Resolving Personal Problems

Abstract

Most members of the Bulaq community managed to live within acceptable community norms but occasionally, personal crises threatened to spill over into the larger community. A religious organization can help in ways discussed earlier, such as sending in a mediator like Ansaf or providing institutions for people—such as orphans and the elderly—whose needs cannot be met through normal family means. Bulaq also had other options for resolving personal problems that relied on religious frameworks and quasi-religious practitioners to refigure problems and make them psychologically more palatable.