When she heard what he said, she burst into tears. ‘My lady,’ said the merchant, ‘every time that I mention Baghdad, I see that you weep. Is there someone there whom you love? If he is a merchant or someone else, tell me about him, because I know all the merchants and other such people, and if you want to send a letter, I will bring it to him.’ ‘By God,’ she replied, ‘I don’t know any merchant or the like. The only person whom I do know is King ‘Umar ibn al-Nu‘man, the ruler of Baghdad.’ When the merchant heard this, he was so pleased that he laughed aloud, saying to himself: ‘By God, I have got what I wanted.’ He asked: ‘Have you been shown to him before?’ ‘No,’ she replied, ‘but I was brought up with his daughter; I was a favourite of his and he had great respect for me. If you want him to give you the authorization you need, bring me an inkwell and paper, and I shall write a letter for you. When you get to Baghdad, hand it to the king himself and tell him: “The changing fortunes of the nights and days have attacked your servant, Nuzhat al-Zaman, who has been sold from one place to another, and who sends you her greetings.” If he asks you about me, tell him that I am with the governor of Damascus.’
The merchant admired her eloquence and his affection for her grew. He said: ‘I think that you must have been tricked by men, who sold you for money. Do you know the Quran by heart?’ ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘and I have a knowledge of philosophy, medicine, the Preface to Science and Galen’s commentary on the Aphorisms of Hippocrates, on which I have commented myself. I have read the Tadhkira, commented on the Burhan, studied the Mufradat of Ibn al-Baitar, and can discuss the Meccan Canon of Avicenna.* I can solve riddles and set problems; I can talk about geometry and am proficient in anatomy. I have studied the books of the Shafi’ites, as well as the traditions of the Prophet, together with grammar. I have held debates with men of learning and have discussed all branches of knowledge. I am familiar with logic, rhetoric, arithmetic and astronomy. I know occult lore and how to establish the times of prayer. All these sciences I have mastered.’
Then she said again to the merchant: ‘If you bring me an inkstand and paper, I will write you a letter which will help you in your travels and serve you in place of a passport.’ ‘Bravo, bravo!’ exclaimed the merchant on hearing this. ‘How lucky is the man in whose palace she will be!’ He fetched her an inkwell, paper and a brass pen, and when he brought these to her, he kissed the ground as a mark of respect. Nuzhat al-Zaman took the scroll of paper, picked up the pen and wrote these lines:
I see that sleep has shunned my eyes.
Has your departure taught them wakefulness?
Why does your memory kindle fire in me?
Is this the way lovers remember love?
A blessing on the days we shared; how sweet they were!
They passed before I took full measure of delight.
I ask a favour from the wind, which carries news
From where you are to me, the slave of love.
A lover with few helpers here complains
To you; the pains of separation split the rocks.
When she had finished writing down this poem, she added: ‘These are the words of one who is weakened by care and emaciated by sleeplessness. There is no light to be found in her darkness; she cannot distinguish night from day; she tosses to and fro on the bed of separation; she uses the pencil† of wakefulness to anoint her eyes; she is a guardian of the stars and marshals the dark; cares and emaciation have caused her to melt away, and it would take too long to describe her plight. Tears are her only helpers, and she has recited these lines:
Doves calling from their branches as day breaks
Arouse in me a sorrow that can kill.
My grief increases every time
A yearning lover sighs for his beloved.
I complain of my passion to the pitiless.’
Then, with her eyes brimming over with tears, she added these lines:
How often does love part body from soul!
On the day of parting, love distressed my heart
And separation robbed my eyes of sleep.
My body is so wasted that, unless I spoke,
I would remain invisible.
Shedding more tears, she added at the bottom of the page: ‘From the one who is far from her family and her homeland, sad in heart and soul, Nuzhat al-Zaman.’ Then she folded the paper and gave it to the merchant, who kissed it and noted its contents with delight. ‘Glory be to the One Who fashioned you!’ he exclaimed.
