Standing Alone in Mecca by Asra Q. Nomani

standing alone
……………..all alone
sans clothes
in front of
jawahara

who captures
that kodak moment
for chowk

didn`t ferzana already write a review? may be i am wrong..

Another article on the front page on religion!!

I would say another two to four days, and we will have the generic religion/secularism heated debate/abuse on this thread as well...........a debate, which should take maybe 5% of the bandwidth on this site, but ends up taking over 50% or more............

I wonder if its possible to write a book everyone likes....

Romair, I cringed when I read your previous comment on the other religion board. Sorry! I just considered this a book review but it is about a religious issue.

Saminasha...no...I guess not.

Thanks t.

Jang, I`m not sure. I`ll check.

I like this review. It`s fairly well detailed, points out both the good and the bad. I feel that in general it would be a good idea also for reviewers to state how they came by an obscure book to review. What was the context in which the book found the reviewer or the other way round?
The other point I wanted to make is there is no reason to be put off by errors in a book of nonfiction. There are fact and then there are facts that mean little in the larger context of the book, which if missed may be grating, but do not diminish the book overall. An impressionistic presentation of the background more like.

When you are in Mecca, where does one stay? Is it in hotel or a hostel?Is it true non-Muslims can not enter Mecca? How does one know if a person is of Islamic faith ?

Re: # 7
good question. i am glad you asked. travel to makkah has become increasingly commercialized (unfortunately in my opinion). there are probably about ten or so 4-star hotels around the grand mosque itself, and maybe a couple more in the general vicinity. this has taken away from the natural beauty of makkah, a hilly and rocky city surrounded by somewhat green patches along its borders toward jeddah. yes, it is true that non-muslims are not allowed to enter makkah. this is a direct command of God in the Quran. i believe it is not meant to be a discriminatory practice (since for many many years during the time of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) there was a sizable non-Muslim community, including some Jews), but rather is meant to ensure that there is no quarrel or unnecessary friction and disturbance in the holy city. Of course, non-muslims have found ways to sneak in. but the process of entering makkah is rather difficult. you must apply for a visa obviously to saudi arabia. if you signal that you are intending to perform pilgrimage, i believe the saudi interior ministry does its research and grants visas only to confirmed muslims, probably checking with the host country and doing other background checks. in case of a slip, there is a check at the border of the holy city by saudi police, where they check for religious documents. so by all means, its not easy. hope that helps.

Re: # 7

Mr.Kamath... They have developed Kafir sensing missiles once fired it senses kafirs and like stinger missile destroys no chance of survival, fire and forget kafir sensing missile is developed in labs of Saudi Arabia. Hope this clarifies .Thanks for question

Re: # 9
>> fire and forget kafir sensing missile is developed in labs of Saudi Arabia...
I think that explains the impending destruction of Mohammeds` house too. The missile must have detected some atomic trace of kafir sweat lingering on in satans` abode :)

These saudis are better then I thought ....

regards,
SN

Re: # 3

The only thing that takes 50% of this website is your generic 2000 words long posts stating absolutely nothing but nonsense.

Please care to review.

#3 by Romair

[...........a debate, which should take maybe 5% of the bandwidth on this site, but ends up taking over 50% or more............]

The debate WOULD normally take only 5% of the bandwidth, but when you get going with those long-winding and senseless (well, mostly at least) posts, it ends up taking up 50% of the bandwidth.

Is there anyone else on Chowk who wants Romair`s posts to be curtailed to only about 50 words per post? Not that I bother to read Romair`s looooooooong posts, but I for one would not want to read a 100 words to understand what can be explained in just a sentence.

couple of additional sites on this book

1. http://bannos.blogspot.com/2005/08/standing-alone.html
2. http://piquancy.blogspot.com/2005/07/saint-sinner-or-bit-of-both.html

There is an Urdu proverb to describe the writer of the book and the reviewer:

Khawaja ka guwaah, tattoo.

Re: # 14 errrrrrr, it`s daddoo

Well, one less book to read!

``Muslim (an ethnic, socio-cultural identity, not necessarily an Islamic one)``

I think that you might have meant ``identities``, like Punjabi Muslim identity, UP Muslim identity or British Muslim identity.