Abstract:
The Holy Qur’an is irrefutably considered one of the most important sources from which
ancient and contemporary novelists drew inspiration and projected them into their creative
works due to its connection to people’s conscience and its great influence on their souls due
to its sanctity. The present study has started from the realization that Naguib Mahfouz’s novel
is believed to be highly intertextual with the Quranic texts and that readers who are unfamiliar
of this type of intertextuality may misunderstand and misinterpret a text that contains
intertextual references to the Quran. Therefore, the study aims to investigate the Quranic
intertextuality in Naguib Mahfouz's 1975 novel "Hadrah al Muhtaram" for the purpose of
comprehending the reason behind its utilization in the texts. The researcher's hypothesis is
that by revealing such potential intertextual features, it will be possible to read, understand,
and interpret Naguib Mahfouz's literary works more effectively. The study found that Naguib
Mahfouz is deeply influenced by Islamic culture and inspired by the Holy Quran as evidenced
by the significance presences of Quranic verses that the novel imbibed at the levels of events
and narration in order to enrich the fictional texts to produce new connotations in line with
the contexts. The result of the study also indicates that novel writing is in dire need of such
literary vitality from the overlap and mixing of texts mechanism known as intertextuality since
it is a significant and practical tool for both text creators and readers.
