Читать книгу What 'Isa ibn Hisham Told Us - Muhammad al-Muwaylihi - Страница 24

Miṣbāḥ al-sharq 41, January 26, 1899⁵³

7.1

ʿĪsā ibn Hishām said: The time came for the appeal. We went to the court to seek a fair hearing. Each one of us was intent on his own business and occupied with his own aspect of the judicial contest. The Pāshā was considering the misfortunes he had suffered and complaining about his tribulations; the Lawyer was arranging his material and keeping a mental note of his fee; for my part, I was asking God to deliver us from life’s intrigues. We reached the Ismāʿīliyyah quarter.⁵⁴ When the Pāshā saw the mansions, houses, palaces, and villas, he was entranced by the gardens and bowers which had grown around them and the neat layout of the streets with their trees. He stopped us and broke the silence by asking in astonishment what place this gleaming paradise occupied in the city of Cairo! Once we had given him a description of it, he said:

7.2

PĀSHĀ All praise be to Almighty God, Glorious and Powerful! This district used to be in ruins; there were no houses or mansions in it. The only plant life was the barren acacia tree; the only flowers the tragacanth and sayal thorn; the only birds owls, crows, falcons, and eagles. Of wild beasts there would have been foxes, wolves, hyenas, jackals, and lizards. The only humans would have been plundering brigands, murderers, or lurking cutthroats. What wonders the Egyptians have accomplished! Fate has clearly smiled favorably on them by giving them these flowers in exchange for thorns and housing them in these lofty mansions instead of those shattered ruins.

LAWYER My dear Amir, don’t envy the Egyptians their good fortune. Rather join us in bewailing their misfortune. They don’t own any of the houses in this paradise where they could settle down. Everything you see in this area belongs to foreigners.

PĀSHĀ Heavens above! How can foreigners claim this beautiful paradise, such a superb residential area, for themselves and keep native Egyptians out? Are you speaking in riddles? Are you perhaps being deliberately vague in your explanation?

7.3

LAWYER There’s no riddle involved, nor is anything vague. Egyptians have brought it on themselves by exchanging their happiness for misfortune. As their lot in life they’re satisfied with whatever is paltry and inferior. Each one of them makes do with his meager, pathetic share. In the shadow of his own negligence, sloth and apathy, he remains deprived, leading a wretched life full of degradation and bewilderment. Meanwhile foreigners keep working hard; they take their job seriously. They acquire goods and want more; they store and collect things. Alongside them, Egyptians squander and waste everything. They get distressed, then fritter their time away; they become helpless, then grow conceited; they become poor, and start boasting. Our rulers and men of influence, our governors and amirs, all of them help foreigners rule and dominate us. They use their power and authority to assist foreigners and use them as allies and helpers against Egyptians. In that way they can make use of them to humiliate the Egyptians even more. Eventually however, they too have fallen into the clutches of foreigners; now they too have become their prisoners. Masters and servants are now on equal footing, envier and envied are alike, and exalted and unapproachable people are on a par with the despicable and lowly. We are all participants in the varying degrees of hardship and suffering; a distinguished and powerful man now suffers the same fate as a weak and lowly person. Such are the consequences for anyone who gives in to the avaricious. “He who assists a tyrant will find himself oppressed”:

If a hunter uses a lion as a falcon,

the lion will surely count him amongst its prey.⁵⁵

7.4

ʿĪsā ibn Hishām said: My two companions had only just finished their conversation, with its questions and answers, when a cyclist came speeding past us like a viper in the depths of the sand. He was swaying like a man intoxicated by wine and bending over like branches in the early morning breeze. The Pāshā was utterly flabbergasted and asked us about this acrobat. I informed him that it was a new bicycle, something that people chose to ride in preference to carriages and horses. What they liked about it was that it didn’t eat or drink, nor did it become bored or tired. The intention of such riders was to exercise their limbs so that mind and body were in equilibrium. That particular rider, I surmised, was none other than one of the judges. We all stared after him, only to witness the rider fall off his bicycle. The ensemble had fractured into three separate entities which were lying on the ground; rider, bicycle, and tarboosh. He stood up again and brushed himself off. He tried to get back on the bicycle, but was unable to do so, so he started pushing it by hand and walking alongside it.

7.5

PĀSHĀ How I wish we could go back where we’ve come from, at liberty and with no encumbrances. How can judges or governors fare when this is the kind of image they project in full view of everyone? Were people ever judged in court without pomp, chamberlains, and impressive displays? In our day, no judge or governor would ride anywhere without an escort of soldiers and cavalry, preceded by servants, retinue, and aides. People’s hearts would shudder in awe and respect. No one would dare commit a crime which involved appearing before such a judge.

ʿĪSĀ Yes indeed! Poets have gone to great lengths to depict such status, weaving it into their figurative creations. Here is what al-Mutanabbī has to say:

Time is defiant, there exists no pleasure

that is unsullied, no complete joy,

Not even Abū l-Faḍl ibn ʿAbdallāh. To see him may be one’s dearest wish,

and yet it is also an awesome experience.⁵⁶

7.6

LAWYER It’s time to stop this chatter, we’ve reached the court.

