المَكْتَبَةُ المُحَرَّمَةُ في قُرْطُبَة

The Forbidden Library of Cordoba

الفَصْلُ الأَوَّل: البَابُ المُغْلَق

Chapter One: The Locked Door

كَانَتْ رَيْحَانَةُ بِنْتُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ أَعْلَمَ نِسَاءِ الأَنْدَلُسِ بِعُلُومِ الأَوَّلِينَ. وَكَانَ جَسَدُهَا يَحْمِلُ عِلْمًا آخَرَ لَا تَجِدُهُ فِي الكُتُبِ: عِلْمَ الإِغْوَاءِ الَّذِي تَعَلَّمَتْهُ مِنْ خُطُوطِ جِسْمِهَا المُمْتَلِئِ، مِنْ ثِقَلِ وَرِكَيْهَا حِينَ تَمْشِي، وَمِنْ نَظْرَةِ عَيْنَيْهَا السَّوْدَاوَيْنِ اللَّتَيْنِ تُشْبِهَانِ بِئْرَيْنِ لَا قَرَار لَهُمَا.

Rayhana bint Ibrahim was the most learned woman in all of Andalusia in the sciences of the ancients. Yet her body carried another knowledge not found in books: the science of seduction learned from the curves of her full form, from the weight of her hips when she walked, from the gaze of her black eyes like two bottomless wells.

سَمِعَتْ رَيْحَانَةُ بِمَكْتَبَةٍ سِرِّيَّةٍ تَحْتَ القَصْرِ الأَمِيرِيِّ، تَحْوِي مَخْطُوطَاتٍ يُونَانِيَّةً وَفَارِسِيَّةً وَهِنْدِيَّةً فِي فُنُونِ اللَّذَّةِ وَأَسْرَارِ الأَجْسَاد. وَحَارِسُهَا رَجُلٌ غَامِضٌ يُدْعَى طَارِقَ بنَ نُور، لَمْ يَرَهُ أَحَدٌ قَطّ.

Rayhana heard of a secret library beneath the princely palace, containing Greek, Persian, and Indian manuscripts on the arts of pleasure and secrets of the body. Its guardian was an enigmatic man called Tariq ibn Nur, whom none had ever seen.

الفَصْلُ الثَّاني: الحَارِسُ وَالعَالِمَة

Chapter Two: The Guardian and the Scholar

تَسَلَّلَتْ رَيْحَانَةُ إِلَى المَكْتَبَةِ فِي لَيْلَةٍ حَالِكَةٍ. وَجَدَتْ رَجُلًا طَوِيلًا، عَيْنَاهُ خَضْرَاوَانِ كَزَيْتُونِ إِشْبِيلِيَّةَ، وَوَجْهُهُ مَحْفُورٌ بِتَجَاعِيدِ الحِكْمَةِ وَالسُّهَاد.

Rayhana crept into the library on a pitch-dark night. She found a tall man, his eyes green as Seville's olives, his face carved with the lines of wisdom and sleeplessness.

"أَعْرِفُ لِمَاذَا جِئْتِ،" قَالَ طَارِقٌ بِصَوْتٍ كَصَرِيرِ الرِّقِّ القَدِيم. "تُرِيدِينَ كِتَابَ الشَّيْخِ النَّفَزَاوِيِّ. لَكِنَّ ثَمَنَهُ غَالٍ."

"I know why you have come," said Tariq in a voice like the creak of ancient parchment. "You seek the book of Sheikh al-Nafzawi. But its price is dear."

"سَمِّ ثَمَنَكَ،" قَالَتْ رَيْحَانَةُ، وَثَوْبُهَا يَنْزَلِقُ عَنْ كَتِفِهَا الَّتِي تُشْبِهُ تَلَّةً مِنْ عَاج.

"Name your price," said Rayhana, her gown slipping from a shoulder like a hill of ivory.

"أُرِيدُ أَنْ تَقْرَئِي لِيَ الكِتَابَ... وَأَنْ تُطَبِّقِي كُلَّ صَفْحَةٍ مِنْهُ."

"I want you to read me the book... and to apply each page of it."

الفَصْلُ الثَّالِث: صَفَحَاتُ اللَّهَب

Chapter Three: Pages of Flame

بَدَأَتْ رَيْحَانَةُ بِالفَصْلِ الأَوَّل: "فِي أَصْنَافِ النِّسَاءِ وَمَا يُسْتَحَبُّ مِنْهُنَّ." قَرَأَتْ عَنِ المَرْأَةِ "المُمْتَلِئَةِ البَيْضَاءِ ذَاتِ الأَرْدَافِ الثَّقِيلَةِ"، ثُمَّ نَظَرَتْ إِلَى طَارِقٍ نَظْرَةَ سُؤَال.

Rayhana began with the first chapter: "On the Types of Women and What is Preferred Among Them." She read of the woman "full-bodied and fair with heavy haunches," then looked at Tariq questioningly.

قَالَ: "أَرِنِي كَيْفَ يَصِفُهَا."

"Show me how he describes her," he said.

