When a maidservant is wiser than the rulers, best nations are not ruled by ignorant people

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THERE are Arab folktales that contain precious lessons about how the ignorance of unworthy rulers who assume their positions by chance can cause devastation to their countries.

Among such folktales is one about a sultan (ruler) who heard about a maidservant (female slave) in the market whose price exceeded that of others by 100. Out of curiosity, he sent his guards to fetch her just to see what distinguishes her from the others.

Standing before the sultan was a maidservant who was characterized with honor and pride. This prompted the sultan to ask, “Why is your price so high, girl?” and she replied, “Because I have intelligence”.

Her response tickled more of his curiosity and he said, “I will ask you a few questions. If your answers are correct, I will liberate you. But if you give wrong answers, I will get rid of you”. The maidservant agreed.

The sultan asked, “What is the most beautiful dress, the best scent, the most delicious food, the best bed to sleep, and the best country?”

The maid turned to those present and said, “Bring me some luggage and a horse, for I am leaving this palace as a free woman”.

She then replied, “The most beautiful dress is the shirt of a poor person who does not have any other shirt to wear because of which that shirt is an item of beauty to him and suitable for all seasons.

As for the most delicious food, the one that is eaten out of hunger, even dry bread, is the most delicious.

As for the best bed to sleep, it is the one that you can sleep on with peace of mind. However, if you were an unjust person, you would find a golden bed to be thorny”.

Then she started walking towards the door, but the sultan called out to her, “What about my last question?”

She turned towards him and said, “The best country is a free homeland that is not ruled by ignorant people”.

The maid did her best, and she won her freedom.

Indeed, the most beautiful country is the homeland that is not ruled by ignorant people. In modern or ancient times, history is full of examples of such rulers whose ignorance destroyed their homelands.

In ancient times, the crazy Roman Emperor Nero, on a whim, wanted to build a new palace called “The Golden House” that was intended to be a venue for parties and orgies. He had ordered Rome to be burnt down, including those in it, so that he could restructure the entire city again for that purpose.

It is said that during the six days of the fire, Nero was sitting on a hill overlooking the city. Faced with the horror of the catastrophe, the Romans revolted against him, stormed his palace, and killed him viciously.

The story of Nero is similar to that of Hitler in modern history. Hitler wanted to render the Aryan race as an elite in society, due to which he massacred the Jews and a number of European minorities. This led to the ignition of a world war that claimed the lives of about 75 million people.

Unfortunately, this aggressive tendency took over many rulers, including Muammar Gaddafi, who was taken by paranoia to the extremes of oppression and narcissism, and made himself the king of the kings of Africa. However, his end was in one of the drainage pipes after his people caught up with him.

It is narrated among the Libyans that, during the demonstrations that followed the success of Gaddafi’s coup against the late King Idris Al-Senussi, they were chanting “Devil’s rule, not Idris”.

When Al-Senussi heard this, he prayed in his prayers for the Libyans to get what they were chanting about, and that call was answered after a while.

There are rulers who think they are immortal in their positions, and are above accountability, due to which they practice all kinds of transgressions and flawed personal whims, and they master repression and abuse. People then begin to degrade moral values, and disorder of gangs and sects take charge of the situation. Subsequently, ignorant people who follow the steps of their rulers end up taking charge of the country.

Despite this turnout of the events, it however does not mean that the people will have lasting patience for such a situation. That is because poverty, humiliation and misery are the most vital ingredients of an uprising.

Nonetheless, when the clothes of the poor become the most valuable thing they possess, and hunger creeps in until people start considering dry bread as the most delicious food, it is then that the countries become huge prisons, and people will definitely end up revolting against that situation.

In our present day, there are many countries where the dictatorship of some ignorant rulers surpassed all imaginations, and threatened their nations to decline to further destruction of its states and prevalence of backwardness.

Therefore, hope remains that those rulers will pay attention to their reality and listen to the voice of reason so as not end up being, as what the maidservent described as, the course of the countries that committed suicide centuries ago in the hands of their ignorant rulers.

By Ahmed Al-Jarallah

Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times

This news has been read 16271 times!

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