Radio Interview - "Conversations at the Café" 10/24/12

Dear friends,

Here’s my Conversation with Bonnie Grice on WPPB 88.3 FM the local NPR Affiliate in Southampton NY on October 24, 2012.

The interview starts at the 30:00 mark and it lasts about 15-20 minutes. Take a Listen!

(Do listen to David Shulman’s at the beginning too if you have time, he’s a wonderful musician!)

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO OUR CONVERSATION

Would love to hear from you,

Wafa

Thank you Bonnie, George, and Kyle for the opportunity to share my story!

Wafa F. Hallam, author of The Road from Morocco

Athena, the Lion and the Eagle

Today, I got me my first Twitter buddy and an intriguing one at that.

“Let me first ask you two questions and answer them as truthfully as you possibly can!” he wrote in an email.

“Question 1) Let's say hypothetically that we are all animals in clothes ~ what type of animal would you say you were Wafa and why?  Question 2) Tell me your favorite bird of all birds and why?” and he added:

“Answer in as many words as you wish. The simpler and clearer picture you depict the better!”

How serendipitous, I thought. Only a few days ago, after a long-distance argument with my man, a loud thought popped up in my head and I twitted the following:

Wafa Faith Hallam ‏@WafaWithFaith

I wish to be neither a mother nor a housewife. I aim to soar like an eagle, roar like a lion n make the world my oyster. http://t.co/CdGbt9t8

Hence, without hesitation, I knew which animals I was “under my clothes.”

“I am a big cat, a lioness, to be exact, and an eagle,” I wrote back.

“I have an insatiable curiosity, always looking to rationalize and understand things to better guide my destiny. Like the eagle, I seek to view the world from high above, the eagle's perspective, far away to view the whole picture, and yet stay alert to detect the smallest hurdles and opportunities on the ground.

Like a lion, I am a warrior, competitor, and survivor very much at ease in a man's world and allowing no one to tame me. Imagine I worked on Wall Street, where less than 10% of senior financial advisors-VPs are women; and this in spite of my background.  I was born in Morocco, of Arab Muslim parents in a backward patriarchal society. No wonder I left my native land as soon and as fast as I could for Europe and then America, and I didn’t even learn English until I was twenty-four.

Finally to complete this portrayal, I am also a typical Athena, the Greek Goddess, born out of the split-open head of the mighty Zeus, fully grown and dressed in golden battle armor. Athena’s profile which was sent to me by my daughter not long ago bears an uncanny resemblance to mine.  Indeed, until only a few years ago, I fit exactly her description. Today, a new found spirituality helps me temper my ego and feistiness and find greater peace and acceptance. At the same time, I retained the deep seated values that have guided me throughout my life, love, compassion, justice and integrity.”

“I bet you were not expecting an essay,” I joked. “I’m surprised myself how easy it was for me to reveal so much from just two innocuous questions. My only hope is that you find this description clear and simple enough even as there’s nothing simple about me, I’m afraid."

ON BECOMING TRANSPARENT

Wafa Faith Hallam

July 23, 2012

Painting by local Moroccan artist in Essaouira, Morocco

On Becoming Transparent

Memoir writing is one of the writing genres that have exploded in recent years as more and more people are putting pen to paper and writing their biographies. Like so many others, I wrote mine out of an unflinching desire to sort out my past and make sense of my life. As a result, I confronted issues of identity and came to accept the multi-layered construct that it was, until finally I made peace with myself.

Today, as I delve deeper into the meaning of spiritual growth, I understand that the same guiding hand that led me to reveal the hidden demons of my past is also behind the desire to go on with the seeking I had begun. I stripped myself naked not for any exhibitionist urging as one may think but because without that I wouldn’t have been able to progress on the road to consciousness. 

Our memories and past stories, all our egotistical manifestations and attachments only clog our channels to and from the one source that’s the universe.  They distract us from connecting with the whole and keep us separate and isolated.  When, often from the depth of despair, we seek salvation, we slowly come to see past the smokescreens and begin to sense the truth. The more we reveal and share of ourselves the more we realize we are all made of the same cloth. We are one and the same.  But that sense of oneness is entirely lost, hidden by all the roles we play, all the masks we wear, all the things we own, and all the beliefs we hold.

I’m continually humbled by the response I get from my readers. Suddenly, people I don't know anything about are ready to open up to me, talk about their own experiences, and reveal all their secrets. I now believe, all such hidden demons are only dark shadows which we need to shed light on if we are to awaken to our true self. It does not matter that we come from different backgrounds, cultures, races, or religious upbringings.  At the heart of it, all that matters is our emotional similitude. If the writer is honest and writes from her heart, her emotions will be her readers’ emotions as well. 

