As the meeting dispersed, al-Zindiq muttered to himself: ‘The creator must have been suffering from indigestion on the day he dictated those lines. The rhythm is broken.’
Ibn Daud had overheard him and could not restrain a smile. ‘The punishment for apostasy is death.’
‘Yes,’ replied al-Zindiq, staring straight into the young man’s green eyes, ‘but no qadi alive would ever pass such a sentence today. Are you the one who calls himself the grandson of Ibn Khaldun?’
‘I am,’ replied Ibn Daud as they walked out of the mosque.
‘Strange,’ reflected al-Zindiq, ‘when all his family perished on the sea.’
‘He lived with another, my grandmother, in later years.’
‘Interesting. Perhaps we can discuss his work tonight? After supper?’
‘Zuhayr has told me that you have studied his books and much else besides. I have no desire to quarrel with you or compete with your knowledge. I myself am still at the stage of learning.’
Ibn Daud saluted his interlocutor and hurried to the spot where the horses had been tethered. He did not wish to keep his host waiting, but when he arrived he could only see Yazid and Zuhayr. The young boy was smiling. Zuhayr had a distant look on his face and frowned at Ibn Daud. He was angry with his new-found friend. In the hammam in Gharnata, Ibn Daud had fired their imaginations with his talk of an armed uprising against the occupiers. Here he had swayed with the wind. Zuhayr stared coldly at the Qahirene and wondered whether he believed in anything.
‘Where is your respected father?’ enquired the visitor, feeling slightly uneasy.
‘Attending to his business,’ snapped Zuhayr. ‘Are you ready?’
Umar had been surrounded by the elders of the village. They were anxious to discuss the future in much greater detail and in the privacy of a familiar house. It was for this reason that they had all repaired to the house of Ibn Hasd, the cobbler, where they were greeted with almond cakes and coffee, flavoured with cardamom seeds and sweetened with honey.
Zuhayr had been deeply disturbed by the events in the mosque. His anger was directed against himself. For the first time ever he had understood how grim the situation really was, and that there appeared to be no possibility of escape. Now he knew that any insurrection in Gharnata was doomed. He had learnt more from the looks of defeat and despair on the faces inside the mosque than from all the talk of Great-Uncle Miguel or Uncle Hisham, and yet… And yet everything had been planned. It was too late.
Zuhayr appeared to forget that a guest was riding by his side. He nudged his horse gently in the stomach and the creature responded by a sudden burst of speed, which took Yazid by surprise. At first he thought his brother was trying to race him back to the house.
‘Al-Fahl! Al-Fahl! Wait for me,’ he grinned, and was about to race after his brother, but Ibn Daud stopped him.
‘I cannot ride like your brother and I need a guide.’
Yazid sighed and reined in his horse. He had realized that Zuhayr wanted to be alone. Perhaps he had arranged to meet some of the young men who wanted to fight. Yazid understood that he had to take his brother’s place. Otherwise Ibn Daud might imagine that they were being deliberately discourteous.
‘I suppose I had better accompany you home. My sister Hind would never forgive me if you were lost!’
‘Your sister Hind?’
‘Yes! She’s in love with you.’
Chapter 7
IN NOMINE DOMINI NOSTRI Jesu Christi.
Most excellent, most Christian and most brave King and Queen of all Spain.
It is now eight whole years since the crescent was removed from the Alhambra and the last fortress belonging to the sect of Mahomet reconquered for our Holy Father. Your Highnesses asked me to respect the terms of the Capitulation signed by the Sultan and yourselves when he surrendered to a superior moral force. Her Majesty will recall her injunction to her most loyal servant: ‘As our most trusted Bishop you will be seen not solely as the servant of the Church, but as the eyes and ears of your King in Granada. You will behave in such a fashion that it can never be said that you brought dishonour to our name.’ I understood Her Majesty to mean that the followers of the false Prophet were to be treated kindly and permitted to worship in their usual fashion. I have never told Your Majesties an untruth. I believe that the kindness shown by my predecessor was misunderstood by the Moors. They showed no inclination to convert to our holy faith. It was for that reason that I decided they must be taught that the time was past for idolatries and heresies. Her Majesty will recall our discussions in Toledo, when I explained the nature of the al-koran. I stressed that the books of this sect and its rituals and superstitions were a bottomless sea. In every house, in every room, they display the commandments of their prophet in rhymed couplets. It was Her Grace who first expressed the view that such evil books and the poisonous doctrines contained within them should be consigned to the fires of hell. I do not believe that any other person in Granada could have organized the public burning of all the al-korans and everything else related to that book.
I am not suggesting that as an individual I am indispensable for the task assigned to me by Your Majesties and our Holy Church. How can any single person be essential to a Church such as ours? Nonetheless I took a vow when I became Archbishop of Toledo. I pledged that I would convert every follower of Mahomet to believe in our Lord Jesus Christ. I plead for your help to fulfill my vow and to be given all the powers necessary to execute my mission.
The Captain-General, that most noble Count of Tendilla whose family produced our most astute Cardinal Mendoza, my honoured predecessor, argues incessantly that since Your Majesties have won the war it is only a matter of time before the Moors adopt our language, customs and religion. When I pointed out to him that three Moorish women had been seen by one of my priests in the act of urinating over crucifixes which had been removed from church, he replied: ‘What else do you expect, Archbishop? After all, you decided to burn their books. This is their revenge. Blasphemous outrage, but better they do that than castrate you in the market-place.’
It is attitudes such as these which are heard within our own ranks. The Count has few enough Christians in his court, but those that attend on him mock openly at our Church, denounce it as corrupt, joke about the number of Bishops and friars who live in sin, procreate and then appoint their sons to positions inside the Church. Even Don Pedro Gonzales de Mendoza, the Cardinal who on his death-bed advised Your Majesty to appoint me in his place, the man who defended your cause before you came to the throne, the noble ancestor of our brave Captain-General; even this holy person had seven children by two ladies of the highest rank. Don Pedro, as Her Majesty knows, was commonly referred to as our ‘third monarch’ and could do no wrong in the eyes of those who served him. The other day a Moor accosted me in the gardens near the palace and asked in a most courteous fashion: ‘Are your children healthy and well, Your Grace? How many of them are there?’ He meant well, perhaps, but I felt like plucking out his blaspheming tongue and sending him to roast in hell.
I am aware, of course, that this is an ancient disease, much encouraged in the past by that most learned of Bishops, Gregory of Tours, whose family, six hundred years after the birth of Our Lord, controlled the Church in central France for many years.
Our Cardinals and Bishops, and those who serve under them, have, for these last six centuries, been swimming in a sea of sin. Even after we had reclaimed most of our lands, Granada became an oasis in which the Mahometans could indulge day and night in the excesses of the flesh. Mahomet’s followers have become accustomed to besporting themselves like farm animals. It is this example of never-ending iniquity which has infected our Church and done our cause the most grievous injury. That is another strong reason for not letting these evil fashions survive in our lands. I beg Your Majesties’ permission to proclaim the edicts of our faith in this kingdom and to appoint an apostolic Inquisitor to begin his work amongst these people, so that any person can come forward and report to us if he has heard or seen any other person, alive or dead, present or absent, say or act in a manner which is heretical, rash, obscene, scandalous or blasphemous.