2.8.9
Be informed here that, when the the khawājā in question received the Fāriyāq’s epistle, he was sick and so did not answer immediately. As a result, the Fāriyāq was left waiting days for his reply and finally came to believe, being unaware, as he was, of the reason, that all his rhyming had gone for nought, and during this time he was prey to constant worry and anxiety. I shall leave him now in that state, waiting for an answer, and leave too the one who is to send it to take his medicine and get better, and turn aside for a little to the ranks of titles and titles of rank then recognized, on condition that you allow me to move on to a new chapter, namely…
CHAPTER 9: THAT TO WHICH I HAVE ALLUDED
2.9.1
The definition of a title in the minds of Orientals is that it is an insignificant fleshy protuberance or a flap of skin,485 or an extra bag hung onto an already loaded camel, that dangles from a man’s essential being. The author of the Qāmūs has said, “ʿalāqā means ‘titles,’ because they are hung onto people (li-annahā tuʿallaqu ʿalā l-nās).” To Occidentals, which is to say Franks, it is a second skin that wraps itself around the body. Our commentary on this is that an insignificant protuberance may be cut off and totally excised with ease, and the same goes for the skin tag and the extra bag, which may be overturned or inverted; the second skin, however, cannot be removed from the body without harm to its owner. Our super-commentary — for every commentary must have a super-commentary, however incomprehensible — is that the skin flap is not hereditary among the people of the East, or only rarely so (and every rule must have its exceptions). Among Franks, on the other hand, the second skin is passed from older to younger by inheritance. Examples of the former are the titles Bāshā (“Pasha”), Bēh (“Bey”), Afandī (“Effendi”), and Aghā (“Agha”). Even Malik (“King”) is limited in its application to the person so titled and is not extrapolated from him to his son, for the son of a minister or a king may be a clerk or a sailor. Among Franks, however, it is incorrect to refer to the son of a marquis as a “marquisito” or as being “marquisate.”486 Regardless of the fact that the former is finite and the latter infinite, the essential meanings of “skin flap” and “second skin” may converge at a certain point, in that both generally have their origin in an itch that affects the bodies of those in positions of power because of the aggravation caused them by their blood. Such aggravation cannot be quieted, and such itches cannot be scratched, without creating either a flap or a second skin.
2.9.2
The archetype of this would be a king getting angry, for example, with some man or other for an offense he had committed, that man sending him a naked intercessor to placate him, this intercession soothing the eruption of the king’s anger, the aggravational modality then combining with the gymnological quiddity, these two forming a second skin around the one who’d been in fear of losing his first skin through flaying, and he thenceforth flaunting this among his peers as a permanent adornment, never again to fear that fate might one day turn on him and gore him. In general, such second skins require two bodies — a body with which someone is angry and a body interceding on the former’s behalf — while, in general, the insignificant protuberance requires just one.
2.9.3
One kind of insignificant protuberance is the ecclesiastical, which is of two sorts, the earth-bound and the air-borne. The earth-bound is that which has an abode or place of origin in the earth where it grows and bears fruit; such would be the case, for example, of some “catholicos” abiding in a house or a monastery who has authority over the people, who send him tithes and the like and whom he therefore commands, forbids, rules, and judges according to the requirements of the law, or whim. He is bound to have a secretary to keep his secrets off the books, to stiffen his backbone one or more cooks, a treasurer to hoard his golden dinars, a jail to hold anyone who differs from him in opinion or his ambitions bars, and so forth. The air-borne is the opposite of the preceding, an example being the protuberance borne by Metropolitan Atanāsiyūs al-Tutūnjī, author of The Leavings Pile Concerning Lame Style,487 whose master has invested him with it so that he can use it to rule over Levantine Tripoli, even though there are none of his sect in that city to send him his tithes, make him his food, or write a letter for him; he has been invested with it, it follows, simply for decorative purposes, in keeping with the custom of certain ancients, who would give the protuberance of “emir” to one who raised donkeys and “king” to the shaykh of some benighted village. The object of all this is to set one individual apart from the rest by the use of some distinguishing mark.
2.9.4
Now that you have become aware of this, know too that the titles Khawājā, Muʿallim, and Shaykh are not to be considered either protuberances or second skins, because obtaining them calls neither for intercession nor for any pruritic combining with gymnological quiddities.488 They are merely rags to cover the shame of the naked name that has been given its bearer and are neither stitched, tacked, buttoned onto, or wrapped around it. In fact, they are more like a ticket tied onto the one wearing it to show his value. Frequently, however, the mistake is made of attaching them to persons to whom they have no connection. Thus in Egypt, for example, they apply the word Muʿallim to Coptic Christians, who are neither muʿallim nor muʿallam, if we are to derive the word from ʿilm (“knowledge”),489 though if we are to derive it from ʿalāmah (“mark”), there can be no objection. They apply the term Khawājā to others too,490 and as its original meaning is the same as that of Muʿallim, the same objection holds true. The word shaykh appertained originally to one who had reached old age; then it was applied to someone who had advanced in learning and other things, as a figurative extension of advancement in years, for the minds of the elderly are discriminating and their judgment is sound, even if women will have no more to do with them. This distinguishing characteristic was then transferred to those who engage in scholarly pursuits.