Ah, yes, thanks for reminding me of those precious things! Yes, there were no MacDonalds back then, no malls either. Only the bazaars, Turkish-style chicken-grilling shops where they sold whole chickens, restaurants serving raw (completely raw) onions.
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Sheesh kebab was everywhere. Small chai (tea) shops were everywhere, too, in which local men stayed long, playing dominos. On Fridays, when I was off work, I often went all alone walking to central Mosul, where I went to movie houses, chai shops, and small restaurants, ...
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Walking around all alone as a Japanese in central Mosul among the locals was quite interesting, but it could be a bit risky sometimes. Homosexuals seemed to be everywhere and they wanted to have sex with me. I cordially declined and they never forced me to or get violent.
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Ive always thought salat (Muslim prayer) is symbolically gay. 1st you fold ur hands & bow toward the Master. Then you bend over & wait. Then u get down on all fours with ur face down & ass up. These positions for a man are very submissive & have gay overtones
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I did salat. I had memorized the fatiha & that short sura at the end of the Quran. It felt good at the end but would only last for a few minutes. Salat has a hypnotic effect. It's a good brainwashing tool.
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They gave me the Noble Qur'an, the Wahhabi aka Salafi version, out of Saudia. Also, Sahih al Bukhari, al Muslim & so on. I read all of it. I also read secular versions of Islamic history. But it's been a long time ago. A lot of it has faded from memory.
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I took an interest in Shia Islam, as well. I kind of liked the Shia better than the Sunnis. They seemed more progressive. And I totally resonated with their raison d'etre where Husayn ibn Abu Talib & his group were massacred by the evil Caliph Yazeed.
Like, how can you be a good Muslim & align yourself with the Sunnis, who massacred the Prophet Muhammad's grandson like that??? But I'm not into beating myself with barbed chains & cutting myself with swords in memory of him, either.
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Then, I got into the Isma'ilis, Hasan ibn Sabbah, and all of that. That was an interesting subject.
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Yeah. The Iraq-Iran war was crazy. The Sunni-Shia feud will never die until they go extinct. I never really believe in any of it. But I can get into religions & their mythos. Each has it's own myth-narrative & all are as valid as the other.
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