Zaabalawi

Why does the narrator’s father seem to doubt the narrator’s ability to understand when he asks about Zaabalawi? Does the narrator come to meaningfully understand the answer to the question he posed as a boy?

How are Sheikh Gad and Sheikh Qamar’s respective receptions of the narrator different? What does this difference suggest about their respective relationships to Zaabalawi?

Sheikh Gad describes Zaabalawi as “the epitome of all things musical [...] you have only to hear him to want to burst into song and to be inspired to creativity” (9). If Zaabalawi is an allegory for spiritual awakening, what is Mahfouz saying about music’s role in spirituality? Where else is music used in “Zaabalawi”?