Fri Dec 01, 2006
Hello Everyone!
I hope you don't faint with shock that I'm writing again after such a long delay. This is my first attempt at sending you short, snappy snippets (like the alliteration?) so we'll see how it goes.
This is a true story as it was told to me by a work colleague who has lived here for several years but is not a native.
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A few blocks from my flat is the most glorious home I've ever seen. It's fairly new and the architecture and embellishments are in the traditional Arab style, but the combination of porticos, columns, brickwork, screening, etc., make it a truly lovely sight. A friend who has been here four years but didn't know the story thought the building must be a magnificent library or other prestigious building.
A very important man with a lot of wasta (power, influence, clout) and wealth had an official wife and three "unofficial" wives. That is how it was explained to me. Islam allows men to have up to four legal wives but apparently this man's three were more on the order of concubines. He felt himself to be "above the law." When his station in life allowed him to do so, he arranged for the magnificent building I've described above to be built on a huge tract of land that he enclosed with a thick, high wall. The building was to be a house for his official wife and her children. I believe there were other houses built on the grounds for the unofficial wives and their children.
One of his children by an unofficial wife was an unmarried young adult female who worked for the university, where she created chaos because of her haughty and extravagant ways. After a number of years, the department she worked in managed to get her transferred to another department on a different campus, where she still works and still creates chaos.
Meanwhile, the magnificent house continued to rise and awed everyone who saw it. Finally it was completed. Within a few days, the man died. His official wife inherited everything, so she and her children were well provided for. The unofficial wives and their children, however, were left unsupported and shamed. The daughter who worked for the university lost much of her prestige since it had been based on the wasta of her father and she was somewhat humbled by her demotion of status.
And so, the house stands today, admired by those who pass it, as I do coming and going every work day, but to me it is also a symbol of greed and pride.
If there are morals to this story, I suppose they would include: "You can't take it with you," "Don't rest on someone else's glory; make something of yourself," and "Thou shalt not commit adultery."
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Hope you enjoyed News Brief 1!
Pat
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