MEMRI takes a look at some of the commentary in the Arabic language daily Al-Watan, based in Abha in the conservative Asir region of Saudi Arabia. The paper, with Jamal Koshoggi back at the helm, continues its critical approach to intolerance in religion and religious preaching. This piece also features a cartoon from the pan-Arab daily Asharq Alawsat, the largest circulating Arabic paper in the world. Definitely worth reading.
Criticism of the Religious Discourse in Saudi Arabia
Y. AdmonColumnists in the Saudi press have recently been criticizing the religious discourse in Saudi Arabia, especially the sermons in the mosques, which, they stated, promote extremism and create a rift among the Muslims. Some columnists have also maintained that, since this discourse is rooted in the past and is not in the spirit of this age, it impedes any attempt at reform and progress in Saudi Arabia. Others even proposed to reform this discourse by introducing modern and more humane interpretations of religious texts, by the careful choosing of the preachers, and by the passing of laws prohibiting incitement from religious pulpits.
The following are excerpts from the articles:
As part of the program surrounding the groundbreaking for King Abdullah University for Science & Technology, a two-session symposium was held, discussing the role of the research university in the modern world. Speakers traced their history, from early Islamic institutions, through Medieval European schools to today’s ‘Humboldtian’ model as exemplified by schools like MIT, Cal Tech, and Cambridge. The speakers thought it was time for a paradigm shift and that KAUST might just be the new model.
The various speakers compared the institutions which they currently lead or recently led to the vision of KAUST. Cooperation and competition, academic freedom, and top quality faculty were their prime requirements for success. This Arab News article goes into greater detail with the keynote address by Dr. Charles Vest, former president of MIT.
KAUST Symposium: Free Flow of Ideas Essential for a Great University
Siraj Wahab, Arab NewsJEDDAH, 23 October 2007 — Great universities seek to understand the past, engage the present, and shape the future, said Dr. Charles M. Vest, president of the Washington-based National Academy of Engineering and president emeritus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
This was the subject of the keynote speech that he delivered yesterday at a symposium convened to celebrate the establishment of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).
“Universities that have a strong focus on science and technology have a particular responsibility to engage the present and shape the future, but they too must understand the past and learn its lessons. They must do so in order to clearly understand that they are at the core of the flow of human history and essential to human progress,†said Vest to an audience that listened with rapt attention.
His speech was the highlight of the two-session symposium that discussed the role of the research university in the 21st century.
… The keynote address was followed by a panel discussion on the historical and social impact of the 21st century research university. It was moderated by Cornell University President Emeritus Dr. Frank Rhodes who had won many supporters for his speech the previous day. On the panel besides Vest were Dr. Marye Anne Fox, chancellor, University of California, San Diego; Dr. Khalid Al-Sultan, rector and CEO, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM); Dr. Paul Ching-Wu Chu, president, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; and Dr. John Hegarty, provost, Trinity College, Dublin.
The second session after lunch was moderated by Professor Fawwaz T. Ulaby, professor of electrical engineering, University of Michigan. On the panel to discuss the scientific and economic aspects of the 21st century university were Dr. Karen Holbrook, past president, Ohio State University; Professor Wolfgang Herrmann, president, Technical University of Munich; Dr. Robert Brown, president, Boston University; Dr. Olivier Appert, president, Institut Francais du Petrole; and Professor Muhammad Ibrahim Al-Suwaiyel, president, King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST).
Asharq Alawsat reports that Nickelodeon TV—translated or dubbed into Arabic– will soon be carried on a new satellite channel out of Dubai. While it’s not ‘Adult Swim’, it’ll still be interesting to see what gets changed or dropped from programming.
Nickelodeon Arabia to launch in 2008
Faisal AbbasLondon, Asharq Al-Awsat- Dubai-based Arab Media Group (AMG) and MTV Networks International are to launch Nickelodeon Arabia, an Arabic language free-to-air channel dedicated exclusively to kids in the Middle East.
According to MTV Networks International, Emerging Markets Communications Director, Lynne-Mei Lee, “Nickelodeon Arabia, will be a 24 hour, Arabic language, free to air channel. Programming will include a mix of international content from Nickelodeon’s global portfolio and original local Arabic productions.”
The Communications Director also told Asharq Al-Awsat that the programming line up is yet to be finalized, however the channel will also be supported by an Arabic language website which will include an online community and a range of interactive elements.
Abdullatif Al Sayegh, CEO of Arab Media Group, commented: ‘Arab Media Group is dedicated to providing audiences in this region with what they want to see, hear and read. Through our extensive understanding of the market, we have identified entertainment niches that were ripe for opportunity, and quality children’s programming is certainly one of them. Nickelodeon will provide the best in world-standard entertainment for children, raising standards in the region and setting a strong precedent for the future.’
