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The Most Joyous Time of the Year to be a Muslim
When I was a child in Minnesota, I used to get worked up into a Christmas nightmare over the fact that my family’s house wasn’t decorated and festooned, that we had no huge Christmas plans, no big gathering with our relatives planned. All the merry was not for us, the secular Muslims who never seemed Continue reading
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THE WRITING ON THE WALL: BEIRUT
There are things those of us who have lived in Beirut can take for somewhat inevitable—electricity will go out when it feels like it, war is always a believable possibility, ignoring fashion is more sinful than religious differences, and as many people are trying to leave as are trying to come back. In Beirut last Continue reading
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Work Horse in Egypt
My friend Natasha Ghoneim went to Cairo this summer, as she does most summers. But this time she went with the goal of finding some of the untold stories of the revolution. As Egypt’s revolution made clear, human rights are not something guaranteed to anyone, not just in the Middle East but in many places Continue reading
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Just Peachy in Jordan
In Jordan, my mother’s garden has a peach tree that doesn’t stop giving at this time of the year. She hands out bags of peaches to neighbors and relatives and anyone who passes by on the street. She makes peach jam with whatever peaches she can save, and still she mourns the peaches that fall Continue reading
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Jordan: “Yes, I don’t know”
“Where can I get a Blackberry battery?” I asked in the Nokia shop. The two men working in the shop both pointed and said, “That way.” They were both pointing in different directions. It didn’t result in a “jinx” moment where they both looked at each other, laughed and then agreed on a direction. Nope, Continue reading
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How To Behave in the UAE
Today I read on the regular old Internet that the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed, is making his website available as an iPhone application. It’s pretty cool to be an iPhone application. At least it may be my only public appearance that impressed my Apple-a-day-keeps-the-meltdown-away nephews. On these International Herald Tribune apps, I share Apple Continue reading
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Muslims in 2030
Ever wondered what will be the birth rate of Muslims in 2030? The largest Muslim country in Africa in 15 years? Or the Muslim majority country with the lowest number of people living below the poverty line? Neither have I. At first they may seem like trivia questions, but on further thought, the answers can Continue reading
Alia Yunis 