During the Turkish reign over the country, a certain pasha sat with a large group of notables who were gathered around listening attentively to him narrating the events of an incident that had taken place the previous day. He said, ‘Gentlemen… yesterday I was incandescent with rage… do you know why? I put a pigeon on the roof of my house, and I took care of it not for one or two days, but for many months. I went up to check on it every day, and to feast my eyes on its beauty… it captivated my heart with its rapid little steps as it paraded right and left… to the extent that I became very attached to it. But, unfortunately, a sly cat came to our home yesterday and ate it. I caught it in the very act… ha… ha… ha…’ he laughed, ‘and I took a terrible revenge on it.
‘This eased my anger… so do you know what I did? Ha… ha… ha,’ he laughed again… ‘I caught it and tied a rope around its neck… then… do you know what? Ha… ha… I hanged it from a tree in the garden and killed it!’
Thereupon all the guests laughed and started to make silly comments. Mohammad Amin was listening to this talk with great sadness and there was a look of grave concern in his eyes. His strong voice interrupted the pasha’s wisecracks saying: ‘Oh Pasha… Oh honourable Pasha… do you know that the cat you killed is a spirit… a living being, a creature with a soul… sensations… it feels… it suffers pain… and you killed it, you killed a spirit willfully by doing such a thing. When it ate your pigeon it was a normal action for a cat… for this is a universal law… and all breeders take precautions against such things happening and put their pigeons out of the reach of cats. Hunting is natural for cats… this is how they find food for themselves… they are naturally disposed to hunt birds and mice that are nearing the end of their lives.
‘So you committed an offence, and you must repent and pay a penance as a proof of your true repentance and then Al’lah will accept it and wipe out the punishment you deserve, otherwise… I’m afraid that one day you may be subjected – God forbid – to the same fate as that cat, according to the proverb, “As you sow, so will you reap”; and what I’m telling you is very serious… believe me…!’
The pasha heard those sad, moving words and was momentarily affected by them so that he felt a sudden surge of fear in his very soul. He swallowed hard and shifted on his seat then he said, ‘Aslan! [108]If what you say is correct…remember that I am not to be executed by hanging, but by firing squad… for I’m a member of the military, and according to the law – as you know – military men are executed by firing squad and not by hanging.’
Mohammad Amin, the officer, replied, ‘But honourable Pasha… Al’lah’s Justice is operative throughout this entire worldly existence; His Hand controls all creatures and His Rule is superior to all other rule.’
The commander thought about this for a moment then burst into laughter ‘… Ha… ha… ha…’ and then said, while twiddling his moustache, ‘My dear Aslan… you have exaggerated the whole incident so much and you’ve given the matter far too much importance. This cat is subject to our service and is ours to do with as we like, and what you have said – oh Aslan – does not happen and will never do so… ha… ha…!’The pasha laughed and all the guests laughed with him, turning the matter into a joke.
He had made fun of Al’lah’s Law which is above all the laws of mankind. And that is no laughing matter!
It was not long before the gathering was adjourned and the notables left. Our officer went out feeling sad and sorry for the pasha’s insensitivity to his admonition… that is, Al’lah’s Warning to him. From the pasha’s words it was clear that he had no intention of turning to Al’lah in repentance and would surely be chastised, a matter which saddened this humane officer, Mohammad Amin, as he liked the pasha.
Time passed by, day by day, and the Turkish Empire eventually came to its end. One day, the Turkish president, Mustafa Ataturk, issued an order (a firman) [109]which forbade the wearing of the red tarboosh, [110]and whoever broke the order had only himself to blame. It was indeed a very strange law and a most severe punishment would be imposed on those who broke it. All people observed it carefully and no man dared to wear the tarboosh however much he wanted to wear this style which was a prevalent fashion at the time.
But the pasha we are talking about continued to wear the tarboosh in a most arrogant way for no one could enforce any judgement against him, and no-one dared to even mention it to him as he was the mayor: he thought himself above the law and it was he who executed sentences against people when he became, during the rule of Mustafa Ataturk, the mayor of Istanbul.
One evening, when he was walking along a street in Istanbul – near the residence of the president of the Turkish state who had issued the order – he had the audacity to wear the tarboosh proudly, fully confident that no-one would dare to utter a single word against him as he was the mayor of Istanbul, and he and the president were old friends: in any case, he mistakenly thought, the law was followed only by the lower members of the hierarchy.
At that very moment, by the Will of Al’lah and His good Steering, the Turkish president was just coming out of a public building located on the same street, escorted by a great number of gendarmes surrounding him. He came out reeling right and left, giving orders this side and that in a shaky, slurred voice.
Surely he was drunk… yet even in his intoxicated state he managed to look along the street and spotted a man in the distance walking towards him and wearing a tarboosh. The president stopped at once and scrutinised him, then as a look of extreme anger appeared on his face he burst out angrily: ‘Who is that despicable man who dares to break my order? Here? In the capital city? Execute him… now… at once… execute him here!’
The policemen escorting the president grabbed the man and how terrible his fate would be… the pasha’s sentence was to be swift and sure! One minute the mayor was walking proudly along the street full of confidence and… suddenly… a number of policemen rushed to arrest him! They actually arrested the honourable governor! This was something he had never expected… but his greatest terror was wondering what sentence they were going to carry out against him!
They apprehended him and cared not one iota about his objections or who he was, and they tied him up while he was still shouting: ‘Leave me… let go of me… you cowards… don’t you know who I am? Leave me… I’m… I’m… the mayor…!’
But they paid no attention to his words at all (as the order had been issued strictly and in anger by the great president, the ruler of the whole country), and they did not dare to delay in carrying it out. One of them rushed off and soon returned with a rope in his hand. They looped it around his neck and hanged him unceremoniously from the nearest tree at the side of the street.
The noose tightened and cut off his words and copious tears poured forth and ran down his face… maybe his last thoughts were of the cat he had killed so cruelly, and the words of the kind officer ‘Aslan’. He remembered, too late, his advice to repent to God and pay a penance, and how he had received the matter by laughing and joking, summarily dismissing the well-intentioned advice.
If only he had turned to his Provider in repentance and asked for his forgiveness! If only he had treated the advice seriously and not as a joke!
Within moments his face had turned a dark shade of blue as oxygen could no longer reach his lungs, his eyes had popped out, and foam frothed from his mouth… then he breathed his last… and died.
When the president sobered up, he looked at the hanged man, and realised, suddenly, that he knew him and thought: ‘Oh… how terrible… he is…’ and his thoughts tailed off as he realised what he had done in his drunken state. He then became extremely repentant and said with deep sorrow and regret: ‘Oh what have I done? I wish I hadn’t done it… ah… ah… if only I had stopped to think… I have killed my friend with my own hands.’
But what use are these words? What good will they do?
Will they bring the man back to life again? The die is cast and the wine had played its part!
In fact, the real Protagonist here is Al’lah, the Almighty, for it is His Hand that controls everything, and decides which one is paid in full and harvests the fruits of his own deeds, for Al’lah never oppresses people who do not deserve it.
All the officers who were present at the discussion between the pasha and Mohammad Amin concerning the hanged cat eventually heard of this strange occurrence, and they learnt a great lesson from it and knew for certain that Al’lah’s Law and Rule supercede all other law and rule.
The rule of justice is operative among people; This worldly life is not an abode of settlement.