Category Saudi Arabia

On Saudi Students and Hijab in France

When the French government decided to ban all religious symbols in schools few years ago the decision hardly went unnoticed, especially by Muslims as many of them found the rule directly targeting the hijab. While I find this French rule idiotic, I find it equally if not more idiotic what some Saudi female students who got scholarships to France have to say about the implications of this rule on their education.

“There should be a clear agreement between our two governments by which Muslims going there for education could keep their hijabs on,” one of them told Arab News. After spending SR 7,000 to study French, she is now asking the officials to sort it out.

The only way I see for our “officials” to “sort it out” is this: one of them gets the French citizenship, he wins the presidential elections there, and then he makes the parliament change the law. Pretty straight forward, huh? No offense to Ms. Abdulhadi, but don’t you think you could have spent a few hours learning some general information about France and its laws before you apply for a scholarship there?

Another student went as far as asking the government to stop scholarships to France altogether. Sorry Missy, just because you think French laws contradict what you believe in doesn’t give you the right to deny others the chance to go and pursue a better education in that place as long as it suits their beliefs.

I think this story says a lot about the political awareness of our youth and how they view the world. They somehow seem to believe that it can be modified to become more in line with their liking, and that a simple call to the so-called officials disguised in the name of religion is enough to change everything as we often see around here. This should be a rude awakening to Ms. Abdulhadi and her friends, as well as for the rest of us who are still delusional about where we stand in this world today.

UPDATE: According to John Burgess, there is some confusion around this issue. Apparently wearing hijab in French universities is not forbidden, but medical schools have rules which ban head coverings as unhygienic. However, this doesn’t change much of what I said here.

International Knowledge Forum in Madinah

Knowledge Economic City (KEC) in Madinah is one of many megaproject launched by the government in recent years to diversify the country’s economy and decrease dependence on oil.

The Economic Cities concept include five other projects, three of them have been launched in Rabigh, Hail and Jazan, and two more are expected to be launched later this year in Tabuk and the Eastern Province. It is still not known where exactly in the EP they plan to build the economic city, but I hope they choose either Qatif or Ahssa as both regions has not received the development they deserve in the past.

Building huge projects like these is a big challenge, and making them work efficiently is a bigger challenge. SAGIA, the government’s arm that oversees these projects, have a vision for the economic cities contribute between a quarter and a third of the aspired national growth rate, to create over a million jobs, and to become home to 4-5 million residents by 2020.

KEC, with a total investment worth US$ 7bn, is particularly interesting because it will focus on knowledge based industries, tourism and services. As part of their effort to raise awareness and create excitement around the project, SAGIA are organizing the first ever Islamic Conference for Science & Knowledge (Noor). The event will take place later this month in Madinah.

I hope that some bloggers from the Western region would register to attend the event as it will tackle some topics of importance to them such as healthcare and information communications technology. I would like to attend but I won’t be done with my finals until the 23rd, and on the 25th I will leave the Kingdom to attend the GV Summit 08 in Budapest, Hungary.

Fouad in Riyadh

I was in Jeddah when Fouad was released, but unfortunately I could not meet him then because I had to leave the next day. Last night he paid a visit to Riyadh, and fellow blogger Sami Omar hosted a dinner in his honor in Shurfa Restaurant. We were also joined by Jihad, Herbaz, Medical Practitioner and Mohammed al-Saleh. Needless to say, we had a great time. It was really good to see him after this long time and I hope we will have a chance to get together again soon inshallah. There is only so much you can say in five hours :-)

You Can’t Kill the Future

It has been two weeks since Matrook al-Faleh was arrested in Riyadh. Despite requests from human rights organizations and the media, the Ministry of Interior is yet to explain why they arrested him.

Activist Fowzan al-Harbi has posted a message to the Saudis for Constitution group this morning saying that a relative of al-Faleh’s has attempted to visit him in al-Hayer Prison yesterday but has been denied. He has been told to go to the ministry, where he asked about the charges against al-Faleh. He has been told the charges are “releasing statements opposing the government and browsing banned websites.”

Jamila al-Uqla, al-Faleh’s wife, has told CNN last week following a visit to her husband in prison that he is in a terrible state. No one has been allowed to visit him since then.

It is truly sad that in a time when our country is trying reform and move towards more openness and freedom that a great intellectual like Matrook al-Faleh is detained for simply practicing his right of free speech by highlighting the miserable state of prisons; in a time when our King says even his majesty is not above criticism, people are being arrested for merely speaking their minds. It pains me to no end that as much as some of us love this country, they keep hurting those who love it the most. They keep on trying to dash our hopes without realizing that they can’t kill the future; they are just delaying the inevitable

Twenty-Four

I’m turning 24 today, and I don’t know what to make of it.

Usually, I’m not so big on birthdays. Why should people celebrate getting older, especially that few years later they will wish they were younger?

Living for almost quarter of a century, I have come to realize how useless my life has been so far. Not that I’m not trying, but I just fail. Again and again. Maybe I’m not trying hard enough? Or am I trying too hard that I can’t put things in perspective anymore?

I don’t know.


My birthday cake from last year. Courtesy of my roommate.

When I think about the past year, and despite all disappointments and failures, after all is said and done, I believe that I am blessed and lucky. Blessed because I have people in my life who made it their mission to see me happy and content; and lucky because although I have not done anything impressive, many good things happened to me.

I have made great friends, I have traveled to new places, and above all I have been overwhelmed by people’s kindness. Whether those people know me better than I know myself, or total strangers who recognized me in airports and restaurants, I have come to see and feel the goodness inside them, and it was a reminder that no matter how hard life can get, that it is with love and compassion that we survive.

They Know Better!

Abdullah Al-Obeid, the Minister of Education, is all over the front pages these days to brag about the new e-learning initiative his ministry has recently launched.

I think he can brag. After all, the man has single-handedly solved all the problems that have plagued our education system for decades. Female teachers no longer get killed on the road to their schools in God-forsaken remote places; all the textbooks have been fixed to be moderate and up-to-date; and extremist teachers have been kicked out for good.

That’s why it comes as no surprise to read about their latest genius decision: they will not issue any renewals for permission for Saudi students to attend international schools. Not that it was easy to enroll your kids in international schools in the past. I am told that it takes a hellova a wasta to do that, but now even your big ‘wow’ can’t save your kids from the Saudi education system.

Moreover, they say British schools will have to accept only British pupils, German schools German pupils, Indian schools Indian students, and so on. Nonsense. Because most international schools will not be able to operate without Saudi students who make up the bulk of enrollment.

Earlier this week, Tariq Al-Maeena published a letter from a distressed mother who says she would rather have her kids home schooled or move to Dubai or Bahrain. I don’t know what MOE has to say about the reasons behind their ruling, but in a country where the government think they can tell you what (or what not) to name your kids, it is only understandable that they know what’s best for the kids once it is time for them to go to school.