Martin Rose

It has been raining in Morocco, as most of us have noticed. Our cleaning lady said with tears in her eyes to my wife last week, “Now we shall be able to eat.” The drought appears to be over. But what made it happen? I was impressed by the way the rain followed on the heels of the istiska prayers for rain which HM the King ordained ten days ago. But the driver who took me to the airport had quite other ideas: “No Sir, it’s not us Muslims at all. It’s the Jews. They all prayed for rain on Saturday, and came out of their synagogue with bare feet – no babouches at all! – and it worked, al-hamdulillah.” With a huge grin he let go of the wheel at 120 kph to do a sort of triumphal duck-walk with his hands in the air.