good talk

At the Taba crossing into Israel I met Abdullah, an English-Pakistani, and his neighbor in Manchester, Muhammad.  Abdullah was making his 2nd Pilgrimage to the Dome of the Rock, in Jerusalem, one of the most sacred places for Moslems, and he brought Muhammad along to try to cure his problem, this guy was sort-of far-gone.  Muhammad was about "50," and apparently his wife and 4 children had left him moving to Birmingham and he hadn't seen them in 15 years.  Now, it would have been hard to imagine Muhammad finding a woman to marry him and then being able to do the physical-act to have had these children.  Abdullah was quite personable, and when we saw each other at the Eilat bus-station the next day, he prevailed on me to travel with them.  I take everybody as they come, I'm friendlier than most, I like to meet people, I said sure.  At Jerusalem, we walked a long-ways to inside the Jaffa Gate, to a place Abdullah had stayed-at, whenever I've been to Jerusalem I've always stayed in an Arab Hotel, both Moslem and Christian, this was the first time I stayed inside the Walled-City.  It was getting to evening, we all stayed-in the same room, and Abdullah wanted to walk to the Rock of the Dome.  So, the 3 of us walked there, but the Jewish Police wouldn't let us get too close.  I've been inside this Mosque before, but due to violent incidents, only Moslems can now enter, but they wouldn't let A and M inside.  Back in our room, Muhammad was acting stranger yet once the lights were out--he was wandering around in the dark, and after an hour of this I told Abdullah, I'm leaving I can't take this anymore. Abdullah said, no, no, stay, and he took Muhammad out to the front-desk where there was a couch and he was allowed to sleep there.  At 4 A.M., A and M made their pilgrimage to the Dome of the Rock, I saw them in the late morning.  Their next stop was Hebron, sacred to Moslems, as this was where Abraham, told by God, was going to sacrifice his son, Isaac.  Abdullah had told me that he had frequent arguments back in Manchester with his son, "30," as he had no further aspirations for his life beyond living at home and being on the Dole.  I said he should take his own there for this.