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Salim and Marco : Argentina.

The three brothers finished their duties and moved to their rooms , washing, changing clothes, eating then praying together, the usage of clean water became measured, the ship reserve of fresh water became too small and the whole passengers were warned to that situation and limited water were distributed daily, the used water was reused again to polish and cleanings of shoes and floor , today Salim had an appointment to meet Marco his new Italian friend, their friendship was growing faster than expected , they found in each other's a substitute or rather an integral personality, by exchanging ideas and knowledge, Marco caring and eager to know about his grandmother past and background through Salim knowledge of Islam and its teachings and traditions that his grandmother was believing in and its belief that made of his grandmother that exceptional personality, Salim on his turn was eager to know about this new world they are going to join and enter that Marco was having a lot of his keys that Salim and his brothers ignored , the two new friends were meeting every free time afternoon and especially in evening times most of their dialogue was focused on the terminology of Islam and its main teachings , the traditions in the east and in the west, the common beliefs and contradictions the common traditions in which in the Italian history were some left from the Islamic era in Sicilia and the southern of Italy , that evening, their topic was about future plans in the new world, Argentina . Marco: what a plan do you have in mind upon your arrival to Argentina , do you have a specific plan or agreement or a contract already planed with someone special of your relatives or your people there? Salim : we don't have close relatives or friends over there , if there is someone , it could be a remote relative or friend of friends , in fact all what we have some names of people we never met before , only recommendations from our friends at home, all our hope is depending on god plans for us, he created us and he is the one who will manage for us our living , Marco : your faith is so great , but you need to have a plan at least, I'll try my best to help you to have an easy start, either with us or with anybody else you may find better for you, Salim : we are very thankful for your offer and help, let's see what us hidden for us there , Marco you are still more confident in Allah, Marco started to use the word Allah instead of god,in our world , I mean Europe , most people lost their belief ;faith and trust in their god, most educated Europeans today don't have what relates them to heaven, most eyes are directed today to the earth more than directing to heaven, all what relate them to Christianity are mere names and traditions or ethnic fanatics , the English hates the Spanish, the Spanish disgusts the Italian , the French hates them all , the German want to eliminate the rest,but I see that you still have that social and human bond , you deal and behave with Turks , Kurds, Albanians, Indian even Europeans in the same way, you don't discriminate or hate out of race or ethnicity, Salim : that's our Islam simply who gather all under one Allah , one messenger , one book , one direction in prayer no discrimination nor fanatics, Marco :every day I talk to you , I discover the secrets of my grandma s highness , tender and sweet pure love, I think she brought all that greatness from that religion , Salim : beside her origin was a diamond too , our messenger says : people are like metals , Someone is like iron, another like silver , a third is like a gold , the best of them who is a knowledgeable Muslim , Marco: will you tel about the truth behind your messenger s marriage to ten women ? Salim : in fact they are twelve, nine were alive on his death , he added: there so many explanations, but none related to loving women for sex, as some of Islam s enemies mention, in brief, the need of approaching people and tribes, second: the messenger was the last to come and his women were supposed to be teachers after him to the next generations since they lived with him and knew well his personality and personal life and conducts , third : some of his women were in need for a husband and were very pious to be left for untrustworthy persons, forth: some women were married as a direct order from heaven for a specific reason or teaching , like his marriage from his cousin zeinab or his marriage from Aisha , they are for all Muslims like true mothers, if he was a women s lover for desire only as enemies say , he could marry virgins and young women not old and widowed or divorced women . Marco: what about praying on him, what does it mean ? Salim : prayer means worshiping, blessing supplication, praising, glorifying, it has so many meanings and usage, when we pray to Allah , we worship him directly or peg him for his help and giving or mercy , when Allah pray on the prophet , it means that he praises him and raise him to a high et status, and when we pray on the prophet, we glorify him and pray Allah to raise him more and more in status and when we pray on the