Decietful Dessert

A Review by Bint Khalid

Neo, famously known as the best sushi place in Doha; it’s a must to have those yummy rolls only on their dedicated Sushi Night which happens every Tuesday.  It certainly deserves the ten star reviews it gets from everyone.

Review: Classical Ships of Islam

Last Wednesday there was a lecture on Classical Islamic Boats by Dr. Dionisius Aguis and hosted by the Qatar Natural History Group. I was there with a friend who, like me, is also interested in these “unexciting” subjects. We arrived at 6:58pm, just two minutes before 7:00pm, when the lecture was supposed to start.

Just a few moments after taking our seats the talk began and it was fascinating, this world of naval history. If only I could focus on what the lecturer was saying.

جلسة مع ملحد!.. لمن أركع وأسجد؟

بقلم: عبدالرحمن يوسف

نشر المقال في جريدة الشرق في تاريخ 24.11.2010

 

أين هو هذا الإله الذي يطالبني بكل هذا الخضوع؟
إذا كان موجوداً وله كل الصفات الكاملة والأسماء الحسنى فلماذا يرضى بكل هذا الظلم والقهر في الدنيا؟
إذا كان يطالبنا بالإيمان، فلماذا خلق الكفر؟
إذا كان ربا لكل الناس، فلماذا يقرب من يؤمن به، ويقصي من يكفر به؟
هكذا قال صديقي الملحد في بداية سهرتنا العاصفة!

Road Trip: Al-Hasa

By: Bint Khalid

In memory of Al-Hasa, missed you.

Note. The travelogue below is strictly a personal and a completely subjective view point of Al-Hasa.

Note 2. Beware reading-haters, the length is not for the faint hearted.

I love road trips, and Al-Hasa is a city that we usually pass, in passing. We have probably come by this place ten times and not once taken a decent street tour. To be fair, we do always get lost trying to find the exit heading back to Salwa, so we kind of, indirectly, cruise the town (mostly straining to check signs and ask for directions), but we almost, just about, distractedly, get a sketchy idea of what the place is like. 

Najar!

By: Bint Khalid

For Fatima-Fazeena

 

“Najar!” She shrieked at me, “Hada najar!”.

“What is ‘najar’?” I naively asked our house keeper.

“Enti mafi ma’loom najar?!!”, she said again in her broken Arabic, with her head to one side, lifting her left eyebrow and glaring at me through her left eye. I was unsettled. “What drama is this now?” I wondered?

Forks in the Road

By: Bint Khalid

To loyal readers. The following is based on true events.

 

World War Two, and the world is unhinged. The abhorred senses of fear and uncertainty bask in the air; battles between mighty nations and superpowers ensue. Here is a war, and who knows what the new world will look like? Or who will emerge conqueror on the other side? In the turmoil, the innocent are dropping like dead leaves, some by bullet and others starvation. One wonders which is worse.

In Qatar, with a world in catastrophe, the contract with the Anglo-Persian Company to excavate oil is immobilized. Travel and trade are restricted. The largely bedouin community are unsure of what is happening with limited means of communication.

Dear Moza

Dear Moza,

This note is coming a little late. I would have loved to say that “It was my powers of persuasion that turned her”, that “It was all ME! ME! ME!”. But of course I can’t say that. It would be false. This is why, for the sake of truthfulness, if I have to, that is, if I must be truthful, I can at least say “I was a subconscious force, secretly embedded into her brain years ago. Using my hidden powers of mind control, I Decided, it was time! Time to unleash a Mental Uprising that changed her vision forever!”

Review: The Green Box Part II

I received my Mixed Box today! This is how it looks..

It’s Qaranqao Tonight

Here is a piece of local trivia that I a trust will amuse and confuse you. There is a tendency in the local cultures of the Arab Peninsula, one that often requires some mind processing and clarifications, especially during conversation and when setting appointments. Here it is: when referring to a specific night, a speaker will often state the day of the week (or the date) that comes right after that which they actually mean. Huh?

Review: The Green Box Part I

Dear reader, As promised in my last post I went ahead and registered with The Green Box to try their innovative method for in season produce shopping and eating!

The Green Box

I was referred to this website a few days ago of a fairly new business here in Qatar, I’m sure every health food conscious individual will love the idea behind it! I certainly do! And this is why…

Ramadan Is the Month

By: Bint Khalid 

The Islamic calendar is one that is based on the lunar year, thereby following the cycle of the moon, and according to it, there occurs twelve lunations per annum.

