9
Ismail Hadoub had totally changed. His work with Shaul at the store satisfied his vanity and laziness and tamed his violence. He was attracted to the intellectual life, which he encountered through his friendship with Shaul and by living in his house. He knew, however, that Shaul would never forget his protégé’s modest origins or the rags he had been wearing before they were thrown into the garbage bin in front of the mansion. Shaul believed that a human being is the product of his conditions and habits. He also believed that an easy life protects a person from his aggressive nature and bestiality, and that it refines and educates him. But he was also aware of the shortcomings in Ismail’s knowledge. Ismail finally understood that Shaul was not going to leave him everything after his death as he had initially expected. He understood that Shaul would never willingly bequeath to him the store, the mansion, or the money in his bank account.
In fact Shaul had put everything in the name of his wife, the woman who had run away and cheated on him — rubbing his nose in the mud, as he used to say. The money he held overseas he put in the names of his sons, both of whom lived in London. A few properties were in the name of the Lithuanian mistress, whom he used to meet every summer in Russia. Ismail considered this arrangement stupid and a betrayal of Shaul’s principles. He believed that Shaul had the right to punish his despicable adulterous wife and to destroy her as she had destroyed him. Shaul, however, considered human beings to be slaves guided by circumstances that mold them the way the fingers of the hand clear mud of its impurities. Shaul didn’t believe in Ismail’s genius. He never forgot that no matter how much he changed he would remain a peddler of pornographic photographs, and he would not forget that it was Shaul who had pulled him out of his misery and made something of him. Ismail had no right to the wealth that Shaul had acquired through his efforts and a life of struggle. Ismail’s hopes to inherit Shaul’s money dissipated, and the dreams he enjoyed his first night on the comfortable bed in his benefactor’s mansion turned into a nightmare on his last day there.
Ismail became unequivocally aware that happiness was a concrete matter, not a theoretical one. He believed that money was to be spent, not accumulated and saved, the same way the eyes could not look at the glittering sight of gold without tearing and a man could not view a woman without desiring her. He realized that there was another kind of life, other than the miserable, dry, and empty life of culture provided by Shaul. His life with Shaul was joyless. He was deprived of women, drinking, and general hell-raising. He was naturally inclined toward the pleasures of life. His heart melted before succulent, intoxicating things and was deeply moved by the pursuit of shiny, velvety objects that hid, under their coarseness, tenderness, sex, and drugs. Those were the things Ismail believed in, loved, and instinctively sought out. Ismail wanted to attain wealth, receive admiration, and enjoy prestige at any price. He wanted to reach the summit, to enter the abode of pleasure. He wanted concrete matters, not those things that only the mind could reach. He was no longer satisfied simply to fill his stomach; he had gotten used to better things. He was getting ready to move to the next level, and he knew that this would not happen with Shaul’s help. First, Ismail mentally dismissed his benefactor and then began searching for someone else. And that was Abd al-Rahman.
10
Ismail Hadoub left Shaul to join Abd al-Rahman. In this move Ismail adopted the methods of a hunter, one who wants to catch life with philosophy rather than hunt philosophy through life. He followed Abd al-Rahman because, unlike Shaul, he talked about life in a practical and appealing way, with precision, elegance, and humor. Shaul lacked all those attributes and so did his culture. Abd al-Rahman’s philosophy was more attractive because existentialism was clearer than Marxism. For example, whenever Abd al-Rahman said “nihilism” it meant that he wanted to get drunk, and whenever he said “freedom” he was planning on sleeping with a woman, and “commitment” meant an appointment at a bar or nightclub. This is how Ismail explained Abd al-Rahman’s philosophy to one of his new friends at the Coronet bookstore.
Abd al-Rahman’s philosophy contained enjoyable things, while Shaul’s happiness colony required struggle and fighting. One could struggle and possibly die without ever attaining that stage; what kind of paradise was this? In immediate taste and gratification Ismail found a rich interpretation of life. He cringed at delayed enjoyments.
Ismail’s escape from Shaul was first met with a smile from the philosopher, but later he welcomed him without reservations. He reacted to Shaul’s anger by supporting Ismail, who had opted for freedom, and because, as Abd al-Rahman explained to his disciple, freedom is a commitment. Ismail on the other hand considered his personal choice an echo of lingering memories. He stood before the philosopher and told him that he had been a philosopher since infancy. When his words were reported to Shaul, his former benefactor commented sarcastically, “Do you really believe that this ass was wrapped in a proper layette like normal human beings? He’s a bastard. His prostitute mother abandoned him in a stream.”
Ismail left Shaul propelled by a stubborn idea: he was seeking love, sex, alcohol, and other pleasures. As for Abd al-Rahman, he did not see any dramatic aspect to Ismail’s decision. He considered it a normal inclination on the part of all human beings to indulge in life’s pleasures. It was obvious that the fulfillment of that inclination required spending time in cafés and at philosophical nights of debauchery at the Grief Adab nightclub. In brief, it was a life of drinking, sex, and disregard for all traditions.
11
Rumors and gossip surrounded Ismail Hadoub’s departure from Shaul to join Abd al-Rahman, the philosopher of al-Sadriya. The whisperings drove Shaul crazy and pushed him to violent rages. He shouted threats against Ismail at the top of his lungs. His words of abuse were heard by passersby, who were amused by his pronunciation of r as gh and his threatened reprisals against
Ismail. The scene was an entertainment for the scoundrels of al-Sadriya, who laughed and joked at Shaul’s expense, which only fueled his fits of anger. Some of the salesmen in the neighborhood felt sorry for him and intervened. They chased away the scoundrels and beat their donkeys, provoking noisy quarrels with the fruit sellers, butchers, sheep herders, pottery makers, and china merchants. Those quarrels sometimes caused Shaul to shake violently and fall to the ground.
12
Abd al-Rahman crossed al-Matajer Street in al-Sadriya souk every day at noon, carrying an umbrella dripping with rain water and wearing a black raincoat. He shivered in the cold and advanced with uncertain steps, while his mother-of-pearlencrusted pipe hung from his mouth.
Ismail found the philosopher’s personality very attractive because he was the personification of laziness, carelessness, and moral degradation. He explained every immoral action as a natural inclination dormant in every person’s conscience. Ismail considered philosophy more dangerous than theoretical conversation about the happiness colony.