A Study of Intertextuality in Bahaa' Taher's NovelAunt Safiyya and the Monastery

ByMohamed Shokr Abdulmoneim

Assistant Professor of LinguisticsEnglish DepartmentFaculty of ArtsBanha University

Egypt2007

Currently works at:Department of General Requirements

Police InstitutePolice Academy

Kuwait

1

Table of contents

Section PageI-Introduction: 3I-i-Bahaa' Taher: a bio-sketch: 4I-ii-Summary of the Novel: 4III-Theoretical Part: 5II-i-Origin of the term “Intertextuality”: 5II-ii-Definition of intertextuality: 6II-iii-Problems in defining intertextuality: 6II-iv-Forms and functions of intertextuality: 7II-v-Intertextuality and interpretation: 8III-Practical Application: 8III-i-Identifying intertexts: aleatory versus obligatory?

8

III-ii-Intertextuality in Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery on the level of characterization:

9

III-ii-a-Harbi 10III-ii-b-Hinein 16III-ii-c-The Narrator's Father 20III-ii-d-The Miqaddis Bishai 21III-ii-e-Points of Difference 23III-iii-Intertextuality in Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery on the level of the plot:

26

III-iii-a-The mythical chivalrous behavior 27III-iii-b-The Quest: 33III-iii-b-i-The Narrator 34III-iii-b-ii-Saffiya 36III-iii-b-iii-Harbi 37III-iii-b-iv-The Narrator's Mother 38III-iii-c-The element of Fantasy and Improbability 41III-iii-d-Points of Difference 41III-iv-A list of hypotexts in Aunt Safiyya and the Monasteryand its significance:

44

IV-Conclusion: 47V-References 53

2

I-Introduction:The present paper attempts an analysis of the intertextual patterns embedded in Bahaa' Taher’s novel Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery (1996). Taher (1935- ) is a leading contemporary Egyptian novelist who has won fame for his distinguished works for the last twenty-five years. The novel deserves such an intertextual analysis since it is "a piece of fiction that is frequently allusive." (Lively, 1996, [WWW document]) Intertextuality is brought into focus here since it is gainingimportance in linguistic and literary research nowadays for probably two reasons: first, it can be applied to different types of texts, and second, the pleasure of revealing intertextual references in literary texts. (Kristeva 1980: 5)From the author’s point of view, intertextuality is introducedinto literary work on two levels: conscious and subconscious. On the conscious level, it is used to create meanings where itallows for complex stories challenging the reader with different sets of hypotexts which the reader tries to identify. The whole process depends on the level of recognition of hypotexts and on the reader’s patience as well as his wish to find the actual pre-texts. (Kristeva 1986 : 2) On the subconscious level, the writer of fiction is always exposed to the usage of intertextuality where no written or spoken discourse can be free from the influence of other texts. It is an automatic and determined process of weaving texts. Thus, intertextuality is a second nature to literary discourse. (Derrida 1976 : 22)

3

In Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery, it is difficult to grasp intertextuality or define it not only because the hypotexts will differ according to the ability of the reader to find them but also because no author could possibly give an accountof the number and kind of texts which have influenced his work. Such vagueness about the actual content of the work in question is called intertext i.e. the text in relation to other texts. (Orr 2003: 15) It might be taken into consideration here that Taher may generally be classified among the less adventurous writers in relation to his use of intertextuality. Among his novels which have so far been published, intertextuality is pervasive only in Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery (1991) and Love in Exile (1995). To the best of my knowledge, none of these works have been examined on the intertextual level in English. Intertextuality in Love in Exile was hinted at in various studies in Arabic especially Khedr (2001). While Love in Exile attracts attention mostly as an example of histriographic metafiction, Aunt Safiyya and the Monasterydraws greater attention to the hypotexts involved in it as a rersult of its two meditative major characters the narrator and the Miqaddis Bishai. Meanwhile, if Love in Exile focuses on contemporary Egyptian history, Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery, which is narrated on the background of the June 5th 1967 War, choosesthe form of romance as a narrative framework for Safiyya and Harbi’s tragic story. Moreover, there are moral and historicaldimensions related to the use of intertextuality in the novel as one newspaper comments: "The pleasure of the narrative comes from the large number of characters, from the writing, which is expansive and rich in incidents, and from a moral and historical sense that gives the book depth." ("University of California Press", 1996, [WWW document]) Afterthe injustice and horrible torture inflicted upon the hero Harbi by his relative the Bey, he was likened by other characters to both Islamic and Christian religious leaders maltreated by their peoples i.e. el-Hasan and el-Hussein; Prophet Mohamed's grandsons, and Jesus Christ. The present analysis would show also that romance makes more room for intertextuality than other narrative forms where texts meet.

The paper is divided into two main parts: a theoretical one and a practical one. In the theoretical part, a brief definition of intertextuality would be given. In addition, light would be shed on its ambiguous meaning in literature andlinguistics as well as the difficulties in interpretation. Thepractical part, on the other hand, would examine the intertextual processes reflected in Taher’s novel. It would berevealed that Taher has used intertextuality in Aunt Safiyya and

4

the Monastery on two levels: characterization and plot. Such a usage would be investigated in detail where it would be shown that Taher was intertextually influenced by Islamic history books, the Qur'an and the Bible in his portrayal of charactersas well as the interweaving of the plot which resulted in enhancing the theme and technique of the novel. A list of hypotexts in the novel would also be given and commented on.

I-i-Bahaa' Taher: a bio-sketch:Bahaa' Taher was born in Cairo in 1935. He published several collections of short stories and five novels of which Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery; his third novel, was published in Egypt in 1991 followed by an English version in 1996. As a result ofbeing attacked by critics for not depicting a rosy picture of contemporary Egypt in his fiction, Bahaa' Taher was dismissed from his radio broadcasting job and prevented from publishing his literary works in the mid-1970s. Thus, he was obliged to leave Egypt. He moved to Geneva in 1981 where he has worked asa translator for the United Nations until he finally returned to Egypt in 1995. Taher is a sharp observer of the world in which he lives. Hence, his fiction reveals a broad range of Egyptian experience; whether it is of Cairenes, Upper Egyptians or expatriates in their different environments respectively. Due to becoming quickly one of the most widely read contemporary novelists in Egypt, Taher received the State's Award of Merit in Literature in 1998 which is considered the highest honor offered by the Egyptian establishment to a writer. In 2000, Taher was also awarded theprestigious Italian Guiseppe Acerbi prize for Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery.

I-ii-Summary of the Novel:The story is narrated by a middle-aged man living in Cairo about his childhood at a small village near Luxor in the southof Egypt. He reminiscences sentimentally but the romantic story he narrates ends up as a tragedy bringing about radical and surprising twists. Beig totally objective while observing what is happening with a sharp eye, such a narrator might be

described in Higdon's terms as follows : It is a new type of narrator, the reluctant narrator, who is reliable in strict terms, indeed often quite learned and perceptive, but who has been, experienced or caused something so traumatic that he must approach the telling of it through indirections, masks and substitutions. (1991:174)As a matter of fact, such a type of narrator is a common feature in all the works of Bahaa' Taher as Motassim says:

5

Bahaa' Taher's fiction differs from traditional realistic fiction and conforms to it atthe same time… What happened is narrated through an eye-witness narrator who is objective as he narrates what he has seen or heard, and never allows himself to understand more than what he is able to, nor goes deeper into the inner selves of thecharacters. (Motassim, nd, [WWW document])

The story happens during the 1967 war. Safiyya is a maternal relative of the narrator who was brought up with him and his sisters because she was an orphan. It was taken for granted that she would marry Harbi who is a handsome young relative ofthe narrator’s father. However, the Consul Bey, who is a wealthy old man living in Luxor and a relative to both of the narrator’s family and Harbi, appears on the scene and proposesto Safiyya. Taken by complete surprise that Harbi accompanied the Bey to propose to her, Safiyya accepted the Bey’s proposal. The Bey used to spend generously on Harbi who was his nephew and he also assigned him the job of overseeing his farmland. It is apparent that Safiyya’s love to Harbi was one-sided. Safiyya married the Bey and bore him a son. Some peopleconvinced the Bey that Harbi wants to kill his only son so as to be his sole heir. As a result of his growing suspicions, the Bey hired some bullies and they caught Harbi, tied him to a palm tree and kept torturing him brutally. During the process of torture, Harbi succeeded in setting himself free but he mistakenly shot the Bey dead during his attempts to prevent the latter from torturing him. He was then trialed andimprisoned. Safiyya changed radically as she became obsessed with the idea of taking her revenge on Harbi. After getting out of prison, the narrator’s father and the Miqaddis Bishai, who is a wise monk and an old friend of Harbi, manged to make the latter took shelter in the monastery near the village to protect him. Safiyya hired an outlaw named Hinein to kill Harbi but he had a narrow escape and eve succeeded in killing Hinein. Harbi’s health deteriorated and he died later. Safiyyafell in a coma and died due to her excessive grief over not being able to take her revenge on Harbi. She confessed on her deathbed that she was in love with Harbi and was expecting himto propose to her. The Miqaddis Bishai lost his mind as a result of his close relation to Harbi and was taken to a lunatic asylum.

It should be noted here that the main message behind this novel of suffering and betrayal is that religious differences cannot hinder people from cooperation and peaceful coexistence. This is clearly seen in the friendly relations between the Muslims of the village and the monks of the

6

monastery. Moreover, Muslims and Christians allied to save a Muslim from a family feud. This message was asserted by Taher himself in an interview where he said: I wanted to say that the Egyptian society is an integrated fabric… and such a fabric was there from time immemorial and will last forever despite anything contradictory to this fact. I deliberately made the monks' cells resemble the villagers' houses and asserted that customs and the way of talking are the same. I deliberately wanted to show thatlife in this society is one and the same whether at Muslims or Christians' houses. I was not the first to discover this as the British High Commissioner Lord Cromer complained that he could not convince Egyptian Christians of taking sides with the British occupiers and that he did not notice any difference between an Egyptian Muslim and an Egyptian Christian except that one goes to mosque and the other goes to church at time of praying. (El-Sadik, 2006, [WWW document])This message was noticed by Romaine (1996) also as she said inher introduction to the novel:…Many of Taher's writings are about reconciling human differences across boundaries of culture, nationality, and ideology. Taher proposes no facile solutions to the persistent divisiveness of human society. Nevertheless, his stories and novels—peopled as they often are by diverse characters whose improbable alliances are as compelling as they are unusual—bespeak the author's commitment to the idea that differences may be resolved, boundaries transcended. (9-10)Lively (1996) sheds light on the same message as well:…[Harbi] is given sanctuary by the monks of the Coptic monastery near the village.This connection then becomes the second theme of the novel, running parallel to the narrative of persecution and revenge. For the two progressive figures in the story, thenarrator's father and an old monk, Bishai, join forces—Muslim and Christian—to protect Harbi and to oppose the ancient practice of feud and bloodshed.Thus, the main message behind the novel is the possibility of peaceful coexistence between people of different religions. Such a message is stressed through intertextual references from sacred books which constitute a common heritage to all the characters in the novel whether they are Muslims or Christians. What follows now is an exploration of the theoretical framework of intertextuality where light is shed on its definition, forms, functions and interpretation.

II-Theoretical Part:II-i-Origin of the term “Intertextuality”:The term “intertextuality” is derived from the Latin word “intertexto” which means to intermingle while weaving. This term was first introduced by Julia Kristeva, under the inspiration of the theoretical work of Mikhail Bakhtin (1895-1975), in the late sixties of the previous century. What has been called intertext, intertextuality and literariness by semioticians at that time corresponds essentially to the

7

Bakhtinian term “dialogue” where Bakhtin defines the dialogic character of the literary text as a predisposition for any text to live only insofar as it relates to other texts (contexts). (Morris, 1994: 28) In essays such as “Word, Dialogue, and Novel,” (1986) Kristeva broke with traditional notions of the author’s “influences” and the text’s “sources,”positing that all signifying systems, from table settings to poems, are constituted by the manner in which they transform earlier signifying systems. A literary work, then, is not simply the product of a single author, but of its relationship to other texts and to the structures of language itself as Kristeva asserts: Any text is constructed of a mosaic of quotations; any text is the absorption and transformation of another. (66)

Intertextuality is thus a way of accounting for the role of literary and extra-literary materials without recourse to traditional notions of authorship. It subverts the concept of the text as self-sufficient, hermetic totality, foregrounding,in its stead, the fact that all literary production takes place in the presence of other texts; they are, in effect, palimpsests. For Roland Barthes, who proclaimed the death of the author, it is the fact of intertextuality that allows the text to come into being: Any text is a new tissue of past citations. Bits of code, formulae, rhythmic models, fragments of social language, etc., pass into the text and are redistributed within it, for there is always language before and around the text. Intertextuality, the condition of any text whatsoever, cannot, of course, be reduced to a problem of sources or influences; the intertext is a general field of anonymous formulae whose origin can scarcely ever be located; of unconscious or automatic quotations, given without quotation marks. (1975:39)Such a realization of the significant role of intertextuality in literary texts paves the way for defining it. Hence, a definition of intertextuality is in order.

II-ii-Definition of intertextuality:Intertextuality is a process confronted everyday not only in literature but also in communication. Widdowson (1971) defines

intertextuality as follows: All texts reverberate with the echoes of other texts. All uses of language have a

history of previous uses. Whatever I say or write is a continuation of my experience oflanguage, a kind of recurrence. (55Thus, when we translate intertextuality literally, it can onlymean that texts interact with each other and that there is a connection between them. Klein and Fix (1997) also emphasize

8

this fact: The text is not an autonomous or unified object, but a set of relations with other texts. (22)

Meanwhile, Holthuis (1990) understands intertextuality “not as a text-inherent property, but as a specific form of meaning constitution and therefore as a phenomenon of text processing.” (77) She thus differentiates between intertextual semiosis and intertextual disposition. While the first term set itself up in the interaction between text and reader, the second term means that the text itself activates intertextual interpretation by special text signals.Hence, both are depending on each other. This leads us to examine the problems arising from such definitions of

intertextuality.II-iii-Problems in defining intertextuality : According to Kristeva's theories, the author is not given any more his authoritative position. Therefore, he should not be treated as an idol any longer as he gets his inspiration from numerous pretexts, i.e. of stimulus or ideas received from other already assimilated texts and also from his associative activated general knowledge. In the end, an author focuses on and phrases only those pretexts. We can notice something similar with the reader: he is also influenced by those pretexts which he then relates to the existing text by settingup a new meaning. (Kristeva 1986 : 36) Although the text itself is looked at in this way, it is only the semantic pointof intersection of a number of texts, a confusion of voices ofother texts. In principle, Kristeva differentiates between twoaxes: a horizontal one and a vertical one. The horizontal status of discourse is its simultaneous orientation toward thewriting subject and the receiver while the vertical status is the simultaneous orientation of the discourse toward the literary tradition and the present situation. (1986: 145) As aflexible fluent structural and semantic unity, the text becomes a conglomerate of knowledge systems and cultural codes. From this point of view, intertextuality then becomes ageneral characteristic of texts. All this might be comprehensible but after that the text would be taken out of its interactive integration. The author is no longer a supporter of a certain intention that he wanted to realize by means of the text and on the other hand, the recipient is not tied any longer to the handicaps of the author. He is in contrast comparatively free in his interpretations. With such a basic position, there is nothing more to fix or to determine

9

and it is impossible to limit intertextuality. For this reason, intertextuality becomes identical with textuality. (Kristeva 1986 : 44)

Meanwhile, De Beaugrand and Dresser (1981) consider intertextuality the fundamental relation of each text to several other texts of a particular text type. (12) Thus, it can be said that intertextuality is the marked or implied relation between texts of a particular genre. Holthuis (1990) on the other hand points out that intertextuality is rather just achieved by the interaction between text and reader. (80)Hence, she does not describe textuality as an inherent characteristic. However, one problem arises and poses the question : what about the author-given intertextuality? It hasalready been mentioned that intertextuality is the relation between texts. In pragmalinguistics, we only have one problem:how can a text be defined? Basically, pragmatic factors are important for all processes of communication. No matter if youare talking about the text production or about comprehension and processing of text statements, this is all to the greatestpossible extent determined or at least characterized by communication. (Vorster 1989:21)

Accordingly, texts do not have any meaning or function by themselves but only in relation to particular interactive contexts. Therefore, it is no longer important what the intention of a text producer is but what the recipients make of the text. But in contrast to that, the praxis of communication shows that texts are always the basis of communication processes and that whatever a person wants or means can only be reconstructed through definite texts. Furthermore, texts cannot be taken out of their interactive fixing since they are instruments of communicative management and hence, they are tied to the text producer and are well-suited to particular effects on recipients. Another point is the fact that texts cannot be seen as interpretable unities. It is certain that several recipients reconstruct one and the same text normally in a different way but nevertheless, the actual text remains the fixed point of orientation. Each attempt of interpretation is always tied to a concrete text. (Buchanan 1994:56) With the help of the text, the horizon of interpretation is limited. It is true that this limit is more enormous than with literal texts but that cannot be an excuse

for open interpretations.

10

All in all, it is surprising that intertextuality is regarded in such a wide-ranging way. It is as difficult to define intertextuality as to define a text for example because everybody has a different opinion of a text. For some, a poem does not count to that category while others say that every one word could be a text. It is the same with intertextuality as it is hard to say when and why a text refers to another text and if this is done intentionally by the author or not, and it is another problem to the reader to interpret it in theright way. Therefore, we move now to the forms and functions

of intertextuality .II-iv-Forms and functions of intertextuality : Since intertextuality is the relation between one text and itspretext, it is thus a text overlapping phenomenon. Consequently, every text has its precursors to which it is referring in formal as well as in pragmatic aspects. Therefore, intertextuality, according to Worton (1990), can besubdivided into two dimensions: a vertical classifiable one and a horizontal associative one. The first is referring to the assignment of text copy to particular conventional text categories that are genres. In contrast to that, the second dimension refers to pretexts looking on it from the semantic point of view. The forms of intertextuality vary from quotation or motto to allusion or paraphrase and parody or travesty. Concerning the functions of intertextuality, these might be affirmative or even critical. The consequence is for that reason a support, broadening or contrast of sense. Textlinguistics expands the general definition of intertextuality in several aspects. It does not limit itself to text-intern phenomena but also looks at the degree of effectiveness. This is dependant on text comprehension which have both author and reader in common. Hence, De Beaugrand andDresser (1981) define intertextuality in this way in which “the production and reception of a given text depends upon the participants’ knowledge of other texts.” (40) This is really important if we look at the active role of the reader during the reading and interpreting of a text. A further difference is their statement that every text is an “ensemble of presuppositions of others texts.” (41) A text therefore can never be autonomous because many texts cause each other. Consequently, each text is always intertext of itself. We turn now to explore how intertextuality may be

interpreted in the light of what has been said so far.

11

II-v-Intertextuality and interpretation : Van Wolde (1989) asserts that the classification of a text depends on the interpretation. In academic texts, this does not make any difficulties but it is different in literary texts since interpretation here appears in a different light. In literature, it is individual and depends on presuppositions, previous knowledge and preconception of the respective reader.(47) Meanwhile, Hollander (1981) agrees thatthere is no criterion according to which we can categorize a text. The decision rather depends on the individual text comprehension, historical knowledge and personal opinion of the reader. On the other hand, the classification of a literaltext is an important step in the process of interpretation. (5) This basic problem of literary studies has a negative effect on intertextuality. It is true that the term of intertextuality has a certain plausibility for each reader whofinds in texts relations to other texts but there is still no objective criterion whether these relations really exist. In this case, we wonder whether the author himself has intended these relations and wanted the reader to take the previous

texts into account when interpreting the text.Hollander goes on to elaborate on this point by saying:

It is never possible to decide precisely if first, there is itertextuality at all, second, which type of intertextuality is present e.g. quotation, allusion, or paraphrase, third, which kind of reference exists, that is if there are relations to one single text or to a certain text type. (6)Thus, the intention of the author will always remain a problembecause literal texts are simply characterized by a communicative openness for which a right or false comprehension does not exist. Each interpretation is partiallyjustified and it is up to the individual judgment of the reader to accept or refuse the interpretation. Therefore, we can reach the conclusion that it is difficult to say if and towhat extent a text is influenced by intertextuality and, furthermore, whether the author wanted the reader to recognizethese relations to other texts or whether they are more or less accidental. Such issues would be explored in the next section where an intertextual analysis of Taher's novel is carried out. We move now to examine the intertextual processes

in Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery.

