The Sultan's Dilemma

AL-Hakim, Tawfiq. "The Sultan's Dilemma." Lawall, Sarah. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. NY: The Twentieth Century, 2002. 2282-2336.

This is a play that tells the story of Justice. What is Justice? In the beginning we see a Condemned Man who is waiting to meet his fate by the Executioner at Morning Prayer. We are left wondering why this man is in prison and what he did that he cannot speak of. The Vizier, Sultan, and Chief Cadi show up what is believed to be after Morning Prayer and the Condemned Man has not been executed. It is finally known that the Condemned Man was being executed because he was telling the villagers that the Sultan had not been manumitted and bearing such stigma is not entitled to rule over the free people.  The previous Sultan died spontaneously and departed before manumitting him and the Vizier wanted to kill the Condemned Man while burying his fault with him. The Cadi, Vizier, and The Sultan deliberate on what to do with the situation of having a salve ruling over the free people. Should they kill him and put an end to the conspiracy or follow the law? The Cadi believes very strongly that they should follow the law and have the Sultan sold at auction. The sultan has to choose between the Sword which imposes and exposes and the Law which threaten and protects. It is once at action that the person who bought the Sultan is the Lady who is well known as the village whore. She beats the Cadi at his own games asking him "…in order to buy you must manumit; in order for me to possess I must not possess. Do you find this reasonable?". They come to an agreement that at Morning Prayer she will release the Sultan. The Cadi, furious on how this Lady beat him at what he knows best, convinces the Muezzin to do Morning Prayer at midnight. Believing that since she said she would give him back at Morning Prayer is didn't matter what time it was.

               This play or story shows how we battle daily trying to do and figure out what is right. Trying to find what is right with in us and according to the law of the land. Is there justification for acts that seem to be treason or conspiracies? We are judged everyday on our actions, environment, and our social/economic status. How are the people who decide what is right according to the law can twist it to benefit them and the situation at hand?