Arabian Nights and Days

by Naguib Mahfouz

  Silence reigned until it was broken by Aladdin asking, “Does that require that I should give up my work?”

  “Each sheikh has a Way of his own,” the other answered forcefully, “and as for me I accept only those who work.”

  “I shall come quickly and eagerly.”

  “Do not come,” he said, “unless you are driven by an irresistible desire.”

  X

  He came up to Fadil Sanaan at the public fountain as a new person. Fadil was dubious and muttered impatiently, “How long are you going to leave me in a state of hope?”

  “I,” said Aladdin, “am in the state of confusion.”

  “Did you find the way to the sheikh’s house?”

  “Yes—how did you know that?”

  “I know his tracks.” Then he added, “I moved around with him for a long time.”

  “You!”

  “Yes.”

  “He is a righteous sheikh.”

  “That, and more,” he conceded, bending his head.

  “Perhaps patience failed you and you discontinued?”

  “I received at his hands an upbringing whose effects do not abate, yet I preferred permanence to the obliteration of self.”

  “I do not understand, friend.”

  “Be patient, understanding is not made possible except with time. I would like to see you as one of God’s soldiers, not one of his dervishes.”

  “I am truly confused.”

  “The logic of faith is everlasting and eternal,” said Fadil. “The Path is one at first, then it splits inevitably into two. One of these leads to love and to obliteration of self, the other to holy war. As for the people of obliteration of self, they are dedicated to themselves, and as for the people of holy war, they dedicate themselves to God’s servants.”

  At this Aladdin sank into deep thought that caused him to forget time.

  XI

  Darwish Omran the chief of police and his son Habazlam Bazaza were trotting along on two mules from the police station to their house with the sun about to set. At the turning into Shooting Square the madman suddenly fixed them with a stare. Blocking their way, he cried out at Darwish Omran, “Visit your friend al-Mu’in ibn Sawi and convey my greetings.”

  The man then went on his way and Habazlam asked, “What does madman want?”

  “A madman is not held answerable for his words or actions.”

  He nevertheless realized that he was reminding him of the fate of the chief of police and that he was referring to his digressions. His son too realized this despite his question, especially as he normally acted as intermediary between his father and the merchants.

  “Madmen have a place they do not depart from,” Habazlam retorted.

  “He enjoys the affection of His Majesty the Sultan,” said Darwish Omran.

  “As I see it,” Habazlam said derisively, “he is afraid of him.”

  “Mind your tongue, Habazlam.”

  “What ignominy, father,” exclaimed the young man. “Isn’t it enough that the deviant sheikh refused to accept me as a husband for his daughter?”

  Darwish Omran frowned without uttering a word.

  XII

  “For him whose happiness is not valid, that happiness bequeaths troubles; and for him whose sociability is not in the service of his Lord, that sociability bequeaths alienation.”

  Among the lessons in religion that the sheikh would give Aladdin, his cup brimmed over with fragments of enlightening aphorisms. It was as though he was communing with himself, but the young man would receive them in a daze.

  “Everyone thereon is transitory, except His face, and he who delights in the transitory will be beset by sorrow when that which delights him comes to an end. Everything is vanity except the worship of Him; sorrow and alienation throughout the world ensue from looking at everything but God.”

  Aladdin remembered his dreams, his conversations, and his actions and the world appeared to him like a covering of mysteries. He remembered his father and his mother and he was overcome with sadness.

  “He who has been endowed with three things alongside three other things has escaped from the banes of life: an empty stomach on a contented heart; continued poverty with present abstinence; and total patience with constant invocation of His name.”

  Aladdin said to himself: We pray to the Merciful, the Compassionate in the name of the Merciful, the Compassionate.

  At this the sheikh asked him, “What are you thinking about, my son?”

  With reddened cheeks he emerged from his momentary daze. “Nothing will take me out of my state of confusion except the benevolence of the Merciful.”

  “You must, before receiving the wine, cleanse the container, removing from it all elements of dirt.”

  “What a good spiritual guide you are!” he said joyfully.

  “But ‘the other’ forces himself upon us while that guide is absent.”

  Realizing that he was referring to Fadil Sanaan, Aladdin inquired, “What do you think of him, master?”

  “A noble youth who knew what suited him and was satisfied with it.”

  “Is he straying from the right path?”

  “He is waging war against error to the extent of his ability.”

  “Now my heart is at peace,” said Aladdin happily.

  “But you must know yourself.”

  “He is poor, but rich in bearing the worries of mankind.”

  “A creed for the sword and a creed for love.”

  Aladdin was silent and the sheikh said, “Blessed are those who have accomplished the transfer of the heart from things to the Lord of things. The world does not come to my mind, so how should it come to the minds of those who know not the world?”

  After this the sheikh continued with his lesson.

  XIII

  One night the sheikh received him in the same room but he saw that a curtain had been let down at its right-hand corner. He was beset by youthful notions.

  “Listen, Aladdin,” said the sheikh.

