February 8, 2009 · 9:12 pm

Confiscated Abayas

Today I went to a major mall here in Riyadh to pick up an abaya I had ordered and instead got a story. The abaya was supposed to be ready yesterday but when I got to the shop there was an off vibe to it. The abayas on the racks were plain. The creative cuts and colors that had attracted me just four days ago to make a spontaneous purchase were nowhere to be seen. And as soon as the sales clerk saw me he said um Sulaiman, I wish you had left a number so I could have saved you a trip. It turns out that Wednesday Feb 4th a huge abaya raid was undertaken all across Riyadh. They went around in groups of three; a muttawa Vice police escorted by a Riyadh Principality employee and a police officer. At the mall I went to, they first headed to the shop I mentioned above and the unlucky sales clerk had a customer at the time who was sitting on an armchair in the shop and discussing an abaya that she wanted made. The first thing the muttawa did was express shock and disgust that  the shop allowed women to sit. Then he looked at the abaya order that the clerk was filling out and told the lady off for ordering a 750 riyal abaya. And then he demanded that the clerk show him a 750 riyal abaya. The clerk pointed at an abaya with cuffs decorated with crystals and the muttawa grabbed it off the rack and stuffed it into one of his big trash bags. Then he went through all the racks and grabbed anything that looked “worldy” and decorative and stuffed them all in his bags. Before leaving, the muttawa also took the sale clerk’s residency card and ordered him to remove the chairs and a little mirror nook that was there for women to try on the abayas. (They take the residency card so that the Saudi sponsor would have to come to them and they could give him a little talking to as well.) Meanwhile word got around and the other abaya shops in the mall hurriedly locked up and their clerks ran off before the raid got to them. The raid group went all around the mall getting the shop numbers of all the abaya shops even though they were closed. So that they could come back tomorrow and they did. Not only that, but similar raid groups went all over Riyadh, not only raiding shops but also factories and warehouses. Abaya shopkeepers called and warned each other and because they knew the shops and factories were unsafe they took the abayas home. The last raid was Friday evening and it has been quiet since then.  

The sales clerk that I had the little conversation with has been selling abayas in Saudi Arabia for the past 13 years and he told me that a few years ago the vice police went as far as to jail him for four days just because he was doing his job. He told me that his shop’s abaya factory lost something between 50 to 60 thousand riyals from the raids this weekend!  He also said that it had been a few years since the last time that the vice police would actually confiscate decorated abayas. The past few years all they did was give something like warning tickets to all the shops that were selling decorative abayas. The other two accompanying the muttawa, the police officer and the principality employee, mostly just stood by while the Vice cop did his job. They were there only to show that the raid was official and not just a thing a muttawa did on a whim.   

Update Feb 12th

The raids did not stop and now the story is confirmed. If you go to any mall in Riyadh for an abaya, you won’t be able to find anything displayed except the extreme plain tent style. Some shops were even closed because the mutawas found that all their abayas are decorative. One shop specialized in fancy abayas lost an estimate  of 900,000 riyals. Local newspapers to my knowledge have not picked this up. I wish they would.

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January 23, 2009 · 5:31 pm

Prominent Saudis: Sheikh Mohamed bin Saleh bin Othaimeen

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Sheikh bin Othaimeen was born in Onaiza, Al Qaseem region in 1929 and passed away in January of 2001. Qaseem is north of the capital and one of the most conservative parts of Saudi Arabia. It is said that his grandfather had a vision of receiving a torch from Bin Taimia, a foremost Islamic scholar, and the vision was interpreted that he would have a son or grandson that would be a great Islamic scholar too. I would just like to note here that Bin Taimia came before Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulalwahab and so even then the latter was not in the equation.  

 Sheikh bin Othaimeen is, to the highest degree, a respected  Sunni Muslim scholar. So much so that whenever I am in a discussion about an issue with a fellow Saudi, many of them treat the Sheikh’s word on the topic almost the same as if it was the Prophet Mohammed’s (PBUH). Saudis and other Muslims reading this will take offence but it is nevertheless true. It is easy to understand why though because Bin Othaimeen was genuine. He didn’t care about money or fame, he truly was devoted to teaching and studying Islam. So much so that while his own family lived in a simple house built the traditional Saudi way out of mud, he hosted a school of students who came from all over the world and paid them stipends. All that was expected of them was to learn the shiekh’s version of Islam.

His overall influence on Saudi legislation and day to day lifestyle is immense, especially in the central, north and south regions. Although other sheikhs were coming to the same conclusions that he made or at least agreed with him, he was the foundation for an Islam that is based strongly on pre-Islamic regional customs and traditions. He was so popular that the kings of Saudi Arabia visited him at his home.

