Queue Jumping Saudi Women (Ninjas according to a westerner who was furious whilst standing in a queue)

Go ahead, go ahead, skip the queue whilst the rest of us simply laugh at you.Pathetic imbeciles!!! A few months ago whilst at the airport with my mom enroute to Jeddah, three fully veiled Saudi women decided that they were more important than the rest of us. They simply by passed the entire queue and went straight to the front of the line.Whilst many people in the queue were shocked beyond belief and clearly irritated, no body really went up to the counter to enquire about this preferential treatment. I was quite annoyed as we had been waiting in the queue for almost half an hour. So naturally I went up to the counter to complain. Instead of sending the women back into the queue, the Saudi gentleman at the counter decided that he would continue helping them and then help mom and I. It was quite evident that he did not have fantastic problem solving skills as his solution meant that mom and I would be jumping the queue as well. He signaled  mom and I to wait at the last counter to his extreme left  and then motioned his colleague to assist us.

Whilst in Medina a few days ago, mom and I were waiting in the queue to utilize the ATM machine. There was almost 15 people in the queue. Suddenly, out of nowhere a Saudi woman moves straight to the front of the queue and inserts her card into the ATM machine. I got out of the queue and went straight up to her. Then I asked her in Arabic if she is blind.Does she require a pair of spectacles? Can she not see that there are 15 other people waiting in the queue before her? After I created a scene the rest of the people in the queue also started shouting at this woman.I asked her to remove her card and move to the back of the line. The irony here is that when Saudis travel to Europe and the USA or outside of Saudi Arabia, they tend to respect the laws of that country and display exemplary behaviour. Why can't the same exemplary behaviour be adopted within their own country, towards their own people? This is something I fail to understand.

A ROYAL DISASTER FOLLOWED BY SERVICE EXCELLENCE

I have always wondered with thousands of pilgrims frequenting the cities of Makkah and Medina each year, if the ambulance and hospital services in these two cities are adequate to cater for t

he needs of pilgrims who suddenly become ill whilst visiting the Kingdom. A few days ago I had the opportunity of assessing if these services were adequate enough. A friend of ours got really ill after the morning prayers and needed to be rushed to the hospital immediately. He was severely dehydrated and complained of abdominal cramps. The pain was so severe that he began to cry. I suspected a stomach infection along with dehydration and hence decided that he should be taken to the hospital for some IV fluid. I called 997 to get an ambulance as the patient could not move at all. Within ten minutes the ambulance arrived at the hotel. Two Saudi paramedics came up to the room. However, the two gentleman could not speak a word of English. Luckily a friend of mine from Medina and I were present at the scene to assist with translations. I found the two gentlemen to be inadequately trained in their jobs. Instead of them placing the patient on a stretcher and getting the patient to the ambulance, they asked us to put the patient on a wheel chair and bring him downstairs.I asked them what were they trained in. It is their job to get the patient to the hospital safely.Any way, once we put the gentleman inside the ambulance,I hopped inside the ambulance myself to be with the patient. Now the drama begins. The ambulance driver does not know how to get to the hospital. He asked me for directions on how to get there.I do know Medina tul Munawwara fairly well but the point is, shouldn't an ambulance driver know where all the hospitals within his jurisdiction are situated. We finally got to the hospital, only to find that all the other family members got to the hospital before the patient because the silly ambulance driver had no idea where he was going to. Now in an emergency situation, time is a factor.When we finally arrived at the hospital, once again both paramedic personnel asked the family to take the patient out of the ambulance. Surely, that is the job of the ambulance services. Our family friend and I shouted at both personnel and made sure that they took the patient out of the ambulance themselves. When we arrived at King Fahad hospital in Medina, we were taken to the emergency section immediately and the medical staff on duty treated the patient promptly.I was very impressed with the quick and efficient service we received at the hospital.A file was opened within five minutes. After two emergency doctors seen the patient, the patient was sent in for chest and stomach x-rays. The hospital is equipped with state of the art x-ray imaging machinery. Within seconds images were produced confirming a stomach infection. A consultant doctor specializing in gastroenterology was asked to come down to see the patient. He was a very well spoken gentleman and assisted the patient with absolute politeness and kindness. Within two hours the patient was sent home along with medications supplied by the hospital. The entire hospital trip was free. It is a service provided by the Saudi government for Pilgrims frequenting the Kingdom. I would like to take the opportunity of thanking KING FAHAD HOSPITAL in MEDINA for the outstanding services rendered to the patient. On the other hand I would like to see improvements with regards to the ambulance services. They do not meet international standards at all. I would suggest that the Saudi government employs paramedics from other countries to accompany Saudi personnel. In this way, better training can be achieved. I also believe that one of the paramedics within a team must be able to speak English fluently as there are thousands of pilgrims from outside the Kingdom who do not speak a word of Arabic. However,having pointed out the flaws with regards to the ambulance services,I do also need to compliment the ambulance services for arriving at the scene very quickly despite the area around the Prophet's mosque being jam packed with traffic.