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the fifty-ninth night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that Nuzhat al-Zaman wrote the letter and handed it to the merchant, who took it, read it and noted its contents. ‘Glory be to the One Who fashioned you!’ he exclaimed.
He treated her with even greater respect and spent the whole day indulging her. At nightfall, he went to the market and brought food for her, after which he took her to the baths and told the bath attendant, whom he fetched for her, that when she had finished washing Nuzhat al-Zaman’s head and dressing her, she should send word to let him know. The attendant agreed and the merchant brought food, fruit and candles for her, setting them on the bench of the bath house. When the attendant had finished cleaning and dressing her, Nuzhat al-Zaman came out and took her seat on the bench, and the attendant sent word to the merchant. Nuzhat al-Zaman, for her part, finding the table set, joined the attendant in eating the food and the fruit, with the leftovers being given to the servants and the guard of the baths. She then slept until morning, with the merchant spending the night away from her in another room.
When he awoke, he wakened the girl and produced for her a delicate shift, a head scarf worth a thousand dinars, an embroidered Turkish dress, and shoes ornamented with red gold and studded with pearls and gems. In her ears he placed gold rings set with pearls worth a thousand dinars, while round her neck was a golden necklace that hung down between her breasts, together with an amber chain that fell below them to above her navel. On this chain were ten balls and nine crescents, with a ruby set as a ring stone in the centre of each crescent and a hyacinth gem in the centre of each ball. The value of that chain was three thousand dinars; each ball was worth twenty thousand dirhams, while the robe in which she was dressed was also hugely valuable.
When she had been dressed, the merchant told her to put on her ornaments and, decked in all her finery, she let a veil fall over her eyes, and set off with the merchant walking in front of her. At the sight of her, the people were amazed by her loveliness and exclaimed: ‘Blessed is God, the finest of creators! How fortunate is whoever has this girl in his house!’ The two of them walked on like this, until the merchant came into the presence of Sultan Sharkan. On entering, he kissed the ground before Sharkan and said: ‘O fortunate king, I have brought you a gift of marvellous quality unique in this age, combining beauty and goodness.’ ‘Show it to me,’ said Sharkan. The merchant then went out and brought in Nuzhat al-Zaman, who followed him until he made her stand before Sharkan. When Sharkan saw her, he felt the attraction of blood to blood, although she had been separated from him when she was little, since when he had never seen her. This was because when he had heard that he had a brother, Dau’ al-Makan, as well as a sister, Nuzhat al-Zaman, he had hated them both as rivals for the kingdom and, because of this, he knew very little about them.
On presenting Nuzhat al-Zaman to him, the merchant said: ‘King of the age, this girl is unique in her beauty and loveliness, with no match in her time, while, in addition, she is acquainted with all branches of knowledge – religious, secular, political and mathematical.’ ‘Take a price for her based on what you paid and then leave her and go on your way,’ said Sharkan. ‘To hear is to obey,’ said the merchant, ‘but write an order for me freeing me for ever from the payment of tithes on my goods.’ ‘I shall do that at once,’ said Sharkan, ‘but tell me how much you paid for her.’ ‘I paid out a hundred thousand dinars as her price and I then
spent another hundred thousand on her clothes.’ When he heard that, Sharkan said: ‘I shall give you more than that for her,’ and summoning his treasurer, he told him to give the merchant three hundred and twenty thousand dinars, leaving him with a profit of one hundred and twenty thousand. The four qadis were summoned and the money was paid over in their presence.
Sharkan then said to them: ‘I call you to witness that I have freed this slave girl of mine and I want to marry her.’ They drew up a document of manumission for Nuzhat al-Zaman and then a marriage contract. Sharkan scattered a great quantity of gold over the heads of all who were present, and the slaves and the eunuchs set about picking it up. After having paid the merchant his money, Sharkan then had an order written freeing him in perpetuity from having to pay tithes or taxes on his goods and ordering that no injury should be done him in any of his dominions, after which he ordered that he should be given a splendid robe of honour.