If you can feel what I feel, what does it mean? If watching someone else’s joy or suffering on a screen, reading it in a book, sensing it on canvas, hearing it in a song or experiencing it in a dance movement turns into our own joy or suffering, what does that tell us? It screams: We are ONE… You are a mirror image of me and I am a mirror image of you.  Why is that such a difficult concept to comprehend still? Love and compassion are not mere words; they encompass what it means to be part of a whole. When I love myself, I cannot help but loving others. It’s that simple. 

Most of the fear and hate experienced by human beings towards other human beings come from their own lack of self-love. Deep within, they hold an ocean of fear and mistrust of themselves, of their natural tendencies and repressed yearnings. The more we hide from ourselves the more we want to repress others. The more we hurt inside, the more we want to punish others. “Unless you learn to face your own shadows, you will continue to see them in others, because the world outside you is only a reflection of the world inside you,” I read somewhere.

We can speak of love in so many words but we cannot hide from our actions.  And when it comes to love, action is compassion! It’s the opposite of judgment and therefore love is also acceptance, tolerance and forgiveness. There is no escaping this truth.

Shambhala teachings insist that the true warrior is one who makes himself utterly vulnerable by opening his heart to others and being genuine all the time. They also maintain that the first step toward that goal begins with oneself. That’s an absolute prerequisite.  In other words, we must learn not to hide; first from ourselves and then from others. To become transparent and open up ourselves to introspection, acceptance and forgiveness means we’re ready to step into the light and awaken. To know oneself leads to changing oneself and that in turn shows the way for others to change until the entire world is transformed. Nothing more needs to be done but taking that first step and beginning the work of knowing thyself.

There are all kinds of social and cultural norms that bend us into a rigid conformity. And herein lays a paradox. We are coaxed into behaving within the boundaries of proper rules of conduct so that we can fit neatly into a particular group even as we are groomed to develop our own individuality and stand out from the crowd. To achieve such a feast, we’re forever hiding facets of ourselves that are not deemed acceptable by the group. And so under the guise of privacy, our lives are filled with pretenses and disguises, but let not that come in the way of our “success.” Is it any wonder there is so much deep-seated unhappiness in our world?

As denial becomes second-nature, we go on perpetrating darkness and falsehood. The ego, speaking through the monkey mind, has the upper hand. If we’re doing everything we’re supposed to and are still miserable it must be something or someone else is responsible for our discontent: we don’t have the things we desire, people are not behaving the way we want them to, and our circumstances are to blame.  The finger is always pointing outward. With all those fingers pointing at each other, our world is mired in conflict. 

Hence again as we seek peace and enlightenment, the most important thing to learn is to turn that finger towards oneself, inward.  In many traditions, including Kabbalah, Sufism, and Buddhism, it is stipulated without equivocation that we must never blame external events or other people for our suffering, never. We must learn to take full responsibility for our lives and stop the blame game.

From a spiritual viewpoint, oneness implies we’re all part of a whole.  Yet oneness does not exclude uniqueness and authenticity. In contrast to our materialistic realm where the paradox is profound and deeply dissonant, the contradiction on a spiritual plane is only superficial. In reality, the universe is created in one harmonious duality: male and female, good and evil, giving and receiving, effort and ease, love and hate, one cannot exist without the other, they are part of the same coin. Because the universe is also within us, that duality is also deep inside each of us.

Otherwise, how could it be that the most monstrous murderer can also be a loving father and husband? How can we explain that a caring priest can also be a child molester? That well-known Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde syndrome is far from being an aberration or an exception. It is present in each one of us, only to a lesser or greater degree. Ask any couple, mother and daughter, father and son who have had vicious fights or horrible arguments, prompting acts of hate and violence. The very same person we loved passionately one moment, we’re able to hate violently the next. The only way to understand this is to recognize the presence of our inner duality.

Recognition and then acceptance, that’s how we begin to make peace within. That’s what our primary purpose on this earth is all about: to stop the war inside, to just BE, and accept what is, without judgment. And then as we learn to forgive ourselves, we’re able to work toward our self-betterment. Thus compassion toward the self will inevitably lead to compassion toward the other. That’s how we heal the world, that’s also how we bring about peace on Earth.

