I barely contemplate time, and I see that fifty years have passed since I came to Spain to continue my studies. I was born in 1949 in Es. Salamieyh (Syria), I started learning to read at the age of three in the Koranic nursery and then continued in primary, secondary, and high school in my city.
I am the first kid of Ali Fadel and Fátima Abel. As a child I had always thought about studying medicine and since I could not make it in Syria, I decided to go out to Europe or the United States.
Finally, Spain was chosen, where I arrived in April 1969. I started learning Spanish in Madrid, and in September I moved to Barcelona to enrol in the medical school of the University of Barcelona. There I graduated in 1976. I chose the speciality of paediatric medicine and did my residency at the Infant Jesus Clinic in the city of Sabadell. I was a resident there for three years, and that is where I met my wife, Francisca Molina, who was working as a nurse in the neonatal section of that hospital.
In 1981 we got married, and from the fruit of my marriage we had two children, Alí y Nayef. Alí studied Environmental Engineering, and Nayef is Bachelor of Medicine, specializing in Psychiatry.
For forty-two years I have developed my work at the Sabadell Hospital and at the ICS. Today I am enjoying my well-deserved retirement. Now I enjoy my hobbies: painting, poetry and reading, without losing contact with my family in Syria thanks to social networks and the internet.
My stay in Spain has been very positive and has been achieved with much effort and struggle to find my place in society; and helping my family in Syria for the last forty years.
The first time that I saw Mowlana Hazar Imam was in the year 1959 in Salamiyeh. The second time was in London, and the third time in Lisbon in 1997, I was accompanied by my family and I had the honour and great joy of reciting verses from the Holy Quran in presence of Hazar Imam, members of the Jamat of Portugal and the Portuguese religious and civil authorities.
Greetings to all.
