Konrad and Alexandra (PDF) - Rolf Gross

the Kwadjagani, the Masters of Wisdom, whom he belonged to, had been founded in Samarkand around 1220 by oneAbd al-Khaliq Gudjuwani. One of his own ancestors had been the order’s fourth Grandmaster a hundred years later. Inthe following centuries half a dozen other orders emerged in Samarkand. At the beginning of the fifteenth century the Sufiheld almost the entire Islamic culture in their hands, poetry, jurisprudence, architecture, calligraphy, philosophy, and, ofcourse, the interpretation of the Koran—from Khorasan to Spain. The teachers of the great Medresses in Samarkand,Tashkent and Buchara had all been Sufi. And still were.Early Sufism had absorbed many influences. But the Sufi had always been more interested in mystical contemplationthan in history. He believed that El-Zafaran’s Syrian-Christian background was responsible for his interest in history. El-Zafaran had a big head and a Russian doctorate degree on top of that, not very useful in the search for otherworldlywisdom.El-Zafaran’s academic studies were a great surprise to me. Ramitani laughed. Had I not known? El-Zafaran had studiedin Samarkand for many years as his pupil. Restless as he was, he had gone to Konya in Turkey to learn turning from theMevlevi, and when these exercises had still left his big head dissatisfied, he had acquired a doctorate in comparativelanguages in St. Petersburg. Only then had he realized that working in gold was a better way to gain insight thanstudying with his head alone. But he had never given up his interest in such questions as the connections between theSufi and the Chinese Buddhists.Ramitami admitted that he did not have much to say about the Chinese subject, but all the more about the westerninfluences on central Asian Sufism. From the fifth century through the reign of the Mongol Khans as emperors of China inthe fourteenth, Persians and especially Syrians had been very active in Khorasan. The Syrians had brought Syrian-Christianity of the Nestoria persuasion, the Persians Zoroastrian and Manichean ideas to Turkestan, which whencombined with Arabic-Islamic and late-Greek influences had led to the great flowering of Turkish-Persian culture inCentral Asia, of which Sufism was the most beautiful blossom.In his opinion, the Chinese contribution to this synthesis was restricted to meditation and teaching methods that Sufismhad appropriated. On religious arts, poetry, and music, the most important manifestations of Sufism, the Chinese hadhad no influence.Amazed that some of the outwardly so unpretentious Sufi were highly educated men, I asked him for his own educationalbackground. And, lo and behold, he was a widely traveled man. He had obtained an Islamic doctorate from the universityin Damascus. From those years dated his knowledge of Syrian and the friendship with El-Zafaran. Later he spent severalyears in Cairo to finally return to Samarkand. He spoke five languages, besides Russian, which he spoke reluctantly,English, French, Farsi, and Turkish.When we parted Ramitami suggested with a fine smile that I should come to Samarkand for a longer time. "El-Zafaranpraised your progress in turning, gold-smithing, and calligraphy. You could teach Western natural sciences in exchangefor instructions in traditional Islamic knowledge."Does this prospect shock you, my Georgian princess? It is a great temptation for me. Will you follow me here one day?I embrace you, my only purpose in my life—until now.Your husbandKonradHer heart went out to him. Yes, she would go with him to Central Asia one day.For several weeks Alexandra followed Konrad’s travels to China in her mind, anxiously waiting for another letter fromhim. One night, while everybody was asleep, deeply worried, Alexandra decided to fly to China in search of him. Whatharm would there be in trying? If she could fly to Svaneti, she could also reach China. Sitting with crossed legs on herbed, she concentrated all her anxious intensity and love on Konrad.After a while she did take off and rose above the sleeping city into the dark night. But the bright light, which hadpreviously guided her, did not appear. She was surrounded by cold darkness. She tried to find a star, or the moon todirect her towards the east, but it was all in vain. The world was pitch dark. She became more and more apprehensive.Strange apparitions appeared from the night. The city had long disappeared, she could not make out the features of theland below her. Where was she?She began to call. "Gocha, I need you, I cannot find my way in this darkness. Gochaaa! Gochaaa, help me!"Alexandra, once again, had the sickening feeling of falling from the night at increasing speed towards the dark earthbelow. She tried to roll herself into a ball and lost her balance, she tilted sideways, and dropped with a terrible scream.Claudia, awoken by her screams, shook her. "Alexandra! You are having a nightmare."She woke in Claudia’s arms."My God, what are you doing? You are bathed in sweat. Where were you?"Alexandra with a racing heart, a dreadful fright in her eyes, stared at her friend who bedded her down and got a wetwashcloth to put on her forehead.Alexandra closed her eyes. With a deep sigh she kissed Claudia’s hand. "I tried to reach Konrad and got lost in the night.It was a horrible dream-flight. Don’t ever try to fly by yourself on a moonless night."173