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Another major trend that he helped set is the whole “the infidels are out to get us” ideology; a Western ambiguous “they” whose mission in life is to corrupt us and move us away from our Islamic lifestyle. I never could wrap my mind around this one because if I were a foreign government with interests in another country, I would rather have that country’s people living like monks or nomads and uninterested rather than aware and educated. That way the people won’t interfere with what the foreign governments are getting out of their fields. But to Sheikh Othaimeen our country’s resources were not as big an issue as the puritanical social and moral fabric of our society. Maintaining the status quo became a religious duty. Learning English was not to educate ourselves but to guard ourselves from the “they” infidels and to help us occasionally preach to the ignorant semi-Muslims and infidels.  

According to the Shiekh, anything that would look like an imitation of the West should be religiously prohibited, including clothing and general lifestyle choices. His ideology is the real reason why women are banned from driving. And his fatwas were among the first to use the gender mixing argument. Whether we like it or not his teachings still have a deadlock on our society. The only light at the end of the tunnel is that we remain stable for at least a decade while still being exposed to the world through all these new forms of media. Once society gets it through its head that there are no evil “they” out to get their religion, then they’ll be able to see the rest of the world with compassion and be open to taking their place within a more inclusive view of the world.

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January 15, 2009 · 12:32 pm

Did you know…

That Israelis often accuse North Americans of being hypocrites when any American even thinks about condemning what they are doing to the Palestinians. Their argument is that Americans killed off the Red Indians ( Native Americans) and took their territories and so they can’t complain about Israeli conduct.

Saudi Arabia and the USA are in indirect warfare as long as there is warfare between Israel and Palestine. If the Americans consider themselves “friends” of Israel, then we are Palestine’s brothers.

That Israel has an ongoing campaign to get Jews from all over the world and especially the States to immigrate just so they can artificially change the demographics of the land; killing Palestinians and replacing them with Zionists.

That Arab Jews and Christians have coexisted peacefully with Muslims for centuries before Zionism.

Check these facts for yourself.

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January 11, 2009 · 8:41 pm

Palestinian Poet reunited with her Israeli-imprisoned daughter during a TV interview

This video shows a Palestinian poet who had given up her daughter for dead after the daughter was captured by the Israeli forces. The poet while being interviewed is asked to unsuspectingly watch a video of her daughter arrive at the UAE airport and then they had the daughter walk into the studio. The poet goes hysterical with happiness and surprise. It doesn’t really need any translation because most of it is unintelligible screaming. Imagine believing a loved one is dead and then seeing them. Very emotional.

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January 10, 2009 · 6:37 am

Standing up for what’s right

Members of the American Congress who voted that Israel has no right to defend itself (with US-citizen tax money). Hopefully more will find the courage to stand up for what’s right.

ANSWERED “NO” 5
Dennis J. Kucinich (D – OH)
Gwen Moore (D-WI)
Ron Paul (R – TX)
Nick Rahall (D-WV)
Maxine Waters (D-CA)

ANSWERED “PRESENT” 22
Neil Abercrombie (D-HI)
Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)
Peter DeFazio (D-OR)
John Dingell (D-MI)
Donna F. Edwards (D-MD)
Keith Ellison (D- MN)
Sam Farr (D-CA)
Raul M. Grijalva (D-AZ)
Maurice Hinchey (D-NY)
Henry Johnson (D-GA)
Carolyn C. Kilpatrick (D-MI)
Barbara Lee(D-CA)
Betty McCollum (D-MI)

James McDermott (D-WA)
George Miller(D-CA)
James Moran(D-VA)
John Olver (D-MA)
Donald Payne (D-NJ)
Loretta Sanchez(D-CA)
Pete Stark (D-CA)
Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)

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January 9, 2009 · 7:15 pm

The Biggest Irony

Jews in New York condemning Israel

Jews in New York condemning Israel

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This is the biggest irony in the history of Humanity. The west calls Arabs terrorists and all the real terror started when western countries supported a bunch of radical Zionist in creating a Jewish state out of thin air. The west did this because they felt they owed the Jews after they had gone through the Holocaust. And because they were racist; it was a peaceful way for them to get Jews out of their countries. Financial support and weapons was all they could afford to give. No room for the Jews in Europe or America. Let’s send them as far off as possible.

