ENTITLED _AL-WALI_, OR THE HOLY ONE
When the hour of public executions had arrived (they were more
numerous than usual) his young nephews respectfully assembled at the
feet of the aged millionaire and received the further account of his
fortunes.
“You might imagine, my children,” he began “that having this small
capital so happily furnished me by Providence in the short space of a
single day, I would again venture upon a commercial undertaking. That
would have been indeed my natural course; but you must remember that
I could not, without great danger, enter the city I had just left,
lest my able transactions should lead me into contact with those at
whose expense they had been conducted. Further, I was in a strange
country with no knowledge of my way and with nothing to guide me
save the happy circumstance that I was still within the boundaries
of our holy religion. Most of those I should meet would thus be True
Believers, whose frailties I could better understand than those of
the Kafir, and of whom therefore I could (under the all-powerful
guidance of Heaven) more easily take advantage.
“Devoutly remembering the signal mercies shown to me by Allah in this
last short day, I determined to follow the same course as I had when
my good fortune came to me--to lie passive under the Mighty Hand
directing me and to trust to luck.
“I took some sleep in the night beside my fire, but hardly had I
awakened at dawn when I was aware of a group approaching me through
the forest track. They were a party of a dozen or so, half of them
on foot, half of them mounted; of no great consequence if one
might judge by their clothing, which, my dear nephews, is in most
occasions in life the signal by which we may know whether to revere
men or to despise them. Both beasts and humans in this group were
travel-stained as having come from some great distance.
“As I saw them before they saw me, I naturally took the precaution
of creeping up behind them through the trees in order to overhear
the object of their journey. It appeared that they were bound on
pilgrimage to the shrine of a Most Holy Man, to obtain his oracle in
a matter which concerned their miserable village.
“My mind was at once made up. I ran back by a circuitous course
through the trees, came to a place ahead of their progress, and
there, spreading my little mat upon the sward, I prostrated myself in
prayer. Indeed, I was thus able to kill two birds with one stone, for
I had not yet said those morning prayers of the True Believer which I
had never omitted in all my life, save when I happened to be flying
from justice and therefore deprived of leisure.
“As I heard them coming up behind me I raised my head and voice at
once, and fell into a perfect ecstasy of worship, which did not fail
to impress the simple mountaineers. They halted respectfully until I
saw fit to terminate my conversation with the Most High. I pretended
to be so absorbed in my contemplation of divine things as not to
notice them: for to keep them waiting secured religious as well as
worldly respect. They approached me with deference and even awe. I
told them I was bound for the shrine of a Most Holy Man whose name I
gave them. They were overjoyed to discover that they had a companion
filled with the same sentiments as themselves.
“‘We also,’ said their leader, ‘are engaged upon the same sacred
mission. For we have been informed by a messenger (whom we dispatched
a month ago from our village) that the Saint will graciously receive
us and give us a reply upon a doubtful matter of wild hedge-pigs
which has greatly excited our tribe, whether they be pork or no.’
“I let them convey by chance phrases the direction we had to travel
and the distance of our goal. I was delighted to discover that our
way did not lie through the city, and that we might hope to reach the
Holy One before night.
“The journey was tedious, passing over burnt land with but a few
wretched villages upon the track; but by the late afternoon we could
see far off, coloured by the declining rays of the sun, a small,
white-domed building, the tomb of a great saint long dead, by the
side of which a large group of tents and a considerable assembly
lying out in the open round them cooking their evening meal, beasts
of burden, and all the movement of a camp, showed us that we were
reaching the term of our day’s journey.
“When we reached the camp I joined the thickest part of the throng,
separating from the group with which I had been marching. I made my
evening prayers in as conspicuous a place as possible, prolonged them
prodigiously, the better to impress my new neighbours, and then lay
down, uncertain what the course of the next day should be.
“It was revealed to me in a dream.
“In that dream there appeared a bright and beneficent Being who with
one hand was relieving of his superfluous wealth an unconscious
pilgrim to his left, and with the other was conferring precisely
the same favour on another to his right. Each of the two pilgrims
had his face turned away from the Blessed Genius thus engaged and
seemed unconscious of the process to which he was subjected. The
Glorious Visitant, without interrupting its occupation or ceasing
with mechanical regularity to dip its hands into the pouches of its
unwitting neighbours, looked upon me with the most benign expression,
winked, and disappeared.
