The Theocrat: A Modern Arabic Novel (Modern Arabic Literature) (15 page)

Almost all those reacting gave support and consent to this idea, with little sign of doubt or opposition. But then someone from the Zanata said, “Abu Rakwa, why aren’t you telling us about the thing everyone wants to know: booty. Give us some details—God grant you His support! Tel! us specifically how much we’ll get so we can work out the terms for unsheathing our swords and have a clear idea of our role.”

Abu Rakwa’s reply attempted to soften the sharp edges of the question itself. “God Almighty has said. ‘You seek the offerings of this lower world, when with God there is booty beyond measure.’ The Prophet Himself—on Him be peace—said, ‘Wealth is in the soul.’”

The same man shot back, “God’s booty is only of use to us in the hereafter. Regarding this lower world, God also said, ‘Consume of your booty what is licit and good.’”

Abu Rakwa’s reply was still conciliatory, ‘“Consume of your booty what is licit and good, and fear God.’ O people. God has spoken the truth. The distribution of booty will only be done by portion. A fifth will go to the poor, the indigent, and the homeless, and a fifth to the treasury. The rest will be for you, licit and good, with no distinction among those who have fought. Booty will only be taken from those who have fought against us and who still take up the sword against us. Those who seek
peace with us and are innocent of any wrongdoing against us have nothing to fear for either themselves or their property. Any person who plunders, robs, burns a tree, or destroys crops is no part of us; we will not hesitate to punish such people. These are my words to you, so take note.”

The response to these words was all agreement and assent. The shaykh of the Banu Qurra seized the moment to bring the matter to closure. He invited everyone to recite the Fatihah, and they did so in all humility. Then they all stood up and went outside the tent shaking hands and embracing each other.

The women meanwhile had been busy outside preparing plates of food. The men of the guest tribe brought over a camel, made it sit on the ground in front of Abu Rakwa, and asked him to bless the occasions by slaughtering it. The imam performed the ritual ablution, prayed two prostrations, then slit the camel’s throat while all around people intoned, “God is great.” Before midday the guest tent was crammed with visitors and distinguished guests, all eating and drinking to their hearts’ content and exchanging jokes and stories. Once they had finished, they hurried to perform the noon prayer behind Abu Rakwa, then returned to their tents to relax and take a nap.

For quite some time a profound silence descended on the encampment. A strong wind blew over the recumbent bodies as their stomachs struggled to digest so much food. In spite of it all, spirits soared high and far, as they dreamed of all the boons of Barqa, Egypt, and the other cities that had been part of the promise, and envisioned all the booty, visible and invisible, that would be theirs across the infinite miles of their journey. They would own fertile fields and the River Nile enveloped with its own blessings; gold, silver, marked horses, and sheep; power, glory, and stature. If the muezzin had not chanted the afternoon call to prayer, their spirits would have pursued this series of visions, ignoring both time and the need to rouse themselves.

After a while the visitors made ready to leave. Warm, sincere hand-shakes, accompanied by embraces, were exchanged between the tribesmen and their guests. They committed themselves to meet again soon and,
above all, to progress toward cooperation and victory. As this farewell ceremony with all its strong emotion, was at its height,. Abu Rakwa approached the shaykh of the Zanata tribe, produced a roll of documents from his sleeve, and handed it over to the eldest among them.

“May God sustain you all,” he said, “this is the text of the peace agreement between you and the Banu Qurra tribe: I have penned it myself in a sincere spirit of fidelity. As you can see, I have appended a document that is a secret between us and you: it contains details of what we have committed ourselves to, a campaign to eradicate tyranny and wrongdoing. Have all your sages read it, then send it back duly signed with the seals of honor and dignity so that we can send you a copy signed by the Banu Qurra. As soon as this procedure is completed through God’s own power, the next month of this blessed year will be upon us. By then our discord will be at an end, our ranks will be united, and we will enter Barqa safe and successful. Now return to your fellow tribesmen, conveying the good news and escorted on your way by peace and good fortune.”

