Timbuktu 1
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17
1) Amir was most of the time sleeping in his cradle. When he got up from his sleep his mother took care of him. She provided him with the necessary nutrition for which he was in need. Perhaps, for Amir, as a child, the happiest time in his life was when his small lips touched the breast of his mother. Probably, in the first few days of his life, the breast of his mother was for him the source of life and immortality.
Amir was growing up marvelously, amazingly and remarkably throughout the few days that followed his birth on the first of July 1850. The presumed father will never forget this day in which the black boy was born.
For the farmer of the quarter, the birth and the arrival of Amir signaled the starting point of an epoch and an era, of the most important phase in the history of the farm-house and the farmer of the quarter. The presumed father of the black boy was determined to act from that date of his life as the father of the black boy who will be his heir. Wherever, the farmer went either in the quarter or far away in the plantations he behaved in such a way that gave the impression that he was the father of a son.
From time to time he mentioned the black color of his boy and sometimes he made indirect hints to the fact that the mother of the son was his black woman, Jawhara.
Of course, no one in the quarter had the courage of hinting to the doubts regarding the legitimacy of the black boy to be called the son of the farmer of the quarter.
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An idea was circulating in the quarter which indicated that not a single trace of blood could be there in the black boy which could be taken as an evidence of the parentage of the farmer to the black son. Each member of the quarter and of the community was wondering why the black woman was still alive and why the farmer did not punish his black wife so far for her crime of adultery.
The farmer actually realized the fact that all the members of the community had no doubt that the boy was not his son. Somebody else was the father. It never occurred to the farmer that he should punish his wife for giving him a child, a son, who was not engendered by him.
The newly born son had the full right of being considered as the legitimate heir of the farmer. Day after day, all the members of the family of the farmer were becoming full believers that the black boy could not be anybody but the son of the master of the house.
On the fifth day of the birth of Amir, the master of the house made a night visit to his black wife. When he was in the room of Jawhara, he was amazed in not finding a trace of his black wife or of his son. It was a very strange situation to find the room completely empty, vacant. There was no trace to show that the mother and her son were few minutes ago in the room. Where did they disappear? Was it possible that the mother and her son were at that particular moment in the bathroom, in the kitchen or in the bedroom of any of the other women of the farmer? Or did they disappear to a strange place which could not be explained by the normal human reasoning.
The husband of the black woman thought that his wife was playing with him a game. She was somewhere in the bedroom in company with her son. This was what the farmer thought. But the room continued to be empty, vacant. No trace of the mother and her child could be traced in the room. Was the farmer in a dream, or not, in the actual real world? Probably, he might have been in a dream, in a world of fancy and mystery. The father of the boy rubbed his eyes several times thinking that his eyes were not seeing the real world. The rubbing of the eyes did not result in the final revelation of the obvious fact and reality.
However, this state of being lost for about few seconds did not continue for a long time. For all of a sudden, and after rubbing his eyes for a while, the farmer saw his wife sitting on the edge of the bed carrying her son, Amir, in her arms. She was feeding the boy from her breast. Both, the mother and the child were in a very good condition and the boy was looking all the time at his mother. He was trying to recognize and identify his mother with his few days' vision ability.
The short absence of both the mother and the child from the room, or more precisely from the eye sight, the vision of the farmer of the quarter, was still for the husband of Jawhara a riddle, a puzzle that could not be explained. It was not possible for the farmer to find a proper and a convincing solution and explanation. He thought that he should behave as if nothing had happened or as if he did not notice anything extraordinary in the room. The farmer advanced few steps towards the bed of his black wife who was really very busy in the process of feeding her son from her breast. It was almost dark in the room with the exception of the feeble light of the small table lamp that was placed on the small low round table.
Indeed, the black woman was surprised by this nocturnal visit of her husband. Why was he in her room in a time when all the residents of the house were fast asleep? Of course, she thought that her husband was very anxious to see her son, Amir.
There was a complete silence in the room with the exception of the very low noise caused by the branches of the trees of the garden in the backyard of the farm-house. From time to time the ululation of the owl could be heard. Perhaps, the owl was watching this night visit of the master of the house to the bedroom of his wife.
However, the black wife, Jawhara, was not disturbed at all by the voice of the owl which she was accustomed to hear practically every night. The owl was also accustomed to watch the bedroom of the black woman specially after the birth of the small child, Amir.
The small flame of the burning lamp was actually dancing in a funny way which indicated that it will soon get extinguished because of the near total consumption of its kerosene. In this unexpected situation of the lamp and its light, the master of the house went unexpectedly outside the room and was intending to bring to the room another lamp that was full of fuel which would continue sending its light in the bedroom of the child, his heir and hope in life.
In a very short time, the husband was able to come back with a lamp that was sending its flame and was shining with light and illumination. The lamp was already placed on the round table. As a result of the small lamp the room was filled with some light and the husband was able to see the face of his beautiful wife and that of the pretty black baby once again.
While the husband was standing in the middle of the room, not knowing what to do, he noticed somebody who passed there outside in front of the window which was practically open. It was a surprise for the farmer to see a phantom roaming in the garden of the house. Who could be this phantom which was seen in the darkness of the night? The farmer instantaneously recalled his strange ideas about the possibility that his wife came in contact with a Divine and Holy Spirit who could have engendered this blessed black and shining boy. This proposition could have absolved Jawhara from any guilt of adultery. Or, again, was the phantom a human being, an old man, a young man, or what?
Jawhara, the mother of the child, was not disturbed by the passing of the phantom outside in the garden and in front of the window, because according to her, she did not see anybody there outside the house … unless this person whom she did not see was invisible or really a phantom.
But the husband was about to get mad and lose his temper. A phantom was there in the garden. This was what the farmer believed that he has seen. Moreover, and above all of that, he thought that the phantom was in fact a black man, a somewhat young black man.
It was extremely difficult for the husband to identify this ghost or phantom. More than that, the farmer of the quarter believed that the phantom had frizzy hair and consequently this phantom should have been that of a black human being. All of this phenomenon could not be explained at all by the farmer of the quarter.
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To avoid more confusion, the husband of the black woman took the decision to leave the bedroom at once without exchanging a single world with his wife who was still feeding her baby. The door of the room was closed and the mother was left alone with her son, the black boy. In few minutes time, both, the mother and the son got asleep, both of them were in the big bed of the mother.
