After another eventful trip, I’m finally home. This leg, on paper scheduled to take 26 hours, added another half-dozen due to weather in the Atlanta area. Luggage gone missing on arrival in Atlanta where it was to clear Customs, marvelously made it on my last flight back to Florida, however. Wonder if its originating in the Kingdom led to special screening when it got to the US?

Today I’m going to end the wall-to-wall coverage of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) opening with two pieces from Asharq Alawsat. As much as it seemed it to those of us there, KAUST was not the entirety of Saudi Arabia and Saudi politics!

In the first, Mshari Al-Zaydi notes that the ‘House of Wisdom’, variously Bayt or Dar al Hikma, has played a long role in Arab identity. Founded by the Abassid rulers of Baghdad and noted particularly during the reign of Ma’mun (813-833 CE), the institution provided academic guidance and excellence in the sciences as well as liberal arts, even foreign liberal arts. The academy disappeared in 1258 CE, along with the rest of Baghdad, during the Mongol invasion led by Hulagu, a name still vilified in Arabic discourse.

Al-Zaydi’s point is that while wisdom is of incomparable value, it can be brought down by those who do not value wisdom. Not all barbarians need come from foreign lands.

The Second House of Wisdom
Mshari Al-Zaydi

To be “a house of wisdom and a beacon of tolerance,” is how King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz described one of the goals of the new King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) to which he invited heads of states and important international figures.

As part of a double Saudi celebration, Saudi Arabia’s 79th National Day coincided with the launch of the new “house of wisdom” that is based on the Red Sea. The location is important as the university overlooks the vast sea that opens up to the wider world and the secrets and cultures of travellers from all over the globe.

The king called it the house of wisdom – a title that is reminiscent of the past. This term has a number of meanings; the university is nothing strange or odd to Islamic civilization, rather it represents the resumption of scientific and intellectual activity that has staggered throughout the course of Islamic history despite the major contributions of its great scientists such as Ibn al-Nafis in medicine, al Khwarizmi in Algebra and Ibn Khaldoun in sociology. The new Saudi house of wisdom represents the continuation down an old pathway that was blocked by the “highway robbers of civilization!”
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Hussein Shobokshi focuses more on what KAUST can mean for Saudi Arabia and Saudis. He lauds the King, of course, as well as ARAMCO for its incredible performance in producing the hardware that frames the university. However, what matters most, he says, is the ‘software’ (I’d use ‘wetware’)… the humans who will use that hardware to create and to reform.

Three Reasons to Celebrate This Eid
Hussein Shobokshi

Saudis were given three reasons to celebrate this Eid al Fitr; the first was the blessed event itself which marked the end of the holy month of Ramadan, the second was the celebration of the Saudi National Day, which has become a tradition that is celebrated and cherished by Saudi Arabians. [Saudi National Day] is a day for encouraging the concepts of nationalism, belonging, citizenship and allegiance. The third event was the celebration of the launch of the most important cultural project in Saudi Arabian history; the inauguration of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology [KAUST]. This project is far more than just a university. It is, in fact, an integrated cultural framework and a practical embodiment and realization of King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz’s dream to establish an international, educational edifice which illustrates important reformative slogans – slogans focusing on national dialogue, educational reform, dialogue between civilizations and programs for studying abroad and others. These have all become part of the idea of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.
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On a personal note, I’d like to offer my thanks to the various volunteers and Saudi ARAMCO employees who did their best—and often exceeded expectations—to make my visit and those of the hundreds of journalists a success. I’d like to single out for particular commendation Mai, Hisham, and Sara for their unstinting help. And of course Farouk, for whom climbing Mount Everest must have seemed child’s play compared to dealing with masses of journalists!