Posted on 03/12/2010 4:54:27 PM PST by SJackson
I was tempted to turn my abaya into a black masquerade cloak and sneak into Mecca, just hop over the Tropic of Cancer to the Red Sea and crash the ultimate heaven's gate.
Sir Richard Burton, the 19th-century British adventurer, translator of "The Arabian Nights" and the "Kama Sutra" and self-described "amateur barbarian," was an illicit pilgrim to the sacred black granite cube. He wore Arab garb and infiltrated the holiest place in Islam, the Kaaba, the "center of the Earth," as he called it, in the Saudi city where the Prophet Muhammad was born.
But in the end, it seemed disrespectful, not to mention dangerous. So on my odyssey to Saudi Arabia, I tried to learn about the religion that smashed into the American consciousness on 9/11 in a less sneaky way. And that's when the paradox sunk in: It was nearly impossible for me to experience Islam in the cradle of Islam.
You don't have to be a Catholic to go to the Vatican. You don't have to be Jewish to go to the Western Wall (although if you're a woman, you're squeezed into a slice of it at the side). You don't have to be Buddhist to hear the Dalai Lama speak.
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Silly vacation destination. Did Maureen think they had a spa?
Looking for a good deal on plastic surgery.
After all that Dowd still can't bring herself to single Islam out for criticism alone.
I suggest she relocate to a muslim country to enjoy the blessings of being a woman among barbaric misanthropes.
That should give her some “insight” into Islam’s “complexities.”
If I do go I'll steer clear of Mecca not because I'm not curious but because I intend to die with my head still attached to the rest of my body.
I know the only non-muslim to go to Mecca. He’s from Ireland ironically and an atheist to boot!
I notice that she takes a couple of smackss at Judaism. She just can’t resist it, although there is no moral equivalence.
The Saudis did make an exception for the French in 1979.
Officially, not into the Kaaba but the city of Mecca......
I know some Americans who did and I wont say how they got in.
It’s been said for years that Israel threatened, that if ever attacked by a Nuclear Weapon, the Magic Rock would be the FIRST target hit by a retaliatory strike.
They are also misogynists.
Me too. He was an US Army Officer. Neat undercover op’s.
That black box of rocks should have been glass, on 9-11-01, 10:00 AM.
It’s been said for years that Israel threatened, that if ever attacked by a Nuclear Weapon, the Magic Rock would be the FIRST target hit by a retaliatory strike.
Works for me
Needs repeating, and loudly!
Hijacked? It's been that way from the start.
IB4CZJP
Huh? I guess we have to believe a movie...?
You bet! Those crossed swords on the flag of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are not there for decoration.
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