Ibn Arabi's Small Death by Mohammad Hassan Alwan

Author:Mohammad Hassan Alwan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Published: 2022-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

48

“What can be described but not comprehended is majestic.”

—IBN ARABI

We awoke to find news spreading quickly among people—it was whispered by some and spoken publicly by others. One person would be amazed and believe it, but others disliked and denied it. We spent the whole morning in this state, lacking any confirmation. The sun disappeared, and we heard someone make the rounds of the caravans’ tents, calling out: “People, Qatada ibn Idris is king. The king is Qatada ibn Idris.” Some people praised God, and others pretended they hadn’t heard. Badr was astonished by what he was hearing and told me, “I saw Ibn Musa during my first Hajj with my master, Abu al-Futuh, and we entered his house. I would never have thought that anyone but God would wrest his kingdom from him.”

“God did wrest it from him, Badr.”

The only rule that Mecca had known for two centuries was that of the Bani Musa, but this changed when we reached Mecca. These were all days God chose to allot to people. I paid no attention to this change of government—concerned instead by my feet, which were in a pitiful condition. I had lost sensation in them, and their outside skin was flayed. The entire length of the trip the pains in my back and pelvis had grown more excruciating. My steps were shorter because my knees hurt so much, and during the final days of the trip I walked quite slowly. Badr heard me speaking incoherently one noon and begged me to ride, but I refused. Then he couched both she-camels and spread a blanket between their humps so I could rest in its shade. He emptied an entire skin of water over my head. Badr told me that, while I slept in his arms, I talked a lot without knowing it. We walked for another hour before I collapsed once more. Badr informed me then, while I was lapsing in and out of consciousness, that we had entered the sanctuary’s boundaries and that I had satisfied my vow. So I mounted the riding camel and collapsed onto her. Badr secured me to her with ropes to keep me from falling off. I don’t know how long I remained in this condition.

I opened my eyes to find many men moving before me. My head was on Badr’s thigh, and he was applying cloths dampened with water from the Zamzam well to my forehead, one after the other. Groups of people passed by me and disappeared; then others arrived. I finally noticed, through gaps between them, God’s green Ka‘ba. I sat up. Badr smiled, and I smiled with difficulty. I stood up, and he supported me. I walked to the Ka‘ba and touched my cheek to it. I began to speak but couldn’t hear what I was saying. My mouth moved and a sequence of words emerged from it, but I couldn’t hear anything. I looked at Badr and saw that he was listening. So I was sure I was speaking.

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