8 Modern Advancements the Moors Brought to Europeans

The YouTube clip "When Black Men Ruled the World: THE MOORS" (3:05 minutes) sheds light on a little known fact -- on historically, who really was intellectually superior and developed.

“Moors were commonly viewed as being mostly black or very swarthy, and hence the word is often used for negro,” The Oxford English Dictionary

The Moors established an Empire spanning parts of northern Africa to southern Europe, ruling in Europe for nearly 800 years (711-1492 AD), which is longer than Europeans have been out of the Dark Ages,

In fact, the Moorish advances in mathematics, astronomy, art and agriculture brought Europe out of the Dark Ages and into the Renaissance. 

1 - UNIVERSAL EDUCATION — While Christian Europe had a 99% illiteracy rate, 2 universities and 0 libraries, the Moors had 17 universities in 7 cities along with over 70 libraries. The Moors introduced their education system to Europe, bringing it out of 1,000 years of intellectual gloom.

2 - FASHION AND HYGIENE — The Moor Ziryab pioneered the concept of changing clothes based on seasons. He also created deodorant, daily bathing, and invented toothpaste. He made popular the concepts of shaving, haircuts, and hair washing among men.

3 - CUISINE — Ziryab introduced the concept of the three-course meal, which included the soup, main course and desert. The Moors introduced a number of crops that remain prominent in Spain today.

4 - URBAN UTILITIES — Moorish cities had street lights, hospitals, and running water. Paved and lighted streets did not appear in London or Paris for hundreds of years later. Moors built an aqueduct that brought water from the mountains to the city.

5 - MEDICINE — The “father of modern surgery” was the Moor Al Zahrawi, who developed innovative and precise surgical instruments, as well as the premier textbook of Western medical training.

6 - HUMAN FLIGHT — The Moor Ibn Firnas made the first scientific attempt to fly. Although his flight worked, his landing was unsuccessful.

7 - ADVANCED AGRICULTURAL TECHNIQUES — The Moors introduced Spain to rice, hard wheat, cotton, and more. Along with this came knowledge of crop irrigation and cultivation, building underground grain silos that stored grain for up to 100 years.

8 - PAPER MAKING — Moors introduced paper making to Spain, allowing for accurate preservation and dispersal of knowledge.

The Sewing Circles of Herat

Christina Lamb, author of The Sewing Circles of Herat (2002), was named Foreign Correspondent of the Year by British Press Awards, What the Papers Say Awards, and the Foreign Press Association for her reporting on Afghanistan and Pakistan. She is also author of the bestselling Africa House and Waiting for Allah. The Sewing Circles of Herat is an outcome of her correspondent travels to get first-hand interviews and to search out the core meaning for the wars and conflicts in Afghanistan and Pakistan. 

Meaning of the book title

The inspiration behind the book title is from a secret study and discussion society for educating women in the Taliban-controlled city of Herat, Afghanistan. Herat was once a great city famed for its culture — architecture, calligraphy, poetry, all in the romantic language of Persian. Women in war-controlled Afghanistan were forbidden education, forbidden a job, forbidden to walk alone or be seen in public unless with a male family member and unless also they were completely concealed from the eye under a black robe. But the women with small baskets of scissors and thread disguised books for studying underneath, and the Golden Needle was not where they were to sew but instead where they were to study. These women, though forbidden personal expression in public, defiantly kept their spirit and educated their minds in secret. They were suppressed, but they still retain some control.

One meaning of the Taliban

In Pakistan, Christina asked a silver-haired lawyer-politician what he thought of the Taliban and why they preached such an extreme form of Islam. "Talibs used to be figures of fun," he said. "Pashtun is a very egalitarian society with no caste or class system. It's not like Sindh with its waderas or Punjab with its feudal lords. In my 61st year of life, the only class that I can say we have always looked down on in Pashtun society is the Talib. When I was a child the Talibs were used for begging. 'I'm a Talib,' and we'd say 'poor darling' and give them bread."

"Referring to the Taliban as 'poor darling' was not just a recognition of their straitened circumstances. There was a more sinister side. The madrassa boys were not only separated from their mothers and all females at an early age but were taught to stigmatize women and that the mere sight of an ankle or a varnished fingernail would lead to damnation. In Pashto, women are referred to as tor sari which means black-heads until their hair turns grey and they become spin sari or white-heads, and they are seen as something to be covered, locked away and beaten."

