Madman's Tales

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He called himself Ibn Qattin (son of a cat) because his only remaining companion in this world was a stray cat he loved. This cat compensated him for the loss of his elderly father and mother, providing him with some solace. He used to rub against the cat before leaving for his old shop, a secondhand clothing store that barely provided enough to live on. Every day, every morning, that cat would wait for him and follow him until he adopted it, making it his companion who helped him forget his need and poverty. He named it "Birāt," which means "pirate" in Arabic, because it was missing its right eye. Then came the day the poor cat died of suffocation after our friend accidentally fell asleep on it! Jaafar grieved its death so deeply that his subsequent madness surpassed his previous state. He called himself Ibn Qattin, inspired by the titles he had heard of Ibn Sirin and Ibn Uthaymeen, and also to commemorate his betrayed cat, even though he knew he had made himself the son of a cat. But he said in He convinced himself of a crazy decision that had a lasting effect on him like a chronic illness: “To be the son of a cat metaphorically is better than to be the son of a human being in reality!! For my father left me nothing but debts that increase my ruin upon ruin…”