Shopping, Sight-seeing, and Spirituality

Dear readers, the 5 of you must be waiting to see... what has she done? How is Abu Dhabi? and as my father related, "I want to see (the fancy)pictures!"

Here's the Abu Dhabi Waterfront..
Rest assured, every day my intention is to relate to you this amazing trip God Willing. However, as it says in Quran Al-Kerim "Allah is the best of planners."

Tuesday we had an amazing trip to Abu Dhabi; first we went to the Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Endowments. Because like many governments in Muslim countries they have a branch of the governement to assist religious leaders. UAE is very proud of their moderate view in Islam and it was evident that they are striving to become the face of moderate Islam in the world. They have interesting programs at the facility we visited such as a call center where Imams, scholars and religious men and women run a call center which can answer questions about Islam and life's issues. My favorite fact was that any citizen can SEND A TEXT MESSAGE QUESTION and receive an expedient answer. That is so neat... they are very moderate in beliefs and they make their people very approachable.
They even have standard Ithan (call to prayer) which is linked by satelite. These folks are well planned and yet very flexible. In the information we received from the Crown Prince's top advisor, he stressed their outreach to Muslim and non-Muslim in world wide crisis and locally as well as the importance of respect for the differing beliefs of others.

Step Aside House of Saud.. there's a new and moderate face of Islam.
Don't worry, they're still rich.. they are increasingly generous (mashallah) and they have some decadent interior decorating.
I loved this agate chandelier from the interior foyer.

Next we went to Marina mall which was huge and lavish. Many parts of the interior
were ridiculously decorated and fancy.

I laughed when I saw stuff like "Forever 21" spelled phonetically in Arabic next to the English. Of course I had to go to "Star-Bu-Kas" as the sign would read if you sounded out the Arabic.



Yes, dear friends even half way across the world I had my Grande Soy Caramel Latte (Although thanks to a friend I have cut down on my coffee consumption during this trip- don't ask HOW since we are so busy I still only sleep 3-5 hours). Thanks Abimbola!

Following the mall we went to a place called Heritage Village where they showcased old school bedoin tents, camels, and life "back in the day" as we say in the USA.
Here's a bored camel who was smacking his lips.



My friend the cute donkey...

Patti pets the Horse



Here's Abimbola and I exiting a stone hut. We planned it to look surprised... I swear :)


Aw look at Tahanie... she looks so at home :) A long way from New York eh? By the way sister Tahanie is a 3rd year law student and our group liason/leader; she is well organized and a great friend.



That was followed by the Palace Hotel which is A SEVEN STAR HOTEL.
***Shout out To My dad "Hi daddy" *waving* Here's your fancy pictures!***


Ceiling art in the entry way

A Hallway.. they all look this lavish, mashallah.




There was another portion of the trip where we visited with an amazing Imam Shaykh Hashimi. He had such enlightening views, amazing Adab (manners and treating his guests). It took until midnight... but we would have stayed longer to listen to such wise words and wisdom!

We all slept on the way back.. How do you fit 22 women in a tour van? Very carefully!