The students were amazed and delighted by what I had told them and asked for further details about the conclusion of this felicitous correspondence. I told them that the king had yet to respond to my suggestion. If he were to meet me and offer measures that would benefit our countries and God's servants who were living in them, then I would be among his most fervent supporters.
"Dear teacher," said Abd al-Ali, "by the right of the worshipped God, I assure you that, during these long months past, the only thing that has kept us away from your presence has been our own petty concerns and the new circumstances in which we find ourselves in Granada, not to mention our fervent desire that you be allowed to retreat to Jabal Musa and devote yourself to learning and devotion."
"And don't forget, 'Ali," 'Adnan went on, "that we've been neglecting our studies, the kind of thing that makes our master happy. I think we should all emigrate to Sabta so we can be close to our master and benefit still further from his erudition."
"No, no, Adnan!" I replied immediately. "You and your companions should stay where you are. Don't even think of leaving unless, as was the case with me, some emergency situation or urgent need demands that you do so. You can travel the distance between us fairly easily whenever possible. If it weren't for the fact that I'm not allowed to cross back into Spain, I would make the journey myself."
`Ali and his companions all signaled that they understood. "No, master," he said, "we will make the journey. Spies and intriguers of all kinds keep on collecting bits of information about you, Sir. For your sake and ours, it's much better for you to stay here where you can be safe with your family."
At that point Khalid was looking at the floor, as though something important was on his mind. When I asked him what was bothering him, he asked me to tell him about my responses to the Christian king. I gave him a copy of them, and he looked at them carefully, first at the summaries, then at the seals. He then read the following out loud:
These topics about which Alexander differed with Aristotle are ones that I have raised in an artificial manner, something you can tell from reading the works of other people. Once I had realized that the matter was already well known per se, I decided not to refer to it or go into any detail, even though you yourself only wish to know what is generally accepted on the topic. For that reason, I have only discussed with you those aspects about which you had asked me. When we meet, we will be able to discuss these matters faceto-face, and that is much more satisfactory. So please be aware of all thisand God grants success through His beneficence, generosity, and grace. Here ends the discussion concerning the Sicilian questions.
From this section of my response Khalid concluded that I was encouraging the king to meet me so that he could profit from my learning face-to-face and be looking at me as I spoke. He asked me when the text had been sent, and I told him almost a year ago. He then asked me if I was sure that the text had in fact reached its addressee, to which I replied in the positive, noting that I had received a short sealed message accompanied by a set of gifts that I had asked the governor of Tangier to return to the king.
Khalid rubbed his hands together in disbelief. "Is it conceivable, you people," he asked in amazement, "that the king should admire Muslim scholars so much and receive from a senior representative of that group a request to hold a meeting with him, and yet not reply?"
"Maybe political issues have distracted his attention," I replied, "or else there have been problems with religious authorities or even emergencies that we know nothing about."
"Will you allow me, master, to give you my own reading of these circumstances-and God knows best?"
"Feel free to do so, Khalid."
"I have no doubt whatsoever that your response to King Frederic was abridged and altered by whoever it was to whom you entrusted its delivery. I suspect that the governor of Sabta and his aides made sure to remove your request to meet the Sicilian king."
"But Governor Ibn Khalas is a man of high reputation," I objected. "I cannot imagine his doing anything such as you have suggested. I say that even though I have yet to meet him."
`Ali looked at me in amazement. "Master," he said, "you have a good opinion of this governor even though you've never met him or checked on the validity of his reputation?"
"That's true enough, master," Al-Sadiq interrupted assertively to underline what his colleagues had already said. "Are you really willing to trust someone, when others in a similar position and with even more power and authority have already done you considerable harm?"
"By God," said 'Adnan by way of comment, "politicians are all of one stripe on both sides…"
I remained silent for a moment while I contemplated the opinions of the group regarding my letter to the Sicilian king and the possibility that malicious hands had distorted its contents. I decided that the best thing to do was to give my students a copy of the original document so that they could make copies and distribute them to their colleagues and anyone else who was interested. They all thought that was a good idea and promised me to circulate the document in Granada, Almeria, and their environs as well. Khalid went even further, and volunteered to travel to Sicily whenever he could with a view to finding out what had actually happened and maybe even asking for a meeting with the king and questioning him in his own language. I welcomed my colleagues' suggestions, even though some of them gave me pause.
There was a gentle knock on the door that I assumed was a woman's. "Who is it?" I asked, and in response I heard Fayha" s sweet, gentle voice. I allowed her to come in and introduced her to my students, who had all stood up. From beneath her diaphanous veil she offered them her welcome and greetings while they looked at her briefly with expressions of thanks and congratulations on our blessed marriage.
`Abduh," she said, "these then are the young men about whom you have been talking and longing to see so much. God be praised now that you have met them again under this blessed roof!"
She asked them all to stay until dinner-time and to spend the night in the guest quarters, but they refused the kind offer with all due apologies, said their farewells, and departed. I accompanied them to the door, where I spotted 'Abla standing close by watching them all. When we came closer to the door and her eyes met those of the young men, Hafsa grabbed her by the arm and marched her off, scolding her as she did so. I bade my students farewell, in the hope and expectation of meeting them again at a session in the great mosque. With that I retraced my steps, with the intention of sitting with my wife and discussing with her a number of issues of varying degrees of importance.