fig time

Author's name: Sultan Musa Al-Musa

The Gospels tell us a story about Jesus Christ, who felt hungry after leaving Bethany and looked at a fig tree from afar, covered in dense leaves. He rushed to it but found nothing to eat. He was told that it was not the season for figs, but he cursed it, saying, "Let no one eat fruit from you from now on." So the cursed fig tree withered away forever. Despite the controversy surrounding this story in Christian heritage, the many commentators, and the incoherence of those who sought to answer Jesus' motives in cursing the tree, "fig season" has become a term that symbolically and meaningfully denotes our desire for a pre-ordained season. We blame things that are late, as if the fault lies with them when they did not ripen during our longing for them. I do not know whether this book of mine ripened in its harvest season, or whether I was driven by the woes of those who asked me about a new publication, inflaming my enthusiasm and sharpening my resolve morning and evening. There are some readers who deserve that I should bear fruit for them out of season, and that I should make time for them as a time for figs.