The Saudi Blog

Blog Closed

2009-10-24T23:40:00.002+03:00

I have been back in Blighty for over a year now so I don't think I can continue to post on Saudi Arabia on a regular basis. I should have posted this closing post a long time ago but I was busy, first with moving back to the UK, and then with some Open University studying in my spare time.

I may start another blog where I can rant about things that get me worked up. Thanks to anyone who read this blog.

AbuTrevor

Saudi Blogger Arrested

2008-01-14T15:24:00.000+03:00

The Saudi Ministry of the Interior has detained a well known Saudi blogger, called Fouad al-Farhan. He was arrested on December 10th, but news about it was only released on January 1st.

This arrest has received considerable attention world-wide in both the MSM and the blogshpere. Online articles about this case can be found e.g. here, here, here, and here. Related Arab News articles can found here and here.

The reason Fouad's detention can be found in this article:-

Even so, Farhan told The Washington Post and others in early December that an Interior Ministry official had warned him that he would be detained because of his online support for a group of men arrested in February and held without charge or trial.

At the time of their arrest, the government accused the Jiddah-based group, made up of a former judge, academics and businessmen, of supporting terrorism. The men's attorney, Bassim Alim, had said they were arrested for their political activism and their plans to form a civil rights group.

This is not very hopeful for the supposed increase in official tolerance for dissent and criticism since King Abdullah's ascent to the throne.

Fouad's blog can be found here. Fouad blogged mainly in Arabic, however, it is now being maintained by friends of his who write in both English and Arabic. The blog Saudi Jeans (in English) has a lot on the campaign to free Fouad.

Having outlined the facts I now come to the point of this post which is, I have to admit, some concern for my personal safety. The following are my thoughts on this issue.

1) Now you know why I blog anonymously. Even so, if they were determined to do so, I'm sure the Saudi authorities could find out who I am.

2) While Fouad blogged in Arabic and was one of the most popular Saudi bloggers, I blog in English and few people read what I say. For this reason I doubt that the Saudi authorities will be concerned about me.

3) On the other hand I have made some criticisms which some Saudi authorities might not take too kindly to.

Family members, however, have heard about the case of Fouad and have begged me to stop blogging. While I do not intend to stop blogging completely, out of respect for their wishes, posting may be light for a while.

Christmas Trees

2008-01-01T14:46:00.000+03:00

(Image for illustration only - this is not our Christmas tree.)

My friend over in the Eastern Province told me a story recently which implies that Saudi customs guards are still confiscating Christmas trees.

Apparently, this family which he knows went over the causeway to Bahrain for the day and while there they bought a Christmas tree. The particular tree was selected by the four-year old son of the family.

When they tried to return to Saudi, the customs officer refused to allow the tree into the kingdom and was about to confiscate it. This caused the little boy to burst into tears. The father went to the chief customs officer and pleaded with him to allow them to keep the tree on behalf of his still weeping little boy. Finally, the senior customs officer relented and allowed them to keep the tree.

We were aware that the customs guards on the Bahrain causeway used to confiscate Christmas trees because of some friends of ours who moved to our vicinity from Khobar. Several years ago they had tried three times to bring a Christmas tree over the causeway into Saudi and had the trees confiscated each time.

We bought our seven-foot Christmas tree "under the counter" from a shop in a local shopping mall many years ago. However, for our first Christmas here, I recall making a Christmas tree out of cardboard. We also made a cardboard star which was then covered in tin-foil. The same star is still proudly attached to the top of our Christmas tree over ten years later.

The (Wahabi-inspired) attitude of the Saudis contrasts strongly with that of the Bahrainis. My friend also tells me that the Christmas decorations in Bahrain airport are significantly better those at Heathrow!

Lightbulbs!

2007-12-16T14:20:00.000+03:00

File under "What a Country!"

Light bulbs is the subject which is currently exercising my indignation.

Let me start the story from the beginning. Our compound has been bought by a new owner. The new, penny-pinching, management have decided to terminate the supply of replacement light bulbs to tenants.

Not a big problem, you might think, after all light bulbs are not very expensive and can be easily obtained at the nearest hardware store (yes, we do have hardware stores here).

Wrong!

All the lights in my house are 110V, screw fitting (similar to the one in the picture). This is the US standard and is used by most lights in the kingdom. Matching bulbs should be easily available - but they are not.

I went to the hardware store yesterday and bought some 110V bulbs only to find, when I got home, that they were bayonet fitting not screw fitting. When I took them back to exchange them I found that the shop did not have a single bulb of the type I need.

You can get a 110V bayonet fitting bulb, or a 220V screw fitting bulb, but you cannot get a 100V screw fitting bulb! Why?

Well, I went and asked the Saudi behind the Customer Services desk about it (hah! - they don't know the meaning of "Customer Services") . He was very polite but at first claimed ignorance.

When I pressed him for an explanation he told me that when they do put light bulbs of the type I wanted on the shelves, they all go the same day. According to him, people buy these bulbs for 1.50 riyals in the shop and then sell them for 2.00 riyals in the market!

He then shrugged his shoulders as if to say "what can one do?"

Well, let me suggest to them what they can do. If they are making a profit at 1.50 riyals per light bulb, why don't they order more light bulbs and keep putting them on the shelves until they stop selling them all the same day? Then, someone who comes into their shop might actually be able to buy what he needs! The customer will be happy and they should be happy with the extra profit.

On reflection, I realise that I know what the problem is. Saudi owners and senior management do not like to delegate authority; they want to micro-manage the business. What the store (and most stores in the country) lack is a manager who has the authority to take independent action that can affect the performance of his shop and who is rewarded for its success.

The result is organisations which have very centralised management and which are unable to respond to local conditions or rapidly changing conditions..

Oh dear, my rant about light bulbs has become a lecture on business management!

The NIE Report

2007-12-07T21:31:00.000+03:00

This cartoon from today's Arab News (originally from the Arabic Al-Watan newspaper) had me puzzled. Who is Abu Mussa and what are the Greater and Lesser Tunbs?

Well, it turns out that they are all islands in the Strait of Hormuz (see map below) which are claimed by both Iran an the UAE.

Anyway, the point is that the cartoonist appears to be unconvinced by the recently released NIE report which stated that:

We judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons
program

Like many others, I have a certain scepticism when it comes to the US intelligence community. The media, however, seems to be completely ignoring the remainder of the document which says things like:-

... we also assess with moderate-to-high confidence that Tehran at a minimum is keeping open the option to develop nuclear weapons.
. . .
We assess with high confidence that until fall 2003, Iranian military entities were
working under government direction to develop nuclear weapons.
. . .
... the NIC assess with only moderate confidence that the halt to those activities represents a halt to Iran's entire nuclear weapons program.
. . .
... we do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons.

The overall tone of the document contrasts somewhat with the first sentence on which the MSM have focused so much.

The reaction to this document (not least the gloating of the regime in Iran) is such that I have to suspect that something is going on. So far I have come up with two theories:

The first is quite simple: someone highly placed in the US intelligence community opposes President Bush's policies and is determined to stop any possible military action against Iran in the last year or so of Bush's presidency.

The other theory is a little bit more elaborate: it is possible that Iran has decided to "do a Libya". They have decided that they want UN sanctions removed and to enable this to happen, they have agreed to stop their nuclear weapons program and to allow IAEA inspectors to visit their civil nuclear plants.

Of course, they can't openly agree to this without a massive loss of face. It has to be done in such a way that they do not lose face - and how could that be achieved? If the US intelligence community announces that Iran doesn't have a nuclear weapons program after all, then everything else falls into place.

Before long you should expect to see IAEA inspectors visiting Iran and then sanctions being lifted. Alternatively, the "quid pro quo" for this intelligence report is Iran stopping its support for the insurgents in Iraq.

Don't we humans love a good conspiracy theory!

Update: This article in the Telegraph shares my scepticism over the NIE report but has a different theory. Apparently, British spy chiefs think that Iran may have 'hoodwinked' the CIA.

These conspiracy theories are good fun, but I wonder if my amusement won't turn to radioactive ashes one day when a nuclear bomb explodes over Tel Aviv?

Misyar Brides

2007-12-06T18:07:00.000+03:00

According to this article in today's Arab News a Saudi Man has duped three men who wanted a misyar marriage with his daughter:-

RIYADH, 6 December 2007 — A Saudi man took advantage of the high demand for misyar brides and duped three men out of more than SR75,000, the daily Al-Riyadh reported yesterday.
In Saudi Arabia, misyar works like this: A woman basically agrees in a binding Islamic marriage contract to be set up with certain material provisions (an apartment, a car, etc.) in exchange for living with a married man. She may also forgo any pre-nuptial demands, but since she doesn’t get a dowry or access to other material support she usually asks for something. Usually the more attractive and younger the woman, the more leverage she has in getting material positions.
In this case, three different men asked the man for his daughter’s hand in marriage. But instead of approving one prospective groom, the man accepted all three proposals and also collected a total of SR75,000 in dowry from the wannabe husbands. After he had the money, the man fled to an unknown location and conveniently changed all of his contact numbers.

Some points to note: the suitors thought the father could decide who his daughter would marry, so she presumably had no choice in the matter? The father also pocketed the money; surely it's the woman who should receive the dowry?

Tell me this isn't the same as selling your daughter into prostitution?

I have written previously about misyar marriages here.

Unnecessary Hostility

2007-12-01T11:05:00.000+03:00

It is often worthwhile to check the "Islam" section of the Arab News. It often contains some edifying piece like, for example, a Saudi sheikh explaining the correct way to beat your wife.

In today's on-line version, I found an article entitled "Unnecessary Hostility". I found the title quite ironic: the hostility referred to is that of the Jews of Medina to the prophet Mohammed. The term "Unnecessary Hostility" could also, however, be used to describe the Arabic attitude to modern day Jews.

They might argue the "unnecessary" part, but the "hostility" is certainly true.

One of the interesting facts about this article is that it was written by Sayyid Qutb, chief ideologue of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and author of extremely influential book "Milestones". Let me quote a little from the Wikipedia article on Sayyid Qutb:-

... has contributed significantly to modern perceptions of Islamic concepts such as jihad, jahiliyyah, and ummah. In the West he sometimes described as "the man whose ideas would shape Al Qaeda.

and from the Wikipedia article on his work "Milestones":-

Commentators have both praised Milestones as a ground-breaking, inspirational work by a hero and a martyr, and reviled it as a prime example of unreasoning entitlement, self-pity, paranoia, and hatred that has been a major influence on Islamist terrorism.

