So with National Day celebrations continuing way into the early hours of the morning and with thousands of people rushing to all corners of the city to view the huge firework displays, I can't help but wonder as to how many thousands of Riyals were spent on useless firework displays which has no basis within Islamic culture any way. Is this the best type of entertainment the ministry could put together for its citizens? I'm very surprised that the Sheikh's and clerics of the country have not spoken up about this issue which is relevant and very much against Islamic tradition.Firework displays are held in various parts of the Kingdom during both the Eids as well. The sad part though is that down the road from many of these display venues, reside thousands of poor middle class Saudi families who are struggling to support their families. Each year the UAE spends a few million dirhams in fire work displays during the New Year celebrations and yet there are many masjids in the UAE that do not have adequate water supplies due to improper construction and plumbing techniques. The Dubai government mentioned that rectifying the plumbing issues would cost the government millions of dirhams and so the masjids should simply "make do" with the limited water supply they receive per day. Now on the one hand you have a government who can throw away millions on firework displays but they do not have the money to correct the plumbing issues in masjids. With thousands of people from across the globe starving and living in absolute squalor is it really necessary to be having these useless firework displays or is it more rewarding to give the money away to the poor and uplift the poor people within the community!!!!!!

Matchmaking woes

Article written by Farah Mustafa Wadi

In the past, the criterion for choosing a bride was based on her family’s reputation. However, now young men place light-skinned brides at the top of their list. This superficiality has made many people in the Kingdom resort to ‘matchmakers’ as an efficient and convenient option to find the ideal husband or wife. The matchmaker’s task, however, is not an easy one as she (matchmakers are almost always women) has to guide two families to see through the marital union of two people.
Umm Mohammad, a 60-year old Palestinian woman started working as a matchmaker or “Khattabah” six years ago in the Kingdom, and she highlights the main reasons why families are resorting to the services of a “Khattabah”.
“It is not easy for some women to go out searching for a good bride (for their sons or brothers) in Saudi Arabia. Some women don’t have many friends because their husbands restrict their sociability. This makes these women resort to the matchmakers to fulfill their needs,” said Umm Mohammad.
She added that she faced much criticism from a potential groom’s family whenever she found a potential bride who wasn’t a perfect fit for their superficial prerequisites. “Many young men and their mothers desire a beautiful girl, who is tall and thin and has blond hair. It becomes very frustrating to work with such conditions. Sometimes they specifically ask for working girls because of rising expenses,” she remarked.
“The strangest situation that I have faced during my experience as a matchmaker, was when a potential groom’s mother asked me to scrutinize the potential bride as soon as she took a shower, so that I could see how naturally beautiful she was. However, the families of some potential brides find these tests acceptable, and the couples have lived happily after the wedding,” said Umm Mohammad. She added that some Saudi men have specifically requested women from Syria and Palestine because of their ‘beauty’.
Similarly, many potential brides have also started asking matchmakers to find men with certain specifications.
”Some girls have asked me to send them the guy’s (potential groom) photograph via mobile phone messaging, and most have said they prefer a tall and good looking man who is well settled. Some girls have also asked me to find for them a young man who resembles Wael K’foury, a well-known and handsome Lebanese singer,” laughed Umm Ali, a Saudi matchmaker who has been in the trade for eight years.
Umm Mohammad has fifteen folders containing the description of both potential brides and grooms and says she feels a certain excitement when she brings a couple together. Her fame grew as she expanded her services and started offering them on the internet. She claims to have many young men call her demanding a ‘beautiful’ potential wife.
“I have arranged 75 marriages within various cities in the Kingdom during the past six years. I love this career because I feel sorry for some women who are still single, and am genuinely happy when I see them living happily with their husbands because of my work,” she said.
“After my website officially started six months ago, many Saudi men have been requesting me to provide services for the ‘Al Mesyar’ marriage which I don’t appreciate because it harms women who are fundamentally more vulnerable than the men,” added Umm Mohammad.
There are some matchmakers in Saudi Arabia who are providing matchmaking services for ‘Al-Mesyar’ marriages - where the couple does not live together and the husband is not financially responsible for his wife - with the condition that if the groom’s parents wants a suitable girl for their son, the matchmaker will require them to pay SR 2000 or SR 3000 in the beginning, even reaching SR 5000 for a girl who matches certain specifications.
“I don’t appreciate these matchmakers because the ‘extra’ money may be completely wasted. What if the alliance does not work out because the couple are not suited to each other?” she pointed out.
Mansour Bin Askar, a professor of Sociology at Al-Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University says that the main reason why the mothers of a potential groom particularly, are approaching matchmakers is the modernization of cities in the Kingdom. “Taking eligible young women to the matchmaker is a positive way to find suitable grooms for them as matchmakers charge money for their services, so there is a greater possibility that she will practice her job seriously,” remarked Bin Askar.
He believes however, that some matchmakers are in this field solely because of the money. They do not seek to formalize the acceptance of both the groom and bride and often feed incorrect information to both families, which often becomes a source of conflict in the future between both families.
Umm Ali claims eighty marriages to her credit, and says her job is often a source of anxiety as potential grooms are usually very particular about the woman they want to marry and their demands are currently on the rise. She advises prospective matchmakers to undertake this work with genuine honesty and loyalty.
“This kind of work is not easy to undertake because occasionally it takes a long time to match prospective brides and grooms, according to the specifications they request,” emphasized Umm Ali, adding that she once rejected a prospective groom who wished to marry for only two days.
Umm Mohammad is also bewildered by the recurrence of Saudi women requesting prospective brides for their husbands’ second marriage. “More than ten Saudi wives have asked me to find wives for their husband, as they would prefer to know exactly who their husbands are marrying, rather than finding out about the second marriage later on,” remarked Umm Mohammad.
She is also particularly interested in finding husbands for single women between the age of 35 and 45 years, and claims that she finds it difficult to sleep whenever she is unable to do so.
“About twelve girls who are between the age of 32 to 45 years have gotten married because of my service. I prefer to find prospective grooms for older girls rather than those who are between the age of 18 and 30. The younger girls will still have a change to get married later on,” she added.
She seems genuinely interested in the welfare of her clients and claims to be available to advise them on their married life free of charge.
“The calls I recieve on a daily basis may reach up to fifty calls in a single day, and they come from all over the Kingdom, and even from abroad with couples and their families remembering me and even thanking me for bringing them together,” she proudly claims. –SG __

