Raven'z Reflektionz

What's happening these days

2010-11-04T02:59:00.002-05:00

Blogging from the office on a Thursday, didn't think that was going to happen working in the Semi-Government sector.. I was wrong.

It isn't that bad, it's easier to get things done when you don't have random emails, boss, and requests coming at you whenever you start focusing on a task.

Another reason is heading to the Celebration of Entrepreneurship conference later this week in Dubai. It should be nice to check out: www.abraaj.com/celebration.

Please come say hi if you see me there.

Other than that, I hate the graduate school application process and wish my life would fast forward (positively) and I had control over my weekends and free time.

Too many extracurriculars popping up and I really wanna do all of them.

Let's see how well I can manage my time.

I'm a bit more active on twitter since it's synced on my phone so feel free to submit a follower request if you look me up: "yamenalhajjar"

Y7

Saudi Aramco "Weekly Caravan" Profile Piece on Yours Truly

2009-07-16T21:59:00.002-05:00

Dear Readers,

It has been a while since I posted something, so I thought I would share something that came out last Tuesday in the Saudi Aramco Weekly Caravan publication. Every week the "Malame7" or Features column highlights 3 employees in the company from different fields and shares some of their achievements with the readership.

I was fortunate enough to get published this last week.

Let me know what you think!

Best,

RvN

Daily Free Press Articles

2009-07-04T01:35:00.002-05:00

Good Morning Dear Readers,

I compiled some of my old articles, both written by me, or about me from Boston University's Daily Free Press. It's interesting to see these things 2+ years after graduating..

1- http://www.dailyfreepress.com/2.5466/letters-to-the-editor-positive-view-of-the-country-is-a-welcome-change-1.924096

2- http://www.dailyfreepress.com/2.8013/comments-on-sufia-khalid-s-piece-titled-saudi-arabia-a-world-away-but-not-that-far-1.924117

3- http://www.dailyfreepress.com/2.5466/hariri-more-than-trustee-1.928972

4- http://www.dailyfreepress.com/news/registration-business-fills-openings-1.930500

Let me know your thoughts, if any! :)

Y7

The Saudi Debate Society is Newsworthy

2009-06-30T23:58:00.003-05:00

Monday, July 7, 2008 at 10:39am | Edit Note | Delete
http://arabnews.com/?page=9§ion=0&article=111576&d=7&m=7&y=2008

Mobilizing opinion through Facebook
Laura Bashraheel | Arab News

LET’S TALK IT OVER: The Saudi Debate Society group was created by Yamen Al-Hajjar, a 24-year-old Boston University graduate who works for Saudi Aramco.

Facebook has grown very rapidly and has become more than just a social networking website. It is also a site for the unrestricted discussion of a range of social issues. Through creating social groups in Facebook, Saudi youth are free to express different opinions, attitudes and points of view in a more open and informal way. In addition, communication through an entity such as Facebook is important for doing away with misconceptions.

Yamen Al-Hajjar, a 24-year-old Boston University graduate who works for Saudi Aramco as a financial analyst, has created a group called the Saudi Debate Society on Facebook. “I created the group to serve as a catalyst for Saudi youth to discuss important issues which impact upon their lives and for them to take an active stance in improving society for the better,” said Al-Hajjar.

When he was in college, he used to meet weekly with a group of friends to discuss what could be done to improve Saudi Arabia after they graduated and returned to the Kingdom.

“Other than discussions, I wanted to go a step further and work with a group of like-minded Saudis in order to serve the community and raise funds for the less fortunate members of our society,” he said.

Addressing negative thinking and negative behavior was a common theme for Al-Hajjar. “Our goal wasn’t to complain and blame certain individuals or offices but rather to try to work with them in order to benefit society,” he explained.

The main question, however, is would the groups have an impact and would their voices be heard. “Group discussions make a difference even if the changes sought will take time and are slow,” he said. He believes that group discussions stimulate the mind because one is constantly trying to prove a certain point in the presence of other talented individuals.

“We have many areas needing improvement in our society,” said Al-Hajjar. “Many young Saudis would like to dispel the negative myths about their country. That will only happen if youth joins together and proves to the world that we are not all destructive extremists. Rather that we are smart, talented, and accepting individuals and our religious beliefs teach us to live in peace,” he said.

The group’s current project is a youth-based blood donation drive that will not only raise awareness about the benefits of blood donation but also gather a large number of volunteers to support hospitals and medical centers.