Memoirs of The Lifeless

By: Bint Khalid

A stranger was walking slowly on a great sbakha, a salt flat, extending to all four corners of the earth. He had left his car behind, some two kilometers back. The sun was past its vertical point, and as he looked forward he saw that the land was not level but went up in some places and down in others. It was a barren space, a wasteland where the only signs of life were those entrenched tracks where car tires have pressed for years leaving their marks behind. Cautiously he walked, placing his each step carefully on the ground; in some places the earth was soft and crumbled and in others it was prickly and hard. He passed some metal rods poking out of the earth like accusing fingers, indicating boundaries of lands belonging to people who own them no longer. The color of the land varied depending on its salinity, some patches were dark and others light, in some places it was streaky and in others a solid color, but the horizon was the same color of blue, slightly darker where it touched the earth. On schedule the sun was slowly descending and his back was to it as he walked towards that darker lining; the sea was where he was heading.  

Photography: Shams

Arabian Adages

Dedicated to those who love amusing proverbs; enjoy!

Translated by: Bint Khalid

Classical Arabic Sayings

خير الأمور أوسطها

The best of things are their middles

The saying states that the best course to take is always the middle path, avoiding the extremes whether in making decisions or opinions.

 

الطيور على أشكالها تقع

Birds fall on their likes (or resemblances)

The saying explains how people are attracted to those with similar characters and traits as they. For example, those who are deceitful befriend the deceitful. The English proverb “Birds of a feather flock together” has the same denotation. 

 

Word to The Wise: a tip for the now

 قال حسن البصري عن الوقت

 ابن آدم أنا فجر جديد على عملك شهيد فاغتنمني فإني لن أعود إلى يوم القيامة

 

Hasan Al-Basri once said about time;

Son of Adam, I am a new dawn, a witness to your labors and endeavours. Embrace and cherish me as I will never return, until the day of Resurrection.

 

(Note of Thanks to Nora)

Ignorance is Bliss… Says Who?

Inspired by a another quirky post on Qatar Living

By: Bint Khalid

There are moments in life when a person’s mind goes completely blank. Usually these moments occur as the human mind reacts in surprise, bewilderment or shock. You are either left speechless or in a silent debate with your own brain. I speak for myself when I admit that I have had my fair share of such instances. If you had to ask me to squeeze out a memory of such an instance then I would have to say it is one repeated statement, that was at times formed into a question, which used to drive my brain first into bafflement, and then into an insane mental process often revolving around the question ‘why’. In such a situation I tend to stand mutely, leaving the person in front of me to think that I had just agreed with what they had said that left me in amazement, unaware of the electric surge my brain was going through, and completely misunderstanding the look of incomprehension plastered on my face. This whole process is conducted in a matter of seconds, and by the time I react I see the back of their heads as they depart, oblivious to the mental slap I was sending their way.

Cordoba in The Muslim Era

For those interested this is my review of the “Cordoba in the Muslim Era” lecture with Dr. Farhat Hussein.

Overall it was very interesting except for two things that really bugged me:

First was that the speaker arrived half an hour late, his excuse being that, and I’m paraphrasing here, “It’s my experience in this region when you say 7 o’clock people usually arrive 7:30″… hmmm… did I ever mention how I am annoyingly-obsessively conscious of my time?

Second was a teeny tiny line in the welcoming speech. Something about “…soldiers of Islam against the infidels…”  Huh? Did they just offend the non-Muslims in the audience? I thought DICID stands for Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue? I’m confused.

What’s Wrong With Beige?

Inspired by The Giver, a beloved book of mine, and Color Lovers.

 By: Bint Khalid

Jonas lives in the world of Sameness. A community where members express no emotion, everyone is unfailingly polite and there are no attachments. They all look the same, they all think the same, they all feel the same. Individuality does not exist and if one is not adjusted appropriately then they are shamefully let go and ‘released’. It is a machine of a society devoid of color. Except for Jonas, who begins to see flashes of color, especially the color red, and gradually starts to experience real emotions, upon whence he decides to outcast himself in order to enjoy a truer and colorful life, where otherwise Sameness would not allow.

You cannot help but draw a parallel between Lois Lowry’s fictional society in The Giver and the real deal. The general blandness of today becomes distinct in one’s mind as you flip through the pages. Ask me how.

Kura

Dedicated to a teen who absolutely loves the game… and to someone who demands shorter posts to read…

By: Bint Khalid

Kurat al qadam, mostly known as Kura, which is ‘ball’ in Arabic, or  sokker, or futbol, or voetbal, or soccer, or football… despite the slightly different words and alphabets used to describe a sport, everyone knows this abbreviation: FIFA.