12

III-Practical Application : III-i-Identifying intertexts: aleatory versus obligatory ? A first brief look at Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery will show that there are two clear hypotexts integrated into the novel; the Bible on the one hand, and Islamic history books and the Qur’an on the other due to the frequency of their presence in the hypertext. The problem lies in how to approach the task ofidentifying as many pretexts as possible. This becomes difficult as soon as intertextual markers such as quotation marks, italics or other distinct differences, in comparison with the hypertext, are missing as in the case here with Taher's novel. Riffaterre (1990:57) claims that a hypotext canalways be assumed when the reader finds “ungrammaticalness” inthe text. Although this proves to be helpful as long as it sharpens the reader’s attention, it also remains vague especially in the case of contemporary postmodern novel with its tendency towards fragmentation and mixture of traditional narrative structures where ungrammaticalities are bound to occur. Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery is no exception to this rule although its English version does not allow for any ungrammaticality. The novel seems to suggest hypotexts everywhere until the story, which uses the flashback technique, has settled down somewhat and allowed the reader tojoin together those passages from the beginning of the text which could not be fully understood at the time. Nevertheless,if a pretext is introduced without any markers and altogether in a subtle way, such as the part from the hymn Ya Maleka Barra Nakeya (23), the reader might as well suppose that an existing pretext is hidden behind any other phrase such as “… because Hinein had accepted some pieces of silver.” (42) Almost every passage which is in some way striking, such as the aforementioned example, calls for attention because of its alliteration and rhythm or any other remarkable linguistic features. Riffaterre’s second suggestion which provides some initial help in identifying intertexts is linked to the first one and proves to be equally vague when tried in practice. At first, the distinction between “aleatory” and “obligatory” hypotexts seems helpful in reducing the complexity of the problem. The Qur’an, Islamic history books and the Bible would of course beidentified as obligatory pretexts while all those bits and pieces that the reader carries into the hypertext by way of spontaneous associations must be called “aleatory” and can be excluded from the discussion. (Riffaterre 1984:24) However, the categorization of “aleatory” versus “obligatory” is too

13

loose to include the phenomenon of intertextuality as it does not account for changes in a quotation or solve the problem ofvery short passages or the problem of proverbs and whether or

not these should be seen as “obligatory” hypotexts.To sum up, Riffaterre’s distinction cannot assess any of the borderline cases where a pretext comes to mind but cannot be established clearly with absolute certainty. This might be applied to intertextual references from the Qur'an or Islamic history books which are unfamiliar to the Western reader. Biblical intertextual references might be unfamiliar also to Non-Christians. Behind Riffaterre’s system of binary opposition lies his assumption that hypotexts lead to the one and only possible interpretation of the hypertext. Undoubtedly, a number of hypotexts can always be identified asdefinite cases of reference to another literary work but the possibilities inherent in intertextuality seem to point to a multiplicity of different readings rather than to a single one. This might be applied to intertextual references to incidents mentioned in both of the Bible and Qur'an at the same time. What follows now is an investigation of Taher’s usage of intertextuality in Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery on two levels: characterization and plot. Such a usage will be examined with reference to the Bible, the Qur'an and Islamic

history books.III-ii-Intertextuality in Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery on the

level of characterization : The Bible, the Qur'an and Islamic history books are the most frequently pretexts evoked in Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery with regard to characterization. They serve several functions but the most important one is that they can be used as a general key or aid towards understanding the story. If hypotexts usually seem to make a text more complicated, the two sources in this case help clarify matters and deepen their significance in Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery. Taher exploits these sources in his depiction of the hero Harbi where he grants himreligious and spiritual features. On the other hand, he grantsHinein the outlaw, who was hired by Safiyya to kill Harbi, devilish and criminal features. The following figure helps

showing how these sources are used in this regard:Intertextual comparison between Harbi and Hinein

14

Harbi X The Bey

| el-Hasan and el-Hussein | Caliph Yazid bin Muawiyah (implicit) |

( explicit)

Islamic History books

Hinein X Harbi Judas | Jesus

(explicit( | )implicit )

The Bible

Figure (1)As shown in the above figure, Harbi and Hinein are explicitly likened in the novel to el-Hasan and el-Hussein, and Judas respectively. On the other hand, it is implicitly understood, by comparison, that the Bey and Harbi are likened to Caliph

Yazid bin Muawiyah and Jesus respectively .As for Islamic history books, Harbi is likened to el-Hasan andel-Hussein who were Prophet Mohamed's grandsons. El-Hasan diedin 669 A.D. after being poisoned by the agents of Caliph Muawiyah; Yazid’s father. After the assassination of his father by dissidents during his armed struggle with Muawiyah over the caliphate, el-Hasan fought Muawiyah but the latter succeeded in defeating him by bribing his army leaders. Such adefeat forced el-Hasan to sign a peace treaty with Muawiyah. However, Muawiyah managed by bribery and betrayal to poison el-Hasan to get rid of him for good. El-Hasan was betrayed by his wife Jeida bint Mohamed ibn el-Asha’ath el-Kindi who was tempted by the Caliph’s agents to do so through offering her alot of money. ("Sibt el-Resala el-Hasan ibn Ali", nd, [WWW document]) On the other hand, El-Hussein, el-Hasan’s brother, and his followers (said to number only seventy-two) were killed in 680 A.D. by a huge army (said to range from 4000 to 10000 soldiers) sent by Caliph Yazid bin Muawiyah to crush hisrevolution against him in the Battle of Karbala near the town of Kufa in Iraq. El-Hussain revolted against Yazid because thelatter turned the caliphate from an elective into an inheritedposition, through succeeding his father Muawiyah, and thus removed el-Hussein from consideration as the next Caliph as hewas supported by many to assume this office due to his

15

integrity and relation to the Prophet. El-Hussein avoided acknowledging the authority of Yazid by leaving Madina, in thefar south of Arabia, where he was living, and heading for Iraq, in the far north of Arabia, after the people of Iraq sent him letters promising to support him if he comes to Iraq as they will allay with him, form an army and attack Damascus where they will dethrone Yazid and appoint him Caliph. However, when el-Hussein reached Iraq, its people did not keeptheir promise as they left him alone with his followers to meet their tragic end. ("Husayn ibn Ali", nd, [WWW document]) As for the Bible, Harbi is implicitly, by comparison, likened to Jesus since Hinein the outlaw is explicitly likened to Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus. According to the account given in the gospels, Judas Iscariot was one of Jesus’ disciples. He carried the disciples’ money box and betrayed Jesus for a bribe of “thirty pieces of silver” by identifying him to arresting soldiers of the High Priest Caiphas, who thenturned Jesus over to Pontius Pilate’s soldiers. They later crucified him. Thus, the life of Jesus embodies suffering and betrayal. The story of Judas is mentioned in the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), the Gospel of John and at the beginning of Acts of the Apostles. ("Judas Iscariot", 1997, [WWW document])

Thus, we can see that the pretexts of Islamic history books and the Bible play the role of a stabilizing factor and a means of comparison. The narrator stresses this aspect by mentioning how his mother resembled Harbi to el-Hasan and el-Hussein: “Wallahi, no one on earth has ever been wronged the way Harbi was—served like el-Hasan and el-Hussein, he was!” (32) Meanwhile, he also mentions how the Miqaddis Bishai has kept resembling Hinein, who is hired by Safiyya to kill Harbi, to Judas: “Get away, ya Hinein! Get away, ya Judas, God’s curse on you!” (74) On the other hand, when Harbi died out of his deteriorating health, Bishai told the narrator: “Look, son…look. He, too, lived to suffer. Do you see?” (77) Bishai uses the word "too" to draw an implicit similarity between Harbi and Jesus as both lived to suffer. Thus, the pretexts are the more realistic and reliable as theyoffer the reader the chance to authenticate the incoherent memories of the narrator. Islamic history books and the Bible serve as intertextual foils to the novel accompanying the whole hypertext and are used for comparison all the time. We turn now to an examination of Taher's depiction of the hero Harbi and Hinein the outlaw who are the focus of intertextual references taken from Islamic history books and the Bible respectively. In the meantime, the portrayal of the narrator's

16

father and Bishai would also be explored for their idiosyncratic usage of intertextual references for other

purposes .III-ii-a-HarbiHarbi resembles el-Hasan and el-Hussein, and Jesus in two points: suffering and betrayal. As for the first point i.e. suffering, it is marked by three features: first, it is extremely unbearable, second, it is imposed on the person concerned, and third, it is inflicted by a tyrannical group

upon a weak individual.As for the first feature, i.e. an extremely unbearable amount of suffering, el-Hasan and el-Hussein, Jesus and Harbi were exposed to an extremely unbearable deal of suffering. This feature might be represented by the intertextual references toel-Hasan and el-Hussein and Jesus by the narrator's mother andBishai respectively:"Wallahi, no one on earth has ever has been wronged the way Harbi was—served like el-Hasan and el-Hussein!" (32)"Look, son…look. He, too, lived to suffer. Do you see?" (77)Here, in the first quotation, the narrator's mother compares the amount of wrong and suffering inflicted upon Harbi to thatinflicted upon el-Hasan and el-Hussein as documented in Islamic history books:Poison spread in Imam Hasan’s body tearing his intestines apart in severe pain. When his brother el-Hussein came to see him …, he found him turning green then yellow then green. ("Sibt el-Resala el-Hasan ibn Ali", nd, [WWW document]) The soldiers of Yazid’s army hindered el-Hussein and his relatives and followers from reaching water sources in the battlefield all day long so as to make them utterlyexhausted by thirst. After that, they attacked them ferociously where all males excepttwo were killed. When el-Hussein fell dead, the leader of Yazid’s army ordered ten of his mounted soldiers to tread el-Hussein’s body with their horses and they did so. ("Hussein", nd, [WWW document]) El-Hussein was treated brutally by his enemies. He was also met with injustice. … What happened on the day of his murder can only be interpreted in the sense of ignorance, blindness, stupidity, over pride, snobbery, foolishness, blood thirst, aggressiveness, revenge, meanness, stubbornness, lowness, and arrogance. (El-Jalali, 1994: 164-165)Meanwhile, in the second quotation, Bishai does the same as hecompares the suffering of Harbi to that of Jesus as documentedin the Bible:

17

"And he began to teach them that the Son of Man had to suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the Torah scholars, and must be killed…." (Mark 8: 31 HB)The types of suffering to which Jesus was exposed will be explored in detail in the section dealing with intertextuality

on the level of the plot.As for Harbi, he suffered the pains of brutal torture by the Bey and his men, hard labor in prison, and his deteriorating

health condition before he finally died: Two of the men held onto Harbi, bound hand and foot, while the other two began tying him to the trunk of the palm tree, wrapping one rope around his chest and the other around his legs, as the bey had ordered them to do. … The bey gestured toward his men again, and two of them, one on either side, began to pull on the rope that bound Harbi by the chest, which was not quite taut. They lifted him up slowly, then set him down on the ground again. At first, Harbi didn’t scream, even as the rough bark of the tree cut into his skin, ripping the flesh ofhis back and legs, but he cried words that rang with all the anguish of his soul, “Why,my uncle? Why all this…why?” …

Harbi had begun to groan, opening his mouth wide, while they twisted him around the trunk of the tree, to the right, to the left, up and down. The blood had begun to flow from both sides, and from his shoulders, and he cried out more loudly now, with just two words, “Enough, Uncle! Enough!” (39-40)

Harbi had known Faris in prison, before any of this happened. They were companions at hard labor in the Tura Penitentiary. They went out at dawn to the mountain where they worked quarrying stone, and each prisoner was assigned a daily quota he had to fulfill, before the men could return to their cells. The guard in charge of them accepted no excuses. He would whip any man who fell short of his quota, order him to be deprived of food, and make him stand naked in the sun for hours. And it was only with great difficulty that each prisoner was able to offer up hisquota of stone at the end of the day. (61)

It was all I could do to keep from crying out when I saw Harbi after he pulled the hood back from his face. He had lost most of his hair, and his cheeks had become two blue smudges, scattered with small scars and wounds. In his eyes was the look of a light that had gone out—his whole face was like a lamp that had been put out.

On the way home from the monastery, I tried unsuccessfully to find out something from my father about Harbi’s illness—he kept sighing and saying, “Just pray that he’ll get well…God’s mercy is great.” (55)

As for the second feature, i.e. imposing of suffering on the person concerned, suffering was imposed on el-Hasan and el-Hussein, and Jesus and Harbi. El-Hasan has to suffer due to being followed and traced by the Caliph's agents as the Caliph

18

was afraid that el-Hasan might revolt against him and dethrone

him finally:El-Hasan was fought militarily and psychologically till his death. (El-Jalali 1994: 59)El-Hasan was forced to sign a peace treaty with Muawiyah because of the ferocity of

his enemies and the betrayal of his army leaders. (El-Jalali 1994: 34-35) Muawiyah exploited el-Hasan's patience and tolerance to keep his tyrannical practices and machinations against him. (El-Jalali 1994: 103) El-Hussein also suffered due to the Caliphs' chasing of him toforce him acknowledge their authority, and the Iraqis' breach

of their agreement to support him dethrone the Caliph :Muawiyah sent a threatening letter to el-Hussein telling him that he knew what is going on in his mind concerning revolting against him and that he would forgive himprovided that he acknowledge his authority as Caliph or he would harm him severely. (El-Jalali 1994: 116)El-Jalali narrates also that el-Hussein sent a reply to Muawiyah accusing him of tyranny and corruption and asserted to him that he did not want to fight him but he wanted him to be a just ruler. Consequently, Muawiyah became furious at el-Hussein and planned to get rid of him but he died before carrying out his plans. Nevertheless, on his deathbed, Muawiyah warned his son Yazid against el-Hussein urging him toget rid of him as soon as possible. (117-122) Therefore, on assuming office as Caliph, Yazid was keen on getting el-Hussein's recognition of him as the sole ruler and he planned to get rid of him by ordering the governors of the provinces to chase el-Hussein and kill him instantly if the latter refused to answer his request. (127-128) As for the disgraceful stance of the Iraqis towards el-Hussein, el-Jalalinarrates that on the day of the battle, el-Hussein delivered asermon in which he warned people against preoccupying themselves with worldly matters and not sticking to the path of God but "the people of Kouffa gave him deaf ears." (170) They even asked el-Hussein to recognize Yazid as the Caliph as they did but el-Hussein refused such humiliation. ("Hussein", nd, [WWW

document]) Meanwhile, suffering was imposed on Jesus because his divine message contradicts the interests of the priests as he criticized them severely for their pompousness and shallow knowledge:

Then Jesus spoke to the crowd and to his disciples, saying, "The Torah scholars and Pharisees took the seat of Moses; therefore whatever they say to you,

19

you should do and keep, but not according to their works should you do. For they sayand don't do.

But they bind heavy loads and place them on the backs of the people, but they themselves would not budge them with a finger of theirs.

But every act of theirs they do with the goal to be seen by people; for they enlarge their phylacteries, and lengthen their tassels; and they love the places of honor in the banquets, and the prominent seats in the synagogues and the greetingsin the marketplaces and to be called Rabbi by the people. (Matthew 23: 1-7 HB) Woe to you, Torah scholars and Pharisees, you hypocrites! For you close the kingdom of heaven in people's faces; you yourselves do not enter, and neither do youallow those who are entering to enter. (Matthew 23: 13-14 HB) Hence, the priests planned to kill him:Then the chief priests gathered together, along with the elders of the people, in the courtyard of the high priest, whose name was Kaiapha; and they came to the decision that they would capture Jesus by trickery and kill him. (Matthew 26: 3-4 HB) Meanwhile, Bishai's previously mentioned comparison of Harbi's suffering to that of Jesus' (77) is applicable here from another prespective i.e. suffering was imposed on Jesus by God, as mentioned in the Bible:"Therefore indeed the Son of Man is going out exactly as is planned." (Luke 22: 22 HB)"Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. However, not my will, but yoursbe done." (Luke 22: 42 HB)

As for Harbi, suffering was imposed on him as the Bey believedthe slanders against him. This feature might be represented by the intertextual references to God's mercy and power used by the narrator’s father where he asks God to alleviate this plight. These intertextuak references were used when Harbi wasquestioning the narrator's father about the Bey's fury againsthim and offered his pistol to him to shoot him if it was proved that he is not loyal to the Bey, and when the narrator's father went to Luxor to meet the Bey to find out the reasons of the such fury then he came back and tried to hide the truth from Harbi:My father pushed away Harbi's hand that held the pistol. He spoke sadly saying, “There is no strength or power, except in God…no strength or power…” (33) In the end, in the face of Harbi's insistence—for Harbi had not let go of my father's arm or let up in his questioning—my father came close to losing his patienceand getting angry. “Son of my father,” he said, “they say that you swore to kill Hassaan in order to claim your inheritance from the Bey uncontested, and the Consulbelieves what those damned troublemakers have said, may God have mercy on us all.” (34) The sentence “There is no strength or power, except in God…no strength or power…” is an echo of the Qura'nic verse "There is no power but with Allah!" (surat al-Kahf, verse 39 HQ) and is an invocation of

20

God. The narrator's father refers to the fact that the situation is out of anybody's hand and thus it requires the interference of Almighty God to solve it. Meanwhile, the sentence "May God have mercy on us all." is a reference to Qura'nic verses which call for God's mercy. Such a mercy is sought alsoby Harbi after his release and taking shelter in the monasteryas he says to the father: "…God have mercy on me." (55) The father answered him saying "…God's mercy is great." (55) This call for mercy and assertion of God's mercy occur frequently in theQur'an as in the following verses: "If our Lord have not mercy upon us and forgive us, we shall indeed be of those who perish" (surat al-Araf, verse149 HQ), "On them will Allah pour His mercy" (surat al-Tawba, verse 71HQ), and "Your Lord is full of mercy all-embracing" (surat al-Anaam, verse 147 HQ). These intertextual references to the various verses which tackle God's mercy in the Qur'an show how Harbi, in his complicated situation, is in bad need of God's mercy ashe was not responsible for such injustice and unbearable

suffering.As for the third feature, i.e. suffering was inflicted by a tyrannical group upon a weak individual, when the Bey and his bullies caught Harbi and tortured him, he was an individual against a tyrannical group just like el-Hussein and his few followers when they faced Yazid’s huge army. El-Jalali (1994) estimates the number of the soldiers in Yazid's army at 4000 while el-Hussein and his followers were only 72. (29) El-Hasanalso was an individual against a group as the agents of CaliphMuawiyah traced him and poisoned him. It should be noted that el-Hasan and el-Hussein defied the state represented by the Caliph and hence they were ruined by its huge power. Jesus as well had to face the Romans as they accused him of leading a revolution against them and appointing himself king of the Jews as Pilate the governor was questioning him after they arrested him: "And Jesus was stood before the governor; and the governor examined him, saying, “YOU are the king of the Jews?” " (Matthew 27: 11 HB)Consequently, he had to suffer on the cross on the hands of sinners as he prophesized before his death: "Behold, the Son of Man

is being betrayed into the hands of sinners." (Mark 14: 41 HB) Thus, el-Hasan and el-Hussein, Jesus, and Harbi were outnumbered by their opponents who dragged them to an

unbalanced confrontation which ruined them in the end .

