in the latest episode of 90 Day Fiancé: The Second Waynicole sherbny finally, Finally Made friends in Egypt.
Nicole’s problem making friends wasn’t a personality issue. Mahmoud refused to “allow” her to go out for most activities until she found a women-only guided meditation class.
Nauran is an Egyptian woman and a Muslim. Not only did she quickly become friends with Nicole, but she also quickly understood Nicole’s marriage.
To Mahmoud’s horror, he opens Nicole’s eyes to some realities about life in Egypt. Naturally, Nicole’s husband and his friend clashed immediately upon meeting.
At the beginning of Season 4, Episode 10 of 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way, Nicole Sherbini was back in Egypt for about four months.
She and her husband, Mahmoud ElSherbini managed to find a peaceful coexistence instead of fighting constantly.
His secret? Not really talking about their issues. So nothing changed, nothing good happened. Nicole was still dressing as she wished, living in her mother’s house, spending almost all of her time at home.
Some things had improved. Nicole was using the seemingly new air conditioning unit (or maybe we just didn’t see that before).
It seems that Mahmud neglected to use it. We’ve seen him be passive aggressive before, so this was no surprise.
From what we can see, it wasn’t particularly cold near her (no surprise, for a lady from Los Angeles). especially considering that they are in Egypt, It seemed Mehmood couldn’t stop himself from commenting on it.
Interestingly, Nicole revealed that she and Mahmoud went to look at other homes. They are a young married couple, currently living in a one bedroom in their mother’s high traffic house.
Moving would mean their own bathroom – a real, modern bathroom, where the shower doesn’t even include a toilet. Right now they share the same bathroom with everyone.
However, they did not come out. Mahmoud, Nicole explained, just wasn’t ready to leave his mother’s house. Viewers have seen it before, inside and outside the US.
Mahmoud’s insistence that Nicole not go out on her own and only occasionally go out with him actually made it difficult for her to make friends. Or, you know, enjoy his life in Egypt.
However, although Mahmoud didn’t allow her to do yoga (if she stretched and a man looked at her clothed body), she was able to sign up for an all-female guided meditation class.
Not only was her mental and emotional health clearly in need of it, but Nicole ended up making friends.
Nauran is an Egyptian woman. She is also a Muslim woman. She understood Nicole’s position very quickly.
She learns that Mehmood is from a particularly conservative neighborhood and family. Nooran immediately emphasized that the whole of Egypt was not as Mahmud described it.
Meanwhile, he confronts Nicole about her background. She is a Muslim woman who, like millions of women like her, makes her own choices about how to dress and live her life.
Mehmood makes some changes for Nicole’s sake. “Not allowing her to choose her own clothes” and “Not going to your place as a couple” types of changes, but changes.
For example, they didn’t forbid her from attending this guided meditation class. Mahmoud explained that it is because he knows she is unhappy.
He even went to dinner with her. This seems unusual in Mahmoud’s world. Or maybe only if it involves dining out with friends?
Mahmoud may have bit his tongue at first about Nicole’s new class.
But as soon as Nicole began excitedly telling him about her new friend, he clearly felt defensive.
Nicole’s new friend is an Egyptian Muslim woman… but not one to live up to Mahmoud’s standards. (Remember, Mahmoud’s own brother doesn’t even live the strict life that Mahmoud demands of Nicole.)
Nouran shared some of his experiences regarding dating. Her family told her that as an adult, she should make her own choices about how to dress.
Later, she was met by a man who tried to demand that she make this choice for him. You know, just like Mahmoud is kissing Nicole.
Of course, Mahmoud is incensed at this, thinking that Nicole’s new friend is scaring her away from all the men in Egypt. Or maybe he just realized that he was no longer the only person telling Nicole what life in Egypt was like.
Mahmud predicted that Nauran would cause problems in his marriage. How? Possibly by exposing Nicole to the diversity of the realities and lifestyles of Muslim women in Egypt.
Nouran arrives to meet Mahmud for dinner. She was wearing a sleeved dress.
For Mahmoud, it was a scandalous outfit – and a confirmation of all his “fears” regarding his wife’s new friend.
Many people strike up polite conversation the first time they meet someone – often without saying much of substance.
In fact, even when you meet someone you know you dislike, most people will remain calm and polite.
Not in this case. Mahmoud, whose voiceover on camera was about Nauran’s clothes (his desire for control extended beyond his wife), more or less challenged Nauran to fine-tune his presentation of what life in Egypt was like.
Basically, Mahmoud wanted Nauran to reinforce everything he had been telling Nicole. In his view, life in Egypt is just like that… if you ignore the rest of it.
This is more or less Nooran’s assessment of him.
She told the camera that she had known people like Mehmood before. He hasn’t experienced anything outside his little bubble – the way his family does things. And they have no interest in broadening their horizons.
It matches perfectly with what the audience has seen of Mehmood.
The boy is in his 30s but refuses to move out of his mother’s house. Even if he has a wife, even if he has a job.
Mahmoud also confessed to Nicole in the previous episode that he couldn’t imagine her life changing as much as it has changed hers. (Of course, that hasn’t stopped her from demanding more change from him.)
Nooran asked how Mehmood would feel if Nicole took his yoga class instead of just meditation. She already knew the answer.
He said, no. Mahmoud balks at the idea that a male student can see Nicole during her stretches.
Nooran tries to reason with her (a mistake), noting that essentially punishing Nicole for having the eyes and thoughts of a man doesn’t seem very fair. It is not!
Mahmud then decided to discuss the Quran. Or, more precisely, to interpret it.
Nooran immediately pointed out that he was behaving as if there are specific instructions in Islam’s holy book which do not do so.
But, more to the point, he cited passages in the Quran that encourage devout Muslims to make their own choices.
In other words, some words may have been changed and you may be witnessing a debate between two Christians over their own holy book.
Only a few religions have central sacred texts that instruct them on how they should live their lives, but many religious have similar debates.
In Mahmoud’s case, that debate involved him doubting gender essentialism… believing that men and women could never be equal because women are too sexy in his mind. because of breast,
Mahmood’s argument was essentially that women are so attractive that they should be covered up.
He realized that, meanwhile, men’s bodies weren’t as interesting. It … clearly belongs to Mahmud, but is hardly of universal agreement.
Nooran’s main point was that it was a personal preference more than anything else. Again, millions of Muslim women around the world (including Egypt) make their own choices. Mehmood doesn’t want Nicole to do this.
Nicole watched the whole game with fascination and uneasiness.
These are essentially the only two people she knows in the entire country. Everyone else is either a producer of the show, or one of Mehmood’s relatives.
He didn’t expect them to hit it off, necessarily. But what they didn’t expect was that within minutes of the meeting they would be debating passages from the Quran.
After this, when he spoke to the camera, Nooran did not say anything.
Simply put, she’s doing what Nicole could never do – hand over her autonomy to a man in order to keep her happy.
Will all of this open Nicole’s eyes to the very real options she may have as a Muslim woman in Egypt? Or will she continue to give in to almost everything Mehmood wishes?