Ah, yes three. Thank you. I forgot to shamelessly plug the latest blog post here as well. It is regarding Saudi Arabia's (pretty successful) attempt to monopolize Islam.
Allah's KingdomIn all honesty, I had wanted to make it a little more personal. I wanted to talk about the beady eyed bearded wackos I met from Qassim one night in Makkah who were basically telling me I should have killed my Jewish friend in elementary school. I wanted to talk about the discrimination I personally witnessed with my own two eyes against the Shia pilgrims who would come to Madinah to pray. I saw salafis kicking them in their heads as they prostrated in sujood at the Prophet’s mosque. And I wanted to talk about my landlord in Madinah, a Saudi of Turkish descent, who completely loathed the Saudi regime and would talk fndly about the days before all the desert Arabs settled in Madinah in the 60s and 70s. I noticed that each of those sub stories would have made the blog way too long though, so I sufficed with a general description.
In any event, I’m glad you liked it.
Don't do that to me! Please write those out! Such personal stories are like food..
My mother in law, who was elderly, was invited to a social meal during an Umrah trip with the local women. These women would not deign to speak to her, a guest in their home. Because she did not speak Arabi fluently, and because she did not wear henna (which her husband loathed the smell of). She was a sweet old lady. This was the first nail in the coffin of Muslim sisterhood, for me.