82-2 - The Sleeper and the Waker (2 of 3)

Aboo al-Hasan said - "O My Lord, My name is Aboo al-Hasan al-Khaaliyaa. When my father died, he left me lots of wealth which I divided into two parts, one I kept, and with the other I enjoyed till I was left with none. Then I went to my friends so that they could help me, but they did not. So I wept a lot and went to my mother. My mother told me that friends were like that, that when one has money they come near and when one does not have the money, they chase him away. Then I brought out my other half money and decided that I will never entertain anyone for more than a single night."

When the Caliph heard this he laughed loudly and said - "O Brother, You are excused in this matter, now that I know the cause and the cause has a tail. I will never leave you alone." Aboo al-Hasan said - "Didn't I say to you, "Far be it, alas. That what is past should again come to pass." Because I will never sit again with anybody." Then the Caliph rose, and Aboo set a dish of roast goose and started cutting pieces of bread and roast goose and giving them to the Caliph. After eating Aboo lighted three candles and three lamps and both started drinking. The Caliph was very pleased with the manners of Aboo, so he decided that he would definitely return his hospitality.

When it was midnight, the Caliph said to his host - "Do you have anything in your mind which you would have accomplished, or regretted?" Aboo said - "There is no regret in my heart except that I am not empowered with ordering to do something or not to do something, so I will have to manage what is in my mind. If I become a Caliph for one day, I will avenge my neighbors. For there is a mosque in my neighborhood, and there are four Sheikh who are unhappy when a guest comes to me and they trouble me while they talk that they will complain about me to the Caliph; and I pray Allaah, that I should beat each of them, along with the Imaam, with 400 lashes and parade them around the city of Bagadaad; and cry - "See this is the reward for those who turn someone's joy to annoy." This is what I wish, and no more." The Caliph said - "May Allaah grant your wish. Let us crack one last cup and then I leave. Tomorrow night I will be with you again." Aboo said - "Far be it."

Then the Caliph made a cup, put Cretan Bhaang in it, and gave it to him - "My life on you, drink this cup from my hand." Aboo said - "I will." And as he drank that cup, he fell down unconscious. The Caliph went out and asked his men to bring Aboo to his palace and shut the door behind them. When Masaroor brought Aboo in the Caliph's palace, it was morning. He called his Vazeer Zaafar and instructed him - "See this man, when you see this man seated on the throne tomorrow, treat him like the Caliph, and obey him as he says." Then the Caliph went to his palace and asked women - "When this sleeper wakes up in the morning, treat him as if he is the Caliph. Bathe him nicely and put royal robes on to him and obey him as you obey me. Say to him, "You are the Caliph." Then he went to his room and slept.

Now Aboo didn't wake up till the morning was clear. A maid came and bade good morning to him. Aboo opened his eyes and found himself in a different room than his own. It was richly decorated and many attendants were roaming around. He was bewildered to see all this - "Allaah, I am dreaming or what?" and he shut his eyes again. At the same time an eunuch said - "O My Lord, This is not your habit." So he opened his eyes again and the maids helped him to get up from a nice soft high bed. He exclaimed - "What I am seeing here? Where am I? By Allaah, Am I the Caliph?" A maid said - "Yes, By Allaah." Then he asked the chief of the eunuchs - "Who is the Caliph?" He said - "You are, My Lord."

And when he had got convinced that he was the Caliph, he finished his prayers. Then he thought that all this was not a dream. All this could not happen in dream. Then the servants adorned him like a Caliph. Then the Chief of Eunuch came and said to him - "The Vazeer asks your permission to come in." "Let him come in." As he came in, Aboo rose from his seat. Seeing this people said - "The Caliph do not rise from their seat for anybody." Then they took him to the room where the throne of the Caliph was kept. There he saw the curtains, the 40 doors and many courtiers around. He sat on the throne and kept the dagger in his lap. Then Zaafar came forward and prayed him.

At this Aboo cried out - "Go to such and such place and give 1,000 Deenaars to the mother of Aboo al-Hasan and my salutations. Then go to such a mosque and take the four Sheikh and the Imaam and beat each of them with a 1,000 lashes; and mount them on beasts facing tails and parade them round about all the city and banish them. Bid the criers to cry, "This is the reward for those who molest the neighbors and damage their delights." Zaafar received the commands and did as Aboo asked him to do. Thus all obeyed Aboo whatever he asked them to do till the end of the day. Then he ordered all to leave and he himself entered the Haram. 

There he saw many servants and maids standing in his service. Seeing all this he got convinced that he was the Caliph; or maybe the guest who came yesterday was a Jinn who ordered his attendants to call me the Caliph. But when Allaah will deliver me from his mischief? Then he ate food and called his handmaids asked their names, one by one, till he learned 10 names. Then he went to the wine room where he found 10 trays of different types of food - fruits, cakes and sweets etc. He drank and ate and enjoyed dances of the girls. He played with one, laughed with another, took morsels yet with another one.

The Caliph was watching all this from behind the curtain. When night fell, he asked one of his slave girls to drop a piece of Bhaang in a cup and to give it to Aboo. She did so and as he drank wine from the cup he fell down unconscious. The Caliph came out of the curtain and asked his people, who brought him there, to take him to his home. So Masaroor took him to his home.

