Storm Over Morocco

 

 
 
Frank Romano is the author of two autobiographical books chronicling his spiritual path in life: Storm Over Morocco (Fourth Edition 2010) and Love and Terror in the Middle East (Third Edition 20123).

This is how he has described his first memoir:

Storm Over Morocco is a true story about me, the author; I was wrongly accused of being a Zionist spy in 1978 and tried for sabotage, a capital crime, by an extremist Islamic group in Morocco.

While traveling across Africa searching for a universal religion, I was invited to study Islam in a mosque in Casablanca, Morocco; it turned out to be controlled by a militant Moslem group which promptly imprisoned me.

My questions as to the treatment of women served as a catalyst for one of the Islamic gurus to unjustly charge me with being a Zionist spy and sabotage of the "back to Islam" movement.  I was eventually acquitted by an internal inquisitorial tribunal, but remained a prisoner behind the towering walls of the mosque located in the outskirts of Casablanca.

This harrowing ordeal was followed by excruciating suspense built up during attempts to escape the 10-foot high compound.

The book is an autobiographical narrative about my spiritual path and about fundamentalist religions and brainwashing techniques.  It also discusses the status of women in orthodox/fundamentalist Islamic communities.

Storm Over Morocco, however, does not criticize Islam and often portrays me as a student who learned a great deal from that religion.

This experience has inspired me to organize and participate in interfaith events including but not limited to fundamentalist Muslims, Jews and Christians in Israel and Palestine. 

Here is some biographical information.

Frank Romano earned a PhD at University of Paris I, Panthéon Sorbonne, and a JD at Golden Gate University, Faculty of Law, San Francisco.  At present, he teaches law, literature, history and philosophy of law at the University of Paris Oueste and practices law in France and in the United States.  The author actively organizes and participates in interfaith events involving Jews, Muslims and Christians in Israel and Palestine.

While visionary aspects of his journeys are described in both memoirs, an epilogue of his first book mentions and affirms a "30-year-old vision."  Another influence was his father, a World War II veteran who discussed his evolving spiritual philosophy with his son.  Romano commented in Storm Over Morocco:

. . . he planted a seed in my young mind that many years later would inspire me to use the idea of universal political unity to create a hybrid definition of universalism.  The dictionary defines universalism as the state of being universal, as including or covering everything without limit or exception.  I define universalism as a universal awakening through the search for a common denominator underlying all things, preferences, particular identities, cultures and philosophies.

Romano became convinced that world peace depended on the promotion of a universal faith (presumably an expansion of people's existing beliefs).  He decided to visit Morocco, learn the language and find out what Islam was all about.

I sought to change my thinking by beginning anew in Morocco; then I would travel across North Africa to Egypt and then to Palestine, where I would end my voyage.  There, I would lend a hand in resolving the crises between Moslems and Jews.  I believed I could help bring peace to those hostile groups after I purified myself.  I believed that I was sent from heaven to lead mankind to a better world.  I would only look in people's eyes—beggars and professionals alike—in a compassionate way, neither feeling nor showing favoritism, even to people of my own heritage, my own family.  This was to initiate the dawn of a new age of tolerance, love and caring for all people, not just for those close to me.

I truly believed in this role and that I was in a place, surrounded by a sore and bleeding humanity, to save the world from suffering caused by ignorance, intolerance, hatred, xenophobia, racism, gender discrimination, homophobia and selfishness.  I believed that we are on this earth to help all people through the purity of our hearts, including those outside of family connections.  I believed that I returned to earth, to the soil, to share the humble life and to lead all to peace and love

In Casablanca, his perspective was: "I was about to embrace the path that I hoped would lead me to truth, to the cosmic spirit of love . . ."  During an interval of preparation—"severe training"—to live at an Islamic monastery under the guidance of Camara, a man from Guinea, Romano retired to bed early one evening and experienced a momentous occasion.

A cool wind blew, ruffling the curtains to the tune of some invisible, heavenly organ.  I meditated to the Supreme Being, to God, to truth, to love and a light was cast in the room, reflecting from the dense fog outside.  In spite of the intense moments of the day and my utterly exhausted body, my mind felt rejuvenated, uplifted to a light which had shone through the crusty ceiling of closed mindedness.  The path visualized through the opening was not necessarily that of one ideology—Islam—but was a path on which Muhammad guided me.  Then, like a spiritual tag team, the guide changed to Jesus, and as I ascended, I was met by Muhammad, who continued leading me up to the steady, warm hand of the Buddha, there to embrace me as I continued my ascent.  My hand was then grasped by Moses; with strong arms, he held me before him, becoming the many-faceted, omnipresent spirit of Krishna.  Proceeding toward the heavens, I was received by all of the prophets and handed by Krishna to Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha and Moses, who received me with spontaneous joy and humility.  With their arms around me, I basked in their love shared by the Supreme Consciousness, who was neither man nor woman, but transcending all things, reigned within and without, melding pure love together into one good, pure force.  This energy linked me to the love of all creatures, to the peace deep within me, to the tolerance and understanding that armed me against the threat of ignorance, fear and allegiance to material things.  I felt finally free of the confining embrace of the superficial, neon world, where pure, innocent love and passions are inhibited in the name of progress.