Interesting choice of author for their section on Islam!

The article itself describes the "hostility" of the three Jewish tribes of Medina to the Prophet Mohammed. It also describes the expulsion of two of these tribes: the Banu Qaynuqa and the Banu Nadir.

It omits, however, the fate of the third Jewish tribe: the Banu Qurayza. When they surrendered to the tender mercies of the early Muslims, all the adult male members of the tribe were executed (some 600 or 700 men) and the women and children enslaved. Unnecessary hostility indeed!

Muttawa Cleared of Murder

2007-11-29T11:53:00.000+03:00

In a post on the "Qatif Girl" case I mentioned the case of two members of the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (i.e. the Muttawa) who were accused of causing the death of a man who died in their custody.

(I have written a post dedicated to the Muttawa here. They are particularly infamous for causing the deaths of fifteen schoolgirls during a fire at their school. The Muttawa stopped the girls from getting out because their hair wasn't properly covered.)

Returning to the case of the two Muttawa, who allegedly killed a Saudi man by beating him to a pulp: according to this article, the case against them has been dropped:-

The judges in the case of two members of the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice who were accused of causing the death of Salman Al-Huraisi following a raid of his house in May dismissed the charges yesterday in the Riyadh High Court.
The court in Riyadh “acquitted the two members of the Commission of the charge of being directly responsible for the death of Al-Huraisi, for lack of sufficient evidence,” the commission’s lawyer Yussef Al-Nuqaidan said.
. . .
A copy of the ruling, which was sent to Arab News, mentioned five reasons in which the three judges have stated to dismiss the case:
• That the testimonies of the eyewitnesses cannot be accepted because they said Commission members cannot testify against their colleagues;
• That the two defendants later retracted their confessions;
• That the testimonies of other Commission members in the case cannot be presented as evidence by the attorney representing the family;
• That family members have testified that the two defendants had beaten the deceased; and
• That the testimonies from the two defendants in their earlier confession did not mention that they had beaten the deceased in his head, which is considered the fatal blow which caused the death.

Compare the judge's eagerness to acquit in this case with the judge's attitude in the "Qatif Girl" case. It seems to be one law for the Muttawa and another for a female member of a religious minority!

Qatif Girl Interview

2007-11-29T11:17:00.000+03:00

The online version of the Daily Telegraph has an interview with the Qatif Girl. Apparently, whe was attacked by her brother:-

A Saudi woman sentenced to 200 lashes after she was gang-raped claims her brother tried to kill her when he learned of the attack.
The woman, known only as Qatif Girl after the area where the crime occurred, also described how she tried to commit suicide after the assault. The interview was recorded by Human Rights Watch in December 2006 and released recently.
"Everyone looks at me as if I'm wrong. I couldn't even continue my studies. I wanted to die. I tried to commit suicide twice," the woman said of the aftermath of the attack in which she was raped at knifepoint by seven men as a former boyfriend was driving her home.

Unlike other Arab countries, we hear little about honour killings in Saudi Arabia. This is probably because of police complicity in hushing them up. In today's Arab News there is an article about violence against women which discusses local reaction to this case:-

We note a shift in public discourse concerning this case; it has effectively turned from a gang rape — in which the rapists were the perpetrators — to a case of seduction in which the girl is the seducer and guilty party. Some scholars have expressed their belief that the girl and her “partners” deserve the death penalty. Notice please the use of the word “partners.” The word “partner” usually suggests a voluntary link or association.
. . .
It has been interesting to follow the online comments from readers and members of the public about the case. A shift in perspective has become very clear; now there are voices asking for stoning and some are asking for death — for the girl of course.

Why am I not surprised?

Over 1,500 Extremists Freed After Repenting

2007-11-26T12:02:00.000+03:00

According to an article in today'a Arab News:-

Saudi authorities have released more than 1,500 reformed extremists, who were detained on charges of embracing and spreading takfeer (the ideology that brands other Muslims who disagree with them as infidels).

The extremists, under the guidance of the Ministry of Interior, had undergone lengthy counseling, according to Muhammad Al-Nujaimi, a member of the Counseling Committee and professor of comparative jurisprudence at the King Fahd Security College.

I am sceptical about the efficacy of these counselling programs that are supposed to convince jihadis that violence and terrorism are inconsistent with Islam.

Many suspected Saudi terrorists were rounded up in recent in response to the campaign of terrorism waged in Saudi Arabia between 2001 and 2005. This, eventually, resulted in the attacks diminishing in frequency and then stopping altogether.

What I suspect happened was that many of those rounded up along with the were either completely uninvolved or not strongly motivated jihadis. These people probably constitute most of those who have forsworn the use of violence.

I'm pretty sure that the hard-core of jihadis can not be persuaded that violence is wrong. I only hope that none of them have been able to fool the committee with a pretence of repentance.

Note: there is no mention of violence or terrorism in the article; most of it talks about takfeer (or takfir), however, the following paragraph is revealing:-

The suspects were largely confused about the meaning of jihad, which led to their believing in committing blind violence. They also viewed that the present Muslim rulers, scholars and public were infidels, and therefore demanded the establishment of a single Islamic state, said Al-Nujaimi.

This almost needs line-by-line analysis. Firstly, while many modern Muslims say that the primary "meaning of jihad" is an inner spiritual struggle, Islamic scholars over the centuries have held that it is warfare against the unbelievers.

The remainder of the paragraph is pure Al Qa'ida. Osama bin Laden calls the rulers of Saudi Arabia infidels because they don't properly enforce Shari'a (which seems very strange to those of us living here). This is the give-away: although it's not stated, these people are, or are suspected of being, members of Al Qa'ida.

Ministry of Justice Smears "Qatif Girl"

2007-11-25T12:49:00.000+03:00

According to an Arab News report, the Saudi Ministry of Justice has issued a new statement on the "Qatif Girl" case:-

The statement, which the ministry says is a response to media scrutiny of the ruling, said that the rape victim confessed to having an illegal affair with the man who was caught with her.
“She went out with him without a mahram, a legal guardian, and exchanged forbidden affairs through the illegal khalwa,” the statement said. “They both confessed to doing what God forbids.”

This case has caused as much outrage inside Saudi as it has outside. This is an attempt to address local criticisms of the case. The statement continues:-

"They are the main cause of what happened, the woman and her companion, as they exposed themselves to this horrible crime and violated the rule of Shariah,” the statement said. “That’s why the sentences were increased for everyone due to the dangerous nature of the crime.”

By "crime" they seem to be referring to the crime of the girl and her male companion being alone together. Let me put the ministry's point of view in another way: "she asked for it".

Whether this statement will affect Saudi public opinion, I don't know, but it sure won't cut any ice with Western critics of Saudi justice.

The following are the key issues that I think the Ministry should understand:-

An unrelated man and woman being alone together is not a crime, regardless of whether intercourse takes place.
In any civilized court, the woman's ordeal would be regarded as sufficient punishment for any crime she had committed (but see 1. above).
The victim(s), especially of rape, should not be held responsible for causing the crime.

I know that I am, in some ways, a guest here and should respect their culture, but this isn't an issue of manners. It's not like refraining from eating or drinking in front of people who are fasting during Ramadan. It's a basic question of what constitutes a crime and what does not.

This could, in fact, be regarded as an example of the "Clash of Civilizations" as proposed by Samuel P. Huntington.

BBC World: Jihad and the Saudi Petrodollar

2007-11-23T17:53:00.000+03:00

I have just finished listening to the second part of the BBC World documentary "Jihad and the Saudi Petrodollar". Programme one, "Wahhabism" can be listened to or downloaded from here; programme two "The Money Trail" can be found here.

It comes as no surprise to a Westerner living in Saudi that money from Saudi is funding Jihad around the world. Much of what goes on occurs in Arabic but once in a while you hear something in English.

For example, my suspicions were aroused a year or two ago by an appeal for money for "Palestinian Children's Hospitals". Given that the UK has, to my knowledge, only one dedicated paediatric hospital (Guy's Hospital, London) I find it remarkable that the Palestinian territories have a multitude of them. But, perhaps I am wrong.

That wealthy Saudi individuals and Saudi charities contribute to what we would call "terrorism" is undeniable (except they do deny it). What is not clear is the extent of Saudi government involvement.

Saudi Media Prepares for Anapolis Peace Conference

2007-11-23T16:55:00.000+03:00

The above cartoon was published in Arab News two or three days ago. This is not a good indicator for the success of the forthcoming Israel-Palestinian Peace Conference at Anapolis.

The common belief amongst ex-pats is that the Arab News journalists or editors know what they are doing and understand how Western readers of their paper will react to items such as this. The cartoon was, I believe, first published in an Arabic language newspaper.

Anyone publishing something like this in the Western world would find themselves in court quicker than you can say "holcaust denial". However, this sort of thing is, I understand, common in the Arab world. For examples of more dreadful anti-semitic cartoons see here.

In the same vein, Mein Kampf and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion are, I understand, extremely popular in Middle Eastern countries.

The Saudi Legal System

2007-11-23T13:43:00.000+03:00

Reading a post about the "Qatif Girl" at Saudi Jeans, I came across a reference to the Royal decree which has ordered an overhaul of the Saudi legal system.

Until now, Saudi judges have had wide discretion to issue rulings according to their own interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.

Codification of the law and a reduction of the Saudi judges discretion would, one would expect, remove injustices such as the increase in the Qatif girl's sentence for publicising the injustice of the case.

What it would not do is remove the basic assumption that a man and a woman who are not related and are not married commit a crime by being alone together. Improvements can be made in the administration of justice in Saudi, however, Saudi law is based on Shari'a. While that is the case it will continue to regard zina (extramarital sex) and khwala (being alone with a male who is not a close relative) as crimes.

"Qatif Girl" Makes Headlines around the World

2007-11-21T23:19:00.000+03:00

There seems to be a wave of worldwide disgust and outrage (and quite rightly so) about the case of the "Qatif Girl". As I commented here, a 19-year old woman was kidnapped and raped 14 times by a gang of seven men.

