{"id":15476,"date":"2012-02-13T12:23:59","date_gmt":"2012-02-13T08:23:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/?p=15476"},"modified":"2012-02-13T12:25:23","modified_gmt":"2012-02-13T08:25:23","slug":"forget-3-for-2-shop-for-spiritual-truths-in-the-medina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/middle-east-society\/forget-3-for-2-shop-for-spiritual-truths-in-the-medina\/","title":{"rendered":"No ‘3-for-2’: Shop for ‘Spiritual Truths’ in the Medina"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Abdul gestured to heaven.<\/p>\n

I used to work for money. Now I work for Allah. <\/em>We are sitting outside his ceramic shop in one of those rare beams of sun that filter into the Fez medina at midday. Just a moment ago, he was laying on a heavy sales pitch for a tagine; now he was praising Allah.<\/p>\n

This was not like shopping in America. The sales clerks at Victoria\u2019s Secret or The Gap are more interested in pushing a three-for-the-price-of-two panties\u00a0\u2013\u00a0or spieling on about their credit line\u00a0\u2013\u00a0than sitting in a ray of sun talking God.<\/p>\n

But to be clear: Abdul did<\/em> have a keen interest in selling his wares. Anyone who has spent a split second in the medina knows that the shopkeepers are relentless. They call out to you everywhere you walk, and sometimes trailing you down the street.<\/p>\n

But what is redeeming about medina is that although overpriced gadgets may be plentiful, so are spiritual truths. The salesmen of the medina are shape-shifters. One minute Yousef-Carpet Salesman is tricking you into his shop and the next, he is waxing on like Khalil Gibran.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne day sunny, one day raining. One day good, the next day bad.\u201d Si Mohammed was standing amidst the antique vases of his furniture shop. \u201cThat your heart is beating, this is important.\u201d He placed his hand on his chest. \u201cHealth. It is the only thing that matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Somehow the shopkeepers of the Fez medina aren\u2019t aware of the dirty secret of all thriving capitalist societies: that happy people don\u2019t buy things. Dissatisfaction\u00a0\u2013\u00a0not gratitude\u2014is what fuels consumerism. Don\u2019t remind people of the good fortune that is health. Tell them they are not thin enough, blonde enough, or young enough and their wallets will turn inside out. And lose the Insha-Allah<\/em>, that laissez-faire sentiment that turns our fate over to the Higher Power. Tell them that with the right pair of skinny jeans, they can be the master of the universe.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnjoy every second. For you do not know when and where you will die,\u201d Rachid counseled as I leaned toward the mirror to inspect a pair of silver earrings and formulating my bid. My heart leapt. He\u2019s right! <\/em>I plucked the earrings from my lobes. What am I doing spending money in this dark shop when I should be out on the sunny rooftop, watching migrating storks and the springtime hills?<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just wise words that you find in the medina, but also wise postures. Old men in djellabas<\/em> lean all day against weather-stained walls, content as horses turned out to pasture. They occupy sidewalk tables, taking in the scene over cups of mint tea that never seem to empty. On my way home each day, I pass the same plumber taking the same seat of repose in the same chair. Such postures don\u2019t exist in America. There, time is money, and everyone must fiddle with their cell phones, or be on their way somewhere. In the contented body-language of the Fassi lies a sort of somatic advertisement for Simply Being.<\/p>\n

No shopping trip is perfunctory in the labyrinthine byways of the medina. The sacred and the profane mix like intimate aromas and aggressive sales pitches are in no way at odds with spiritual pursuits. False guides bamboozle you into a tannery tours en-route to the mosque. Carpet sellers sing Hamdulila!<\/em> and then rob you blind. The wisdom of the ages echo off walls hung with overpriced kitsch. You set off scouting for a roll of toilet paper, and suddenly find yourself standing in the center Si Mohammed\u2019s antique shop, spellbound by his wisdom, and giving thanks for the very beating of your heart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHRISTINA AMMON, THE VIEW FROM FEZ: A visit to the Medina in Fez is about as far away from a trip to Gap or Victoria’s Secret as it’s possible to get. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":15477,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,90,337,235,482,5],"tags":[423,4202,767,1178,18334,2311],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15476"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}