The Iraqi Weir in the Two Gulfs of Basra, by Samir Daoud Hanoush

On the sidelines of his fame for eating grilled fish and grilled kebabs, it coincides with a custom inherited from the traditions of Baghdadi society that is still present despite the changing times and political systems.

When you shop at the grocer and you want to pay him the price of the shopping, he says to you (keep it on him).

Wherever you go or travel in the markets, cafes, and taxis in Iraq, you will find that Hatami generosity that refuses to leave the Iraqi personality and morals.

Perhaps many of our brothers (Al-Khalaija) do not know the meaning of the word (Waer), which is unique to the Iraqis, and it means that a man pays the price of food or drink that his friends eat from his own account.

This word was often shouted in cafes when a person entered a cafe and was served tea to find that one of his friends had shouted (Ware), meaning that the price of the tea would be at the expense of that friend, and as long as the competition intensified between those present in the cafe with priority in payment.

One of the anecdotes of war in the Baghdadi society is that the late Sheikh Dhari, the sheikh of the Zawba tribes, was sitting one day in one of the Kadhimiya cafes when he heard the seated people shouting (war) whenever one of their friends entered, as the sheikh was not aware of that before due to his lack of frequenting cafes, so he asked regarding the meaning of war. When he knew what it meant, he shouted to the owner of the café (I am Fatima’s brother…and he saw everyone present) and he did not leave the café until he had paid the account of everyone who was there.

From the memories of the time of the siege, which imposed on the Iraqis difficult economic conditions and a harsher living life, that an Arab merchant visited a friend of his in Baghdad from the days of that time to check on him and agree on some commercial business, when he was surprised that his friend Al-Baghdadi had traveled for several days outside the country for the purposes of trade, he did not The guest hardly thought for a long time regarding how to spend his time in Baghdad, until one of the employees working in his owner’s shops invited him to a luncheon in his humble home. The arrival responded to it. The food, the guest kept holding his feelings until he completed his meal, then he said to the owner of the banquet: If this is your banquet, how can it be the banquet of your employer?

This generosity was under harsh conditions whose difficulty cannot be imagined when the Iraqis were eating rice mixed with ground date stones, when the Hatami generosity did not leave their lives with their guests.

Our people in the Gulf, when they visit Basra Al-Fayhaa on the occasion of Basra Gulf football, are amazed at all that generosity, generosity and altruism in giving to the people of Basra, and they know very well that a people like the Iraqis did not spare their Arab brothers the blood of their children and their sacrifices for the sake of land and Arabism in the liberation battles, so that any generosity would be lessened.

What the guests who visit Basra speak of the generosity and magnanimity of its people and their competition for the sake of winning the hospitality of the guests is a reflection of the Iraqi tyrant who refuses to leave his homeland.

The best thing regarding the Iraqi weir is that you find that its people struggle, quarrel, and perhaps fight for the sake of racing to offer generosity, which is the best kind of morals offered to Arab brothers bound by blood ties, brotherhood, and a common destiny.

Oh our guest, if you visited us, you would have found us the guests and you are the owner of the house… How much you are, Iraq.

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