Muslim, Norwegian, Woman.

I am Muslim.

My Muslim name is Noori. I do not cover my hair, but I practice my religion as best as I can,
renewing my faith with every breath I take.

I took me three years before I officially converted, before this I only termed myself as a believer and not as a practising Muslim. Then, in September 2008, I entered the "office for Embracing Islam" in the Azhar registry in Cairo and officially took my Shahada.

The Shaikh who sat with me told me that all of my sins were now washed away with my conversion, and that from that moment on I was as unspoiled and pure as a newborn child. (Babies are not born as sinners in Islam, as opposed to as in Christianity)

I never knew this, and I was so excited! Wow, what an opportunity!
I had always heard stories of "born-again Christians" but never knew there was such a thing as "born-again Muslims"!

Well, now I was one of them..

I still enjoy things that others, brought up in stricter families might consider unlawful or unmodest at least, but I do carry a much bigger respect for myself and humanity in general.
I gave up drinking for instance, but not going out dancing with my friends.

I love my religion because I love God and because I no longer have to worry about life, the universe and everything. (The BIG questions) I have a peace within that only a believer can understand.

I am Norwegian

I love the fjords and mountains where I come from, I love old movies and old comedy shows on television and songs and food and traditions and Christmas and Easter and warm summer nights where the sun never sets and everything that gives us a common culture.

I am proud to be Norwegian, proud of our reputation as a peace-building nation, as a functioning welfare state and proud of our politics most of the time. There are issues ofcourse, especially the late demonizing of muslims which hits me right in the heart. But most of the time I am proud.

Except, of course, for when returning from the warm-heartiness of Egypt or the helpful politeness of London to a airplane going to my hometown where men suddenly do not treat you like a woman anymore, but shoves in front of you to reach their seat and place their baggage in the overhead compartment, not even considering helping you. This is supposed to be equality, taken to the extreme.

I guess you could say its the direct trade-off of having full gender equality, no more gentlemen opening doors for women etc, forget about it! I suppose I just might be a bit traditional in that particular sense!

But I can accept these things of course, they are not a great concern and afterall you get used to it.

It only takes a few days to switch back to Norway-mode. Once sitting on that mountaintop or hillside, west coast fjord or island, contemplating the beautiful and peaceful surroundings, the love for my country is always re-enforced and re-imagined.

I am a Woman

I acknowledge the fact that many women suffer in the name of religious and social institutions around the world, and that real change need to take place for equality and equity to be realized.

Within Islam I believe in raising the voice of Muslim Women, not only existing female scholars, but also ao that female voices of the past can be resurrected.
All souls are equal in Islam, we are all obliged to seek knowledge. Always.

Physically we are different and thus we complement each other., This is why marriage in Islam is considered as fulfilling half of your religion.

I do not believe in segregation, even in prayer, but I accept it and respect that many others do..

Many things, people will say, are inherently suppressing women in Islam, but I believe that the social structures of power, accepted norms and beliefs go far below and beyond religion.

I believe that patriarchy shapes society and its religions, and that patriarchy is what must be fought. Patriarchy is just another sublevel of power, just one of the many layers of power that shape everything we think and do, by upholding norms, beliefs and stereotypes that continue to either supress or protect people, whether women, children, men, minorities etc. around the world.

I believe we can change the world to the better through fighting long-standing misconceptions and prejudices against women in different societies, and through restructuring social relations, slowly.

I am no revolutionary, I rather put my faith in God to raise up many wonderful, diverse and strong voices that lead to action and real change and that can altogether make a big difference...

Big City with Big Issues

Can you imagine seeing the pyramids of Giza from your bedroom window?

I do.

I see the Nile in five different spots, I see the Sakkara pyramids and the Kheops pyramid in Giza, I see the Marriott and the Gezira sporting club, I see Cairo tower, the Citadel and most amazingly the horizon around the whole city when the weather is clear. At night I see the gleaming city lights and the colorful boats on the Nile.

I also see the rooftop people.

From my 18th floor flat in Zamalek I see exactly 4 different rooftop families.

It's the weirdest thing. They sleep inside but the rest of their house is basically on the outside. One of these families had a wedding about a week ago. One week before they did the "henna" party and then the wedding itself followed the next week.

I heard the sounds.

I hear a lot of sounds.

- Massive car honking everyday from around 2 to 4 pm.

- Screams and loud noises of playing pupils at the private school which has its only playground

on the rooftop.