The men were sentenced to between one and five years imprisonment but the girl and her male companion were also sentenced to 90 lashes. At the appeal hearing the sentences of the rapists were increased to between two and nine year, but the girl and her companion's sentences were also increased to 200 lashes and six months in prison.

According to an Arab News report:-

The Ministry of Justice made its first public statement regarding the second verdict in the so-called “Qatif Girl” rape trial, justifying the decision to punish the victims with lashes and jail time on the basis of “some proved charges.”
. . .
The ministry also said yesterday in its statement that anyone has a right to appeal verdicts, but also warned of “stirring up agitation through the media that may not be objective and cannot grant anyone any right as much as it can negatively affect the other parties involved in the case.”

In other words they fully support the judge's decision to increase the sentences of the girl and her male companion!

They may be able to tell the Saudi public that "we're right and you're wrong" but the rest of the world may not be impressed. I've found this story at the BBC, CNN, the New York Times, Sky News, The Telegraph, here, here, and here and here and here.

I think I've made my point: the entire Western world is pretty disgusted at this case. The King would be well advised to intervene in this case and issue a pardon for this girl. That would at least take the heat out of this issue, even if it would do nothing about the underlying problem with the Saudi justice system.

(Update: In neither of the two blog entries I've made on this case, have I mentioned one crucial fact: this girl is a Shi'a. The judge is almost certainly a Sunni religious scholar and so was almost certainly biased against her from the start.)

This is not the only controversial case that's caused criticism of the Saudi legal system. I have already commented on the case of Fatima and Mansour.

These cases are not isolated incidences; reading today's onlive version of Arab News, I came accross this report. It deals with the case of two members of the Muttawa (the religious police) who (gasp!) are actually being tried for murder after a man died in their custody. According to this report:-

Al-Huraisi said: “Everyone in the house, including my elderly father, was arrested and taken to the Oraija commission center,” he said.
The father of the deceased said that commission members continued to beat his handcuffed son, even though he was already covered in blood, until he died at the center.

However, according to today's report, the Saudi Judiciary are keeping to their policy of punishing both the criminal and the victim:-

Meanwhile, a lower court in Riyadh handed sentences to five members of Al-Huraisi’s family for resisting arrest by commission members. Al-Huraisi’s father, Muhammad, 73, was sentenced to two years in jail and 50 lashes; Faisal, a brother of the deceased, who is also blind, was handed a three-month jail sentence; Ismail, another brother, was handed a two-year and eight-month sentence for resisting arrest and possessing alcohol and narcotics; and Ahmed, a nephew of the deceased, was handed a one-year jail sentence.

So a 73 year-old man, who's son was beaten to death in front of his eyes is sentenced to two years in prison and 50 lashes, while a blind brother of the murdered man gets three months in prison!

Motorist Caught for DWW

2007-11-21T10:59:00.000+03:00

The good old Arab News has something worth a chuckle or a sigh most days. Today it's a report about a motorist who was caught for DWW: Driving While Woman:-

According to yesterday’s Al-Madinah daily, Saudi Highway Patrol officers pulled over a car on the Madinah-Jeddah highway because they noticed a woman driving.
When the officers approached the car, both the woman and the man seated next to her rolled down the windows and asked if there was a problem. When questioned, the two explained that they were brother and sister and were driving from Kuwait to Jeddah. The brother, who got tired of driving, gave his sister the wheel so he could take a nap.
After officers pointed out that women were not allowed to drive in the Kingdom, the brother and sister pleaded ignorance.
The officers issued a warning to the siblings and let them go about their journey on the condition that the brother drives the rest of the way. (Because, after all, it’s much better for a tired, travel-weary man to drive a car than any woman!)

Reading the last paragraph you can tell that the writer does not approve of the current law regarding women drivers in Saudi. Although the media in Saudi Arabia is heavily censored, the English language newspapers are sometimes able to get away with indirect criticisms of the government because they are mainly read only by the ex-pat community.

The article continues:-

The Saudi press consistently reports instances of women getting caught behind the wheel. Usually these “offenders” sneak the family car out of the house — without the knowledge of their male guardians — for a joy ride but what made this situation unique was the fact that the woman was accompanied by a man.

In 2006 women were even forbidden from driving golf carts at a cultural festival. Apparently, there is a "League of Demanders of Women's Right to Drive Cars in Saudi Arabia" and on the Saudi National day (23 September) this year, they submitted a petition to King Abdullah requesting that women be allowed to drive.

Best of luck to them; they can't be any more dangerous than their male compatriots!

Final Death Toll in Pipeline Explosion

2007-11-21T10:36:00.000+03:00

According to a report in today's Arab News, the final death toll in Sunday's gas pipline explosion is 40 dead. Strangely enough, the number of injured has fallen from "at least 60" yesterday to nine of which six have already been discharged from hospital. The larger total seems more likely to me; today's figures may only refer to Aramco employees.

The nationalities of the dead are reported as follows:-

Among the 40 workers who lost their lives were 18 Pakistanis, seven Indians, seven Bangladeshis, six Saudis, one South African and one Nepalese, it said.

Only one Westerner (the South African) amongst the dead and only five Saudi Aramco employees; all the others worked for a contractor company. The lack of Western engineers involved confirms my suspicion that human error was the cause of the accident.

This is not to denigrate the abilities of Asian workers and technicians; many work long hours in dreadful conditions for little pay. They have, however, a different outlook on safety and the value of human life.

A friend of mine told me the following story (forgive me if I've told it before): he came into his office one morning and found an Indian electrician, precariously balanced on a chair, trying to repair a light fitting. My friend told the electrician to be careful. "Don't worry, sir", replied the electrician, "I have a brother"!

Death Toll from Gas Explosion Increased to 38

2007-11-20T13:50:00.000+03:00

According to a report in today's Arab News the death toll from yesterday's gas explosion has increased to 38. This is not surprising, on consideration, as yesterday's report mentioned that twelve workers were missing.

Nevertheless, this must have been a huge explosion to have killed so many. The report also states that at least 60 people were injured.

The explosion occurred on the Haradh-Othmaniya gas pipeline which is in the region of the huge Al-Ghawar (map, also see above) oil field - the largest oil field in the world.

As a subscriber to the Jim Hacker school of political cynicism, the official denial of any terrorist involvement means that I have to consider it a possibility. The coincidence of the OPEC conference in Riyadh also makes me think that a terrorist link should be looked at.

However, there are many oil and gas pipelines running across the Saudi desert. It would be much easier for Iranian agents or Al Qaeda supporters to sabotage a pipeline out in the desert away from prying eyes. The fact that so many workers were caught up in the blast indicates to me that this explosion can be easily explained as a case of human error.

Massive Gas Explosion

2007-11-18T21:45:00.000+03:00

In recent years the Saudi government has ordered a massive "dash for gas" by the government owned oil company Aramco. The amount of oil that Saudi Arabia can extract is governed by OPEC agreements.

The Saudi government has decided to expolt its massive gas reserves for internal use (e.g. electricity generation) so that it can export more of the oil it produces.

Earlier today a massive explosion occurred, apparently, while engineers were connecting a new pipe to the main pipeline. Reports here and here.

Twenty eight people are reported killed and twelve people are still missing; there is no estimate given of the number injured. There is no indication that this is terrorist related, however there is no indication given of the cause of the blast. Five of the dead are Saudi Aramco employees, the rest were contractors.

The fire occurred about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Aramco's Hawiyah gas plant.

In recent years, western managers have been replaced by Saudi and Arabic managers. These people are far from being incompetent and Aramco has a extremely safety-concious ethic. However, the Arab mindset is not one that will challenge authority or risk one's own career to highlight a safety issue.

An alternative explanation can be found in the fact that only five out of the 28 dead are Saudi Aramco employees. The remainder are Asian workers employed by contractors. Aramco uses it's bargaining power to force contractors to lower their fees to rock bottom levels. The contractors can then only make a profit if they cut corners e.g. on employee wages, training etc.

This is, of course, only my opinion based on a lot of guesswork and taking the news reports on face value.

The Story of Fatmia and Mansour

2007-11-17T13:19:00.000+03:00

Having described the dreadful events resulting from the gang-rape of the "Qatif girl" in my last post, I decided that I should also write about the case of "Fatima and Mansour". This case also caused a lot of comment, even outrage, amongst the Saudi public.

To understand this case, you must understand that tribal loyalties and affiliations are still very strong in the modern Saudi Arabia. A Lebanese friend says that Saudis classify themselves as being either "110" or "220". This is a reference to the electricity supply; the ordinary mains is 110 volts, but some buildings are wired with a 220 volt supply.

If a Saudi can trace his lineage back to one of the Bedouin tribes of the desert, then he is said to be tribal and looks down on the ordinary Saudis who are descended from the Arabs of the towns and cities.

There is a third option; everybody looks down on the resident of Jizan (a province in the South West of the country). The dialing cope for Jizan is "07", so if you are a Saudi, you are either 220 (i.e. tribal), 110 (i.e. non-tribal) or 07 (from Jizan).

Leaving that aside, I will return to Fatima and Mansour. They were a happily married couple with a young family. Unfortunately, Fatima's half-brothers didn't like Mansour and accused him of lying about his tribal background. (Even if you are tribal, some tribes have more status than others.)

According to this report from Arab News:-

Mansour has repeatedly denied that he lied about his tribal background. “They (Fatima’s male relatives) asked about me and even came to visit me at my work in Al-Jouf where I lived at the time,” he said in a previous interview with Arab News.

While Fatima's father was still alive her half-brothers could do nothing. Unfortunately, he became terminally ill and gave his sons the power of attorney.

The half-brothers used their new authority to apply to a court to have Fatima and Mansour's wedding annulled. Fatima and Mansour were not informed of the proceedings and the brother's application was granted in their absence!

When the couple learnt about the ruling they initially went on the run. They were eventually captured by the police and imprisoned in Dammam for living together while not married to each other.

Eventually, the authorities decided to release them but Fatima refused to return to her family:-

In an interview with Arab News in November, Fatima said she was remaining in prison by her own choice; she refused to return to the custody of her family. (Women of any age in Saudi Arabia require a legal male guardian, or mahram, who could be either their husbands or other male relatives.) “I’m leaving this place on one condition only: That I go back to my husband,” she told Arab News.

She also said that she feared her brothers would mistreat her children who they regarded as being inferior. As of now, Fatima remains in Dammam prison with her youngest child, while Mansour has custody of their older child. More information on this case can be found here.

