The Alami sisters
Balqis Alami. Jerusalem, circa 1942. Photographer: David Abdo. Source: Adel Ahmad Daoud Dajani family photo collection.
Amneh Alami. Jerusalem, mid 1940s. Source: Mohammed Suleiman Mohammed Dajani.
The story of the Alami sisters is a story of two half sisters, Amneh and Balqis, daughters of Abdallah ‘bek’ Alami, a Jerusalemite who settled in Aleppo in the late 1800s. Amneh and Balqis end up marrying the Dajani brothers Mohammed and Ahmad.
About Abdallah 'bek' Alami: my maternal grandfather was an army officer with an honorary title of ‘bek’, usually given to government officials or distinguished individuals. He was a Jerusalemite who settled in Aleppo. And in Aleppo my mother was born in 1906.
- Anbara Mohammed Daoud Dajani
There are not one but two accounts of those marriages.
The first one begins when Mohammed is conscripted into the Ottoman army during the Great War. After the fall of the empire, Mohammed is left to fend for himself and he starts his journey back home on foot (some say Mohammed deserts prior to the end of the war). From Istanbul to Jerusalem, Mohammed stops in Aleppo en route. Some Aleppines take pity on the state of this young man and lead him to Abdallah ‘bek’ Alami. Mohammed is welcomed at the Alami house and there he meets Amneh and they fall in love. Mohammed eventually continues his journey to Jerusalem but leaves his heart in Aleppo. Months (or years?) later he travels back to Aleppo, this time with his parents including his brother Ahmad, to ask for Amneh’s hand in marriage. In Aleppo Ahmad meets Balqis and they too fall in love. And there is another trip to Aleppo a few years later to ask for Balqis’ hand in marriage.
Going to war and bringing back a wife: this is the story of how my grandparents married.
- Mohammed Suleiman Mohammed Dajani
The second account begins with Mohammed and his father travelling to Aleppo to source goods for their trading business. When Abdallah ‘bek’ Alami, a prominent Ottoman officer, hears that the Dajanis are in town all the way from his native Jerusalem, he invites them to his house. And this is how Mohammed meets Amneh and falls for her. Not long after, Mohammed marries Amneh and she moves to Jerusalem. In the process Ahmad is introduced to Amneh’s younger half sister Balqis and a few years later they marry, and similarly, Balqis moves to Jerusalem.
Travelling for business and bringing back a wife: my maternal grandfather hosted my father Mohammed and this is how my mother, father, uncle Ahmad and aunt Balqis met.
- Anbara Mohammed Daoud Dajani
The two sisters live in Jerusalem, have kids in Jerusalem, double cousins. And during the Catastrophe of 1948 they flee Jerusalem together and settle in Cairo. Two years later, Amneh returns to Jerusalem but Balqis remains in Cairo. And this is when the half sisters separate.
Abdallah Alami: a decorated official of the Ottoman Empire. Source: Nawal Ahmad Daoud Dajani family photo collection.Abdallah Alami. Place and date unknown. Source: Adel Ahmad Daoud Dajani family photo collection.
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