online rihla

Via Tariq Nelson from the LA Times.

 Ah, this brings back memories of my time as an american muslim in Cairo.  Most of them are positive - heck, it’s where I found my husband so that right there is a huge plus.   It wasn’t a muslim utopia, but I did receive a lot of hospitalility.  I did get my fair share of freebies when people found out I was an american convert.

Unfortunately, there were a lot of negatives as well, sadly mainly related to masjids.  I loved going to Al Azhar and praying.  Walking into the wide open courtyard, the cool marble under your bare feet, that is what going to a masjid is suppose to be like.  After prayer, my husband and I settled in at the back of the main section of the masjid and read quran.  Unfortunately, one of the janitors didn’t seem to like the fact that a husband and wife were sitting next to each other in the “men’s” section and shoed us out.  The same janitor then spotted a bunch of western tourists - a mixed group of men and women - and quickly swooped in to offer them a personal tour of the complex, including the very area we had just been booted from.  So, apparently it’s ok for non muslim women to hang out with non muslim men in the men’s section of the masjid, but it’s not ok for married muslims to study qur’an?  Le sigh.