Tuesday, December 20, 2011

The new shia mosq in Sayyidda Zaynab!

I'm back to Syria and back to blogging! Yes, thank you all for reminding me that I haven't blogged for a while!

Here's a new pic from Sayyidda Zaynab - its of the shia mosque that's being built on 'the other side of the roundabout'! It's not quite finished yet, but already open for business!

It's called 'Imam Khumayni Mosque'. No prizes for guessing where its funding is coming from. LOL



Thursday, November 3, 2011

Here's to my friend...

I cried most of my flight today. You see one of my closest friends passed away yesterday. She was the friend that made all life's problems disappear with her smile and a extra large box of Millies Cookies.

Life wasn't kind to my friend, even before I knew her. But yet she was the one who always said life is our test, and she always accepted what life threw at her. With a smile and matching accessories! And I knew that as long as she was there, everything would turn out ok.

I first met S when I was six. She was a bit older than me and her mum was organising a fashion show. Somehow I'd been roped into modelling a sari (which was thankfully changed to a peach dress later). I remember seeing S and thinking how glamourous she was!

Fast forward a few years, and we soon became good friends!

The day I realised what my friend was made of was the day I covered her year 4 boys class at Saturday Workshop. After half an hour of shouting at the boys to behave and sit still, and only managing to cover 3 mins of teaching material, I just knew S was angel sent from above! Every time I see her students, who incidentally are now themselves volunteers in our centre, I know its because S taught them with her tremendous patience and calm.

Always one to shy away from the limelight, S was one of the most hard working people I knew. And unlike me, she didn't want any recognition. She even got angry when people asked for prayers for her on facebook. Id love to see her expression if she knew how many facebook status' were dedicated to her right now!

And then the adventures and the memories. That's a good few blog posts! The shopping and chocolates private jokes, the trekking to Manchester (including the toilet stops on the way!), the Hours we spent making nasheed playlists for her walima, only for someone on the day to request that the first 30 secs from track one to be repeated over and over again! Then there was all the freebie toothpastes and toothbrushes and dental floss ( if you are S's employer, I'm sure she paid for them!) and her bright idea of scrubbing my bridal mehendi with a toothbrush (my skin has never quite recovered!). And the jeans theory... Which I never did get to clarify!

S's passing away still feels like a bad dream. In the back of my mind, I'm still working out her next chemotherapy date and planning how I'm going to skip a couple of hours of work to sit with her (if you are my employer and reading this, I promise, I was delivering notes and plans!). Even with her being so sick, she'd always turn up for hospital appointments with a huge rucksack full of snacks, even sandwiches she'd made especially for me! S is the ONLY sick person I know who's made food for other people!

My life has definitely been richer with S in it and I pray I can uphold her legacy with her patience when facing trials whilst looking like a glam hijabi babe!

Miss you.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

School Books

School is in full swing... I have classes from 8am to 1pm 5 days a week, with Thursdays and Fridays off.

My school bag is heavy! These are my books:


From Top left:
The brown book is 'Duroos fi Uloomul Qur'an' or Lessons in Quranic Sciences. 355 pages. We've been told that memorising the summaries at the end of each chapter is enough to pass the exam.

The blue book next to it is Jafer Subhani's 'Seeratul Muhamadiya' or the Life story of the Holy Prophet. 287 pages, but written really easily in story format

The blue and white book is 'Aadaabal Islam vol 1' or Islamic Manners/behaviour. 325 pages. The teacher summarises the chapters into bullet points which she makes us number in the book. She also expects us to regurgitate the lesson on the spot! scary stuff. Especially when you are one of the few non-Arabs in the class!

The little book on the bottom left is the last chapter of the Holy Quran (Juz Amma). It contains the last 37 chapters of the Holy Quran and we are expected to memorise it by the end of the term.

The light blue book next to it is 'Aqeedatul Islamiya' or Islamic Principles of Faith. 458 pages, badly photocopied and bound together. Actually its not the whole book, its just the half we are studying this term!

The green book with the pic of Imam Khumayni is our Tajweed book - or how to recite the Quran with the correct pronunciation. We haven't started this class yet as the teacher hasn't returned back from the summer holiday (she's not the only one - 6 members of the class are still in their home countries!)

The blue and brown book is our Sarf book or morphology. Its the Arabic grammar book we're studying this year. Our teacher is Egyptian, but you would never guess from the way she speaks Arabic. She's convinced I don't know grammar very well, so she's always asking me questions.

The books arrived late - we were well into our first week before the deliveries starting trickling in. The theory is that the books are printed in Iran and then shipped over.

We're still waiting for our Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) and Hifdhul Mawdhooi (Memorisation of the Quran by subject) books, but nevertheless, the teachers are ploughing on with the lessons.

