Read Online The Ports and Portals of the Zelaznids by Dr. Paul-Thomas Ferguson - Free Book Online
Authors: Dr. Paul-Thomas Ferguson
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converted and sent their daughters to wed with the Prophet and his advisors. These conversions, it may be said , were largelie in name, for there were those who yet held true to the old ways ; and there were still others who gave to their children the teachings of the Zelaznids within the solace of their homes.
“Two generations passed in this way, and my ancestors did much as they always had : paying tribute to those who controlled the cittie while secretlie believing whatever they wished. The Prophet, having met his end, left lesser men to follow in his stead. The y kept their governors in place and maintained their hold on my people. But no sword could pierce their souls .
O ut of that curious line a peculiar person emerged, my namesake: Abd-al-Hazred. [39]
“Hazred was reared of an intellectual father, one who knew well the old ways ; and of a learned mother, one who was descended of that Zelaznid tribe. Out of this, Abd-al-Hazred be came a soul in possession of much knowledge, one who did not fail, even from a young age, to question his elders concerning the inconsistencie of t heir beliefs.
“This precocious spirit served him well in partnership with his intellect, but made of him an out cast in the cittie of Sanaá, a place whose residents had no wish to anger the representative of the Banu Umayyah. [40] Hence, when Abd-al-Hazred became a man, he ventured into the southern reaches of the Arabian Desert in search of that knowledge which he had yet to discover.
“Ten years Abd-al-Hazred spen t alone in the Roba El Khaliyeh [41] without speaking to another of his kind. Yet he was not without companionship, for the Roba El Khaliye h is said to be the home of numerous spirits.
“ When he returned to Sanaá, he reenter ed the societie he had left, wedding a young girl and entering into the trade of a scribe. But serenitie in this life was not to be; f or Abd-al-Hazred could not help but sp eak of those things which he had seen in the desert .
“H is words frightened the people of Sanaá . They would not hear him tell of crossing into another world, or of his visit to fabulous Irem, the Cit tie of Pillars. [42] And when he spoke of the discoveries he made beneath the ruins of that forgotten desert place , which pointed to the existence of an ancient race of beings older than mankind, it was charitie that kept th ose ignorant folk from puttin g him to his dea th for such blasphemies.
“Abd-al-Hazred thus was allowed to live , but he feared that this would not long be the case should he remain in the place of his birth. Therefore he took his wife and child a way from the cittie of Sanaá by caravan . Together, they travel ed to ancient Babylon and then to Egypt, where he explored the ruins of Memphis.
“ At last, Abd-al-Hazred settled his growing familie in Damascus, where he once more took on the work of a scribe. There , taking advantage of that anonymitie which a man might find in such a large cittie, he wrote the dreaded al-Azif . [43]
“This work, misunderstood and reviled as it was, pleased the government not at all. Arrested for heresie, Hazred was determined to be a heretic and confined to a madhouse . F or some few years , his wife waited for her husband to be returned to her , doing the best she could to support their children . M ean while , the authorities ban ned Abd-al-Hazred’s al-Azif . [44]
“His reprieve came at last upon the hour of his fort ie -second year. Destitute and shunned, Abd-al-Hazred rejoined his wife, but the man she had known was gone. One year they shared together before the coming of his death, an end too t errible to recount . [45]
“Left to her own devices, his wife fled the cittie with her three young sons, returning to the home of her birth, the familiar comfort of Sanaá. But, while her relations yet remained in the
“Two generations passed in this way, and my ancestors did much as they always had : paying tribute to those who controlled the cittie while secretlie believing whatever they wished. The Prophet, having met his end, left lesser men to follow in his stead. The y kept their governors in place and maintained their hold on my people. But no sword could pierce their souls .
O ut of that curious line a peculiar person emerged, my namesake: Abd-al-Hazred. [39]
“Hazred was reared of an intellectual father, one who knew well the old ways ; and of a learned mother, one who was descended of that Zelaznid tribe. Out of this, Abd-al-Hazred be came a soul in possession of much knowledge, one who did not fail, even from a young age, to question his elders concerning the inconsistencie of t heir beliefs.
“This precocious spirit served him well in partnership with his intellect, but made of him an out cast in the cittie of Sanaá, a place whose residents had no wish to anger the representative of the Banu Umayyah. [40] Hence, when Abd-al-Hazred became a man, he ventured into the southern reaches of the Arabian Desert in search of that knowledge which he had yet to discover.
“Ten years Abd-al-Hazred spen t alone in the Roba El Khaliyeh [41] without speaking to another of his kind. Yet he was not without companionship, for the Roba El Khaliye h is said to be the home of numerous spirits.
“ When he returned to Sanaá, he reenter ed the societie he had left, wedding a young girl and entering into the trade of a scribe. But serenitie in this life was not to be; f or Abd-al-Hazred could not help but sp eak of those things which he had seen in the desert .
“H is words frightened the people of Sanaá . They would not hear him tell of crossing into another world, or of his visit to fabulous Irem, the Cit tie of Pillars. [42] And when he spoke of the discoveries he made beneath the ruins of that forgotten desert place , which pointed to the existence of an ancient race of beings older than mankind, it was charitie that kept th ose ignorant folk from puttin g him to his dea th for such blasphemies.
“Abd-al-Hazred thus was allowed to live , but he feared that this would not long be the case should he remain in the place of his birth. Therefore he took his wife and child a way from the cittie of Sanaá by caravan . Together, they travel ed to ancient Babylon and then to Egypt, where he explored the ruins of Memphis.
“ At last, Abd-al-Hazred settled his growing familie in Damascus, where he once more took on the work of a scribe. There , taking advantage of that anonymitie which a man might find in such a large cittie, he wrote the dreaded al-Azif . [43]
“This work, misunderstood and reviled as it was, pleased the government not at all. Arrested for heresie, Hazred was determined to be a heretic and confined to a madhouse . F or some few years , his wife waited for her husband to be returned to her , doing the best she could to support their children . M ean while , the authorities ban ned Abd-al-Hazred’s al-Azif . [44]
“His reprieve came at last upon the hour of his fort ie -second year. Destitute and shunned, Abd-al-Hazred rejoined his wife, but the man she had known was gone. One year they shared together before the coming of his death, an end too t errible to recount . [45]
“Left to her own devices, his wife fled the cittie with her three young sons, returning to the home of her birth, the familiar comfort of Sanaá. But, while her relations yet remained in the
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