Bismillah ir Rahman ir Raheem

Ya Mecca, or Putting Islam in 3D

Alhumdulillah, I returned from my hajj trip on Monday and it was really an amazing experience in a lot of different ways. I have so many thoughts and experiences with regards to the whole thing that I could write pages and pages. So I summarized my immediate thoughts below

Praying in Masjid Al Haram

So of course, it’s amazing, awe-inspiring, and everything else. The crowd alone is impressive, you can stand on the 3^rd floor and see the thousands of people making tawaaf (circambulating the Ka’aba) at any given time. You have to get to the masjid an hour in advance to be able to get a good spot on the first or second floor. 3^rd floor is easier, but it still takes 10-15 minutes to navigate through the crowds outside the masjid and get in.

I found myself just gazing at the Ka’aba for long stretches of time, in awe of it, in awe that I was at the holiest site on Earth, and wondering why of the more than billion Muslims Allah had allowed or chosen me to come to this holy place. It truly truly was a blessing.

And in a way, with all the people from all over the world and the grandness of the mosque and ka’aba, you feel that this is a holy place and there is a divine presence. It’s also just amazing to think that you’ve heard all these stories about the Prophet and the Sahaba (companions) and their struggles and now you’re there, where it all happened, where Islam spread first. 

'Arafah

I went to Jebel Rahmah and climbed it to the top on the day of 'Arafah.  Like everywhere else, it was so sooo crowded.  But despite the crowd, most people were somehow able to find a spot and just start making dua'a.  People were sincerely making dua'a to Allah for hours thst day.  And, as people say, it is like the Day of Judgment.  Everyone dressed the same way, standing before their lord.  Subhanallah

Muzdalifah

Muzdalifah is a big parking lot essentially.  There is so little space there as well, bnarely enough room to sleep.  Our group only stayed until 1 or 2AM, and me and a couple of other guys wanted to stay longer.  So we slept there until about Fajr.  We prayed Fajr there.  We started walking towards Mina to stone but in between all the buses and cars on the road it was tough.  So we jumped on top of a van for 10 riyals and slowly made our way to mina.  On the way we saw so many different people from so many different countries walking to the jamaraat to go throw.  Every country had their flag, Malaysians, Indonesians, Nigerians, Tunisians, Moroccans, Syrians, Pakistanis, Turks, Iranis.  From all over the Muslim world you could see people in Ihram marching towards the jamaraat.  It was interesting and inspirational at the same time.  After stoning the jamaraat we made our way to Makkah in a Saudi SUV Taxi.  We met some Saudis in the taxi who were such wonderful brothers, and they paid for our fare at the end even.  It was one of those hajj moments.  They paid for us, talked to us for a minute or so, and then disappeared.

Min ayna? Where from? Vous etes d’ou? Aap kahan sa hayn?

If there are two international cities on Earth it is definitely Mecca and Medina. New York, Cairo, no other place really compares to them. Everyone from everywhere is there. It seemed as though a lot of the shopkeepers and workers were from South Asia, particularly Bangladesh. I really think that you could live in Mecca and Medina for decades speaking Bangla and nothing else and get by very well. With every shopkeeper in Medina I would ask whether they wanted to speak in English, Urdu, or Arabic, and they all responded that it didn’t matter, they were equivalently fluent in all languages, at least for trade. So then I would ask them where they were from, and they would usually say from Bangladesh. It was a relief to use Urdu. Even though I’m not fluent in the language, it comes much easier to me than Arabic does.

I was in a bookstore in Medina, speaking to the Bengali worker behind the counter in a mix of Urdu, Arabic, and English. Then, an African woman walked in and started speaking with him in French! So I asked him how he knew all these languages, he just said that you have to in Madinah and that he had lived there for 12 years.

I even got to use my Bambara greetings that I picked up in Mali! I was sitting next to a Hajji (pilgrim) at Masjid al Haraam and noticed that he was wearing a Gran bou bou, like they do in Mali, so I asked him where he was from and then asked him in Bambara how he was, how his family was. Then he started speaking to me in French, and I realized how much French I had forgotten…..

