The Grateful Dead had an interesting relationship with the Middle East. In 1978 they played a series of concerts at the Sound and Light Theater in Giza, Egypt, right in front of the Pyramids and the Sphinx. The run of shows culminated on the night of a total eclipse. They even tried to wire the King's Chamber in the Great Pyramid for sound, to use it as an echo box. Maybe it was pyramid energy in the way, but they could never get it to work. It's interesting that Hunter and Garcia wrote "Blues for Allah" before they went to Egypt. As for that song's appropriateness right now, it's quite startling to me how well it applies. Hunter is always good at writing ambiguous lyrics that can reveal meanings you never knew were there.