Drama

The Truth

CHARACTERS

A grocer

A woman

A man

A teenager

Murad, a young man

Scholar Muj’tahid, an elderly man

Juma’a, a man in his 30s.

A pig

A chicken

A fox

A monkey

A male cat

ACT I

Scene I

The stage is dark. Noise of a market place is heard. Lights are switched on. A grocery. The grocer, wearing a ghutrah[1] round his head, is inside his stall, looking at his fruits and vegetables in a piggy manner. A woman, wearing abaya,[2] carrying a shopping basket, comes in and starts handling tomatoes. A man comes in. He stars at everything like a cunning fox, then he starts handling apples. A teenager comes in. He sneaks around the grocery, like a mischievous young monkey. He stands behind the woman, and grabs an apple and swiftly puts it in his pocket. The man sees him, catches him and pinches his ear strongly. They scuffle. The woman screams and freaks out like a chicken. The teenager runs away. He stands at a distance, gets the apple out and starts playing with it and laughing. The grocer holds a big weight measure metal and tries to throw it at the teenager, who puts the apple back into his pocket and tries to manoeuvre with the grocer. The woman screams and puts her hands on her cheeks. Her basket falls down. The man starts laughing, pointing at the teenager. The grocer throws the metal weight. The woman screams and runs offstage. The sound of the metal weight falling on the ground is heard. A piece of it is broken, showing a hollow space inside it. The teenager, grabs it, looks at its hollow inside and pushes his fingers inside, waving it at the grocer. The man stops laughing and stares angrily at the grocer, who freezes in his place. The teenager spits at the grocer. The grocer runs after him. The teenager puts the metal weight on the ground and runs offstage. The grocer takes the metal and the broken piece and hides them behind his back. The man looks angrily at him, pointing his finger at him. The grocer bends his head down. He throws the weight and its broken piece into a dustbin in the front of the stall and gets another weight. The man takes it from him, examines it carefully, weighs it in each hand and gives it back to the grocer. The grocer weighs a plastic bag of apples in a two-pan balance scale and hands it to the man. The man gives him money and leaves. The grocer looks both ways then he gets the metal and its broken piece out from the dustbin.

…

Scene II

The stage is dark. Athan[3] is heard. After it finishes, lights are switched on. A white-turbaned scholar, Muj’tahid, is sitting on a prayer mat. Behind him sits his assistant, Juma’a. Both men are beading their rosaries and moving their lips. Murad enters and raises his hand in a greeting manner.

Murad: As-salamu alaykum[4]

Muj’tahid and Juma’a: Wa alaykumu s-salam wa rahmatu Allah wa barakatu.[5]

[Murad takes off his slippers and sits beside Muj’tahid.]

Murad: You must be Scholar Muj’tahid?

Muj’tahid: I’m he and I’m at your service, my son.

Murad: I have come from a faraway place to see you.

Muj’tahid: By Allah’s will, I’ll do all I can to help you.

Murad: I want you to teach me how to be a divine scholar like you.

Muj’tahid: That is fine. Tell me first, are you good to your parents?

Murad: Yes, I’m very obedient to them. In fact, they were the ones who sent me to you.

Muj’tahid: Well done, my son. Have you committed any sins?

Murad: Well. … Just a few minor ones.

Muj’tahid: Don’t worry, my son. First, you have to cleanse your body from these sins that chain and blind your soul. You need to seek transcendence of your body to achieve holiness through asceticism.

Murad: I’m at your command, Your Reverence.

Muj’tahid: Well done. You must melt your flesh with fasting in order to build a new purified body.  You must liberate your soul to have divinity. [Turns to Juma’a] Juma’a

Juma’a: Your Reverence.

Muj’tahid: Bring me a small green cane, a scale and a piece of bread. [Juma’a leaves.]

Muj’tahid: You must seclude yourself at this mosque for forty days. You must fast and break your fasting every night with a small piece of bread and water only. Your intake must be reduced every night. I will show you how.

[Juma’a comes with a small green cane, a two-pan balance scale and a piece of bread. Muj’tahid puts the cane on one pan of the scale and the bread on the other.]