So many people thought that I was South African, maybe because I had limited Arabic and limited Urdu, or maybe of because how I looked. Most people were ok with me being American, but there was one Pakistani in front of me who seemed a little disappointed when I told him I was from Pakistan. He seemed like he wanted me to be from South Africa.

Blessed Land

Driving from Madinah to Makkah you get a real feel for the Hijazi landscape. It’s just big mountains in the desert. And you get a feeling for the difficulty in traveling that people must have had at the time of the Prophet (PBUH), going between Makkah and Madinah. Our shaykh was telling us that they had done some sort of testing on the soil on the mountains and found that nothing could grow on it. So it was a real blessing that Makkah had the Ka’abah and that these cities were able to exist in what were very harsh conditions. And now, or course, there is the blessing of oil and oil money.

Crowd Control

This is one of the most testing parts of the entire experience. Simply put, the holy cities of Mecca and Madinah cannot hold the 2-4 million people that come for Hajj each year. In Mina and Muzdalifah there’s no roon to even walk, because there are so many people sleeping and living outside.

In general, credit has to be given to the Saudis for running a show that I don’t know if any other country could. The Hajj is an event unlike any other, with so many people in a very limited space (especially in Mina and Muzdalifah), all completing rituals at the same time. It’s not like the Olympics where people are spread out over the entire city and go to different events at different times. In this setting, 2-4 million people are all following the same path for the most part. So, of course, the traffic in Makkah is horrendous during Hajj, even with huge American-style highways and roads. There are so many logistical problems that have to be dealt with, but the Saudis have been doing this for quite a while and each year they change things to improve them. I really think that this might only be possible in such a wealthy country that puts such an importance on the 2 holy mosques and on the pilgrimage.

So yes, people sleep wherever they can, setting up tents everywhere, sleeping out in open air. They’re everywhere, outside Masjid Al Haram, in Mina around the Jamaraat, although I didn’t see anyone outside in Mina. A lot of the people outside are people who came for umrah and stayed for the hajj, or people from within Saudi Arabia. Most other people are with a group that is responsible for some sort of lodging.

The Americans that I was with had a lot of problems, that luckily (I guess), I didn’t have since I was a little more used to living in this part of the world. Walking for such a long distance in slippers was problematic for a lot of people. Furthermore, the biggest complaint that people pushed you in all the holy sites. It’s true, you would think that in the hajj people would be more civil, and the pushing is horrible, because at some points you can’t breathe, and you’re just surviving through the crush of the crowd. But the regular pushing through the crowd is something that I’m very accustomed to living in Egypt. In large crowds, in lines, people just push. It’s not even considered rude, it’s just the norm. And this is true in Pakistan even. It’s how people move. It’s not good, not by any means, but I was not as outraged as everyone else. That being said there are a lot of people that “push it to another level” as you might say, and for no reason it seems. People from some countries have a way of moving through a crowd whereby they all lock their arms, or form a caravan in a line and then push through the crowd so they can go to the center of the crowd (the Kaaba or the Jamaraat for example) and then move out as quickly as they came in. The problem is that, while it is the safest for them, it totally messes up the rest of the crowd and causes a very dangerous situation. In a way this is comparable to driving a Hummer. You might be safer if you employ this strategy, but you are endangering everyone else out there. The pushing is a big problem and tempers flare because of it. Even though it is the Hajj and we are not to lose our tempers, I saw fights almost break out on multiple occasions.

So all of these observations bring me to the tragic event on the 12^th of January (12^th of Dhul Hijjah as well), in which over 300 pilgrims were killed in a stampede

The Jamaraat

I’ve already mentioned a lot of the problems that led to this. Alhumdulillah my group threw stones in the morning after Fajr prayer and left. This is not exactly the way that the Prophet (PBUH) did it, but has been deemed permissible by many scholars (both in the traditional and outside of the traditional thought process).

