IX: Competitors explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Class and Gentility

  The hierarchy of the slave market is vividly portrayed, from the powerful Basha Asad-ed-Din to the lowly beggars and slaves, highlighting social stratification.

• Deception and Appearance

  Fenzileh's veiled face and arrogant posture mask her desperation, while Tsamanni's fawning smiles conceal his hatred and malice.

• Fate and Free Will

  Asad declares the slave's destiny 'was written,' reflecting a fatalistic worldview that justifies his actions as preordained.

Characters to notice

• Asad-ed-Din

  Arrives at the slave market on a white mule, rebukes Fenzileh for her public behavior, and resolves to purchase the English slave for his harem.

• Tsamanni

  Asad's wazeer, who is tasked with purchasing the slave; he harbors contempt for Fenzileh and her eunuch Ayoub.

• Fenzileh

  Confronts Asad about the new slave, but is publicly rebuked and ordered to return home in her litter.

• Marzak

  Escorts Fenzileh's litter alongside Ayoub, not daring to meet Asad's angry eye.

• Ayoub-el-Samin

  Fenzileh's eunuch, who escorts her litter and is later watched for by Tsamanni in the Kasbah courtyard.

• Ali

  Ordered by Asad to return the slave to her place among the others after Fenzileh's confrontation.

Key passages

• “He spread his hands and salaamed in token of complete acquiescence.”

  He opened his hands and bowed deeply to show he fully agreed.

  Describes Ayoub's submission to Fenzileh's plan to outbid Tsamanni.

• “Verily, so much beauty was never created by the All-Wise to be cast into the Pit.”

  Truly, such beauty was not made by God to be damned.

  Asad's justification for purchasing the English slave, seeing her as a gift to be saved.

• “It was written; and even as none may obtain what is not written, so none may avoid what is.”

  It was fated; just as no one can get what isn't destined, no one can escape what is.

  Asad's fatalistic belief that the slave's acquisition is predetermined.