The next day, the three friends decided to take their supper in a restaurant well known of making different types of foods, Turkish, Syrian, Iraqi, there after they would meet the new Arabs that signed to Jamil for a meeting , the young men made their orders, chichi kabab, Laban ,salad, rice and with sweets to be brought later , the supper Was very nice , they started with the sweets when the group of Arabs came , they were three young trainees from Syria and Iraq , Ali , a young Iraqi from Basra ,Mostafa from Mousel, sameh from Syria, Aleppo , the friends greeted heartily their guests and they added another table to their s , ordering sweets too to their guests, after chatting and introducing, they ordered for caffe and juices, then
the Iraqi trainee suggested to have a walk together to help digesting the food and to take a breath of fresh air on sea side . They walked in twos , Hassan with Ali , Abdul with Mostafa , jamil with sameh, the Cornish was very large, their waking in one line was not bothering the other walkers. Hassan was very fluent in Arabic with a Syrian accents since their teachers were all of those regions , he was in deep love with the personality of the prophet Mohammad, his life since he was born till his death , he was memorizing so many accidents in the prophet s life literarily, his love of the prophet biography and personality ,had dragged him to love the Arabic language and its arts and poems and so on , his parents noticed his interest in his early age , so they brought him tutors and teachers to reinforce that hobby and help him to reach what he loves, when Hassan were speaking in Arabic nobody would suspect his Arabic origin , therefore when he started conversing with Ali ,his company, this later was surprised to discover that his company was a pure Turkish and not an Arabic nor a half or a quarter , they started to talk about the school and the tiring exercises imposed on the trainees, then Ali mentioned the last day quarrel and started to mention the clear disgusting language that stupid Kamal was using against the Arabs , to his surprise, Hassan said: damn the fanatics and damn the Turkish , without Islam we are nothing , without Islam we would remain tribes eating each others, if Othman the founder or the later ottomans sultans didn't have Arabic scholars to guide them , the Turks would had been remained just tribes living under the mercy of bezants or mongols , following sheep and goats in the prairie, Islam was the soul of the construction of the Ottoman Empire ,without Islam even Arabs would had been just tribes burying their daughters , worshiping the idols and serving the Roman or the Persian , my brother we have to be alert that the conspiracy is tremendous , it is not a plot against the Turks or Arabs, it is a plot to invade our society and destroy our past and ideologies, to leave without nothing ; no values and no past, then the more advanced Europeans or Americans with the power of their technology will put us all, Arabs, Turks, Persians , Kurds,Indians under their power and force the way exactly the are exploiting the poorest in Africa , China, India and South Americans , do you think that gay of lorence of Arabia will bring liberty or equality or independence to the fool revolting in Arabia ? We have to wake up to see what is going on to save the future of our children and the coming generations, Ali was not expecting these words from a Turkish , he said : but you see what the new Turks or rulers are imposing on the other races and communities, we can't accept imposing the Turkish language on our children and our community, or the traditions or the culture that is not ours in our educational programs, Hassan: sure you are right, even me and millions of other Turks , we all refuse that, as for me the language of Koran should be the formal and common language for all , as like as the english or the Spanish is the common language in so many states and communities , but that doesn't have to affect the other languages, don't you see in the Abbasid era the Arabic was the language of Arabs, Persians , Turks, Indians, Kurds , Roman and Greeks too , but they didn't eliminate the other languages, today we have millions of books of religious studies,in chemistry, algorithm, algebra,pharmacy, medicine and all sciences of old time , written in Arabic, Persian , Turkish , it is not a racial tendency to prefer a language on others, but the need to a common language that give a common understanding, the Arabism is not a race in Islam , our prophet Alayhi AlsalT Walsalam says: the Arabism is the language , who speak Arabic is an arab, but these traitors who call for Turkish are in fact small agents and small stones in the hands of imperials to fragment the unity and integrity of our Islamic world , the Christians, Hebrews, Muslims, of different faiths lived always in peace together , while in Europe , they couldn't tolerate the existence of non Catholics, they eliminated all Muslims in Spain and Andalusia , Sicilia , Hebrews too , Protestants in France , Spain and Italy , all were massacred, while these types of massacres didn't happen in our regions, ok in the era of ottomans/savawi struggle , the savawi committed massacres against their rivals and the ottomans retaliated in Anatolia against some sects allied to savawi , but this was a conflict of power and dominance , both ottomans and savawi s were Turks , so it was not a racial conflict too , if you think that the idiot sharif Hussain will become the new khalifa of Muslims, you are dreaming , they will give him a piece in the desert and claim that piece a government then a kingdom or republic , remember when Mohammad Ali of Egypt was near the walls of Istanbul and the ottomans were near to surrender , what did happen? The whole west moved against him even though he was their ally , because he surpassed his designed role and was obliged to go back to Egypt and they imposed on him to leave Syria , the west is caring to keep this sick man , weak and suffering til the day comes to slaughter him and divide his inheritance among the hyenas . Abdul and Mostafa were talking about Baghdad and Abdul asking him about the old Joel of the world, how is living these days , Mostafa informed him that his origin was Mosul city and that his father moved to Baghdad recently for few years ago due to business necessity, Mostafa was amazed that his friend know these two great cities in Iraq and Abdul informed his company that he visited both of them with his father , Mostafa was more surprised that a