by Tahir Shah
Mohammed ar-Razi
A celebrated alchemist and philosopher, as well as becoming the greatest physician of the tenth century, ar-Razi’s work was translated widely into Latin (in which he himself was known as Rhazes), where it formed one of the bases of Western medicine. His two most acclaimed medical works are the Kitab al-Mansuri, which he authored in honour of the ruler Mansur ibn Ishaq; and the Kitab al-hawi, the ‘Comprehensive Book’, which surveyed Greek, Syrian, Indian and early Arabic medicine. In addition to these two voluminous works, ar-Razi wrote dozens of medical treatises, among them an important paper on smallpox and measles which was translated into Latin, Byzantine Greek and many other languages.
Abu al Faraj al-Isbahani
Born into a Shiite family in the tenth century, al-Isbahani claimed descent from the Prophet through Ali. Also a descendant of Marwan II, the last Umayyed Caliph of Syria, al-Isbahani was a celebrated scholar of both literature and music, best known for the Kitab al-Aghani, his monumental ‘Book of Songs’, which provides a wide body of information on early Islamic music and musicians.
Selim I
Nicknamed Yavuz, ‘The Grim’, Sultan Selim I was largely responsible for the way in which the Ottoman Empire rose to become the predominant Muslim dynasty of their time. Although Selim I, his antecedents and descendants, have claimed direct ancestry to the Prophet, most modern scholars dispute their lineage.
Responsible for securing and holding onto one of the most formidable realms the Islamic World has known, the Ottomans were also great patrons the arts, using their phenomenal wealth in the service architecture, calligraphy, metalwork and ceramics.
Visitors to Istanbul’s Topkapi Palace can view a mesmerizing array of objects created for the Sultans. These include a cluster of relics brought from Egypt by Selim I, and amongst them are one of the Prophet’s hairs, one of his teeth, his mantle, and even his footprint.
The Mahadi of Sudan
Born the son of a Sudanese boat-builder who alleged descent from The People of the Cloak, Mohammed Ahmed ibn Abdullah, or the ‘Mahadi’, as he became known, was a messianic figure set on the reformation of Islam, on returning it to the pure Islamic values practised by the Prophet.
In some Muslim circles (most notably those of the Shiite branch) there is a tradition of a last messiah who will appear and lead for seven or eight years in a final golden age, before the end of the world. The most recent such messianic figure to achieve prominence in the Islamic World, the Mahadi of Sudan, called for revolution in 1881 against the Egyptian administration which, at that point, controlled much of Sudan.
Sweeping through Sudan, the Mahadists gained popular support among ordinary people. When they came up against the Egyptian army, which was led by a British colonel, they slaughtered all ten thousand of them and marched on to Khartoum. The famous British commander General Gordon was then dispatched to the Sudanese capital to put an end to the Mahadi’s revolt. Gordon and his troops were butchered, allowing the Mahadi national control. Five months after throwing out all colonial forces, however, the Mahadi suddenly died, and his once-powerful movement disintegrated.
Ibn Saud
As a child, Ibn Saud’s family lost their ancestral lands near Riyad on the Arabian Peninsula, and were forced to flee to Kuwait, impoverished. Ibn Saud yearned to regain his family’s dignity; and, as soon as he reached manhood, made a daring attack on the opposing Rashidi fortress, killing their leader. Over the next years he continued to wage war against the Rashidis. By 1924, he was victorious, having regained not only his ancestral lands, but adding to them the entire central Arabian and the Hejaz regions, which controlled the holy city of Mecca.
A leader of burning charisma, Ibn Saud himself was drawn from the Wahabis, who espouse a puritanical interpretation of Islamic values. Regarded as a leader of rock solid ability, he is viewed as a man whose personal course was charted with great deliberation.
Jan Fishan Khan
The great nineteenth century Afghan warrior and statesman was among the most adulated warlords in Central Asian history. With a name which means ‘He Who Scatters Souls in Battle’, Jan Fishan Khan is largely remembered today for helping hundreds of British women and children to escape the siege of Kabul in 1842: one of the greatest acts of humanity during the days of the British Empire. It was a feat that astonished the British, as much as it enraged the Afghan people.
