God's World (Dunyā Allah) is a short story collection by the Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz.
[1] The stories in the collection were published separately in Al-Ahram newspaper between 1961-1962,[2] and they present causes and visions relevant to the 1950s and early 1960s.
[3] ‘God’s World’ was published after 25 years after the publication of Mahfouz's first short story collection ‘Hams Al-Junun' or ‘Whisper of Madness.’ During the period between these two collections, Mahfouz had already established himself as a novelist, for some of his most notable novels were published during that period, like ‘Autumn Quail’ and ‘Medaq Alley.’ It is believed that his becoming a member of Al-Ahram's editorial team drove him to pick up his interest in short stories once more.
[2] One of Mahfouz's most popular works, the collection gained traction amidst thinkers, readers, and critics, as well as common people.
[5] Additionally, the Syrian writer Georges Tarabichi dedicated a whole chapter in his book (God in Naguib Mahfouz's Symbolistic Journey (Allah fi rihlat Najib Mahfuz al-ramziyyah)) to analyzing and explaining of the stories in the collection, “Zaabalawi.” Tarabichi and other critics state that “Zaabalawi” is the core story of his popular nove (Children of Gebelawi).