The Rebel and the Hajj

This is the true story of my grandfather, whom I have little memories of him, I can hardly summon his image in my mind, because I was only six years old when he passed away in 1980, I don't know how old he was, and propably no one does, since at the time of his birth, no accurate birth records were kept. What I know about him, is from what my father told me about him, or from what I heard when other people talk about him, and I believe that these acounts of him are generally true, I never really showed that much curisiosity regarding his life, something I regret now, since there is so much details that I don't know, and now it is too late to ask my father as he passed away twelve years after my grandfather.

His name was Mustafa, but I never heard him ever being called by that name, he was called "El-Hajj 3asi", "El-Hajj" is a title like doctor, profesor or general, that is given to people who perform the religios ritual of El-Hajj, a ritual performed in Mekka in the Arabic peninsula, the second part of the name "3asi" means rebel in Arabic, I don't know why did he get the rebel nick name, but I do know that this rebelious spirit, still runs in the vains of the males of his familly, two generations down the road. He was also "Mokhtar El Hara", or the chosen leader of the neighberhood, it was common at those times to have wise respected man chosen to lead the people of the neighberhood, that specific neighberhood was called "El Hawara", one of the neighberhoolds of "Shafa 3amr", a small Palastinian town in the Galili. He was not a man of great physical build, but what he lacked in size he compensated with courage, he was also the first Hajj in town, something that brought him great honor among the people, how he achieved this is the interesing part.

I can only speculate on why no one else in town at that time (beginning of the twentieth century) had performed the Hajj, the only means of transport to Mekka then, would have been some kind of desert crossing caravan, maybe such trip was beyond the financial means of the town people, or maybe such adventure ws beyond their courage, or maybe some regional conflicts at the that time prevented people from performing the trip.

It all happened during the first world war, the town now part of Israel was under the rule of the Outmani empire (the Turks), and my grandfather was recruited to the Turkish army, I don't know if he did it of his own will or was forced to do it, I believe it is the latter, since the Arabic people held no sense of loyalty to that opressive impire, I don't know the details of the battles he fought during the war, but the result of the war is known to all of us, the English and their Arab Allies defeated the Turks, my grandfather was captured, and transfered to Saudi Arabia, and was held in a camp as a prisoner of war, after the end of the war, all the prisoners were released, and were allowed to go back to their home countries. My grandfather took advantage of the opportunity of being so close to Mekka, to perform the ritual of el-Hajj.

My grandfather life path took a big unexpected deviation, from a simple life of a farmer, to fighting wars in foreign countries, he went on a journey that he would propably not have taken of his own will, a dangerous journey that might have taken his life, but it did not, he came back alife, and with the honor of el-Hajj, and I believe he came wiser and more courages man than when he left, was chosen by the people to be "El-Mukhtar", and lived to die of old age. I believe that this is not such a isolated occurance, I believe that life is always trying to take us on unexpected journies, be it physical or spiritual in order to give us or teach us something.

Men, Women and Flowers

Marc was about to go on a date, his first date in more than a year, since he started his first job after university, he was very focused on his work for the last year, and he had no time for such things. His date was Sandra, a girl he met a friend's party, they had a nice conversation there, and they agreed to meet again, they were going to meet at the central plaza, then they would probably go to one of the nice cafes at the plaza. Marc studied computer science, and he worked at a high tech company, a bit of a geek, but never the less he had a sense for the romance, he decided he would stop at a flower shop on his way and buy Sandra some roses, there was an enormous choice of different roses and the shop, in the end he opted for white roses, he bought a bouquet, when he got to the plaza he parked his car, picked up the bouquet, and was about to leave, when he started thinking "what is she going to do with this bouquet once I give it her ? She is going to have to carry it around all the time", he decided that giving her one rose is a better idea, maybe even a moreromanticc one, he had seen it many time in movies, so he chose one rose out of the bouquet, the most perfect one, and dumped the rest in the trunk of the car.

He went towards the center of the plaza, and there he saw Sandra, he kept the flower behind his back as he got closer, and when he got there he kissed her on the cheek and handed her the rose, Sandra was delighted for the gift, she said it was beautiful, they decided on which cafe to go to, but as they were walking towards it Sandra looked preoccupied, "We have to put this rose in water soon, otherwise it will die", she said "maybe we can ask for an extra glass of water at the cafe to put this rose in", she added, "Sure, we can do that", Marc calmly replied, but in his mind he was thinking, "it is just a rose that is going to die eventually anyway", they got the cafe, she ordered some coffee and he ordered some tee, and they asked for a glass of water as well, where they placed the rose in, things went quite well, the stayed there for a couple of hours, they had a nice conversation and a few laughs, and they decided to meet again. As they were about to go their separate ways, Sandra thanked him for the rose again, "I am going to put this lovely rose in water as soon as I get home", she said, Marc smiled, "she really likes the gift, I guess that is a good thing", he thought, kissed her on the cheek and said goodbye.

Marc completely forgot about the other rose in the trunk, until a few days later when he had to put something in the trunk, and he found the roses there, all dead, he grabbed them and threw them away in the trash , "You served your purpose", he said as he did that, he and Sandra already went on a second date and were going to meet again. A couple of weeks later, Sandra invited him to her apartment, and as he entered, he saw it, the rose, it was setting in a glass of water next to the window, still in a perfect condition, "I put next to the window, so it gets some sun", said Sandra when she noticed Marc staring at the flower, "that is really great, it still looks good", Marc replied, "But it might be wise not to mention the fate of the other roses to her", he thought, as they held each other and their lips came together.

