In the Land of Invisible Women - A Female doctor's Jorney in the Saudi Kingdom.

In the Land of Invisible Women - A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom.

"the abbayah's" could be considered "such enforced incarceration of womanhood is a form of female infanticide, Throughout the Kingdom, short, tiny prepubertal girls could be seen tripping ober their abbayahs, well before Islam asks for female modesty to be protected. While these veils conceal women, at the same time they expose the rampant, male opression which is their jailor. Polyester imprisonment by compulsion is ungodly and (like the fiber) distinctly man-made."

this form of Sharia law is part of Wahabiism circa 1792 - pgs 29-30

finally finished the book very intersting especially the oppression she lived through in the
Kingdom. The events of 9-11-2001 especially revealed to the author the true nature of
Anti-Semitism even among her most educted colleagues, many educated in the west by Jewish doctors. Women within the society are fighting to free themselves of this opppresion of the veil and "abbayah's" - not to mention the ability to fight abuse of themselves and their children.

Perhaps the most amusing part is on her return to New York, when she discards the "abbayah"
in an overhead bin and is paged to come retrieve it as she deplanes at Kennedy. She laughs smiling to herself - "that she is finally free". Her return years later is fascinating as she is able to move around unveiled as the Muttaween influence slowly is becoming less pronounced and oppressive. She wonders when she will be able to drive herself to Mecca for Hajj

While the author became more aware of her own religious faith, she also realized that faith without freedom, from oppression such as she experienced in her years in The Kingdom is mute.