Source:
http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/

Why marrying a Saudi woman is a curse for most Saudi Men?‏

There are approximately two million unmarried women in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Whilst the prophetic prophecy holds true that there will be less men for women as the world nears towards an end the big question still remains, Why are there so many unmarried women in the Kingdom?

Most Saudi men that I have spoken to prefer marrying a non Saudi woman.According to many of them Saudi women are arrogant and demanding, brought up with pride, demand high amounts of mahr(dowry) and simply do not know how to manage a home properly. Mishal (not his real name) is a 22 year old messenger that works in the hospital  during the night. He told me that as soon as he got married he was already in huge sums of debt. He had to pay a total of SR100000 to his wife's family as mahr(dowry) as well as for the marriage party and the brides trousseau. In addition to this he had to also furnish the apartment that he is now renting.His wife comes from a home where she had a maid and a driver and so he will have to provide her with this as well in his home which is an added expense.To top it up all he also had to fork out money for the exotic honeymoon trip abroad.  Mishal earns an average salary of around sr7000 and so according to him he feels a huge burden on his shoulders to pay off a huge debt that he has. In Saudi Arabia banks provide young Saudi males with loans to get married. This is a really ridiculous concept to me as there is no such a thing in Islam. Islam is a simple religion. The basic mahr or dowry that could be  given to a girls family is usually Mahr e Fatimi which is equivalent to 10 dirhams or approximately 31g of silver. This will suffice as dowry. A man can give any amount of dowry that he can afford without placing himself or his family in any financial debt.

