Mahfouz turned away from Western literature and looked to Arabic modes for narrative inspiration. Medieval Arabic influence was shown in the story's episodic style with little interest in a central plot. Mahfouz used the Journey of Ibn Battuta as an inspiration but his character, Ibn Fattouma travels through time, not space. Each land fits into the evolution of civilization. The Journey is an allegory for Mahfouz's search for a perfect socio-political system. Each land was named after its time in the history of man; Mashriq was sunrise, Haira bewilderment, Halba arena, Aman security, Ghuroub sunset, and Gebel mountain. This story ends in the present as it is fitting that it does not continue into the future. Mahfouz shows the progression of man from undeveloped to modern, developed civilizations.[6]
The land of Mashriq (or Sunrise in the original text) represents the origin of human society. A tribal land, it has an animist religion and the people live comparatively simply to Qindil's homeland. Next in the progression is the land of Haira (or Bewilderment), a land representing the transition to absolute monarchies in the course of human civilization. Haira incites a war against Mashriq, triumphs and promptly takes over it, showing the spread of monarchy as well as the spread of these empires. Next is Halba (or Arena), a land of freedom, where all religions are tolerated and freedom of speech is guaranteed and practice. However, it is plagued by crime. The democracy engages in war against Halba, succeeds, and takes over Haira, like the revolutions and change to democracy in much of the world in the 18th to 20th centuries. Next is Aman (or Security), a communist society in which equality is enforced and the government controls all aspects of society. The president, however, has absolute power and has a distinct social and monetary advantage over the commoners. A parallel in the world would be the Soviet Union. The land engages in a war with Halba and takes over Ghuroub out of fear of Halba taking it, much like the influence America and the Soviet Union had over other countries in the Cold War of recent times. The victor is left ambiguous, just as the victor of the Cold War was unknown in 1983, when the novel was written. Last is the land of Gebel (or Mountain); a utopia. It represents the climax of human society and the workings of the society are left unknown, just as the workings of a utopia today are unknown to humanity.
