The shadow of Hegel in the Cairo Trilogy

This article shows that a Hegelian spirit pervades The Cairo Trilogy by examining two landmarks: time as a continuous dialectical flow from the contradictions and internal conflicts of one cycle towards a new one, and the relationships between men and women. Mafū seems to echo Hegel's idea that the effect of time and history on society is different from, and even sometimes contrary to, the sum of their effects on individuals. But Mafū does not follow Hegel in depriving women of a role equal to men's in changing the social norms. Thus he seems to understand the master-slave dialectic in a Marxian way more consistent than Hegel's own use of it. Hegel and conservative Islam view women as distinguished from and inferior to men by nature, while Mafū represents a modern open-minded non-discriminating attitude. The Cairo Trilogy begins with the dominance of the Patriarch (al-Sayyid) but ends heralding the dawn of women's emancipation.