Marriage here in the Kingdom is like a business.Mr N related this really hilarious story to me two nights ago. His best friend wanted to marry his cousin whom he was in love with. He approached his uncle with a proposal and his uncle demanded a mahr(dowry) of SR50000. Mr. N handed over the money to his uncle a week later. His uncle promised to marry his daughter off within two months but this never transpired. The uncle took the SR50000 and gave it to another family as mahr(dowry) for his son. He then decided to marry off his daughter to another family for SR150000 mahr. This family agreed. Upon receiving the mahr money, he returned his nephews SR50000 and he was now left with SR100000 which was like his profit. Now mahr in Islam should be given to the girl. Her father or her family have no right to that money. But here in Saudi, the fathers or the family keep the money. At present, the nephew and the uncle are no longer on talking terms and there is a break in family ties and relationships all in the name of money.To top it up all, the uncles son gets married and after two months of marriage his wife demands a divorce. Now when a woman demands a divorce it is termed as 'khula" and the woman needs to return the dowry money that was given to her. Her father in law then decided that she needed to return SR50000 plus an additional SR30000 for causing the family grief and agony. I couldn't stop laughing when Mr. N related this story as none of this is per Islamic customs or tradition and yet this is the reality of marriages here in the Kingdom.

I met a lady in the haram in Makkatul Mukarrama a few months ago. She was a mother of three kids and her eldest son was 18 years old. She then told me that her husband is still paying her mahr money after 20 yrs of marriage. She said that her father demanded a high amount of mahr for her so that her husband will not be able to marry another woman in the future.
Coming back to Mishal, he told me that had he married a woman from outside like Malaysia or Indonesia he would not be in debt today. To add insult to injury, with his average salary he is saving up money to buy his wife a SR10000 handbag that she insists on having.He also has to pay the weekly beautician and spa bill which amounts to SR3000 every month. Clearly Mishal has more expenses than what he is earning and his wife doesn't seem to understand this. I was told that this is the mentality of most Saudi women.His wife does not cook and leaves all domestic chores to the maid. Every week she has a girls night out function to attend where she requires a new dress and needs to have her hair and make up done at a beauty salon.Saudi women in general are not the domesticated homely type. They prefer dumping all household chores and responsibilities to the maid. Even the kids are the responsibility of the nanny. There is no parenting system here.

http://www.emirates247.com/first-time-in-saudi-arabia-the-2010-cosmetic-expo-1.336911 - picture

Whenever I think about handbags I always remember a very dear friend of mine Mr. Al bin Ali. He hails from an aristocratic family that were the previous ruling family of Bahrain.He is a man of average built with the most gorgeous emerald green eyes, fair skin and pink lips. He has a really soft personality with true gentleman like etiquette. He always asks me why don't I carry expensive handbags. Whenever he goes to the airport he always notices Saudi women carrying the most expensive handbags many of them ranging from
 SR 5000 to SR 50000. My answer would always be the same each time. A handbag does not define me as a human being and it doesn't make me the person that I am.When there are thousands of human beings suffering throughout the world how can anyone indulge in such extravagant luxuries at the expense of their poor husbands.Contrary to what the world thinks many Saudi men are heavily in debt due to the demanding lifestyles of their wives. Many of them live on credit and spend their lives working hard to pay off huge credit card bills.I find it most ridiculous that women here can squander thousands of riyals on make up and handbags but find it difficult to give that same amount of money away in charity.

There have also been numerous cases reported whereby fathers refuse to marry off their working educated daughters so that they can have control over their salaries. A female doctor working with a close friend of mine took her father to court because he refused to allow her to marry a colleague of hers simply on the grounds that once she is married he will not get a share of  her salary. Luckily for her the court ruled in her favour and she was granted permission by the court to marry whenever she wished.