With the number of users at more than 63 million, Facebook is believed to be as active a tool as any in the media. “I believe it is critical to capitalize on such an important tool and try to benefit from the features it offers instead of using it only for fun or in negative ways,” said Al-Hajjar. “We have to start somewhere to create change; if our generation doesn’t take a strong leadership position now, we will not progress and compete with the world’s nations,” said Al-Hajjar.

Mohammed Al-Khereiji, a 24-year-old Jeddah-based student, is behind the creation of Saudi Mentality Group. He wants to bring to people’s notice how society is changing rapidly and how values are being lost. “Corruption and the loss of morals have always been around everywhere, but in the past six years, Saudi society has changed in much more rapid and alarming ways,” said Al-Khereiji. He believes that people can benefit greatly from learning about other people’s perspectives and points of view instead of sticking to the mind-set they were raised to believe in. He also said that one of the group’s goals is to show young people how they can have a happy active and fun-filled life and still maintain their Islamic and Arab identity.

Facebook is not tied to a certain social group, age or sex. Having both a mixture and a wide exposure, many believe that it is a positive step in the direction of change. “I think that exposing narrow-minded people to other ideas and opinions can change and improve them,” said Al-Khereiji.

He agrees with Al-Hajjar about the changes Facebook can bring about. “I can’t honestly say what the effect of Facebook is on our society because of the sheer number of people who use it. But I know for a fact that it can have a wonderful positive effect if it is used correctly,” he added.

Are YOU a CONNECTOR?

2009-06-30T23:18:00.000-05:00

I've always loved Malcolm Gladwell, ever since I read Blink.. this one is from the tipping point.. I highly recommend outliers which i'm halfway thru at this point and it's fantabulous..

Y7
_________________________________________________

Are you a connector?
In Chapter Two, I talk about the central role that three personality types--that I call Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen-- play in social epidemics. In this excerpt, I describe a simple test that anyone can take to tell whether they fall into the first of those categories, the Connector.

What makes someone a Connector? The first--and most obvious--criterion is that Connectors know lots of people. They are the kinds of people who know everyone. All of us know someone like this. But I don't think that we spend a lot of time thinking about the importance of these kinds of people. I'm not even sure that most of us really believe that the kind of person who knows everyone really knows everyone. But they do. There is a simple way to show this. In the paragraph below is a list of around 250 surnames, all taken at random from the Manhattan phone book. Go down the list and give yourself a point every time you see a surname that is shared by someone you know. (The definition of "know" here is very broad. It is if you sat down next to that person on a train, you would know their name if they introduced themselves to you, and they would know your name.) Multiple names count. If the name is Johnson, in other words, and you know three Johnsons, you get three points. The idea is that your score on this test should roughly represent how social you are. It's a simple way of estimating how many friends and acquaintances you have.

Algazi, Alvarez, Alpern, Ametrano, Andrews, Aran, Arnstein, Ashford, Bailey Ballout, Bamberger, Baptista, Barr, Barrows, Baskerville, Bassiri, Bell, Bokgese, Brandao, Bravo, Brooke, Brightman, Billy, Blau, Bohen, Bohn, Borsuk, Brendle, Butler, Calle, Cantwell, Carrell, Chinlund, Cirker, Cohen, Collas, Couch, Callegher, Calcaterra, Cook, Carey, Cassell, Chen, Chung, Clarke, Cohn, Carton, Crowley, Curbelo, Dellamanna, Diaz, Dirar, Duncan, Dagostino, Delakas, Dillon, Donaghey, Daly, Dawson, Edery, Ellis, Elliott, Eastman, Easton, Famous, Fermin, Fialco, Finklestein, Farber, Falkin, Feinman, Friedman, Gardner, Gelpi, Glascock, Grandfield, Greenbaum Greenwood, Gruber, Garil, Goff, Gladwell, Greenup, Gannon, Ganshaw, Garcia, Gennis, Gerard, Gericke, Gilbert, Glassman, Glazer, Gomendio, Gonzalez, Greenstein, Guglielmo, Gurman, Haberkorn, Hoskins, Hussein, Hamm, Hardwick, Harrell, Hauptman, Hawkins, Henderson, Hayman, Hibara, Hehmann, Herbst, Hedges, Hogan, Hoffman, Horowitz, Hsu, Huber, Ikiz, Jaroschy, Johann, Jacobs, Jara, Johnson, Kassel, Keegan, Kuroda, Kavanau, Keller, Kevill, Kiew, Kimbrough, Kline, Kossoff, Kotzitzky, Kahn, Kiesler, Kosser, Korte, Leibowitz, Lin, Liu, Lowrance, Lundh, Laux, Leifer, Leung, Levine, Leiw, Lockwood, Logrono, Lohnes, Lowet, Laber, Leonardi, Marten, McLean, Michaels, Miranda, Moy, Marin, Muir, Murphy, Marodon, Matos, Mendoza, Muraki, Neck, Needham, Noboa, Null, O'Flynn, O'Neill, Orlowski, Perkins, Pieper, Pierre, Pons, Pruska, Paulino, Popper, Potter, Purpura, Palma, Perez, Portocarrero, Punwasi, Rader, Rankin, Ray, Reyes, Richardson, Ritter, Roos, Rose, Rosenfeld, Roth, Rutherford, Rustin, Ramos, Regan, Reisman, Renkert, Roberts, Rowan, Rene, Rosario, Rothbart, Saperstein, Schoenbrod, Schwed, Sears, Statosky, Sutphen, Sheehy, Silverton, Silverman, Silverstein, Sklar, Slotkin, Speros, Stollman, Sadowski, Schles, Shapiro, Sigdel, Snow, Spencer, Steinkol, Stewart, Stires, Stopnik, Stonehill, Tayss, Tilney, Temple, Torfield, Townsend, Trimpin, Turchin, Villa, Vasillov, Voda, Waring, Weber, Weinstein, Wang, Wegimont, Weed, Weishaus.

