One of the focal points of King Abdullah’s reign has been his insistence that Saudis learn to listen to each other. To that end, he established a series of National Dialogues—actually starting them when he was still Crown Prince. He has set up a Center for National Dialogue and is now launching a program to educate trainers in the methods of teaching dialogue. Saudi Gazette reports:
King launches dialogue trainers forum today
RIYADH – King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, is scheduled to launch today a forum for certified trainers in the promotion of the culture of dialogue.
The event, at King Abdul Aziz Center for National Dialogue, is part of its program to promote tolerance of other people’s opinions.
The forum will be held in the presence of the Grand Mufti and the head of the Shoura Council. The speakers include ministers and other authorities.
The King’s support “has given the national dialogue great intellectual and moral value,” said Faisal Bin Abdul Rahman Bin Mu’ammar, Secretary General of the Center, who described the scheme as “representing an intellectual message on which all the various facets of Saudi society unite”.
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The immediate goals of the program are to:
• Promote respect for other peoples’ opinions
• Promote tolerance and moderation
• Support the expression of views by which the culture of dialogue is consecrated fully and responsibly.
The article doesn’t make clear exactly whom the trainers will be teaching, nor in what venues, unfortunately. I hope a future piece clears that up.
Arab News runs a piece on the culture shock some Saudi students meet while studying abroad. The story provides a couple of lurid examples; most Saudis know of others.
The writer identifies an inconsistent program of pre-departure orientation for students. Coming from a closed society that has many rules at variance with the prevailing global norms, Saudi students have to make some major adjustments. The ‘coding’ of behavior that they could read easily in their own society is no longer accurate. They need to learn to read behavior, customs, and mores with a very different eye.
A solid orientation program is necessary, but more is needed. Better vetting of scholarship students will have to play a role. In addition to high grades, applicants will need to be assessed for their flexibility of outlook—tolerance for difference. Sadly, because many Saudi schools tend to develop inflexible thinking, this will mean that a large number of potential scholars won’t make the flexibility grade. That brings its own problems, short and long term, that need to be addressed in the Saudi education system as a whole.
Coping with culture shock
Laura Bashraheel | Arab NewsJEDDAH: A 26-year-old Japanese exchange student was assaulted in February inside a YMCA co-ed student-housing complex in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
A man donning a mask turned out the lights of the laundry room and grabbed the woman from behind. She screamed and broke free. Other students came to the rescue and, according to local news reports, detained 19-year-old Khaled Al-Harbi. The student, who was in Canada on a Saudi government scholarship, was diagnosed with psychological problems and has been seeking counseling.
In another case in Bournemouth, UK, earlier this month, another Saudi student was sentenced to 24 weeks in jail. His identity has been registered for seven years on a local law-enforcement list of sexual harassers, according to the Daily Echo newspaper. In that case, the student, 23, was found guilty of public intoxication, stripping naked and chasing a 36-year-old woman through the streets. The woman punched the man and fled.
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Here’s a strange story from the Arabic website Lojainiat, via Saudi Wave.
It’s reported that there’s a serious falling out between Pr. Khaled bin Talal and his better known brother, Pr. Al-Waleed. It’s so serious that Khaled is calling on the Saudi state to seize his brother’s rather considerable assets as he views Al-Waleed as a ‘corrupting influence’ on Saudi society.
Khaled objects to things like film and music. That puts him squarely in the camp of extreme Salafists. I suspect he’s not his reformist father’s favorite son…
Prince Khaled calls for the freezing
of the assets of his brother, Waleed bin Talal
Habib TRABELSIIn an unprecedented appeal Prince Khaled bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud has called for the freezing of his billionaire elder brother al-Waleed’s assets, who he has accused of “spreading depravity and lust” throughout the Kingdom with his “corrupting projects”.
“Al-Waleed is challenging society with his corrupting projects. Prince Al Waleed’s behaviour does not conform to Islamic morals”, Prince Khaled recently pointed out in a long interview granted to the website Lojainiat.
