What 'Isa ibn Hisham Told Us. Muhammad al-Muwaylihi
above. I found this too much to bear; the world darkened before my eyes. I would certainly have joined my companion in a swoon of astonishment, had not the Lawyer given us every possible assurance that the Pāshā was bound to be acquitted at the Court of Appeal because of the fairness of its members. However, he told us that, besides that, we would have to raise a grievance with the Committee of Surveillance so as to present the case in a favorable light when it was considered at the appeal. “I want you to realize,” he told me, “that the Judge kept interrupting and hurrying me on because he’s been invited to the banquet of a friend of his at 1 p.m. He’s got thirty cases on his agenda, and intends to pass sentence in all of them before his appointment.”
4.15
ʿĪsā ibn Hishām said: God Almighty alone is the possessor of power and might! What could I say other than quote the words of the wise poet, al-Maʿarrī:
I forbid you to pursue controversy or to be seen
as linked to preaching or mosque-imam.
Abandon princedom and using a whip in the city,
thinking it a champion’s sword.
These things have I despised in relatives
and friends alike. It were better to stint your own self.
Miṣbāḥ al-sharq 39, January 12, 1899
5.1
Our Lawyer forwarded a petition to the Committee of Surveillance and suggested that we should go to inquire about it. He told us that he would like to deal with it himself, but he was prevented from so doing by the realization that the Judge who was the subject of the complaint because of his continuous interruptions during the evidence phase might well make a determined effort to do him some harm in the future. He would be aware that the Lawyer was the one who had lodged the complaint with the Committee or been its primary instigator. Lawyers, he told us, must always avoid annoying judges and foster their goodwill.
When I urged the Pāshā to follow the Lawyer’s suggestion, he shied away, adamantly refusing to come and being persistently obstructive. This is what he kept saying:
PĀSHĀ I’ve had enough. The utter humiliation, injustice, damage, loss of honor, and lack of respect that I’ve endured as a result of the Creator’s predestined decree are more than enough. I couldn’t bear the thought of putting up with two humiliations at once: enduring oppression and submitting to injustice on the one hand, while making weak and humble complaints on the other. Just leave me alone! Don’t give these misfortunes any more encouragement; don’t serve as the key to open up any more troubles. One should complain to God alone, and through Him alone comes recompense. «Lord, I prefer prison to the thing to which they are summoning me.»38 God knows, I would have sought release from my worries through suicide, were it not for the punishment of hellfire. I only wish that the prison sentence could be changed to one of death, so that I could escape from these dreadful misfortunes. Throughout my life I never heard of a prison sentence being given to any amir. In our time, it was only applied as a punishment to the plebs and lowest classes. At least amirs had this special privilege: if the question of sentence ever arose, it was execution. It would be far easier to face death rather than gloomy prisons.
5.2
ʿĪSĀ I’ve never noticed such panic and fear in a person like you, nor do I expect to encounter such cowardly resignation from you, the dauntless, courageous hero. Courage consists merely of showing endurance in the face of adversity, and confronting the circumstances in which you find yourself with a cheerful and calm equanimity.
Hearts will often panic because of something
which can be resolved like the untying of a cord.39
In my opinion, you’re a man of the very soundest resolve and steadiest intellect. Intelligence involves the effective use of thought to rid oneself of misfortunes and devising a scheme to put an end to anxieties. At our disposal today we have a variety of sanctioned and prescribed courses of action. We will suffer no disgrace or harm by making use of them. You must realize that changing times and the fickle vicissitudes of life alter the basis of things and bring about modifications in the way in which one looks at them. What was considered a virtue in the past is regarded as depravity on the morrow; behavior which was regarded as a failing in past ages is now considered a virtue. In the past, nobility may indeed have derived its splendor from forceful authority and used brute strength to support itself, but today nobility in every sense demands submission to the regulations of the law. Come on then, and let’s follow this course of action! We may eventually be rid of these misfortunes and escape safe and sound from the troubles we are experiencing.
PĀSHĀ The taste of violent death would be easier for me than what you suggest. I would rather drink boiling water than suffer such humiliation.
5.3
ʿĪsā ibn Hishām said: We continued this discussion, but the various suggestions I made to change my companion’s stubbornly defiant attitude failed to achieve anything. I was on the point of giving up my attempt to carry out my intention of advising and guiding him. Just then, we heard a newspaper vendor shouting in a voice so hideous that it was even worse than a donkey braying: “Al-Muʾayyad and Al-Muqaṭṭam, Al-Ahrām and Miṣr, all four for a piaster.”
PĀSHĀ What incredible things I keep hearing! Have mosques, mountains, monuments, and countries become things one can purchase by auction in the market?
Without a doubt mankind has been disturbed;
so be serious about time, or else make sport with it.40
ʿĪSĀ Those names aren’t monuments or countries! They’re used as titles for daily newspapers.
PĀSHĀ By newspapers do you perhaps mean the lists and daily sheets used by money changers, or are they lists of tax farms? But what’s the point of these obscure titles?
ʿĪSĀ Things are not as you think. Newspapers are sheets of paper printed daily, weekly, or monthly, in which news and stories of public interest are collected and reported, so that people can find out about public affairs. They are one of the aspects of Western civilization that we’ve imported into our own society. The purpose of issuing papers is to publish articles which give due credit for value and merit; and to rebuke depravity, to criticize bad actions and encourage good ones, to draw attention to points of imperfection, and to urge people to correct mistakes. They are meant to tell people what the government is doing on their behalf, so that it doesn’t drag them into anything against their interest, and also to let the government know about the people’s needs so that it can endeavor to satisfy them. To sum up, those who run the press occupy the position of “those who command good deeds and prohibit bad deeds” as referred to in the Islamic Shariah.
5.4
PĀSHĀ We used to hear about something of the kind in our time called “Gazette.” One of them was published in Turkish called The Daily Record of Events. Eulogies and congratulations were recorded in them, and there were notes about movements of the Viceregal entourage. But, if the status of newspapers today has been raised to the level you claim, then the most eminent scholars and important shaykhs must be involved in their production. It is an excellent means of informing people about things which will benefit them in their present life and help them in the hereafter. So let me take a look at one of them.
ʿĪSĀ Our scholars and shaykhs are of all people the least likely to follow this course and pursue the journalistic profession. They consider working in it to be heresy. They’ve dubbed it innovation (which the Shariah forbids) and interference in matters of no concern to anyone. So they ignore newspapers and often disagree as to whether or not it’s even permissible to read them. But other people have chosen it as a profession, some of them worthy, others unworthy. Some have used it as a means of earning