Salaam ‘Alaikum
Can someone please take Neil Mac Farquhar off of the Muslim beat at the NYT? Please? Pretty please? I mean, I know the NYT is going the way of many other newspapers, but that’s no excuse. Even the title is annoying. (The article is not as bad as the ambush job on the home schooling article, but it’s still annoying).
Young Video Makers Try to Alter Islam’s Face
Add comment May 9th, 2008
Salaam ‘Alaikum
Even though I go online every day, I’m not really “up” on my domestic American news most of the time. So Brother Tariq linked me to his latest post about a masjid in Philly (the Germantown one) that is refusing to bury a brother who killed a cop before being shot himself. The story quotes an unnamed person at another Philly masjid who also says they will not perform the janaza. The other two suspects have been captured. This is the first I had heard about this story, and I began reading the story he linked, and then the next one and the next one.
[rant]
19 comments May 8th, 2008
Salaam ‘Alaikum
Rather than post in comments.
1. Found a tailor — a tailor-ess. I don’t know if I will ask her to make things from scratch for me just yet, but she does an excellent job from what I’ve seen so far. Downside: she is much slower than my old tailor who…
2. I broke up with my tailor. I just couldn’t take his messing my stuff up anymore. Not only that, but he has his own ideas about what you want, so half the time he does what he wants b/c he thinks he knows better than you do. After my cleaning lady told me, “You know, he cuts the fronts of your jilbabs extra short,” it was the final straw. All this time, I thought it was *me.* No, the jilbab really is shorter in the front. All this time… all the money spent on those clothes and my yoga pants with the stripes down the side still show. I hate that. I hate when your very casual pants show underneath the jilbab, and I thought it was b/c of something I was doing wrong (like was the jilbab hanging back too far on my shoulders? I was constantly tugging them down). Now I know. He is very nice and very sweet, mash’Allah… but I can’t afford for him to keep doing this and I can’t be unhappy with my clothing for his sake. I might still take the boys’ pants or something like that to him every now and then. I’m just still dealing with the fact that he just cut off extra inches on the front of my new jilbabs… my new jilbabs. Alhamdulillah, I still have three new ones that he didn’t get his hands on but now I can’t even wear my old ones (the ones that haven’t fallen apart yet) without thinking of it b/c of how much I hated that pants cuff showing. It looks so dumb to have a smart hijab and a nice professional, simple look at the top, but then at the bottom your track pants are showing. Subhan’Allah.
3. Pockets, Aaminah: This isn’t a ME-lady thing, b/c every woman I know wants pockets on her clothing. I think it’s b/c by and large these things are designed by men. Esp. the ones that end up for sale in the US. Not all of them, of course, but a lot of these things are designed by men. And I guess they think we got them purses and stuff, why would we need pockets???
Yadda yadda. Baby crying.
12 comments May 7th, 2008
Salaam ‘Alaikum
I saw this in the newspaper yesterday.
Turkish Schools Offer Pakistan a Gentler Vision of Islam
6 comments May 5th, 2008
Salaam ‘Alaikum
[updated for 2008. it is noteworthy to me that it has been three years since i published this and not much has changed in terms of Muslim attitudes and knowledge. if i receive racist comments on this as i did last time, i will close comments.]
Check out this cool Bird Singing from the 2007 Thunder & Lightning Pow Wow in Cali. Not the best quality video, but it’s pretty cool.
Why do some Muslims have to concoct these elaborate theories that everything “good” or “positive” about indigenous American cultures (Indian or Hawa’iian) came from some supposed pre-Colombian contact with Arabs/Muslims? Isn’t it enough that Native people have had to take the same racist, condescending nonsense from the Europeans for 500 years (on top of the genocidal violence), now you have to hear it from the Muslims too? Shouldn’t Muslims, under assault from the likes of Friedman, Faux News, two centuries of Orientalism, and so forth, know better?
9 comments May 4th, 2008
Salaam ‘Alaikum
Sami al Hajj was a journalist with al Jazeera in 2002 when he was shipped off to Guantanamo Bay on suspicion of being a terror courier or having interviewed Osama or whatever the reason was.
