Believers, Unbelievers, and Hypocrites
The Khilafa and the Philosophers of Iraq
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
Musa. We have met many poets but never one who supports Satan against God. Bashshar. Dejectedly) I am sorry to disappoint you but I do not support Satan. Actually I do not believe that there are any devils but those that live in human form. Malik. Humbly, to Musa) Sahib al Samu [your highness], he is telling lies. Musa. To Bashshar) Didn’t you say that Satan was right in defying God? Bashshar. In an exhausted voice) I was being satirical about the story of Iblees [Lucifer]. (Pausing to catch his breath) If you analyze in depth, those who invented this story make fun of God by telling that God asked his angels to bow to Adam. BASHSHAR stops and breathes heavily in exhaustion. Musa. I don’t understand this nonsense. Haroon. (Excitedly, in a loud voice) I do. I do. He means that if we can believe in God without seeing Him, how could God’s Archangel rebel after seeing all the power God had. The story must be phony. Musa. But the story has come from the holy books. Haroon. Then the holy books must be phony. MALIK exclaims in astonishment and touches his both ears begging forgiveness from Allah. Malik. (Flabbergasted) Astaghfur Allah! [I seek Allah’s forgiveness]. Musa. (To Haroon) Keep quiet. This is blasphemy. Haroon. (Abruptly) No it is not: To doubt a book is not to doubt God’s existence and wisdom. Musa. Let’s go. He will twist your mind and make you an unbeliever. Bashshar. (Protesting in a weak and tired voice) But I am not an unbeliever. Musa. Let’s go. Haroon. Just one minute. (To Bashshar) If you say that God is all-knowing and all-powerful, I will pray that you be saved on the Day of Judgment. Bashshar. (Pleading with the last bits of energy he can muster) Ya shabab [young man], you can save me now by asking your father to stop the flogging. They have already given me twenty lashes. Haroon. If you convince me that unbelievers should not be flogged, I will ask my father to pardon you. Bashshar. All right. Tell me, did God know about everything that exists? Haroon. Yes. Bashshar. Did God know that some people would be unbelievers? Haroon. He knows all. Bashshar. Did God want it to happen that way? Haroon. Yes. He is, er..., oh, no, no, God only wants good things to happen. Bashshar. There, young man, you are denying the total control of God over universe. Haroon. Oh! I was wrong. I should say that God did want some to be unbelievers. Bashshar. Right! Hence, the unbelievers are here because of God’s will and therefore they cannot be persecuted - unless we assume that God made unbelievers and He made believers to kill them. Haroon. (Hastily) God cannot want murders to happen. (Curiously) Do you think my father is wrong in sentencing you? Bashshar. (Despondently) If Muslims believed in God, they would leave me alone to face God’s justice but the fact that they have taken my fate into their own hands, shows that they are the real unbelievers. MUSA drags HAROON out of the room. MALIK smiles triumphantly. Whilst being led out of the room, HAROON turns back and shouts. Haroon. (Loudly) I will talk to my father. I think there is sense in what you say. THE PRINCES and their GUARDS leave. THE EXECUTIONER and MALIK move forward. Malik. (Satirically) When he will tell his father what you told him, your sentence will only be increased. So you better get on with the lower sentence and then repent over your idiocy. MALIK and THE EXECUTIONER compel Bashshar to lie down on his belly and tie him to the bench. THE EXECUTIONER disentangles a whip from the hook on the wall, raises it above his head, and hits Bashshar’s back with force. BASHSHAR utters a groan. Malik. (Counting the lashes) Twenty-one THE EXECUTIONER keeps whipping and MALIK keeps counting. At each whip, BASHSHAR utters a groan. After the thirtieth whip, the groans become fainter and fainter. At the fortieth whip, BASHSHAR stops groaning. THE EXECUTIONER sits on his knees by Bashshar’s side, checks his pulse, and stands up in amazement. The executioner. (Incredulously) He is dead! MALIK sits on his knees by Bashshar’s side and checks his pulse. HE stands up. Malik. Yes. He seems to have died. But you cannot stop. The