And we set up our tents in the place where honor calls and stay there steadfast while other men travel away to richer pasture/The place of glory- those to whom it belongs do not drive their camels to feed abroad…
-Pre-Islamic Ode of Qutbah ibn ‘Aws, known as Al-Hādirah, collected by Al-Mufaddal al-Dabbi (d.780), trans. C.J. Lyall
KhairAllah keeps his sons Soliman and Muhammad close to him. His days on the Darb are in the past. Let other fathers send their sons overseas to work for a dirham or a dinar, he says. His Bayt is a place of glory because his camels feed well at home.
©David Degner. KhairAllah with sons Muhammad (l.) and Soliman (r.)