EID UL FITR MUBARAK

It is with mixed emotions that we approach the end of Ramadhaan. I am extremely thankful and grateful to Allah Ta’ala for allowing us to benefit from the enormous spiritual benefits of Ramadhaan, the fasting, taraweeh salaah, charity, recitation of Qur’aan etc. At the same time I am sad that this Mubarak (auspicious) month has come to an end. For a true believer everyday of his or her life should be spent like how we generally spend our precious time in Ramadhaan, full of virtuous acts.

Let us formulate strategies and ways to uphold this spirit and actions.Remember true and eternal happiness, bliss and joy can only be achieved by leading our lives according to the Commandments of Allah Ta’ala and following the beautiful and noble lifestyle (sunnah) of His Beloved Messenger Muhammad (salallaho alaihe wassallam).

We should also remember that while we celebrate the joyous day of Eid-ul-Fitr there are millions of our brothers and sisters who are being oppressed and persecuted. Let us not forget about them. Let us enjoy this day of Eid in a manner pleasing to our Creator and Sustainer Allah Ta’ala.

Eid Mubarak to you and your family and May Allah Ta’ala bless and grant you barakah (blessings) in this world and the akhirah(hereafter) ...May Allah accept your fasting and duas. Let us remember the Ummah which is in pain and distress in many parts of the world and if possible let us contribute in whatever way possible whether it be financially or by way of your sincere duas. Make dua for those who have passed on....May ALLAH grant relief to those in need, May Allah ease the plight of so many that are downtrodden,& oppressed ...May Allah grant Shi'fa (cure) to those that are ill and may ALLAH grant us a death with Emaan (faith) and true success in both this world and the hereafter…Ameen

HIS JOURNEY INTO ISLAM

I received this email about two months ago from Troy, a 26 year old American man. He wants to share his story on how he became a Muslim and his journey into the Islamic faith. A really interesting read. Thank you so much Troy for sharing your story with the world.....
Hello, I am a 26 year old American named Troy (the world doesn't need to know my full name lol). I formally accepted