As Romano began to experience life in the monastery, he reflected about his actions.

The inhabitants of the mosque, at least with regard to their words and gestures during prayer and at other times, were almost a carbon copy of one another.  I was almost comfortable in this atmosphere even though I had always rejected blind conformity with standards set forth by any organized religion or political system.


Only later was I to discover the sharp differences between the Masjid Nord, where I was living, and other Moslem parishes.


I became more and more enchanted with my own infatuation for this new lifestyle, which seemed more and more a viable alternative to life in a mechanized, seemingly unspiritual city, like the one from whence I had come.  It seemed that my rejection of the urban "dream" was the catalyst for inspiring me to embrace this adventure into Islam.

But a voice inside me reverberated from a deep place, sometimes excruciatingly loud; it seemed to be warning me that something was very wrong.  Something whispered within me, "Accepting without questioning, accepting without questioning, accepting without questioning, accepting without questioning . . . ? ? ?"

Romano's spiritual beliefs were a source of some of the conflicts that arose: "I believed in one God, but I did not believe that Muhammad was his last prophet sent to earth to save the people."  A key influence was the philosophy of Gandhi.

. . . Gandhi who, being a Hindu, had also studied Christianity and Islam; he had concluded that all three religions were valid because they were based on monotheism, the belief in one God, and thus were basically similar.

Romano's efforts to help world peace like those of renowned men such as Gandhi reminded me that a fundamental message of the world's religions is for each person to closely consider their actions, goals and motivations as these will be significant to our life when our physical demise brings the transition to another state of existence.

Eventually Romano sought deliverance from the monastery where his life had become a nightmare.  After seizing an opportune moment, Romano succeeded in escaping from the mosque where he had been trapped for a month and a half.  He soon returned by train to Paris.

My dream of unifying all people and their myriad ideologies into one faith had been temporarily shattered.  But I was not disappointed as I had found the true spirit, the cosmic force in the arid plains of this mysterious country.  It seemed that I had come such a long way to find this unifying spirit of love already existing within and outside of me.  It was clear that the framework in which this search had taken place, in particular while residing in the mosque and traveling with the brothers, living according to the Hadith and the Qur'an, had enhanced my spiritual awakening.  Of this I was absolutely certain, in spite of my differences with some of the teachings of the spiritual leaders living within the walls of the Masjid Nord.

In Paris, Romano contemplated his experiences in Morocco.

Reflecting on a lifetime of spiritual yearning, I wondered at my willingness to give up all in order to experience a deeper connection with Supreme Consciousness.  In an isolated mosque in the heart of the arid Moroccan plains, I received a powerful dose of Universal energy which suffused every part of my being, vibrating with the unfathomable love I knew to be at my core.

My constant companion has now become an energy force propelling love, like a laser, directly into my heart.  This light force encompasses the universe I can no longer ignore.  In the past, I have suffered upon seeing a homeless person or thinking of senseless killings, ignorance, poverty, starvation and death.  Even as I live in the inner city, I refuse to be indifferent in order to protect a fragile sensibility.  Now surging through me are not just charitable sympathies but bright, God-inspired solutions.


My heart has opened to absorbing the violence and ignorance of our time, transforming them into knowledge and love of inconceivable or infinite magnitude.  Ever present in my mind and heart, along with what has been expressed, is the word "FORGIVENESS."  The need for forgiveness gave and still gives me the strength to make an accounting of all my relationships—with humans and other beings—and to take measures to repair any injury.  From this accounting comes the wisdom and motivation to relieve my burdened soul of the profound ignorance begetting fearfulness, hateful prejudice, selfishness and lack of faith.
 
Though I loved my father dearly, I needed to forgive him for over-zealously disciplining me during my youth.  I knew I needed to release the hatred and tension I had carried within me for years and replace it with understanding of the pressures my father had been under at the time.  In so doing, the final barriers between my father and I dissipated long before he passed on, clearing the way for the warm, unconditional love I have for him to this day.  Strangely, opening up to love with my father helped me release the problems I was experiencing in other relationships, in a kind of domino effect.

The thorough assessment of my life led me to forgiveness from those I had transgressed and to face my ignorance, failures, weaknesses, prejudices and lack of faith.  I was thus able to transcend many obstacles on the path of Cosmic Truth, no doubt helping to purify my being and prepare me to share this greater strength in spirituality with others, before my final days . . . before total, ecstatic union with the Supreme Being.


. . . the truth of this experience has manifested in different ways, notably in subsequent intense meditations during which this unfathomable love force has helped people to heal themselves.

At different times in his life, Romano has "lived with Jews, Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, agnostics and others, sharing their happiness, sadness and passion for truth."  He wrote, "What I experienced in Morocco was the turning point in a life which has become steeped in meaning and purpose—the deep feeling of universal Oneness I felt there has grown within me, anchoring me firmly in the knowledge of oneness with my Creator and all life."