So I was back in Mecca when this happened. What can I say. So much has been done to try to avoid this as it happens almost every year. The jamaraat used to be 3 obelisk type structures, now they’re basically very long walls so as to increase the area over which people can stone. There are 2 levels on which to stone. And there are warnings written everywhere both in Mecca and Mina, in every possible language. Written on glossy, big, posters, everywhere it says “Do not Bring Your Luggage to the Jamaraat”. On top of that it’s blared over the loudspeakers at the Jamaraat as well. The reason for this is obvious, if you bring your luggage and drop it, you might go down to pick it up or it creates a barrier over which people might trip, and this has happened so many times in the past. Once you fall in the crowd in the Jamaraat, the chances that you might get trampled are quite high.

So, the problem is that the 12^th is one of the days that you can stone and go back to Mecca, and the Jamaraat are the closest point in Mina to Mecca. So people want to throw and go. They want to walk to Makka from the Jamaraat rather than going in the huge crowd for a couple of hours to stone, then walk back for 30 minutes to their camp, and then another few hours to Makka. So people disregarded the warnings and brought their luggage to the jamaraat, which was one huge part of the problem.

The other problem is that there are people who are sleeping everywhere, as I mentioned before. So they are sleeping and living around the jamaraat, and at the entrance to the bridge where the throngs of people are coming to throw their stones. Once the crowd swells to a certain level, these people can also be trampled very easily. They’re just to the side of the crowd, there’s no barrier or anything.

Another is this business of people interlocking their hands together to move through the crowd easier. This is irresponsible in this situation.

The authorities aren’t blameless though. The whole setup is a setting of controlled chaos. There are ambulances at the edges of the jamaraat waiting for things to happen. The police are also standing on the edges. There’s no control over the whole situation. I did once see the police come in to help a group of women stone the jamaraat, so it’s not like they can’t come in and exert some control. In general it seems as though they are more reactive and not proactive.

Finally, there was some talk in the news of luggage falling off of a bus right before the stampede right where the stampede took place. So, I’m not sure how a bus was in that location at that time in the first place, but I don’t see why it was.

Troubles of the Muslims

Makkah is an amazing place because it brings together Muslims from all over the world. People with only one bond, Islam, come together fo the sake of Allah. And it’s amazing, you can feel the brotherhood when speaking to other pilgrims. But Makkah is also the place where all the good and all the bad of the Muslim world come together. And so many of the problems of the Muslim world are obvious in Makkah. Overpopulation is one, and that’s obvious. Lack of education and lack of awareness of public safety is another major problem. Both of these problems contributed to the stampede at the jamaraat as I mentioned above.

Poverty. It’s obvious. People come from all over the world with nothing really and camp out in Makkah for a couple of weeks or longer. And the inequality in the Muslim world is also obvious. I was staying in hotels with air conditioning and provided food in Makkah and Madinah. In Mina I was staying in an upgraded tent and the food provided there was even better than the hotels. Our camp at ‘Arafah even was very nice. And when you look outside of the camp there are all the people sleeping on the floor with nothing. And there has to be security at the entrance of each of these camps keeping people out.

There are beggars everywhere in Makkah. Not so much in Madinah, but definitely in Makkah and throughout the entire Hajj. You get the feeling some people come to the hajj in order to beg. And the problem that exists in Pakistan of a “beggar mafia” which somehow gets people and chops off their arms or disfigures them so that they’ll be better beggars exists in Mecca as well. On the streets outside Masjid al Haram, there are African children, some missing limbs who are singing this song and begging. Their song starts with “Ya Baba…”. Then, on the last day I made umrah and I saw these same beggars in between safa and marwah while I was making sa’iy. Subhanallah.

