The Last of the Angels

by Fadhil al-Azzawi

  The Absent One has appeared.

  And it seems

  That he endures

  Forever.

  That was the last thing that Burhan Abdallah was expecting. O these poor wretches! They had encircled him, revolving around him. They were singing as tears poured from their eyes. The women began to trill, as if they were at a wedding. Burhan Abdallah turned to them and said, “You’re mistaken. I’m not the Absent Mahdi you’re awaiting. I feared for my life and fled into exile. I’m worse off than you are. I’m more afraid than you are.”

  These words caused the crowd to grow more zealous and turbulent. An elderly man approached him and said lovingly, “A sign of the Absent One is that he denies his identity. And now you’ve done that.”

  Burhan Abdallah, who was becoming exasperated with the foolishness of these people, began to scream, “I swear I’m not the man for whom you wait. I’m a forlorn man, who doesn’t even know himself.” But his voice was lost in the hubbub and he remained standing there, not knowing what to do. He saw thousands of women, men, and children emerge from the rubble and from holes in the ground to swell the ranks of the human swarm that kept expanding. They were banging on tambourines and drums. A man rose to say, “The Absent One will conquer the army of Gog and Magog and restore order to the universe.” Burhan Abdallah thought, “My God, what a dilemma! They’re clinging to a straw! I should never have returned to this city.”

  The tumult had attracted Gog and Magog’s troops, who surrounded the area, demanding that the last human beings return to their hiding places behind the boulders and amid the rubble. Panic crept into the hearts of the men, who threw down their tambourines. The women swallowed their trills, and even the children stopped crying. They all withdrew, crawling away on their bellies to hide in holes and pits and among the boulders, until they seemed almost not to exist at all. Burhan Abdallah stood his ground, waiting for the approaching soldiers, who brandished the bayonets of their rifles. He assumed that they would spear him repeatedly. “So this is the end, then.” The soldiers drew closer to him with each step. “It wasn’t possible for me to obey their orders and bury myself in holes, like the others.” That was more than he could bear. He was alone and the soldiers were advancing on him, waving their bayonets. He said sadly, “I can’t die. I can’t imagine myself dead, even if the whole world has ended.”

  He felt a tyrannical love for life and it brought him close to tears. The little green soldiers were only steps away from him. He could see their round eyes, which were washed in blood, burning and staring into his eyes. He raised his hands up high, like a man preparing to die. Just when he had lost all hope of salvation, he noticed that his hands were changing into prodigious wings. He beat the air with them. He lifted himself higher…higher…higher…until he soared into the sky, and disappeared.

  Author’s Note

  This novel was written between April 12, 1987, and September 2, 1990, in Berlin and Nicosia, although small sections of it were written in Damascus, Tripoli, and Sana‘a.

  Translator’s Acknowledgments

  As the character Burhan Abdallah observes in slightly different phrasing in this novel, each of my translations—even though the original works are not my books—becomes part of me. It is always a privilege to work with an Arab author, and each of my books is special to me. Having said that, I need to express my deepest thanks to Fadhil al-Azzawi for his encouragement, close reading, and corrections of my drafts of each of the twelve chapters of this novel, which is full of the kind of local color that can trip up even a translator with the best intentions. The glossary has been compiled from footnotes written by the author or the translator. I would like to thank Dr. Gaber Asfour, who invited me to the Cairo conference where I met Fadhil al-Azzawi in 2005. I also need to thank the National Endowment for the Arts for the literary translation grant for 2005–2006, during which period I completed the bulk of this translation. I thank Appalachian State University for allowing me to translate full-time during Spring Semester 2006. As always, I appreciate my family’s tolerance of my enthusiasm for translation; so thank you, Sarah, Franya, and Kip Hutchins.

  Glossary

  Ababil birds: Reference to the way an Abyssinian attack on Mecca was repulsed miraculously circa A.D. 570.

  Abdallah Goran: Important twentieth-century Kurdish poet.

