Midaq Alley (Arabic: زقاق المدق, romanized: Zuqāq al-Midaqq)[1] is a 1947 novel by Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz, first published in English in 1966.

The story is about Midaq Alley in Khan el-Khalili, a teeming back street in Cairo which is presented as a microcosm of the world.

Mahfouz plays on the cultural setting.

The novel takes place in the 1940s and represents standing on the threshold of a modern era in Cairo and the rest of the nation as a whole.

Each character is expressed like a caricature in which one quality or trait is over-emphasized.