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

by Bensalem Himmich

  Argue with Me, and I Will Take Pity on You

  How extensive and fulsome are your talents for prostration and submission! In giving the matter due thought I have concluded that for you contentment is simply a substitute, a tissue on the fabric of your rancors and accumulated losses. I get the feeling that on the path to submission you bow to fates that existed before you. For you the entire burden and freedom lie in a concern with details.

  Argue with me on this topic. Go on and argue, and I will take pity on you and reward you handsomely.

  Learn to Be Extremists

  “Do not blame me. There is no pact between you and me.

  I must clash with the enraged,

  Propel my steed away from the Tigris and Euphrates,

  And reunify the faith after schism,”2

  Within worldly limits and the framework of mundane matters, your only currency is your defeats and self-destruction; sometimes the cause is a loss of your sense of identity in a reckless dependency, and at others it is mental exhaustion brought on by an attempt to reconcile the irreconcilable.

  By the lady Fatima, you will not find me offering you any alternative to this counsel: create your own essence and substance by selecting the keenest of cravings, by opposition, and by creative contradiction. Be extreme in everything; be extreme, and God forgive you all!

  Hearts Closest to Me

  I detest pomp in anything, not merely in worldly chattels but in language and vocabulary too.

  For that reason, anyone who really thinks that I murdered Shaykh Jabbara the philologist because he knew three hundred words for dog in Arabic will find all that and more in the realm of exegesis. The hearts that are closest to mine are among the exegetes, those who compete with each other to produce alternative proofs and to expose virgin ideas to the light. They all grind and sweat, and in the end all they discover is what they started with, namely themselves—themselves just as they were and are, no one else.

  You Must Be Patient with Me

  Ever since I took control of events, everything about me has changed: the tone of my voice, and the way I sit, stand, and walk. My speech has altered too, and the ways I traffic in words, dreams, and reality.

  Should I be too surprised when I have shouldered the burden of all of you? My dreams and waking hours are burdened by my efforts to bring your sins and continual reformulations under control.

  By Fatima, all that remains is for you to seek refuge in patience and perseverance, hoping all the while that, with the disappearance of myself and the clear smoke, the signs of the luminous light may come!

  By the eye that never sleeps, my autocratic rule and the usage of my trusty sword are both essential to your interest in order to cure you of, and protect you against, oppression; and so that Egypt may remain as it was and as I want it to be: a land inhabited only by a shepherd and his flock.

  So fear me and do not ask to be rid of me. I am ever watchful of your deeds and intentions. Through spying and night watches I make a collection of the most malicious and gruesome of them, then I eradicate them without mercy.

  My Tastes

  From the biographies of prophets and messengers I have grown fond of long hair and beards, wearing wool, and riding donkeys. I intend to follow their example and to go even further, by letting my nails grow even longer, by traversing the length and breadth of desert wastes, and by giving the bald mountain of al-Muqattam the particular favor of prolonged sojourns and meditations. In that way only the most creative and comprehensive of imaginations will be able to take possession of me.

  Indeed I Shall Nullify the Rule

  There will be historians who will say that the deeds of al-Hakim bi-Amr Illah were inexcusable, and that my dreams and obsessions could not be explained.

  A reasonable statement, not without justification, since I am the exception that nullifies the rule.

  The rule consists simply of the mesh of your habits and customs.

  And that very mesh is simply the product of your arguments and pygmy-like stupors!

  Where Do I Get the Power to Do Evil?

  When the ruler was asked from time to time why he did a certain thing, such as splitting open someone’s stomach and extracting the intestines to throw to the tame animals wandering around, he replied in a confident, aggressive tone:

  “If you choose to ask me about the reasons for this action and others like it, then ask your God why He has power over everything. What is the wisdom in torturing animals and children, exhausting bereft mothers, or snatching away the souls of mortals in groups and throngs?

  An inability to do evil paralyzes the will of God and the power of the one who rules in His name; without such attributes he will be deprived of absolute, total power.

  Every ruler in God’s name (al-Hakim bi-Amr Illah) who fails to replicate God’s own attributes needs to be removed from his position. His tokens and signs of authority are spurious.”

  Eliminating Drought

  Every time your misgivings beset me or I see death spreading amongst you, I ride barefoot into the desert with a cloth on my head.

  Here in the desert, whose expanses and borders are rid of you, here my anxieties diminish and I can recover my sense of self in the light of” the candles of beginning and destiny. Then I can see clearly the appropriate ways to eliminate the drought in my land and my mind.

  I Am the Expert Rider

  I ride toward you and head for your secrets. Do not run away, do not panic! For all you know, I may have brought release after hardship, or I may have opened my beneficence to all when you were expecting murder!

  Why Have I Come

  The truth is not absolute, it is free.

  Truth is the making of what is most powerful and capable of repudiating immaturity and custom and giving free rein to the will for interpretation and power, There is no harm if the realms and goals of the will break away and contradict each other.

  By Fatima, your destruction rests on equality of sides and the languor of that which has neither color nor followers. So seek and derive your causes from the life of opposites and contradictions.

  Consider how many residents in hell crawled their way there with good intent!