21

Concerning the second point, i.e. betrayal, el-Hasan was betrayed by the Caliph who sent his agents to tempt his wife to poison him although el-Hasan has signed a peace treaty withhim and thus, the Caliph must maintain his safety not kill him. El-Hussein was also betrayed by the Iraqis who promised to support him but did not keep their promise and left him to face the Caliph's huge army. Meanwhile, Jesus was betrayed by his disciple Judas. On the other hand, Harbi was betrayed by his fellow-villagers and Hinein. Harbi was betrayed by some of

his fellow-villagers who said slanders against him to the Bey :"My father tried in vain to evade Harbi’s urgent questions, saying only that

some people had come between Harbi and the consul. “Who are these people?” Harbidemanded. “What have they said? Why didn’t the bey confront me directly with these accusations? How could the bey believe such slander against me, when I’m the one who has lived his whole life to serve him, without ever demanding anything in return?” " (34) Such slanders led to the Bey's torture of Harbi and the consequent killing of the former by the latter. Thus, these slanders ruined Harbi. As for Hinein's betrayal, it will be tackled in detail in the next section which deals with his character. It is sufficient to say here that although Hinein was an acquaintance of Harbi, He tried to kill him as Safiyya

paid him to do so .Another implicit intertextual reference lies in Taher's excellence in depicting the extraordinary physical features ofHarbi. From the very beginning of the novel, we got the impression that Harbi is the pride of the village as the narrator emphasizes that he "was the most handsome of men." (26) The narrator also shows how so handsome he is through detailing his physical charms as he "was tall, with golden-brown skin. In his cheeks were two ruddy circles; these were set off by his black moustache, its ends always carefully twisted to a point, which made him all the more handsome. … In fact, his strong voice was his best feature. …" (26) Hence, all young women in the novel were infatuated with Harbi's handsomeness whether they are Amuna the gypsy dancer or Saffiya and the

narrator's sisters.Such handsomeness of Harbi recalls to mind the same features granted to his intertextual foils; i.e. el-Hasan and el-Hussein and Jesus. As for el-Hasan and el-Hussein, they were known for their handsomeness as documented in Islamic history

books:22

"El-Hussein and el-Hasan resemble their grandfather the Prophet in physical features and color of skin." (El-Jalali, 1994: 21) El-Hasan’s physicalfeatures are described as follows: "El-Hasan was black-eyed with a reddish white face, smooth cheeks, a silver-white neck, and a graceful body" ("Sibt el-Resala el-Hasan ibn Ali", nd, [WWW document]) Meanwhile, el-Hussein’s physical features were described as follows:"The facial features of el-Hussein resemble those of the Prophet where hislips and eyes are curved. … He looks like the moon when it rises and his cheeks resemble the brightness of the horizon." ("Simat wa fada’il el-Hussein",nd, [WWW document]) "He is well-known for being handsome, able-bodied, tall, with long neck and forearms." ("Alu el-Beit", nd, [WWW document]) Asfor Jesus, although there is no mention of his physical features in the Bible, there are various references which have

detailed these features such as the following:"He is the picture of his mother, only he has not her smooth, round face. His hair is a

little more golden than hers, though it is as much from sunburn as anything else. Heis tall, and his shoulders are a little drooped; his visage is thin and of a swarthy complexion, though this is from exposure. His eyes are large and a soft blue, and rather dull and heavy… ." ("Physical Description of Jesus, 'The

Archko Volume' ", nd, [WWW document]) Thus, we have seen how el-Hasan and el-Hussein, and Jesus are the foils of Harbi as they all share suffering and betrayal. They all were betrayed by acquaintances or fellow-countrymen. They all also suffered great pains till they died. The spiritual and religious features related to suffering and betrayal are deepened in the portrayal of the character of Harbi through comparing him to these revolutionary and religious leaders. These features may be summed up in the

following table:Summary of the features shared by Harbi and his intertextual

foils

el-Hasan and el-Hussein, and Jesus

HarbiFeatures

el-Hasan and el-Hussein:poison and mass murder of his family and followers

Brutal torture by the Bey and his bullies, hard laborin prison, and deteriorating health condition

1-Suffering:a-Extremely unbearable

23

Jesus:Suffering on the crossel-Hasan and el-Hussein:Due to the Caliph'shunting of him and the Iraqis' breach of agreementJesus:Due to Judas' betrayal as he was bribed by the Romans to do so

Due to the slandersof the villagers

b-Imposed on the person concerned

el-Hasan and el-Hussein:The Caliph and his agents and his hugearmyJesus:The Romans

The Bey and his bullies

c-Inflicted by a tyrannical group upon a weak individual.

el-Hasan and el-Hussein:The Caliph and the IraqisJesus:Judas

The villagers and Hinein

2-Betrayal:

Figure (2)

There is also an implicit textual reference to Harbi's extremehandsomeness. Such handsomeness was also shared by el-Hasan and el-Hussein, and Jesus as documented in various sources. Wemove now to the depiction of the character of Hinein the outlaw whose betrayal of Harbi is stressed through comparing

him to Judas who betrayed Jesus as well. III-ii-b-HineinHinein, who was hired to kill Harbi, was likened frequently toJudas. Both of Hinein and Judas are traitors as Hinein betrayed Harbi, i.e. his friend, and Judas betrayed Jesus, i.e. his Divine Master, for the sake of money. As a matter of fact, intertextual references to Hinein portray him as a straylamb, i.e. a deviant person in the Biblical sense, and a traitor, i.e. resembling the Biblical figure Judas at the sametime. Both themes will be explored in detail below through

24

reviewing the intertextual references related to them. First of all, it should be noted that there are three points of similarity between Hinein and Judas: first, both have some relation with the person betrayed, second, they betrayed for the sake of money, and third, there were prophecies regarding their betrayal. These points will be revealed through the intertextual references assigned to Hinein. Moreover, as a result of being deviant, Hinein, as well as Judas, is considered a stray lamb that needs to be guided to the straight path of God. Hence, there are intertextual referenceslinking him to the Biblical concept of the stray lamb. The

examination of such references is in order .The first time we met Hinein was when Faris; a close inmate ofHarbi, began to pay visits to Harbi at the monastery where he was accompanied by his gang. Faris and the outlaws used to meet Harbi outside the monastery where they would eat, drink tea and chat. Hinein was one of the outlaws led by Faris. The Miqaddis Bishai used to join the outlaws in their meetings with Harbi. Hinein, who was Christian, enjoyed teasing him. Hewould pretend to be serious and ask the Miqaddis Bishai about the secrets of the monastery and monasticism as he was thinking of becoming a monk. When Faris was irritated by such questions, Hinein would say innocently: "Do you begrudge me some happiness ya mi’allim? Maybe I’ll be ordained, and become like this good man." (63) Bishai would laugh and say: "Don’t be ordained and don’t become a monk, ya Hinein…but do give up bad company, and leave the path of evil so you can follow the way of our Savior." (63) Hinein in his turn would reply in a voice of great longing, with his hand on his chest: "Anywhere you go, I’ll be right beside you. Take me with you, and I’ll follow the way…" (63) Such a behavior shows the mocking and shrewd character of

Hinein who makes religion a laughingstock .In the above-mentioned quotations, Bishai advices Hinein to leave the path of evil and follow the path of Jesus the Saviorto get God's atonement. The title "Savior" attains a very deepsignificance in the Bible. The frequent occurrence of the words "salvation", "save" and "saved" in the New Testament highlights the importance of being saved from Hell through believing and following Jesus the Savior:Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4: 12 HB)And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

25

And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, and your house. (Acts 16: 29-30 HB)But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit;

Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;

That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3: 4-7 HB)Hinein, on his turn, mocks the idea of following the way (of Christ) which is mentioned in the Bible: And he says to them, “Comeyou … follow me … .” And they followed him immediately …. (Matthew 4: 19-20HB)"In the same way, then, any of you who does not say good-bye to everything that he has, cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14: 33 HB)

Hinein is also greedy and sacrilegious as during a meeting with Harbi, he told Faris the following: "By the way, ya mi’allim, I’ve heard that this monastery is full of gold." (66) As soon as he heard that, Faris shot him in his leg and said: "My name is Faris! I am Faris, you dog! And Faris does not betray his friends, you traitor!" (66) Here we have a clear reference to Hinein the “traitor” who “betrays his friends” which recalls Judas the “traitor” who “betrays” Jesus. Meanwhile, Faris’ words anticipate what will happen later whenHinein becomes a real traitor and betrays his friend i.e. trying to kill Harbi after being paid for that mission by Safiyya. The Miqaddis Bishai hurried to treat Hinein’s woundedleg. After he finished bandaging it, Bishai asked Hinein: "Do you know your own religion, Hinein?" (68) Hinein answered sarcastically: " Why don’t you teach me, ya migaddis?" (68) Bishai continued saying: "Did you know, Hinein, that our Savior washed Judas’s feet on the night of the last supper?" (68) Hinein mockingly thanked Bishai for reminding him of that fact. Bishai cried out loudly as if he were protesting against all the injustices done in the world and said: "But afterward Judas betrayed, ya Hinein. He betrayed." (68)Here, Bishai refers for the first time to Judas in a foretelling implicit comparison with Hinein. Just as Jesus washed Judas’s feet, Bishai treated Hinein’s wounded leg and just as Judas betrayed Jesus after that, Hinein betrayed Bishai and Harbi after that. Bishai foresees what will happen later in the novel as he refers implicitly to the betraying

nature of Hinein.

26

Thus, both of Faris and Bishai have anticipated indirectly that Hinein would be a traitor. This anticipation is found in

the Bible also as Jesus foretells Judas' betrayal:“ …The words that I have spoken to you are spirit, and they are life. Yet some of you

are not believing.” For Jesus had known from the beginning who the ones not believing were, and who the one was, who would betray him. (John 6: 63-64

HB) Jesus responded to them, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve, for myself? Yet one of you is a devil.” He was speaking of Judas, son of Simon of Kerioth; for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray him. (John 6: 70-71 HB)“Truly, truly I say to you: One of you will betray me.” The disciples were looking at one another, puzzling over about whom he was speaking. One of his disciples was reclining close at Jesus' side, the one Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore nods to this one to inquire of Jesus about whom he was speaking. That one therefore simply leaned back onto the chest of Jesus and says to him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus replied, “It is that one for whom I shall dip and give the piece of bread. ” After dipping the piece of bread therefore, he takes it and gives it to Judas, the son of Simon of Kerioth. (John 13: 21-26 HB)As for the incident of washing the disciples' feet, it is

recorded in the Book of John only as follows:"Jesus rises from the supper and lays down his clothing, and taking a towel, he fastened it around himself. Then, he is putting water into a basin. And he began to wash the feet of the disciples, and to wipe them off with the towel in which he was girded." (John 13: 4-5 HB)

what follows such anticipations is Hinein’s betrayal which resembles Judas’ betrayal. The latter’s betrayal is recorded in the four Books of the Bible with slight variations (Matthew26: 14-15 HB), (Mark 14: 10 HB), (Luke 22: 3-4 HB) and (John 13: 2 HB). Safiyya hired Hinein to kill Harbi inside the monastery. However, Harbi was saved when the Miqaddis Bishai saw Hinein approaching on his horse and shouted at him saying:“Get away, ya Hinein! Get away, ya Judas, God’s curse on you!” (74) Harbi avoided Hinein’s shot by squatting on the ground. After that, he took out his pistol and shot Hinein at the heart. Hinein fell on his horse which galloped off into the mountain. Bishairan after him shouting: “Ya Hinein, come back! Why did you wander away from the fold, why did you forsake our Lord? Come back, ya Hinein! The stray lamb may also enter the Kingdom of Heaven, if he comes back to the fold…so come back!”(75) Thus, in his attempt to kill Harbi, Hinein was likened, in an outright accusation, by Bishai to Judas to emphasize hisbetrayal. Bishai also likened him to the stray lamb i.e., a

27

person who deviated from the right path of God, and called on him to be hopeful as he can enter the Kingdom of Heaven i.e. he can join Jesus in the hereafter.

The metaphorical image of the lamb is mentioned frequently in the Bible. Jesus Christ declared of himself:" I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The wage earner, not being a shepherd, and for whom the sheep are not his own, sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and flees, and the wolf seizes them and scatters them. For he is a wage earner, and it matters not to him about the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know mine, and mine know me." (John 10: 11-14 HB)Thus, a stray lamb becomes disoriented, confused, frightened, and incapable of finding its way back to the flock. By comparison, without Jesus the good shepherd, the believers will be helpless like the stray lambs as they must rely on Himfor everything. Jesus compares his relation to his believers with the relation between the faithful shepherd and his helpless and dependent flock to stress his close relation to them. Moreover, he set a contrast between Himself as the Good Shepherd and the bad shepherd or false ones, such as the Pharisees, as He points to Himself as the real keeper of the Lord's flock.

As a matter of fact, Jesus uses the metaphorical figure of "the stray lamb" to give an example of the condition of a deviant person and how He can treat him:And both the Pharisees and the Torah scholars were complaining, saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners, and eats with them.” But he spoke this parable to them, as follows: “What man among you who has a hundred sheep and is missing one of them, does not leave behind the ninety-nine in the desert, and go out after the lost one, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he places it on his shoulder, rejoicing. And upon returning home he gathers his friends and neighbors together, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep that was lost.' I tell you, in just the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner repenting, than over ninety-nine righteous persons having noneed of repentance.” " (Luke 15: 2-7 HB)Jesus used the example of the lost lamb in response to the fanatics' criticism of him that he accepts the sinners and eats with them. He wants to show them that lost people might seek refuge in God's tolerance and atonement. Meanwhile, Jesus stresses how he looks for the lost in his followers to guide them to the right path:But he heard, and said, “The healthy have no need of a doctor, but only those who have something bad. But go learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.'

28

For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” " (Matthew 9: 12-13 HB)In the meantime, God tolerates His lost lamb and waits for himto come back to His fold as He:"Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." (Corinthians 13: 7 HB)Thus, the lost lamb, i.e. the deviant person, is always soughtby God and Jesus to guide him to the right path and accept himamong the true believers. This is the true message of Jesus.

Finally, when Harbi died, Bishai lost his mind out of his extraordinary grief at losing him. He began to pass through the fields asking the farmers if they had seen Harbi because Hinein intended to kill him as he "had accepted some pieces of silver." (79) Bishai refers here to the fact that Safiyya paid Hinein to kill Harbi as the High Priest Caiphas paid Judas to give Jesus to his killers. Judas has betrayed Christ in exchange

for thirty pieces of silver as mentioned in the Bible:And they placed out for him thirty pieces of silver. (Matthew 26: 15 HB)

Thus, we can see that the image of Hinein as Judas is enhancedthroughout the novel. Hinein is a devilish person and his betrayal was anticipated by two characters in the novel. First, when Hinein thought of robbing the monastery, Faris rebuked him for such a thought might make him a traitor betraying his friends then he shot him at his leg. Second, when Bishai was treating him, he referred to the betrayal factor also as he talked about Judas who betrayed Jesus after the latter washed his feet. When Hinein tried to kill Harbi, Bishai called him Judas and considered him a stray lamb i.e. adeviant person. Hinein's conduct and actions were described and anticipated through intertextual references taken mainly from the Bible. Such references give us a deeper understandingof his character. It was also revealed that there are three points of similarity between Hinein and Judas: first, both have some relation with the person betrayed, second, they betrayed for the sake of money, and third, there were prophecies regarding their betrayal. These points were revealed through the intertextual references assigned to Hinein. Such references have deepened our awareness of the dramatic features of the character of Hinein. The intertextualreferences to Hinein might be summarized in the following

table:

29

Summary of the features shared by Hinein and his intertextualfoil

JudasHineinFeaturesJudas is a discipleof Jesus

Hinein is an acquaintance of Harbi

1-Betrayal:a-Both of Hinein and Judas have some relation with the person betrayed

The high priest paid Judas to deliver Jesus to the Romans to crucify him

Safiyya paid Hineinto kill Harbi

b- They betrayedfor the sake of

money

Jesus prophesized that Judas will betray him

Faris and Bishai prophesized that Hinein will be a traitor

c- There were prophecies regarding their betrayal

A deviant person A deviant person inthe Biblical sense

2-A stray lamb:

Figure (3)

Despite the fact that Harbi and Hinein are the focus of intertextual references, there are two other major characters,i.e. the narrator's father and the Miqaddis Bishai, who have used intertextual references for other purposes. Romain (1996)

asserts this fact and considers them the real heroes:The novel’s protagonist, in the literal sense of “the leading actor,” is the father of

the narrator. He is a meditative and deeply principled man, a social and religious leader in his community. The mystical hero of the tale is a Coptic monk, who, while often a comic figure who confuses his facts, yet manages to combine humility and authority. He seems to be endowed with extraordinary powers of perception, almost a sixth sense, and in fact as events unfold he emerges as something of a prophet. The Safiyya of the novel’s title is also a sympathetic character, but if the narrator’s father and the Coptic monk may be said to represent reason and compassion, Safiyya stands for something more primal. (14)What follows is an exploration of these two major characters'sidiosyncratic uses of intertextual references.

III-ii-c-The Narrator's Father

30

Despite the fact that the narrator's father is a civil servant, he has studied for sometime at a religious institute and thus, the people of the village consider him a man of

religion as the narrator says:…My father had spent two years at the religious institute in Asyut; he sometimes

delivered the Friday sermon in the mosque and he led the people in prayer when our imam was away. Thus he was a well-respected man among the villagers… . (25)Hence, he frequently uses verses from the Qur'an for differentpurposes. First, when the Bey came to propose to Safiyya, the narrator's mother thought that Harbi was the suitor and asked him "Is this true, Harbi?" (30) The narrator's father recognized her misunderstanding at once and said "in shaa' allah, in shaa' allah" (30) and dragged her into the house. This verse means "God willing"and is used to emphasize that nothing can be done without God's will. This verse occurs in the Qur'an in various forms such as the following: "We wish indeed for guidance, if Allah wills" (Suratal-Baqara, verse 70 HQ), "If Allah had willed, they would not have done so"(Surat al-Anaam, verse 137 HQ), and "…except that Allah willed it (so)"

(Surat Yusuf, verse 76 HQ).Next, the people of the village blamed the narrator's father for sending Harbi to the monastery where he would be under theprotection of Christians. The father refuted their argument saying: "Did not our Beloved Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, send the first Muslims to el-Nigashi, in defense of their lives? I take solace in the Beloved, the Chosen One." (55) The father refers here to a historical incident when the Prophet ordered his followers to immigrate to Abyssinia to be under the protection of its Christian rulerwhose name was Negus (el-Nigashi or Najashi in Arabic) as the Prophet told them that he is a merciful and just ruler and thus, he can defend them against the persecution of the peopleof Mecca. ("El-Hijra el-awla ila el-Habasha", nd, [WWW

document]) This incident is recorded in the Qur'an as follows:"To those who leave their homes in the cause of Allah, after suffering oppression,-

We will assuredly give a goodly home in this world; but truly the reward of the Hereafter will be greater. If they only realised (this)!" (surat an-Nahl, verse

41 HQ) This verse shows how the companions of the Prophet lived in peace and were protected by the just, faithful Christians in Abyssinia after being prosecuted in Mecca. There is an implicit reference to the king of Abyssinia who was

31

sympathetic to Muslims and provided protection to them when

they sought refuge in his kingdom .After that, the outlaws and their leader Faris tend to visit Harbi at the monastery. The father attended such meetings. Once, Hinein the outlaw urged the gang to rob the monastery. Faris shot his leg and rebuked him saying "Do you want me, Hinein, to turn on these monks, whose protection, according to the Qur'an, is enjoined by our Lord—may he be praised and exalted?" (67) He then turned to the father for confirmation. The father agreed by saying "The monks are mentioned in the Holy Qur'an, ya mi'allim." (67) The father here refers to the Qura'nic verse which says "…and you will certainly find the nearest in friendship to those who believe (to be) those who say: We are Christians; this is because there are priests and monks among them and because they do not behave proudly. And when they listen to the revelation received by the Messenger, thou wilt see their eyes overflowing with tears, for they recognize the truth: they pray: "Our Lord! we believe; write us down among the witnesses " (Surat al-Maeda, verses 83-84 HQ). It is clear from this versethat Christian priests and monks are characterized by

humbleness and piety in the Qur'an.Finally, when Harbi was dying, the father "helped him say the creed, “There is no god but God, and Muhammad is His prophet.” " (77) The creed is one of the pillars of Islam and it is mentioned literally in the Prophet's sayings and indirectly in the Qur'an as in the following verses: "That is Allah, your Lord! there is no god but He" (Surat al-Anaam, verse 102 HQ) and "Muhammad is the messenger of Allah" (Surat al-Fath, verse 29 HQ). It is the duty of every Muslim to help a dying Muslim say the creed as a final proof of his belief in God and His Prophet. This shows that the

father knows his duties as a true Muslim very well.Thus, the narrator's father uses various intertextual references from the Qur'an and Islamic history books for different purposes. These purposes might be summed up in asserting God's will, showing God's attitude towards Christians and how they are praised in the Qur'an for their humbleness and piety, citing an incident from Islamic history to justify his conduct, and observing religious rituals regarding the dying person. All references comply with the fact that the father is a man of a deep religious background as he cites what is suitable from the Qur'an and Islamic history books for every specific situation. We turn now to

32

Bishai who is a man of religion and uses intertextual

references from the Bible for different purposes as well .III-ii-d-The Miqaddis BishaiIn addition to using intertextual references from the Bible tocompare Hinein to Judas who betrayed Jesus just as Hinein did to Harbi, which was explored above, Bishai employs other intertextual references from the same source for other purposes. The first case is when the narrator went to the monastery on a donkey to deliver a box of cookies to the monkson the occasion of a Muslim feast. The narrator noticed that Bishai welcomes the donkey as much as him so he asked him why he treats the donkey that way. Bishai answered by saying "How can you ask me that, my boy, and you a student at the school? Didn’t our Savior enter Jerusalem mounted on a donkey like this one, while the people cheered him?" (17) Here, Bishai gives a religious justification for his welcoming behavior towards the donkey. The donkey was the animal ridden by Jesus on entering Jerusalem and so it deserves respect as it carried a messenger of God. This incident is recorded in the Bible as follows:"And when they drew near to Jerusalem and arrived at Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, at that time Jesus sent two disciples, telling them, “Go into the village ahead ofyou, and immediately you will find a donkey tied up, and her colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. And if anyone says anything to you, say, 'The Lord needs them, and will send them right back.'”

Now this happened so that what was spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled, which says,

“Say to the Daughter of Zion:'Behold, your king is coming to you meek,

and riding on a donkey,and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.' ” " (Matthew 21: 1-5 HB)

Then, when the narrator visited the hall of icons in the monastery, Bishai stopped in front of the picture of the Virgin holding the Christ child on her lap and gazing at him and began suddenly to sing the following:

"Oh, Mother of the Light, oh… Oh, teach us to be thankful, The Almighty glorify, With humble hearts to worship Our all-seeing Lord on high…" (23)

Bishai is singing a hymn for the Virgin entitled " Ya Maleka Barra Nakeya" (Ye Pure Dutiful Queen) which is well-known in the Coptic folklore. ("Ya Maleka Barra Nakeya", nd, [WWW document])

33

Next, after the 1967 war, criminals started to appear on the road between the village and Luxor where they attacked and robbed travelers by night. When the narrator and his father visited Harbi during these terrifying days, Bishai told them not to worry about the bandits as they resemble a plague whichwill come to an end someday and added: "The Lord sent plagues to our country before, seven different times, and then the people's affliction was lifted…This too will come to an end, by God's will" (74) Bishai referes here to what happened in Egypt at the time of Prophet Moses when the peopleof Egypt refused to believe in God as Moses called upon them to do so. Consequently, God punished them by afflicting them with different plagues. This incident is mentioned in the Bible in the Old Testament, Book of Exodus, where the plagues include the turning of water into blood and the death of fish (7: 17-21HB), the covering of the land with frogs, lice and swarms of flies (8: 7, 17, 24 HB), the death of cattle (9: 6 HB), the spread of sores over men and beasts (9: 8-10 HB), thesending of thunder, hail and fire over the land (9: 22-26 HB),the spread of locusts (10: 12-15 HB), the bringing of darknessin all the land for three days (10: 21-23 HB), and the death of all the firstborn (12: 29-30 HB). Although Bishai refers toan incident mentioned in the Bible while he was speaking with the narrator and his father who are Muslims, the latter are aware of this incident as it is also mentioned in the Qur'an: "They said (to Moses): "Whatever be the Signs thou bringest, to work therewith thy sorcery on us, we shall never believe in thee. So We sent (plagues) on them: Wholesale death, Locusts, Lice, Frogs, And Blood: Signs openly self-explained: but they were steeped in arrogance,- a people given to sin." (Surat al-Fath, verses 132-133 29 HQ) That is why this piece of information is common to Egyptian Christians and Muslims alike. Meanwhile, it reflects that bothof them speak the same language as asserted by Taher throughout the novel.

