A British Muslim's interpretation of Women and Islam.

There is a dominating view of women’s position in Islam which marked by essentialized notions rather than knowledge. These essentialized notions depict the Muslim woman as confined by the oppression of her patriarchal society and religion. Therefore - it is only fair to assume that this prevalent conception would deem the Qur’an as a patriarchal and misogynist text, which completely dismisses the idea that the Qur’an either is or can be a source for women’s liberation. Also, what is becoming more shockingly noticeable is the tendency to blame Islam for oppressing Muslims rather than blaming Muslims for misreading Islam. Thus, the aim of this article is to challenge oppressive readings of the Quran and how its epistemology is inherently anti-patriarchal. As it is imperative to challenge these authoritarian and patriarchal readings of Islam that are profoundly affecting the lives and future of Muslim women and cultivating stronger 'orientalist' thought. 

As numerous scholars have pointed out for example Barlas & Wadud, inequality and discrimination derive from the secondary religious texts, the Tafsir (Qur’anic exegesis) and the Ahadith (Hadith) which enables the codified textualization of misogyny in Islam. These texts have come to eclipse the Qur’ans influence in most Muslim societies today. As a result, we confuse the Qur’an with its Tafsir, and therefore confuse Islam with patriarchy and the practices of repressive Muslim states that have a history of using Islam for their own political ends. Firstly, I will explain the nature of the primary religious texts of Islam, analysing specific readings of the Qu’ran in which women are presented as equal to man. Secondly, I will extend my explorations to an analysis of the relationship within and between the Qur’an and the Haddiths. I will be focusing on differing views of sacred and secular time and will explain how these shape our understanding of the Qur’ans teaching and I will take the example of the conservative exegesis of the verses on the “veil”.

The Qur'an

The rationale for studying the position of women comes from within the most ‘reliable’ source of Islam itself – the Qur’an. For Muslims, the Qur’an is the source of truth and it is the quintessential source of language and faith. The text provides a unifying moral framework for Islamic praxis and it also has been the base of classical Muslim law (Shari’ah). The Qur’an, composed into 114 Suras (Chapters), are the total revelations believed to be communicated through the “divine” to Prophet Muhammad over a 23-year period in the seventh century C.E. in Arabia, first in the city of Mecca and then later in Medina. It is believed the revelations were received supernaturally through the power of trance. Nevertheless, from a historian’s perspective, the sacrality or holiness of a book is not a prior attribute of a text but one that is realised historically in the life of the community who has responded to it. The Qur’an was also the starting point for all the advances in Islamic society: Arabic grammar was developed to maintain understanding of the text, the study of Arabic phonetics was pursued in order to determine the exact pronunciation of Qur’anic words and even the art of Arabic calligraphy was cultivated through the composition of the text. The entire religious life of the Muslim world is built upon the very foundations of this text.

Yet, since the Qur’an was revealed into an existing patriarchy and has been interpreted by adherents of similar patriarchal societies, Muslim women have become a part of discourse of exegesis that has been easily misconceived. I wish to argue that the Qur’an’s epistemology is inherently anti-patriarchal and it is imperative to challenge the authoritarian and patriarchal readings of Islam as the status of women are based “solely in terms of the Qur’an and/or other Islamic sources are too often taken out of context. I propose that there is no essential difference in the value attributed to men and women in the Qur’an. This does not mean that I reduce the notion that the Qur’an can be read in patriarchal modes (as favouring men) and I do not deny that there are cases of oppressive practises in Muslim societies that confused and assume this to be Islamic norms and strictures. Yet, the Qur’an is polysemic and thus open to variant readings.

