afforded a glimpse. There is no specific time period for these stories, nor are they set in a specific country or city. Rather Mahfouz has chosen to build a world of common characteristics, commonplace experiences in a Muslim community. So that, all instead of only a few, might be able to identify with the story and so I, as a reader from a different culture and society,  might be able to empathize in the smallest of ways with these individuals. I highly doubt that I will be entrapped by a genie, or have my head chopped off like Aladdin, Gamasa, or Sanaan to mention an only a few. However, I am able to connect and gain insight not only about Arabic cultures but also my own world through this story. In retelling these tales, Mahfouz twists Shahzrad’s message to portraying it in a new and modern light inviting all to push through into the original tales into deeper questions of mercy, justice, and life.