May Good Things not Become a Stranger to You

So much of life here is about visits and returning visits. Its true, everyone here does have a cell phone, but it is rarely used for those long " haven't heard from you in a while" talks people have in the US, because it is just too expensive to even ponder for the average Moroccan.

People here still visit, hence the decorated guest rooms and sweets set aside for when guests drop by. I went to see a friend and her mother in the medina whom I had not seen since before the Eid. While we were sitting around drinking cafe au lait, my friend's mother recounted to me about how she had been in the process of going to visit her brother before I stoppeb, but changed her plans because she had "the feeling" that someone was headed her way for a visit. "and it was you," she said, marvelling. I tried to show some astonishement, but in a country where everybody visits, there were probably just good odds that someone would stop by on a weekend afternoon.

At somepoint visiting becomes an obligation. You call people to say "Salaam," and they say, " you've become a stranger, you don't come by." But you remember seeing them last week. So you go by at the appropriate time, meaning, not after 11:30 ish because you would be invited to stay for lunch, which is the big meal Morocco, so you dont want to impose. If you happen to have been invited for lunch, you will most likely be offered the chance to take a " siesta" nap after lunch on one of the lovely couches.

The most common time to visit, and that I happen to prefer, is right after the 'Asr prayer (which in Morocco is at about 3:15 pm now). You will be served a light snack and either mint tea or cafe au lait. I did this a few days ago with a family I met who live close to me. They had told me to visit them more than two weeks before that and I had not gotten around to it. When I showed up they said that they had just been talking about how " i hadn't called, or come by."

The great thing about the after 'Asr prayer visit is that you know the sundown prayer ( Maghreb) is close at hand and that will be your "out" for the visit if you want it. Sunset in Morocco in most places marks the end of the day in terms of outside life. People go home when the night comes. The only danger you might possibly face being roped into is......spending the night. No, this is not third grade, people here actually want you to spend the night at their place.
You would be surprised how easily a lunch invitation could turn into you spending the night.

There is also the whole issue of what to take when you go visit, and that varies depending on how long its been since you've seen them, the occasion if there is any, and both your and their financial situations.

Visiting in Morocco does have a protocol, but when you get really sunken down into the Moroccan cushions, sipping your hot beverage and laughing with friends, you are so glad you stopped by.

When you finally make it to the front door someone is bound to say to you, " Don't become a stranger," at which point you respond, " May good things not become a stranger to you."

Shawwal, sheep and taxis

Some of us here are in a post-Ramadan low, you hear people saying how different everything feels, and almost empty and lacking. A lot of people are fasting the optional 6 days of Shawwal that the Prophet Muhammad ( peace be upon him) said were full of blessing. You hear people asking others, " have you done your 6 days?" or " are you going to do your 6 days this year?"

On another random note.....

Taxi drivers have begun to figure prominently in my life lately because I moved once again out of Fes Jedid to a place on the edge of the city. It is great to be in the city but to have at my back fields and fields of olive trees and to see group after group of sheep walk past my modern apartment building.

To be honest, I learn quite a lot from cab drivers here, mostly from the conversations they have with other passengers , because it is the norm to share a cab. Occasionally I find myself asking them questions I would be shy to ask other random strangers, like how to connect the butagas tank to my stove.

I had a close call with one last week however when he found out I was american and wanted to marry me, when I brushed off his proposal and his interest in " getting to know me," he got a little annoyed. But he is just an exception, everyone else has been kind and respectful or just business like.

It would not be an underestimation to say that yesterday was one of the most beautiful mornings i have lived. It was Eid morning and I walked the road from my house in the early morning towards the closest mosque for the celebratory Eid prayer. Although is was a quarter to seven on a Saturday morning, there was the quiet excitement of people walking towards the mosque. My path crosed with that of three women and a little girl and i followed close behind them.

We found the mosque open but no one inside and the street cleaner told us that the Eid prayer was actually going to be held at a musallah, a big outside area a little ways away from the mosque. Being as i had no idea where we were going, I walked intently with my group of women and disclosed my ignorance to them. "you're one of us" the oldest of the women who i presummed to be the mother said to me reassuringly.

We walked for atleast a mile and as we got closer to the musallah,we began to meet the groups of other people walking in twos or fours towards the prayer area. When we got to the musullah, there were atleast 2,000 people already there sitting and chanting the refrain, "Allahu Akbar, Allah Akbar, Allah Akbar, SubhanAllah, Alhamdulilah, La illaha il Allah, La hawla wa la quwatta ila biLah." Mostly everyone had brought their own prayer rug or something else to sit on, ofcourse I had not, thinking the prayer would be inside in the mosque. Gratefully i spotted a woman with extra space on her blanket and asked her if i could sit next to her.

We spent the next half an hour chanting along with the crowd which seemed to grow by the minute until there was no empty area of land on the whole field and people had begun to place their mats on the sidewalk and street adjacnt to the field.

There we sat with the mountains to our side and behind us and in the fresh morning air with everyone in their best Eid clothes (my compliments to the tailors of Fes) being grateful for having been able to complete a month fo fasting.
Finally the chanting tapered off, imam stood and we rose behind him for the Eid prayer. And then we sat and listened to the sermon encouraging us to "keep up the
good work" of being observant as we had been in Ramadan.

At the end of the imam's final supplication, the crowd began to dispurse with people congratulating their neighbors on the holiday.

