AIRPORT

Ready For Take-off

As I check my passport one last time before putting it in my purse, my whole body freezes in horror

03-Mar-2008 (5 comments)
Funny how simple words can present a complicated, even scary, meaning when used as a combination. For example, ‘police’ makes me feel safe whereas “Secret police” gives me the creeps. “Homeland Security” is doing the same, because before this expression became a household word, I didn’t worry so much about “homeland” or “security”. Long gone are the days when my fear of flying was confined to take-off, landing, and all the turbulences in between. I’ll admit, those were indeed some of the most spiritual moments of my life and I have no doubt that each and every time, it was my heartfelt prayers -- sometimes amid tears while kneeling in the isle – that brought the plane to its safe landing>>>

WOMEN

What we want

Answers to questions about One Million Signatures Campaign

03-Mar-2008 (8 comments)
The One Million Signatures Campaign seeks to bring Iranian law addressing women’s status in line with international human rights standards, these demands are in no way in contradiction to Islam. Iranian law is based on interpretations of Sharia law, but these interpretations have been up for debate by religious scholars for some time, not only in Iran but around the Islamic world. Shiite Islam, on which the interpretations of Sharia rely with respect to Iranian law, claims to be dynamic and responsive to the specific needs of people and time. Iranian society has changed much since 1400 years ago, but the interpretations of Sharia on which the Iranian law is based remain rather conservative>>>

TRAVELER

Keeping it Caribbean

Who wouldn’t want to relax for a week, somewhere achingly beautiful and home to a tropical rainforest?

03-Mar-2008 (8 comments)
If I close my eyes, I could still be there… Lying on a sun-lounger at the shores of the Caribbean Sea, sipping on colourful juice cocktail cleverly poured into a shelled-out coconut. The scorching sun beating down on me as the waves gently lap the silvery-white sand. Could this be heaven? Well not exactly, but it could be the next best thing. It’s the colourfully exotic Caribbean… Puerto Rico, to be precise. Was it really 6 years ago, I ask myself? Sadly yes. 6 years since I saw such beauty and felt such unequivocal peace, where my every whim was catered to and I felt immersed in a strange and new experience, like never before>>>

POETRY

03-Mar-2008
Masjid Soleiman’s summer heat
Highlights sweaty strands
scattered on the wet mud ground
Long red hair
braided
Softly on each shoulder
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