Fatima.Mernessi_The-Forgotten-Queens-of-Islam-EN

184 Conclusion
more foreign to political power in Islam than the recognition that
sovereignty resides in the people - a bizarre idea that would never
have crossed the mind of the most pious caliph.
Islam has known many pious caliphs who have suffered from
being unable to put into practice what the holy book laid out as the
shari'a and the way to justice on earth and paradise in Heaven:
It is recounted that one day a violent hurricane unleashed over
Baghdad was about to send all the buildings crashing to earth, burying
their inhabitants in the ruins. Then Mahdi [husband of Khayzuran
and father of Harun al-Rashid] was seen prostrating himself in the
palace and praying: 'Lord, you have entrusted to my care the nation
of Your apostle. Do not punish it for the numerous sins that I have
committed. Out of regard for the ever living image of Muhammad,
save this nation!' Thus he fervently prayed until the storm ceased. 10
Who can ever know the solitude of a caliph tortured by the longing
for an impossible reign of justice? This is the other side of Muslim
history, which must be written one day. Who can know the sleepless
nights of an imam? Often, like Mahdi, they prayed like a lonely
child by the light of the moon:
Rabia, his chamberlain, told me the following: 'I was informed one
night that Mahdi had risen and was alone in his room praying. I went
into that room, which was simply whitewashed and without any
decoration. The white light of the moon, which fell on the walls and
the divan, brought out the red in the carpet on which Mahdi, dressed
in white, 11 stood, with his face turned toward the divan. He was
reciting the Koran in a soft voice and did not notice my presence. I
stood in admiration before that room, the moonlight that illuminated
it, the caliph imploring God, and his melodious voice.' 12
Many Muslim caliphs sank into prayer in the hope of finding a way
to counteract the violence, rebellion, and sedition that the hijab hid
from them.
Contrasting the very negative idea of the 'amma to the very
positive, eminently Western, idea of a citizen people shows us why
in Islam all debate on human rights is in fact an obscene debate
that can only be formulated in terms of veils, of the hijab, that is,
of thresholds that prohibit and boundaries that protect. The
obscenity is double: it comes from the fact that the sovereignty of
a citizen people wrenches political legitimacy from the vault of
Heaven and brings it down to earth, and that it raises the standard