Existentialist analysis of Omar as the first personality of the novel Al-Shahaz (beggar) by Najib Mahfouz

Philosophy and literature have always had a close connection, and each has a great impact on the other. Existentialism is one of the philosophical schools that are closely related to the literature. Similarly, literature as an approach has affected existentialism. Some figures such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Simon de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, Dostoevsky, and Gabriel Marcel have introduced philosophical concepts through various literary forms. Existentialism addresses the common concerns of human existence, such as human suffering, the meaning of life, immortality, hope, love, faith, disappointment, futility of the world, liberation, death, and other human existential issues.
 Through a descriptive-analytical method, the present study aims at the existentialist manifestations of the novel Al-Shahaz. The most important components that have been considered in this research as the main axis of revising existentialist thoughts are mortality, the meaning of life, liberation, wandering, dread, anxiety, and a luscious look at the past. The result of the research suggests that the profound and proper understanding of the novel Al-Shahaz is based on the analysis of existentialist presuppositions. The title of the novel (i.e. beggar) is a manifestation of human destitution, which provides evidence for this claim. The existentialist strains of the novel postulate it in the category of existentialist works of the literature.