Lebanon in a Picture

Nature Boy. They say that Sheikh el-Fadel had a way with wild animals. A... (Kawkaba Bu `Arab, Béqaa, Lebanon)

Nature Boy. They say that Sheikh el-Fadel had a way with wild animals. A... (Kawkaba Bu `Arab, Béqaa, Lebanon) Nature Boy. They say that Sheikh el-Fadel had a way with wild animals. A Druze holy man and ascetic, he lived for much of his life in a small cave on the outskirts of what is now the hilltop village of Kawkaba Bu Arab, living on what he could find and on what passers-by would bring him. Some of his sustenance was provided by more surprising sources, in particular the bees that nested in a cleft near his cave. It seems that whenever the Sheikh was in danger of running low on supplies, they would produce so much honey that it would drip down the rock face for him to collect. It is these same bees that played an integral role in one of his most widely-reported miracles, a modest remake of the feeding of the 5,000, when after being challenged to feed a group of visitors, who wished to test his abilities, the Sheikh produced bowl after bowl of honey, so rich and sweet, that the doubters left clutching their stomachs. A contemporary of Emir Fakhreddine, which places him firmly in the 17th Century, he is buried not far from where he lived in a large compound that is shaded by the two of the largest oak trees I’ve seen in Lebanon. His grave was moved a century or so ago and is now located under a crisply whitewashed dome to one side. It’s a quiet place during the week, when we arrived, there was just one young Druze couple paying their respects, but at weekends and on feast days, the courtyard fills up with visitors from all over Lebanon and Syria, too.
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