ʿĪsā Let’s hope, God willing, that we find it in its proper place. I’m getting so used to going from one place to another that they will seem like Bedouin’s tents:

One day in Huzwa, another in al-ʿAqīq, another

in al-ʿUthyab, and another in al-Khulayṣāʾ.⁵⁷

We approached the place where the building was supposed to be and actually found it! There we stood for a while awaiting our turn. Eventually we were summoned. We stood before three judges. One of them was a shaykh who displayed the august demeanor of a judge and the law. The Pāshā admired his appearance and took comfort from his aspect. The judge who was a foreigner stood up and began reading the summary of the case in a foreign accent, without bothering to articulate the consonants fully.

READER OF THE SUMMARY This man stands accused of an assault on X, the policeman, during the course of his duty on such and such a day of such and such a month. The accused denies this. The plaintiff has testified in person, and medical evidence has shown the existence of marks on his person from the assault. The Court of First Instance sentenced him to a year and a half in prison according to articles 124 and 126 of the Penal Code. The convicted person has appealed.

7.7

ʿĪsā ibn Hishām said: I asked the Lawyer about this peculiar summary. “It’s normal practice here,” he replied. “Foreign judges like this one adopt the same style of preamble as was used in the initial trial, and turn it into a summary. They write it down in its Arabic form but in foreign characters, so that they can read it before the court.”

The chief judge of the court now turned to the Pāshā. He asked him, as was customary, his name, age, profession, and place of residence. He then invited the Parquet Attorney to address the court.

7.8

The Attorney began to explain the case as suited his fancy. This time, however, I heard no interruptions from the chief judge as had happened in the Court of First Instance, the reason being that some of the judges who had not read up the notes of the case in the appeal needed to hear about it from the Attorney’s speech. So they allowed him to go on with his accusations at length. Once the Parquet Attorney had finished his expatiations, the chief judge allowed the Lawyer to speak briefly. The latter began to go into details about the aspects of the accused’s defense. Every time he reached the crucial point, the chief judge told him to get to the point and make his demands. When this happened again, I saw one of the judges make a cryptic gesture in order to inform the chief judge that the Lawyer was actually talking about the point. (However, one had to excuse the chief judge because he did not know the details of the case.)

CHIEF JUDGE The case has now been heard. Sentence will be passed after deliberation.

7.9

ʿĪsā ibn Hishām said: We went outside to wait while the session moved to the deliberation chamber. I asked the Lawyer how long the deliberation usually took.

LAWYER Usually no more than an hour.

ʿĪSĀ What’s the average number of cases per session?

LAWYER Ten on average.

ʿĪSĀ Is that enough time to study all the papers which go into criminal cases?

LAWYER Certainly, although when a criminal case involves the possibility of a death sentence or hard labor, it may take two or three hours. I’ve often perused case files which have been returned from the judge who sums up to the secretary’s office for the lawyer’s perusal. We found a mark on them with one of these letters A, C, and E. A stood for acquittal, C for conviction, and E for endorsement of the verdict of the first court. The judge writes these signs so that he won’t forget his opinion on the case when he presents it to his colleagues during the deliberation process. In that way, when he gives them his opinion, he doesn’t waste time on discussion and argument.

7.10

But, since the criminal judge has absolute discretionary independence to decide on the verdict according to his own conscience, he has to check the proofs of confirmed guilt and innocence for himself. After that, he deliberates the entire matter for himself without any personal feeling about innocence or guilt. Once he’s convinced of the proof, he passes sentence according to the weight of evidence. In so doing, he isn’t giving way to someone else’s opinion or making do with the verdict of another. However, the final verdict is settled based on one of those three letters which the summarizing judge skims over in the seclusion of his own home.

7.11

As we were talking, the court resumed its session. We went back in to hear the verdict. The chief judge pronounced the Pāshā innocent because the case against him was not proven and there were cogent mitigating circumstances which kept him apart from the claims of the law. With that we left, feeling overjoyed at this piece of good fortune after so much bad luck.

PĀSHĀ Today I cannot deny that justice still exists. But it’s so slow. This slowness is an intolerable burden on the innocent. In these trials, with all their arguments and deliberations, it would be better for the conclusion of the case to be reached at the beginning. Then people like myself would not have to suffer the shame and degradation of imprisonment, comings and goings, permissions and chamberlains, all the while being labeled and treated like a criminal. If I’m happy to be found innocent, it’s not because I feel any genuine pleasure, but rather that I feel relieved of real pain.

LAWYER I congratulate you on your acquittal. It is my hope that you may continue to be free from the trials of being under suspicion. May you emerge from every trial like an arrow from a bow and a sword from a scabbard! My defense of you is now complete, so it only remains for you to pay me.