Under the Banyan Tree is a memoir of an orphan boy who struggled as a child in Palestine, to survive under extreme poverty, to become a highly educated and respected member of society. Abdallah, the youngest of four children, lost his parents before he attained the age of two. After the death of their parents, a squabble erupted among family member as to who will gain custody of the orphans. A distant relative of their father's, uncle Mohamad, was chosen to be the caretaker of the orphans and of the sizeable chunks of land with olive and almond trees they inherited. The custodian had married a second wife who, he let run the show as she wished. She, with his blessings, used one of the orphan girls as a maid for her and another one as a maid for her sister. Although the custodian sent his four daughters to school, he did not send the orphan girls to school as they were engaged in the service of his new wife and of her sister. The custodian, uncle Mohamad, wanted Abdallah to quit school too, but the intervention and ultimatum of his sister, Fatima to abandon him completely should he quit school. Abdallah defied the custodian's wish and stayed in school.
After the loss of Palestine to the Jews in 1948 and with the establishment of the state of Israel, Abdallah and his two surviving sisters were, abandoned by uncle Mohamad and became refugees in Lebanon. They fled by climbing the mountain separating Palestine from Lebanon, hiding behind boulders to avoid being hit by Jewish machine gun fire. A God given miracle happened to the orphans. A woman relative of their father's, who lived in Beirut found them and demanded they live with her al-Hajj family. She said, you eat what my children ate and sleep where my children slept. The al-Hajj family sent Abdallah to a private elementary boarding school and after that he transferred to another boarding school.
While in High School, Abdallah met Laila. He developed a liking for her, but could not dare confess his liking to her as he was afraid she may be offended. After graduating from high school in 1953, Laila and Abdallah went their separate ways. Laila went to London to further her education and Abdallah opted to work as an English language teacher in a night school. After two years of working, Abdallah realized his job was not the career he wanted to pursue. He decided to take a shot at enrolling at the American University of Beirut (AUB). One hundred and sixty students sat for the entrance exam, only fourteen passed and Abdallah was one of the fourteen who passed. Of course, having abdallah been accepted at AUB, raised a red flag with uncle Mohamad. He put several obstacles to have Abdallah abandon his quest for a college education. As a last resort he offered Abdallah to marry one of his daughters. It was realized later that he had an ulterior motive for not wanting the orphan boy get a college education. It was because his son was also going to AUB at the same time.
While at AUB, Abdallah asked Najwa, Laila's sister who also was a student at AUB, as to how is Laila doing. Najwa said, Laila is still in London and, in fact, she asked about you. Najwa, six months later said, laila is now back home in Beirut. A few weeks after that, in May 1958, Abdallah spotted a beautiful young lady sitting under the Banyan tree. Her face was vaguely familiar and he was not sure who she was. He, reluctantly approached her and asked if she were laila. She said yes, you must be Abdallah! From that time on, they reconnected and rekindled, after five years of separation, the love Abdallah had for Laila while in High School. Their relationship was rocky, on again, off again dating lasted for two years. Laila and Abdallah were engaged on October 20, 1960 and were married on December 15, 1962,