After that, Bishai was once working in the farm and then he stood up and asked Harbi the following question: Ya Harbi…in the beginning…I mean, son, in the very beginning…did the Evil One choose Women, or did Woman choose the Evil One? (74)Here, Bishai refers to the Devil's seducing of Eve into disobeying God by eating from the forbidden fruit which was followed by her temptation of her husband Adam to follow suit.Such disobedience led to their fall from Heaven. This incidentis documented in the Bible and the Qur'an as well. Thus, it iscommon to both Egyptian Christians and Muslims. That is why Harbi, as a Muslim is aware of the context of the question

34

raised by Bishai. This incident is mentioned the Bible as follows:"Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which Jehovah God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God really said, You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?And the woman said to the serpent, Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat:but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shallnot eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.And the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die:for God knows that in the day you eat of it, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as God, knowing good and evil.And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit of it, and did eat; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he did eat.And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons." (Genesis 3: 1-7HB)It should be noted that Bishai used the same Biblical word referring to Eve i.e. "the woman". Meanwhile, the same incident is mentioned in the Qur'an: “O Adam! dwell thou and thy wife in the Garden, and enjoy (its good things) as ye wish: but approach not this tree, or ye run into harm and transgression.” Then beganSatan to whisper suggestions to them, bringing openly before their minds all their shame that was hidden from them (before): he said: “Your Lord only forbade you thistree, lest ye should become angels or such beings as live for ever.” And he swore to them both, that he was their sincere adviser. So by deceit he brought about their fall:when they tasted of the tree, their shame became manifest to them, and they began to sew together the leaves of the garden over their bodies. And their Lord called unto them: “Did I not forbid you that tree, and tell you that Satan was an avowed enemy unto you?” " (Surat al-Araf, verses 19-22 HQ)This is another example of the common heritage of Egyptian Christians and Muslims which is highlighted by Taher throughout the novel as the major motive for their peaceful coexistence.

Finally, when Harbi was dying in his hut in the monastery farm, Bishai rushed to the house of the narrator's father crying: "Hurry, ya hagg! Hurry! The Lord is calling his lamb back to the fold…" (76) Here, Bishai resorts to the Christian image of the lamb, i.e. the believer, and the fold, i.e. God's shelter or refuge in the lifeafter, to describe the death of Harbi who is a Muslim. This image was examined before in the subsection devoted to the character of Hinein. It is noteworthy that Bishai uses a Christian image to tell Muslim characters about the death of one of them. This usage reveals clearly that

35

Muslim characters in the village are aware of the images used in the Bible and reflected in the speech of their Christian neighbors. Hence, peaceful coexistence is inevitable among Egyptian Christians and Muslims since they share the same heritage and are aware of the main concepts in the sacred books of each other.

Thus, we can see that Bishai, as a monk, uses intertextual references mainly from the Bible for various purposes such as justifying his welcoming conduct towards the donkey as Jesus rode it on entering Jerusalem and comparing the bandits attacking the village to the afflictions which struck Egypt during Prophet Moses' time. He also sang a hymn from the Coptic folklore. Bishai is drawing from the Bible all the timeeven when he spoke with Muslim characters in the novel since the incidents he refers to are also mentioned in the Qur'an and hence constitute a common heritage for all Egyptians, whether Muslims or Christians. It is noteworthy that Bishai uses the Christian image of the lamb when he was telling the narrator's father that Harbi is dying. Thus, we can see that Egyptian Muslims and Christians share one religious heritage which does not recognize any kind of discrimination. So far wehave investigated the intertextual references which are sharedby both of the hypertext and the hypotexts on the level of characterization. However, there are differences between both parties on the same level worthy of highlighting. Thereore, wemove now to an examination of the differences between the hypertext and the hypotexts on the level of characterization.

III-ii-e-Points of DifferenceThe hypertext (Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery) deviates naturally also from its hypotextual bases (the Bible and Islamic historybooks). The first major difference is that Harbi was not a revolutionary leader like el-Hasan and el-Hussein or a religious leader like Jesus. He did not oppose anybody as happened between el-Hasan and el-Hussein on the one hand and Muawiyah and Yazid on the other hand and between Jesus and theRomans. On the contrary, he is a peaceful person who leads a

cheerful life:In fact, his strong voice was his best feature. We all knew that, and we were

always after him to sing at weddings and parties; or he might spontaneously volunteer, as a favor to the host of the occasion. He sang local folk songs such as “‘abbadi ya wad, ‘abbadi”, or “rann ilkhilkhaal ‘a-ssillim sahhani”. Or he might improvise, adding to the common collection of songs one that praised the host of theparty or event. (26-27)

36

He even enjoyed being loved by Amuna the gypsy dancer who usedto sing a song for him in weddings. Such a song made him famous among men in the village who used to sing it to tease him but Harbi accepted their behavior lightheartedly: When Harbi appeared in their midst, the men would sing it, smiling and winking and raising their voices, “My heart was confounded, my heart was confused, but on the day I met him, it was troubled no more…”Harbi would smile back at the men and joke along with them without embarrassment. For at that time, in our village, such relationships were permitted to men who were still unmarried, and even to some unfaithful married men who simply had no self-control.(27)

Meanwhile, Harbi esteemed his relative the Bey and treated himas his father since the Bey was always generous to him. Hence,when the Bey proposed to Safiyya, it was Harbi who accompaniedhim enthusiastically. The narrator’s father was amazed but “Harbi eagerly pointed out that marriage to the Bey would be an honor to any girl and would raise her status.” (29) Moreover, when Safiyya married the Bey and became pregnant and the narrator’s mother told the village people about it, Harbi "came running, seized my father’s rifle from where it hung on the wall, and began firing shots in the air and dancing." He moreover said to the narrator's father: "Wallahi …God has decreed happiness for you, Uncle…wallahi, God has rewarded your patience and given back to you full measure for the goodness of your heart!" (32) Then Harbi himselfbegan passing out the sharbat to the men sitting in the diwan.The narrator's mother confessed that she had never seen Harbi

so happy as he was on that day .When the Bey became angry at Harbi because some people told him that he wanted to kill his son to be his sole heir, Harbi came to the narrator’s father and “swore that even if he himself had married and had a child, he would not have rejoiced as he had for the birth of Hassaan.” (33) Harbi added that “If you only knew how much I love the Bey,not just as my uncle, but as if he were my father, who died so young, and whom I no longer remember…no, I love my uncle more than myself! For who is there that can compare with him, the head of the family…the pride of the family?” (33) Harbi then handed the narrator’s father his pistol and asked him to give it to the Bey to shoot him or the narrator’s father shoots him by himself at once if both of them think that he

wronged the Bey in any way .A few days later, the Bey came to the village accompanied by his bodyguards. They attacked Harbi, stripped him of his clothes in public, tied him to a palm tree and tortured him brutally. During these horrible events, Harbi was patient to

37

the very end trying to convince the Bey of his innocence. Meanwhile, he did not want to harm the Bey by any means. He first told the Bey: “Forgive me, ya Bey, I’m your son and your servant. If I’vedone anything wrong, it’s your right to punish me. Kill me if you wish. I wouldn’t hurtthe man who has been like a father to me.” (37) And during his struggle with the Bey’s men who were stripping him of his clothes, he was shouting: “Please, Uncle! Kill me by your own hand…don’t let these strangers do this to me, my father! Don’t make me bear this shame, my grandfather! Kill me yourself!” (38) Moreover, when Harbi was bleeding, he said in a broken voice: “How can I look anyone in the eye here in the village after this day, my uncle? How can you have wanted to shame your nephew this way…why didn’t you kill me outright instead?” (38-39) He also kept shaking his head and saying: “Is this right, Uncle? Is this right, my father?” (39)Thus, Harbi is a cheerul, thoughtful and patient person who leads an ordinary life. He is not a leader with a message likeel-Hasan and el-Hussein and Jesus. His main interest lies in

maintaining his good relation with the Bey who is his patron .The second difference is that the relation between Harbi and Hinein is different from that between Jesus and Judas. Judas was a disciple of Jesus but Hinein was just an acquaintance ofHarbi. Harbi got to know Hinein through Faris as Hinein was one of the outlaws headed by Faris. Faris and Harbi were imprisoned together and their relationship cemented when Fariswas once sick and Harbi volunteered to do his work in the quarry as the prisoners were ordered to cut a quota of stones everyday. After their release, Faris used to visit Harbi in the monastery accompanied by his gang. Meanwhile, Hinein was not a disciple or a follower of a religious leader such as Judas. He was only an outlaw. As for el-Hasan and el-Hussein, some history books state that el-Hasan was betrayed by his wife who was tempted by the Caliph’s agents to do so through offering her a lot of money. On the other hand, el-Hussein wasbetrayed by his ollowers in Iraq. Thus, Hinein did not betray Harbi in the real sense of the word. He is just an outlaw who weas hired to kill Harbi. There is no political reason or a rteligious relation involved in the betrayal as in the case ofhis intertextual foils. Meanwhile, the villagers betrayed Harbi out of envy while the Iraqis betrayed el-Hussein out of fear. Meanwhile, Hinein’s betrayal afected only one person butJudas and the Iraqis’ betrayal had horrible consequences on

the whole world

38

Thus, Aunt Saffiya and the Monastery is created not just from the pretexts of Islamic history books and the Bible but also against them. Such deviation was examined above. However, Bahaa' Taher’s excellence in characterization in his novels cannot be denied

as Obeid Allah (2005) says: All in all, Bahaa' Taher's writings are distinguished for their remarkable realistic

portrayal of characters and close observance of their human features. … Such human overtones are revealed in the existential complications haunting his characterts. Taher gives his characters allusive and symbolic traits which make them surpass reality to the dilemma of existence and its everlasting questions.(3) To sum up, the Bible and Islamic history books provide an overall key to the interpretation of Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery. These pretexts overshadow the hypertext with its mysterious and complicated points as characters in the novel are stronglyinfluenced by them. This is best manifested in the characters of the hero Harbi and the outlaw Hinein. Harbi shares two major traits with el-Hasan and el-Hussein, and Jesus. These are suffering and betrayal. Harbi and those leaders were put in a terrible situation which resulted in ruining them. Hence,the other characters resemble Harbi to el-Hasan and el-Husseinexplicitly and Jesus implicitly. Harbi’s suffering was so horrible that it recalls to mind the suffering of those leaders. Such suffering shared by Harbi on the one hand and el-Hasan and el-Hussein and Jesus on the other hand was observed by the narrator’s mother and the Miqaddis Bishai who resemble it to the sufferings of these great leaders. Harbi's suffering is marked by three features: first, it is extremely unbearable, second, it is imposed on the person concerned, andthird, it is done by a tyrannical group against a weak individual. These features are applicable to el-Hasan and el-Hussein and Jesus as well. Harbi and his intertextual foils were exposed to an unbearable amout of suffering. This suffering was also imposed on them as they have not done anything wrong to deserve such a horrible punishment; Harbi was betrayed by the villagers and Hinein while el-Hasan and el-Hussein were betrayed by their relatives and followers respectively. As for Jesus, he was betrayed by his disciple Judas. They had also to confront tyrannical groups representedin the Bey and his thugs for Harbi, the Caliphs Muawiyah and Yazid and their agents and armies for el-Hasan and el-Hussein

and the Romans for Jesus.

39

The betrayal factor is also shared by el-Hasan and el-Hussein,Jesus and Harbi. El-Hasan was betrayed by the Caliph Muawiyah’s agents who tempted his wife to poison him. This is a case of betrayal since Muawiyah should adhere to the conditions of the peace treaty signed between him and el-Hasanand maintain his safety. El-Hussein was betrayed by the peopleof Iraq who promised to support him when he comes to Iraq and when he did so, they disappeared and left him to face the hugearmy of the Caliph Yazid. Such a confrontation led to the bloody death of el-Hussein, his relatives and followers. Jesusalso was betrayed by Judas. Harbi was betrayed by the people who convinced the Bey that he wanted to kill his only son to be his sole heir. He was also betrayed by Hinein who tried to kill him. Such cases of betrayal destroyed his life and led to

his tragic death . As for Hinein, intertextual references made him share certain

features with Judas. Both of Hinein and Judas have some relation with the person betrayed; Hinein is an acquaintance of Harbi while Judas is a disciple of Jesus. They betrayed forthe sake of money; Safiyya paid Hinein to kill Harbi while thehigh priest paid Judas to deliver Jesus to the Romans to crucify him. Moreover, there were prophecies regarding their betraying nature; Faris and Bishai prophesized that Hinein would be a traitor while Jesus prophesized that Judas would betray him. In the meantime, Hinein is likened to a stray lambi.e. a deviant person in the Biblical sense. Such a

description might be applied to Judas as well.On the other hand, we have two other major characters, i.e. the narrator's father and Bishai, who use intertextual references for other purposes. The narrator's father uses various intertextual references from the Qur'an and Islamic history books for different purposes such as asserting God's will, showing how Christians are praised in the Qur'an for their humbleness and piety, and citing an incident from Islamic history to justify his conduct. All these references reflect how the father is a man of a religious background as he cites what is suitable from the Qur'an and Islamic history books for every specific situation. On the other hand, Bishai,who is a man of religion, uses intertextual references from the Bible for various purposes as well such as referring intertextually to the donkey rode by Jesus on entering Jerusalem and the devil's seduction of eve. He also compares

40

the bandits attacking the village to the plagues afflicted Egypt during Moses' time and Harbi's death to the lamb returning to the fold in the Biblical sense.

Turning to the differences between Harbi and his intertextual foils i.e. el-Hasan and el-Hussein, and Jesus, Harbi is not a revolutionary or religious leader such as el-Hussein and Jesus. He is an ordinary person leading a cheerful life. Moreover, he accepted what the Bey has done to him submissively as the Bey is his uncle, used to spend generouslyon him as he was an orphan, and assigned the supervision of his farmland to him. However, Harbi could not endure the painsof excessive torture forever so he set himself free and got a rifle to threaten the Bey to stop torturing him but he killed him by mistake. On the other hand, Harbi and Hinein were acquaintances not a teacher and a disciple like Jesus and Judas. Meanwhile, el-Hasan was betrayed by a relative i.e. hiswife and el-Hussein was betrayed by his followers in Iraq. There are no political reasons or religious relations behind Hinein’s betrayal to Harbi as he was an outlaw paid to kill him. Thus, it is an ordinary case of betrayal whose consequences affect one person only not a major number of

people as in the the case of el-Hussein and Jesus.Thus, it can be asserted that intertextual features were pivotal to Taher’s excellence in characterization where hypotexts assume the function of shaping the novel. They establish meanings by evoking common features such as the similarities between Harbi and el-Hasan and el-Hussein, and Jesus as well as by setting themselves against the hypertext. This shaping process takes place on the level of characterization as we have seen. The next section is an attempt to examine intertextual features in the novel on the

level of plot .III-iii-Intertextuality in Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery on the

level of plot : Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery can be considered a romance as the major elements of romance are embodied in it. Critics considerTaher a romantic and realist writer at the same time where

both worlds intermingle in his works as Salama (2004) asserts: Bahaa' Taher span of writing fiction extends from the 1960s to 1990s, and this is a

long period rich in social and artistic changes which have been effective up till now.

41

That is why we might find the romantic writer, with his poetic isolation, and the realistic writer, with his social complications, reflected in most of his works where he expresses his thoughts not for the sake of forming a specific awareness but rather for showing a worrying awareness, as he is content with contemplating a dream-

thwarting reality which calls for isolation. Meanwhile, Cuddon (1992) defines romance as follows:

…A romance was almost any sort of adventure story, be it of chivalry or of love.

Gradually more and more romances were written in prose.Whatever else a romance may be (or have been) it is principally a form of entertainment. It may also be didactic but this is usually incidental. It is a European form which has been influenced by such collections as The Arabian Nights. It is usually concerned with characters (and thus with events) who live in a courtly world somewhat remote from the everyday. This suggests elements of fantasy, improbability, extravagance and naivety. It also suggests elements of love, adventure, and the marvelous and the 'mythic'. For the most part the term is used rather loosely to describe a narrative of heroic or spectacular achievements, of

chivalry, of gallant love, of deeds of derring-do.In the 19th c. three different novelists wrote a large number of works which can be variously classified as kinds of romance. They were Sir Walter Scott, Nathaniel Hawthorne and George Meredith. … Scott's approach was realist and he sought to make his characters permanent. Hawthorne and Meredith set their romances in the

contemporary scene .…

By this time, realism, to be followed by naturalism, was the main trend in fiction, andromance was scarcely compatible with it. The more popular kinds of 'romance', an entertainment and form of escapist literature, remained in demand, but more serious novelists, like H. G. Wells, for example, attempted a reconciliation between romance and realism. Kipps (1905), Tono-Bungay (1909) and The History of Mr. Polly (1910) show an acute awareness of the qualities that enable the circulating library

romance to survive, but are also didactic and 'socially realistic' novels .…

A score of other writers in the last 80-odd might be cited as romancers. Much of theirwork may be regarded as ephemeral, and much of it would more or less fit

Congreve's description of romance, in the preface of his novel Incognita (1713):

42

Romances are generally composed of the Constant Loves and invincible Courages of Heroes, Heroins, Kings and Queens, Mortals of the first Rank, and so forth; where lofty Language, miraculous Contingencies and impossible Performances, elevate andsurprise the Reader into a giddy Delight whenever he gives of, and vexes him to thinkhow he had suffered himself to be pleased and transported, concerned and afflicted at the several Passages which he has Read, viz. these Knights Success to their Damsels Misfortunes, and such like, when he is forced to be very well convinced that it's all a lie. (803-807)Drawing upon the previous quotations, it can be said that Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery includes three elements of romance. These elements are the mythical chivalrous behavior, the quest, and the element of fantasy and improbability. What follows is an

investigation of these elements .III-iii-a-The mythical chivalrous behaviorThe mythical chivalrous behavior is the first element of romance manifested on a large scale in the novel. The story ofHarbi is marked by "a narrative of heroic or spectacular achievements, of chivalry" and "impossible Performances" whichare pivotal in the novel. These aspects are highlighted through three dimensions: tolerance and the shunning of violence, bearing of extreme physical pains for the sake of implementing one’s message, and non-acceptance of humiliation when matters reach an excessive stage and one is under extremepressure to choose between a humiliating option and a non-humiliating one.

