Let me set the scene:
I had been sitting in the parking lot for half an hour, waiting for prayer time to come to an end, so I could go into the store and buy the stuff I had promised a friend I would get him from Saudi. It was humid, I have the flu, and was thus not in the best of moods when I finally got into Extras-the tech store in Alkhubar. I found the stuff I needed, and was standing in line at the till waiting patiently for my turn to come up. I was with my cousin, we were chatting away, not really looking at the line-all of sudden this dude comes in front of me.
Now before I go on with the action let me describe this guy-short little man, wearing a mini-disdasha, the longest beard ever, slippers, eye that were tiny, dark, deep in the socket, with the thickest eye-brows.
So anyhow, I clear my throat, and politely tell him that there is a line, and it was our turn. He turns, barely looks at me, and states flatly: Ya Hurma, you need to cover your hair! Now, what does have to do with standing in line I have no idea...my cousin tells me that the till next to us is empty, bas I had reached my boiling point, as I said, I have a cold, I was sitting in the car/sauna for half an hour, and this little dipshit tells me to cover my hair.
So I shouted at him, I have never shouted at a muttawa before-always been to scared-I told him to get out of my way, and what the hell does covering my hair have to do with standing in line?!?!?
Courageous you might say.
Ha...I had not noticed that this dude had a whole posse with him, and that they were standing waiting for him at the door, when I shouted they came over...I have never been so scared. My heart was beating fast, I was sweating, and I could see my cousin next to me also terrified. We were two girls, both unveiled, with only a driver as our backup-shouting at these 'men'!
The man at the till...looked at me and asked is there a problem?I handed him the stuff I wanted to buy, and just walked straight passed the little munchkin, paid for my stuff and walked/power-walked out of the store.
I should not have shouted I know, could just have walked to the other till, paid and left, and if he said to me, well you were talking and missed your turn, I most likely would have done that. Bas for him to tell me to cover my hair, ino who the fuck is he???
I didnt know they exist in Khubar!!! I thought they only are in Riyadh doing their best to hold us back in the stone age!
ReplyDeleteWas he a regular guy who looked like Muttawa or he had the official car and policeman with him?
Lulwa,
ReplyDeleteFirst, it’s not the man’s problem that you were using a car with no AC.
Second, the way you put thing shows some prejudice about the "Sunnah" looking people. Or is shouting at people seems like a cool attitude by you!!!
I agree with you that some of the so called "religious police" have an attitude problem, but it’s better if we try to understand the background of their society especially that you and Hani are in their country, it’s not the other way around.
Advising people to respect and obey God’s orders
(الأمر بالمعروف و النهي عن المنكر)
Is a common attitude in Saudi Arabia, this man might be any common man, he doesn’t have to be Muttawa to give you this advise. Try to see thing from their POV. It could be really annoying for the common Saudi to see western looking women in the streets.
I believe that most Saudis, even the non religious, prefer to keep their women away from this (fittnah). I don’t think they will appreciate it to have their women walking around half-naked in the streets, so that some sick people can enjoy looking at them and harassing them, like our lovely, civilized society in Amman.
At the end of the day, the guy wasn’t harassing you, he was giving you an advice, but it seems like a growing phenomena that people don’t want anything to remind them with GOD.
SJ, you need to be shot.
ReplyDeleteLulwa, good for you. Although frankly, I would have high-fived you if you kicked the prick in his tiny balls.
Stupid idiot, what the fuck is his business...good job, that definately took guts.
SJ, you are retarded...and yes, you still should be shot.
SJ,
ReplyDeleteclearly you apologist attitude exudes sexism and chauvenismn. You seem to agree that women need to bee protected from fitneh?
Honestly !! I see it this way...You have to respect the rules of the country where you choose to live. If that man bothered you, I guess you can file a claim against him.
ReplyDeleteNow, If you are in favor of Eroupean style life then move there and you can walk half naked and nobody even will pay attention. For God Sake, this is a muslim country, it is normal to wear hijab.
well lulwa, first of all slamtek and hope u feel better now, what i dont understand is why you get upset from his comment!!!! you are int eh guy country as a guest or slave to work or whateverso you should respect them rule inthem country, if anyone came to amman and wanted to walk nude in the street wont u tell him to get something on!!!!
ReplyDeleteso no need o yell or shout cuz it is your time on the month and u PMS'ng.take it easy gal
OH FOR GOD'S SAKE...don't you people READ. Did Lulwa, ANYWHERE IN HER POST, tell you she was walking around half naked? Did she tell you she was wearing her favourite turqouise bikini top with her cut off white shorts and flip flops?? HOW IS THIS RELEVANT???
ReplyDeleteThe point of this, is that a rude SOB decides to cut in front of a woman in line, disregarding social etiquette and acceptable behaviour, and when she protests, as is her right, the ass dares to spit out a comment that is NOT relevant, NOT in the right place or time, and NONE OF HIS BUSINESS, regardless of whether or not it's his country, as I doubt the lady was gallivanting around Saudi naked. GEEEEEEEEZ you people, you DEMAND that we Muslims continue to be seen as backward idiots, don't you.
