205. Guru

"Would you like to meet my guru?" he asks.

Guru? Well, I've never met a real, live guru before and I am following every adventurous lead that appears on this trip so I say: "Sure"

We drive on to Tripoli, park in front of a new apartment building, take an elevator to the third floor and I meet my first ever Guru.


This guru is a Moslem wearing a tan robe and a gray wool fez. He has very dramatic, piercing, black eyes accented by kohl-darkened lashes and a neatly trimmed black beard and moustache; he has a thick, muscular body and an imposing bearing. I would guess he is about 40 years old—fairly venerable for these rather short-lived middle-easterners.


The guru is presiding over a small group of men that sit motionless around a round glass-topped table. They hang on his every word and occasionally ask questions which he thoughtfully answers. They are all very serious.


Being totally ignorant of the language they are speaking, Arabic, I don’t understand a word the guru says, but I am very impressed by his dignity and the respect given him by his listeners. After an hour or so the guru pauses in his lecture and asks me, through Adam who acts as interpreter, if I wish to know more about the “Moslem Way”. I know almost nothing about their beliefs and this seems to be a good time to learn, so I say, “I would very much like to learn more about your Way.” He forthwith accepts me as a student and the eight or ten men in the room warmly welcome me as a fellow student in French, broken English and Arabic.


After a short discussion in Arabic between Adam and the guru, Adam tells me that I will stay in a guest room in the guru’s apartment and he says that the proper way to address the guru is “Sheikh” which is Arabic for “respected teacher”.


I ask about the fee for my instruction and I am informed that there will be no fee “…and if you wish to stay a hundred years it would be all right.” But for this first night I will return to Beirut with Adam to be his houseguest.

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