National Obsession...

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Mutirnaa bi Fadhli Llahi wa Rahmatihi
It has rained by the Bounty of Allah and his Mercy

If you keep up with some of the other Saudi related blogs you may have noticed a common topic over the past couple of weeks or so… yes, the weather. It seems that those of us who live in this normally hot country with little variation in the day to day weather suddenly have an obsession with the weather. Well, you can hardly blame us; after baking in temperatures of 45 degrees and upwards (sometimes soaring to the lower 50’s) cooler temperatures and rain are welcome guests at this time of year.

Umm H.A.Y. has been enjoying much more tolerable weather over in Jeddah masha’Allah whilst Suhaa has been wondering whether it is really cold enough to bundle her children up winter coats over in Madinah. Even the Arabnews has been reporting our favourite subject and mentions that 0 degrees Centigrade… yes FREEZING, was recorded in Riyadh this month!

So, the weather has become the national obsession and today it’s my turn to blog on this subject and the reason for my excitement… I have woken up to wet road! Yup, it rained in the night. Alhamdu Lillah. I have been receiving SMS messages from my mother in the UK about the over-abundance of rain there, the flooding, the gales and the general misery caused by the unrelenting wet weather whilst here in Riyadh, mosques (and indeed mosques all over the Kingdom) have been calling people to prayer to supplicate Allah Almighty for His blessing in the form of rain:

Oh Allah, give water to Your slaves, and Your livestock, and spread Your Mercy and revive Your dead land.

Living in such a dry country where we see no rain at all for much of the year has really opened my eyes to the blessing contained in rain and how much of a gift from Allah it really is. When I visit the UK, I love to drive through the countryside and enjoy the greenery… over grown green fields and trees in abundance and yet here in Riyadh orange is the predominant colour… sand! How amazing it is to take a short drive into the desert after rainfall and see little streams formed in the sand and a hardy little bush bursting into leaf. Allahu Akbar!