  How often does ease come after hardship?

  How many things do you hate, when they are actually the best thing for you?

  So accept and tolerate me, bitter and unruly though I am! I have come only to teach you the meanings of the hidden opposites, the secret laws of transformation. I have come only to cure you of your maladies and to propagate a fanatical opposition to what you are, what you intend, be it overt or covert; and to declare open war on all those who, in the flame of time, and absence, cannot wait.

  Chapter One

  On Enticements and Threats from the Ascendants of al-Hakim

  1. From Records of Decrees and Interdictions

  l-Hakim’s behavior was utterly extraordinary. At every moment he used to invent laws which he forced people to implement.

  Ibn Khallikan,

  Book on the Deaths of Important People

  Once al-Hakim had killed off Master Burjuwan—the administrator of the state, al-Husayn ibn ‘Ammar—the leader of the Katama and secretary of the state, and others as well, he had exclusive control over power. From then on, barely a year or two went by without him issuing, among a flood of documents and sealed regulations, some compulsory decrees that were both strange and contradictory. One of the first such decrees, issued in the fourth year of the caliph’s quarter century, namely A.H. 390, concerned “the individual nature of authority in both its overt and covert aspects.” After the initial “in the name of God” and “thanks be to God,” it begins as follows:

  To all you people who hear this proclamation: God, to whom belongs majesty and power, has ordained that leaders be identified by special qualities that are possessed by no one else among the people. After reading this document, anyone who opens a debate or correspondence with anyone other than the divine presence, our Lord and Master, will b
e subject to execution by the will of the Commander of the Faithful. God willing, those who have witnessed this document should inform those who have not.3

  In the right-hand margin.

  My sphere is the territory you have inhabited, where women, words, and blessings are evident.

  My sphere is circles and cadres where I exercise authority with exemplary violence. No ministers or gentry even dream of killing me, as they amass property and titles by pillage and plunder, live the easy life and strut about in my name and under my protection.

  Be you strong or weak, beware of me and be on your guard. My only purpose in coming is to restore to the never-sleeping eye in your midst both its prestige and its rights.

  In the left-hand margin:

  You must always seek security from me.

  You peoples who are integral to my era and my service, you may well come from different races, classes, and sects, but you are not permitted to disagree about me or about my exclusive right to grant pardon and security and to soothe hearts and minds. Until you can show contrary proof, I view you as being all against me and moving in directions other than those I wish.

  Here then is my hellfire kindled by linen, sackcloth, and alfa. This is my hellfire, one that craves the flesh and fat of anyone who is unwilling to bring his entreaties to me or who holds back rather than entering the gate of my penance and security.

  In this same year al-Hakim and his servants slaughtered many people, making no distinction between guilty and innocent, mighty and lowly, free and slave, Muslim and non-Muslim.

  He forbade people to undertake the land and sea journey for the pilgrimage, since he was worried that people might escape from God’s own country and Egypt thus be emptied of its own inhabitants.

  During this year all fishermen had to stand before al-Hakim and take a solemn oath not to go after scaleless fish. They were told that anyone who did so and thus disobeyed this injunction would be eviscerated.

  In the same year public baths were also closed, and a large number of bathers were arrested with no covering, then made to walk naked through the streets and markets!

  In year five of al-Hakim’s quarter century a decree against dogs was issued under his seal. Here is part of what it contains:

  Regarding all dogs, except those used for hunting purposes, rid me of them and remove them completely from all my lands and quarters. I cannot bear the sight of the vilest of creatures, the most remote from ethics of change and contradiction, the most likely to put up with the burdens of bootlicking and loyalty.

  So in this year dogs were killed in thousands. Those who managed to get away fled to distant, uninhabited regions.

  The occasion was also used to confiscate and slaughter all pigs owned by Christians.

  This year (although some say the year before), al-Hakim got to hear a couple of verses of poetry that made him very upset and angry. He asked who the poet was and was told it was Najiya ibn Muhammad ibn Sulayman Abu al-Hasan al-Katib al-Baghdadi, boon companion of caliphs and great men. Al-Hakim demanded that he be summoned, but people pointed out that he was dead or at least one of those who had disappeared. The two lines (in the tawil meter) run as follows:

  I saw the morning unsheathe its sword

  As the night and stars retired in defeat

  And a red glow emerged. Then I said: Night has been murdered,

  And-here is the horizon stained with blood by him who spilled it.4

  In the sixth year of al-Hakim’s quarter century the caliph surprised his people with the decree “The Reversal of Times and Prevention of Curfew.” Part of it reads as follows:

  To prevent those delusions and disturbing dreams that come with the night and to uncover schemes hatched up by anyone against authority and me in a grab for power:

  I, al-Hakim bi-Amr Illah, hereby announce the reversal of times and meetings. From now on, work will be at night and sleep in daytime. I hereby forbid all travel around the city after sunset, all assemblies outside houses, all fouling of street space. Beware of breaking my time-schedule! Anyone apprehended and brought to me for such a crime will be put to death.

  Until further instruction to the contrary, this injunction will stand as is without change or adjustment.

