British museum to stage Hajj exhibition

The world's largest exhibition on the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, is to be staged at the British Museum early in 2012, it has announced.

Manuscripts, diaries, historic photographs and contemporary art will be displayed to mark the annual ritual, undertaken by Muslims across the world.The museum's director, Neil MacGregor, said the Hajj was a cultural phenomenon "that needs to be better understood".

Hajj: Journey To The Heart Of Islam will run from 26 January to 15 April.

Pilgrim's journey

Every adult Muslim is meant to undertake the Hajj at least once in their life if they can afford the journey to Saudi Arabia and are physically able.Many Muslims save for years in order to perform the pilgrimage. Circling the kaaba in the great mosque in Mecca is

part of the ritual.Once they arrive, they must brave vast crowds and the fierce heat of the desert as they perform the Hajj rituals.

The exhibition will examine the pilgrim's journey, the rituals and the destination to Mecca.

It will also feature the work of contemporary Saudi artists such as Ahmed Mater and Shadia Alem.

The idea is simple and, like its central element, forcefully attractive. Ahmed Mater gives a twist to a magnet and sets in motion tens of thousands of particles of iron, a multitude of tiny satellites that forms a single swirling nimbus. Even if we have not taken part in it, we have all seen images of the Hajj, the great annual pilgrimage of Muslims to Mecca. Ahmed's black cuboid magnet is a small simulacrum of the black-draped Ka'bah, the 'Cube', that central element of the Meccan rites. His circumambulating whirl of metallic filings mirrors in miniature the concentric tawaf of the pilgrims, their sevenfold circling of the Ka'bah.

Mr MacGregor described the Hajj as a "supreme spiritual moment for Muslims" which "shapes the notion of the Islamic community worldwide".He added: "Very beautiful things, supreme works of art, have been made to be sent to Mecca to accompany people.

"We'll be looking at some of those objects and they are supreme."

Source:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-14214855

NATO CONNED US YET AGAIN

Article written by Zahid Asmal

As images of the lifeless bloodied body of Colonel Muammar Qaddafi flashed across our television screens, I could not help but feel pity for the hundreds of those gun toting jubilant young men who were conned into killing the maverick.Qadaffi reminded me of former U.S.president George W Bush Jnr, they even looked alike. The only difference being the latter got away with murder.
Duped into believing that they were fighting to liberate their country from tyranny, these young men hadn't the slightest of idea that they had just signed off their Libya to the oil wolves until death do the world apart.
Zionist Jews, wanting to establish a solid footing in Qadaffi's Libya, donned NATO uniforms and staunchly argued for a boots on the ground intervention. The citizens of Benghazi was about to be wiped out they cried! We want to help the people of Libya!

The story was bought. Libyan's were hooked!
The real reason as we all know is the huge oil reserves Libya has and the strong desire of some 200 thousand Jews to return to the country. Remember that Qaddafi was also adamant in implementing the GOLD dinar system, a single African currency which would be made from gold- a true sharing of the wealth.He called on all African and Muslims countries to join hands in implementing this currency which would rival the Dollar and the Euro. They would sell oil and other resources around the world only for gold dinars. It was an idea that would shift the economic balance of the world as a countries wealth would be dependent on how much gold they have and not how many dollars they trade and Libya has 144 tons of gold.......

It had nothing to do with protecting civilians.
Wonder where they were when Muslims in the Balkans were crying out for help?
It took NATO almost a full decade to intervene with air power. In Libya, it took one month to mobilize a broad coalition, secure a U.N. mandate,and establish a no fly or drive zone. Libyan's - who had free education,health,and housing, will as from today have to re pay the United States, Britain, and
France, for "setting them free". A life long commitment! The U.S. has already made it clear that Libya's 36 billion dollars in frozen assets will be welcomed as part of the thank you deal.

The maverick is history, he's victims are history.
We will miss his colourful presence and illusional banter.

Hajj 1953 - Pilgrims

Here are some more photos from Hajj 1953, courtesy of the National Geographic Magazine. This time they focus on the pilgrims:

Their lives changed the day she was born..