dead Muslim , we pray Allah to raise him and to have pity on him or purify him from the bad deeds . Marco : your words are wonderful , I was thinking that you worship Mohammad as Christianity is worshiping Jesus Christ ! , Salim : Mohammad is like Jesus , just messenger and a human being , the only asked and worshiped is Allah ; the all mighty and pitiful. Marco: is Allah of Muslim is the same as Allah of Christianity or Hebrews? Salim : originally yes, but the difference is how we describe the identity of Allah that makes difference with the way Christianity or Hebrews describe, the all mighty Allah in what is called father in the Bible , but with Koranic terms and allohim in Hebrews, allohim in Hebrew is alloh and im, alloh is the Hebrews term of Allah in Arabic , Im is an auxiliary added to word alloh for glorifying reasons . We only describe Allah in the terms and names or descriptions that only we find in Koran or that our prophet had mentioned, while Christianity and Judaism describe Allah in false terms and descriptions they created, like getting tired or cry or other terms can't be glorifying for our creator. Salim : tel me Marco , how do you think in Jesus Christ ? Marco: a great man of mercy and forgiveness , Salim : ok , that we all believe in , but what I mean , what's his true identity for you , a full human being? A half god and a half human? , a fully god? Marco: the god or Allah can't be human and the human can't be god or Allah , a human is a human and Allah is Allah , there is no half half , this or that simply, Salim smiling : then you don't believe in him as a son of god? Marco: this belief is the belief of the old Greeks pagans , like Zeus and Aphrodite and the rest of the Greek or Roman mythology , Salim : great , but how a Christian like you believes in this way? Marco : I'm a free Italian believer , I'm not a Christian nor a Jew and not a Muslim , he added : my mum taught me to believe in Allah only and in case of need only to refuge to him ; believe me my brother most Italian friends who believe in the existence of a god , have almost the same belief regarding Jesus identity, just the traditions and their little interest to find the full truth prevents them to check further , Salim : I may tell you that you are on the way to be a true Muslim , what is missing that you only believe truly in the message of Islam and in Mohammad as the true messenger, you now witnessed only the first part of the shahada , that means the testimony, Marco : I prefer for now to remain on the belief that my mum taught me , a Christian in my mum s way, Salim : your mum didn't teach you Christianity, she taught you Islam , but for some reasons , she didn't say that as Islam , she convinced you that it is Christianity in her own way , I think that your mum was a true Muslim woman like her mother and in the same way she was hiding her true identity as your grandmother did , Marco bewildered : oh my god or my Allah , how I could not notice that or understand, besides mum was also praying always in her mum private room wearing her mum clothes and practicing the same things I saw my grandma does , tears appeared immediately in Marco eyes when he mentioned his mother and her memories came to his mind, he added : but I can't believe in Mohammad until you convince me totally of his true identity and message and I promise you to be introduced to my mum as soon as we reach Argentina, Salim : originally Islam and true Christianity of Jesus Christ are coming from the same source and origin , what you need just to remove any additional bizarre and hazards implemented by the church and the Hebrews regarding Jesus and his mother and his true bible , you'll find yourself in front of Islam in its Christ s copy , Marco : believe me I never heard words wiser than your words before not even the great cardinals or the pop himself , they only say rubbish about the son of god any his teachings while they are stealing the poor and living in prosperity while their followers are living in misery, but what is wondering for me is how do you know these things when you are not a reverend or a scholar ? Salim : these things all simple Muslim should know , we read our Koran and it is teaching us all the way, Marco : in the church only the priest or bishop reads the Bible , the common Christians don't , Salim : reading Koran is obligatory for everyone because prayers can't be achieved without it, Marco : the priest was always saying that you Muslims are savages , illiterates and barbaric , Marco : are the men of your church have the same powers as like the Christian clergymen? Salim : in Islam , there are no men of religion or clergymen , we have only scholars who teach and guide , but they have no power over others, they are normal people , work and live like any normal Muslims and we don't have what you call a church , the mosque or masjid is just a place to gather people to stay together , to pray together , to discuss daily issues together and that s all , Marco : then why our cleric make these attacks on your religion ? Salim : the truth always frightens the false and satan . Marco: what about the non Muslims in your country, are