End of the Road


On
the
way
to
my
Father’s House
in
New Alamut,
whereto I walk barefoot,
traversing
the hallways
of the Silent Assembly,
during the time of the Solemn Convocation,
having recently been to the tomb of
Saint Bassil of the Slippery Motorway,
traveling
along
the
Hashish Road,
from the Biqa’ Valley to the Blood Grotto,
zig-
zagging
       through
ancient
                       streets,
      alley-
ways,
              and
                      neigh-
borhoods,
               weaving
  around
WALLS
and
pit-
falls,
and crowds of demons and cherubim,
always
under
the
watchful
Eye,
the ever so vigilant
Soul,
of
the Great Lord,
the brand new Old Man of the Mountain,
“the Leader the Symbol,”
the true Wali-Faqih of our day and age,
the Hopeless Little Saladin Wannabe,
following
the
traces
of
his
nose-
bleeds,
I wipe my shoes on the expensive carpeting
made of human fiber,
I
knit
my
way
through
the
temporal
fabrics
of ever-divergent points of view,
I shy away from politics,
and Alawite women,
(I
simply
cannot
make
love
to
tyranny),
I avoid stepping on,
or kicking
any of the heads strewn along the way,
(they might still be able to spit, even bite, I am told),
and with my eyes WIDE open,
I watch
the
gradual
downfall
of the last of the Batini dynasties,
in my country,
through the cracks,
through the holes,
of
modern
h
i
s
t
o
r
y.

This is a bit of a prophecy,
I am told,
But then,
having
visions
on the road to Damascus
is not something new,
is it?


March 1999


Notes

Alamut. The name of a fortress in Persia that became between the 11th and 13th centuries the headquarters of the famous/infamous Order of the Assassins. The central parts of Syria hosted other important Assassins’ locations.

Bassil al-Assad. The eldest son of the late Syrian President Hafiz Al-Assad who died in a car accident near the entrance of the Damascus International Airport in 1993. He was being groomed to succeed his father as president at the time, and is said to have been highly respected and feared by members of the minority Alawite sect, to which the Assad belonged and on whom they relied to man their better equipped military units and security branches. Following Bassil’s death, he was pronounced a martyr and a veritable shrine was hurriedly constructed for him in the family’s native village of al-Qardahah in northern Syria.

A popular joke that appeared in Syria at the time goes like this:

-Say, do you know what’s the difference between the Martyr (Shaheed) and the Missing (Faqeed)?
-No.
-Well, the Martyr is the one who dies in a simple car accident on the Airport Highway.
-And the Missing?
-The Missing is the one who says otherwise.

The Bekaa Valley. A valley in Modern Lebanon which lies along the border with Syria. It has been, since time immemorial it seems, a well-known haven for growing Hashish.

The Blood Grotto. A cave in Mount Qasayun, the hill that overlooks Damascus. According to ancient Damascene lore, the cave marks the sport where Cane killed Abel.

The Lion’s Den. Under the rule of Hafiz Al-Assad, Syria was often referred to by government propagandists and their sycophant allies in the population at large as the Lion’s Den, invoking the meaning of the president’s surname which in Arabic means the Lion. Ironically, the President’s original family name is Al-Wahsh, meaning the monster.

The Old Man of the Mountain. Or, Shaykh al-Jabal, is the title given by the Crusaders to Rashid al-Din Sinan, the leader of the Syrian faction of the Assassins in the late 12th century.

The Wali-Faqih. Or, the Ruler-Jurist, is a political office first envisioned, and later embodied, by the late Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran. It is now held by Ayatollah Khamenei. The Wali-Faqih is supposed to act as the spiritual leader of his nation, and a representative of the Mahdi, a descendant of Prophet Muhammad that Muslims will return one day, alongside Jesus of course, to usher the end of times. While this is a shared belief by all practicing Muslims, it has historically been more central to Shia doctrine.


Batini faiths. Islamic faiths known for having secretive teachings vouchsafed only to few of their top leaders. Numerous such sects appeared throughout the history of Islam, and Syria played home to many of them. At the beginning of the 20-th century, Syria was home to only such sects: the Druzes and the Alawites. Thenm, the Druze went ahead and made public all their secret texts, leaving the Alawites as the sole representatives of Batini sects in the country, and therefore, the subjects of numerous controversies.