Oddly, the more I questioned, the less I understood; I came to suspect that my questions only served to expose the vast chasm of difference between the Eastern and Western mind that could not be observed from a distance. The life Mahmoud revealed to me was strange in many hundreds of ways, and I began to believe that any similarities between East and West were purely accidental, and not an affirmation of a common humanity. Certain resemblances or affinities of thought I might perceive in the Eastern races were likely to be my own invention; for upon closer scrutiny the imagined similarity was sure to alter beyond recognition, or disappear altogether.
This conclusion, however, was long in coming. I did not hold this view when wandering the streets with Mahmoud. It is always my fate to arrive at a thing too late. To think of the suffering I might have saved shames me now. Still, if I was ignorant-and, oh, I was-at least I was innocent in my ignorance. Pray, remember this.
My first impression of Ja'fariya was of immense wealth; the place was less a city than a congregation of palaces, each more ostentatious than the last. It had been built on the banks of the Tigris river by Caliph al'Mutawakkil to escape the closeness and squalor of Samarra, which itself had been built by Caliph al'Mutasim to escape the closeness and squalor of Baghdat, a few days' journey down river. Samarra, mere shouting distance to the south of its lavish neighbour, was larger and only slightly less extravagant and, save for housing the caliphs and their noblemen, served in every other respect as the official centre of government.
Clearly, no expense had been spared by the caliphs on their pleasure homes, or on those works they deemed best able to bring them credit in the eyes of men and Allah. The Great Mosq of Samarra, for example, had been conceived with an eye toward dwarfing all other rivals. From what Mahmoud told me, I reckoned that it had achieved the aim of its patron admirably well. He took me to the mosq on one of our rambles.
"Behold!" he cried, raising a hand to the edifice upon our approach. "The walls you see before you are eight hundred paces long and five hundred wide; they sit on foundations thick as ten men standing shoulder to shoulder. Forty towers crown the wall-top, and the inner yard alone can contain a hundred thousand faithful and fifty thousand can pray inside! The minaret is unique in all the world. Come, A'dan, I will show you."
With that, we stepped through a huge wooden door set in an even greater timber door which formed half of the pair which made an absolutely gigantic gate. There were two men in white turbans standing just inside the door; they wore long white robes with wide belts of red cloth wrapped around their waists many times. Into their belts were thrust the curious curved thin swords of the Arabs. They regarded us impassively, and allowed us to pass without a word.
"Since the rebellion began," Mahmoud whispered as we moved away quickly, "the mosqs are guarded at all times."
He led me into the immense inner yard: a vast and virtually empty square within the many-towered walls enclosing only the hall of prayer and the minaret which, as he said, was certainly exceptional. "The khalifa was inordinately fond of Babylon's ancient artifacts," Mahmoud informed me. Indicating the steps spiralling up the outside of the prayer tower, he said, "Al'Mutasim copied his design for the prayer tower from the ruins of ziggurats which abound in the south." Mahmoud gazed in admiration at the towering minaret, then added, in a tone that left no doubt regarding the caliph's madness, "He liked to ride to the top of his tower on the back of a white donkey. He kept a herd of white donkeys solely for this purpose."
Turning away from the minaret, we moved towards a low stone basin standing in the centre of the yard; this basin, though shallow, was fully large enough to hold the entire population of Ja'fariya, and was filled with water which swirled about the stone rim where people sat washing their hands and feet before going into the prayer hall.
"The pool," explained Mahmoud, dipping his hands into the running water, "is continually replenished by fresh water from the river in such a way as to make it flow. Washing is sacred to Islam, and standing water is unclean. Therefore, the water in the pool must flow."
A large circular plinth sat near the basin, a bronze spike projecting from its surface. Though its prominence suggested some importance, I could perceive no use for the massive object. "This is the Divider of the Hours," he said when I asked what it could be. "I will show you."