there any non Muslims there? In Europe the Christians made a war that had taken the third of its population or more if we add the Muslim and Jewish in Spain , Andalusia, Sicilia and Salerno in Italy, the wars between the Catholics and the Protestants erased millions and millions for two hundreds years, what about your region,? Salim: we had some religious wars with the crusaders as invaders , but never have an inner war among Muslims and Christians or Hebrews although we have millions of them who live for hundreds of years in peace without any massacres or mass killings, Marco : really you have Christians living among you? Salim : in my city , Tripoli, the third of our population are Christians, Marco : it is really absurd, the clergymen were always talking about your atrocity and savage way in dealing with Christianity! Salim : I told you before the truth frightens the false . Marco: if a man is looking for the pure truth , but as it is mentioned that his name is written among the wrong , how he will reach Allah if his destiny prevents him? Salim: Allah is fair and merciful enough not to write his name under the non saved ones if he truly seeking the truth , what is called destiny is so many times misunderstood and wrongly explained, who seeks the light will find it and who seeks the falsity will reach the darkness , that is the true destiny. Marco : it is a great pleasure brother Salim to exchange ideas with you , with this Salim asked permission to leave to his room . The next day Mohammad and Wehbe were working in the stable while Salim went to discuss with the captain the sanitary situation the horses have, since the resources of waters started to become less and since the horses were consuming a lot of water , the less water given to the horses caused some sanitary problems with some of them , but the captain assured him that they are used to these problems when water becomes less and that these problems will pass soon especially that their arrival to lands became very soon . Wehbe was busy cleaning a horse when one of the French passengers came into the stable , he was checking his sick horse as he said, Wehbe saw the man, but didn't stop his work , the man crying: why my horse is very bad today? Why don't you do your job rubbish? Wehbe didn't respond immediately, maybe he didn't understand the full meaning of the man insult, but he understood that the man was angry, he approached the ailing horse and massaged his hand with pity on his back saying: the poor creature is suffering, but I hope with the medicine will get better besides the lack of water is making the situation worse for all , the passenger looked ugly at Wehbe and with a bad eyes looked at Mohammad who approached to see what was going on and without a warning, he smacked Mohammad on his face like smacking his slave screaming , if the horse would die , I'll kill you all , pieces of dirt , Mohammad was surprised and he stood like a statue , but Wehbe without delay smacked back the man on his face that made him fall fo the ground and screaming was rising from the stable , when another French who came with his friend ,advanced to attack Wehbe , but a hand caught him from the back and a voice with Italian accent warned the man to stop otherwise he will be punished hardly, the French beaten man stood up and looked with surprise at Marco face and again at Mohammad face and before ha utters a word , Marco pointed to Mohammad saying: if anybody try to touch again my cousin , his punishment will be on my hands , some other Italians and Spanish with the captain himself rushed to the scene after the screaming and noises reached their ears and the two Spanish boys too rushed to stand by Mohammad and Wehbe ready for a help and fighting , the Frenchman was surprised to see Italians and Spanish stands by an Arabic dirty worker defending him against French blue blood race , the captain asked about the fighting cause , the French said that Mohammad mocked him and attacked him while he was checking his ailing horse , but one the two working boys advanced to the captain and said: this dirty French is lying , I witnessed the whole scene from the moment he came in and he narrated to the captain and the rest what did happen , the captain was too much angry and directed his words to the French : you are running after trouble on my ship , you have to apologize immediately otherwise I'll be obliged to drop you in the first next station , the French was mad with anger and he started insulting the Arabs and the low people who stand beside them , he refused to apologize to a dirty Arab ;barbaric as he said and looked at Marco and the two Spanish boys saying: your account is not finished too and he left. That evening Marco with the company of some Italians and Salim went to the captain s cabinet , they talked about the morning accident and Marco insisted that the French man should apologize for his nasty behavior and insults or the captain should achieve his warning and drop him in the first coming station , the captain was aware of Marco and his family influence in Argentina that could make him trouble if Marco made any claim against him in violation of rules