He was released on Thursday after six years with no charges… and a year long hunger strike during which he was force fed through a tube in his nose.
Here he meets his son for the first time since the boy was four months old. He was taken to the hospital upon his arrival in Khartoum.
Even Ahmed Mansour is weeping like a baby.
More about Sami: Prisoner 345
7 comments May 3rd, 2008
Salaam ‘Alaikum
So yesterday, I went to Zarqa’ in search of the jilbab. I’ve been trying to go to Zarqa’ for about two months. Boy, there are two things you never hear together in a sentence… “trying to go” and “to Zarqa’.”
I have jilbab issues, as I have written in the past. I’ve found it difficult to find plain, normal jilbabs in ‘Amman. When you do, they’re either in very thick fabric w/ lining (ie, not for summer) or they’re expensive, or both. For example, I have two Syrian jilbabs that are very nice. But they can’t be worn in the summer. I’ve forgotten I even have them (until next fall, that is). The one trend I can’t get past and can’t stand is the v-neck jilbab trend. These are very low cut jilbabs. The woman is meant to wear her scarf tucked into them, but I — I have broken out of the JHM. I don’t wear my scarves tucked in. Bleah. So if you don’t tuck your scarf in to cover it, you have to pin it closed or wear a scarf big enough to cover it. Zarqa’s more conservative, so I figured I’d have better luck up there.
Just chillin’. Driving his tractor down the street. No biggy.
Unfortunately, I figured wrong. A lot of the merchandise was overpriced. This is done to force you into bargaining, something I despise doing. A lot of the styles were not my style. Colors like brown and some pukey green teal. What? No black in Zarqa’? What is wrong with the universe? In addition, as soon as we entered the suq jalabib, I started getting random (cough) bluetooth… things. Guys here do that. They just text, call, or bluetooth a whole bunch of numbers, hoping to get a girl who is as stupid as they are.
Do you know there is not a single plain abaya to be found in this country? Every single abaya in this shop had … stuff on it. Even the “plain” one had this big 5″ wide strip of satin with burn embossed velvet on it (ie, gag). I told him, plain, plain, plain! He goes, “This is plain.” I said, “I can’t wear this to work.” So many times yesterday I said those words. I can’t wear this to work. If it was just a little stuff on the sleeves, I could handle that but many of these abayas had cut out flowers, sequins, embroidery and all kinds of junk on the front and the back. Ick.
There is also a national hijab pin shortage. It is a sad, sad day when you live in a country where 60% of the women wear hijab, and you have to have hijab pins sent to you from New Jersey.
And you know what else they would show me when they showed me the plain jilbabs? Jilbabs with knife pleating in the back. YECH. I said to one, “Do I look like a grandmother to you?” and he got really annoyed with me. But I was annoyed with him because I am just 40 years too young to wear a puke green polyester jilbab with puffy sleeves and knife pleating in the back. The type of jilbab that perfectly matches either the white square scarf that you tuck in or the elbow length cheap polyester khimar. HONESTLY!
Anyway, I did find two, although they both have an open collar (sigh). And neither of them is black (sigh sigh). So that means a trip to the mukhayim, where there is one shop that I’ve found stuff at in the past.
And I didn’t even tell you about the guy who kept saying, “Don’t you want to wear niqab?” …
20 comments May 2nd, 2008
Salaam ‘Alaikum
Bringing this to the top instead of posting it in a thread, b/c I have a lot to share. First, check outm aster teacher Glenn Velez, playing on a Remo frame drum in this vintage video.
Totally awesome, right?
Safiya, the drum you link to looks very nice. But there are also good deals to be found on synthetic drums, as well as specialty online shops in the US that deal with frame and other hand drums. I had a goat skin drum to start and I inadvertently wrecked it. I don’t know if a djembe needs to be tuned and cared for the same way — maybe you have a head start.
