A Letter from a Scholar
We made excellent time out of Cambay, a most prosperous, gentle city. Many goods can be found there, the textile market offering
everything from cloth of gold and silk brocade to block-printed cotton in the most vivid hues.
But on our second day at sea, calamity struck. We were besieged by a pirate vessel taking advantage of the dawn fog and soon
boarded by the scoundrels, who laughed and spewed invective that would make a God-fearing man pierce his tongue. If a trader
of these waters has not yet had an encounter with such outlaws, they count themselves blessed. They are the most violent of
all the bandit classes, comprised of thieves, oath breakers, adulterers, poisoners, and con men. Their bathing habits are
abominable, their temperaments cursed, and their language an incomprehensible babble of every tongue spoken along the ocean’s
shores. Though some among the pirates make a weak effort to cling to the path of righteousness, the guidelines of our noble
religion are among the first to be cast aside; with prayer irregular and tortuous twists of justification made to consume
that which has been forbidden.
This rabble managed to distinguish itself in an even more scandalous way, for they were captained by a female by the name
of Amina al-Sirafi, who is gaining notoriety in these parts. We were already negotiating our surrender when it came to light
that the nakhudha of the enemy vessel was a woman, for she was built as broadly as a blacksmith and dressed in the turban
and robes of a man. She was dark, her origins nebulous, as they are for many of the lower classes of seafolk who care not
for the nobility of lineage.
The revelation that al-Sirafi was female caused a great deal of turmoil, as many of the men on my ship protested that they would rather die than suffer the dishonor of surrendering to a woman.
After much discussion, during which the rogues threatened to torch us with naft and eat our roasted flesh—may God curse them!
—we finally surrendered, losing most of our cargo and all of our weapons.
We had with us a pair of elderly ladies intending to make hajj. They were mercifully left untouched by the pirates but seemed
impressed by al-Sirafi’s contemptuous wiles, so much that their chaperone wisely kept the women confined for the remainder
of the trip to cleanse their hearts. The rest of our journey passed in a more peaceable manner—thanks and praise to He whose
Kingdom lasts forever and whose protection is unparalleled!