Green Arabia
idlewords.com
idlewords.com
"I don’t have the heart to tell him that there’s no future for him anywhere I’m from, either. In the US, being from Yemen is practically synonymous with being a terrorist. The world expects people like him to stay put and suffer in place."
Trying to visit the US on a visa with a Yemeni passport is indeed difficult, and so is trying to emigrate there. But it's not impossible: there is a sizable population of Yemenis who have settled in the US and been very glad for how much better their lives are. San Francisco and Oakland both contain large Yemeni populations.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/22/yemeni-american... http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_25030451/oakland-man-stuck-yem...
What a condescending piece of advice. It's tantamount to "abandon your entire family and live as a fugitive, or are you too chicken?"
The point is--if he wants to escape his situation in Yemen it's going to take some risk and it won't be easy. If he's not willing to work for it, why should I feel sorry for him?
a) they work harder than you do
b) they face daily hardships greater than you ever have to face
c) trouble comes at random
It's easy to tell people to uproot their lives, and live as fugitives, on a nerd message board. It's nice to believe that we got where we are because of our superior drive, rather than random good luck.
While a) and b) may be true ("b" more so than "a"), "c" is only true in certain circumstances. Would you assert that everyone in prison is there due to bad luck? A necessary precondition for a new immigrant to the US to ultimately prosper is to avoid criminal activity (despite the very difficult situations they might find themselves in). It's quite sad that people take offense to this.
Nobody expressed or instructed you to feel guilt -- your mind immediately jumped to that because the idea that someone works harder than you and yet has less is deeply threatening, as it specifically points to how precariously and arbitrarily you're positioned in life. By painting yourself as the subject of a guilting, you can avoid confronting the real subject and change to a discussion about morality -- something nobody is asking for, but which allows you to dismiss the idea without considering it.
What was suggested was that perhaps you should consider undertaking humility and circumspection.
I hope this helps you with your problems.
Firstly, it is very cool to see this guy quoting Bukhari. The internet is a wondeful place.
I have commented her before, but I am very jealous of your travels to Yemen. I have talked to co-workers for a while and I am not sure the time is right.
And you have to be sitting in the back of a Land Cruiser! (For the uninitiated the most popular car in the Gulf, far and large, is the Toyota Land Cruiser, in all of its carnations, and the Nissan Patrol in a distant second).
The other one, which is not good for your plus one, because that is all you can fit, is the Land Cruiser LX pickup truck, also referred to as the Abou Houdh (ابو حوض), the "one with the basin/bathtub" for rough translation. This is super popular everywhere, but specifically amongst Bedouins and the working classes. Why the Bedouins? As you probably saw this thing has pickup and is famed for its ability to go up large sand dunes in reverse (Youtube can show you).
If you like the Land Cruiser LX pick up, there is always the "capsoola", the capsule. Same car, but in a two-door Jeep Wrangler form-factor. This is one of my favorites. It is popular elsewhere because it really flies over sand dunes.
Granted this is not Green Arabia knowledge, but I thought it might be fun for some.
I may or may not have heard how people buy these cars in GCC countries and drive them through Oman and onward to sell in the black market for crazy prices in Yemen. This is one of many fun things I have heard about the black market in Yemen.
Since you generate a lot of interest with this stuff on HN (but you write better), maybe I will start writing this stuff.
(Seriously though, I have a weight problem, no way I am skinnier than you; thank the Gulf lifestyle.)
That's because it takes significantly more effort to break the wheel's axle than with most German or French cars (never mind GM cars).
And of course, they're cheaper too.
Nissan Patrols, however, are very evenly weighted. I hear they landed very consistently all the time, at least more than the LC. So I have never really gotten it. I guess it just boils down to preference.
But yet, so many walls to climb. I would not, for a moment, hesitate to wake at 4am and join the locals, I would not - for a moment - be dissuaded from removing my shoes and joining those ancient prayers. But there is so much prejudice in the world, and I could not say for sure that I would give it all up for the chance.
If only we could find a way to have our cultures co-exist. I yearn for it. But then again, I have yet to feel the same for Europe, where I live. What a trap we live.
Be careful about joining the ancient prayers, though, unless you know how to perform them, and have converted to Islam. Otherwise you'll really offend people.
Disagree with this, they'll likely be overjoyed that someone foreign shows positive interest in their religion.
