Chapter 08 - New Endeavors

                                    

                                          


                          
(1)
                          
After the victory of Sakhra, Abul Hassan started preparing for a decisive war against the Christians at a massive scale. Those influential chiefs and leaders of tribes of the sultanate who, so far, had been involved in the internal squabbles between Arab Berbers and Hispanian Muslims, began uniting against the common enemy. For the Hispanian and the Berber chiefs, Abul Hassan had become a Muslim leader instead of being merely a leader. He had raised the crescent flag against the Christian flag. An influential segment of Islamic scholars had given this war the status of a jihad. After the victory of Sakhra, when Abul Hassan returned to Granada, for the first time he felt that he had become the leader of Granada in the true sense of the word. The people had laid down flower wreaths in his path from the military headquarters till Al-Hamra. At night, he ran a glance from the top of the high minaret of the Al-Hamra palace. The entire city was lit and the people were joyfully raising slogans of victory in the streets and markets. Abul Hassan looked towards the sky, then raised his hands and supplicated:
                          
"O Lord! Give strength to my weak hands. Grant me the determination of Tariq Bin Ziyad and the morale of Moosa Bin Naseer. Grant my people, once more, the fiery of those mujahideen whose horses drank water from the rivers of France on one side and the rivers of China from the other. Transform our disunity into unity. You can change this pile of sand to a cliff. My Lord! Don't disappoint these people who are so overjoyed by a small victory. I was not worthy of this task but if you have chosen me for it, then give me courage, determination and perseverance. And if I'm not able to take back the sultanate of my ancestors, then give Abu Abdullah the ability to do so. Or else give me the ability to choose a befitting heir for the Sultanate of Granada."
                          
When Abul Hassan was standing supplicating on the minaret, his Crown Prince, Prince Abu Abdullah was sitting with his new tutor in one of the chambers of the palace. In a span of a few days, the student and teacher had come close to each other and Abu Abdullah's uncle, Al-Zeghel, who was responsible in giving this position to Abu Dawood, was more than happy to see his unprincipled nephew dance at his talented teacher's cues and disliked being separated from him even for a moment. Abu Dawood was cautious by nature. He was aware that Arab blood ran in his student's veins. Therefore, he did not think it was appropriate in having to disclose his aims and objectives. Acting as an informal and casual friend, he kept probing and getting acquainted with Abu Abdullah's views and in a few days he was able to figure out that he could use the Crown Prince of Granada as a tool when the time came. 
                          
Abu Abdullah was fascinated by Abu Dawood after their first solitary meeting. He read his palm and pointing to a few lines of his hand said, "O Prince! You were not born to rule over Granada."
                          
Seeing the disturbance on Abu Abdullah's face, he smiled and said, "For you these lines point towards Alexander's destiny and Abdul Rehman the Great's majesty. If my knowledge does not fail me, then, banners of your authority will flutter from Pyrenees to Gibraltar. The rulers of Morocco and France will be your vassals. 
                          
After looking at his own hands for a while Abu Abdullah said, "But my uncle calls me an idiot."
                          
"O Prince! There is a time set for a fruit to ripen and for a flower to blossom. You're near and dear ones will keep saying this until your time to rise does not come. But they want the best for you and not otherwise. Just wait for that moment."
                          
From that day onwards Abu Abdullah thought of himself as Alexander and his teacher as Aristotle. Both waited for that moment according to their own designs. After a few meetings the teacher became aware of what moment the student was waiting for. But the student was oblivious of his teacher's objectives and today when Abu Dawood left his house on receiving a message from Abu Abdullah, in a glance he judged that his student was engulfed in a new anxiety.