Quranic Intertextuality in Naguib Mahfouz’s Novel: “Hadrah Al Muhtaram” As an Example

Abstract

The Holy Qur’an is irrefutably considered one of the most important sources from which ancient and contemporary novelists drew inspiration and projected them into their creative works due to its connection to people’s conscience and its great influence on their souls due to its sanctity. The present study has started from the realization that Naguib Mahfouz’s novel is believed to be highly intertextual with the Quranic texts and that readers who are unfamiliar of this type of intertextuality may misunderstand and misinterpret a text that contains intertextual references to the Quran. Therefore, the study aims to investigate the Quranic intertextuality in Naguib Mahfouz's 1975 novel "Hadrah al Muhtaram" for the purpose of comprehending the reason behind its utilization in the texts. The researcher's hypothesis is that by revealing such potential intertextual features, it will be possible to read, understand, and interpret Naguib Mahfouz's literary works more effectively. The study found that Naguib Mahfouz is deeply influenced by Islamic culture and inspired by the Holy Quran as evidenced by the significance presences of Quranic verses that the novel imbibed at the levels of events and narration in order to enrich the fictional texts to produce new connotations in line with the contexts. The result of the study also indicates that novel writing is in dire need of such literary vitality from the overlap and mixing of texts mechanism known as intertextuality since it is a significant and practical tool for both text creators and readers.