The Qur’an does not define women and men in terms of binary oppositions, nor does it portray women as lesser or defective to men, or that the two sexes are incompatible or incommensurable. In fact, man and woman are two categories of the human species given the same or equal consideration and endowed with the same or equal potential. The Qur’an encourages all believers, male and female, to follow with their faith. Thus, the Qur’an does not make a distinction between man and woman.  “They bid to honour, and forbid dishonour; they perform the prayer […] and they obey God and his Messenger”. Amina Wadud sees man and woman in the Qur’an as pairs that are addressed of equal manner. The recurring theme that women and men are commenced from a single “self” and constitute a pair is integral to Qur’anic epistemology and is repeated in different contexts through the text: “It is God who hath produced you from a single person”. In the text God did not create the man biologically first, and also it does solely blame Eve for the original sin in the Fall. Thus, equality is based on the moral praxis of both men and women and this allows a mutual recognition of individuality. It is this mutuality that proposes the absence of patriarchy amongst the sexes that provides the ethical and epistemological framework, which we need to understand the Qur’ans teachings about sexual relationships. Yet, society (not only Muslims) continues to view them as binary opposites and as unequal.

Moreover, it is important to examine the rights that women can claim contractually through a marriage. The Qur’an’s teaching on divorce tries to establish the value of tolerance and encourages ethical behaviour of both spouses. The Qur’an warns men to treat their wives justly and not to harass, hurt them or turn them out of the house, even during the tribulations of a divorce. In the Qur’an, it commands men to divorce their wives in the best possible way. In this verse, with regard to treatment, there are dimensions of equitable courtesy towards women. This can also be substantiated by the Qur’an stating that divorced women must be guaranteed financial security in order to safeguard her continued financial well-being: The Qur’an furthermore protects a woman’s interests (property) by stating that she retains what her former husband gave her while they were married. Lastly, Muslim men are required to house their ex-wives until a suitable home can be arranged for her: Thus, Islamic morality prevents women from suffering any financial difficulties and that the man’s primary role is to protect the rights of women. With regards to matter related to the subject of women, like divorce, the Qur’an responded to particular circumstances in Arabia at the time of the revelation.

The Haddiths 

The Qur’an does not constitute the sole source of doctrine and legislations. The Hadiths are also considered by many Muslims to have been produced during the first centuries of Islamic history. The records began to be compiled over a century after Prophet Muhammad’s death and were not completed until three hundred years later. This means the Hadiths are a collection of oral reports derived from, or ascribed to the Prophet. The contradiction here is that the Qur’an has similar historical flaws. Yet, due to the authoritative nature of the Qur’an, de-historicising the text itself, or by viewing it’s teaching a historically undermines its sacred and universal character. The Hadiths are classified according to the reliability of source and the quality of the narrators: Shahih is the scrupulousness of the narrator and the historical authenticity of their content, Hasan takes into consideration of the forgetfulness of narrators and then Daif which place weak hadiths which do not fulfil the criteria of integrity of the narrators. But if we are able to cast doubt about a Hadith’s authenticity the historian should dismiss it entirely, unless it is partially problematic. The historian must justify the source in a circumscribed manner with the full knowledge and awareness that it cannot constitute a reliable source. Nevertheless, this source was accessed online as book that has been authored by Waleed Al-Essa. He only includes the “authentic” tradition of the Prophet and it also includes a reference section, which shows each narrator that reported each Hadith.

Anna Barlas argues that this exegesis of the Qur’an is where the patriarchy lies and hence negates women’s position in Islam. It is precisely the nature of this interpretative process in the methods that generate the Qur’an’s exegesis, that we can find reason for why some readings of the Qur’an are unfavourable to women. Ideas and customs deeply rooted in the misogynistic medieval Muslim world are penetrated into Shar’ia law by being formulated from the Hadiths, which are also associated with Arab and Mediterranean culture (as well as Judaism and Christianity). Thus, it was the Hadiths that introduced images and connotations of women being the weaker and vulnerable sex. Women are made directly comparable to donkeys in the presence of the Prophet. It was also the hadiths that introduced ideas of women being morally and religiously defective, evil temptresses that are the greatest temptation for men, unclean due to menstruation, a larger part of hell if they are unfaithful or ungrateful to their husbands and lastly having weaker intellectual powers. 

