Ummadam – It’s great that you changed and moved away from the bad environment you described. see that’s freedom, You had the freedom to change your thoughts and beliefs. freedom to move away from what you thought was bad for you. I think that’s what most people here want for the women in saudi. the freedom to choose good or bad as they percieve it. and as someone else remarked, Change comes from within, If the women in saudi want freedom they they will have to initiate it, just as you have done.
It will happen.
Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence. ~Lin Yutang

And yes, you can perform hajj without a husband. Contact and apply through a hajj agency in whichever country you are located.

This interview was refreshing. In America, all we hear about are the horror stories. In spite of my name, I have just reverted to Islam recently. My Parents did not practice, so I know little.

I am interested in Hajj but I do not have a Husband. Is there a way for me to do Hajj with out one?

Ma Salaama

Hala

totally agree 100% and a point I think many women in the world miss. That Saudi women must define their role, rights, and place in society.. not other societies or groups. They must work for the change they want, not what others feel is right for them.

I guess you’d have to use a different word to freedom. Freedom means choice. If you were to go down these lines the best argument would be to say whether freedom is the best system or whether Saudi is the best system.

Ummadam: You sound like you have a lot of grievances and unresolved anger about your previous life in your previous country. If I’m not mistaken you grew up in Chicago amongst the African American community. Not to assume anything but, isn’t that amongst the worst crime affected cities and cultures in the USA?

The other thing is your quote about the Americans bragging about their freedoms not meaning diddly squat in the “grand scheme of things”. This is a religious statement (it has to be if you assume there is some kind of “grand scheme of things”) and doesn’t mean “diddly squat” in discussions about freedom with secular people who don’t believe God will send them to hell for talking to an unrelated male or showing some thigh.

My question wasn’t answered except by Carol’s comment that it’s probably the cultural standards which have made them believe they are right and everyone else is wrong. Just like Americans

Lisa – I’m sorry but I’m not exactly sure which University.

But this interview, like many other experiments in the world, serve to bring out the one thing we an’t come to terms with- Can a Woman be human and live her life the way she choses to- not the way others chose her to live it.

It could be we, though not all, have some issues to work out…or maybe we just have to accept that “perception” is half of the deception in our opinions???

And I’ll have a “rocky road” ice-cream if you don’t have any cherry gellato- I am not worried about the figure.:))