…and I’m tired. It was business not pleasure, so I don’t have anything exciting to share. I did get to have lunch and dinner with some Saudi and American friends that I haven’t seen in a while – alhamduillah. I did snap a pic or two of somethings I found interesting in Riyadh.
Honestly, this is something that bothered me even back in my NOI days, when I told you guys about that fine brother I wanted to marry. Him and the rest of his FOI buddies drank non alcoholic beer. To me it is playing a dangerous game and could possibily fall into the haram , because it imitates the kufar. Why drink non alcoholic beer if you are a born Muslim (like Saudis)? If you are a convert who likes the taste of beer, why even remind yourself of that mess? I don’t get it. How can conservative Riyadh alklow thos to be displayed?
This is near King Fahad Medical City on one of the busiest streets. This is a tent pitched in a lot and it appears as though a man in a wheel chair lives in . I just found that interesting….
Adam loves airplanes and cars and absolutely has had a great time on the 5 flights he’s taken in the last two weeks- masha’Allah. However, this week he asked everyday to go home. He woke up in the middle of the night crying saying he wanted to go home. He spent so much time asking to go home that I had to pray that we would be alright, because I was worried he was having a preminition or something. Subhanalllah! Needless, to say I was relieved when we arrived home safely today – alhamduillah.
and now that we are back and I attempt to document this trip on my blog, that^ is what I sdee when I turned around to see what he was up to. The boy is cutting the hair off of his toy horse… or is that his sister’s horse? Anyway, I’m pooped and it’s past our bedtime. I needed to get this in before my husband takes his lap top back to his office tomorrow. My old decrepid pc doesn’t alow me to blog sometimes or facebook or hotmail. My new water damaged by Adoomie laptop has not been repaired yet. So I’ll see ya when I see ya insha’Allah 🙂
Get Fit Clinique
Soliloquies of A Stranger 
May 09, 2009 @ 09:12:52
So is this why he was so eager to get home? Had to get home and give that pony a trim!
May 09, 2009 @ 09:46:22
The reminder benefits the believer. There is a general principle in the Shar’eeah:
1. All things in the Ibadah of Allaah are haraam, unless there is a text that permits it.
2. All things in the dunyah are halal unless there is a text that prohibits it.
You can’t make non-alcoholic beer haraam because there’s nothing haraam in it. All the ingredients in it are halal.
May 09, 2009 @ 12:37:23
Daud, I made a slight adjustment to my words. I was not trying to pass off a ruling or make halal haram or haram halal. I do think that non alcholic beer is risky business and that it is imitation of the kufar at best, and imitating under these circumstances may be haram and Allah Knows Best.
May 09, 2009 @ 12:44:56
Brooke, he was just really home sick. My girls werren’t. They are adventurous and were reasdy to drop out of school to stay longer. Speaking of which, please get back to me about those used omescholling things you told me about before. Put a nice package togther for me for kg-8th grade or you can stop at 5th grade for now. I aint rich YET so don’t go over board….lol
May 10, 2009 @ 02:56:37
as salamu alaikum
Hope the business went well that you were travelling for. As for the non alchohol beverages, they may be the thing that saves some people from falling into the real thing and Allahu Alim, exspecially living in the states. Now we can go on and on about eating at restaurants that serve alchohol here, (even Chuck E Cheese’s serve beer) but one may be tempted viewing the fine glasses or remembering the days when they indulged and oreder a non alchohol margarita or whatever and feel satisfied while not drinking the real thing. May Allah make us strong and desire only that which is GOOD and pleasing to HIM azza wa Jal
May 10, 2009 @ 02:57:43
typographical error, I intended to write order not oreder! Afwan
May 10, 2009 @ 05:38:53
Salaams:
Non-alcoholic beer does have a tiny bit of alcohol in it. Recovering alcoholics who take Antabuse will have an averse reaction to non-alcoholic beer.
“Non-alcoholic” is mis-labeling.
It’s like products that claim 0% transfat on the label. However, the USDA permits levels below .5 (I think, or some low number) to be labeled as 0%.
May 10, 2009 @ 07:53:44
“Why drink non alcoholic beer if you are a born Muslim (like Saudis)? If you are a convert who likes the taste of beer, why even remind yourself of that mess? I don’t get it”
It makes no sense to me either. I’ve never drank, but my friends who do (white people lol) tell me that most beer tastes HORRIBLE.
The only reason they drink it is to get drunk. And even that doesn’t make sense, because beer is so mildly alcoholic. Just drink Bicardi or something stronger if you want to get drunk.
Then why drink beer if it’s non-alcoholic?
May 12, 2009 @ 22:46:40
I gotta email you inshallah. Ya know it has been beautiful outside, masha Allah, and that is where I have to be!!!
May 14, 2009 @ 01:34:10
As Salaamu Alaikum,
Whew, Glad to know that I am not out of the loop. My internet was down and I was worried I missed a lot. Its like the stories. LOL. I dont want to lose track of my favorate characters. wink. So take care, get some rest and will be back. Smooches.
May 15, 2009 @ 00:36:38
As-salaamu alaikum,
You know Intisar was/is always so colorful and animated. I love the soliloquies myself.
May 18, 2009 @ 00:11:40
Hi,
Just my vision: Let people deside for them selfs if they want to drink that non-alcoholic beer yes or no. People should have a certain sensible mind of their own. Not everything should and can be regulated.
Ma Salaama!
Jun 01, 2009 @ 15:08:24
Re: The non-alocholic beer. If it is has absolutely no alcohol, then it is halal. From what I understand, in the US non-alcoholic beer is not very tasty to anyone who ever did drink alcoholic beer in the past. What you may have seen advertised is possibly a malt drink, marketed as a non-alcoholic beer. Aujan Industries is a manufacturer that makes and distributes malt drinks in the Middle East and markets it as non-alcoholic beer, particularly a drink called Barbican. Malt drinks are especially popular among the Hispanic population here in the US and has no alcohol in it. I believe your feelings are accurate that despite the drink being “non-alcoholic”, I suspect that drinkers are behaving and “profiling” as if they are actually drinking beer. And we all know that it in the least makruh, if not haram. Very similar to my response back in the day when I lived in Saudi when brothers would smoke cigarettes with mannerisms like movie stars, wearing shades and leather jackets over their thobes.
Martinelli’s is sparking apple juice that comes in a tall green bottle that looks like a wine bottle. It is not non-alcoholic anything since it’s label and marketing is that it is apple cider with carbonation thrown in. It doesn’t even contain sugar, and I when I want a carbonated drink, this is the one I normally turn to. It comes in small clear 12 oz. bottles and large green bottles that look like a wine bottle. There have been some grumbling over the years among some Muslims about this drink because of the wine bottle resemblance, but that attitude seems to be regional since mineral water comes in a bottle and someone might think Pellegrino “looks” alcoholic.
The following link is an article about how non-alcoholic drinks are prepared, and based on its info, readers should be very, very careful about so-called non-alcoholic beverages. http://www.chow.com/stories/10519
An even more interesting article about non-alcoholic drinks in the Middle East can be found at
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20080607/NATIONAL/25429026/1015/NEWS
Adam reminds me of my baby girl who gave her one and only Barbie doll a Mohawk haircut.
Jun 22, 2009 @ 00:12:54
Hey! If you come by again, email me and I’d love to meet up, in a non-stalkery way…
Dec 10, 2009 @ 20:52:41
Do you happen to know where I can get a haircut (African Hair) in Riyadh.
Many thanks.
MP.
Dec 11, 2009 @ 00:54:27
The Filapina ir Stylist at any random shop can cut it. They are familiar with all hair types.