Chronicles of Cairo: The Shaikh's Legacy
Sheikh Ibrahim, Cairo, Egypt, January 2019
Exploring the thousand year old city of Cairo has its unique thrill. You imagine the stories, laughter and cries the stone walls around you witnessed. The moment you leave the main roads and get lost in the maze of back alleys, you would think that time has stood still if a phone wouldn’t ring every now and then. Evey alley has its own sound, smell and feeling. Walking close to Bab Zuweila you will find your steps automatically synchronizing to the rhythm of the sound of metal being hammered. You enter an alley and suddenly your view is clouded by wood chippings flying out of wood workshops filling the alley. And if you don’t pay attention suddenly a goat running away from its owner might catch you off guard. Meandering through these winding alleys an old man caught my attention in the distance. Our eyes met and in that moment he waved indicating with his hand to come. I looked around double-checking if he meant me, otherwise this can lead to some very awkward moments, he nodded and indicated again that I should come to him. Sitting on a wooden chair in front of a shop he greets me and offers me to sit on an identical chair in front of him. A blanket of dust covers everything inside of the shop. I spot an antique sewing machine in the twilight. The metallic echo of a vintage radio playing a Quran radio station. “Hello, where are you from?” I am greeted in English, to which I responded in Arabic and our conversation quickly took us to a life story that is set in a different era. His lone voice, echoing through decades of history began:
“When I was a child, I went to the Kuttab, an elementary school, where I memorized the Quran and learned how to read and write. My father died, when I was twelve, shortly after I had finished the Kuttab. Everything happens for a reason. As the eldest of my siblings, I now had the responsibility to provide for the family and earn money, so I moved to Cairo. My first job was at a grocery store, one of those small ones that would sell everything I would finish reading the whole Quran every two or three days. One day, while I was running some errands for the grocer, I saw old classmates from my Kuttab on their way to Al-Azhar University to be examined in their memorization of the Quran. I decided to postpone the errands, I had to run, and joined them. When got there the examiner explained to me that I wasn’t allowed to take the exam, because neither was I enrolled nor did I have a birth certificate, but he would let me take the exam nevertheless if I was able to bring my birth certificate. When I got back to the grocery store three hours had passed and I didn’t run the errand. “Where were you?” the grocer asked, he didn’t like my answer. Of course I was fired. He was right with that decision, I went there to work and was paid for that not to take exams.
Everything happens for a reason.
I sat down on the curb and contemplated, “What will I do?” I asked myself. I was working in his grocery store during the day and staying at his home in the night. I couldn’t stay there anymore. I had nowhere to go. An old customer passed: “Why are you sitting like this, kid?” he asked me. I told him what had happened. He took me with him to his tailor shop and started to teach me how to tailor and let me stay in his home. The tailor had children, who went to primary school. In the afternoons I would sit and study with them, although I didn’t attend school, through this I learned English, Geography and History. People on the street, helped me improve my foreign language skills. How? During the time of the King, Egypt was occupied by the British and their soldiers would be patrolling here.
“Can do You speak English?” I would go and ask a British soldier
“Yes” was the usual answer
I would give him a book like “Oliver Twist” and ask him to read it to me.
“I don’t speak Arabic” was their initial answer until they saw the English cover of the book.
This way I would learn proper English pronunciation. And on top of that I would listen to English lessons on the radio and memorize the songs they played while working. I even wrote a letter to the English broadcasting station and they attached a dictionary and a grammar book to their response. The radio gave me the idea to record myself reading books and study materials and replay them while I was working. Necessity is the mother of invention.
So when I took the final exam for the government primary school I passed, without ever attending a regular school. Then I went to take the Quran exam, which I also passed. Many other people took these exams, while having parents, money - everything they needed, and they still failed. I am an orphan and God gave me. Why? Because I want! I did the same with secondary school until I passed the university entrance exam. The University admission office sent me to study law at Ain-Shams University, which I did. Now, I had learned how to be a tailor and I had a law degree. What will I do now I wondered? Be a lawyer or a tailor? I chose being a tailor. Why? I am confident in it. Somebody brings me some cloth I will make him a Jalabiyah, a traditional Egyptian dress. As a lawyer, somebody comes with his issue, it is you against another lawyer. Only one of you will win the case. If I lose, they will say: “You are nothing but a tailor” I decided to stay with what I knew.