  Abu Naji: A common Iraqi nickname for an Englishman during the period of the Iraqi monarchy. The original Abu Naji is said to have been an Iraqi friend of the influential British official and author Gertrude Bell. What Abu Naji used to say about British policy reflected British intentions in Iraq. See “Returning to Abu Naji,” Khalid al-Qishtini, al-Sharq al-Awsat, London, no. 9010, 30 July 2003.

  afreet: Jinni or genie.

  Bahlul: Clown or buffoon.

  “Beyond the mountains…”: Ibrahim al-Daquqi, Irak Türkmenleri (Ankara: Güven Matbaasi, 1970).

  Buraq: Heavenly steed believed to have carried the Prophet Muhammad on his miraculous ascent through the heavens.

  “Camel’s hair, and a leather girdle…”: Matthew 3:4 (Revised Standard Version).

  Captain Chesney: Francis Rawdon Chesney (1789–1872) was a British explorer, soldier, and entrepreneur. The narrator’s account differs from that of General Chesney, whose iron steamship, the Tigris, sank in the Euphrates River “at the rocky pass of Is Geria” due to freak weather, not because of an attack, although some of its survivors later, when on board the sister ship the Euphrates, were attacked in the Lamlum marshes by Arabs, who allegedly attempted to kidnap one Mrs. Helfer. See Stanley Lane-Poole, ed. The Life of General F. R. Chesney…by His Wife and Daughter (London: W. H. Allen & Co., 1885), 326, 335–36.

  “…concern and a striving after the wind”: Paraphrase of Ecclesiastes 2:11 (RSV).

  dabke: Levantine line dance.

  dervish: Sufi, Muslim mystic.

  “Do not think that those killed serving God are dead…”: Qur’an 3:369.

  “Don’t weep…”: Ibrahim al-Daquqi, Irak Türkmenleri (Ankara: Güven Matbaasi, 1970).

  “The faux-qur’an of the Liar Musaylima…”: The Prophet Muhammad challenged others to attempt to reveal another sacred book like the Holy Qur’an. Musaylima, his contemporary, was one of those who attempted the feat.

  “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men”: Matthew 4:19; Mark 1:17 (RSV).

  “God does not play dice.”: Albert Einstein, “Letter 81,” in The Born-Einstein Letters, translated by Irene Born (London: Macmillan, 1971), 149.

  Gog and Magog: Hostile forces contained in the distant past but predicted to threaten human civilization once more as a sign of the end of the world.

  al-Hajj/al-Hajja: A man or woman who has performed the pilgrimage to Mecca.

  Ibn Sa‘ud: Abdul Aziz ibn Sa‘ud (1880–1953) was founder of the Saudi Arabian monarchy; See: Wilhelm Kopf, Saudiarabien: Insel der Araber (Stuttgart: Seewald Verlag, 1982), 78–79.

  jamdaniyat headcloths: Turkmen-style headcloth.

  jinni: Afreet or genie.

  kaka: Kurdish for “elder brother.”

  Kakaiyeen: Members of a Muslim religious sect in northern Iraq.

  Khidir: The name of a pre-Islamic prophet associated with fertile, green, life forces.

  Kudamm: Kurfürstendamm Street in Berlin.

  al-Maydan: Baghdad area that was famous for brothels until 1960.

  mujtahid: Islamic jurisprudent authorized to think independently about Islamic law.

  Namlet: An Iraqi soft drink from the 1950s, similar to Coca-Cola.

  al-Nas: The final chapter of the Holy Qur’an, sura 114: “Mankind.” It is a command to seek refuge with God from the devil’s whispered suggestions.

  nay: A reed flute.

  “Oh, when? / Will the Absent One appear? / Oh, when?”: Shi‘i chant repeated in religious processions in southern Iraq.

  Peacock Angel: The chief angel who refused to bow before Adam, according to the Yazidis.

  qadi: Islamic judge.

/>   “The rose’s bed…”: Abd al-Latif Bandar Ughlu, al-Turkman fi ‘Iraq al-thawra.

  Ruq‘a, Farsi, and Kufic: Styles of Arabic calligraphy.

  Samanchi Qizzi: Popular, twentieth-century Iraqi dancer who eventually married a diplomat.

  Sayyid Qizzi: Famed female miracle worker.

