Discussion on Cultural Changes in Saudi Arabia

We used to sing. We used to

plant. We used to harvest together.

Imagine

that

my beloved in the belt, whom I used to call Qaws,

surprised me with a visit to the village

maybe five or six years ago.

She knocked on the door, and I heard her. I knew her voice.

I said,

"I'll open the door."

Then there was a mass of black

even on her hands.

A mass of black. I said, "What happened?" She was

coming to see us.

I condemn

what the Awakening has done

in the south, and not just in the south.

The Kingdom in general was a victim over the past 30

years

of what is believed to be Islam. What it did in

the south.

The Awakening was an assault,

an assault on poetry,

on women, on people in general.

Brother, we were normal. Women were not

shameful in that ugly sense.

Women were partners in everything.

I want to go to the university in.

Saudi Arabia was not like that before 1979.

The Awakening project spread in

Saudi Arabia after 1979,

so we were not like this before. We are only returning

to what we used to be,

moderate, centrist Islam.

Open to the world, all religions, and all

peoples' traditions.