verdict has to be carried out as stated. If we stop now, we will be committing the sin of attempting to change Allah’s Law. The executioner. (Strictly) Ya sheikh, I am not going to flog a dead man. Malik. (Patiently) It is written in the Qur’an, Sura Al Nur that when inflicting a penalty of Allah’s Law, do not let the feeling of mercy overcome you. It is for his good that he gets his full punishment in this world so that he might be spared the most grievous tortures in hell. (Condescending) However, because he is dead, you can fulfill the requirements of Shari’a by flogging lightly, I mean, without using much force. THE EXECUTIONER lightly hits Bashshar’s corpse with the lowest possible force of impact. At the count seventy, HE stops. Malik. Well, you should now arrange for his body to be dumped somewhere. The executioner. Ya sheikh, isn’t he going to have funeral prayers and a burial? Malik. He cannot be buried in a Muslim cemetery. Dump it in a Christian or Jewish cemetery, or best leave it in the Zoroastrian area for the vultures to feast upon. The executioner. (Earnestly) Ya sheikh, these areas are very far. He is very heavy and if we carry him on horseback, all the way people will pester us with questions. If they found out that he was an unbeliever, they might mutilate the corpse. Malik. (Leaving the room) Well then, throw him in the swamp behind the prison where no one would be able to dig out his corpse. The executioner. Right! That is the best burial place for an unbeliever.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
After the death of Prophet Muhammad, first the Umayyads and then the Abbasids usurped the Islamic empire. These Arab tribes rivaled and intermittently massacred each other in their bid to rule Arabia and the captured lands. The Alids were the third contenders. The three tribes shared ancestry with the Prophet and coveted his political legacy. The play tells the story of how they ruled the conquered peoples of Arabia and Persia. Among the characters of this play, Wasil bin Atta, Jahm bin Safwan, and Ja’ad bin Dirham are regarded by historians as great philosophers. However, only Wasil died of natural causes while zealous rulers executed the latter two because of their skepticism about the Qur’an and the Islamic teachings as the word of God. Their critical analysis of these beliefs had led them to find logical contradictions between divine determinism and the eternal damnation of sinners. Their main thesis was that if everything happened by Allah’s will, then it logically followed that sinners too were subject to Allah’s will, and could not be condemned to hell. Likewise, the greatest scholars of Arabic prose and poetry, Ibn al Muqqafa, Abdul Hameed, and Bashshar bin Burd were brutally killed. Imam Abu Hanifa, the greatest jurist and reformer of Islamic Law, died in prison. The Khilafa rulers and bigots among the masses seldom spared geniuses who ideologically challenged them. This led to the intellectual darkness that still pervades the world of Islam. Writing on noble themes was seen as attempts to undermine the supremacy of the Qur’an as the word of God, and hence sinful. With such phenomenal zeal, no wonder the list of non-conforming scholars who were humiliated, persecuted, and/or killed is long but, to limit the length of this play, the stories of only seven have been illustrated.
About the Author
Dr. Ahmad Nadeem did his graduation in psychology, physic and mathematics, and masters in English literature from Pakistan. He came to Britain in 1989 on a British Council fellowship, did his MBA from Strathclyde University (1990), and PhD from Middlesex University (1998). He has been a lecturer in Pakistan, Arabian Gulf, and London for twelve years. His play, "Believers, Unbelievers and Hypocrites" illustrates the lives of non-conformers in the Islamic empire known as the Khilafa and challenges the widespread Islamic propaganda that the caliphs sponsored and encouraged genuine scholarship in their empires. Based on historically recorded facts, the play describes the lives of seven brilliant philosophers and the way six of these were murdered because of their independent thinking and non-conformism to the prevalent systems of beliefs and the fascism these generated.