THE BEAUTIFUL HALAB (ALEPPO). (a page from my travelogue. SYRIA) The sun was about to set when I reached Halab (Aleppo) from Damascus, tired and hungry, got off the bus, looked around, which direction to go? I asked myself. It didn’t matter anyway, I didn’t come here to meet someone…so, I started moving toward a church where a group of teenagers were pushing eachother, excited about something, they were wearing strange dress, I thought maybe this is a theater. Something strange happened, something flashed back in my memory, took me years back where one day a group of Tablighis (muslim preachers) knocked my room door in my hostel. Among them was one skinny Syrian Arab, Abdul Ghani Alolo. They did what they normally do. The Syrian said the he came all the way from Halab (Syria) to preach etc,etc. Before leaving I gave him a pen as a gift, he accepted my gift after taking permission from his “Amir”. He gave me his address of which I remembered only Halab and Sharegh Faisal (I guess)….wow, what a memory. I asked one of the boys about the street sharegh Faisal and Alolo family, He replied in his poor English “oh, its a very long street..but lets try”. He stopped a taxi and sat beside me, still in his strange dress. I noticed a Christian cross around his neck. I asked him “..are you going with me?...what about your group?” He said “…no problem, we just finished the rehearsal in the church, I am free now…I think you need help because you don’t know the language and the city”. Now the lights were on in the streets, our car was moving slowly in the traffic. I thought “wow…what a beautiful city, blend of all religions, cultures, modern and tradition, and I found the people of Halab very handsome and good looking, may be because of mixed blood of Greeks/Romans and Arabs. At one point my friend asked the driver to stop for a minute, he got off the taxi, went toward a group of people of his age standing, laughing, holding cold drinks in their hands. After a short conversation he turned back to me and said”…they don’t know that particular person but a person name Abdul Hakim Alolo lives just across the street, …so lets go to see him”. I got off the taxi too, I wanted to pay for the taxi, but that young Christian youngman held my hand “No way..you are a guest, and this is my city and country”. So he paid. After a few minutes walk, we climbed few stairs, found myself in front of Abdul Hakim Alolo’s door on second floor. After a gentle knock a tall skinny man opened the door, my friend introduced me and then he left. I was still standing in front of the door. Tall man asked me : “antha maseehee?”, (are you Christian?) I said “ No. I am Muslim”. He allowed me to his small clean, beautifully decorated apartment. He was interested to know about me but language was the problem, I was trying to connect Arabic words to make a sentence, and he was doing the same with English. I told him how and where I met Abdul Ghani…he laughed but didn’t say anything. He said “ ok lets have tea and then I will send you to my brother place”. After the tea he called a taxi, paid the money to driver in advance, It took me ten minutes to reach the destination. Now my problem was…will he remember me after so many years? And what I want from him? I knocked Alolo’s humble door, he was living in poor a locality. He opened the door, let me in. My fear was right, he didn’t remember me, again the language problem. Now what to do?. There were four other guests in his room, no woman. Everyone was looking at me with some kind of interest while I was sipping my tea. I look around and started my “introduction” …ana..Bakistani..bla bla ..abbotabad,..hostel…remember? suddenly I saw a spark in Alolo’s eyes, he said in arabic…“are you the one who gifted me a Pen?”. Thanks God he recollected everything…He suddenly jumped from his place and hugged me so tightly and kissed me on my face…I could hardly breath for a while. He brother in law translated his happiness.. “O shah Alolo is so happy that you came all the way from Turkey to join the Tablighee (religious) congregation…Mashallah”. I thought…”o man..what im getting into?”. I spent a night in his house…I joined them in all their prayers, for morning prayers it was difficult to get up…but I had to. The next day they showed me almost all of Aleppo (Halab), A beautiful city, a mix of modern and ancient traditions, buildings, food, and extra ordinary handsome men and women, one could feel the peace and happiness in the air….wow what a city…a beautiful blend of Muslims, Christians, jews and many other religions living in harmony and with mutual respect…I wished I could live here for ever. (lets stop here) In 2013…I am looking at the recent pictures and video of the city of my dreams….o god…now all in ruins, in flames, dead bodies in streets,…God knows if my poor innocent Muslim friend Alolo is still alive or lying shredded in pieces? And what about that proud young Christian boy, my friend/guide who use to call Syria and Aleppo as “my country and my cities” who paid for my taxi from his limited pocket money? It really hurts.
Posted on: Sat, 17 Aug 2013 12:08:24 +0000
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