Bensalem Himmich - The Polymath

“The question as you have formulated it tonight, Master, is the following: If indeed history is a record in which the lessons of the past are not accorded their proper place and fail to fulfill their useful function, then what precisely is the significance of variables and transformations in different historical phases and eras?”

“In the Introduction to History I composed a number of specific sections in which I endeavored to subdivide the topic in accordance with contrasting principles. I made every effort to organize and enumerate them as clearly as possible. By way of example, I chose to problematize the blending of positive and negative in urban culture as being at one and the same time the goal of civilization and the principal indication of its fragmentation and corruption. This problematic was in fact based on my knowledge of the Maghribi region. Since it is much closer to my own experience. I was able to avoid indulging in sterile generalizations or rash judgments about the more eastern regions where I now reside and about which I am still in quest of the necessary knowledge. But, now that I’ve achieved a great age, I find that I cannot abandon this question and shut off discussion, relying merely on what I wrote earlier about the total inapplicability of the exemplary past in the light of the tensions caused by unfair taxation and the tyrannical control of sultans and ministers, or more generally the corruption of mankind’s sense of humanity. It’s as though the factors I’ve identified are in fact simply part of the surface layer of things, such as the Bedouin or the blight caused by the Great Plague; as though such things only serve to conceal other factors or even a single factor that is more comprehensive and encompassing. Whenever my intuition confirms such circular continuities and allows me to subject them to more intense scrutiny, I find myself spending untold amounts of time confronting a drastic irony: societies neither benefit in any significant fashion nor progress as a result of the passage of time or the sequences of generations. From one perspective, civilization stands as a concept for the life of history; but an equally cogent version sees it as a sphere within which that very idea wanes and falls apart.

“For more than two years now — to be exact, ever since the sea swallowed up my wife and children — I have actually lost all desire to take a fresh look at the complex and knotty questions we’re investigating today. I’ve actually started depriving myself of the sole pleasure that remains for old folks once the delights of food, drink, and sex are denied them, namely listening to fabulous tales, both those that are of heavenly origin — tales of locust swarms and eclipses, and those that are earthly — plagues, earthquakes, fires, and drought. When I receive information now, it all fits into a never ending process of recycling and repetition, an orphan to novelty and self-interest, victim of that similarity I referred to above between water and water, a kind of eternal law carved in stone until such time as God inherits the earth and the people on it! That’s what I used to chant to the words of the great mystic, al-Shibli: ‘A thousand years past, a thousand years to come, that is the essence of time. And the phantoms shall never deceive you!’”

‘Abd al-Rahman kept saying the words ‘and the phantoms shall never deceive you’ over and over again, like a chant or litany. As he continued chanting the words with a profound fervor, he kept his eyes closed. Al-Hihi sat there, pen poised, not knowing what to do next. Then ‘Abd al-Rahman stopped abruptly, and the whole house was enveloped in complete silence. The evening session seemed about to end, and al-Hihi broke the awesome silence of the moment by rustling and folding his papers. Just then, he heard the voice of his master resuming his recitation in a calm but clear voice.

“Record it all before you leave, Hammu. Write down the major parameter that governs all other principles before it gets away from me or else I find myself dazzled by its distinctive clarity. As I see things now, the most significant factor in invalidating the lessons of the past and the pointless accumulation of periods involves the corruption of the very germ of history, the forward thrust of its different phases. I can see it in the ingrained flaws to be found in this stubborn and intertwined principle that is forever causing the same calamities and historical ruptures. In a word, Hammu, I see it clearly in that unmitigated disaster that is called group solidarity, along with all its defining characteristics.”

That statement made al-Hihi’s hand shake.

“Forgive my reaction, Master,” he said. “Don’t worry about the mess on the page. But that last statement of yours has left me thoroughly confused.”

“Never mind, Hammu,” ‘Abd al-Rahman replied. “There’s plenty in that statement to confuse its speaker as well. But what are we supposed to do when confronted with such a torrent of information amid the accumulated piles of error and tradition? We can’t afford not to accept it all with open hearts and analytical minds, can we?”

“Indeed we can’t, Master. But how can you now abandon a concept that occupies such a capstone position in your writings? To be sure, group solidarity involves struggle and conflict, but the major purpose of its innate vigor continues to be leadership and rule. In this ephemeral world of ours I can see no viable alternative to such a principle.”

“To the contrary, that’s precisely what needs to be changed. History must develop a better, more refined seed, one that will enable it to change its skin and its course of development. Failing that, the lessons of the past will have no function within its frame of reference, and all aspirations to progress will be in vain. Luqman’s house will remain as it is, but it may well suffer ill should the instincts of group solidarity remain a cogent force among peoples and retain discretionary control over popular discourse. With regard to my previous writings on the subject, you should record that the status that I have given it as a concept is not based on any notion of sanctity or adulation, but merely part of a process of observation and description. Its value is purely procedural, no more.

“If you look at the dire consequences of group solidarity, you’ll see what I mean. The first of them is that, when a dynasty attains a sufficient level of luxury and easy living, it finds itself confronting an imbalance between the ever-increasing costs of a life of ease and of the armed forces and administrative sector on the one hand, and on the other, static or dwindling tax revenues. In redressing such an imbalance, it is completely useless to raise taxes and duties as long as the extent to which they exceed normal expectations leads inevitably to civil unrest, abandonment by peasants of their usual work practices, and a general withdrawal from public activities. The second of these consequences is that when the treasury suffers a drastic fall in tax revenues because people refuse to pay and collectors resort to armed violence, the sultan decides to place the burden of revenue collection on commercial taxation, an action that turns the state into a gigantic market. He then moves to exploit merchant shipping fees to the maximum extent by giving foreign merchants special privileges in commercial transactions and freight. However, these two methods of reducing the treasury’s shortfall in tax revenues by monopolizing the commercial sector lead to inevitable consequences: the boycott of commerce by local merchants who abandon the business altogether, and the aggravation of those people who take seriously the task of protecting the Muslim community. Perhaps the worst of all these consequences is that the state embarks on one final act of reform, one that rapidly reveals itself to be an even greater contradiction than all the others. It proceeds to reduce the number of soldiers in the armed forces as a way of confronting the rise in military expenses; soldiers thereby turn into mercenaries whose only business is to sell their services for whatever price suits them. This procedure is no less harmful than the others in that it weakens the military might of the state and as a direct result, exposes the security apparatus to genuine dangers from within and without. The state’s fundamental weakness is exposed in broad daylight. That dynasty is then destroyed by another group, with its own sense of solidarity, a group whose only role is to repeat the same cycle of civilizational phases and calamities, albeit with variations in resources and modes.