The books have cost a grand total of 260 liras, which is just under 4 pounds - a hell of a lot cheaper than university textbooks back home!

With so much studying this term, I guess I can kiss my social life goodbye!

Friday, September 30, 2011

Musalla of Sayyida Zainab



There's one thing that REALLY annoys me when I got to the Musalla of Sayyida Zainab (The bit where they have the congregational prayers).

It's not the fact that you have to go early to get a spot near the fan in the summer, nor the fact that you have to hang around at the end to avoid the rush. Nor, as the guidebook says, is it the overpowering stench of feet (I guess 2 years in Iran made me immune to that!). And I can even deal with people not praying in sync - not everyone is lucky enough to have areligious education.

The thing that really annoys me is this... there is a certain group of people (whom I won't name, otherwise I'll get tonnes of hate mail) who think its ok to come into the prayer room lastminute.com and assume that a spot will mgically open up for them. Just so you know woman - the space doesn't open up, but rather you squash the rest of us who actually turned up on time. And, to make matters worse, they often bring in these huge shopping bags with them. It's kinda ironic that in the shrines in their own country, they are not even allowed to take food and water bottles, let alone shopping, but in Syria they think nothing of huge 'take up a whole person's space' shopping bags.

A friend of mine last summer used to refuse to let them squeeze in at the last minute and actualy lecture them about turning up on time, rather than taking the scenic route via the souk. I tried it once, but turns out the woman had just arrived to Syria and she'd literally freshened up and ran out the door in order to get to the prayer room on time. She did promise me, however, she wasn't going to do any shoppping :-)


Pic taken last night of a lastminute.com lady who squeezed in next to us and her shopping bags

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Back to school

It's been a while since I last blogged. Since my last post, I've been back home to
London and returned back to Syria and started school!

After the scary interview (4 teachers on the panel asking everything from the rules
concernig doubts in prayer to the basis of wilayat!) and then a series of blood tests,
chest X-ray and blood pressure, we got accepted into the hawza (religious school).

Walking into school on the first day took me straight back to Iran. The hawza is
actually run by Iranians, but everything is taught in Arabic. Dua Ahad was playing
on the speakers and the day started in pretty much the same way as it did in Iran-
in complete chaos! We were sorted out into classes, and just like Iran, my class
has students from all over the world- Pakistan, burkino faso and France! The teacher
is from lebabnon and speaks a bit of french, which is lucky as most of the African
students speak French too.

Class ran from 8 to 10 after which we went next door to the mens hawza for the
opening ceremony. It consisted of three vey long speeches, which gave me an
opportunity to type out this blog post on my phone so it can be uploaded when I get
home! And read a LOT of Quran.

A group of students got up to sing some nasheeds and in the process managed to massacre
an Imad Rami nasheed. Actually thats a bit unfair- part of the blame needs to go to
the dodgy mikes. I'm sure the Stanmore AV team would have done a much better job. Lol

We all got given a goody bag with a pen, magazines, and snack pack to welcome in the new year.


Friday, June 10, 2011

This is what I was busy doing today...





When we moved into our apartment in Syria, it was dirty! The previous tenants were related to the landlord, so they didn't bother cleaning the place properly.

Unlike when we moved to Qum, I didn't make myself ill scrubbing the place. I took things slowly - doing a bit every week.

The kitchen walls were caked in grease - all the way to the ceiling (no idea how the grease got up there!) and one day before classes started, I got on a chair and scrubbed the walls with steel wool. Problem was, being a bit vertically challenged, I couldn't reach all the way to the top. So for the past 8 months, my kitchen walls have looked like this:


BEFORE
(The top 2 rows of tiles are still caked with grease)

That was until I spotted a ladder last week, borrowed it and spent the next 2 days scrubbing the walls. Now it looks like this:
AFTER (all sparkly and clean)

I even managed to study in between all the scrubbing. A day well spent :-)

Notes from Sister's circle...

Our last sister's circle was conducted in Arabic. Its great for our language skills (and an ego booster when we find we can understand most of it!)

We looked at a hadith from our 6th Imam who says that there are 8 characteristics of a believer:

1. They are firm in times of tremor (that means anything that knocks you from your day to day routines - a death, accident etc)

2. They are patient in times of hardship

3. They are grateful in times of ease

4. They are satisfied by what God has given them

5. They don't oppress their enemies

6. They don't oppress their friends and forgive them easily

7. Their body is always tired

8. People are always at ease around them.

We discussed each of the points - some of them are quite obvious, but I'll expand on a few of them:

(4) It's human nature to look at people and only see their faults. For example, you see that your friend's husband does x y &z around the house and so you fault your husband for not doing the same, forgetting that he does a b &c.
If you think of everyone as a glass - half of us is filled with good qualities and half with bad qualities. So we need to start looking at the good half.