“I awoke. It was yet dark. I pondered until dawn what the revelation
might mean. With the rising of the sun inner as well as outer light
was bestowed upon me. I interpreted in the following fashion the
vision that had thus been vouchsafed to me and the event proved me to
have divined the right reading by interpretation:
“In every place largely frequented by pilgrims you will, my dear
nephews (if your commercial pursuits lead you to such spots in after
life), discover two kinds of men. There are those who have already
spent their all under the influence of the Spirit and are about to
depart. These, being in a necessity to raise a viaticum for their
return, will eagerly convert into cash at a vile price such wretched
objects as remain to them. On the other hand, those arriving are
flush of money and eager to acquire holy relics and memorials of the
blessed days before them.
“With two such markets before one’s eyes and clamouring for
exploitation, all that is required is a little judgment upon which is
which, who is who, and what is what. Such a judgment is essential to
any commercial success, but especially to success with people in a
state of religious exaltation. For whereas this mood often conduces
to folly, it sometimes so supernaturally brightens the intellectual
faculties of devotees as to procure most cruel rebuffs for him who
attempts to take advantage of it.
“I mixed with my fellow-worshippers. I picked out those whom I judged
from their anxious expression, coupled with their preparations for a
journey, to be eager sellers. From these I acquired at prices quite
surprisingly small, all manner of objects--sticks, chaplets, sandals,
water-bottles, rags, and cords--while I dexterously sheered off the
few who seemed too much inclined to bargain, and whom not even a
prolonged residence at the shrine had wholly purged of avarice. The
remainder were quite sufficient for my needs.
“With a stock thus acquired at the expenditure of not a tenth of my
capital, I next proceeded to mix with the more prosperous newcomers,
pressing on them now one object and now another (sandals, lace,
rags, bits of bone and leather), as somethings of peculiar sanctity,
either as dedicated to the shrine of the Dead Holy Man or as having
touched the person of the Living One. I discovered a very brisk
market indeed, at prices varying from a hundred to a thousand times
the original cost of the rubbish. To each bit of rag, bone, or what
not I was careful to affix a pedigree written in various hands and
proving it authentic.
“In these negotiations I was careful, at the least note of suspicion,
to pretend a complete indifference; and to one or two more than
usually guileful I even made the sacrifice of giving a yard of used
cord or a hopelessly worn sandal, remarking as I did so that Sacred
Things should not be made a matter of traffic.
“In this fashion I passed four days so absorbed in the interest of
the occupation that I quite forgot (it was an error on my part) to
present myself within the clamouring line of those who daily demanded
the opportunity to fall down before the object of our pilgrimage and
to offer him obeisance. It was a mistake which nearly cost me dear,
for the Holy Man had his hired watchers among the crowd.
“On the evening of the fourth day, as I was privately counting my
gains under a secluded bush where I hoped to be unobserved, I was
disturbed by a smart tap upon the shoulder and a summons from an aged
but tall and still strong man, armed with a formidable bludgeon. This
person bade me follow him without comment, and told me I had been
granted the singular favour of personal access to The Master.
“It was with mixed feelings that I accompanied my guide. We elbowed
our way through the foremost ranks of worshippers to that inmost
place wherein the Holy One communed with his Creator. They envied me
and gazed with awe upon one so privileged, but for my part my heart
sank lower and lower, and I waited in something approaching panic the
interview that had been so graciously afforded.
“I was introduced through a curtain into a low hut, wholly devoid
of ornament, built of dried mud and lit only by two small smoky
lamps that stood upon the floor. I dimly perceived before me in this
half-darkness the figure of a very aged man, incredibly emaciated
with prolonged fast and vigil. He was upon his knees with a chaplet
in his hands. His eyes were cast upon the ground, which his long but
sparse white beard almost touched. He seemed oblivious to all the
external world, and was plunged in profound communion with his Maker.
“The attendant in low but angry whispers bade me prostrate myself,
which I was not slow in doing; and in that posture I waited for a
space of time so tedious that it seemed to me the greater part of one
hour. But during all that time I dared not move; for though I had
never visited this particular shrine, I had heard tales of what had
happened to those who underrate the Unseen Powers. I was relieved at
last by a distinct and hollow voice bidding me in measured tones to
rise. I arose, and found that we were alone. The attendants had been
dismissed by a gesture while my face was yet buried on the ground,
and though I have no doubt that they were within earshot, I suffered
the added awe of loneliness.
