When Mohammad Amin was an officer heading one of the security forces, he was charged with maintaining security in one of the al-Sheikh mountain regions where an annual festival takes place.
Besides Muslims this festival also involves members of the local Christian and Druze[36]communities. It is celebrated in one of the villages of the area and most of the inhabitants of the region come along to participate. Unfortunately a great number of crimes are committed during the festival and so it was highly likely that Officer Mohammad Amin would be kept very busy.
When he arrived at the headquarters, the highest ranking officer went out to greet him and brief him on the best approach to adopt in order to combat the problem. Mohammad Amin approached the commander and saluted him as an officer before introducing himself. To his surprise the commander seemed annoyed. Amin was quite taken aback, but having thought about it for a moment he realised it must be because his moustache did not fulfil the usual traditional standards. You see, at the time of the Turks it was customary to have a thick moustache, long and curled at the ends; this was also considered a sign of a man’s strength and manhood. On the other hand Mohammad Amin’s moustache was very ordinary and obviously nothing special! Did the shortsighted commander truly believe that this was a measure of our officer’s ability?
The commander looked down his nose at the officer and sneered at him: ‘Have they sent me girls?’
Deeply offended at this humiliating comment, our honest officer became angry. Giving the commander a look of the utmost contempt, he tugged at the reins of his horse and turned to leave without saluting. This was a major breach of officers’ conduct which showed the extent of Amin’s anger. And so he rode off to undertake his commission.
The festival began on the following day and as usual there was a general air of chaos. A drunkard had stabbed another man violently with a dagger, killing him instantly.
Officer Mohammad Amin immediately gave orders to the police to arrest the criminal. A crowd of people had gathered around the dead man preventing our officer from gaining access to the killer, so he asked the help of the security forces in order to arrest him. He was astonished by their reply!
‘Sir… we cannot arrest this man because he’s the headman of the whole region, and arresting him means that everyone for miles around will side with him and will kill us all.’ That is the very moment when he understood that these officers were accustomed to taking bribes from this killer. To add to his troubles the killer was rapidly disappearing into the crowd while he was talking with the recalcitrant policemen!
There was nothing else for it, he would have to capture the killer alone as there was no possibility of any assistance from these corrupt officers. In fact he thought they might even turn against him, and kill him too, if the bribes were high enough!
He searched among the dense, jostling crowds but could find no trace of the murderer. He knew there was little chance of finding him now as his escape would be covered by his supporters milling around him. Anger boiled in his chest and he stormed back to his office at the police station.
Added to what he perceived as his failure to capture the killer Mohammad Amin was still smarting from the earlier snub of the contemptuous commander whose words continued to ring in his ears: ‘Have they sent me girls?’ At this point he felt so angry and dispirited that he lay prostrate in despair, with his face to the floor. The day passed, night fell, and still he lay in the same painful position until the next morning. Suddenly he jumped up and rushed, with renewed God-given strength and energy, to the village where the festival was taking place. God was on his side and saw to it that once again Amin found himself mere footsteps away from the killer.
But how strange! The killer surprised him by smiling warmly and greeting him as if they were long-standing friends or even family. Why would he appear to be so happy and contented? Clearly, the evil-minded criminal thought that matters were going according to his wishes and that this officer wanted – like his own followers – to accept a bribe and consequently turn a blind eye to his abominable crime Our officer, with his customary quick thinking, decided to play the criminal’s game! Approaching him with a smile on his face, he offered the killer a cigarette which he accepted gladly. The false feeling of camaraderie increased between them, and the noble officer even lit the cigarette for him. The killer’s men saw that the two seemed to be chatting amiably and they relaxed. Smiling, our officer took the criminal by the arm and led him down one of the alleys which sloped away from the festive crowd and towards the village.
The misguided killer thought the officer wanted to be alone with him in order to bargain about the amount of the bribe, so he complied and went willingly. But no sooner had they gone out of sight, than the officer caught the man by the wrist, shackled him with chains and pushed and shoved him to the police station.
He immediately gave orders to the security forces to prepare a carriage to take the criminal to headquarters without any further delay. Meanwhile news of the arrest was soon spread and reached the ears of the killer’s men. Maintaining their allegiance to the captured man they promptly stole ahead of Officer Sheikho in order to barricade the road and release their chieftain.
The carriage was prepared quickly and then, with its criminal passenger on board, rushed at full speed en route to the headquarters; the criminal was firmly locked inside accompanied by a group of tough, honest policemen.
At a certain point the road crossed a narrow mountain pass and there was no alternative route. Our officer had thought that if there was going to be a problem with the headman’s supporters, this is where it would be. He was not wrong! As the carriage reached the pass he realised that a huge fire had been set in the middle of the road, and the carriage was unable to get through. The prisoner’s men had put it there in the hope of ambushing the carriage and freeing their leader. Now, their trap sprung, the killer’s men opened fire on the carriage. Mohammad Amin ordered his men to return fire and he dragged the chieftain from the carriage and threw him onto the back of his horse the way a sack of wheat is loaded onto a donkey, then he galloped towards the fire and, showing great courage, leapt over it, paying no attention to the hail of bullets whizzing past his ears.
He continued on horseback to the headquarters, and when he arrived he found that the news of the killer’s arrest had already reached the commander who had gathered his men to go the officer’s aid. But before the commander could utter a single word, Officer Mohammad Amin, took his foot out of the stirrup and kicked the criminal so that he fell at the feet of the commander.
Then he said, ‘This is the girls’ deed!’
So, the words of the poem are relevant to this story: Whenever lofty people attend and appear They will be in company with blessings And the best manners that they bear.