Then the Zionists alleged the land was theirs in 70 A.D. And we KNOW the land is Palestinian right up until they took it in 1948. Zionist also considered Columbia and Uganda for their new state but decided on Palestine because of its religious sites. They stole, tricked and terrorized people off the land. They called to Jews from all over the world to immigrate and take up homes that belonged to Palestinian families for centuries. They lied and said that it was a desert and there were no people. How can that be? And all these families, millions of men, women and children in refugee camps with nowhere to go, where did they come from? Are they all actors?  Another argument that Zionists use is that Arabs already have enough land and countries. So why not ask Polish people to move out into Germany because Europeans have enough land? And anyone who doubts Israel, regardless of nationality, is labelled an anti-semite. The term semite includes both Arabs and Jews. So if you support Palestinians and their cause, you cannot be an anti-semite because Palestinians are Arabs. If Israel truly does wants peace and stability then it must find itself a new homeland. This one is already taken.

If this were a Hollywood movie, Hamas and its leaders would be the heroic no bullshit freedom fighters who die for a true cause. Sadly this is reality and reality has no integrity and no justice.

From Arab News newspaper:

Aiding and abetting a holocaust

Tariq Al-Maeena | talmaeena@aol.com

A reader last week objected to my reference of a “holocaust” in this latest atrocity being perpetrated by the Israelis against civilians in Gaza, and specifically targeting children. May I remind the reader and other skeptics that this word is no longer exclusive to crimes of the past?

Cambridge Dictionary defines holocaust as “a very large amount of destruction, especially by fire or heat, or the killing of very large numbers of people” – a situation that is currently in full force against Palestinians in Gaza.

Palestinians are being killed like insects not because of Hamas or because of Qassam rockets or hand-thrown rocks. Palestinians burn and bleed because they are the non-Jewish natives of that land. There is no other reason. Click here to read more.

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January 3, 2009 · 11:55 pm

Palestine/Israel Background

Yesterday on CNN the Israeli ambassador to the US tried to lump all Muslims together with a common purpose of terrorizing humanity. He said that we (as in everyone else but Muslims) in Gaza are fighting a war against terrorism just like the hotel bombings in Mumbai. For the record, there is as much in common with a Pakistani Muslim and an Arab Muslim as there is in common between an Italian Catholic and an American Protestant. In general they have the same religion but both pairs don’t speak the same language and definitely don’t come from the same historical and political background. But I guess the ambassador at least acknowledges that the ignorant west has made some progress since he didn’t say we are all against the orientals.

What does Intifada mean? The news networks use these terms and non-Arabic speakers assume they mean kill all Jews or Bomb everyone for the hell of it when it really means shake off as in shaking off the occupation of Palestine by Israel. I remember reading a comment once written by an American Christian woman where she was showing her support for Israel and she wrote that she’s read about Muslims and how lying is part of our religion and we call that hudna. What?! I’m a born and bred Muslim and the only thing that I’ve been taught about lying is that it is haram (prohibited) and children are always told that if you lie you go to hell. And hudna means truce, so where’s the link?

An average American’s experience of so called Islamic terrorism is 9/11 and 15 of the 19 involved were Saudis. The way it is depicted in the media is that those Saudis just out of the blue grew pure hatred towards the US and decided that they would sacrifice their lives (many of which were promising) to succumb to that hatred. Yes I know Americans are infamous for their arrogance and self-centeredness but come on we don’t care that much about them. What pushed those Saudis to do such a thing is the USA’s unwavering commitment and support for Israel. A commitment that has supplied Israel with billions of dollars worth of army supplies to conduct an ethnic cleansing of Palestine. And Palestine matters to Saudi in the same way that Texas matters to Kansas. Just a little more than a century ago we were one country under Ottoman rule.

To learn more you can watch this video. The whole thing is essential in understanding the Middle-East crisis but if you don’t have to time then start watching from minute 51:20 to learn about the USA’s role in the crisis.

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January 2, 2009 · 6:13 pm

Current Saudi atmosphere

It makes my heart swell with pride to know that my country is trying to do something for the Palestinians in Gaza. A friend who works in the military hospital here in Riyadh told me that for the past two days the hospital has been discharging people left and right to accommodate the wounded from Gaza and today the first airlift arrived. Everyone here in Saudi feels helpless and frustrated when we see the photos of the Israeli air raids aftermath. The photos of bleeding children and leveled buildings are driving us crazy. We need to have something to do. It’s so bad that many people went to government hospitals wanting to donate blood to the Palestinians. So many that the Health minister had to issue a statement saying that the Palestinians need supplies not blood.

Update Jan 3rd

The Saudi government organized a charity for Gaza that was broadcast on TV for the past two days and the last time I checked which was about four hours ago they had collected over eleven million dollars mostly from average Saudis to send to Gaza.  One of the stories that they showed tonight was that of a lady who brought her welfare check to give to the cause. Another brought her whole jewelry box and told them this is all I have and I want to give it to the Palestinians suffering in Gaza. On TV there were a number of glass boxes with signs stating 10 riyal notes, 50 riyal notes, …etc. And Saudis would walk by putting their money in the appropriate box with several throwing notes into the 500 riyals box.

