Monthly Archives: May 2007

Twenty-Three

I know, I know: I’m not supposed to get back now, but today is my birthday and I wanted to share it here with you. The picture below was taken by my friend Mahmood at the wedding of Haifaa al-Mansour in Dhahran last week. It was a great wedding party, btw, and I’d like to congratulate my friends Haifaa and Brad and wish them a lifetime of never-ending joy and happiness.

As for my birthday, there will be no party: Just me and my beer coke, working on some unfinished projects and getting ready for the tough finals. I won’t lie to you: I have actually written a few posts during the past two weeks, but they are pending and will be published later in June. Till then, have fun and wish me luck :-)

Saudi Jeans is 3 Years Old Today

Today marks the third anniversary of Saudi Jeans. Three years is probably not such a very long time of blogging. Dave Winer has been doing it for the past 10 years; Jason Kottke for 9. But for someone who has started blogging as a “fun experiment” I honestly did not expect myself to keep on doing that for this long. Surprisingly, I still enjoy writing on this blog and I truly believe this is the main reason why I keep on maintaining it. Of course, it is not always fun and games in Saudi blogland, and the blogosphere can be a tough, horrible place sometimes, but overall I can say that I’m somewhat satisfied with the experience so far.

Similar to last year, as my finals approach, I will be taking a break from the blog to focus more on my studies. I should be back in 3-4 weeks. I believe some more bloggers might also take similar breaks, though unannounced, so you can expect the local blogosphere to be queit for a while. Until then, you can dig in the archives at the end of this page to follow the evolution of Saudi Jeans over the years. I want to thank you all my dear readers, and I want also to thank anyone who helped me with my endeavors on the web.

The Weak End

It wasn’t unexpected at all, at least not to me: several members of the Shoura Council decided to use the religion card against a proposal to change the Kingdom’s official Thursday-Friday weekend to Friday and Saturday. It is truly a pity how some people in this country would shove religion in everything even when it has nothing to do with it. The weak arguments raised by these right honorable members of our esteemed council are “baseless,” just like one of them described the economic reasons cited for the change.

Frustrated, although absolutely not surprised, I find myself repeating what Tariq al-Maeena has said earlier this week: “Are they trying to frustrate efforts toward a more progressive and productive society? It seems to have worked in the past on other issues such as the liberalization of laws relating to women.” It seems to me that this is exactly the case: when you can’t find a reason to halt the change, hey, you can use religion. But you know what I’m eagerly waiting for now? A fatwa by the religious establishment here declaring that changing the weekend is going to make this nation go to hell in a handbasket.

On Zee TeeVee

If everything goes as planned, I should be on TV tonight sometime around 9:30 (6:30 PM GMT). Naif Abu-Saida has invited me to talk about blogging in the IT segment of the daily magazine show Min Al-Riyadh (From Riyadh) on Al-Yaum channel, a part of Orbit network. Since many people, myself included, don’t have a subscription to Orbit in their houses, it would be nice if someone (wink wink!) who has could recored the interview and upload it to YouTube.

I’m definitely not the first blogger to appear on the show: Herbaz and Milyani have done it before, and Naif himself is a fellow blogger, though his blog is strictly poetic. I’m nervous about this, but I guess it is understandable that live TV can be intimidating. Wish me luck.

UPDATE: Just left Orbit studios. I don’t know about the interview, I think I have had a hard time trying to put my ideas in sequence, but hey, it’s my first time. If you have watched it, please let me know what you think.

Who Else Wants a Good Textbook?

Secularism on the ethical side means chaos and mocking religion and virtue (…) Democracy is the political expression of secularism i.e. secularism is the origin and democracy is its branch in the political domain (…) The democratic system contradicts in its origin and essence the Islamic system

One of the courses I’m taking this semester is 104 SLM aka Political System in Islam. The textbook of this course has been revised several times over the years, and the latest edition in our hands today was authored by no less than six faculty members of the Islamic Studies department at KSU. Unfortunately, however, when start reading it, it falls miserably short as you would think this is some political party manifesto, not a textbook that is supposed to be fair and unbiased. The mentioned above quotes are just few examples of the gems that fill the textbook of choice for a mandatory course that all students in KSU, males and females, must pass in order to graduate. So much for raising political awareness in the youth.

Boom

While preparing to write one of the previous posts I had come across many images of the new projects under development in Saudi Arabia. I collected these images in this Ikbis album for your viewing pleasure. If one picture worth a thousand words, and if these pictures are any indication, then we are actually experiencing a new boom. Let’s just hope to come out of it with minimum damage.