The Veil 

I will now show through the intertextuality between the Qur’an and Hadiths that on matters such as women there is an inherent contradiction. I used the veil debate to explore the relations between both texts and how this shaped Qur’anic exegesis. There are two sets of verses on the basis of which conservatives legitimize a generalized model of veiling for all Muslim women within the Hadiths.

“O Prophet, say to they wives and daughters and the believing women, that they draw their veils close to them; so it is likelier- they will be known, and not hurt. God is All-forgiving, All-compassionate” (33:59-60)   

 “Say to the believing men, that they cast down their eyes and guard their private parts; that is purer for them. God is aware of the things they work. And say to believing women, that they cast down their eyes and guard their private parts, and reveal not their adornment save such as is outward; and let them cast their veils over their bosoms, and not reveal their adornment save to their husbands, or their fathers …” (24:30-31)

The theme of equality and dualism is highlighted once again; both men and women are expected to uphold identical standards or moral praxis in this passage.The verse instructs the Prophet to tell “believers, that they cast down their eyes” – this required both men and women to dress modestly. From a feminist perspective the emphasis on the “eyes” alludes to the male gaze that is characterised as phallic and sexual and thus has encouraged the empowerment of man to force women to either wear the hijab (a head veil that leaves the face uncovered) or the burqa (a head-to-toe shroud that hides even the feet; some models even mandate wearing gloves so as to hide the hands). However, this verse rules out all sexual activity by eliminating the gaze itself, and it does so by introducing a dress code. Moreover, responsibility has been shifted entirely to the discretion of the woman, “and let them [decide]” this is important as no one can force a moral praxis upon a person as the Qur’an itself says “let there be no compulsion in religion”. This passage is a representation of the limitations of using English translated text in all passages where there explicit references to the word “veil”. Yet this term (alongside hijab) does not occur in the Arabic version. The genuine text uses words such as “jilbab” (cloak) and “khumur” (shawl) both of which, in ordinary usage, cover the bosom (juyub) and neck and not the face, hair, hands or feet. Thus, conservative views are both a cause and a consequence of redefining and universalising the “jilbab”. However, the Hadiths have spawned views and forms of veiling that the Qur’an does not mandate and this has deflected attention from its true purpose. The issue of veiling in currently framed in most Muslim societies in a way that results in misrepresenting the Qur’ans form and focusing on teachings from the Hadiths. Thus, the “Islamization” of the veil has made it synonymous today with the rule of Islam. I want to also highlight that I do not reject the ways in which the veil can liberate women however there is a clear disturbance in societies misrepresentation of the Qur’ans purpose in formulating a specific dress code.

“Narrated By Anas: The Prophet stayed for three days between Khaibar and Medina, and there he consummated his marriage to Safiyya bint Huyai. I invited the Muslims to the wedding banquet in which neither meat nor bread was offered. He ordered for leather dining-sheets to be spread, and dates, dried yoghurt and butter were laid on it, and that was the Prophet's wedding banquet. The Muslims wondered, "Is she (Safiyya) considered as his wife or his slave girl?" Then they said, "If he orders her to veil herself, she will be one of the mothers of the Believers; but if he does not order her to veil herself, she will be a slave girl. So when the Prophet proceeded from there, he spared her a space behind him (on his she-camel) and put a screening veil between her and the people.” (Sahih Bukhari Volume 007, Book 062, Hadith Number 022)

This passage refers specifically to women’s expectation during their marriage (nikah). The story is of the Prophet’s wedding with Safiyya bint Huyai and their guests, who were discussing whether his wife was a slave girl as she was unveiled. It was therefore the Prophet’s duty to correct this issue, stating, “but if he does not order her to veil herself, she will be a slave girl”. This shows precisely how Qur’anic exegesis can be misconstrued and show tones of patriarchy. The shift in language from the Qur’an to the Hadith shows the deterioration from the woman’s complete independence of thought to the expected submission and obligation to man.  This idea is reinforced in the Hadiths spoken by Bukhari, that discuss the difference between menstruating and unveiled women in religious gatherings. The verse insinuates menstruating women are below women who are unveiled, establishing successfully a hierarchy amongst women that is designed by man. It is these forms of classical exegesis that has changed the position of women over time. These claims led not only to forms of veiling that involved covering head but also the shifted the power of choice to a religious obligation, however none of these ideas are espoused in from the Qur’an’s teachings.