Muj’tahid: Every night, you weigh the cane and eat equivalent bread. The cane will dry out gradually and its weight will be less and less. You must do some spiritual sports as well. You must perform 1000 prostrations to Allah every day and night. Between each two prostrations, you should ask Allah to bless the Prophet Mohammed and his progeny for 100 times. Beside this, you must read a chapter from the holy Quran and say for a specific number of times the most beautiful names of Allah. Juma’a will give you the exact numbers. Before the end of the 40-day period, your vision will surely be clearer and your soul will no doubt see the truth. I will go on a pilgrimage and come back after forty days. Juma’a will take care of you.

…

Scene III

Murad is sitting on his mat, beading and moving his lips. He looks thinner and pale. Juma’a comes with a bottle of water and a piece of bread. He puts the water on the ground and the bread on the scale.

Juma’a: I brought you water and a piece of bread for tonight’s meal.

Murad: May Allah bless you.

[Juma’a grabs the dry cane on the pan of the scale and looks at it.]

Juma’a: Fasting and reclusion is very hard, isn’t it?

 [Murad smiles and nods his head while continuing beading. The noise of the market is heard.]

Juma’a: You can use the window up there to watch the people in the market.

Murad: Am I allowed to do that?

Juma’a: Yes.

[Murad stands up and starts looking through the window at the market, while continuing beading.]

…

Scene IV

Murad is sitting and beading. He looks very pale and frail.

Murad: This morning is the 40th. Thank God, all will be over tonight.

[Animal sounds of pigs, chickens, foxes, monkeys, dogs, cats, sheep, cows, donkeys, horses, lions, elephants, etc., are heard. Murad is frightened. He stands up and freezes. The lights are switched on in the market, showing a pig inside the grocery, wearing ghutrah round his head. A chicken, with abaya dangling from the top of its head and a shopping basket hanging on its wing, comes to the grocery and starts handling tomatoes, then a fox comes and starts handling apples. A monkey enters and starts jumping around. Murad slowly moves to the window and looks through it.]

Murad: Oh my Allah! Oh my Allah. [He moves away from the window]

Murad: All the people in the market have turned into animals. All kinds of animals. [Shouting] Juma’a … Juma’a.

…

Scene V

[The noise of the market is heard. Lights are switched on. The grocer is at his stall. The woman is selecting tomatoes. The man is selecting apples. The teenager is moving around them. Murad is squatting, putting his hands on his face. Juma’a comes. Murad stands up.]

Murad: Juma’a. Do you hear what I hear? [Juma’a listens.]

Juma’a: I don’t hear anything unusual.

 Murad: Look at the window.

[Juma’a looks through the window.]

Juma’a: What’s there? Nothing unusual!

Murad: Oh! It must be me then who is starting to imagine these things. It must be fasting that makes me hallucinate. I must break my fasting immediately. Please, Juma’a bring me shish kebab. Lack of food makes me see frightful visions.

Juma’a: But …

Murad: Please, please, bring me shish kebab. I will go crazy. [He starts crying. Juma’a leaves]

…

ACT II

Scene I

A male cat is sitting on the floor, eating kebab from a plastic plate on a plastic bag. Then it puts the plate with the remaining kebab in the bag. It wipes its hands on a handkerchief.

Murad: Allah’s Plenty. I will eat the rest of the kebab later.

 [It stands up and looks through the window.]

Murad: Now, I’m very well. I can see the people as they are.

[Muj’tahid comes in while the cat is looking through the window. He stands there looking at it.]

Muj’tahid: Poor cat. … Murad.

The male cat: Your Reverence. Welcome back. [It shakes Muj’tahid’s hand.]

Muj’tahid: Tell me what happened that made you fail in the task I assigned to you.

The male cat: Did I fail?

Muj’tahid: You failed my son. Remember, I can see the truth.

The male cat: But Your Reverence, I fasted for forty days, but in the last day, I had to break my fasting because of hallucinations.

Muj’tahid: Tell me what happened.

The male cat: I heard frightening animal sounds. I looked out of the window and saw a shocking scene. People were turned into different kinds of animals. Only when I broke my fasting, was I able to see things normally.

Muj’tahid: Alas. … You wasted your time and mine. When your soul had just started to see the truth about people and look deeper into their essence, you spoiled everything.

The male cat: But, but … Your Reverence… That truth is so frightening! I don’t think I can live with this truth.

 [The male cat wears slippers and starts walking out before leaving the stage, it stops, goes back and grabs the bag with the remaining kebab and leaves.]

The End

Bushra Juhi Jani

PG /English Literature
The University of Sheffield

© 2014