Word: meccas
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Ignorance about the Middle East runs even deeper, and has a long history. Armstrong, in "Muhammad", notes that during the time of the First Crusades, many Westerners believed that Muslims were idol-worshippers (actually, the Prophet tore down the idols in Mecca). And Dante, in "The Divine Comedy," placed Muhammad in the Eighth Circle of Hell with the schismatics (even pagans such as Plato and Aristotle got relatively better treatment, with placement in the more scenic Limbo). Much more recently, the novelist Fay Weldon ("Affliction") wrote this about Islam: "The Koran is food for no-thought...
...opinionated. And when they shed their burkas, they turn out to be wearing brightly colored dresses. All three say they would prefer not to wear a burka or even a head scarf but fear they would be harassed. Zora, 28, says she has heard that when women go to Mecca on the hajj, the pilgrimage that all Muslims are enjoined to attempt at least once, they do so with faces uncovered. "If women can show their faces in Islam's most holy place, then why must we cover ourselves in Afghanistan?" she asks...
Stability is not necessarily a virtue. But a Saudi Arabia that "convulses" in the direction of greater Islamic extremism would be terrifying. In the short term, the price of oil would surely rise, as it did after the Iranian revolution of 1979. The Saudi holy cities of Mecca and Medina are the destination for millions of Muslim pilgrims each year. They could easily become the rallying point for the sort of global jihad that could quickly turn into a clash of civilizations. For now, that is an unlikely prospect; the Saudi royal family has deep reserves of loyalty, and Abdullah...
...bookstore—Atherton says he is considering the name “Ten O’Clock Scholar,” but has not yet decided—is just the newest member of the rare book mecca hidden at 5 JFK St. along with a collection of dentists and the office of “Car Talk,” a popular radio show...
Initially, Harvard’s reputation as an academic mecca seemed a perfect opportunity to lure the circling packs of media. The headlines would sell papers. Dan DiMaggio ’03 argues that “here’s this place known for progressive scientific breakthroughs, but ultimately it is supremely immoral in not granting everybody within it an equal voice...