The Theocrat: A Modern Arabic Novel (Modern Arabic Literature)

by Bensalem Himmich

  This reliving of an Islamic, Arab, Egyptian past, penned by a contemporary author living in Morocco, is then a point--of confrontation, as it challenges readers of English narratives with what is unfamiliar in place, time, topic, and narrative mode. Surely it is in the transfer of such differences across cultural divides that the greatest role of translation continues to lie.

  As a consequence, this translation is provided with a glossary in which I have tried to provide historical, geographical, and cultural details for those who feel a need for them. Those readers of translations (of whom I myself tend to be one) who prefer not to be interrupted by such external information will not be distracted by note numbers in the text and can confront this narrative on its own terms. All dates in the text appear in their Islamic (Hijra) form. To make an approximate calculation of the equivalent Gregorian year, the reader can add 620 to the Hijra date. One other change has been made in an effort to make the text more accessible to readers of English: book titles that were of course in Arabic in the original are now rendered in English. More complete information on many of these book titles and important dates will be found in the bibliography at the end of the book. Finally, Qur’anic quotations are peppered throughout the narrative. These appear in italics and their exact location within the Qur’an can be found in the concordance after the glossary.

  Bibliography

  Byatt, A.S. On Histories and Stories. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001.

  Cowart, David. History and the Contemporary Novel. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1989.

  “Al-Hakim Bi-Amr Allah,” in Encyclopedia of Islam 2nd ed. [CD-ROM version], Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1954-.

  Prelude to “The Smoke”

  l-Hakim bi-Amr Illah’s beliefs were flawed. His moods could change in a flash. He would punish the simplest wrongdoing. Impetuous and irascible, he wiped out entire nations and generations and set up a reign of terror.

  Minister Jamal al-Din,

  Accounts of Defunct Dynasties

  His caliphate was one of total contradiction: courage and recklessness; cowardice and reserve; love of learning and attacks on scholars; inclination to good works, followed by the murder of those who performed them. His most predominant trait was generosity and perhaps a miserliness of unprecedented proportions.

  Sibt ibn al-Jawzi,

  Mirror of the Times Concerning the History of Notables

  He was at once magnanimous and kind, vicious and cunning. His belief was flawed, and he shed people’s blood. He murdered many of his regime’s senior officials while they were incarcerated.

  al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi,

  History of Islam

  His demeanor was wicked and his faith faulty. Every aspect of his life was disturbed: he would order something with a great flourish, then countermand the order with equal display.

  al-Makin ibn al-‘Amid.

  History of the Muslims

  His behavior was extraordinary, His name was mentioned in the Friday sermon in Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, and the Hijaz. He was interested in ancient history, and used to consult the stars. He set up an observatory and secluded himself in a house in the Muqattam Hills. People say that he suffered from a lack of fluid in the brain, which caused his frequent contradictory moods. The best thing ever said about him is: his actions were inexplicable, and his fantasies and obsessions were undecodable.

  al-Maqrizi,

  Lessons and Reports Concerning Cairo Quarters and Monuments

  1. He

  He is: Abu ‘Ali Mansur (given the honorific al-Hakim bi-Amr Illah) ibn al-‘Aziz bi-Llah Nizar ibn al-Mu‘izz bi-Llah Ma‘add (conqueror of Egypt and builder of Cairo and the Azhar mosque) ibn al-Mansur bi-Llah Isma’il ibn al-Qa‘im bi-Amr Illah Muhammad ibn al-Mahdi ‘Ubayd Allah (founder of the Fatimi dynasty in Tunisia).

  He is: al-‘Ubaydi al-Fatimi, of Maghribi origin, but born, housed, and raised in Egypt; third of ‘Ubayd’s descendants as Caliphs in Egypt; the sixth in order of succession from his ancestors in the Maghrib.

  Born in Cairo on Thursday, there being four days remaining in the first month of the year A.H. 375 (others say it was on the twenty-third of the month). His father, al-‘Aziz, made him heir apparent to the caliphate in the month of Sha’ban A.H. 383. He was acknowledged as caliph on the day his father died, a Tuesday with two days remaining from the month of Ramadan in A.H. 386, He assumed the caliphate at the age of eleven and a half (although other sources say ten and a half and six days—and there are still other versions).1

  He: Historians are unanimous in declaring his caliphate to be one of contradictions. His behavior was unusual and his actions were outrageous (“enough to turn the hair gray”). No one, whether of high or low estate, has managed to either understand or justify them.

  He: Psychologists have noted that during his youth he became afflicted with a kind of melancholia, a lack of fluid in the brain, and a flawed temperament, all of which led him to be excessively fond of killing people and shedding blood, using a variety of weapons and burning. Astrologers have had a great deal to say about him; they are all agreed that his bloody temperament goes back to the fact that he resided in the domain of Saturn and his ascendant was Mars. All of which led him to seek their favor by sacrificing human beings.