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the sixtieth night, she continued:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that after having paid the merchant his money, Sharkan then had an order written freeing him in perpetuity from having to pay tithes or taxes on his goods and ordering that no injury should be done him in any of his dominions, after which he ordered that he should be given a splendid robe of honour.
All the others then left and no one remained with Sharkan except the qadis and the merchant. Sharkan then said to the qadis: ‘I want you to listen to what this girl can say to show her learning and culture in all the fields that the merchant has claimed that she can cover, so that we may check that he has spoken the truth.’ They agreed to this and Sharkan ordered a curtain to be let down between him and his companions and the girl and those who were with her. All the ladies who had gathered behind the curtain with her were congratulating her and kissing her hands and feet, now that they knew that she had become the sultan’s wife. They formed a circle around her and removed her robes, so as to free her from their weight, and they started to inspect her beauty and loveliness.
The wives of the emirs and the viziers had heard that the sultan had bought a slave girl who had no equal in beauty and learning, with a grasp of philosophy and mathematics, and all-embracing mastery of the sciences. He had paid out three hundred and twenty thousand dinars for her and had then freed her and drawn up a marriage contract for her, after which he had brought in the four qadis to test her by getting her to answer their questions and to debate with them. Having asked permission from their husbands, these ladies went to the palace where Nuzhat al-Zaman was, and on entering, they found the eunuchs standing before her.
When she saw the court ladies coming in, she stood up to greet them and her maids stood up behind her. She welcomed her visitors and smiled at them, capturing their hearts. After promising them favours of all kinds, she sat them down in order of precedence, as though she had been brought up among them, and they were astonished at her combination of intelligence and culture, as well as her beauty and loveliness. ‘This is no slave girl,’ they said to one another, ‘but a queen and the daughter of a king.’ They were deeply impressed by her as they took their seats and they said: ‘Lady, you have illumined our city and added lustre to our country, our homes, our lands and our kingdom. The kingdom is your kingdom; the palace is your palace, and we are all your servants. By God, do not deprive us of your goodness and of the sight of your beauty.’ She then thanked them.
This all took place with the curtain lowered between her and the other ladies on the one side and, on the other, Sharkan, beside whom were seated the four qadis and the merchant. Sharkan then called to her: ‘Noble queen of the age, this merchant has described you as learned and cultured and has claimed that you have a grasp of all branches of knowledge, including astronomy. Let us hear something of what you told him and give us a brief account of this.’ ‘To hear is to obey,’ she said, AND SHE WENT ON:
O king, my first topic deals with administration and the conduct of kings, of how those charged with the supervision of religious law should act, and with what is acceptable in the way of qualities that they should possess.
Know, your majesty, that beauties of character are to be found combined in both religion and the secular world. This world provides the only way to religion, and what a good path it is to the next world! The affairs of this world are only brought into order by the acts of its people and these can be split into four divisions – government, trade, agriculture and manufacture. Government requires sound administration and accuracy of discrimination, for government is the pivotal point in the structure of this world, which, in turn, is the path to the afterlife. For Almighty God has given His servants this world as provision for a voyage that will allow them to reach their goal. Each man must take from it what will enable him to come to God. In this he must not follow his own wishes, and if mankind were only to take their just share from the world, there would be no more enmity. Instead, however, they take unequal shares, following their own desires, and the fact that they devote themselves to this leads to quarrels, and so they need a ruler to settle their disputes justly and to exercise control over their affairs. If the king did not protect the people from one another, the strong would overcome the weak.
According to Ardashir, religion and kingship are twins; religion is a hidden treasure and kingship is its keeper. The laws of religion and men’s intelligence show that people must appoint a ruler to ward off injustice from those who are wronged and to bring justice to the weak in their dealings with the strong, while checking the power of the insolent tyrant. Know, your majesty, that the prosperity of the age depends on the good qualities of the ruler. The Prophet of God said that if two things are sound, all is well with the people, and if they are corrupt, the people are corrupted. These two things are the men of learning and the rulers. A philosopher has said: there are three types of king – a religious king, a king who protects what is sacred, and a king who follows his own desires.
