If it wasn't for the random pictures of beer and the beach, most people would think I live in the Middle East for all that I blog about it. I live there in my virtual work world but I'm happy to say that I bought my ticket to Peru today. My next work trip includes 3 weeks in Russia before I make a side detour to Egypt, and next year's vacation is Aussie/NZ on a Star Trek cruise.
Having said that, I have to post this article about women in Saudi Arabia. Unnoticed by most of the world, the women are standing up for themselves.
Saudi clerics want curbs on women praying at Kaaba
Reuters
Riyadh: Saudi clerics want to impose restrictions on women praying at Islam's holiest shrine in Makkah.
But women activists in Saudi Arabia say the idea is discriminatory and have vowed to oppose it.
At present, women can pray in the immediate vicinity of the Kaaba. Plans by the all-male committee overseeing the holy sites would place women in a distant section of the mosque while men would still be able to pray in the key space.
"The area is very small and so crowded. So we decided to get women out of the sahn [Kaaba area] to a better place where they can see the Kaaba and have more space," said Osama Al Bar, head of the Institute for Haj Research.
"Some women thought it wasn't good, but from our point of view it will be better for them ... We can sit with them and explain to them what the decision is [about]," he said. The decision is not final and could be reversed, he added.
The plans are likely to provoke a furore among women in countries whose Islamic traditions are more liberal.
Ordinary Muslims say it as a basic right to be able to pray as close as possible to the Kaaba.
"Both men and women have the right to pray in the 'House of God'. Men have no right to take it away," said Suhaila Hammad, Saudi woman member of a body of world Muslim scholars.
"Men and women mix when they circumambulate the Kaaba, so do they want to make us do that somewhere else too?" she asked. "This is discrimination against women."
Having said that, I have to post this article about women in Saudi Arabia. Unnoticed by most of the world, the women are standing up for themselves.
Saudi clerics want curbs on women praying at Kaaba
Reuters
Riyadh: Saudi clerics want to impose restrictions on women praying at Islam's holiest shrine in Makkah.
But women activists in Saudi Arabia say the idea is discriminatory and have vowed to oppose it.
At present, women can pray in the immediate vicinity of the Kaaba. Plans by the all-male committee overseeing the holy sites would place women in a distant section of the mosque while men would still be able to pray in the key space.
"The area is very small and so crowded. So we decided to get women out of the sahn [Kaaba area] to a better place where they can see the Kaaba and have more space," said Osama Al Bar, head of the Institute for Haj Research.
"Some women thought it wasn't good, but from our point of view it will be better for them ... We can sit with them and explain to them what the decision is [about]," he said. The decision is not final and could be reversed, he added.
The plans are likely to provoke a furore among women in countries whose Islamic traditions are more liberal.
Ordinary Muslims say it as a basic right to be able to pray as close as possible to the Kaaba.
"Both men and women have the right to pray in the 'House of God'. Men have no right to take it away," said Suhaila Hammad, Saudi woman member of a body of world Muslim scholars.
"Men and women mix when they circumambulate the Kaaba, so do they want to make us do that somewhere else too?" she asked. "This is discrimination against women."
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