(7) This one was a bit puzzling - because we straight away thought it meant that the body should be tired with worship. But actually it means that the believer shouldn't rely on other people to do their work (unless of course they need help), but rather try and do as much as they can themselves. I guess its all about setting the right expectations of other people and realising that no one 'owes' you anything.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

You know you're a talabe (student pursuing religious education) when....

...You squeeze every last drop out of shampoo/face cream/shower gel bottles (even cutting the lids off to get to the hard to reach stuff) cos you don't know when your next parcel from back home will come

...You have 3 types of tea; the imported tetley tea bags which are reserved for yourself. The local stuff which is used when people come over and the random tea/coffee/powdered milk that zawwar (religious pilgrims) leave behind

...You can have upto five types of Chevro (Bombay mix) in your cupboard at anyone time. And all of it has been left behind by zawwars. I still have yet to understand why people think bringing chevro on a trip is a good idea. You need spoons and bowls to eat it with, it's messy and it makes you thirsty.

...You become an expert at airline weight restrictions. Hell, you even book your ticket with the airline that gives you the most. You can pack your suitcase to within 100g of the allowance. And you have even perfected the 'puppy dog' look for the check in staff in country of origin to make them give you an extra few kilos. Obviously going back home is easier - you can slip the check-in guy $20 and he'll let you off with the excess luggage!

...You have worn 4 layers of clothes (and even worn a winter jacket in summer) on your return flight so that you can bring the last few clothes that won't fit in your suitcase.

...You look like a refugee with 3 pieces of hand luggage

...Your parents are experts at finding passengers to bring the much missed goodies from back home (thank you to everyone who has kept us topped up with dairy milk - we love you lots!)

...You don't mind when zawwar leave behind chevro, biscuits, shower gels, even broken biscuits. They are a reminder of back home. Again, thanks to you all! We love you too!

...You write lists of things to do back home in the summer and they include mundane things like 'go to Tesco'

...You consider Primark clothes to be good quality, because they are - compared to the rubbish you get out here!

... You don't feel hot when temperatures reach 30 degrees back home. Its not really hot until its 53 degrees (Anyone remember Qum, Summer 2009??)

...You don't flinch when you see cockroaches or ants. And you are used to seeing hundreds of stray cats. (and on that subject, I have yet to figure out one thing - there are thousands of stray cats and dogs here, but where are their droppings??? This is proving to be one of life's mysteries)

...You throw the concept of recycling out of the window. In fact the closest you get to recycling is bagging up bottles and cans separate from the rest of the garbage so the people who search through the dumpsters for things they can sell have an easier job

...You get home to find that the grocer has sold you out of date groceries, but you lack the language skills to go back and complain

...You are asked the same questions by all the zawwar who visit. And try and put the answers on your blog, but quickly realise that no one bothers to read it.

...You learn how quickly the fresh produce goes bad and shop for the week and not a tomato more than you need

...You learn which fruits are in season during the year from their prices

...You know every decent eatery within a 5 mile radius because there are so few of them and you are on first name terms with the owner and you know what you are going to eat before you even leave the house!

...You have a profound relationship with the sayyidda of the town (the decendant of the holy prophet) who is buried in your neighbourhood. She is everything from a surrogate mother to confidante

...You realise that what you learnt in Sunday school barely even built the boat that set off on the sea of knowledge. You start to appreciate the lengths that our aalims go through to research and learn in order to relate it back to us. And you seriously worry about people who sit on the mimber without studying

...You miss home, especially the friends and family and going out. But in reality, you wouldn't give upthisnew lifestyle, even for mountain of gold

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Thoughts from class.

We're covering 8th form verbs right now - for the Arabic groupies amongst you - thats the افتعل pattern. (verbs which indicate internally activism with will and determination)

Our teacher taught us a phrase:

الأقتصاد في النفقة نصف المعيشة


which roughly translates to 'economising in expenses is half of living'

So when I heard this, it made me think of a certain East African muliyani who always says that the wife has 3 duties to her husband - cooking, cleaning and economising. (LOL). Maybe someone forgot to tell her that cooking and cleaning aren't wifely duties religiously - but rather a wife does them out of love for her family.

Anyways, the saying is more applicable today than ever before. It really made me ponder on things. How easy is it these days to stock up on clothes, food and other things! With the advent of Primark, Tecso, Pound/Dollar/10 lira stores its so easy to pay next to nothing and fill our cupboards with things that we hardly use. This isn't economising at all!

And it made me think - I have clothes in 3 countries - I have no idea how much I have, let alone when I am going to wear it all! Do I really need so many clothes? Each summer when I go back to London, I try and de-clutter my things, but then end up splurging in Primark or Tesco, so end up with the same amount of things!

