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75-2 - Ghaanim
bin-Ayyob, the Distraught,
The
Thrall of Love
Ghaanim Marries Koot al-Kuloob
Now on the
other side, since Lady Zubaidaa had done all this in the absence of the
Caliph, she thought what she would say to her cousin when he comes back
and asks for her. So she called an old woman who knew her secret and
asked her - "How shall I act seeing that Koot al-Kuloob died
untimely?" The old woman said - "The Caliph must be coming any
time from now, so you send for a carpenter and ask him to make a wooden
figure for you in the form of a corpse. We will dig a grave for it in the
midst of the palace and bury it there. Then you set lighted candle,
flowers etc over it and order everybody to wear black in the palace. Then
ask your maids and servants to spread straw on the floor just before the
Caliph comes in; and when he asks its reason, tell him that "Koot al-Kuloob
is dead, may Allaah abundantly compensate you for her loss. She has been
buried in my own palace." Hearing this he will weep. He will watch
her tomb by night. He might dig out her grave also in his love, but you
don't worry about it, he will not recognize it, as the figure would be
clad in costly grave clothes. If he wants to take of the winding sheet to
look upon her, tell him that it is unlawful to see a naked woman like
this."
Hearing
this Zubaidaa commended her advice, gave her a dress of honor and a large
sum of money and asked her to supervise her plan. When she had finished
her plan, the Caliph came and went to Koot al-Kuloob's palace, but he
found all maids etc clad in black, a fear came over him and he went to
Zubaidaa's palace. He found her also clad in black. He asked the reason of
this, and Zubaidaa told him about the death of Koot al-Kuloob. The Caliph
fell in a swoon. When he came to himself, he asked for her tomb. Zubaidaa
said - "To honor her, I have buried her in my own palace." He
went there and saw the tomb decorated with proper things, candles, carpets
etc. He thanked Zubaidaa to be nice with her. But his mind was still not
at rest, so he ordered to take out her body from the grave. He looked at
the body and wanted to remove her wrappings that the old woman said -
"Restore her body to its place." He did that, read Quraan over
her tomb and continued to come back to it for a whole month.
On the
42nd Night
Now it
so happened one day, that after dismissing his Ameer, he came to his
bedroom and rested there. A slave girl started fanning him, and another
one started rubbing his feet. The maid sitting at his head said to the
other one - "This is a good business, O Khaizaaran." The other
one answered - "Well, O Kaazib al-Baan, what is that?" Said the first one -
"Our Lord doesn't know what has happened behind him. That he sits by
the tomb where only a log of wood carved by a carpenter is buried."
The second one asked - "Then what happened to Koot al-Kaloob?"
The first one said - "Lady Zubaidaa gave her Bhaang through one of
her slaves, and when she had slept, she put her in a chest and ordered Savaab
and Kaafoor and Bukhaayat to throw her amongst the tombs." The other
one said - "It means she is not dead?"
The
first one said - "No, By Allaah, I have heard Lady Zubaidaa say that
she is in the house of a young merchant named Ghaanim bin-Ayyoob of
Damascus; and she has been there for all these four months, while our Lord
is weeping at a tomb where there is no corpse." The Caliph Haaroon al-Rasheed heard every word and kept it in his mind. Next day he
called his Vazeer Zaafar and asked him to go to Ghaanim's house and bring
him to him.
At
that time Ghaanim had brought the food and was about to eat it, that
Koot's face went pale to see Vazeer and his people around them. She said
to Ghaanim - "Run for your life." "Where to? They have
surrounded us." "Fear not." And she stripped off his fine
clothes, dressed him in ragged old garments. Then she took a pot of meat,
put some bits of bread in it and a saucer of meat, placed the whole thing
in a basket and setting it on his head said - "Go out in this guise,
and fear not at all for me." Ghaanim went out in that guise as Koot
said to him and he escaped.
Meanwhile
Zaafar entered the house and saw Koot al-Kuloob clad in rich clothes sat
with a chest filled with gold jewelry and precious stones. When she saw
the Vazeer, she got up, kissed the ground before him and said -
"Whatever Allaah wrote." Zaafar said - "By Allaah, O My
Lady, He gave me the order to seize Ghaanim, the son of Ayyoob." Koot
said - "He has left for Damascus with his goods, and I know nothing
more about him, but I desire that you take this chest and deliver it to me
in the Haram of the Caliph." "So be it." And Zaafar took
the chest and Koot to Caliph's Haram and his people wrecked Ghaanim's
house.