  He: To his devotees he was a deity. They said that the revelation of Verse 10 from Surat al-Dukhan (The Smoke) in the Qur’an foretold his coming. With or without authorization they starting drawing devotees to him and making treaties and compacts based on a belief in his utter infallibility and the fact that divinity dwelt within his human form. They arranged gatherings and sessions, sometimes in public, at others in secret. They composed epistles and documents, so much so that they came to disagree about the precise chronology of the appearance of the newly formulated Fatimi doctrine and of the proclamation regarding the abrogation of the religious law code. Thereafter they indulged in mutual slaughter and fornication. After al-Hakim’s assassination (an event instigated by his own sister, Sitt al-Mulk) in A.H. 411, their influence in Egypt waned. According to Qazoghlu and other historians, Nushtakin the Turk (he being Muhammad ibn Isma’il al-Druzi) was the only person who managed to get away and carry al-Hakim’s cause to the nomads of the Syrian mountains.

  In Syria lie was able in propagate his creed and turn it into the religion that still exists there in his name (Druze) and bears his particular stamp to this very day.

  During the period before the new mission manifested itself and was openly discussed and practiced, indeed throughout the second decade of al-Hakim’s quarter-century rule, his devotees may have had widely divergent aspirations and visions, but they still followed in their imam’s footsteps during his periods of seclusion and night travels. Their sole task was to record the “venerable discourse” just as he uttered it, so eloquent, subtly inspired, and crucially important. The collected sayings would then be prepared for publication and issued under general, yet distinctive titles, such as: Compelling Notions, Glittering Segments, Fleeting Scents, and the like. For this purpose, the devotees acted like disembodied spirits, tracking al-Hakim without him even being aware of it. He used to go either to the Muqattam Hills, to the stable at al-Tarma, to the desert by the Pyramids, or else to other places where he would seclude himself and maintain a night vigil. The long hours would pass very slowly. They would watch him closely, their bodies pinned against rocks and walls, eyes and ears glued to holes and apertures. Nothing—summer heat, bitter cold, specters in the dark—would divert them from their task.

  At the beginning of this period his devotees used to gather periodically to assess their imam’s meditations that they had collected. They would compare notes and share the task of editing them and filling in gaps. Then they would turn them into a complete text that both satisfied their expectations and tired their minds and bodies. This new compilation would then be added to the other secret texts for which a highly esoteric kind of interpretation was used, that being a level to which only the initiated and those
drawn into the cadre of the “discerning” were privy.

  Most of these texts have not survived and are now lost, but one has survived. It is divided into sections. Devotees have confirmed that it does consist of al-Hakim’s sayings; the only role they played was to arrange the materials and provide titles. Among its contents are the following passages:

  2. I Am the Clear Smoke

  History will comprehend me.

  In the name of rule by the authority of God and of the Arabic language I am inclined to the ultimate and to the clash of opposites. Whoever understands me is aware that my era will inevitably be worthy of note. But for that, it would be like a mere grain of mustard-seed. With the gifts and powers given to me I have decided that it will be memorable, wracked by unforeseen events and mighty longings. When it comes to an end, it will leave behind shards of resolve and erupting volcanoes.

  History only opens its ears and tomes to the most significant of events and circumstances, to those things that have the power to confound it and destroy its parameters.

  History only keeps records of those who impress it and resist its twists and turns by invoking opposites. It is by nature corrupt, loving those who rupture its tedious practices and demolish its own beds.

  That is why I can promise you that history will comprehend me!

  The Station of “Were I”

  Were I to utter anything other than what the Arab night and destiny itself utter, I would be like that philosopher armed with proverbs, the one who said: how far apart are letter and fate. So down with destiny, and may the letter show itself! How outrageous!

  Concerning the Defeat of Peace

  This enveloping nature is the mother of us all. It seems to me like some old debauched witch proclaiming funereal chants, distributing ashes of endings in crystal-shaped containers, gleaming and deadly; it traces the slope of flutters and sighs toward silence, the slope of all elements toward corrosion and oblivion.

  As you chew over events and calamities, you should strive to collect tidings of love, joy, and safety. Should you succeed, those tidings will be like extra prayers; they and additional devotions will be one and the same.

  Have you not seen that the founding essence only tells of natural disasters, blood baths, and tranquility marred by caution!

  Are you not convinced that peace in history only recounts its defeats and the crushing of rose and dove!

  Beware of Whiteness

  Love and brotherhood are qualities of the people of paradise.

  Paradise is a promise, with no part of this despicable existence.

  In order to survive our lower world is based on enmity and conflict.

  That was the sign of the beginning, one enmeshed in an ever recurring return.

  By the name of Fatima the Radiant, you need enemies, just as they need you.

  Your enemies are the measure of your power. When they appear, confront them; if they disappear or go into hiding, search them out!

  Record this saying in my name: a dictum that conforms with the laws of life states that either the people will vanquish its enemies, or else it will itself be overcome and subdued.

  Beware, beware! Don’t let yourselves be deceived by the white or slide apathetically toward peace and neutrality. Do that, and you will be lost.

  Know for certain that war has many aspects and abodes; they may come all at once or in separate bursts. War may be based on the sword or the pen, or around chattels and values.