2) The husband of the black woman did not want to go to his room. It was not his intention to sleep as all the members of the family were doing. There was no escape to the farmer from carrying a search and investigation regarding the identity of the ghost/phantom that was seen roaming in the garden. Hurriedly, the master of the house made few fast steps towards the main gate of the house. The moment he was outside he rushed to the garden surrounding the house. He ran in the garden from one spot to another just to inspect the whole place and to see whether there was a trace left by the intruder whom he thought that he had seen from the inside the bedroom of Jawhara.
After rushing from one place to another, the farmer came to the conclusion that either there was nobody at all there or that the phantom escaped without leaving any trace behind him. In spite of this entire search in the midst of the night, the farmer returned to the house and accepted the fact or the possibility that he was only imagining and nothing else.
Days in the life of the farm-house went on in a very normal and calm way. The small boy of Jawhara was growing in the normal way. During the first few days of his life he gained some weight and he looked to be in a good health. He continued smiling and uttered some sounds which looked for the mother and the father as something miraculous and much more than what a child at his age could do. All the members of the family were really excited to have at last among them a small baby, though black. Nevertheless, no one could make any hint or reference to the black color of the boy. All the members of the family were always eager to see the boy. For all of them, he was the source of happiness and the source of their joy.
Amir has not yet finished the first week of his life. His mother was waiting impatiently the end of the week so the circumcision of her son would take place. Also all the other wives, all the concubines, the sister of the farmer as well as all the maids were extremely anxious for the coming of the day of circumcision.
It was already a Thursday evening and on the next day would take place the most important even in the house of the farmer. On Thursday evening, all the three maids, with occasional aid of all the women of the farmer, were about to finish making all kinds of sweets which will be consumed by the children of the quarter who will attend joyfully the occasion of the circumcision. By that evening all of those who were supposed to attend the important event have been already told about that. Of course, all of them accepted with pleasure to attend the occasion.
Many of these invited to come to the farm-house would accompany their children and few of them will accompany their wives. The sheikh, the religious head of the quarter, was also invited so that he would bless the small boy and recite for a while some of the verses of the Holy Quran.
Yet, the most important person to be invited was the barber of the quarter who was asked to come to the house of the farmer on Friday. Since some days, the barber was waiting this day impatiently because it would be for him the first time in which he would circumcise a black boy. He never had the occasion of cutting the upper skin of the small sex organ of a black boy. So the barber was counting the days for having the chance of circumcising the small black boy.
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There, inside the bedroom of Jawhara, the black woman was preparing herself for the forthcoming big event in the life of man. Every day, the mother told the son about the necessity of being circumcised and that not cutting the upper skin of the sex organ a male would be considered as incomplete in his creation as a man. Amir smiled to his mother whenever she spoke about circumcision. It was a miraculous smile.
One day before the fixed day for his unavoidable and inevitable ceremony and religious ritual of circumcision, Amir was more calm than usual and looked at his mother telling her that he was ready for the ritual of the next day. Of course, Amir, being one week old could only communicate with his mother by his eyes and his smiles.
The next day and starting from early afternoon, the guests were mostly men. The invited women were very few and they came with their children separately from their husbands. Most of the grown up children of the guests played outside in the courtyard of the farm-house.
The baby boy, the black son of Jawhara, was fast asleep at that moment when guests began to come. The sheikh was already in the farm-house and he was reciting verses from the Holy Book, the Quran. The invited men, the guests, were sitting solemnly listening to the verses of the Holy Quran. The barber came somewhat late. He was carrying with him his small black bag containing all tools and instruments required for the circumcision operation as well as some powder and simple medicine required to complete successfully the small operation.
Before the operation of circumcision to take place an unexpected development in the events preceding the cutting of the upper skin of the sex organ of the boy has occurred. Two black men, one of them was young and the other was very old as if he was without age came to the farm-house. The two men were dressed with pure white robes and both of them were having simple sandals in their feet. When they entered the room, all the guests in the farm-house looked at them just to try to identify the two strangers. Both of them were really strangers. Neither of them was seen in the quarter or the community in general.
The old man had some kind of a turban, white, loose turban on his head, while the young black man was putting on his head a kind of a white cap. The black old man carried a walking stick in his left hand. Though his two eyes looked to be open and in good condition, the old black man seemed to be blind, or more or less, semi-blind, or with a very weak eyesight and he looked to be totally dependent on the black young man for walking and moving from one place to another. The young man was listening to some kind of whispering coming from the old man.
All the guests looked at the two strangers when they entered the house and passed the threshold of the big farmer's residence. It was very difficult to identify any of the two strangers. The quarter had at that time few black residents and these two were not at all of these black people who were living in the quarter.
One of the three laborers working for the farmer and who were helping the farmer to receive the guests on that important event, went to the two black men and asked them to follow him so as to show them where they could seat themselves. By now it was realized that the two were not invited to come. It was obvious that the young dark man was not intending to be seated anywhere. A special place was available in the hall in which he preferred to be seated with his black old companion. Then at last two seats were chosen and the two black men, the old and the young, seated themselves there.
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At that time, the main hall of the farm-house was almost full of the guests, many of whom were not really invited. Many of these old and young men of the quarter came to see the black baby who was on that day seven days old. By now, the flow of guests and spectators has stopped to come to the hall as well as to other rooms in the house. All of these places were filled with the guests and the spectators.
Black coffee, which was prepared and boiled with a lot of cardamom, was served in small cups to each new comer. The waiter in charge of serving the back coffee did not cease to go around serving coffee to all the guests. The main hall of the house was by now full of guests who were most of the time looking discreetly at the two black men.
It was evident that in that hall the ritual of circumcision would take place. All necessary arrangements were already taken. Some mattresses on which the farmer of the quarter would sit carrying the black boy so as to let the barber carry out the small operation on the little sex organ of the black boy. It was obvious that the two strange black men, the young and the old, were just seating themselves in front of the place where the sacred ritual of circumcision would take place. The way they were seated would permit them to see the black baby and also to see the sex organ of the boy which was to undergo the operation.
It was evident that the black old man was not blind at all. His old age, estimated to be above ninety years, gave the impression that at that old age he lost his sight or his sight was weak that he could consider himself to be blind and to be in need for his movement for the aid of somebody.
3) The critical and the awaited moment was about to take place. The sheikh who was reciting verses from the Holy Book stopped saying anything. All the eyes of the audience were directed towards the door from which the farmer of the quarter and the black baby boy would make their entry. All of the guests were waiting the entry of the baby. However, some delay took place in the entry of the child. The guests in the hall whispered to each other in looking not on the small baby boy who was to undergo the operation and thus was supposed to be the star of attraction, but on the two black men who were like all the other guests very eager to see the whole operation of the circumcision and above all to see from a short distance the small boy and especially his black shining face.
