Free The Theocrat: A Modern Arabic Novel (Modern Arabic Literature) by Bensalem Himmich

choke, then beg to be released from this world, with all its backsides and anuses that continued to plague him with their bloody wounds. For his accursed body all he craved was total annihilation. So it came to the point when Mas‘ud used to extend his neck and beg people to use their swords and lances to cut of his head and put an end to his misery. He was so insistent in this request that he began to imagine that his head had actually been severed. That made him more apathetic, and he stopped eating. He kept threatening guards with the foul stench of his corpse if they did not agree to put him in a coffin and bury him properly.
    By order of al-Hakim bi-Amr Illah, informants were not allowed to talk about the way Mas‘ud met his end. As a result there were inevitably a large number of stories that circulated in popular nightspots and literary circles. One of them said that Mas‘ud managed to burst his way into one of al-Hakim’s council sessions with a coffin under his arm. “Lord,” he said, “I seek neither forgiveness nor security. If you cannot make people live, you can make them die. Here’s my coffin, so put me in it and bury it in the earth. We will meet again on the Day of Resurrection. God alone is the victor!” It is said that al-Hakim responded to the request and challenge that had been posed, and carried out his request. Another story has it that a group of high-class butchers were delegated to do to Mas‘ud what he had done to them and their colleagues, keeping it up until Mas‘ud died. Yet another says that the slave died after an unsuccessful attempt to castrate him, and another that the Nile waters had vomited him back. A medical examination confirmed that he had committed suicide with a hundred and one stabs to the chest.

Chapter Two
At al-Hakim’s councils
    1, A Session of Violet Oil
    hen it comes to the entire succession of incredible and contradictory actions that al-Hakim took, the root cause of his motivations was a kind of chemical imbalance in the brain. From his youth onward he was afflicted by a kind of melancholia and mental instability. Medical science is unanimous that people so afflicted suffer delusions and imagine all sorts of amazing things. All such patients are convinced that their fantasies are perfectly sound; there is no way of changing their ways or diverting them from their chosen course. Some of them believe themselves to be a prophet or even the Deity Himself—may lie be exalted! Among regular symptoms is a confused jumbling of words, something that is completely obvious to those who observe and converse with such people; any doubts on the matter instantly disappear. Sometimes, however, this confusion may not be so obvious. The patient will only entertain such evil notions out of sight of the general populace. Indeed, in public he may well seem perfectly intelligent, as highly regarded as the most illustrious members of society. It is only as a result of prolonged exposure that the unseen contradictions become evident.
    That was precisely the situation with al-Hakim. The people who kept his company over a prolonged period came to realize the contradiction. However, for people who stayed at a distance, it was only his actions thatmade things clear. Something that illustrates the extent to which he was afflicted by this illness is that from early childhood he had a twitch that was caused by a fluid imbalance in the brain; that in itself is a major factor in the incidence of melancholia. He was treated for the condition in various ways, one of which involved sitting him in a bath of violet oil and tying him down. His penchant for staying awake till the early hours, his love of riding, and his never-ending thirst, these are all symptoms of this condition. When Abu Ya’qub Ishaq ibn Ibrahim ibn Nastas served as his physician, he persuaded al-Hakim to relax his strictures against wine drinking and listening to songs—things he had forbidden and prevented people from