As for the first feature, i.e. tolerance and the shunning of violence, el-Hasan and el-Hussein, and Jesus were known for their tolerant behavior as they do not resort to violence. El-Hasan signed a peace treaty with Muawiyah to spare the Muslimstheir lives and stop bloodshed. ("Sibt el-Resala", nd, [WWW document]) El-Hussein was also known for his tolerance as narrated about him. Once an enemy of his father saw him in Madina in Arabia and and asked him: "Are you the son of Ali?" When el-Hussein answered in the affirmative, the man started to call him and his father names. El-Hussein looked at him peacefully and mercifully and recited the verses "Hold to forgiveness; command what is right; But turn away from the ignorant. If a suggestion from Satan assail thy (mind), seek refuge with Allah; for He heareth and knoweth (all things). Those who fear Allah, when a thought of evil from Satan assaults them, bring Allah to remembrance, when lo! they see (aright)! But their brethren (the evil ones) plunge them deeper into error, and never relax (their efforts)." (Surat el-Araf, verses 199-202 HQ) Then he asked him totreat him in a civilized way and asserted to him that he can

43

be of help if he needs anything. The man felt repentant and walked away. ("min akhlaq el-Hussein", nd, [WWW document]) Meanwhile, Fatima; the Prophet's daughter, once came to the Prophet accompanied by her sons el-Hasan and el-Hussein and asked him: "Messenger of God, these are your grandsons, will you bequeath something to them?" The Prophet answered: "Yes, I will bequeath my prestige and stature to el-Hasan and my chivalry and generosity to el-Hussein." (El-Jalali, 1994: 23-24) Meanwhile, Jesus taught his disciples

to adhere to peaceful behavior:“ You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.'” But I

tell you not to resist the evil. On the contrary, whoever strikes you on the right cheek,turn to him the other also. And the one wanting to sue and take your shirt, surrender to him your jacket as well. And whoever conscripts you for one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. (Matthew 5: 38-42 HB)

He also teaches them to be forgiving : Watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgivehim. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times he turns towardyou, saying, 'I repent,' forgive him. (Matthew 17: 3-4 HB)

As for Harbi, he did not confront his relative the Bey with violence as he had the chance to do so when the latter struck

him with a blow:I moved away from the bey, and stood closer to Harbi, almost clinging to him as I heard him say once again, “Welcome, Uncle. You have honored your village and yourland with your presence.” But before we knew it, Harbi and I, the bey had reached out all at once and struck Harbi’s cheek with a blow that caused the bey’s tarbush and his entire, aging body to shake. His voice cracked as he shouted at Harbi in a tone I had never heard from him, “You dare to use that smooth tongue of yours with me, you dog?” The bey’s feeble hand was not strong enough even to move Harbi’s head, but I felt his whole body grow tense and ready, as if he were about to spring forward with all the strength of that body, and knock the bey to the ground. But instead he hung his head, and all the blood drained from his face. “Forgive me, ya bey,” he said. “I’m your son and your servant. If I’ve done anything wrong, it’s your right to punish me. Kill me if you wish. I wouldn’t hurt the man who has been like a father to me.” (37)

As for the second feature i.e. bearing of extreme physical pains, el-Hasan and el-Hussein, Jesus and Harbi have endured extreme physical pains for the sake of a higher value or principle. El-Hasan bore the horrible pains of poison which was tearing his intestines apart and said "To Allah We belong, and to

44

Him is our return". ("Sibt el-Resala el-Hasan ibn Ali", nd, [WWW

document]) This sentence occurred in verses in the Qur’an:Be sure we shall test you with something of fear and hunger, some loss in goods or lives or the fruits (of your toil), but give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere, Who say, when afflicted with calamity: "To Allah We belong, and to Him is our return": They are those on whom (Descend) blessings from Allah, and Mercy, and they are the ones that receive guidance. (Surat el-Baqara, verses 155-157 HQ)El-Hasan thus expresses his deep belief in God and His will ashe endures patiently his horrible pains to be worthy of His blessings. He is a man with a message which is resisting injustice and tyranny and so he has to accept his fate with satisfaction till the very end. The same goes to el-Hussein who also has endured the psychological pains of watching the small group of his relatives and followers killed in front of him and the physical pains of his deadly wounds in an unbalanced battle imposed on him. He was a man with a message also as he said in a letter to his brother Mohamed ibn el-Hanfiya: "I am not revolting because of being evil, ungrateful, spoiler or unjust but because I am seeking reformation in the nation of my grandfather the Messenger of God." (el-Maghrour, 2003, [WWW document]) As for Jesus, he was exposed to several types of physical pains before and during his crucification as he himself prophesized:"Jesus began to reveal to his disciples that he had to leave for Jerusalem, and suffer many things at the hands of the elders and chief priests and Torah scholars." (Matthew 16: 21 HB) Such exposure will be explained in detail later. However, it should be asserted here that Jesus was a man with a message for all humanity as he was sent by God to guide man to the right path of God. This right path ends in

the Kingdom of Heaven:"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." (Matthew 4: 17 HB)"And as you go, preach saying: 'The kingdom of heaven has drawn near.' " (Matthew 10: 7 HB)Therefore, Jesus refused to be appointed by the masses as king:"Jesus therefore, knowing that they were about to come and take him by force to try to make him king, withdrew again into the mountain, himself alone." (John 6: 15 HB)Moreover, he announced before Pilate, during his trial, the following:Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have fought so that I not be handed over to the Jews. But in fact my kingship is not from here." (John 18: 36 HB)

45

As for Harbi, he endured the brutal torture brought upon him by the Bey and his thugs in a chivalrous manner as he refrained rom paying him back the blow he struck suddenly to his face. Then, he endured the horrible torture bravely and patiently:

The bey gestured toward his men again, and two of them, one on either side, began to pull on the rope that bound Harbi by the chest, which was not quite taut. They lifted him up slowly, then set him down on the ground again. At first, Harbi didn’t scream, even as the rough bark of the tree cut into his skin, ripping the flesh ofhis back and legs, but he cried words that rang with all the anguish of his soul, “Why,my uncle? Why all this…why?”

His uncle paid no attention, but kept right on prodding Harbi in the chest, laughing. “What do you say now, Harbi?” he said. “What say you leave this province and don’t let me or anyone else see your face ever again till the day you die, far awayfrom me and my son? What do you say, Harbi? I have an even better idea. Why don’t you kill yourself with your own hand, and give yourself and me a rest? What do you say, Harbi?”

Harbi had begun to groan, opening his mouth wide, while they twisted him around the trunk of the tree, to the right, to the left, up and down. The blood had begun to flow from both sides, and from his shoulders, and he cried out more loudly now, with just two words, “Enough, Uncle! Enough!” One of the Bedouin spoke up, warning him, “Ya bey, the skin’s gone off his back, and we’re down to the flesh now. You told us he wasn’t to die. Our agreement didn’t include murder.” (39-40)Harbi was a man with a message also, but on a lower level of course, as he endured such a horrible torture for the sake of maintaining his good relationship with his relative the Bey. He does not want to ruin this relationship as he considers theBey his father since the latter used to treat him as his son, spends on him generously and assigned to him the task of supervising his farmland. Therefore, when the Bey maltreated him, he went to the narrator’s father to know the reasons behind such a bad treatment as he was extremely shocked and offered him his pistol to give it to the Bey to shoot him if it was proved that he has ever said a bad word about him or his son: “If you only knew how much I love the bey, not just as my uncle, but as if he were my father, who died so young, and whom I no longer remember…no, I love my uncle more than myself! For who is there that can compare with him, the head of the family…the pride of the family?” …“Give this to the bey, … so he can shoot me with it if he recalls a single unkind word to him that ever passed my lips. Or shoot me yourself right now if you’ve ever heard that I wronged the bey in any way.” (33)

As for the third feature i.e. non-acceptance of humiliation when one is under extreme pressure to choose between a

46

humiliating option and a non-humiliating one, the stance of el-Hussein, Jesus and Harbi towards this matter varies as we shall see below. Harbi fought the Bey's thugs as they were humiliating him through stripping him of his clothes in front of the village people to torture him. Meanwhile, he kept appealing to the Bey to treat him fairly but when he realized that his close relation with the Bey was ruined forever and hebecame disgraced in the village as he stood naked in front of

its people, he surrendered to them:"He was hitting them, and they were hitting him back. In the midst of the fight,

he was shouting, “Please, Uncle! Kill me by your own hand…don’t let these strangers do this to me, my father! Don’t make me bear this shame, my grandfather! Kill me yourself!” The bey was not listening, nor did he look at me or at anything else. He had taken off his tarbush and was drying the sweat on his brow while those men were stripping

Harbi of his clothes .… By this time, Harbi had completely given up fighting them: it was all over as soon

as the gang of outsiders had succeeded in stripping him of his clothes in public. His hands hung limp…his whole body went slack, and he let them do with him as they wished. Only he kept shaking his head, murmuring as if he were talking to himself, “Is this right, Uncle? Is this right, my father?”… And Harbi allowed them to do all this to him, as if he were no more than a corpse. … At first, Harbi didn’t scream, even as the rough bark of the tree cut into his skin, ripping the flesh of his back and legs, but he cried words that rang with all the anguish of his soul, “Why, my uncle? Why all

this…why”? … Two of the men held onto Harbi, bound hand and foot, while the other two began

tying him to the trunk of the palm tree, wrapping one rope around his chest and the other around his legs, as the bey had ordered them to do. And Harbi allowed them todo all this to him, as if he were no more than a corpse." (38-39)

Thus, we can see that Harbi has treated his relative the Bey tolerantly but he fought the bullies because he cannot accept humiliation as they were stripping him of his clothes in frontof the village people. Harbi's tolerance was met by humiliation which was unacceptable for him by all means. That

is why he kept asking the Bey not to put him to shame: “Please, Uncle! Kill me by your own hand…don’t let these strangers do this to me,

my father! Don’t make me bear this shame, my grandfather! Kill me yourself!” (38)“How can I look anyone in the eye here in the village after this day, my uncle?

How can you have wanted to shame your nephew this way…why didn’t you kill me outright instead?” (38-39)

47

But the Bey kept humiliating Harbi by torturing him excessively. Such excessive torture accompanied by humiliationled to his explosion and killing the Bey by mistake. (38-40) The killing of the Bey was of course the turning point in the plot of the novel. This killing was triggered by Harbi's non-

acceptance of humiliation despite his tolerance and endurance. As for el-Hussein, the turning point in the plot of his story was his non-acceptance of humiliation. Despite el-Hussein’s tolerance, he was known for his bravery as his father Ali oncesaid about him: "El-Hussein resembles me in my courage and boldness." (El-Jalali, 1994: 28) When el-Hussein, his family and a small group of followers reached Iraq, they found the huge army of the Caliph waiting for them. The leader of the Caliph's army offered el-Hussein two options: to surrender; and explicitly acknowledge the authority of Yazid as the sole Caliph, or to be killed. El-Hussein considered Yazid unfit for the Caliphatedue to his immoral behavior, as he was known for his debauchery, and therefore, he said to the governor of Madina when he tried to force him to recognize Yazid's authority: "A man like me cannot recognize the authority of a man like him." (el-Maghrour, 2003, [WWW document]) El-Hussein left Madina to get rid of thepressures of its governor. Consequently, el-Hussein refused tosurrender as such a move will be humiliating for him and his followers, and said his famous words "We never accept humiliation". (Jamal, 2006, [WWW document]) Moreover, when some of the Iraqis asked him also to recognize the authority of Yazid as they did, he answered them saying: "By God, I will not give them what they want like a sycophant or run away like a slave." ("Hussein", nd, [WWW document]) Thus, when it comes to humiliation, el-Hussein deals with the situation bravely despite his tolerance as he cannot accept humiliation by all means. He faced the army of the unjust ruler bravely to assert that he was seeking reformation in the nation of his grandfather the Messenger of God as he said in the letter to his brother Mohamed ibn el-Hanfiya mentioned before. He did all that despite the fact that such a confrontation cost him his life as well as the lives of his family members and followers. After his death, his sister Zainab kneeld down before his body, put her hands benreath it, raised her head to the sky and said: “Oh God, accept this from us as a sacrifice”. ("Hussein", nd, [WWW document]) Thus, el-Hussein sacrificied himself for the sake of all humans to set an example for people in defying injustice and tyranny.

48

As for Jesus, he accepted humiliation for the sake of all humans as well since he sacrificed himself for guiding them tothe right path of God. He refused to have any worldly pleasures such as to be appointed king. (John 6: 15) The main reason behind this refusal is that he considered his kingdom to be in heaven and not earth i.e. with God as he said to

Pilate when he asked him if he was a king of the Jews:"My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have fought so that I not be handed over to the Jews. But in fact my kingship is not from here." (John 18: 33-36)Meanwhile, Jesus was acquainted with all that would happen to

him which include of course betrayal, pains and death:For he already knew of the one betraying him. (John 13: 11)From that point on, Jesus began to reveal to his disciples that he had to leave for Jerusalem, and suffer many things at the hands of the elders and chief priests and Torah scholars. (Matthew 16: 21)And he told them, "The Son of Man is being transferred into the hands of human beings. And they will kill him. …" (Mark 9: 31)Therefore, he accepted everything happening to him submissively, no matter how humiliating it was, for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven.

When Jesus was arrested, he was exposed to different types of humiliation. First, he was asked about his teachings by the former Chief Priest Hananiah. Jesus answered that his teachings are known to all and there is no need to answer sucha question. The former priest considered this answer an insultand one of his servants slapped him across the face. Jesus' reaction was not violent but he questioned the priest's

violent action in a convincing way: As he was saying these things, one of the guards standing by gave Jesus a whack, saying, "Is that how you answer the high priest?" Jesus answered him, "If I spoke wrongly, testify to the wrong; but if acceptably,why are you hitting me?" (John 18: 22-23)Next, when Jesus stood before the Chief Priest Caiaphas, the latter was infuriated at him that he tore his clothes, chargedhim with blasphemy and sentenced him to death. Meanwhile, the masses were agitated by the High Priest's speech and attacked Jesus ferociously: Then the high priest tore his robe, saying, "He has blasphemed! What more need to we have for witnesses? Behold, now you have heard the blasphemy. How does it look to you?"

49

And they said in answer, "He is guilty enough for death." Then they spit on his face and pummeled him; they slapped him while saying, "Prophesy to us, you Messiah– who is the one who hit you?" (Matthew 26: 65-68)Jesus was then sent to the Roman ruler Pilate who sent him to King Herod in Jerusalem. Jesus remained silent while the chiefpriests and Torah scholars were criticizing him severely before Herod so the later humiliated Jesus to satisfy them: Then Herod, together with his soldiers, after treating him with contempt and mocking him by draping a splendid robe around him, sent him back to Pilate. (Luke 23: 11)After that, Jesus was sent back to Pilate who humiliated him more under the pressure of the Jewish masses: But Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, called out to them again. But they cried out, saying, "Crucify him, crucify him!" But a third time, he said to them, "Why? What crime has this man committed? Having scourged him therefore, I will release him." But with loud shouts the crowd kept urgently demanding that he be crucified. (Luke 23: 20-23)

After that, Pilate handed over Jesus to the Jews to crucify him. In their turn, the Jews kept humiliating Jesus as much asthey can while they were driving him to the cross: And they stripped him of his clothes and placed around him a scarlet robe, and afterweaving together a crown of thorns they set that on his head, and a rod in his right hand, and then they dropped to their knees before him and mocked him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" And after they spit on him, they took the rod, and repeatedlybeat on his head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the scarlet robe and put his own clothes on him, and led him away to crucify him. (Matthew 27: 28-31)It is noteworthy that during all the calamities he passed through, Jesus accepted his fate as he knew that it was decreed by God. Therefore, He surrendered to God's will:

your will be doneon earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6: 10)Meanwhile, Jesus kept asking God to forgive those who maltreated him: [And Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."](Luke 23: 34)Thus, Jeses accepted humiliation for the sake of guiding humans to the right path of God. He sacrificed himself to leadthem to God’s path. Therefore, he was so tolerant that he accepted all types of humiliation in a very chivalrous manner to the very end and even asked God to forgive those who humiliated hin.

50

To round up, the mythical chivalrous behavior is the first element of romance found in the novel. This element is shared by Harbi and El-Hussein and Jesus and affect the plot of theirstories to a great extent. The mythical chivalrous behavior ismanifested in three dimensions: tolerance and the shunning of violence, bearing of extreme physical pains for the sake of implementing one’s message, and non-acceptance of humiliation when matters reach an excessive stage and one is under extremepressure to choose between a humiliating option and a non-humiliating one. Harbi and El-Hussein and Jesus hav shown great tolerance towards their opponents. Harbi did not treat the Bey violently when the latter came with his thugs and attacked him. El-Hussain did the same to those who hate him and keep calling him names. Jeseus also kept advising his disciples to treat people tolerantly. However, Harbi and el-Hussain did not relatively accept humiliation when matters reach an excessive stage and they became under extreme pressure to choose between a humiliating option and a non-humiliating one. Harbi’s non-acceptance of humiliation was manifested in resisting being stripped of his clothes in frontof the village people so he fought the thugs but after making sure that his relation to the Bey was ruined, he surrendered to them. However, he could not endure the pains of their brutal torture so in a fit of anger, he set himself free but killed the Bey by mistake and consequently, he was imprisoned and died shortly after his release because of being brokenhearted as well as his deteriorating helth condition. El-Hussain also did not accept humiliation through surrendering to Yazid’s army and recognizing Yazid as Caliph so he was forced with his few followers to fight his huge armybravely till he met his end bravely and became a victim of betrayal and injustice. He thus sacrificied himself for all humans in his battle against tyrrany and injustice. On the other hand, Jesus accepted various types of humilaition for the sake of humanity. He did not resist his killers or those who humiliated him as he sacrificied himself in order to guidepeople to the right path of God. We move now to the second element which is the quest where Harbi and other characters inthe novel as well as el-Hussain and Jesus carry out a quest where they express their amazement at what is happening.

III-iii-b-The Quest The second element of romance in the novel is the quest. Different characters carry out this quest where they express their astonishment at what is happening in an attempt to explore its significance. Such a quest is motivated

51

deliberately by Taher in order to stimulate the reader's mind and draw his attention to certain issues as Romaine (1996)

comments:Bahaa' Taher is a storyteller first and a social commentator second. The commentaryunderlying his clear and direct prose is certainly integral to his stories... There is plenty of scope for analysis, but such probing is left mainly to the reader, for the narrator of the story is generally himself a participant in the events and thus

expresses a limited, not omniscient, viewpoint.…Taher poses questions, setting out certain problems in high relief for the reader's

consideration, but—although he has an unmistakable purpose in mind—he does not

serve up tidy resolutions or sweeping conclusions. (9) As a matter of fact, such a quest is related to romance in thesense that it is a "didactic" quest. Taher wants his reader topay attention to what is happening and contemplates its significance on different levels whether moral, social etc to get a lesson from it since the novel is full of dramatic twists worthy of such attention and consideration. The quest here resembles the didactic technique of catechism in Christianity. It is an indirect teaching where the narrator does not want to spoil the pleasure of narration by sounding didactic. Therefore, he has resorted to the device of the quest to draw the attention of the reader to the different significant issues in focus in the novel. Readers are promptedby this quest to read between the lines as the narrator narrates the story objectively and so he is asking the reader to deduce the messahe behind what is narrated. This quest is carried out by different characters who are amazed at what is happening. These characters are the narrator, who uses it on alarge scale, and Safiyya, Harbi, and the narrator’s mother, who use it on a small scale, where each one uses the quest from his own perspective. The narrator wonders how such horrible things happened to his characters. He therefore uses the quest to express his amazement at what is happening and tocall upon the reader to explore the significance of such unbelievable events. His bursts of wonder come at every major event in the novel or when he tries to analyze the actions of the characters. The same goes to other characters who are surprised at what is happening to them and pose questions expressing such surprise. The following is an exploration of

the use of the quest by these characters.

52

III-iii-b-i-The NarratorThe narrator is the first to carry out this quest on a large scale in the form of an inner journey. He meant by his quest to show his amazement at certtain things and draw the attention of the reader to significant matters. He first wonders why Bishai is not wearing the complete uniform of a monk; as he used to wear a black robe like other monks but put

an ordinary skullcap on his head: So was he a monk still in training, or merely a caretaker for the church, or a farmer on the monastery land? No one knew the answer, although his was a well-known face in our little village, and in the neighboring villages as well: he knew everyone and everyone knew him. (18)This a question draws attention to the dual nature of Bishai as a man of religion and a man of life at the same time. We have seen before how Bishai referes intertextually to various verses from the Bible. Such reference proves his deep knowledge of the Bible. He also sang a hymn to the Virgin Maryfrom the Coptic folklore. He is thus well-acquainted with his Coptic heritage. In the meantime, he is an expert in worldly

matters such as farming, history and human relations .The narrator then wonders if Saffiya loves Harbi:

But did Safiyya love Harbi?I can’t say for certain, but I remember from my earliest childhood that she and all mysisters were in the habit of spying on him through half-closed doors when he would sit with my father on the bench in the courtyard, discussing the crops or drinking tea and chatting. (27)The narrator draws attention her to his amazement at Safiyya’semotional relation to Harbi and how he is not certain if she is in love with him or this is just a passing admiration. The answer to this question came at the very end of the novel whenSafiyya revealed on her deathbed to the narrator and his father that she was waiting for Harbi to propose to her and she would agree to marry him no matter how much he would pay

her as a dowry. (78) Next, when Safiyya married the Bey and cared for him as much as she can, the narrator wonders how her emotions were

directed completely to the Bey after her failed love to Harbi:I remain puzzled, even to this day—though I am much older now—by the

question: how could Safiyya, after that first beautiful love of hers, so love that man who was more than three times her age? But will I ever happen upon the real answer

53

to this question? Will I find out whether she had a particular reason for loving the Bey, or whether she loved him out of a kind of weakness, or whether she simply lovedhim the way any woman might love any man? (32)The narrator is amazed at the rapidness with which Safiyya changed the focus of her emotions from Harbi to the Bey. He might implicitly mean that Safiyya did that to deny her interest in Harbi as a suitor and that she would take care of whoever becomes her husband. Such a change also anticipates implicitly how Safiyya would consider Harbi her main enemy after the Bey’s murder as she became obsessed with getting heravenge on him. She is not only getting her avenge on him for killing her husband but also for ignoring her love to him.

After that, the Bey was affected by the slander against Harbi and he became totally furious with him. The narrator wonders here also how such a complete change happened:

So how did it happen that the Bey’s overpowering joy at the birth of his son Hassaan was surpassed only by his terrible anger at Harbi, who before that had been so dear to him, had been his closest confidant? How did our kindhearted consul, who we had thought could do no wrong, come to drive Harbi from the palacegarden and order him never to set foot or show his face there again? (32-33)The narator is amazed at the sudden change in the relationshipbetween Harbi and the Bey. How come that the Bey was influenced by the slander and became so suspicious of Harbi atonce after so many years of trust in him. It is too strange that the Bey’s feelings towards Harbi changed from complete sympathy to complete hatred in such an unexpected manner due to slanders.

After that, a significant incident happened. This incident helped complicating the situation and led to the tragic peak or climax of the novel. The glass of the door to the balcony outside Hassaan's room was shattered. This accident increased the Bey's suspicion of Harbi. The narrator wonders how can theBey be convinced of Harbi's innocence:

My father said, in some confusion and without much hope, that glass sometimes shatters of its own accord, without anyone’s having touched it. But how could he convince the Bey it was not Harbi who had smashed the glass? How could he convince him that it was not Harbi who had tried to shatter the Bey’s joy in his son, the apple of his eye? Once the idea had entered the Bey’s mind, it took root there: he was convinced that Harbi wanted to kill Hassaan, so that the child would not inherit the Bey’s land and his estate. And who could hope to drive out an idea that had got into the consul’s head? (35)The narrator expresses his surprise at how the Bey has now become deeply convinced that Harbi wanted to kill his son.