"We're talking about a society where in my village a boy and a girl kissing is an unpardonable crime seen as worse than murder. The inevitable result is sodomy. It's the done thing in Pashtun society because of women being shut away in houses. A good-looking boy would have dozens of attempts made on him. I was a very handsome youth and had lots of problems but fortunately our family name and standing protected me. These Talibs have no such protection and it starts with the kind of people who run these seminaries. We used to say 'Oh God, he's a Talib,' and that meant he's a sissy or he's available."

"Over a period of time they must become very angry people. And very frustrated, mostly against women, coupled with the hurt of a childhood trauma you can never get rid of and never, never talk about. It must leave a permanent scar." (p 104-105)

Saving paintings in the National Gallery, Kabul, Afghanistan

While Christina was in Kabul interviewing Afghanis after the Taliban had left Kabul, she received a message to go the National Gallery of Kabul. There, she met the doctor who was also 'the painter'. When the Taliban had come to Kabul, they began systemically destroying all cultural items that contained images of humans and animals. Dr. Mohammed Yusuf Assefi heard that 8 of his paintings with humans and animals and which had been hanging in the Presidential Palace had been destroyed, so he knew the paintings in the museum and other national treasures would likewise be destroyed. Bravely, he decided to do his part in saving them. 

He walked boldly into the museum and said that he had been commissioned to restore the paintings. In actuality, over the oil paintings he used water color to paint images or obscure images - for example, he transformed a swan into a shadow on a pond, and a boat with a rower into simply a boat floating with a cargo of sacks. His transformations were risky and he would have been killed if he had been discovered, but his strategy was to move paintings continually around so no one would notice the horse that was there no longer, or the birds that had suddenly flown from the painting.

In total he repainted 80 in the gallery and 42 in the Foreign Ministry. It took him 3-4 days per painting and a year to disguise all the ones in question. It only took a few moments to wipe the watercolor paints away and bring back to vision the real story underneath, he said, as he wiped a pot of flowers by a canal transforming them into a peasant woman carrying a burden on her back.

16 Countries Evading Common Diseases

Place: Mexico’s Copper Canyon

Disease/ailment that is non-existent or rare: High-cholesterol

Reason[s] why: The Tarahumara Indians of this region have impressively low cholesterol due to a diet that emphasizes slow-release foods, sending sugar into the bloodstream at a much slower rate than other foods. Their diet – which includes slow-release carbohydrates from whole corn, beans, squash, cumin, and other crops – also helps maintain proper blood sugar levels, preventing an overproduction of insulin.

Place: Costa Rica’s Nicoya PeninsulaDisease/ailment that is non-existent or rare: Death before age 90

Reason[s] why: Residents of this small town two hours out of San Jose spend hours each day chopping wood and making all their meals by hand, from scratch. The area also has some of the hardest water around, loaded with beneficial minerals such as calcium and magnesium.

http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/20081009_tows_bluezones/2

Place: Japan
Disease/ailment that is non-existent or rare: Heart disease

Reason[s] why: Diets rich in soy and omega 3 fatty acids but low in refined sugars keep the Japanese in good heart health, according to most statistics http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2133674.stm. Interestingly enough, one study proposes Japan’s relative immunity to heart disease may be “on paper” only, suggesting that a lot of heart disease in Japan is chalked up to heart failure. http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/319/7204/255

Place: Iceland
Disease/ailment that is non-existent or rare: Depression

Reason[s] why: Like the Japanese, Icelanders consume healthy amounts of omega-3 and other healthy fats from sources such as pasture-raised lamb and wild game. Like green tea in Japan, Icelanders ward off a variety of cancers with the antioxidants in black tea, vegetables, wild berries, barley, and rye. Despite the soul-sucking winters during which the nation is plunged into almost 24-hour darkness, experts believe this diet also helps fight off the depression normally associated with such lack of sun.