  “The Spirit descending upon him like a dove”: Mark 1:10 (RSV).

  “The spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness…”: Mark 1:12–13 (RSV).

  “Ta‘am, Labam, Bacho Halam…”: A magical formula, used by some magicians in Iraq. It has no meaning and its aim is to make things seem secret and vague.

  “Thank God I am not God!”: Allen Ginsberg, “Lysergic Acid,” Kaddish and Other Poems 1958–1960 (San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1961, 1982), 87.

  Throne Verse: Qur’an, 2:255. A commonly recited celebration of God’s omnipotence.

  “The voice crying in the wilderness…”: Isaiah 40:3 (RSV).

  “Yazid is himself the sultan”: Verses from a religious poem of the Yazidis in Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq. Shaykh Ali, “Hawl al-Yazidiya,” Majalla al-thaqafa al-jadida, no. 205, January 1989.

  Yazidis: Northern Kurdish religious minority also known as Dasini, misdescribed as devil-worshippers, who hold a syncretistic set of beliefs based in part on Sufi and ancient Iranian influences.

  Yunus Bahri: Iraqi journalist who worked for Berlin’s Arabic Service during the Nazi era. He died in Baghdad at the beginning of the 1980s.

  Zurkhaneh: A traditional Iranian system of physical training that involves a “pit” or ring for exercises.

  About the Author

  FADHIL AL-AZZAWI was born in Kirkuk, Iraq, in 1940. He holds a Ph.D. in cultural journalism from the University of Leipzig and is the author of more than twenty books of fiction, poetry, and translations, including Miracle Maker: The Selected Poems of Fadhil al-Azzawi and Cell Block Five, a novel to be published in English in April 2008. In Iraq, he was a member of the Kirkuk Group of poets in the 1960s. He has lived in Germany since 1977.

  WILLIAM M. HUTCHINS is the principal translator of Naguib Mahfouz’s Cairo Trilogy and has most recently translated Mohammed Khudayyir’s Basrayatha, Naguib Mahfouz’s Cairo Modern, Ibrahim al-Koni’s The Seven Veils of Seth, Duna Ghali’s When the Scent Awakens, and the forthcoming Cell Block Five by Fadhil al-Azzawi.

  The Last of theAngels

  A Modern Iraqi Novel

  Fadhil al-Azzawi

  Reading Group Guide

  A Conversation with Fadhil al-Azzawi

  ABOUT THIS GUIDE

  The following reading group guide and author interview are intended to help you find interesting and rewarding approaches to your reading of The Last of the Angels. We hope this enhances your enjoyment and appreciation of the book. For a complete listing of reading group guides from Simon & Schuster, visit BookClubReader.com.

  READING GROUP GUIDE FOR THE LAST OF THE ANGELS

  Discussion Questions

  1. How does the rumor of Hameed Nylon begin? What are the consequences of this rumor? What does this reveal about the prejudices and stereotypes?

  2. Khidir Musa leaves the village after he had “received from the spirit world a message to set forth to search for his two brothers, who had been missing since World War I.” What do you make of his sign? What is the significance to Burhan?

  3. How do the villagers feel about the road being constructed by the British? What will this mean for their village?

  4. The number three comes up a great deal in The Last of the Angels. There are three angels, the three brothers returning to the village, and the three men in the tower, just to name a few examples. What do you think is the significance, if any?

  5. Khidir Musa meets an aging dervish in a cave, which we later learn is Death, who tells him: “Don’t forget that the matter concerns the dead first and foremost, not the living. The dead too have a right to voice their opinion.” Why is it fitting that Death is making this pronouncement? What is its importance to Khidir? How does this relate to the rest of the novel?

  6. Khidir Musa leads an expedition to King Faisal in order to stop the building of the road through the cemetery, and Dada Hijiri composes a poem about their meeting:

  The rose’s bed:

  Come let us seek the rose’s bed.

  I sought the rose’s bed

  But found thorns bedded there instead.

  What does the poem mean? How does this relate to their situation?

  7. How does Khidir Musa change over the course of the novel? How does Hameed?

  8. Why does so much violence break out after the death of Qara Qul? How does the sectarian violence in the city mirror what’s going on today?