It appears that women in Saudi law occupy a place somewhere inbetween children and adults. On the one hand they cannot be responsible for themselves but must be in the care of an adult male relative. On the other hand they are regarded as being responsible for their actions and are punished for them up to and including the death penalty.

Saudi Justice

2007-11-16T20:33:00.000+03:00

I haven't blogged here for some time but I have to comment on this dreadful story. I should warn you in advance that you may find some of these events extremely distressing.

It starts back in March of last year, over in the Eastern Province, in or near the town of Qatif.

A 19 year-old woman was kidnapped by a gang of seven men. She was taken to a nearby farm where she was raped a total of 14 times. A man who tried to come to her aid was beaten up and also raped!

According to a report in the Arab News:-

Gang members were reported to have taken pictures of the rapes and contacted both victims telling them that if they did not help them find other young women to rape they would distribute their pictures.

Despite this, the couple reported these crimes to the police and five of the gang were arrested.

A security source from the Eastern Province said that all the four arrested men had confessed to the crime.

In a case such as this, according to Shari'a, you either need four witnesses (!) or a confession. Saudi justice is based on confessions; usually a suspect has something like a baseball bat applied to sensitive parts of his anatomy until he confesses. These four were sentenced:-

Four of the seven men who gang-raped a young woman in March have been sent to jail for periods ranging between one and five years by a court in Qatif and will be given 80 to 1,000 lashes.

According to police sources, only four members of the gang have been sentenced. Another man, who is presently in police custody, is awaiting sentencing while two members of the gang are presently on the run.

Considering that they could have been given the death penalty, this is extremely lenient. However, worse was yet to come for the victims:-

The court also sentenced the woman and the man she was meeting to 90 lashes for having met in private. The security source from the Eastern Province said, “The judge sentenced the girl and the man to 90 lashes because they were alone with the intention of doing something bad. Because of that, they will be punished.” Relatives of the woman said that they would appeal against the 90-lash-sentence.
During the trial, the woman claimed that she did not know the man and that he had come to her rescue after she was kidnapped. The fifth gang member, who is awaiting sentencing, handed himself to police weeks ago. He will be sentenced on a later date.

The appeal finally reached court a few days ago:-

The Appeals Court sentenced the victim to 200 lashes and six months in prison. The seven rapists had their sentences increased to between two and nine years. The verdict came in as a shock to everybody.

You can say that again.

A source at the Qatif General Court said that the judges had informed the rape victim that the reason behind doubling her punishment was “her attempt to aggravate and influence the judiciary through the media.”
Judge Soliman Al-Muhanna from the Qatif court told the lawyer (Al-Lahem) that the judicial committee had decided to suspend him from the case. They also confiscated his license which is granted to Saudi lawyers by the Ministry of Justice.

So not only do they punish the victim, they also punish her lawyer for pointing out the injustice of the case. I found a more detailed report on the new sentences here. This article has a slightly different version of events:-

The young woman’s offense was in meeting a former boyfriend, whom she had asked to return pictures he had of her because she was about to marry another man. The couple was sitting in a car when a group of seven men kidnapped them and raped them both, lawyers in the case told Arab News, a Saudi newspaper.

The article continues:-

“I don’t agree with this judgment,” Bassem Alim, a lawyer in Jidda, said of the woman’s sentence. “I think it’s overly severe. She should not be punished for going to the media and explaining her case.”
Mr. Alim, a friend of the victim’s lawyer, said the standard punishment for adultery is 60 to 80 lashes, so the sentence was unusually harsh, even for Saudi Arabia.
“I don’t think she was committing adultery in that car,” Mr. Alim added.

It can't be adultery as she wasn't married; had she actually had intercourse in the car, the crime would be called zina which is normally translated into English as fornication.

That someone should be punished on a mere suspicion of having intercourse with a person who is not their spouse is barbaric. That a woman should be punished after suffering such a dreadful ordeal is so inhumane as to beggar belief.

Sandmonkey: ranting no more!

2007-04-29T20:23:00.000+03:00

Today, I'm going to break two of my unwritten rules - firstly, I'm going to write about something that's happening outside Saudi Arabia. Secondly, I try not to comment on things that have been extensively covered in other blogs, however, I'm going to make an exception for this.

The reason for breaking my own rules is the sad demise of the "Sandmonkey" blog which I have linked to on the right-hand side. There seems to be a crack-down going on in Egypt on bloggers who are critical of the government. Sandmonkey himself has covered the arrest and imprisonment of other bloggers and activists eg. here, here and here.

The main reason for the cessation of his blogging is, in his own words:-

One of the chief reasons is the fact that there has been too much heat around me lately. I no longer believe that my anonymity is kept, especially with State Secuirty agents lurking around my street and asking questions about me since that day. I ignore that, the same way I ignored all the clicking noises that my phones started to exhibit all of a sudden, or the law suit filed by Judge Mourad on my friends, and instead grew bolder and more reckless at a time where everybody else started being more cautious. It took me a while to take note of the fear that has been gripping our little blogsphere and comprehend what it really means. The prospects for improvment, to put it slightly, look pretty grim. I was the model of caution, and believing in my invincipility by managing not to get arrested for the past 2 and a half years, I've grown reckless. Stupid Monkey. Stupid!

I have enjoyed reading Sandmonkey's rantings very much. I found his blog both enjoyable and informative. A sad day indeed.

Murder at Madain Salih

2007-03-10T21:39:00.000+03:00

It occured to me, after my drive to Riyadh, and after I had posted about it here, that it was either a brave or foolhardy thing to do so soon after four french nationals had been shot and killed by terrorists near Madain Salih (see picture).

By the way, the buzz is, amongst the ex-pat community that this was not a drive-by shooting, as described in the media. The terrorists, it is said, stopped the vehicle and made the occupants get out. The men were first separated from the women and children before being shot.

However, recalling the idiots who flew past me on the highway at speeds well in excess of 160 k.p.h. (100 m.p.h.) I realised that I was in far greater danger from them than from anyone who wanted to shoot me! The risks of driving in Saudi Arabia is something I have already discussed here.

The Road to Riyad

2007-03-08T15:25:00.000+03:00

I've been travelling on business to Riyadh a lot recently. Normally, I fly but this time I decided to drive.

Despite (or maybe because) of the fact that the Saudia flights are subsidised by the government, flying "goat class" is not very pleasant - and, of course, you can't get a drink. So this time, as I said, I decided to drive.

On the outskirts of the city where I live, large areas of desert have been cleared and levelled by bulldozer, presumably, in preperation for developement. (How long it will take to develop these huge areas is another matter.) Unfortunately, the dust and sand has been loosened by the bulldozers and when it's windy, as it was this morning, you get a dust storm. The visibility is comparable to being in thick fog back home.

The sand was also being whipped accross the road, literally sand-blasting the outside of the car. While cars in Saudi tend to suffer a lot less from rust, the sun, sand and dust more than make up for it.

When I was finally past the dust storm I realized that the surrounding desert was suprisingly green! We've had a particularly wet winter here and that has resulted in a tremendous amount of green stuff growing. Unfortunately, it will all die away when the summer heat comes.

Actually, the land I was driving through isn't really desert - it's not the Rub al Khali, the Empty Quarter. Geographers would probably call it semi-desert. People, and animals, can survive in such places. In fact, on my drive today, I saw more camels than I've ever seen before. I saw at least half-a-dozen herds, some of which had hundreds of animals in them!

As I approached Riyadh, I started to get low on petrol. I had passed several petrol stations on the way, but now that I needed one, they seemed to be all on the other side of the road! Eventually, I gave up and did a U-turn at a junction and stopped at the petrol station I came too. If you are familiar with Saudi, or have read my earlier posts, you will probably have guessed that the petrol station was just closing for prayer (grrr).

So I continued on my way, after another U-turn, and arrived at my destination with the fuel gauge just touching empty. Ho, hum!

The Muttawa!

2007-03-07T18:08:00.000+03:00

The muttawa are usually described as "religious policemen"; this does not, however, give an accurate impression of what they are like. They were originally a volunteer group who patrolled towns and villages in the Arabian Peninsula looking for violations of the Islamic code of behaviour.

They can be instantly recognized by the way they dress, but to explain this I need to first describe the standard clothing of a Saudi Arabian man. The main item is a long sleeved, ankle length cotton dress-like garment called a thobe. Most of the year white thobes are worn but in winter, black, brown, grey or other dark coloured thobes are worn.

A white knitted skull cap is worn on the head. This is covered by a square piece of cloth (that looks like a tea-towel) called a ghutra, which has been folded into a triangle. The ghutra is either all white or red and white check. Finally, a thick double black cord (that looks like a fan belt from a car), called an agal is worn on top of the ghutra to keep it in place. Apparently the agal was, originally, a rope used to hobble camels. Occasionally, you also see important Saudis (royalty or Muslim clerics) wearing an outer cloak called a bisht. (Note: men from other Arabian Gulf states dress in a similar manner.)

To return to the muttawa, they can be recognised by three visible characteristics: 1) a shorter-then-average thobe that ends just above the ankle, 2) the absence of an agal (they regard it as an adornment) and 3) a large bushy beard!

Since the coming of prosperity to Saudi Arabia, accompanied by modern shops and large numbers of foreigners, the muttawa have taken to patrolling the shopping malls looking for un-Islamic dress or behaviour. At one time they carried long sticks with which to enforce their orders; for instance women who had not covered their legs completely might get a rap on the ankle with this stick.

Non-muslim women might be approached by the muttawa and asked to cover their hair. The advice from the embassies was that women should always carry a scarf. If requested, the scarf should be worn until the muttawa was out of sight, at which point it could be removed!

During what we call the First Gulf War, several incidents occurred between the muttawa and female members of the American military. (Note: in the Middle East the same term is used to refer to the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-1988.) For instance, I’ve heard of a woman soldier who went bowling while wearing a pair of shorts. A muttawa rushed in and started hitting her on the back of the legs with his stick. The soldier picked up her rifle, thrust it into the muttawa’s face and told him, in no uncertain terms, what would happen if he didn’t stop! The muttawa left in a hurry.

In another story, a muttawa started shouting at an African-American woman soldier driving a large truck, telling that she should not be driving. The woman soldier, climbed down from her cab and laid out the muttawa with a single blow! She them calmly climbed back into her truck and drove off.