The drum I play now is a Remo Fiberskyn 3 16″ frame drum. It was purchased for me by my drum teacher, who studies with Turkish and Arab masters in the US (yes, there are some in the US). It is a very reasonably priced drum. You can also get it here on Amazon. The 16″ has quite a deep sound. You can get them much smaller and somewhat larger. The advantage of a synthetic head is that it is pre-tuned and is resistant to temp changes, water, and so forth.
My other drum is a very simple plastic head one I got in Damascus. Some of these are pretty okay sounding, but I got a dud. I could kick myself over the whole Damascus-drum debacle. I’m looking at a dumbek right now, as well as a decent goat skin (like Undercover has). However, I really would love to move to the bodhran next and the djembe.
Rhythmweb’s Frame Drum Central is the best place to start. Plus, they have stuff on lots of other types of drumming.
Frame Drums.org has a few videos, plus they’re having an official conference in May in NC (or SC?)… (I just learned Frame Drum Fest was last month in NJ. In NJ! When I’m here!) (Here!)
Cooperman supernice and pricey hand drums and stuff.
Knock on Wood For our UK friends.
Drum Dojo Frame Drums page
Turkish Usuls These are the things I learned, but it’s really a case of in one ear and out the other. I forgot a lot.
David Kukhermann Online tutorials
Abbos Kasimov plays the doyra, an Uzbek drum.
Hm, can a ladies’ drum circle at ISNA be far behind?
9 comments May 1st, 2008
Salaam ‘Alaikum
Two children and their mother recently lost the principal breadwinner of the family. The mother’s part time job doesn’t pay a living salary or benefits. This family needs help.
“They ask you, (O Muhammad), what they shall spend. Say: that which you spend for good (must go) to parents and near kindred and orphans and the needy and the wayfarer. And whatsoever good you do, lo! Allah is Aware of it.” (Al Baqara, 215)
You can read the appeal for a Delaware family who’s father / husband was recently killed in an accident here: Help Orphans
“I, and the one who looks after an orphan, will be together like this in the next world”, then he raised his index and middle fingers together. (Muslim)
Add comment May 1st, 2008
Salaam ‘Alaikum
No work tomorrow! This is because we are celebrating International Worker’s– er, Labor Day in the HKJ. That means I got to spend the evening melting my brain and doing nothing constructive. I am topping off the evening with two treats: Edita Bake Rolls and an ice cold can of A&W root beer.
Bake Rolls are essentially bagel chips except that they’re made in Egypt and cost 20 cents, vs. being made in some bakery in NY and costing $3.95. They are the closest thing I’ve come to a bagel in the time I’ve been here. When people here say, “I’m eating a bagel,” they mean that they’re eating a hamburger bun with a hole in it. I kid you not. Maybe this is not a big deal to people who are not from NY or Montreal (which I grudgingly acknowledge as the second capital of all things bagel-y). For breakfast, there is nothing I love more than a bagel with scrambled eggs and melted cheese on it. Or for lunch, a bagel with vegetable cream cheese. Anyway, the store owner knows I love these things now.
So Edita makes them in a few flavors: salt, of course. Nacho cheese, which is nowhere near as funky as it sounds… and hot chili and lime. Which is actually tasty. It’s grown on me. I was so wanting bake rolls that I just bought it when it was the only one in the store. And I only know of one store to get these at! Ack. Of course, I bought a supply for the weekend. At 15 q a pop… I could afford to take home a few.
Accompanying it is an ice cold, 12 oz can of root beer that my friend N. found at C-Town for a suspiciously good price. It is so, so cold and so root-y. It is true, we agree, that A&W is not Barq’s, but when you are in a root beer free land… you’ll take any root beer you can.
There was more that I intended to say, but all of this intentional brain melting means I can’t remember a darned thing. So I will go to sleep and sleep in (on a weekday, how delightful).
Happy International Workers Struggling Against Da Man Day.
7 comments April 30th, 2008
Salaam ‘Alaikum
I found this story / video on microcredit, which sounds pretty bad. Unfortunately, I really don’t have the bandwidth to watch the accompanying video. Perhaps someone else can and give us all a report on the claims.
