It never ceases to amaze me that in a country so ultra conservative as Saudi Arabia where women cannot drive; where eating spaces are veiled due to gender separation; where any proximity of opposite genders between strangers is aggressively curtailed; that the MOST central - HOLIEST place on Earth for Muslims - the Ka’aba and it’s environs; STRANGERS of opposite genders are tightly packed rubbing against each other, invading each other’s personal spaces in public during tawaaf (circumambulation) to an extent even seldom seen in the West; and where women and men pray together at times ALONGSIDE each other as strangers! This is whilst most mosques around the world would provide complete gender separation and some would not even provide praying spaces for women at all! Even during the holiest of rituals such as the overnight stay in Muzdalifah during Hajj, opposite genders are even seen to share the same proximity of sleeping spaces with complete strangers when sleep is well known to be a time when consciousness is at bay and where one may sleep in uncompromising positions. This is whilst many are wearing an alien attire (ihram) which they have simply knotted together with the hope that it does not unravel revealing their stark nakedness. In situations, I have seen men lose control of their ihram garments to become stark naked in full public view, I have seen men sitting in compromised positions amongst other strangers. I have also found it horrendous how at times common decency is compromised in the name of ‘rituals’. Never has a dichotomy of practice so apparent ever ceased to amaze me in of course, a country that is otherwise so ultra-orthodox in the name of religion!
Posted on: Tue, 08 Oct 2013 10:47:24 +0000
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