In London Conference, His Highness the Aga Khan, 49th Ismaili Imam, Calls for ‘Islands of Stability’ in War-Torn Syria

4 February 2016

Aleppo and Its Majestic Citadel: Chilling Reports from the Current Civil War, and 14th Century Narratives by Ibn Batutta

22 August 2015

I. THE HARSH REALITIES OF ALEPPO TODAY

(A). Syria’s Most War-Torn City by Newsweek Magazine

(Note: Newsweek’s story, accessible by clicking on the first image shown below, contain graphic images and may disturb some readers. Discretion is advised).

“Longer even than the journey from Damascus to Aleppo is the time it takes to get from one end of Aleppo to the other. Moving from the east to the western side of the city once took only a short bus ride. Now it involves navigating a labyrinth of side roads and as many as 20 checkpoints; an endurance test that can last between 10 and 16 hours” — James Harkin for Newsweek, August 19, 2015. Please click on Newsweek – Syria’s War Torn City or click on image below for Harkin’s full report.

A sergeant in Lewa Salaheddin, a Kurdish battalion of the Free Syrian Army, sits in front of a block of destroyed buildings in Aleppo, Syria on December 6, 2012. It’s more than three years since the fight for Aleppo began. By late 2012, parts of the city were already in ruins. Patrick Tombola/laif/Redux

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(B). A Resident’s Account of Aleppo’s Humanitarian Crisis and the Fear for its Historic Citadel

Editor’s note: The following excerpts are from the website of the Centre for Research and Globalization based in Montreal. For a full account published on July 25, 2015, please click on Global Research – Aleppo’s Humanitarian Crisis.

“Aleppo city has shrunk to a fifth of its original site. I walk everyday in the city. I see children and girls without limbs because of a mortar over here or shrapnel over there that hit them randomly and caused them a terrible wounds and horrific memories that will never leave them. The girl who lost one leg is standing on her good leg and selling bread, while the little boy who lost one arm is selling chewing gum. Those are the “injured” people who come in the news, just numbers in one line of a report, after each attack from the terrorists. “Injured” doesn’t mean scratched or having a bleeding finger; it means someone lost his eyes or her limbs.”

continued…

Aleppo and its castle from South West. Created/Published between 1898 and 1946. Photo: USA Library of Congress Collection, Gift Episcopal Home; 1978.

Aleppo and its castle from South West. Photo taken in 1898, and created/published
between 1898 and 1946. Photo: USA Library of Congress Collection, Washington, D.C.

“The last symbol left of Aleppo, is the most famous one: the Citadel. I can see part of it from our balcony, but I can see it more clearly from the roof of the building….It has been badly injured, but it’s still there, dominating the city skyline. It’s where they found the Storm God’s Temple a few years ago. It withstood many invaders, including the Mongols and Crusaders. It has been damaged severely several times through history, but it has been rebuilt over and over again, as an immortal symbol to the inhabitants of one of the oldest living cities in history. I just pray I don’t live to witness its total destruction as I have seen happen to many of the surrounding buildings.”

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II. IBN BATUTTA’S 14TH CENTURY DESCRIPTION OF ALEPPO AND ITS CITADEL

The Citadel of Aleppo is a large medieval fortified palace in the centre of the old city of Aleppo, northern Syria. It is considered to be one of the oldest and largest castles in the world. Usage of the Citadel hill dates back at least to the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. Subsequently occupied by many civilizations including the Greeks, Byzantines, Ayyubids and Mamluks, the majority of the construction as it stands today is thought to originate from the Ayyubid period. An extensive conservation work has taken place in the 2000s by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture in collaboration with Aleppo Archeological Society. Dominating the city, the Citadel is part of the Ancient City of Aleppo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986. The Citadel has received significant damage in the ongoing Syrian Civil War. Photo and caption: Wikipedia.

An Introduction to Ibn Batutta

“No intelligent man,” wrote Ibn Djuzayy, the scribe to whom Ibn Batutta (also Batutah etc) dictated his memoirs, “can fail to see that this sheikh is the traveller of the age.” But Ibn Batutah (1304-1368 or 1377) was not only the greatest Arab traveller of the Middle Ages, he was one of the greatest travellers of all time. At the age of twenty-one, he set out from his birthplace, Tangiers (Morocco), and started his travels by undertaking the pilgrimage to Mecca. This was the start of thirty years of wandering during which he would travel almost 120,000 kilometres that would take him halfway round the world as far as China. His account of his travels (the Rihla), in addition to its literary value, gives a panoramic picture of the 14th-century world.

