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This chapter opens with a statement that Egyptians hold the most superstitions of all Arabs, with much of it stemming from religious belief, claiming the most prominent example to be that of the jinn. It discusses the types of jinn believed to exist and how they behave, where belief in them comes from and where they are thought to come from, as well how people generally fear and seek to keep avoid them. It then turns to the questions of saints, looking at what authority they hold, how they gain this status, and the stories that are told about them. It also looks at the veneration of deceased famous saints, such as Sayyida Zeinab, and the mulids held for their birthdays. Finally, this chapter discusses darwishes—the different orders, their religious practices and performances, and their backgrounds.

This chapters looks at the various written charms—such as certain passages from the Quran or the names of God—that were worn, engraved, or hung up, as well as the rituals to protect against disease, misfortune, and the jinn. The most common was to protect against the evil eye—cowrie shells, alum, and mixtures of herbs and salts, were commonly used. Other practices were also used to cure sickness or disability, and this chapter describes the systems and beliefs used to determine the course of action. It ends with a run down on which days of the week are considered ‘fortunate’ and auspicious.

This chapter examines questions of experience and trauma in Tayeb Salih's Mawsim al-Hijra ila al-Shamal (Season of Migration to the North) (1966). Fictionalizing the Arab-African encounter with European colonialism and technology, Salih aligns England and the Sudan, colonial wars and World War I, in order to highlight the colonized man's attempts to witness, return to, and capture the colonial encounter. Confronting ghosts and memories, recognizing voices and tracing smells oozing from decomposing bodies, Salih's narrative deploys a postcolonial sensorium that leads the reader to expose the fantasmatic production of the East/West relation. Engaging the Sudan in this study of Arab modernity in trials calls attention to its exclusion from modern Arab political and cultural models. Salih's text reintroduces the Sudan into the narrative of Arab modernity by destabilizing the Europe- Mashriq (Middle East, Levant) and Europe-Maghrib (NorthWest Africa) axes through which Arabic literature, thought, and history are investigated in a comparative context. The Sudan is reintroduced alongside Arab modernity's accidents, trials, and events that were also excluded, made absent, or forced to disappear in order for a specific master narrative of Arab modernity to maintain its coherence and linearity.