of punishment for racist behavior , he agreed to Marco words promising to fulfill his warning if the French didn't follow orders . That evening, Salim was in Marco room as they used to meet every day , Salim was worried that Wehbe and Mohammad problem with the French man could reciprocate troubles later on their heads and he told Marco about his fears , Marco smiling: as you see , I settled everything with the captain, everybody knows now that your brothers didn't commit any mistake , Wehbe was defending his brother against an satanic attack besides from now on you are with your brothers an integral part of my family on this ship and most of the passengers are on our side adding the captain too , that ugly racist will pay for his actions if didn't succumb to the captain orders . Their evening was as usual discussing and chatting about various subjects when Marco suddenly asked Salim , I see that you are experts in dealing with bourses even with medical treatments, Salim : the need is the mother of creativity, Marco smiled and responded: you are true and maybe that could help you to find an adequate job in Argentina for all of you , Salim : what do you want to say please ? Marco: you know that in Argentina, there are huge and large plantations and farms for horses, sheep and cows , big business men are interested to invest their money in talented workers like you and would be your golden chance to invest your talent there , Salim : the horse for the Arabic is like a friend and believe me sometimes I feel that my horse understands me much better than so many humans, Marco smiling : it seems to me that you are a poet besides being a scholar ! Salim laughing : not to that limit , I love poetry like most Arabs do , but unfortunately I'm not a poet , Marco : maybe you are not a poetry writer, but you have a soul of a poet. The next evening , Marco with Francesca came to the three brothers to visit them in their rooms , Marco took Francesca first to Mohammad and Wehbe room then he directed to Salim s , not long time passed, Marco came to the young men room inviting them to join him with Salim in Salim s room , the room was very tight for their gathering, but they managed, Mohammad and Wehbe sat down on the floor , Francesca sat on the only chair in the room beside Wehbe while Salim and Marco kept sitting on Salim s bed, on the small table fruits and fruits juice were laid , Francesca looked at Wehbe and said : my father told me about your heroic attack on that racist , Wehbe smiled and responded : it was just a spontaneous and natural reaction adding : Mohammad doesn't need who defends him , he can defend himself much better than me , but he was surprised from the inspected attack and he is a calm type , prefers to count before taking an action, unfortunately I'm not that type, I'm more spontaneous and believe me if your father didn't interfere , I could teach the man a lesson of beating he would not forget in his whole life , the whole gathering started to laugh and Salim added: I'm afraid that your spontaneous type will bring us troubles in the future, Wehbe smiling: ok I'm spontaneous, but I'm not mad , Francesca clapping her hands together , raised her glass of juice and said: to the honor of our hero Wehbe , the rest laughed and responded to Francesca gesture by drinking their juice , Marco: these types of dirty bastards and arrogant thinking falsely that they are with a blu blood and that they are superior from birth over the other human beings, needs only one cure and remedy , beatings and beatings and I add my word to Francesca greeting our today hero, Wehbe , he raised again his glass and the the others followed him laughing , Marco suddenly stood up : I ve forgotten the main reason of our gathering this evening , beside celebrating Wehbe heroic action , I have another good news , but let's consume first our fruits and drinks, Francesca: do you want me to hurry up in consuming my fruits and drink without enjoying them gradually, Marco smiled to his daughter words and said : ok I'll tel you now the good news and celebrate and enjoy with your fruits and drink , he stopped talking for one minute while all eyes were looking at him waiting for the good news and he proceeded: the captain told me that we are far only one day before reaching Natal the first station in our long trip and the first land we will see , the whole small gathering clapped hands and cried of joy for the good news , it is time to see the land at last and getting new supplies of food and water, Wehbe to their surprise raised a loud whistle from his lips raising his glass in turn and all laughed and took their glasses too . The next early morning a lot of passengers gathered on the ship board to enjoy their eyes with the lovely panorama of the landscape of the American continent that started to appear gradually to their eager eyes , some were sick and ailing , but they insisted to share the joy and the happiness with the rest . The ship stopped and the sailors threw the anchors into the water , ladders were laid down and passengers started to leave the ship while some knelt down on the their knees kissing the floor , the captain organized