If there are historical inaccuracies in Ibn Battuta’s writings, they are largely attributable to the pronounced taste for the bizarre which was characteristic of the age, and to the loss of his notebooks during a pirate attack in the Indian Ocean.

But errors or exaggerations do not detract from the value of Ibn Battuta’s narrative which is written in a direct, straightforward style punctuated by observations which are not without humour. His entertaining story has been translated, wholly or in part, into some 15 languages and ranks among the masterpieces of Arabic literature.

Ibn Batutta on Aleppo and Its Citadel

From Sermin we proceeded to Haleb (Aleppo), a large city and splendid metropolis. This is how Abulhossein the son of Jobeir described it:

“This city is of enormous worth and its fame will last forever. Kings have often sought to possess it and men have been impressed by its importance. What a number of battles it has provoked, and what a quantity of shining words have been unsheathed for it! Its fortress is renowned for its power and its height is clearly to be seen. No one dared attack it because of its strength, or if they did they did not conquer it.

“The sides are of freestone and its proportions are full of symmetry. It has outlasted the days and the years and has seen nobles and beggars carried to their last resting-places. Where are the Hamdanite princes and their poets now? They are no more, and only the buildings remain. Oh wonderful city! It endures, but its owners have passed on. They have perished but its hour has not come. It was sought for after them and taken without great difficulty. It was coveted and won at the smallest cost.

Such is this city of Aleppo. How many of its kings has it not changed into a past tense (expression borrowed from grammar) and how many vicissitudes has it not defied because of its position! Its name was made in the feminine gender, it was adorned with the finery of a chaste virgin, it succumbed to the victor as others have done. It shone like a young bride after the sword (seif) of its dynasty, Ibn Hamdan (a reference to Prince Seif eddaoulah).

Alas! its youth will pass, it will be no longer desired, only a short while and it will be destroyed.”

continued….

Aleppo from castle. Photo taken in 1898, created/published between 1898 and 1946. Credit: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.

The fortress of Aleppo is called Ash shahba (the grey one). Within it there are two wells from which water gushes, and there is no fear of thirst there. The castle is surrounded by two walls, there is a great moat from which water rises, and its wall has many towers standing close together. This fortress encloses marvellous chambers pierced with windows. All the towers are occupied and in this fortified castle food is not impaired by the passage of time.

There is a sanctuary which is visited by many people, and it is said that Abraham prayed there to God. This fortress resembles the one called Rahbet (square of) Malik Ibn Thaouk, near the Euphrates, between Syria and Iraq. When the Tartar tyrant Kazan marched against the city of Aleppo, he besieged this fortress for many days. Then, frustrated in his desire to take it, he withdrew. Ibn Jozay says: Alkhalidy, the poet of Seif eddaoulah, writes as follows about this fortress:

“With its high belfry and invincible flanks, it is a vast, grim place which rises up against him who would take it.

“The atmosphere spreads a layer of cloud over this place and adorns the castle with a necklace of brilliant stars.

“When lightning flashes in the night this fortress appears through its interstices, shining like the constellation of the Virgo through the openings in the clouds.

“How many armies has this castle not destroyed and how many conquerors has it not put to flight!”

The same poet also speaks of the castle in the following admirable verses:

“It is a citadel whose base embraces the springs of water, and its summit is higher than Orion’s Belt.

“It knows no rain, because for it the clouds are a ground, whose sides are trodden by its cattle.

“When the cloud has given water in abundance, he who lives in the fortress uses all the water in his tanks before its summits are moistened.

“Its belvedere would be counted amongst the stars of the heavens if it passed through their orbits.

“The cunning of this fortress has repulsed the tricks of its enemies and the evils it caused were greater than theirs.”

Here is what Jemal eddin Ali, the son of Abulmansur, has to say about this castle:

“Because of its enormous height and the point which its summit attains, this castle nearly stops the celestial sphere that turns around the earth.

“Its inhabitants have gone to the Milky Way as to a watering place and their horses have nibbled the stars as though grazing on flowering plants.

“The vicissitudes of time turn from it in fear, and for this castle there is no change.”

