What does Sheikh al Junaydi represent in The Thief and the Dogs? How is he significant to the characterization of Said Mahran? How does he contribute to the themes of the text?
Although Sheikh Junaydi doesn’t show up a lot in the book he is a vital character throughout the book and we still learn many things from his character and view a different perspective that he sheds light upon. A Sheikh is basically like an Islamic leader- directly translated a Sheikh is a man of great, high power and nobility. The character of Sheikh Junaydi is a Sufi Muslim- he represents a protector or a helper who has a particular way of order and spiritual teachings in order to reach ultimate truth. With Sufism, a Sheikh takes on quietism and self-reflection in aims of approaching Allah and has no interest in materialistic items or in wealth yet stays intact with their meditative and peaceful nature. This can be clearly seen when evaluating Sheikh Junaydi’s character in The Thief and the Dogs.
Sheikh Junaydi therefore represents the morality in the book. He seeks to help Said Mahran find the right path but in the first encounter between him and Said, we already see that Said doesn’t want that. After Sana rejects Said, he seeks the Sheikh, but before he has even started to interact with him we travel into Said’s mind and explore his thoughts: “ Said found himself bending over his hand to kiss it, suppressing tears of nostalgia for his father, his boyish hopes, the innocent purity of the distant past. "Peace and God's compassion be upon you," said the Sheikh in a voice like Time. What had his father's voice been like? He could see his father's face and his lips moving, and tried to make his eyes do the service of ears, but the voice had gone.” We learn that Said feels more connected to the Sheikh only due to his father and how he sees the Sheikh as a fatherly figure because his own father used to be good friends and practice Islam in the same mosque leading him to feel nostalgic for his father. We see how Said describes the Sheikh’s voice as Time, already representing his high and greatly power. But as they continue to converse, we see the Sheikh is telling Said to start praying but Said finds many reasons and tries to justify not praying by saying things such as: “"She committed adultery with one of my men, a lay about, a mere pupil of mine, utterly servile. She applied for divorce on grounds of my imprisonment and went and married him." The Sheikh would keep repeating for him to go “wash and read” as Said continued to justify not praying. The Sheikh then tells him to repeat the verse: “Say to them: if you love God, then follow me and God will love you" which reminds him of his father, knowing that it’s the right act to do but he knows that he is truly only there in order to seek a roof over his head.
We observe how the Sheikh tries to lead Said into a better path, take his mind off his hard time and instead put faith in Allah but Said fails to accept that guidance. The Sheikh contributed to the idea of morality and justice which helps us see how he and Said serve as foils to one another which is more visible in Chapter 8 where Said goes back to the Sheikh after having killed the wrong man. At this point, Said is justifying his actions while the Sheikh is telling him riddles that are words of wisdom in order to advise him. The Sheikh believes that Said should not be too obsessed with the world around him but rather focus on his own wellbeing and follow his own free will which in turn contributed to his own downfall.
