Side Note: Yes I wrote Mosque and not masjid cause it does not mean mosquitoes house!!To all email forwarders: Please check the accuracy of the information before you send it off to millions of people out there. So FYI: The word comes from French mosquée, from Old French mousquaie, from Old Italian moschea, from moscheta, from Old Spanish mezquita, from Arabic masjid. -- dictionary.com
Ok back to my original subject: the disturbing acts at the mosques.
1) InMeccaa: El 7aram el Makky
- I was surprised to see that the security allowed people to bring along cameras. Am not talking about cell phones with cameras, no I am talking about cameras of all types (digital/film) and sizes AND camcorders!!! I saw a handful of people posingin frontt of the ka'aba with huge grins on their faces! well Idon'tt know whether this is religiously prohibited or not but it just seems so wrong!
- Residents of nearby areas spend their weekends in the Haram. They literally spend it there! Like eat, drink, sleep, chat get entertained and everything else!!! There was this family I saw of 12 members or more of all age groups sitting/lying in one of the sections of the mosque. I have to admit that they were rather quiet for such a large party. But all of a sudden this man comes in with huge bags filled with Kudo Meals. (For those of you who don't know what Kudo is: Kudo is afast foodd chain I only saw in KSA andI'mm not exactly sure if it has branches outside the country. They serve stuff that we Emirati people find in cafeterias and mura66abat. In other words its a fancier Ma7arat el Ba7ar lol) . So back to the head of that family got them fast food meals, the whole place ended up smelling like fried chicken, grilled meat and fries ! I wasappalledd!how could they? HelloOoO! This is NOT a picnic spot! There was a time when even during Ramadan people had to sneak in food. They were only allowed to bring in coffee, dates, and bread. Whatever happened to that!!
On the other hand I was glad to see that some of the things Idisapprovedd last time disappeared. For example: During my 5 days stay I only heard 2 cell phones going off during the prayer and the ringtones were not the very distracting customized one ( meaning not songs ) .
Another things was after dark kids did not turn the outside area to a skating alley. During my previous visit two years ago as soon as the weather cooled off hundreds of kids took out their roller blades, skates, scooters and invaded the outside area (saa7a) and turned it into a play ground, which was very disrespectful and annoying. I was so glad to find that the authorities have controlled that, they even had a sign that prohibited it!
2) In Madinah, el 7aram el Madany
There was only this one thing that annoyed the hell out of me and my mom. The security women were searching usevery timee we were entering the mosque. You will tell me that it's a normal and regular procedureyaha Hanan why are you so annoyed? Well cause they were not searching us the normal way! The normal way would be the way they do it in Mekkah, they look at your bags and ask you if you have anything in your pockets in 20 seconds you're on your way. However in Madinah, they were searching us as if we were convicted murderers! They take more than 60 seconds on a person and they feel you up and down!! (Just the memory is making me shudder in disgust) Seriously the airport security was less tight. And when I could not take it I asked the woman what she s exactly looking for, she gave me ascornfull look and said in the most condescending way: that she was looking for cell phones with cameras, cigarettes and knives! KNIVES???? And what was most surprising to me was that this eyebrow raising search was being carried out just at the Ladies entrance!
I am not going to question the reasons for the search. But The way they were carrying it on and the securityladies attitudes has to be investigated!
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