Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Zaabalawi #4

Discuss the importance of the calligrapher Hassanein (806-807). What might he indicate about the nature of Zaabalawi?
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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousNovember 17, 2009 at 11:26 PM

    After reading the section over, I feel that Zaabalawi may have been considered a spirit of some sort. Everyone says that he is alive but cannot be tracked, that he comes and goes as he pleases and credits him for the miracles in their lives. The places that them main character were directed all seemed to either provide him with some sort of knowledge or good company, both which he may have been in need of. Maybe he found Zaabalawi at all of his destinations, but did not know because he was looking for what he thought Zaabalawi should look like. Out of all the directions and information that was giving about Zaabalawi, no one offers any physical description of Zaabalawi except Old Hassanein (page 807), “And his face possesses an unforgettable beauty. But where is he?”

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  2. raisinsklNovember 19, 2009 at 1:17 AM

    The importance of calligrapher Hassanein is that he remained faithful to the memory and growth that he had experienced with Zaabalawi. His life reflected his spirituality and servitude toward to Zaabalawi (I think he called him Allah). The narrator was hoping him to help find him. But Hassanein described Zaabalawi had not visited him lately. The narrator and he expressed how desperately they are in need of Zaabalawi, without Zaabalawi his life is without meaningful. This also tells us that one who highly spiritual tend to credits his/her finest works to god.

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  3. Tsegu KahsayNovember 20, 2009 at 3:25 PM

    I think the word I was looking for is luck. In the past posts I did not include luck in between hope and miracle, but now I think I will relate Zaalabawi with "luck". The calligrapher responded like this when the narrator asked him whether Zaalabawi was his friend or not. He said "He would visit you so often that people would immagine he was your nearest and dearest, then would disappear as though he'd never existed.". This means that when things get good with you and people see you those miracles are happening only for you, you are considered lucky. So you have good luck, and if suddenly those miracles stop, may be would start to happen to some other person, people would say "you were lucky at that time but not now".

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