The Crushing Burden of Microcredit
7 comments April 29th, 2008
Salaam ‘Alaikum
Many of us in the American Muslim community are familiar with the trials of Debbie Montaser, a NYC educator who was set to open the first magnet school in New York focusing on the Arabic language. Thanks to the tenacity of the attack poodles and other right wingers across the country, she was forced out days before the school opened, branded as a “jihadist” and “extremist,” despite her many, many years of community work not only with the NYC Muslim and Arab communities, but with Christians, Jews, and secular civil societies as well. They claimed that it was really a “madrassa” (which, if they had attended this school, they would know means… “school”) and that Ms Montaser and others would be secretly proselytizing and teaching “radikal Izlahm ™.” It was an illustration of how quickly the right wing can act to push someone down, and how far they will go to completely tarnish an innocent person’s reputation.
Well, although she resigned from the school, she’s never been down and out. The NYT has a profile on Ms. Montaser, who is now suing to get her position back at the school she worked so hard to make a reality.
What caught me the most was this line, a simple acknowledgment from no less a source than the NYT (you know, the same paper that recently branded Muslim homeschoolers as ignorant xenophobes):
It was also the work of a growing and organized movement to stop Muslim citizens who are seeking an expanded role in American public life.
Of course, this is followed a few lines later by the ridiculous assertion that Muslims in the UK and France are “threatening” to assert Shari’ah on those countries. Yes, from the banlieus and Bradford… indeed. The article traces how Mr. Pipes and the army of sheep that he leads were able to build a nasty, noisy coalition to brand Ms. Montaser (and as usual, all Muslims) as fifth column extremists who desire to impose the burq’a on American society. Personally, I would like to know when some freedom and fairness loving non-Muslim American will start the Stop Daniel Pipes coalition, or the PipesWatch.com organization to keep tabs on all of those freedom hating, Muslim hating extremists who are distorting American values. And to especially keep tabs on their funding.
Frankly, only paranoid, hateful, ignorant people could take something as innocuous as a woman switching up her fashion sense every now and then and trying something new and turn it into “evidence” of her “Islamist” agenda. (Frankly, if they knew as much about so-called Islamists as they claim they do, then they would know that the hijab is pretty much non-negotiable, and a certain style of dress is almost *always* worn by female supporters of Islamic political parties that doesn’t include turbans and flowing, brightly colored tunics with pants). Something normal for *any other woman* becomes a tool of doom and evil when it’s done by a Mozlem!
Let them have freedom of speech — but let us not confuse freedom of speech with freedom to libel, slander, and defame people. Let’s recognize an agenda of hate and xenophobia when we see it and let’s not be afraid to call it to the carpet because they threaten to call us “anti-Jewish.” I have a lot of respect for the Jewish friends of Debbie Almontaser who stuck by her side (vs. those who scattered when the mud hit the fan).
3 comments April 29th, 2008
Salaam ‘Alaikum
These were growing in an old coffee or olive oil tin outside of some Salti Kharabshan’s house. Does anyone know what they are? Are they succulents?
Did you ever notice that except for your own story, you only have bits and pieces of the whole thing? Even your spouse, even your children. You will never know the complete story. There is always something that is going to be withheld. Only you and God know your story. No one else knows your story. No matter how open and honest you think you are with someone, there is something you hold back. Maybe not deliberately; maybe you forget it except during a lonely moment when the sun comes in through the kitchen curtains and hits your morning coffee cup in just the right way. Maybe you think those little things aren’t important. A passing nasty thought, a guilt, a desire, a longing, a memory, something strange that makes you laugh. I don’t believe in sharing all of yourself with someone else. Keep something for yourself. This whole modern American idea of spilling our guts and secrets out for everyone to see and examine is unnatural, in my not at all humble opinion. Maybe it’s built in, a natural psychic protection that you always hold something back. Psychic hijab. There could time when those forgotten hidden things save your skin.