Lulwa, good for you, and regardless of how scared you must have felt, you did the right thing. A woman cannot just step back and keep her mouth shut in front of assholes like these; it's enough that he cut in front of you in line.
Go Lulwa, Go Lulwa, GO!
I'm so proud of Lulwa! Any true moslem will tell you that women are equal to men, yes, in the Koran it says so. The Koran is all about respecting women and this man that cut in front of her clearly did not respect her.
ReplyDeleteLulwa does not look European, she is not blonde or fair skinned. She looks Arab. This man did not say this to her because he thought he was advising a foreign woman.
Anyone that thought what the man did to Lulwa is ok is ignorant and living in the dark.
It pisses me off when people defend idiotic adn chauvanistic actions of men who feel that they have to compensate for a small penis by being tough with women.
LULWA MORE POWER TO YOU!
the more ppl like this i see.. the more i regret the time my parents became muslim..
ReplyDeleteWow. The comments on this blog post are certainly telling. Lulwa tells a nutcase off for being rude, and suddenly people accuse her of being "half-naked." There is no logic to this, just prejudice. If you pissed a muttawa guy off, OF COURSE it means that you were doing something wrong. And when he cut in line and yelled at you, he wasn't being a jackass, he was just "giving you advice." Wow. I hear the White House is hiring a new spin doctor!
ReplyDeleteSJ, I wouldn't waste a bullet on you, but I'd appreciate it if you weren't suck a prick.
First I would like to say thank you to the people who actually realised that I was not half naked-second I would like to stress that I am half saudi, fa when I come here I am not a visitor/slave as some suggestted.
ReplyDeleteBut I guess the main thing, is that this man was rude to me, and if I was anywhere else I would have not been expected to take it and not say anything...bas somehow because its Saudi, I was expected just to be quite when the man's comment had nothing to do with the situation.
Lulwa,
ReplyDeleteYour instinct, to speak up politely when provoked and then loudly when abused further, was good. You needed an ally just then, and you got one. The question from the clerk directed to you was also a message to the creep: if anything happened right outside that store, it would be noticed. Many crimes are prevented in this manner.
That clerk probably knows the creep and all his fellows by name. Very likely the local (real) police do, as well.
I hope this is not a repeat post. If so, I apologize.
I'm really surprised by you people. You're so ready to talk about what you dont know, I see that most of you are so attached to the classy modern world and ready to fight any point of view that does not match your conventions; as if your wisdom holds the ultimate truth to the meaning of things.
ReplyDeleteHow many of us act normal infront of 'normally' dressed women, then when its time to go to bed with your wife you close your eyes and imagine whoever you met today.
The rest of the single people go and jerk off trying to discharge what they saw. The funny thing is that we all act normal when we see 'boob lines' and 'curved asses' and 'tight pu*y' then go home and let our fantasies run wild.
And we blame anyone that objects to the way normal women dress as mu3akkad and uncivilized, or maybe perverted, when all he is trying is to be honest.
Hehe. What an arrogant creature the human is. I dont think I met anything more arrogant.
We're claiming islam and its practices to be retarded for the sake of a lie called modern society and teachings. Beloved modernity has brought the worst of the worst to humanity, and we still worship it more than God (assuming we already worship God).
Enjoy the porn movies you watch everyday people, enjoy your fantasies with your office mates, enjoy jerking off, enjoy all the stain your heart holds. Then go acting normal in work, as if nothing is there.
We're so ready to blame the right thing as retarded and uncivilized, stone aged you call it Hani? Anonymous wants to shoot SJ for his wonderful comment. Rambling Hal is defending lulwa about half nakedness, and ironically posting her picture wearing a bra. Moey regrets every once in a while that he is a muslim.
Pathetic! With all the accused rudeness of the man, with all the frustration he caused to Lulwa, with all the truth in Lulwa's side of the story, I can announce proudly that his foot bitsharref most of you.
By the way Lulwa,
ReplyDeleteAlways remember that five minutes of uncontrolled anger could easily lead to ten years of pain. So try to have some selfcontrol next time.
Second, when out with your cousin and a driver, shouting is a very arrogant act since you are endangering both of them for the sake of letting out a selfish emotion (ie. your anger).
Third, I dont know why you use the word "f**k" all the time and in random occasions. This shows your temper's threshold is way below average.
Fourth, respect the community you are in. A scarf for ten minutes isn't so bad, and for a dark haired woman like you, a white scarf will protect you from the sun's heat and humidity.
Fifth, its very clear how you're trying to reflect the dark side of Saudi Arabia, when, we are enjoying people who are twice as arrogant in Jordan, whom never cared about speaking up to what they 'think' was right. At least the man you met was trying to express what he believed was right.
Allah bi3een.
