How Old Is A Prince?

you know this movie, "the kingdom"? it's inspired by the bombings in an american compound in riyadh in 2003 (see more here).. anyways, they show a saudi prince in the movie and he's all young and handsome and stuff, whereas in reality he'd be about 60-something.. and i suppose this is the notion we have in our western minds.. a prince for us is a young handsome man, preferably on a white horse of course.. however, this is often not the truth in real life.. many and many of the princes here are quite old (needless to say, the royal family is huge, so there's plenty of princes).. actually, every now and then you hear a prince pass away.. here's crown prince nayef bin-abdulaziz al-saud who died recently at the age of 79

and here's the new crown prince salman bin-abdulaziz al-saud

sometimes when we would pass by a palace with my husband, i'd ask him what it is and he'd say it's a palace of prince so-and-so and i'd say "wow! nice for a young prince", and he'd be like "ya ayah, he's like 70 years old!" and i'd be like o_o cuz i'd think a prince would still live with his parents or something :)

so, for me the notion of "prince" has changed.. how old is a prince in your head?

Welcome To Reality

saudi arrested for murdering wife, brothers jailed for beating sister, hail pedophile murderer beheaded, - similar headlines can be found in a saudi newspaper every day.. many muslims around the world (and i used to be one of them) believe such things simply don't happen every day in ksa, for it's such an islamic society.. they come for hajj and umrah and see all the women wearing black abayas, often with niqabs, and men with beards wearing white thoubs.. hundreds of people praying in al-haram in congregation.. strangers approaching you in a mosque giving you leaflets promoting niqab.. yeah...

only, what you see when you come for hajj or umrah is not real saudi arabia.. in reality, it's basically like any other country in the world, with it's bad and ugly side.. ugly with a specific saudi twist, hushing it up and pretending it doesn't exist.. you can find all kinds of crimes here that you will find in any other country in the world, from murders and rapes to spreading drugs at schools and molestation, only here they are committed in greater secrecy and might seem more outrageous at times, because you did not expect them to happen in this country

however, i don't want to go into details, you can read about the ugly side of saudi in the newspapers and on other blogs and websites.. i just wanted to let those still living in a dream know that all kinds of things happen here and it's not as safe as it seems to be, specially for the children

and by the way, even during hajj and umrah, be creful with your stuff, some individuals manage to steal even in al-haram mosque

Finally...

well, finally i am at my destination, in the kingdom of saudi arabia, the most fascinating and mysterious country in the world, the dream of so many people, one of the richest countries on the planet where every 3rd man is a shekh posessing his own oil derrick, pockets full of money and a luxurious palace full of wives with no rights...

or no...

this is what i've been dreaming of for the last emm... about 4 years... well my main reason for longing to move to ksa was, as it is for so many muslims around the world, to make hijra and live close at hand with the two holiest places of islam - mecca and madina, and in the most islamic society (or so i thought)

one day the dream came true, my egyptian husband got a job in ksa and i was going to move there with him and live happily ever after in the perfect society... only nothing in this world is perfect...

the inperfection started when it took me long painful 9 months of being away from my husband waiting to get the visa to enter the country... alhamdulillah for everything though... during this period i had more than enough time to explore the cyber space to find first-hand info about life in ksa, only it didn't look at all as appealing as i expected... i kept reading and reading to the point that one day i found myself not wanting to go and live there at all

but the dream came true, unexpectedly and at the same time long awaited for... i am now an expat in the most fascinating and mysterious country in the world, the dream of so many people...

so is it that perfect or is it that bad? this mystery of saudi arabia is for me still to be unraveled