# The Mercy of Allah — Character guide

> Key figures in The Mercy of Allah by Hilaire Belloc.

- [Mahmoud](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mercy_of_allah_se/characters/mahmoud.md): Mahmoud is an elderly merchant of enormous wealth whose casual opinions make markets tremble, and whose brother El-Hakim he cheerfully promises to disinherit. He agrees to instruct his seven nephews in the art of getting
- [The old man](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mercy_of_allah_se/characters/the_old_man.md): He is Mahmoud grown old, holding his nephews spellbound with the harrowing story of how he lost a million dinars. His flaw is a fatal appetite for ease — books, gardens, manuscripts — which he now denounces as the poison
- [The judge](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mercy_of_allah_se/characters/the_judge.md): The judge embodies the apparatus of law that Mahmoud must navigate as his fortunes collapse, and his verdicts give the tale its structure of crime, penalty, and appeal. He is less a personality than a mirror held up to t
- [The stranger](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mercy_of_allah_se/characters/the_stranger.md): Strolling home at sunset in fine wool and silver cord, he is exactly the mark Mahmoud has prayed for: young, wealthy, and, in the market's phrase, 'his own father.' He listens with approval as the merchant recounts his f
- [Poor Abdullah](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mercy_of_allah_se/characters/abdullah.md): Abdullah belongs to the world of small men ground down by circumstance, the sort of victim Mahmoud's schemes inevitably produce. His poverty stands in stark contrast to the merchant's million dinars and to the nephews' c
- [Tarib](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mercy_of_allah_se/characters/tarib.md): Tarib moves through the story as a figure of official standing, one of the powers the merchant must reckon with as his affairs unravel. His rank places him above the marketplace yet entangled in its dealings, a reminder 
- [Yusouff the Blessed](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mercy_of_allah_se/characters/yusouff_the_blessed.md): Yusouff the Blessed is a wealthy trader holding forth to his nephews, spinning his harrowing reversals into moral instruction while the youngest boy's mournful face hides a yawn. His fatal flaw is contentment: at thirty,
- [His master](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mercy_of_allah_se/characters/his_master.md): An unnamed master referenced in the story.
- [Brother Selim](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mercy_of_allah_se/characters/brother_selim.md): A named character with limited appearances.
- [Eblis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mercy_of_allah_se/characters/eblis.md): A figure possibly representing a devilish character.
- [Yusouff ben Ahmed](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mercy_of_allah_se/characters/yusouff_ben_ahmed.md): A distinct character from Yusouff the Blessed.
- [Fior](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mercy_of_allah_se/characters/fior.md): A minor named character.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_mercy_of_allah_se/characters