A week ago, I went to Mosque Foundation to hear the Shaykh of the Reciters of Damascus speak. He was brought over here by a Syrian organization called Swasia, who were collecting money for orphans and families in the besieged areas of Syria who have no access to food and medical supplies. Women were in the basement, of course, and he was upstairs. One has to give MF credit; they do usually bring the speaker downstairs where women have open access. This shaykh is over 90 years old and just had traveled a long distance and wasn't feeling super well. I am not sure if that was the reason they didn't bring him down, but we ended up just watching on the screen. This is a person who, I personally, would have liked to see up close and personal, but in any case...it was what it was and I just watched downstairs. So the donation time came and I took my checkbook out to make a donation. And of course, no one on the women's side is collecting...like we don't even exist, or if we do, our husbands would take care of it. Like women don't earn their own or even can be earning more or independently wealthy (i.e Fatima Al-Fihriya style). Anyway, I was so touched by what the shaykh said, that I went out of my way to try to go upstairs to find the collectors, but it becomes such a bully culture up there: with stares and looks like, "What the hell are YOU doing here?" that I ended up just retreating and leaving. And having had to do rectal and testicular exams on men all those years, I have lost that shyness that I used to have, so I don't scare that easily, but this experience just made me sad. In any case, since I had already started the check, I ended up giving it to another Syrian organization supporting the same kind of cause.
Dr. Nour Akhras, Chicago IL