As soon as Abu Rakwa had finished speaking and embraced the guests one by one, they all mounted their horses and rode away to a chorus of farewells, leaving the Banu Qurra feeling exultant and overjoyed. Once they had left, Abu Rakwa spoke, “Praise be to God who has brought us thus far. Without His guidance, we would not have taken the right path. Tribesmen, from now on you must be in a maximum state of readiness for the great day. Muster as many forces as you possibly can and make comprehensive and detailed plans. I am with you and one of you; I am willing to take part in coordination and organization and to assist you with the more complex aspects of strategic planning. Should you need my help, then ask me in the evenings during the course of the current month. In the mornings send me your children so that I can leach them God’s word and appropriate parts of the Prophet’s sayings and deeds; after all, learning things as a child is yet more enduring than inspiration carved on rock. From tomorrow send me your children so that I can wear on my neck the symbol of their education as a task to serve as intercession in my favor on the Day of Resurrection. Now I need
to spend the rest of today on my own in order to purify my own soul and seek my Lord’s guidance.”

From then on, life for the Banu Qurra continued along the path that their imam had laid out for them. During the months of Rabi’ al-Awwal and Rabi’ al-Akhir every day brought good news. The Zanata and their allies sent back the documents of peace and the accord concerning the campaign, all duly signed. The Kutama in Tunisia offered to take part in any war against the Fatimid ruler, al-Hakim. Preparations for the campaign moved ahead in fine form. Even though Abu Rakwa was involved in teaching, reading, and cogitation, he managed to stay in touch with every piece of news, receiving it from the shaykhs with smiles and expressions of gratitude and blessing. Something else that he heard or noticed was the way that Shihab al-Din excelled in training the young men how to use every kind of sword, to engage in close combat and simulated fights, and to construct traps and ambushes.

One night Abu Rakwa invited him to his tent and had him sit close by. “Shihab al-Din,” he said, “I’ve noticed that you’re working very hard even though the war has not started yet. Are you eager for a leadership role?”

“Great leader,” Shihab al-Din replied, his voice a mixture of diffidence and conviction, “I find myself separated from what I desire by a distance whose only resolution is death.”

“And who has established such a distance and set guards to watch over it? The tribes?”

“Who else has the power to subdue any miscreant if he’s one of their number! If I aspired to be their leader, I would need to be you!”

“Need to be me?” Abu Rakwa repeated in amazement. “Explain what you mean, young man!”

“Your grasp of things is quite broad enough to realize what I mean. But if you need me to be more explicit, then you should know that you are what I lack, These tribes never aspire to lofty goals unless a religious guide enters their lands from the outside, someone who is able to speak to them in the language of their innermost feelings, preach to them about piety and purification, promise to dispel affliction and grant imminent
victory, and call them to a life of good works and a transformation of the principles of this ephemeral world. It does not matter if the person comes in the guise of a hermit or claiming some noble lineage. What really matters is that he arrive at the right time, impelled by auspicious circumstance.”

For the first time Abu Rakwa felt he was in the presence of a real colleague, someone who was talking to him like a kind of mirror, an image of his own self. He kept listening to the young man, staring at the sand in front of him as though it had been turned into a translucent lake.

“My brother and leader,” Shihab al-Din continued, “I am not questioning either your asceticism or your lineage. How could I when, for me at least, truth lies only in what can be verified, and thus provides settlement and profit! As far as the Banu Qurra are concerned, your advent has provided them with a universal boon at a moment when they were just inches away from perdition.”

From time to time Abu Rakwa took a plate of dates that was close by and offered them to Shihab al-Din. Eventually the latter became somewhat irritated by his host’s generosity. “Do you want me to keep talking,” he asked, “or to chew dates?”

“Certainly not, by God!” Abu Rakwa replied. “I just wanted to supplement the sweetness in your ideas with sweetness of a different kind!”

“How can I refuse your sweetness when I have not questioned either your lineage or your asceticism? Now watch what I’m going to do with these dates to show you how much I respect you.”

So saying he started swallowing the dates one after another; he would have finished the entire plate if Abu Rakwa had not snatched it away.

“I don’t need any such proof,” he said. “I trust you completely.”