The religious king is the one who makes his subjects follow their religion. He must be the most pious of them all, for it is he whom they will imitate in all religious matters. The people will be led to obey his orders in accordance with the decrees of religious law. He will treat the discontented in the same way as the contented, as it is necessary to surrender to fate.
As for the king who protects what is sacred, he looks after both religious and secular affairs; he makes his people follow religious law and uphold manliness. He combines the pen and the sword. Whenever anyone slips by straying from what has been written by the pen, the king corrects his deviancy by the edge of the sword, spreading justice among all. In the case of the king who follows his desires, his only religion is the pursuit of his lusts and he has no fear of his Lord, Who set him in authority. His kingdom is doomed to ruin and his arrogance will end in perdition.
The philosophers have said that the king stands in need of many people, but the people themselves need only one man. Because of this, the king must have a knowledge of their natures so as to be able to reconcile their differences, to treat them all with justice and to overwhelm them with his favours. You must know, your majesty, that Ardashir was known as ‘Burning Coal’. He was the third king of Persia and his rule extended over all the lands, while he divided the government into four parts, with one seal ring for each of the four. Of these, one was for the sea, the police and defence, and on it was inscribed ‘Officialdom’. The second was for the raising of taxes and the collection of money, and on this was inscribed ‘Building’. The third was for the supply of food, which was inscribed with the word ‘Abundance’. The fourth was for misdeeds, inscribed with the word ‘Justice’. These regulations remained in force in Persia until the advent of Islam.
Chosroe wrote to his son, who was with the army, telling him not to be over-generous with his men, lest they should be able to do without him…
Nights 61 to 80
Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke
off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the sixty-first night, SHE CONTINUED:
I have heard, O fortunate king, that Chosroe wrote to his son telling him not to be over-generous with his men, lest they should be able to do without him, adding: ‘But do not treat them harshly lest they become discontented with you. Give them gifts in moderation; bestow favours on them. Indulge them in times of plenty, but do not stint them when times are hard.’ NUZHAT AL-ZAMAN WENT-ON:
There is a story that a Bedouin came to al-Mansur and said to him: ‘Starve your dog and he will follow you.’ When he heard this, al-Mansur was angry, but Abu’l-‘Abbas al-Tusi said: ‘I’m afraid that if somebody else dangles a loaf before him, your dog will leave you and follow him.’ This calmed al-Mansur’s anger and, realizing that there was nothing wrong with what the Bedouin had said, he ordered him to be presented with a gift. You should also know that ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan wrote to his brother ‘Abd al-‘Aziz when he sent him to Egypt: ‘Check your scribes and your chamberlains. The scribes will tell you about the inventories and the chamberlains will tell you about protocol, while the money that you spend will make you known to the army.’ When ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab – may God be pleased with him – engaged a servant, he made four conditions: the man was not to ride on the baggage animals, to wear fine clothes, to take a share of the plunder, or to postpone his prayers until after their proper time.
There is a saying that no possession is better than intelligence and that intelligence is best found in resolute administration. There is no resolution to match piety: the best way to approach God is through a good character; culture provides the best balancing scales; there is no profit to match success granted by God; good deeds are the best merchandise; there is no profit like God’s reward; to stay within the confines of the sunna is the best form of piety; there is no knowledge that can rival contemplation; there is no art of worship better than the fulfilment of religious duties; there is no faith to match modesty; humility is the best type of reputation; and there is no nobility as fine as the possession of knowledge. Guard the head and what it holds and the belly and what it contains, while remembering death and tribulation. ‘Ali – may God ennoble his face – said: ‘Beware the evils done by women and be on your guard against them; do not consult them on any matter, but do not be stinting of your favours to them lest they be tempted to plot against you. Whoever abandons moderation finds his intellect going astray.’
The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights: Volume 1 Page 50