Joshua Thank you for posting Ali’s latest dispatch from Damascus. I have been reading his dispatches every Saturday when my friend Saghir received and forwarded them … about five so far.

Ali’s ability to enjoy the simplest pleasures in life in Damascus and the way he describes his small but always fun adventures reminded me of what we are missing in our daily life in the west.

In previous editions, Ali talked about his favorite daily fruit juice, the pleasure of smelling the roasted nuts on his way upstairs to his small apartment, and the way strangers invite him to lunch at their parent’s homes.

Like living in a large village.

But for how long will it stay that way?

And Joshua … Bravo for finding the picture of Melabbas! 🙂
(nuts with sweet coating)

I was just sitting in the women’s section of the Umayyad mosque two weeks ago, the week after Eid. A lady next to me insisted I eat some ma’amul and take one for my friend who was walking around looking at things. I was visibly exhausted and very grateful for her kindness.

I could sit in that mosque for hours. Women were so kind to me and I felt so much at peace and at home. Insha’allah I will go back to Damascus and visit this and other mosques…

Nota bene – at the grotto in the convent of Ma’aloula we also sat around beneath the stone ceilings and the strange tree growing inside, then drank from the holy well. There were Muslims as well as Christians there praying and eating sandwiches. One veiled Muslim woman took a liking to me and kept blessing me for my height. She was clearly very happy to be in the grotto and very happy to see me there, too.

And yes, we were fed by near-strangers in Damascus, and treated to coffee by total strangers there and in South Lebanon.

Lovely write-up-

The great-grand-daughter of the Prophet Fatima Sakina is buried in that Mosque, it is nice that people could be around living, praying, eating and studying.

On the subject of the religious and social life of women around the shrine of another great-grand-daughter of the Prophet, Zainab,in Egypt, the Oxford anthropologist Nadia Abu Zahra wrote a delightful book: “The Pure and Powerful”

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/1999/429/bk4_429.htm

Correction – al-Sayyeda Zainab is the Grand-daughter of the Prophet-

Syrian female blogger
http://myfog-dania.blogspot.com/2008/10/cedaw-with-some-discriminations-allowed.html

Slam the head of the parliament and the members of parliament for signing a decree allowing the continual of discrimination against women. She was so frustrated that she used the F word. The “nesasy”
http://www.nesasy.org/content/view/6569/110/

an NGO, also blasted the parliament for his lies and his discriminatory position regarding women killing, child marriage and slavery treatment of women in Syrian society.

Look what nonsense Farid Ghadri is up to now:

http://eaazi.blogspot.com/2008/10/who-takes-this-stuff-seriously.html

Excellent writer-philosopher! How can we read the previous five dispatches?

Alia, Leila,
Regarding your Women right and position in the Syrian society comment
https://joshualandis.com/blog/?p=1202&cp=all#comment-219578

I think that Women rights and obligations are not clear yet for our society in general, there are different categories in Syria for women according to their education, family status and their religion.
The law is still vague when it comes to women rights; it gives men more power when it comes to family disputes or even for some criminal acts as ‘honour crime’ which is one the worst thing we have in our law.
From a personal point of view I think the law should be looked at on every level and in every details, at the same time educate the society about the importance of the women not only in the house but also in the community and that women are a major player not a second-class human being.
There should be a major women rights evaluation and should happen immediately so we can see the result in the next generation since it’s going to take time for the society to learn it, understand it and grow within that model.
We don’t have enough Syrian women speaking out about the equal opportunity and the right position. We also have the tradition and religion values that people are locked with that should be explained in a better ways about the women great value to every community regardless how small and uneducated it is, we need to grass root those value.
Women’s issue in our society starts with the religion, tradition and end up with the unclear and sometimes unjust law that should be corrected when it comes to women.
I believe that Syrian law is flexible enough to do this step, the problem is within the society and its acceptance of that law.
Couple years ago a huge breakthrough happen within the Syrian law but it didn’t get much attention, that was a familial Christian law which allow Christians to dispute the family issue not under the general law but under a different law that gives women and kids better rights than before, I’m mentioning that to prove that the law itself can and should be changed to be more balanced, and it’s not necessary to copy the western model but to have our own model that fits our tradition yet be just.
Women rights should be one of the many major issues that we have to deal with to improve Syrian society.

Delightful narrative. Thank you for posting it, Joshua!

It looks like the US may finally be taking the gloves off and getting the terrorists in Syria en route to Iraq BEFORE they kill hundreds of innocent civilians.
—————————————————————–

Sun Oct 26, 2008 2:07pm EDT
DAMASCUS (Reuters) – Syria said on Sunday unidentified helicopters attacked a Syrian border point with Iraq, causing casualties.

The official Syrian news agency SANA did not identify the helicopters but said the attack took place in the Bou Kamal border area, in eastern Syria.

Residents said the attack targeted a house in the area in which a man and his four sons and two nearby workers were killed.

The US military has just completed an airborne assault operation inside Syria near the Iraqi borders. It seems that the US has successfully thwarted an attempt by terrorists supported by the Syrian regime to infiltrate into Iraq. This is perhaps a long overdue development that we hope to be followed by further decisive actions by the US military to put an end once and for all to the Syrian regimes continued disruptive meddling in neighboring States. Perhaps the next step should be the overthrow of this unpopular regime of Syria.

Until there’s some confirmation I would be hesitant to declare the initial report of American ground troops operating inside Syria as wholly accurate.

Syria has curtailed infiltration into Iraq even though Washington> has refused to reward it or resend an Ambassador.

Well, I guess the US government disagrees with Professor Josh (ref. Post 38 from last thread).

This was a interesting post.

I have to concur with Alex here, (Ali’s adventures) also remind me of what is lacking also in our lives in the West, the simple things most importantly the courtesy shown by people on the street, The greetings most notably, how often does anyone journey to the shops in the west and gets back home with out interacting with anyone but the check out operator?

I miss the old world charm, “the giving and generosity” no matter what little you have.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH the “Old World” nothing beats it1

Hello,

Thank you for all your kind words. If you want the other 6 (there is a “special edition on Deir Mar Musa”) Disptaches then please send me your email addresses and I will forward them to you. Thanks again. Ali

[…] 8 (8/11/2008) by Ali Khan bilehra@gmail.com (See another of Ali Khan’s dispatches) Photo by Damascusmoon: The Four Seasons Hotel seen from the Tekkiyya […]

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