Place: rural Northern India
Disease/ailment that is non-existent or rare: Alzheimer’s

Reason[s] why: A slew of studies of people in this region are being done to see why only 1% of the population over 65 is affected by Alzheimer’s disease (compared to more than 5% of American’s older than 65.) Though the practical non-existence of Alzheimer’s in Northern India (and select parts of Africa) might simply be a lack of proper diagnosis, another explanation may be genetic. http://www.searo.who.int/EN/Section1174/Section1199/Section1567/Section1823_8066.htm

Place: Loma Linda, California
Disease/ailment that is non-existent or rare: Anything well into your 90s
Reason[s] why: Like many cultures who seem to be able to ward off disease at a disproportionally-high rate, the people of this Moreno Valley eat a healthy diet. The community is home to 900 members of the Seventh Day Adventist faith, in which smoking, booze, meat, and processed foods are a big no-no.
http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/20081009_tows_bluezones/10

Place: Thailand
Disease/ailment that is non-existent or rare: Cancer (all types)

Reason[s] why: Areas of the world subject to high levels of infection seem to have the lowest rates of cancer. In many cases, the lower a nation’s Gross Domestic Product, the lower its people’s risk of developing cancer. One explanation is the so-called “hygiene hypothesis” – that people whose bodies are forced to fight off diseases in their youth are more likely to be toughened-up for battles later in life, such as cancer.

Place: Sardinia

Disease/ailment that is non-existent or rare: Largest population on Earth of men age 100+

Reason[s] why: Folks on this island 200 km off the Italian coast eat lean, fruit-and-veggie-based diet high in whole grain breads and dairy like hearty fresh cheeses. Meat is consumed in extreme moderation and is more of a side-dish than main staple of this mountain-trekking Mediterranean diet.

Place: United Kingdom
Disease/ailment that is non-existent or rare: Epilepsy
Reason[s] why: Your odds of dying from epilepsy in the UK are lower than anywhere else in the world. By the mortality numbers, the worst place to have a seizure is Estonia.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/mor_epi_percap-mortality-epilepsy-per-capita

Place: Japan
Disease/ailment that is non-existent or rare: Obesity
Reason[s] why: Though we think of Scandinavia as flawlessly healthy, the country that pops up most often for having a healthy population and a relatively risk-free and sustainable diet that’s easy to adopt (you don’t even have to eat Japanese food to ward off obesity like the Japanese, just eat more fish, veggies and fruit, and don’t forget to chew thoroughly.)
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/diets-of-world-japanese-diet

Place: United States
Disease/ailment that is non-existent or rare: Death from arthritis
Reason[s] why: Believe it or not, the U.S. is the last place on Earth it’s almost statistically impossible to succumb to this widespread ailment. Slovenia has dozens of times the carpometacarpal arthritis death rate: 1 per 2 million people.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/mor_art_of_fir_car_joi_percap-first-carpometacarpal-joint-per-capita

Place: anywhere in the Muslim world
Disease/ailment that is non-existent or rare: Skin cancer
Reason[s] why: Countries close to the equator with high immigrant European populations (Australia) and tanning-obsessed countries with populations of people with low skin pigmentation have some of the highest skin cancer rates. Muslim nations fare well, experts say, due to populations with high skin pigmentation and heavy cover from the sun in the way of traditional clothing.
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/07/30/f-forbes-skincancerhotspots.html

Place: Japan
Disease/ailment that is non-existent or rare: Prostate cancer
Reason[s] why: Anti-oxidants in green and chai tea, drank as much as 15-20 times a day in the land of the rising sun, ward off all sorts of cancers. The people of Okinawa practice calorie restriction and load up on in-season vegetables like bok choy and kale. http://www.usrf.org/CBS/newsArticles.asp.htm

Place: Ethiopia
Disease/ailment that is non-existent or rare: Parkinson’s disease
Reason[s] why: Interestingly-enough, the highest rate of Parkinson’s is in American Amish communities (almost 1% – 950 in 100,000 – of the Amish population has Parkinson’s), possibly due to unchecked pesticide use. Ethiopia’s is a comparably non-existent 7 in 100,000. Genetics? Sadly no: the answer may be that few Ethiopians actually live to the age at which Parkinson’s strikes.
http://viartis.net/parkinsons.disease/prevalence.htm

Place: U.S. and Canada
Disease/ailment that is non-existent or rare: Tuberculosis

Reason[s] why: Gone are the days of mass cases of consumption (the old term for the final stages of TB) but the World Health Organization is still engaged in battle with vaccine-resistant strains. TB rates in the U.S. and Canada are a tenth that of Africa, though Americans of African descent are five times more likely to contract tuberculosis in the U.S. than Americans of Native or European descent.

