When it rains, it pours

Wow. By yesterday night I was running completely on empty - and after only two days of mild activity. Who knew doing nothing for so long could make you so lazy. In fact, though I didn't notice it, Tuesday was the day I was supposed to meet with Ms. East-West for my fortnightly meeting to go over how I was doing. Since I'd been doing NOTHING for those two weeks, I somehow managed to convince myself that it had only been one week since my last meeting - so I was a no-show. Of course, I really DO have almost nothing to show for the last two weeks, except a gradual increase in comfort level and an even more gradual increase in Arabic skills. And my Iftar with the Easts. And the saga of my foot.

To make up for those two weeks of inactivity, the past two days have been crazy-busy. I'll start with Tuesday.

Ms. East-West invited me to go with her to the house of Dr. Sami Angawi, a well-known Hijazi architect who happens to live two doors down from her. She was bringing the American visitors anyway, to get a tour of the house, and thought of me because she figured I'd like to see the house (correct!) and she figured that I might be interested in sticking around for his weekly Tuesday-night meetings of thinkers who discuss issues related to Islam and the world (correct again!).

One of my friends tells me I get too irritated at things these days. That's probably true. But he also said, and I think this is also true, that it's because I see a lot of it all at once and everywhere I turn, and it becomes difficult to ignore it. But just think - if I can learn to accept all of these things, even their unacceptance, then I will really be able to be comfortable here.

That was a bit random. Back to Dr. Sami. He met us looking every inch the ancient Hijazi gentleman. I'm putting in a picture here off of the PBS website (he did an interview with them a while ago) of him and his house - you can't see either very well, but I think you can get at least a fair idea of what it looked like. Something directly out of Alf Layla wa Layla (the 1001 Nights). Yes, he has a courtyard surrounded by plants and balconies of different heights, with a giant pool in the center with a tile mosaic of a Persian rug on the bottom. The whole house looked like this, designed to capture whatever stray breezes the sea would provide and surround the inhabitants with green a beautiful things. Even in his office, he has a small round clear table with a tiny fountain and a fishpond under it. It was the most fabulous house I've ever seen and I now want one exactly like it.

And apparently he personally knew the workmen who created the tile and woodwork that decorates every corner of his house.

Anyway, his philosophy is a return to the ''balance'' that characterizes early Muslim life. He also made a very interesting distinction between 'tolerance' and 'acceptance', pointing out that toleration implies 'I don't like you, but I'll tolerate you', while acceptance actually implies what tolerance is generally taken to mean.

Getting to meet the guys from the States was great as well. They all seemed like really smart interesting people and I was sad I was a mere student and not allowed to follow them around all the time.

And then after seeing this magical house Ms. East-West went off with the others and left me to experience the Makiyyah, the gathering. I went to sit with the rest of the women, in the very back of the meeting place, in the dark. There were less than a dozen of us, to the maybe 30 or so men sitting in the front, in the light. We sat and chatting amongst ourselves, listening now and again to the Arabic discussions going on in the front. It turns out that the night I was there was in the memory of an Islamic thinker, Muhammad Allawi al-Maliki (I think), who had died about a year before and was a good friend of many of the men there, so much of what was discussed was what a wonderful man he was. I didn't miss much by meeting the women around me. And there were some fascinating women. One, who I intend to see as soon as possible, told me to call her Natalie. She is Saudi, born in the States, and thinks of the States as her second home. She seemed really interesting. I got introduced to her fiancé as well, which was a completely new experience. He seemed like a nice guy too.

And of course I was given a series of pamphlets on Islam "to help with my studies." It's really beginning to irritate me how everything I am given on Islam is the propaganda stuff designed to convert me. Either they don't understand what it means when I say "I've studied Islam" (and thus actually know something about it) or (and I think this is the most likely) they remain hopeful that if I just see the truth, I'll convert. I can't blame them for trying, but after being given pamphlet after pamphlet it's getting old. My favorite one to date is called "A Muslim Christian Dialogue" but by the end of the pamphlet the Christian has converted, so it's a Muslim-Muslim dialogue.

And speaking of conversion! Two Philipino men who were there with their employer and his wife stood up and spoke the Shahada right in front of everybody, officially converting to Islam. It was a surprise for their employer. The wife turned to me excitedly and told me that one day her driver (one of the men) had turned around and told her he didn't believe that Jesus was the son of God, he only believed he was a prophet. To which, the woman tells me, she responded "well, what are you waiting for? convert! I expect you to be fasting this Ramadan." and then forgot all about it. Well, Ramadan came around and one day the driver said "Ma'am, I'm fasting" and then they planned together how to surprise her husband with the news of their conversion. So they got up and gave the official shahada ("I witness that there is no God but God and that Muhammad is his messenger") making them official Muslims, right there in front of the very happy group.

I've met a bunch of new people, then, who seem more than willing to help me with my studies (really, not just to make me convert) and who seem willing to let me follow them about and learn things from them (Dr. Sami invited me to come over some other time with Ms. East-West). Also, at least one woman (Natalie) has offered to help me with my Arabic and be a friend! How exciting!

That's all for Tuesday night. I'm going to take a break to break my fast. Haha. More on Wednesday to follow.