Leo Africanus or al-Hasan ibn Muhammad al-Wazzan,is a terrific tale retold by Amin Maalouf. The story follows Hasan from Granada in Spain, throughout north Africa, Rome, and various other places. His stories were considered valuable descriptions of the Muslim world for hundreds of year and although a work of fiction, based on Hasan al-Wazzan’s writings, the events of the story are largely historically accurate. This story describes many diverse people, each with a cause, but for Hasan many became great friends or as great enemies. A prominent theme present in the book describes the tensions between Christians and Muslims. Even readers today can empathize with the emotions felt by those who believe their faith to be under attack by non-believers. Many others, like myself, sympathize with Hasam because we find ourselves caring for and supporting people because they are good people rather than for what they believe.
Hasan was born in Granada, Spain during the last years of Islāmic occupation and during a rivalry between his mother and her husband’s slave girl, Warda. The two had become pregnant within days of each other and both wished to produce Muhammad a male heir. Warda’s gives birth to a girl, Mariam, and Salma gives birth to Hasan. Salma’s victory is soon over shadowed by Muhammad’s obsession for Warda and eventually this leads him down a path of irrational behavior and social ruin. But it is Muhammad’s unreasonable conduct that will set the events of Hasan life in motion starting with their exit from Spain.
The Castilians had taken Hasan’s birth home and his family eventually fled Spain for Morocco, or the Maghrib, and took residence in the busy city of Fez. Hasan spent the largest part of his childhood in Fez, where he received an excellent education at al-Qarawiyyin, and where he had his first adventures. Besides typical boyish mischief, such as peeping into hammams and taverns, Hasan gets himself and his family in trouble with Zarwali. Zarwali was a thief and murderer who was rich and who had the ear of many powerful people. Muhammad had made an unsavory business deal with Zarwali and sealed it by promising him his daughter in marriage. Hasan learns of this deal and from what little he knows about Zarwali he is determined not to let his sister marry him. Zarwali’s evils fuel Hasan’s passion and with the aid of his best friend Harun the Ferret they hatch a plot against Zarwali. The plot involved an overzealous Muslim preacher named Astaghfirullah, who they knew would speak out against Zarwali once he learned of the many atrocities he committed. The plan worked but, as mentioned before, Zarwali had powerful connections and he used these connections to have Mariam accused of leprosy and quarantined away from society and her friends and family. Although tragic it is this event that hurled Hasan into his greatest of adventures.
While attempting to find a way to garner the release of Mariam, Hasan’s uncle Khali, gained the trust of the Sultan and asked him to lead caravans for him and Hasan accompanied his uncle on one of these caravan expeditions. It is on this journey that Hasan visits many interesting places, such as Timbuktu, and is given the responsibility of an ambassador under the instruction of his uncle. He also experiences the love of a woman for the first time and the death of a loved one, his uncle, who was like a father to him. His uncle’s death placed Hasan in a position of leadership over the caravan and failure on these harsh roads was not an option. He eventually returns home and because of the caravan’s success he gains an audience with the Sultan and uses this to inquire about the possible release of Mariam and punishment for Zarwali. The Sultan banishes Zarwali from Fez for two years and before anything is decided about Mariam Huran, Hasan’s best friend, rescues her and they run off into the mountains. Huran is quickly adopted by the people of the Rif, the mountain region, and he gets word that Zarwali has left Fez and is traveling through the Rif and plans to kill him for the wrongs he committed against Mariam and all other evil deeds executed by his hand or tongue. Huran carries out his plan flawlessly and Zarwali finally pays for his crimes. In Fez it is eventually discovered that Huran had murdered Zarwali and he becomes a wanted fugitive. Hasan is accused of being an accomplice but because of his faithful service to the Sultan he is spared of a murder charge and given the same punishment that Zarwali had received, two-year banishment.
Hasan leaves Fez in a spectacle taking with him many armed guards, his slave girl, and his fortune and leaving behind his family and a daughter. It isn’t long before he loses his whole caravan to a snow storm but is spared the same fate by his slave girl, Hiba. Soon after this disaster they make their way to her village where the people purchased Hiba’s freedom. Hasan doesn’t linger long before he decided to make his way up the Nile and on to Cairo.
