Stories from Lebanon — Once Upon a Time... in the Days of Emir Fakhr al-Din

Emir Fakhr al-Din al-Ma'ni the Second was great, in every sense the word greatness carries: great in his heart, his spirit, and his will; great in his boldness, his sagacity, and his cunning; great in his forbearance, his gentleness, and his justice — as he was great, too, in his firmness, his severity, and his crushing hand.

He was an eye that never slept in watching over his subjects, and a hand that took the side of the weak among them against the strong, and punished the aggressor whatever his station — even were he among those closest to him.

Among the proofs of this is our following story:

The Shidyaq Ra'd, son of the Shidyaq Khater al-Hasrouni, governed Jubbat Bsharri until the year 1613, when he died poisoned; and the Muqaddam Abu 'Ashina Shalhoub took his place. Between the death of the first and the accession of the second lies a link that makes up a tragedy — one of the most striking tragedies of Lebanese history.

And in this tragedy, look for the woman.

The woman of our tragedy was Sitt al-Banat, wife of the aforementioned Shidyaq Ra'd... History relates that this woman was of surpassing beauty, much given to frivolity and vanity. In vain did her husband try to restrain her from it, until she overstepped the bounds of dignity and violated the sanctity of honor, whereupon he saw fit to complain of her to her brother.

Sitt al-Banat was of the 'Anjalani family, and her brother was Jamal al-Din Yusuf al-'Anjalani; her family had ruled the Jubbah for a time, and was famed for a band of its sons, among them the Muqaddam 'Ashina, son of Husam al-Din al-'Anjalani.

The complaint worked upon the brother, and he rebuked his sister with cruel harshness, warning her of the consequences of persisting in waywardness and of tarnishing her family's reputation.

The sister learned that her husband had informed against her; she could not endure her brother's rebuke and severity, so she harbored hatred against the two of them, and set about watching for the chance to plot their ruin.

The Muqaddam Shalhoub Abu 'Ashina, mentioned above, coveted the muqaddam-ship of the Jubbah, but he did not dare compete for it with the Shidyaq Ra'd, husband of Sitt al-Banat... He knew, on the other hand, that Jamal al-Din, Sitt al-Banat's brother, coveted it too... So he had to remove the two of them from his path, that the field might be clear for him and he might attain his desire.

Word came to him of what had passed between Sitt al-Banat and her husband, so he set about assiduously drawing near to her, until he occupied in her heart the place he desired, and gained such power over her as would bring her to do his bidding. And when he learned of the hatred she harbored for her brother and her husband, he found that the opportunity he sought had presented itself; so he began to inflame her breast against the two together, and to paint treachery against them in fair colors.

One evening, Jamal al-Din took supper with his brother-in-law, Sitt al-Banat waiting on them; after supper each retired to his bed — and their sleep that evening was everlasting, for the criminal wife and sister had slipped poison to them in a chicken she had prepared especially for that purpose.

Thus did that woman take her revenge on her husband and her brother.

And she opened the way of rule to her lover and her partner in crime.

Abu 'Ashina Shalhoub assumed the muqaddam-ship by order of Yusuf Pasha Sayfa, governor of the province of Tripoli... He sensed that Ra'd's brothers — they were three: Ni'meh, Daoud, and Jirjis — were working to recover the rule from him, so he denounced them to the Pasha — who was one of those whose rule rested on informers' tales — and he ordered them put to death by drowning and strangling.

The field was clear for Shalhoub.

He passed nine years in power, usurping rights, oppressing the weak, shedding innocent blood, imposing crushing taxes, and extorting money.

Between Ibn Sayfa and Emir Fakhr al-Din there was an enmity, and famous engagements... In the year 1621, the Emir wrested the province of Tripoli from his adversary, and drove his partisans and agents out of Jubbat Bsharri. He set over it Sheikh Abu Safi al-Khazen, and placed him at the head of all its governors and rulers.

But Shalhoub was not stripped of his muqaddam-ship.

Nor did this make him desist from his waywardness and his oppression.

The last thing that stirred up wrath against him was that his son 'Ashiya one day raided a monastery in the neighborhood of Hasroun and killed its superior... Whereupon Sheikh Abu Safi al-Khazen did no less than seize him, cast him into the fortress of Smar Jbeil, and send word to Emir Fakhr al-Din of what he had done; and the Emir ordered him put to death at once.

Shalhoub grieved for him, and set about protesting against his killing, launching outrageous attacks upon Abu Safi and the Emir — which compelled the Khazen sheikh to arrest him and send him to the Emir bound in chains.

The Emir was then at Smar Jbeil. When Shalhoub stood before him, he looked at him askance and addressed him, saying:

You allied yourself with our enemies, Shalhoub, and we bore you no grudge; you killed whom you killed of our subjects, unjustly, and we turned a blind eye to you; you seized for yourself what you seized of the people's money in the days of Ibn Sayfa, and we said: perhaps in our reign he will deal more kindly with the subjects than he did in the reign of another... But behold, you are of those who set no store by forbearance, and you wish to play in our reign the part you played in the reign of others; and it escaped you that our eye watches over the small before the great among our subjects, and that we wish all the Lebanese to live in our reign safe from every injustice.

His voice shook with anger, and he went on:

You said to yourself, fellow: Fakhr al-Din will not demand the blood of monks — so you emboldened your son to kill them and plunder their goods, and thereby you committed two crimes: the crime of doubting the patriotism of your Emir, and the crime of violating the sanctity of humanity, and of religion.

And he turned to his executioners and cried: Take this tyrannical profligate and strangle him, and cast his stinking corpse into the river.

That very night, the waters of the Madfoun River swallowed up the tyrant's corpse, and history added a white page to the pages of the justice of Fakhr al-Din.