My point is that the problems of the Muslim world stare you in the face in Makkah. We are a blessed people in that we have this wonderful brotherhood and we have the Hajj, and we have Islam. But we have so many problems. And wealthier Muslims cannot ignore the problems of less fortunate Muslims. First and foremost because we are brothers and sisters in Islam. But on a very practical level, we are all in this together, and if we ignore the plight of the poor, it will affect us as well. A prime example is the jamaraat. As long as people in Muslim countries are uneducated and don’t give priority to public safety, they will engage in irresponsible behavior. And this irresponsible behavior will lead to the death of even responsible people (for example: who heeded the warnings and did not bring their luggage) in the case of the jamaraat. Furthermore, the disease that is spread in the hajj is great, and part of the reason has to be that there are so many people living out on the streets in tents. So even the wealthier people in the hotels will get sick from this. And this is a worldwide lesson, not restricted to Muslims, that the lesser fortunate have to be taken care of, otherwise we will all pay for the consequences.

Annoying and shocking things during the hajj

1) The MOST annoying thing was the cell phones. People were making tawaaf around the ka’aba and talking on the phone saying in whichever language “Yes, I’m here in masjid al haram making tawaaf.” Or even on the day of ‘arafah, on top of jebel Rahmah, there are people who are talking on the phone. I heard this one humorous story of someone who was in masjid an nabawi and in front of the grave of the Prophet (PBUH) and was talking on the phone. This person was talking on the phone, and said, “I’m in front of the grave of the Prophet, why don’t you talk to him (or ask him for something)”. Then the person turned the phone towards the grave and extended it towards it! But I can’t believe that at prayers in the haram, cell phones were going off...

2) The pushing certainly was a difficulty

3) I can’t believe that people bring their 6 month old children to the hajj. That is a huge hazard that I am really surprised that they allow people to do. I was making tawaaf al ifaadah around the ka’abah and there was a young southeast asian girl (maybe she was 7 or 10 or so) in front of me who was on the verge of fainting throughout the entire thing and her father had to periodically pick her up by her back to make sure she didn’t fall down. So even for young children the crowds are a hazard

So….it’s been a long time since I last updated the blog, and a bunch of kind of interesting things happened that I wanted to post here because they really made me think about different things….

Towards the end of Ramadan, in the last 10 days (the most devotional days of Ramadan, and really of the entire Muslim year) I went to Masjid ‘Amr ibn al ‘aas where Shaykh Muhammad Jibreel, one of the best Quraan reciters in the world sometimes leads prayer.  The mosque is deserving of the word humongous, and the night I went I thought he was going to be there, but of course, as I always do, I mixed up the dates between the lunar and solar calendars, so it ended up being someone else.  That being said, the imam was amazing masha’Allah….  It was a long tarrawih prayer, from like 7 until 10 or 10:30 but totally worth it.  And in the dua’a (supplication) for the witr prayer, he went on for like 30 minutes and within the first five he had everyone in tears.  Subhanallah it was amazing.  Even though I didn’t fully understand what he was saying it was this phenomenal experience for me….  It’s really something to be praying next to weathered 70 year old men who are completely bawling because of the beauty of the prayer… 

As I said, for all the criticisms that people have of Egyptians, during Ramadan people are really into the spirit of the month and they really seem to open their hearts to the Quraan…And I get really excited when I’m praying behind an imam and I recognize the section that he is reciting in Arabic, or if I can make out the meaning of just a few words based on my knowledge.  It is really a great motivation to learn more Arabic.  And so my experience with the dua’a at masjid ‘amr ibn al ‘aas was another similar experience…

I’ve been thinking about this for some time actually.  When I meet Egyptians and they learn that I’m Muslim, they are really surprised that I don’t know Arabic.  And it’s really a strange thing to an Egyptian that there are Muslims that don’t know Arabic out there.  They always ask “How do you read the Quraan?”  Now, most American Muslims know that Arabs don’t even make up 20% of the worldwide Muslim population, and so we might pass off such questions as ignorance.  But after seeing the love that the people have for the Quraan here, and even the greater appreciation that I have when I go over sections that I know the meaning of, I understand their amazement.  Not knowing Arabic is a barrier, and I can see how it could even be a barrier to spirituality.  And the Quraan is an amazing book whose greatness isn’t limited to Arabic of course, but it is so powerful in its original language.  Subhanallah…..