Update Jan 5th

the donations have reached 125 million riyals which is over 33 million dollars from both average Saudis, royalty and commercial establishments.

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December 31, 2008 · 1:12 pm

Happy New Year

I was really looking forward to the new year especially since both the Hijri and Gregorian new year fall only within a couple of days of each other so it’s a new year both religiously and globally.  But the crisis in Gaza has seriously put a damper on everything. Like they say on the world news channels:

“380 Palestinians and 4 Israelis killed.”

Take it straight from the horse’s mouth, a (so-called) Wahabi Saudi, the Israeli occupation and ethnic cleansing of Palestine is the pulsating heart of all things that lead to Islamic terrorism and the injustice of it all is the true axle of evil.  More on that last sentence later.

Hopefully 2009 will get more peaceful as it ages.

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December 24, 2008 · 6:22 am

Suicide in Saudi Arabia

 What brought this to mind is that recently someone in my circle of acquaintances committed suicide.  Attending the funeral, no one, not a single person used the term suicide. They would mention things that were so obvious like that the departed sat her older sister down just a few days before dying and told her that she was saying her last goodbyes and asked her to take care of a few things for her after she passes away. A couple of months before she insisted that her husband divorce her and when her family demanded to know why, she told them because he is such a great guy and she wanted him to live his life. She also cashed all her savings and gave it to her kids and then sent them to their paternal grandparents. What they would say is that Sabhan Allah, she somehow had a premonition and knew!

Growing up, we were always told that people who commit suicide would spend eternity in hell because life, even our own, does not belong to us so we have no right to snuff it out. And there was a lot of emphasis on eternal hell and that suicide is just the same as murder. Now I don’t know if the eternal hell part is based on scripture or not and I don’t feel like finding out. But I do know that there is a saying from the Quran which essentially means that we should not put ourselves in the path of destruction.

All this background rambling because at the funeral I heard the mother of the deceased and a few others repeatedly say that well at least now she’s in heaven. She always was zahida (uninterested in worldly things). Maybe they knew deep down, but they didn’t want to think that their daughter and sister was being punished for eternity.

In general, Saudi society views suicide as deeply sad but not quite shameful. It’s better to have someone in the family who committed suicide than a daughter who elopes or a son addicted to drugs.  People will gossip for about a month after the funeral and then everything will be shrouded in secrecy and never talked about as if the person who died never was born in the first place.

On death certificates, you rarely have suicide written on them. The family pressures the hospital and doctors probably think what’s the point in an insensitive truth.

Saudi suicides and attempted suicides can be categorized into three types according to gender and nationality of who commits them:

  • Male non Saudi workers who come here on there own leaving there families behind in poverty stricken countries. Open any newspaper and at least once a week you’ll read about a worker who hung himself in his small living quarters. And if you’re reading Al Riyadh newspaper the column will likely be accompanied by a horrific photo of the whole thing. You would have to be a rock not to understand and empathize. These men come here in hopes of a better life and only find extreme loneliness, homesickness and for the unfortunate few employers who have no intention of paying them. On top of that they are openly treated as if they were something less than human.
  • Saudi men. Most suicides committed by Saudi men are financially driven. They either lose huge amounts of money on the Stock Market and throw themselves from a highway bridge or they figure out that they’ll never be able to maintain a Saudi lifestyle and hang themselves. Saudi men have a tendency for public extreme methods of ending it all. In Yanbu there’s a tower notorious for the number of men who threw themselves from it. And one time at work I remember a colleague of mine coming in the morning obviously shaken. She told us that a man wearing what Saudis traditionally wear under their thobes threw himself into the high speed traffic right in front of her.
  • Saudi women commit suicide after long bouts of depression. I know that in the press people write that it is because they are forced into marriages. But in my experience of middle class Saudi I have yet to come across anything as melodramatic as a woman being forced to marry someone she doesn’t want. Not to say that that does not happen, it’s just that when it does it’s usually in the poorer parts. However when it comes to my part of the Saudi neighborhood, you can see the signs long before the end. Women who are educated cooped up in villas with no purpose in life except to be the frill and fluffy component of the family. They don’t even have to clean up after themselves and then they finish their education and there are no jobs and nothing for them to do that would light up their passion or give them purpose besides finding something to chat about with their elderly mother over tea. They fall into depression, stop attending social occasions, surrounding families start to forget what that particular daughter looks like and then a year or two later there’s a funeral.

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