We are one, and not just us human beings, but also animals and plants, mountains and oceans; all living breathing organisms are therefore part of an infinite unified soul. Our differences are only a reflection of our level of consciousness. Those who are aware are the enlightened ones who have become transparent, shedding their darkest secrets. Those who are still living in darkness hiding behind their dogmatic and condemnatory minds are not only inflicting pain on others, they’re also destroying their souls and condemning themselves to a vicious cycle of rebirth until they learn their karmic lessons.

The whole universal design is thence made up of many unique parts. It’s something like a gigantic puzzle made up of billions and billions of different parts where each one of us, within every species, is at once distinct and indispensable for the completion of the full picture. Not two organisms are identical in every way. And that individuality is precious, divine, God-like. Therefore, our differences are to be celebrated and not shunned, even as we ARE ONE!!!

Copyright © 2012 by Wafa Faith Hallam

RABAT, MOROCCO, WORLD HERITAGE CITY

Rabat, the capital of Morocco, and the city where I grew up, has just been declared a World Heritage city by the UNESCO for its harmonious mix of medieval and Islamic past and modern European architecture. 

In truth, I always thought this was one of the prettiest cities in Morocco, now it's official !

See the Official UNESCO text below: 

Rabat, modern capital and historic city: a shared heritage

Brief Description

On Atlantic coast in the northwest of the country, is the product of a fertile exchange between the Arabo-Muslim past and Western modernism. The inscribed city encompasses the new town conceived and built under the French Protectorate from 1912 to the 1930s, including royal and administrative areas, residential and commercial developments and the Jardins d’Essais botanical and pleasure gardens. It also encompasses older parts of the city dating back to the he 12 ^th century. The new town is one of the largest and most ambitious modern urban projects built in Africa in the 20 ^th century and probably the most complete. The older parts include Hassan Mosque (started in 1184) and the Almohad ramparts and gates, the only surviving parts of the project for a great capital city of the Almohad caliphate as well as remains from the Moorish, or Andalusian, principality of the 17 ^th century.

Outstanding Universal Value

Brief synthesis

Rabat bears witness to a capital city conceived at the time of the Protectorate, at the beginning of the 20th century. The project successfully adapts modernist town planning and architectural values within the context of the Maghreb, whilst incorporating them into the framework of the ancient city with its many historic and heritage components. The result embodies the emergence of a distinctive architectural and decorative style which is characteristic of contemporary Morocco.

The well-conserved modern city has been rationally designed, and contains quarters and buildings with clearly defined functions and significant visual and architectural qualities. The modern city is characterised by the coherence of its public spaces and by the putting into practice of public health ideas (services, role of vegetation, etc.). The habitat is illustrated by quarters with clearly asserted identities: the Medina and the Kasbah, the residential quarters and the middle-class housing of the modern city, and finally the neo-traditional quarter of Habous de Diour Jamaâ. The city includes a full range of monumental, architectural and decorative elements from the various earlier dynasties. The modern city of Rabat tangibly expresses a pioneering approach to town-planning, which has been careful to preserve historic monuments and traditional housing. The reappropriation of the past and its influence on 20th century town planners and architects has resulted in a distinctive and refined urban, architectural and decorative synthesis. The property as a whole makes visible a heritage shared by several major cultures of human history: ancient, Islamic, Hispano-Maghrebian and European.

Criterion (ii): Through its urban ensemble, its monuments and its public spaces, the modern city of Rabat shows respect for, and draws inspiration from, the earlier Arabo-Muslim heritage. It bears outstanding testimony to the diffusion of European ideas in the early 20th century, their adaptation to the Maghreb, and in return the influence of local, indigenous styles on architecture and decorative arts.

Criterion (iv): The city constitutes an outstanding and fully realized example of modern town planning, for a 20th century capital city, achieved by functional territorial organisation which incorporates the cultural values of the past in the modernist project. The synthesis of decorative, architectural and landscape elements, and the interplay between present and past, offer an outstanding and refined urban ensemble.

Integrity

The various dimensions of the integrity of the property are satisfactory: the balance between the urban plan of the modern city and the conservation of its many earlier urban strata, the integrity of the habitation in the various quarters, the integrity of the archaeological ensembles, the adequately conserved fortifications of the Almohad wall, etc. However, it is necessary to carefully monitor the impact of the major works being considered outside the property, particularly with regard to the view of the property and of the River Bou Regreg from the Kasbah site which overlooks them.

Authenticity

Many individual elements are indicated in the inventory descriptions, and it is clear that the elements forming the property have a high level of authenticity, particularly as regards perceived urban authenticity. More generally, the conditions of authenticity in urban and monumental terms are satisfactory. However, quantified data concerning the individual authenticity of the residential buildings would be a useful addition to the inventory system already in place.