Place: Czech Republic
Disease/ailment that is non-existent or rare: Diabetes

Reason[s] why: Modest eating have kept Type 2 diabetes especially down in this country, where fast food is less available and people only eat until they are “almost” full.

Summary:

The U.S. healthcare system can learn and incorporate much from these unique and wonderful places. First, prevention appears to be easier than cure, and just as possible. The real question then becomes, even if everyone was aware of all the preventative measures, would they forgo the “good life” to remain healthy longer? Then, how can our healthcare system help to enforce this “healthy alternative”?

____________________________________________________

Note: I did not put this phenomenal list together but now am unable to find its source. 

"Princess" of Saudi Arabia

The book Princess by Jean P. Sasson is "an appalling indictment of the treatment of women in Saudi Arabia" and an "unforgettable ... fascinating book to move you to tears". The book is about one of over a hundred-plus princesses, the granddaughters of Abdul Asis ibn Sa'ud, who speaks out to Jean Sasson to write the conditions of women forced to hide behind the abaaya, the black veil. Women are not owners of their own bodies, their own destinies, or their even their own children. They are chattel to men, passed off after menses at early ages to become wives, sometimes second, third or fourth wives, and quite frequently these husbands are as old, if not older, than their own fathers. The women must obey their husbands implicitly, prepare their bodies to be used by their husbands upon demand, be ordered to appear or not appear, be escorted by men wherever they go. When their sons become older and the husbands cannot provide escort, then the sons are the escorts.

Sultana, the princess in the book, is fiery and wants the world to hear the conditions of the Saudi Arabian women to give the world understanding and not be afraid of the only visible parts of women - the blackness of their eyes and the blackness of their robes - and to judge that limited dark view of women. Sultana cannot escapes her gilded princess cage in Saudi Arabia. She remains the property of her husband, and sees her daughters grow up to become property themselves. Yet, to speak out even slightly would mean to denounce Saudi Arabia, the Koran, and/or her own husband, and any insult to any of them would mean her being sentenced to some punishment away from her children, and so she continued to silently exist in her gilded cage ... but with the knowledge that the book Princess would be published and begin to let the Western world have some understanding about the "freedom", or lack of it, of the Saudi Arabian women.

The Laws of Saudi Arabia

The criminal laws of Saudi Arabia adhere to strict Islamic precepts. The word Islam means "surrender to the will of God". The most important concept of Islam is the Shari'a, or the "path", which embraces the total way of life ordained by God. All peoples of the Islamic religion are expected to conduct their lives by the traditional values set by Muhammad, the Prophet of God, who was born in AD 570 and died in AD 632.

It is difficult for most Westerners to understand the complete and total submission of Muslims to the laws of the Korean in every aspect of their daily life. The Koran, along with traditions set by Muhammad, is the law of the land in Saudi Arabia.

While Jean Sasson was living in Saudi Arabia, she once asked a noted scholar of Islam who made his living as a lawyer, to describe the Saudi Arabian application of justice that stems from the teachings of the Prophet. His explanations helped dispel her misunderstandings of Saudi law.

1. There are four main sources of the Shari'a: the Koran, which is compiled from thousands of religious verses revealed by God through his Prophet, Muhammad; the Sunna, which are the traditions the Prophet addressed that are not recorded in the Koran; the Ijma, which are the perceptions of the Ulema, or religious scholars; and the Qiyas, which is a method whereby known jurists agree upon new legal principles.
2. The king of Saudi Arabia is not exempt from the regulations set forth by the Shari'a.
3. The court system itself is complicated, but if a judgement is taken to appeal it is reviewed by the court of appeals. This court, usually consisting of three members, increases to five members if the sentence imposes death or mutilation. The king is the final arbitrator who serves as a final court of appeal and as a source of pardon.
4. Crimes are classified into three divisions: Hudud, Tazir, and Qisas. Crimes of Hudud are crimes that are denounced by God; the punishment is made known in the Koran. Crimes of Tazir are given to the appropriate authority to determine punishment. Crimes of Qisas give the victim the right to retaliate.

CRIMES OF HUDUD

Crimes of Hudud included theft, drinking of alcohol, defamation of Islam, fornication and adultery.

