Turkey, Egypt, and Syria: A Travelogue by Shibli Numani

Author:Shibli Numani [Numani, Shibli]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: history, Middle East, Turkey & Ottoman Empire, Travel, Turkey, social history
ISBN: 9780815654810
Google: ouiCDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Published: 2020-01-30T00:10:38.694523+00:00

The End of the Journey and the Generous Moral Character of the Arabs

The Generous Moral Character of the Arabs. With my departure from Egypt, one might say, my journey, too, came to an end, since after that I neither saw any new populated places nor experienced any new incidents. I spent the entire duration of the journey (against expectation) in extreme pleasure, ease, interest, and satisfaction. But it is my duty at this point to say why this pleasure and ease befell my lot and because of whom they did so. There is only one answer to these questions. That is, the generous moral character of the Arabs* and the Turks. The reality is that if I had not encountered the generous moral character of the Arabs, life would have been unbearable; forget about the interesting things that happened on the journey. Obviously, to go and live, socialize, shop, tour, seek out and discern information, and search for matters worthy of discovery in a city—in short, all this depends on knowing the language, and I am totally unfamiliar with Turkish. [221] Whatever Arabic I knew was also useless, or very nearly useless. Nor was I so wealthy that I could compensate for this shortcoming by spending money carelessly. In such circumstances, to spend a period of six months with such pleasure and ease that it was as if I were in my own homeland was the grace of the Turks, and most especially the Arabs, alone. They were the ones who interpreted for me. They were the ones who brought me things from the market. They were the ones who introduced me to people. They were the ones who acted as my guide in places worth visiting. They were the ones who joined me in amusing conversations. In sum, there was no task or need in which they did not act as my surety, and, what’s more, they did so without self-interest and without selfish motive, simply out of regard for hospitality and kindness toward poor strangers far from home. It is impossible to give an account of each and every particular instance on which I experienced the generous morals of these people. I write two or three events as examples. At this point, you should read once more the instances of the generosity of Shaikh ‘Abd al-Fattāḥ, Shaikh ‘Alī Ẓabyān, Khūjī Āfandī, ‘Abd al-Bāsiṭ Āfandī, Shaikh ‘Abd al-Ḥalīm Āfandī, and ‘Abd al-Salām Āfandī, which I have already written.

During the period in which I resided in Constantinople, the paternal cousin of ‘Abd al-Salām Āfandī, Shākir Āfandī, came to Constantinople for a case in court. ‘Abd al-Salām Āfandī tried to have Shākir Āfandī stay with him, but there was no space in ‘Abd al-Salām Āfandī’s room. He said to me, “Let him stay with you.” I agreed for his sake. When the time of my departure drew near, he said, “I, too, am ready to travel. It would have been nice to go together, but at this time I do not have the money.

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