Chapter CXIII


No doubt there are many churches in Byzantium, but by the mercy of Allah the nearest church to where we stood was only up the hill: the Great Church. It was the time of evening prayer or Vespers and as we climbed the hill we joined a throng of worshippers, all going in the same direction.

I could not help but notice with wonder the many different kinds of people in the crowd. There were fair-haired, fair-skinned people like Franks and people with dark hair and skins like myself; there were even people with black skins and curly hair like Abyssinians. There were tall men of the Varangian Guard and short men with slanty eyes who I decided must be Huns or Avars. Greek princes and Venetian merchants, Anatolian peasants and Saxon warriors, all walked in peace and unity towards the house of God.

"Truly," I thought to myself, "it is even as that Frankish pilgrim told me in Ephesus, for all the nations of earth have heard the Christian message and have been conquered by preaching rather than the sword."

The doorway into the Great Church was wide and high as befitted such a large building but even so we approached it slowly because of the great crowd. As we neared the doors I raised my eyes to look above the heads of those around me and was astonished to see a wide hall, roofed with gold and bearing a large picture of some saint or holy man.

We entered the hall and still the crowd pressed forward and I saw that on the other side of the hall was another doorway and beyond that I saw an unimaginably vast room, above which rose a mighty dome, covered with gold and with the picture of the Theotokos, the God-bearer, with her Son on her lap.

"Wallah!" I exclaimed in wonder and paused to point it out to Trudy and to lift Mariam and Stephanos so that they also could see, but I did not tell them what was in my heart, which was that God had indeed made Jesus greater than Mohammed by raising him from the dead and by taking him up into Paradise while he was alive.

When they had gazed their fill at this marvel - and in truth it held little interest for them - we moved on and stepped into the doorway itself and again I stopped, gazing before me and above me in stunned awe, for what had seemed large a moment before now seemed tiny in comparison as the hugeness and vastness of this enormous church finally dawned on me - a great space like an open plain, yet surrounded by pillars and roofed with the largest dome in the world, and from that dome the mighty face of God, the Pancrator, gazed down at us.

But it was not just sight that caused me to stand silent in awe. My nose was delighted with the perfumes of Paradise as clouds of incense swirled through the air, and my ears rang as the vast space echoed and re-echoed with the sound of music, for the robed priests chanted the worship of God and the people joined in singing antiphons of adoration so that the sound swelled up and filled the building, reaching even to the heavens where the Pancrator gazed benignly down upon us.

I stood as if turned to stone, gazing this way and that, my heart and my soul caught up in the glory and wonder of this vast building, gleaming with gold and precious stones, luminous with the rays of the evening sun and echoing with the sound of every people and nation and tongue of earth giving praise to God in unity and harmony. There was neither hatred nor anger here, neither violence nor striving, but only a feeling of great joy and love and peace.

"By God!" I breathed. "By my God! By very God! Ya Allah! Allahu akhbar! Allahu akhbar!"

And suddenly I realised that all these questions of three or one, of wills and natures and forms and modes and energies, were just words, mere words, mere human words. The truth and the reality was the greatness of God, the vastness of God, the perfection of God. Who can understand God? Who can say that God is this or that? Who can declare the wonder of His being, for we humans are as nothing in His sight; we are tiny creatures like ants before a giant - and if God should take to Himself a Son, who are we to question it? for nothing is impossible for God.

All these thoughts passed through my head as I stood in that church, unable to tell if I was still on earth or if I had been caught up to Paradise and then at last I felt a tugging on my arm and I looked down at my own red-haired houri who was pulling at my sleeve and saying, "Fuad, the service is ended and the children want something to eat."

I stared at her for a moment as her words passed through my head without meaning and then I came to myself and shook myself and said, "Trudy, we will go, but first there is a thing I must do. Come."

I took the hands of my children and Trudy held my arm as I walked across the polished marble floor to where a priest was putting out the candles on the altar.

"Papa," I said, "I am Hajji Fuad ibn Hassan and I am a Muslim, but I desire to be baptised and become a Christian."

Beside me Trudy gasped and hushed the children while the man looked at me for a moment and his eyebrows rose.

"My son," he said, "do you understand what it is that you are doing?"

"Yes," I said. "I affirm the unity of God, unity in trinity, trinity in unity. I affirm that there is no God but God and that Jesus is the Son of God and the Saviour of the world."

And Trudy snuggled up to me and said to the priest, "Papa, this is no hasty decision by my husband. We have travelled far together and I have seen him slowly come to faith."

The priest looked at her and observed her fair skin and her red hair and that of my son standing beside her and then he smiled. "Come tomorrow about the fourth hour," he said, "and it will be as you wish."

There is little more to tell. I was baptised the following day and then, because of the many wars between Byzantium and the Turks and Arabs, I found a job with the government first as a translator and then as an adviser. With part of es-Sid's treasure we bought a house in the city and our children grew up there, citizens of the greatest city in the world.

Now many years have passed and Salah ud-Din, the conqueror, is dead, may God give him rest. So also is Abd al-Wahid and also my parents, to all of whom I sent messages when I could find a messenger. Babrak is an emir in ash-Shams and we hear of him from time to time, but it is many years since we have heard from Charles; and Hamed, Hilmi and Fatima are unknown to us. We never did discover what happened to es-Sid or to the others and after all these years we presume that they perished on the field of Hattin, may God give rest to them and to all who died on that day.

Belvoir surrendered after 18 months of siege and with it passed the last of the Frankish kingdom of Outremer, for now there is only Tyre and a few castles along the coast. There is talk that the Franks are preparing another great crusade, directed this time againt Egypt, but all these matters are in God's hands and they will not trouble us.

I Hajji Fuad ibn Hassan ibn Tahir ibn al-Hajji, formerly of the tribe of the Bani Ibrim and now citizen of Byzantium and counsellor to the Basileus, have written these words and ask the prayers of all who read them. May God grant relief and eternal life to us all in the name of the Undivided Trinity and in the name of Jesus Christ, Son of God and Saviour of the world.

Amin.