Hussein of Jordan
King Hussein of Jordan was, arguably, one of the greatest modern adherents to the ways of The People of the Cloak. Born into the Hashemite line, his family had been guardians of Mecca for a thousand years until the establishment of their own kingdom in the 1920s. A spokesman for the voice of moderation within Islam, Hussein spent much of his political career battling against fanatical Islamic forces within his kingdom and the region. In 1958, his first cousin – the Hashemite King Faisal of Iraq – was butchered by Republican soldiers in a coup.
Surviving more than a dozen assassination attempts (including having his eye drops poisoned), Hussein soon became an effective bridgehead between East and West. On his death in 1999, his powers as monarch were transferred to his eldest son, Prince Abdullah, who continues Jordan’s Hashemite line.
Aga Khan IV
Prince Karim Hussain (otherwise known as ‘Aga Khan IV’) is the head of the Ismaili community. Half English by birth and schooled in Switzerland and at Harvard, he is recognized as a member of the jet-set elite: seen on the Côte d’Azur as often as he is in the Islamic World.
But the other side of the Aga Khan’s activities – namely his devotion to charity – is less well publicized. His philanthropic foundations have built schools and hospitals in a range of countries, especially in East Africa and south Asia. The Aga Khan’s current project of establishing a large Islamic museum and centre in London, is seen as aimed at drawing the West’s attention to the moderate side of Islam, and the religion’s rich cultural tradition.
From the earliest days of Islam there has been a grave temptation to invent fraudulent ancestry, linking a weak heritage to the Prophetic line. All kinds of people have been guilty of this practice – most notably an array of powerful Caliphs who have ruled over the Middle East and, more recently, a wide range of Arab leaders.
Harun ar-Rashid is said to have gone to great lengths to ensure that his genealogy reflected not merely the Prophet’s tribe, but his clan. The Ottoman Sultan Selim I was equally ambitious, and sponsored only genealogists who would agree to link his own name to that of Mohammed.
Fraudulent claimants are more common today than ever before, hailing from every rank and corner of the Islamic World, and ranging from destitute beggars to national presidents.
The irony is that bona fide People of the Cloak are brought up to despise misuse of their heritage. For them nothing is so deplorable as bragging about their ancestry, or using it to achieve commercial ends. It is for this reason that a great number of the Prophet’s ancestors refrain from using their hereditary titles, or ever mentioning their lineage at all. The fact that the family condemns the use of such titles for personal gain, makes fraudulent or misguided members all the more visible.
The Sufis are probably the most misunderstood group within the Islamic community, and their brotherhood is interlinked with the lives of The People of the Cloak. Regarded with awe throughout the Islamic World, their mystical fraternity is said to keep alive a secret knowledge. The most celebrated Sufi of all was the Prophet himself. His teachings – together with the codes of behaviour by which he lived – are entwined with the values held sacred by his line.
True Sufis believe that their brotherhood came into being long before Islam, and that consequently they are not bound to that Faith. But at the same time, many leading Sufis – including the most famous, Jalaluddin Rumi – have been People of the Cloak.
Central premises of Sufi life are the principles of ‘selflessness’, introspection and of anonymous charity: the very same ideals held so sacred by the Prophet’s descendants.
/>
Some say that the Sufis were the precursors to Freemasons, others that they take their name from the woollen coats they once wore (suf, meaning ‘wool’ in Arabic), as they shunned silks and finery. But as far as real Sufis are concerned there is no merit in tracing their history, or deliberating on why they are called what they are. Instead, they prefer to spend time bettering themselves and striving towards their own form of inner enlightenment.
With the expansion of science and the arts in the early Islamic era, many Sufis put their minds to solving mathematical problems, while others studied artistic techniques, medicine, architecture, alchemy and other magical sciences. Their symbols can be seen in many disciplines to those who know where to find them. Nowhere is their message so strong as in their literature.