I have given this test to at least a dozen groups of people. One was a freshman World Civilizations class at City College in Manhattan. The students were all in their late teens or early twenties, many of them recent immigrants to American, of middle and lower income. The average score in that class was 20.96, meaning that the average person in the class knew 21 people with the same last names as the people on my list. I also gave the test to a group of health educators and academics at a conference in Princeton New Jersey. This group was mostly in their 40's and 50's, largely white, highly educated--many had PhD's--and predominatly upper income. Their average score was 39. Then I gave the test to a relatively random sample of my friends and acquaintances, mostly journalists and professionals in their late 20's and 30's. The average score was 41. These results shouldn't be all that surprising. College students don't have as wide a circle of acquaintances as people in their 40's. It makes sense that between the age of 20 and 40 the number of people you know should roughly double, and that upper-income professionals should know more people than lower-income immigrants. In every group there was also quite a range between the highest and the lowest-scorers. That makes sense too, I think. Real estate salesmen know more people than computer hackers. What was surprising, though, was how enormous that range was. In the college class, the low score was 2 and the high score was 95. In my random sample, the low score was 9 and the high score was 118. Even at the conference in Princeton, which was a highly homogenous group of people of similar age, education and income--who were all, with a few exceptions, in the same profession--the range was enormous. The lowest score was 16. The highest score was 108. All told, I have given the test to about 400 people. Of those, there were two dozen or so scores under 20, and eight over 90, and four more over 100. The other surprising thing is that I found high scorers in every social group I looked at. The scores of the students at City College were less, on average, than adult scores. But even in that group there are people whose social circle is four or five times the size of other people's. Sprinkled among every walk of life, in other words, are a handful of people with a truly extraordinary knack of making friends and acquaintances. They are Connectors.
_________________________________

What are you thoughts?

Raven's Resurrection Post: "Myopia"

2009-06-30T23:04:00.002-05:00

My thoughts have been revolving around myopia, i.e. gu9r nather i.e. near-sightedness, in layman terms not seeing what is available around you because your paradigm is fixated on a very negative outlook on the world.

Now this can apply to anything and everything quite literally, be it religion, job opportunities, charity/community work, and even family/spousal relationships.

In many philosophies, the mere act of being "open" and "effectively listening" to something opens doors to things you could never think possible had you confined yourself to the mentality of life as usual, or even worse negativity, thus shunning all and every possible exits to the status quo.

On a personal note, this has happened to me a lot in the work context. I have a tendency to shoot myself in the foot and play victim when i'm disgruntled with something. Especially if I feel like I don't have control over the situation.

The important take-away is that who EVER has control of a situation? Having complete control is quite rare, and in any case you don't really step out of your comfort zone as you are probably just following routine, and it's not a special situation. I have the tendency to be very moody with bosses and professors. If the individual doesn't do enough to command my respect, I find my time in that context useless. Now this isn't a stance of arrogance, rather it is one in which I am not happy with how the person manages the team, or deals in the classroom. This would also be the case in which attempts have been made from myself and others to try to remedy the matter with no success and the dreaded cycle keeps turning.

I recall an economics course in college in which I got the lowest grade in college, a C-. Now I am definitely to blame, since such a low grade is largely attributed to my resentment of the professor, who by and large did not lack qualification. He was an advisor to Clinton and was overqualified with 2-3 ivy leagues sprinkled into his life work.