So to all the unmarried Saudi women out there. I know many of you despise Saudi men getting married to western women or women of other nationalities but the truth is that you only have yourselves to blame. Stop aspiring to lead a princesses life. Come back to reality and view life in a logical, realistic manner.There is nothing great about leading a princesses life.From my own experience most of them are delusional any way. Happiness in this world is not simply about materialistic gains or possessions. Throw away the un-Islamic marriage customs and traditions here and bring back the true spirit of Islam and the sunnah way of carrying out a marriage. Many of you have elaborate, huge, expensive weddings demanding thousands of riyals in mahr and yet after a few months the whole relationship lands up in divorce. Naturally if the intention of the marriage in the first place is materialistic gain then it is obvious that the marriage is bound to be doomed.Indeed the most blessed of all marriages according to the Prophet (saw) is a simple marriage!!!

Oud: The scent of Arabian luxury

Article written by RIMA AL-MUKHTAR

A renowned Arab Caliph once said: “If I were a merchant, I would only trade in Oud perfume, so that if I did not make a profit, I would have profited from its sensational scent.”

Oud (agarwood or agar) comes from trees found in India, Cambodia, Yemen, Thailand and Ethiopia. It is a certain fungal infection that comes from Aquilaria trees, which is peeled off the tree. The chips are initially pale and light in color; the heartwood turns dense and dark as a result of the growth of a dangerous mold.

Oud has a very strong and unique scent that is available in chips, which are lit and burned. The scented smoke is called Bakhoor. Oud is also available in an oil form, which is placed in small perfume bottles. People apply the oil on certain areas such as behind the ears and on the wrists for a long-lasting scented effect.

Oud oil is produced by mashing agarwood and placing it in distilling pots and covering them with several inches of water. The lid is then closed and the pot is heated until the water boils. The boiling water ruptures the cells of the wood and the vapor of agarwood oil and steam rises to the top of the pot and escapes, released through a tube leading to a condenser. The condenser cools the vapor and is itself repeatedly cooled by water.

After soaking, the barrels of agarwood mash are emptied into distilling pots and placed over wood fires for distillation. The heating process may look primitive, but the fires are tended by skilled workers who control the temperature quite carefully.

As the vapor passes through the condenser and is cooled, it reverts to a liquid form and is collected in a vessel where the oil and water separate. The water is drawn off leaving the agarwood oil.Several distillations will generally occur, with the first producing the highest grade of agarwood oil and the last, the lowest. These distillations may continue over a week’s time. After distillation, the remaining mash from the distilling pot is left in the sun to dry. It will then be ground up and used to make joss sticks (incense). Before being bottled, the agarwood oil is filtered to remove dirt and impurities.

Bakhoor, the scented smoke, is made from placing the Oud chip on a bed of natural coal or lighted charcoal, which allows the wood to burn and puff the fragrance of the authentic Oud. Once the chip is burned out, it should be thrown away.

Traditionally in Saudi Arabia, when Oud is lit, the Oud burner is passed around from one person to another as part of Saudi hospitality. An old odd fact about Bakhoor is that when a host is tired of his visitors and wants them to leave, he/she would burn a chip of Oud and walk around the room. Guests would then know that this is a polite signal for them to leave.

Oud in its oil form (dehan) is a considerable investment. It is sold and measured in 12-milliliter bottles called tola. Prices for one tola range anywhere from SR300 to SR8,000. Anything below this price might be a copy or a Chinese imitation.

According to Um Mohammed, a Saudi woman who mixes Oud and has been selling it for a living for over 30 years, says there are other kinds of Oud aside from oil and Bakhoor. There is a special mix called Mabthouth.

“Mabthouth is an Oud paste that is made by crushing Oud wood and adding different scents from Oud dehan and flower oils. Then, the paste is shaped into balls,” she explained. “This paste gives a different smell than what a normal Oud chip would give. As soon as you put the Mabthouth on the flaming coal, you will smell different kinds of Arabian scents all together.”

There are different kinds of Mabthouth that are produced every year. Um Mohammed said that she takes each mixture under study before displaying and offering them to clients. Price range for Mabthouth goes from SR100 to SR500 per box.