He journeyed by way of boat and met interesting people along the river. As they drew closer to Cairo the people began to talk of plague. The plague had hit Cairo and although this delayed his arrival it did not deter him from his destination. By a stroke of luck Hasan was asked to tend to a wealthy Coptic’s house giving him immediate residence in Cairo. By this time Hasan had fallen in love again with a woman named Nur who was a Circassian and devout enemy to the Ottomans. She convinces Hasan to risk his life to warn Cairo of an impending Ottoman attack but eventually Cairo falls to the Ottomans despite Hasan’s best efforts and they flee the city. During the flight from Egypt Hasan is abducted by Sicilians and never sees Nur again.
In Rome Hasan meets Pope Leo X and quickly earns favor with him. The Pope insists that he be further educated and wishes to make him an ambassador to the Great Turk. It is not long before he is introduced to a beautiful woman named Maddalena who was given to him to marry. Pope Leo X dies and is succeeded by Adrian VI who had been a Spanish inquisitor and would eventually have Hasan arrested. After spending nearly a year in prison Hasan was released by a new Pope, Pope Clement VII, who was his old friend Cardinal Julius. Cardinal Julius being appointed Pope was grand news for Hasan but it did nothing to change the political storm that was about to ravage the land. After watching Rome fall to its enemies Hasan decided to retire to his homeland and finish his memoirs.
A major motif this story presents is the clash of people and religion. Hasan is an opportunist and does not maintain allegiance to any certain ideal or cause. He even is baptized and becomes a Christian towards the end of the story. It is true that he stayed a Muslim in his heart but this even serves as a fine example of how flexible Hasan’s ideals could be. This is not to say that he was an immoral man because he was in fact a very honorable man. He did not give in to greed and when he found himself in prison he accepted his fate without cursing God. It turned out to be these qualities that won him favor wherever he went. His acceptance and general curiosity of other cultures allowed him to take positions others wouldn’t have dared. Christian, Jew, Muslim it did not matter to Hasan because in his eyes we are all children of the same God.
Hasan’s life provides the reader with a fairly detailed and accurate account of Muslim life. Muslims are not portrayed as crazy religious zealots or savage warriors. The Muslim characters are just as varied and unique as the practitioners of any other major religion of the world. At the same time Maalouf was careful to represent Christians and Jews just as carefully. He paints a picture of a world filled with beautiful and wonderful people who are of all different religions, languages, colors, and cultures. In a vast nation such as the United States it is easy to succumb to ethnocentrism. It is easy to think that people from other cultures are somehow not as bright or wealthy as you are. Leo Africanus challenges these ideas through our hero Hasan. He is well-educated and well-respected by many powerful men of different nations. One criticism is the presentation of Islam and only because Islam in the 1400-1500 is different from Islam today. Many of the laws and customs are the same but just like most religions it become more and more institutionalized over time. The book does not provide the reader a good understanding of Islāmic society but acts more as a mere introduction. The book describes some of the practices during Ramadan, how important it is for Muslim children to learn the Quran in school, and the family structure and hierarchy in Islam. Hasan is definitely a character that bridges the gap of east and west because his thinking is forward enough for a westerner to identify with him while his background and setting is largely eastern. For some this and a class in college may be all the exposure to this wonderful culture they ever receive.
My strongest criticism of Hasan’s character lies in his willingness to leave behind his family, friends, and most importantly his wives and children. I understand that in certain circumstances, such as with Nur, he had no choice but to separate from her but he still left his child’s fate to the mercy of strangers. He left his first daughter at home to be raised by his family and by the age of 40 he had barely knew her. These events happened after criticizing his father for not properly taking care of his family. He let wanderlust take command of his life at every moment and was an old man before becoming the father his father had been to him his whole life.
Leo Africanus certainly draws the reader in and at every page has one guessing where fate or luck will lead him next. Stirring in the reader the same curiosity and passion held by Hasan. We cannot read through this book without dreaming of a time when we may be able to let destiny sweep us along an unknown path. Amin Maalouf has successfully captured the sounds, smells, and people of the Islāmic world avoiding the material and spiritual emptiness of western writings. In the end this novel contains a bit of everything; the riskiness of business and trade, religious intolerance, political maneuverings, and travel.
April 8, 2011
Categories: Reviews . Tags: Amin Maalouf, Book, Islam, Leo Africanus, Muslim, novel . Author: Paunch Nation . Comments: Comments Off on Book Review: Leo Africanus
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