  9. Mullah Zayn al-Abidin al-Qadiri comments to Hameed, “You know how to coexist with this damn world.” What is he trying to say to Hameed? What is the significance of the mullah’s vision at Qara Qul’s widow’s house?

  10. Why do you think Hameed Nylon is so insistent on starting a revolution? He claims not to be a Communist because he feels they are “all talk and no action,” but what attributes does Hameed share with the Communists? Why is he so frustrated after he meets with their leaders in the cellar?

  11. When Burhan questions one of the angels as to the meaning of life, he replies: “You shouldn’t be overly concerned, since you’re nothing more than a hero in an invented novel written by a disgruntled author.” What does the angel mean by this? What does the author?

  12. In an effort to get the government’s attention, Hameed and some of his followers kidnap a few Englishmen. Do you think this was a personal vendetta for having been fired by his English boss, or did he capture them because of what they represent? How is Hameed a sort of patsy of the government?

  13. Upon returning after forty-six years in exile, Burhan Abdallah says, “I’ve spent my whole life following angels that are nothing but persuasive devils.” Following the moment when the truth was revealed, he felt, for the first time in his life, freedom. How is Burhan finally free? Do you find the ending hopeful?

  14. Why do you think this novel was banned in Iraq when it was originally published? Have you ever read any Arabic literature before? After reading The Last of the Angels are you interested in reading more?

  A CONVERSATION WITH FADHIL AL-AZZAWI

  Which character in your novel The Last of the Angels do you relate to the most?

  It is without a doubt Burhan Abdallah, the young boy, who finds himself in a world full of wonders and tries to grasp the meaning of everything around him. He resembles me in many aspects of his life: His father is a worker in the same oil company that employed my father, he lives in the place I did, and he goes to the same school I attended. Also, his life in exile reflects somewhat my own experiences in exile: He lives in Berlin and sits, as I often do, in a café in Alexanderplatz and talks with his Iraqi friends about the war in his homeland. He dreams of returning someday to his lost paradise. He sits and waits, day after day, year after year, for a miracle: the end of the hell raging in his country.

  You left Iraq for Germany in 1977, after being jailed for three years for your political activities. What do you miss most about your homeland?

  To be sure, I miss a lot of things, but they are things that no longer exist. The land now is not the same land that I left behind in 1977. Everything there is changed. The long nightmare of the dictatorship and the subsequent successive and bloody wars have blinded the people to reality. The greatest dream of everyone in Iraq now is only survival. Iraqis from different parts of the country tell me that each time they dare to go to work or to step outside their doors, they do not know if they will be able to come back home at all. I miss of course my mother; my friends; the cafés, bars, and nightlife of Abu Nuwas in Baghdad, but I know that my mother has already died without ever seeing her prodigal son again; many of my friends have been killed in the battlefields, jailed, or obliged to flee the country; and the cafés and bars in Abu Nuwas are closed.

 
The last section of my novel The Ancestors (2002) is entitled “Returning to No Return to It.” The main character returns from exile to Baghdad to find that “his” Baghdad exists only in the dreams he had during the long nights of his exile. I have received many invitations in recent years to visit Iraq, but I have found myself unable to accept them. For thirty long years I waited day after day for paradise, so what can I look for now in hell?

  Were you surprised when the book was banned after its initial publication in 1992?

  Not at all, because all of my works were already banned in Iraq under Saddam’s regime. In 1979, this regime began a campaign of terror targeting specifically intellectuals and writers who supported democracy and were not ready to accept the regime’s nationalist and ideological guidelines on culture and literature.

  In 1980, I founded, with some other Iraqi writers, a group called The Union of Iraqi Writers for Democracy in Exile. In response, the regime withdrew my passport and later confiscated my family’s house in Baghdad. These measures failed to prevent the Iraqi people from reading my books. Most of the books, which I had published abroad, were smuggled into the country, copied, and sold in secret. I have met people who have been arrested simply for possession of my books. This shows not only how vulnerable and ridiculous the dictatorship was, but also the real nature of the conflict.