Ismail couldn’t stand this situation any longer. One day he dared to ask Shaul why he didn’t share his store with poor people and put his mansion at the disposal of the miserable workers and porters. The question upset Shaul, who replied angrily, “Would that solve the question of poverty, tell me? The issue of poverty is a historical problem; it was not caused by my mansion. You are wrong in your assessment of things, and he who makes wrong judgments is a devil.”
At Shaul’s flare-up, Ismail fell totally silent. He hadn’t expected his question to provoke such an angry reaction. First of all, because the question was part of ‘history,’ it became a thorny issue. When he heard the word history, Ismail trembled, fell silent, and avoided interfering in issues having to do with the culprit responsible for the suffering of the universe, whom Shaul accused whenever a problem arose. However he listened carefully to the entire story of the devil that Shaul related to him. The story created even more confusion for Ismail and reinforced his conviction that the measuring process was correct and the devil was right.
The truth of the matter was that Ismail was defending his own interests and happiness and had little interest in the other poor peoples’ happiness. He wanted the issues related to his own happiness to remain at the center, which explained his desire to test Shaul’s changing personality. He was trying to find a connection between abstract and concrete things. Words and small comments were worthless to him. What counted were palpable things in full form, the things he placed before himself and considered the way Shaul wanted him to. He used to repeat his words only to discover with little effort that culture and the art of speaking are simple. To become a persuasive person it was enough to learn a few phrases, put them in a suitable context, and adopt a certain expression on your face. This matter provoked a certain pleasure in Ismail’s emotions and awakened a deep shiver in his soul, one that he kept dormant behind his stiff features.
7
Ismail Hadoub, this dull, lazy man, this drunkard, had awakened forever. He would never go back to his previous state of mental stagnation. Thanks to Shaul he woke up and was now unstoppable, actively hunting and fishing, seeking as much prey as possible. Ismail was in fact a skilled predator who had come to hunt and chase pleasure with the same acumen he called upon when he was living in poverty and misery. He was poised to sniff out his prey, a gift that poor people had, like dogs that could smell meat from a distance. But was Shaul too naive to notice? Of course not!
Like all wealthy people Shaul thought that he could simulate reconciliation, even a superficial one, with Ismail, like the silky fair skin of a sick woman that hides a devastating illness under its softness. Shaul knew that Ismail coveted money by any means, whether it was acquired wisely or from suspicious sources — insurance money for a road accident, an inheritance, a bankruptcy — it made no difference to him. Shaul was looking for a disciple to exploit, and before satisfying his greed he wanted to tame and examine him under the magnifying glass, the same loupe he used to examine his jewelry. He wanted to downsize him, place him on a flat surface with words, ideas, and expressions, move him a few steps forward and a few steps back, then promote him through his political ideas.
Shaul was convinced that history couldn’t be corrected without establishing his happiness colony. Like Jupiter, Shaul was happier whenever he met unhappy people. Ismail was well aware that his time with Shaul was a transition period, because the search for happiness was difficult and the path long, twisted, and profound. On the other hand, he was aware that there was a greater bliss, and that some people changed the concept of happiness, and for them it did not consist of laughter and enjoyment but of tears and sadness. It was a happiness that people sought in order to live a better life. Ismail was made aware that the source of happiness was changeable when Shaul entered the store one day with tears running down his cheeks from lifeless eyes. He was crying over the fate of the hero of a novel he had read the previous night. Ismail had no qualms about imitating Shaul. He cried volubly and beat the table with his hands in a somewhat sarcastic way. He wanted to imitate Shaul’s vision of the world in order to set perimeters within which he could act, consistent with the framework Shaul had traced for him. This skilled hunter knew exactly what Shaul wanted from him. He imitated and tricked him, but Shaul did not become aware of his deception until the existentialist philosopher returned to al-Sadriya and Ismail left to follow him. Shaul understood that a human being never sacrificed anything for nothing.
8
Ismail Hadoub was like many other men of letters of modest origin who saw literature and art as a way to gain entry to posh salons and luxurious houses. Art to them was a means to embellish their lives and to help them win over beautiful rich girls. They’d try hard to please such girls, sacrificing their own lives to do so, and when the girls aged they’d look for pleasure with other, younger women. Ismail wanted to use literature to avenge his dignity and build his reputation upon someone else’s glory. He wanted to be imposing and rich, to try everything and get everything. He wanted to quench his thirst in life, to arm himself with ideas. He wanted to suck and swallow life, not merely think about it. He wanted to live on other people’s accounts, at the expense of merchants, intermediaries, real estate agents, and politicians. Money was the only way to conquer life, and the only way to get money was through literature. But literature required money — checks and cash.
It wasn’t an easy equation — not quite as simple as he first thought it would be. Those politicians and merchants who are well trained in the art of exploitation and extortion are not as naive as he thought. They’re shrewd and smart. They know how to use others for their own interest and to serve their own plans. They need other people to promote these schemes. They then reward them for their efforts, but the rewards are usually poisoned. Those followers are cheated, and any talk of dignity, honesty, pride, or self-respect is severely punished. The powerful often disapprove of or despise those who use literature to attain wealth. Money is thus in the hands of the wealthy, and getting there was not easy. The wealthy are whimsical and always have the smell of meat on the tips of their fingers. Sometimes they give the morsels to the barking dogs, sometimes to the curs who drool in front of them. Dogs are probably the only ones who know that barking, sniffing, or praising does not pay. This is the power of the rotten creatures over the loose creatures, the power of the masters of pleasure over the weak.