What really pissed me off was the fact that he was teaching introductory macroeconomics using 2nd/3rd degree calculus to an audience that didn't have a math background, and/or NEVER took any calculus. Now I had done calculus, but applying to economics is slightly different from the applications we were used to, so it was a stretch even for a "math-inclined" guy like me.

NOt to bore you further with this story, but my "Myopic" outlook on the situation was that this guy was useless, thus deserved no time to his course, so I just allocated time to the rest of my workload. It hit me in the end, and that semester was probably my worst.

Other examples include working for incompetent bosses who gain their positions by "being around" and are fortunate enough to be somewhat qualified when the next old-timer retires. I'm afriad of the escalation in this trend as we hit the mega-retirement boom by 2013. I don't even know what to expect.. but many people are getting ready for some promotions.. whether or not they actually deserve them.

In the end, I realized that my outlook on both situations, though still strongly ingrained in my belief system, could have been a bit more optimistic and positive like my usual nature had I tried to shift my paradigm (as per my 7 habits training) to a more positive outlook and being proactive and making the most of the situation while dealing with other priorities..

My last example is of friends I have that told me how this myopia occurred in their love lives. It kind of relates to maturity and/or choosing your future husband/wife, in my case it would be with male friends, thus in the selection of a wife.

Now stereotypically everyone likes attractive people, the media and society do a good job of planting it in our heads, and reactions to coming into contact with "beautiful" people are contagious even though some might not think that X person was "attractive" to start with, but wanting to conform to the group norm, he shrugs and says "yeah she's pretty hot".

Dragging this into the marriage context, optimally every guy wants to marry a model-like trophy wife princess that also cooks, is educated and meets his values and is great with kids etc.

Sadly all of these together rarely exist, rather it is a stereotype that more attractive girls are higher maintenance as they have been pampered their entire lives which at some point hits their value system in many cases and takes them away from decency to a toy for the public eye, or to anyone that can afford to keep pleasing them. This would be the "princess" category, category 1.

Now, as young crazy men mature, and they might actually care more about their future, a more mature and stable woman tends to make more sense. Especially when the intention is to raise a family, or have someone help you live thru a decent budget and build a future with, not drain your bank account or your dad's for that matter (to the less affluent ones) to keep her smothered in Vuitton, Gucci, and Manolo Blahniks. So this more mature and stable woman, would probably be a bit more conservative, possibly less attractive than category 1 but not necessarily, and probably less superficial, thus providing peace of mind and a better fit to many. This would qualify as category 2.

During the college years, when relationships and commitment were more in the short-term and few young men are looking at settling down just yet, as investing for the long-term be it in people or money is a foreign concept to those that want to "live the moment." Thus young Tim/Mohammad would focus all his energy on "Category 1" and trying to score big time for social pressures as well and to prove to his brethren that he is a "player," "good with girls," and a "smooth-talker."

This same Tim/Mohammad may have 20 "Category 2" girls in his bubble, but he wouldn't notice them, as they aren't as superficial and or self-consumed as "Category 1", thus Tim/Mohammad would be MYOPIC and only look at the short term and near-sighted span of vision.

Now as this young fellow approaches his junior year and looks at the real world and ascending the corporate ladder and the future, probably having gone through 1-5 "Category 1" relationships since they typically don't last long as they haven't been established on any real values, just a random interaction and/or "hook-up", "fling", or quick arranged marriage that hasn't been given time to be tested thru a long engagement/milkah period that allows for a real-life simulation of the relationship before committing long-term (sometimes due to a family's rush to have their poor son hitched ASAP to save him from the evils of the world by marrying him to the first cousin they can think of, whether or not they are compatible and not taking into mind that mixing family and marriage, is like mixing family and business, can go really well, or ruin relationships for life!)

Back to our young disciple Timmy/Mohammad, during his interaction with "C1" he also had several "C2" counterparts in different contexts that offered him advice on his C1 relationships. Often with the C2 being very fond of Tim/Mo but not fitting his outlook b/c he's only nearsighted and not looking at the true quality of woman he is encountering. In many cases it takes a failure or two with C1s to realize that what he is really looking for is a C2 (a mother/wife type and not a trophy bimbo type), and that this person was right under his bloody nose!

