In 1964, before Bahrain’s independence, Laila engaged in politics at times when democracy, liberty, and freedom were taboo. Her efforts to raise social awareness were not only national, but extended to serve a country for which she had great love, Oman. There, she opened Al-Thawra School, and led a life dedicated to combating illiteracy, especially among children.

Laila realized the importance of improving women’s condition in Bahrain. In 1968 she played a leading role in establishing Awal Women Society, and helped launch a website dedicated for that purpose.

Laila loved her work. She loved Bahrain. She loved Oman, and she loved her two daughters, Munira and Aisha, who must be blessed to have known such a great woman.

My name is Marwa, in case you’re wondering, the word has different meanings.

Wikipedia explains:

Marwa- a small hill in Mecca, Saudi Arabia

Marwa- a famous Arabic pop music artist in the Middle East.

Or

Marwa- ”Oh, that’s where my father used to work when he was in Africa,” a teacher once told me.

Well, I’m neither the one nor the other. I live in Bahrain. Esra’a is my cousin, and I love her blog. I find it very courageous to invite both Arab and Israelis on board. Something we desperately need to promote a better Middle East.

Recently, I’ve been working on a glossary of key theological terminologies. Of words like Salvation, Yom Kippur, Zakat…etc. It happens too often that when engaged in inter-religious dialogue, I come up against a handful of jargons that would leave me at a complete loss, or that I would mistake for the wrong things. I always thought, for instance, that Yarmulke- pronounced ya-ma-ka- is a dish of starchy, short-grained rice, served with deliciously rich gravy, and topped with shreds of your choice of meat- either crabmeat or shrimp. Well, it turned out that what I knew, or I thought I knew, was a pure work- a trick rather- of the imagination, and that Yarmulke, in Judaism, is actually a skullcap worn during prayer by most men.

To avoid similar mis-understanding, I edited a dictionary of key religious terms concerning Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and hopefully, in the near future, Hinduism, Baha’ism, Buddhism…etc.

I tired my best to make sure that the contents of the dictionary are as clear as possible. If you are a Jew, Christian or Muslim, I hope you will find your views presented accurately and in accordance with the orthodox teachings of your tradition. If I have misunderstood or misstated any of these teachings, I welcome correction. Hope that this would be one way to facilitate deeper understanding and bring meaning to the things that matter.

Ramadan Kareem and a belated Rosh Hashanah-

By the way, the underlined words are available in the dictionary.