If the veils persistence in its most un-Qu’ranic forms of a complete facial covering in some Muslim societies raises troubling questions about how Muslims read the Qur’an, it also raises issues within non-Muslim societies where the veil has become even more of a Muslim cultural icon. Then it becomes crucial to study women’s personal accounts on how they view their gender within their religion. More so, it is important to study personal accounts of Muslim women in particular to examine a first hand account of the role of the state and of interpretive communities in their application of Islamic teachings

Conclusion

I concentrate on recovering the liberating and egalitarian voice of Islam that is rarely heard today but which I feel needs to be greater communicated. I argued on both historical, political and hermeneutic grounds that the Qur’an is inherently anti-patriarchal however readings of the Hadiths encourage negative images of women that anticipates the possibilities of its own misreading. Yet, if we were to hold the Hadiths responsible for its misreadings – on the grounds that is uses allegory that can lead to abuse (of women) – what does that say about the power of human interpretation? The text itself should bear no responsibility for how it is read and more so how it is abused. The inter/intratextuality between the Qur’an and the Hadiths show a clear contradiction on vital matters about women, this could be justified by error of oral memory by the Prophets followers and/or the change in societies while both texts were either revealed or collated. This contradiction is particularly felt through the discussion of veil, intertextuality highlights the transformation of the topic from the freedom of choice to a religious obligation.  Islam as a religion promotes and elevates the status of woman however certain exegesis can imply misinterpretation that places women as vulnerable in the eyes of society throughout time.

 

The Eight-Year Old That Woke Up Israel.

Aren't you just tired of hearing the same old stereotypes? I felt this to be a breath of fresh air that has graced the media. This video is reporting on the small Israeli town of Beit Shemesh, where there has been a conflict with the 'extremist' ultra-orthodox Jews that have been accused of harassing women. 

This specific case tells the story of an eight-year old girl, Naama Margolese, whom some men spat at and called a whore for 'not dressing modestly enough' on her way to school

Miriam Cooke argues that feminism is an ‘attitude, a frame of mind that highlights the role of gender in understanding the organisation of a society’. Indeed, feminism is a transnational movement that engages with the issues of human rights, women’s liberation and gender equality. 

And this is what exactly the "Naama-Case" has done! It has provoked the need for feminism in even the most "Western" nations in the world. This case is of the girl that has galvanised Israeli society and have encouraged discourse about gender equality, as well as revealing a deep uprooted social split in the country. 

Beit Shemesh in particular is a populated town of around 80,000 that now caters for a larger increase of immigrants, especially of American expatriates. The "Naama-Case" has also shown is the rising tensions between these two social groups.

But most importantly Naama is the girl that "woke up Israel" and since then there has been more recorded protests about the segregation of women in Israel. 

Below is an inspirational, female-only flash mob that took place in Beit Shemesh performing "Dont-Stop Me Now" by Queen. The choice of song seemed absolutely perfect to describe the women of the city from all different ages, sectors and religious backgrounds (traditional or secular) to gather together in the form of dance to speak out and fight for change. 

A group of women dancing in the West wouldn't be special. A group of women dancing in the conservative Beit Shemesh is. If they had done this in Sanaa or Riyadh or even Tehran, it would be even more special. Women all over the world are anxious to see some progress for the Eastern women to escape the shackles of the stigma as being the lesser or defective to men.

