When I reached the places where people were gathered and crowding around, I got a cupper to shave my head completely, then exchanged my fine clothes so I could disguise myself in a jallaba and headcloth, and set my horse free to wander wherever God willed. That done, I made for the Ka`ba shrine and circumambulated the black stone several times till I started feeling giddy. I lay down for a while near a pillar and lost consciousness for a while. When I came round, I discovered that my mouth had a gold coin in it; some rich foreign pilgrim had obviously put it there as an act of charity as they usually do with poor, needy folk who are sleeping in the mosque. I took the gold coin and put it in another sleeping ascetic's mouth. I then headed for a fairly deserted wall in the outer courtyard and sat down in the sun with my back leaning against the wall. The pain now eased somewhat. Using whatever level of consciousness remained, I started to review my life in the context of its imminent erasure amid the whirlwinds of oblivion.
In my estimation some small portion of my life would linger; maybe nothing more than that. In any case, here is what I would say to anyone who does remember me and writes about me:
Whatever else you forget, do not forget that, to the extent that I could, I encapsulated myself in the processes of growth and ascent to loftier planes. If I did manage to transcend my lower existence, then, by God who is the Truth, my only motivation was a sensible and individual desire, one with no equaclass="underline" to speed my journey toward the Necessary Existent and to find perfection in the glow of divine abundance.
Through my cloudy vision Baybars now appeared, looking like a savage ghoul with a vicious, angry countenance.
"You heretic," he was yelling, "don't think you're going to escape my punishment. When you did those circumambulations a while ago, you looked just like donkeys around a mill-wheel!"
"Most people are like that, if you only knew," I replied, facing him down. "They claim to be carriers of the Qur'an, but in fact they have no awareness of it nor do they understand it. The simile used in the text of the Qur'an is exactly applicable to them: `The example of those who were given the Torah but then did not carry it is like the donkey carrying texts."'
With that, the Mamluk sultan issued his orders: "Grab this unbeliever. Grab him and kill him!"
Time went by, although I have no idea how long. Gradually the shapes of people and objects turned into blurry images of a kind I had never experienced before. I closed my eyes so that I could protect myself and think about something else. Before long I watched as two octopus-like arms, long and powerful, stretched downward toward me and started lashing me with heavy blows. When they had finished, they were replaced by scorpions, vipers, and hornets, which started stinging me all over. They were followed by scavenger birds that kept pecking and gnawing at me.
Just a rainbow's distance from death, I was bleeding all over when Baybars reappeared, this time at the head of an army that was marching toward me.
"So, you renegade," he yelled, "you disobey me and write that anyone who does obeisance to Turks is only motivated by grief and idolatry. Take him away and kill him…"
I had neither breath nor energy to respond. I took out my dagger to defend myself. With that the soldiers surrounded me and started pounding and throttling me. Their leader grabbed my right hand, which was holding the dagger, and slit the veins. As I breathed my last, I kept repeating:
Appendix. What Some Writers Have Said about Ibn Sab'in
— Al-Shushtari, in praise of Ibn Sabin, Diwan [Collected Poetry]
Ibn Sabin was more knowledgeable about philosophy than Ibn al In theology, both of them sought information from the same source, namely alJuwayni, the author of the Irshad, and his followers such as Al-Razi. Ibn Sabin was a major heterodox figure, a polytheist and magician. He was by far the brightest and cleverest of them all, and the most knowledgeable in matters of philosophy and philosophical Sufism.
— Ibn Taymiyya, Al-Rasa'il wa-al-Masa'il [Epistles and Questions]
Ibn Sabin studied the ancients and philosophy. As a result, he was to a certain extent heterodox in his views and composed in that vein. He was expert in the interpretation of symbols and made full use of this skill to hoodwink stupid rulers and wealthy people.
— Ibn Kathir, Al-Bidaya wa-al-Nihaya [The Beginning and End]
Ibn Sabin was a person with a strong ancestral link to his home town. He grew up in great luxury and in a prestigious environment, the spirit of which never left him. He was handsome, attractive, and open-hearted, with a princely guise to him.
— Lisan al-din ibn al-Khatib, Al-Ihata fi Akhbar Gharnata [A History of Granada]
When it comes to books that contain these erroneous beliefs and copies of them that may be currently available to people-such as Fusus al-Hikam [Bezels of Wisdom] and Al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya [The Meccan Conquests] by Ibn al-'Arabi, Budd al-Arif [Escape of the Gnostic] by Ibn Sabin, and Khal` al-na`layn [Removal of Shoes] by Ibn Qasi, the decision regarding such works and their ilk should involve taking all copies and putting them in the fire, then washing one's hands so that all traces of their contents are erased. It is, of course, in the general interest of the community of the faithful that all bogus beliefs should be eliminated. It is the obligation of those in authority to burn such books as a precaution against corruption of the public mind and likewise to remove all copies that people may own so they can be burned.
— Ibn Khaldun, Fatwa fi Shifa' al-Sa'il Li-Tahdhib al-Masa'il [A Legal Decision Regarding the Cure of the Questioner with a View to Instruction Regarding Questions]
Concerning Ibn Sabin I heard that he slit his wrists and allowed the blood to flow until he died.
— Ibn Shakir al-Kutubi, Fawat al-Wafayat [Record of Deaths]
I heard Shaykh al-Abili talking about Qutb al-din. He said that, in the seventh century, three great scourges occurred within Islam: the school of Ibn Sabin; the Tatar conquest of Iraq; and the practices of the Assassins.
— Ahmad ibn al-Maqarri, Nafh al-Tib `an Ghusn al-Andalus al-Ratib [Waft of Scent Concerning the Lush Branches of Andalus].
Translator's Afterword
THIS MARKS THE THIRD TIME that I have embarked upon the difficult task of translating into English a novel by the Moroccan writer Bensalem Himmich, currently the minister of culture in Morocco (2009). The first two novels were both prizewinners in their Arabic form: the first (in order of publication in Arabic) was Majnun al-Hukm (1989; translated as The Theocrat, 2005), winner of the London-based Al-Naqid prize for fiction-an account of the reign of the controversial (and probably schizophrenic) Fatimi caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (d. 1021); the second, winner of the Naguib Mahfouz Prize for fiction, was AlAllamah (1997; translated as The Polymath, 2004), an account of the latter years in Cairo of the great Arab historian and historiographer Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406). More recently still, Himmich has been awarded a second Naguib Mahfouz Prize, this one awarded in Cairo by the University of Cairo (2009).