Bensalem Himmich - The Theocrat

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-.

Al-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.