Das Arabische Buro: der Grossmufti
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tremely alert and sagacious look about him. Perhaps the
delineation of his true character escaped me.
"Will Your Eminence let me take your photograph?"
"Yes, at the other door."
The Mufti led us through the house to a rear entrance
opening on another street. A half hour before he stepped out
the back way, the street was closed to traffic and even pedestrains were kept out. The Mufti posed for two shots against a
background of stone and iron bars which covered all the
windows.
"Tchok memnounum. Thank you very much," I said in
Turkish, as the Mufti stepped into his bullet-proof car.
It now remained for me only to meet Marouf Dawalibi—the
professor of law at Syrian University who had "rescued" the
Mufti from French custody—after which I planned to make a
quick exit. After considerable difficulty, I finally arranged the
interview on the pretext that I wanted to write a story about
him for Al Misri—the Egyptian newspaper whose credentials
I still carried. Dr. Mohassen Shafik would act as interpreter.
I was anxious to get the interview over with. Dr. Imam of
the Arabic Club worried me. I had seen him several times, on
one occasion taking Stefan along. To my alarm, Imam had
said: "You have asked me some direct questions. I have been
thinking them over. Now I want to ask you some questions."
Dr. Imam had the look of a man who had discovered something and meant to get to the bottom of it.
"I am at your service, my friend. We have time. I'm at the
Grand Barada Hotel. Phone me in a few days."
It was with more than usual eagerness, therefore, that I
called on Dr. Shafik the next day. Speaking excellent English,
he explained that he was an Egyptian loaned by Alexandria
University to the Syrian government. Together we went into
an adjoining room, in one corner of which, before a desk, sat
the man who had "liberated" the Mufti.
Marouf Dawalibi, a prominent chieftain of the Ikhwan el