فَأَسْقَطَتْ رِدَاءَهَا، وَظَهَرَ جَسَدُهَا كَقَصِيدَةٍ مَكْتُوبَةٍ بِالحِبْرِ الأَبْيَضِ عَلَى وَرَقِ اللَّيْل. وَتَقَدَّمَ طَارِقٌ، وَيَدَاهُ تَقْرَآنِ جَسَدَهَا كَمَا تَقْرَأُ المَخْطُوطَاتِ النَّادِرَة.

She let fall her robe, and her body appeared like a poem written in white ink upon the paper of night. Tariq approached, his hands reading her body as they would a rare manuscript.

وَقَرَأَتْ مِنَ الفَصْلِ الثَّانِي: "فِي أَوْضَاعِ الجِمَاعِ"، وَطَبَّقَا كُلَّ وَضْعٍ عَلَى الأَرْضِ المَفْرُوشَةِ بِالسَّجَّادِ الأَنْدَلُسِيّ. وَكَانَ جَسَدُهَا الغَزِيرُ يَتَمَوَّجُ تَحْتَهُ كَأَنَّهُ بَحْرٌ مِنْ لَحْم.

She read from the second chapter: "On the Positions of Union," and they applied each position upon the floor spread with Andalusian carpets. Her abundant body rippled beneath him like a sea of flesh.

الفَصْلُ الرَّابِع: القِرَاءَةُ بِالجَسَد

Chapter Four: Reading with the Body

لَيْلَةً بَعْدَ لَيْلَةٍ، عَادَتْ رَيْحَانَةُ إِلَى المَكْتَبَة. قَرَأَتْ عَنْ "أَسْمَاءِ الفَرْجِ" وَ"أَسْمَاءِ الذَّكَرِ" وَ"صِفَاتِ الجِمَاعِ المَحْمُودِ"، وَكَانَ طَارِقٌ تِلْمِيذًا مُجِدًّا وَأُسْتَاذًا بَارِعًا فِي آنٍ وَاحِد.

Night after night, Rayhana returned to the library. She read of "the names of the female organ" and "the names of the male organ" and "the qualities of praiseworthy union," and Tariq was both diligent student and skilled master at once.

"لَقَدْ قَرَأْتِ الكِتَابَ كُلَّهُ،" قَالَ لَهَا ذَاتَ لَيْلَةٍ وَهُمَا مُتَعَانِقَانِ بَيْنَ أَكْوَامِ المَخْطُوطَات. "فَمَاذَا تَعَلَّمْتِ؟"

"You have read the entire book," he said to her one night as they lay entwined among heaps of manuscripts. "What have you learned?"

أَجَابَتْ وَهِيَ تُمَرِّرُ أَصَابِعَهَا عَلَى صَدْرِهِ: "تَعَلَّمْتُ أَنَّ أَعْظَمَ مَكْتَبَةٍ هِيَ الجَسَدُ، وَأَنَّ أَفْضَلَ قِرَاءَةٍ هِيَ قِرَاءَةُ العَاشِقِ لِمَعْشُوقِهِ."

She answered, tracing her fingers across his chest: "I learned that the greatest library is the body, and the finest reading is a lover's reading of the beloved."

الفَصْلُ الخَامِس: السِّرُّ المَكْشُوف

Chapter Five: The Secret Revealed

اكْتَشَفَتْ رَيْحَانَةُ أَنَّ طَارِقًا كَانَ ابْنَ الخَلِيفَةِ المَنْفِيَّ، يَخْتَبِئُ فِي المَكْتَبَةِ هَرَبًا مِنْ أَعْدَائِهِ. وَكَانَتْ هِيَ مَلَاذَهُ الوَحِيدَ مِنَ الوَحْدَةِ القَاتِلَة.

Rayhana discovered that Tariq was the son of the exiled Caliph, hiding in the library to escape his enemies. She was his only refuge from killing loneliness.

"سَأَبْقَى مَعَكَ،" قَالَتْ، وَجَسَدُهَا المُمْتَلِئُ يَلْتَفُّ حَوْلَهُ كَغِلَافٍ حَوْلَ كِتَابٍ ثَمِين. "سَأَكُونُ مَكْتَبَتَكَ وَقَارِئَتَكَ وَكِتَابَكَ فِي آنٍ وَاحِد."

"I shall stay with you," she said, her full body wrapping around him like a cover around a precious book. "I shall be your library, your reader, and your book all at once."

الخَاتِمَة

Epilogue

عَاشَتْ رَيْحَانَةُ مَعَ طَارِقٍ فِي المَكْتَبَةِ السِّرِّيَّةِ سَنَوَاتٍ طِوَالًا. وَأَلَّفَا مَعًا كِتَابًا جَدِيدًا فِي فُنُونِ الحُبِّ، قِيلَ إِنَّهُ أَجْمَلُ مَا كُتِبَ فِي هَذَا البَاب. وَيُقَالُ إِنَّ مَنْ يَجِدُ نُسْخَةً مِنْهُ، يَجِدُ مَعَهَا سِرَّ السَّعَادَةِ الأَبَدِيَّة.

Rayhana lived with Tariq in the secret library for many long years. Together they authored a new book on the arts of love, said to be the most beautiful ever written on the subject. And it is said that whoever finds a copy of it finds with it the secret of eternal happiness.