Side Note: Thulumah....

Subhana'Allah! I was going through some old disks with photos on them and I found pics of Thulumah... Allahu Akbar, I had such a great time and the memories all came back to me seeing the pics so I just had blog it now instead of later.

So I am in yemen and I am talking to a friend of mine complaining about not being able to swim and being tortured by the kids, having to watch them swim in the beautiful blue Arabian Sea, while I stand there. She told that a few times a year, her and the women of her family pack some food and drink and head for Thulumah, a secluded beach outside of Mukalla.

Really!?

So, one day we have some house guests and I suggest tha we find this hidden treasure. My husband calls the sister's cousin who knows the way, and we load up the kids and guests and head out. It was lovelier than I expected. Below are the photos I found of the excursion. We headed out after fajr and stayed until maghrib. Next time, I would love to bring a tent.

** Okay, I wasn't able to figure out how to order the pics or put the words in between so bear with that and enjoy the pics.

Sharjah, UAE

The first place that I looked into was Sharjah, UAE. I had heard back in 2000 that it was an up and coming Emirate that, unlike Dubai and Abu Dhabi, was religious based. I had heard many good things about it, but some of the turn offs were:

• Expense- This is one of the most expensive places to live with rents comparable to living in the US.
• Employment- I understood that most jobs were filled according to race and ethnicity, domestic jobs going to phillipinos, computer jobs to indo/pakistani people, teaching jobs to caucasians (mostly from Canadian or British) so where do the African American Muslims fit in. And this all may have been heresay but it definitly shaped my decision not to go there.
• Visa- My understanding from that time was that you could only get a 90 day visa with sponorship by a UAE national. Other visas are non-renewable unless you leave the country and re-enter which seemed like too much of a hassle to do every three months.

Some of my friends did end up going to one emirate or another but we by-passed this as an option. Although it's a beautiful place, it just didn't seem like you would have the ability to stay. Here's a video tour of Sharjah:

Location, Location, Location!!!

When we decided to leave, I couldn't be more excited. I immediately started to look into different locations. I remember being so obsessed with it. I asked countless people about hijrah destinations, I joined countless e-groups and forums (Muhajir, Hijrah.net and sisters4hijrah to name a few). I finally, after several months narrowed it down, in my mind anyway, to 3 locations. Sharjah, UAE; Cairo, Egypt; and Da Gambia, West Africa.

I should mention that all the stress and obsession was mine alone. My husband on the other hand was like, "Allah is sufficient and he has control over every situation. Wherever we are meant to be, has already been written." I'm like you are absolutely right, sweetie. So I'll only stay up all night researching 5 days a week instead of 7. I needed information and I needed it now. I actually had the opportunity to speak with a few families in each location and gather some info from the horse's mouths, so to speak.

Notice I said that in MY mind we would be going to one of these places. The next few posts will consist of the info I gathered and the pros and cons of each place. In the end, my husband was right and Allah, the best of planners had it already all figured out.