Allahu Akbar
This is a second entry for today because my evening brought my impression of Jeddah 180 degrees from that I initially received when entering the country. We were taken on a tour of the old city of Jeddah set up by a counselor at one of the local British schools. As we walked through the masses of humanity on this late afternoon Friday I immediately found myself immersed in a classic scene from the Middle East that one might imagine would have been similar 50 years ago. The savory odor of shops with mounds of herbs and dried pumpkin and melon seeds for sale, shops specializing in dates, women in abayas and hejabs most with their faces covered, and men in dishdashahs. We walked past buildings built of corral mined from the Red Sea that were hundreds of years old with delicate lattice work coverning their windows along narrow winding alleys. I am in the midst of the final volume of the Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz's trilogy "Sugar Street" and the scenes brought to mind the author's descriptions of Cairo in the 1930s.
A local cultural historian and guide took us on a brief tour. We ended up at a building which, 150 years ago, was the home of a member of the royal family (Jeddah is a big city and we are currently about 50 miles from Mecca; in the airport we saw men dressed for the Haij (pilgrimage to Mecca). The building is a cultural site which is a collaborative effort between the Saudi government and some historians and anthropologists from Texas. We climbed to the top of the building and sat on Oriental rugs in a room open to the air and drank tea -- this too could have been a scene from one of Mahfouz's novels. As we sat and rested breezes swept through the room and we listened as scores of pigeons alighted the roof. The guide encouraged us to wait for sunset and then we could hear the call to prayer from the many mosques of the city. It is a melodious and lovely, if somewhat haunting,sound beginning with "God is great." First the call came from one mosque, and then it became a cacophany floating from four directions. It was both beautiful and emotionally moving. We moved out to a lower roof and witnessed people scurrying to prayer as the sun set. The commitment to God which is such an integral part of Saudi life touches you when you witness the call to prayers and multitude of mosques.
The local historian began his university studies in Oakland and finished in Sacramento. He was warm and welcoming and positive about Americans if not our government. While he was receptive to our questions, he was clearly proud of Saudi society and its institutions and deftly responded to various questions posed by my colleagues such as the status of women in Saudi society. It is evident that this is a conservative society that is quite confident and proud in its conservatism. While I might not identify with it I do have to respect that this is this people's culture and heritage, and they certainly have every right to determine their structures as we ours (there are other signficant issues with the Saudis' society with which I have concerns, but I am a guest in this country and certainly wouldn't question them while enjoying their hospitality. It is also important to engage in dialog in an effort to understand their perspective.)
We later made our way back to the hotel shuttle and stopped at a date shop with a dizzying array of dates. The counselor recommended the white and milk chocolate covered dates (quite good) but I chose dates encrusted with pistachio nuts (surely from nearby Iran) and others stuffed with almonds. They had fresh dates which were incredible; and the shop clerks were quite generous in allowing you to try the many different varieties. Recognizing the potential for getting out of control I had to leave the shop, but bought two boxes of saffron before I left (it is Iranian saffron, so I hope I can get it through customs.) Driving back to the hotel we passed a massive fountain whose plume makes it the highest shooting fountain in the world -- it genuinely is impressive.
Clearly Saudi Arabia is a distinctive society and walking through it is definitely a step back in time.