On the
43rd Night
The
Caliph ordered Koot to be lodged in a dark chamber and appointed an old
woman in her service believing that she had slept with Ghaanim. He
immediately wrote a letter to his viceroy of Damascus, Ameer Muhammad bin-Sulaimaan
al-Zainee that as soon as you get this letter, seize upon Ghaanim bin-Ayyoob
and send him to me." As soon as the Viceroy received the letter, he
send his people to Ghaanim's house where his mother and sister had made a
tomb and were weeping beside it. His people seized them both without
telling the reason and took them to the Viceroy. He questioned them several
times, but they always replied the same - "We have no news of him for
more than a year." So he sent them to their place.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When
Ghaanim saw his house ruined by Caliph's people, he wept, and then
wandered around till the end of the day. Then he came to a village and
entered a mosque. He was very tired so he sat down at one place and slept till dawn. In the morning he felt very hungry. When people came
there to worship, they found him weak and hunger-stricken. They gave him
an old robe and asked him - "Where are you coming from?" He wept
but gave no answer. Somebody brought him two barley breads and a saucer of
honey to eat. He ate a little from it. They sat there with him till
sunrise then they went to their work. In this way he stayed there for one
month. He became weaker and sicklier, so they took him to a hospital in Bagadaad.
As
they were taking him, two women beggars, his mother and sister, came there
and he gave them the bread he had and they slept by his side, but he did
not know them. Next day the people brought a camel and placed him on the
camel. Then the women said - "It seems that he is our Ghaanim."
So the camel-man got him off the camel and left him there. He lay there
till dawn, and when people came there again, they saw him lying there. The
Chief of the merchants said - "Do not take him to the hospital
because they will kill him." And he ordered his men to take him to
his own house. There he spread a new bed for him and asked his wife to
tend him carefully. So she gave him a warm bath, and gave him a cup of
wine.
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The
Caliph kept Koot in that dark chamber for 80 days. One day he was passing
by her chamber, that he heard her reciting a poetry in which she was
saying - "O my dear Ghaanim, How good and chaste were you? You did
good even to those who did bad to you." The Caliph understood that she
was innocent, so he sent his eunuch Masroor to bring her to him. She went
to him, the Caliph asked - "I heard you blaming me for doing bad and
praising he who did good to me. Who is that? Who is that who guarded my
honor? Who protected my Haram and whose Haram I have wrecked?" She said -
"It is Ghaanim. He never approached me with any bad intention."
The
Caliph asked her - "Now what do you want?" "I want only my
beloved Ghaanim." He did as she desired. At this she asked - "If
I bring him to you, will you bestow me on him?" "Sure."
"Then allow me to go to find him." "Go." She took
1,000 Deenaars and met various people of different faiths and gave alms in
Ghaanim's name. Next day she went to Bazaar and saw the Chief of the
merchants. She gave him 1,000 Deenaars to give to that stranger whom he
was taking care of. He said -
"O Lady, Will you come to my house and look upon that stranger youth I
have in my house." The Chief of merchants did not know that he had
housed Ghaanim in his house. She said , "Sure."
She
went to his house, greeted the Chief's wife and asked about the sick
person. She took her to him and Lo, he was Ghaanim, but she was not sure
that he was Ghaanim because he had become very thin. She offered him a cup of
wine, sat with him for some time; and left the place again to look for her
lover.
Meanwhile
Ghaanim's mother and sister Fitanaa also reached Bagadaad and met the
Chief of the merchants who took them to Koot to help them from their
misery. She immediately asked him to bring them to her. So he brought them
to her. They told her their story and told that they were looking for
their son and brother Ghaanim. She said to them - "Now you do not
worry, your bad days are over." She asked Chief's wife to take them
to her house, to give them a good bath, new clothes to wear and take care
of them honorably.
On the
44th Night
Next
day Koot went to the Chief's wife and talked to Ghaanim's mother and
sister and desired to see the sick man. In the meantime, Ghaanim had heard
Koot al-Kuloob's name, so he cried from there, "Koot al-Kuloob."
And Koot also cried "Ghaanim." "Come near me." Then
all related their stories to each other. Koot told Ghaanim that the Caliph
had pardoned her.
Then
she gave enough money from the chest, she brought from Ghaanim's house, to
the Chief to buy new suits for each of them. She served them with good
food for a few days, and then took them to the Caliph. The Caliph called
Ghaanim in. She gave Ghaanim a lots of Deenaars instructing that he should
not be miser to spend money in Caliph's house. Zaafar came and took him to
the Caliph. When he reached the Caliph, he read some couplets extempore in
praise of the Caliph.
The
Caliph got very pleased to hear his poetry and asked him to tell his story
to him. He did that. Then the Caliph invested him with a dress of honor.
He gave him a separate palace, monthly allowance, servants etc. The Caliph
married Ghaanim to Koot and he himself married to Ghaanim's sister Fitanaa.
Both marriages were consummated on the same day. Next day the Caliph
ordered to record this story and to deposit it in his library.
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