Midaq Alley

Characters of Midaq Alley:

Abbas Hilu — is a young man of the Alley; a barber by profession; he loves the alley deeply and is utterly infatuated with the beautiful Hamida.

Dr. Booshy — is the unlicensed and questionably qualified dentist who practices his dark art in conjunction with Zaita.

Hamida — is the adopted daughter of Umm Hamida. Her birth mother worked with Umm Hamida before her death in childbirth; her father is unknown and presumed dead. Hamida is beautiful, vain, utterly self-centered, and driven by the need for material wealth.

Hasan al-Basari — A Muslim Sufi, lived 643–728 C.E. He was a member of the silsila ("chain"), transmitters of the hadith ("traditions" of the Prophet Muhammad). He taught that true believers in God accent their fear in this world so that Allah will give them security on the Day of Judgment. On the other hand, hypocrites ignore their fear in this world; for this Allah will instill fear in them on the Day of Judgment. Hasan al-Basari also taught that there are two kinds of knowledge: knowledge of the tongue and knowledge of the heart. The knowledge of the tongue is proof against you on the Day of Judgment, while the knowledge of the heart is proof for you. The knowledge of the tongue is the knowledge you know but fail to apply; the knowledge of the heart is the knowledge you both know and apply in your life.

Husniya — the bakeress who beats her husband Jaada with her slipper.

Hussain Kirsha — is Kirsha's son who despises the low-class life of Midaq Alley. Contemptuous of the alley's residents, he seeks to escape a similar fate by working in a British Army camp. Started out working in his father's cafe, then in a bicycle shop, then with the British.

Ibrahim Faraj — is the skilled and persuasive pimp who attempts to lure Hamida away from the alley and into the world of prostitution. He wants to market her services directly to the Westerners who are in Cairo during this time.

Ibrahim Farhat — a local politician.

Jaada — and Husniyya are the bakers of Midaq Alley.

Kirsha — owns the cafй that is the central focal point of Midaq Alley. A hashish addict, a seller of narcotics, and a man who is attracted to young boys, Kirsha provides much fodder for the gossips of Midaq Alley.

Kirsha, Mrs. — despises her husband and is humiliated by his relationships with young boys. She has a harsh tongue and is not afraid to use it against her husband. Mrs. Kirsha nursed the orphaned Hamida along with her son Hussain when both were infants; she thus became a foster mother to Hamida while Hussain became Hamida's foster brother.

Poet, The (only appears in the first chapter) — his story-telling is replaced by a radio at the cafe, and is thereafter barred by Kirsha.

Radwan Hussainy — is a pious Muslim and regarded by the residents of the alley as a religious scholar; he is often called upon to settle their disputes and to intercede in times of trouble. Radwan Hussainy is a Job-like character: he has lost all of his children to death, and his faith grows stronger through suffering. He owns one of the two residences of Midaq Alley; Abbas and Uncle Kamil live on his first floor; Kirsha's family lives on the third floor. Radwan Hussainy is unsparingly tolerant of everyone else, but he is cruel and controlling of his faithful and subservient wife.

Salim Alwan — is the proprietor of a perfume company and a thriving business in black market goods. Salim Alwan has an insatiable sexual appetite that is nurtured by an exotic aphrodisiac that he consumes every day.

Saniyya Afify — is a wealthy and miserly widow who owns the second residence of the alley. She rents out the first floor to Dr. Booshy, and the second floor to Umm Hamida and Hamida. She is driven inexplicably to remarry and prefers young men. A woman nearly fifty years old, she is offered a thirty year old groom by Umm Hamida.

Sanker — is the waiter in Kirsha's cafe.

Sheikh Darwish — was once a teacher in religious foundation schools; the intrusion of governmental controls resulted in his demotion and his eventual psychological breakdown. Though he has no home and no familial connections, he is strangely at home everywhere. The residents of the alley regard him as a spiritual mystic.

Umm Hamida — earns her income as a bath attendant and as an arranger of marriages. She is Hamida's foster mother.

Uncle Kamil — good-hearted, bachelor, sweets-seller, is the best friend of Abbas, the barber; famously bloated and sleepy.

Zaita — is the "Cripple Maker" who makes a living by crippling healthy people so that they can beg. He collects a portion of their earnings. He is a hideous and repulsive character; he lives in squalor in the tiny room he rents from Husniyya and Jaada. He lusts after Husniyya.