zOMG, when I was a kid, I used to record things on this little black tape recorder my parents had. I don’t remember the brand. It was portable and flat and had a big silver speaker, and an orange circle on the “Record” button. It was portable and had a handle and was probably from Radio Shack. I remember driving through Clear Creek Canyon in our rattle trap Blazer when I was a kid listening to tapes on it. These were Blazers before SUVs became the must have for lawyers and soccer moms. It was when we used the word “truck” and didn’t know what an “SUV” was. It was all pleather and metal, no amenities, and as I got older, a deeply embarrassing yet highly practical vehicle for living where we did. Dude, I so hated being dropped off or picked up at school in that thing.
As of seven years ago or so, that Blazer was still on the roads of Colorado too. And perhaps off of them too. (We used to drive off road in the mountains).
Anyway, we’d drive up to the mountains and since there was no radio there, my parents would bring this little tape player / recorder and a pleather tape briefcase full of tapes that, I am half-amused to admit, they still have. (By this I mean they still have both the tapes *and* the pleather tape case). I remember the Beatles and the Four Tops and Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young and some Irish stuff and Hank Williams Jr, and I don’t know what all else. If I ever hear a bluegrass rendition of “The Orange Blossom Express” or “Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys,” or “Our House,” I am immediately taken back to Clear Creek Canyon.
There is a photo of me when I was about six in a knee-length blue windbreaker. I was wearing a knee length dress, white tights, and brown Mary Jane t-straps. I remember driving up to the Canyon with my mom in the other car we had for a while, an old Toyota Corolla. It was white with black interior (hideous!). We went up after school. We stopped by the Creek. I don’t know why; just an afternoon drive I guess. I remember tossing rocks into the creek, trying to skip them. The wind was blowing my hair, but it was sort of warm, and I remember how big the jacket seemed on me — it reached my knees! She took my photo with her Instamatic camera (which she still has, natch). CSNY was on. We went home. I still have these photos. I probably had that tape player with me. 
Gosh. I’m homesick. Check out this pic and tell me you wouldn’t be homesick for the Great State of Colorado too: Clear Creek Canyon Panorama. And remember, that is just one of the spectacular views you’ll get in the Great State of Colorado.
My point was going to be that I’m so old school. I learned to type, not “keyboard.” On a Selectric. When I was in HS and college, I had a ‘zine, not a website or blog. Instead of e-mail groups and Facebook, we had FBs, friendship books. I used to love getting those in the mail. Remember mail? I hardly ever check my real mail for anything these days except refunds and bills. I never expect personal mail in the box anymore. How quickly and easily we adapt to new technology. Even my grandfather has e-mail and a digital photo frame, and he’s quite advanced in years, mash’Allah.
Sometimes I wonder if all of this spins the heads of older Jordanians (or anyone in a country that has very rapidly modernized). My grandfather takes it all in stride, but he did at least grow up in a time and place where refrigeration, radio, and electricity were the norm, unlike a lot of the older folks here.
The other day I climbed up Mt. Kharabsheh (snicker) to the ridge of the wadi. Anyone who has an original copy of the booklet “As a Rule” has seen this wadi (valley) as it was (p. 17) … scrub brush, rock, a sheep here or there. Now, as you can see, it is being developed. You can’t even see it that well in this picture, as the yellow and white and concrete buildings of Jordan tend to blend in with the landscape, until they reach a certain point of saturation. Sooner or later, that dirt road there will be paved… it links up to the Jordan Road already. When we came back after 4 years away and first saw the development, we both gasped. Anyway, from here you are looking into the rest of Jubeiha (you know, technically, K-Town is Muntaqa Jubeiha; look at any street sign to see).
Here we are looking towards the west, towards Dahiyat Rasheed, which is also technically part of Jubeiha. I work in DR.
