Dinner with Muhammad and Other Stories

All the stories in this book are set in Egypt and all the events and characters, though totally fictional, were inspired by real-life events and individuals. They are dramatic representations of the lives of persons caught in a web of social and political events and of how they adapted, or maladapted, to the varying situations which they encountered. The stories vividly and closely depict a great deal of the spirit of Egypt, its customs, and its unique culture. They accomplish this feat through distinctive formats, plots, wording of some sentences, and particularly the dialogue. The book takes the reader deep into the world that the stories emanated from and yet maintains a link and a reference point to the global and general set of values common to all humankind. The three stories: "Honor," "Dinner with Muhammad," and "Alexandria" could easily be described as novellas due to their length. "Honor" is about honor killing, not an unknown phenomenon in the Middle East. "Alexandria" is about the Jews who were driven out of Egypt following 1948, the year Israel declared itself a state."Dinner with Muhammad" is about a man who gradually came to believe that he is more virtuous than everyone else and became so critical of others in the name of religion at the expense of love, tolerance, and humanity. Of the other two shorter stories, "The Moulid Doll" portrays a man in denial of the ruin that he brought upon himself and how he began to face his dilemma and to realize the depth of his misery. We are left at the end with the question of whether the realization is a new beginning or an end. The other story, "God's Other People," is a dark, fearsome journey steeped in superstitions, black magic, curses, amulets, and native rituals.