- Some weird music coming from an public school nearby,

in the morning, some kind of flute music. I have heard it reffered to as "the worshipping of

the flag" (read: your daily dose of nationalism)

- Music from the Nile-boats where many people hold their wedding party.

- Oriental music of the belly dancing show in the Marriot gardens

- The whistling of a flute every 2 minute from 3 to 5 from someone's basketball rehearsal

- The noise of a siren from an ambulance stuck in traffic in 26 of July street. It can go on for 20

minutes. It makes me feel sick. But don't get sick cuz you never know you if you will reach the

hospital in time

- Of course the call to prayer five times a day, a different voice in each window.

- And, ofcourse, an extra loud angry preaching for the Friday sermon

lasting about an hour Friday morning when I'm asleep.

(Cairo during sandstorm)

- You also have the spontaneous cheerful shouts whenever there is a football match being

watched in one of the local cafés in the streets around my building. Especially when it is the

super popular AHLY playing against Zamalek. When Ahly wins there is just no stopping to

the happiness displayed. It's crazy.

I got so disturbed and jumped out of my chair many times,

its like the whole city gets lifted up in one big scream when the last goal is

scored!! And afterwards, people celebrate for hooooours… how?

Honking their car horns of course!

- Another familiar sound of Cairo is the birdie doorbell.

I visited friends many times asking: "Where is the bird??"

This is something I have never seen before. Very annoying. Quite disturbing

- A very popular sound is the "BIG Sound of Cairo" which is

NileFM weekly show "The Hotmix" every Thursday night.

Thursday is the big night out here. If you have a car there is no reason why you wouldn't

cruise around in this magnificent city (ehm... except for traffic)

and also quite often is this cruising accompanied with drinks and smokes and naturally the

Hotmix. And it is usually pretty hot.

Actually it is the only thing hot on Nile fm.

(comment two years later - now they have some good friday night

shows as well, relase yourself with roger sanchez, etc.)

It's really the strangest thing, to sit in a car with friends, and then see other young

people in their car across the street moving to the same music! EVERYONE

seems to be listening to the same show thursday nights!

Is this some kind of deliberate brainwash of the Egyptian upper and upper

middle class youth? Or is it just pure fun?

What I do know is that Egypt is not a much updated country when it comes to most kinds of

music. Except when it comes to House music Why is that? Sharm el Sheikh and

Hurghada? The keyword is beach.

I think its really too bad that cool new rock bands would never come here,

but at the same time it really rocks that most of the big Djs have been spinning here and also

there are a lot of up- and coming talented Egyptian djs!!

I guess listening to house music was my part of my "Egyptianization"

(read: fitting in to my Egyptian group of friends)

I mean, you take what you find right? You get influences from the people you surround

yourself with, for better and for worse. Here I found House.

Another very rare sound,

and difficult to come out with in public for those enjoying it,

is the sound of Rock, more exactly Punk Rock. I actually went to a PUNKROCK concert

last week! I wanted to see this band for a long time since I heard they were Egypt's only

punk rock band. Technically they were good. But the drawback for me was that I basically

don't like green day at all and most of their concert was green day covers. They played a couple

of originals too, which I LOVED! But seriously, green day? That's not even Punk. It's Pop.

The most pathetic thing about the whole rock scene in Egypt

is that punk rockers are traditionally known to be very angry very poor people.

Well… here they are very very very rich

And only God knows what they are angry about?

Maybe daddy didn't send you to the Bahamas this Christmas; you had to go to the Netherlands

instead? seriously. Where else would they get their influences?

Most of them probably all grew up in the states.

And they might be updated in black metal and classic rock,(you can't really be updated in 20

years old music) but when it comes to the really good stuff, its veeery random what you can find

in even Virgin mega store. I mean you might find like one album with sonic youth but not the

newest and its all very very frustrating.

But when it comes to R&B and especially House, Egypt is there,

updated and on the front line.

Does this help the Egyptian people in anyway?

Or does it just help further the alienation of the Egyptian upper classes

from their people?

I have no idea really,

just a lot of mixed feelings about a lot of things I see and experience

in this country of contradictions!

Remember, this is just a cultural commentary from an outsider

What else can I say? The sun went down on Cairo one more day,

I turned off the radio as the call to prayer just started,

and Thursday night is officially on. Welcome to the hotmix

CC.

Sex Drugs and Rock and Roll in the Middle East

Clubbing in Cairo

What can I say... I guess you would think different of a Muslim country?..

