The Lamp of Umm Hashim (1/3)

(Features of Realism)

(ARS101-ENG06)

Lecture (16)

Dr. Ehab Atta Modern Arabic Literature MIU

Analysis
1- From childhood until baccalaureate.

2- Seven years in Europe studying medicine.

3- Return to Egypt with new concepts in life.

Dr. Ehab Atta Modern Arabic Literature MIU

Summary (1/3)
• This was the first fictional work in Arabic to deal with the
psychological difficulties that were faced by students returning home
after being sent to Europe to complete their studies.
• The novella tells the story of a young man who, after financial
sacrifices by his father, goes to England to pursue his medical studies.
• He comes from a conservative family and its torn between the new
influences to which he is exposed in England, including a love affair
with an English girl, and his own religious upbringing.

Dr. Ehab Atta Modern Arabic Literature MIU

Summary (2/3)
• The narrator recounts the story of his uncle Ismail, who grew up in
the precincts of Umm Hashim. The neighbourhood dominates his life:
it's been good to his family, and for a long time: "His life did not take
him outside the quarter itself and the square".
• A bright boy, he does well at school until the time of his
baccalaureate; he passes, but his grades aren't good enough to get
him into the Faculty of Medicine, as the family had hoped. So his
father makes a great sacrifice and sends the boy abroad.

Dr. Ehab Atta Modern Arabic Literature MIU

Summary (3/3)
• Ismail spends seven years in England, studying ophthalmology with
great success. He suffers a crisis there, but finds himself -- and "this
new self had cast aside religious belief, it had subsEtuted for it a
stronger faith in science" (a change that also means a break with
Mary, the woman who had been so supporEve of him).
• When Ismail returns to Egypt this, especially, is a cause of conflict -- in
parEcular in the person of FaEma, the girl who had long been
promised to him.

Dr. Ehab Atta Modern Arabic Literature MIU

1- From childhood until baccalaureate
(1) The title
(2) The square of Sayyida Zaynab
(3) Ismail’s changing feelings
(4) Illusion treatment
(5) The call to adventure

Dr. Ehab Atta Modern Arabic Literature MIU

(1) The title

Dr. Ehab Atta Modern Arabic Literature MIU

(1) The title

Dr. Ehab Atta Modern Arabic Literature MIU

(2) The square of Sayyida Zaynab

Dr. Ehab Atta Modern Arabic Literature MIU

(2) The square of Sayyida Zaynab

Dr. Ehab Atta Modern Arabic Literature MIU

(3) Ismail’s changing feelings

Dr. Ehab Atta Modern Arabic Literature MIU

(3) Ismail’s changing feelings

Dr. Ehab Atta Modern Arabic Literature MIU

(3) Ismail’s changing feelings

Dr. Ehab Atta Modern Arabic Literature MIU

(3) Ismail’s changing feelings
• The turn of the story is disturbing in its simplistic claim of faith's superiority
over reason. Miracles are easy to offer in fiction, but offer feeble support
for what is a very bold argument to make.
• Despite that, 'The Lamp of Umm Hashim' is an impressive story, particularly
in its descriptions of Ismail's changing feelings, from the first surges of
confusing adolescent sexual longing to his varying feelings about and
attitudes towards his family at the various stages in his life. The
Egyptian/European clash of tradition and modernity is quite well presented
too -- though only in flashes, with Ismail's life in England, in particular,
underdeveloped. Certainly, there is enough material here for a much larger
novel, but Hakki's style makes it enjoyable even in this compressed (as far
as the events go) presentation.
Dr. Ehab Atta Modern Arabic Literature MIU
(4) Illusion treatment

Dr. Ehab Atta Modern Arabic Literature MIU

(4) Illusion treatment

Dr. Ehab Atta Modern Arabic Literature MIU

(4) Illusion treatment
• Fatima suffers from trachoma, and it has gotten worse and worse.
Ismail's parents treat her with oil from the lamp of Umm Hashim -- a
caustic substance that Ismail is certain does far more harm. So he
undertakes her treatment with all the appropriate medicines -- and,
of course, fails miserably, blinding the girl.
• No fear: he eventually sees the light, embraces superstition once
again, and then doses Fatima's eyes with the holy oil (leading -- no
surprise -- to a miraculous recovery ...). Having seen the light, he sets
up shop in a poor neighbourhood and lives quite happily everafter
(with Fatima bearing him five sons and six daughters ...)
Dr. Ehab Atta Modern Arabic Literature MIU
(5) The call to adventure

Dr. Ehab Atta Modern Arabic Literature MIU

(5) The call to adventure

Dr. Ehab Atta Modern Arabic Literature MIU

(5) The call to adventure

Dr. Ehab Atta Modern Arabic Literature MIU

(5) The call to adventure

Dr. Ehab Atta Modern Arabic Literature MIU

(5) The call to adventure

Dr. Ehab Atta Modern Arabic Literature MIU

Sources
1- The lamp of Umm Hashim: and other stories, by Ḥaqqī, Yaḥyá; Johnson-
Davies, Denys. Modern Arabic literature., 2006, 1st paperback ed.

2- "The Lamp of Umm Hāshim": The EgypRan Intellectual between East and
West, by Badawi, M. M. Journal of Arabic Literature, 01/1970, Volume 1.

3- One Face of the Hero: Reading Yaḥyā Ḥaqqī's Qindīl Umm Hāshim as
Modern Myth, by Bell, Gregory J. Journal of Arabic Literature, 01/2010,
Volume 41, Issue 1/2

Dr. Ehab Atta Modern Arabic Literature MIU