He calls for the “freezing of Prince al-Waleed bin Talal’s assets” and has also demanded that his brother be prevented from travelling until “he rectifies his behaviour” which according to Prince Khaled, “does not conform to the morals of the [Saudi] rulers”.
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Takfir, the declaring a Muslim to no longer be Muslim, is a noxious device practiced by religious extremists to ‘authorize’ the killing of some Muslims at its worst and to still the voices of those who question extremism as its least. We’ve seen Osama bin Laden declare that various Saudi leaders are ‘no longer Muslim’; we see various Sunni clerics claim that the Shi’a are not Muslim.
While the Saudi government has been trying to stop this practice for the past five or so years, the job is not yet done. So, it is conducting a conference in Madinah later this year to address the issue. The conference will join Saudi and foreign Islamic scholars to discuss the issue with the intent to highlight its dangers, its origins, and where it stands within Shariah law. It sounds like a useful endeavor, one that would have been better had it been held 20 years ago.
Madina set to host Takfir conference
JEDDAH – Islamic scholars from within the Kingdom and abroad are scheduled to discuss this year in Madina the danger of “Takfir” (accusing other Muslims of unbelief) to the life of the society and the individual.
The conference, to be patronized by King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, is being organized by Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz International Prize for the Prophet’s Sunnah and Contemporary Islamic Studies with the participation of Imam Muhammad Bin Saud Islamic University, will discuss the causes of Takfir and the ways to deal with it.
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As readers may have noticed, economics is not my greatest interest and doesn’t get a lot of coverage on Crossroads Arabia. It is an important facet of life, though, and cannot be ignored. Increasingly, the issue of ‘Islamic finance’ has been getting media coverage. Unfortunately, in much of the West, it is seen as some insidious worm being fed into Western economies, part of the plot to surreptitiously convert the world to global Islam. That, it assuredly is not.
Here’s a piece from Asharq Alawsat that defines the difference between bonds, prohibited in Shariah-compliant finance, and sukuk, their permitted equivalent:
The Difference between Sukuk and Bonds
Lahem al NasserThe launch of a secondary market for Sukuk bonds by the Saudi Arabian Capital Market Authority [CMA] has led to Ulama and religious scholars issuing a number of fatwas and statements prohibiting this. The majority of these fatwas and statements were unwritten [i.e. issued verbally] and so were missing many details. Many people also circulated messages via mobile phone of a fatwa issued by the Islamic Fiqh Academy that deals with bonds, but does not mention Sukuk, which is an alternative to bonds that are forbidden under the provisions of Islam. These statements and reports did not take into account the secondary market launched for Sukuk, as this market consists solely of Sukuk that comply with the provisions of Islamic Sharia law and whose documentation have been verified by a legal authority comprised of a number of religious scholars including members of the Council of Senior Ulama and the Islamic Fiqh Academy.
The statements and fatwas mentioned above have caused ambiguity among the public with regards to the legality of circulating Sukuk. Members of the public have asked me to clarify this, and explain the difference between Sukuk and bonds, and the legal status of each. The difference between Sukuk and bonds can be most easily seen by defining each term;
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Asharq Alawsat has been running a series of interviews with journalists who write about the Middle East. The interviewer is good at asking the right questions, sometimes awkward ones. The journalists and writers, for their part, do a good job of explaining how they approach the issues and what’s of interest to them.
Below is a list of links to the articles which have appeared over the past month:
I worked with Angeles in Riyadh and still correspond with her. She was one of the most astute journalists covering the Riyadh bombings in 2003.
Wright, the author of The Looming Towers, has lived and worked in Saudi Arabia (with Saudi Gazette), and is generally on top of things. He’s currently working on a film about Al-Qaeda
I worked with Neil throughout my tour in Saudi Arabia. He was based in Cairo but made frequent visits—and certainly knew my phone number! I consider him, too, among the best correspondents in the region.
I’ve never met Michael, but enjoy his features and profiles. I might argue with some of his conclusions, but he’s not a fly-by journalists, the ‘instant expert’. He, too, is based in Cairo.
I confess, the British Observer is not on my must-read list. Hence, I don’t really know Burke’s work at all. Given his work on religious extremism in the region and in S. Asia, that’s my loss and needs to be corrected.