The new extension of Madinah Riyadhiya and Tabarbour (where the two meet). See the bits of orange and white and other things in the wadi there? Those are the homes of construction workers. The orange represents the plastic tarping they use as a roof. You see, they come from Egypt, sometimes with their families (I saw children here), and build those nice white stone buildings you see on the ridge. And then they move on. They have satellite. Sometimes they jerry rig a water tank and have running water. This is the affluence boom of West Amman, of Jordan. We are building “world class” skyscrapers like Jordan Gate and “the New Abdali” (see previous post!), gated communities, villas with the latest amenities, and *this*, my friends, is how the guys building those “world class” buildings live. And there is very little that we can do to change this… as the situation stands now. Mountains need to be moved to stop this.
I just wanted to point that out.
You know, it’s enough that you have to climb a very steep hill to get to your house, why add a giant staircase to the mix? One of the “Super Deluxe, Salti Style” flats we saw was on top of the ridge. Although it is a great view, it’s also a hassle. You’d have to go up and down that mount to get anything from the bodega or vegetable store, or to get a taxi… it’s probably a lot colder in winter. And there are feral dogs, on top of gypsies, bedouin shepherds and their smelly animals and their dogs too… no thanks.
There were many interesting things seen on this little stretch of street leading down the hill to my front door. But my new memory card didn’t like them. And so it corrupted those images. It was 85F yesterday. There was no way I was going back up the hill just to take some shots. But if the memory card thinks it has defeated me, it should think again. I’ll just go another day — when there’s sun and light! And I might take trusty old memory card with me instead! (gasp!)
Isn’t it funny how you can live in a place everyday for a year or two years, and then you take a walk and see the place from a wholly different angle, discovering little things you never noticed before? I never saw the view of K-Town from the top of this tiny little street, which starts halfway up the Hill of Doom and ends (literally) at my front door. I’ve been to the ridge many times. Every time I try to find another way to walk up and come back down.
4 comments April 27th, 2008
Salaam ‘Alaikum
Some people in Amman only have water for five or six hours a week. Most have it for 12 hours a week. That’s one day a week, two if you are fortunate. Today was water day in the area around Madinah Riyadhiya and Dahiyat Rasheed. And I saw this several times today. Mostly, it’s water being drained from the washing machine, but sometimes, it’s just leaks and people not taking care of business. There has to be a better way, in a country this thirsty.
I just want to know why people paint the bottoms of trees white in certain places. I’ve seen it in Arizona, California, and here, but I’ve never seen it in the NE. Why?
Can you tell me what this is?
There is a double standard when it comes to taking pictures here. Not just here, I’m sure, but I can’t comment beyond my experiences.
If you are a non-Muslim Westerner or Japanese person, you can take photos of pretty much anything or anyone you want, with some limits. For example, you can’t take photos of gov’t buildings, military buildings, police, military personnel. You can’t really take pictures in the mall, esp. City Mall. This is because the designs of these malls are so innovative and original that they can’t risk people copycatting them (oops, I almost choked on the sarcasm). You also can’t take pictures at the King Hussein Mosque in the Hada’iq Hussein. You can, however, take them at King Abdullah Mosque and the original Husseini Mosque. Don’t ask me why. Finally, there are some limits when it comes to taking pictures of people, esp. women. For the obvious reason. However, at other times, locals will happily jump into your photo and flash a grin that hasn’t been seen since their wedding night. I have seen it play out so many times. This is not to say that non-Muslim photogs don’t get hassled, ‘cuz they definitely do. But it’s usually when some bored military policeman gets it in his head that this person has photographed something belonging to the government.
On the other hand, if you are a Muslim — and by this I mean obviously so — then you can’t really take a photo of anything other than your child without someone growling and scowling at you. Sometimes they will yell at you. By this I mean buildings, street scenes, stores, your hand, flowers, the sky, trees, skylines, your food, and so on. The exception is at tourist spots. People assume you are Jordanian — not a guest — and treat you like one. There is a deep distrust of cameras here. I mean, not the camera phones that everyone has and uses everywhere. Those are okay. But not fancy cameras, like a digital or a DSLR or anything else. People get really strange about that, in my experience. You definitely can’t take photos of people. Unless they figure out that you’re a foreigner, in which case for most people, it’s okay for you to take photos. Only a few people will still grumble at you — but again, I’ve seen people grumble at foreign Muslim picture takers turn around and grin at the non-Muslim foreign picture takers. All in all, it’s pretty weird. And pretty annoying. I’m tired of getting the stink eye for taking photos of flowers. They aren’t part of the national security, people. I’d love to take photos of people like all those Westerners on Flickr do — great photos of people from Yemen or India or Morocco. But alas — I am not of the same status or position as they are.
