Najrān

Finally catching up with my German co-travellers in Najran. Najran is a city 30km north of the Yemeni border. Sometimes you can hear the rocket thunder, but apparently, no rocket has hit for a very long time.
As my friends had left I drove to the undeveloped outskirts of the park as I thought I would go undetected by police. However not soon after I got there a police car stopped and he tried to send me away “as it was too dangerous, I could be hit by a rocket”. After a few discussions, he asked me if I was Muslim. No, it told him (to make things easier), I was Christian. His response still puzzles me to this day: he said, that if this was the case, I could remain here in the park. I am still pondering if he meant, my Christian beliefs would protect me from the rockets, or if it not mattered if a Christian more or less crawled this earth… I will never know.
Visiting or trying to visit the castles, most of them were closed for renovation, and archeological excavation grounds of Najran.
Walks with Hamed, my Jazan friend and his brothers through the old city and their farm with housese built in the traditional style with horses and camels. Their father is the Sheikh of their tribe. Saudi Arabia is a tribal society and each tribe has their own Sheikh. A Sheikh is not a position you inherit, like a prince, or king, but it’s a position of merit. A Sheikh has to have memorized the Koran, as the Koran outlines the laws and rules to be applied. There is no set remuneration for the advice, you pay what you can afford, or deem appropriate for the advice. When there are conflicts in a tribe, property disputes, marriage problems etc you can involve the Sheikh and he will try to find a solution.
This weekend, as on any other weekend the family gathers at his family’s property. At least 40 women and I don’t know how many children in the women’s area, and I am unsure how many men were in the men’s Majilis. Only family members. Many of the women attending spoke English very well, and the conversations gave me invaluable insight into the lives of Saudi women.
My bodyguards, who we had informed of my prolonged stay at this place and went home to have dinner with their families after they had rejected the invitation into my hosts home, gave me an opportunity to have a peak into the men's Majilis: they contacted my host and 11pm as they wanted to make sure I hadn't eloped, and asked to see me, so a messenger was sent to the female Majilis to pick me up. Adult family members cannot simply march in for any purpose, so children are being sent to deliver messages between the male and female areas. After some waiting outside, in the cold, Hamed suggested for the ease of purpose to wait in the male Majilis for another call. This gave me the unexpected pleasure to enter the male sanctuary at this time of day, which is an honour usually not bestowed onto a woman not being a member of the family. But, as everyone was interested to hear my story and ask a myriad of questions, this was a good enough excuse to make an exception.Read more