Protection and management requirements

The measures to protect the urban ensembles, the monuments and the archaeological sites are in place. Because of its introduction from an early date, the legislation which applies to the city of Rabat has made a fundamental contribution to the history of its conservation as an urban ensemble which is both ancient and modern. The new measures announced concerning more extensive urban protection and the protection of the urban landscape formed by the property are currently being promulgated.

The management structure is in place, and is coordinated by the new overarching authority of the Rabat Cultural Heritage Preservation Foundation. It relies, with regard to technical and scientific matters, on the National Heritage Directorate, and on various other bodies responsible for specific elements of the property, together with the services of the Municipality and Prefecture of Rabat. A large number of qualified staff are assigned to the conservation and management of the property. All the regulatory and organisational provisions, and the 5-Year Action Programme, are set out in the Management Plan.

Go to the official UNESCO site to see the entire PHOTO GALLERY, Maps, Documents, Indicators, etc.:   http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1401

What is Sufism?

From Living Presence: A Sufi Way to Mindfulness and the Essential Self - By Kabir Helminski

         Sufism is a way of life in which a deeper identity is discovered and lived. This deeper identity, beyond the already known personality, is in harmony with all that exists. This deeper identity, or essential self, has abilities of awareness, action, creativity and love that are far beyond the abilities of the superficial personality. Eventually it is understood that these abilities belong to a greater life and being which we individualize in our own unique way while never being separate from it.

Sufism is less a doctrine or a belief system than an experience and way of life. It is a tradition of enlightenment that carries the essential truth forward through time. Tradition, however, must be conceived in a vital and dynamic sense. Its expression must not remain limited to the religious and cultural forms of the past. The truth of Sufism requires reformulation and fresh expression in every age.

Reformulation does not mean that Sufism will compromise its challenge to a stubbornly materialistic society. It is and will remain a critic of “worldliness” — by which it is meant everything that causes us to be forgetful of the Divine reality. It is and must be a way out of the labyrinth of a secular, commercial culture. Most importantly, however, it is an invitation to meaningfulness and well-being.

Sufism, as we know it, developed within the cultural matrix of Islam. The Islamic revelation presented itself as the expression of the essential message brought to humanity by the prophets of all ages. The Qur’an recognizes the validity of 120,000 prophets or messengers who have come to awaken us from our selfish egoism and remind us of our spiritual nature. The Qur’an confirmed the validity of past revelations, while asserting that the original message was often distorted over the course of time.

Sufism’s claim to universality is founded on the broad recognition that there is only one God, the God of all people and all true religions. Sufism understands itself to be the wisdom realized by the great prophets — explicitly including Jesus, Moses, David, Solomon, and Abraham, among others, and implicitly including other unnamed enlightened beings of every culture.

In the Western world today diverse groups exist under the name of Sufism. On the one hand there are those who would say that no true Sufism can exist without appreciation and practice of the principles of Islam. On the other hand some groups exist that more or less ignore the Islamic roots of Sufism and take their teaching from further downstream, from “Sufis” who may or may not have had contact with specifically Islamic teachings.

We could say that there are those who accept Sufism as both form and essence, and there are others who are Sufi in essence but not in form. In my opinion, an appreciation and understanding of the Qur’an, the sayings of Muhammad, and historical Sufism is invaluable to the wayfarer on the Sufi path.

Historically, Sufism was not conceived as separate from the essence of Islam. Its teachers all traced their enlightenment through a chain of transmission going back to Muhammad. While they may have disagreed with certain interpretations of Islam, they never questioned the essential validity of the Qur’anic revelation; nor were they fundamentalists in the sense of rigidly interpreting that revelation or discrediting other faiths. Most often they represented the highest achievements within Islamic culture and were a force of tolerance and moderation.

Over fourteen centuries the broad Sufi tradition has contributed a body of literature second to none on earth. Somehow the guiding principles of the Qur’an and the heroic virtue of Muhammad and his companions provided an impetus that allowed a spirituality of love and consciousness to flourish. Those who follow the Sufi path today are the inheritors of an immense treasure of wisdom literature.

Beginning from its roots at the time of Muhammad, Sufism has organically grown like a tree with many branches. The cause of the branching has usually been the appearance of an enlightened teacher whose methods and contributions to the teaching have been enough to initiate a new line of growth. These branches generally do not see each other as rivals. A Sufi, in some cases, may be initiated into more than one branch in order to receive the grace (baraka) and knowledge of particular order.