…The 24-hour channel which will fall under the Arabian Television Network, AMG’s TV broadcasting arm, is slated to launch in 2008 and will broadcast via satellite to 36 million TV households, with a potential audience of 190 million people across the region.
King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz officially broke ground for The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) yesterday. The ceremony, attended by thousands of Saudi and foreign dignitaries in a temporary structure at the construction site at Thuwal, near Rabigh on the Red Sea coast, included brief speeches, a laser show presentation, a luncheon, and a tour of huge models of the envisioned campus.
The University, which the King sees as the the hallmark of his reign, is currently undertaking an international search for its new administration, faculty, and setting up procedures to build a student body. Advisors noted that the university will have to overcome skepticism to recruit faculty, ensuring them academic freedom in an environment not noted for liberality in thought.
The Saudi dailies all lead with stories on the groundbreaking ceremonies:
Saudi Gazette — King: KAUST Lighthouse for Knowledge, Humanity
Arab News — KAUST a Dream Come True: King
Asharq Alawsat runs this piece quoting the Saudi Embassy in DC disagreeing with the US Commission on International Religious Freedom report that called for the closure of the Saudi Academy, based in Northern Virginia.
Embassy Spokesmen Refutes Religious Textbooks Criticisms
Talhah JibrilWashington, Asharq Al-Awsat- The Saudi embassy in Washington has refuted the contents of a report by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom which criticized what it called the promotion of religious extremism in Saudi-run schools, particularly the Islamic Saudi Academy, which operates two campuses in Fairfax Virginia.
A spokesman for the embassy said that the books and curricula at the academy do not carry any hostile language against the followers of other religions.
Dr Abdul-Muhsin Ilyas, deputy director of the Saudi Media Office, told Asharq Al-Awsat, “I can absolutely confirm that all textbooks at the academy do not include contents that offend any religion. We extend an open invitation to all US and non-US media to visit the academy, verify the validity of this, and closely examine the subjects that are taught and also the books used by the students.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom has recommended the closure of the Saudi academy, if it does not prove that it does not teach subjects that promote fanaticism. Commenting on this recommendation, a spokesman for the US State Department told Asharq Al-Awsat that Washington will work with the Saudi Government to make the agreed-upon changes in curricula (in a general way).
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Saudi Arabia, faced with its own illegal immigration problems, is attacking it directly by detaining and then deporting those not in the country legally, according to this Saudi Gazette article. The ‘Iqama’ cited in the piece is a formal residency permit, required of all foreigners in the country. Without one, or with a false one, deportation results immediately.
Police catch 119,000 Illegals
Ibrahim AlawiJEDDAH – Some 119,000 illegal aliens have been arrested in Jeddah in the past months through the anti-crime campaign launched by the Passport Patrol Department in Makkah region.
About 113,000 of these were overstayers while the rest were found to have violated the Iqama rules.
Some 28,735 Pakistanis who entered the Kingdom using Umrah and Haj visas, topped the list of the overstayers. Indians ranked second (21,984), then Yemenis (14,970).Many of the illegal aliens stayed in the Kandara District (44,625 overstayers) and Petromine District (3,588 last year).
Six Arabs afflicted with AIDS who were deported two years ago were also caught by passport patrols. The Arabs reentered the Kingdom also using Umrah visas.
The Investigation and Detection Department has also seized many fake passports, forged Iqamas and Haj permits, and counterfeit Labor of Ministry stamps in Jeddah.
Not surprisingly, the Saudi media is providing heavy coverage of the groundbreaking at King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST.
Arab News gives its story prime place on the front page: ‘We Want KAUST to Reach MIT Level’. This pieces is based on an interview with the Interim University President Nadhmi Al-Nasr, who sees the university developing into a new MIT or Stanford within the next ten years. It also runs an editorial expressing hopes that the university will act as a catalyst to revitalize Arab and Islamic roles in science: Editorial: ‘Lighthouse of Knowledge’.
Saudi Gazette has only a short piece on the opening (King lays University Foundation Today), but a longer one on how the student body is expected to develop, from a first class of 500, growing to a total student population of around 2,000: KAUST to be Ultra-Exclusive.
Last year, Saudi King Abdullah announced the formation of a new research university—the King Abdullah University for Science & Technology (KAUST)—in an attempt to once again put Arab thinkers in the forefront of science. This multi-billion dollar project, whose groundbreaking I will attend tomorrow, is a fascinating experiment to watch. How will a new university attract top-notch faculty and scholars?
This is a chicken and egg conundrum, with the need to build the battery at the same time.