“The Holy One still maintained for a moment his impassive attitude of
prayer, then slowly pivoted round on his knees, turned his luminous
eyes upon me, and sternly asked me what profit I had made by my
infamous trade during the last few days. I felt that all was known to
him. I did not (I thank Heaven for its mercies!) attempt to deceive
him and thus jeopardize my life and reason. I told him the full tale
and awaited his sentence.
“There was a long pause, during which what little was left of my
courage ebbed away. I felt prepared to hear some short sentence of
doom and resigned myself to my fate. But I had happily miscalculated
the serene wisdom which accompanies holiness.
“The Saint spoke next in a more benevolent and softer voice, bade me
be seated cross-legged before him, and adopting the same attitude
pronounced the following remarkable words:
“‘The Just, the Merciful (Whose name be exalted!), has given to
different men different aptitudes. The fool attempts that of which he
is incapable. The wise man recognizes his limitations.’
“In the silence that followed I turned these weighty phrases over in
my mind and recognized excerpts from the Proverbs of Mar-Hakim, whose
wisdom has been collected by the Persians, and has been famous since
the times of the second Omar.
“After a short interval the voice continued:
“‘In mutual appreciation and in mutual benefits each acquires profit.
The short-sighted forfeit advantage by too much grasping.’
“These words, which were chanted rather than said, I recognized to
be from a totally different collection of popular sayings, formerly
current in Arabia, and reduced to writing in the first century of
Hegira by the learned of Rasht. It was clear that I was in the
presence of a man unusually well-informed, and my conviction was
confirmed when after yet another solemn pause the voice continued as
though in conclusion:
“‘In acquiring money there is profit, but in letting it slip there is
none at all.’
“This last jewel of wisdom I immediately recalled as part of yet
another collection, to wit, the Sacred Books of the Jews; and from
this further example of immense erudition my estimation of the Being
possessed of it arose to the clouds.
“After such a preface I might have expected further general
statements of a moral nature from my host, when suddenly I perceived
a total change in the tones of his voice and a similar change in his
attitude. He put off the preoccupation of religion. He took on the
tone of familiar intercourse proper to temporal affairs. He smiled
genially and entered upon a conversation such as one might enjoy in
the bazaar of any city or in the private hospitality of any merchant.
“‘There are some,’ he said, ‘who would have blamed your conduct; and
in a sense I do so; for I cannot excuse your passage of four whole
days without a thought of heaven. But then, we are all agreed that
the driving of a trade, especially if it be remarkably rapid and
lucrative, is a very worthy occupation, and it is one of my regrets
that my professional devotion to the Other World has curtailed my own
activities in the same line.
“‘I am visited by thousands of respectful worshippers. The small
amounts of alms which they graciously leave with my treasurer might
easily be increased by various commercial activities.
“‘Indeed, I have from time to time attempted to establish such in
this camp, but I regret to say with no success. I opened a canteen
here but two years ago where refreshments were sold to the new
arrivals at from three to five times their value. But the evil
servant to whom I entrusted the management of this concern decamped
with the whole of the profits. I obtained the satisfaction of having
him put to death by a distant friend, but I was never able to recover
his ill-gotten gains.
“‘At another time I entered into a contract with certain brigands who
hold the passes of the mountains. It was clearly understood between
us that they should hold up the worshippers returning from my shrine
and that one-half of the ransoms they collected should be paid into
my chests. But from that day to this I have not received a penny.
“‘On yet another occasion it occurred to me that I might fix
a regular tribute to replace the voluntary alms which, though
considerable, leave room for improvement. But the alarming falling
off in receipts and the dwindling of my income made me withdraw the
order within six months of its issue.
“‘All these experiences combined, my dear Mahmoud,’ said he
familiarly (thus showing that he knew my true name and disturbing me
not a little), ‘have convinced me that I have not what you men of
affairs call “a business sense.” I may have a latent talent, I may
even have a genius, for religion. When I tell you that I sometimes
pass three days without changing my position of prayer and without
taking food or drink, the whole performance watched by a great
crowd of astonished faithful, you will agree that I am not without
capabilities of my own. But I am reluctantly convinced that what the
Giaours call “a good nose for a deal” is not one of them.’
