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countryside, everything was tidy to perfection, repaired. Everything
was meticulously washed. Nothing was spoiled, even wooden plates
were mended with pieces of leather. In the mornings, you could see
them carrying the huge traditional cushions outside to air them. They
would also chlorinate the enameled walls and floors of the living room
usually kept closed against the dust. Once a year these cushions
were ranged along the walls, unlaced by a professional, and the
mutton hair was pulled outside and exposed under the sun. The
operation would go for a few days. It took time because the superb
and silken pillows glistening like water covered the length of every
single wall in the house. Then the artisan would crowd them again
and would spread pesticide for hygiene. Usually, after the washing
of the floors followed the maintenance of the linen lathered with
Marseillan soap and a soft brush. At this epoch, women did not rest
and, when they bore a child, they stopped working only for a few
hours.
Ibrâhim explains:
“During one month after childbirth, a man did not have intercourse
with his wife. It is the Islamic law. It is because, even if the woman
is very strong, she needs some care and some respect for her body.”
He adds:
“This is what people from the west have never understood. A
European guy one day saw the ideogram representing Peace. He
immediately concluded that the Chinese were misogynous. I thought
it was erroneous just because the ideogram ‘Peace’ is made of two
strokes, one representing the house, and the other representing the
wife. I understand the Chinese, because for the Arabs, the notion of
‘Peace’ is to be found in the house.
Is it not stated in islam that 'paradise lays at the feet of mothers'?
And what symbolizes better the house, the hearth, than women? And
do we not greet each other saying 'The Peace be upon you', 'Allah’s
blessing be upon you'?”
The house for Ibrâhim, as for the Chinese, is really the place to be in
Peace, the place where one feels sated, a place of cleanliness, and it
is the woman’s domain par excellence. The house is his private
place for happiness, a place where his mother is the principal
ornament, this same mother who cooked a corn bread for him each
day after class. This same mother was the one who never accepted
an invitation with her children, stating for an excuse that
"If my children make a mistake, people would not have the
opportunity to say they are ill-bred."
She respected that much her children and her dignity.
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She was the same mother, the traditional Muslim woman, who
preserved by all means the Peace between all members of her
household. She was the shepherd of her household. She was this
same mother whose patience was exemplary, who never ever
reached the state of being cross, and who sometimes slapped her
children inside their hands and feet where it did not hurt. This gentle
mother never complained when Ibrâhim put his feet on her shoulders
or put his head on her chest, heavy on her. His mother would utter
with determination each time the question arose:
"I don’t care for gold earrings and shining rings, my children are
already my jewelry.”
The love for gold is in fact a fashion as well as an investment in
Morocco. Women ask for many bracelets and heavy necklaces
made of gold as their dowry. But she had asked for a blanket. She
had followed the example of the women living at the time of prophet
Muhammad (Peace be upon him) , one of which had asked a few
verses of the Qur'an for getting married.
In Islam, one does not live for the bounties of the world, but rather for
the bounties of the heart; one without the other would ruin the whole
individual. Ibrâhim declares:
“Beware! Verily there is a piece of flesh in the body of man,
which, when good, the whole body is good, and when bad, the whole
body is bad, and that is the heart!”
As the traditional Arabic woman, his mother apparently is
mainly attached to her household; however she has gained the
wisdom from the little experience she had; she never lost heart. The
old generation of women at home could learn so much from tiny
events, and from through reality they learned how to resist; it seems
that today they experience a lot, and rather learn how to suffer. It is
his mother who advised him many times:
“Do not squeeze your friend too much for fear you will break
him.”
It is his mother who was able to predict the birth of a boy or
a girl just by examining her daughter-in-law. She is the same illiterate
woman who cut the baby’s hair a few months after its birth. Medical
doctors have since discovered that this practice enables the hair to
grow smoother and more dense. Muslims would distribute the weight
of the baby’s hair in gold to the poor, another occasion, I suppose, to
remind people of the duty of charity.
She was near him too when the circumcision ceremony took place,
showing him a bird in the sky, and reassuring him, explaining every
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