Part of this attitude, by the way, is the attitude towards non-conformity. Conformity is a highly valued thing here. It’s part of the culture. It can be good in some ways, as it reinforces values and morals, but in a lot of ways in ends up in the herd mentality. Like the guy who was slagging off a parliamentary candidate to a newspaper reporter (”You can’t trust him, he’s not nice, etc.”) but turned around and voted for him because “he’s my uncle, and I have to vote as my family wants me to.” Baaah. You can’t really look too different, or behave too differently, or like things that are too different. You should see the looks people who *don’t* watch Bab al Harra in Ramadan get. Someone who’s walking around with a camera that isn’t attached to their Nokia or Motorola is different. And we don’t like different ’round these parts.
See the building on the right hand side with the dark, dark blue glass on the side? That’s where Qasid and Islamica Magazine are located. As you can see, there is also a bowling alley nearby, and a dinky rinky mall. What more do foreign students of the Arabic language need?
The overpass at Dwar Madinah. To the left is Sports City, Tabarbour, Tariq, Jordan Road. You’d go that way to go to K-Town. Straight ahead would be Jebal Hussein or the balad. To the right is Shmeisani, Gardens, and Wadi Saqra.
Regarding conformity, it goes something like this. People expect different types of behavior and mannerisms from women based on the type of clothing they wear. If you wear hijab al Amira with one of those handkerchief-style ponchos and pants, you’re definitely looked at differently than women who wear jilbab and square scarves. If you wear jilbab, you have to wear it forever. That might sound odd, b/c in America, a lot of us wear jilbab one day and jeans another day. But I actually know quite a few ladies here for whom the jilbab is a source of anxiety, because they feel that once they wear it for one day, they have to wear it forever. Sometimes, their families will tell them that they can’t wear it “yet” because they’re not married or they’re young or whatever. Jilbabis can’t be funny, weird, silly. Don’t laugh in public. People expect you to be serious and severe. I think that might be part of the reason people get funny about jilbabi photogs. Because you’re supposed to think that photography is haram or something. When you don’t fit into these expectations, people can get a little strange on you. You need to fit into that pigeonhole.
This is on the side of the hill behind the masjid. I don’t know why it’s there. Maybe some people get tired walking up to the masjid. There’s usually kids here playing. Sometimes they play with fire. Literally, I mean. Safety first!
Well, I’m going to go now. I have more photos. I’ll share them tomorrow, or you can browse my Flickr photostream if you like.
8 comments April 26th, 2008
Salaam ‘Alaikum
Dear fellow expats: This is the color green. Do you remember it? This happens to be green on a tree. Do you remember those? Yes — trees other than palms, olive, and pines? This seems like it is the only tree in ‘Amman. It felt like it. It was a tree in the middle of the sidewalk, which is where trees naturally grow in Jordan. I wanted to hug the tree. But there was a military guard sitting a few feet away and we were already weirding him out with the foreign language and the funny clothes and the camera. If I’d embraced the tree, that would have put things over the top.
Don’t panic, people. Summer is almost here, and soon everything will be back to brown and yellow.
Our friend’s mum had a surgery yesterday. We went to visit her. Do you know that this is one of the rights that a Muslim has over other Muslims? To be visited when they are ill. I have this over you, and you have this over me.
Mustashfa Islami and Bank Islami of Jordan have this whole “Islamic” theme thing going on.
Umm Iby is a story teller. She has multiple stories for every occasion.