So on Eid, my roommate and I went to Sultan Hassan massjid in the morning for prayers and in the afternoon we took off for the oasis of Fayyoum….  Man, Fayyoum was amaaaazing.  I have pictures which I will post when I get more bandwidth (ya3ni when I get DSL, but it’s been a month and a half and we still don’t have it, so who knows when that will happen)…   We stayed in this very bohemian “guest house” which was completely made of mud and adobe with straw and matted roofs.  There was nothing to do there but read in the sun and enjoy the scenery.  And the food was local Egyptian food, and it was just delicious….  There is an inland ocean in Fayyoum that’s huge.  It is like a lake but it is salt water and has sea shells….  So our guest house was like a 10 minute walk from the beach.  And it’s just an amazing place.  The oasis is quite large, there are several towns and villages that are within it.  I will have to post pictures, because the juxtaposition of desert, inland ocean, palm trees, and the generally pastorial setting was picturesque to say the least,  It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, up there with the island of Bali actually…

So back in Cairo now.  Work is going well.  I’m observing surgery 2 days a week at the National Cancer Institute, and I’m trying to see if I can go to Mansoura once a week to observe surgery there.  The Urologists there are world renowned, and the institute is also one of the best in the world.  Research is still slow, but patience is the name of the game here.

Anyways, more to say actually, but it’s been a long entry as it is…..   

So I went to Al Azhar mosque for tarrawih (night prayer) today.  It was absolutely amazing, alhumdulillah.  On my way there I told the cabby jami' Al Azhar, and it must have sounded like Jamia Al azhar because he took me to the university, not the mosque.  Which isn't a big deal, because they're close, but I definitely looked funny asking people where masjid al azhar was.  One guy explained the whole thing to me in English when I asked him in Arabic, since I clearly must have been some strange foreigner...

Anyways, it's such an amazing masjid masha'Allah.  You walk in to a marble courtyard that's got all these people on its edges soaking up the atmosphere.  Then as you go in to the covered prayer area, it's so beautiful.  This is the one masjid I've been to that they don't use fluorescent lighting and the microphone isn't turned up too loud.  It was very peaceful.  The use of regular lighting instead of fluorescent lighting adds a lot to the ambience.  It seemed like a lot of people around me were students at Azhar as well because they all seemed to know each other and during the khatira the shaykh had a kind of interactive lesson going with them.  They had really good adab, and one would bring water for all the rest of the students or anyone else that was there.  It was a really cool experience alhumdulillah.  I had this electrifying feeling while I was there as well, it was so cool to think that I was praying in masjid al Azhar, and all the giants in Islamic history and huge scholars that had come through here.  How cool is it that on a random night in Ramadan you can just go to this historic place and sit at the feet of such knowledgable scholars?  What surprises me even more is that there aren't more people there.  These mosques were built huge and they barely fill up a quarter of the covered space if even that ....

Afterwards I walked out into the marble courtyard and just sat and absorbed the moment.  It's so cool that this place lies right in the heart of Cairo, in the busiest area, next to the Khan El Khalili and Sayyidna Hussein, but it's a peaceful sanctuary inside.  There were kids playing, walking on all the blocks and counting it as kids do sometimes...  There were people sitting on the side on mats making a sort of evening picnic with their family.  It's a great place to relax.....

So I really loved it there and I was thinking about something. This is the perfect public space.  Many places serve as public spaces, in the US there are coffee shops, restaurants, bars, etc.  And in the US there's this push to make public and recreational space everywhere, so all these kinds of places spring up everywhere.  But this was great because it had a calming spiritual dimension to it.  On top of that, this was a public space for the whole family, not just for young people.  Just having children around and playing adds a lot to the atmosphere I think.... 

