"Qismati and Nasibi" is a short story written by Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz and included in the short story collection I Saw, in a Dream, published in 1982. It was included in a collection of short stories written in Arabic Modern Arabic Short Stories: A Bilingual Reader,[1] edited/translated into English by Ronak Husni and Daniel Newman.[2][3]: 76–77 The title in Arabic means "My Fate and My Destiny."
The story opens with a presentation of Mohsen Khalil, a spice seller. Despite his good fortune and many prayers, this man and his wife Sitt Anabaya have been unable to conceive. At the age of forty, Sitt discovers that she is pregnant. She gives birth to conjoined twins, a child with one body and two chests and heads. The parents are distraught but resigned to this fate. They name one child Qismati and the other one Nasibi, though they are registered on the birth certificate as one child. Each develops a distinct physical aspect: Qismati has a dark complexion with hazel eyes while Nasibi is fair with black eyes. Nasibi is naughty and destructive; he enjoys chasing chickens and torturing cats. Qismati is submissive and quietly religious.
Socialization for the child is difficult because the situation is so unusual. The neighbors are curious but cautious and the parents have to bribe them to get their children to play with Nasibi and Qismati. Amourous affection for a young girl named Samiha provokes aggression and jealousy in the twins, and then a black eye and a bloody lip. Schooling must be done in the home, where Qismati proves an able and engaged student while Nasibi is uninterested and has little talent for learning. Nasibi does all he can to undermine his brother's efforts. Even fasting becomes an issue because when Qismati wants to fast, Nasibi eats and fills their shared abdomen.
As they grow older, the boys become more different in their character and demeanor, and increasingly dislike each other. This creates a terrible and unsolvable dilemma since they cannot separate from each other. Qismati enjoys reading and learning; Nasibi prefers to run outside and annoy the neighbors. These differences cause countless fights and the parents grow increasingly wearied by the constant conflict. Despite the counseling of their father to find compromise and harmony, the boys cannot resolve their differences and refuse to love each other. They are provided a wife and a job working in their father's shop, but these benefits do nothing to allay the twins' despair. They blame each other and their parents for the misfortune of their birth. Nasibi becomes more and more miserable, aging prematurely as his health declines. Finally he dies, leaving Qismati in the strange position of carrying his brother's dead corpse around to live a half-life, half-death. Unable to adjust, Qismati, too, dies shortly afterward.
Translators Ronak Husni and Daniel Newman have described the story as tragicomedy, magical realism, and as an allegory with multiple interpretations,[1] which has prompted comparisons to some of Mahfouz's other works such as Children of Our Alley.[4] "Qismati and Nasibi" has been interpreted by the former Minister of Spain[specify] as an allegory of the Arab-Israeli conflict, an interpretation that Mahfouz has described as 'strange' and over which has expressed frustration while also acknowledging that the reception and interpretation of a work depends on the reader, since each reader understands a work differently.[5]
The story also features themes such as good and evil, the social responsibility of man, and death.[4]
Because Quismati and Nasibi was included in the very accessible collection of Arabic short stories translated into English, it receives a good deal of popular attention. It is analyzed, for example, in the collection of Menomim Menonimus[6] and the IvyPanda Study Hub.[7]