Take care, and wonderful blog! Thanks for allowing me to be anonymous.
I wonder why some comments sound very angry; somehow it proves my previous comment.
ReplyDeleteHowever, shouting at people in public is rude, even if someone cut in front of you in line, it’s still rude. She wasn’t paying attention for the line; the man wasn’t gentle enough to wait, so he just crossed the line. It can happen for many reason, he was rude, I admit it, if it happened with me I will be angry (I wouldn’t shout for sure), but what does that have to do with the details that lulwa gave us about his look?
The man didn’t start to talk to her at the first place, which proves that he is not “Muttawa”. A Muttawa guy wouldn’t wait for her to start conversation. Most probably the guy was just a common Saudi, and he simply took the chance that she “talked” to him, and expressed himself. The way he said it was rude, I agree, but the details she gave about his look, and assuming that he is a Muttawa, and he was practicing his religious power on her because she was a woman, sound like a prejudice to me.
I didn’t say that lulwa looked western with blond hair, or she was half-naked, I was just referring to the bigger image of this issue, and not only women, but every one in our Arabic and Muslim societies need to be protected from this “fittnah” of the over exposed fashions, and lots of other western moral crap that they through on us day and night. Things that we might consider tiny and irrelative will evolve to serious issues later, and will result in a confused society like ours.
Being very critic about anything religious is the latest shitty trend in the west, and it seems that we can’t do any better than being a shallow followers.
@ Moey "the more ppl like this i see.. the more i regret the time my parents became muslim.."
ReplyDeleteMoey,
God made thing easier for you, but if you want to take it the hard way it's up to you. The choice is completely yours, and you will hold full responsibility for your choices.
I am quite surprised at this response...its good...maybe we need to talk about this a bit more...bas I really don't think that people got what i was trying to say.
ReplyDeleteI was not dressed half naked, I was wearing my 3abay, I just didn't have my hair covered...this man-however he looked -decided that this me being uncovered was a valid reason to completely disregard me. I am not making fun of him, and I respect Saudi culture since it is my culture also.
Bas I also know, that respecting culture does not mean that I have to agree with it, I don't like the veil, never have, never will. I don't see why the woman in this country have to walk around worring if their hair is showing or not, if they can go into a certain shop or not, if they can stand in line to buy a nano without being harrassed just because a strand of her hair is showing.
I love Saudi-and I think it is stupid for me to have to keep saying this-bas I don't like certain things about it, I want to change them, I want to improve my country.
I guess I am going to have to write a post about the veil...
"How many of us act normal infront of 'normally' dressed women, then when its time to go to bed with your wife you close your eyes and imagine whoever you met today."
ReplyDeleteHaha, if that's how your love life works, I can only feel sorry for you. Don't project your perversity on others, please.
After reading the comments, I think you have to go and find your self a life lulwa... You don’t deserve to be a human...
ReplyDeleteJust a small comment... When someone visit any western country or even eastern country! We follow their rules without thinking if it was right or wrong, if someone can answer that I will be glad,
by the way I'm Muslim and I'm very proud that I'm Muslim "el7amdolelah" but remember what ever your name is .. Get your self a life and stop complaining about something you don’t have!!! And if you stay like that you will never have... At the end you will be sorry ... just go get your self a life...
"How many of us act normal infront of 'normally' dressed women, then when its time to go to bed with your wife you close your eyes and imagine whoever you met today."
ReplyDeleteWTF!!!
You need professional help
Yeah, that's what I think too. A good psychiatrist is in order. Something's terribly wrong there.
ReplyDeleteIs this really about the guy taking your place in line?
ReplyDeleteHe was right to point out that you were in fact violating a social custom that's taken seriously. So yeah, in public it is his business. It's everyone's business how you appear in public...like it or not.
It was also irrelevant and did not excuse his rudness...
Now, if you had immediately covered your hair and proceeded to yell the wax out of his ears...that would make sense to me.
But I see the topic has shifted from the seeming inability of too many people to queue up properly to head covering...
Kudos to you for yelling at his rudness, but as for your anti-hair covering crusade...don't expect much...
A lot of women don't cover in Khobar. The Aramco villages are nearby, no? My friend's father used to work there, and she got away with a lot. It isn't Riyadh.
ReplyDelete(Yes, I'm stuck home with a tooth abcess and have nothing better to do than run around the blogosphere... Though I'm a fan of Lulwa's blog in general)
ReplyDeletemuttawa's are full of shit, no one wants religon shoved in there faces
ReplyDeleteto the person who commented that its better to take the rude comment and hold your temper then get 10 years of misery...I'm assuming you meant some sort of incarceration? in which case...since when does yelling at rude behavoir merit incarceration? if you mean by yelling at muttawa could earn you jail time...then thats just freedom to vent gone wild...nobody should be above the law or be considered above good manners just because they wear a long beard and carry a large stick and SPEAK FOR GOD!!!
ReplyDelete