lot of things Abdul was mentioning regarding life and traditions and even foods and daily routines are exactly what he used to know in his I country and community, Abdul told him that the common things he mentioned are due to the United history and belief that the Syrians and Iraqis have , a lot of families in Syria have their relatives in Iraq s cities and vice versa , he mentioned a lot of families in Tripoli whose names are like , muselli, Halabi,bagdadi, ramadi or fallouji that means they came from Baghdad, Mousel, Aleppo or fallouja, he added more that a lot of famines have their mother's families in Istanbul, bursa, Antioch or other Turkish cities , the game added Abdul is to transform the Arabs and the Turks to what happened before in Andalusia , dividing the unity to units then destroy each , one by one giving in example of what the French and Italian are making in Libya and Algeria or Morocco, they even trying to change the history and language and destroy the religion and traditions of the people there, he added one day the black ox will cry : I had been eaten the day my white brother was eaten , unless one thing could change all, Mostafa asked what is that? Abdul : said as long this Koran remains in hour life nobody in the whole world can conquer this nation, Mostafa : don't you think you are dreaming? Europe left the Christianity on her back till it could March on the road of progress , how do you think with Islam we can put foot on the same road? Abdul : the Christianity in its form 400 years after Christ was not at all related to the message of our master Jesus Christ , the Christianity is a duplicate of pagans beliefs and traditions, the Christianity means the power of the church who made itself the new god for the Christians, while Islam kept its origin til today and Islam once in power it means silences ,progress and knowledge, never Islam was against progress or knowledge, when the church was burning alive the scientists, the Muslims were building universities in Andalusia and Baghdad, Mostafa ok you are true, but what you are talking about is a past that will not repeat! Abdul: when we will repeat what our ancestors did the same things will be repeated, these are the laws of the universe my brother, look how Europeans and others changed a lot of things in not a long periods, Mostafa :what about these fanatics of Turks who try to impose their language and traditions on others?abdul: don't worry , they will not succeed in the long term not even their brothers on the other line, I mean the arabists or kurdists or the alike, Islam will conquer all at the end, what we need only faith in Allah and his powers. Chapter five: Wehbe and Francesca The three brothers were sitting in their room consuming their supper as usual after a long tiring job, the daily work without any free days consumed a lot of their strength , they were used to do such works before , but they were taking days free each by his turn, here there were no substitutes to take their place besides the life on a moving ship all the time agitated by waves that were adding to their agony and tiredness, Salim this time was not in mood, he was not eating well and his looks were almost absents that made wehbe moves his hand asking: where are you bother, Salim like surprised or awake from a dream, smiled a faint smile and said : nothing , taking a deep breath , he said : I'm worried about dad , mother and the rest of our family and beloved, it is the third month after we left, without no news about them, how is mum tolerating our absentee from the table every evening, how is dad managing his work without our help except of saiid, how are the girls spending their days and nights without us, besides dad is not as young as before! Wehbe smiled and retaliated: if dad hears your last words, he will be angry with you to the sky, how do you suspect his powers and young age? The three laughed by wehbe gesture of their father daily pretending of his permanent power and his boasting of the mawas family fertility and strength , wehbe added: don't you remember when his friends convinced him to marry that young widowed girl and the war could start at home with mum except of our aunty intervention and her mocking of him and threats that made him change his mind, Salim: what bothers me more is our mum present health, she was suffering before and her status was fragile and our leaving added for sure on her sufferings , Mohammad: mum has a great faith in Allah and that will help her to stand up straight as always, Wehbe with tearing eyes: I miss mum and my sisters too much , I know they didn't sleep the night of our departure, in the morning I saw the traces of tears and tiredness in their faces although they tried their best to hide, the three brothers were all together immediately in tears and they stopped their eating ,sobbing and weeping till Mohammad stood up and cried : please stop that and have trust in Allah , he will not abandon us or them , the young brothers calmed themselves a little bit then Salim moved to his room to read and Mohammad and wehbe remained silent for a while, this became almost a daily story , remembering the past , the family , the friends till the young brothers became exhausted in body and soul, in that night Wehbe suggested to go out to breath a fresh air to change their mood, the two brother moved out and took a corner watching the skies , the stars and the open ocean with the fierce waves , wehbe : i didn't see yet your Spanish friend, Mohammad : she is not my friend first of all and I think that she is closed by her parents, may they suspected her mixing with strangers like us so they locked her in her room, wehbe laughing: we are in Europe brother, these people are not like us, their girls have more freedom to mix or talk with men even strangers, Mohammad : may be you are right , besides that girl doesn't meet my liking of girls, I don't like the woman to be so open with strangers especially stranger men, wehbe: what this woman did is not strange or bizarre in their community, most of them do that , Mohammad : do you think our girls do that? Wehbe: I said in their community not ours, Mohammad: it seems to me you are more expert than I with females , tel me some of your adventures, wehbe smiled and kept silent then he said: since we are no more at home I'll tell you a secret nobody knows till today, do you remember that widowed who lost her husband last year and inherited his bakery, Mohammad : yes , the lady samira, I remember her , she was a permanent visitor to our sisters