Fasting for Ramadan in West Africa
Learning what its like fasting for Ramadan, living with a Muslim family in West Africa
Tag: Islam
Biker babes of Burkina Faso
Motorbikes, Muslims, fashion and the modern woman in Burkina Faso. When your brain does a Google image search on the terms Muslim women, African women or African Muslim women, what comes to mind? I won’t be so presumptuous to think that my regular readers are the kind of people to jump immediately to the stereotypes of poverty and oppression, or at the very least to move on from them after a moment’s reflection – after all there are many…
The dark side of Egyptian sex life online
It’s almost inevitable that the more you get to know a country, especially by making friends there, that you start to come across the darker sides to life, usually hidden from the passing tourist. Our own countries are no exception, as humanity’s baser urges hold little respect for wealth, culture or religion, these factors just influence the style in which these urges express themselves and how they are responded to by society. Almost universally it is women that are on…
The power of the place, in Palestine and beyond.
A look at the power conveyed by places of religious significance You can’t go far in Palestine and the region around it without tripping over a site of great religious and historical significance, particularly for those of us brought up in the Judeo-Christian traditions. So many place names take me back to early school days, when at morning assemblies and the occasional obligatory church service, us numerous unbelievers were subjected to Biblical extracts and the moral lessons they were…
Want to know the meaning of hospitality? Come to Pakistan
A simple list of the things I was given by locals in one day of walking on the streets of Multan in the Punjab, Pakistan will give you a very clear insight into the generosity at the heart of its culture. 1 Orange 1 Fruit juice 1 Bag of pickles 2 Cups of tea (several more refused due to risk of overdose) 1 Gigantic poppadom 1 Chicken Biryani 1 Bottle of Coke 1 Veggie Samosa (obliged to turn down a…
Raving in the name of Allah
The first, deep resonant boom of the bass drum echoed around the courtyard, the cue for the men to begin to stand. The second boom commenced a slow deliberate beat, soon all were standing, swaying, letting the rhythm gently guide their motion. Little by little the beat picked up pace, the dancers responding to its energy until it morphed into an insistent roll and the movements became more agitated. The beat dropped into the breakdown, the piercing, discordant wail of…
Nine Glimpses of Lebanon
Things aren’t always what you might think they would be in Lebanon 1. The Chevrolet Camaro is a man’s car, a real man’s car. Its muscular solidity just shouts America! at you. There’s no mistaking its form for some limp wristed, feminine, European design. But this is Lebanon, not Buttfuck Tenessee and the driver isn’t a hooch swilling redneck but an immaculately dressed Muslim lady, her head a mass of impossibly elegant hijab folds, a dazzle of shimmering colour. Her…
Who are the Yazidis?
Visiting Lalesh in Iraqi Kurdistan Some people make the headlines for all the wrong reasons, usually for doing something awful to a nice bunch of people. For others it’s only because the awful things are being done to them. Such is the fate of the Yazidis for whom persecution is so much part of their history that a list of 72 persecutions, principally carried out by the Ottomans, is an established aspect of the faith, though presumably it’s now 73…
Finding Allah in the ceilings and doors of Tunisia
If you forget to look up in Tunisian buildings you could be missing out on some spectacular craftsmanship and even the humble door often has as much, or of not more merit than what lies behind it. In these days of mass production and ruthless efficiency it’s easy to forget that once, people put love and pride into everyday things in a way that is often, now lost, even for many who can afford it. For Muslim craftsmen there is…
Forgotten dreams in Tunisia
The hopes born of the Tunisian revolution seem distant memories now You’ll struggle to find many Tunisians with a good word to say about their government these days. In fact, in five weeks in the country I found precisely none. Students, taxi drivers, businessmen, builders, beggars and more, all had varying tales of dissatisfaction, often bordering on despair of their leaders. Corrupt and self-serving was the general theme of the complaints that have left many in a slump, resigned to…