The Social Divide

Maria was walking down the street with her two younger sisters, she is 8 years old, her younger sister Alejandra is 6, and the little one Jantet was only 3, she had to watch over her two sisters for the afternoon, they past by a Mangos , a restaurant part of a chain that sells fast food, ice cream and other deserts, mainly cratering for children, she knew it had some kind of play section for children, so she decided to take her sisters there, the play ground was on the second floor, and when they got there they found many other children playing, there was a big cage full of small balls, a small slider, a few miniature cars that kids can sit in and push with there feet and a maze with ladders, nets and sliders, Alejandra opted to play in one of those miniature cars, while Maria helped her little sister into the cage, were she played with other children, rolling over the balls and throwing all around, Maria was content to watch her little sister and the other children, every once in a while she would throw a ball at her little sister, who would laugh and try to the throw the ball back at her only to fall short. Once the little one was tired of the ball cage, they moved to the small slider, Maria helped her get up the ladder and watched her while she slid down, a little boy who was trying to get up the ladder of the slider fell down, and Maria went to help get up, but when she turned around she saw her little sister, trying to reach for a peace of cake on a plate on one of the tables, that someone had left there, she hurried to hold her back, "no es nuestro Janet" (that is not ours), she looked around to see where her other sister was and she saw her entering the toilet, and then she heard somebody talking to her from behind, "Done estan tus padres ?" (Where are your parents ?), he said, she turned around, it was the security guard.

Maria's father was at work and he would not be coming home until late, he worked as a bus driver, while her mother has a food cart selling popcorn, and she works during the afternoon and evening at the main plaza, and even if her parents were with them, they would not have brought them to this place, it was beyond there financial means. "Estan solas ?" (are you alone), he asked, Maria nodded, the guard told her that this playground is for the customers of the place, and that they had to leave, she asked for a minute so she can look for her other sister, she hurried to the toilets door, and knocked on the door, it took a while until the door open, "Apura te, tenemos que irnos" (hurry up we have to go), she told Alejandra, they went back to get the little one, the guard was getting agitated, "vamos ya" (lets go), he said in a angry voice, Kamila one of the waitresses intervened, she gently helped them lift the little one, "tienen que irse ahora" (you have to go now), she said, and accompanied them until the stairs, the guard followed them until the front door to make sure they left the restaurant.

Maria felt a bit embarrassed by the last part, but then she quite quickly recovered from it, she had ventured into a world that was not hers, or was not supposed to be hers, and she liked it, she enjoyed it, and her sisters were quite happy playing there as well, she would like to do it again, but she can't come back to this place, she had been caught, and they know her now, she would have to go somewhere else tomorrow, maybe that McDonald a couple of blocks down the road.

War

For the Wallaces breakfast today was not the usual affair, it was going to be the last meal for the father Timothy with his family before he reports to duty, he is Colonel in the US army, and his brigade was being sent to Iraq, to provide extra security during the upcoming Iraqi elections, he had already fought during the Iraq war, but was then sent home as part of the rotation of the forces, the other members of his family were his wife Jenny and his 10 year old sun Jim. There was a pleasant atmosphere during breakfast, but at the same time a bit sad, the mission in north of Iraq will last for six month, at least that is what they were officially told, but it was not unlikely for such missions to be extended indefinitely, somehow the subject of the war arose during the discussion, and he felt the need to explain why the war was justified, specially to his son, Tim was a big supporter of the war, he argued that his mission is helping bring democracy to a country who lived under oppressive dictatorship for almost 25 years, that now that Saddam Hussein and his regime were removed from power, the Iraqi people are free to embrace democracy.

After dropping her son at school, Jenny drove on to her work, on the way she reflected back on that breakfast discussion, unlike her husband she was not such a big supporter of the war, the carnage of the war shocked her, news of more civilian deaths made her feel indignated, but she felt that it was not the time to start a argument over that, not when it was going to be the last time she would see her husband for a while. Jenny worked was a researcher in Arabic studies in the university of Florida, her current project was translating the works of a rather anonymous Arabic poet, Ahmad ibn Zayad, he was from what is considers to be modern day Syria, he lived in the 7th century during the rule of Umar ibn al-Khattab, at that time poetry was the main form literature in the Arabic world, the Koran, the holy book of Islam, being the exception. She started working on translating a new poem today, ibn Zayad wrote his poem as he was about to go on Jihad, he was to join the armies of Khalid ibn al-Walid, considered one of the greatest general in history, on a mission to spread Islam to what is considered today north Iraq, in this poem he bids farewell to his son and wife, and explains to them his motives for joining the Jihad, that through Jihad, Islam was brought to their lives, that before that they did not know about the one God, did not know good from bad, and that it is his duty now to bring Islam to other people, people who's ruler worship statues of stones that he calls gods, people who are afraid to adapt Islam in fear of reprisal from their ruler, and that by defeating and removing this infidel king, those people will be free to adapt Islam.

After Jenny finished a draft translating the poem, she reflected for a while : "arguably democracy is an improvement over Islam", she thought, "but did the human race really progress that much in the last millennium, or maybe it is always going to be men's nature to adapt some kind of religion, and go on holly wars in the name of that religion".