Mohammed Achaari: The Arch and the Butterfly

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Al-Firsiwi had developer a theory that immigration was a worm that gnawed at the soul. Ever since he had opened his eyes in Bu Mandara, he had witnessed people tortured by the place they had left behind in the countryside, tortured by the place that was dying in their arms and tortured by the places they dreamed about emigrating to. He himself had spent ten years digging in the rock to immigrate to Germany, and when he finally arrived one snowy morning, he sat on a bench at the railway station trying to recall for the thousandth time the name of the city of the city he was heading for.  Disslutet, Disselcorf, Disselboot, Disselcokhat, Dissel, Dusseldorf. By God, it was Dusseldorf where Hamady Burro would receive him with the intention of marrying him to his spinster sister whose bones had dried out from the cold. He could wait, Al-Firsiwi thought suddenly. When he got his papers and hid them safely in his military coat, everyone would hear about the escapades of Al-Firsiwi resounding in the skies of Disselbone, Dissltozt, Dissolbuf, Dusseldorf, yes Dusseldorf! It was enough for him to pronounce the name of that city three times to give him a monstrous erection.

Immigration was dormant worm, it sucked and slept. When did it awaken? Al-Firsiwi believed it awakened when things settled down, when the winds were favourable, when the sails were full and the boat was gliding along. When Al-Firsiwi reached the highest heights, buying and selling and, after spending ten years at night-school, translating in the courts, buying property and earning as much as he could, and married the German Sharajat al-Durr!

That was when the worm awakened and whispered in his ear: Do you want to ruin your health for the sake of this race? Do you want your son to grow up as a Christian while all his ancestors, as far back as Abraham, carry the Qur`an in their hearts? Do you want to let the Sherifs humiliate the remaining rmembers of your tribe? Do you want the city that contains relics of the prophets to become a den of sodomites, drug addicts and beggars?

The worm kept on whispering to him, day after day, and Al-Firsiwi put his trust in God and organized his reverse immigration. Diotima , who had kept the notenook of her grandfather who participated in Walili`s excavations with other German prisoners, also embraced the worm. 

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Translated from the arabic by Aida Bamia

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Mohammed Achaari at the 27 PWF:

Sunday, 12 November, 12.00, conversation, Senate

Tuesday, 14 November, 16.00, reading, Convent of St Agnes