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.