There is little cultishness in the work of Sufis. Sufis of one order may, for instance, visit the gatherings of another order. Even the charisma of a particular teacher is always viewed from the perspective that this gift is owed entirely to God. The charisma is valuable in so far as it may bind the hearts of students to a human being who is the truth of the teaching, but many safeguards exist to remind everyone that personality worship and inordinate pride in one’s affiliation are forms of idolatry, the greatest “sin.”

If Sufism recognizes one central truth, it is the unity of being, that we are not separate from the Divine. The unity of being is a truth which our age is in an excellent position to appreciate — emotionally, because of the shrinking of our world through communications and transportation, and intellectually, because of developments in modern physics. We are One: one people, one ecology, one universe, one being. If there is a single truth, worthy of the name, it is that we are all integral to the Truth, not separate. The realization of this truth has its effects on our sense of who we are, on our relationships to others and to all aspects of life. Sufism is about realizing the current of love that runs through human life, the unity behind forms.

If Sufism has a central method, it is the development of presence and love. Only presence can awaken us from our enslavement to the world and our own psychological processes. And only love, cosmic love, can comprehend the Divine. Love is the highest activation of intelligence, for without love nothing great would be accomplished, whether spiritually, artistically, socially, or scientifically.

Sufism is the attribute of those who love. The lover is someone who is purified by love, free of himself and his own qualities, and fully attentive to the Beloved. This is to say that the Sufi is not held in bondage by any quality of his own because he sees everything he is and has as belonging to the Source. Shebli said: “The Sufi sees nothing except God in the two worlds.”

This book is about one aspect of Sufism — presence — how it can be developed and how it can be used to activate our essential human qualities. Abu Muhammad Muta’ish says: “The Sufi is he whose thought keeps pace with his foot — i.e., he is entirely present: his soul is where his body is, and his body is where his soul is, and his soul where his foot is, and his foot where his soul is. This is the sign of presence without absence. Others say on the contrary: ‘He is absent from himself but present with God.’ It is not so: he is present with himself and present with God.”

We live in a culture that has been described as materialistic, alienating, neurotically individualistic, narcissistic, and yet ridden with anxiety, shame, and guilt. From the Sufi point of view humanity today is suffering under the greatest tyranny, the tyranny of the ego. We “worship” innumerable false idols, but all of them are forms of the ego.

There are so many ways for the human ego to usurp even the purest spiritual values. The true Sufi is the one who makes no claims to virtue or truth but who lives a life of presence and selfless love. More important than what we believe is how we live. If certain beliefs lead to exclusiveness, self-righteousness, fanaticism, it is the vanity of the “believer” that is the problem. If the remedy increases the sickness, an even more basic remedy is called for.

The idea of “presence with love” may be the most basic remedy for the prevailing materialism, selfishness, and unconsciousness of our age. In our obsession with our false selves, in turning our backs on God, we have also lost our essential Self, our own divine spark. In forgetting God, we have forgotten ourselves. Remembering god is the beginning of remembering ourselves.

An excerpt from Living Presence: A Sufi Way to Mindfulness and the Essential Self.
                          By Kabir Helminski

Available from Threshold Books

Published by Jeremy Tarcher, Inc.

To find out more about Sufism see: The Threshold Society  

"Like our soul, the rose blooms amid thorns!"

Day 2 - Back to Morocco - The fear and the wonder

Arriving home that Monday morning, in the Harhoura sun-washed house facing the blue Ocean, we were welcomed by Hanane, our loyal cheerful maid, and Bonnie, our aging yellow Lab with tender eyes. 

“Breakfast is ready,” announced Hanane with a big bright smile that made her eyes dance.

She hadn’t changed at all. I held her in my arms with a big hug.  In all these years since she first joined our family to take care of our ailing mother in the summer of 2003, she had retained her joy and childlike lightness, going through life with the same grace and usual acceptance.  Regardless of the circumstances, she always seemed unburdened and grateful.  She possessed so little and yet her heart was overflowing.

I took James by the hand to show him the view, stepping outside to take it all in, the rocky landscape and the mighty Atlantic with only the horizon to put an end to its majestic vastness.  A sensation of peace and calm swept over me.  I had no idea that for my partner, a much different feeling was getting hold of him. We took a long nap after our brunch that first day. The jet lag had finally taken its toll on both of us. 

