_Details of the Father’s Station in Life_
Aboul Khair Mohammed Tchélebi, thou who art the ornament of Halep, part
of my being, substance of my life, first fruit of the garden of my
happiness, thou art the luminous ray of my life, thou art the essence of
the blessings which make me prosper. The Lord in his bounty has given
thee to Nabi, O Joseph of thy father! O noble son! thou art indeed the
living proof of the truth that the son is the joy of the father. Thou
art, O light of mine eyes, the ornament of the garden-plot of paternal
existence. Since thou hast become a shade for my head I see thee alone
in this world. Thou who art endowed with all the graces, I have received
thee from the hand of the Almighty in my declining days.
When thou didst appear on the horizon of the world as a moon of beauty,
I had already passed my tenth lustre. Thou wert given to me when I was
fifty-four, and it is in thy eighth year that this book is written. My
place of nativity is the charming city of Edessa; but I was dwelling in
Halep when I wrote this work. Edessa! type of the eternal flower-garden,
native soil of the well-beloved of God, object of the emulation of all
Syria, scene of the marvellous deliverance of Abraham! I sojourned
thirty years at Adrianople and at Constantinople. Thanks to God! I, a
poor slave, have been honored with many dignities. Having no longer
taste for business, I enjoyed the repose given by retreat. The water and
the excellence of the climate determined me to select Halep as an
abiding place.