I am at this point living in the lap of luxury. Woke for Fajr prayer, receiving needed inspiration. Next, hastily opened Instagram to an inspiring message texted by a woman who specializes in inspiring messages illustrating the glories of King Saud University for women. (Sister.in.ksu) This photo displayed stacks of books in a library, the accompanying message in Arabic, then translated to English. I was absolutely inspired, quickly fired off a response.
Me: Thank you so much for this. It came exactly at the perfect moment as seeking knowledge of the faith is so important to me. More traditional (shall we say) Muslims emphasize adherence to the rituals, neither knowing ,nor particularly caring, why these are important. You gave me the support and encouragement I needed at the time.
You cannot imagine the shock, and disappointment, when Instagram flashed a message that my statement had been removed because it did not meet community guidelines. What??? What sort of community guidelines are those? Where are they published? Who wrote them in the first place?
This was the inspiring message that accompanied the book filled photograph, in Arabic, translated into English.
Abu AL Dardaa reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings upon him said,
“Whoever travels a path in search of knowledge, Allah will make him traverse a path to Paradise. Verily the angels lower their wings in pleasure for the sheer of knowledge. The inhabitants of the heavens and earth, even the fish in the depths of the water, seek forgiveness for the scholar. The virtue of the scholar over the worshiper is like the superiority of the moon over the stars. Verily, the scholars are the inheritors of the Prophets. The Prophets do not leave behind gold or silver coins, but rather they only leave behind knowledge. Whoever takes it has taken hold of an abundant fortune.” (Sunan al-Tirmidhl 2682, according to Al-Albani.
The utter and absolute caprice of Instagram is staggering. What is caprice? It is the sudden and unaccountable change of mood or behavior. .
Here is the link to the Instagram post: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3Co5LmIAav/?igsh=MXc2enJrdG94MjNxaA==
Instagram unpredictability and inconsistency is confusing to its followers. What proof do I have of their changeableness? A previous response to a post by the same individual was passed the by the censor receiving 642 Likes.
Me: Makes me want to go back to school. But I am 80 and already have four university degrees. Alhamduillah. I now live in Saudi Arabia. A recent revert.
Could that explosion of Likes be the cause of Instagram censorship of my recent praiseful response? It is not aimed at me as much as the courageous and forthright woman who is speaking so forcefully of the opportunities provided for the education of women in Saudi Arabia.
There is clear and convincing evidence of such tactics (and the resulting destabilization of the followers of social media). A February 4, 2024 Opinion from Al Jazeera written by Belén Fernández inspires me to ditch Instagram. Her well-researched and articulate article is entitled Facebook at 20: From virtual community to censorship of reality: I have spent half of my life on a platform that today is actively censoring perspectives I care about and encroaching on privacy. It is time to quit.
For all of those, not in the know, the Meta company owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, Therefore her words have direct application to Instagram. The author speaking of Facebook reports.
“Consider Amnesty International’s denunciation, in 2019, of Facebook’s business model of “surveillance capitalism”, which consists of “aggregating vast amounts of data on people, using it to infer incredibly detailed profiles on their lives and behaviour, and monetising it by selling these predictions to others such as advertisers”. Furthermore, Amnesty specified, the company had explored “how to manipulate emotions, and target people based on psychological vulnerabilities such as when they felt ‘worthless’ or ‘insecure’”
The erudite author goes on to discuss the toxic effects of social media.
And for young people growing up in an online world, the toxic effects of Facebook’s all-consuming, soul-sucking alienation – not to mention the fertile environment the platform provides for bullying and sexual harassment – cannot be understated.
This so chilling, so frightening , when considering the ongoing Gaza genocide; the Palestinian perspective has been silenced by the all controlling, all consuming Meta giant.
“In December, Human Rights Watch released a lengthy report on the “systemic censorship” of pro-Palestinian social media content by Meta, the company that owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Since the launch of the Israeli onslaught on October 7, the Palestinian perspective has been increasingly silenced via tactics such as content removal, account deletion, and “shadow banning” – a practice that surreptitiously reduces the reach of certain social media posts.”
Summarizing the evil of the Meta Media Giant:
“Beyond infringing on freedoms of opinion, expression and thought, Meta’s current anti-Palestine manoeuvres in a time of genocide effectively constitute something even more dire: a censorship of reality itself.”
There are some truths conveyed by the Meta Moguls but there is also massive amounts of misinformation. It is absolutely impossible to distinguish between the two. It made me joyously happy that I have the blog allowing free communication – free of the interference of others. I tell the truth, having no vested interest in lying. The truth is of paramount importance, has been my whole life is, and this was intensified by my becoming a Muslim.
Albeit, all work and no play makes Alexis a dull woman.
“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” is a proverb. It means that if a person does not take time off from work, they will become both bored and boring. The saying in its current form first appeared in James Howell’s Proverbs in English, Italian, French and Spanish (1659).”
Here is a contraction: All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. But all play and no work makes Jack a mere toy. In other words, it is impossible to please everyone at all times.
I definitely had some play time. Checked back into the Bahrain Ritz Carlton. You shall see photographs of living in the lap of luxury. (Lap of luxury is an idiom meaning a situation of great ease, comfort and wealth) I was upgraded to a Junior Suite. You shall see the stunning views taken from the balcony. The most comfortable bed I have ever slept upon.
Marble floors sofas, desks – every luxury. Everyone so welcoming. A mani, pedi and a foot and leg massage. Made to order breakfasts an added benefit. It was back to the indoor pool – you shall see photos of the pool and my toes.
However, here is an example of not being able to make everyone happy – in fact no one happy. There is a photo of me clad in a ridiculous ‘covered’ bathing suit. While in Saudi Arabia one’s swimming attire is irrelevant because there are unisex pools or pools with unisex hours. However, this is not true in most other countries, including Bahrain. While is Riyadh purchased a modest bathing suit, thinking it would be suitable. Never had worn it but decided this would be the perfect occasion. It pleased absolutely no one. The strict Muslims found it to be too uncovered; the free and easy crowd laughed at its strange old fashionedness.
Two more amusing photographs will also follow. This a conversation between me and my trustworthy driver.
Me: Can you come and get me at the Ritz about 2 tomorrow? We can miss traffic that way I think.
He: okay
Me: What kind of car will you be driving? I have more baggage but it should fit in a small car.
He: Lexus car. Is it okay?
Me: Of course it is okay, It is blessed. Alexis will arrive back in Khobar being driven in a Lexus. Alhamdullah!
In case there are any doubters among you there are two photographs. One shown loading the luggage the other clearly identifying the car as a Lexus.
But back to serious, returning to another facet of my personality, showing that Alexis is not a mere toy. There are two inspiring photographs taken of clouds at sunset from my balcony. When looking at a sunset how can anyone doubt the Creator? It seems an absolute miracle that I was there at that time. I was unable to open the sliding door of the balcony, called Reception who immediately sent an engineer to open it so I could stand on the balcony and take that photograph at exactly the right moment. Alhamdulliah.