Um Mohammed takes small poor quality pieces of Oud (wood chips), crushes them into tiny morsels and mixes them with different oils. When burned, this mixture gives off a better scent than the poor quality pieces when burned alone. This is only done to improve the quality of Oud.

Only natural materials are used to manufacture Arabian Oud mixtures. Um Mohammed uses musk, patchouli, oak, jasmine flower, rose flower, saffron, cedar, amber, bergamot, sandalwood and, of course, agarwood.

Saudi women use a certain method of Bakhoor burning: They walk around the house holding the burner to scatter the smoke in every room. They also wave their abayas and clothing above the smoke so that it picks up the scent and stays there for long. Other Saudi women use Oud and Bakhoor as body perfume by applying dehan on their hair. They put some of the dehan on the tip of their fingers and run it through their wet hair, or they just wave their hair on the smoke coming out of the Bakhoor burner.

Imam Bukhari reported that Oud is known to be an excellent scent for strengthening the body and the mind. According to him, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Treat with Indian incense (Oud Al-Hindi) for it has healing for seven diseases; it is to be sniffed by one having throat problems and put in the mouth for one suffering from pleurisy.”

Oud is also used to traditionally treat asthma, chest congestion, colic, nausea, kidney problems, thyroid cancer, lung tumors, and post childbirth. It is also a general tonic in China, India and Japan.

International perfume brands such as Tom Ford, Armani, Dior, Kilian and more are now embracing Oud for its distinctive long-lasting scent and are including it in their luxurious perfume mixtures.

Popular brand stores in Saudi Arabia that are famous for selling high quality Oud are: Arabian Oud, Ajmal and Abdul Samad Alqurashi.

HOW TO LINK A FAKE DEHAN AL 3OUD? 

Get a glass of water. Put a drop of real dehan al 3oud and mix it. If the 3oud  dissolves in water in the same way as sugar dissolves in water, it means it is original. But the fake Chinese copy one, no matter how much u stir, it will remain as a  top layer in the glass of water. It will not dissolve.

When purchasing Oud - the best advice remains, "Let the buyer beware". Fakes are abound in the market place. Prior to purchasing 3oud chips, it is advised that you  break the oud chip and compare the color of the interior to the exterior. If one is lighter than the other, it is fake. Another test can be done by putting the 3oud chip in water, if it floats then it is completely wood - and it's fake!

Source:
http://www.arabnews.com/node/390956

DISGUSTING TOILETS AND RUN DOWN FILLING STATIONS

Carrying around enough tissue paper in my handbag nowadays is a lesson I had to unfortunately learn the hard way. In South Africa our home has an eastern toilet as well as a western style high pan. I personally find the eastern style toilet messy and unhygienic and hence at home I simply grew accustomed to the high pan.I have been forced to use  the low pan toilet in South Africa during the occasional camping trips which have  led to some uncomfortable situations but all-in-all, my experience at public washrooms has been generally positive especially at filling stations like Ultra city. Sure, on road trips, you would find the yucky, smelly, dirty washrooms but none of that experience could prepare me for what I would find in the Kingdom.

                            

Obviously, my experience is limited to using female washrooms here in the Kingdom but I am told by my colleagues that the male washrooms are quite similar in nature. As you can see, the Eastern style toilet can be used in a manner similar to the one presented on the YouTube video below (The video is hilarious but so true) There is a hole and a hose. Easy enough to figure out I suppose. When I viewed the video for the first time it kind of reminded me of all my disastrous toilet experiences during my trip to India. The toilets were just shocking. I have no words to describe the unhygienic and filthy state of Indian public toilets. There were times when I really required to use a toilet whilst out sight seeing and upon seeing the condition of the restrooms it caused my urge to disappear almost instantly. I recall an incident whilst out shopping in Mumbai city and my dad needed to use the restroom urgently. So what he decided to do was hop into a taxi and get dropped of at the nearest five star hotel in town so that he could use their bathroom..I will never ever forget my toilet experience in one of the villages in Gujurat, India. For a start the toilet was situated outside from the main house and was literally a hole in the ground. The toilet was made out of corrugated metal sheeting very similar to a shack house that we very often see in South Africa. The toilet had no lights and so during the day slight amount of light would come through from the holes in the sheeting. I remember using the toilet one morning after breakfast only to come out screaming after noticing a huge cat size rat that ran past me whilst in the squatting position. (lol--- I am laughing as I write this)