54

This quest indicates how the Bey became obsessed with the ideaof the danger posed by Harbi to his son.

After that, the narrator has witnessed the whole tragic incident of the Bey's torturing of Harbi since it happened that his mother asked him to bring lunch to Harbi where he wasworking in the fields. It was a pleasant day with fine weather. He then wonders how the weather was pleasant in that

tragic day :I remember that it was a beautiful winter day, warm and sunny. It was like fall, whenthe sun’s blazing heat lets up and a pleasant breeze blows, carrying no dust and no

sign of a storm .…So why did it all have to happen on such a lovely, pleasant day? (36)

The narrator here wonders how come that Harbi was brutally tortured on such a fine day as he refers to the contradiction between the pleasant weather and the tragic events occurred onthat day. He implicitly calls for the poetic device of pathetic fallacy to occur. Nature should sympathize with the hero; she should weep when he is sad and rejoice when he is happy.

After that, when the narrator and his father went to take Harbi from the train station to the monastery, after his release, the father asked the narrator to drive the carriage as fast as possible so as no one notices them. The narrator asked himself a series of questions regarding his ability to do the task assigned to him:I sat alone on the raised front seat, silently praying to God not to let the old horse go slack on me on the way but to let him fly, as my father put it, “like a dove.” Did the horse sense that secret prayer? Could he feel my uneasiness as I sat in the carriage, cracking the whip over his head without touching him, clutching the reins and shouting urgently at him to get going? Had my father’s brief, gentle touch on his neck before he got into the carriage also been a secret message to our old brown horse not to delay us on that difficult morning? Was it our tension and anxiety that made him take to the road as if all the spirit and lightness of youth had suddenly come back to him, to the point where my father shouted at me from inside the swaying carriage to pull in the reins or we would all tumble over the embankment? (53)He was also wondering how the people perceive his

extraordinary fast drive of the carriage :And what did the villagers think when we arrived in the village and all that noise brought them out of their houses? (54)The narrator is not sure of his abilities as his father kept underestimating his efficiency whenever he goes with him

55

anywhere. The father has never assigned him an important task except this one. Thus, he wants to prove to his father that hecan depend on him. The quest also reflects the tension and anxiety of the narrator and his father about the safety of Harbi.The narrator expresses his fear of the villagers’ reaction against his extraordinary speed as well as the possibility of their discovery of their secret i.e. sending

Harbi to the monastery to take shelter in it .After that, when Bishai saved Harbi by listening to the footsteps of Hinein's horse and crying loudly so Harbi squatted on the ground and the bullet escaped him, the

narrator wonders how Bishai could hear faraway sounds:But could the miqaddis Bishai’s hearing have been that sharp? (74)

The narrator wonders if Bishai had unnatural senses as he could hear the footsteps of Hinein’s horse which was far away from him.

Finally, the narrator grew up and left the village to live in Cairo. His cousins used to send him letters. Such letters makehim nostalgic:

When I receive one of these letters, all my memories come flooding back to me, and I see everything just as it was a quarter of a century ago.

And I ask myself, is there still a child who brings cookies to the monastery in a white cardboard box?

And I ask myself, do the monks still give their neighbors those small-pitted, sugared dates?

I ask myself…Time and again, I ask myself… (81)

The narrator refers implicitly to the misunderstanding and suspicion which have spoiled the relations between Muslims andChristians in Egypt recently through wondering if the relationbetween the Muslim villagers and the Christian monks in the monastery is still as good as it was when he was a child a quarter of a century ago.

As we have seen, the narrator's quest aims at exploring the significance of major incidents in the novel and how such incidents reflect the mysterious ever-changing human nature with all its ups and downs as well as the various aspects of human relations with all their complications. He is amazed at the swift changes in the attitudes of characters as in the

56

case of Safiyya and Harbi. He cannot believe what he sees withhis own eyes when the Bey was torturing Harbi brutally for mere suspicion. It is an irrational world where the illogical dominate and injustice takes the upper hand. Such a quest resembles the quests of el-Hussein and Jesus regarding the great efforts they exerted to let justice dominate the earth through spreading their messages which call for love and equality among all men as they were met with extreme brutal opposition. These quests will be examied in detail below. The narrator also questions his abilities and expresses his fears regarding Harbi’s safety as well as the relationship between Muslims and Christians in Egypt. We turn now to Saffiya's quest for truth which sheds light on other dimensions of the novel.

III-iii-b-ii-Safiyya Saffiya's quest for truth is mainly concerned with her abilityto take revenge on Harbi for killing her husband. The questions she raised are meant to express her amazement at what is happening with regard to this aspect. First, after thekilling of the Bey, Harbi was trialed and the sentence commuted from fifteen years to ten only. Safiyya was willing that he would be released instantly so that she can take her revenge on him. Therefore, she expressed her disinterest in the sentence as her top priority is the killing of Harbi and such a sentence constitutes an obstacle to her wish to be implemented. She wonders carelessly about the significance of this sentence as it does not quench her desire for revenge:

When Aunt Safiyya heard that Harbi’s sentence had been commuted, she said, “What of it? I wish they’d release him tomorrow. I want him here, in front of me. I want Hassaan to get a good look at the man he’s going to kill when he grows up.” (41)The narrator here refers to Safiyya’s swift obsession with killing Harbi after the murder of her husband although she wasin love with the former.

Then, Safiyya brought a donkey, called him Harbi and was training her son Hassaan to spit on it every time he sees it. She aimed at making Hassaan despise the real Harbi when he sees him and become accustomed to the idea of killing him. When the narrator's father visited her and reproached her for such a weird behavior where she mocks a human being by resembling him to an animal, Safiyya burst into a fit of angerand asked him how he can care for Harbi's image while she is dying for taking her revenge on him:

57

Safiyya let out a shrill cry. Her whole body twitched, and she began to beat her breast over and over, crying, “What about my revenge, ya hagg? What about this firethat consumes me?” (47)After that, Safiyya even goes on teasing him through singing "Harbi is my donkey" and asking the Bey whether he is content with what the narrator's father doing i.e. robbing her of her revenge:

“Harbi is my donkey,” she chanted, “Harbi is my donkey. And the hagg wants to rob me of my revenge. Are you content with this, ya Bey? Are you content with this, yaBey?” (47)Safiyya does her best to make her son accept the idea of killing Harbi to avenge the murder of his father. Therefore, she canot accept any criticism regarding the ways she is following to do so. Therefore, Safiyya expresses her amazementat the criticism levelled at her weird behavior by the narrator’s father and considered it biased as the latter is forgetful of her right to take her revenge on Harbi. Such a wish to revenge is burning so deep in her heart that she addresses the dead Bey and urges him to be a witness of the carelessness of the narrator’s father towards her right to avenge his murder and how he hinders her from fulfilling such a task.

Finally Harbi's death struck Safiyya as an incredible calamity. She could not believe that Harbi died by God's hand:

It was said that afterward she sat down on the ground and whispered, “He died by God’s hand? He died by God’s hand? Do you see, ya Bey? Why have you done this to me?” Then she cried out for the last time, “Why have you done this to me, all of you, God’s curse upon you all!” (77)Safiyya almost lost her mind when she knew of the natural death of Harbi as she cannot believe that she had been denied forever her right to take her revenge on him. She once again addresses the Bey telling him to witness what happened as she cannot now avenge his murder. Thus, Safiyya's quest is meant to shed light on her obsession with the idea of taking her revenge on Harbi who was her first and last love. It shows also that she is on the verge of madness as she keeps addressing the Bey to show him how she is doing her best to avenge his murder. Safiyya kept wishing to kill Harbi till he eventually died by God's hand. Harbi’s death made Safiyya loseher mind and fell in a coma which ended in her death. We turn now to investigating Harbi’s quest which is essentially concerned with his relationship with the Bey and the amazing changes which affected this relationship.

III-iii-b-iii-Harbi

58

Harbi's quest focuses on the sudden change in his relationshipto the Bey. When the Bey unexpectedly became infuriated with him, he went to the narrator's father to know from him why this happened. He told the father how so dear the Bey was to him and how he would never betray him:

That day, Harbi came to my father in a state of alarm. He begged my father to explain to him what had happened. He swore that even if he himself had married and had a child, he would not have rejoiced as he had for the birth of Hassaan. He said to my father, “If you only knew how much I love the Bey, not just as my uncle, but as if he were my father, who died so young, and whom I no longer remember…no, I love my uncle more than myself! For who is there that can compare with him, the head of the family…the pride of the family?” (33)Harbi cannot think of anybody else to be the pride of the family except the Bey. Therefore, he wonders how the Bey became so angry at him despite his great esteem of him. Meanwhile, when the narrator's father evaded telling Harbi thetruth behind the Bey's change, Harbi kept urging him to tell him the truth till the father disclosed to him that he was thevictim of a slander. Harbi wondered who told the Bey this slander and how come that the Bey believed it:“Who are these people?” Harbi demanded. “What have they said? Why didn’t the Bey confront me directly with these accusations? How could the Bey believe such slander against me, when I’m the one who has lived his whole life to serve him, without ever demanding anything in return?” (34)It is very obvious here that harbi is surprised at the Bey’s quick mistrust of him.

After that, the Bey came to the village with his brutal men and caught Harbi and began to torture him. Harbi felt that such humiliating torture will bring disgrace to him in front of all the people of the village. Therefore, he kept wonderingwhy the Bey does this instead of killing him immediately:“How can I look anyone in the eye here in the village after this day, my uncle? How can you have wanted to shame your nephew this way…why didn’t you kill me outright instead?” (38-39) In addition to the shame brought upon Harbi by the torture of the Bey to him, Harbi also kept wondering if what the Bey is doing is right i.e. how can slanders or groundless sayings lead the Bey to do all that to him:“Is this right, Uncle? Is this right, my father?” (39)Harbi is amazed at the huge amount of injustice done to him due to mere slanders.

Thus, Harbi's quest aimed at clarifying what made the Bey mistrust him. He cannot believe that slanders can ruin his cemented relationship to the Bey who was always generous to

59

him and has treated him like a son. Meanwhile, the brutality with which the Bey treated Harbi made the latter wondered if such a slander gives him the right to brutally torture him. Weturn now to the narrator’s mother who also expressed her amazement at what has happened to Harbi and sympathized with him wholeheartedly.

III-iii-b-iv-The Narrator's MotherThe narrator's mother has witnessed what happened to Harbi andsympathized with him in part and parcel. Therefore, she wondered who spread such lies against Harbi and made the Bey suspect that he wanted to kill his only son: “But who spread these lies? God’s curse upon him!” (34)The mother curses the person who was behind ruining the relation between Harbi and the Bey and wonders who he is.

Thus, the characters in Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery carry out a quest with the aim of expressing their amazement at the dramatic twists in the actions of the novel. Such twists made everthying turn upsidedown where Harbi, who was the Bey’s confidant, became the Bey’s most hated person. Meanwhile, Harbi became the most coveted target for Safiyya as she wantedto kill him although she was, and still, in love with him. Thenarrator uses the quest on a large scale as he posed a lot of questions to stimulate the reader to explore the significance of what is happening. Meanwhile, he does not interfere in anyway as he leves the reader to decide for himself. Moreover,the other characters carry out this quest with the aim of wondering how their relations to other characters have changeddramatically.

As for el-Hussein, his quest aims at expressing his surprise at not being supported by people against the unjust ruler Yazid. He did not realize that Yazid silenced his opponents bythreat, bribe and killing. When el-Hussein went to the palace of one of the eminent men of Kufa whose name is el-Ja'afi seeking his support, the latter rejected his request so el-Hussein expressed his amazement at such forsaking through questions: Is there anyone to support us? Is there anyone to help us? Is there anyone to defend the relatives of the Prophet? (el-Maghrour, 2003, [WWW document])Of course el-Hussein means here that he wants people to help him enforce justice and face the unjust ruler. He does not seek his own personal benefit but rather the common interest of the nation. Moreover, before the decisive battle in Karbala, el-Hussein delivered a speech to his follwers and the

60

people of Kufa where he posed some questions inducing them to support him:O people tell me to whom I was born, then reconsider what will happen and blame yourselves for it. Is it legal to shed my blood? Am I not the grandson of your Prophetand the son of his cousin, closest confidant and heir? Is not my uncle Hamza the leader of martyrs?Is not Ja'afar el-Tayaar my uncle?Has not the Prophet told you about me and my brother that we are the leaders of youths in Heaven? (el-Maghrour, 2003, [WWW document])El-Hussein is trying here to convince people to support him byreferring to his relation to the Prophet and how his family members lost their lives in defense of the Prophet's message. He refers to his uncle Hamza who was killed in the battle of Uhud in 625 AD. He refers also to his uncle Ja'afar who was killed in the battle of Mu'ta in 630 AD where his arms were cut and the Prophet said about him that he is now in Heaven flying with two wings which replaced his amputated arms and therefore, he was called "el-Tayaar" i.e. "the flyer". El-Hussein also mentioned how they were praised by the Prophet as"the leaders of youths in Heaven".

As for Jesus, this quest resembles his method of teaching known as "Catechism" which may be defined as follows:A catechism is a summary or exposition of doctrine, traditionally used in Christian religious teaching from New Testament times to the present. Catechisms are doctrinal manuals often in the form of questions followed by answers to be memorized, a format that has been used in non-religious or secular contexts as well.("Catechism", nd, [WWW document])Jesus used this method throughout his life, as documented in the New Testament, with his disciples as well as people. As anexample, he posed the following questions and answered them when he was teaching his disciples and people how to love their enemies: "And if you love the ones loving you, what credit is that to you? For the sinners also love the ones loving them. And if you do good to the ones doing good to you, what credit is that to you? The sinners also do the same. And if you lend to the ones from whom you foresee repayment, what credit is that to you? Sinners also lend to sinners, in such a way they may receive the equal back. But love your enemies, and do good and lend, expecting nothing, and great will be your reward, and you will be children of the Most High, for he is kind to the unthankful and evil. Becompassionate, just as your Father is compassionate. (Matthew 6: 32-36)He also used the same method when he was teaching them how to correct others:"Can a blind person lead a blind person? Will they not both fall into a ditch? A student is not above the teacher, but rather, every student when fully trained will be like his teacher.

61

"Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but the log that is in your owneye you do not consider? How are you able to say to your brother, 'Brother, allow me to take out the speck that is in your eye,' while you are not seeing the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first get the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly the speck that is in your brother's eye, to remove it. (Matthew 6: 39-42)Such a method draws the attention of the hearer to wehat is said and makrs him focus on the message of the speaker and consider its content and significance. To sum up, the quest as a feature of romance is used on a large scale in the novel by the narrator as well as the major characters due to the fact that the novel is full of dramatic twists which require attention and consideration of their significance morally, socially etc. the novelist call upon thereader, through his usage of the quest, to pay attention to the significance of what is happening and contemplate the different messages behind it. It is a didactic romance where readers are prompted by this quest to read between the lines as the poet narrates the story objectively and so he is askingthe reader to deduce the messahe behind what is narrated. It is an indirect teaching or preaching where the narrator does not want to spoil the pleasure of narration by sounding didactic. Therefore, he has resorted to the device of the quest to drtaw the attention of the reader to the different significant issues in focus in the novel. The narrator wondershow such horrible things happened to his characters. He therefore uses the quest to express his amazement at what is happening and to call upon the reader to explore the significance of such unbelievable events. His bursts of wondercome at every major event in the novel or when he tries to analyze the actions of the characters. The same goes to other characters who are surprised at what is happening to them and pose questions expressing such surprise. The same goes for el-Hussein who cannot believe that his supporters in Iraq betrayed him leaving him to meet his tragic end alone. Therefore, he kept reminding them of his high status as a direct descendant of the Prophet and that he is revolting to fight tyranny and enforce justice and therefore, they should not let Yazid and his men shed his blood illegally. As for Jesus, he uses questions as a method of teaching. Such a method is known as “catechism” in Christian religious teachingwhere the teacher presents information to his students throughquestions and answers in order to let them absorb it smoothly

and convincingly .

62

As a matter of fact, this quest or search is the backbone of the dilemma of the narrator, the protagonist and his foils andother characters as well. This dilemma results in what Hutcheon calls “epistemological skepticism”. (1988 : 33) All these characters search for a firm ground on which to base their lives. This dilemma can be seen in the words of the narrator's father “An evil thing has begun. If only it would go no further than this.” (34) It can also be summarized by Harbi when he says:“I’m like a sterile palm tree, my young friend, that gives no dates and casts no shade.I was finished a long time ago, but death won’t have me.” (71) The tree is another symbol reminiscent of romance. Intertextuality looms here to stress the similarity between Harbi, el-Hasan and el-Hussein and Jesus in their quest for truth. Romance as a narrative form demands an intertextual capacity on the part of the reader. It can be composed of various elements which can be weighted differently such as symbols and themes (death, love, repentance), names and figures, techniques and narrative style. Romance also generally unites with other narrative forms especially in the postmodern novel as happened here where it is united with the realistic novel. The reader must therefore be prepared to recognize the romance and to put together its elements and patterns, similar to the intertextual riddle which is put to him. (Bronfen 1996:129) In Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery, the readerforms the romance guided by the intertextual refernce to the Bible, the Qur'an and Islamic history books and their narrative structure. We turn now to the third element of romance found in the novel, that is, the element of fantasy

and improbability.III-iii-c-The element of Fantasy and ImprobabilityThe element of fantasy and improbability is embodied in the prophecies regarding Harbi's fate. When the narrator's mother resembled Harbi to el-Hasan and el-Hussein (32), she prophesized that he would suffer till he dies and that he would meet a tragic end as well. The same applies to Faris andBishai where the first considered Hinein a traitor (67) while the second resembled him directly to Judas (74). Such prophesies encircled Harbi's fate as Hinein would betray him by trying to kill him. Despite his narrow escape, Harbi's tragic death is the result of the unbearable suffering he had due to the brutal torture he met on the hands of the Bey and his thugs and hard labor in prison which led to the the deterioration of his health and his tragic death. Such

63

prophecies made Harbi look like a martyr as in the case of el-Hasan and el-Hussein, and Jesus. Thus, the role of prophecy, which is an element of fantasy and improbability, was vital inthe plot of the novel as it was a device used by Taher to direct the attention of the reader to the inevitable tragic

progress of the story.It has been explored before in subsection (III-ii-b), which dealt with the portrayal of the character of Hinein, how Jesusprophesized that he would be betrayed and he even described and named his betrayer to his disciples. The same goes to el-Hussein. The Angel Gabriel told Prophet Mohamed of what would happen to his grandson el-Hussein. Such a horrible truth made him burst into tears. ("Hussein", nd, [WWW document]) The Prophet told el-Hussein about this revelation and even described the physical features of his killer in detail. Thus,when el-Hussein was in the battlefield, he recognized his killer and said: "What the Messenger of God said was true as I will be killed by a leprous man resembling monkeys and pigs." (el-Maghrour, 2003, [WWWdocument]) Meanwhile, when el-Hussein was on his way to Iraq, many people warned him against going on this dangerous trip. Of those people, a woman called Amrah Bint Abdulrahman who wrote him a letter in which she mentioned that Aisha; the Prophet's wife, told her that the Prophet once said to her: "El-Hussein will be killed in the land of Babylon." When el-Hussein read her letter, he said: "It is inevitable then that I would be killed." (El-Jalali,1994: 132) Moreover, el-Hussein knew that the people of Iraq are traitors as they have betrayed his father before but he isa man with a message and therefore he must fulfill his duty which is to face injustice and tyranny in order to induce people to follow suit and not to be negative and lazy. As for Yazid, he ordered the governors of his provinces and the leaders of his armies to kill el-Hussein when they find him and not to spare his life even if he took shelter in the holiest place which is the Kaaba in Mecca. (El-Jalali, 1994: 143) El-Hussein also said when he was asked by people about the reasons behind his coming to Iraq: "These are the letters of the people of Kufa in which they call upon me to come to them to support me, and I believe they will be my killers." (El-Jalali, 1994: 150) Thus, prohecies were present in the lives of Harbi, el-Hussein and Jesus. Such prophecies shaped their lives and made the reader

anticipate their tragic end.

64

To round up, the element of fantasy and improbability is interwoven with the plot of the novel through prophecies wherethe characters prophesize that Harbi will lead a life of suffering and betrayal like el-Hasan and el-Hussein and Jesus.It is prophesized also that Hinein will betray Harbi like Judas who betrayed Jesus. Such prophecies guide the reader implicitly to the progress of the novel and how the life of the hero would resemble that of el-Hasan and el-Hussein and Jesus. We have so far examined the intertextual references shared by both of the hypertext and the hypotexts on the levelof plot. However, there are differences between both sides on the same level which deserve highlighting. Thereore, we move now to an exploration of the differences between the hypertextand the hypotexts on the level of plot.