The following day, after a long and uninterrupted sleep in the darkened room, I awoke to a lazy and slow day, not planning anything but unpacking and settling in.  James, on the other hand,  became edgy and filled with anxiety.  I had sensed it mounting in him since the night before. His mood had been shifting, getting darker by the hour. As I busied myself, he took a walk outside the house and when he came back I knew something was wrong.

“Are you okay?” I asked knowing full well he was not.

“I don’t know what I’m doing here,” he mumbled, “I should be home working.”

His face was somber, his tone barely perceptible. The light had gone out of his eyes.  Fear had taken over. I recognized the symptoms and my heart ached for him.

“What do you mean? We barely just arrived. You haven’t seen anything yet. I know this is all new and foreign to you but you were so excited about this trip, about Morocco…” I was dumbfounded and couldn’t believe what I was hearing.  “You’re anxious and everything looks awful right now so you want to run away…” I said feebly. “Give it a chance…” 

But nothing I said made a difference.  His mind was as shut off as his expression.

I got up and went upstairs to find Nezha, my sister, in her room.  I cried a little when I told her what happened.  I felt an overwhelming sense of betrayal but knew enough that this was not about me.

“He’s hurting big time and I don’t know how to help him. He feels lost and out of place… This man did nothing but work all his life.  The sudden idleness terrifies him. Could you please go and talk to him, he wants to go back home,” I said. “I think maybe you’ll have better luck with him.”

“But why? What happened?” she asked.  I shrugged with puzzlement.

“You’re not trapped at all, James. You can take a plane back home tomorrow if you want to,” I heard her tell him. “But let’s at least go to Rabat today. ”

Moments later, we were ready to go explore the city.  And soon, like a dark cloud in a blue sky, the sun was shining again and James’s disposition lifted.

That afternoon we first drove around town just to give him a feel of the capital city, frenzied traffic, unruly pedestrians, ghastly drivers, aggressive panhandlers and all.  He took it all in stride, laughing at the chaos around him.  Nezha and I kept explaining, rationalizing and translating, as if to make it more acceptable, more palatable to this American man used to a civic society far more behaved and contained.  

Very quickly, however, it became obvious that James got his groove back and he, as his usual self, was not into judging anything. He was happy just witnessing life around him as it was. He particularly enjoyed the market at Bab el Had with its open stalls of fruit and vegetables, meats, cheeses, spices and nuts…

“So much abundance,” he marveled snapping up pictures.

Then we were off to the Challah and Mohamed V Mausoleum.

“Wow,” he kept saying simply.  He knew now why he was in Morocco.

 

Copyright © 2012 by Wafa Faith Hallam

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Day 1 - June 11, 2012 - Morocco Arrival Day

Avenue Mohamed V - Rabat, Morocco

Weeks before our departure from Sag Harbor, James could hardly contain his excitement at the thought of a long vacation in Morocco. This was his first trip to a foreign country other than Canada or Mexico.  He laughed off his family's concerns about going to such a distant place, a Muslim, Arab land, with who knows what kind of dangers and diseases lurking everywhere. He was an American after all…Don't they hate Americans in those countries?

He could only think of the exotic land awaiting him, the kindred spirit of his inhabitants, the birthplace of the woman he loved... Morocco!  He remembered well the large cargo ships crossing the ocean with that word painted across their sides. The word alone sang in his head, he had no doubt he’ll be taken by the magic of its culture and history.

The only thing that worried him was the long flight to get there. What a relief to find that was really not a big deal either. 

“It felt like a couple of hours!” he told Emma, his teenage daughter.  

Arriving in the early morning the next day after a seven hour overnight flight, we were met by my sister and her driver at the airport.  On the way home to Rabat, under a gray sky, the first impression was none too enchanting. What’s with the many unsightly shanty towns and hideous low-income housing along the highway, the garbage scattered by the wind everywhere, the cows and goats and stray dogs here and there…

Rabat 

“T.I.A. “ chanted my sister, “This Is Africa, my friend,” she said quoting Leonardo DiCaprio in Blood Diamonds.  “Or rather, T.I.M., This is Morocco, as Sophia wrote during her last visit to Morocco in the summer of 2010.”

“Remember, Morocco is a third-world country.” I felt compelled to say.

“Developing,” my sister corrected me laughing.

“Developing for fifty years,” I added. “Still, Morocco is a land of contrasts and harmony, of glorious history and present disarray, of abundance and poverty. Be prepared to witness the centuries-old and the new, the modern and the traditional. Expect the unexpected! If you can help it, do not judge or condemn, just enjoy and be present. You’ll have the time of your life! I promise you.”