This and similar incidents are thought to be the cause of an edict from the late King Fahad banning the muttawa from carrying these sticks. In recent years, the muttawa appear to have even stopped going on patrol, except perhaps, during Ramadan. Rumor has it that they were paid an allowance for going on patrol. When the prince decided he couldn’t afford it anymore, the muttawa decided they wouldn’t go on patrol (except during Ramadan).

Several thousand muttawa work for the Saudi Government organization called “The Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice”. These are the “official” muttawa.

There are, however, many more unofficial muttawa. Since the muttawa generally do not have any education that would suit them for employment, many of them work in security. I remember seeing a security guard at ARAMCO (the national oil company) whose trousers barely came down to his ankles. I assumed that his trousers had shrunk in the wash, or something similar. I am now sure, however, that he was muttawa and the trousers were meant to be like that!

The most infamous incident involving the muttawa occurred in Mecca in March of 2002 when a fire started in a girl’s school. According to witnesses the muttawa beat back girls who were trying to escape because their hair was not covered and stopped men who were trying to rescue the girls. Fifteen girls lost their lives as a result of the fire.

I have only met and spoken to three muttawa. Two of those were extremely pleasant and friendly people; The third, however, had a huge chip on his shoulder. He seemed to resent having to work for a living and take orders from other people, even other Saudis.

"Chop-chop Square"

2006-11-06T14:02:00.000+03:00

I found the following article in a recent edition of the Saudi Gazette:-

2 TRAFFICKERS EXECUTED

RIYADH (Rtr)
TWO foreign nationals were executed Sunday for
smuggling drugs, taking to 14 the number of reported executions in 2006.

The Saudi news agency said Adam bin Mohamed Ali Hassan from Nigeria and
Mahmoud Haji Shadi from Afghanistan were executed in the western city of Jeddah
on the Red Sea coast.
The Ministry of Interior said the two men were caught
in separate incidents smuggling cocaine and heroin.

Saudi Arabia implements strict Islamic law and usually carries out
executions by public beheading with a sword. The country executed 86 people in
2005 and 36 in 2004.
The Kingdom executes convicted murderers, rapists and
drug traffickers.

The article, although short, contains most of what I know about public executions in Saudi. The last sentence is not completely true: you can also be executed for witchcraft, apostasy from Islam and sodomy.

The executions usually take place in a large square (known as "Chop-chop Square") in the middle of one of Saudi's larger cities (Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam etc.). Just before an execution, the police will stop traffic in adjoining streets and direct all passers-by to the execution square.

I was once passing through the center of one of these cities when I came accross large crowds of people all moving in the same direction. I kept on going, but with hindsight, I realise that I just missed witnessing one of these executions.

They appear to be popular spectacles. In fact, the spectators are so convinced of the edifying nature of the spectacle that they will push westerners in the crowd to the front so that they can get a better view! Understandably, western women forced to watch one of these execution are usually quite upset by the experience.

I have heard that the executioner is, usuall, a non-Saudi to prevent blood feuds between him and the victims' families. I've also heard that after performing an execution, the executioner is so hyped up that he has to be restrained until he has calmed down. I suspect, however, that the last story is just that - a story.

Jeddah Suffers

2006-10-31T12:56:00.000+03:00

I recently wrote about water shortages in Jeddah and how scuffles broke out between people queing to buy tanker-loads of water. Jeddah is now suffering from another problem - flooding!

After two years without any rain, heavy overnight rain last Sunday caused extensive flooding in Jeddah.

The photographs are from "The Saudi Gazzette". (I hope they don't sue me for copyright enfringement.) An article in the same newspaper commenting on the floods was entitled "Water, Water Everywhere ...". The flood water had mixed with raw sewage to become a disgusting brown sludge. The last thing you would want to do is drink it.

This rainfall was to my experience, un-seasonally early. Usually, it only rains sometime between the end of November and February. Some years you only get a few showers, some years you get a lot of rain. During the winter before I came out here, it was cloudy and rainy almost continuously for about three months. Since then, winters have been drier, sometimes with only a few showers. A few years ago the late King Fahd asked everyone to pray for rain since it had been so dry.

There is usually an abrupt drop in temperature, usually in late November. It can go from a pleasant 80F (27C) to below 70F (21C) in a few days. Sometimes, this change in climate is accompanied by the first rain of winter. If this happens, the temperatures can drop more than 10F (5C) literally overnight.

Mind you, we have become somewaht accustomed to the warm weather. When it falls below 80F (27C) it seems quite chilly to those of us who have been here some time.

The rain usually starts with a few fat drops of warm rain; sometimes, that's it - the rains stops after only a brief shower. Other times, it becomes a torrential downpour often accompanied by thunder and lightning, as happened in Jeddah. Very rarely do we ever get anything in-between.

The attitude of the authorities to rain in Saudi Arabia seems very similar to that towards snow in the UK. Most winters you only get a little of it for only a few weeks so it's not worth spending money on it! Most roads are not build with any drainage, so as soon as you get a heavy downpour, it immediately floods, as we saw in Jeddah.

After having no rain for ten months the roads are covered in a thin layer of oil, rubber and other grime. This mixes with the rainwater to produce a filthy black liquid.

Even when the rain is falling, the water is not clean. The air in Saudi contains is full of a fine brown dust powder. More when it's been windy, less when the air is still bit it's always there. Even in an aroplane, you only get above the dust at about 30,000 ft. If we have only had a light shower in the night, I can tell by the brown spots on my car in the morning. If it was a lot of rain my car would be covered in this brown muck!

The other problem with the rain is the traffic, or rather the drivers. In the same way that UK drivers are unused to driving in snow, Saudi drivers are unused to rain. Some drivers are very fearful of any water on the road and drive at 10-20 m.p.h. even on the highways, while others seem to think that it's not neccessary to slow down at all. The result, as you can imagine is even more accidents than usual.

A mischievious friend of mine, who is no longer in Saudi Arabia, used to go "thobe splashing" in his car every time it rained. A thobe is the long white cotten dress-like garment worn by most gulf arabs. It may well be more comfortable in the summer heat, but it is not very practical in the wet!

"The Pork Smugglers of Old Al Khobar Town"

2006-10-29T09:08:00.000+03:00

Let me first explain that there is no old part of Al Khobar, or of Dammam for that matter. They were both founded in the early part of the twentieth century by some pearl fishermen who had fled from Bahrain. They apparently had some dispute with the British authorities who administered Bahrain at that time but I have no idea what was the nature of this dispute.

If you wish to see a traditional arabian old town and souk (market) then you have to go to Hofuf which is a two hour drive to the south-west from Khobar. A popular outing for ex-pats is to visit the Friday morning camel market at Hofuf. Since it starts at about 6 a.m. and only lasts an hour or two you have to get up very early to see it. As I am not a morning person , I've never been.

While many people are aware of the ban on alcohol in Saudi Arabia, not so many realise that pork is also forbidden. Some of the batchelor compounds provide breakfast and an evening meal. New arrivals would turn up for breakfast and see "Full English Breakfast" on the menu. However, if they order it they are sadly disappointed: the bacon is beef bacon, and the sausage is also beef.

For Muslims, I understand that pork is worse than alcohol. Pigs (and dogs) are unclean animals, whereas alcohol is not unclean, only forbidden. I heard a story about an ex-pat family who were frying bacon in the Riyadh appartment where they lived. The neighbours smelled the frying bacon and called the police. Not only was the husband arrested by the police but the landlord threw the family and their possessions out of the flat. (The man's employer found alternative accommodation for the family but I don't know what happened to him.)

Pork products are available in Bahrain supermarkets; the pork department is usually separate and hidden from the main part of the store. Since Bahrain is so easily accessible by Al Khobar residents via the causeway, many ex-pats will travel there over the weekend so that they can get a real alcoholic drink. On their way home they often stop off at the supermarket and pick up some bacon or pork sausages to take back with them. This is so common that, on request, the butcher will wrap the meat "for Saudi".

The customs officers on the causeway are less concerned about pork than alcohol. If they see that you have been to the supermarket they may ask if you have any "meat" - meaning pork - but if they find any, the worst that happens is that they confiscate it. If they find alcohol, on the other hand, you will be arrested and probably deported!

Several years ago a young colleague of mine went over to Bahrain for the weekend and arranged, with his friends, to have a beach barbecue. As well as the food for the barbecue, he also took along some tins of beer bought from a Bahrain off-license, called a "bottle shop". (I've seen one of these bottle shops - I thought it looked like a bomb shelter: no windows, thick walls and metal bars on the doors.)

Anyway, back to the story: unfortunately my colleague inadvertently left a tin of beer in the door compartment of his car. When he returned to Saudi, this tin of been was found by one of the customs officers on the causeway. This caused my colleague a lot of trouble and he had to do some fast talking. He pointed out to the customs officers that if he was going to intentionally smuggle alcohol into Saudi Arabia, he would have a lot more than just a single tin of beer! Eventually they believed his story and released him.

If the customs officers find a suspicious looking package in your car and suspect that it's pork, they won't unwrap it themselves. If it is pork then they don't even want to touch it; instead they have some non-Muslim (probably Indian) assistants to open it for them. Now these are not "assistant customs officers"; they are unskilled workers who also sweep the floor and empty the bins. After they've unwrapped your bacon, I'm not sure you would still want to eat it.

Often, however, if the customs officers only find a small amount of pork and its clearly for personal use, they may well turn a blind eye and let you through with it. On the other hand, I've heard several ex-pats complaining that they had their ham or bacon confiscated on the causeway. I've also heard about a cafe on an ex-pat compound that had a consignment of ham and bacon, worth several thousand riyals, confiscated.

For my first few years here, I hardly noticed the lack of pork. Now however, I've become like all the other ex-pats whose primary requirement for a holiday destination is that you can have a beer to drink and a bacon buttie to eat!

The Traffic

2006-10-13T15:04:00.000+03:00

Warning: this posting contains some graphic detail of a traffic accident.

I was on my way to work the other morning when I got stuck behind a queue of traffic at a set of traffic lights. I could just see the front of the queue and, when the lights changed, I could see that only two or three cars went through the junction before the lights changed back again.

When I got to the front of the queue everything was explained. Two cars had had a minor accident and the drivers were sitting in their cars, blocking the traffic, waiting for the traffic police to arrive.

