(Editorial by Fathi Ibrahim Bayoud Al Tamimi; Translation by Dani Murad)
(Zaman Al Wasl)- As an expatriate, I came at the age of two with my mother and sister to Saudi Arabia in 1982, where my father used to work in the "Carpentry Concrete", specifically in the city of Buraydah, capital of the region “al-Qassim al-Najdia”.
Starting from that young age, I went through an ideological phase, similar in my believe, to what a lot of people affiliated with (ISIS) have gone through, however, with variant effects, depending on the city where they lived, and how much of an influence "The Committee for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice " has on them.
18 years of my life were spent in that “camp”, before leaving to the detention camp of Hafez al-Assad, a totally different life of what I have experienced in childhood, adolescence and early youth in Saudi Arabia.
I was provided with the primary education in al-Fateh school, then entered the secondary school of al-Harameen, to finish later high school in Manarat al-Qassim ,and through all these educational stages, the subjects were repeated every year, however with more intensity in addition to the scientific subjects.
We were given (Qur'an, Monotheism, Tajweed, Islamic jurisprudence (usool al-fiqh), Interpretation, and stories of the Companions, and other materials I do not remember), in addition to attending Quran memorization circles, and mine was called the group of "Sahabi Qais ibn Thabit", in which I received a blue card with my picture on it, and it was the first personal card I received in my life.
Generally, we were taught by the religion teacher that everyone is disbeliever (Kafer) except the people of our city, and that since I came from the “Levant”, which is mentioned in several religious subjects, therefore I am “a messenger” who must call for the religion of Allah and should devote my life for that when I come back.
Back then, we memorized the bloody rituals of beheading and killing disbelievers, “Nasara” "Christians", and we went through the details of al-Ridda wars, and time-honored victories of Islamic figures who for me, were much more influential than any other fictional cartoon at that time.
And every time, at the end of the school day, we used to pray in groups , and sometimes waited in a public area to witness the implementation of “ Tazeer” which is a punishment performed on one of the students, usually foot whipping (Arabic: Falaka) for reasons such as not praying or smoking ... etc
After school, and as a (a mixture of the Arab world) some of our childish conversations revolved around “al- Jurda”, the most scary and exciting place in our city “Buraidah”. It was the city’s square where” Hudud” or punishments are usually performed on criminals, and they included: beheading for “Qisas” (law of retaliation), amputation of the hand for theft, flagellation for slandering, and others. The square was located at the end of al- Alkhbayb commercial street, and there was a mosque there that has the same name.
In “al- Jurda”, punishments were carried out on Friday- noon, where strong-hearted and unafraid children would gather in the last rows of Friday prayers at a mosque, and once the Imam finishes the prayers, they race accompanied by the young and elderly to book their places, and "witness" the Implementation of “Hudud”.
The next day, the children would spend it bragging about what they have witnessed, explaining to their peers how the sword fell upon the head, and how the "criminal" was quiet like a drugged man, and how and how and how.
One day I was beaten by my teacher because I shaved the “Qaza”, which is thinning the hair from the sides and leaving some on top, and I was many times scolded for "Isbal” “wearing garments that hang below the ankles" .
I vividly remember those faces and the religious life that we lived. In that period we dreamt and wished to establish a Caliphate State and to have a “superman" caliph for Muslims. That was in the early nineties, coincided with 1410 in the Hijri calendar, adopted in Saudi Arabia.
Until I was 18 years old, I have never met a Christian or any one from other sect or religion, except Muslims, therefore, when I went back to Syria, I acted like a soldier in the Caliphate State, examined for a longtime the first Christen I saw, his eyes, hair, words, and what he eats, I felt as if he is an alien.
On the other hand, listening to songs in public transport was for me a work of fiction, almost equivalent to drinking alcohol, but seeing "unveiled women" was much harder on me, being the wise "Wahhabi" who adhere to Sharia and the righteous forebears!.
In the following months, I decided to join the military service after refusing to volunteer in more than a military college (Homs Military Academy, Naval College in Latakia, Faculty of military air force in Damascus, Assad's military academy in Aleppo), and the reason is simply because I’m not a Baathist, later, in one of the examinations, an officer asked me: “What is the Corrective Movement?” , and since I have never heard of such a thing , I didn’t answer, and so the officer started cursing God and expelled me.
That confrontation was for me, the first enormous intellectual shock, which made me rethink my life choices again, especially with the reoccurrences of shocks, such as when I read the Baath slogans on the walls, on cars, on schools, and books of my relatives, at that point I’ve already been transformed into a spectator on this "atheism" and mounting confusion.
After only one year in Syria, I got rid of the two, the “Caliph” and the “Baath Party”, and after years of my life in my country, thanks to great friends, I ‘ve developed my “Homsi accent” and eaten with a "Christian" and found him "very normal” and after that I have transformed slowly slowly to the person I’m.
However, have I missed some of the details of my life, I would be now beheading someone in Aleppo’s countryside, or perhaps lost my life in Afghanistan battles or Somalia, but what is the destiny and fate of hundreds of brainwashed students who were with me in that camp ?
Years ago, an old friend called me to tell me that our friend “Musab” was martyred in Somalia. Musab who is a year older than me, and once were in the same football team, has studied Food Engineering before joining the fight in Somalia.
Lastly, I know that I summed up a long personal experience and summarization always contains a defect, with all due respect to the city that embraced my childhood.
May God have mercy on Syria and Gaza martyrs
Fathi Ibrahim Bayoud Al Tamimi
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