Hookahs, hash and the Muslim Brotherhood
Egypt’s drug laws were enacted under President Gamal Abdel Nasser in the 1950s and 1960s
Global Post (US)
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Sixty-years-old, widowed and strictly religious in a gray-brown scarf draped over her hair and chest, Um Salma is an unlikely guardian of one of Egypt’s oldest pastimes. Although she enables an illegal activity, she is by no means an outcast here. Her café “Dulab” — the Arabic word for a cabinet where prized possessions are kept from prying eyes — is one of this ancient city’s many sanctuaries for hash-smokers. Despite Egypt’s conservative Muslim government and its harsh drug penalties, Um Salma’s guests don’t fear law enforcement as they smoke the sticky brown resin.