The traffic police insist on seeing the vehicles in exactly the position they were immediately after the accident. The most likely place for an accident is a busy junction so when an accident occurs the drivers have to leave their cars, typically in the middle of a junction, blocking all the traffic, until the traffic police arrive. The whole point of this rigmarole is so that the traffic police can assign blame for the accident and, thus, responsibility for who pays for the repairs.

Having been involved in a couple of minor accidents, I know what happens after the traffic police arrive. All those involved have their ids taken by the police and they have to follow the police car (if their vehicle is still drivable) down to the police station.

The Byzantine bureaucracy will then consume most of the rest of the day. Eventually, you will get the forms you need to get your car repaired. If you do not have this paperwork, many workshops will refuse to repair your car. Some back-street workshops, may agree to fix your car, but at a higher price.

The police make suprise visits to the garages and workshops and if they find that they are repairing a vehicle without the proper paperwork, they will get a heavy fine!

I’ve heard of someone who had a minor accident when they were on the way to an important appointment. Rather than call the traffic police, they left the scene of the accident and continued on their way. The following day, the people involved re-positioned their cars exactly as they had been after the accident and then called the police!

Shortly after I first came here, a British ex-pat advised me that if I saw a serious accident, I should continue driving and not stop. The reason for this, he explained, was that, in such a situation, the police would take everyone involved, including any witnesses, down to the police station and sort out who was to blame there.

If you were a westerner, you were, at that time, likely to be the only one who had car insurance. The police would quite probably blame you for the accident so that the family of someone killed in the accident could claim against your insurance.

Actually, it is not necessary for you to be responsible for the accident; if you are involved in a car accident in which someone is killed, even if it’s not your fault, you may still be liable to pay “blood money” to the family of the deceased. The following table shows the amount of blood money in different cases:-

100,000 riyals if the victim is a Muslim man
50,000 riyals if a Muslim woman
50,000 riyals if a Christian man
25,000 riyals if a Christian woman
6,666 riyals if a Hindu man
3,333 riyals if a Hindu woman.

(Can you imagine anything so discriminatory in the west!) Anyway the rule is, if you’re going to run someone down, try and make it a Hindu woman rather than a Muslim man!

Since then, the law has changed. All drivers are now required to have third party insurance; this is available from a number of insurance companies at a fixed annual price of about 100 riyals per person. When this law was first proposed, all the Muttawa (the religious police – a definite topic for a later posting) invaded the Ministry of Transport, complaining against it on the grounds that insurance was a type of gambling!

The real reason for their complaint, it is suspected, is that they all have very large families and this per driver insurance was going to cost them a lot of money.

Well, now that I’m on the subject of traffic, I should warn any potential visitor to The Magic Kingdom (as some ex-pats refer to Saudi Arabia) that the greatest threat to life and limb of anyone staying or living here is not terrorism, but the traffic. The carnage that occurs on the Saudi roads and highways, on a daily basis, is beyond belief.

Almost every extended Saudi family has lost at least one member in car accident. One of my young Saudi colleagues told about one time when he heard that some of his friends has crashed their car. He went along to make fun of them, but the smile was wiped off his face when he found out that one of them had been killed in the accident.

(BTW Saudi humour is very “robust”; another Saudi colleague told me that if a Saudi plays a practical joke on you, you will probably end up in hospital!)

Some of the teenage girls who lived on a compound where I used to live, helped out at a local orphanage in their spare time. Almost all the children there had been orphaned by traffic accidents. (BTW, there were over 90 girls in this orphanage and only one boy. Families are apparently much more willing to look after orphaned boy relatives than girls.)

Part of the problem is the small minority (mainly Saudis) who drive like complete lunatics. You often see them weaving in and out of the traffic at high speed.

On the other hand, you have a number of drivers, usually from the Indian subcontinent who drive very slowly so as to reduce their fuel consumption (after all, every 10 riyals saved is over 100 rupees back home).

I once came upon the scene of an accident shortly after it had occurred; a speeding car driven by a Saudi had hit the back of a car containing five Indians, and had completely sheared off the rear of the car, including the boot and rear axle!

Most of the Saudi highways have no pedestrian crossings. That means that anyone who does not have a car (i.e. unskilled Asian workers) who have to cross a busy highway, take their lives in their hands.

Certain stretches of busy highways are particular blackspots for pedestrians being mown down by fast moving cars. A colleague of mine once came across such an accident; he told me that he had run over a severed arm! This is, I guess, the result of a car traveling at 120 kph hitting a human body.

A favorite vehicle here, especially for those with large families, is the Suburban. When my wife first saw one of them, she described it as a hearse with seats. Actually, it’s even bigger than a hearse. They come in two engine sizes: the standard 6.7 litre and the economy 5 litre!

For some reason, when you see an aged suburban on the road, it is invariably driven by a bearded Saudi with a small child on his lap. (Seat belts have only recently been made compulsory for drivers and front seat passengers - you should have seen the fuss when this law was introduced!).

Not only suburban drivers but many others drive with small children on their laps; some western ex-pats, with typical black humour, call them “Saudi airbags”.

abuTrevor

Hypocracy!

2006-10-05T17:11:00.000+03:00

There are some things that you come across in Saudi Arabia that strike the average westerner as being more than a bit hypocritical.

Here is an excerpt from an article in yesterday's Arab News:-

Misyar Brokers
I really do not know how an owner of a real estate office in Makkah manages to work as an estate agent and simultaneously arrange misyar marriages. Apparently, this man magically transformed his agency into a misyar marriage-fixing center.
In fact he has even prepared an application form that takes details of the groom and the bride. Prospective misyar partners can pay SR100 and fill the form. When two individuals are found to be compatible and who decide to see each other then the groom is asked to pay a SR500 fee. In case both the bride and the groom agree to marry each other, then the amount of money paid to the agent goes up to SR5,000.
. . . . . . . . .
It would have been more appropriate and convenient if our community worked on establishing charitable institutions to perform such tasks free of charge and faraway from greedy real estate agents.
Having an institution organizing and arranging marriages is much more reliable and suitable for young women and it saves the suitors the amount of money wasted in getting the services of real estate agents.
I think people should work toward freeing the concept of marriage from the shackles of unscrupulous real estate agents. There is a huge difference between land and humans and the contracts of marriage and real estate.

The article is not talking about marriage brokers but misyar marriage brokers. Misyar marriage can be described as a marriage for SEX. I found that the Wikipedia article describes misyar marriage much better than I can:-

Nikah Misyar or "travellers' marriage" can be described as a legal framework of marriage in which a Muslim couple is united by the bonds of marriage, based on the usual Islamic marriage contract, but without the husband having to take the usual financial commitments with respect to his wife.
. . . . . . .
The wife continues to carry out a separate life from that of her husband, living in her home and providing for her needs by her own means. But her husband has the right to go to her home (or to the residence of her parents, where she is often supposed to reside), at any hour of the day or the night, whenever he wants to. The couple can then appease in a licit way their "legitimate sexual needs" (to which the wife cannot refuse herself).
. . . . . . .
The practice of Misyar marriage is often different from the original intent for creating this institution. Wealthy Kuwaiti and Saudi men sometimes enter into a Misyar marriage while on vacation. This allows them to have sexual relations with another woman without committing the sin of zina [fornication].
They travel to poor countries, such as Egypt or Syria, and meet middlemen who arrange a marriage for them. Some men arrange Misyar marriages online. The middleman brings some girls and they pick the one that they like most. These men pay the girl's family some money.
. . . . .
A reporter in Jehhh has reported that some marriage officials say seven of 10 marriage contracts they conduct are misyar, and in some cases are asked to recommend prospective misyar partners. Most of the women opting for misyar either are divorced, widowed or beyond the customary marriage age. The majority of men who take part in such marital arrangements are already married.
. . . . . .
Based on the experience of the "misyar marriage agencies", the man who resorts to the "misyar" marriage is usually married to a first wife with whom he shares a residence, and to the financial needs of whom he provides.
. . . . . . .
Since he usually refrains from telling his first wife of his second marriage, the relationship within the couple is distorted, resulting at times in major complications which can even end in divorce, when the first wife finds out about the situation.
As to the second wife, her status is devalued, because she does not have any right on her husband, be it over the time he gives her, his presence at her home, or his financial contribution to help her cover her own needs. Moreover, this type of marriage ends up sooner or later in divorce, (in 80% of the cases, according to some), when the wife is no longer to the liking of the husband.

It sounds remarkably like legalized adultery to me, yet many in the ME think we are immoral and decadent!

There are other examples of behaviour that strikes us as being hypocritical. During the holiay season you will find the Saudi-Bahrain causeway choked with cars full of Saudi men.

They come from Riyadh and other parts of Saudi and leave their wives and children in one of the holiday resorts that are mushrooming in Khobar. The men then go over the causeway to Bahrain to drink and visit the Russian prostitutes there!

To be fair, there are many scholars who criticize misyar marriages, and the Saudis who visit Bahrain to drink and whore are not the same as the ones who say that western civilization is immoral. However, many ex-pats like myself still feel that there's an awful lot of hypocracy flying around.

abuTrevor

Alcohol in Saudi Arabia

2006-10-04T18:41:00.000+03:00

I first came to Saudi Arabia on a 3-day "look see" visit before accepting the job offer from my current employer. On the very first day here two British soon-to-be colleagues took me to a pub at lunchtime for a pint of beer. True, the beer was home made and the "pub" was an illegal bar, but the beer was real nonetheless.

It is well-know that alcohol is illegal in Saudi Arabia. What is less well know is how much alcohol is produced and consumed in this country. It is a veritable cottage industry.

There are those who come to Saudi with the attitude that alcohol is against the law here and while they are, in effect, guests in this country, they will respect the local laws and customs. Others feel differently - for them there are many opportunities to obtain and drink various types of alcoholic drink.

One of the first things you come across when you came to live in Saudi Arabia is "sid". This is short for "siddiqi" which is arabic for "my friend". "Sid" is a locally distilled spirit. A one gallon jar of "un-cut" sid can be bought for about 300-400 riyals (GBP 50-60). Since this "un-cut" sid needs to be diluted one part of sid to one or two parts of water, one gallon of un-cut sid will go a long way. Sid is usually drunk with a mixer such as coca-cola or tonic. Personally, I don't like it - I think it smells like paintbrush cleaner!