In to the calculation has to be taken the fact that it is probably only about less than

1 percent of the people who can be described as party animals

Being a foreign girl in this city, and especially after attending one year at the AUC (American University inCairo), the Egyptians I see when going out are (mostly) from the upper and middle classes.

They have money. They have style. TheyMoveToTheBeatAndTheRythmOnTheDancefloor.

They can go abroad. They all have long curly hair like Shaqira and wear the latest European fashions.

Unlike the 17 million other "suckers" living around them

I'm not saying ALL of these people look down on "normal" (in Egypt : poor ) people, but,

unfortunately, this is the most common truth among the stuck up youth of the Egyptian higher classes.

Of course they all treat me nice and I have many friends who I love, there still seems to me that many of them just don't seem to have no sense of reality in their own society, avoiding "shaaby" (popular) culture with all their power. The same popular culture that many of us foreign students find fascinating and exciting.

Im not generalizing guys, but you know its truth about a lot of the rich young people out there..

Their parties are fun though. :) Think about it.

Cairo has like around 17 million people, maybe less than a 50 000 of them actually would have a lifestyle to go out clubbing. Hence, this big city has only got around 10 good clubs. 2 of them we actually visit frequently.

Then of course there is all the foreign student parties. There are loads of them. And the upper Egyptian class- students don't hang out (too much) with foreign students, since they usually live in the suburbs and only come to town when they go to the downtown campus with a private drivers

Zee Germans and Les French tend to stick together. The Norwegians too. And there are a lot of us right now. A lot. Unfortunately. It's kind of disturbing actually. Frustrating. Very frustrating when you come to Cairo and meet a girl from you high school back in Volda, Norway. And it's not the first time either. But its ok I guess..

The nightmare would be Egypt becoming "the new Australia" for Norwegian study-abroads. (LOADS of young Norwegians go there to study) haha. And in time, the new Spain? (LOADS of old Norwegians go there to party and live off our welfare-state for years and years) Just look at the marriage statistics. ALL Egyptians in Norway are there because of marriage! something is bound to happen

My point with this whole outrage was originally this:

Last Thursday night was the last night of drinking and partying before the start of the holy month of Ramadan. According to Egyptian culture one is not supposed to drink alcohol during Ramadan. According to Muslims everywhere in the world, and ESPECIALLY noticeable among those living in clusters in Norway and other western societies, you might not even be considered Muslim AT ALL if you drink.

Well, here in Egypt the bars close at 6 o clock the day before Ramadan starts. It says something about what a big cultural phenomenon Ramadan really is in this country.

Anyways

I went out on Thursday (Ramadan started the night to Sunday) and

people were partying like it was the last day of their life!!!!!!!!! or atleast like it was 1999 :) They were taking pictures and pouring down drinks and whatever else you might prefer to make you dance all night..!!!

.

My question is then:

Why do these people who obviously plan to fast during Ramadan (Not drinking alcohol) plan to do it when they LOVE to party so much!???

Well, its not really that weird when you think that its illegal for any Egyptian Muslim to buy a beer during the month, only foreigners are allowed to drink in pubs, and all other sources of alcohol like Drinkies (the shop which usually sells and delivers (!) alcohol 24-7 ) are completely cut off during Ramadan and most young Egyptians never drink inside their houses because they usually still live with their families.

But would they if they could?

Happy Ramadan to all and everyone!!

Comments:

Uh oh... here comes reality check! Girl, now we look like fools! JK. This is a very realistic and reasonable account of what really goes on in Cairo before Ramadan... and i can't really say much cuz i was at that club with Elise...

cheers

Posted by Shahira on [14 Jan 2007 | Sunday] at 3:22 PM

You're highly smart! Hehe! It is not only that but I guess we have irregularities in our society...We can drink, have sex and maybe commit suicide but certainly not in Ramadan...Guess Islamic rituals have their respect till the moment and that is something I find good 'cause a lot of people change after Ramadan into people who don't drink, have sex or even listen to black metal and wear Pentagrams! lol!I have witnessed friends of mine before who have truely changed after going through Ramadan...I hail u for ur honesty, I normally don't read huge blogs of myspace friends but I have read ur whole sex.drugs&rock 'n roll one...Thanks and Take Care...Ciaosss!!!

Posted by Lord Daimon on [27 Jan 2007 | Saturday] at 8:19 PM