and the judge’s residence are certainly different from what I see now. Has Time included it among the things on which it has wrought such a major transformation and upheaval?
ʿĪSĀ This is the Native Court, not the Shariah Court.
PĀSHĀ Is there some other form of jurisdiction besides the Shariah Court?
ʿĪSĀ In this country you can take your pick! The judiciary operates through numerous courts and a variety of committees. These include Shariah Courts, Native Courts, Mixed Courts, Disciplinary Tribunals, and Consular Courts, not to mention the Special Courts.
PĀSHĀ What is this utter confusion? Have Egyptians divided into different sects and parties, tribes, and family groups? Have they turned into people of different species who live in discordant groups and divided classes, so that they’ve had to establish a special court for each one? This isn’t how I remember them in days of old, even though dynasties may have changed. Is the noble Shariah extinct? Have the centers of judicial authority been eradicated?Oh God, forgive me and curse the devil!
ʿĪSĀ Things are not the way you think or surmise. Egyptians are not split into groups; they are a single people and a single government. It is the organization of things that demands this kind of arrangement. I’ll explain it to you as I always do:
4.3
The role of the Shariah Court is now restricted to matters of personal status: marriage, divorce, and things like that.
PĀSHĀ By God, things really have decayed; all semblance of organization has vanished! How can people live in stable surroundings without God’s holy law? Are we really living in an age which the poet meant when he said:
In their time the holy law was abrogated.
If only they had been abrogated like their holy law!34
ʿĪSĀ The noble Shariah has not been abrogated; on the contrary, it lasts for ever, as long as there is any justice in the world and honesty exists among peoples. But it is a treasure ignored by its own folk, a jewel neglected by its own merchants,
Or a precious pearl, no sooner did a diver see it
than he rejoiced and sank in prayer.35
4.4
Nowadays people pay no attention to the various aspects of its structure and formulation. Instead they prefer to adhere to the branches at the expense of the roots and to dispense with the kernel for the husks. They argue about regulations, concentrate assiduously on insignificant matters, and devote themselves to paltry and worthless matters. Their greatest aspiration and goal is to obscure the clear truth and complicate our liberal faith. They’ve never grasped what the laws of time demand. Every era has an order of its own which requires that the provisions of the Shariah be adjusted. Instead they are preoccupied with insignificant issues, in the apparent belief that that’s the way of the world; Destiny and Time follow their course for a while and then come to a stop. As a result, they’re a primary reason for the charge that’s leveled against the noble Shariah—may it be purified and sanctified!—namely that its legal authority is deficient, its obligations are weakened, and it lacks fairness. They are all entirely happy with this appalling situation. Instead of upholding the law, they fool around with it. The kind of thing that they bother about now is: “During the ritual ablutions, is it legitimate to wipe your shoes if they are made of glass”—weird things like that. Everything has ground to a halt, whence the need to create the Native Court alongside the Shariah Court.
4.5
PĀSHĀ Shariah scholars must have an obvious excuse. They’ve been faced with either the objections and arguments of opponents or the oppressive tyranny of a powerful ruler. This has prevented them from following the right course and made them choose this pernicious path instead.
ʿĪSĀ It was nothing of the kind. People are free to choose and can form their own opinions independently. By so doing they may obtain peace of mind. The source of corruption is not the laws of time or unforeseen happenings. It’s the consequence of faulty education and moral decline, something to which they’re happily reconciled. It’s reached such a stage now that any attempt to extricate themselves from this situation is regarded as a trial and any return to the genuine tenets of the religious law is seen as heresy. The diseases of mutual envy, hatred, discord, and rancor have spread among them; cowardice, lassitude, weakness, dissatisfaction, slackness, tedium, and laziness are now deeply ingrained inside them. As a result we’ve now reached the stage that you’re witnessing. Since we’ve all done these things ourselves, the sin and responsibility is ours; we’re the ones to blame.
PĀSHĀ I realize that you’re exaggerating. But, even if we’re to suppose that the corruption that you describe is widespread, isn’t there some rare individual to point out to you the need for the law to be upheld and to guide you toward the true bases of your faith? Is there no one to offer you such guidance?
ʿĪSĀ Oh yes, we have such judicious counselors. There are scholars, men of virtue, intellectuals, true believers, and pious folk. But, whenever any of them takes a stand, he’s immediately accused of being a deviant heretic. They call him a recalcitrant apostate. Such are the moral postures so deeply ingrained in the souls of people in the grip of conservative tradition. So the forward-looking person thinks twice, and ambitious ideas falter. Virtue is so lacking among us that people’s ideas are scoffed at and their statements are despised. Not only that, but it’s always easier to do nothing rather than take action; a life of ease is more convenient than one of exhaustion. I’ve not been exaggerating in my description, as you’re about to see for yourself.
4.6
ʿĪsā ibn Hishām said: While we were conversing like this, the whole place was reverberating with the noise of people surging around in crowds. Then the Judge appeared. He was in the prime of his youth, still quite young, his face radiantly handsome. His stance made him look like a tree branch; with his light, energetic stride he seemed to be flying. When he entered the court, I went to ask when our case was coming up, then returned to my companion. He asked me to continue our conversation, and I duly responded to his request:
ʿĪSĀ The Native Court is the judicial authority that passes judgment on subjects today in all litigations in accordance with the stipulations of the law.
PĀSHĀ Do you mean the Humāyūnī law code?36
ʿĪSĀ The Imperial Code.
PĀSHĀ I don’t remember you speaking in a foreign language or using obscure terms like that before!
ʿĪSĀ I’m doing neither. It’s the Code of Napoleon who was Emperor of France.
PĀSHĀ Have the French returned to Egypt and subjected you to their regime again?
ʿĪSĀ No. We’re the ones who subjected ourselves to their authority. We chose their legal code to replace the Shariah in our country.
PĀSHĀ Are this code’s regulations consistent with those of the noble Shariah? If not, then you are being governed with something which was not sent down to earth by the Almighty.
4.7
ʿĪSĀ That’s what Shariah scholars state in private confidential discussion. However, it seems that it is compatible with the holy law. As proof, one can cite the pronouncement made by a scholar of great eminence who swore a mighty oath on a legal decision which he’d given at the time of its promulgation to the effect that this French code was not at variance with the Islamic holy law, even though there’s no punishment specified in the French code for adultery or homosexuality, provided that the object of affection agrees and is one day over twelve years of age; nor for anyone who commits incest with his mother, provided she assents and is unmarried. This is the legal code which considers a brother guilty of a criminal offense when he risks his life in the defense and protection of his sister’s honor, and the same with the rest of her family beyond her husband; which decrees that debtors shall be compelled to pay interest to creditors; which is willing to accept the testimony