Un-cut sid is extremely powerful and dangerous. I heard a story about a woman who came out to Saudi to join her husband. Shortly after she arrived, some friends came to visit while her husband was out. Being polite she offered them a drink and they asked for a sid and coke. Unfortunately, the sid she severed them was un-cut: it took the guests three days to recover from alcohol poisoning. The woman's husband was extremely angry with her, although it seems to me that it was not her fault.

Many people brew their own wine. It is easy to do - all you need is grape juice, sugar and yeast. Mind you the results are very variable. If you are invited round to someone’s house for a drink and you ask for wine, you are playing Russian Roulette. You may be served something acceptable or it may be absolutely disgusting - and you have to drink it out of politeness.

Very few people brew beer; it's a little bit more complicated than wine. However, most of the bars serve beer; it's obviously home-made and, for me, it's an acquired taste. One of the wives on a compound where I used to live brewed some excellent beer. Unfortunately, she returned to the UK before I could get the recipe from her.

Bottles of real spirits can also be bought on the black market. Last time I enquired, the price was 450 riyals (GBP 70) a bottle. A bit too expensive for me and, anyway, I'm not too fond of spirits.

An friend of mine told me that he once met a sales representative for a well-known brand of whiskey out here. My friend asked what he was doing here since there wasn't much of a market for his product out here. "On the contrary" replied the rep, "this is one of our biggest markets"!

You way be wondering how the spirits are smuggled into Saudi. One way is by passing ships dropping a consignment overboard and a Saudi fishing boat coming along and picking it up later.

Smugglers are, of course, noted for their ingenuity. A few years ago there was some "excitement" in the city of Al Khobar, over on the Gulf coast and a British ex-pat had to leave the country in a hurry. Apparently, whiskey was being smuggled over the Saudi-Bahrain causeway on a Coca-Cola truck. Unfortunately, one day the driver gave the bribe to the wrong customs officer!

Another story I’ve heard is about a Saudi prince who landed in his private jet, with his entourage, at an airport in one of the other Gulf countries. Normally, the planes belonging to members of other royal families are not searched out of courtesy. However, for some reason this plane was searched and guess what they found - crates and crates of whiskey and other spirits!

Because there is little entertainment available in Saudi some people do end up drinking more than is good for them. One last story, which may be another myth. A UK company had an employee who had a serious drinking problem. Since Saudi Arabia is nominally “dry” they thought they could help him by sending him to work in their Saudi office. Unfortunately, he ended up being returned to the UK suffering from cirrhosis of the liver!

abuTrevor

Women Made to Sit With Water Tanker Drivers

2006-10-03T17:11:00.000+03:00

The following article appeared in Arab News on 1st October 2006:-

Women Made to Sit With Water Tanker Drivers
Somayya Jabarti, Arab News
JEDDAH, 1 October 2006 — In their efforts to end the water crisis, authorities at the Aziziya Water Distribution Center yesterday triggered another problem.
Women — young and old, shrouded in black, most with their faces totally covered — climbed up to seat themselves into the cabs of water tanker trucks alongside the drivers.
“It is either that or the driver will run off with your water,” said a security officer to a twenty-something Saudi woman, who called herself Muna, when she drew back from joining a water tanker driver in the passenger seat. She said her brothers were angry enough because they had already bent the rules in allowing her to come to the Water Distribution Center in a taxicab. With her father dead, Muna’s brothers, some studying and others employed, had full legal guardianship over her, but none had the time to either fetch water or even give her a ride to Aziziya.
Citizens waiting at the center remarked that this practice was improper. “How can they ask them (the women) to ride in the cab without a mehram (legal guardian). This is a clear violation.”
“Ride in the water truck beside the driver alone and all the way home? Ya rabi — oh my God — what do I do?! I thought things here would be different today,” she cried raising her black-gloved hand to her black-covered head.
Things at the Water Distribution Center were different.
Last week, countless citizens complained of foul play from employees working at the center. Foul play included: toying with the water prices, opening the water units for some while closing them for others, and favoritism when it came to water coupon and tanker distribution.
A black market in water had also sprung up amid the crisis, with water tanker drivers ditching the people who hand them their coupons (purchased at the nearby window) and running off with a truckload of water to sell at three to four times the price at the distribution center.
“The center employees encouraged us to sell the water on the black market,” said an Asian water tanker driver to a customer who had threatened to file a complaint against him for selling the water on the black market. He said the employees were in on the commission, so to whom should the customer complain?
Consequently the city’s Water Administration changed the entire team of employees at the center since earlier this week.
Indeed, the employees of last week were nowhere to be seen yesterday. Instead a policeman was systematically passing the water coupons to the women and men — in their separate sections — through their coupon windows.
The lines were in motion and there was no human congestion at the windows.
Additionally, the lot where the water trucks were parked was sealed off to the public in order to avoid the chaos and confusion that allowed truck drivers to sneak off with the tankers in order to set up side deals.
. . . . . . . .
In the parking lot, men in uniforms made an effort to facilitate the exchange of the coupons with the water truck drivers as orderly as possible.
Yet under the afternoon sun and heat, their impatience reaching boiling point with their fasting, customers soon began to trample on the organizational efforts. They continuously tried to grab water tankers as they drove toward the customers waiting for it at the beginning of the line.
Soon customers — beginning, mid and end of the lines — were breaking out and fighting with one another.
A security official, his face drenched in sweat that dripped off his face in streamlets, struggled simultaneously with three Saudi men.
A mid-30s Saudi man had broken from the line, hijacked one of the passing water tankers — a 19-ton tanker — and jumped up into the passenger seat in the cab. A second man, also mid-30s, was pulling him down off the seat shouting, “It’s not your turn — get down!”
This is while an elderly late 50s Saudi man stood obstructively in the way of the 19-ton water tanker shouting at driver, passenger and security official “Khafu Allah!” — have the fear of God in all of you! I am an old man!”
Men, waiting for their turns, shouted out their discontent when organizers gave women priority in both l9- and 11-ton lines.
“Aren’t we human too!” shouted a late 30s man as a woman, almost tripping on her abaya, made her way up with her three-year-old son, onto the passenger seat in the cab of the water tanker.
The man’s shout set off a dozen cries of “yalla!” — come on — or “mah yiseer” — this can’t be — bellowing from the men’s side of the lines.
“It’s true, this can’t be”, repeated Umm Fatmah, a Saudi late 50s woman, as her teenage daughter drove off in one of the water tankers sitting beside the driver alone. “There are no more men — how can there be when I’m here at my age and my daughter is sitting beside a stranger alone?”
Umm Fatmah turned toward Muna and said, “Put Allah in your heart and get into the water tanker truck. Don’t let your mother worry.”

Yesterday, the Saudi Water and Electricity Minister announced a whole raft of measures to deal both with the short term water shortages in Jeddah and with the long term water needs of the country. Hopefully, the issue is now closed, there are no more water shortages in Jeddah and the House of Saud will not fall, at least not for a while.

However, the attitude displayed by the brothers of the woman Muna beggers belief. They were unwilling to take her to the Water Distribution Center, yet they were angry with her because they had bent rules and let her go in a taxi!

This is a twenty-something adult women, yet she must have an adult male relative who is her guardian! This view of women is not far from one which leads to things like honour killings!

I really sympathise with the poor people who were struggling to get water. They hadn't eaten or drunk since dawn and temperatures in Riyadh are still arround 40C. Combined with the frustration they must have felt, it is little wonder that some resorted to violence.

However, when I first read the article, I'm afraid that the description of the chaotice scene caused me to laugh out loud. I'm sorry, but I just couldn't help it!

A word about Arab News: this is not the first article of this nature that I've read in Arab News. They write the articles in such a manner that they cause no comment by the censor, yet manage to describe some aspect of Saudi life in a way that will evoke criticism when read by a westerner. Very clever.

abuTrevor

Water Riots in Jeddah!

2006-09-29T14:56:00.000+03:00

Since there are no rivers that run all year in Saudi Arabia, the government has built 30 or more de-salination plants on the shores of the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf [I've always known it as the Persian Gulf, but they prefer you to call it the Arabian Gulf. It's a bit like the French not liking us calling the English Channel by that name.]

There are some artesian wells, but they are not sufficient to provide water for Saudi's growing population. [Growing? - exploding is more like it. They've gone from some 8 million people in the early '80s to an estimated 21 million in 2005. There are also an estimated 5.6 million ex-pats living in Saudi Arabia.]

The Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf are, like the Mediteranean, land-locked bodies of water that are only connected to the oceans by a very narrow channel. They are therefore, naturally much saltier than the open oceans. The effect of huge de-salination plants pumping thousand of gallons of brine every hour into these seas is to excacerbate their natural salinity. Conservationists are concerned that, sooner or later, these seas will become too salty for marine wildlife and an ecological disaster will ensue.

The mains water supply that comes from these de-salination plants is quite brackish. It is suitable for bathing and other household uses, but not for drinking and cooking. In one compound where I lived, most of the taps in the house supplied water from the mains, but the kitchen had an extra tap that provided "sweet water". Sweet water is water that contains hardly any salt and is suitable for drinkling and cooking.

Sweet water is delivered to compounds and appartment blocks by small tanker lorries. The sweet water is obtained either by further de-salination of the mains water or from artesian wells.

Recently however, the supply of water has not met demand. The following article from Arab News does not distinguich carefully between ordiary mains water and sweet water.