Of course, and it was obvious from the running of the small steps in the preparation for the circumcision that everything was normal as far as the operation was concerned. By now, the father and the black baby were ready on the mattress and the barber was preparing himself to carry out the operation.
In the mean time, the two black men were full of anxiety and nervousness. Both of them were looking at the small black boy. At the same time they were controlling themselves so as to avoid any unexpected reaction or act on their part especially from the young black man. For so many times since his arrival, the young black man stood up and was about to walk towards the black small baby. All the guests in the big hall remarked these gestures, movements and manifestations of strange behavior made by the young black man. What did he want? And what was he about to do? Of course, none of the spectators could explain what was taking place and why. The more time passed by the more the guests got puzzled because of the presence of these two strange black men. One of the spectators said to his neighbor sitting on his left side.
Who are those black men? I never saw them in the quarter, never. I never saw them in the mosque especially in the mid Friday prayer. This is the first time that I see them. said one of the guest spectators.
I tell you, probably, they could be relatives of the black wife, the mother of the black boy to be circumcised after a while. But still I cannot imagine that they are related to the family of the farmer of the quarter because the farmer did not come to welcome them and to talk to them. Could they be the brother and the grandfather of the black mother of the baby? I assure you that the farmer never saw these two strange black men. The two men behave in such a way that gives the impression that they are for sure strangers. said the old man sitting on the left side.
I agree with you that they never saw the farmer before and as you could see all the guests look at them with astonishment and surprise. But the matter that puzzles me is that both of them behave in a highly balanced way. They look to be two wise black men specially the old man. said the first guest.
Let us wait and see how things and events develop. There could take place some unexpected events, developments. We cannot at all guess what will happen. Look there, the farmer is busy in carrying the black boy to the barber. At the same time look at the barber, he carries in his right hand the knife with the sharp blade. But I am sure that the farmer has seen the two black men seated and he did not show any strange reaction as a result of seeing them. I am certain that the farmer sees them for the first time. said the guest seated on the left.
Anyhow, let us wait and see and let us not to be in a hurry. We would, sooner or later, discover the identity of these two black strangers. It is surprising how the old man - I mean the old black man - looks to be like a phantom and nothing else. He seems to me as if he comes from another planet. But the young black man looks to me an ordinary human being who looks at the child, the black child, Amir, with anxiety and eagerness. What a strange situation! What a mystery and what a riddle!! said the first guest.
Listen to me my friend. With the passing of time I am formulating a theory for the explanation of the presence of the two strange black men in this circumcision ritual. said the man to the left.
No! No! Please do not tell me what you have in mind. Please do not tell me. I do not want to listen. This is not the place or the occasion to say what you have now, at this actual moment, in mind. Be sure my dear friend that I have now in my mind the same idea which you have in mind and which you are proposing to tell me its contents. Keep what you want to say to yourself. It is not the moment and the place to talk about this. said the first visitor.
Why not; look at the young black man how he looks at the small black boy. said the other visitor.
All of a sudden the first visitor stood up and immediately left the hall without waiting the end of the ceremony of the circumcision of the black boy, Amir. He was not ready at all to listen to the gossiping visitor who wanted to tell him that the young black man was really behaving as if he was the father of the child circumcised. The guest sitting on the left was astonished to find himself talking to nobody. He was really surprised to see the other guest behaving in such a curious way. Indeed and strangely enough, the two black men, the old and the young, were related to the black woman, Jawhara, the wife of the farmer of the quarter and the mother of the black baby, Amir.
4) During the last nine months of the pregnancy of Jawhara, her 'lover' Amin, her cousin, who was, by one way or another, the father of Amir, was thinking of her night and day. During the last month of the pregnancy of Jawhara, her cousin, the 'lover' was able to know the approximate day for the birth of the little black child, his son. Before the birth of the son, by one or two days, the lover could know in two days time that his son was born and that it was decided that his son would be circumcised after seven days from the day he was born.
Of course, nobody knew the identity of the 'lover' with the exception of Jawhara with whom she slept in a strange situation and in fantastic circumstances nine months ago. The more Jawhara tried to recall that fantastic night in which she got pregnant in the Valley of the Spirit the more she was inclined to believe that actually she was not physically touched by her cousin. In that first night of the three nights during which she was absent from the farm-house, it was not possible at all that she met Amin, her cousin. Jawhara now, and at the time of the circumcision of her son, Amir, was realizing that her contact at that night in the Valley of the Spirit was Spiritual rather than physical. She believed also that her cousin in that night was all the time in his bed but was aware of his Spiritual contact with Jawhara. Whatever was the actual story of the first night of the escapade, Jawhara was certain that the father of her son Amir was her cousin, Amin.
The father of Amir was sitting in tranquility just about four meters far from the black baby boy, Amir. It was obvious that the presumed 'lover' could not in any case behave in such a way that would make others think that there was some kind of a secret relationship between the black boy and the young black man. The eyes of all of those who were attending the ceremony were really monitoring the black young man. All the guests had the doubt regarding the relationship between Jawhara, Amir, her son, and the black cousin who was living all the years of his life in the Valley of the Spirit nearby the Holy River.
There, in the Valley of the Spirit, was also living the family of Jawhara, the mother of the black baby and the wife of the farmer of the quarter. This was why the young black man was looking at his son and from a distance and did not want to raise the doubt of anybody as to his real relationship to the small baby, Amir, and his mother, Jawhara.
By a strange feeling, Jawhara, the mother of the boy, knew that the father of her son, her cousin, was at that moment very near to her. There, in one of the guest rooms of the farm-house, the black woman was sitting with several other women visitors and they were talking about their children in particular and about life in the quarter in general. Each one of them was married and had several children some of whom were boys. The women talked about the story of the circumcision of each of their male children.
While pretending to be listening to the stories told by the women visitors, all the attention of the black woman was directed towards the person, a black young man, who was sitting in the big hall and was looking at her small son. Jawhara was sure that at that time, her 'lover', her cousin, was sitting in the big hall staring and looking at his little boy being carried by the master of the house, to be circumcised. At that moment she felt that her cousin was coming to her and she was feeling, herself, to be in ecstasy and in some kind of a heavenly enchantment and happiness.
At that moment, though separated by several walls and other barriers, Jawhara could hear the excited and the animated beating of the heart of her cousin that was exactly as that beating of the heart which she was listening to when she and her cousin, her 'lover', were united together, though most probably in a purely Spiritual sense. The black wife of the farmer could see the father of her son looking at the little Amir, the boy and the son of both of them.
