The world is thrice cursed by fools. The first curse is the fools who would call themselves kings. The second curse is those who would follow such a king to their deaths. The third curse is those who would criticize a king who is no fool. No time in history has seen such a plague of fools as these times.
The Caliph, Ismail, came to power upon the death of his father, and was derided as 'the boy' by generals and courtiers. He never faced battle. That was said, and truly, as every enemy he ever faced fled before him. On the battlefield they fled. In the royal court of Morocco his enemies stood boldly with sneers on their faces. The Caliph nears fifty, and has fathered many fine princes, and still they sneer, and call him the boy behind his back, but not to his face.
They question him, and he listens, though sometimes he must seethe at their lack of respect. "There is no man who has nothing to teach me," he says frequently. Over the years he has certainly taught them. Those who fear to speak out have been retired from the court. They have comfort, but when a man has had influence nothing can replace it.
Others, who spoke their minds enough to keep their stations, but maneuvered to raise them at the Caliph's expense have found the iron in the Caliph, and his steel in their bellies. To conspire against him he does not treat as a crime. To lead that conspiracy is to forfeit your life. He gives no quarter.
Beyond the court the iron shows with exactly the same tempering. Our Caliph is a single forging, pure in his consistency. To compare him to other kings should still the tongue of any critic.
The Arab Sultan, al Mustali III, descended of the Pharohs of Egypt, is a fine illustration of a fool. For over a decade he has scattered his forces, desultorily chasing Turkish armies in and out of Syria. The Byzantines destroyed the Turkish empire, they hold the Islamic Turks in bondage, and their armies stand at the borders and laugh. Thus is the heart of Islam protected in the east.
In the west, in Iberia, generations of peaceful management and prosperity have turned the lands of the Spanish king into an Islamic paradise. The good people of France, freed from their tyrannical Catholic nobles, flock to our teachers. Islam would be better served if united under the Caliph, but there are many in the mosques who know that he is not devout and they fear him. They don't see that if he displayed the pious nature they would have of him that the rich lands of France would be in turmoil rather than falling peacefully under his sway. The old Sultans of Turkey were devout, and their people now serve Constantinople.
Selim II, who calls himself Sultan of the Turks today, has suggested a united Islam. Of course he suggests this while his motley band skirmishes across the deserts, bringing nothing but ruin to the holy lands. A fool for a sultan leading an army of fools.
Fleeing Syria they captured Palestine. Had he chosen a path of stewardship the wealth of Palestine could possibly have allowed him to secure Jerusalem against the forces of al-Mustali III, but he and his generals were instead driven by their own rhetoric. Shouting for Islamic unity and apparently expecting a swell of support throughout north Africa the self proclaimed Sultan attacked our garrison in the Sinai and was crushed. Amir abu Salim and his general, ibn Mardanish, pursued and routed the Turks out of Palestine.
Abu Salim is now King in Jerusalem, and ibn Mardanish is Amir of the Sanai. The surviving Turks overwhelmed the garrison at Tripoli. The fool al Mustali has still not seen the necessity to raise his troops in force and eradicate his rival. At least with Jerusalem held by the Caliph it will not fall to the Byzantines, as seems inevitable for the lands disputed by the posturing sultans. But the greatest fool among kings was not in the east, but the west.
For generations the Catholic Kings of Aragon held sway in their mountainous little corner of the Pyrenees. All the way back to the reign of Yusef I the Arogonese have been our allies. When Yusef crushed the Spanish, Aragon stood wisely aside. When the French launched their crusade on Navarre and the Pope was howling for Muslim blood Aragon stood wisely aside. Felipe, last King of Aragon, apparently went mad.
The emissary from Aragon stood before the Caliph as if he was about to negotiate a trade agreement, or report on a drunken brawl in a border town. With a straight face and calm voice he looked the Caliph in the eye and said "My King sends greetings and regrets. Due to hostilities between your nation and our ally, the Sultan of the Turks, we have been forced to cancel our alliance with you and will be suspending all terms of those agreements. It is the king's most fervent wish that you come to terms with the Sultan before any violence between our great nations is necessary."
Silence fell in the royal hall. Had a beggar taken a gold coin in hand and promptly spit on his benefactor there could not have been greater shock. The Caliph actually tipped his head and shook it quickly, as if wondering if something lodged in his ear had perhaps distorted his hearing. Finally he said, in a quiet voice, "I understand. I'm sure you will be my guest while I assemble an appropriate response for your king."
The following year, having assembled over three thousand troops, Prince Muhammad delivered the Caliph's response. The generals say that a smaller force could have had a glorious battle. Once again, the Caliph has proven that he has no interest in glory, and an instinct that leads him to strike straight to the heart. The former Kingdom of Aragon is now a province of the Empire; a small one.