There are some things you have to do before going to a mosque: unlike churches, you can't get in a mosque "just to visit" (except if they have open-hours for non-worshippers/tourists, which is unlikely for a mosque in the middle of Yemen). You have to be in a state of purity (http://www.onislam.net/english/reading-islam/understanding-i... Also, joining the prayer if you're not muslim can be troublesome, but by all means if you just get in the mosque and maybe observe people praying, I'm not sure you'll get in any trouble. Theoretically, even a rude behavior in a mosque shouldn't cause you any big problem (a man once urinated inside the prophet's mosque, and the prophet stopped some believers that wanted to punish him and just covered the part where that man urinated).
Muslims are really friendly with non-muslims that are geniunly interested (even in mosques where there are some rules to respect)
In my experience, the biggest challenge you face in visiting a mosque is that people will make a sincere effort to convert you to Islam. They do this out of generosity and kindness, but it leads to some intense conversations. It is best to be ready with some good deflecting answers, unless you are considering becoming a Muslim.
I was very surprised to find myself invited to enter nearly every mosque I visited in Yemen. The only exception was the Great Mosque in Sana'a, which is closed to nonbelievers. My guess is this is because Sana'a sees a relatively large number of tourists compared to the rest of Yemen.
It would be hard to overemphasize the positive, welcoming, generous attitude of Muslims towards anyone with a sincere interest in their religion.
Anyway, if you go up to any mosque and find a person you can ask, hey is it okay if I check this place out? Can I join in the prayer? Unless you meet an old uncle from the old country, they'll probably welcome it.
The mosque I go to now, in Edmonton, we have this guy that comes for the potluck. One day, the prayer is starting and I tell him, let's go pray (we were cleaning up) at which point he tells me he's not Muslim! Anyway, no biggie, he continued cleaning up while we prayed :)
Now that said, I'd buy you could easily offend someones religious sensabilities by praying an incorrect way, but you can also easily offend someone by not praying at all...
If something, like, oh, say islam's apostate laws, existed, it would be plain to everyone that you can't have freedom of religion and islam (not limited, of course, to that one religion). Only one of those can exist.
Of course that doesn't mean you can't just deny any of this exists, especially because there are liberal muslims (less than 1%, sure, but of course it doesn't look like that in San Francisco. But even in San Fran you won't have any trouble finding people who'll use violence against apostates either).
No ?
Then, sorry to say, it's not comparable to what happens in the middle east at all.
And God forbid it's a woman were to try that.
There are some types of non-muslims (open apostates) that would be putting themselves in real physical danger by entering your average mosque in Islamabad and praying. We have a local ex-muslims meetup in London and stories of threats + actual physical violence from family and "community" are more common than not.
It also goes without saying that if there's no women's section and you have a vagina, you're shit out of luck.
Anyway, you can simply book a flight to Jordan, or easily get a visa to Qatar. It's not dangerous or anything. Go for it.
If you asked me what I had witnessed, I would say angry people with guns had nearly come to blows over handwashing."
I'm not from the USA but have spent some time there and this description for some reason reminded me of New York.
The big difference being that in New York you don't find yourself surrounded by the 50-person family of anyone you have the slightest grievance with in 5 minutes flat.
In Italy you just get surrounded, and there may be vague references to that fact. In Egypt, the references won't be vague, but explicit and colourful.
I was not aware that Yemen and Egypt were so interchangeable. Perhaps they are not. Have you been to Yemen?
edit - I feel it is a little like someone saying that they understand an aspect of the Scottish from the time they had spent in Paris, with another tourist who happens to be slumming in Edinburgh supportively saying that they would bet their last can of Tennent's on the veracity of the comparison. The comparison may be true, however there is no way of judging that without a few slightly more reputable sources.
I suppose author expected people not to follow thru with the source; http://www.quranexplorer.com/Hadith/English/Hadith/bukhari/0...
But the source is quite the contrary to what you claimed.
Or am I misinterpreting this?
Not sure if that's one of the traditional opinions in this case, but seems plausible. See here: http://ilookilisten.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/when-a-prayer-g...
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Also, there is no mention that the Prophet himself had not woken up for the pre-dawn prayers. But that could be a stretch.
By the way, don't be surprised at the existence of green in Arabia. There is an authentic Hadith (in Muslim's collection) that states that the Hour shall not come until Arabia returns into being rivers and meadows.
Lastly, the Companions of the Prophet Mohammad (Peace be upon him) are called that, not "pals".
Edit: user nuhar linked to the Hadith I was recalling: http://sunnah.com/muslim/12/76
-Hey, wake up. God is great.
Hnnnnghh. What’s happening? Where am I?
-Hasten to prayer! Hasten to success!
Islam, is that you?
-I bear witness that there is no god but God.
Jesus Christ, Islam, it’s four o’clock in the morning!