Date posted: August 22, 2015.

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Editor’s note: The above introduction to Ibn Batutta and his narratives on Aleppo and its Citadel have been adapted from the January 1986 issue of The Unesco Courier which was dedicated to Treasures of World Literature. Please visit http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco-courier/.

We welcome your feedback. Please click on Leave a comment.

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FORTHCOMING PHOTO AND LITERARY PIECES ON SIMERGPHOTOS AND SIMERG

“Prayer Halls of Badakhshan Through the Lens of Muslim Harji,” to be published week of August 24th, 2015 on Simerg’s photo blog, http://www.simergphotos.com
“Naklanki Geeta – Quantum Mechanics in Ginans” by Shiraz Pradhan, to be published week of September 7th, 2015 on this website, http://www.simerg.com.

Readers’ Reflections and Prayers for Grief-Stricken Syria

25 April 2015

3 Comments

The following is a selection of comments received from readers in response to Simerg’s recent posts concerning Syria, namely:

LETTERS

Ya Ali Madad:

Friend, brother… I have so much pain in my heart, I can not write… my tears are bigger than my chances to talk. [We] are united and together to face the barbarism!

Abd an-Nur al-Gharib

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Being an Ismaili Muslim, we all have done bayah of the Imam of the Time and this means we are spiritual children of Mawlana Hazar Imam and he is our father and mother, which connects all murids around the world as Ismaili brothers and sisters.

My deep prayers, wishes, dua, bandagi, and concern for my brothers and sisters in Syria. May our beloved Hazar Imam, the Lord of din and duniya, please bestow his protection upon the jamat and guard them with his hands on their shoulders.

Mawla ease their difficulties, make the Syrian jamats prosperous, and bless them with long, healthy lives as well as abundance of peace and love.

Mawla, it is my humble prayer that with your divine grace and power, the murids facing difficulties are protected. Inshallah, these humble supplications will reach you. Ameen.

Amirali Minsariya

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Difficult times do come in life of an individual or jamat but we must face them with courage and patience. I just want to tell my brothers and sisters in faith dwelling in Salamiyah that you are not alone there; we all are with you and will stand by you and we are ready to help you in any possible way we can.

Rizwan Shariff

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Our prayer is for your peace! It is terrible to perceive that we are unable to help you physically.

Vasila Bozichaeva

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Dear Syrian Brothers and Sisters.

I am writing this to you from USA to let you know that our prayers and good wishes are always with you. May Mowlana Hazar Imam grant all Syrian Murids respite from their troubles and bless them with peace and prosperity.

Karim Hasham

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Ignorant as I am in Arabic, the English version you have given out of this Prayer (Naad-e-Ali) with beautiful Arabic script that sadly I cannot read, but can hear it and share it with our afflicted brethren not just in Syria but also in Bahrain, Iran and more currently with Shia in Sana’a in Yemen. This, the most powerful prayer of Nade Ali in its entirety rings in my ears and jogs my memory of times when I have addressed it to Mowla.

Since our young days our parents taught us lovingly while comforting us. When any of us face tribulations, for Mushkeel Asaan we privately recite it connecting as if on a direct line, a personal phone call to Ali. He is engraved in our hearts; this supplication is embossed deep down in our soul as the SOS, ultimate call out to help us, to our Mowla Ali present our ‘ghat’ closer than our jugular vein. Ginans: ‘Rome rome maaro Shah vase, jem champa phul manhe vaas…avun Janine bhagatai kijiye …’

Enough. Words fail me as I bow down my head in Sujjud with all his created human kind. Thank you for the beautiful gift of ‘Nade Ali’ to us, the victims of atrocities, pain and suffering. Ameen.

Zarinaspeaks

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It is indeed heart rendering and heart wrenching to see such cruelty taking place in Syria. It is my hope and prayer that sanity prevails and may Almighty Allah give strength and courage to the families who have lost their kith and kin and may their souls rest in eternal peace in the world beyond and they attain Jannathul Firdhouse.

Amyn Chatoor

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Ya Ali Madad,

I am Jalal from Salamieh, and I am an Ismaili teacher in the National council. From my side, I believe that your prayers with ours can open the sky for the end of this stupid civil war. So far, I really appreciate your interests and deep emotions about the Ismaili brothers and sisters.

Your brother in faith.

