First appearing in song lyrics, Zaabalawi proves to be an enigmatic figure. He never appears directly in the story, and while multiple characters describe him, their descriptions ultimately reflect their own preoccupations; they see in Zaabalawi whatever they want or expect to see. When the narrator asks his father who Zaabalawi is, he tells the boy that he is a healer. Artists describe Zaabalawi as a source of inspiration. The book vendor recalls Zaabalawi fondly in association with his youth. Most telling is the fact that the average man on the street has largely forgotten Zaabalawi, or else labeled him a trickster or charlatan.

Ultimately, Zaabalawi is no man at all but rather a symbol of spiritual awakening—specifically, the bliss of steady and focused awareness that Sufi mysticism seeks. Sufism is an ascetic Islamic practice that aims to dissolve the self and join with the godhead in a unifying existential experience. Zaabalawi is therefore a state of mind rather than a man; just as a particular experience of listening to music (a motif associated with divinity) cannot be captured in a score, Zaabalawi cannot be found in the streets of any material city, but only within an individual soul.