  The strings of a lute were struck behind the curtains and a melodious voice sang:

  “My night is resplendent with your face

  with darkness in force among people.

  While people are in the depths of darkness,

  we are in the brightness of daylight.”

  The voice was silent but its echo continued to penetrate the depths.

  “This is Zubeida, my daughter,” said the sheikh. “She is a sincere disciple.”

  “I am happy and honored,” mumbled Aladdin in rapture.

  “I have refused to give her to the son of the chief of police.” Then, continuing after a silence, “But I make of her a gift to you, Aladdin.”

  “But I am nothing but an itinerant barber,” he said in a voice that trembled with emotion.

  And the sheikh recited:

  “A visitor whose handsomeness was revealed—

  how hides the night a full moon that comes forth?”

  Then he said, “He who is humble about himself, God raises his worth; and he who exults in himself, God humbles him in the eyes of His servants.”

  XIV

  A marriage contract was made between Aladdin and Zubeida. The young man transferred himself to the house of the great sheikh. Ugr, Fattouha, and Fadil Sanaan, Master Sahloul and Abdul Qadir al-Maheeni attended the simple wedding feast. And, without an invitation, the madman came along and sat to the right of the bridegroom. After the feast Ugr went off to his house in the company of a group of his special friends, where glasses of wine made the rounds and he went on dancing and singing until dawn.

  XV

  Only a few days after the night of the wedding the peaceful atmosphere of the quarter was troubled by painful events when the epidemic of evil, with its somber face, advanced once more upon it. A rare and valuable jewel had been lost from the residence of the governor, al-Fadl ibn Khaqan, and his wife was greatly upset. This had reminded the governor of those unruly incidents that had beset the quarter from time to tim
e in the shape of assassinations and robberies that revealed the ugliest of conspiracies and ended up with the killing of the governor or his dismissal. The man poured out his anger against Darwish Omran, the chief of police, who denied that his organization had been negligent and promised that the perpetrator would be arrested and the jewel found.

  The chief of police dispatched his plainclothesmen throughout the quarter. On the basis of reports received he made a raid on the house of Sheikh Abdullah al-Balkhi, paying no heed to the murmurings of the people. He searched it thoroughly and came across the jewel in Aladdin’s cupboard, where he also found some letters that showed conclusively that he was cooperating with the Kharijites. Thus Aladdin was arrested and thrown into prison and it was decided that he should be put on trial immediately.

  XVI

  With this a pall of sadness fell upon the hearts of the people. It burned not only at Zubeida, Fattouha, and Ugr, but hearts generally were pained at the fate of the handsome young man. They were determined that he should be freed and pointed to the chief of police and his son Habazlam Bazaza as being those who had planned the crime. What increased people’s suspicions was the appearance of a sudden favor granted to al-Mu’in ibn Sawi, which led them to believe that the planners had had recourse to his previous experience as chief of police in carrying out what they had plotted. Ugr went to solicit compassion from al-Fadl ibn Khaqan and Haikal al-Zafarani, but he found himself rebuffed by them. He urged Sheikh Abdullah al-Balkhi to exert himself, making use of the veneration in which he was held, but no word or movement issued from the sheikh. Events moved with startling speed and Aladdin was tried and sentenced to be beheaded.

  XVII

  On the morning of a cold autumnal day Aladdin was led off to execution under close guard amid a vast crowd of the inhabitants of the quarter that included both officials and working men. Aladdin himself could not believe what was taking place and was calling out, “I am innocent—God is my witness.”

  His gaze roamed among the faces that stared at him, some pitying, some crowing over his fate, and he raised his face toward the heavens behind the clouds, submitting himself to his Creator. The screams of his mother and his wife came to him and his heart quaked. Despite his state of bewilderment he was able to recall how he had hoped to emerge from his confusion to the sword of holy war or to divine love. It had never occurred to him that his fate would instead be the executioner’s sword.

  Many expected that some miracle might occur at the last moment, as had happened to Ugr, but the sword was raised high before their eyes amid the atmosphere of gloom; then in its falling it scattered all hopes: the handsome and noble head was severed from the body.

  XVIII

  In the sheikh’s house Ugr moaned, “My son is innocent.”

  “Innocent and blameless,” wailed Zubeida. “God is sufficient for me.”

  The sheikh sat cross-legged, calm and silent. He did nothing; even sadness he did not express. His daughter said to him, “Father, I am racked with pain.”

  “You haven’t made the least movement,” Ugr said to him sharply. “It’s as if the matter didn’t concern you.”

  He looked at his daughter without paying any attention to Ugr and said, “Patience, Zubeida.”