The women guests noticed that their hostess was behaving in a curious way. This was also noticed by the other wives and concubines of the farmer. It was for the first time since a long time that the black woman was in real ecstasy and was like in a dream. The women sitting with Jawhara in the big room thought that she was living at that moment in a different world and that she was dreaming as if she was living in a world of fantasy. From time to time, the black woman smiled and probably she uttered a word, the name of somebody.
Hilwa, the sister of the farmer, who was present in that big room, got extremely worried in seeing her sister-in-law behaving in such a strange and curious way. Hilwa was the only woman in the ceremony who had the courage to go to Jawhara and sit next to her on a mattress and talk to her without any hesitation.
What happened to you? You have suddenly changed, totally changed to the extent that you seem to be living in another world, far away in another universe, or you look to be dreaming and smiling at the same time. What happened to you? Are you seeing something, somebody whom others in the hall cannot see or observe? said Hilwa to her sister-in-law, Jawhara.
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Don't worry. It is not something serious. Yet I could see something which you cannot see. Isn't it this normal? It happens to all. Isn't it so? I am wondering why you are astonished, worried. Yes, I see now something which you cannot see. Isn't this normal? I have more than thirty years behind me and I have the right, the absolute right to remember events and to recall anecdotes which took place in my life in the past. Some of our memories are the continuous sources of happiness and joy and some others are sources of sadness and misery. said the black woman to Hilwa, the sister of her husband.
Yes, yes, I agree with you. But tell us some of the things which you see, which you have been seeing. Tell us, if you please. We would all be sharing with you the happiness and the joy which you are enjoying only yourself. said Hilwa to Jawhara.
No! No! There is no reason to tell you what I am seeing in my imagination and in my world of fantasy. I cannot explain to you just know why I am having a feeling of joy and happiness. said in low voice the black woman to Hilwa.
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Back there in the big hall, the place where the circumcision of the small boy was taking place, a sudden soft and somehow a suppressed cry was heard in the big hall. This was the voice of the small boy when the upper flesh of his small penis was cut by the blade of the barber.
The cousin of the black woman saw all of that. The young black father saw that his child was already circumcised. The young black man, Amin, the cousin of Jawhara was in complete exultation. All of those who were present in the big hall saw the strange reaction of the young black man. Anyhow, none of them could discover the exact relationship between the boy, the black boy and the young black man.
5) At that particular moment, and without the awareness of anybody, the old black man with the frizzy white hair was no more sitting next to the black young man. He just disappeared leaving the cousin of Jawhara sitting all alone in the big hall with the other men.
Nevertheless, the old man, the black, was only visible to Jawhara. He was the one seen by the black woman in the mirror of her bedroom that was fixed on one of the walls of her room. The black old man, who miraculously appeared on the day of the circumcision of Amir, the son of the black woman, was the man who mysteriously appeared in the mirror. Though he lived in Timbuktu two hundred years ago, he was the one who told his descendant, Jawhara how her roots went back to Timbuktu.
The story of the pilgrimage of the family of Jawhara two hundred years ago was told by the old man to the black woman some time ago. The black woman, the mother of the black boy who was already circumcised, was sitting in the room in which the other women visitors were also sitting. The old black man appeared in this room but he was only visible to Jawhara. The black old man, who died two hundred years ago in Timbuktu, was in fact resuscitated and could appear from time to time to the black woman, his descendant.
When the old black man spoke to Jawhara nobody at all could hear him with the exception of his descendant, Jawhara. Also, whenever the young black woman spoke to the old man nobody could have heard her communication with the old black man.
On that important day of the circumcision of Amir, the old black man considered this occasion as the right time to come to the East Bank of the Holy River and have a talk with Jawhara. The following is the discourse addressed by the old black man to Jawhara on the day of the circumcision of the small black boy.
Listen to me my dear daughter, Jawhara. I am here in a mission to the Valley of the Holy Spirit and to the Land of the Fertile Crescent. After two hundred years since the departure of your grandfather, who was also my son, from the City of Timbuktu I thought it was time for me to come and see my descendants spread all over the Fertile Crescent and in all the lands adjacent to the Empty Quarter and in countries of the Gulf of pearls and diamonds.
I would like to tell you also that Timbuktu, the Immortal City and the cultural center for all the countries of the Middle East and most African countries is nowadays suffering from decadence and from the decline of its cultural enlightenment. Timbuktu is now, and since my death two hundred years ago disintegrating. It is now under the mercy of the cruel desert wind.
Timbuktu is at present suffering and in few years time nothing would remain of this cultural edifice of the world with the exception of memories which its people and its descendants have. But these memories are being gradually erased and forgotten from the spirit, from the soul of the descendants of Timbuktu. Jawhara, my beloved descendant, I am here to remind you of the greatness of the City of Timbuktu in the cultural history of mankind.
Your roots are there in that immortal City, Timbuktu of the African continent. In human history, advancement, civilization and culture, no other city could surpass the greatness and the glory of our City. No other city can claim a more glorious enlightenment than that of our Immortal City, Timbuktu. My daughter; never ever forget your roots in the heart of the Grand Sahara of the African Continent._x000D_ Tell, teach, instruct, inform, narrate and recount to your son, Amir, everything about your roots in Africa and about the glory of the City of Timbuktu from where your ancestors came two hundred years ago. Let him be aware of the importance of knowing all the disciplines of human knowledge including those of science, mathematics which were taught in the centers of learning of higher education and learning of the city of Timbuktu. I am sure that the love of learning of the various science disciplines are deeply rooted in the spirit and the soul of your son Amir."
Let your son Amir go systemically to the local mosque schools where he would be learning a lot of things and the most important of which is the reading of our Holy Book and some basic principles of reading and writing of what has become your mother tongue, Arabic. Remember I am talking to you in the middle of the 19th Century. In your part of the world the mosque school plays an important role in the education of children.
Let your first objective in life be to follow the education of your son and his mental development. Help him all the time to be at the top of his group. Nobody should be before him. Prepare him for a life of intellectual strife and scholarly struggle.
Nothing would be easy for him in the entire intellectual and the scholarly pursuits and paths which he would follow. Prepare him for competition and strife especially in the fields of education and work. Let him be like his ancestors of Timbuktu, a learned man who would carry all the time the torch of advancement and enlightenment in his country and everywhere he could be of a help.
