السفير

I want this outpouring to be an echo of myself. I want it to express what has afflicted my life. I want it to be a picture of truth. Is truth not like a beautiful woman; her beauty is equal whether naked or clothed? I was able to know Dar al-Islam. I walked in the precincts of Dar al-Makhzen in our Far Maghreb, and traveled through the lands of our prosperous Maghreb, its far, middle, and near parts. I lived in Al-Mahrousa for a period of my youth, and resided there for a part of my old age, and lived next to the Prophet's Mosque in Medina after performing the Hajj pilgrimage, and resided in the precincts of the Ottoman Empire and traveled to Jerusalem. The lands of Islam are known to me. And I feel that the common thread binding Muslims has begun to unravel, and their bond is breaking, and that our Maghreb has become a target for greedy people since the Franks arrived in the Middle Maghreb and occupied its land. However, our evils towards ourselves are worse than the ambitions lurking for us. For what we do to ourselves is worse than what the enemy does to us. We empower him over our affairs through our discord, ignorance, and foolishness. We refrain from seeing the truth, and we deceive ourselves by blaming others.