Little Wadha is a cute, adorable five year old child. She is the apple of her father's eye being the first born and like all kids she loves going outside and playing with other children but due to her medical condition she is unable to enjoy her life to the fullest. She was born in the UK after her parents moved there to allow her dad to complete his masters degree in law. Wadha was born with a hole in the heart which is a very common congenital heart defect that can be fixed very easily through advanced technological advancements that we have nowadays. Almost 90% of kids with this type of medical condition lead very normal and productive lives as the hole simply closes on its own over time or by a simple medical procedure. Wadha's parents nightmare started when the child was moved to the ICU after delivery and contracted a nosocomial infection or a hospital acquired infection due to unsterilized medical equipment. The infection spread quickly and targeted Wadha's heart and so she required an urgent operation to remove the infection which was becoming more and more resistant to antibiotics.

Unfortunately due to negligence on the part of the surgeon, the infection was scraped away but at the same time the doctor damaged her heart valve. A few days after the surgery the little girls medical condition worsened. Her dad then decided to lay a complaint against the surgeon and the hospital with the UK medical ethics committee. The hospital management and the surgeon were not willing to accept the negligence carried out on their part. Wadha's dad being a lawyer himself then decided to proceed with legal action with the assistance of the Saudi embassy in London. Mr.Al Dossari related his four year ordeal to me regarding the numerous court appearances in the UK and the hostility and resentment he faced by the medical team that treated his daughter. The hospital refused to accept responsibility for the little girl's deteriorating medical condition until realizing that Mr. Al Dossari had sufficient evidence against them. The hospital management then decided to meet with Mr. Al Dossari in private and hand him an apology letter along with a healthy sum of money. Wadha's dad refused the plea bargain and proceeded with legal action. After four years of court proceedings the judge ruled in favour of Mr. Al Dossari. He also ordered that the hospital be shut down due to a lack of hygiene and suspended the surgeon from practicing medicine for a period of six years internationally. The hospital management was naturally not impressed with the outcome and then through media channels implicated Mr. Al Dossari as being part of a terrorist organization having links with Al Qaeeda. They claimed that Mr. Dossari was in the UK not to study or further his degree but was in the country to plot a terror attack. Mr. Al Dossari related to me that his life over the past four years has been a nightmare and that if he wasn't a Muslim having full faith in ALLAH he would not have been able to go through this trial and tribulation that he and his wife have faced whilst in the UK. The hospital superintendent had connections with various media moghuls to turn the story upside down and implicate Mr. Al Dossari as having ties with terrorist organizations and hence did not deserve to receive medical treatment in the UK in the first place. The little girl though has British nationality as she was born in the UK.
The outcome though of their dilemma was that the lawyer representing the hospital realized that his clients were using the media to taint the image of Wadha's dad simply because he is a Muslim attired in an Islamic dress code and adopting a full Islamic way of life.On witnessing how Wadhas dad won the trial despite many hardships and obstacles, the man became a Muslim and opted to no longer represent the hospital in any further legal proceedings.

 Mr. Al Dossari mentioned that in Saudi there is a common misconception that anything from the west is the best. Many VIP members of society would opt to have doctors from Canada or the USA or the UK and look down upon Saudi doctors as though the quality of care provided by a Saudi doctor is inferior to the care given in the UK or the USA for that matter. He stated that this type of attitude needs to change. Wadha has thus far undergone five operations. She had three unsuccessful operations in the UK and has thus far had two successful operations in Saudi Arabia by a Saudi surgeon to repair the damaged heart valve as well as the hole in the heart. With God's grace she has one more operation left which will be carried out when she reaches the age of ten years. Wadhas dad said that he can never forget the kindness and generosity shown to him by all the Muslim communities in the UK who came out in their hundreds to the court house to witness the court proceedings. He mentioned that they had taken to the streets after the media implicated Mr. Al Dossari as being part of a terrorist organization. I guess this is the deceitful mannerism of the west. Whenever a western country faces any kind of loss they utilize the media to disseminate incorrect information to the masses to change the mindset of the people in their favour. After all, the television is the biggest weapon of mass destruction in my opinion and perhaps it is for that reason that the world famous Steve Jobs banned his own kids from watching any television.With God's help Mr. Al Dossari has passed his life's biggest test and trial according to him and I pray that little Wadha's frail body gets stronger each day so that she can enjoy a normal life like any other child.

Have you been a victim of gross medical negligence on the part of the physician, attending nurse or the hospital staff in general? Let us know what your experience has been like. Was there any legal action taken? If yes, what was the outcome of the legal proceedings?

Source:

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/women-saudi-arabia-photos/ - pictures

Hajj 1953 - transportation

Hajj 1953 - transportation

The following photos depicting the Hajj were published in the National Geographic magazine in 1953.