Teach him all the time that as a black man, a black human being, he should do his best all the time and everywhere he is found. He should try to be the best and in a leadership position. All other people would try to put barriers and obstacles in his way. Most people would hope that he falls and for several times in the way to achieve his objectives.
Teach your son Amir that it is normal to fall and for several times. But it is fatal, deadly and mortal not to be able to stand up again so as to resume, start again, walking after each fall. Teach your son Amir, to be cautious and vigilant, judicious and discreet. He should be very careful in choosing friends. As a black human being many would try to treat him as an intruder, as a stranger in the local community and sometimes as an inferior. In such cases, teach your son to be ready to defend himself. Nobody should be allowed to think that he could be higher and better than Amir or superior to him.
Your son should aim to be the best in the community. No one could be equal to your son, neither in his beauty, in his handsomeness nor in his superior mental and intellectual powers and talents. Don't forget that your son Amir has his blood from Timbuktu, a city of intellectual and scientific achievements and superiority.
Teach your son not to sleep without being sure that all the doors of his citadel are well closed, well guarded. Those who will look at him with envy, jealousy and evilness would be many, would be uncountable. Your son will be a brilliant seeker of knowledge. He will be a remarkable young man and later on will be looked upon as a person who cannot be surpassed.
Your son will be like a twinkling star and he would be looked upon with jealousy. The evil eye will follow him starting from his daily departure from his house. Yet, don't be worried at all. Your son is a Blessed and a Holy person in whose veins run the glorious culture of Timbuktu.
All the rich cultural traditions and achievements that have been prospering in Timbuktu have been exposed and presented to you and to your spirit when you, as the future mother of Amir, have been given the chance in a nocturnal journey to see and witness all of what has been achieved by your ancestors in Africa.
My blessed descendant and my dear and miraculous daughter, no doubt, your son Amir the black boy has also in his blood and in his spirit the traces of the cultural heritage of Timbuktu. Between now and then you should remind your son of the fact of his blackness and of the intellectual heritage of Timbuktu.
Listen to me my dearest descendant, my beloved daughter. Frankly speaking, at present and may be in the near future, I will be able to tell you what your son will be in the days to come. Yet, and for sure, he would be a great man who would be remembered in the annals of the history of this awakening as a person who was well known in his community and even in the whole region.
But yet, I cannot tell you exactly what he would be in the near future. It is he who decides and it is God, the Almighty who will guide, bless and protect him. In spite of all of that, your son would have enemies and would have people in his neighborhood who would wish the end of his life. Don't worry my daughter Jawhara, your son is everlastingly protected and no one could do any harm to him.
All good people in the community will respect him, of course, with the exception of some, the envious and the jealous. Don't worry my dear daughter. No one can harm your son. Yet as a general rule everyone should protect himself against any possible danger. Nobody knows where the evil eye awaits the innocent and the virtuous for giving him the final blow. Indeed, your son will be immune, protected and resistant to all possible harm that would come from the evil eye.
As soon as Amir commences his life of adulthood and manliness, he should without any hesitation think of choosing the woman who would share with him his life, his good days and his bad days and his difficult days
Your son will have only one wife, only one black woman, of a pure black blood. During your life time, your son will have many children from his black wife. Your son would have more boys than girls. All the children of your son will get married to persons of their black race living in the lands of the Fertile Crescent.
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All his sons will have brilliant careers and professions. All your grand children will have the chance of getting the best of educational opportunities available in the dawn of the 20th Century. Several of your grand children, specially the boys, would have the opportunity to have their higher and advanced education abroad.
Here I don't know what would be the political future of the Ottoman Empire within which you are living now. The political map might change in the dawn of the 20th Century. I could see that the first years of the coming 20th Century would witness drastic and tragic political and military developments some of which would be tragic. I am not in a position to tell you what would be the nature of these political developments. However, let your son Amir be aware of such possible developments in the history of our region so as to take the right decision concerning the destiny of his children, both boys and girls.
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Don't forget that though you are a member of a small agricultural and commercial community of the Eastern Bank of the Holy River, you are at the same time part of a big and an important Empire that has been in existence since the 13th Century or even before that. I am sure that with the recent reforms in the methods and ways of administering their frontier territories, the Ottoman Turks authorities would encourage all well-to-do families of power and influence to send their children to pursue their education in the several higher education centers and institutes that are available in the vast territories of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.
As for your son, I am telling you, he will have a brilliant and a successful future. I do not have the right of talking to you about your son, Amir, and his future. What I can tell you now is that he will be a man to be remembered by all in the future.
Jawhara was sitting amongst the women in the room designated to welcome all the invited women of the community to the ceremony of the circumcision of her son Amir. She was listening to the black old man from Timbuktu who was supposed to have died around two hundred years back. It seems that the black old man from Timbuktu appeared frequently to Jawhara just to convey to her messages and some information about the future of her son. The old man disappeared in a surprising sudden way and without any advanced warning.
Jawhara was stunned by the sudden disappearance of her ancestor, the old black man. She was ready to stay listening to him for hours and hours. In the past he had told her about her roots in the immortal city of Timbuktu. This day, that of the circumcision of her son, he spoke about the children of Timbuktu and their life in the lands of the Fertile Crescent after two hundred years since their grandfather, the son of the old black man, left the City of Timbuktu and came to the Middle East for purposes of pilgrimage.
6) Jawhara was in a happy mood after the disappearance of the black old man, the ancestor from Timbuktu. She had the chance of being told about the future of her son, Amir, and the future of her descendants. All would be married and would enjoy a happy life. The black old man did not tell her enough about her dear son. He did not go into details of the life of her son. Actually, the black old man knew exactly the destiny and the future life of Amir. But he did not want to tell the mother, the back woman, what she wanted. The future and the days to come would disclose the reality of the life of her son to her and before her death.
The ceremony of the circumcision came to an end. Practically all of those invited to attend the ceremony have almost disappeared. On the threshold of the farm-house, the black woman of the farmer stood and fixed her eyes on a man, an almost young man, who was at that moment going towards his destination, the Valley of the Spirit, where his family was well established since many generations. The mother of Amir knew exactly the personality of that black young man who was gradually disappearing in the darkness of the unknown.
Jawhara lost the chance of talking to her 'lover', the real father of her black son, Amir. She was raising several questions about her cousin, Amin. Jawhara recalled at that moment that about nine months ago she had the three days escape or more precisely, the three days evasion in which she was carried to the spot in which her family was living in the Valley of the Spirit by a cloud of a miraculous light. She remembered that she saw her cousin in very strange circumstances. The more she thought of that sentimental meeting with her cousin the more she was convinced that the one who penetrated her could not have been Amin in his body and spirit. She was thinking that only the spirit of her cousin, Amin, could have been with her in that unforgettable and fantastic night, and not for sure, his body. Even though Jawhara became a believer that she had only a spiritual contact she could not avoid all the fact that she became pregnant and that Amin was the real father of her son.