Then I walked out to the street to see a huge fruit market.  I passed by a coffee shop where old men were playing cards outside and inside people were watching a soccer match on TV.  There was a barber shop with one chair in it and the barber sitting by it waiting for the next customer...  That part of Cairo has this great old world feel to it because....well because it's old world I guess!  But it's really cool.  I wish I'd brought my camera there because my words don't do it justice.  In the tunnel underpass between sayyidna hussein and al azhar there was a lone piece of graffiti in red, and it said "remember Allah" in Arabic.  Like I said before, there are a lot of challenges to living in Cairo, but at this point I'm just enjoying all the benefits....

Kul sana wa antum bikhayr...

So.. been a while, alhumdulillah I’ve really been enjoying Cairo in Ramadan.  But before that I thought it best to remind myself and others to keep the earthquake victims in Pakistan and India in our prayers and duas.  There’s a lot of reward in giving during the month of Ramadan so this is something of an opportunity as well.  Islamic Relief is one of my favorite charities that is doing a lot of work in Pakistan right now.  They did some good work in Louisiana an Texas post-Katrina and Rita as well.  The website is below:

www.irw.org

It is interesting to be having so many disasters all at once.  Is it that they happen to be happening in more populated places or in places that hit closer to home, or has the frequency of natural disasters increased?  Either way one has to wonder……

Cairo is amazing in Ramadan, as good as people had said it would be.  Everyone’s into the spirit of the month it seems.  Egyptians really love the Quraan, it seems, and it shows during this month.  On the metro, there are so many people have their pocket-sized Qurans out and are reading them.  Almost every taxi has Quraanic recitation playing from it.  And in this incredibly congested city, there is this eerie calm right before and after iftaar when there is no one on the street and it is so quiet.  Quiet like you would never think Cairo would ever be.  It’s really amazing.  And seeing so many people into Islam and Ramadan is really motivational.

Not to make it sound like it’s not a party here during Ramadan, because that’s the other side of the coin.  People really are up all night chatting and just chilling with their friends.  At dawn time you will see the cafes and sheeshas closing up.  And there’s this insane fireworks culture.  The whole month fireworks are going off, in the streets, in big crowded public areas, everywhere and at almost anytime.  It feels like you’re caught in crossfire.  I always feel the need to duck when I hear what sounds like a gunshot only a few feet away but everyone seems to walk by like it’s no big deal.  There must be all sorts of accidental injury…. 

I went to Sayyidna Hussain mosque on a Thursday night in Ramadan and there must have been many millions of people there hanging out or shopping.  It really feels like this vibrant heart of Cairo.  I took a few pictures as well which I will try to post.  There are interesting things going on there as well.  Around the grave area there are people singing, yelling, and other things.  Outside there are gatherings and such.  It’s a little bit of a spectacle.  The architecture of the mosque was amazing though. 

So I still haven’t been able to go to the hospital yet, but it’s ok because it has allowed me to get more involved with my Arabic studies and with taking advantage of Ramadan here.  I am taking Arabic classes 4 days a week, which may increase after Ramadan.  Right now I’m learning the ‘amiyah, or local dialect.  After Ramadan I will switch to fus-ha or the classical.  I’m beginning to realize what a monumental task it is to learn another language.  Even with a couple of years experience in fus-ha, I am stumbling in my interactions with people.  And it is hard to get the Egyptian accent right.  My Arabic teacher gave me a tongue twister so I can speak fast in the way Egyptians do

"Anwar arnabna fi manwar, arnab anwar fi manwarna"

Which is literally Anwar is our rabbit who is in the alley, and the rabbit of anwar is in our alley.

So he was laughing so hard as I was trying to say this like 10 times fast, but he said it would help me to pronounce things.  He also laughs because he says I speak like a farmer.  I guess when you say “'aml eh” or “akhbarak eh” the eh is really fast and monotonous.  If you prolong it like I do, you can sound a little, well farmer-ish I suppose.