This realization might take a long time to happen, but once it occurs, then a true relationship can be built, assuming of course that the C2 woman will live up to her reputation of being a more motherly and stable candidate. This description isn't meant to undermine C2's as many are just as attractive if not more attractive and fashion-sensitive as C1s, the difference is she wouldn't flaunt it, she would be a tad more conservative and expose natural beauty thru her reservation and femininity thru her aversion to men. Not a push-up and g-string kind of person, rather a person you would be comfortable with mothering your children, and holding down the fort when you're out providing for them.

Back to Myopia. To put it simple, BEWARE. Only when you exit full circle do you realize how Myopic or even blind you were. So be very aware of your surroundings, especially the C2s in the midst as many of them could be a potential soul mate. And in the work and college context, don't miss out on experiences that will change your life because you're too caught up on what professor X gave you on a test or Boss Y's stupid assignment that won't add value to the organization, but you have to do anyway..

Because in the end it's your outlook, perspective, and paradigm that will shape your future situation, not X, Y, or Z for that matter.

Y7
@ 1:56 AM, Saturday, June 27th, 2009

* In relationships I also mean marriages that don't last long since they are built on shallow values and not the pure intention to build the future. I am not condoning extra-marital affairs, i'm taking the concept back to the original interaction between any male and female regardless of gender, background, religion and race.

** I'm actually Myopic in eyesight terms and have been using contact lenses for a long time, thus whether I like it or not, a certain vision paradigm is forced upon me. I have learned to resist it, but every now and then things get foggy :)

I'm done here

2007-05-23T10:18:00.002-05:00

Well peeps, this was fun, I have other things that are occupying my time better.

Keep in touch, i'm sure i'll love the comments.

Love ya guys,

All the best..

RvN

GRADUATE

2007-05-23T10:18:00.001-05:00

So I graduated from college..

WOOHOOO..

RvN

Masks

2007-02-16T06:42:00.000-05:00

Fake fake fake..

That's what they are

Their ingenuine smiles cajoling

Guaranteeing to you that everything is fine and dandy

Yet you turn away for a moment and they don't hesitate to bury their fangs into your flesh

Chewing through you like they were on a mission

Digging deeper until they scrape the surface of your soul

And as you turn back the masks are donned again and the purest of intentions are portrayed

What else is expected from a mask?

More than a vehicle to conceal true feelings

And hide what truly is

As the days and nights advance

The masks will crack to reveal what lies beneath

And agony it may cause indeed

But the awful truth is a coveted friend

Till the sun from the west arise and veritas prevails

'tis the day that I await
___________________________
5. Therefore do thou hold Patience,- a Patience of beautiful (contentment).
6. They see the (Day) indeed as a far-off (event):
7. But We see it (quite) near.
8. The Day that the sky will be like molten brass,
9. And the mountains will be like wool,
10. And no friend will ask after a friend

Surah 70. The Ascending Stairways, Staircases Upward, Sckeptic (AlMa3arej)

فَاصْبِرْ صَبْرًا جَمِيلًا {5}
إِنَّهُمْ يَرَوْنَهُ بَعِيدًا {6}
وَنَرَاهُ قَرِيبًا {7}
يَوْمَ تَكُونُ السَّمَاء كَالْمُهْلِ {8}
وَتَكُونُ الْجِبَالُ كَالْعِهْنِ {9}
وَلَا يَسْأَلُ حَمِيمٌ حَمِيمًا {10}

I'M BACK

2007-01-27T09:47:00.000-05:00

Salaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam ppl,

Yes, you can stop rubbing your eyes in disbelief, I am indeed posting a new entry on my blog..

Reasons I've been away, well, let's just say I fell into the "I only feel like blogging if I think it's worth it" mode, and I could totally see what people I've criticized for not blogging as much meant or were going through..

Since then, life has been somewhat fun, somewhat ble3333.. I may not have been posting, but have been reading a lot of blogs (a lot of new talent, or maybe not talent but people I'm somewhat addicted to reading on a pseudo-daily basis).

Another reason is due to my being a senior, and mixed feelings about moving back home vs. staying here, and entering the "real world" post-graduation this summer..

I did have something to share, a good friend of mine, who I believe is EXTREMELY talented has made a site (which I just discovered) and I thought it was worth checking out: http://www.mustafaabbas.com

He's a talented writer, film director, photographer, and poet, to say the least about him, and such a great person overall ma sha Allah.

Other thoughts?

Well, I think the UmmahFilms site is noice, season 1 is complete, and season 2 has a couple of episodes out..

Also, I've been dealing with a "Prison Break" addiction and I can't wait for Monday's episode coz it's getting VERY interesting, I've watched all of Lost so far, and I still think it's my favorite (it maybe be because I watched the first 2 seasons in about 3 days :P), i'm psyched about the 2nd part of season 3 coz apparently it's much better than the first half (which was mostly crap in my opinion).