Usually in South Africa even after utilizing water to wash your buttocks, there is always toilet paper on hand to dry the water away. But here in the Kingdom, in most public toilets you will not find toilet paper. Going to the toilet is quite an experience and a half with most public toilets allowing you the choice to utilize either a western high pan or an eastern squat pan.

So this is the basic scenario with regards to the toilet issue in the Kingdom. You are out at a shopping mall with your best friends for a ladies night out. You are dressed in your most elegant flowing abaya for the  occasion and in between the whole experience you suddenly have the urge to use the restroom. So you rush off to the nearest female toilets only to find that the entire floor area looks as though a tsunami has hit the place. There is black murky stagnant water, hair and dirt everywhere. There is also urine drops on the toilet seat. Now you begin to wonder what the hell was the person before you doing in the toilet? Why have they splashed water all over the place? For your information the toilet story in the Kingdom is a never ending story as scenarios like the one I described to you above happens every time, at every toilet and to everyone.

You would think that the Kingdom with all its oil wealth and with the Saudi Royal family traveling abroad almost every week on end would gather some insight from other countries into building adequate restrooms that are clean and hygienic for their citizens. The pilgrims traveling between Makkah and Medina by vehicle have a really difficult time as the garages or filling stations here in the Kingdom are a sight for sore eyes.
I remember traveling between Makkah and Medina two years ago and we stopped for the Asr prayers at a masjid on the way. That urge to use the toilet simply disappeared after viewing the disgusting state of the toilet. A strong urine smell emanated from the toilet and there was dirty stagnant water everywhere. The most shocking part of it all was that the toilet was right next to the masjid. There is a hadith that states "Attahooru Shatral Imaan"...Cleanliness is half of faith.... So with hygiene and cleanliness being a part of the Islamic religion I fail to understand why all the bathrooms and restrooms here in the Kingdom are so dirty.

The airport toilets are generally more user friendly as there is usually a  cleaner who stays permanently in the restroom mopping and cleaning as you leave the toilet. However, the manner in which she cleans is just so primitive and outdated. Buckets of water is thrown onto the floor as though a flood hit the place and then she takes a mop and mops up all the water down a drain. With so many sophisticated cleaning machines available in the market you would expect a country that is rich to have better systems in place.Wearing a long abaya and entering into a toilet bombarded with stagnant water all over is definitely not a pleasant experience at all. Your clothes become impure which in turn makes it very difficult to perform your prayers.
If there is someone from Saudi reading this blog, please, please please can you tell me why are the Filling stations sooooooo run down and why are the washrooms in this country so dirty and unhygienic!!!!

So, What's your nationality?

Saudi Arabia has to be undoubtedly the only country in the world where everything is based on nationality.Your job, where you reside and even the service that you receive is all dependent on the passport you carrying.Nationalities are classed into different zones.So you may be thinking that Saudi citizens are classed as zone one as they are the native people of the country. Wrong!!!Think again. You will be shocked to learn that Americans and Canadians top the list followed by Saudi citizens and thereafter various other nationalities follow with Indians, Pakistanis, Filipinos and Bangladeshis at the lower end of the list.I find it surprising that  the people  of the country haven't questioned this.So what does it mean if you carrying an American or Canadian passport. Well,you will be eligible to numerous perks and benefits that are simply not afforded to many of the other nationalities.You will be entitled to a huge villa with pool and cleaning service, you will be given a higher salary than everyone else and many a times you will be offered to fly to the States twice a year at the cost of the company. I find the house bit ironic when there are thousands of Saudis who do not have homes or big villas to reside in. Almost 60 % of Saudi citizens live in rented apartments or homes.There are many Americans that I work with who simply have diploma degrees or normal B.Sc degrees but earn salaries that are three times more than their counterparts.For some odd reason, the perception here is that if you come from the USA or Canada you automatically are a great, intelligent person.Shouldn't a salary be based on merit in terms of the knowledge and experience that you have acquired  rather than upon a passport or nationality?

