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detail in advance. Ibrâhim remembers being very happy this day
except for the sharp pain following the bleeding. This surgery is held
in order to prevent cancer, and facilitate male hygiene. Ibrâhim
anyway remembers his joy: everyone gave him coins, and he had
been allowed to wander without his trousers on for weeks. What a
freedom! And he remembers how consciously he had put all the
coins in a box, making them jig everyday to hear the metallic sound.
It was very fascinating because, without seeing anything, he could
hear everything. The money box filled, after all the family had left,
he recalls he offered its content to his mother. He has since longed
to see her carrying a gold jewel. She refused as usual, and gave the
coins to his brothers and sisters.
The love that unifies Ibrâhim to his mother is obviously as
pure as a crystal, without any shade. According to him, he has done
every deed to please her, like carrying off prizes. She could not
smear henna over her hair without seeing him supervising the
operation, being sure the water bowling between two stones would be
not too cold, not too hot in order to dissolve the natural powder
properly.
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Ibrâhim smiles mildly; he remembers his mother’s hair, long and red,
almost blond because of the henna, and the tips of her fingers dark
orange with the dye. For years, when Ibrâhim was small, his father
had given a coin to his wife on a daily basis in order to hire the water
man. At this epoch, running water did not exist and wells were miles
away, so in exchange of little money some men would do this harsh
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job for the women. Ibrâhim’s mother secretly did the job by herself,
and spared money. This went on for so many years that the day her
husband talked about working harder outside to buy a correct house
for his family, she neatly refused. She spread her long braids, and
removed from the locks of her hair wads of banknotes she had
exchanged against coins. The reason why she had hidden all this
money under her headcover was the fear of robbers, and mainly the
fear that fires would destroy the money while she was absent.
At this time, Casablanca was not yet the polluted, overcrowded
industrial town it is today. Trees and flowers grew under a clear sky.
Spaces of green grass distributed everywhere provided pasture for
lamb herds. Ibrâhim’s father was once a shepherd, like all the
Prophets (Peace Be Upon Them). He now returned from work at
four o’clock in the morning, just for the first waking up prayer.
He had married a woman from the village without knowing her,
without having ever seen her face since women at this time used to
conceal their faces under a piece of cloth. Only the fame of the
family would speak for the young people. A member of her family
had inquired for her consent as the tradition stipulates; she had given
it through her silence. Her dowry upon her wish had been a woolen
blanket; she had not asked for more, and swore to herself she would
make her husband happy whatsoever their fate might be. She was
even permitted to have her own business, and she had the exclusive
beneficiary of her possessions. She revealed to know perfectly that
the spouse is the key to enter Paradise, and that “A virtuous woman
is in Islam the best treasure of a man.” She happened to be the
beam of light for her family as her own sisters had been for their own
households: a blessed family.
Ibrâhim’s mother did not live anymore in the countryside where
goods never miss whatsoever, but she always managed to give
charity to the needy. Levels in poverty existed and they were not of
the poorest After fifty years of marriage she was still able to draw
from her husband the glitter of love that springs from the eyes of
newly wed couples.
Some tears seem to run along Ibrâhim's cheeks. He thinks
about what lays beyond this life. He thinks about what could happen
now to his beloved defunct.
The hereafter!
"I think that we live only once in our lives, everything counts even
the tiniest thing. This is what occurs in my mind when I remember
my parents."
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