  Then, after a silence, he went on: “Here is the story of a venerable sheikh who said, ‘I fell into a hole and after three days there passed by a caravan of travelers. I told myself that I should call out to them. Then I went back on my decision, saying that no, it was not proper that I should seek help other than from Almighty God. When they approached the hole they found that it was in the middle of the road and they said, “Let’s fill this hole lest someone fall into it.” I was so exceedingly perturbed that I lost all hope. After they had filled it in and gone on their way, I prayed to Almighty God and gave myself over to death, relinquishing all hope in human beings. When night fell I heard a movement at the surface of the hole. As I listened to it the mouth of the hole was opened and I saw a large animal like a dragon. It let down its tail to me and I knew that God had sent it to rescue me. I clung on to its tail and it drew me up. Then a voice from the heavens called out to me, “We have saved you from death with death.” ’ ”

  * * *

  * A legendary figure in Islam.

  The Sultan

  I

  The three men carved their way through the darkness in the garb of foreign merchants: Shahriyar, Dandan, and Shabeeb Rama. Three specters approached them and when they faced each other, one of the specters asked, “What are you doing at this hour of the night?”

  “We are foreign merchants,” answered Shahriyar, “alleviating our boredom with the breezes of spring.”

  “You are to be my guests, strangers,” said the man who had spoken.

  Calling blessings upon him, they went off as one group, with Shahriyar asking, “I wonder who our generous host can be?”

  “Patience, O noble gentlemen,” said the man.

  II

  They walked until they arrived at the riverbank and made their way toward a waiting ship, its lights shining from it like stars.

  “We are linked with the market—are you wishing to travel?”

  Another voice answered, “O strangers, you are in the presence of His Majesty Sultan Shahriyar, so give him the greetings due to the ruler and give praise to God for your good fortune.”

  Astonishment silenced the tongues of the three men. What sultan? Which Shahriyar? In their bewilderment they were rooted to the spot.

  “Greetings, strangers,” said the second voice.

  Shahriyar recovered from his state of shock and determined to embark upon the experience and see it through to the end. He quickly bowed down in front of the alleged sultan and was immediately followed by Dandan and Shabeeb Rama.

  “May God make victorious the face of the Commander of the Faithful and give him long life and perpetuate his reign.”

  Within the retinue they followed him until he had seated himself on a throne under an awning in the bow of the ship. They took their seats on cushions that had been laid down on an empty space extending in front of the throne. In spring weather, under the smiles of wakeful stars, the ship set sail.

  III

  The ship anchored by the shore of an island, where it was met by guards with torches.

  “It’s a new kingdom, with us asleep!” whispered the real Shahriyar in Dandan’s ear.

  “Maybe it’s hashish, Your Majesty?”

  “But from where are they getting the money to pay for these luxuries?”

  “Soon,” said the vizier uneasily, “the truth will speak with its hidden tongue.”

  They entered a fine pavilion and found a tablecloth spread out with all sorts of food and drink. Surrounding it was a gathering of the men of the kingdom, who partook of the food till they were sated, and of the drink till their spirits were aglow with rapturous joy. From behind a curtain a slave-girl sang:

  “The tongue of passion in my innermost self to you is speaking,

  telling you that I am in love with you.”

  “What a royal banquet it is, and we are nothing but subjects,” whispered the true Shahriyar in Dandan’s ear.

  Then, at a prescribed moment, the other sultan called out, “The time has come for us to hold the divine tribunal.”

  “Should we not excuse ourselves,” Dandan asked his master, “so that we may send troops to surround them before they are scattered?”

  “Let us rather remain so that I may see with my own eyes what is happening—things that have not happened to me even in my thoughts.”

  Quickly some people took up the cloths on which the food had been spread. A dais for the court was brought and set up in the center of the pavilion. The other sultan seated himself, with his vizier standing to his right and on his left the executioner. Guards with unsheathed swords were stationed in the corners. The real Shahriyar sat down, together with his two followers, amid a few of the elite who were permitted to follow the tribunal of divine
justice.

  IV

  From above the dais and addressing the elite who were present, the other sultan said, “I thank God, Who has helped me to repent after I had become immersed in the shedding of innocent blood and in plundering the property of Muslims. In truth He is generous in mercy and forgiveness.”

  The face of the real Shahriyar turned pale, yet he remained motionless. The other sultan continued what he had to say:

  “This tribunal is being held in order to investigate a complaint raised by a simple man. If what he reports is correct, then a terrible crime has been brought to light in which innocence has been done to death to the advantage of baseness, villainy, and oppression. It is of God, first and last, that help is asked, so let the complainant, Ugr the barber, enter.”

  The man entered and stood before the dais, humble and wary.

  “What is your complaint, Ugr?” the sultan said to him.

  “My only son Aladdin,” said the man in a quavering voice, “died as the victim of a savage and treacherous plot.”

  “What was the charge for which he was beheaded?”

  “Plotting against the sultan and stealing the jewel of the lady Qamar al-Zaman, the wife of the governor al-Fadl ibn Khaqan.”

  “Who, in your opinion, devised the plot?”

  “Habazlam Bazaza and his father Darwish Omran the chief of police, and they sought the help of al-Mu’in ibn Sawi, who had been sacked because of his wrongdoings. He succeeded in stealing the jewel and in placing it in Aladdin’s cupboard, together with forged letters that told of his treachery to His Majesty the Sultan.”