City versus country life

Story of woman who refused to give up life in country to the city[edit]

"The life of the Arabs in the interior is most simple. Their principal food consists of the milk of the camel and a few dates. These Arabs do not like the atmosphere of the city. They revel in the expansiveness of the desert. The other day a few of the Bedouin women taunted our women because they are living in the town, while the Bedouin women were happy to breathe the fresh air of the desert. When, years ago, I traveled from Acca to Tiberias, in our caravan there was a beautiful Bedouin woman riding on a camel. She was listless and thoughtful. In the same caravan there was a young Christian who was struck with the beauty of this Arab girl and her dark eyes. After some futile attempts he suceeded in establishing himself in her favor. As I was near I could hear their conversation. He was telling her:

""Thou art so beautiful! Why dost thou not come to the city?"

""Why?"

""O, thou wilt be married to a rich man!"

""What will he do for me?"

""He will build for thee a lovely house, thou wilt be served as a queen; servants and maids will wait on thee; thou wilt walk through green gardens, thou wilt sleep on soft beds instead of sand; thy husband will buy for thee many precious jewels with which thou wilt decorate thy body; he will surround thee with wonderful objects the like of which thou hast never seen even in thy dreams!"

"The girl straightened herself on her camel and looked at the youth with pity and contempt in her whole demeanor.

""I have my beloved desert, vast, broad, and immeasurable," she said. "What do I want with your cave-like, cage-like and boxlike houses. There the air is stuffy. Here the whole expanse of the Sahara is our avenues and boulevards. Here is my home—the palace of immensity; the residence of God's own children. Fie upon your town and your civilization and your snobbish manners! I hate them! I cannot hear to look at them! They are all cheap tricks sanctioned by your so-called society. You come abroad to display your crafty etiquette of mock modesty and respectability, while in reality you are physically and morally corrupt, afflicted with loathsome diseases. Away from me! Let me stay where I am! My home is the Sahara, my couch is the soft sand, my decorations are God's virtues, my lamps by night the moon and stars."

(Words of Abdul-Baha; from the Diary of Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, May 5, 1914, in Star of the West, Vol. 8, Issue 2, 18-19)

To-dos for this page[edit]

Quote on country being spirit and city the body

City versus country life

Story of woman who refused to give up life in country to the city[edit]

See also[edit]

To-dos for this page[edit]