 Islam in 2009 when I was still 22. I was raised Catholic although not from a very religious background. I enjoyed reading and learning about the Biblical stories as a kid. The teachings from the Bible were quite simple and straightforward to me as the Prophets all instructed people to worship/obey one God and be a good person. I also enjoyed acting in the Christmas plays. I always played a shepherd in them, and later on in life I would learn about actual Palestinian shepherds. I just found Catholicism confusing by how Jesus, Mary and Saints were given such special status like they were almost god-like. In my mind there could only be one God who had absolute authority and power. And this I remember feeling as a kid. I didn't really understand much about the Catholic rituals such communion and confession for example either. I saw them more to be symbolic, but literally "eating the body of Jesus" and a priest being able to forgive you for your bad deeds was hard for me to grasp. Why would I have to eat a wafer and confess to a priest to be forgiven? Why couldn't I just simply ask God to forgive me? Anyways as I got older as a teenager I lost interest in religion. I didn't enjoy going to Church really. I found it boring and tedious to go a lot, but it was okay to do as a family activity on holidays. I didn't really think too much of it honestly. I was also exposed to other types of Christianity (Baptist/Evangelical) from friends but their type of Christianity seemed a lot different from Catholicism and did not appeal to me really at all. I did not understand why they put so much focus on Jesus alone. It was like they threw God and all the other Prophets to the back and worshipped Jesus instead. I just could not really understand this sort of theology. I later studied other religions when I started college. It was cool to learn about the Dharmic religions, but they were hard for me to understand. I found Hinduism to be complex and Buddhism to be abstract. I though Sikhism was pretty straightforward but seemed like a localized Punjabi religion. I also saw Taoism, Confusionism and Shinto to be abstract and a bit localized (China/Japan). I really did not understand Jainism much, it also seemed very localized (India). I was of course familiar with Judaism as it followed the Old Testament. I find Judaism to be a simple, straightforward religion too but I didn't understand why it completely disregarded Jesus. Although I was familiar with Arabic culture as I lived in Michigan as a kid, I did not really know much about Islam other than they prayed in a Mosque. I used to see Islam as a bit localized as well (Middle East/Pakistan), but I did find it interesting too how Judaism and Christianity started in the Middle East but spread West into Europe and the Americas. One thing I did find ironic is how Christianity came off as being very "Eurocentric" despite it's origins coming from Palestine/Syria/Egypt. Later I understood that it drew influence from Roman culture as it spread into places like Greece, Italy and Spain. Anyways I never had any bad feelings towards Arabs/Muslims as a whole or anything. I understood the 1st Gulf War as a political conflict between Iraq and Kuwait, nothing religious at all. I also saw the Israeli/Palestinian conflict to be more over land/politics/ethnicity/nationalism. I did not really see things from a "religious" perspective. I also vaguely remember the 1st Afghan War (1980s) as a political conflict between Communists and local guerrillas as seen on the film "Rambo 3". The complex Balkans wars also happened when I was a kid. Again I didn't really know about the religious aspect of the horrible conflicts, but I did see them as ethnic/nationalist conflicts between Serbs, Bosnians, Croatians and Albanians. Even after 9/11 I still didn't see "Islam as a whole" as responsible for the attack. I saw it as an attack done by a terrorist organization who was mad over US foreign policy. We can get into conspiracy theories and other political stuff later, but yes I am a rational thinker. With Islam always on the news I thought to myself I should really start to learn more about what it really is. At this point I was not really interested in learning about it from a theological or "religious" standpoint, but from rather a historical, political and cultural standpoint. I thought it was really cool how Muslims from various places like Sudan, Somalia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, former Soviet Union, etc. all did the same basic religious practices despite them being from very different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. I found Christianity to be quite segregated and very different based on ethnicity and nationality, hence all the numerous sects and Churches. After studying Islam and various political issues in the Muslim world on my own I wondered to myself if I could ever get to be a part of this whole spectrum. I continued to study the history and cultures of the Islamic world on my own. I later took an Islamic History class where I actually got to read the Quran and learn the history of the Muslim world from the time span of pre-Islamic Arabia to the formation of the modern state of Saudi Arabia. The class was really fun and I learned about all the various Islamic empires and civilizations ranging from the 1st Caliphates, Ottomans, Safavids, Mughals, etc. I also met a bunch of Muslim students in the class. I was able to learn more about Islam from a theological perspective from them. I learned that Islam really did not differ much at all from my previous simple beliefs as a kid: prophets teaching monotheism and good morals. Islam's view on Jesus made far more rational sense than Christianity's point of view. Due to Islam's simple and rational theology, I proudly accepted it. However things were not so smooth at first. First off all I had to learn how to perform Salah and recite Quran in Arabic which is a completely foreign language to me. Of course I had to deal with my family's reaction to my decision. Some of my family did not mind much that I converted, others were skeptical, upset and disagreed with my decision. It was difficult and frustrating for me to deal with, but I can understand that they care for me and want to make sure that I am making my own decisions and not simply following other people's influences blindly. Another major issue I had was obviously still not being very educated in Hadith and Fiqh. This can be quite a challenge for new converts. Sadly some new Muslims fall into extremism because of this. And of course Muslims have to face a lot of bigotry here in the West. Fortunately I was able to continue educating myself about Islam. I also took more religion/historical/political classes in college. I continue to learn more about Islam and religion in general each day, although I am very much into politics, history and culture. Although it can be very rough at times, I am very happy I accepted Islam and hope I never forsake it. I think education is the most important key to being a strong Muslim. I also hope to visit the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia in my lifetime...