What 'Isa ibn Hisham Told Us. Muhammad al-Muwaylihi

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      Miṣbāḥ al-sharq 41, January 26, 1899⁵³

       7.1

      ʿĪsā ibn Hishām said: The time came for the appeal. We went to the court to seek a fair hearing. Each one of us was intent on his own business and occupied with his own aspect of the judicial contest. The Pāshā was considering the misfortunes he had suffered and complaining about his tribulations; the Lawyer was arranging his material and keeping a mental note of his fee; for my part, I was asking God to deliver us from life’s intrigues. We reached the Ismāʿīliyyah quarter.⁵⁴ When the Pāshā saw the mansions, houses, palaces, and villas, he was entranced by the gardens and bowers which had grown around them and the neat layout of the streets with their trees. He stopped us and broke the silence by asking in astonishment what place this gleaming paradise occupied in the city of Cairo! Once we had given him a description of it, he said:

       7.2

      PĀSHĀ All praise be to Almighty God, Glorious and Powerful! This district used to be in ruins; there were no houses or mansions in it. The only plant life was the barren acacia tree; the only flowers the tragacanth and sayal thorn; the only birds owls, crows, falcons, and eagles. Of wild beasts there would have been foxes, wolves, hyenas, jackals, and lizards. The only humans would have been plundering brigands, murderers, or lurking cutthroats. What wonders the Egyptians have accomplished! Fate has clearly smiled favorably on them by giving them these flowers in exchange for thorns and housing them in these lofty mansions instead of those shattered ruins.

      LAWYER My dear Amir, don’t envy the Egyptians their good fortune. Rather join us in bewailing their misfortune. They don’t own any of the houses in this paradise where they could settle down. Everything you see in this area belongs to foreigners.

      PĀSHĀ Heavens above! How can foreigners claim this beautiful paradise, such a superb residential area, for themselves and keep native Egyptians out? Are you speaking in riddles? Are you perhaps being deliberately vague in your explanation?

       7.3

      LAWYER There’s no riddle involved, nor is anything vague. Egyptians have brought it on themselves by exchanging their happiness for misfortune. As their lot in life they’re satisfied with whatever is paltry and inferior. Each one of them makes do with his meager, pathetic share. In the shadow of his own negligence, sloth and apathy, he remains deprived, leading a wretched life full of degradation and bewilderment. Meanwhile foreigners keep working hard; they take their job seriously. They acquire goods and want more; they store and collect things. Alongside them, Egyptians squander and waste everything. They get distressed, then fritter their time away; they become helpless, then grow conceited; they become poor, and start boasting. Our rulers and men of influence, our governors and amirs, all of them help foreigners rule and dominate us. They use their power and authority to assist foreigners and use them as allies and helpers against Egyptians. In that way they can make use of them to humiliate the Egyptians even more. Eventually however, they too have fallen into the clutches of foreigners; now they too have become their prisoners. Masters and servants are now on equal footing, envier and envied are alike, and exalted and unapproachable people are on a par with the despicable and lowly. We are all participants in the varying degrees of hardship and suffering; a distinguished and powerful man now suffers the same fate as a weak and lowly person. Such are the consequences for anyone who gives in to the avaricious. “He who assists a tyrant will find himself oppressed”:

      If a hunter uses a lion as a falcon,

      the lion will surely count him amongst its prey.⁵⁵

       7.4

      ʿĪsā ibn Hishām said: My two companions had only just finished their conversation, with its questions and answers, when a cyclist came speeding past us like a viper in the depths of the sand. He was swaying like a man intoxicated by wine and bending over like branches in the early morning breeze. The Pāshā was utterly flabbergasted and asked us about this acrobat. I informed him that it was a new bicycle, something that people chose to ride in preference to carriages and horses. What they liked about it was that it didn’t eat or drink, nor did it become bored or tired. The intention of such riders was to exercise their limbs so that mind and body were in equilibrium. That particular rider, I surmised, was none other than one of the judges. We all stared after him, only to witness the rider fall off his bicycle. The ensemble had fractured into three separate entities which were lying on the ground; rider, bicycle, and tarboosh. He stood up again and brushed himself off. He tried to get back on the bicycle, but was unable to do so, so he started pushing it by hand and walking alongside it.

       7.5

      PĀSHĀ How I wish we could go back where we’ve come from, at liberty and with no encumbrances. How can judges or governors fare when this is the kind of image they project in full view of everyone? Were people ever judged in court without pomp, chamberlains, and impressive displays? In our day, no judge or governor would ride anywhere without an escort of soldiers and cavalry, preceded by servants, retinue, and aides. People’s hearts would shudder in awe and respect. No one would dare commit a crime which involved appearing before such a judge.

      ʿĪSĀ Yes indeed! Poets have gone to great lengths to depict such status, weaving it into their figurative creations. Here is what al-Mutanabbī has to say:

      Time is defiant, there exists no pleasure

      that is unsullied, no complete joy,

      Not even Abū l-Faḍl ibn ʿAbdallāh. To see him may be one’s dearest wish,

      and yet it is also an awesome experience.⁵⁶

       7.6

      LAWYER It’s time to stop this chatter, we’ve reached the court.

      ʿĪsā Let’s hope, God willing, that we find it in its proper place. I’m getting so used to going from one place to another that they will seem like Bedouin’s tents:

      One day in Huzwa, another in al-ʿAqīq, another

      in al-ʿUthyab, and another in al-Khulayṣāʾ.⁵⁷

      We approached the place where the building СКАЧАТЬ