eBook - ePub
What 'Isa ibn Hisham Told Us
Or, A Period of Time
Muhammad al-Muwaylihi, Roger Allen
This is a test
Partager le livre
- 524 pages
- English
- ePUB (adapté aux mobiles)
- Disponible sur iOS et Android
eBook - ePub
What 'Isa ibn Hisham Told Us
Or, A Period of Time
Muhammad al-Muwaylihi, Roger Allen
DĂ©tails du livre
Aperçu du livre
Table des matiĂšres
Citations
Foire aux questions
Comment puis-je résilier mon abonnement ?
Il vous suffit de vous rendre dans la section compte dans paramĂštres et de cliquer sur « RĂ©silier lâabonnement ». Câest aussi simple que cela ! Une fois que vous aurez rĂ©siliĂ© votre abonnement, il restera actif pour le reste de la pĂ©riode pour laquelle vous avez payĂ©. DĂ©couvrez-en plus ici.
Puis-je / comment puis-je télécharger des livres ?
Pour le moment, tous nos livres en format ePub adaptĂ©s aux mobiles peuvent ĂȘtre tĂ©lĂ©chargĂ©s via lâapplication. La plupart de nos PDF sont Ă©galement disponibles en tĂ©lĂ©chargement et les autres seront tĂ©lĂ©chargeables trĂšs prochainement. DĂ©couvrez-en plus ici.
Quelle est la différence entre les formules tarifaires ?
Les deux abonnements vous donnent un accĂšs complet Ă la bibliothĂšque et Ă toutes les fonctionnalitĂ©s de Perlego. Les seules diffĂ©rences sont les tarifs ainsi que la pĂ©riode dâabonnement : avec lâabonnement annuel, vous Ă©conomiserez environ 30 % par rapport Ă 12 mois dâabonnement mensuel.
Quâest-ce que Perlego ?
Nous sommes un service dâabonnement Ă des ouvrages universitaires en ligne, oĂč vous pouvez accĂ©der Ă toute une bibliothĂšque pour un prix infĂ©rieur Ă celui dâun seul livre par mois. Avec plus dâun million de livres sur plus de 1 000 sujets, nous avons ce quâil vous faut ! DĂ©couvrez-en plus ici.
Prenez-vous en charge la synthÚse vocale ?
Recherchez le symbole Ăcouter sur votre prochain livre pour voir si vous pouvez lâĂ©couter. Lâoutil Ăcouter lit le texte Ă haute voix pour vous, en surlignant le passage qui est en cours de lecture. Vous pouvez le mettre sur pause, lâaccĂ©lĂ©rer ou le ralentir. DĂ©couvrez-en plus ici.
Est-ce que What 'Isa ibn Hisham Told Us est un PDF/ePUB en ligne ?
Oui, vous pouvez accĂ©der Ă What 'Isa ibn Hisham Told Us par Muhammad al-Muwaylihi, Roger Allen en format PDF et/ou ePUB ainsi quâĂ dâautres livres populaires dans Literatura et Colecciones literarias de Oriente Medio. Nous disposons de plus dâun million dâouvrages Ă dĂ©couvrir dans notre catalogue.
Informations
Sujet
LiteraturaSous-sujet
Colecciones literarias de Oriente MedioMiáčŁbÄáž„ al-sharq 57, June 1, 1899114
16.1
ÊżÄȘsÄ ibn HishÄm said: So in compliance with the decree of Fate, we decided to take a trip. The idea was to give the PÄshÄ a chance to recover from his illness by having a change of air. We stayed in a mansion in the suburbs of Alexandria with lush gardens. It was set in a sweet-smelling district. The only sound to be heard was the cooing of wood pigeons; when they sang, their song was in harmony with the rippling water. When the billows moistened the edge of the breeze and hovered over that smiling meadow, they scattered drops of water like pearls on the flowery diadems and bathed the eyes of the narcissus in tears. Lovers would have craved to borrow those tears and put them on their own eyelids so that they could soften the heart of their coy and distant beloved. Young girls would love to use pearls to make a necklace for their neckline or a belt for their waists.
This place is an object of wonder;
the earth laughs at heavenâs tears.
Gold wherever we go, pearls
wherever we turn, and silver in the sky.115
16.2
Rather liken it to the Milky Way, where bright flowers have taken the place of glittering stars, clusters of vines the place of the Pleiades, and gleaming fruits the place of suns and moons.
So we stayed in this place, secluded from the world of people; for in this world there can be no peace save in the ascetic life, no escape from mankind except through seclusion and privacy. The most noble of people are those furthest from contact with mankind.
My very separation from people saves me contamination
whereas their proximity infects both mind and faith.
Just as a line of poetry, if left on its own,
cannot be affected by common faults.116
16.3
This pleasant sojourn would have led to my friendâs complete recovery if the very devil in human form had not terrified us with the news of a plague. We reflected that all Godâs creatures are in His hands (glory and praise to Him). We kept nursing our soulâs ills through an avoidance of disaster and misfortune, and yet calamities and griefs seemed to beset us wherever we went. We told ourselves that we had to flee from one of Godâs decrees to another, He being the One who tests His servants when He wishes for them a good outcome.
