OCT–DEC 2017 AusTRAlIAN QuARTeRlY 29Highlighttext1
iMAGEs: © Charles_Hajj-WikiIn 2015 starvation was such that the imams
authorised the cooking of stray cats.
ThE LOST CITy: hOMAGE TO ALEPPOthe most cheerful place in Syria.’ He
had a positive opinion of the Muslim
majority, commenting that a Dutch
consul there mixed more ‘with the
higher classes of the Mahometan
inhabitants than Franks in general are
in the habit of doing; he wore their
dress, and had acquired much of their
tranquil philosophy and their dignity of
appearance and manners.’^16
Muslim Arab rule lasted for seven
centuries, and ottoman rule for a
further five. At the end of the latter
period T.E. lawrence found that
Aleppo was as convivial as ever: ‘...
the races, creeds, and tongues of the
ottoman Empire met and knew each
other in a spirit of compromise ... It
was typical of Aleppo that in it, while
yet Mohammedan feeling ran high,
more fellowship should rule between
Christian and Mohammedan, Armenian,
Arab, Turk, Kurd and Jew, than in
perhaps any other great city of the
ottoman Empire.’^17
lawrence’s friend Gertrude Bell wrote
that : ‘a virile population, a splendid
architecture, the quickening sense of a
fine Arab tradition have combined to
give the town an individuality sharply
cut, and more than any other Syrian
city she seems instinct with an inherent
vitality.’^18
Along with the cleanliness of the
city and the safety maintained within
its boundaries, the good manners of
Aleppans were often noted: the saying
goes that they were even taught to
address their dogs as ‘sir.’ According to
a recent publication, My Aleppo (2011),
they are still praised for ‘hospitality,
friendliness, and gentleness.’
There are many accounts of kindness,
such as the custom whereby residents
filled marble troughs outside their
homes with fresh water, providing
drinking utensils for passers-by. There
was also kindness to animals, with
the observation that Aleppans often
looked after stray puppies or sick dogs;
and there was the ‘rich, cat-loving
Mussulman’ who founded a large
Hospital for Cats. When witnessed by
an American journalist in 1854 this was
‘one of the best endowed institutions in
the city,’ employing many staff to look
after several hundred cats: old cats, sick
cats and homeless cats were given food,shelter and medical attention. ‘It is quite
a sight,’ the American punned, ‘here
one with a bruised limb is receiving a
cataplasm; there, a cataleptic patient is
tenderly cared for; and so on, through
the long concatenation of feline
diseases.’^19
In 2015 starvation was such that the
imams authorised the cooking of stray
cats.^20 Even so, an Aleppan cat lover is
still doing rescue work. Hundreds of
cats abandoned by fleeing owners are
looked after in a sanctuary established
by ambulance driver Mohammad Alaa
Aljaleel. His first shelter was gassed
and bombed but, with international
support, he’s opened another one in
the ruins and so ‘The Catman of Aleppo’
continues his work.
Those Aleppans who could pay
the $150 for transport to the Turkish