The Seventh Heaven by Naguib Mahfouz Read Free Book Online Page B

has no importance.
    ” “I’m glad to see you,” answered Anous. “And I’m glad to see you,” responded Raouf.
13
    Raouf rapidly began to acquaint Anous with his new environs, then told him, “Here is Abu—your lawyer,” when the ancient ex-Egyptian arrived.
    “Welcome, Anous, to the First Heaven,” said Abu.
    “You mean, it was written that I should go to heaven?” Anous asked in shock.
    “Be patient. The road is much longer than you conceive,” Abu replied with his well-practiced smile.
    Abu then began to inform him of the facts he needed to know about his new world, about the system of trials, and the kinds of verdicts to expect in them. He paraded Anous’ beastly actions in front of him like ugly ghosts, until the young man’s face grimaced and—wobbling with despair—he could endure no more.
    Despite this, Abu said, “In any case, it is my mission to defend you.”
    “Is there a chance you could succeed in that?” Anous pleaded. “Will it lighten the burden of my sins that I was deprived of life at an early age?”
    “You lost it at the hand of a girl defending her honor asyou attacked her. Then you left her facing a charge for your murder.”
    “That’s true,” admitted Anous. “How I wish I could become her spiritual guide.”
    “She was successful, as was her spiritual mentor. She has no need of you.”
    “Does that mean I’m damned?”
    “No doubt your father lurks behind your corruption,” said Abu. “He is the one who led you astray, who filled you with selfishness, who suggested that you harm people, who whispered in your ear that you should perpetrate crimes as though you owned the whole world.”
    “You’ve spoken the truth,” Anous said animatedly, seeing his hopes revived.
    “Yet, since you have your own mind, heart, and will, you are judged on your own account,” said Abu.
    “My father’s power numbed all my powers completely!”
    “Heaven holds you responsible for yourself—and for the world altogether.”
    “Isn’t that responsibility far above the abilities of any human being?”
    “But you bear it in exchange for the gift of life itself,” reproved Abu.
    “But I was born without any say in the matter!”
    “Rather, you took this pact upon yourself while you were still in the womb.”
    “In all honesty, I have no memory of that.”
    “It is incumbent upon you to remember.”
    “This is a prosecution, not a defense!”
    “We must establish the truth,” explained Abu.
    “I was not without good qualities—I sought knowledge, and I loved sincerely, as well,” said Anous.
    “You sought knowledge merely as a means to achieve status, while your love was but a presumptuous urge to possess the girl who belonged to your poverty-stricken friend.”
    “She never left my mind for one moment….”
    “That was nothing but arrogance and desire.”
    Clinging to any thread, Anous pointed at Raouf. “I maintained a pure friendship!” he claimed.
    “Did you not ultimately kill it off brutally?”
    “I suffered enormous sadness afterward,” said Anous.
    “That is uncontestable,” admitted Abu.
    “And what of my love for cats and my tenderness toward them?”
    “That, too, is beautiful.”
    Abu reflected for a moment, then resumed his interrogation. “What was your attitude toward your father’s tyranny?”
    “I was just a dutiful son!”
    “Such devotion was hardly appropriate in a case like yours.”
    “Some of his actions always disgusted me.”
    “Yet you greatly admired other things he did that were no less appalling.”
    “If only I had lived long enough to change all that….”
    “You are being tried for what was, not for what might have been.”
    “… Or if I could be given another chance.”
    “Perhaps that could be arranged,” mused Abu.
    “When will I appear in court?”
    “Your trial is already concluded,” replied Abu solemnly. “Anous Qadri, I regret to inform you that you have been condemned.”
    At these words, like a wisp of