Persons found guilty of theft are punished by payment of fines, imprisonment, or amputation of the right hand. (The left hand is amputated if the right hand has already been amputated.)

Persons found guilty of drinking, selling or buying alcohol, sniffing drugs, taking injections of drugs or stirring drugs into dough are punished by a sentence of eighty lashes.

Persons found guilty of defamation of Islam are sentences according to the circumstances. The harshness of the sentence varies depending on whether the person is a Muslim or a non-Muslim. Flogging is the general punishment for Muslims.

Persons found guilty of fornication are flogged. Men are flogged while standing and women while sitting. The faces, heads and vital organs of the guilty are protected. The usual number is forty lashes, but this number may vary according to the circumstances.

Adultery is the most serious of crimes. If the guilty party is married, her or she is sentenced to death by stoning, beheading or shooting. Stoning is the usual method of punishment. Proof of the crime must be established by confession or by four witnesses to the act.

CRIMES OF TAZIR

The crimes of Tazir are similar to misdemeanor crimes in America. There is not set punishment, but each person is judged on an individual basis, according to the seriousness of the crime and the sorrow shown by the criminal.

CRIMES OF QISAS

If a person is found guilty of crimes against an individual or a family, the aggrieved family has the right to retaliate. The sentence is decided in private by the family, and the actual punishment is carried out in private.

If murder has been committed, the family has the right to kill the murderer in the same method their loved one was murdered, or in any method they choose.

If a member of a family was accidentally killed (such as a road accident), the family of the deceased may collect "blood money". In the past, camels were used as pay for blood money; today the rate of exchange is in currency. There are set damaged according to the various circumstances: the payment can be anywhere from 120,000 to 300,000 Saudi riyals ($45,000 - $80,000). If a woman is killed, the payment is half that of a man.

If a person cuts off another person's body part, the family or the victim may commit the same act upon the guilty party.

Who may testify in criminal proceedings: 

The witness must be deemed sane, the age of an adult, and a Muslim. Non-Muslims may not testify in criminal court. Women may not testify unless it is a personal matter that did not occur in the sight of men. Actually, the testimony of a woman is not regarded  as fact but rather as presumption. The court may decide whether the testimony is valid according to the circumstances.  

Why women are forbidden to testify in criminal proceedings: 

There are four reasons given why women's testimony is not valid in a Saudi court.

1. Women are much more emotional than men and will, as a result of their emotions, distort their testimony.
2. Women do not participate in public life, so they will not be capable of understanding what they observe.
3. Women are dominated completely by men, who by the grace of God are deemed superior; therefore, women will give testimony according to what the last man told them.
4. Women are forgetful, and their testimony cannot be considered reliable.

Chronology of the book:

570         Prophet Muhammad is born in Makkah, Saudi Arabia

610         Prophet Muhammad sees a vision from God proclaiming him to be the messenger of God. Islam is born.

622         Prophet Muhammad flees an angry mob in Makkah and escapes to Madinah. This flight is forever after known as “the Hegira”, the great crisis of Muhammad’s mission on earth. The Muslim calendar begins on that date and is called Hegira in honor of the journey.

632         Prophet Muhammad died in Madinah

650         The sayings of Prophet Muhammad are collected and written down. Known as the Koran, this book, which recorded the word of God as told by Muhammad, became the holy book of Muslims.

1446       The first documented Al Sa’ud, ancestor of Sultana, leaves the nomadic life of the desert and settles in Dar’iyah (old Riyadh).

1744       Muhammad Al Sa’ud establishes a partnership with Muhammad Al Wahhab, a teacher who believes in the strictest interpretation of the Koran. Combined forces of a warrior and a teacher unleash a rigid system of punishment upon the people.

1802-6    Sons of Muhammad Al Sa’ud and Muhammad Al Wahhab, inspired by the teachings of the Koran, attack and capture Makkah and Madinah. They are ruthless, massacring the entire male population of Taif, a settlement above Makkah. With this victory, most of Arabia unites under one authority.

1846-65  The Sa’uds extend authority southwards to Oman.

1876       Sultana’s grandfather, Abdul Aziz ibn Sa’ud, founder of the kingdom, is born.

1887       The city of Riyadh is captured by the Rasheeds

1891       The Al Sa’ud clan flees Riyadh into the Empty Quarter.

1893-4    The Al Sa’ud clan marches across the desert to Kuwait.

