morocco day 1

sallam people, i'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaack alhamdullilah and i have never been so happy to be back, talk about stress, i need a holiday from morocco and the stuff that happened from the start right up to the end of the trip, at one point i thought i was gonna be stuck in morocco for the rest of august lol but eventually we got back home safely alhamdullilah.

it was a different trip to the ones that i have been on and the group were really diverse and different, mashallah 31 people travelled all together and seriously as soon as the plane touched down at gatwick airport i let out a sigh of relief and even one of the girls travelling with us shouted out 'white african you are offically free now'

freedom, oh what an amazing feeling, not having people asking you all sorts of questions, or complaining bout all sorts of things, not having to make sure people are on the coach or awake, so yeh i'm glad to be back...

i did enjoy myslef to a certain extent, but it really wasnt a holiday for me and if it wasnt for 00kitty, blondie, and some others i would probably have gone mad, so 00kitty thanks so much for being you and for being a shoulder to cry and bang my head on, you are a star and you deserve a medal.

any way loads to blog about and post pictures and i'm sure 00kitty will do as well, bless her she really suffered in the travelling,

there where 2 groups flying out, my group where flying out from heathrow at 6.10pm all together we where 20 people, 00kittys group where flying out from gatwick at 4pm and all together they were 11 people, on my way to heathrow around 2ish, i get a call from 00kitty telling me that when they went for checking in they were informed that air marocco had double booked the seats and that there where only 1 seat left, obviously 00kitty did all she could to sort it out, and i was having a heart attack on the mini bus thinking to myself my god what to do, and every so often i would call her to get an update, the pilot didnt want to wait any longer so he decided to fly without 00kittys group, and no one would take any responsibility for the studpid mistake which meant that 00kitty was waiting all this time at the desk, i think it was like 8 hours later that a descion was made and they where to fly the next day from heathrow at 6pm which meant that they missed the first day of the tour at morocco, they did get compensation though but still it wasnt fair on them, i will let 00kitty explain it better than me as it happened to her poor thing.

mean while we arrived at marrakech airport about 9ish morocco time and made our way to the hotel, we had missed dinner so after checking in and taking luggage to the rooms and sorting out air con and the million other stuff that seem to happen, we decided to eat out, so out tour operator took us to the nearest eating place which was opposte the hotel and we had some weird sandwich which till now i have no idea what it was filled with, this is what it looks like after we had consumed what we could:

mmmmm, our first meal in morocco, lol, we had to leave kinda fast from the weirdo restraunt cause certain creatures of the night (hardly dressed woman) make an appearance and the desperate weirdos as well.

every one was really tired from travelling so we went back to the hotel and to our rooms, heres what mine looked like:

and

i went to sleep that night praying that the next day would run smoothly...

next day woke up early, got ready and went downstairs to have some breakfast, found some of the girls sat down enjoying the weather around the pool

eventually we got on to the coach, something that really kept bothering me was people's time keeping on this trip, seriously every time we would leave later than we planned because people took there time getting ready and would stroll to the coach, and most times no one would apologise for being late, very frustrating...

the paln for the day was to visit the centre of marakech which was a 10 minute drive, visiting the koutobia mosque, saadian tmbs, al bahi palace and then make our way to the eureka valleys. heres a pictureof the Koutobia minaret which is a 70 metre tall and a major landmark, that can be seen for miles away.

Dating back to the 12th Century, the minaret is the tallest in Marrakesh, topped by 4 solid gold balls. Also at the top of the tower can be seen a wooden scaffold..our guide told us that many western tourist belive that its where they hang muslim woman from which really peeved me off because i cant stand stupid people who travel to other countries and bring there stereo typical views with them, there better of staying put! any way it's real purpose is to assist the deaf...as they can't hear the call to prayer, a flag is hoisted at the appropiate times and i thought that was amazing cause islam is really considerate of all...

we took a stroll round the gardens surrounding the mosque...

we then made our way towards the saadian tombs, i managed to take some pictures of the roads..

walked past the many souvinour shops that fill the streets...

saw more minarets designed in the same style of the koutobia minaret..

we made our way to the tombs, The Saadians were an Arabian dynasty that ruled much of southern Morocco in the 16th and 17th centuries, often successfully waging war against Portuguese invaders. Marrakech was their capital. Sultan Ahmed al-Mansour created these tombs for himself, his family and ancestors. In total nearly 200 Saadians are buried here, most in the yard and the most important in the lavishly decorated halls...

some of the mosaic tiles and calligraphy..

parts of the tomb looked similar to a mosque what with all the pillars and arches..

we then had to leave and make our way to the El Bahia Palace and on the way i managed to take pic of the doors and archways of peoples homes and buildings, so many of the doors i justed wanted to take home, absouloutly gorgeous...

we got to the Bahia Palace, built in the late 19th century, is a superb example of Moroccan-Islamic architecture. The layout of the complex, with its courtyards and mazes of rooms, is typical of the style. the way leading to the entrance was lined with orange trees which apparently where not for eating but for cooking and adding a flavour to the food..

The rooms (nearly 150!), housed Ba Ahmed , his 4 wives and 24 concubines plus servants and guards. The Palace follows the patterns of typical Islamic architecture, with central courtyards, having rooms leading off, with doorways that are placed so that you can't see beyond (providing privacy) Fountains and gardens are also typical features, along with the decorative stucco panels, tiled floors, i was fascinated by the arches so i kept taking pictures of the entrances and doorways..

Each room have ist own incredible work in arcs, ceiling, walls and floors

the ceiling is so detailed...

and the fountains in the middle of the palace..

oh to have a house with an open courtyard in the centre...

one of the girls was saying that she could have her wedding in this big open courtyard, decorate it and make it look amazing, us girls are so funny, always planning weddings and what not...

i cant resist putting up another picture of arches...

we left the palace and on the way back to the coach i found this really cool spice stall..

i loved the way they put the cinnamon together, i have to say cinnamon is my fav spice, you can put it on both savoury and sweet stuff, something new i tried in morocco is cinnamon and icing sugar on banans and oranges mmmmm..

on the way to the coach i came across this graffiti which had me laughing for like half the day..

it basiclly says 'no urinating' i have never seen a sign or graffitti like that before, i just thought it was hilarious.

just round the cornor i spotted a minature begger, she was tiny, hardly there, it was really sad, every where we went they seemed to pop out of every where and anywhere, and it was hard to tell the difference between the genuine and the liar...

i ask allah swt to never put us in a situation where we have to beg to live, i'm reminded by an advice that the prophet pbuh gave which is to read surah waqi3a every night and inshallah that will protect us from poverty.

i think i have blogged enough for today, inshallah i will blog about the rest of day which involves the eureka valleys

inhallah i am off to morocco tomorrow so please make dua for me that the trip goes well, its really difficult being in-charg eof 31 people, making sure every one is happy and comfortable and at ease, the whole preparation for this trip has not been easy at all, what with all the weddings this summer cause it really has been the summer of weedings this year mashallah, so in bewteen getting ready for the weddings and work, preparing for this trip has been mad.

but i'm still looking forward to it and i cant wait to see morocco again especially marakech, i will inshallah up date my blog from morocco with pictures when i get the chance inshallah.

please pray for me people im mega stressed and i'm dreaming of coackroaches which is a sign that i'm truley stressed aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

ya allah please make the trip a success and let it run smoothly and please let the participants be of the patient sort ameen, say ameen people, say it now....

Iranians volunteer to fight IsraelGroup heads for 'holy war' in LebanonWednesday, July 26, 2006

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Surrounded by yellow Hezbollah flags, more than 60 Iranian volunteers set off Wednesday to join what they called a holy war against Israeli forces in Lebanon.The group -- ranging from teenagers to grandfathers -- plans to join about 200 other volunteers on the way to the Turkish border, which they hope to cross Thursday. They plan to reach Lebanon via Syria on the weekend.Organizers said the volunteers are carrying no weapons, and it was not clear whether Turkey would allow them to pass.A Turkish Foreign Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, would not say Wednesday if Turkey would allow them to cross. Iranians, however, can enter Turkey without a visa and stay for three months.

Iran says it will not send regular forces to aid Hezbollah, but apparently it will not attempt to stop volunteer guerrillas. Iran and Syria are Hezbollah's main sponsors."We are just the first wave of Islamic warriors from Iran," said Amir Jalilinejad, chairman of the Student Justice Movement, a nongovernment group that helped recruit the fighters. "More will come from here and other Muslim nations around the world. Hezbollah needs our help."Military service is mandatory in Iran, and nearly every man has at least some basic training. Some hard-liners have more extensive drills as members of the Basiji corps, a paramilitary network linked to the powerful Revolutionary Guard.Other volunteers, such as 72-year-old Hasan Honavi, have combat experience from the 1980-88 war with Iraq."God made this decision for me," said Honavi, a grandfather and one of the oldest volunteers. "I still have fight left in me for a holy war."The group, chanting and marching in military-style formation, assembled Wednesday in a part of Tehran's main cemetery that is reserved for war dead and other "martyrs."They prayed on Persian carpets and linked hands, with their shoes and bags piled alongside. Few had any battle-type gear and some arrived in dress shoes or plastic sandals.Some bowed before a memorial to Hezbollah-linked suicide bombers who carried out the 1983 blast at Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 U.S. servicemen. An almost simultaneous bombing killed 56 French peacekeepers.Speakers praised Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah and laid scorn on Muslim leaders -- including their own government -- for not sending battlefield assistance to Hezbollah since the battles erupted two weeks ago.

Even if the volunteers fail to reach Lebanon, their mobilization is an example of how Iranians are rallying to Hezbollah through organizations outside official circles.Iran insists it is not directly involved in the conflict on the military side, but it remains the group's key pipeline for money. Iran has dismissed Israel's claims that Hezbollah has been supplied with upgraded Iranian missiles that have reached Haifa and other points across northern Israel."We cannot stand by and watch out Hezbollah brothers fight alone," said Komeil Baradaran, a 21-year-old Basiji member. "If we are to die in Lebanon, then we will go to heaven. It is our duty as Muslims to fight."

you gotta admire there enthusiasim and zeal, and the fact that they felt the frustration and wanted to do something about it, my guess is that the muslim world i.e turkey is going to prevent them becaus ethats just typical of us muslims, we really do bow down to america, come on muslims wake up and smell the corpses of your brother and sisters cause something aint right.

check out what this twisted individual said 'Speaking on Israeli army radio, Mr Ramon - a close confidant of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert - said "everyone understands that a victory for Hezbollah is a victory for world terror".
He said that in order to prevent casualties among Israeli soldiers battling Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon, villages should be flattened by the Israeli air force before ground troops move in'. and i bet he means flatten it with civillians not evacuated, who has given this twisted individual the right to enter a land and destroy it and kill its inhabitants.

could you imagine if the muslim world leaders allowed for there people to cross the borders in there thousands and help th epalestinians, lebanese, iraqis afghans, wow and its not like people wont volunteer, there are thousands who are waiting but there so called leaders are slaves to isreal and america and fear what might happen to them, for the love of Allah stop this cowardly reaction all you leaders seem to have, its really frustrating people, we are mighty in numbers yet we are weak in our ideoligies and faith.

we have the power of prayer, so pray to allah and better ourselves for victory will come when we improve ourselves cause as muslims there is so much we need to improve in ourselves.

Four UN observers killed in Israeli airstrike on eve of ceasefire talks

By Philip Webster, Political Editor

ISRAEL’S actions in Lebanon faced fresh international criticism last night after a United Nations base overlooking the border was hit by an Israeli bomb, killing up to four observers in its bunker.
A Lebanese official said the observers at the base were from China, Canada, Austria and Finland.
Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, condemned the attack and called for an investigation. “I am shocked and deeply distressed by the apparently deliberate targeting by Israeli Defence Forces of a UN observer post in southern Lebanon,” Mr Annan said. “This co-ordinated artillery and aerial attack on a long established and clearly marked UN post at Khiam occurred despite per sonal assurances given to me by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that UN positions would be spared Israeli fire,” he added.
Israel, denying that it targeted UN personnel, expressed regret over the “tragic deaths” of the observers and promised a thorough investigation.

The timing of the attack, just as Israel was trying to persuade Western powers to send troops for a beefed-up multinational border force, could not have been worse. “It certainly complicates the issue at a time when it is in Israel’s interests to have an international debate favourable to sending a multinational force,” a UN official said.

“I think it is going to make a lot of contributing countries very apprehensive about having their soldiers in a place where they are clearly facing an extremely dangerous situation from Israeli soldiers and Hezbollah fighters.”

The multinational force is at the centre of Western efforts to secure a ceasefire. Britain and the US hope that a peace plan involving a 10,000-strong force to act as a buffer Lebanon will be agreed in Rome today.

Diplomats believe that moderate Arab nations can be brought on board with a promise that Tony Blair and probably President Bush will demand a cessation of hostilities from both sides as soon as the force is agreed in principle.

The deal, backed by Mr Annan, will be presented as the “route to a ceasefire”, diplomatic sources said. Until now, Israel has had British and US support as it has resisted demands for an immediate unilateral ceasefire, prompting claims that it is buying time to complete its ferocious assault on Hezbollah militants.

Yesterday Israel said that the peacekeeping force should be as large as 20,000 and confirmed that it would take control of a “security zone” in southern Lebanon until the international peacekeepers arrive. “We have no other option,” said Amir Peretz, Israel’s Defence Minister. “We have to build a new security strip that will be a cover for our forces.”
As if to vindicate him, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, went on television last night threatening to launch missiles deep into Israeli territory. “We are entering a new phase in the confrontation, the phase of (striking) beyond Haifa,” he said.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, the countries that Washington is relying on to rein in Hezbollah, made clear that they could not accept a US plan that would make a ceasefire only part of a broader peace deal.

In a rare public intervention, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia called on world leaders to stop Israeli attacks into Lebanon, saying that if peace moves failed the Middle East could be engulfed in war.

More predictably, President Ahmadinejad of Iran said that the conflict could trigger “a hurricane of broader fighting in the Middle East”.
Mr Olmert agreed to allow humanitarian airlifts into Lebanon but insisted that his country would pursue its offensive against Hezbollah. “We are a strong people and we have the stamina for a long struggle,” he declared.

381 lebanese killed, let me type that again 381, one more time 381 in a space of weeks, thats outrageous, its so sad that Isreal killed 4 un workers, but what peeves me off is that the olmert said that the death of th eUN workers is tragic and he is right but what about the death of Lebanon and its people thats also tragic, wake up isreal the world is not going to stay silent forever i swear you time will come. mr olmert what you dont relaise is that the lebanese and palestinians are also strong and they have more stamina for a long struggle and this has been proven cause no matter how many you kill they will still come back at you defending there rights and liberties.

yeh democracy is all lies, no such thing as democracy, i swear with freinds like these who needs enemies???

it seems that the Muslim world is being torn apart limb from limb right before our very eyes, and all America can do is praise Israel and generally suck up to the regime that has brought havoc to millions of people in Palestine and Lebanon, we boast about how modern we have become and how advanced we are as a human race in the 21st century and frown at history and the barbaric attitudes of humans of long ago who ran amok and killed free style and caused distruction and chaos every where they went I guess the west in particular America and the 'only democratic state in the middle east' Israel if your trying to rack your brains are slightly confused about the past and present because from where Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan are standing the past really is the present.

here are fine examples of the flowers that America and Israel are throwing at the Muslims

imagine setting a country 20 years back, that's literally what Israel has done to Lebanon, the place looks like it was hit by an earthquake

injustice is not only handed out to the land but to those who live on the land they call home

look at the above pictures of the dead Lebanese children, that could be anyone's son or daughter, or younger sister or brother, or niece or nephew, or grandchild, really what harm did they do? There children for crying out loud, since when did revenge for 2 damned islreali soldiers (who probably killed thousands of Palestinian lives) take place in the form of killing innocent children? The parents of these kids brought them into this life with high expectations for them, the kids probably where laughing and chewing on a sandwich or sucking a sweet 2 seconds before they where hit by Israel, walahi its frustrating, you cant help but feeling immense anger when looking at these photos, there not going to start school in September, there not going to visit there cousins, aunts, uncles grandparents next week, there not going to go to buy there fav sweets from there local shop anymore, and there are hundreds more in the same situation.

our children are being killed and bush tells isreal that they have the right to defend themselves,!!!!! Against children??? yep justice has become a mirage of a time long ago, and what does Israel teach there children? This...

what a beautiful world we live in, thanks Israel for the gifts but we wont accept them, 'returned undelivered mail'....

Islam expo part 2

so a continuation from the last blog....

so after leaving the Qatari guy we followed the scent of food to eat as we were starving, and even though there was quite a long line up we amazingly didn't have to wait long at all as the people serving were really fast and the chicken wraps we bought were delicious mmmmm.

after our brief encounter with food we moved to see more of the stalls and made our way towards the MAB Youth stall were to my delight my commander in chief was sat looking all nice and bless her cotton socks she had prepared a folder with previous pictures of trips we had been on and it was so cool to see them, so tanks sis, your work is appreciated.

then on we moved to the souk but before that we had to visit the toilet, us females are so funny we always have to travel in hoards to the toilet, there really is no such thing as a female who ventures alone to the toilets lol.

then on to our favorite part the souk, and what a souk, it was so cool to see the many different Muslim businesses all in one room, I didn't realise that we had business in nearly everything mashallah, from clothing, to art, holidays to all parts of the world, food, Islamic banking, charities and the list goes on.. Obviously I had to destroy something and the lucky person was the perfume guys collection, he had a table full of different oils of perfumes in these glass bottles, and from the sheer excitement of it all I leaned over to get a bottle that had caught my eye and knocked another bottle across the table and spilt its contents on the table cover which is probably stained for life now, I felt really bad so I offered the due to pay for the spillage and he said £5, which i gave to him but then he felt sorry for me so he gave me a minature bottle full of the perfume oil so i managed to get something in return aaaaaaah how nice.

also I bought a jilbab which caught my eye and the price wasn't bad either, loads to see and through out it all we kept seeing faces that we hadn't seen for yonks, seriously one of the best high lights of the day was seeing the people, it was like a reunion of some kind, for once all organizationss were there and the feeling was tremendous. one stall that caught my eye was the sporty hijab, really funny lol sisters running down the beach in a all in one suite looool, images of islamic bay watch come to mind (i know i know astaghfurrallah).

we then decided to go find some nasheed concert tickets which we were all looking forward to but when we gotto the reception we were informed that there were sold out, sniff sniff, over a thousand tickets had been given out which was good cause it meant that the numbers where confirmed but it meant we were ticketless. so instead of hanging around looking all glum we went insight of more things to see..

and we saw loads mashallah, here is ever the idealist contemplating and pondering over a historical piece..


and here i squeen nafititi and ketchup enjoying the moment aaaaaaaw ho
how sweet (mashallah of course)...


















it was time to wrap up and leave, cause we didnt have tickets to the nasheed concert, it was decide dthat we would head back to manchester early, so every one went to the car park wher ethe coaches were waiting for us, but when we got there one of the coaches had a technical problem so he said that he was going to go 10 miles down the road to service it and that he would be about 2 hours max, so th eelders decided that families and woman would go on teh functioning coach (which was my coach) and the rest of us would wait for the other one to come back, so me, ever th eidealist and maymoona stayed behind with about 32 other people, found a patch of grass and began the long waiting process for which was to become the ghost coach.

the first hour and so we entertained ourself by eating and looking at what we had bought

and ever the idealist scoffing down crips, bless her she did give me a packet...

every so often we would look to the horizon and pray that coach arrives soon but alas no coach could be seen, eventually after sitting down for some time, we decided to go back up the hill to Alaxandra palace wher eit was warmer as it was getting chilly, so we had to climb th ehill again and have pit stops for maymoona and ever the idealist as they where finding it difficult (lol), obviously it was a breeze for me (mashallah lol).

and when we finnally got up there we found to our amazment that we where allowed to go to the nasheed concert cause there where loads of places available, ugh frustrating or what, but alhamdullilah, we sat down just as preachor moss was starting his act hes one funny dude although alot of his stuff i had heard so many times before but it still sounds funny coming from him bless.

i was ever conscious of the fact that at any minute we would have to leave cause our coach was set to appear any second, but funnily enough we managed to sit through the whole programme plus pray maghrib and still no coach appeared at which point every one was leaving cause islam expo was over for the day, and us mancunians where stll looking at each others faces wondering what was to become of us, to be honest i still had hope that it was gonna turn up, we where told on numerous occasions by different security guards to leave but seriously where in the world where we supposed to go? weirdos.. by the time all the visistors had left (exculding us) the head of security decided to put us under quarintine, seriously, he allocated a section where we had to stay put and we where not allowed to step one foot out of it and any one needing the toilet had to be escorted, later theses rules where broken hee hee, but the security dude was a right idiot when we asked him why he was improsining us he said something like 'you northeners cant be trusted' what? say again? right some one hold me before i thump the dude.

all this time maymoona was talking to the coach company trying to find out what was happening to us, they were not being very helpful and actually being down right rude, what we did was try to find comfortable seating cause it was gonna be a long night, somebody started to give out cookies and coke lol, trust us muslims to carry food with us. every so often some one would make an announcement about our future, one minute it was ' the coach might be coming' or' we might have to go by national express' or ' we might have to stay the night at finsbury park mosque' to be honest i just wanted to get home, bless tahnia and lamees they waithed with us until a final descion was made, may allah always bless and protect them.

the national express idea was stupid (coach companies idea), the next coach to leave was at 12, it was like 11:30 and it takes 40 minutes to get to the staition and we would get to manchester at 7am, and the next train to leave after that one was 2am, anyway when we checked availabilities we found no seats available so ha. next option was finsbury park mosque (a brother felt the need to mention that the mosque was under new managemnt so no abu hamza supporters where there any more lol, the look on some of the folks faces lol) some of the london brothers where contacted to supply blankets and pillows for us, clearly the coach was not arriving....

some bright spark suggested that the coach company should put us up in hotels seeing how all this was there fault, it was worth a try, so we called them again and after what seemed years they agreed but we had to make our on way there, all this was after 12 midnight, so we where stuck at Alexandra Palace till after midnight, i never imagined that would ever happen to me lol. me and ever the idealist did manage to amuze oursleves by putting our hand through a fence thing to get to the sweets in the slot machines, it took us some time to figure it out but eventually we where rewarde dwith 20 pence worth of sweets wow.

and

eventually about 5 cars came to take us to the hotel, we got there sooner than i thought and we got our room keys, 2 per room so i had ever the idealist sharing with me, as soon as we got to our room i started jumping on the bed, come on it was huge and so jumpable wow

ever the idealist kinda zonked herself as soon as she hit the pillows, i had to sleep in my jilbab, cant say i have ever done that before, not very comfortable, but yeh i waited till fajer which funnioy enough was about a 2 minute wait thats how lait it was, and as soon as i put my head down on the pillow i slept like a baby, although at about 3 am ever the idelaists brother called to check if she was ok aaaaaaw bless.

next day woke up feeling better than i expected i would, although i didnt have toothpaste or toothbrush so that wasnt nice. came down to breakfast expecting cornflakes or toast, but to our amazement it was a buffet breakfast with fruits, diffrent types of bread as wel cereals, yogurts, cheeses, coffee, teat, hot chocklate, the works, maymoona opted for an english breakfast without the sausage or bacon

eventually the coach came and you couldnt stop us from getting onto that coach, what was funny was that it was the same driver, and even more hilarous was that the coach company had called us to ask if we could be nice to the driver as he is scare dthat we might shout at him for abanding us lol, of course we werent gonna eat him or anything we where just gonna outstare him, no but seriously we were nice and when we finnaly got to manchester he thanked us for our patience and then apologised.

by the time i got him i thanked Allah that we had arrived safley and that the adventure was over for now that is....