A Sultan in Palermo by Tariq Ali

Author:Tariq Ali [Ali, Tariq]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781844671014
Publisher: Verso
Published: 2005-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

TEN

A twenty-six-year-old conversation on theology in which Rujari and Idrisi compare the merits and demerits of their respective religions.

THE MEETING WITH RUJARI angered Idrisi. The Sultan appeared distant and unconcerned. Idrisi wished he were dead. How could Rujari have forgotten the past so soon and accepted the demands of corrupt Barons, hypocritical and grovelling Bishops and empty-headed courtiers? Then he controlled his thoughts. He did not wish to feel only hatred and resentment for his old friend. He recalled one of their many conversations.

It happened when they were still young. It was a stifling midsummer’s day. There were no breezes on land and no waves on the sea, whose smooth surface shone like glass.

Rujari sent a message to his friend in the library, suggesting they board his ship and cool themselves in the sea. Idrisi remembered how shocked the Greek sailors were when, on his first voyage, he admitted he did not know how to swim. An islander who could not swim! With great patience they taught him how to use his hands and legs and breathe in the water, how to stay afloat, and gradually he acquired the skills.

They found a beautiful cove not far from Palermo. After their swim, they had mainly talked geography and astronomy and Idrisi had praised the accuracy of Ptolemy’s maps, commenting that the Alexandrian must have had a fine eye and skills that had so far eluded him. Time had passed quickly. On the way home they sat on deck and savoured what was left of the day, enjoying the sea breeze that rose as the sun began to disappear. Each had won a game of chess before Rujari asked an attendant to take the pieces away and bring a flask of wine. Turning to Idrisi, he asked whether differences between their two peoples were rocks that could not be shifted, or might their faiths become intertwined in the years ahead. Idrisi hesitated before replying.

‘There is no such thing as a rock that cannot be moved. When the gods are angry, as the ancients used to say, they shake the earth and whole cities are destroyed. It would need something on that scale to unite the armies of the Prophet and the Pope.’

Rujari laughed. ‘I wasn’t thinking about the world. I was thinking of Siqilliya. I meant that my people had learnt so much from yours that it seems to me natural for us to work together and share the same faith.’

Again Idrisi hesitated. ‘Sultan, this island has changed a great deal since the Prophet’s soldiers set foot here. My people have a natural tendency to exaggerate and boast, even when we are defeated. When we win, our pride reaches the heavens. The Greeks came here first, then the Romans. The Greeks built their temples, tended to the grape and the olive tree and philosophers from differing schools disputed in public in the Forum in Siracusa. The Romans cultivated the land for the wheat, needed to supply the imperial legions. My people have

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