Starbucks or Zamzam?

Mecca, the holy city of Islam. The Kaaba, toward which Muslims turn when they stand in prayer five times a day.

The Zamzam well and Zamzam water at the Kaaba. The holy water that gushed from the well opened by Gabriel, named by Hagar, the wife of Abraham and mother of Ishmael.

The water that every Muslim who performs the Hajj pilgrimage takes home, and dreams of drinking in their final breath.

The Kaaba, known as the House of God from the time of Abraham to the present day. Multi-story structures that surround the House of God and look down upon it from above.

The Ajyad Fortress, which the Ottomans built in 1781 for the defense of Mecca/the Kaaba, and which was razed to the ground by the Saudis in the recent past by the order of King Fahd.

In place of the Ajyad Fortress, the Zamzam Towers, consisting of 11 towers (ranging between 17 and 30 stories) that the Saudi prince erected for half a billion dollars.

The Arab vulgarity that markets luxury hotel rooms and residences with a bird's-eye view of the Kaaba to wealthy pilgrims.

The new generation Hajj fashion that confuses the pilgrimage with a desert safari, where people take selfies in the Zamzam towers with the Kaaba in the background and share them instantly.

The Saudi arrogance that surrounds the House of God with skyscrapers and markets it for dollars. Regulations that allow foreigners to acquire property in holy cities like Mecca and Medina.

While in Turkey, venues are being raided and products are being dumped on the ground to protest Israel's attacks on Gaza, Starbucks cafes in Mecca and Medina have Arab customers waiting in line...

Hejaz Starbucks Cafes, which postmodern Islam has turned into high-society venues, the new meeting and social sharing spaces...

In the Hejaz, the holy geography of Islam, is it better to slurp the consumption icon of capitalism, Starbucks, from a paper cup, or to drink tahmis coffee from a porcelain cup?

It is time to get a fatwa from the ulema about which one is permissible.

While waiting for a fatwa, thinking aloud: Is it better to try to find the right answer to the question, "Is it sitting on stools and having a tahmis conversation, a product of this geography, or is it sitting on high chairs in a Starbucks cafe owned by Jewish-origin businessman Howard Christopher Herman Schultz and posing with a paper cup?"

After speaking so loudly about Gaza and shaking a finger at Israel and the West, is it enough to settle for mediation falling to Qatar and Egypt, and first-aid duties falling to us, and then quietly retreating to a corner?

Is that enough, or should we talk a little more about the general landscape of the Islamic world!