and mum even she was a daily visitor to our shop, wehbe: exactly that is she , one day I was helping dad in our shop and she came to buy flour and after finishing she asked dad if I could help her to take them to her house because she needed them immediately to cook and since I was the only one available to do that, father told me to take them and to come back fast , we reached her house and she ushered me to the kitchen and told me to put them over the shelves, while I was putting the bag over there, she came behind me pretending to help and she almost hugged me from my back , I didn't take that as intended, but to tell the truth, I was very much exited by her body touching mine even behind clothes , before I leave she offered me a cup of juice with delicious cakes as a pay for my help then she removed her face cover and approached me smiling and saying : wehbe, you are growing handsomely and strong , I was all blushing and red and she added: since my husband was dead, I didn't have a true friend or a company, I had been watching you a long time , you are honest and very nice guy, what do you think if we become close friends, she touched my face and my neck that I couldn't stay anymore I moved just a little pretending to move my shirt then I fled without turning back, after that she came again , but I always avoided her and pretended to be busy , Mohammad with an open mouth: is that all happening without my knowledge? Wehbe: it is the name of a woman brother and her honor, imagine if I mentioned that to anyone and the story walks around , the name of the woman and her reputation and honor will become a chewing gum in the mouths of everybody, Mohammad: bravo brother , I want you always to keep like this, the name and the reputation of a woman are like glasses once broken, they won't be readjusted again, besides as I think , this woman is really a good type and not a bad one, it was a moment of weakness due to solitude and boring , I think she would not repeat that again , she was as t I think interested in Salim , every time she comes she was asking about him even when she was coming to visits to our house , she was talking with the girl about him as a gesture that she was interested, but you know mum, she doesn't want to have a wife to any of us except if she was a vergin never touched before, wehbe smiling: that s mum with her strange ideas, she had forgotten that our master Mohammad Salla Allah alayhi wasalam married all his women who were divorced or widoweds except our lady Aisha , besides that woman was very beautiful and of a good family even having good fortune from her family and her late husband with no children too , Mohammad if it was my turn I would accept to marry her but you know dad and mum don't allow marriage for the younger before the elder , wehbe: that is another buzzard in their thinking, Mohammad: tel me frankly, didn't you ever kissed a girl? Wehbe blushing : never, but I had been kissed a lot of times and only once on my mouth, Mohammad surprised: on your mouth, waw, how is that? Wehbe: just few days before our leaving I was coming home evening when I met with a girl coming from our house, she stopped me and saluted, I responded asking what's there ? I knew her from her voice, she was our next home s ;the daughter of the pharmacist, she asked about the news of our traveling wether is a true or not , I assured her the news were true, she kept silent then she removed her face cover and took my head in her hand and kissed me hard on my mouth, I was really surprised and taken aback that I couldn't move , after two minutes of her kissings she left me with crying and she told me that she won't forget me and will wait till I come back then she left , Mohammad was listening with an open mouth , he said: all that happened to you , and I was thinking you are a naive and a simple boy, Wehbe , you are naive and simple brother, I had been kissed hundreds times, but this was the first on my mouth, Mohammad: I thought always that saiid was the only man of top secrets and hidden relationships with women till I found my little brother too is full of secrets, Wehbe laughing: my secrets are all innocents besides saiid stories with women! , Mohammad is it true as I heard that he committed adultery? Wehbe: not as I know and from trusted resources , but I think he was about to do that if not his fear of Allah then of father stopped him to continue, unfortunately his surroundings are mostly bad guys and father so many times threatened him to avoid them , in this moment the two brothers heard voices approaching them, they turned their heads to see two girls , one of them was Sandra and the other was a little pretty girl younger in age, when the two girls reached the two young men , Sandra immediately said: buonasera amedeus, Mohammad was taken by her surprise and responded with an agitated voice: buonasera , then she pointed to the other pretty girl saying: this is Francesca, my cousin, I told her about you , who is that beautiful young man with you? Mohammad blushing: this is my brother Wehbe , then the girl laughed and added that s nice, let Wehbe get introduced to my cousin and let's talk me and you , the other pretty girl came shyly to Wehbe extending her hand for shaking, Wehbe didn't hesitate and he has shaken hands with her, she said: welcome Wehbe I'm Francesca, Wehbe immediately liked the pretty girl in front of him , but Mohammad insisted on him to stand beside him and not to move , Wehbe tried to hide his smile from his brother and said : anyway , she isn t going to eat you , inside himself, Wehbe was wishing that his brother goes away with Sandra that he could know this pretty face girl he liked the first moment he met, but he didn't want to leave his brother in the moments he needed him ,so he said: ok i will not move from here , don't worry , in the same moment Sandra was insisting to move away dragging Mohammad with her , suddenly an idea came to Wehbe mind, he looked at the girls and said: would you like to play cards? The girls found the idea good and immediately they accepted then Mohammad found his chance to remove his hand from Sandra and said: I'll bring the cards, he run to their room and two minutes he was back with the cards, the girls asked where it should be suitable to sit down and to play cards, Wehbe immediately suggested their room , they all agreed and they moved in, in, they divided themselves to two teams, Mohammad with Francesca and Wehbe with Sandra and the game started , they were enjoying their time and laughing while Sandra