Bensalem Himmich - The Theocrat

“Now, Nasim,” Sitt al-Mulk continued, well pleased by what she had heard, “you’re aware of the high esteem I have for you, just as my late brother did. In fact, mine is yet higher. I’ve no doubt you’ve heard all kinds of stories about al-Hakim’s death. Today I want to put an end to all that by revealing what my own investigations have brought to light regarding certain senior officials who always dreamed of doing away with my brother. Go outside now and in full hearing of Ibn Dawwas instruct the slaves as follows: Our Lady has discovered and confirmed that it was Sayf al-Dawla who murdered al-Hakim. So kill him.” Then go and say exactly the same thing about Khatir al-Mulk. Insist that he be killed too, along with the entire coterie of both men. Once you have carried out these orders, come back and tell me what you have managed to do.”

Nasim and his squad made their way to Ibn Dawwas’s home, but he wasn’t there. Next they headed to the Kutami quarter, and there they found him checking on his kinsmen and exhorting them to stick together. The Security Chief informed him that his lady required his presence immediately on an urgent matter. Once Ibn Dawwas had been escorted far away from the quarter, Nasim carried out Sitt al-Mulk’s orders. When the guards drew their swords, Ibn Dawwas began to defend himself and called on his tribesmen to help him. He managed to kill two slaves, but within minutes he was dead, his corpse riddled with sword-thrusts.

“I managed to escape the hell of al-Hakim,” he muttered as he lay there dying, “only to fall into the clutches of that viper of a sister of his. A pox on this state, with all its secrets and catastrophes!”

At that very moment Khatir al-Mulk was at home He was describing to his wife a nightmare he kept having: al-Hakim would appear to him, sometimes in the guise of a terrifying ghost, and tell him to choose between revealing the real secret behind his own murder or else facing a gruesome act of vengeance; at other times, his guise would be a huge woman who would grab his neck in her numerous hands and amuse herself by throttling him. The only way his wife could find to calm his anxieties was to ply him with cup after cup of wine. Once they were both thoroughly drunk, she used to get up and take all his clothes off. Then, swaying slowly from side to side, she started to strip in front of him, her eyes and gestures serving as icons of seduction and grace. With that she fell on top of him, and his massive body welcomed her in a passionate embrace and an orgy of kisses. They both became as a single body, undivided and totally blended. It was at the very moment when they were in the midst of their passion and at the point of climax that Nasim and his guards burst in on them like a lethal lightning-strike. In stabbing them both to death, the slaves managed to tear their bodies to pieces.

Early in the evening of that bloody day Nasim returned breathless to Sitt al-Mulk’s residence, accompanied by a group of sturdy slaves who were carrying bulging sacks dripping with blood.

“Here is what you ordered, my lady,” said Nasim with a bow. “These seven sacks contain the corpses of those two accursed wretches, Khatir al-Mulk and Ibn Dawwas, and five of their equally treacherous henchmen. The rest will follow. Should we separate the heads and toss the rest to the lions?

“No!” shrieked Sitt al-Mulk, tears streaming down her face. “Nothing must be left. Bury the sacks in a single ditch outside the city. Keep your hands away from their necks. Let the blood course through their veins, not on the tips of your swords.”

“And what about the young governor of Aleppo, Abu Shuja‘ Fatik al-Wahidi?” inquired Nasim in a affectionate tone that made no attempt to conceal its hard edge of determination. “Are we supposed to keep our swords away from him too, my lady? Throughout the late al-Hakim’s reign he was constantly creating problems. He gave himself fancy titles like ‘Aziz al-Dawla, Prince of Princes, and Crown of the People, struck coins in his name, and had his own name included in the Friday prayers I’ve no idea what further mischief he’ll get up to if my lady keeps on placating him and trying to win him over with compliments and gifts.”

Sitt al-Mulk realized that Nasim was criticizing her decisions, but still managed to keep her temper under control. “What would you have me do?” she replied. “Send an army to obliterate Aleppo? Don’t you realize that when you find a snake in your garden it’s better to cut its head off, not set fire to the entire garden? I’ve promised myself not to kill anyone until my complete repertoire of tricks and machinations is exhausted. As far as the governor of Aleppo is concerned, I’m still looking for his particular weaknesses so I can use them to get rid of him.”

Nasim lowered his head and cowtowed like someone in desperate need of forgiveness and approbation. “My lady clearly has things well planned,” he mumbled. “God will grant her success and provide the surest counsel. If you would like information on the secret weakness of that rebellious wretch in Aleppo, just ask your servant, the Chief of Security. I can give you guaranteed information, things that will expose the way he really is and bring about his downfall. Discretion being out of place where matters of religion and politics are concerned, I can tell you, my lady, that the young governor of Aleppo is a prostitute’s child. He’s renowned among informers and spies alike for his innate aversion to women and his perverted social preferences. He has neither wife nor lover. His only true passion is an Indian boy whom he calls “the eternal youth.” This boy is the only person he sleeps with; all he asks from his Creator — may He be exalted! — is to be in this boy’s company on that fateful day when all bodies are to be gathered together. My lady, this very boy can be God’s gift to us. He’ll provide the precious means we can use in order to act. Let’s make him a pliant tool in our hands, something we can use to destroy this enemy of our state. Once we’ve employed certain techniques to turn him against his master, we’ll be able to make him the vengeful sword to remove this traitor’s head. Once that is done, we can kill the boy. Everything else is for my lady to arrange”, she being the one who inspires my thoughts and actions.”

Sitt al-Mulk said not a word, but simply gestured her approval and agreement. She rushed away to her chamber, pursued by Nasim’s expressions of loyalty and obedience. She lay down on her bed and wept bitterly, agonizing over the fact that she was compelled to order so many people killed — and all of it, by God, in spite of herself!

For a few precious days Sitt al-Mulk felt she could breathe easier. She allowed the palace maids to pamper her body with baths, massages, and beauty treatments; throughout this period she came to relish this level of attention and asked for even more. Meanwhile the maids were outdoing each other in their efforts to stimulate every limb, every single inch of her blessed body.

During this period Sitt al-Mulk actually felt reborn; it was as if she were finally rid of times steeped in blood and disaster and could at last take some comfort from harbingers of good times ahead. She started to supervise state affairs for herself, while in her shadow the new caliph, al-Zahir, learned how to achieve the necessary level of decision-making authority and how to annul the oppressive and contradictory policies of his own father. Before long she had fully restored die Fatimid dynasty and its administration to full order and provided it with both security and permanence. She started with a broad purge of the financial sector which in al-Hakim’s time had fallen on bad times because of his profligate spending on gifts and land as well as on a wide variety of phony and illegitimate salaries. Along with such measures she also re-imposed taxes and duties at reasonable and fairly distributed rates. As a result of these urgently needed reforms, signs of a healthy economy began to appear, along with indications of a balanced budget. Sitt al-Mulk also pushed al-Zahir to rescind or annul all the edicts that al-Hakim had issued in the form of bans and prohibitions, along with the withdrawal of protection from Christians, Jews, and adherents of other faiths. No sooner had these new edicts reached the ears of the Egyptian populace than a general sense of tranquility was restored, and with it a new tolerance and co-existence among the people of every race, creed, and color.