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Pilgrim non grata in Mecca
Fresno Bee ^ | Mar. 12, 2010 | Maureen Dowd

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.

(Excerpt) Read more at fresnobee.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS:
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To: SJackson

IBCZJ


21 posted on 03/12/2010 7:08:18 PM PST by JRios1968 (The real first rule of Fight Club: don't invite Chuck Norris...EVER)
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To: JRios1968
You rang?


22 posted on 03/12/2010 7:12:54 PM PST by Hunton Peck (Election: The process of hiring an employee you hope will steal less from you than the others do.)
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To: Hunton Peck

Thank you. Very well done!


23 posted on 03/12/2010 7:55:35 PM PST by SmithL
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To: SJackson; All

Most folks don’t know that the “Holy of Holies” (”Most Holy Place”); the inner sanctum of the Orginal and Second Temples was a perfect CUBE.

Also some believe that the coming NEW JERUSALEM is also a Perfect Cube.

Now, what proof do you need that Islam is the devil’s spawn....what proof do you need that the demons are counterfiting the most significant part of God Creation and his design for us.

The Black Stone of Kaaba is lucifers anti-type.


24 posted on 03/12/2010 8:22:46 PM PST by Halgr (Once a Marine, always a Marine - Semper Fi)
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To: TaMoDee; cardinal4

When I was assigned to the U S Embassy in Jeddah almost 30 years ago, a senior diplomat once remarked to me at an embassy reception that the crossed swords in front of the palm meant “cross my palm or I’ll cut off your hand.”


25 posted on 03/12/2010 8:49:39 PM PST by Ax (I HOPE Obama will CHANGE back into a lizard before long.)
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To: Hunton Peck

26 posted on 03/12/2010 9:25:17 PM PST by JRios1968 (The real first rule of Fight Club: don't invite Chuck Norris...EVER)
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To: Hillarys Gate Cult

No, I mean publically and formally invited. It was for a business need though.


27 posted on 03/12/2010 9:27:57 PM PST by autumnraine (You can't fix stupid, but you can vote it out!)
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To: Ax

Yup, “Baksheesh” is the business fee of the Near East.
Our “expediter” was paid a handsome amount to “help” the procurement of everything from hardware to airline tickets.


28 posted on 03/12/2010 9:39:46 PM PST by TaMoDee
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To: Hunton Peck

Thanks. Just as I was ready to hit the rack. Aah Sweet Dreams.


29 posted on 03/12/2010 9:45:46 PM PST by TaMoDee
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To: SJackson

Please do a title and keyword search before posting new threads:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2467769/posts


30 posted on 03/13/2010 4:00:57 AM PST by mvpel (Michael Pelletier)
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To: SJackson
(Osama bin Laden's jihad, after all, began with anger about American troops being deployed to Saudi Arabia during the first Gulf War, which he considered a profanity against sacred ground.)

There had been Islamic terrorism directed at the US long before Osama decided to wage his jihad.

31 posted on 03/13/2010 5:45:49 AM PST by SuziQ
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To: La Lydia

That was the word I meant to use.

Egg on my face.


32 posted on 03/13/2010 8:06:06 AM PST by jazminerose
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To: SJackson
This article is so full of great lines it's difficult to choose, but my favorite is, "In the end, I did see the hajj. When I got home, I went to the Imax theater at the Smithsonian and bought a ticket to "Journey to Mecca." I was surprised when the movie said that the Kaaba was built by "Abraham, the father of the Jews - " ".

It's hard to top a show at the Smithsonian claiming that Abraham built the holy Kaaba.

For the 1,000th time, why OH WHY did Abraham listen to Sarah about her Egyptian handmaiden? ]

33 posted on 03/13/2010 3:54:55 PM PST by xJones
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To: mvpel; SJackson
Whoo, SJackson got a ticket from the title search cops?! God save the rest of us.

Sorry Jackson, I've just always thought that you were perfect.:D

34 posted on 03/13/2010 4:00:43 PM PST by xJones
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