The Toulouse Shootings Explained - AGAIN

"In the face of such an event France can only be strong if there is a national unity. We owe it to the victims of these cold-blooded assassinations. We owe it to our country”. Nicolas Sarkozy, urges the people of France to join together to mourn the death of seven people in Toulouse and Montauban. He then compared the ‘traumatism’ that France has suffered directly to the US and New York terrorist attacks after 11th of September 2001. Yet, in such a politically charged environment, and in a country with social, religious and racial tensions many are posing the question is national unity even a possibility? The first attack occurred on the 11th of March 2012, when Sergeant Imad Ibn-Ziaten (a Muslim French paratrooper) was shot dead outside a gym in Toulouse. The second attack followed on the 15th of March 2012, where two uniformed soldiers Abel Chennouf and Mohamed Legouad were killed in a shopping centre in Montauban. The last attack in the series took place on the 19th March 2012 at the Ozar Hatorah Jewish day school, where the victims Rabbi Jonathan Sandler and his two sons Gavriel, 3 years old, and Aryeh, 6 years old, and the headmaster’s daughter Miriam Monsonego, 8 years old, were shot in the head at close range.

These events were claimed by French officials to be the biggest manhunt in France in recent years. It was established that these incidents were the work of the same man that used the same gum, rode the same 500cc Yamaha scooter, and acted with the same cold-hearted brutality. The police later then identified the perpetrator as Mohammed Merah, a 23 year old of Algerian extraction, is said to have wanted to “teach France a lesson”. Some sources claim that he was religiously inspired by Al-Qaeda to attack, others state that it was a political cause and that he wanted to avenge Palestinian children, and attack the French army because of its foreign interventions. Yet, the religious reasoning is not sufficient as he attacked symbols: the army, and he kills Jews, Christians and Muslims without distinctions. People around his neighborhood also described his character as quiet, easy-going and nothing at all like an “extremist Jihadi Salafist”. Even Sarkozy argued: “The Islamic faith has nothing to do with the insane motivations of this man". Merah said that he was motivated by France's ban on wearing the burqa, that "the Jews have killed our brothers and sisters in Palestine”. Dan Bilefsky, a Parisian news correspondent interestingly linked Merah’s anger to the unemployment and alienation of immigrants in France, as Merah attempted to join the French army and was rejected due to his ‘petty’ crimes. Rosie DiManno, reduced his motivation to Merah being a sociopath who adopted a terror agenda as a cover for his pre-existing rage and who sought "posthumous grandeur."

Marine La Penn who ran for the right-wing anti-immigration National Front Party (who won 20% of French vote in the recent elections) stated: “the rush of fundamentalism has been underestimated in our country. Certain political and religious groups are developing in the face of certain laxness”. So what did the Merah’s actions represent? What were the roots behind these attacks, and to what extent did politics and politicians instigate them? How did this incident relate to or affect the French election campaign? After a two-day suspension of the campaign, the political atmosphere in France changed as the focus shifted ‘further to the right’. The campaign introduced more discussion for insecurity, immigration, Islamism, anti-Semitism and of Afghanistan, Israel and Palestine. Precisely where Sarkozy is comfortably at ease. In a broader context how did these shootings reflect on the new rise ‘harmful anti-multiculturalism’ rhetoric in Europe? As exampled from the Norwegian right-wing extremist Anders Breivik whose terrorist attacks killed 77 people due to his strong anti-immigration opinions.

After a 30-hour siege, on the 22nd of March, Mohammed Merah was shot dead in a gun- fight with the French special operations tactical unit in his own home. This controversial figure may have been killed, but with his death arise many questions surrounding the future of France’s deep social divisions and issues that can no longer be ignored.

When I feel hatred for men, I turn to Nawal el-Saadawi.....

