Read Online The Theocrat: A Modern Arabic Novel (Modern Arabic Literature) by Bensalem Himmich - Free Book Online
Authors: Bensalem Himmich
Tags: General Fiction
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populace and people in need on the other hand greeted the news with unrestrained joy. Those who had grudges kept an eagle eye out for speculators and cheats and exposed the major violators who refused to mend their ways. The majority of merchants decided to resort to more covert types of swindling and fraud.
In the early months of the implementation of al-Hakim bi-Amr Illah’s decision, the slave Mas‘ud—now converted into the agent of sodomite punishment—saw continuous activity in dealing with speculators andcrooked merchants. He managed to cope with the exhaustion that he felt at the end of each day by taking into account his own important status and the way he could now terrify people who just the day before had been able to frighten and despise him. He was also delighted at the special food he was given with the intention of renewing his energy and arousing his sexual appetite, things like almonds, harisa, and meat and fat from the Nile salamander.
During these early months of Mas‘ud’s new career, he looked happy and content, always smiling. He realized that al-Hakim bi-Amr Illah held him in high esteem and that, thanks to his own ramrod-straight scales of justice, he himself was playing a major role in correcting merchant behavior. AH this gave him the clear impression that the heavens had given him a truly unique opportunity to take revenge on society as a whole, which had subjected him to all manner of contempt and suffering. He would walk around the city and through the markets of the kasba wrapped in an aura of supercilious arrogance, belching at anyone he wished, cuffing anyone he did not like on the neck, and squeezing the nose of people who made gestures at his expense under his armpit. How was he supposed to behave otherwise when he could see for himself how many merchants he had managed to injure or kill and how many had committed suicide, all because of his surprise forays into the markets accompanied by al-Hakim’s demons and sergeants, or by al-Hakim in person riding his blond donkey!
Mas‘ud’s daily excursions into the kasba markets took in every market where foodstuffs were on sale. One of the earliest consequences of his forays was that the bar in Khan al-Ruwasin which served wine to people with problems vanished, as did all the blondes from the grain market, prostitutes who used to stand on the pavement wearing men’s clothing in red, chewing gum, and making eyes at the people who came to market. These two markets, just like those in the Burjuwan quarter and on Bayn al-Qasrayn Street, were full of merchants of every kind: butchers, bakers, fruit vendors, vegetable sellers, milk and cheese merchants, sellers of frozen products, cooks, grilled meat sellers, perfumers, and others.
The only exception to this pattern was the chicken market where chicken and rice were the basic products on sale along with various types of dove, blackbird, nightingale, and other songbirds. In all these markets Mas‘ud had no trouble in training merchants who owned shops how to behave and putting a stop to their policies of overpricing and infringements of proper trading practice. Barely three months went by before market inspectors were able to report a new trend among shop owners toward upright conduct, although they did whisper that there was a noticeable decrease in the number of merchants still in business and entering the trade.
Throughout this period there remained just one black mark on Mas‘ud’s record, namely itinerant peddlers. How was he supposed to keep track of them and impose his unique punishment for any fraudulent practices when they acted just like Bedouin, touring the markets and operating on a ‘take the money and run’ policy? How could he have any impact on their control when they had organized themselves to the extent of employing young men on the make who would act as informants and sentinels? Even suppose that he did go after them, how could he arrest them all when they scattered
In the early months of the implementation of al-Hakim bi-Amr Illah’s decision, the slave Mas‘ud—now converted into the agent of sodomite punishment—saw continuous activity in dealing with speculators andcrooked merchants. He managed to cope with the exhaustion that he felt at the end of each day by taking into account his own important status and the way he could now terrify people who just the day before had been able to frighten and despise him. He was also delighted at the special food he was given with the intention of renewing his energy and arousing his sexual appetite, things like almonds, harisa, and meat and fat from the Nile salamander.
During these early months of Mas‘ud’s new career, he looked happy and content, always smiling. He realized that al-Hakim bi-Amr Illah held him in high esteem and that, thanks to his own ramrod-straight scales of justice, he himself was playing a major role in correcting merchant behavior. AH this gave him the clear impression that the heavens had given him a truly unique opportunity to take revenge on society as a whole, which had subjected him to all manner of contempt and suffering. He would walk around the city and through the markets of the kasba wrapped in an aura of supercilious arrogance, belching at anyone he wished, cuffing anyone he did not like on the neck, and squeezing the nose of people who made gestures at his expense under his armpit. How was he supposed to behave otherwise when he could see for himself how many merchants he had managed to injure or kill and how many had committed suicide, all because of his surprise forays into the markets accompanied by al-Hakim’s demons and sergeants, or by al-Hakim in person riding his blond donkey!
Mas‘ud’s daily excursions into the kasba markets took in every market where foodstuffs were on sale. One of the earliest consequences of his forays was that the bar in Khan al-Ruwasin which served wine to people with problems vanished, as did all the blondes from the grain market, prostitutes who used to stand on the pavement wearing men’s clothing in red, chewing gum, and making eyes at the people who came to market. These two markets, just like those in the Burjuwan quarter and on Bayn al-Qasrayn Street, were full of merchants of every kind: butchers, bakers, fruit vendors, vegetable sellers, milk and cheese merchants, sellers of frozen products, cooks, grilled meat sellers, perfumers, and others.
The only exception to this pattern was the chicken market where chicken and rice were the basic products on sale along with various types of dove, blackbird, nightingale, and other songbirds. In all these markets Mas‘ud had no trouble in training merchants who owned shops how to behave and putting a stop to their policies of overpricing and infringements of proper trading practice. Barely three months went by before market inspectors were able to report a new trend among shop owners toward upright conduct, although they did whisper that there was a noticeable decrease in the number of merchants still in business and entering the trade.
Throughout this period there remained just one black mark on Mas‘ud’s record, namely itinerant peddlers. How was he supposed to keep track of them and impose his unique punishment for any fraudulent practices when they acted just like Bedouin, touring the markets and operating on a ‘take the money and run’ policy? How could he have any impact on their control when they had organized themselves to the extent of employing young men on the make who would act as informants and sentinels? Even suppose that he did go after them, how could he arrest them all when they scattered
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