III-iii-d-Points of DifferenceThe hypertext (Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery) deviates naturally also from its hypotextual bases (the Bible and Islamic historybooks) on the level of the plot. The first difference is that the stories of el-Hussein and Jesus are not romances. Both leaders lived a life of struggle to implement their messages. Elements of romance in their stories are confined to their relation to women in general which cannot be described as romantic but rather sympathetic and encouraging. As for el-Hussein, the role of women in his life is embodied in his sisters, wives, daughters, and maids who accompanied him in his trip to Iraq and supported him wholeheartedly. These womenkept encouraging el-Hussein and his men to go on fighting bravely tell they were killed in front of their eyes. Moreover, one of the maids, whose name is Um Wahb, was killed by an arrow as she took a tent pole to fight with when she sawher son killed in the battlefield. She was the only woman killed in the battle. (Jamal, 2004, [WWW document]) After the murder of el-Hussein, his sister Zainab defended his reputation when the leader of Yazid’s army, the people of Kufaand Yazid himself tried to defame him and described him as a traitor and rebel. ("Zainab el-Kubra", nd, [WWW document]) As for Jesus, he treated women with sympathy as he did with Martha and Mary (Luke 10: 38-41 HB), the Samaritan woman (John4: 1-42 HB), the Canaanite woman (Matthew 15: 21-28 HB), and the adultrous woman (John 8: 1-11). ("Yasu’ wa el-mara’a", nd,[WWW document]) Jesus treated all these women indiscriminatelyand with respect. He guided them to the right path, forgave

their sins and healed their illnesses.

65

The second difference is the motivation behind the actions of Harbi, el-Hussein and Jesus. Harbi wanted only to maintain hisgood relation with the Bey as the latter treated him like a son, spent generously on him and assigned him the supervision of his farming land. El-Hussein aimed at combating tyranny andcorruption represented in the Caliph Yazid. Jesus wanted to guide all humans to the right path of God. Thus, Harbi’s aim was material while the aim of el-Hussein and Jesus was spiritual and moral. Although all of them have endured horrible suffering for the sake of carrying out their aims, the consequences for such endurance were different as Harbi killed the Bey by mistake, ruined his life and his relation with Safiyya and her son and became a criminal. As for el-Hussein and Jesus, they were killed but their messages became eternal; el-Hussein became a symbol of revolting agaist tyranny and injustice while Jesus became a symbol of love and guidance to the Kingdom of Heaven. Both leaders sacrificed

themselves for the sake of implementing their noble messages .To wrap up, the present section has dealt with intertextualityon the level of the plot in Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery which can be viewed as a romance as the major elements of romance are embodied in it. The novel includes three elements of romance which are the mythical chivalrous behavior, the quest, and theelement of fantasy and improbability. The element of the mythical chivalrous behavior is manifested on a large scale inthe novel and is highlighted through three aspects: tolerance and the shunning of violence, bearing of extreme physical pains for the sake of implementing one’s message, and non-acceptance of humiliation when matters reach an excessive stage and one is under extreme pressure to choose between a humiliating option and a non-humiliating one. As for the firstaspect, i.e. tolerance and the shunning of violence, el-Hasan and el-Hussein, and Jesus were known for their tolerant behavior as they do not resort to violence. Harbi was also so tolerant with his relative the Bey that he endured to an unbelievable extent the brutal torture inflicted on him by theBey. As for the second aspect i.e. bearing of extreme physicalpains, el-Hasan and el-Hussein, Jesus and Harbi have endured extreme physical pains for the sake of a higher value or principle. El-Hasan bore the horrible pains of poison. El-Hussein endured the fatal wounds of the battle and the killingof most of his relatives and followers. Jesus endured the pains of torture and crucification. Those leaders sought guiding people to the right path of God, fighting tyranny and

66

enforcing justice. Harbi as well endured the horrible torture by the Bey and his thugs because he did not want to ruin his close relationship to the Bey. As for the third feature i.e. non-acceptance of humiliation when one is under extreme pressure to choose between a humiliating option and a non-humiliating one, the stance of el-Hussein, Jesus and Harbi towards this matter varies as Harbi and el-Hussein did not accept humiliation. Harbi felt humiliated as he was stripped of his clothes in front of the village people and therefore heresisted the bullies and fought them but when he became sure that his relation to the Bey was ruined, he surrendered to them. However, he could not endure the brutal torture forever so he set himself free in a fit of anger but killed the Bey bymistake. El-Hussein refused to recognize Yazid as Caliph as hefelt that it would be humiliating to acknowledge the authorityof such an immoral man and therefore, he was forced to be involved in an unbalanced battle. After his death, his sister Zainab asked God to accept him as a sacrificie for humanity. On the other hand, Jesus accepted all types of humiliation forthe sake of humanity as he sacrificed himself for guiding people to the right path of God.

The second element of romance in the novel is the quest where different characters carry out this quest to express their astonishment at what is happening in an attempt to explore itssignificance. Such a quest is motivated deliberately by Taher in order to stimulate the reader's mind and draw his attentionto certain issues. Since Taher narrates the story objectively,he uses the device of the quest to induce the reader to read between the lines and contemplate the significant issues in focus in the novel. Such issues deal mainly with human relations and the ever-changing human nature. The narrator, Safiyya, Harbi and the narrator’s mother are questioning what is happening as it is unexpected and horrible. They wondr how human relation became so complicated and how human nature is ever-changing. On the other hand, el-Hussein used the quest toexpress his amazement at not being supported by people in his combating of tyranny and injustice embodied in the rule of Caliph Yazid. Jesus also used the quest in the form of catechism where he teaches his disciples and people through questions and answers to make them absorb religious instruction smoothly and convincingly. The third element is the element of fantasy and improbability which is embodied in the prophecies regarding Harbi's fate. The narrator’s mother prophesized that Harbi would suffer like el-Hasan and el-Hussein. In his own turn, el-Hussein had prophecies that he

67

would be killed after being betrayed and leading a life of suffering. Bishai and Faris also prophesized that Hinein wouldbe a traitor. In his own turn, Jesus prophesized that he wouldbe betrayed and suffer greatly. He also described and named his betrayer. All these prophecies came true with regard to Harbi as he was betrayed by the village people and Hinein. He also suffered a lot due to being brutally tortured by the Bey and his thugs and doing a hard labor sentence which led finally to the deterioration of his health and his death. However, there are differences between the hypertext (Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery) and the hypotexts (the Bible and Islamic history books) on the level of the plot. The first difference is that the stories of el-Hussein and Jesus are not romances. Both leaders lived a life of struggle to implement their messages. Elements of romance in their stories are confined totheir relation with women in general. El-Hussein was supportedby female members of his family till he met his end and they also defended his reputation after his murder as his enemies tried to defame him. Jesus treated women indiscriminately and with respect as he guided them, forgave their sins and healed their illnesses.The second difference is the motivation behindthe actions of Harbi, el-Hussein and Jesus. Harbi’s aim was material as he wanted only to maintain his good relation with the Bey as the latter treated him like a son, spent generouslyon him and assigned him the supervision of his farming land. On the other hand, the aim of el-Hussein and Jesus was spiritual and moral as el-Hussein was combating tyranny and injustice represented in the Caliph Yazid while Jesus wanted to guide all humans to the right path of God. Harbi became a criminal while el-Hussein and Jesus became a symbol of justice, love and guidance as they sacrified themselves for the sake of humanity.

As a matter of fact, the form of romance gives more room for intertextuality than other narrative forms where texts meet. Intertextual references are used everywhere in the novel to support the romantic plot at the heart of the novel. Romantic elements such as the mythical chivalrous behavior, the quest and the element of fantasy and improbability are enhanced through using intertextual references throughout the novel. This is done to stimulate the reader to compare between the novel in question and its intertextual counterparts i.e. between Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery and the Bible, the Qur'an and Islamic history books. Consequently, the message of the novel is stressed and highlighted clearly. Hence comes the role of intertextuality in serving the literary purposes of the

68

novelist. what follows now is a list of hypotexts in Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery where its significance is examined closely.

III-iv-A list of hypotexts in Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery and

its significance : The hypotexts given in the list below are put in chronologicalorder regarding the novel. The intertextual references given here all point to a concrete text other than the hypertext. The list does not include proverbs or any hypotexts whose presence in the hypertext is subject to discussion (i.e. aleatory pretexts). The list includes all pretexts which are very clearly integrated into Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery and whichmight be marked in some form or another (quotation marks, italics, separate paragraphs etc.). The numbers of pages referto the online edition of Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery published by the University of California Press in Berkeley in 1996 (Taher,

1996, [WWW document]).A list of hypotexts in Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery

speakersourcetextpageNo.

Chapter One: The Miqaddis BishaiBishaiThe BibleDidn’t our Savior enter

Jerusalem mounted on a donkey like this one, while the people cheered

him?

171

Bishaihymns“Oh, Mother of the Light,

oh…Oh, teach us to be

thankful,The Almighty glorify ,With humble hearts to worship

Our all-seeing Lord on

high …

232

Chapter Two: Aunt Safiyya

69

The villagepeople

The Qur’an

(to avoid

envy)—Bismillaahi maa shaa’

allah.253

Thenarrator's

father

The Qur’an

(to expreeaffirmation

)

“in shaa’ allah, in shaa’ allah.”304

Thenarrator's

mother

Islamichistorybooks

served like el-Hasan and el-Hussein325

Thenarrator's

father

The Qur’an“There is no strength or power, except in God…no

strength or power”…336

Thenarrator's

father

The Qur’an“There is no strength or

power, except in God”.337

Thenarrator's

father

The Qur’an …may God have mercy on us

all.348

Thenarrator's

father

The Qur’an“There is no strength or

power, except in God”.409

Thenarrator's

father

The Qur’an“Bismillaahi maa shaa’

allah”,4910

Chapter Three: The OutlawsThe

narrator'sfather

The Qur’an…God have mercy on me.5511

Thenarrator's

father

The Qur’an…God’s mercy is great.5512

Thenarrator's

father

Islamichistorybooks

“Did not our Beloved Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, send the first Muslims to el-Nigashi, in defense of

5513

70

their lives?The

narrator'sfather

The Qur’anblessings and peace be upon him5514

BishaiIslamichistorybooks

despite the fact that she knew he had suffered the injustice of el-Hasan and el-Hussein

5515

BishaiThe Bible …but do give up bad company, and leave the path of evil so you can follow the way of our

Savior.

6316

HineinThe BibleTake me with you, and I’ll

follow the way …6317FarisThe Qur’anBismillaahi maa shaa’ allah6518FarisThe Qur’an“Do you want me, Hinein,

to turn on these monks, whose protection, according to the Qur’an, is enjoined by our Lord—may he be praised and

exalted”?

6719

FarisThe Qur’an …our Lord—may he be praised and exalted

6720The

narrator'sfather

The Qur’an“The monks are mentioned in the Holy Qur’an, ya

mi’allim”6721

BishaiThe Bible“Did you know, Hinein, that our Savior washed Judas’s feet on the night

of the last supper”?

6822

BishaiThe Bible“But afterward Judas betrayed, ya Hinein. He

6823

71

betrayed”.Chapter Four: Al-naksa

BishaiThe Bibleand theQur’an

“The Lord sent plagues to our country before, seven different times, and then the people’s affliction

was lifted”

7424

BishaiThe Bibleand theQur’an

…in the very beginning … did the Evil One choose Women, or did Woman choose

the Evil One?

7425

BishaiThe Bible“Get away, ya Hinein! Get away, ya Judas, God’s

curse on you”!7426

BishaiThe Bible“Ya Hinein, come back! Whydid you wander away from the fold, why did you forsake our Lord? Come back, ya Hinein! The straylamb may also enter the Kingdom of Heaven, if he comes back to the fold …

so come back”!

7527

BishaiThe Bible“Hurry, ya hagg! Hurry! The Lord is calling his

lamb back to the fold …7628

Thenarrator's

father

The Qur’anMy father helped him say the creed, “There is no god but God, and Muhammad

is His Prophet”.

7729

BishaiThe Bible"Look, son…look. He, too,

lived to suffer. Do you

see"?

7730

Chapter Five: Epilogue

72

The villagepeople

The Qur’an“There is no god but God,

there is no god but God”.7731

BishaiThe Bible …because Hinein had accepted some pieces of

silver.7932

Figure (3) The above list offers some information about the quantity of the hypotexts and their origin. What follows now is a brief analysis where some selected intertextual references will be discussed with regard to their meaning in the novel. It is totally obvious that the majority of hypotexts comes from the Qur’an and the Bible. Meanwhile, on the distributional level, some chapters make more usage of hypotexts than others. As in every literary work, it is difficult to estimate such a distribution of hypotexts in Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery. The listshows also that Chapter Three (pp 51-68) is the richest in intertextual references. The seventeen pages of this chapter contain about thirteen references. Such an accumulation of hypotexts in this chapter makes it look dense and can be regarded as the final chapter of the novel as its hypotexts

anticipate how the story will end.Moreover, it seems that the whole novel is about remembrance. The narrator keeps remembering the past events. Such remembrance is used as a technique for narrating the story of Safiyya and Harbi as well as inserting his unbiased detailed comments. Meanwhile, he remembers other characters and their reactions towards what is happening. Throughout the process ofremembering, the narrator gives us contrastive pictures of thecharacters befor and after the occurrence of drastic changes in their lives. This is clearly shown in the characters of Harbi, Safiyya, and Bishai. Harbi was a cheerul person beforethe Bey’s murder and after that he became depressed and sick. Safiyya also was also cheerful but after the murder she becamefull of hatred and malice. Bishay also was a sociable person known by everyone in the village but after the death of Harbi he lost his mind and had hallucinations. Meanwhile, the characters keep remembering also; Harbi remembered how he has never treated the Bey badly and that he is ready to be killed if that was not true. He handed his pistol over to the

73

narrator’s father to give it to the Bey to shoot him if it wasproved that he was liar: “Give this to the bey,” he said, “so he can shoot me with it if he recalls a single unkind word to him that ever passed my lips.” (33) Safiyya also kept remembering her past happy life with the Beyso much that she went into a huge transformation after his murder:It seemed to me that she began gradually to resemble the bey more and more, and that she came to sound more like him when she talked. She always spoke of him in the present tense, as if he had not been killed, had never been taken from her. When she scolded the house servants, she would say, “This mess will annoy the bey.” Or, “What will the bey say if he sees this?” Or, “The bey prefers to plant sugarcane in the eastern plot.” And so on. She would say these things calmly and confidently, so that a stranger might think she was talking about someone who was just in the next room. (43)The same goes to Bishai who keeps remembering the history of

the village and the monastery: I used to enjoy the rounds of strong tea that he would offer me, one cup after

another, while he told his endless stories of the things he had seen in the village sincehe came to the monastery as a very young man, forty years earlier. …

The miqaddis Bishai was as proud of the story of our village as if he had been one of its founders. To be sure, he had not witnessed the events from the beginning, but he had been told things by the late Bakhoum. This Bakhoum had lived past the age of a hundred. Bishai used to follow him around here and there, when he first came to the monastery as a novice, in his youth. …

I had heard the story of this hall from the monks. The miqaddis Bishai had told it to me a number of times with much enthusiasm…Long ago, a European had visitedthe monastery. When he came across the paintings and statues piled up in one of theunderground storage areas, he donated money for the construction of this hall and sent an architect from Cairo to build it. (20-22)

It should be noted also that Taher chooses hypotexts suitable for each subject. For example, he uses the story of el-Hasan and el-Hussein (Chapter Three: Page 55) to stress the theme ofinjustice and martyrdom. The same applies to the hypotexts related to Judas (Chapter Three: Page 68) in the same chapter where the theme of betrayal is emphasized. Both were chosen for their theme and melancholic mood. They also highlight thatthe hero Harbi is a martyr as he is the victim of betrayal andinjustice. Taher combines two hypotexts from two religious sources thus creating a spiritual effect intensifying the ideaof injustice and betrayal. As a matter of fact, Taher’s selection of intertextual references pave the way for clearer interpretations as such a choice was not done haphazardly. Theabove excerpts are a very good example for that point. Anothervery significant example is what the Miqaddis Bishai told the

74

narrator when Harbi met his tragic end: “Look, son…look. He, too, livedto suffer. Do you see?” (71) Such a saying stresses the overall intertextual frame which governs the whole novel as it is a story of suffering. Bishai is referring implicitly to Jesus Christ whose life was full of suffering. Harbi led the same life. Bishai summarizes Harbi's life as a life of suffering modeled on Jesus' life. He thus asserts his belief that the unreasonable injustice inflicted upon Harbi resulted in his life of suffering. Such a belief is also stressed by the narrator's mother when she likened what happened to Harbi to what happened to el-Hasan and el-Hussein. (32) These hypotextssupport the overall meaning of the novel as it examines the nature of the human self which tends to harm other humans in an illogical and unjustifiable manner. We can see that textual

references are exploited to serve the purposes of the novelist.We notice also from the table that there are other intertextual references which refer to things outside the mainsubject of the novel. These references can be divided into twotypes. The first type is that used by the Miqaddis Bishai who keeps referring to Jesus's behavior and other incidents from the Bible when he talks to the narrator and and other characters such as when Jesus rode a donkey when he entered Jerusalem which shows how he is modest. Bishai also refers to God's deeds such as the plagues sent by the Lord to Egypt and lifted by His will to show that everything goes by God's will.These references are used mainly for exemplification. The second type is that used by Muslim characters in the novel. These characters use certain famous verses from the Qur'an in their daily life for different purposes e.g. to show their intention not to envy someone for a certain blessing granted to him by God; "Bismillaahi maa shaa' allah" (25), or to seek God's support; "There is no strength or power, except in God" (33), or to seek God's mercy; "God's mercy is great". (55) These references are not related directly to the characterization or plot of the novel since they are used for exemplification as in the case of Bishai or for invocation of God as in the case of Muslim characters. All in all, Taher’s choice of hypotexts was most suitable to the characterization and plot of the novel. Such a choice was highlighted through examining the usage of intertextuality in Taher’s novelt. It was shown how he was creative in selecting his intertextual references to intensify his message and make the reader fully

aware of it.

75

IV-Conclusion : The present paper has attempted an analysis of the intertextual patterns used in the novel Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery which was written by the modern Egyptian novelist Bahaa' Taher. The paper is divided into two parts: theoreticaland practical. The theoretical part presents first a brief introduction to the origin of the term “intertextuality” whichwas introduced by Julia Kristeva (1980, 1986) based on the theories and philosophies of text interpretation put forward by Mikail Bakhtin (Morris, 1994), Jacque Derrida (1976) and Roland Barthes (1975). Kristeva stresses how a literary text is the overall production of a single author’s relationship toother texts and to the structures of language itself. The termwas carried forward by eminent linguists such as Widdowson (1971), Klein and Fix (1997), and Holthuis (1990) who considerit a universal concept applied not only to literature but alsoto human communication in general. Meanwhile, the definition of intertextuality and its scope of application have gone through a long stage of controversy among critics and linguists. They conclude that texts do not have any meaning orfunction by themselves but only in relation to particular interactive contexts. Therefore, it is no longer important what the intention of a text producer is but what the recipients make of the text. Moreover, texts cannot be seen asinterpretable unities. It is certain that several recipients reconstruct one and the same text normally in a different way but nevertheless, the actual text remains the fixed point of

orientation. As for forms and functions of intertextuality, intertextuality

is a text overlapping phenomenon. Hence, every text has its precursors to which it is referring in formal as well as in pragmatic aspects. Therefore, intertextuality, according to Worton (1990), can be subdivided into two dimensions: a vertical classifiable one and a horizontal associative one. The first is referring to the assignment of text copy to particular conventional text categories that are genres. In contrast to that, the second dimension refers to pretexts looking on it from the semantic point of view. Meanwhile, Van Wolde (1989) asserts that the classification of a text dependson the interpretation. Interpretation in literal texts appearsin a different light. In literature it is individual and depends on presuppositions, previous knowledge and

76

preconception of the respective reader.(47) Thus, the intention of the author will always remain a problem because literal texts are simply characterized by a communicative openness for which a right or false comprehension does not exist. Each interpretation is partially justified and it is upto the individual judgment of the reader to accept or refuse

the interpretation .On the practical level, Riffaterre (1984:24) suggests a way toidentify intertexts. At first, the distinction between “aleatory” and “obligatory” hypotexts seems helpful in reducing the complexity of the problem. The Bible, the Qur’an and Islamic history books will of course be identified as obligatory pretexts for Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery while all those bits and pieces that the reader carries into the hypertext by way of spontaneous associations must be called “aleatory” and can be excluded from the discussion. However, the categorization of “aleatory” versus “obligatory” is too loose to include the phenomenon of intertextuality as it does not account for example for changes in a quotation. Riffaterre’s distinction cannot assess any of the borderline cases where a pretext comes to mind but cannot be established clearly with absolute certainty. Behind Riffaterre’s system ofbinary opposition lies his assumption that hypotexts lead to the one and only possible interpretation of the hypertext. Undoubtedly, a number of hypotexts can always be identified asdefinite cases of reference to another literary work but the possibilities inherent in intertextuality seem to point to a

multiplicity of different readings rather than to a single one.Turning to the practical part, we find that intertextuality isat work in Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery on two levels: characterization and plot. On the level of characterization, the story of el-Hasan and el-Hussein; Prophet Mohamed’s grandsons, from Islamic history books and the story of Judas from the Bible are the most frequently pretexts evoked in Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery. These stories serve several functions butthe most important one is that they can be used as a general key or aid towards understanding the story of Harbi and Safiyya. If hypotexts usually seem to make a text more complicated, Islamic history books, the Qur’an and the Bible inthis case helps to clarify matters in Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery.We can see here that the pretexts of el-Hasan and el-Hussein, and Judas play the role of a stabilizing factor and a means of