I also learned a couple of colloquialisms that I thought were interesting.  The Egyptians say “kaza kaza kaza” just like we might say "yadda yadda yadda".  And then sometimes I’ll hear people say “hua hua,” or “hiya hiya” at work, which just means “it’s the same thing” apparently. 

Anyways, all these things are kind of funny to me.

Egyptian culture is open and friendly when people aren’t trying to take your money, but it’s more open than you might feel comfortable with.  There’s no concept of “not your business” here.  People want to know how much you paid for your apartment, your clothes, your salary, anything is open for questioning really.  And this by complete strangers!  I am impressed at people's manners though.  If you greet someone with salaam around iftaar time, everyone would say "fadal" and invite you to eat with them.

I bought a couple of thobes to wear here and there, and I began to understand why skirts can be a little restricting.  I was stumbling all over myself for a little while, but not to worry.  I’ve gotten the hang of it now and can confidently wear a thobe, or a skirt for that matter, without tripping.  I really am beginning to appreciate the shalwar kameez more and more to be honest.

Anyways, late night here, all the best to everyone…..

So I sat down to write this blog and I was humming the song to Doogie Howser.  In some ways he was like the first blogger…

My life is falling into more of a routine here with a regular workday and regular hours, but every interaction I have is like this new cultural experience filled with awkwardness on both ends.  Haven’t gotten the opportunity to go to the hospital as of yet, still getting all the necessary approvals for that, but I know to be patient with all that, especially at the beginning….

So no Cairo blog is complete without a taxi story.  I was taking a cab from Sultan Hasan masjid to Sayyidna Hussein and each cab driver that passed wanted 15 pounds for fare.  Fifteen pounds for a five minute ride!  So I was late so I just accepted the fare, thinking I might be able to negotiate it down.  So I kept on telling the cabby that the fare was expensive, and he kept on smiling back and laughing at me, replying that I was an expensive man.  I suppose that was kind of witty but I don’t think it was as funny as he thought it was…  So I told him I was a doctor from Pakistan (I embellished a little for lower fare and just for ease) and he showed me this golf ball sized left lateral neck mass and asked me what it was.  He said he’d had it for like 2 years.  So, my Arabic is so limited I could only ask him if it hurt.  I wanted to ask about systemic symptoms.  Who would think that at 11PM in a cab in Cairo while fighting with the cabbie over fare I would have to go over the differential diagnosis of a neck mass!

So I’m still getting the hang of the local dialect here.  Word of advice to people like myself, everytime you would say “like” or “you know” just insert a “yaani,”  and every time you would say “pretty much” or “maybe” or “kind of”, just say “mumkin.”  With that you’re halfway there already…  And pronounce English words with an Arabic accent, the way it sounds when you transliterate the Arabic.  So it’s not a computer, it’s a Kom-Byuu-Tar, and stuff like that….

Something that mystifies me about this city is that traffic is jammed up at all hours of the night.  I understand that Egyptians stay up late, but why is traffic jammed up all over the city on a random Wednesday at midnight?  Where are all these people going???

Alhumdulillah, Cairo is growing on me more and more.  It’s interesting to see the mix of cultural influences just on people’s faces.  You see people that look like Turks, like sub-saharan Africans, Arabs, and everything in between.  Even today, the city has a lot of visitors.  I’ve met a good many American and British Muslims here, some converts, some born Muslims.  On Friday at jummah, there are a bunch of Malaysians and Indonesians.  I feel like Cairo is like New York City for Muslims basically, there’s all kinds of people here.

I figured out how to hang dry my clothes also, which was a monumental achievement for me, from buying the string and the clothespins, to winding it back and forth tightly outside my balcony, to figuring out how to lay the clothes out there so they wouldn’t drop.  OK, maybe not monumental, but I thought it was a big deal…  It’s kind of a weird concept though, the whole city can see your stuff, what’s that all about???

Ramadan starts tonight or tomorrow night, I’m really excited.  It should be amazingi insha'Allah.