1901       September. Abdul Aziz, now twenty-five years old, along with his warriors leaves Kuwait for Riyadh.

1902       January. Abdul Aziz and his men capture Riyadh. The new Al Sa’ud dynasty begins.

1915       Abdul Aziz Al Sa’ud enters into an agreement with the British government to receive £5,000 per month to fight the Turks.

1926       Sultana’s father is born.

1932       Unification of the dual kingdoms of Hijaz and Najd. Named the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, it becomes the twelfth-largest country in the world.

1933       Sultana’s mother, Fadeela, is born.

1934       Saudi Arabia goes to war against Yemen; peace is established one month later. 15 May. In revenge for the Yemen war, King Abdul Aziz is attacked at the holy mosque in Makkah by three knife-wielding Yemenis. His eldest son, Sa’ud, flings himself in front of his father and is wounded instead.

1938       20 March. Oil is discovered in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

1939       War in Europe halts oil production.

1944       Oil production in the kingdom rises to 8 million barrels a year.

1945       14 February. President Roosevelt meets King Abdul Aziz aboard USS Quincy. 17 February. Britain’s prime minister, Winston Churchill, meets King Abdul Aziz aboard USS Quincy.

1946       Oil production soars to 60 million barrels a year. December. Sultana’s parents marry in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

1948       Radio Makkah, the first radio station in the kingdom, is opened despite fierce opposition from the Ulema (religious men). 14 May. The state of Israel is established. The first Arab-Israeli war begins.

1952       King Abdul Aziz bans alcohol imports for non-believers.

1953       9 November. King Abdul Aziz, Sultana’s grandfather, dies at the age of seventy-seven. His eldest son, fifty-one-year-old Sa’ud, becomes king. His half-brother Faisal becomes crown prince.

1956       Sultana is born into the family of Al Sa’ud, the tenth daughter of her parents.

1958       March. With the kingdom in financial turmoil, Crown Prince Faisal takes administrative control of the government.

1960       December. King Sa’ud dismisses his brother from administrative duties and assumes control of the government.

1962       Slavery is abolished in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Most slaves continue to live with the families that owned them.

1963       The first girls’ school opens; religious factions riot.

1964       3 November. King Sa’ud abdicates and leaves the kingdom for Beirut. Faisal is declared king, and his half-brother Khalid crown prince.

1965       Despite protests, the first television station is opened in Riyadh. September. Prince Khalid ibn Musa’id, nephew of King Faisal, is killed as he leads an armed protest against the opening of the television station.

1967       June. The Six-Day War begins between Israel and her Arab neighbors. Saudi Arabia sends forces.

1969       February. Deposed ex-king Sa’ud ibn Abdul Aziz dies in Athens after spending more than $15 million each year of his exile.

1973       6 October. The October 1973 war begins between Israel and her Arab neighbors. Saudi Arabia sends troops. 20 October. Furious at America’s military assistance to Israel, King Faisal announces a holy war and oil embargo against America.

1975       25 March. King Faisal is assassinated by his nephew Prince Faisal ibn Musa’id, brother of the prince who was shot and killed during a riot in 1965. Crown Prince Khalid is declared king. His half-brother Fahd is named new crown prince.

1977       King Khalid issues a government decree that forbids women from traveling outside their homes unless accompanied by a male family member. A second order follows that forbids women from traveling abroad to study. Both decrees resulted from an international incident involving Princess Misha’il, who was publicly after meeting and falling in love with another Saudi student in the American University in Lebanon. Her lover was beheaded.

1979       November. The Grand Mosque in Makkah is attacked. Protestors complain of women working outside the home in the kingdom. In the months to follow, women’s freedom is curtailed in response to government fear of increased fundamentalist unrest.

1982       June. King Khalid dies of a heart attack. Fahd, his half-brother, is declared king; his half-brother Abdullah is named new crown prince.

1990       5 August. Kuwait is invaded by Iraq. Western Allied forces gather in Saudi Arabia to join Arab armies in repelling Saddam’s army.

1991       Mutawas – the moral police of Islam – react with fear and hostility to the presence of the foreign female soldiers. Pressure increases to force the Saudi government to tighten restrictions on the female population of all nationalities as religious factions return to strict interpretation of the Koran.