—
resin — resin — resin ...
 A
merciful point lets us travel for some
time now into another direction,
instructed by another guide …
 Towards South!
That means as much as towards the
unknown, towards the mystery. Even if you
have undertaken this travel for the tenth
time, the South will remain as a sphere
of darkness, in which new discoveries can
be made daily.
—
resin — resin — resin ...
We
continue to roll again, obviously led by
a guide who seems to be familiar not only
with the Indians of North America …
Do not believe that the word
»Sudan« has the same meaning as in the
German word »Süden« (South) ... Since
the word »Sudan« has been used already
during medieval times and is being used
much today, some remarks with regard to
it may be of assistance. »Beled es
Sudan«, that is the complete name.
»Beled« means land or country, and
»es« is the article. Sudan is the short
form of »aswad« = black (Plural
»sud«). In other words, »Beled es
Sudan« means »Land of the Blacks«. The
pronunciation is not, as quite often
heard, on the first but on the second
syllable; one does not say Suhdan, but
Sudahn.
…
and who, somehow, wants to strain our
nerves with details from his
inexhaustible card-index, although, he is
not even a railway-fan.
Nowadays one can travel by train from
Cairo to Siut; but a whistling steam
engine along the Nile, an ugly cloud of
smoke in the magnificent air of the holy
stream, that looks like a desecration.
And how do you travel on an Egyptian
train?
A couple of years ago it happened in
Hungary that the train had to stop for
two minutes at a little station; the
officers left to drink some wine; the
machinist, of course, did the same. That
triggered the idea with the passengers to
get involved in a game at a nearby
skittle-alley. After the first game
followed another one; finally, they moved
back slowly to enter the train again
which then, with passengers, officers and
machinist, crawled away. If something
like that can happen along the beautiful
blue Danube what can you expect along the
Nile?
I prefer rather to sit on the deck of a
ship than in the narrowness of a
train-compartment. Here, you rest on a
mat or a cushion, tobacco-pipe in hand,
an aromatic café before you. And in
front of your eyes the river, more than
two thousand feet wide, like a sea
without borders. That triggers fantasy
which moves ahead towards the South,
filling it with images of huge plants and
animals. Wind from the North lets swell
the sails; sailors are squatting
everywhere, sleeping, staring, playing
simple games during their pastime. The
eyes of the traveller get tired but he
will dream with open eyes until the call
reaches his ears: »Allah Akhbar!« And
everyone will kneel down, bowing towards
the Kibblah and shout: »I bear witness
that there is no God but Allah and I bear
witness that Muhammad is his Prophet!«
—
resin — resin — resin ...
On
this leg of our travel you experience as
our guide … yes you got it right:
Karl May, not as „Old Shatterhand“,
not as „Kara Ben Nemsi“, but
under his Osman honorary title „Effendi“,
as Christian adventurer (or adventurous
Christian?) among Muslims in Sudan!
Following his wish, we had to change a
couple of things. Since Herr May refused
to enter our train, we shrunk it —
for the time being …
—
resin — resin — resin ...
„And you are rolling in a miniature
train on miniature tracks through an
African diorama which is part of an
exhibition at a place where my eminence
has been finally recognized — in
Germany‘s capital, in Berlin!
Ladies and gentlemen,
I welcome you in the German Historical
Museum … alas, in its virtual
version which, as it was explained to me,
has to do with something they call
Internet and which is allowing to have a
panorama-view into the world of my
novels. I believe that is why the
organisers of this wonderful exhibition
gave it this title:
KARL MAY – IMAGINATIVE TRAVELS ...
As a matter of fact, I detected the
historical figure of the Mahdi for
literary utilization more than a century
before my colleague Wilbur Smith wrote
his book. That was the time when the
followers of the Mahdi had already
presented Gordon Pascha’s head on
the tip of a lance, but the Britons were
still far away from conquering back the
Sudan from the Mahdists!
I wrote the first part of the
three-volume-novel THE MAHDI from January
to April 1890. It was serialised one year
later for twelve months in the weekly
DEUTSCHER HAUSSCHATZ IN WORT UND BILD.“
…
What
we find most thrilling, Herr May, is the
fact that you debated in your novels the
radical appearance of the Islam long
before the discussion about Al Quaida and
the Mohammad-cartoons hit our attention
in present days.
Taking this into account, then Osama Bin
Laden looks like a revenant of the Mahdi
… and the dispute with one of the
Mahdi-followers which you wrote down more
than hundred years ago looks like the
anticipation of the quarrel of today’s
arrogant wranglers …
»Wonder, oh wonder!
