فَإِذَا هُوَ شَيْخُنَا السُّرُوجِيُّ
Suddenly, I realized that he was our familiar shaykh, al-Sarūjī!
The construction fa-idhā huwa marks sudden discovery: the impressive stranger is the familiar man from Surūj. Details earlier perceived without his identity now fall into a recognisable pattern.
A revelation does not change what happened; it changes how earlier events are understood. The modest seating and sudden brilliance acquire new significance once the narrator recognises the performer. This shift in the reader’s interpretation is a key mechanism of dramatic irony.