Jalal

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My deepfelt condolences to each and every family who has lost loved ones and intense prayers that Mawla gives you the courage to bear this loss and that Salamiya and indeed Syria returns to peace and tranquility. You are not alone; of that you can be sure! The world Ismailis are with you. You will prevail, inshallah! It must be so terrifying having ISIS at your doorstep! The threat is so very real.

Izat

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I feel extremely saddened by the torture and brutality that the jamat of Syria is facing. Our sincere prayers for their mushkil asan. May the peace and safety soon return to Syria.

Syria jamat please stay strong to your faith. We stand by you in your difficult times.

Nessa

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Time and again, in his farmans of recent years, especially during the Golden Jubilee Mowlana Hazar Imam has said to the jamat to say a silent prayer. Calling the names of the imams, or Prophet Mohammed or Ali. Also the most powerful prayer is the Salwat.
The Syrian jamat is going through a lot of difficult times and we pray for peace to be restored for them. Amen.

Ya Ali Tun Reham Kar, Ya Mowla Tun Fazal Kar, Har Bhala Tun Dur Kar, Mushkil ku Asaan, Mowla Ali.

Shirin Hirji

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Our prayers are with the bravest jamat in the world! May ALLAH protect you from all brutal acts of so-called Muslims. Syria is in our prayers.

Maqsood Ali Khan

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Thank you for the opportunity to interact. The situation is very dangerous in Salamieh. We are tracked in the city from both the east and the west by the ISIS and al Nusra fronts. The soldiers from Salamieh belong to Government force trying to defend. Note that Salamieh is represented by numerous Muslim tariqahs. We have lived peacefully together for many many years. We have some choices including:

1. The hope that Canadian air forces will also play a role around Salamieh;
2. More military support to Salamieh from the regime; and
3. Possible plane evacuation of women and children from the city in case we can’t defend the city any more.

No doubt, there is support to the community from AKDN, but it is like staying here (and dying?). Yesterday the rebels fired 2 missile at Salamieh and 10 people died, with 30 injured.

The world should move to stop this dangerous situation around Salamieh.

Ya Ali Madad

Ali

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Dear brothers and sisters:

Every moment holds love if we connect inside. Like the sea’s calm beneath, God’s strength rules if we submit the tides and ripples of pain to Him in total surrender and say Salwaat or His name in jaap continuously. Ali bolo Munivar jan Ali ke charan chint lao ek man. Solace and peace come from knowing that we are always in His sight even though we may not be able to see Him. This pain is necessary to awaken. Just submit all pain to Him aape uthi shah ne besan dije vira, sohi tamara dharam likhaiya (You get up and have Him sit at the driver’s seat of your heart, your religion is only that much. Ask Him continuously your next step, tauba shukhar madad).

Jal tu Jalal tu , Kudrat no karnaar tu , Har bala taad tu, Mushkil asaan kar tu Ya Ali Ya Ali Ya Ali

With love, prayers, light. We are one soul, we suffer with your suffering too. Rest assured that is true.

Naaz

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Ya Ali Madad,

I am extremely grief stricken to know about my beloved spiritual brothers and sisters along with our little Masoom angles to be the victims of horrendous brutalities of ISIS thugs. May our beloved Mowlana Hazir Imam help the jamat all over to get away with their worldly and spiritual challenges and may GOD bestow them the highest place in Jannah. Let us pray to Mowla to keep all humanity under his gracious custody safe and secure. The humanity is under threat and it is time that we all need to stay united and face them without any fear. They will meet their fate soon and will burn in hell. Their end is near.

Tahira Noor

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Your message has a very deep and touching impact on the Syrian Jamat. Your continuous support and prayers will definitely make a change hopefully.

With Ya Ali Madad

Mahmoud Syria

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Dearest Ismaili parents, brothers, sisters and children:

We are deeply sad for the difficult circumstances you are facing. We might be far but our hearts are heavy with grief. We cannot reach you but we are of the same spiritual parent that makes us pray for you more strongly. Inshallah Mowla will help you overcome this very difficult moment in your lives. Allah bless all the departed souls in eternal peace Ameen.

Nade Ali, Nade Ali. Ya Mawla to madat kar, mushkil assan kar, rahem kar. Shukr Alhamdulillah.

Ya Ali Madad.