was talking about her family and her cousin s family , informing the brothers that she is half Italian half Spanish and her cousin is completely Italian , the game was hot once for Wehbe and his partner and another for Mohammad and his , but Wehbe team was ahead of his brother s suddenly the door was open and for their surprise Salim was there looking surprised with a mad look on his face , he cried at his brother Mohammad: for Allah s sake , what are you doing here with these stranger women? , Mohammad was frozen from the surprise and couldn't utter a word, Salim repeated the same question and Mohammad was the same then Sandra interfered saying: chi sei tu? Salim understood her question , but he didn't answer her directly and again talking to Mohammad : had you forgotten who you are and where you are? are you getting mad, Mohammad? Then he directed his attention to the girls saying: would you please go out that I may talk to my brothers? , the girls terrified and surprised left silently the room and closed the door behind them , then Salim again: are you getting crazy totally to bring two stranger girls one of them looks a minor to rooms of men? Did you imagine what does that means if their family knows that and if one of them got mad of you what could happen?! , we all could be slain or thrown out into the sea without any hesitation from their side, do you know who are these girls and who is their family ? Wehbe tried to interfere but his big brother silenced him with his hand saying: you little devil will have your account later, let me finish with the elder brother first , Mohammad with a weak voice answered: they are just two simple girls we met and they insisted on playing cards and I found that it was better to play here instead of outside to avoid the curious eyes, Salim smiling a dirty smile: to avoid the curious eyes? And what if these curious eyes found out that you brought the girls to your room ? Did not you guess what could happen if their family knew the news? what could they do here or even there in Argentina knowing or suspecting that you are messing with their girls, Wehbe: but we were just playing and nothing more , Salim: you little monkey , you instead of warning your brother, you encourage him , Mohammad: the idea was all mine, Wehbe has nothing to do with that, Wehbe knew that Mohammad was trying to cover him and he liked his trial to protect him. The next day , Wehbe went out alone on board to walk a little and breathe fresh air , he sat over a life boat and started looking at the sky and the sea wondering when they will see the land once again, light steps were coming to his side and he looked down to see that little and pretty face of farancesca , seeing that he has seen her, she immediately greeted him : ciao webbe , come stai , ? Wehbe was not fluent in Italian , but he learned a lot from Italian marines who always come to the port in Tripoli and he made good relationship with a lot of them who taught him a lot of Italian idioms, he answered the girl in her language, I'm ok thanks, then the girl said: I'm sorry we caused you a trouble with your big brother, we didn't know that you have a third brother, we had seen him with you working in the stable but we though that he is another worker no more, Wehbe don't worry, Salim is our eldest brother, we are six , two girls and four brothers , by the way, how old are you? Francesca: said shyly I'm fourteen but three month I'll be in my fifteen , Wehbe smiled : your are the same age of my beloved sister , Sadika , just a few month bigger, Francesca: I had a brother once , but he died almost five years ago, he was fourteen and I was nine, he was my only brother and my best friend ever, he was weak and ailing from birth , never mixing with other boys in his age except our close relatives or close neighbors, he was preferring my company all the time , always telling me about his feeling that his life will be short and would prefer to spend these short time in my company , the girl was talking and tears were filling her eyes then she smiled among tears, I had been crying always when he was saying so , but he was telling me to be happy because the life is short and we have to spend this short time in happiness not in tears, then the expected time came and he ailed just few days before he said goodbye to me , my dad and mum, he died on mum hands in a cold day of fall , with these words the girl was almost weeping , Wehbe stood silent unknowing what to say he just extended his hand and found himself involuntary wrapping his hand on the girl s head and kissing her there, then he fast moved his hand and apologized saying: I'm sorry , I didn't mean that , but the girl smiled and she got his hand in hers and kissed his , he was surprised asking her: why did you kiss my hand? She said: for a moment, I imagined having my brother Mario in front of me and I kissed your hand as his hand, Wehbe felt a strange feeling of big sympathy to that girl in front of him, he imagined his little saddika standing there talking to him and laughing as they used to do , remembering the sweet times they spent together and some times with saadya their elder sister telling them about his little adventures with the girls and women who don't want to stop kissing him whenever he meet with ,making his two sister lot laugh a lot asking him more questions about his sweetheart if he had a one, but Wehbe didn't know what does mean a sweet heart because he didn't feel a tue feeling of love yet, maybe because he didn't meet yet the one worth to be his sweetheart, then his Sadika told him that the daughter of the pharmacist could be that one because she was almost sure the girl was in love with him , but he didn't take her seriously til the girl kissed him that day, this girl now in front of him doesn't make him feel an attraction of a man to a woman rather it was a brother s feeling to his sister , the girl told him about Napoli , her lovely city , the city of love and good nature people, but the poverty and ignorance turned the city to become a center for the bandits and organized crime that led a lot of its people to move far leaving the city to other places and others to immigration to the new lands in the Americans , Wehbe noticed that Francesca has some oriental features in her face, her eyes were big and black like Arabic women , she laughed and said: they all tel me that I'm like my fathers grand mother and Wehbe thought that her grand mother was maybe a Getan or a gipsy and he didn't ask , the girl asked: why your brother was so