What 'Isa ibn Hisham Told Us. Muhammad al-Muwaylihi
cunning, and crafty as one another when it comes to looting and murdering:
They have peopled the site of hypocrisy among themselves,
but the haven of loyalty lies in ruins.41
The original intentions of the press and the respect which it commanded have foundered ever since its standing fell among the élite and the benefits expected from it proved to be less than the damage it caused. Some sensible people still hope that one day the situation can be rectified and the profession elevated to the noble and worthy position it deserves. The whole question lies in the hands of readers. They must focus on what is beneficial and reject what is harmful. «Dross metal disappears as rubbish; what benefits people remains on the earth.»42
5.5
I called out to the vendor and bought papers from him. I opened one of them to read some items of news to my friend. There was some news about the sentence passed on Aḥmad Sayf al-dīn, the sympathy people felt for him, and the attempts to obtain a pardon. It described the coarse clothing and poor food he was having to deal with in prison, enough to bring tears to the eyes when contemplating the fate of this young man, a scion of princes and rulers. Once I had finished reading, I turned to the Pāshā and said:
ʿĪSĀ Just observe how circumstances have made us equals. You’ve just heard about the sentence passed on Prince Aḥmad Sayf al-dīn by the court judge. Having heard that, how can you still refuse to submit to the law, conform with its regulations, and make use of its channels to get out of the situation in which you find yourself?
PĀSHĀ What’s this word “prince,” and who’s Aḥmad Sayf al-dīn?
5.6
ʿĪSĀ “Prince” is a foreign title given to heads of the Roman Empire before they had the audacity in the face of the populace to adopt the title of Emperor. Later on, it came to be used in Europe to apply to members of the royal family and to heads of petty governments. Today male and female members of the Khedive’s family call themselves by it, even though it’s not included in the list of official Ottoman titles. Aḥmad Sayf al-dīn is in fact Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ʿAlī, the latter the ancestor and founder of the present Khedive’s family. He committed a felony, was dragged before the courts, and incurred the penalty laid down by the law. The Court of First Instance sentenced him to seven years’ imprisonment. He appealed, asking the Court of Appeal judges for clemency. They reduced his sentence to five years. Then he asked the Court of Cassation for assistance, but obtained none. Efforts were made to arrange for members of the Khedive’s family to request that he be pardoned. His mother went this way and that, trying every possible means of asking for clemency, but the law applies to everyone. So how can you deem it proper to hold yourself aloof by refusing to submit a grievance petition? Now that you have heard about the history of princes, are you still too proud to pursue your case with the Committee of Surveillance and the Court of Appeal?
PĀSHĀ Lofty mountains must inevitably crumble when the whitefooted mountain goats are brought down. Graves must be split asunder and the trumpet be blown when all ideas of dignity have vanished and all values have been debased. The words of the Almighty have come true with regard to Egypt: «And We have made its highest parts into its lowest parts.»43 As long as you tell me that Muḥammad ʿAlī’s descendant is in prison, is conforming with the law’s regulations, and using these avenues for submitting a petition, while his mother tries to intercede on his behalf, then I can see no disgrace in what you’re asking me to do. So take me wherever you wish. I only hope that they will accept my wish to act as ransom for the son of my masters and benefactors. Then his sentence can be added to mine.
5.7
ʿĪsā ibn Hishām said: The Pāshā accompanied me to the Ministry of Justice. He kept dragging his feet and choking back his tears. We entered the place where the Committee of Surveillance sat. They directed us to the inspectors’ room and we tried to enter, but an orderly stopped us and asked the Pāshā for his “carte.”
PĀSHĀ What does that foreign word mean?
ʿĪSĀ The “carte” is a small piece of paper on which visitors write their name. They’re supposed to show it before entering an office. The person being visited can then decide whether to receive the visitor or avoid seeing him.
PĀSHĀ In our day, channels for complaint were open to anyone who wished to use them. How can this restriction be in keeping with the equality of rights and justice in matters of law that you’ve been talking about?
ʿĪSĀ That system provides no safeguards against visits from idle callers or importunate petitioners. So this method has been evolved to give authorities enough time to perform their duties.
PĀSHĀ But isn’t the very prestige and kudos that people in authority have sufficient to prevent the kind of people you have mentioned from stopping in and bothering them?
5.8
ʿĪsā ibn Hishām said: I wrote a little slip with the Pāshā’s name on it. The orderly came back to tell us we could go in. We entered and found in front of us a young man with a premature growth of beard; signs of his youth welled up like a spring beneath it just as light swells in the midst of the moon’s halo. As we moved a little closer, I noticed that he had an account sheet in his hand which he turned over and other papers that he kept piling together and pounding. Then he put his hand to his forehead like someone trying to remember a figure which is missing from his calculations. On his right was a foreign book, on his left an Arabic book. I took a look at them: the former was by Voltaire, the French atheist philosopher; the latter by Muḥyī al-dīn Ibn ʿArabī, the monist Ṣūfī. When the Inspector asked us our business, I told him the whole story and mentioned the way the Judge had kept interrupting the testimony of the defense lawyer. I described for him the petition that we had presented. At this point the Pāshā interrupted me and spoke to the Inspector:
PĀSHĀ The worst thing at the trial, the bitterest stroke of all in the entire matter, was that the man whom you call the Attorney of the Parquet considered my rank to be sufficient cause to insult me. Never in my dreams did I imagine that the rank that I obtained by rushing without regard into perilous missions and enduring great hardships would turn out to be an unpardonable crime, something that would in his view provide a conclusive proof to support his claims, something to be used as a pretext for demanding that the sentence be more severe. Tell me, by God, since when has this noble rank of mine deserved punishment and vengeance? Furthermore, where do you belong within the various species of mankind?
5.9
ʿĪsā ibn Hishām said: At this point another visitor came in. I thanked God that his entrance had interrupted the Pāshā. But for that, he might well have said things that could not have been put right. Once the visitor had offered his greetings, he asked what news there was at the start of the day. The inspector expressed his great admiration for a speech he had been reading for amusement and handed it over to him. He had only just turned his attention to us again when a foreign inspector came to see him and showed him a drawing on a piece of paper which he claimed to have drawn during a legal discussion in which he had been involved in arguments and disputation. The young man looked at it and laughed, admiring the fine craftsmanship, then got rid of him so that he could attend to us. He addressed the Pāshā in a sympathetic tone that showed his noble background and good breeding. He finished by saying:
INSPECTOR (to the Pāshā) I’ve already studied the angles of the case in Miṣbāḥ al-sharq. The Judge may well have a good reason for interrupting the lawyer. Some of them make a habit of including the history of mankind’s creation, the formation of human society, and other similar matters, into their defense speech. Such antics lead to lengthy expositions and have no relevance whatsoever to the point of the case. Such lawyers will often insist on using such devices in the simplest and most trifling cases in order to convince their client that no word has been left unsaid in his defense, regardless of whether the case is won or lost. Thus, one finds some clients who believe that the lawyer