Western society has only in recent years begun to understand the phenomenal clarity of Sufi perception, the psychology of which stresses that the mind must first be ready to receive knowledge. One of the techniques employed to this end is the use of humour, which Sufis believe frees the mind, allowing it to absorb. To comprehend Sufi knowledge one must also be trained to understand a secret language, known to Sufis as ‘the Hidden Tongue’.
Literal translation of Sufi words or encoded terms has caused almost unbelievable confusion in the West, especially in the transmission of this secret lore. Sufi texts, many of them written by The People of the Cloak themselves, are misunderstood because their deeper allegorical meanings – which are clear only to the Sufi fraternity – are taken too literally by outsiders.
Complex methods of encryption used by the Sufi orders come in many forms, the most famous of which is the Abjad system – an alphanumeric substitution cipher – frequently found in Sufi literature and all forms of their art.
It is almost impossible to overemphasize the importance with which ancestry is held in the Middle East and North Africa. As has already been stressed, the Prophet Mohammed’s is regarded as by far the most important lineage of all. Ancestry is an Arab obsession, and virtually everyone can recount the names of their forebears, often dating back a dozen generations or more.
With the focus always on achievement, The People of the Cloak are ruthless with regard to genealogy. At the birth of a male child, they usually only mark its name in pencil. If the son becomes a person of merit and accomplishment, only then will his name be written over in ink. If the individual achieves nothing significant during their life, however, the name will be erased and forgotten.
When introductions are made in the East, mention is frequently made of a person’s famous ancestors or noble bloodlines. For the Westerner, these extended deliberations over ancestral lineage can be perplexing. It is a process which dates back to Arabia’s tribal past, and which is held as important today as it was centuries ago.
Spend a little time in the East, and one begins to sense who is (or claims to be) of noble ancestry. As well as Hashemi and Quraishi, you find the names Fatemi and Hussaini – descendants of Mohammed’s daughter and her son, Hussain. The latter two are especially revered by the Shiite community.
In addition, there are ancestral titles available for members of the Prophet’s family to use, should they wish to do so. These include Sayed, which means ‘Prince’; Sharif, meaning ‘Noble’; and Amir, meaning ‘Commander’.
THIRTY-EIGHT
Queen of the Ku Klux Klan
RACHEL PENDERGRAFT WAS PRESENTED with her first set of hooded robes even before she could walk.
Her earliest memories are of midnight ceremonies, of cross burnings, and oaths sworn in allegiance to the Ku Klux Klan.
Bought up in the very bosom of the Klan, Rachel is widely regarded as the most powerful female member of the KKK in America today. Hailed as a ‘Grand Dragon’, she is the only woman to sit on the Grand Council of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. With her smooth talk, good looks and designer wardrobe, Rachel Pendergraft is the new face of America’s most feared secret society.
The door swings open to room 117 at a run-down motel somewhere in east Tennessee. Rachel Pendergraft stands in the frame, grinning widely, as if she understands the importance of first impressions. She is buxom, blonde, and fair-skinned, with large hazel eyes and thick fuchsia lipgloss. Dressed in a tailored navy suit, with a cream blouse, dangly gold earrings, and sensible shoes, Rachel Pendergraft is the opposite of what you might expect.
The motel room is cluttered with vanity cases, Italian outfits and children’s clothes. Rachel’s daughters stare into a TV screen, giggling at cartoons. Charity, aged three, and Shelby, who is almost two, have long golden locks and alabaster complexions. Like their mother, they are dressed in their Sunday best. At first it seems like any other motel room in America’s Deep South: flowery wallpaper, cable TV, and vinyl-covered chairs. But look again. Hanging in one corner are two sets of white silky robes. Hooded and with face-veils, the full-length gowns bear the black stripes of high rank.
Stacked beside the hooded gowns are other clues: boxes filled with T-shirts and badges, banners and bumper-stickers, bearing the inimitable initials ‘KKK’.
But the Ku Klux Klan has re-thought its dogma, sharpened its image, become eco-friendly, and is learning to play the media game.
