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A character in The Queue

Mahfouz

Mahfouz is Shalaby’s cousin and a member of the Quell Force who dies during the Disgraceful Events.

The book

Cover of The Queue by Basma Abdel Aziz
The QueueBasma Abdel Aziz, 2013

An endless queue waits before a bureaucracy that controls permits, medicine, information, and official reality.

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Who they are in the book

Spoiler-free

Mahfouz is Shalaby’s cousin and a member of the Quell Force who dies during the Disgraceful Events. He never appears alive in the main narrative, but arguments over whether he was a martyr or a participant in state violence shape Shalaby’s place in the queue. The Gate repeatedly changes the account of the unrest, making Mahfouz’s memory part of its propaganda. His exact actions remain filtered through conflicting claims.

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