A Man of Awesome power by Naquib Mahfouz _ A SILENT SONG AND OTHER STORIES

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 The Plot Summary


Tayyib al-Mahdi is a man who believes that he has completed his mission in life and is living a contented, retired existence in an apartment in Nasr City. His current life is peaceful and uneventful. He spends time watching television, reading newspapers or listening to the radio in the comfort of his apartment that he shares with his wife since his daughters are already married. 


One night, a man of radiant appearance appears to him in a dream and tells him that he has the power to make things happen simply by saying "Be!" At first, Tayyib is skeptical of the dream, but when he tries out his new power by commanding the television to change channels and makes it happen, he realizes that the dream was real. Endowed with the newly acquired power, he sets out to reform his country and the entire planet as he had often wished.


He begins to use his power in various ways, such as making a taxi driver's tires explode when the driver refuses to pick him up, making a television broadcaster sneeze uncontrollably, and forcing a corrupt businessman to go to the tax prosecutor's office to repent and pay his debts.


As he uses his power more and more, Tayyib becomes more confident and ambitious, and he begins to draw up a comprehensive plan for using his power to reform his country and the world.


However, after a brief period of happiness and success with using his power, Tayyib makes a grave mistake that cause his power to be taken from him.


The start of the mistake - Tayyib falls in love with a woman at the zoo.


Culmination of the mistake - Tayyib uses his power to make the woman at the zoo fall in love with him.


Consequence of the mistake - Their (Tayyib and  the woman at the zoo) intimacy costs him his incredible power. He pays this price for misusing the power that God had freely given him. 


After this realization that his power has disappeared Tayyib is left feeling sad and regretful.


For though Tayyib is busy planning to effectively utilise his power for the good of all sectors in the country the forementioned unfortunate incident (THE MISTAKE) caused by his greed (which is a bad and selfish use of his power) occurs and thus he loses it all.


Tayyib not only loses the power given to him freely by God but also the comfort and contentment that he had at the begining of the story. Afterall, Tayyib experiences a tremendous sadness that

will haunt him for the rest of his life. 


The plot tells a story of the ideal growth into power positions and how individuals grow from honest intentions to self-centeredness.

The short of it, "The moral man who eventually abuses his power."

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