77

comparison. The narrator stresses this aspect by narrating howhis mother likens Harbi to el-Hasan and el-Hussein and how theMiqaddis Bishai keeps comparing Hinein, who is hired by Safiyya to kill Harbi, to Judas. Thus, the pretext is the morerealistic and reliable as it offers the reader the chance to authenticate the events narrated by the narrator. Hence, the stories of el-Hasan and el-Hussein, and Judas serve as intertextual foils to the novel accompanying the whole

hypertext and are used for comparison all the time.Taher's depiction of the hero Harbi and Hinein the outlaw, whoare the focus of intertextual references, was examined. In themeantime, the portrayal of the narrator's father and Bishai was also explored for their idiosyncratic usage of intertextual references for other purposes. Harbi resembles el-Hasan and el-Hussein, and Jesus in two points: suffering and betrayal. As for the first point i.e. suffering, it is marked by three features: first, it is extremely unbearable, second, it is imposed on the person concerned, and third, it is inflicted by a tyrannical group upon a weak individual. El-Hasan and el-Hussein, Jesus and Harbi were exposed to an extremely unbearable deal of suffering through poisoning, killing, crucifuication and torture respectively. Meanwhile, suffering was also imposed on el-Hasan and el-Hussein, Jesus and Harbi by Caliph Muawiyah, his son Caliph Yazid, the Romansand the Bey respectively. Moreover, suffering was inflicted bya tyrannical group upon a weak individual i.e. by Caliph Muawiyah’s agents, his son Caliph Yazid’s huge army, the Romans, and the Bey’s thugs upon el-Hasan and el-Hussein, Jesus and Harbi respectively. Concerning the second point, i.e. betrayal, el-Hasan and el-Hussein, Jesus and Harbi were betrayed by Caliph Muawiyah, the Iraqis, Judas, and the village people and Hinein respectively. On the other hand, Hinein, who was hired to kill Harbi, was likened frequently toJudas. Both of Hinein and Judas are traitors as Hinein betrayed Harbi, i.e. his friend, and Judas betrayed Jesus, i.e. his Divine Master, for the sake of money. Intertextual references to Hinein portray him also as a stray lamb, i.e. a deviant person in the Biblical sense, and a traitor, i.e. resembling the Biblical figure Judas. There are three points of similarity between Hinein and Judas: first, both have some relation to the person betrayed, second, they betrayed for thesake of money, and third, there were prophecies regarding their betrayal. Hinein was an acquaintance of Harbi and Judas was a disciple of Jesus. Hinein and Judas betrayed Harbi and

78

Jesus because Safiyya and the High Priest respectively paid them. Faris and Bishai, and Jesus prophesized that Hinein and Judas respectively would betray. Hinein is also referred to byBishai as a stray lamb which is a metaphorical image used by Jesus to denote the deviant person. Such an image is applicable to Judas as well. As for the narrator's father, he used various intertextual references from the Qur'an and Islamic history books for different purposes such as assertingGod's will, showing God's attitude towards Christians and how they are praised in the Qur'an for their humbleness and piety,citing an incident from Islamic history to justify his conduct. All references comply with the fact that the father is a man of a deep religious background as he cites what is suitable from the Qur'an and Islamic history books for every specific situation. Bishai also is a man of religion as he used intertextual references from the Bible for different purposes such as justifying his welcoming conduct towards the donkey as Jesus rode it on entering Jerusalem and comparing the bandits attacking the village to the afflictions which struck Egypt during Prophet Moses' time. He also sang a hymn from the Coptic folklore. Bishai is drawing from the Bible allthe time even when he spoke with Muslim characters in the novel since the incidents he refers to are also mentioned in the Qur'an and hence constitute a common heritage for all

Egyptians, whether Muslims or Christians.However, it should be noted that the hypertext (Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery) naturally also deviates from its hypotextual basis(the Bible and Islamic history books) on the level of characterization. The first difference is that Harbi was not arevolutionary leader like el-Hasan and el-Hussein or a religious leader like Jesus. He did not oppose anybody as happened between el-Hasan and el-Hussein on the one hand and Muawiyah and Yazid on the other hand and between Jesus and theRomans. On the contrary, he is a peaceful person who leads a cheerful life. The second difference is that the relation between Harbi and Hinein is different from that between Jesus and Judas. Judas was a disciple of Jesus but Hinein was just an acquaintance of Harbi. He is an outlaw and hence, it is natural for him to be hired to kill anybody. Thus, Aunt Saffiya and the Monastery is created not just from the pretexts of Islamic

history books and the Bible but also against them.

79

Turning to the analysis of intertextuality in the novel on thelevel of the plot, Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery can be considered aromance as the major elements of romance are embodied in it. Many critics such as Salama (2004) consider Taher a romantic and realist writer at the same time where both worlds intermingle in his works. Meanwhile, according to the definition of romance put foreward by Cuddon (1992), the novelincludes three elements of romance i.e. the mythical chivalrous behavior, the quest, and the element of fantasy andimprobability. The mythical chivalrous behavior is the first element of romance manifested on a large scale in the novel. The story of Harbi is marked by "a narrative of heroic or spectacular achievements, of chivalry" and "impossible Performances" which are pivotal in the novel. These aspects are highlighted through three dimensions: tolerance and the shunning of violence, bearing of extreme physical pains for the sake of implementing one’s message, and non-acceptance of humiliation when matters reach an excessive stage and one is under extreme pressure to choose between a humiliating option and a non-humiliating one. El-hasan and el-Hussein, Jesus and Harbi were very tolerant in dealing with their enemies. However, they were exposed to extreme physical pains through poisoning, killing, crucification and torture respectively. Asfor humiliation, Harbi did not accept humiliation through being stripped of his clothes in front of the village people so he resisted the Bey’s thugs but he surrendered to them whenhe became certain that his relation to the Bey is ruined. Meanwhile, el-Hussein refused humiliation through recognizing the authority of Yazid and so he was forced to be involved in an unbalanced battle which resulted in his tragic death. However, he sacrificied himself for the sake of combating tyranny and injustice. As for Jesus, he accepted all types of humiliation for the sake of guiding humans to the right path of God. Hence, he sacrificed himself on the cross for such guidance.

The second element of romance in the novel is the quest. Different characters carry out this quest where they express their astonishment at what is happening in an attempt to explore its significance. Such a quest is motivated deliberately by Taher, as noticed by Romaine (1996), in orderto stimulate the reader's mind and draw his attention to certain issues. This quest is related to romance in the sense that it is a "didactic" quest where Taher wants his reader to pay attention to what is happening and contemplates its significance on different levels whether moral, social etc. It

80

resembles the didactic technique of catechism in Christianity.Since Taher narrates the story objectively, he poses questionsto the reader by his characters to contemplate what is happening and pay attention to several issues related to humanrelations and human nature. This quest is carried out by different characters who are amazed at what is happening. The people who carry out this quest are the narrator, Safiyya, Harbi, and the narrator’s mother where each one uses the questfrom his own perspective. The narrator uses the quest on a large scale in the form of an inner journey. He meant by his quest to show his amazement at certtain things and make the reader focus on the major issues behind these events. On the other hand, Saffiya's quest is mainly concerned with her ability to take revenge on Harbi for killing her husband. The questions she raised are meant to express her amazement at what is happening with regard to this aspect. Meanwhile, Harbi's quest deals mainly with the sudden change in his relationship to the Bey. As for the narrator's mother, she haswitnessed what happened to Harbi and sympathized with him in part and parcel. Therefore, she wondered who spread such lies against Harbi and made the Bey suspect that he wanted to kill his only son. Thus, the characters in the novel carry out a quest with the aim of expressing their amazement at the dramatic twists in the actions of the novel. Such twists made everthying turn upsidedown where Harbi, who was the Bey’s confidant, became the Bey’s most hated person. Meanwhile, Harbi became the most coveted target for Safiyya as she wantedto kill him although he was her first and last love as revealed later. As for el-Hussein, his quest aims at expressing his surprise at not being supported by people against the unjust ruler Yazid. He did not realize that Yazid silenced his opponents by threat, bribe and killing. As for Jesus, this quest resembles his method of teaching known as "Catechism" where the teaching process is done through questions and answers to present the information to students in a smooth and convincing way. Jesus used this method throughout his life, as documented in the Bible, with his disciples as well as people. As a matter of fact, this quest or search is the backbone of the dilemma of the narrator, the protagonist and his foils and other characters as well. This dilemma results in what Hutcheon calls “epistemological skepticism” (1988 : 33) where all these characters search for a firm ground on which to base their lives.

The third element of romance in the novel is the element of fantasy and improbability which is embodied in the prophecies

81

regarding Harbi's fate. When the narrator's mother resembled Harbi to el-Hasan and el-Hussein (32), she prophesized that hewould suffer till he dies and that he would meet a tragic end as well. The same applies to Faris and Bishai where the first considered Hinein a traitor (67) while the second resembled him directly to Judas (74). Such prophesies encircled Harbi's fate as Hinein would betray him by trying to kill him. As for el-Hussein, there were also prophecies regarding his being betrayed and killed. As for Jesus, he prophesized that he would be betrayed and even described his betrayer and named him.

There are differences between the hypertext and the hypotexts on the level of the plot as well. The first difference is thatthe stories of el-Hussein and Jesus are not romances. Both leaders lived a life of struggle to implement their messages. Elements of romance in their stories are confined to their relation to women in general which can be described as sympathetic and encouraging. As for el-Hussein, the role of women in his life is embodied in his female relatives who accompanied him in his trip to Iraq and supported him wholeheartedly. These women kept encouraging el-Huyssein and his men to go on fighting courageously tell they were killed in front of their eyes. After el-Hussein’s death, his sister Zainab asked God to accept him as a sacrifice. As for Jesus, he treated women with sympathy as he did with Martha and Mary,the Samaritan woman, the Canaanite woman, and the adultrous woman. Jesus treated all these women indiscriminately and withrespect. He guided them to the right path, forgave their sins and healed their illnesses. The second difference is the motivation behind the actions of Harbi, el-Hussein and Jesus is different. Harbi wanted only to maintain his good relation to the Bey as the latter treated him like a son, spent generously on him and assigned him the supervision of his farming land. El-Hussein aimed at combating tyranny and injustice represented in the Caliph Yazid while Jesus wanted to guide all humans to the right path of God. Thus, Harbi’s aim was material while the aim of el-Hussein and Jesus was spiritual and moral. Although all of them have endured horrible suffering for the sake of carrying out their aims, the consequences for such endurance were different as Harbi ended up as a criminal while el-Hussein and Jesus became symbols of higher values and ideals to be followed by all humans as both leaders sacrificed themselves for the sake of

implementing their noble messages .

82

Thus, it can be asserted that intertextual references were pivotal to Taher’s excellence in characterization and plot where hypotexts assume the function of shaping the novel. Theyestablish meanings by evoking common features such as the similarities between Harbi on the one hand and el-Hasan and el-Hussein, and Jesus on the other by setting themselves against the hypertext. They also guide the reader to the road taken by events. Meanwhile, the form of romance gives more room for intertextuality than other narrative forms where texts meet. Intertextual references are being used all the time by the characters to support the romantic plot at the heart of the novel. Romantic elements are enhanced through using intertextual references throughout the novel. This is done to stimulate the reader to compare between the novel in question and its intertextual counterparts i.e. between Aunt

Safiyya and the Monastery and Islamic history books and the Bible.Finally, a list of hypotexts in the novel was given. It reveals that the novelist depends heavily on the Bible, the Qur'an and Islamic history books for his intertextual repertory. His main hypotextual bases are the Bible and Islamichistory books where the differences and similarities between these two sources and Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery converge. All in all, Taher has used intertextual references creatively to enhance his message and make the reader well-aware of it. How successful he was depends partially to a great extent on the interpretation of every individual intertextual reference. Such interpretation calls for further research but it is sufficient here to assert the significant impact of intertextuality on modern Egyptian literature as was shown in

the present paper .

83

V-References

"Alu el-beit." 10 August 2006http://sbeel.net/forum/index.php?s=a8a0dd5510ea2296f175291d5c68ddb&showtopic=5063Barthes, Roland. The Pleasure of the Text. Trans. Richard Miller.

Paris : Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, Inc., 1975.

Bronfen, Elizabeth. “Romancing Difference, Courting Coherence:A.S. Byatt’s Possession as Postmodern Moral Fiction”. In: Roger Ahrens and Lance Volkmann (eds.). Why Literature Matters: Theories and Functions of Literature. Heidelberg: winter, 1996. Buchanan, G.W. Introduction to Intertextuality. Lewiston, NY: Edwin

Mellen Press, 1994."Catechism." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 2007. Wikimedia

84

Foundation, Inc. 21 Feb 2007http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/w/index.php?title=Catechism &oldid=108670849

"Christianity." Joseph Keating. Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume III . Published 1908. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 10

December

2006 http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/ 03712a .htm

cuddon, J.A. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Criticism. Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1992 .

De Beaugrand, R. and W. Dresser. An Introduction to Text Linguistics . London: Longman, 1981.

Derrida, J. Of Grammatology. Trans. G.C. Spivak. Baltimore: JohnHopkins

University Press, 1976."El-Hijra el-awla ila el-Habasha." 4 August 2003. 25 August

2006http://www.islamweb.net/ver2/archive/readArt.php?lang=A&id=15545

El-Jalali, el-Sayed Mohamed Reda el-Husseini. El- Husseinu Alaihi el-Salam: Simatuhu wa Siratuhu .

Kuwait, 1994.El-Maghrour, Salah. "al-Hussein's revolt: facts and goals." 15September

2003 - 25 October 2003. 10 August 2006http://www.aljarodiah.org/vb/showthread.php?t=11627&goto=nextnewestEl-Sadik, Mohamed. "Bahaa' Taher li 'el-Majalla el-

Thaqafiya': Hissat el- thaqafa fi mugtamana el-arabi ramziya." al-jazirah newspaper 20 February 2006, issue No 141. 22 July 2006 http://www.al -jazirah.com/culture/20022006/hauar20.htm

Higdon, David Leon. “Unconfessed Confession: the narrators of

Graham Swift and Julian Barnes”. In: James Acheson (ed.). The British and Irish

85

Novel Since 1960. London: Macmillan, 1991.Hollander, J. The Figure of Echo: A Mode of Allusion in Milton and After .

Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981.Holthuis, Susanne. “Intertextuality and Meaning Constitution”.

In : Approaches to Poetry. Janos Petofi and Terry Olivi (eds.).

Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1990.

"Husayn ibn Ali." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 2006. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 10 Dec 2006

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Husayn_ibn_Ali&oldid=91751350

"Hussein." 10 August 2006http://www.amal-movement.com/ahlolbeit/hussein.htm

Hutcheon, Linda. A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Fiction . New York: Routledge, 1988.

Jamal, Abdulmohsen Yusuf. "el-mar’a wa dawruha fi Karbala," el-Taleea newspaper 3 March 2004, issue No 1617. 10 August 2006

http://www.taleea.com/archive/column_details.php?cid=1597&aid=13&ISSUENO=1617

Jamal, Abdulmohsen Yusuf. "haihat minna al-thila," el-Taleea newspaper 8 February 2006, issue No 1714. 10 August 2006

http://www.taleea.com/column_details.php?aid=13&cid=1502&ISSUENO=1714

"Judas Iscariot." W.H. Kent. Catholic Encyclopedia. Volume VIII.

1997. 10 December 2006

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08539a.htmKhedr, Mohsen. "el-hob fi el-manfa li-Bahaa' Taher..bayn el-

hanein ila el-holm el-nasseri wa tashrih el-hadara el-gharbiya," Nizwa magazine July 2001, issue No 27, pp. 275-

86

277. 22 July 2006 http://www.nizwa.com/volume27/p275-277.html

Klein, Josef and Ulla Fix (eds.) Text Relations: Linguistic, Literary and

Scientific Contributions to Intertextuality. Tubingen : Stauffenburg-Verlag, 1997.

Kristeva, Julia. The Desire in Language, A Semiotic Approach to Literature

and Art. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1980.“ .-----------------Word, Dialogue, and Novel”. In: Pierre Des Champ

(ed.) . Semiotics: Searching for a Semi-analysis. Paris: Le Sevil, 1986.

"Lamb of God." 10 December 2006http://www.answers.com/topic/lamb-of-god

Lively, Penelope. “Family Feud”. The New York Times , Books Section, June 30, 1996. 22 July 2006

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F02EFDF1339F933A05755C0A960958260

"Min akhlaq el-Hussein." Annabaa magazine April 2000, issue No

44. 10 August 2006 http://www.annabaa.org/nba44/kan.htm

"Mohamed Bahaa’ el-Dein Taher." 22 July 2006 http://www.scc.gov.eg/gwa2zeldawla/ga2ezateldawlaeltakdereya/ga2ezateldawlaeltakdereya-adab/legan-adab-Bahaa'taherMorris, Pam (ed.). The Bakhtin Reader: Selected Writings of

Bakhtin , Medvedev, Voloshinov. London: Edward Arnold Prentice-Hall,

1994.Motassim, Mohamed. "al-bina'a al-waki' lilmuhtawa al-riwa'i."

22 July 2006 http://www.arab-writers.com/?action=library&&type=ON&&title=1135

Obeid Allah, Mohamed. A'laam Bahaa' Taher. Amman: Dar Majdalawi , 2005.

Orr, Mary. Intertextuality, debates and contexts. Cambridge, UK: Polity

87

Press, 2003."Physical Description of Jesus, 'The Archko Volume' " 10

August 2006http://www.thenazareneway.com/likeness of our saviour

-The Archko Volume, translated by Drs. McIntosh and Twyman of the Antiquarian Lodge, Genoa, Italy, from manuscripts in Constantinople and the records of the Senatorial Docket taken

from the Vatican of Rome (1896) 92-93.Riffaterre, Michael. “Production of the Novel and the

Intertext”. Text, 2 , 1984.

“ .------------Compulsory Reader Response: the Intertextual Drive .” In: M. Worton and J. Still (eds.). Intertextuality, Theories and

Practices . Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1990.

Salama, Abeer. "Madkhal ila a'laam Bahaa' Taher al-kisassi," al-Haqaeq newspaper 14 December 2004. 22 July 2006 http://www.alhaqaeq.net/defaultch.asp?action=showarticle&issued=0&secid=13&articleid=23866

"Salvation." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 2006. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 20 December 2006

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Salvation&oldid=94811202

"Sibt el-Resala el-Hasan ibn Ali." 22 August 2006http://www.14masom.com/kesa-kasera/08.htm

"Simat wa fada’il el-Hussein." 10 August 2006http://www.darislam.com/home/esdarat/dakhl/qawafel/qawafel4/data/5.htm

Taher, Bahaa'. Khalati Safiyya wal-Dayr. Cairo: Dar al-Hilal, 1991. .----------------al-Hob fi al-Manfa. Cairo: Dar al-Hilal, 1995.

.----------------Bi-l-Amsi Halamtu Bi-k wa qasis ukhra. Kitab fi jarida.

Intro.88

Sabri Hafiz. 22 July 2006http://thaqafa.sakhr.com/ketab/pages.asp?Lnk=al-ams/a001.xml

.---------------Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery: A Novel. Trans. and Intro. Barbara Romaine. Berkeley: University of California Press,

c1996. 22 July 2006

http://WWW.ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft3b69n847/ "The Blessed Virgin Mary." A.J. Maas. Catholic Encyclopedia. Volume

XV . Published 1912. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 10

december 2006

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15464b.htmThe Holy Bible (HB) 1994. 10 December 2006 http://www.bibletranslation.ws/trans/holybible.zipThe Holy Qur’an: Text, Translation and Commentary (HQ). Trans. Abdullah Yusuf Ali. 1988. Elmhurst, NY: Tahrike Tarsile Qur'an, Inc.

"The Lamb (in Early Christian Symbolism)." Maurice M. Hassett.Catholic Encyclopedia. Volume VIII. Published 1910. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 10 December 2006http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08755b.htm

"University of California Press." 1996. 22 July 2006http://www. ucpress . edu/books/pages /6618.html Van Wolde. “Trendy Intertextuality”. In: S. Draisma (ed.). Intertextuality in

Biblical Writings. Berlin: Kok, 1989.Vorster, W. “Intertextuality and Redaktionsgschichte”. In: S.

Draisma (ed.) . Intertextuality in Biblical Writings. Berlin: Kok, 1989.

"What is Christian leadership?" 10 December 2006http://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-leadership.html

Widdowson, H. Practical Stylistics. Oxford: OUP, 1971.

89

Worton, M. and J. Still (eds.). Intertextuality, Theories and Practices . Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1990.

Ya Maleka Barra Nakeya. 10 December 2006http://st-takla.org/Lyrics-Spiritual-Songs/09-Coptic-Taraneem-

Kalemat_Heh-Waw-Yeh/Ya-Maleka-Barra-Nakeya.html "Yasu’ wa el-mara’a." 21 Feb 2007

http://www.newlifeiraq.org/forwomen/jesuswaalmaraa.htm

"Zainab el-Kubra salam Allah ala’iha." 1997. 22 August 2006http://www.rafed.net/woman/d3-10.html

90