Rabat

James nodded approvingly. He was ready for his big adventure.

Copyright © 2012 by Wafa Faith Hallam

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BOOK REVIEWS

       

       “The Road from Morocco is an emotional rollercoaster ride that begins in traditional Muslim Morocco, and wends its way across Europe and the United States. I could not put the book down as I immersed myself in the tale of a 13-year old girl, who is forced into an arranged marriage to a much older man she doesn't love. Her misery is the catalyst for her rebellion against the restrictive, male-dominated culture. 

Her struggle and thirst for self-determination is passed, like a torch, to her daughter Wafa, who recounts this tale and continues the journey with her mother, and beyond, to flourish in the traditionally male-dominated world of Wall Street banking. The American dream comes crashing down around them post 9/11. You will find yourself rooting for Wafa to summon all the strength of her spirit to rise, phoenix-like, from the ashes. 

Any woman who has grown up bucking tradition, or has ridden the coat-tails of those who have, will relate to this story in a personal way. It is filled with the types of heartaches and joys we all experience as we try to achieve success while sharing our lives with men and maintaining a family in this modern world. The Road from Morocco is a celebration of the strength and ability of the female spirit to triumph in the face of adversity.” Robin Rescigno Karnis, Shelter Island, NY

“The Road from Morocco is the kind of book you find yourself staying up all night to finish. In the tradition of great biography/autobiography like Jung Chang's "Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China" the author takes us on a multi-generational journey in this heart-wrenching tale of betrayal, metamorphosis and eventual redemption. Wafa Hallam's first book reads like a novel. Beautifully written. To be savored.” Nancy J. Wollin, Sarasota, FL

“It's a romance; it’s a history; it's a tragedy; it's a comedy; it's a psychological study--no it's a memoir combining elements of all these. From the first page to the last, this book reads like the truest of fiction--creating and drawing the reader into a fascinating world and into the lives of the author and her incredible mother.

This memoir is a double life story beginning with that young girl, married off at thirteen to a much older man she despised, who managed to wrest herself and her children from a miserable life in a repressive society to gain a freedom uncommon for her time and place. Her courage set the author on her own path to freedom and self-discovery. 

Hallam writes with sensitivity and insight, holding nothing back--falling in love and giving all of her heart and soul. I swear steam rises from the pages at times! Her writing candidly recreates moments of sorrow and joy--sharing her flaws and regrets as well as her triumphs and amazing success.   I read it in one evening because I couldn't put it down.” Joanne Weck, author of Crimson Ice. Fort Lee, NJ

        "Wafa Hallam's story is gripping, I flew through the pages. It was educational (I checked for each location on a map, googled many items that I was unfamiliar with), mesmerizing and emotional. Although her experiences were so very different from anything that I have ever been through, I was certainly able to identify with many of the basic challenges that she faced. I was able to see how similar we all are on the inside, regardless of our individual experiences. The resolution and enlightenment she achieved has inspired me to attempt to follow in her footsteps. Thank you for writing this book!" J. Edwards, Long Island, NY          

“THE ROAD FROM MOROCCO by Wafa Faith Hallam is a Luck & Pluck saga in the tradition of Horatio Alger. Wafa could be a heroine in one of Horatio Alger's tales. She's an immigrant pilgrim who leaves the Old World for the New seeking her fortune; she finds it but also experiences challenges, success, failures, and redemption on her path to peace and happiness. Her story is interesting and enchanting for its simple honesty, candor, and surprises! Very well written and edited, reads like good fiction.” James B. Johnson, Hudson, FL

       “From the heavenly fragrance of an orange grove blooming, to the stench of 9/11, told with compelling honesty, The Road From Morocco is an articulately emotional journey - scanning generations, cultures, countries and especially paints the feminine: as daughter, sister, lover, wife, mother, breadwinner, caretaker. Moving through a desert of insurmountable influences, Ms. Hallam battles indoctrinations to arrive at a spiritual oasis where life blooms with purpose and meaning. I couldn't put this book down.” Sarabelle Prince, East Hampton, NY

“This book surpassed any expectations. It is the best memoir I read in ages. I was reading the Jane Fonda Biography and I left it, because I could not put this book down. I wished that it would go on and on( without the author's suffering).The Road From Morocco is really in a class by itself; very honest and straight from the heart.”  Cecilia K. Karol M.D. Edgewater, NJ