I also watched first two seasons of 24 which were interesting, and very cliffhangery very similar to the other two shows.

I'm curious what you guys think is the best out of the 3, Lost, Prison Break, 24 (please feel free to enlighten me in case there's something better than the 3 that you like as I'm always in the market for addictive tv shows).

There's also an old show called "The Pretender", which is out on DVD, I would HIGHLY recommend this, it used to air on Star Plus back in the day and some other channels. The plot may slow down some times, but I assure you you'll be wanting more as you get into it.

Good luck to munta5abna in what's left in Kas al5aleej, I haven't been watching any games, but I get the updates from the guys..

I'll end on that note, as I don't want to overdo it in my first post and be flamed with incoherence, or bloggerhea..

P.S. as Diddy would say, it's "Good to be Back"..

RvN

Dubai in the fog..

2006-10-17T09:15:00.000-05:00

I wanted to share these incredible pictures of Dubai skyscrapers, taken from the 33rd floor of the Emirates Towers..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/our_dubai_property_investment/sets/1531412/

RvN

New Tag: DO IT

2006-10-09T11:42:00.000-05:00

So I was tagged by Master OT..

Last birthday? June 8th
Last meal? Ma3mool + water for so7oor
Last spending splurge? My new digital camera i think
Last time you cried? It's been a while..
Last website visited? youtube.com
Last person you spoke to? My roommate at dawn while writing a last minute paper
Last song you listened to? Low rider
Last book you read? Blink
Last TV show watched? Whose line is it anyway?
Last person you IM’d? Omar from omar'z world
Last word you said? very true (discussing iftar options)

I tag everyone on my blogroll and anyone that feels like sharing in this blessed month :P

RvN

Something is wrong.. (Arabic thought piece)

2006-10-09T10:54:00.000-05:00

Salam All,

I hope Ramadhan is going well for all of you.. ours here in Boston is going well alhamdulilah. We usually have iftar in a big group so it makes it worthwhile. Nothing like home though. I also can't believe we're almost halfway done.. It goes by so fast and you realize you really haven't done as much stuff as you intended to... I hope we manage to utilize what's left..

The famous former blogger Faroo7a sent me this and I thought I would share it with you guys because it definitely made me think.. your thoughts on the matter would also be much appreciated.

* My apologies for english-only readers for this piece is in Arabic *

Enjoy..
________________________________

كتب الأستاذ / نجيب عبد الرحمن الزامل ، في صحيفة " الإقتصادية " ، عدد يوم الاثنين 4/9/2006م

عندما تجد أن أشياء تحدث، وكان يجب ألا تحدث فهناك خطأ؟

- عندما يُهان السعودي في أكثر من مكان، خاصة في المطارات واستصدار التأشيرات، والظلم الواضح في تطبيق العدالة في الخارج، فهناك خطأ.

- عندما يكون الفرد مهما جدا عند حكومة أي دولة لدرجة أنها مستعدة أن تحرك كل طاقاتها الإعلامية والاقتصادية والسياسة، من أجل مساعدة وإغاثة وتحرير وتخليص مواطن واحد من مواطنيها في دولة أخرى، ونحن لا نستطيع ذلك، أو أنهم لا يحققون لنا ذلك، فهناك خطأ.

- إن كانت مدننا تقل نظافة وتفتقر صيانة كل يوم فهناك خطأ.

- إن ذهبت لكل مدن الخليج من الكويت إلى صلالة ووجدت أنها أنظف وأرتب وأنظم من مدننا (السابقة لها في التاريخ والتنظيم) فهناك خطأ.

- إن صار في أكثر من منطقة تقدما واضحا في المناطق الحرة والتطبيقات المرنة والقوة الإغرائية لجلب الأموال إليها، ولم نستطع نحن أن نفعل ذلك وبالوتيرة نفسها، إن لم تكن أفضل، فهناك خطأ.

- إن صرنا نريد أن نطبق أي شيء بسرعة وعجلة ونصفق لأي قرار من مسؤول دون بحث العواقب، ولا وضع أدوات لقياس قوة تطبيق وفعالية ونجاح القرار، فهناك خطأ.

- إن صار في كل حي في البحرين جامعة، وفي كل منعطف في الدوحة القطرية جامعة، وتوقف إمارة مثل الشارقة كل مقدراتها لتكون بيئة جامعية بالكامل، ثم تمتلئ هذه الجامعات بتلاميذ وتلميذات سعوديات، وبأموال سعودية (طبيعي!) فهناك خطأ.