Water Crisis Causes Fistfights, Frustration

JEDDAH, 26 September 2006 -- With Ramadan under way, an angry mob -- already frustrated by long queues and fasting -- gathered yesterday at the main water distribution center, located in Jeddah's Aziziya District.
Tensions erupted into fisticuffs last night among some people waiting in queue to get their water tankers after the officials announced that they would stop issuing coupons needed to get water trucks for the day.
"Come back tomorrow," the official told the crowd. The disappointed and angry crowd dispersed to the parking lot where cars were parked in haphazard fashion. Police finally arrived to help direct the traffic.
Water distribution has been in the news in recent weeks because distributors have been discriminating against non-Saudis, who have been told that they must return later in the day after Saudis have been served. Furthermore, Ramadan is a peak season for domestic water consumption as families spend more time at home. A rise in demand for water leads to water cuts in many parts of the city, leaving residents scrambling to obtain a water truck from somewhere in order to fill the tanks in their buildings.
Salman Al-Qahtani said he was standing in the queue since after the Asr prayers.
"There are 400 people in front of me," said Salman Al-Qahtani as he was entering his second hour waiting in line to get a coupon for a water truck.
One angry woman was seen nearby banging with a rock on the locked door of the water distribution office trying to get the attention of somebody with authority.
After several tries, Arab News was able to speak to a person at the media relations department of the water authority, who provided the number of a high ranking official. Several tries to contact this official were unsuccessful as there was no answer.
Police officers say that more than four fistfights were reported yesterday as residents argued about who was first in line.
"I saw three fights before Duhur (noontime) prayers and saw a fourth going on a few minutes ago," said Muslih Al-Fani, resident of the Al-Samr District, east of Makkah highway. "There is no excuse for this confusion."
"We are calling on King Abdullah to fix this major problem," said Mohammed Al-Ulayan, a resident of Al-Basateen District. "This is the second time that I have come this Ramadan. The first time I waited 10 hours."
Al-Ulayan said that the second time round he decided to arrive early and so showed up at the center at 11 a.m. It took him five hours to get a water truck. Local reports say that more than 15 districts in Jeddah have been without water for over a month, sending many of these residents to the black market were -- for a premium fee -- they could have water delivered to their cisterns.
Near the Aziziya distribution center several full tanker trucks were parked: the black market for sweet water isn't far away. A vendor there who didn't want to be named told Arab News the price for a truck delivery was SR500 ($133). The rate at the nearby distribution center is SR115 ($30). This markup is encouraging some truck drivers to simply fill their trucks under the pretense of making a delivery and parking nearby to scalp the water to those willing to pay the price.
Abdul Aziz Ali, a student at the Al-Thagher High School, said most of his classmates are experiencing water shortages at home.
"Today our teacher asked the students suffering from lack of water at their homes to raise their hands. Only two students out of 30 didn't raise their hands," he said.

This could be the beginning of the end for the house of Saud. If the supply of drinking water does not keep up with the rapid growth in population, then I can forsee more and worse rioting This could eventually result in the overthrow of the Saudi monarchy.

Of course, if the house of Saud falls, then it will in all probability be replaced by a theocracy comparable to the rule of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The idea of a Taliban-like regime with their hands on the revenues from Saudi Arabia's vast oil reserves hardly bears thinking about!

abuTrevor

Ramadan in Saudi Arabia

2006-09-27T20:01:00.000+03:00

Since Ramadan started a few days ago, I thought it would be appropriate to say a few words about what it’s like to be in Saudi Arabia during Ramadan. It has, however, turned into quite a long post. It is difficult to convey in only a few words or sentences what this country is like during Ramadan. A westerner who comes to work to Saudi Arabia may, after a few months, think that he is beginning to understand the country. Then comes Ramadan and everything he thinks he knows no longer applies..

The most obvious thing that changes is the opening times of shops and restaurants. Normally, shops open at 8 or 9 p.m. and stay open its time for the noon prayer. They re-open at 4 p.m. and stay open until 10 p.m., apart from two 30 minute breaks for prayer.

The weekend here is Thursday and Friday. I well remember going to the downtown shops one Thursday afternoon, shortly after I'd arrived, and finding them all closed! This is like the shops back home being closed on Saturday afternoon!

Well, you get used to this and then comes Ramadan. During your first Ramadan, you may drive to the shops in time for them to open at 4 p.m., only to find that they have just closed! In Ramadan, shops will open at about 10 a.m. and close at 3 or 4 in the afternoon. They will re-open at 8 p.m. and stay open until midnight or even later. Restaurants may stay open all night!

Just to keep you on your toes, the last prayer is now two hours after sunset instead of 90 minutes after sunset. Did I mention that all shops are required by law to close at prayer time? This would be tolerable if the prayer times were fixed, but they are not. Since the prayer times are related to the Sun, they move about with the seasons. The last two prayer times, for instance, are at sunset and 90 minutes after sunset. At certain times of the year these prayer times can change by several minutes a day, so it’s easy to loose track. The annoyance of driving to a shop or supermarket and finding that it has just closed for prayer is something that you just have to get used to.

It is easier to understand what's going on in Ramadan if you know what the locals are doing. They are abstaining from eating, drinking and smoking from dawn to dusk, as are all the non-Saudi Muslims. In fact, it is against the law here for anyone to eat, drink or smoke in a public place - that includes offices – during the hours of daylight. You can be arrested and will probably be deported if you are caught breaking this law.

It used to be that companies had a special "Ramadan room" where non-muslims could eat and drink out of sight of the fasting Muslims. With increased Saudization this practice seems to have disappeared. Fortunately,I live near enough to where I work to be able to go home for lunch.

Another feature of Ramadan I want to mention is due to the Hijra calendar. The Hijra year is about 11 days shorter that the solar year. Ramadan, and all other Islamic festivals, thus occurs approximately 11 days earlier every year. Over the past few years Ramadan has fallen during either the winter or late autumn. However, this year it has started during September when temperatures still reach over 40C. In the next few years Ramadan will move progressively into the hotter months of summer.

Many manual workers who work outdoors in Saudi are recruited from the Indian subcontinent. The hardships for anyone working outside during these months and who is forbidden to eat or drink, hardly needs to be stated.

Having fasted all day, the Saudis and the other Muslims may have a small snack at sunset just before performing their prayers. They then have a special meal called "Iftar" (literally "breakfast"). This is often a huge banquet shared with friends and family. Most companies will arrange an Iftar for employees and clients at least once during Ramadan - a bit like UK companies organizing a Christmas dinner for their employees. Now you see why last prayer is delayed by 30 minutes during Ramadan - it's to allow more time for the Iftar meal.

Another thing you become aware of during Ramadan is how dangerous it is to be on the roads just before sunset. Anyone who isn't already home is hurrying to get there in time for Iftar. You can imagine that many drivers, having fasted all day, are beginning to feel a bit light headed. Coupled with the urgency to get home and a growing disregard for traffic signals as sunset approaches, this makes the roads extremely dangerous.

It is understandable, given the heat of the day, that many Saudi tend to shop and socialize during the evening hours. This tendency is enhanced during Ramadan when wives and children will sleep as much as possible during the day. They then stay up most of the night, shopping, eating and socializing with friends and family. This, however, is tough on those who have to go to work or school the next day. Offices, shops and other workplaces will start work later (9 or 10 a.m. instead of 7 or 8 a.m.) and will close earlier. Nevertheless, it is noticeable that the efficiency of any Saudi worker gradually decreases during Ramadan until, by the end, he's almost a zombie.

How much this affects the Saudi economy can hardly be guessed at. And how much a Saudi child learns at school during Ramadan is also very questionable.

Finally, I want to mention that Islam has many exemptions to the rules of fasting, e.g. children, nursing mothers and the sick. They are, however, applied far more liberally in other Muslim countries, or so I am told. Also, much more consideration is given to non-Muslims in countries such as Egypt. where you will find some restaurants open during the day so that non-Muslims can eat.

abuTrevor

A Cure for Diabetes and a Forced Marriage?

2006-09-26T17:44:00.000+03:00

Saudi Arabia has (to my knowledge) two english language newspapers: "Arab News" and "The Saudi Gazette".

The Arab News is nicknamed the "Green Truth" - "green" because the outer sheet is printed on green paper. The "truth" bit is sarcasm; it refers to the censorship imposed on the media by the Saudi government. Of late, however, I believe that I've noticed a slight relaxation in this censorship and a willingness by Arab News to print articles that are slightly critical of at least the Saudi way of life, if not the government.

Let's leave this sidetrack and move on to the main issue of this post. Two days ago, Arab News published the following short article on it's back page:-

Man Gets Bride by 'Curing' Diabetes

Arab News 24/9/06

JEDDAH - An elderly man in Renya was so ecstatic in his belief that another man had cured his diabetes with an herbal remedy that he offered the medicine man a gift: His daughter. Now the medicine man is off on a honeymoon, and for the time being isn't able to offer his patients a cure that all the science in the world has been unable to discover, but is allegedly locked a secret herbal recipe "discovered" by one man in Jeddah, the daily AI- Madinah reported yesterday. Great! So as soon as the man returns from his honeymoon, Ministry of Health officials should pay him a visit so that Saudi Arabia can give to the world a cure that has so far eluded the brainpower of the world's scientific community. (Either that, or the old man should go immediately to a hospital before he dies believing that his potentially fatal blood sugar condition has been cured.)

Despite the jocular tone taken by the reporter, there is a serious issue here - how did the daughter feel about being married off to this quack? How did she feel when her father came home and said "Wonderful news! This clever man has cured my diabetes amd I want you to marry him"? Did she think to herself "This man who has cured my father is so wonderful that I want to marry him" or was she perhaps forced by her father to marry him?

Back in April last year the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh issued a fatwa saying that forced marriages were un-islamic and that fathers who force daugthers into unwanted marriages should be imprisoned. A CBS report on this item said:-

The high number of forced marriages is believed to be the main reason behind the sharp increase in divorce. According to Saudi newspapers, about half of all marriages end in divorce.

Now anyone who has lived in the Middle East knows that appearance is much more important than the reality. Despite the fatwa issued last year, I strongly suspect that forced marriages are still a fact of life for many youbng women in Saudi Arabia, especially in small towns and villages away from the large cities.

abuTrevor

What's it like in Saudi Arabia?

2006-09-26T17:11:00.000+03:00

Welcome to my Blog!

I'll use my first post to explain why I'm writing this blog. Occaisionally, when I'm back home in Blighty, I get asked "What's it like in Saudi Arabia?" At first I was left speechless by this question; it's very difficult to describe how stange some aspects of this country are to a westerner. Later I would reply with another question: "How many hours have you got?" This, I hoped, would give the (correct) impression that Saudi Arabia is very different to anything they are used to and it would take several hours to answer their question.

This blog is an attempt to take the answer to the question above a little further.

Many times in the years I've been here I've personally experienced events, or heard from friends about events, or read in the local press about events, that would help to give someone who doesn't know Saudi Arabia, some idea of how different this country is. From now on, as I come accress such events, I will be able to record them here.

Of course, I'm an opinionated so-and-so or I wouldn't be arrogant enough to think that people might want to read something that I've written. So, from time-to-time, I will take the opportunity to express my opinion on some World event that I feel strongly about.

I do hope you will continue to read my blog.

Regards,
abuTrevor