Social Change in Syria: Family, Village and Political Party by Sulayman N Khalaf

Author:Sulayman N Khalaf [Khalaf, Sulayman N]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Rural, Middle Eastern, Social Science, Political Science, Anthropology, World, Sociology, General
ISBN: 9781000207057
Google: YRb8DwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 55257019
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2020-10-01T00:00:00+00:00

Najm’s second letter

In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

M’adaan, March 19, 1978

My gracious brother Sulayman,

My salutation to you. I hope that you are fine and in the best of health. My news remains as I have mentioned to you before; I work in M’adaan and go down to al-Raqqa every two or three days. Nowadays the weather is very beautiful. Spring is so pretty. The land is green, and crops rejoice with the promise of good harvest. Rain is plentiful. In these cheerful days, picnics to al-Tabqa, al-Rasafa, or ‘Ain al-‘Arous are just delightful.

My beloved brother Sulayman! I will try to answer all your questions with all candour and frankness. You had asked me about the birthday of my daughter, Hanan. I should first say that to this very day, neither my father nor mother knew it, nor they will ever know it in the future. My reasons: I know that they would criticize this behaviour of mine. This is something alien to them. They are of the type that would never register a child on the day he is born. At times they would delay the date of birth one year or advance it one year if not more. For them the date of birth has no value. They say about me that I was born when Mehemmad al-Haweidi died, either one week before or one week after, this is something they don’t know. I had to go and wander through graves to find out about the date of this man’s death, so I could learn about my own birthdate. There is a date on the tombstone of this man simply because he was an important sheikh.

While I myself do know, for example, not only the day but even the hour when my own children were born, I did not celebrate the birthdays of my children of my first wife: Mamdouh, Sulayman and Farhan, because they are in the village close to their grandparents. Besides, their mother does not encourage me to do such things. Frankly, my celebration of my daughter’s birthday was because of her mother’s desire. My second wife is from the city and she likes to do such things that she is familiar with, and I accept such ideas. The significant point is that the celebration took place in M’adaan. I went to al-Raqqa and brought paper decorations, candles, and cakes. Then we invited friends. The wife of the director of the secondary school and her children, the wife of the village mukhtar, the mother of the mukhtar’s wife, the wife of one of the important men of the village with her children, the wife of the director of the Consumer’s Cooperative of the village. They all came to our house on time. I left the house allowing them all the freedom they wanted. I found it difficult to stay in a crowd of women, even though my wife was upset that I did not stay. All of them brought gifts to the baby, mostly toys.

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