Al-Hihi thought that this might be the appropriate moment to distract the master with some pleasantries, by relating to him some of the latest jokes he had heard from Umm al-Banin. He therefore suggested that ‘Abd al-Rahman relax for a bit and listen to some diverting samples of humor. But ‘Abd al-Rahman gave his amanuensis a piercing stare.
“Jokes have a short lifespan, Hammu,” he said gloomily, “but the problems of history stay with us. The number of people who think seriously about fate and the future is minute, so it’s not right for me to leave them high and dry, particularly when I watch today’s rulers, those devotees of rampant egotism, exerting no restraining influence on anything and scoffing at the mayhem they’re causing. I have no choice but to investigate matters persistently and in depth. I must train my mind to be patient and obdurate, the supposition being that there will indeed be light at the end of the tunnel. Day and night I will make myself repeat, ‘Our Lord, You did not create all this for nothing, nor did You create us in vain.’ But before we start supposing and hoping, Hammu, make a note of the way things really are, along with all their unpromising characteristics. Write it down, remembering all the while that knowledge of such issues is a solemn obligation of any genuine reformer. I’ve confronted the mass of detail on this subject in my books and pursued it as far as I can. But now that I’ve reached this stage of my life, all I can do is to stand by the outlets and take stock of things. My dear Hammu, how beset and fragmented everything seems! How many signs there are that point to a lack of aspirations and precipitous decline.
“Even though there may be a difference in degree, the basic features of plunder and decay are always the same: a ruler who behaves tyrannically or contemptuously. Soldiers and scribes alike surround him, and his universe is one enveloped by the interests of real estate, commodities, and livestock. This is the way matters proceed from one dynasty to the next and for as long as the instincts of group solidarity remain in place, like some phoenix rising up from its own ashes, bringing in its wake the same tribulations and sequences. Meanwhile the suffering populace. . oh, dear! They have to suffer through gruesome times and the abuses of uncontrolled armies. In trying to exercise their own humanity the only discretion they have requires that they follow the dictates of reckless officials and the untrammeled tyranny of their overlords. In spite of the odd, fleeting glimmer of change, the internal structure is in ruins. How, then, how can I possibly be anything else but scared to death when I think of attacks from Christians in the west and Mongol hordes in the east?
“My expectations — and a pox be on them! — give me little cause for optimism. How could it be otherwise? As I keep an eye on events and gather information, everything presages dire consequences — and for the long term at that! I watch as our ports become subject to foreign monopolies and our vital regions fall prey to European penetration. Gangsterism is rife in our midst, and a general impotence is the order of the day. When I see all this, my heart breaks and I turn to God Almighty for deliverance.
“So, Hammu, that’s the general situation as I see it. Even so, I’ve only provided a summary. If I were to go into detail at this stage, I might find myself indulging in predictions even more far-reaching than the one I recorded previously, when I said ‘The past is more like the future than water is to water.’ But whenever I make predictions — God will reward you well for making this much clear — He makes me (may He be exalted) feel vigorous rather than weak. I feel myself being propelled forward rather than backward. So, in spite of all the handicaps involved, I remain deeply concerned about the question. So, Hammu, remind me once again about the precise nature of the issue so that I can address it properly.”
“The question as you have formulated it tonight, Master, is the following: If indeed history is a record in which the lessons of the past are not accorded their proper place and fail to fulfill their useful function, then what precisely is the significance of variables and transformations in different historical phases and eras?”
“In the Introduction to History I composed a number of specific sections in which I endeavored to subdivide the topic in accordance with contrasting principles. I made every effort to organize and enumerate them as clearly as possible. By way of example, I chose to problematize the blending of positive and negative in urban culture as being at one and the same time the goal of civilization and the principal indication of its fragmentation and corruption. This problematic was in fact based on my knowledge of the Maghribi region. Since it is much closer to my own experience. I was able to avoid indulging in sterile generalizations or rash judgments about the more eastern regions where I now reside and about which I am still in quest of the necessary knowledge. But, now that I’ve achieved a great age, I find that I cannot abandon this question and shut off discussion, relying merely on what I wrote earlier about the total inapplicability of the exemplary past in the light of the tensions caused by unfair taxation and the tyrannical control of sultans and ministers, or more generally the corruption of mankind’s sense of humanity. It’s as though the factors I’ve identified are in fact simply part of the surface layer of things, such as the Bedouin or the blight caused by the Great Plague; as though such things only serve to conceal other factors or even a single factor that is more comprehensive and encompassing. Whenever my intuition confirms such circular continuities and allows me to subject them to more intense scrutiny, I find myself spending untold amounts of time confronting a drastic irony: societies neither benefit in any significant fashion nor progress as a result of the passage of time or the sequences of generations. From one perspective, civilization stands as a concept for the life of history; but an equally cogent version sees it as a sphere within which that very idea wanes and falls apart.
“For more than two years now — to be exact, ever since the sea swallowed up my wife and children — I have actually lost all desire to take a fresh look at the complex and knotty questions we’re investigating today. I’ve actually started depriving myself of the sole pleasure that remains for old folks once the delights of food, drink, and sex are denied them, namely listening to fabulous tales, both those that are of heavenly origin — tales of locust swarms and eclipses, and those that are earthly — plagues, earthquakes, fires, and drought. When I receive information now, it all fits into a never ending process of recycling and repetition, an orphan to novelty and self-interest, victim of that similarity I referred to above between water and water, a kind of eternal law carved in stone until such time as God inherits the earth and the people on it! That’s what I used to chant to the words of the great mystic, al-Shibli: ‘A thousand years past, a thousand years to come, that is the essence of time. And the phantoms shall never deceive you!’”
‘Abd al-Rahman kept saying the words ‘and the phantoms shall never deceive you’ over and over again, like a chant or litany. As he continued chanting the words with a profound fervor, he kept his eyes closed. Al-Hihi sat there, pen poised, not knowing what to do next. Then ‘Abd al-Rahman stopped abruptly, and the whole house was enveloped in complete silence. The evening session seemed about to end, and al-Hihi broke the awesome silence of the moment by rustling and folding his papers. Just then, he heard the voice of his master resuming his recitation in a calm but clear voice.