- إن كانت الصيانة في شوارع الكويت وجاراتها وفي البحرين وفي أبو ظبي وفي مسقط قائمة بجدولة مقننة، ولا تجد أن الصيانة شيئا معتبرا في شوارعنا، فهناك خطأ.

- متى ما كان على مسافرة سعودية أو مسافر سعودي عن طريق البر، أن يضغط على نفسه وهو في حاجة لتلبية النداء الحيوي الطبيعي للتخلص من إفرازات العمل الحيوي داخله حتى يصل أو تصل إلى أقرب دورة مياه في الطريق الإماراتي، لأن دورات المياه في الطرق البرية هناك بمنتهى النظافة ووفرة التموين، بينما دورات المياه على طرقنا تعافها السائمة، فهناك خطـأ.

- إن كانت عندنا أكبر شركة بترول في العالم، ولا تخصص صناديق لدعم العمل الإنساني الخيري، كما تفعل مؤسسة عائلية هي مؤسسة جيت وزوجته للعمل الإنساني في كل الأرض، فهناك خطأ.

- إن كانت تجهيزاتنا الأساسية خصوصا الطاقة الكهربائية لا تستطيع أن تواكب التوسع المخطط له، الذي نحلم به فتحترق فيوزاتها من أول خطوة توسع فهناك خطأ.

- إن كثرت الأخطاء الطبية، وكثر النقص في أدوية مستشفياتنا العامة، وضاعت الأنظمة الصحية بين المهنة التجارية والمعنى الإنساني للطب فهناك خطأ.

- إن تهالكت مدارسنا، وتساقطت أبوابها، ومضى عليها الزمن عقودا طوالا دون فحص وقائي واحد، فهناك خطأ.

- إن صارت الفصول الدراسية تغص بالطلبة بأكثر من المعدل المطلوب علميا وعالميا بكثير، فهناك خطأ.

- إن زادت دورة الريال المفقودة إنتاجيا في الأسهم والإيرادات والتراكم في البنوك فهناك خطأ.

- عندما نخاف الصراحة، ونتجنب المكاشفة، ويكثر التزلف والنفاق وتغميض العيون والقلوب والضمائر عن الفساد وقلة الاكتراث وغياب الوازع، ويكون البحث عن المجد الشخصي مباركا من الناس، فهناك خطأ!

- عندما يكون لنا خط في الشمال والشرق يربطنا مع دول مجاورة ومتروك بلا تطوير ويكون مصيدة للموت، فهناك خطأ.

- عندما تموت الطبيعة، ويتلوث الهواء، ويكثر ردم المخلفات الخطرة وننثر السموم، فهناك خطأ.

- عندما نقلل فرص تطور الأعمال بوضع اللوم كله على جانب واحد من قطاعات الأمة ثم نذهب لنتغدى وننام.. فهناك خطأ.

- عندما تشيب فجأة مدينة مثل جدة، كان المفروض أن نباهي بها العالم فهناك خطأ.

- عندما تمر الطائرات فوق رؤوسنا وفي مجالنا الجوي ومعبأة بالركاب السعوديين أو المقيمين في البلاد من مطارات أخرى، فهناك خطأ.

- عندما يتوقف التطور في موانئنا وتزدهر في دبي والكويت وقطر والبحرين بعد أن كانت من أفضل موانئ آسيا، فهناك خطأ.

- عندما تدور الأموال وتتفاقم الثروات بالطرق الضيقة وبالقوة المباشرة، وتمتنع بذات النسبة والقوة عن بقية الناس فهناك خطأ.

- إن كنا لا نقيس تطورنا مقارنة بالآخرين، ونقتصر على الإشادات الرسمية والصحافية المنشـّاة أو المطلوب منها أن تفعل كنشرة رسمية باهتة فهناك خطأ.

- عندما يزيد الدخل من البترول، ويقف مئات من طالبي الوظيفة أمام طلب لوظيفة متواضعة واحدة، فهناك خطأ.

- عندما تغيب الموضوعية، والاختيار العادل للمناصب المهمة المتعلقة بتطوير قدرات الأمة، وتغيب الحكمة، وتغيب الشجاعة والمصارحة والنصيحة الخالصة فهناك خطأ.

- من يعلم بكل ذلك.. ثم يكمل حياته وكأن الأمور في مسارها الطبيعي.. فهنا أكبر الأخطاء.

.. إن لم يظهر هذا المقال فهناك خطأ، وإن خرج المقال أرجو ألا يكون قد خرج عن طريق الخطأ!

