3
“But you have learned a lot, haven't you? Thus, what can you tell
me about the wonders of learning?”
“What do you mean by ‘the wonders of learning’?”
“I mean,” he said raising his eyebrows, “I mean that you have to
do something with the knowledge you've acquired. The knowledge
must reform your heart in some way or another, and maybe purify
your soul. Don't you think so?”
I wondered a moment about how I could have really reformed my
soul and my heart. I was not sure if I understood his reasoning or
not. So his sentence stayed deeply inscribed into my heart. I had to
find an answer… Why should knowledge have anything to do with
my soul? Maybe the knowledge I had acquired had reformed a little
bit of my heart because I was now less prejudiced and more inclined
to meet other cultures, but did the man mean this or something else?
I was not sure. I was certainly missing something about their culture
that I would give most anything to understand. But I did not know at
that time that, when people wanted you to know something, they
always knew ways to make it clear to you. Time would prove this
right.
“Well, my son. You have time for that. May Allah grants you
His mercy. Amen. We thought that you could stay here with Djaliil
as long as you think fit. You may go wherever you like, talk to
anybody and complete your work."
"Thank you," I said, "I appreciate that."
Photo courtesy of: http://community.webshots.com/user/saudi6
In the days after we arrived, I decided to tour the oasis. I
had to meet with a man who would conduct me to the most
interesting places. So that morning, I went my way heartily, but
without Djaliil, who was a little sick and was resting in his room. The
voyage had wearied him, however nothing major affected his health
anymore.
4
The first people I saw were two men scraping the bark of a
frankincense tree to start the aromatic resin flowing. Frankincense
was used as an air and water sweetener and as medicine in the
Arabian Peninsula, therefore it was not surprising to see some here.
The trees set between the rocks resembled thorny bushes or big
vines with tiny and emaciated leaves; they also had intricate
branches. The sap was slowly tearing through the bark, and with the
blazing sun it was thickening rapidly. The men greeted me,
“Assalaam Alaikum.” I greeted them back, "the same be upon you."
Then they resumed their work. I was exhilarated by all these suave
flavors. One of the men, draped in white, with a white turban folded
across his head, squatted on a slope and addressed me:
“Come up here on this hill and smell the fresh air of the Asir."
I immediately did what he was asking and I felt better. The heavy
scents staid trapped in the valley below.
"Where are you from?"
"From abroad."
"Yâ Allah! --O my God. Then you have yet much to learn," he
said, chanting:
"Then you do not know the wonders that lay there.
Look! Thou seest not in the creation any imperfection.
Return thy gaze; seest thou any fissure?
Then return thy gaze, and again,
and thy gaze comes back to thee dazed, aweary." (Qur'an)
Beside the groves below, we could see workers harvesting a
bountiful crop of tomatoes, alfalfa, corn, wheat, barley, and
aubergine. The diversity of the plants and the endless gradation of
colors they displayed impressed me. I forgot that we were in the
edge of a desert because everywhere I turned my gaze I could only
see carpets of green vegetation and extended shades.
"The atmosphere is so appeasing here," I said with a sigh of
contentment.
“So it is life here as well: calm and flowing towards its course, as
it should be. The brothers have only modified what was necessary to
insure the safety of the place as well as its prosperity, otherwise,
nothing has been changed. We actually have a number of cisterns
hidden in the slopes for irrigation but they are so old, they have
melted into the landscape. You see, my child, water in this country is
like the soul, you cannot master it but you can direct it. Here, if you
try to dam up your soul to the earth, your future life is assured. The
earth is our life; without it, we perish."
 |
 |
 |
 |