One day I went to visit a friend who studied at the Religious Faculty at Al-Azhar University and I found out that you could enroll for distance learning. So I did. I already had the education I needed to start and I had memorized the Quran. After a while I started teaching Quran and the Ministry of Endowments, the one responsible for religious affairs, sent me to preach and to recite the Quran in mosques and I had an additional income. God blessed me. I rented a sewing machine put it in my room and started working for people. They would make an order, I would sew it and later they would pick it up. One day a jew, who was a regular customer gave me some work.
I am an orphan and God gave me. Why? Because I want!
“I won’t give you any further work after this.”, he explained.
“Why?”, I inquired.
“You are living on the seventh floor and my workers complain about having to climb all these stairs to pick up the orders.”
He was a good man, he would give you your right and the money he owed you on time not like other people. So, I started looking for a shop on the ground floor, my decision fell 70 years ago on this one, we are sitting in front of today. Since then I have been sitting here and working just as you found me.
After that, the work got easier. One day I was buying cloth from Omar Effendi, a department store, and found a job posting. They were looking for someone with a university degree. I had almost all of them and even more. When I applied they didn’t want to hire me in the accounting department “You are too old” they said. “But we can hire you as a worker”, which I accepted. When government decided to nationalize companies in the 60s, there were some employees who started to hide goods, so when the inventory was taken by the government officials nobody would know about these goods. Later they could steal the goods without anyone ever missing them. I quickly understood what they were plotting and I ruined their plan, by putting the goods back where they belonged right before the inspection. The general manager rewarded me by promoting me to warehouse manager. I told him jokingly that I had higher certificates and degrees than him from the days of the king. Soon after I was promoted to head of the accounting department, the one I was once too old for. I had all the diplomas that qualified me. Do you see where I went from being a worker. Sometimes employees would come with work of poor quality, and would try to bribe me to let it pass. I would always refuse these attempts. “Fear Allah! Take it and do it again.” I would always say. Because at the end of the day if you walk straight God will reward you.
After I retired, I went to for a small pilgrimage in Makkah. When people heard me reciting Quran in the Al-Haram mosque in Makkah they brought me to the Sheikh of the mosque. He was pleased with my knowledge and appointed me as the Imam of a small mosque, although I was planning to stay only for a week. I ended up staying for a few months until I could perform the Hadj, the pilgrimage. God is merciful with the orphans. Today people come here and I teach them Hadith, Quran, Arabic, they sit here just like you to learn.
At the end of the day if you walk straight God will reward you
In this alley here I once got into a fight when I was a young man. A guy hit me, so I hit him back. He took a stick and hit me again. I took the stick, hit and injured him. So, he complained to the police. I was fined with 15 pounds, a very large sum back then. The Sheikh Al-Harah, the neighborhood overseer, who usually comes to solve such issues asked me to come with him to object the fine and tell my version of the story to the police. I agreed. As soon as we got to the police station, he told the police: “Here he is” and left me stranded. I was put in jail. 15 pounds meant 15 days, because I couldn’t pay. One morning, I was sitting in the cell and reading Quran. A guard heard me. He came to the cell and looked at all the inmates: “Who was reading Quran?” I raised my hand. I was taken to the warden and immediately apologized: “I am sorry, I didn’t know it was forbidden”. He shook it off and said: “Let me hear you, read a couple verses”. I did as I was told. He pulled money out of his wallet and asked the other guards to chip in to pay my fine. Do you see how the Quran helped me?
I am now 90 years old. I am sitting here holding my medicine. I have children and grandchildren, but they are not like me. I would always walk straight and do my duty. I would go after work back to my room to study and not waste my time in cafes. After spending time with my wife of course, I couldn’t study without talking to her first.
Your duty is: Fear Allah and walk straight. Just as the prophet said: "Fear Allah wherever you are, do good deeds after doing bad ones, the former will wipe out the latter, and behave decently towards people"
That’s it – C’etait tres bien!”
The Shaikh’s story had left a deep impression on me, as if I had left the 21st century and travelled back to the 1940s just to relive Egypt’s modern history and how it had impacted and shaped common people. I thanked the Shaikh for sharing his story and promised him that I would visit him again to have a Jalabiyah made, but a few years later when I found myself in the same alley in old Cairo again I went to his shop to fulfill my promise – but the Shaikh’s chair was gone. The silence in front of the empty shop felt depressing. The connection I felt to the spirit of Cairo and the legacy of a man who had woven his life into the very fabric of the city reminded me that an era was over.
“It was a lone voice in the middle of the ocean, but it was heard at great depth and great distance.”