Money may help with the faculty question, but also the opportunity to be a ‘founding father’ of an entirely new institution. Faculty will be offered non-tenured positions with renewable or rolling two-five year contracts. They can also keep their home university affiliations in a sharing operation so that they do not lose tenure
Top-notch faculty is expected to draw a top-notch student body as science graduate students tend to follow the name teachers rather than just the institution. But here, too, money may help. The Saudis are offering generous scholarships and fellowships to those assessed as having high potential. Two types of assistance are being offered: ‘Discovery Scholarships’ providing full tuition support to every student enrolled, and ‘King Abdullah Scholar Awards’ for outstanding doctoral students which will permit them to support their continued research efforts at their current universities. The award include generous funding for those projects, travel costs, and a stipend.
Undergraduate students can also be considered for scholarships. These will pay the full tuition for their remaining undergraduate studies, a stipend, textbook allowance, and other benefits in return for a commitment to do graduate study at KAUST.
Assessment is being handled by third-parties, including international academics and academic societies.
The search for faculty is now in progress, as is that for students to start classes in September 2009. A presidential search committee is expected to announce their selection in December of this year.
Facilities construction is now underway—you can see 3D architectural renderings at the KAUST website. The campus will cover nearly 14 square miles of territory, with about half of that in the marine ecosystem of the Red Sea and its reefs.
The project is being handled by Saudi-ARAMCO, with many of its senior staff being seconded to KAUST until it is up and running and full-time professional staff takes over their duties. This is not a matter of simple R&D for ARAMCO, but rather an acknowledgment that it is one of the most effectively function, if not the most effectively functional organization in the KSA. It’s not dissimilar from the way the US Army Corps of Engineers used to be before its reputation was tarnished by the New Orleans dikes. Competence is still a rare commodity in the KSA. ARAMCO has it and intends to pass it on to KAUST.
This project is so encompassing that it’s hard to describe. Perhaps distinguishing it from other Saudi universities is the most telling way to do so:
Among the many differences that set this university apart from other Saudi universities are:
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1. It is not part of the Saudi Ministry of Higher Education
2. It is fully co-educational
3. It will have its own international school for the children of faculty and students
I look forward to attending the groundbreaking ceremony tomorrow and the symposium on Monday where the goals of the institution will be spelled out. More to come on this topic.
Saudi Gazette reports on shifting attitudes toward manual labor in the Kingdom. The realization that not everyone can be a chief is starting to sink in, and with this realization, unemployment levels are starting to drop.
Two generations of Saudis were raised in a magical period, when jobs were guaranteed solely on the basis of one’s Saudi nationality. Before the trend lines of oil income and population growth intersected disastrously, a young (male) Saudi could count on getting a government job on a managerial level. With this kind of wonderland effect, many forgot their families’ recent history.
Prior to the development of the petroleum industry, Saudis had a choice: work hard or die. One of the most hostile environments on earth required backbreaking work—whether as a herder, farmer, or merchant—always at the edge of famine. Weather could wreak havoc on crops, could strand caravans or sink fishing boats. For most of recorded history, the people who lived in what is now Saudi Arabia led precarious existences.
With oil came modern conveniences, from air conditioning to water pumps, from trucks to desalination plants. Instead of having to do hard labor, Saudis could now hire others to do the grunt work while they sat back and supervised.
Exploding populations and depressed oil prices (the status for most of the country’s history—oil was selling for $10/bbl throughout the 1990s, and for $0.50 for most of the middle part of the last century) changed this reality. Saudis needed to find jobs and there just weren’t that many plush office jobs available anymore. Government could no longer be the employer of last resort.
Now Saudis are accepting the fact that honest work is better than sitting around doing nothing. Men are taking blue-collar jobs; women are willing to take jobs in shops or even as domestic employees (though some other Saudis still think this too demeaning).
I think this change in attitude is going to be the key to making ‘Saudization’ work. As more young Saudis realize that the jobs that expats are doing could be done by themselves, that work is honorable no matter its social status, the problems of finding jobs for an exploding population will resolve themselves.
Saudi Youth Working Harder
Ibrahim Al-QarbiTHE unemployment rate among youth has lowered in 2007 as many Saudi youths have began accepting formerly stigmatized jobs.
The unemployment rate fell to 8.3 from 9.1 percent for Saudi males and to 24.7 from 26.3 percent for Saudi females.
Khalf Al-Shemeri, a Saudi national from Hail, began working as an assistant cook in a reputable restaurant right after he completed his secondary studies.“I didn’t like the job at first because of the stigma attached to it but it eventually grew on me after a few months,” he said. “I learned a lot from the chef that enabled me to come up with my own own dishes, which our customers like very much.”
His employers seem to like Al-Shemeri’s work, too – enough to give him a salary increase.