When it comes to women’s transportation, Saudis are up the creek. Social and cultural barriers are stopping women from driving—religious authorities are on record saying there’s nothing in Islam that prohibits it—but women (and often their husbands) get jammed. The cities have rudimentary public transportation; taxis (known in the Kingdom as ‘limousines’) are expensive and drivers curt at best; hiring a foreign driver (even at the paltry salary of $533/mo.) is too expensive for many Saudis.
These and other problems are the meat of this Arab News article. I get a sense that the push to permit women to drive is heating up again. I don’t want to be too optimistic, but it seems that there is going to be a breakthrough in the near future. The religious arguments have mostly been won. The government acknowledges that there’s no law against it. Now, the economic and social cost arguments are being waged. They are irrefutable, of course, but they still have to convince the incalcitrant.
Women’s transport: Solutions needed
Laura Bashraheel | Arab NewsJEDDAH: In Saudi Arabia, the only country in the world where women are not allowed to drive, transportation is definitely an issue. Women are usually driven around by family members and personal drivers, or are forced to use some other type of private transportation. While the private transport is a booming business, the higher the demand the more expensive the supply becomes.
Providing alternative solutions is the only exit. Some companies provide cars and drivers to ferry their women employees for work purposes, but not all companies have the budget to do that. Workingwomen, meanwhile, find it difficult getting to work and are often charged thousands of riyals a month in transportation.
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In his weekly Asharq Alawsat column, Mshari Al-Zaydi surveys the Islamist landscape, from Iraq and Iran to Lebanon and Kuwait. He finds that fundamentalist politics has taken a bit of a beating, but that it’s hardly on its last legs. Rather, he says, the particular situation in each case has required the fundamentalists to behave more pragmatically. They’ve not changed their rhetoric or ideologies, however, nor have they done anything to educate the populist fanatics who support them toward any sort of moderation. What we’ve been seeing is encouraging, but is far from spelling the end of reactionary Islamism.
Iran: Has Political Fundamentalism been Defeated?
Mshari Al-ZaydiAre the latest developments in Iran evidence that political Islam is weakening?
This is the question that comes to mind after having read some published articles in support of this conclusion, such as the article written by the well-known Kuwaiti journalist Abdul Latif al Duaij in the Kuwaiti Al Qabas newspaper on June 21 entitled, ‘Has the Civil Awakening Begun?’
In Lebanon, parliamentary elections were held recently and the opposition, led by the Khomeinist fundamentalist party, suffered an overwhelming defeat to the March 14 Alliance, which presents itself (in its own words) as a guardian of the concept of the state and an enemy to fundamentalist radicalism represented by Hezbollah as well as some Christian allies.
In Kuwait, after the dissolving of parliament in March 2009 as a result of the escalating attacks launched by Salafist and Muslim Brotherhood MPs against the government, another round of parliamentary elections was held. Four women were voted to parliament for the first time much to the disappointment of fundamentalist currents that campaigned against women’s political rights. Salafist and Muslim Brotherhood currents suffered heavy losses in those elections.
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Well, it may not be a major social revolution, but the fact that a Saudi university is going to offer a course in drama is pretty remarkable. This Asharq Alawsat report on King Saud University’s initiative states that the course will be offered to both male and female students; I’m assuming the course will not be co-ed, as that really would be revolutionary (and something that King Abdullah University for Science & Technology will be the first to offer in September). But teaching drama, a course much loathed by religious conservatives, is worth noting. What role it will play for the future of Saudi cinema will remain to be seen, of course, but there’s a lot of potential.
Drama to be Taught in Saudi Arabia for the First Time
man al KhaddafDammam, Asharq Al-Awsat- In a step considered the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia, the King Saud University in Riyadh will launch a drama course next year.
It will be the first Saudi university to offer such a specialized course, which will teach male and female students about the dramatic arts. The course will be launched in the academic year of 2009/2010, an official university source told Asharq Al-Awsat.
