the sand and the fury

Madina Archives


Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board

the sand and the fury
se7en
11/08/00 at 19:26:39
Interesting what you can find in a car magazine...


"The Sand and the Fury"  
an article in Automobile Magazine - November 2000
by Eddie Alterman

Amman, Jordan - As a Middle Eastern tourist destination, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan ranks far behind Israel, which strikes us as more than a little unjust.  Aside from Jeruselam, and the fact that three of the world's major religions claim Jeruselam as their own, it's hard to see what accounts for Jordan's diminished allure.  Sure, Israel may have more coastline, more trees, and more nubile Americans on synagogue-sponsored field trips, but Jordan has much to recommend it.  Jordan is arguably the most tourist-friendly country in the Middle East, with elegant hospitality, world-class antiquities, and nonexploding school buses.

That last detail may have spurred Land Rover's decision to stage one of its Adventures here.  A Land Rover Adventure is a very high-end piece of travel - much like those offered to the world's elite by Abercrombie & Kent - only the Adventures are strictly for Land Rover owners
...

In Jordan, we'd be doing prodigious amounts of offroading.  We'd be driving Land Rover Discoveries and Range Rovers through the desolate beauty of the desert, bounding from Amman to Aqaba to the Dead Sea, using the Land Rovers as Allah intended.  This is our diary.

Day one.  The time spent traveling to Jordan was not, technically, the adventure part of the Adventure, but the flight taught many meaningful things about the place we'd be going to and the people we'd find there.  First of all, Jordanians seem to take a rather laid back approach to travel, with captains who like to mill about the cabin on takeoff, scream jocularities into the public address system, and join the passengers in hitting on the flight attendants.

Accounting for this easy sociability is the fact that Jordan is a country of just five million people, and everyone seems to know everyone else.  People fondle one another when they talk, grab hold of one another's heads mid-sentence, and grip hands to emphasize crucial points of conversation.  The guy next to me knew the girl next to him, also the flight attendant, also me by the flight's end.  

As we descended over the Mediterranean, I could make out the land mass of Israel at Haifa, all terraced and lush and full of groves.  But once we crossed the River Jordan, it was as if the taps had turned off, and the ground color shifted from green to tan.  The Jordanian sand looked like suede, with long patches of contrasting darkness over which some force had run its hand.

Day two.  We were in Amman, in the lobby of the Inter-Continental Hotel, watching the parade of Jordanian city folk.  Most of them were wearing Western garb, but occasionally a woman was led in wearing all black, with a cylindrical hat covering her entire head, a long-sleeved shirt, and a floor-length skirt.  This traditional mode of dress is called hijab, and its main function is to protect the modesty of the flowers of Islam.  Its other main function is to totally eroticize the female form.  Male perversity is such that after a few days of witnessing women dressed this way, the sight of an exposed ankle had me pouring ice down my pants.

But this happened infrequently, as most Ammanites dress like Californians.  Their clothing reflects the high tone of this city, which has been the capital of Palestinian immigration (both following direct applications of Israeli heat in 1948 and 1967) also have diluted the strength of national ideologies.  Amman is hardly Americanized - Islamic prayers keen through the city four times a day - but neither is it idle.  If you take the long view, what you see in Amman is a city drifting away from tribalism and petty agriculture of its past, into the oil fields, phosphate mines, and tourist centers that sustain it now....


---



Re: the sand and the fury
jannah
11/08/00 at 22:25:13
man guys are so gross
Re: the sand and the fury
Arsalan
11/09/00 at 00:08:22
[quote]Male perversity is such that after a few days of witnessing women dressed this way, the sight of an exposed ankle had me pouring ice down my pants.[/quote]The guy speaks only for himself!!!

Whatever!
Re: the sand and the fury
lightningatnite
11/09/00 at 13:34:46
salam,

yes, jannah you're right, as long as you agree that a guy whose life long career ambition is to write about cars in a car magazine is representative of the entire male species.  Remember, they rarely take a picture of one of these cars without some girl in a bikini draped over it.  If you're trying to say guys are gross, its like if I read a letter some girl wrote in Seventeen and said girls are airheads.  I mean, I know that most are, but not ALL, you know, j/k :)

If you think thats bad, believe me you do not want to know what else I've seen in those mags!

:) Salam :)
Re: the sand and the fury
Saleema
11/09/00 at 15:33:44

If you think thats bad, believe me you do not want to know what else I've seen in those mags!

Why even waste your money or time reading through such magazines? What's the point? What good does it do you? Why look at all the cars that you will never have with naked females draped all over them? If you can afford them, go to the nearest place where they sell them to buy one. No offense.
sincere advise. (Enjoin good and forbid evil.)
:)  Not that I'm saying you are evil. Far from it.............  :)

Your sister in Islam,

wassalam

Re: the sand and the fury
Malika
11/10/00 at 16:07:32
Assalaam Alaikum

It's good to know that in the midst of articles about cars there was mentioning of Islam and it didn't seem to be bashing it or making puns against it.  The women were referred to as flowers of Islam (I kinda like that description myself) It seems like the person was curious enough to find out what our form of dress was.  In the midst of everything people hear about our religion this article could have taken on a totally different tone but it didn't Alhamdulliah! :-)
Re: the sand and the fury
lightningatnite
11/11/00 at 11:15:58
Salam,

Wow, sister Malika, methinks you're easily impressed :)  Actually, you're right, we blame everyone for writing stupid things about Islam, but we fail to realize how utterly mystified and fascinated they are by it.  They have no idea what these women are wearing.  I guess you're right, at least the author here is not being a bigot, he's just being a guy(an equally grave crime, nonetheless :)

Sister Saleema, Sheikh Hamza was once talking about idolotry, and he said that those guys out there waxing their cars are polishing their idols.  I'd have to agree.  What you worship is what you live for.  

BUT...I know some sisters who happen to be crazy about fashion/jewelry/makeup/everywhichlotionyoucanthinkof so you sisters aren't as innocent as you pretend to be :)

:) Salam :)


Individual posts do not necessarily reflect the views of Jannah.org, Islam, or all Muslims. All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners. Comments are owned by the poster and may not be used without consent of the author.
The rest © Jannah.Org