So we set out to return to Cairo after saying farewell to this beautiful spot. We knew that we could trust our friends and relatives who lived in the capital and that no jealous snoopers would be able to spread any false rumors there. We sat down in the train compartment next to some ministers, but, as it was nighttime, it was very dark and so we were able to hear their innermost secrets. As the train took us back to Cairo, we listened to their conversation. One of them was saying things neither contentious nor polished.
16.4
MINISTER OF WAR By God, in the face of these worries and dangers all precautions are useless! Iâve been living on my nerves throughout the Sudanese campaign till it came to an end. Thank God Iâm still safe and sound. Iâve spent the entire time in Europe, taking exercise and having a wonderfully relaxing time in Karlsbad. That aggravating newspaper reporter who kept asking me questions about things I knew nothing about was the only thing that bothered me while I was there.117 But now, just when Iâve recovered from such dreadful perils, the plague has struck at a time when we canât leave the country or even get out of Alexandria where itâs struck. If it werenât for this terrible judicial situation, we wouldnât find ourselves being shunted backwards and forwards between two towns like some weaverâs shuttle. God is my witness that at this point Iâd rather be in command of the army in the Sudan, riding to and fro along the ranks in the heat of battle, than be subjected to death by the plague in peacetime. At least in war, there is pride and glory to be won, not to mention decorations and booty, all of which lessens the impact of the dangerous situation. But what is there to make our situation with regard to this Shariah Court project easier to swallow? How can the risk of catching the plague be made even bearable? If thereâs any prestige to be gained, then itâs the Foreign Minister who has got it all for himself while leaving us all empty-handed.
16.5
FOREIGN MINISTER By God Almighty, tell me, whatâs this prestige Iâm supposed to have acquired? All I know is that Iâve lost everything Iâve spent my entire life cultivating, namely the trust and affections of Muslims and their continuing favor towards me. Now theyâve started accusing me of interfering in their judicial affairs, something I was careful to avoid from the moment I took office. I could have avoided the entire situation if the Minister of Justice had treated me fairly. He could have taken the entire burden on his shoulders. Such is his piety, devoutness, probity, and asceticism that no Muslim would ever think of criticizing him.
MINISTER OF WAR If all you did was to stand up at the conclusion of your period in office and speak eloquently in the Egyptian parliament without being at a loss for something to say or faltering, then that alone would be enough to satisfy your quest for prestige during your earthly life.
FOREIGN MINISTER What kudos can you see in getting up to speak in front of the members of the Legislative Council?
16.6
MINISTER OF WAR I regard the art of oration as being a very glorious and praiseworthy profession. People often associate it with war because of the perilous situations both involve. Even though Iâve never had any experience of war myself, Iâve still gone through things which would turn your hair grey. When I was saying a few words in the general assembly about taxes, I got so completely distracted that, to this day, I donât know whether I kept to the point or not. As I left the building, I would have been thoroughly annoyed with myself if someone who specializes in the study of anecdotes from past eras had not provided some consolation by telling me a number of amusing tales about great orators. Iâll tell you some of them now, and then youâll realize Godâs kindness to you in saving you from similar situations when you got up to make a speech and I felt so sorry for you.
16.7
When ÊżAbdallÄh ibn ÊżÄmir ibn KarÄ«z, a renowned homilist, faltered while standing in the minbar in Basra, he was upset. ZiyÄd ibn AbÄ«hi who was standing behind him told him, âDo not worry, amir. If I put some of the ordinary folk up there first, they would be even worse off than you.â When Friday came, ÊżAbdallÄh was late, and so ZiyÄd told the people that he was indisposed. One of the prominent tribal amirs was told to go up; when he reached the top, he was lost for words and said, âPraise be to God who feeds these folk,â and then stood there in silence. They brought him down and sent up another prominent person. Once he was finally in place, he turned towards the people and spotted a bald head. âPeople,â he said, âthis bald-headed man has prevented me from speaking, so God curse his bald pate!â So they brought him down too and told WÄziÊż al-YashkurÄ« to go up and address the assembly. When he got up there and saw all the people, he said, âPeople, I was reluctant to come to the Friday prayer today, but my wife forced me to do so; I call you to witness that she is divorced three times.â At that, ZiyÄd turned to ÊżAbdallÄh ibn ÊżÄmir. âDo you see what I mean?â he said. âNow go up there and address the people.â
16.8
MuáčŁÊżab ibn កayyÄn was giving a wedding sermon when he faltered. âRemember your dead; there is no God but He,â he said on the spur of the moment. âMay God hasten your death too,â the brideâs mother retorted. Similarly, when MarwÄn ibn al-កakam faltered while delivering a sermon, he said: âO God, we praise You, seek refuge with You, and we offer You thanks.â
And so, Minister, since you havenât encountered the same kind of problems as these prominent figures from Arab history who were masters of rhetoric and the spoken word, how can you deny that youâve achieved a good deal of prestige and distinction. On the day you adopted your position on this matter, I can only imagine that the mummies of the Pharaohs, your ancestors, were quivering with delight. And even though their fame may have rested on getting people to drag huge stones around and erect artificial mountains, Iâm sure they never imagined that, with someone like your eminent self in mind, they could surpass the Arabs in the rhetorical art delivered from the wooden portals of the minbar.
