In 1987, a Syrian Alawite lady hosted me in her home in Tunisia while I was preparing to take the Tunisian Baccalaureate exam in literature. I stayed with this Syrian Alawite lady who was married to a Sunni Tunisian man.
My stay with her was wonderful, as I got to know the Alawites through this Syrian woman, who was a teacher of Arabic literature.
I lived under her roof for several months, fully immersed in preparing for this crucial exam. She gave me my own room, and her children treated me like their sister. I truly admired their Syrian dialect when they spoke and eventually learned it from them.
Her house was surrounded by a garden, and every morning we would have breakfast together—fresh bread, sweet cheese, and pure honey. We would chat before heading off to our schools. I learned so much from her about Syria and its people. She also had a brother who was martyred during the Zionist aggression against Syria .
Through this experience, I learned how to respect religious minorities in our vast Arab world, to avoid preconceived judgments, and to favor calm and thoughtful dialogue among various ethnic and sectarian groups. This way, we stay far from fanaticism and blind bias, which the Messenger of Truth, peace and blessings be upon him, warned us against—condemning the tribal fanaticism of the Age of Ignorance that he rightly fought against.