The source underlined that the Drama course will work in favour of young Saudi cinematic production and said that ‘through the course, we will support cinema.’
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A new campaign for women’s rights in Saudi Arabia, calling for a top-to-bottom revision in the way women are treated, has just been launched, reports Arab News. The campaign, Stolen Rights, looks for changes in everything from pensions for female workers to permitting women to sell lingerie, from women’s driving to equal pay to and end to harassment on the streets or the workplace.
Right now, the campaign is looking for Saudis to sign its online petition, providing ID numbers to verify Saudi citizenship. If you’re Saudi and believe in the goals, it might be worth your while.
Stolen Rights fights for women’s rights
Laura Bashraheel | Arab NewsJEDDAH: Kholoud Al-Fahad, 32, believes women’s rights are God-given — but they have been lost or stolen and need to be regained.
She is talking about a woman’s inheritance right, and the right to see justice against those who take it away. She seeks public libraries, gyms and cultural clubs for women. She wants adequate housing units for widows and poor or abused women. She wants strong sexual harassment laws to protect workingwomen from chauvinists and perverts.
To this end, Al-Fahad, a blogger and former journalist, and others have organized a public opinion campaign called Stolen Rights.
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The Saudi Minister of Labor, Ghazi Al-Gosaibi, is noted for his frank remarks. He’s also known for being a very smart guy. Here, as reported in Arab News, he puts his finger directly on the issue of Saudis and work: there are only two kinds of work, that which is forbidden and that which is permitted. As the former category is considered criminal activity, that leaves only permitted work. All permitted work, the Minister says, is equal.
This runs against a ‘tradition’ in Saudi Arabia that only respects managerial jobs that require no physical labor. The ‘tradition’ has to go, Gosaibi essentially said at the opening of a technical school in Jeddah.
Gosaibi: There are only two jobs – haram and halal
Mohammed Al-KinaniJEDDAH – About 10,000 Saudi students currently studying in non-profit institutes will be employed within the next five years, Ghazi Al-Gosaibi, Minister of Labor, has said.
Al-Gosaibi, who is Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC), said during the launch of the Saudi Retail and Marketing Institute in Jeddah Wednesday that there were about 20 non-profit institutes involved in the strategic partnership between businessmen and the TVTC.
The strategic cooperation between the Savola Group and the TVTC aims to train Saudi youth and prepare them for work in retail trade.
In his unscheduled speech, Al-Gosaibi implored media figures to “stop describing these jobs as inferior.”
“A vegetable seller can possibly be better than any chairman of the board of a big company. These workers are the hope of the whole nation and the media should support them instead of frustrating them,” the minister said.
In response to a question on the social stigma attached to some jobs, Al-Gosaibi said: “I know only two kinds of jobs: halal and haram. That’s it.”
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The New York Times runs this piece from the Associated Press reporting that Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Governor of the Mecca region, is publicly supporting women’s participation in sports and athletics. The Prince acknowledges that the action will have to be taken in coordination with the Ministry of Education and would have to comport with Saudi attitudes about modesty. No surprise there.
Senior Saudi Prince Supports Women’s Sports
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Appealing to a powerful Saudi prince, an 8-year-old girl asked why she was not allowed to play sports in school like boys. She got an unexpected response: The prince said he hoped government schools for girls would allow playing fields.
The stand taken by Prince Khaled al-Faisal, governor of the holy city of Mecca and one of the most senior second-generation members of the royal family, on the controversial issue is the strongest official endorsement so far of women’s sports and a sign the government may be tilting toward opening up on that front.
Physical education classes are banned in state-run girls schools in conservative Saudi Arabia. Saudi female athletes are not allowed to participate in the Olympics. Women’s games and marathons have been canceled when the powerful clergy get wind of them. And some clerics even argue that running and jumping can damage a woman’s hymen and ruin her chances of getting married.
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The piece does have an unanswerable question for those clerics who fear for the hymens of girls taking part in sports. Al-Watan columnist Haleema Muthafar writes: ”I’d like to ask the sheikh, ”If in his opinion the hymen is the reason why girls should not engage in sports, what about married women? What’s to stop them?”