The carpet shop called Balkh Carpets, named after the town that lies near Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan, is located along the narrow dusty Al-Bukharia Street — also known as the Afghan Souq) south of the Al-Balad district of Jeddah. It is managed by three very colorful, friendly and sincere Afghans. The central character is the charming, cheeky and effervescent salesman Roza Muhammad. Anyone who has ever visited the Afghan Souk will at some time or other have seen or dealt with him. He has a round face that is partially framed with a great white bushy beard, a disarming smile and an ever-present sparkle in his eye. The Balkh carpet shop is not different from an uncut diamond, as it appears rough on the outside but beautiful on the inside.
Looking around the shop, you soon become overwhelmed by the kaleidoscope of color from the hundreds of wool and silk carpets that cheerfully brighten the rooms. A narrow room at the rear is bursting with curios such as kelim-upholstered stools, Afghani wooden chests, floral painted wooden bowls and elegant silver-plated candelabras. A glass display counter holds little tribal jewelry items including the famous Afghani stone lapis lazuli. Soon after arriving there, it is only a matter of minutes before the legendary Afghan hospitality intervenes.
During a recent visit, Roza Muhammad motioned at me to sit down with him on top of a large stuffed, red wool piled, Afghan Beshiri chuval. Green tea was served and he began to share with me some of his thoughts and experiences of being an oriental carpet dealer. Roza was born in Kabul, Afghanistan. He has four daughters and a son and they are all looked after by one of his five brothers in Kabul. From 1988 to 1990 he lived and worked in Peshawar, Pakistan, selling carpets to Western carpet dealers and tourists. From Peshawar he came to Jeddah, and has been here ever since.
Roza receives large containers of carpets at the Jeddah Islamic Port that are shipped from Kabul via Peshawar in Pakistan, as there is no direct trade route from Afghanistan. He has in place a number of relatives and close business associates in Kabul that search for, sort and grade the carpets. The Saudi import duty is approximately 12 percent of the total value of carpets per container. He explains that the shop also buys carpets from pilgrims coming to Saudi Arabia to perform Haj and Umrah. These pilgrims may come from some of the great weaving nations, such as Turkey, Afghanistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Turkistan, Uzbekistan and Russia, who invariably bring with them antique and contemporary woven treasures.
In particular, Roza is always on the lookout for pilgrims from Uzbekistan as they sometimes bring with them old suzanis (silk needlepoint bridal bed covers) and ikats.
"Old ishtouk ikats with seven colors are very collectable and maintain high prices," Roza adds. "But not all pilgrims bring with them good quality items."
Roza reached down for his cup of green tea and took a sip. Momentarily, he stared into a neatly folded pile of glowing red Afghan, fil-pai (elephant’s foot) design carpets. He appeared to be somewhere else, maybe Kabul...
However, his few seconds of mindful recollection quickly evaporated and he returned to the present, when the door of the shop suddenly flung open and a tall man marched toward him. The visitor was carrying an opaque plastic shopping bag and inside it we could see what appeared to be a very fine carpet. Roza exchanged pleasantries and then the man from Kashan, Iran exposed his woven gem. It was a 1.5m x 2m silk-on-silk Kashan carpet. It was beautifully woven and the main field color was white. The carpet’s design had a drooping diamond central medallion and intricate Shah Abbas palmettes and tendrils. After a few minutes of heated bargaining, which was accentuated with theatrics from both parties, the man rolled up his carpet and quietly left the shop — disappearing into the darkness outside. "He asked too much," said Roza. "He wanted $2,000."
It soon became clear that Roza takes great pride in the many friendships that have developed as a result of passing customers visiting his shop. His list of friends reads like a United Nations’ directory — Arabs, Asians, Europeans, Americans, Scandinavians, Australians to name only a few. However, many of his expatriate friends are no longer here in Saudi Arabia. Roza paused and drifted into reflective thought then he mournfully declared: "Thirteen years ago many expats came to Al-Bukharia Street and visited the eight carpet shops. Today, very few Westerners visit, and only four shops are left."
Changing the subject, I asked what was the oldest carpet he had ever seen.
"It was a 300-to-350 year-old gold Tabriz fragment that was brought into his shop by an Iranian pilgrim," he said.
Roza bought the fragment and because of its age, historical significance, and value in terms of collectability and kept it in his living quarters above the shop, eventually selling it to a Chinese lady.
When asked if any particular nationality were drawn to a particular type of carpet or if most people found it difficult to decide which carpet to buy, his reply was an emphatic "No!"
"Carpets of all designs and colors appeal to everyone," he said with a seasoned salesman’s tone. Furthermore, he said, "Our shop allows people to take a carpet home on approval for a week or two to see if it blends in with the decor and furniture. If they like it, they buy it, if they don’t like it, they return it." When asked, during his 13 years at Balkh Carpets, whether anyone had disappeared with a carpet on loan without paying for it, Roza replied "Never."
He continued: "I do not give carpets to people like that. I look at people and sense if they are good men or women. I look into their eyes and can read their intentions."
Stroking his beard and looking deep into my eyes, he added: "If I see shiftiness in their eyes, I will not allow them to take a carpet home without first paying for it."
When I suggested that some nationalities must be better than others at haggling over prices, he roared with laughter.
"Everyone is good at haggling," he exclaimed, chuckling to himself.
At this point, Roza’s young Afghan assistant, who bears the same name as Afghanistan’s new President Hamid Karzai, entered into the conversation. Hamid was taken away from the troubles of civil war in Kabul when he was five years old to settle in Peshawar, Pakistan. While attending school in there, he also studied in his spare time to become a carpet designer — and eventually a carpet restorer. Today, he takes great pride when customers cannot differentiate between the repaired parts of the carpet and the original work. Aged 24, he is a fine example of Afghan youth required to partake in the restoration of Afghanistan. He displays great ambition, vitality and desire and is not afraid to speak his mind.
"I am happy that the Taleban are no longer in my country," he said. "I fully support the Afghan government and can see that peace is slowly but surely being restored."
Hamid enthusiastically stated that he will return to Kabul within the next sixth months. His intention is to open a carpet shop on Kabul’s famous Chicken Street and sell carpets to the tourists that he says will eventually return to Afghanistan. Roza’s face lit up again and his wide grin appeared at the mention of Chicken Street.
"I too want to go back to Kabul in the future to open a carpet shop again on Chicken Street," he exclaimed. Asked why it is called Chicken Street, they both explained that originally the street sold chickens but now the street sells carpets! Obviously, Chicken Street has a special place in the hearts of the Afghan carpet dealers.
"Only last week I saw Chicken Street on CNN," mentioned Roza proudly.
Many Afghan carpet dealers around the Middle East, including Roza, are now receiving requests on a regular basis from their Afghanistan based families to return home. Their families insist that Afghanistan is changing for the better, and that business opportunities await them there. Their families want them to return home despite their earnings in the Middle East — which was an unthinkable thought only 12 months ago.
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