My SHUKR Sandal Bag. Umm Zak had one too, in Dark Brown. I should have photographed our bags side by side. I don’t know if you know this, but you are actually required to have one of these if you live in K-Town. (No, not really. I’m just kidding you. But a lot of people here do have this bag). I am getting it in two more colors, plus the Hijab Bag, which is making a come back (whoo hoo!). I just want to make sure that my residency here is secure. How can I be down?!
The hospital was 60’s fabulous (as you will see).
I have been to visit people in the hospital 3 times in the past month, plus my son had a surgery. What gets me are the ICUs. Families sit outside of them with picnics, waiting. You can visit one or two at a time, so everyone else keeps vigil outside. I went to visit someone a few weeks ago, and there were no fewer than three people in the ICU and CCU on the floor who were relatives of my husband’s.
On one visit we sang “Zayn” for the patient. Kept rhythm tapping on the railings of the other bed in the room.
The stairwells of hospitals seem to be choked in smoke. Even though there is a law about this, I believe. The only two places I have not seen people smoke in public here are the hospital rooms themselves and the masjid. Everything else is open.
The cranes of the New Abdali. It is a sight to see. At night they are lit up. But the New Abdali grosses me out. For one thing, you have people who get all hyped over the walled up fence that closes off the construction area. “It’s the longest fence in Jordan!” Oh! Well then! This is a magnificent accomplishment, almost on par with the third largest flag in the world.
For another, the wall is covered in posters promoting the New Abdali. In the New Abdali, the Arabs are white. Not olive, not brown, not black — like most of the people here. But white. Blonde, even. Of course, hardly any of the white people here have blonde hair. In the New Abdali, there are no women with veils on their heads or faces. 60% or more of the women here cover their head — but not in the New Abdali. The men in New Abdali wear Western dress, not thobes and shmaghs. The funny thing is that this is going to attract even more Gulfies than existing places in Amman do (not many Jordanians will be able to afford the New Abdali), and almost all of the Gulfies here wear traditional dress, including niqab. But even these rich folk don’t exist in some artist’s conception of the new Abdali.
The other thing that annoys me about this wall are the sayings. “Let us Welcome the World.” (What’s Jordan been doing since the refugees first started arriving in the 1800’s?) “Let Houses Become Homes.” (Those of us who don’t live in luxury condos don’t have homes?) “Let the Shopping Begin.” (Sorry… almost threw up in my mouth there.)
So who is the New Abdali for? I’m not against development in Jordan, but do we need more luxury condos? I doubt it. Who can afford to live there? Almost no Jordanians, I’ll tell you that. What will there be there for Jordanians? Some jobs, for sure. Maybe some space in the mall areas. But mostly chai-wallah, and janitor, and cleaning lady. And even most of those jobs will go to non-Jordanians. (For a variety of reasons, some of which can be squarely blamed on Jordanians). And the pay? See, this is what bothers me. I’m not against development in Jordan, or the malling of Jordan. I’m not one of those Westerners who comes to the East and wants it to remain quaint and old fashioned (which usually means underdeveloped). After all, I am also a citizen of Jordan, and I know how the lack of development affects real people with real lives and families. But it’s not happening in a good way.
We saw the opening of a huge luxury mall here last year, and the service people who work there are being paid less than $250 a month for full time work. Meanwhile, the only thing in that mall that you can get for a dinar is a brownie or cookie. Even the luxury goods (British and American) are priced at double or triple the price in the UK and US. We’re talking $175 for a purse that probably costs about $50 in the UK or US. So who benefits from these things? Oh rant OVER!
This is what I meant by 60’s fabulous.
At the height of our foreigner arrogance, we thought this was hysterically cute. See how happy the mobile phones are, drinking their Mobile Juice? This is for the kid on the go. It’s sort of like Fulla ghee. Or Bab al Harra lollipops. The thing is, Sapling is entranced by the picture of Mobile Juice. “Dat. Drink dat.” So maybe the makers of Mobile Juice are on to something.
7 comments April 25th, 2008
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