Zeenat Salim

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My prayers for our Syrian brothers and sisters. May Mawla bring peace and security to your homes. May the departed souls rest in peace. Ameen.

Amin Hunzai

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This is beyond troubling. It is like going back to the time of Genghis Khan who committed the same barbaric acts.

Mallee Stanley

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We remember you at this time and pray that peace return to you, your great city and great country. We remember you prayed for us when we were expelled from Uganda. We remember you were beloved of Prince Aly Khan and he of you – “Salamiyah ke pyare, himatwale, tumko lakho salaam”, we used to sing. (Beloved of Salamiyah, the brave one, 100 thousand greetings to you.) How he dashed out over the mountains from Beirut to declare to you that the naas had been passed to Karim al Husseini. May peace be upon him who rests in your city and may peace reign over you again. You are not forgotten.

Vali Jamal

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All I think of is how our beloved Hazar Imam must be feeling. Can you imagine how much this must hurt him? The scariest thing is there doesn’t seem to be an end to this war. In fact, things are just getting worse in so many countries – in Yemen too. Sincere prayers always.

Rashida Rahemtulla

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I pray to Hazar Imam that whatever sewa that I have done, the benefit of that service should go to my brothers and sisters in Syria. Ameen.

Karim Jivraj

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You are very right; with complete faith if one recites Nad-e-Ali; and Inshallah success will be positive. This particular piece of writing made my day.

Manji

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God: Keep and save Syria and defend its good people, culture and its deep history. Ameen, Ameen Ameen. Ya Allah, Ya Muhammad, Ya Ali, defeat its enemies. “There is no hero but Ali; there is no sword but Dhu’lfaqar”.

Hatim Mahamid

Date posted: Sunday, April 26, 2015.

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If you missed the earlier posts, please click on the following links:

We invite our readers to offer their solidarity with the Ismaili jamat in Syria and the people of Syria by conveying their heartfelt wishes and prayers by clicking on Leave a comment or in the comment box below. If you encounter any difficulty in submitting your comment, please email your comment for publication to Simerg@aol.com, subject “Syria.” Please note that we never publish your email address with your feedback, and that you may submit your feedback using a pen name or a partial name, if you wish.

Salamiyya and Syria: “Peace Will be Again”

30 January 2013

14 Comments

By Elia Badrudin
Dates in season - Salamiyya, Syria

Salaam , al Salaam, O salaam
to all of humanity, Peace

al Salamiyeh , KNOW that Peace will be again.
the heavens will smile on you again.
all humanity which speaks for Peace
has promised that
the planet has your place

al Salamiyeh, more than a thousand years before
prayers were seeds of this ground
a grassland lying on Syrian steppes
a fertile plain of hope
a soft quiet spawning the golden age
a diverse Ummah immersed with the Fatimids…
you’ve nurtured yourself for the heavens here
and it is not all gone today.
you are not lost to us; neither sand grain lost to the sky.
as hearts are the stronger carrying yours
as anguish is balanced with resolute prayer
transformed, you will return, al Salamiyeh
the world is not asleep.

we are an entire Ummah living together in al Salamiyeh
the world has not left you
nor any other facing terror —
“you may feel alone
but you are not alone”
does not your date tree stand strong in windstorm?
and your smile not nourish your child?
He is “Always with you, Always with you”
remember.
and the world will not sleep.

not dogma, not terror,
there’s no martyrdom in suicide!
whosoever taketh life of another..
brutal condemnation
the bestiality of his own cowardly nature
who will betray your homeland and ours
has fallen to the brainwashing of his idols
and their very own envy

not even an animal kills but of hunger
leave them to their desolate running.
only, the ends of the earth are round
and of the heavens, eternal.
where will they go?

and the world will not sleep
all day and all night
across our globe
Ismailis holding hands with every other faith
for all of Syria and for all your families.
“you are not alone, you are never alone”

our seven days, a satado,
are seven ages of pain vanquished
are hearts awry yet steadfast
and hope takes root in this action
then Time too will make space..

and these fools will not rule
fear not the evils, for though they have drained innocent blood,
their souls and hearts are for His Taking

Salaam , al Salaam, O salaam
to all of humanity, Peace.

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Please also see Peaceful Times and Fond Memories of Salamiyya, Syria….Then Terror Strikes Violating the Qur’anic Injunctions on the Sanctity of Life