the leaving people with groups advising to keep together in that strange city to avoid troubles or waiting thieves who usually exploit that opportunity to steal and snatch handbags of unaware passengers, then the captain called the French man who made the trouble wit Mohammad and Wehbe informing him that this was his last chance to apologize to avoid new troubles in Argentina, the hard head French refused apologizing to dirty Arabs as he said then the captain informed him that he is obliged to make him leave at once the ship in Natal and the man did . After securing all the needed provisions and waters and after the returning of the whole passengers who bought supplies and gifts from Natal , the ship resumed its trip to the south toward Salvador then to Rio in Brazil , in Rio the passengers repeated what they did in Natal and Wehbe met a Brazilian of Syrian origin who informed him that he was traveling to Syria and especially to Tripoli ,Wehbe asked him if he could send some letters with him and the man agreed and he took them with him , new passengers joined the ship to go to the next destinations, some original passengers left in Rio too , the next station was Montevideo in Uruguay , again new passengers joined and others left , the ship left to its last station, Buenos Aires , in Argentina , the destination of our heroes. When the ship was near Buenos Aires and the city started to appear slowly all the rest of passengers were on board , celebrating, whistling, clapping hands and cheering with drinks. Bags and languages started to appear on board till the ship stopped and anchors were released , ladders were laid down and passengers started to leave their ship among whistles and cries of joy , checking and necessary documentation were made then Marco headed to Salim: is there anybody waiting for you here ? Salim smiling : actually we are having some addresses we will head to first , Marco: no needs to bother yourself You are going with us first then will check about your addresses later on , I'm afraid that you got lost in this huge city besides, a lot of thieves are waiting for solitary people like you to take their money and belongings, most of porters or cart drivers are connected with bands of thieves , they may cheat you and lead you to traps to take your money , in addition your Spanish language is not enough to lead you , Salim talked to his brothers and they agreed with Marco words, the time was late and darkness started to cover the horizon, a special cart belonging to Marco family appeared and some men with raised papers where Marco family wrote his name with his company, an old man introduced him self as one of Marco s family man ,all bags and containers were moved to the cart and they all moved to the yard were The family waited , they were two carts one for Marco family and another for Sandra s family too , the men gathered in one cart and women took the other one . The caravan moved immediately to Marco s house , the house was already prepared for Marco and his family by his brothers, when all arrived to the house, some of Marco relatives were present and others of Sandra family too were there , they all received the new comers with hugs and kisses and all the bags were moved in , then Marco asked the head-maid if any additional spare rooms could be secured for his guests , she guided him to an adjoining rooms spared for guests , Salim with his brother moved there to wash and take their rest . The next morning the whole travelers were awake late almost on noon time , Marco came to the three brother to secure that everything was in orders, the three brothers already had taken their showers and changed their clothes , then Marco invited all to their first dinner over the land after the long journey, they all sat down on the laid table decorated with a lot of plats of different types of delicious cooked meats, chickens and fish, big bowls of spaghetti , salads and hot soups , Marco introduced his Arabic friends to the rest and vice versa ,they talked about life in Italy and Spain compared to life in Argentina, while some of the guests addressed the three brothers asking about Syria and life in the orient , Salim was sitting beside Marco and later murmured in his ear: you will stay several days to take your rest then we will check about your supposed friends, after the dinner Argentina caffe was served and local bakeries and sweets with fruits of mango and bananas were served too , Marco to Salim : I ordered for three nice horses for you , we will take a little tour to watch our neighborhood , till you rest well after that , we will go tomorrow to mum house to be introduced to her , mum now is staying with my brother Omar , I think that you ll be a big pleasant surprise to her , Salim: isn't this house your brother s , Marco : no this is a spare house prepared by my brother , later I'll move with my family to my permanent house and farm in La plata, a small city not far from here , Salim : do have your own farm there ? Marco: I own my wife and my daughter only , this farm was bought especially for me by my two brothers, Omar and Michelle , to start my first business here . Chapter Eight: