Summary The Unspoken Truth of Sexual Assault, Harassment, and Other Crimes at the Kaaba (Youtube) www.youtube.com
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n/a They're not afraid to pinch your bum. They're not afraid to kind of touch you. They use that closeness to get too close. Like, it gets very, very uncomfortable. All around you, you're thinking this is a holy city.
n/a This surely should be 1 of the safest spaces in the world. There's there's much, much darker stories.
n/a My parents went to the Hajj. They went to the pilgrimage. Before they went, they were given so many warnings about what they should do during the Hajj, And I witnessed the same thing when other people went to the hunch. And there was 1 warning that stuck out so much that, women should be especially careful during the hunch And that my father should always stay very close to my mother and never let go of her hand. I remember this 1 conversation about about about about taxis.
n/a They were saying that my father should go in first and, let her let my mother out first because many things happen Like, women being sexually harassed, having their belongings stolen more often or even being abducted or something. Is that something that you, know of?
n/a Yeah. To be honest, it's something I know a bit too, too much of, which makes you really question, like, a lot of things. Because I've said this so many times. Share amount of stories of women even if, like my dad had the same fears when when we would go as a family, you know. So, it becomes it becomes really kind of intense and awkward and dangerous even when you're doing duas, like when you're circumambulating the Kaaba.
n/a Especially, like I said, in Ramadan times, it's it's like a mini Hajj at that point. So it's like the same amount of rush. But, honestly, they're not afraid to pinch your bum. They're not afraid to kinda touch you or you're in an Avaya, but they use that closeness to get Too close. Like, it gets very, very uncomfortable.
n/a And you're kind of in in shock at that moment because the Kaaba's share, and you're here getting touched up by some man Who's in a Haram and supposed to be here cleansing his soul and heart and purifying himself. And you also don't feel like it's the right Time to even tell the man or the person you're with, your because it it just it's such a horrible thing to experience, but it happens all the time. Sexual harassment like that. Also theft. You know, people who leave their shoes outside the mosque, they go missing.
n/a And, again, all around you, you're thinking this is a holy city. This surely should be 1 of the safest spaces in the world. But no. It it's it's got all of the same little ugly things happening that that happen out out in the rest of Saudi Arabia as well. I know so many stories share women have come back from Umrah and Hajj and just had these horrible stories, and they haven't even told their husbands or whoever they were with.
n/a And then obviously, like, I there's there's much much darker stories which probably will very much kill the mood of this conversation. But even 1 of my own teachers from High school had, like, the most horrific experience happened to her share she was in a taxi. And, the guy just took a detour and drove her into the middle of the desert and Raped her and just left her there. And she somehow somehow somehow made it back. But all I saw of her was She came to school to collect her belongings and she just left the country.
n/a And you can't even imagine, like, what would have happened. And the fact that she just silently left the country knowing There's no justice that she would ever get in Saudi Arabia. Nobody would be held accountable. It just speaks volumes.
n/a I just I
n/a Are we an AP for killing the vibe there?
n/a No. It's these these are things that need to be said. I mean, this this is something that even deserves its own, It's own talk that should be separately addressed. This is I mean, I was a Muslim when I heard these when I heard stories, when I heard little mentions of these things or little warnings, of that kind, and I didn't even get it back then. And it was it's it's like I I feel like until after I left Islam, I didn't even perceive what, You know, it it it it's just shocking back then when you are a Muslim, when you are religious, and you value these things.
n/a You value, you know, the Arabian lands and you value the you value the Kaaba and Mecca and Medina and all that. This is Islamically described as The as a safe place, you know, where you go for refuge. And and then you think, wow. In in that holy place, The holiest place of all. You have, men everywhere or others everywhere trying to engage in extremely Terrible behavior in in music women and abusing others and sex and groping and rape and theft and all that.
n/a I didn't even get it back Only after I left this time, I thought, wait a minute. What the hell?
n/a Yeah. And unfortunately, you internalize it and you think, okay, this is just a woman and this is maybe something I have to deal with. You know? And I Like, I I never had the audacity to tell my dad just out of, like, I can't even bring that to my lips. Like, what would he think and say?
n/a But, obviously, now I I think completely differently. But at that point, you genuinely do think, okay. This is just something I have to deal with as a woman, but it's something I deal with alone. And Because again of the the context that's happening in, you're just doubly shocked. Right?
n/a You're like, I'm here as well on a on a On a pilgrimage, I'm here to get close to God, and this is, like, the antithesis of what I should be talking about here. And it just Yeah. As a woman, you really internalize these things. I think there are. Like, you're actually probably people who have lived in Saudi Arabia, and, The way we would talk because if you go to an international school, up to a certain level, Islam isn't, compulsory.
n/a Because of that, you have to, Like, obviously, my parents were adamant that we would all learn the Quran. We actually had a teacher come to the house. But again, the horror stories of what these men do, when they come and teach kids at home is like there are so many stories. Obviously, I'm not we'll get back to the the point of this discussion. But, yeah, all of these things definitely need to be discussed and You know, they they need to come out in the open now.