There's quite a few of them, so I've separated them into various different topics that I will post over the next few weeks or so. This post deals with transportation:

The airport experience in Saudi Arabia

So any one who has traveled for Umra or entered the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia must have encountered the chaos at Jeddah International airport. On arrival in most other countries passengers are greeted with a smile and a warm welcome and if you expecting to find this type of treatment at Jeddah airport, well you in for a rude shock as this ain't happening. On arrival passengers usually encounter strict, unfriendly military style policemen and are then led towards customs and immigrations which is a chaotic scene with tired passengers made to wait in long queues.Again this is nationality dependent from my observation. I usually don't experience airport discomfort myself as I'm usually mistaken to be an Arab woman and so even if I'm waiting patiently in the queue I always get asked to move to the GCC queue which is fast and speedy for all Saudi and GCC nationals.However, I have witnessed many other distressed passengers at the airport. As usual if you are an American or western person you will generally pass through immigrations faster than the rest of the queue. The Bangladeshis, Filipinos, Sri Lankans, Indians and Pakistanis are usually made to wait the longest whilst the impolite, rude immigration staff sip their qahwa, enjoy a long mobile conversation with their friend or family and then simply close the counter and head off for salaah(prayers).

Mom will never ever forget her experience at Jeddah International airport. Whilst returning to South Africa from Riyadh via Jeddah, the immigration officer at Jeddah airport realized that the Arabic date didn't coincide with the English date on the visa and so technically mom had overstayed in the country for ten days more which is a criminal offence and requires a fine of SR10000 to be paid in order for a new visa to be issued and the passenger sent home. So at immigrations they told mom that she can not board the plane but instead of helping her they made her run from one office to the other with no one at the airport being able to get to the bottom of the situation or find a solution to the problem. I was in Riyadh and so I got a call at four in the morning from mom who sounded very upset and distraught over the phone. I in turn called the South African embassy in Jeddah and I must say hats off to Mr. Frank from the embassy who responded to my call at around four fifteen in the morning. He then woke up and went to the airport to assess the situation and find a solution to the problem. Being an embassy official he was also treated very badly by airport officials who were screaming and shouting at him without displaying any public relationship skills at all.The only solution I came up with was to ask mom to return to Riyadh so that the internal hospital passport office could sort out this mess which was not mom's fault in the first place but rather the fault of the Saudi embassy in South Africa who fed us with incorrect information regarding the visitors visa. Mr. Frank arranged a ticket for mom and she arrived in Riyadh very angry and disappointed that she missed the flight. It took ten days before the issue was resolved and naturally I didn't pay any fine.The irony though was that on the day mom had left to South Africa after all the drama she encountered, I met another South African family who were embroiled in the same issue at Jeddah airport. All family members were allowed to board the flight with the exception of this families eldest daughter as there was a date discrepancy on the visa.The poor girl was in tears as she had to be in South Africa to write an important university entrance exam which she obviously missed.

Usually in any organized country you would find that they have a help desk at the airport that assists passengers with visa or ticketing issues. The officials at the airport try and make the passengers trip as pleasant as possible.I recall an incident we had in Thailand at the Bangkok airport where a friend of ours was prevented from boarding the flight as his passport was due to expire within five months.The airport officials were however, extremely friendly and polite. The young man was chauffeur driven to the South African embassy and once all the formalities were completed he was driven back to the airport and was allowed to board the next available flight to Malaysia.This kind of service is nowhere to be found at any of the Saudi airports.

As I mentioned to you earlier, I haven't experienced waiting in long queues at the airport but I did encounter a few other problems. Whilst speeding down the Makkah- Jeddah highway in our hired black dodge vehicle trying to beat the horrendous traffic,mom and I arrived at the Jeddah airport only to find that the idiotic man at the counter had given our tickets away to someone else that he knows. This is how Saudi Arabia functions.If you need anything to be done speedily you just need a "wasta" ----a favour from a connection that you know----and your work gets done. So naturally the man at the counter was surprised to see us and then directed us to another counter where the gentleman stated that the flight is full and he will place us on the next flight to Riyadh. Now being a person who can not tolerate incompetence I simply lashed out at the man and threatened to call some well known people in Riyadh. After making quite a scene I was finally granted two business class boarding passes.

