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| Musa Alami [1897-1984] |
[Dr Norman Vincent Peale writes about Desert Water and Musa Alami in his book "POWER OF THE PLUS FACTOR", in Chapter 5, "Plus Factor and Persistence" :
"Dream Creative Dreams.
Set high and worthwhile goals.
Take the first decisive step toward your goal.
And then what?
Then take another step, and another, and another, until the goal is reached.
No matter, how long it takes, persist.
No matter how discouraged you may get, persevere.
No matter how much you want to quit, hang in there.
Never give up; Never, never, never... give up!" NVP]
"Dream Creative Dreams.
Set high and worthwhile goals.
Take the first decisive step toward your goal.
And then what?
Then take another step, and another, and another, until the goal is reached.
No matter, how long it takes, persist.
No matter how discouraged you may get, persevere.
No matter how much you want to quit, hang in there.
Never give up; Never, never, never... give up!" NVP]
Norman Vincent Peale
"I met
one of the world's great positive thinkers in the wilderness of Judea, where,
in the long ago, John the Baptist preached. His name is Musa Alami and he has made the desert to blossom as the rose--a desert that in all the
history of the world had never blossomed before. He succeeded because he
believed that he could, and he kept at it until he did, which, of course, is
the way you succeed at anything.
Musa, an Arab man, was
educated at Cambridge, went back to Palestine where he became a well-to-do
man--well-to-do, that is, by Middle Eastern standards. Then, in political
turmoil, he lost everything, including his home.
He went beyond Jordan to the
edge of Jericho. Stretching away on either side was the great, bleak,
arid desert of the Jordan valley. In the distance to the left, shimmering
in the hot haze, loomed the mountains of Judea, and to the right the mountains
of Moab.
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| Judean Desert |
With the exception of a few
oases, nothing had ever been cultivated in this hot and weary land, and
everyone said that nothing could be, for how could you bring the water to it? To dam the Jordan River for
irrigation was too expensive and, besides, there was no money to finance such a
project.
"What about underground
water?" asked Musa Alami. Long and loud they laughed. Whoever
heard of such a thing? There was no water under that hot, dry
desert. Ages ago it had been covered by Dead Sea water; now the sand was
full of salt, which added further to the aridity.
He had heard of the amazing
rehabilitation of the California desert through subsurface water. He
decided that he could find water here also. All the old-time Bedouin
sheiks said it couldn't be done; government officials agreed, and so, solemnly,
did the famous scientists from abroad. There was absolutely no water
there. That was that.
But Musa was
unimpressed. He thought there was. A few poverty-stricken refugees
from the nearby Jericho Refugee Camp helped him as he started to dig.
With well-drilling equipment? Not on your life. With pick and
shovel.
Everybody laughed as this dauntless man and his ragged friends dug
away day after day, week after week, month after month. Down they went,
slowly, deep into the sand into which no man since creation had plumbed for
water.
For six months they dug; then one day the sand became wet and
finally water, life-giving water, gushed forth. The Arabs who had
gathered round did not laugh or cheer; they wept. Water had been found in
the ancient desert!
A very old man, sheik of a
nearby village, heard the amazing news. He came to see for himself.
"Musa," he asked, "have you really found water? Let me see
it and feel it and taste it."
The old man put his hand in
the stream, splashed it over his face, put it on his tongue. "It is
sweet and cool," he said. "It is good water." Then,
placing his aged hands on the shoulder of Musa Alami, he said, "Thank
God. Now, Musa, you can die."* It was the simple tribute of a
desert man to a positive thinker who did what everyone said could not be
done.
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| Judean Desert Blooming |
Now, several years later,
Musa Alami has fifteen wells supplying a ranch nearly three miles long and two
miles wide. He raises vegetables, bananas, figs, citrus fruit, and
boys. In his school he is growing citizens of the future, farmers and
technicians, experts in the trades. Imitating Musa, others have also dug
until forty thousand acres are under cultivation and the green is spreading
over the sands.
I asked this amazing man what kept him going, kept him believing
when everyone said it couldn't be done. "There was no
alternative. It had to be done," he said, then added, "God
helped me."
As the twilight turned the
mountains of Moab and the Judean hills to red and gold, I sat watching a huge
stream of water gush from the heart of the desert. And as it splashed
into a deep, wide pool, it seemed to say, "It can be done, it can be
done!"
So, don't let your
difficulties get you down and do not believe those croakers who say you cannot
do it. Remember Musa Alami,
positive thinker of the wilderness of Judea."
*Another version: "Musa, now I can die. I've seen water come from the desert."
*Another version: "Musa, now I can die. I've seen water come from the desert."
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| Blooming [Judean] Desert |
YouTube Video: Judean Desert Blooming : [Click Here] 4:30 min