Perhaps the biggest change of all is their new focus on welcoming women to the society’s leadership. Gone is the foul-mouthed, grubby Klan of the past; gone too are the calls to take up arms. The Klan has a new message: Merchandising, Media, Massive Power.
The KKK no longer organizes lynchings, it holds coffee mornings instead.
‘When we were kids we used to go to Klan picnics and barbecues,’ explains Rachel, in her southern lilt. ‘Everyone at school knew that I was in the Klan and that my dad was a member. I didn’t have any black friends when I was a kid – but I did know a Mexican girl once. We weren’t close though. She understood that I belonged to the Ku Klux Klan.’
Rachel pauses as Charity squirms up onto her lap.
‘I’m really dedicated to the Klan,’ she says, ‘I’m committed because I care about the future of my children. I love my people because they’re white, I love my kids because they’re white – and I’ll love my grandchildren ’cos they’ll be white.’
‘You must understand,’ she bursts out energetically, ‘we don’t hate black people, we just love white people!’
This sound bite is the all too familiar new face of the Klan.
It rolls off the tongue smooth as silk. No neo-Klan interview would be complete without it.
‘We haven’t changed our attitudes,’ Rachel confides, as she inspects her long, manicured nails, ‘but we’re perfecting our image, making it sharper, and working on our professionalism.’
Rachel Pendergraft and her father, the veteran Klansman Thom Robb, run the largest and oldest Klan group in the United States. Known as the Knights of the KKK, the faction realizes that the only way the society can become a national force again is by changing its spots. The group’s radical programme of change has been greeted with rage from the die-hard Klan fringe. Indeed, the Knights, or ‘4K’ as they’re commonly known, lost about half their members when the reforms began.
Undeterred by the defection of Klansmen, Rachel and her father have encouraged their members to disrobe at public functions, to tone down their anti-ethnic rhetoric, and to embrace women members as well.
Marc Caplan of the Anti Defamation League in New York, feels that although the restructuring might be unpopular in the short term, it’s well thought out.
‘Women were always the weak link in the hate movement,’ he says. ‘The women, who were traditionally forbidden to attend male Klan meetings, held the men back. When, in recent years, they became fully integrated, everything changed. Women have the daunting role of indoctrinating children with Klan belief: and kids are the future of the Ku Klux Klan. The KKK is a brand name like Coca Cola, everyone has heard of it,’ cautions Caplan, ‘but unlike Coke it’s not a registered trademark. Anyone can call themselves “Ku Klux Klan” and that’s very damaging to th
e KKK’s image.’
Back in Tennessee, Rachel is working on drawing in other bright young women like herself into the society.
‘We have a lot of single women in all age groups,’ she says, ‘some are lawyers, others are businesswomen, students and office workers. Women make up about forty-five per cent of the Klan. When I was single, I converted my husband, Scott, who’s a professional screen printer. He wasn’t a KKK member when we met, just a nice young guy with the same white Christian values as me.’
Rachel and Scott are bringing up their children according to the code of the KKK. But, Rachel insists, she isn’t weaning them on Fascist propaganda.
‘I don’t say “nigger” around the house,’ she says grinning again, ‘I try not to put down non-whites when I’m with the kids. And when I go on a Klan trip I tell Charity and Shelby that I’m going to speak out for other little white children just like them.
‘It’s so important to instill in one’s kids racial pride when they’re as young as possible,’ she continues. ‘White kids in the US have been given a guilt trip for long enough, just ’cos they’re white. We’re developing a Youth Corps programme for American youngsters between twelve and seventeen. This is a special area that we’ve got to concentrate on.’
Rachel and her father recently bought a hundred acres of land in the Ozark Mountains. The site, which is to house the new national office, will accommodate a Youth Klan Training Camp, as well as a KKK two-year leadership school.
‘We’re working on nurturing leaders,’ says Rachel, as Charity plays on her lap with her Barbie doll, dressed in its designer Ku Klux Klan robes. ‘We’re like any business. If you have a message you need well turned out people to appeal to the masses.’