Midaq Alley (Chapter 27) #2

“Darkness had spread its vault over the alley and deep silence fallen on its every side. Even Kersha’s café had closed its doors following the departure of the patrons---and at this watch of the night, what should pass through the bakery door if not the shadowy figure of Zeita the Cripple-maker, setting off on his nightly rounds?” (Mahfouz 210).
In Midaq Alley, Zeita is a Cripple-maker. A cripple maker is an individual that maims and disfigures beggars so they can receive more money. Passersby have more pity on those with disabilities than those capable of work. Such acts are common where money is scarce and there are many beggars on the streets. Mahfouz includes this detail about Zeita in order to make him seem like a shady character-one of questionable morality. This detail also contributes to the novel as a whole because it reinforces the notion that Midaq Alley is a microcosm of the world. The world contains people of many different types, honest ones and shady ones much like Zeita. Slumdog Millionaires illustrates the “beggar mafia” in a very poor Mumbai-a similar context.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1127056/The-real-Slumdog-Millionaires-Behind-cinema-fantasy-mafia-gangs-deliberately-crippling-children-profit.html