When we moved to Iran (almost 3 years ago), we set up our home with new things, splurged on kitchen gadgets etc (not that there is anything wrong with having nice things).But 2 years later when we packed up everything to move to Syria, it made us realise how much stuff we had accumulted in such a short time. And how much food stuff we had in the cupboards which we couldn't finish off before we left. We set up our home in Syria very differently. Rather than hoarding the 'good stuff' for a day which may never come, we just use what we have. And rather than buying things from the souk, I try and buy them from the 10 lira store, so I don't feel bad leaving things behind when we leave Syria.

A scholar once made an interesting point in a lecture -

In life, we can choose the car we buy, the house we live in, the job we accept and others. Buying an expensive car like a Jaguar or Lexus will get us to our destination, as will a cheap car like a Ford Escort or a Lada. The main difference is the price, although the ride may seem a bit smoother in a Lexus.

But if you look at the other costs, the operating expenses, petrol, insurance for a Lexus are much higher. A Lada on the other hand, can be maintained and operated quite cheaply. Anyone with half a brain can fix a Lada!

If someone wanted to borrow your car, you would lend a Lada to someone at the drop of a hat, but if someone wanted to borrow your Lexus, you’d think twice. You’d offer to drop them to their destination and pick them up! Don’t get me wrong, Islam does encourage us to earn a living and have nice things! But think about it, even though both cars get you to the same destination, the ride in the Lexus is more egotistical and so there is more attachment to the expensive luxury, and it is this that diverts us from what we want to achieve.

Imam Jafar as Sadiq (as) has said: imagine yourself going through customs with lots of luggage. Say I was going to Paris for a short trip. Even if the customs officer wasn’t suspicious of me wearing hijab and my husband with his beard and dishdasha, he will be once he sees my 2x 30kg suitcases and he’ll ask “What do you have in there? Gifts? Clothes? You’re staying for 2 days and you have 2 suitcases?” they will question me and make sure that I don’t have anything beyond my means. But, if they see me coming through with a small carry on bag, they’ll just let me through. The 6th Imam tells us that it’s exactly the same in the Hereafter, the more we have, the more responsibility we have and the more we have to answer for. So on the Day of Judgement, the less we have to account for, the faster we will be able to enter Jannah.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Random Thoughts

Two things struck me the other day....

The first was seeing a little 3 or 4 year old boy with his parents visiting the shrine of Sayyidda Zaynab for the first time. He looked cute wearing his 'Friday' best - a little suit and red bow tie.

The second was meeting an aunty and uncle (who incidently turned out to be distant relatives!!) telling us about how their suitcases had gotton lost on the way. The aunty commented: 'It doesn't matter that my suitcase got lost because I had only packed old clothes, but uncle had packed all his good clothes'.

It really got me thinking - why shouldn't uncle be allowed to bring his nice clothes? Surely he has recognised the personaility that is is about to visit and wants to look his best!

Why is it that when we go for ziarat, we pack all our old clothes?? Seriously, do we want to be going to the graves of our ideals wearing old trackie bottoms and tshirts with holes in them and scarves that have seen better days??

One of the things we teach children from a young age is that if they are going to visit the queen/president, they would put on their best clothes, so when we pray, we should wear our good clothes too, because our God is far more important than the queen. Right?

So why is it that when we come to visit the Holy Shrines, we bring our oldest and ugliest clothes?! Don't the Imams/Holy Household deserve to see us wearing our nicest clothes and scarves?

OK, so the roads here are dusty and the laundry facilities are adequate, but when we go on trips to the far east and africa etc, we take our good clothes and the roads are just as dusty there and the laundry is just as third world.

My latest Addiction...

... is polo juice! It's a mix of mint, lemon and ice and is soooo refreshing! I just can't get enough of it!

So far, I've tried the one at the Safir Hotel's Fresh Delight's cafe and Anas Restaurant in Babila. But by far the best so far is the one at the Ecological Cafe in the Old City of Damascus.




Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Long Johns



Syrians have an obsession with them... they even sell them in the summer!

Just a word of warning - to the visitors who come here and get excited when they see them - the elastic on them is rubbish! It is only stretchy on the first wear, after that, the long johns fall down. So it means one has to rush to the nearest rest room and pull them up every 10 mins.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Story from a previous class

Once, a companion of the 6th Imam was out in the bazaar. He started talking nonsense to a baker and in the confusion, managed to steal 2 loaves of bread from him. He walked a little further and started talking nonsense to a fruit seller and again managed to steal 2 pomegranates from him.

The companion then found a poor family and gave them the fruit and bread to eat.

He was feeling quite good about himself and when he next met the 6th Imam, he informed him of what he had done.

