Bahloul to Harun Al-Rashid: You have built palaces and destroyed graves

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IT is said that Bahloul was a crazy man during the era of the Abbasid Caliph Harun Al-Rashid.

One day, Harun was passing near a tomb when he found Bahloul sitting by that tomb. The Caliph said harshly, “O Bahloul, when will you ever make sense?

Bahloul replied at the top of his voice, “O Harun… O insane… when will you make sense?”

Harun approached him while he was on his horse, and said, “Am I the one who is insane, or you who is sitting on the tomb?”

Bahloul replied, “Indeed, I am sane, because I know that this (pointing at the Caliph’s palace) is ephemeral and that this (pointing at the grave) remains. Therefore, I built this one (pointing at the grave) before that one (pointing at the palace).

As for you, you have built that (pointing at the palace), and ruined this (pointing at the grave), and so you hate to move from urbanization to ruin, even though you know that your destiny is inevitable. Therefore, who among us is insane?”

Harun replied, “Indeed, you have spoken the truth.. So tell me more, O Bahloul”.

Bahloul said, “The Book of Allah is sufficient for you, so stick to it”.

Harun replied, “Do you have a need that I can fulfill?”

Bahloul said, “Yes … three things … If you fulfill them, I’ll be grateful”.

Haroun said, “Ask”.

Bahloul replied, “Increase my life”.

The Caliph replied, “I cannot”.

Bahloul said, “Shield me from the Angel of Death”.

The Caliph replied, “I cannot”.

Bahloul said, “Admit me to Paradise, and keep me away from Hellfire”.

Harun replied, “I can’t do that”.

Bahloul then said, “Know that you are slave and not master, and I don’t need anything from you”.

This eloquent story reveals what makes the ruler’s life happier if he is certain from the start that his rule is a trust that he must fulfill to the fullest, and that his doors remain open to people.

Either he meets them directly, or through competent carefully chosen officials, who uphold honesty, trust, and fear of Allah, and whose appointment was based on neither kinship nor personal interest.

In interactive democracies, the official remains close to the people and enjoys great transparency in dealing with them. That is why you rarely find a corrupt official or a manipulative minister there.

Given that the prime minister, in his capacity as the chief executive officer in the state, is always held accountable before the parliament and the people, confidence is withdrawn if he commits an error. In fact, in several countries, he is taken from his office to prison.

In 2015, the Swedish Minister Mana Salen was forced to submit her resignation after the judiciary convicted her of filling the tank of her private car with gasoline at the expense of the state by using a money card granted to her by the government, but costing no more than $60.

Although the minister proved that she returned the amount the next day, the Swedish law considered this behavior as an abuse of public money, and this prompted her to submit her resignation immediately.

The minister left her position not because of $60, but because she was entrusted with the public money and the affairs of her ministry.

Therefore, if she neglected this amount and was not held accountable, she would have opened the door wide to greater corruption.

In those countries, a human being is considered the basis because he is linked to the state’s ability to develop. That is why when his voice is not heard, chaos ensues in society due to the officials’ denial of reality, and their inability to keep pace with the people who are in the end the protective coat of government, if the latter makes good use of it and respond to it, but when that is abused and accountability disappears, corruption will definitely prevail.

Allah said in Quran, “The best of those you hire is the strong and the trustworthy”.

In the aforementioned verse, strength has preceded trustworthiness, meaning that the decision-maker cannot be trustworthy over the subjects if he does not have the strength to resolve the decision, as well as reform if he finds that his decision has some defects that breach the trust.

Kuwait has lived years of strife between those seeking to milk its udder, each according to his vision, while hope is in the coming days with the future decisive decisions of the executive leadership.

By Ahmed Al-Jarallah

Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times

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