“Here I began to interrupt him with the usual compliments, and would
have assured him that any man of ability had but to train himself for
affairs to do as well as another, when he genially stopped me with a
gesture and said:
“‘No, my dear Mahmoud’ (again the use of my name disturbed me),
‘whatever else we are let us not be hypocrites. Let us frankly
acknowledge our limitations. You, as I am now convinced, know how
to sell and to buy, and have all the qualities for discovering the
dearest and the cheapest markets. Much as I have desired to attain to
the same faculties I have failed, and at my age (which, though it is
not the 110 years reported, is at any rate well over sixty) it is too
late to change. I will therefore make you what is called, I believe,
in your world, an offer.’
“(With what relief did those words fall on my ears! I did not
realize for the moment how greatly it was to his advantage to have
begun by frightening your unhappy uncle and what an opportunity this
had given him for negotiations!)
“‘I will make you a proposition. Think carefully over it, and at
the end of a reasonable time give me your decision. I offer you two
alternatives. The one is that you should continue your trade subject
to the supervision of my agents, and that when you have reached a
total of 1,000 pieces of gold you shall be impaled and the money
confiscated. The other is that you shall continue to use your evident
talents for the furtherance of this trade, but that I shall be
regarded as a sleeping partner in the same, with half the takings.
The choice lies with you.... Pray, pray take your time. Undue haste
has spoilt many an excellent business contract, and I would not have
you ruin your chances. Do not,’ he continued, repressing my evident
anxiety to accept his terms, ‘do not let your judgment be prejudiced
by any feeling of obligation. Think the alternatives over carefully
and then let me know your conclusion. Take your time.’
“Restraining too great an evidence of haste, I told him that my mind
was already made up and that I would be honoured to accept his second
offer.
“‘I think, Mahmoud,’ said he, rising, ‘that you have acted with
wisdom, though perhaps with a little precipitation. Let us, then,
regard the matter as settled. Every evening my servants will call
upon you for one-half of your takings, and they meanwhile will
protect you in every way.’
“I prostrated myself once more, kissed the ground at his feet, and
left the hut in a very different mood from that in which I had
entered it.
“I remained in the camp for the matter of about a month. I extended
my operations; and every evening the servants of the Holy One
attended me and I handed over half of my takings. During the whole of
that period my capital continued to increase prodigiously.
“But no good endures for ever. The time came when this even tenor was
threatened in a very unexpected way.
“The Holy One was visited by certain ambassadors from the Grand
Something or Other residing in the court of the Caliph, who informed
him that his position was duly recognized by the authorities, and
that they bore with them an Illuminated Charter confirming it.
The temporal advantages of His Holiness’s trade, however, were no
less clearly evident to the Caliph than the religious ones, and
His Holiness would therefore be good enough in future to hand over
one-half of his receipts to the Imperial Treasury.
“Heaven knows with what bitterness the Holy Man agreed; which, having
done, he sent for me again and told me that it was now necessary
for him to ask me for three-fourths of my receipts. In vain did I
point out to him that all great empires had fallen by the increase
of taxation. He was adamant, and I therefore reluctantly agreed to
the new arrangement; taking a solemn oath to observe it for at least
one year. But I asked him whether at the expiration of that time, in
case I should find the new bargain more than I could support, I might
depart out of the city? To this he agreed, and confirmed it with an
oath equally solemn.
“That night I put together all my accumulated wealth (which now
filled not less than four large bags with gold and silver) and
charging it upon the mule of a peculiarly devout and therefore
unobservant and abstracted pilgrim, and drawing the innocent beast
away in the darkness by the bridle, I left the camp as slowly and
cautiously as I might.
“Emissaries were sent out to kill me within half an hour of my
departure. As I heard their approach I turned my mule round towards
the camp as though I were arriving, and as they passed me, I said I
was a pilgrim who had lost his way in the night and asked if I were
on the right road for the shrine. This simple ruse deceived them.
They went their way and I was alone once more. Still, their passage
sufficiently alarmed me. I gave up the road for a less frequented
path and wandered all that night through an unfamiliar district, for
my poor beast could go no faster than a walking pace, so heavy were
the bags of treasure which he bore.
“By dawn I felt myself secure, and----”
But here the Old Gentleman heard the first intolerable note of
the Muezzin and stopped short, motioning to his nephews that they
should leave him, which they did with their customary humility, each
wondering in his heart whether he might not later feel a vocation to
the Religious Life.
الجديدة المحلّة
AL-MAHALLAT AL-JADIDA
That is:
THE NEW QUARTER OF THE CITY