Chapter 3 The Ghassanids (Sons of Ghassān) “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shell be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measure to you again,” (Matt. 7:1-2). In the morning after the birth of his son, Gershon called on Kohath. The two men had sensed the day of their departure was near. Merari joined them outside Gershon’s house. “It is the end of our journey here, isn’t it?” Gershon asked Merari. “Yes, it is, Gershon. Leah will rear your son well with your help and both will bring him back to the Southern Arabian Peninsula – the Levant Region – where he will reign among his peers as one of the Ghassanid Kings. He is a Son of Ghassan, same as you are and same as the many men who will follow.” “What about his religion?” Gershon asked. “He, your son that is, will remain faithful to the only God he knows. Although the family originally practiced polytheism, most of the Ghassan family members have remained Christians throughout the centuries. The Ghassanids generally did not accept Islam. Only a few became Muslims following the Islamic Conquest, but most Ghassanids remained Christians and joined the Melkite Syriac communities. “After settling in the Levant, the Ghassanids became an allied state to the Eastern Roman and Byzantine Empire. They fought alongside the Byzantine Empire against the Persian Sassanids and Arabian Lakhmids. After the fall of the first kingdom, the Ghassanid Dynasty ruled other realms, both Christians and Muslims, until 1747 AD in Mount Lebanon.” “What happened then?” Kohath asked. “The last rulers to bear the titles of Royal Ghassanid successors were the Christian Sheiks Chemor in Mount Lebanon ruling the small sovereign sheikhdom of Zgartha-Zwaiya until 1747 when he died.” “But I thought the Ghassan family members still lived today in Brazil, such as it says on the Royal Appointment.” “Yes, Gershon, they do, but the last member to rule over a kingdom was Sheikh Selim or Youssef Chemor.” “Is that when they moved to South America?” Kohath asked. “Not quite. It took the family another century of exile before they finally immigrated to Brazil. After thirteen centuries of Muslim persecution in the Middle East, Sheikh Fares Gharios went to Brazil in the 19th Century and was registered as Fares Guerios, since the immigration clerks used to write whatever they understood about foreigners’ names, usually the Portuguese exact phonetic transliteration.” Merari paused and smiled to the two men before he added, “I think it would be a good idea for us to do the same…” “What do you mean?” Gershon flared. “Not to worry, son. As you said, your journey in this period of your past ends here and now. We shall return to your present so that we can read a little more of your history.” “Good Lord, Damianos,” Gustavo said as soon as he regained his seat in the den of Dan’s house, “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to these leaps in time. As I recall you once told us”—he frowned—“or was it Chippewa who told us that we needed to pace ourselves during these travels…” Damianos laughed out loud. “Yes, Chippewa must have told you that and it is true. But in this case, and once again, I need to remind you that we are not “traveling” per se. In fact, we are simply revisiting places where you lived, Dan, and re-entering your ancestors’ existence without leaving this house.” “Do you mean we’re actually dreaming these ‘visits’ as you call them?” Dan asked after he regained his own seat across from Damianos. “No, Dan. You’re not – we are not – dreaming anything. We abandoned our bodies for a while and follow our spirits down your ancestral road. However, since you are in limbo, so to speak, Dan, executing an order of atonement, you are literally transported to the places where God wants you to be.” “What about me?” Gustavo asked, seemingly puzzled by Damianos’s explanation. “You have exited your body already, Gustavo. For a while, you are the personage of yourself, but only your spirit is visible.” Gustavo pondered Damianos’s answer for a moment before he said, “There is something that truly peeked my curiosity during this latest trip: Was I really Gershon’s brother? Or was that a personage I adopted for the time of the visit?” “Very good, Gustavo. And yes, you’ve guessed it. You were Dan’s brother at that time.” “Are you serious?” “Don’t sound so surprised, Dan. We are all descendants of Abraham, are we not? Therefore it follows that we have been siblings at one point in our ancestral lives.” “But you…, you are still a shepherd…” Damianos chuckled and seemed quite amused for a long moment. “You mean am I still the tabby cat your family met during your last journey?”

• published: 18 Jan 2015
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