“All the men I did get to know, every single man of them, has filled me with but one desire: to lift my hand and bring it smashing down on his face.” - Nawal El Saadawi

Gendering the Arab Spring: Egypt

A year ago, a Tunisian fruit vender torched himself out of social and economic despair. Over 5,000 local citizens attended his funeral. Little did Mohamed Bouazizi know that he would be responsible for sparking the greatest revolution to have torn through the Arab world in recent history.
The flowering of the Arab Spring is not distinct from its radical historical siblings; and every element will be scrutinised by academics and critics worldwide. As a whole the revolution represents a transition from silence into conflict – the barrier of fear that has finally been broken by millions seeking change and justice, and in particular, women.


Women have always been strong participators of past revolutions – the 1979 Iranian revolution against the Shah resulted in their rights being curbed. Yet, despite the severe consequences, women remain at the forefront of demonstrations and protests against dictatorship and social inequality.


In the case of the Tahrir Square protests in Cairo early last year, Egyptian women throughout the region were made to believe they played a crucial role in breaking down the barricades of injustice. However, numerous accounts have shown that these same women have been subject to a violation of their own, including high levels of sexual violence and rape.


Perhaps it is not that great a surprise: like so many other forms of repression, sexual violence and humiliation has actively used as a tool of intimidation to punish the ‘weaker’ sex, who is advocating political change.


The dangers of committing sexual violence in a highly politicised and religious nation holds both conflicting consequences and reactions. Within the cultural context of Egypt, rape or other forms of sexual violation can permanently damage a women’s reputation and status within her community causing profound humiliation for the male members of the family.


With such harmful repercussions, we need to consider these incidents with a cautious eye. In March 2011, at least 18 women were arrested for demonstrating at Tahrir Square. They were beaten, charged with prostitution and forced to undergo virginity tests. In October 2011, Samira Ibrahim filed a case against the Egyptian military for sexual assault in the form of ‘virginity tests’.


In November 2011, Egyptian-American journalist Mona Eltahowy claimed she was beaten severely, breaking multiple bones and she was assaulted sexually. The only response came from an Egyptian general who sought to justify the violation of human rights and also the enforcement of blatant hierarchal gender-power relations.


His statement read, “These girls who were detained were not like your daughter or mine… These were girls who had camped out in tents with male protesters in Tahrir Square and we found… molotov cocktails and [drugs].”


He claimed the tests were necessary because, “We didn’t want them to say we had sexually assaulted or raped them, so we wanted to prove they weren’t virgins in the first place,” as though only virgins could be raped.


This testament can only highlight the idea that female bodies are sacrosanct is a myth, and men have a duty to protect women from an overt display of sexualisation. The virginity tests were conducted by archaic and backwards means, the method of inserting two fingers (male) fingers into each woman’s vagina. The point was not to prove these women were virgins but to instead humiliate and threaten them, to reduce their femininity to merely a sexual object, and to assert their male dominance over the female body.


Looking at the female protesters of Egypt highlights the need to readdress common understanding of sexuality and its cultural adaptations. This is not to say that some sexual protests have not also taken place. In October, Magda Alia al-Mahdy a 20 year old student posted a naked photo of herself comparing herself with famous nude works of art with an eloquent caption.

“Put on trial the artists’ models who posed nude for art schools until the early 70s, hide the art books and destroy the nude statues of antiquity, then undress and stand before a mirror and burn your bodies that you despise to forever rid yourselves of your sexual hang-ups before you direct your humiliation and chauvinism and dare to try to deny me my freedom of expression.”


Her own stand for the freedom of female expression has been a revolutionary step for the progress on gender discourse. Alia draws attention to the mistreatment and sexual objectification that women feel on a day to day basis in Egypt, doing so by directly confronting the problem at hand.


Her words and photographs have since caused much controversy amongst the Egyptian people, resulting in a direct split between those who see her as an inspiration or those who see her as disgrace.


And these opinions have not been bound within political or religious allegiances: Islamists and other conservative socio-political groups have gone so far to call her a “devil” while even some liberals share the same opinion actively disown her. Despite all this, her discourteous form of expression calls for an urgent re-addressal of certain issues that can even be applied here in the ‘West’.