“I absolutely loved this book!! This is a Must Read for Book Clubs! Like an exotic Moroccan rug, Wafa Hallam beautifully weaves a rich personal narrative with a story of changing roles and options for women in the world. The Road to Morocco elegantly combines history and a literary biography. Her story, while unique and personal, is a story with a universal theme of how our families past and present shape our lives. It's beautiful even in the heartbreaking moments and utterly exquisite in the pleasant ones. I especially liked the rich, colorful descriptions of Morocco: the clothes, the interiors of homes, the family parties, etc. I read this while on a trip, but felt like I had a vacation within a vacation! It really transports you to another place. I'd also like to thank the writer for sharing her very personal story with me!” Christina Carter, Southampton, NY

“The Road from Morocco by Wafa Faith Hallam is one of the most beautifully written books I have read. The author has a real gift for captivating the reader from the very start. I felt like I was taking the journey with her from cultural history to the challenges and choices we make in our lives to the strength and wisdom that comes from our experiences. The last chapter, ‘Awakening,’ was one of my favorites. I found it inspiring, clear and hopeful to witness the transformation of inner growth to inner peace.” Joanne Kane, Hampton Bays, NY

“Set aside a weekend to read this wonderful book because you will not want to put it down. Your heart will ache for the beautiful Moroccan child-bride and her life in captivity. You rejoice about her freedom when she is finally released from marriage, but there is intense sadness and depression as she struggles with emotional instability. Although living free in America, the daughter of the Moroccan child-bride lives a parallel life of captivity and misery until she discovers the miracle of living in the "now". The author has the ability to expose her flaws, and then heal herself with the writing of the book. This book is much more than a memoir, it provides a path for living a life of happiness.” Andrea Mears, Vero Beach, FL

"I finished reading the excellent "Road from Morocco" memoir. Fascinating and powerful and really a page turner. The writing was wonderfully candid, very visual, poetic, and sometimes even prosaic! The author's journey is filled with love and passion, loss and heroism, adventure, and redemption. Through the twists and turns of life Hallam finds her way through her spiritual growth. I hope she writes a book describing her spiritual journey because it is authentically derived. She is from the heart but practical too!

This is a great read, would be a good book club choice or for anyone who wants to feel what it's like to come from an Arabic country to live a Western life." Deirdre Kidder, Brooklyn, NY

“What a story! I promise you will not want to put this amazing book down. Wafa Hallam's story is so compelling that you simply must find out what the next chapter will hold. The story begins in Morocco with the wedding of a thirteen year old girl to a man many years her senior. Wafa was born of that union when her mother was only sixteen, barely out of childhood herself. Perhaps this is why there is such an amazing bond between these two women, in a way they grew up together. Hallam’s style of writing makes you feel as if you were there, seeing, touching, tasting, smelling everything that is Morocco and as their lives unfold everything that is the journey ahead. It is a story of one woman's tumultuous passionate life, lived to the fullest and far from finished. I hope someday she will share her continuing story with us, I've no doubt it will be filled with her discoveries about how to live a truly inspired and meaningful life.” Anne Tait, Lancaster, PA

“That Wafa Faith Hallam has the skills to write is very evident… her personal life laid bare as a memoir in THE ROAD FROM MOROCCO. She offers some of the finest explanations about the ways of life in countries where women have traditionally been viewed as second-class citizens, the property of men, denied basic human rights, and how a few women have had the courage to alter that perception. Hallam also relates in fine detail the political history of her native Morocco and in doing so gives powerful insights into the types of government and the rise and fall of leaders in that area of the world that is the source of oil at present and the source of a rich history of culture and wisdom…To read THE ROAD FROM MOROCCO is to fall in love with Wafa Faith Hallam: she earns our respect and affection easily.” Grady Harp, Amazon Top 50 Hall of fame reviewer

Note: Find all the above reviews and more at Amazon.com

“The more I read into Wafa Faith Hallam’s The Road from Morocco, the more I realized I was holding a book that—if all literary lights are not dimmed by convention—should become an instant classic. I honestly cannot recall a time when an autobiographical account has spoken to me as forcefully as Hallam’s memoir. In fact, I never ever read anything remotely comparable to it. Hallam’s trailblazing book shatters literary and social conventions with such force that it is bound to provoke strong reactions. The book contains precious lessons about why freedom and equal rights matter, why the male oppression of women in Arab and Muslim societies is a sad farce, why rich life experiences are still the only reliable ingredient for a soaring story, and why identity is a complex construct that is nearly impossible to tease apart.”  Professor A. Majid, University of New England, Portland, Maine (For the full REVIEW go to: http://www.tingisredux.com/opinion/faith_abundant.html)