The Imam asked him why he had used stolen goods in order to do a good deed. The companion replied that he had heard the Imam once say that each good deed is worth 10 in the eyes of God and each bad deed is worth 1. So by giving 4 things to a poor family is equal to 40 good deeds and stealing for things is minus 4 - so he ends up with a net of 36 good deeds.

Imam retorted: ' Don't obey Allah with disobedience, but rather obey Him by staying away from Haraam'.

i.e. The ends don't justify the means.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Qaymeh (not sure how to spell it!)


We hosted a gathering a while back and our teacher's wife made an Iraqi dish called Qaymeh (No idea how to spell it!). It tastes a bit like kitchro, but it's a lot lighter. I got the recipe from her and tried making it a couple of times (although I cheated a bit!)

Aparently, the spices the each person puts into it are a family secret, and I am told that I am lucky that Umm Zaynab disclosed her spices and quantities to me! I have put my variations in brackets!

A day or 2 before making the dish, soak 1kg of dried chickpeas in water. They should double in size. (I think next time I will use the canned ones)

On the day, put 1kg of meat with bones (half beef,half lamb) and boil it with the chickpeas in plenty of water. (Or pressure cooker it up!) Save the water for water.

Once the meat is cooked, grind/mash the mixture by hand. (I used boneless meat, so I threw the mixture into my Braun mini grinder)

Take the fat from the back of the sheep and cut it into small pieces. In another saucepan, heat some oil and put the fat in. Heat on low heat until the fat dissolves. (I missed this out completely - couldn't bear the thought of touching the rear end of a sheep!)

Chop and fry 4 onions (I blend them with a little water) and fry in oil until yellow. Add 4 tablespoons of tomatoe puree and half a kilo of chopped tomatoes (I blend the tomatoes too!)

Heat until very red.

Add 1 tablespoon each of cardamon powder, cinammon powder, grinded dried lemon (the black things), black pepper and salt. I also add chilli powder, garlic and ginger paste to 'indianify' it.

Mix in the chickpeas/meat mixture and the fat and simmer on hot heat for an hour. If the mixture dries out, add in the water that was used to boil the meat.

I think Iraqis eat it with rice, but it is just as yummy with naan bread or on its own. As you can see, its so yummy, that there was hardly any left to photograph!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

More Syrian English


This is a picture of the carrier bags from the store that sells designer fake handbags and shoes (Ground floor of the Safir Hotel)

Since when did bags and shoes become 'needs' and not 'wants' ?????

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Make Mine a 'Cheer-Up'

Here's a picture of the local version of 7-Up!




And here it is in Arabic:


Sunday, March 6, 2011

Tajweed Quiz for you all!

What is special about the following sentence???

(Those of you studying Tajweed should get this one!)

صراط علي حق نمسكه

(I havn't figured out how to type shadda's yet, but there should be a shadda on the yaa!

Steak!


I have 2 steak recipes that are really easy and turn out really yummy!

The first is from my sister in law

Marinate the meat in garlic, ginger, 1 blended onion, green chilli and coriander.
Cook on low heat (covered) for 1 hour.
When the meat is cooked, add garam masala, ketchup and half a chopped tomato. (I add chopped green peppers too)

The other easy steak recipe is from the 'Asian Cuisine Globalised Cookbook' - the one the Stanmore Early programme mums put toghter a few years ago (pg 62)

Marinate 1kg fillet in 2 tablespoons soya sauce, 1 tablespoon garlic and ginger, 1 tablespoon sugar and salt/pepper to taste for 6-24 hours.

Heat oil in a wok. Saute green peppers and onions. Take out and keep aside. Add more oil and fry green chillis and meat. Cook on medium heat until tender.

Make a paste with 1 bowl of chicken stock and 1 tablespoon corn flour. Pour the paste over the meat and let it simmer until it thickens. Add the sauteed onions and peppers and serve hot with Parathas.

MY TIP: After peeling the onion, put it in the fridge for 15 mins before you chop it!

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Anyone can make Aloo Gobi but not everyone can bend it like Beckham


Inspired by watching Bend it like Beckham last week, I decided to try making Aloo Gobi. And Jassminder is right, ANYone can make Aloo Gobi! The recipe I found on Spark (ipod app) is soooo easy!

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon ginger paste
2 medium potatoes (cubed)
1/2 teaspoon ground tumeric
1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
salt
1lb cauliflower

1. Heat the oil. Stir in cumin seeds, garlic and ginger paste. Cook for about 1 minute until garlic is slightly browned

2. Add potatoes. Season with tumeric, chilli powder, cumin, garam masala and salt. Cover and continue cooking for 5-7 mins, stirring occasionally.

3. Mix in cauliflower. (I added in water too, as the potatoes were starting to stick). Reduce heat to low and cover. Stir occasionally. Cook for 10 mins or until cauliflower and potatoes are tender.

