Free Balthasar's Odyssey by Amin Maalouf Page B

has put up the tent, but I’m in no hurry to go to bed. Marta will stretch out on her own along one side of the tent, and we four men will lie cramped together at right angles to her, with our heads nearest and our feet pointing away from her. I’ll smell her perfume and hear her breathing all night long, without being able to see her. Sometimes the presence of a woman can be torture!
    To pass the time till I felt drowsy, I went and sat on a stone to write a few lines by the light from one of our camp fires. Then I caught sight of Maïmoun. He wasn’t yet ready to retire, either, so we went for a stroll along the beach. The lapping of the waves encourages confidences, and I told him all about my strange adventure in Aleppo. He lived there, so I expected him to offer some explanation. And he did provide one that satisfied me for the time being.
    â€œThose men were more frightened of you than you were of them,” he began. “They practise their religion secretly and are persecuted by the authorities. They’re suspected of rebellion and sedition.
    â€œBut everyone in Aleppo knows about them. Their enemies nicknamed them ‘The Impatient Ones’, to make fun of them, but they liked it and now they use it themselves. They believe that the Hidden Imam, God’s ultimate representative on earth, is already among us, ready to reveal himself when the time is ripe, and to put an end to the sufferings of the faithful. Other groups say the Imam will come, sooner or later, some time in the future, but the Impatient Ones believe his advent is imminent, and that the saviour is here already, in Aleppo or Constantinople or elsewhere, going about the world, watching, and getting ready to tear aside the veil of secrecy.
    â€œPeople wonder how they would recognise him if they met him. I’ve been told the Impatient Ones are always discussing this among themselves. Because the Imam is hidden and must not be found by his enemies, we must be ready to recognise him in the most unexpected disguises. He who will one day inherit all the world’s riches might come in rags. He who is the wisest of the wise might appear in the form of a madman. He who is all piety and devotion might commit the worst sins. For this reason these men make it their duty to revere beggars, fools and profligates. Thus, when you intruded on their worship, and swore, and spilled wine on their prayer mat, they thought you were trying to test them. They weren’t sure, of course, but they didn’t want to make you unwelcome in case you were the Expected One.
    â€œTheir faith requires them to be friendly to everyone, even to Jews and Christians, because the Imam might assume a different religion as camouflage. They must even treat their persecutors well…”
    But if they are so pleasant to everyone, why are they persecuted?
    â€œBecause they are waiting for the one who will topple all thrones and do away with all laws.”
    I had never heard of these strange sectarians, but Maïmoun told me they’d existed for a long while.
    â€œBut it’s true they’re becoming more numerous and more fervent now. More careless too. Because of all the rumours going round about the end of the world, which the weak-minded are taken in by.”
    These last words have troubled me. Have I myself become one of the “weak-minded” people my new friend condemns? Sometimes I check myself and anathematise credulity and suspicion, smiling with scorn or pity … when I myself am hunting for The Hundredth Name!
    But how can I remain entirely rational when I’m always coming upon signs and portents? Isn’t my recent adventure at Aleppo very disturbing? Doesn’t it look as if Heaven, or some other invisible force, is trying to increase my bewilderment?
    18 September
    Today Maïmoun told me he contemplated going to live in Amsterdam, in the United Provinces.
    I thought at first he was speaking as a jeweller, and