I entered the imposing crowd and as i began to walk i looked before me and saw the same 3 women and little girl i walked with on the way to the musallah. We congtatulated each other on the Eid and walked back towards home together. They invited me to their house for breakfast, although i already had plans, i accepted their invitation but said it would have to be short. on the way to their house we stopped by a field where mint was being grown. The farmer was not there, so one of the women entered the field and picked a bushel of mint for us to make a fresh pot of tea and said she would bring the farmer his one dirham when he returned.

It was just barely nine in the morning. Before the end of the day I would have visited 3 more houses and gone for a trip to a small village 20 kilometers outside of Fes. It was an Eid of clear and beautiful baraka (blessings).

The Small Holiday

As the month of Ramadan wanes, we see the signs of the approaching Eid al Fitr ,or as Moroccans call it Eid as Sagheer, the "small holiday" (because the holiday which occurs in correlation with the Pilgrimage is seen to be the "big" Eid.)

Since the 27th of Ramadan kids have been dressed up in fancy clothes, basically little versions of wedding outfits, nice caftans and jillebas; little girls have had their hands and feet henna-ed.Its all very adorable. They walk the streets showing off their outfits and getting compliments from passersby. Another sign of the approaching Eid is the stress on the face of every tailor in town. People want new clothes for the Eid, so that means tailors are working day and night to fill orders for jillebas.

But for now we are still fasting, and expecting the Eid to be on Saturday.

Eid Mubarak Said. Kulli Sana wa Antum Tayyibun. Have Blessed Eid and may you and yours flourish throughout the coming year.

King-Spotting

Its not everyday that you actually see the King of Morocco in person. Although there are pictures of him everywhere and they have to be by law. Ofcourse he has several palaces around the country and only stays in some for a few weeks out of the year. But it is the nearing the end of the month of Ramadan, and with Fes being the
" spiritual capital" the king traditionally comes to Fes and prays in the mosques here.

So I was walking down the street on the way to a friend's house for the breaking fast meal when I noticed an unusual amount of armed military people, and guys in nice tailored black suits(Moroccan secret-service types) and " plain clothes" police who still manage to stick out.

The King was coming and i mean he was coming down the street within the next few minutes.

The streets were blocked off and people were lining the streets to see the king. Its not as if there were a lot of people waiting around full of excitement , it was more like people like me, who were walking somewhere instead of taking a cab and just happened to me on the street the king's caravan was coming down.

So I walked slowly, then sat down on a bench, thinking I should just "see" the King, regardless of my own opinion of him and the way the government is run.
After about a half hour a bunch of police cars with sirens came by, and then 4 or 5 black BMWS and then ...... a fancy black car with you know who... Sidi Muhammad Alaoui the Sixth, the present King of Morocco sticking out of the sun roof waving with both hands to passerbys.

There was not too much fanfare, a few people clapped enthusiastically, but it seemed like most people were like me, just looking.

Where will you be on the Night of Power?

It is rather cool/cold in Fes today after some strong rainstorms the last few days. But it seems the rain has come down to us carrying an abundant multitude of Bounties. Yesterday I was walking down the street and two men in front of me were talking about the Qarawiyin. I immediately got a heartache in wishing it were open. But then I thought, " maybe they know something I don't" and maybe there has been some news about it. So today I asked someone who is a member of the inner circle of Islamic scholars in Fes if he had any news about Qarawiyin's re-opening, and he said " It will be open on the 27th of Ramadan the King will pray there for the Night of Power(laylatul Qadr) God-willing."

I almost jumped out of my seat. The 27th of Ramadan for us in Morocco is 6 days away God willing! For those of you who have been to Fes, and have been able to pray and study in the Qarawiyin, you understand my excitement, for others, here is a link to a very basic article about its significance.

http://www.isesco.org.ma/Capitales_islamiques/FES2007/ENG/P3.htm



I wish you all an opportunity to see it with your eyes.

Take me with you, for the sake of God

I had this idea to pray in as many different mosques in the old medina and Fes jedid as I could. There are an estimated 325 mosques in the old medina and 4 in Fes Jedid. This is a year long effort.

The other day I went to my local seamtress ( because her shop is next to my house) to ask for help finding some of the mosques, because I was having a hard time understanding the map I had. She was more that happy to help and was actually excited about my adventure. She said I would get many blessings God willing.

Next to her shop, is a little hanut, a neighborhood grocery stall, who sells everything from flour to cheese, to toilet paper and shampoo. In front to the stall was sitting a woman I have seen before in the neighborhood but generally only early in the morning. She generally sits on the path repeating the same phrase, " wa kamaliya she khubeeza liLah," It means, " Finish for me [the price of ] some bread, for God ['s Pleasure].

It was rare for me to see her so late in the afternoon. Now she sat in front of the hanut with the hood of her Moroccan jilleba over her head, repeating a different refrain. This time she was saying, " Wa dinee ma'akum fe sabeel liLah" This means,
" Take me with you for the sake/pleasure of God" . She projected her voice to every person who passed by the busy thoroughfare. She was asking to be taken as a guest to someone's home for futur, or "breakfast" the meal Muslims eat at sundown to break the fast in Ramadan.

I was frozen looking at this humble woman. We Muslims always say the the fast of Ramadan besides having spiritual benefits, allows us to empathize with the poor, but i had a child like realization in that moment,that not everybody is breaking their fasts in the same way with the same ample spread of Moroccan delicacies.

At one point, the woman turned to the owner of the hanut and said, " If no one takes me with them, then you take me home with you, okay?"

He leaned towards her nodding his head affectionately and said " Wakha {okay}"

Praying in all the mosques of Fes suddenly lost its potency for me, feeding the poor of Fes, would be an equally rewarding spiritual exercise.