Last year my brother and his family also encountered a horrible experience at Jeddah airport . Having confirmed their flight a few days prior to departure with the Saudi Airlines office in Makkah, they arrived at Jeddah airport only to be told that their names do not appear on the system. My brother speaks fluent Arabic and so after having an altercation with the man at the counter, the man simply took the tickets from my brothers hand and tore it up saying that you are no longer on the flight. What usually happens is that if you are a VIP person and you need to get onto a flight, with one phone call at the airport your name will be entered in the system and another passengers name will be deleted. Also travel agents that have contacts with the personnel at the airport will block book seats for their passengers days before departure and so if extra seats are required the airport officials will simply delete another passengers name from the system who is not a part of that agents group. This is what happened with my brother and his family. So now they needed to book another day at a hotel plus book another flight via Qatar in order to return home. Why do passengers need to go through all this aggravation after paying for their tickets and booking their tickets well in advance?

Jeddah airport is more like a fish market than an airport. Passengers are always screaming and shouting out of dissatisfaction. When you simply enter the airport to check in, you will more than likely be welcomed with bags all over the place from the entrance of the airport building. There would be some passengers sitting on the floor due to a lack of adequate chairs.In short the airport is old and outdated. The plans for the construction of the new Jeddah International airport has been approved and so the thumbs up has been given to begin development as soon as possible. I do hope that with the new airport there would be a new fresh image and attitude portrayed by the staff at the airport as well. Personally if I was in charge of the airports I would fire all the staff working there. They should all first go on training on how to deal with other people and learn simple basic techniques of politeness and friendliness.The airport is the gateway to the country and so if the officials at the airport are rude and impolite with absolutely no manners it gives you an impression as to how the people of the country are as a whole. Airport officials will never assist a female in picking up her bags to place on the check in conveyor belt. The man will sit at his counter and stare at a woman having difficulty in lifting a heavy 25kg bag from the trolley but he wouldn't offer to help at all. Never mind helping a female I've witnessed old elderly people not being assisted properly at the airport.With thousands of pilgrims frequenting the Kingdom for Haj and Umra throughout the year its is about time that the Saudi government improves the service delivery at the airport. There are also numerous incidents of missing luggage as well as luggage landing up in other cities or countries.

King Khaled International airport in Riyadh is a little more organized than Jeddah.Take note just a wee bit more organized. However, the staff rudeness, impoliteness and unfriendliness is just the same. You will be shocked at the level of rudeness when I relate the next incident to you. So whilst waiting in the queue to clear customs and immigrations in Riyadh, Mr. A.A bin Ali hears a Saudi official screaming for the next Filipino gentleman to make his way to the counter. In any other country the immigration official would probably say politely "next please" but this airport official said "come here you piece of shit". Obviously this was said in Arabic and the poor Filipino gentleman without understanding anything simply made his way to the counter.Despite the wonderful structure and interior design of King Khaled International airport , it is probably the most boring airport in the world to get stuck in. There is nothing at the airport.No internet cafes or restaurants to pass your time during transit.

The story that takes the cake though goes to the next incident that my colleague Dr. Bajini experienced. Many a times at the airports announcements are not made in English and often there are sudden flight changes or the gate number for boarding the flight changes and passengers are not aware of this. Then there are times that an airport official will run from one waiting area to the next screaming, JEDDAH, JEDDAH, JEDDAH, JiZAN JIZAN.......ABHA ABHA ABHA....and then direct passengers in this primitive way to the boarding gate. During one of these fiascoes Dr. Bajini was directed to the wrong boarding gate and so instead of seeing the high rise buildings of Dubai from the plane window he realized during descent that the plane had flown over the Great Pyramids of Giza and so he and his family landed in Cairo. According to Dr. Bajini the check in staff were disorganized with some staff members engrossed in conversation amongst themselves whilst the man he handed his boarding pass to was too involved in a mobile conversation.
Now this story sounds really hilarious and we all couldn't stop laughing and yes this has happened in reality but of course for any passenger with many connecting flights to catch this situation is a nightmare. Their holiday was completely ruined as they then could not acquire connecting flights that suited them.After a few days Dr. Bajini and his family simply returned to Riyadh after spending a few days in Cairo.

These are just some of the incidents that I have experienced or heard of from friends and colleagues. If you are an expat or a Saudi national catching a flight from any of the airports within Saudi Arabia, let me know about your airport experience. Was it smooth sailing or a total disaster?