This is because what makes Alia’s portrait so threatening is that is not only criticises the morality of an Islamic Egyptian society, but also in a broader context the way in which female bodies are a site of capital consumption. The Egypt story is testament that the female body is vulnerable to the desires of man. We can see this through the ‘virginity tests’ in pro-democracy protests or even through female artists using their bodies for market purposes. Alia takes control of this fact, and of herself.


Patriarchy has no limits; it is not bound by one nationality or culture, similarly it provides a cross-cultural prism through which feminists identify moments of awareness that presents injustice for women’s treatment or behaviour, of rejection of such expectations, and of activism to effect some kind of change. Her nudity aims to reinvigorate a conversation about the politics of sex and the uneven ways it is articulated across the fields of gender, capital, and control.


Her eyes tell a story. They blaze with an intimidating confidence and power that dares us to talk about issues that have never been discussed before.

Saudi Women Promised Vote

In 1918 women across Great Britain celebrated the attainment of their right to vote in general elections. After years of the ‘suffragists’ peaceful protests and petitions to Parliament, in conjunction with the ‘suffragettes’ fury of passion, they were finally empowered with this right. We are now in the year 2011 and witnessing one of the last countries to grant voting rights to women. After its second ever general election of its history, King Abdullah of Saudia Arabia had announced that women would be allowed to vote and stand as candidates in the 2015 municipal elections.




The criticism of the credibility and significance of these elections by scholars are irrelevant, as this is a great step for this Islamic conservative state and for feminists across the world. However, it must be questioned if there is true sincerity regarding this ‘step for greater democracy’. One cannot help but analyse this revolutionary change within the political climate of the Arab world. Egyptians attaining democracy after the fall of Mubarak, the Libyans expected defeat of the forty year reign of tyranny led by Gadhafi or even the Palestinian international recognition and bid for UN statehood against Israel; human rights within the Middle East and North Africa are definitely under deep speculation all over the world. While these inspiring pro-democracy protests are occurring it is interesting to see the Saudi-Arabian peoples lack of enthusiasm regarding the matter.




The country that does not permit women to drive, condones honor killings, or even the country that has deep class struggles; the media fails to present any form of respective Saudi- spring that follows the format of their fellow neighbors. Can this ultra conservative country have a true belief of change or is this yet another attempt to quell the spread of an uprising in the Gulf? In February 2011 Saudi awarded $37 billion dollars in benefits to its nationals, similarly they gave financial aid to other Gulf countries such as Bahrain and Oman that had the same apprehension that people will demand constitutional reform. The wake of the Arab Spring that has previously overthrown ‘iron-fisted’ Tunisian, Egyptian and Libyan dictators, no doubt scares the royal family.




Giving the vote to women may perhaps be another way to show an active change in order to simmer the dissatisfaction amongst the people. Despite nearly a decade of women’s activism for greater political rights, has victory been truly gained? Nonetheless, it is a huge step forward for Saudi women, despite the root cause is being a King that is desperate to keep hold of his power and not a true desire for reform.

It has been a long time.

Dear Blog,

I apologise most sincerely for neglecting you these past few months. But don't you worry, I am back from months of experience and I have many stories for your ears to indulge in.

 I have seen many beautiful things this year especially in Hungary. This view is just a snapshot of the historical and inspirational city of Budapest. Can trips like this change a person?

Can moments like this teach you about integrity, culture or values?

Can conflicts such as these; re-evaluate your faith in humanity?

The world will never stagnate. New things are released or realized that encourage fear within the average person. New things are discovered that take my breathe away. The world in correlation to time is positive. The world in correlation to a human is positive. The relationship between time and people is destructive.

That may seem incoherent, but that is the point. I have absolutely no idea. The world won't ever stay the same, time has moved on therefore I will not stay the same and I have moved on. "I can't believe I thought you could change" words that has circulated my mind for weeks. I have changed. I really have.