A Christian wants to explain to me, the
learned Fakir el Fukara, the Quran, the
Sunna and all holy scripture! Should one
believe this would be possible? You are
not only daring in deed but also in word,
Effendi!«
»Don’t talk of daring. What I am
saying is based on complete
understanding. Try me!«
»Beware of it! I am not involving myself
in a discourse about the Islam with a
Christian. You are not going to be
converted. I had only asked for answers
regarding a few questions. Even the
wisest of the wise men will not be able
to come to a final judgement with regard
to our belief because Muhammad has only
begun the work. It will be finalized by
someone else.«
»By whom?«
»That is what you ask? And you still
maintain to know the Quran and all its
explanations! Your question is proof of
the fact that you know nothing.«
»You are mistaken another time. I do
know that you think of the Paraklet, the
Ma'dijj, and that many of you are waiting
for him.«
This word should not be spelled as Mahdi,
but it has to be written as Ma'diji; it
has the root in the Arab verbum hahdaja,
which is »to lead«, and means: the one
who has been led on the right path, the
helper, the mediator. But I am going to
follow the general practice and shall
write Mahdi …
Herr
May, would it be possible to forget for a
moment your card-index? Thank you!
»So, you are knowing it?« he asked.
»Did you hear that a Mahdi is about to
come?«
»I have heard it and I did not read it.
The Quran does not mention it, and all
commentaries do not know about the
sending of a Mahdi; it is living only in
oral tradition, and I give nothing on
it.«
»But I do. Allah is going to send
another prophet who will finalize the
work which Mohammad has begun. This
prophet will either convert the infidels
or, if they do not want to be converted,
he will destroy them and distribute their
goods all over the globe so that everyone
will get some according to his piety..«
»These are wishes that are more worldly
than religious. Would I be a Muslim I
would stick to the Quran whose teaching
does not forecast such a Mahdi.«
»Why? If the Quran is not talking about
a Mahdi, this does not mean there is no
valid reason that there can’t or won’t
be one.«
»But the prophetology of the Quran is
completely finalized. In Muhammad’s
own words is he the last prophet who was
sent by Allah, and the last one he ever
will send; his teaching, the Islam, is
concluded and cannot be complemented or
improved by any additions. After him,
Muhammad says, only one will come, namely
Isa Ben Marryam who is Jesus, Marien’s
son, and this will happen on the day of
the Last Judgement when he will sit on
the Mosque of the Ommijades in Damascus
to judge the living and the death. Apart
from the fact that Muhammad thereby has
put the Saviour of Christianity as Judge
high above himself, has he completely
frustrated your Mahdi-hope.«
»This is said by an infidel.«
»No, but by someone who knows the Islam
that well that I was capable to think
from a Muslim’s point of view. If a
Mahdi would rise now whose intention
would be to destroy those who do not want
to be converted, this would be simply
ridiculous. More than thousand million of
people are not Muslims. But I want to
talk only about us, the Christians. How
would your Mahdi begin to destroy us?«
»With fire and sword!«
»He may come! And it starts with that;
he can’t come to us. Can a source in
the desert come to the Nile in order to
swallow it? Can it surmount the desert
and then the mountains which separates it
from the Nile? As soon as it leaves the
oasis it will ooze away in the sand.«
»Allah will reinforce its waves and its
strength so that it will become a
thousand times wider than the Nile!«
»God is the Almighty, but he will not,
just to please a presumptuous Muslim, let
jump a sea from the desert over mountain
summits.«
»You don‘t know us. We are
irresistible once we inundate with our
war your countries!«
»Pah! Your stream would end miserably
long before it could reach our borders.
Do you know our countries? Where are they
located? Do you know our people, our
facilities, our armies? A desert flea
conceived the thought to wrangle with the
elephants and the hippos of the Sudan,
with buffalos and bears of America, with
lions and tigers of India! Madness! And
if hundred thousands would come, you have
no idea how fast they would be
finished.«
»Allah'l Allah! Did you ever watch a
Muslim fighting? We would crush you
within a moment!«
»But a moment before you would drink
death from the muzzles of our guns and
cannons. Before you talk about crushing,
go and visit the countries of the
Christians, look around there. You are
talking like the fish about the desert
storm; as soon as it leaves the water it
is over with it. Count the millions and
millions of soldiers we have. And what
men are these! What are ten of you
against one of us? You asked whether I
ever saw a Muslim fighting. Not only one,
I have seen many. I had to fight against
Muslims and I am really surprised that
you forwarded this question. Take the
next example which you know yourself,
take me! They wanted to exterminate me
here. Did it work? Did not these great
heroes fall into their own trap? I
captured sixty brave Muslims, and I did
it here where they are at home, where
they know the conditions. Your Mahdi may
come in order to destroy us. Do you think
we had to defend ourselves? Oh no! We
would laugh, only laugh, and by the sound
of this mocking laughter all your heroes
would run away head over heels.«
Most
impressing, Herr May, we should forward
your proposal to the U.S.-commanders in
Iraq and in Afghanistan. By the way,
those radical Islamists who fought
against the Americans in Iraq called
themselves „Mahdi-Militia“.
In the meantime, we are asking your
colleague Wilbur Smith to continue his
tale ...
|