FOREIGN MINISTER Stop this sarcasm and letâs be serious. What about what the Minister of Justice was saying?
16.9
MINISTER OF JUSTICE Iâm amazed that the Shaykh Professor of al-Azhar has rejected the ideas Iâve put forward for this project and accused me of acting contrary to the Shariah. Everything I know about the subject Iâve learned from him; I studied with him and bear him no grudge. After all, the way heâs behaving now is just like the way he behaved when we were students as a way of reprimanding us. It wasnât long before his anger and disapproval disappeared, and he was kind and sympathetic to us again. Every time I recall those days of my youth and the lessons I took with him, I long to be back there; and that takes my mind off his feelings towards me at the moment. Even so, Iâve done nothing unprecedented. Iâll read out to you now the stipulations for the office of judge just as Iâve copied them directly from their books. Then you can decide whether or not Iâve contravened the Shariah as they claim I have:
16.10
âPeople eligible for the position of judge are those who are entitled to testify as witnesses as it says in al-កawÄshÄ« al-SaÊżdiyyah; other qualifications for such people are adherence to Islam, intelligence, eloquence, freedom, non-blindness, and avoidance of slander.118 These are all conditions for the acceptability of his appointment and also of his jurisdiction thereafter.â
No one denies that Court of Appeal judges fulfill these stipulations regarding the qualifications for judge. Who can claim that either of the two representative judges from that court is either a polytheist, insane, a slave, or blind, or anything else which would disqualify him from holding the office of judge? While they have insisted on accusing the two judges of immorality, our retort has come from the very same law books, namely that âthe immoral person is still qualified to testify, so he is also qualified to be a judge. However, it should not be compulsory, and anyone who installs a judge in that way commits a sin. The al-QÄÊżidiyyah chooses to restrict this point to a situation in which the appointer deems him to be truthful. So let this be memorized. [Al-Durr].â119
I am personally quite happy to accept this notion of sin, but why are they so opposed to the general idea? Why do they keep fussing when, if they turn the page in the very same volume, theyâll find the following passage: âThe second authority makes an exception for the immoral person who has both status and virtue. His testimony must be accepted.â From the BazzÄziyyah, while in the Nahr we find âaccordingly, he is not considered to be committing a crime if he appoints a person judge in such a condition.â120
16.11
The people who keep arguing that the judges of the Court of Appeal are neither prestigious nor courteous object that the highest court in the land does not just pass judgments but also issues fatwas. They note that the mufti must be well versed in both the preferable and the acceptable, the weak and the strong, principles well known in the កanafÄ« school of law. These stipulations, they say, are not satisfied by the Court of Appeal judges, particularly since theyâre accusing them of depravity and backing up their statements with the following text: âThe sinner will not be a good mufti because fatwas are religious matters and the sinnerâs word cannot be accepted on such matters,â as Ibn Malak duly noted, amplified by Al-ÊżAynÄ«, followed by a number of recent scholars, and specifically stipulated by the author of Al-MajmaÊż.
However, these people fail to recall that the author of Al-Durr al-mukhtÄr cites this phrase and then goes on to say: âYes indeed, it is valid. In the Kanz there is an authoritative statement that offers an individual judgment on the relative nature of the fault involved.121 There can be no disagreement about such a personâs Islamic faith nor his intellect. Some scholars make alertness a criterion, but not freedom, being male, or ability to speak. Thus a speech-impaired person may issue a fatwa.â
Now, thanks be to God, you are all aware that the judges of the Court of Appeal all prefer to be dumb. So how can their fatwas have no validity if such people are allowed to pronounce them?
16.12
The author of Al-Durr goes on to say: âThe judge can issue a fatwa even in a court of law, and it is still valid. In so doing, the judge in his role as mufti is exactly following the dictum of AbĆ« កanÄ«fah, then AbĆ« YĆ«suf, then Muáž„ammad al-ShaybÄnÄ«, then Zufar and al-កasan ibn ZiyÄd who is the most authoritative and enlightened.â Here ends the extract from Al-Durr.
It seems abundantly clear from what Iâve just read to you that, if these people are using such passages as those I have just read to you as criteria, then the Court of Appeal judges are fully qualified and no one can object. If they have authorized the judge to issue fatwas as a mufti, following the dictum of AbĆ« កanÄ«fah without exception, then the criteria of âpreferable and acceptable, weak and strongâ have to be subsumed as wel...