  Know for certain that every peace is a truce between two wars, and that every truce provides an opportunity to recover the breaths of resolve and to reinforce military supplies and assault troops.

  I, al-Hakim bi-Amr Illah have determined that the victory of the Fatimid people will be total, indubitable, and irrevocable. The words of the poet will indeed come to pass:

  Once we had pounded and overwhelmed them,

  We left them there as fodder for vultures and birds of prey.

  Concerning the Nature of Politics and Tyranny

  Historians full of homiletic wisdom and necrophiliacs will say that I, al-Hakim bi-Amr Illah, crushed the faithful using both tyranny and despair; that I was bloodthirsty; that I was the ultimate inquisition, a total blight….

  If these pseudo-scholars really knew the essence of history—the way it is crafted by the power of the sword and the sheer quantity of misery and suffering, then they would understand me and would come to realize that tyranny is an intrinsic feature of politics, Beyond that, features of tyranny include wariness, caution, and a resort to preventive violence. It was a prescient sage who declared that anyone who fails to defend his turf by force of arms will be removed; a ruler who does not control his people will be the one who is ruled!

  The Other Side of Politics

  1.

  Death is the other side of politics.

  Contact with politics brings risks.

  Anyone who undertakes such risks will be safe for a while, or else will lose his soul in the clash between venture and conflict.

  This is why, in the exercise of power, I am inclined to dispense with everything that is contrary and competitive!

  2.

  Is it because Our Lord has given me power so young that you watch me so closely?

  No, I shall leave no escape for that eunuch, Burjuwan the Slav, who is in charge of my administration. He will not do to me what Kafur did to the children of his master, al-Ikhshid. He came to greet me in his stinking shoes, lorded it over me, and tried to ignore me. Now tell him that the boy he nicknamed the ward-gecko has now turned into a full-size dragon, one that can wrap its tail around disloyal necks and throttle them to death.

  Husayn ibn ‘Ammar, the secretary of my administration, has shown me a satisfactory level of solidarity and loyalty. Toward him and all those who are after my blood I shall display the full abundance of my own duplicity and instant revenge.

  3.

  I have demolished the buttresses and horizons of all those who have placed themselves above me; at my hands they have been totally shattered. With great determination I have recovered my throne. I have traveled through the tunnels of my reign and my intrigues in quest of tremors and shivering. I have established my shadow wherever I went and created within my homeland a history for my swords. How happy I am at what clings to me: stories that delight me so about the volcano of my followers; a voice with prophetic impact; a happy omen.

  It is fine for me to devote myself to exploration and physiognomy; it is fine to love and harass; fine too is every rift, every pass, every inundation.

  I sweep things away, I dominate, then I return to the serenity of the desert that forewarns of the storm to come; I go back to the sand preface that forewarns of the storm to come.

  Ribbons of Values

  You ask me about the reasoning behind my penchant for destroying monuments and values. My response (take it away and reflect on it) is: any-one who does not destroy does not know the meaning of building; anyone who does not practice evil cannot do good.

  The person who can only look at something from one aspect is short-sighted and unperceptive. He remains stuck in a single dimension, extolling monotony and fading into oblivion along with it.

  Anyone who does not carry excess to its uttermost limit comes close to the regions of whiteness and indolence. What an idiot!

  The Logic of Intrigues

  Every one of us is the other’s heretic!

  So we are all heretics, fosterers of deviance and heresy. We are all heads, fascinated by the definition of proofs, adopting them as our own passions. We all follow the religion of emergence.

  After God Himself your deity is your desires, except for those who are content to crawl and hide inside the trunk of their own shadows, covering their eyes with their hands and beseeching God to protect them from the possibility of chickens laying their eggs or of dynamic action against everything that is stagnant and cumbersome.

  How Close to Me Are My Enemies!

  The murder of confidants and insider
s is definitely the best plan. Failing that, no despot can expect a stable rule, even if he behaves justly.

  If the caliph fails to treat as enemies the people who enabled him to gain power, by adopting a neutral stance coupled with excessive caution, he will control neither custom nor authority. He should do his utmost to intimidate them and keep them at a distance; then they will not try to share his grasp on power.

  There will be no peace for the caliph if he is not permanently suspicious of everyone; he must lop off his own shadow if it seems strange or ambiguous.

  The caliph will never endure if he does not keep changing the list of his confidants and protectors, just as a snake keeps changing its skin.

  Why Are You Not Satisfied?

  The dust of the earth, that is the only thing that can fill the stomachs of human beings, except those on whom God shows His mercy! I have designated large swaths of terrain for you—Alexandria, al-Buhayra, and their environs—and filled your guts with a whole variety of things, enough to baffle the mind of the chief treasurer.

  So why do you make a religion out of gluttony and greed? Why do you keep the gates of your own appetites and passions so wide open?

  By God, if only you realized that each duty, each gift, each bribe I offer you out of my own abundant generosity is simply a debt I hold against you, one that ties your neck firmly to my authority and your loyalty to me. If you were even aware of that fact, you would hold a race to see who could run away from both me and my gifts the fastest. But you are like a load of rams, unaware and stupid.