4. Serve with boiled rice.

Microwave Rice

I only make rice this way. It's so easy and there is never any burnt rice at the bottom of the saucepan to scrape off!

1. Wash 1 mug of rice in a microwaveable plastic container
2. Add 2 mugs of boiling water, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 table spoon of oil.
3 Cover with clingfilm and make 10-15 holes in the clingfilm with a toothpick
4. Microwave on high for 10 mins
5. Stir the rice with a fork. If it is still watery, microwave on medium for 2 mins and check again.
6. Repeat step 5 until rice is cooked.

(UK rice tends to cook in 12 mins, but Middle Eastern rice needs longer - usually 15-16 mins)

Friday, February 25, 2011

Lessons from Sayyidda Fatemah - some points from our last sister's circle

Our fortnightly wednesday sisters' circles have now become weekly! They're a great opportunity to catch up with each other and learn something too!

At the end of the last session, we looked at some lessons from the life of Sayyidda Fatemah, daughter of the Holy Prophet:
1. She never spoke anything unless it was the truth
2. She never mentioned or remembered anyone negatively
3. She protected others' secrets
4. She accepted others' excuses
5. She always kept promises
6. She forgave others

We discussed each of them and came up with the conclusion that the best way to show your love for the Ahlul Bayt (family of the Prophet) is to follow the examples that they have left for us. Obviously there is no way we can ever be as generous or as forgiving as they were, but at least we can try.

Take number 5 - one way we can follow this through is if we are invited to someone's house or gathering (or even a sister's circle!) and we tell the host we are going to attend, then its mandatory on us to attend, otherwise we are not keeping our promise of attendance!

Anyone visiting Syria on a Wednesday is more than welcome to attend!

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Story from our reading comprehension book

(Credit must go to The Husband for translating and typing this out!)

Imam Musa a-Kadhim [a] relates the following story:

The once was a man from the Bani Israel, he was a pious man. He had a wife who was also pious. One night the man had a dream where an angel came to him and said that Allah had ordained for him such and such amount of time for his life on earth. In addition Allah offered him that one half of his life would be with ease (wealth) and the other with difficulty (poverty). He was to choose which half he wanted the ease and which he half he wanted the poverty. The man told the angel that he had a wife who was his partner in life and he needed to consult her and that the angel could come back tomorrow night when he had consulted her. The following morning the man awoke and related to his wife what had transpired the previous night to which she replied: 'Choose the first half with ease and let us pray for a good ending (to our lives) perhaps Allah will have mercy upon us and bless with blessing throughout our lives.'. The following night the man saw the angel and he informed the angel of his decision to which the angel said you have requested it and so it will be.

The blessings of the world began to make their way to the man and his wife from all facets and they increased on a daily basis. The wife said to her husband that with these blessings he should assist those amongst his relatives and he should gift and assist those amongst his neighbours and brothers in faith. When the first half of his life passed by he saw in his dream the same angel whom he had seen previously. The angel said to the man: 'Allah appreciates (that you did 'husn u dhan' [thinking well of God] on him and that you made good use of your first half) you and therefore has ordained the second half of your life with with ease like the first half.

Homework for you all:
What lessons do you take from this story? and what Shariah points?
(we came up with a total of 13 in class!)

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

My washing machine


My washing machine is ghetto. There is no other word to describe it! I was explaining the concept to a British lady who was visiting here last week and she said that it was exactly how she used to do her laundry in 1960s England!

There are 2 tubs.




The clothes go into the left tub.

I fill it up with water from the tap, via a hose. Throw in some detergent and turn the dial. Once the cycle is done, I have to drain out the water and refil it again with tap water. On the second cycle, I add fabric softner too. One cycle runs for 15 mins, but I usually do 2 cycles with detergent and one with fabric softner.

After draining out the water, the clothes go into the right tub to be wrung out.


It takes about an hour to do one load of laundry and I have to constantly babysit the washing machine! If I'm doing whites, I have to remember to turn the water heater on, as I tend to 'boil' the white clothes. The clothes come out reasonably clean, although all the dirt tends to magnetise itself to one piece of clothing (usually my black dress trousers!)

It's all part of the 'living in the third world' experience ;-)

Roghan Josh



Here is the first of many of my tried and tested recipes. I'm aiming to try at least one new recipe a week, so watch this space!

This one comes from the Marziabai Asaria Cookbook (pg 82)

2lbs cubed lamb fillet
3 tblspoons lemon juice
1 cup natural yoghurt
1 tsp salt
2 crushed cloves of garlic
1 piece grated ginger
4 tblspoons oil
toasted cumin seeds and bay leaves to garnish
1/2 tspoon cumin seeds
1 finely chopped onion
2 tspoon ground coriander
2 tspoon ground cumin
400g chopped tomatoes (I used blended fresh tomatoes, canned ones are $$$$ here!)
2 tblspoon tomatoe puree
2/3 cup water (I ended up adding a lot more than this, as meat wasnt cooked)
4 green cardamon pods
2 bay leaves

1. In a large bowl mix together the lemon juice, yoghurt, salt, garlic and ginger. Add the lamb, cover and marinate in the fridge overnight.
2. Heat the oil in wok or karahi (I used a large frying pan) and fry the cumin seeds for 2 mins. Add the bayleaves and cardamon pods and fry for a further 2 mins.
3. Add the onion and a bit of garlic and fry for 5 mins. Add the coriander, cumin and chilli powder. Fry for 2 mins.
4. Add the marinated lamb and cook for a further 5 mins, stiring occaisionally to prevent the mixture from sticking to the frying pan.
5. Stir in the tomatoes and tomatoe puree and water. Cover the simmer for 1-1.5 hours. Garnish with toasted cumin seeds and bay leaves and serve with rice.



On the left of the plate is the very yummy 5 lira bread they sell near the Haram.



p.s. There was LOADS of masala left over, so I froze it. Any ideas on what I can do with it??

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Medical Museum

We took a trip to Old Damascus and visited this 12th Centuary hospital. Its now been converted into a museum, housing medical appartatus discovered by Muslims many hundreds of years ago.


The Hospital Courtyard




There are models in all the rooms showing anatomy classes and operations



Syrian English

Another example of poor use of English by the Syrians!

Genteel Man!

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Iceland



We have one of these too! Albeit, selling different things from the UK chain.

One of the things that irritates me about Dubai and increasingly in Syria too is how they transliterate English words into Arabic. There is a perfectly good phrase for 'Ice Land' in Arabic, but yet they don't use it!

Swimming!

This is the swimming pool that we try and visit once a week. Its a short, 5 lira bus ride away from Sayyidda Zaynab in a place called Baabila. Recently, the prices went up to 250 lira (about 5 dollars) for a 2 and half hour swim. They hardly ever turn the jacuzzi and sauna on, bt when they do, its scalding hot! Luckily though, they heat the pool up.

This pool has really made us miss the lovely, clean, cheap Jamia pool in Qum :-(

Friday, January 28, 2011

Is Syria the place for you??

One of the things I get asked over and over and over again is 'should I send my daughter to study Arabic in Syria?'

My short answer to that is 'no'.

The reasons are many..... (this blog entry will be forwarded to anyone who asks me the question in the future!). I am going to share my personal experiences with you. If you think your young daughter will be able to deal with them, then by all means send her!

The people (and by people I mean men!) are weird here. Just yesterday, a friend and I were walking home from the Haram towards the WF Institute, when out of no where a man selling socks comes up to me and hits me in the chest with his socks. We tell him we are not interested. He keeps following us.... we're almost at the institute which is a 7 min walk from the Haram and he comes face to face with me and starts asking weird questions. My friend grabs me, we overtake him and we run into the building.

A few weeks back, an Indo-Pak maulana 'insists ' that I have to do mutaa with him (even though I told him I'm married) to stop him from doing haram. And a few days later I had this old man try and give me his phone number (eeeewwwww, gross... my stomach is turning just thinking back to that incident)

I've lost count of the number of taxi drivers that have tried to rip me off, shop keepers that have acted inappropriately etc And the beggars who just don't leave you alone! Our local fast food owner has often helped me out in these sticky situations!

There have also been numerous incidents in the women's side of the Haram recently.... bags, phones, wallets and ipods all stolen while people have been praying!

All I can say is thanks to my parents (especially my Dad) who always made us aware of our surroundings when going out and about. It really helped me to become street smart!

The other day, one of the London aunties told me that she was sending her daughter to Syria and that I should keep an eye on her. Aunty, I didn't have the guts to tell you to your face, but I'm not running a baby sitting service here! If you want someone to keep an eye on her, bring her yourself!

Don't get me wrong, there are nice people out here that keep an eye out for others (our Arabic teacher for instance and the local fast food restaurant owner!) and we have a friends network (albeit a small one) who look out for eacher other, but at the end of the day, most people are busy with their own lessons and we only see each other at the fortnightly sister's circles and the weekly sessions at the WF institute.

And I don't want to put anyone off from coming here to study. It's a fantastic place to learn Arabic (especially if you have an amazing teacher like ours!), but my advise is for young girls to come with a family member, friend or husband. (sorry, I know that's not want everyone wanted to hear). And there are so many issues that I am personally glad my husband deals with (paying the landlord, getting a gas cyclinder for cooking, arguing with the plumber when he leaves us for 7 days without hot water!). I'm the first one when it comes to equality for women and womens rights, but trust me on this.... there are some things that are better dealt with by the men folk!

If anyone is thinking of coming here to study... make up an action plan. (this bit is for the guys and the gals!) What are you aiming to achieve while you are here?? And how are you going to achieve it?? A lot of people assume that they will go to the University of Damascus. I haven't studied there personally, but I know that they teach Modern Standerd Arabic. So if you want to study Arabic in order to be able to understand Quran and Duas, this is not the right option for you.

Our course (Alhamdulillah) takes ayaat from the Qur'an to illustrate grammer points and teaches us hadiths and Qur'anic stories. Now, when I read Qur'an, or listen to a dua or lecture in the Haram, I'm able to understand a good chunk :-) I believe the hawzas use a similar approach too.

The other options include private teachers and hawzas. If you are thinking of private tutors, then my advise would be to shop around and choose a teacher that suits you. Compare prices too. The prices doubled from Jan 2010 to July 2010!! (We were not expecting that at all and it hit our pockets hard!). The down side to private lessons is the speaking. I am finding that I really have to force my self to speak Arabic at home.... its so easy to slip into English! In a university/hawza environment it is much easier to practise speaking as Arabic is the only language you have in common with your classmates.

If someone was to ask me about sending their daughter to Qum, my answer would be completely different! I know that the hawzas there have dedicated housing for the single girls and restrict their comings and goings (I know some call it prison, but I'm sure that parents would sleep better at night knowing their daughters were locked up!)

If there are any brothers or sisters that have studied in Syria and would like to share their experiences, please feel free to leave a comment!

(disclaimer- I am NOT putting down the courses at the University of Damascus. I know there are some wonderful teachers there. Nor am I putting down anyone who has studied there.)

Post Script - If there are any parents out there sending single boys to study in Syria, please please please teach them a few basic recipies and how to look after themselves (e.g. how to wash and iron clothes, sew buttons....) :-)

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

The Walk from Sayyidda Zaynab to Sayyidda Ruqayya

One of the local traditions on Arbaeen Day (the 40th day after the martyrdom of Imam Husayn) is that people drive to Sayyidda Ruqayya's shrine for the morning prayers, pray there and then walk back to Sayyidda Zaynab's shrine. Its a distance of more than 10km and it takes about 3 hours.

Our teacher walks the other way - i.e. from Sayyidda Zaynab to Sayyidda Ruqayya. It was an interesting walk. We laft at 8am and made a pit stop at Sayyidda Zaynab's shrine. Even though it was so early, the shrine was full-ish, with people starting mourning rituals. There were even people handing out tea and bread to the zawwar (pilgrims).

Muharram this year had been toned due due to government restrictions and so this year, the groups of walkers were a lot less. Nevertheless, we did see about 3-4 big groups of people walking and reciting poems and lamentations. I was surprised at how many elderly, children, full-term-pregnant women and disabled people were doing the walk. There were also hundreds walking barefoot too. I was told that in previous years, people stand by the roadside and hand out water and refreshments too, but we only saw a truck handing out bananas this year!

Just like how fasting in the month of Ramadhan reminds us of the hunger of the poor people, this walk made me think about how Sayyidda Zaynab and the other members of the Holy Household made the walk from Karbala to Kufa to Shaam. We (Alhamdulillah) had a energising breakfast and cup of tea, ate vitamins and energy tablets, had water and snacks along the way and were wearing comfy sketchers. It was such an easy experience (even with our power-walking teacher!) The ladies and children did the walk (which was much longer than our walk) on barely enough food and water to keep them alive and in the hot desert sun. And that was just after witnessing their family members being killed. And seeing so many infants and children die along the way.

I've post up the pics on FB and the link for my non-FB readers is below:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=600949&id=775340390&l=482c39050f

The Muffin Mosque

One of our friends calls this the 'Muffin Mosque' because of the odd shaped dome.


Saturday, January 22, 2011

My favourite store


My favourite store (apart from the supermarket downtown where you can get EVERYTHING at overinflated prices) is the 10 lira store. It rocks!

10 liras works out to about 13p and this store has everything from stationery to waxing strips, from kitchen utensils to sewing kits, and from makeup, jewellery and scarf pins to batteries, electrical cables and screwdrivers. (you get the picture). We even manage to pick up branded items from time to time!

If I need anything for the house, I usually head to this store first before going to the souk (market). It's only 3mins walk from my house and I know I will pick up a bargain!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

For those of you who were worried that I didn't know how to cook before I got married....

... this post is for you!

I've become an experimenter in the kitchen these days! Recently, I've made pakistani biryani, pitta bread, mandazi, carrot and ginger cake.........
Here's a picture of one of my masterpieces:
If anyone has any interesting recipies that don't need readymade mixes/sauces please share!