Book Review: The Shade of Swords

Author MJ Akbar tackles the issue of Jihad in his latest book.

Abu Uthman Amr bin Bahr al-Fuqaymi al-Bahri (d.868-9 CE) popularly known as Al Jahiz (google-eyed), was one of the most prolific authors of his time. He wrote over two hundred books in Arabic on a variety of topics including theology, bestiary and literature. His book on animals Kitab-al-Hayawan is still widely read in Indian Madrassas. Regrettably only 30 of his works have come to us in their full form. One such preserved work is Kitab Al Bukhala or The Book of Misers. This book, considered a comical masterpiece, is one of the earliest works of fiction from the Islamic world. The English translation of Kitab Al Bukhala by Prof. R.B. Serjeant finally makes this major work available to the English-speaking world.  

In The Book of Misers Jahiz targets Al Bukhala (the misers) who are scorned in Arab society for their avarice and penny pinching. Arabs consider such characteristics to be an affront to their noble sentiments of generosity and honor.  In conversationalist style, Jahiz ridicules both individuals and groups including schoolmasters, beggars, singers and scribes for their stingy behavior.

The most frequently occurring miser in Kitab Al Bukhala is al Kindi (not to be confused with the famous philosopher). Al Kindi rents his house and the terms to be observed by all lodgers included that donkey dung, sheep droppings and any fodder left uneaten shall be his. He also stipulates that he should have the date stones, pomegranate husk, and a spoonful from any pot being cooked, for a woman in his house with child. (p.68)

Another famous miser is Al Anbari. One day his mother’s servant comes to him with an empty jug and says that she (the mother) has asked for cold water, to which he replies, “My mother is much sensible to send an empty jug for me to return it full. Go and fill it with water from your large water jar and empty it into my large jar-then fill it up with water from my water-cooler so that there maybe something in return for something.” (p.97)

Layla al-Naitiyyah is a lady belonging to a Shia group that believes that souls of the dearly departed can possess living humans after death. She is reputed to be very stingy and goes on patching a gown of hers, wearing it until it becomes all patches none of the original fabric remaining. Once she hears the following line of poetry:

Wear your gown while you can find the neck opening

And, when you can’t find it, change it for another thing

In response she says, “Well in this case I certainly am ham-fisted/full of holes for wallahi, I saw a rent together and a rent in a rent and I cobble a hole and a hole in a hole.”(p.31)

Once an Iraqi miser is traveling with a companion in a boat. He begins eating his lunch without offering any to his companion. When the miser sees his companion glance towards him, he says, “Why do you stare so intently? One who has food with him eats like I do and one who hasn’t anything with him looks on as you do.”

When finding his companion still staring at him he shouts, “You fellow I am a man who eats well and eats only good food, but I am afraid you may have a greedy malevolent eye.”

At this the companion grabs the chicken that the miser is eating and begins beating on the miser’s head.  When the miser regains his composure he says, “I told you your eye was malevolent and that you would afflict me with the evil eye! The evil eye is something disagreeable that happens and your eye has brought down a mightily disagreeable thing on me.” (p.128)

Kitab Al Bukhala is replete with such stories that both entertain as well educate with a moral message behind them on the evils of miserliness. Reflecting his times, Al Jahiz also lays bare his biases towards the Shia and other groups who were not of his ideological leaning (Jahiz belonged to the Mutazzilite sect, a group known for its extreme theological views). Apart from its entertaining value the book also offers much incidental detail about traditional culture, food, politics, and overall nature of the society.

The value of Kitab Al Bukhala’s English translation is enhanced by its translator’s efforts to annotate the book with several explanatory notes and appendices without which the modern reader might be lost. The late translator Prof. R.B. Serjeant of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University, wholeheartedly worked on this project until the very end of his life. He died in 1993 sitting in the garden of his home with the original copy of Kitab Al Bukhala and this completed translation. Coincidentally, Jahiz also reportedly died in his library surrounded by his books.

Reading Kitab Al Bukhala will put to rest the claims of those who say that Muslims are a dry and humorless people. That this book was written within the first few centuries of the emergence of Islam testifies to the richness and colorfulness of the Islamic civilization.

Those wishing to purchase this book should be warned that it is somewhat expensive in hardbound form. Shopping around for the best price would be prudent. Amazon.com’s pricing for the hardback is $185 while the distributor ISBS.com lists the book at $81 (although it is unclear as to whether that is hardback or not). Thankfully Amazon.com also carries the paperback edition, which costs a reasonable $20.65.

Mohammed Ayub Ali Khan Islam Online, Chicago