Zaabalawi

Mahfouz's short story Zaabalawi is about a man who seeks to find the Zaabalawi, which is a healer, in order to cure an illness which possesses no remedy. The narrator searches high and low for the Zaabalawi and is practically sent on a wild goose chase. The main point of the story is that "Once you love  Zaabalawi, you will be healed." The cure for his illness is not in a physical form but more in a spiritual form. It never quite states exactly what the narrator's disease is but I believe it is something as simple as boredom with life. In the first book of The Hunger Games, it states that "Hope is the only thing stronger than fear." A person without hope or faith in something has nothing to live for. By encountering people that have had contact with Zaabalawi, the narrator begins to have hope that one day he will personally find him and the Zaabalawi even makes an appearance while the narrator is asleep in order to encourage him to continue to seek. The irony of the story is that the narrator is being cured just by simply seeking the Zaabalawi. Many people become unhappy with their lives and strive for a greater being. In the modern world God can be compared to the Zaabalawi. Although we can not physically meet him, people continuously seek to be in his presence. Just like the Zaabalawi, God urges people to seek him, and when they do he blesses them beyond what they could have ever imagined.