I have two friends. One is American and the other is Pakistani. The American has a normal Bachelors degree whereas the Pakistani has a doctorate in his field. The most amazing thing is that the American earns almost four times more than the Pakistani, is given the best accommodation within the hospital compound along with various other perks. The Pakistani on the other hand is not allowed accommodation within the hospital compound neither is he entitled to an education allowance for his kids.Of course the American friend is allowed a very high education allowance for two kids.If Saudi Arabia calls itself a Muslim country, then how can these bizarre policies ever be deemed as Islamic. This principle is totally against the teachings of Islam. Why is there a  perception that anyone from the west is great and intelligent whereas people from the east are poor, uneducated, etc etc.

The same kind of bizarre attitude exists at the airport as well. Many a times I would arrive at either King Khaled International airport in Riyadh or King Abdul Aziz airport in Jeddah only to find queues of Filipinos and Indians waiting patiently to pass through customs and immigrations. They would be spoken to in a very abrupt manner and treated with complete disrespect.At the same time I noticed many Americans or lets just say western orientated people treated with great care at the airport. They are usually asked to  proceed to a separate gate where there are  no queues at all.What kind of a mentality is this?

At the Janadriyya festival  this year a group of Saudi friends who visited were refused entry at a stage show as there were no more seats available. There were however four rows of seats right in front reserved in the event of any VIP guests arriving to view the show.As my Saudi friends left they encountered a group of western nurses who were also heading for the same show. They told them that there are no more seats available. However, at this point the guard came up to the western nurses and simply ushered them  straight in to the VIP area of the event to the amazement of my friends who were quite annoyed and upset.

We were having a chat the other night over coffee with my colleagues about  how one nationality perceives the other. Mr. N a Saudi gentleman views all Bangladeshis as thieves, all Pakistanis are shrewd and dirty especially the cab drivers according to him, Lebanese women are promiscuous and well Indians are perceived by him as being quiet and generally not too bad. So during this conversation, Mr F who is a Pakistani  doctor said that all Saudis are lazy, they come to work late and leave early and if all the expats left Saudi Arabia overnight the country would literally collapse.Its really awesome working with people from all over the world. Its is even more fascinating learning about their cultures and knowing about how they view the rest of the world. Whilst some of the stereotypes that we have created are true I still believe and maintain that at the end of it all we are all simply human beings and so irrespective of race, colour or creed, in every society you will find the good, the bad and the ugly. You are bound to find lazy and hard working people in all parts of the world and whilst many people here are under the assumption that Bangladeshis are thieves, you are bound to find thieves in America and within Saudi Arabia too.

There is one event that occurs yearly in Saudi Arabia and also happens to be one of the five pillars of Islam. The Hajj ritual quite rightly sums up the whole discussion regarding the issue of  nationalities.During the Hajj ritual all nationalities stand  together side by side dressed in one attire.There is no differentiation between rich  and poor, American and Indian,educated and uneducated individuals, everyone stands in front of God as His servants. No one is better than the other or more superior than the other.I think this policy of nationality that exists in Saudi Arabia is something that should be addressed and abolished. Everyone should be treated equally based on merit rather than a document stating that you are an American or an Indian for that matter. Respect is something that every human being deserves irrespective of class or status.This is the basis of the Islamic religion which unfortunately is not practiced within our so called "Islamic countries". As the Prophet (saw) said that an Arab is not  superior over a non Arab and a white person is not superior over a black person accept in good deeds and piety.