The author
Mohsen Abdel Aziz
Mohsen Abdel Aziz, a journalist at Al-Ahram newspaper, began his journalism career at Shabab magazine in 1996. He later moved to Al-Ahram, where he established himself as a prominent writer. He has published two short story collections: the first titled “A Mischievous Boy Troubled by the Country” and the second “Marwa Says She Loves Me”. He also authored the book “Tyranny from the Caliphate to the Presidency”, which has seen three editions so far, with a fourth edition set to be released soon. Additionally, he published “Dialogues with Men of Nasser and Sadat”, and most recently, the novel “A Small Passing Devil”.
Among his latest published works are a short story collection titled “As If I Were Alive” in 2020, released as part of the Aswat series by the General Organization of Cultural Palaces, and the book “The Long Night of the Ottoman Caliphate: A Forgotten Tale of Slaughter”, published by the General Egyptian Book Organization in 2021..
The authorThe slap | Short story
This is not the first time I have stepped out of the television and slap the viewers for their stupidity. I do it often, but no one wants to believe it—not until I slap them across the face with my palm. Only then do they tell their friends or family, yet no one believes them.
I know they don’t believe me because I don’t slap them all at once. Instead, I slap each one individually, and without anyone seeing it. I fear they might gang up on me, beat me, or even kill me. To be extra cautious, I sneak out of the television very slowly, slap a viewer, and quickly return to the TV before the screen’s tear heals, avoiding getting trapped.
Once, the television was old, and I feared that if I stepped out, I might not be able to return. So, I didn’t fully come out, but I stretched my hand through the old screen and slapped a viewer who was trying to adjust the volume that kept fluctuating or cutting out abruptly.
I know many people don’t believe what I do, even though it’s something simpler than, say, the miracle of parting the sea. But people believe what they want to believe, and it becomes a certainty within them. They don’t want to believe me until I slap them one by one. And here I am, doing just that, no matter how much time it takes. I won’t be swayed by pity or mercy for their beautiful cheeks or their terrified eyes. I’ll slap them until they wake up from the delusion they live in. I want to tell them: It’s not just me slapping you, you can examine your thoughts and beliefs. You’ll find many things that slap you day and night, and you can’t respond or escape, nor do you dare.
I slap you because you are inherently evil. You invented what you call the devil to burden him with all your crimes. How can you believe in something called the devil who does evil on your behalf, yet you don’t believe that I can step out of the TV and slap you across your faces? You are the ones who create evil, and the devil exists only in your minds and strange delusions that claim he drags you into evil, while you obey like mindless beasts.
I will keep slapping you like this until your minds are freed, because you are the evil ones, not the devil you claim. The strange thing is, I slap you every day, yet some still deny me and believe in the existence of this so-called devil, for which there is no evidence other than worn-out minds. Meanwhile, the mark of my palm on your cheeks is clear for all to see, and the terror in your eyes doesn’t fade, as if you’ve truly seen the devil.
What goes on in your mind about the devil makes me want to leave the television for good and keep slapping all of you until you wake up—even if it costs me never returning to it again, O followers of the devil.
Salwa Gouda is an Egyptian literary translator, critic, and academic at the English Language and Literature Department at Ain-Shams University. She holds a PhD in English literature and criticism. She received her education at Ain-Shams University and California State University in San Bernardino. Furthermore, she has published several academic books, including “Lectures in English Poetry, and “Introduction to Modern Literary Criticism,” and others. She has also contributed to the translation of “The Arab Encyclopedia for Pioneers,” which includes poets and their poetry, philosophers, historians, and men of letters, under the supervision of UNESCO. A poetry anthology is published recently through Alien Buddha press in Arizona, USA. Additionally, her poetry translations have been published in various international magazines
Translated from Arabic by 