Jawhara, in those days of joy and happiness, after the birth of her son, was night and day asking herself whether she committed a sin for which women in the society sacrifice their lives. The mother of Amir, the black boy, was convinced that she was really pure, innocent, unadulterated, chaste, sinless, unsullied, virginal, clean and impeccable and unblemished, untouched. But it was very difficult to explain such a fact to people who thought of her being only and only an adulteress. Perhaps, she began thinking that her husband, the farmer of the quarter, was more or less, a man, a wise man, and a judicious man who was convinced of the purity and innocence of his wife and that in no case Jawhara could have been an adulterous.
Perhaps, the husband has been able to see, through supernatural and divine powers, how his wife was only touched by the Spirit… The farmer of the quarter could not know, discover, whose spirit was that that led to the birth of the son of Jawhara, Amir. On the other hand, it was also normal and absolutely expected that her cousin, though he was sleeping in his bed at his home with his family, has actually come in spiritual contact with Jawhara in that cloud of light.
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7) Did Amin see his son while he was circumcised? Was he satisfied? Did he want to see his cousin, Jawhara, the mother of the baby boy? Amin, the cousin of the black woman, continued walking but in a slow pace. He never looked back to see whether somebody was watching him from a distance. Gradually and in the western horizon, the cousin of Jawhara was disappearing until his image became a small black spot in the vanishing world. The cries of pain from which the small boy was suffering were echoing inside the farm-house. It was not easy for the mother of the little boy to hear these cries.
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As soon as the mother was near to the child in the bedroom, the small baby calmed down as if the presence of his mother next to him gave him the feeling of security. The memories of events of the day of circumcision of Amir, the son of Jawhara, could never be erased from the memory of the black woman, the wife of the farmer of the quarter.
Night and day and with the rapid growth of her son, the mother was all the time remembering the mysterious visit of her cousin to the farm-house located on the small hills of the Eastern Bank of the Valley of the Spirit. Jawhara never saw again her cousin who made her by some mysterious way conceive her only son, Amir. The cousin disappeared from her daily life. He never showed himself either around the farm-house or in the community at large.
Nevertheless, the black woman continued to see her cousin in her daily dreams. Once, in one of her dreams, she saw her cousin, the father of her son, standing early in the morning and completely naked, nude. He was about to have his daily swim, or dip, in the waters of the Holy River. The cousin had his daily dip but he never came out of the waters of the Holy River. He just disappeared in the water of the River. Was he drowned? The dream of Jawhara did not show again this young man alive walking around on the Eastern Bank of the Holy River. Was he drowned? Was he considered as a dead person? Probably, his body, corpse, was taken down to the Sea of Death where his body was immediately swallowed in the salty and the acidic water of the Sea of Death.
After the horrible dream, the nightmare, in which the black woman saw and witnessed the probable death of her 'lover' and the father of her son, by drowning in the Holy River, she became for several days in a gloomy and a depressive mood.
Was her cousin really drowned in the Holy River and in the Valley of the Spirit? She wanted to know whether her cousin was really alive or was he dead. All possibilities were open including that of finding him still alive. Jawhara asked the youngest agricultural laborer to go to the Valley of the Spirit so as to find out the actual situation of her cousin. Was he still alive? The young laborer, who lived in an annex attached to the farm-house, went down to the Valley and came back late in the evening bringing back with him the news that Amin, the young farmer, and the father of five children was found dead, killed by means of a white arm, probably a dagger. His head was almost cut from the main body. The attackers, the criminals tried to decapitate him.
The news of the brutal, savage, cruel, barbarous and sadistic death, killing of the young black man was brought to the farm-house and the community by the young laborer who was sent by the black woman to the Valley of the Spirit to discover what was going on there.
The black woman, the mother of the small black boy, was extremely horrified and totally terrified when she heard the tragic, the dreadful and the shocking news as told to her by the young agricultural laborer. Jawhara was about to faint, to fall down on the floor. With difficulty she walked few steps to the chair on which she often sat either to look at the mirror or to indulge herself in deep contemplation and serious thinking about the crime committed in the Valley of the Spirit and on the bank of the Holy River.
The scene which was seen by the agricultural laborer, the messenger of Jawhara, in front of him was so tragic that the young man could not say anything so as to console and to appease the young black woman.
The news of the murder, of the death of the cousin of Jawhara, Amin, was a surprise to some and a shock to others. People who could not believe the news were those of the farm-house and those of the quarter and the community. Such an act of violence was not common in the daily life of people in the whole community. It did not come to the mind of any ordinary citizen that this act of violence in which a young man was killed was related, in one way or another, to some kind of a crime of honor.
Normally speaking, it was the general rule that a woman paid the price of tarnishing and blemishing the honor of the family in particular and the clan in general. It never happened that the aggressor, or the accused for the act of violation, or rape, was punished. It was always the female of the human family, and on whom the act of violation has taken place, who paid the price by losing her life because of the act of the dishonoring the reputation and the honor of the family. The woman, a woman, is all the time the culprit who should be punished by losing her life, by being slaughtered publicly by the males of the family. It was all the time the honor of the family for which the life of a female human being should be sacrificed.
On the other hand some of the wise men of the community began to think and to propose some other explanations for the cruel and the barbaric death of the young black man, Amin, of the Valley of the Spirit.
Were there some other reasons for the massacre, the slaughter of the young black man? Was he a bad young man who should have been eliminated because he was a danger in the little community of the southern part of the Valley of the Spirit of which he was a member? Was this type of horrifying crime a repeated event, a phenomenon that characterized that spot, place, of the Valley of the Spirit?
In few days time, rumors, a lot of dirty rumors and gossips, were circulating in the whole Valley of the Spirit and in all parts of the Eastern Bank of the Valley. All people were looking for some kind of a reasonable and a plausible solution for the riddle, for this horrible and barbaric crime. The family of the victim, Amin, the cousin of Jawhara, was most concerned to find, not exactly the culprit, or the criminal, but rather the real story behind the whole crime.
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The uncle of Jawhara, the father of the victim, Amin, was most concerned to find the criminal, and the guilty. Who has killed the innocent black man? His widow, the mother of his five children was most concerned to know, to find out who was the criminal.