Shihab al-Din was deeply touched and struggled to continue. “I had not planned to open my heart to you,” he said, “till I had entered the battle and, along with the tribe under your aegis, achieved a great victory in the regions of Barqa. However, now that you have anticipated things in this meeting of ours, I will show you all the arrows in my quiver. A while ago I said that what I lack is you; more precisely, you need me just as much as I need you. If we pooled our resources and reached an
agreement, we would make a combination that was unbeatable: I with my never-failing sword, you with your trusty shield; I by joining territory to territory, you by watering and fostering them; I through curbs and threats, you through promises of a life of ease. So are you prepared to make me part of your ocean of understanding and take me with you on your quest?”

“Woe to you, young man!” Abu Rakwa said. “You’re racing ahead of events at top speed. What you’re talking about is secular rule!”

“If we plan to expand, what other resort is there?”

“Maybe. But why bother discussing it before the appropriate time? Have we won alt our battles and resolved all our residual problems already, so that all that’s left to worry about is secular authority?”

“Such general authority is crucially important. If that’s what we really want and need, then it’s better to dream about it before victory rather than after. Aren’t you the one who said, ‘We shall move by way of Barqa, with Egypt and Syria as our goal”? How can we traverse regions and reach our goal if we don’t show people how we intend to rule and administer justice? By Your Lord, let’s make a pact, you and I, something we can swear on and aspire to, then we can proceed to make space for our dreams and proceed to implement them.”

“Suppose I agree to a pact, what will you tell your people?”

“You ask me such a question, when you know the secrets of things better than anyone! Here you are talking to me as though my relationship with my tribe were like slippery mud and I had no right to show myself among them. Enough of flattery! Just look at yourself through me. You will see that each of us is a twin of the other. What we both want is for these tribes to abandon their marginal status and their caves and to give up all thought of discord and strife. All they want is to march behind us and have us as leaders to guide them and implement our lofty goals.”

“If only I had your drive and enthusiasm, I could envisage a task yet more challenging than merely putting an end to the regime of al-Hakim the Fatimid!”

“But the very essence of our plan involves bringing our tribes and allies into the cities and implementing still broader projects….”

“That’s true, my twin!” interrupted Abu Rakwa, with a pat on Shihab al-Din’s shoulder. “You are indeed that spark
[shihab]
that is lacking in me, the fire that can rid me of my doubts and indecisiveness.”

“How can anyone such as you, great imam, experience either doubt or indecisiveness?”

“Anyone who doesn’t possess such traits has no right to be an imam; indeed he has no faith. I wonder if you have given any thought to what will happen to us if things don’t go our way and we are defeated? If you had any idea of al-Hakim’s tyranny as I do—the vicious relish he displays in killing anyone who opposed him and even those who submit to his rule; if you were fully aware of all that, then you too would keep in mind the things that I truly fear:
wadis
flowing with blood, mounds of severed heads—God forbid!—with al-Hakim’s devotees chanting his name and inviting people to worship and deify him. As I envision all that, I ask myself whether I have the right to push these tribes toward the very perdition of their souls. How will I be able to answer them if tomorrow they face the Day of Judgment and say, ‘You promised us victory, not loss. You have crushed our hopes—may God in turn crush yours.’”

Abu Rakwa’s eyes glistened with tears, and his voice choked with sobs. Shihab al-Din felt as though the earth was shifting underneath him, Even so he managed to control his troubled emotions.

“Dear brother,” he replied in amazement, “how can someone with your faith, someone who seeks the triumph of God’s word over the wrongdoers, have such doubts about victory?”

“It’s not the tribes that worry me, but rather the treachery of my followers and supporters.”

“If by that you mean Hamad al-Madi and his clique, I’m watching them like a hawk. If you prefer, I’ll eliminate them tomorrow one by one.”

“Al-Madi is merely a foretaste of treachery to come. Don’t do anything to him now, so we can see how he fights in the upcoming battle in Barqa.”

“Excellent idea! Even better, put all these doubts and fears aside. Place your complete trust in Him who is sufficient for your needs! As far
as our tribes are concerned, if they win, they will gain in this world and as our tribes are concerned, if they win, they will gain on this world and the next; if they lose, all they’ll be sacrificing will be their chains and times of utter misery. I cannot envision them taking you to task on Judgment Day, while they dwell in heaven and enjoy the fruits of what God promises to all those who fight for His cause.”