angry with you? Wehbe: Salim is taking the role of our father because he was trusted by dad to take it , so is trying to be serious and stern when it comes to our safety, he looked in our room and didn't find us when he went out we came back and when he came back he was so angry because he was so worried , besides you know we are so tired and nervous in these Tiring journey , we work all the day while others are resting , we are almost exhausted, Francesca looked at him in admiration , you are really very strong and heroes, Wehbe smiled from her calling him hero, but she insisted : I saw your Spanish comrades fell sick and you continue working alone even achieving their job, then Francesca said: ok I want to ask you for a favor , will you please tel me you can do it? Wehbe looked in surprise in this child s eyes praying to him for a favor and a feeling of big sympathy engulfed him and he answered immediately: whatever you want if within my power I will do, she smiled saying: it is just a small favor not a big task , I only want if possible we could make friends or rather brother and sister , her demand surprised him a lot and he imagined again Sadika, his sister , so he automatically answered her: off course , you may say from now on we are a brother and a sister but no more , she smiled and retaliated: off course not more then he added: I'm worried if your parent may accept this relationship with an Arabic stranger like me , she with a broad smile on her lips: they will be very happy that I could find someone like you at last, I suggest that we go now to them to get introduced immediately now , Wehbe was surprised of her eagerness to introduce mum to her family and their relationship didn't take more than two short meeting , he said: don't hurry please , make sure I'll take you from now as my sister and we are used to be on our words , so don't worry , we are brother and sister , he was really very happy that this girl returned to him the pleasant memories of his sisters especially his dearest Sadika. Salim with the Italians : The next day Salim accepted to go out with his brothers on board , Salim was happy to be out with his brothers for the first time in that evening, they stood up in the same place where Wehbe and Mohammad used to stand , the sky was little cloudy and the waves were strong and noisy , a Spanish music was coming from the nearby bar mixing the noises of the waves with the music , in some parts of the sky some stars looked like oranges on an orange tree glittering like a gold , Salim looked at the ocean then at Wehbe : do you remember the days we were spending on the beach with dad, mum and sisters, me and saiid on our horses , Mohammad on his mule and you on your little white donkey when saadya was dragging behind the old white donkey full of fruits and food mum prepared for our picnic , do you remember how lovely we were singing and laughing all the way while dad was driving his cart and mum all the road refusing to sit beside him out of shame , preferring to walk on feet with dad all the way singing Islamic songs and praising our prophet Alayhi AlsalT Walsalam, and do you remember when dad made that cart dragged by that Cypriot donkey that was making fun releasing his long member down and calling with his loud voice whenever met with a female donkey that caused mum and the girls cover their faces out of shame , Mohammad and Wehbe both laughed of the donkey s picture coming to their mind , three month almost passed since we left without any news yet, Wehbe: yes I remember all like just yesterday, and I still hear the girls singing and laughters , mum weepings the day we departed and dad prayer to Allah for our safe journey, all passes here in my mind days and nights , I pray Allah we reach Spain so soon to send my letters I wrote with any traveling person that we know , Salim : we are not going to Spain , we are going to Argentina, a Spanish colony not Spain, Spain is there behind us, Wehbe, but Argentina is part of Spain no? Salim a colonial land under Spanish ruler not Spain itself, Argentina is different from Spain in different aspects, in Argentina , the people are an international mixtures of Spanish, Italians, Germans, English,Hollanders, Belgians , Arab Syrian, Indians , Chinese , even malaise'and Indonesians or Koreans , Wehbe surprised: waw all these people are living there , Salim yes besides the original people of the country they call them Indians of America , Wehbe , were they of Indian origin? Salim : no , but the Spanish and the Europeans when discovering Americans thought that they reached India till americo faspotci , the Italian sailor discovered that the Americans are not India , but a new continent, so they were called after his name " the Americans " , Wehbe: how do you know all this brother? Salim smiling: do you think that I take all these risks without gathering all needed information regarding our journey? Wehbe: are there Africans too? Salim sure and in huge numbers, the poor were kidnapped mostly by pirates specialists in kidnapping Africans and led in cuffs and irons to the wide plantations there, Wehbe : are they Muslims or Christians? Salim Christianity was not existent in Africa except in Egypt and habbasha, Ethiopia, and they are all orthodox , the majority of African slaves were Muslims or pagans, worshipers of idols, but later on by force or by bringing up they adopted Christianity , Mohammad interrupted: as for me , I don't like the Africans and I think Wehbe shares me the same feelings, Wehbe: yes I m used to see them in the port working as sailors, their appearance frightened me, I see they are different of us not like these Europeans or the Turks , we look too much alike on the contrary of the Africans they look like coming from a different planet, Salim was surprised of his two brothers discriminated judgmental, he responded : off course the Mediterraneans are too much alike due to their mixing and common marriages and even their same origin, but the Africans are our brothers too , we are Sami's other are Ariana or slaves , the sons of Sam and Nathan while the Africans are sons of ham the third son of the prophet nouh, Noah,their features are so different than ours , but the Arabs are a people between the Europeans and the Africans ,look at the Algerians , Egyptians , Yemeni , they are not totally white nor totally black, Wehbe: ok I don't hate them and I don't like them , I prefer the people who look like us , it is a matter of choice or preference, Salim : Allah created all from the same father and the