The devil preaches - Naguib Mahfouz

found himself after that between two; fleeing or standing firm. decided to stand firm. nothing behind fleeing but mockery and loss, but standing firm he practices his manhood in it, and let whatever happens after that happen. perhaps standing firm ended with him in the mockery of the envious, but fleeing warns of something worse. and whenever matters become complicated and the meaning becomes unclear to his understanding, he said to himself mockingly: safety is not the preferred goal in this world. this collection of stories written by Naguib Mahfouz in the late seventies came as a revolution and anger at what Egypt experienced of economic openness that negatively affected a wide segment of Egyptians, leading to unemployment, behavioral deviation, societal disintegration, and the emergence of a new wealthy class. Mahfouz used symbolism skillfully to talk about the negatives of the phase and its men; so in the story "The Second Man," he talks about the ideal hero who falls between two major gangsters, Shibli and Dinar, symbolizing the repeated youth revolution in the seventies against injustice and tyranny. As for the story "Amshir," it symbolizes illicit wealth and the inevitable fall in the end. In "Ayyub," he contemplates life in a philosophical style and elegant language, emphasizing that a person should not be preoccupied with ambitions and accumulating wealth at the expense of his psychological peace and mental clarity, among other stories loaded with connotations and important implications.