The Two Seas – the sweet and the salty

Al-Bahrain, American-British with a touch of the Arab. The fifth fleet crouches in the harbour and the Brits run the associations.
Stained glass windowed mosques on the increase in the Gulf. And so is the churchy seating: legless backrests the length of the first rows and movable plastic chairs for the old, the sick and not so sick clutter the once simple arena of the salat. Less of the shoulder to shoulder, man to man, and more of the clumsy, system-spacing first implemented by the carpeting with the printed musallas and the strips of tape marking the rows for the worshippers. Of this no need. If sick or weak a man may sit for the duration of the salat in the row on the floor. As for the backrests, the front rows are for the saabiqun, the forerunners, the seekers of Allah during the fard salat behind the imam, not for the weary who may recline at the back of the mosque.
Abdarrahman Anwar the editor in chief of the Akhbar al-Khaleej newspaper declares in majlis that the taqeeya of the shia is in fact lying and lying does not belong to the deen, or any deen. And that the warming of America toward Iran is encouraging the shias of Bahrain to revolt.
The Formula 1 race track, a titanic affair housed in concrete tenting and iron scaffolding. A tiny, non-airconditioned, windowless musalla hides in the heat beneath the screams of the circling racing cars. The qualifying race begins as the sun goes down. The Discover Islam da’wa stall is relegated to the Basta ‘folklore’ market at the end of the course and those calling to Allah are marked ‘vendors’ on the entry tags around their necks. Their energy is inspiring, their dates and coffee alluring, their Quran translations in the pious Victorian words of Marmaduke Pickthall or the university academic terminology of Sahih International. Dozens of Filipinos become Muslim. A Korean woman who became Muslim on the first day of the three day event is brought back to the leading daa’ee – who is sharply berated by her blond girl friend accusing him of leading the Korean astray and threatening to tell his boss. The official line is that they are not converting people but rather informing them about Islam in order that they may understand how Muslims tick.
Bar coding ensures the number of exits equals the number of entries – no hiding here overnight. Security corresponds to the King’s son presence, may Allah protect him – who might or might not be in the vip tower on the pit-stop side of the track. Pricing of the ices, popcorn and burgers in Bahraini dinars and American dollars. The Scorpions lead the masses into party and dance after Rosberg’s preliminary win.
The commentary of al-Qunaazi’i on the Muwatta lies dusty in the mosque of Juffair. Four dinars in gold was the payment of the fire worshippers in Bahrain exacted by Umar al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him. The flares from the oil fields match the redhot brake pads of the final of the F1 which begins minutes after glow down sunset coinciding with the takbiratu al ihram in the Disney cut-out of a mosque on the edges of the folk-lore market. A handful of His slaves beneath the helicopters circling overhead. Islamic champagne and national anthems of UK and Germany on the podium and then fireworks.
The causeway to Saudi Arabia is strung with six computerized gates ensuring the flow of wine and spirits is limited. Often a three hour ride or more for the 25 kilometers or so. The dhows from Furdah to Khubar once covered the same distance in three hours and allowed the passengers time to fish on the way.
The closed, compounded, Pearl of Bahrain resort at the southern end of the island is home to the bankers, ministers, F1 drivers and royalty. Architecturally speaking, white concrete nuclear familied Marbella terracing, mostly empty like the towers of the half-finished Financial Harbour sitting on the reclaimed land in front of the Bab al-Bahrain.