The Islamic story of the Mi’raj is the story of Muhammad, the founder of the Muslim religion, ascending into heaven. In the Mi’raj, Muhammad starts at the lowest of seven heavens and embarks on a journey to meet God. Muhammad’s experience cleanses him of earthly idolatry and sin, and he meets prophets who prepare him for his ascension.

“Zaabalawi” also features a dream of divine inspiration, and the narrator’s broader spiritual journey mirrors Muhammad’s, although Mahfouz uses a fantastic realist lens to blend the prosaic and divine. By hewing closely to the Mi’raj’s structure and conceits, Mahfouz reframes the ancient story as a democratic spiritual journey in which the anonymous everyday peoples of modern Cairo can attain spiritual transcendence. In each section of the story, its narrator comes closer to meeting Zaabalawi, who represents his ascension. The people the narrator meets along the way are not the great prophets who serve as gatekeepers in the Mi’raj, but they do prepare the narrator’s spirit, ultimately leading him to relinquish his burdened sense of self. These modern revisions to Islamic lore are deeply political in their assertion that ascension is attainable to the common man.