When Aboo woke up in the morning he called out all the girls whose names he remembered yesterday. He did not stop calling all his servants till his mother heard him calling strange names. She came and said to Aboo - "Allaah be with you, Wake up O Aboo." He opened his eyes and asked - "Who are you?" His mother said - "Aboo, I am your mother." Aboo said - "You are lying. I am the Caliph." His mother said - "May God bless you. Do not waste your money and lose our lives. If somebody will hear you he might tell the Caliph." Then he related his story and said - "This is what I saw, Mother, and I am sure it was not a dream. I gave gifts, bestowed honor robes."

His mother said - "You are sporting with your reason, you will go to the mad house. Was there anyone with you last night?" "Yes, There was one and I told him my story. And now I am thinking that he must have been a devil. And you are right, I am Aboo al-Hasan al-Khaaliyaa." Then she said - "Be happy that yesterday the Vazeer Zaafar came here and beat the Shaikh and the Imaam, each a 1,000 lashes; gave them a round of the city and banished them. Moreover the Caliph sent me a 1,000 Deenaars and a salute."

Hearing this Aboo again cried - "Do you still not believe that I am the Caliph, because it was I who ordered for all this." And he beat his mother. The mother cried and called the people - "This is a madman afflicted by Jinn." And Aboo cried - "By Allaah, I am not a madman, but the Caliph." The Superintendent tied him with chains and bound him with a lattice and ordered to beat him two times a day and two times a night. His mother got very sad to hear this order, so she asked her son to be reasonable and he agreed. Then his mother got him released and took him home.

He took rest for a month and then he again started his routine - to go to  bridge, seeking a stranger, entertaining with him and forgetting him after that. As he sat there, the Caliph came there again with his Masaroor, but this time Aboo did not greet him and said - "No welcome to you, O King of the Jinn." Al-Rasheed asked - "What have I done to you?" "What more could you have what you have already done to me? I have been beaten, was arrested, thrown into madhouse where I was called mad. I brought you to my house, and fed you my best and you empowered me with Satan. So you may go your ways." 

The Caliph said - "Didn't I tell you, that I would return to you." "I don't need you. Indeed the night you came to my house, the Devil came to me and troubled me that night." Asked the Caliph - "And who is that Devil?" "Who else can he be, except you." The Caliph laughed and said - "In fact when I went out of your house, I forgot the door open, perhaps Satan came from there." "Why did you leave the door open so that the Satan could come and trouble me?" Then he told his whole story and said - "I will never take you to my home."

But the Caliph coaxed him - "But I helped you to fulfill your wish." "Yes, You have. Now what do you want from me?" "I am your guest, do not reject your guest." Aboo said - "Then on one condition. That you will not ask your Ifrits to trouble me?" The Caliph said - "To hear is to obey." So Aboo took him to his house and treated him with friendly speech and told him again the whole thing that happened to him. The Caliph would like to die of laughter. Aboo removed the tray of food and brought the drinks. He gave a cup to the Caliph saying - "O my Boon-companion, I am your slave and do not be offended by what I am going to say to you. For some time I thought that I was the Caliph, I ruled, I gave gifts; and in fact it was not a dream." The Caliph said - "Maybe it was the effect of sleep." He again mixed some Bhaang (toxic leaves) in his cup and giving to him said - "By my life, Drink this cup from my hand." "Sure, I will drink it from your hand," and he drank that cup off. 

As he drank that cup, he fell down unconscious. His manners had so much pleased the Caliph, that this time he thought to make him his cup-companion and sitting-comrade. So like before, he ordered Masaroor to take him to his palace. Masaroor took him to the Caliph's palace. The Caliph handed him over to maids and he himself hid in some other room. The maids sang songs till Aboo woke up. Again he found himself in the palace. He thought that this time it should be more unlucky than the former one. The Devil had come again to trouble him. He shut and opened his eyes but found himself in the same place.

The maids and eunuchs made him sit, he said to them - "Is it the truth that I am the Caliph, and you are not lying? Yesterday I did not rule, but drank and slept only, and now this eunuch is awakening me." Then he asked a maid - "Who am I?" The maid said - "You are the Caliph." "Then bite me," and she bit his finger with all her might, then only he was satisfied. Thus he tried to satisfy himself by asking several people. The Caliph, watching, lost his senses with laughter. Aboo then cried - "All this does not satisfy me. But this is not your fault, it is the fault of your Chief who has transformed you from Jinn shape to mortal shape. I refuse to be here with you this night." And saying thus he took off his all clothes and danced naked with the slave girls. They bound his hands and died of laughing at him. The Caliph also swooned away for laughing so much.

Then he came out of the room and said to Aboo al-Hasan - "O Aboo, You are killing me with laughter." Aboo looked at him and recognized him, he said to him - "So it is you who is slaying me and my mother, and slain the Sheikh and the Imaam of the mosque." Then he kissed the ground before him and prayed for him the permanence of his prosperity and life. The Caliph at once presented him with a rich robe and gave him a 1,000 Deenaars. He married him to his daughter and lodged him with himself in the palace and made him the Chief of his cup-companions. Now they were 10 in number, and all had their own story (which is told in other book). He sat with the Caliph and Lady Zubaidaa bin al-Kaasim's treasurer Nuzhat al-Fuaad was married to him.

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