  That year, candles were lit at night in Cairo and throughout Egypt, turning night into day. One day, al-Hakim happened to pass by a carpenter working in the middle of the day. “Did I not forbid this? he asked the man. “My lord,” the man replied, “when people earned their living in the daytime, they entertained themselves at night. When the opposite is the case, they entertain themselves during the day. This is entertainment.” With that al-Hakim smiled and went on his way.5

  In the eighth year of al-Hakim’s quarter century his Shi’i devotees published, with his connivance, a decree concerning ancestors, requiring that insults be posted on doors, walls, cemeteries, and street corners.

  In this same year a group of exoterics was paraded around the city on donkeys, after which their shoulders were fractured and they were all beheaded. In every quarter the town crier proclaimed: This is the punishment for all those who express their affection for Abu Bakr, ‘Uthman, ‘Aisha, Talha, al-Zubayr, ‘Amr ibn al-‘As, and Mu‘awiya.

  In Damascus a Maghribi was paraded around on a donkey, and the town crier announced, “This is the penalty for those who love the Prophet’s companions.” Then the man was decapitated.

  This year also saw the execution of al-Hakim’s order that the mosque of ‘Amr ibn al-‘As in Alexandria be destroyed.

  In this same year there were earthquakes in Syria; cities and border regions were badly hit. Many people perished beneath the rubble.

  In the ninth year of al-Hakim’s quarter century, a decree was published under his seal banning the consumption of certain foodstuffs favored by exoterics. Here is an extract:

  I hereby forbid you to eat mulukhiya and all other types of food eaten by Sunnis. Through an irrevocable decree this sanction will be continued, since I do not wish you to eat at the tables of exoterics whose thoughts are only of this world, nor to consume anything that will increase your indolence, slacken your joints, and further thicken the vapors in your brains and the fancies you already have regarding your lofty status and lineage.

  In this same year al-Hakim published a decree known under two titles: The Abolition of Alms, and The Suppression of Disparities. Among its contents is the following:

  By Fatima my reign will have no import if I do not strive to abolish the disparities in lifestyle and earnings that currently exist among you.

  Such disparities are alarming. How they trouble my feelings!

  Thus, since you are all part of my responsibility, I, al-Hakim bi-Amr Illah, have decided to revert to basics so as to reveal how things really started. Riches are initially acquired through plunder and violence. People become wealthy at the expense of the weak who are exploited till they are exhausted, then die.

  So I hope you are all with me in restoring to the scales of justice their due authority and glory. Anyone who thinks otherwise is no adherent of Islam or member of this community.

  So let the following decree be recorded in my name: In order to achieve the ultimate goals of charity and almsgiving I have decided to abolish them. I have made this decision because their retention among you leaves the poor person a beggar while the rich continue to plunder and steal with a totally free conscience. I shall keep a close watch for anything that perpetuates these disparities among you.

  Thus do I carry out my duties among you. Submit to my decrees and keep them memorized in your hearts as luminous testimony; chastise anyone who would seek to defile them or to smear them with nonsense or grime.

  During the course of this year al-Hakim came across ten people asking for alms. He ordered them to be divided into two groups who were to fight each other; the winners would be rewarded. So they fought long and hard, till nine lay dead and only one remained. With that al-Hakim threw down some dinars for him to pick up. But when he bent down to
collect them, al-Hakim’s retinue killed him.6

  In this year al-Hakim commanded a group of young people to jump from a spot high up in the palace into a pool; he promised a gift for each of them. The group proceeded to jump. About thirty of them died because, instead of landing in the water, they fell on a rock. Those who managed to survive the jump got their money.7

  In the tenth year of al-Hakim’s quarter century a decree was pro-claimed throughout the land concerning the suppression of anyone raising a sword against authority. In this decree we find:

  So, you foul defilers! You oppose me with your ever increasing recalcitrance and proclaim my transformations before everyone. No, no, by my very inviolability, I shall make use of the highest forms of violence and the purest kinds of perfidy so as to bring about your defeat.

  Concerning Ibn Badis: he has denied my acts and placed distances and barriers between myself and him. But here are my own arms and my mosques, extended wide open for two jurisconsults whom he has sent in order to furnish us with some of the wisdom of Malik; in return, we propose to spill their blood, but all in good time.

  Concerning Abu Rakwa, he has frequently rebelled against me, created havoc in the south and reached the region between the two Pyramids. His campaign has certainly gotten out of hand: now it threatens my authority. Yet his star is already on the wane. Prepare the strongest brigades of my army against him. I require you to bring him to me alive, so I can make a public example of him and have him paraded around the way I want. When people are bored with looking at him, slit his throat so he can sample my methods of torture, then bring me his severed head. Crucify his accursed corpse where it can rot and be eaten by vultures.

  This then is the punishment for anyone who ventures forth against me with the sword and dares to commit acts of defiance against me.

  In A.H. 398 al-Hakim’s mood regarding Abu Rakwa’s rebellion became somewhat more positive. He issued a series of decrees which people regarded as showing a sense of balance, wisdom, and foresight. The first was published in Ramadan entitled: Every Muslim may exercise individual judgment regarding his religion. After “In the name of God” and “Praise be to God,” we read: