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....) :-)

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.

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!

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!