same mother, don't you see the Chinese , they are white like us but too much different of us in all aspects, Wehbe the Chinese are for me like the Africans , it is not a matter of colors, it is a matter of common likeness , I prefer the ones we look like me, Mohammad: I don't hate them too , but as Wehbe said : who is like me comes to me , I don't like to mix with Chinese nor Africans , Salim : off course everybody prefers who is alike to him , to his race , his culture, his traditions, his language and so on like the saying said: birds with a wether flocks together, Mohammad: what does that mean ?salim: it means each bird flies with his alike, pigeon with pigeon, canary with canary, chicken with chicken and so on , but even birds with different types live together sharing the same food and water in prairies and in houses , we have to stop judging others from their colors or their language , their race, their tribe , their traditions or even their religion , we can't say I like this or I don't like that before we know or we try and share things with them remember the prophet saying : all of you return to Adam , no preference for an Arab to Persian nor black to white or yellow or red except for his obedience to Allah , and remember that our masters sahaba , some of them were very black like our master bilal or obada ibn el samet or ossama bin zaid , the love of our prophet salla Allah Alayhi wasalam , if you look for beauties , there are africans much more beautiful than a lot of white people , human nature is always alerted with things it doesn't know or people not used to , we live in a small city were people are all almost alike, in Egypt for example , in Cairo ; Egyptians are of different origins Greek , Arabs , romans, Africans ,they all live , marry , trade, work and share things together and I promise you when we reach Argentina you'll find the same mix of people of all these types and you'll make friends with lot of Chinese and Africans , Wehbe smiling: I don't think so , both Mohammad and Salim laughed and Salim added : this non educated young man is a big shot and very smart , I fear his tall body and his long tongue drag him to troubles . The three brothers were talking while another groups of girls were gathering not far from them chatting and laughing , among them were Sandra and Francesca, Sandra noticed immediately Mohammad and his brothers and all the times was signing with her hands and fingers even lauding her voice to reach him and his attention , Mohammad and Wehbe were alerts to her moves while Wehbe trying to keep laughters and smiles inside hardly and Mohammad pretending not to see or hear , but Salim was too much noticing the girl moves and flying kisses to his brother , he was surprised of that girl open daring signs , so he moved his brothers to the end of the boat pretending to see the waves there clearer , his move bothered too much Sandra and made her feel dumped and disappointed, her anger clear on her face made Francesca holds her hands and murmur to her: don't make yourself a joke on the other girls lips , don't you see how they mock you and exchange signs and smiles openly and on your back , Sandra : tel that bush horse Amadeus that I want to talk to him in private , I promise you , I'll tame him with his brothers soon , Francesca: don't pretend and don't talk of my new brother like this , Sandra laughing: your brother ! Ok tel your brother s brother to come to meet me , Francesca: do you think he is your slave , Sandra? If you think that you are brave and dominant, go there , he is in front of you and tel him : I want to talk, Sandra : don't you see that savage brother standing with them? Francesca: why you talk aggressively like that sandra? Once you are going to tame them all , another a savage brother , please be polite in your words, I'll help you , but keep your nerves and language calm please and don't make yourself a mockery to these girls , the two girls were talking between each others avoiding their friends to hear them then Francesca moved slightly towards the brothers till she was very near their backs when they heard her steps and turned around all together , she at once said: hello wehbe , how are you today then addressed all : good evening, they all responded: good evening and Wehbe added I'm fine Francesca , thanks, wehbe saw the surprised look on Salim s face and added fast : please don't be angry brother , this girl has a true sad story in her life , I promised her to be a friend and I to treat her like a sister , Salim ti Wehbe: are you a fool man Wehbe? , you know our standards and traditions , we don't have in our life a friendship between a man and a woman , the woman has only two friends, her brother and her husband, I warned you before , you and your brother , don't play games with stranger women or girls, Francesca was aware that the brothers discussion was concerning her even without understanding a word from their talk , but she understood from their hands and fingers signals that she was their subject , she looked at Salim and said : brother Salim , salamiu alaycom , I'm Francesca wehbe s new sister , Salim was surprised of her brave introduction and smiled for her salute in Arabic , he looked at her and immediately his sister Sadika came to his mind ,he responded her politely : wa alaycom assalam, welcome pretty Francesca , she was encouraged of his polite response and added : I'm sorry for yesterday misunderstanding, but Wehbe told me that you are a very good and polite brother , Salim , was taken aback by her prettiness and polite words , he answered her : please forgive me yesterday I was little rude with you and your friend, she said , my cousin Sandra , then he added: please don't misunderstand my behavior , but we are strangers and we don't know each others , she smiled a childish smile and said: ok , you are right , but we are introduced now to know each others, Salim was feeling his weakness with these polite words and this polite pretty girl who look like his Sadika, and he asked the girl : with whom you are traveling on this ship ? Francesca: with mum and dad , we have too my aunty and her husband with their daughter Sandra and so many friends my parents know , he asked her about her family and their nationality , she answered all his questions, then she said: I told my father about you and he told me that he will be happy to be introduced to you , Salim : really , and where is your father now ? She extended her hand and held Salim s hand saying : few steps from here will you come please , Salim was surprised of her holding his hand and politely removed his and followed her like a horse follows a child , Webber was open mouth of Francesca surprising action and Mohammad was not believing his eyes when he saw Salim follows the girl like a child, as she said , there were really few steps from their place to the bar, Francesca invited Salim to come in , but he apologized asking her to call her daddy , he waited on the entrance door while she went in to her father who was sitting with some friends taking a drink , Marco , Francesca s father was surprised to see his daughter in the bar and he asked his friends permission to see what brought her there , she murmured in his ear that someone is waiting for him outside , Marco asked his friend again a permission for some family issues , when he went out he found Salim waiting for him , Salim : I'm Salim from Syria , Marco very friendly: hello Salim , I'm Marco from Italy , I think my daughter told me about you , would you please come to have a seat or a drink? Salim : in the bar , no please we don't drink alcohol , Marco smiling, no problem , please let's go to my room to talk , Marco took Salim from his elbow and walked with him like two old friends under Francesca brightening eyes and Wehbe ,Mohammad and Sandra unbelieving eyes. When Salim , Marco and Francesca went into the room , Salim noticed that the room was large and well furnished with three beds and A large table with a cub board and seats , Marco offers Salim a chair and asked him if he prefers a whisky or wine , Salim assured Marco again that they don't ever drink alcohols , Marco apologized and offered him a peach juice, Salim accepted with a smile , Francesca brought the glasses and poured peach juice for both of them and she choose to take a cherry her favorite and took her seat on her bed , Marco smiles at Salim and says you are welcome, and he says : I think you are Muslim Salim no? Salim answers yes thanks to Allah , then marco smiles and says : assalamu alaykum brother Salim , Salim smiling : do you know the Arabic , Marco: not exactly , just a little bit I learned from my grand mother and my mother and that's a long story I'll tel you later , but I want you to know that my grand mother is an Andalusian with Arabic origin , Salim surprised : really , and from any part of the Arabs , marco : I don't know , all I know that my grand father of mum s side brought my grand mother from Spain to Italy in one of his trips and they got married later , she was really a very beautiful woman with big black eyes different from all the Italian women I met before , her beauty was very clear even with her aging , her eyes and face were full of love and tenderness, I used always to go to my grandma s house to spend the holidays and to play with the others in their big garden , one day I came in suddenly to her room to find her kneeling on the ground , her front was on the ground too and she was murmuring things , she was wearing withe clothes covering her whole body from her feet to her head too and I liked that fashion I never seen before when she had seen me she was surprised and with great affection , she hugged me and kissed me and said with tears in her eyes : Marco , honey , this is your grandma secret, will you promise me to keep your grandma s secret , I was very angry with myself thinking that I'm the reason of her tears and I hugged her strongly and I promised in the name of Christ and the bid god to keep it from all , she answered me , just swear in the name of Allah , the great god and I did , and I kissed her apologizing for bothering her , she then assured me that I didn't and that her tears were because she membered her family in Andalusia, and she told me about her brothers and sisters , her parents who died and her lovely house there , she told me that she was praying to Allah , the creator of everything including Jesus and that Jesus is a man not god , but a great messenger of Allah , my grandma was dead later on after two years when I was thirteen, after years I had seen some Arabs praying the same way my grandma was doing and I knew my grandma was a Muslim not a Christian, Salim looked at Marco and asked him : where did you burry her ? , Marco in her house s garden where it was written in her will , Salim : she left a will ? Marco yes , it was with my uncle Omar and my mum got a copy too , Salim : who prayed on her when she died , Marco : my grandfather refused to take her to the church or to let the priest attend her funeral , the ceremony was really one of the greatest in their area , strangely without church or priests . Salim : so no Muslim came to pray on her? Marco : what do you mean by praying on her? Salim : we Muslim when a Muslim dies we make a special prayer on the dead and we clean his body and we make him wear special coverings , Marco : unfortunately, her death was sudden and we didn't have any idea about Muslim s ceremonies. Salim tonight I'll make a special prayer on her soul, me and my brothers, Marco : but why will you do that, besides you don't know my grandma! ? Salim every Muslim in the world is our brother and your grandma is our sister , Allah praise and bless her soul with his mercy, Marco noticed that some tears gathered in Salim eyes when he mentioned his grandmother s story and he was surprised , he asked him : you do feel sorry for a woman you never met , Salim : your grandma in our religion is our sister and her death in a foreign lands is considered a death of a martyr , that means she was blessed with her death, Marco : will you please allow me to see how will you make that prayer on my grandma s soul : Salim sure .Marco: I see that you Muslims are so different from us Catholics, you are having a very tight connections and strong bonds among each others, when you quarrel with others , you fight fiercely , Salim: off course, in our belief, all human beings are brothers and sisters, but we have another type of brotherhood , that s Islam fraternity, that s much more stronger than any other bonds, our prophet Alayhi assalat wasalam says: the Muslims example in their love and caring for each others is like the one body , if a member suffers , the whole body suffers too , Marco: that s really great. Salim asked: I think that your grandma was obliged to marry her husband? Marco surprised: that's true, how did you now that? That was always a secret into the family , few knew about it? Salim: it is very clear, a true and pious Muslim woman won't accept easily to marry a non Muslim, because she knows that it is Haram