Haram

Haram is a very important word here in the Middle East. Haram can be (we are told) loosely translated as “forbidden”. There are a lot of things that are haram in Saudi Arabia. You have the obvious haram things like alcohol and nudity. But there’s also haram stuff that people don’t usually know about. Like for example, people don’t usually know that Mecca is off limits (haram) to non-Moslems. We heard at one party that a Chinese construction firm had actually asked their construction workers to convert to Islam when the company received a contract in Mecca.

Hubster and I recently visited the “second Petra” of Saudi Arabia. It’s basically the same as Petra in Jordan without any tourists. On our way there, we flew to Madinah. Madinah is the second holy city in Saudi Arabia. The airport itself is not haram for non-Moslems, but it was interesting how there were huge concrete arches on both sides of the road leading away from the airport with haram signs. Our driver/guide decided to take the risk and try to get us through the haram area (safely tucked away in the backseat of the SUV) to save about 100km of driving. As he put it about the checkpoint guards: “Hamdullah, he is busy talking to his friend” and we passed through the checkpoint and haram area without any incident.

Here's a picture of one of the concrete arches that were on both sides of the road in Makkah (picture stolen from the internet)