The young black man was killed not by a single man, but by a group of men, two or more than that. The nature of the crime indicated that more than one man participated in the horrible crime. The wife of the defunct, the widow of Amin, could not at all identify the person who killed her young husband and the father of the five children.
She, the widow, looked around in an attempt to find out a hint, an indication, and an evidence for a possible explanation for the crime. But the widow could not track down any indication which would help her to explain the crime.
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Alas, the young widow was in the wilderness. There was no hope for her to discover the culprit who killed her husband. The only thing she could do was to stay with her children and to wait for the mercy of God, for the disentanglement of the mystery of the crime whose victim was her young and faithful husband and the father of her five orphans.
Every day, in the evening after the full sleep of all the children, the widow of the victim made a quick review of all her days which she lived with her husband just to see a loophole in their life through which she could find the aspired explanation of the crime.
All of a sudden, the widow, the wife of the victim, Amin, remembered a strange incident which took place more than ten months ago. What a strange, astonishing and staggering incident. The widow of the young victim in remembering this incident, the anecdote, the event, was about to faint, to cry and to lose her equilibrium. She could not believe what she has recalled. The widow looked around her just to be sure that nobody was around her. Nobody was watching her. The widow closed her eyes to try to avoid remembering anything. She wanted to live in a world of the nothingness in which nothing and nobody existed. What a strange world and what bizarre memories and souvenirs!! Could this event have happened, this event, which she recalled and remembered?
She clearly and distinctly remembered and with certainty that at that night in which she was sleeping next to her husband, Amin, in the bed and exactly at midnight, and maybe ten months ago, her faithful husband, Amin, who was sleeping next to her in the bed, was clearly having a very long dream during which he seemed to have had a love making dream with somebody other than herself. The dream continued from midnight till the rise of the sun from its bed behind the horizon. The amazed wife of Amin could not sleep for the whole night. Her husband seemed to be in a dream that lasted for a long time. The dream of Amin continued to be expressed in some low voice of excitement produced by the husband. His wife heard, of course, this strange voice but she could not discover what was going on with her husband.
In the morning of the next day, the wife looked only on the face of her husband so as to incite him to tell her what was going on during the night. It was expected that the husband was in a complete confusion. For him, the mysterious and the fantastic incident that took place yesterday night was not a dream at all but rather a real event in which he saw his cousin, Jawhara, the wife of the farmer of the quarter, and with whom he slept in circumstances that were completely mysterious, enigmatic and puzzling. Amin had the conviction that the meeting with Jawhara in that fantastic night was real, real.
Amin could not recall any details of the event. Of course, in the morning of the unforgettable night Amin found himself sleeping next to his wife, the mother of his five children. Naturally, nobody was informed about this incident which was a dream. Yet Amin thought it to be real although he never left his bed with his wife for the whole night. On the other hand, the story of the whole affair of the pregnancy of Jawhara was only known by her and nobody else at all.
The pregnancy of Jawhara after her fantastic night with her cousin Amin, or the Spirit of her cousin in the Valley of the Spirit was just a mystery that cannot be explained by the husband, by his other women, by his sister or by the three old maid servants. The master of the farm and starting from the day of the birth of the black boy, behaved in such a way which showed to others that he was the real father of the black boy. But yet, and at the same time, this master of the farm could not believe, in an absolute manner, that this completely black boy was his. There should have been the real black father of the black child.
On the other hand, the master of the house was at that time without an heir. As a rich man he wanted disparately a boy to be his heir. He was married to seven women but none of them was able to give him a boy, or any baby, without specifying the gender, who could inherit his wealth, his reputation, his glory and celebrity. The reason for this entire situation of hopelessness faced by the farmer with the sudden and unexpected pregnancy of his black wife, he was really in a state of happiness and joy.
The farmer of the quarter was sleeping with his wife and he could not find any reason in not claiming his legitimate parentage to the small baby who was living in the womb of his black wife. Nevertheless, the farmer had the conviction that the baby who was in the belly of his wife was not his because of the simple reason of his being sterile. There must be a man or the Spirit of a man who was the real biological father of the child of his black wife.
8) So it was. The black child was born and the master of the house welcomed the child as being his own child. People around him, either in the farm-house or in the community, had the absolute doubt concerning the legitimacy of the newly born son. There should have been a potent father who could make his black wife conceive the baby, the heir of the farmer of the quarter.
However, nobody could ever have thought of the slightest possibility that the father of the child could have been the cousin of the wife, the young black man called, Amin.
Nobody knew at all that Jawhara had a cousin of her age. Besides, she was not making regular visits, weekly or monthly, to the Valley of the Spirit where her family was well established. The master of the house, the husband, knew of the existence of the young black man, the cousin, but he had never given any attention to this cousin of his wife. Throughout the eleven years of her married life, Jawhara was supposed to have severed, cut, all her relationship with her family in the Valley of the Spirits. So as a conclusion, it was expected to think that the young cousin of Jawhara was never thought of as a possible real father of the baby who was there in the womb of the black woman.
Of all the women of the farm-house, and there were seven of them, none of them thought of the cousin of Jawhara as the possible real father of Amin with the exception of the old maid-servant, Mariam. This maid had in her memory the full information about all the main events that have taken place in the region including the Valley of the Spirits. Mariam was in good and continuous contacts with the sorceress of the quarter and from her she was able to get all the news, false or real, about the people living in the Valley and in the Eastern Bank.
The sorceress of the quarter was all the time well informed about the current events and news. No doubt the witch knew about the pregnancy of the black woman and it was certain that she carried out her own investigation. Of course, neither the sorceress nor the old maid, Mariam, knew the truth about the pregnancy of the black wife of the farmer. However, the old maid claimed that she knew the truth and that most probably Amin, the cousin, was the 'lover' of Jawhara and the father of the black boy, Amir. The old maid, Mariam, could not give any proof or evidence concerning her claim that Amin was the father. She could not provide evidence. Her claim was really based on some intuition and maybe some insight.
On the day of the circumcision of the son of Jawhara, many men, invited and probably many intruders, came to attend the religious ritual and ceremony. The child at that moment, when the act of circumcision took place, was in the arms of the husband of Jawhara. He wanted to show all people that he was really the father of the child he was carrying. The sensitive act of circumcision could have taken place while the black small child was lying on a mattress. However, the husband of Jawhara insisted that he should carry the baby in his arms.
