AL-WUKALÁ
That is:
The Lawyers
CHAPTER VI
ENTITLED AL-WUKALÁ, OR THE LAWYERS
When the nephews next entered their uncle’s presence at the Hour of Public Executions, it was in a subdued manner, as to a funeral, for their thoughts were full of that Great Loss, the story of which was in progress. They sat upon the floor before him in due order, and Mahmoud began:
“Upon the dawn that followed that hopeless night, my hopes were again raised, only for my further bitterness and disappointment. I had risen before day and gone out of doors. A chance acquaintance ran across me as I paced aimlessly in the narrow streets of the city, watching the shadows shortening under the rising sun, listening to the clear voices of the water-sellers and to the cries of the mariners at their calling.
“This acquaintance was one learned in the law. Not that he was himself a scrivener, or pleader, still less a judge—on the contrary, he was born wealthy, and those so circumstanced are (in Izmat) very much averse to the tedium of a profession. But in youth he had been compelled by his grandfather to read whole libraries of books upon the legal system of his beloved country, and had further been compelled to pay considerable sums to one of the most renowned pleaders of the day in whose office he had passed three miserable years. Seeing he was so educated, and knowing well my misfortunes, he kindly took me by the arm (I could not help suspecting a certain patronage) and said:
“‘Alas, my poor Mahmoud! How we do all feel for you! And how we respect the way in which you have borne inevitable misfortune! But though I praise you as much as any other for your conduct and resignation, do you not push it a little too far? We, the free inhabitants of this our beloved Izmat, have a most glorious privilege, which is, that not the King himself (the glory of Allah be upon him) has any privilege as against the humblest of his subjects, when it comes to the issue of law. Our judges, as you know, stand above all mortal frailty and are, as we devoutly and firmly believe, filled with the spirit of God Himself. Though His Majesty and his Ministers be your opponents in a case, that case will be decided with serene indifference to the position or wealth or power of the parties. You believe this, do you not?’ he insisted earnestly, for doubts upon so final a doctrine of religion are horrible to the imperial race of Izmat.
“‘Yes, I believe it,’ said I with a sigh, though I confess that my short acquaintance with misfortune had shaken me in many points of loyalty to my new country.