Al-Shemari calls upon the young job seekers to junk stereotypes on manual and blue-collar jobs. He said it is better to accept any job that’s honorable than be a burden to one’s family. He cites Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), who worked as a shepherd in his youth, as an example.
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I had the chance to meet with young Saudi poet Lama Feher Alsharif. She’s recently published a collection of her poems, Not Me, which explores questions of identity. Whether as a woman, a human, an Arab, a Muslim, a Saudi, a sister, a daughter, a friend… identifying oneself to oneself is the element that underlays all else.
Her poetry is passionate, as in ‘Violated yet Undefeated’:
You’ve come to us to liberate
Embellished with white, red and blue
all you’ve done is violate
of our strength you haven’t a clue
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It’s personal as in ‘My Father’:
My father is of the greatest men
Who walk this earth today
All he wishes is for his children
To never be led astray
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The poetry is, to my mind, of mixed quality, something not uncommon for a young writer. But Ms Alsharif shows promise. I hope she can find a Western publisher to give her greater exposure.
Asharq Alawsat runs this story on the growth of blogging in Saudi Arabia. I’ve noticed the explosive growth, but most of the blogs have tended to be personal diaries—mostly by young women—which are active for a few months, then disappear. Of late, though, more politically and socially oriented blogs are coming on line. This article relies primarily on an interview with OCSAB, the ‘official’ organization of Saudi bloggers, a group which tries to establish and maintain a set of standards similar to those which govern the print media (i.e., it draws red lines beyond which Saudi bloggers go at their own peril). The organization isn’t all bad, though: they helped Saudi Jeans get back on line when access to his blog within the Kingdom was suddenly cut.
I think the article could have been improved if more Saudi bloggers had been identified (and perhaps even hyperlinked), but it’s interesting nevertheless.
Blogging Continues to Gain Momentum
Abdul Ilah al KhalifiRiyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat- There is relentless competition among Saudi youth on online blogs, each vying to post their views or make bold comments on the latest critical political, social and economic news stories.
Despite the fact that blogging remains relatively new to the kingdom, the number of weblogs based out of Saudi Arabia is estimated to be over 1,000, launched by both men and women, according to members of The Official Community for Saudi Bloggers (OCSAB).
Recently the OCSAB held a series of meetings with bloggers in various regions of Saudi Arabia, urging them to continue their efforts; particularly in the social, cultural, economic and scientific domains.
Mohammed Bin Fahd, deputy director-general of OCSAB, told Asharq Al-Awsat that his association regards blogging as an informative tool for “social, intellectual and cultural development.â€
He also pointed out that the meetings that were held, which bought together members and non-members of the OCSAB, tackled numerous subjects related to blogging, in addition to the latest trends in e-publishing and the possibility of publishing a periodical on Saudi blogging.
Basem al Sallum, one of the kingdom’s pioneering bloggers told Asharq Al-Awsat that Saudis, who are currently closely following up on blogs with increased interest, had only become aware of their existence in 2003. However; it wasn’t until a year later, in 2004, that the blogging culture started to manifest following the adoption of the official Arabic name ‘mudawin’ (blogger).
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Here’s another mendacious article from Saudi-basher extraordinaire Stephen Schwartz. Schwartz, a recent convert to Sufism, see Saudi Arabia as the font of all Islamic extremism. Never mind that his starting point—Balkan Sufism—is hardly a touchstone for a ‘median’ in Islam. Never mind that the only Saudis he talks with are dissidents. Never mind that he’s never been to Saudi Arabia. None of this matters when the point is to bash Saudis.
His rhetorical devices are deceptive. Using his logic, one would have to conclude that what racism exists in the US today is based solely on 18th C. slavery. You’d have to forget things like the US Civil War, civil rights marches, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, and the ever-changing racial and ethnic diversity of the US.
I’m definitely in favor of historic preservation, the announced goal of a demonstration scheduled to be held in Washington, DC next week. But I am not in favor of historic preservation at all costs. Having lived in houses that fall under the purview of historic preservation societies, I’m well aware of the costs of preservation. The problem with societies like these is that they act on the presumption that everyone else should assume the costs of preservation, not them.
It’s historical fact that the Saudi Ikhwan of the early 20th C. destroyed historically important structures in Mecca and Medinah. They saw building associated with the Prophet Mohammed and his early followers as idolatrous: people worshiping buildings rather than God. They were, I’m sure, overconfident in their assessment. But they weren’t entirely wrong, either. Veneration of saints and holy places is not part of strict, Sunni Islam.
In any event, the Ikhwan were suppressed violently in the latter half of the 1930s. They do have spiritual descendants, but these have nowhere near the power of the originals. Instead, there is a different kind of power that is influencing decisions to destroy or preserve particular buildings: economic development.