and a taboo, in the Islamic law, Marco: yes my grandfather was not a Muslim , he was a fanatic Catholic , but not a religious man , even my mother didn't know about her mum true religion until very late, Salim: that was when she reached her womanhood, am I right? Marco : you surprise me, how do you know all that , hahaha, you are a magician ,man? Salim smiling: it doesn't need to use magic , it is well known, when a Muslim girl reaches her womanhood, her mother tel her about her true belief, her relations with men, the secrets of marriage and how how to purify her body in her periods terms, Marco: that s true , but mum was in between her father s teachings and the traditions she was knowing on the other hands the new knowledge and secrets her mother taught, she was practicing her duty in the church and some other times practicing what she was told by her mother, but later on she abstained totally from going to church , the same happened to my grandfather too . Salim: how were the relationships between your mother and her mum? Marco: my grandma was always the central Pilar of our whole family, she was the inspiring person of love and tenderness, the center of our bond and love, she was the Santa Maria for all of us , even the whole neighborhood was looking at my grandma as the most important saint in Napoli , she was very polite with everyone and everybody even with animals and plants , when she sees a mule broken or suffering from the heavy loads she was crying with pain, talking to the peasants to make the loads lighter and massaging with her hands the neck of the poor animal,helping all when in need, never closing her door to seekers of help or aiding,curing the sucks,feeding the hungry, never ever I saw a woman like my grandfather, Salim: Allah akbar, your grandmother was really a great woman, Marco: one thing still bothering me and makes me wonder till now, that silent look with very deep sorrow and grief into her pitiful eyes, in this moment, Marco eyes were full of tears, it was very clear that his attachment to his grandmother was very strong and deep, he added: my mum was adoring her mother more than anything on earth , she never dared to contradict with her mother will or orders, her mother wishes were obligations to be accomplished and all the family was even so, my grandfather was treating her like a worshipper deals with his god never allowed anybody to annoy her or the refuse her orders, Salim: how was their relationship, I mean your grandma and your grandpa? Marco: I feel that there was a Devine love from my grandfather to her a a deep a deep gratitude and respect from her side to him, Salim: there was no love to him from her side? Marco : I don't know, but she was too much caring about him, trying her best to please him all the time with always that look of lasting sorrow in her eyes! Salim: I think that your grandfather was loving her husband , she was feeling a big guilt in her deep soul because she was obliged to marry a man of not her belief, but in the same time feeling guilty if she could not return his love with her love, there was a deep contradiction between her obligations toward her god and her gratitude toward her husband,Marco : maybe you are very true and maybe that explains to me that deep sorrow in her eyes, Marco: when she died , my mother was dying from her griefs on her adored mother , my uncle Omar and my aunty rosalba , my grandfather was like a statue out of life, that day I was afraid that the whole family would die from grief and yelling , from that moment, mum never removed her black clothes and her white veil , Salim: I think your mum had converted totally and she is now a Muslim , Marco how do you know? Salim: the black with white veil are our women s fashion when grieving on dead people, Marco: maybe you are right, before her leaving to Argentina, I used to see her always with Arabic book , like looking for a treasure, Salim: sure she discovering her mother s secrets, Salim: where are your uncle Omar is in cordoba as I heard lastly looking for his mother family and my aunty Rosalba , I think living in Spain , Salim: it was very nice and interesting talking about your family especially your grandma, Marco: me too very grateful to you because you clarified points about my grandma I was not aware of and by the way we went to far forgetting our main issue to discuss, regarding my darling Francesca, I'm very sure know that you are more than worthy to have her friendship, you are very nice people hoping that you may teach her more of my grandma s inheritance that I could not do, bedsides I see in this girl always the eyes of my grandma but without that deep sorrow except her grieving for Mario my late son , and Marco briefed Salim about his son agony and death , Salim: as for me I don't mind you may consider her to be my little sister , but I'm not the one Francesca is looking for, it is my youngest brother Wehbe that you ll see tonight when we meet for your grandma funeral s prayer, , but I have one condition only ,Marco: what is that? Salim: she could be a good sister for all of us a special sister to Wehbe on condition they don't meet in private, Marco: you are right and I agree too , from their behind the voice of Francesca came with a big laugh: I agree too, Salim: this peach juice is very delicious, Marco : I have a nice garden in Napoli of it and I'll give you now a bottle of its concentrated juice as a sign of our born fraternity , didn't you say we are brothers from my grandma s side , salim: smiled and added thanks a lot for you generosity , all the time Francesca was listing in big interest to their discussion and she wept too for the memories she heard about that grandma she didn't know , she came silently behind the two men and she hugged both and for Salim s surprise she kissed both of them and said: my Wehbe is my brother and friend now and she addressed Salim : if you change your mind I'll tel my father , both of them laughed and Salim unaware of him self, hugged her like a daughter is hugged or a sister . That evening , Salim, Wehbe, Mohammad,Marco and Francesca and Francesca s mother were presents in Marco room , the three brother made their washing and purifying like when they prepare for Sallah, Salim was in the front, Wehbe and Mohammad behind him , behind them stood Marco, Francesca, Francesca s mum to share and they all started their funeral s prayer for the soul of the late grandmother of Marco, the the martyr Aisha . The prayer was full of tears from most of them especially Salim , Marco and Francesca