At that particular, precarious and hazardous moment, the farmer of the quarter at the time of circumcision saw in front of him at the other side of the big salon the two black men. One was very old while the other one was young and looked to be worried and disturbed. The young man was, of course, the cousin of Jawhara. The moment the eyes of the two men, the farmer and the cousin of Jawhara, looked at each other they, the two, exchanged some messages by means of the eyes. The farmer of the quarter told the other, the young black man, that he would have a rendezvous with him. The eyes of the farmer of the quarter told the young man that they would meet shortly and very soon.
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On the other hand, Amin, the cousin of Jawhara and her presumed 'lever', told the farmer, through the eyes, that he got his message and that he would be waiting the aspired meeting. Actually, the cousin of Jawhara, after he got the message of the farmer, decided to leave the big hall of the farm-house and to go directly from this hilly location on the East Bank of the Valley of the Spirit to his small village and plantation on the bank of the Holy River. The young black man understood the message of the husband of Jawhara.
The farmer wanted to take revenge. He wanted to kill the young black man who would be going back to his small agricultural settlement on the Eastern Bank of the Holy River. The young black man should go back to his home and wait for the act of revenge, vengeance there in the Valley of the Spirit. On the other hand, the farmer of the quarter was really terrified in seeing the young black man sitting there and looking either at him or at the black child. The farmer felt that there was something intangible, evanescent and shadowy uniting these two creatures, the black baby and the black young man. The child seemed to be in fact an integral part of the spirit of the young black man. The farmer could not go any further. But he was sure that he found the source of the black roots of the boy, Amir.
The farmer of the quarter discovered by himself the reality. His man, his enemy sat in front of him. In a very quick manner of thinking and reasoning, the farmer came to know the personality of the young black man sitting on the chair. In a wink of an eye the farmer could see in front of him the young black man decapitated. The farmer, and in a very quick manner of thinking, had a plan in his mind for the elimination of this young man who had the courage to come to the farm-house with the main aim of seeing what was going on in the farm-house.
The farmer was just able to identify in the young black man the person who could be considered as the one who slept with his wife nine months ago and who made her conceive her baby, the black boy, Amir.
The farmer of the quarter could find and hire two persons who were ready to carry out whatever was asked from them in return to a well defined amount of money. A secret meeting was held somewhere in one of the plantations of the farmer and there everything was agreed upon. The aim of the plan, the conspiracy, was to totally eliminate the young black man called Amir. The two criminals agreed to carry out the crime in the evening of one day when the young black man, the cousin of Jawhara, would be coming back from his work in one of the plantations and in one of the bushes nearby the Bank of the Holy River.
The day of the assassination of Amin was fixed to be the tenth after the day of the circumcision of Amir, the son of Jawhara. On that day, the two criminals were hiding in a somewhat big thicket. At that moment there was the sunset and it was practically of the days of the end of the autumn season. The two criminals were having their daggers in their hands and both of them were quire alert, prepared and vigilant and ready to assassinate the young black man who would be passing this spot in which the two excited and agitated criminals were waiting for him.
The sun has already disappeared in the horizon and the darkness of the night was preparing itself to come out to spread its obscurity everywhere. One of the two criminals was nervous because Amin was a little bit late. His friend, the other criminal, asked him to be patient and to wait. He told his friend that some people were most of the time late. Some people came before the fixed time but the majority of people came on time.
The nervous member of the two criminals did not like what his friend presented of ideas about human habits and behavior. The time in which Amin was supposed to be passing in this spot has already passed and the two criminals who were having daggers in their hands were eager to accomplish their objective. Suddenly the two criminals heard somebody was coming in singing a song that was popular at that time.
As expected the two assassins got a little bit nervous while they were looking around to see who was coming. The joyful singing that was coming from afar was a source of worry and a lot of inquietude. Both of the criminals were asking themselves the following question. 'Should we kill the young man? Should we commit this crime?' Of course, the two assassins knew very well the black young man. They have seen him several times during the last eight days. The singing was gradually coming near to the spot in which the two criminals were hiding. Amin was already standing in front of the two assassins and did not know what the two unknown men wanted from him.
The act of killing the young black man, Amin, the cousin of Jawhara, took only few minutes to finish. The muscles of the two criminals and the blades of the two daggers put an end to the life of the young black man. Nobody knew who killed the cousin of Jawhara. Probably, few of them knew who planned the assassination but they did not want to declare the name of the one who planned and ordered the execution of the killing of the young black man.
Jawhara was one of the few who knew the person who planned and masterminded the assassination plot. She knew perfectly well that it was her jealous husband, the sterile, who planned the assassination thinking that Amin slept with his wife. This love making resulted in the conception of the son, the black boy, Amir.
Of course, Jawhara, at the same time, thought that her husband was really mistaken because Amin never, in that night of the conception, has been with her in his body. Rather, it was the Spirit of her 'lover' that made her conceive her black son, Amir.
According to the widow of the victim, her husband has never left her and her bed. The widow of the victim claimed that her husband, in that immortal night in which Jawhara conceived her son, had a dream during which he was having love with somebody. She maintained her claim by adding that this state of a romantic and sensational dream continued till sunrise.
On the same line of thinking, narration, chronicle and storytelling, Jawhara claimed also that she conceived her only son and baby in strange and mysterious circumstances. But this claim of the black woman was kept a secret to herself. She never told and she would never tell anybody about it.
The night of conception of Amir, Jawhara was living and experiencing a night of a miracle. Her son could not be considered as the product and the fruit of sin or adultery. Jawhara saw in that night some kind of a phantom, a Spirit representing her cousin Amin. That was why Jawhara, after the death of her cousin, Amin, remained silent as she used to be before the death of her 'lover'.
The master of the house behaved in a very innocent manner. He did not show in his face any marks, signs or indications of repentance, of regret, of remorse and of self reproach. Whenever he saw his black wife, the mother of the black son, he used to smile to her in a very of undignified way. By his strange looks to his black wife, he was more or less making a confession, his avowal of a crime which was for him unavoidable, inevitable and necessary.
The farmer had to kill the innocent young black man. In such circumstances, the wife, the sad wife, would reciprocate. In most cases the black wife smiled to her husband in the same way as he did. Her smile did not mean at all confession. She had nothing to confess to her husband. Her smiles meant accusation, indictment and an absolute incrimination of her husband.
Days have passed by and the black wife was more and more certain that her husband has planned the assassination of her cousin, of her 'lover' in Spirit. Jawhara was beginning to review the passing of the last few years of her life. She was discovering that her life was a mixed up combination of dreams and actual life events, of fantasy and of real life.
Yet Jawhara was more sure than ever that her son was a reality and that he will have a brilliant life as the old black man from Timbuktu told her.
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