________________________________

RvN

For Google-like meeting efficiency

2006-09-30T11:50:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem: In the Name of Allah The Most Beneficient The Most Merciful
____________________________________________________________

Here are some tips to more effectively run meetings, from the company that changed how we get our information: GOOGLE

http://yahoo.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/sep2006/sb20060927_259688.htm

RvN

Ramadhan Mubarak!

2006-09-24T09:58:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem: In the Name of Allah The Most Beneficient The Most Merciful
____________________________________________________________

Dear Readers,

I apologize for the limited posts these days, but school has had somewhat of a burden on my blogging activities.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone observing the holy month of Ramadhan a blessed Ramadhan full of forgiveness and happiness.. May Allah accept all your deeds and bless you and your families in this special month.

RvN

Back to School + article

2006-09-07T09:34:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem: In the Name of Allah The Most Beneficient The Most Merciful
____________________________________________________________

Salamz and Greetingz to all,

I'm terribly sorry I've been away. Still figuring out my classes and time obligations. Will give you more of a proper update soon.

This article stirred my curiousity. I think this is a great move, but I want to know what the other Arab and Muslim states doing in the mean time, especially the wealthy ones. I hope the reason that I haven't heard/read about it is because I haven't been reading that much "diverse" news, or because it is all done in secret.

____________

http://arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=86264&d=7&m=9&y=2006

Kingdom Offers Aid to Lebanese Students
Arab News

BEIRUT, 7 September 2006 — Saudi Arabia will pay the fees for all the students of all levels studying in Lebanese government schools.

Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Abdul Aziz Khoja made this announcement during a meeting with Lebanese Premier Fuad Siniora in Beirut yesterday, according to the Saudi Press Agency.

“Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah issued the order to enable the Lebanese education institutions to meet the cost of education and guarantee that no student remains outside of school because he does not have a desk or books,” Khoja said in a statement run by the SPA.

The gesture aims at enabling educational institutions in Lebanon to overcome educational burdens.

Siniora, Education Minister Khaled Qabbani and Information Minister Ghazi Al-Aridhi expressed their gratitude to King Abdullah and Crown Prince Sultan, deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, for their concern for the people of Lebanon, particularly for education of the Lebanese schoolchildren.

The educational infrastructure in Lebanon was seriously damaged in the recent Israeli bombings.

On Tuesday, the Saudi Committee for the Relief of the Lebanese People and the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to provide $5 million in financial assistance to the Lebanese people affected by the recent Israeli invasion.

Dr. Saad Al-Harithi, adviser to the minister of interior and chairman of the Saudi committee, and Dr. Abdul Aziz Arrukban, international special ambassador of WFP, signed the agreement.

Speaking after the signing ceremony, Dr. Al-Harithi said the MOU represents a series of agreements that the committee would be signing with different agencies to fund relief efforts in the food, educational and health sectors.

____

RvN

2006-09-01T16:53:00.000-05:00

Who Hijacked my Religion!

I really like this, what do you guys think?

Steve Jobs' very first keynote speech (1984) - A LEGEND!

2006-08-23T10:41:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem: In the Name of Allah The Most Beneficient The Most Merciful
____________________________________________________________

I know there are many MAC freakz out there like me, and I had to share this...

This is Steve Jobs' first keynote speech when he launched the very first MAC in 1984, he looks like a hollywood actor in this movie.. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO7bM2_H3Tk

RvN

Ban on Saudi Men Driving in the EU?

2006-08-21T09:21:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem: In the Name of Allah The Most Beneficient The Most Merciful
____________________________________________________________

This European MP (member of Parliament) is starting a campaign to prevent Saudi men from driving in the EU. Would you take his stand and try to help Saudi women to start driving, or do you think he's out of his mind?

RvN
__________

http://www.rogerhelmer.com/saudi.asp

Call for driving ban on Saudi men

Friday, 31st March 2006

In a remarkable move today, four MEPs, including East Midlands MEP Roger Helmer and Anna Zaborska, Chairman of the European Parliament's influential Women's Committee, have launched a campaign to ban Saudi Arabian men from driving in all EU countries.

They have done so to highlight the continuing ban on Saudi women driving in their own country, which the MEPs claim is a blatant example of discrimination, an attack on women's rights, and totally at odds with civilised values. They argue that a move to ban male Saudi nationals from driving in the EU would help the Saudi authorities to understand the very strong condemnation evoked in Europe by the Saudi ban on women drivers.

The MEPs have sponsored a "Written Declaration" in the European parliament in Brussels, a motion which is available for all MEPs to sign, and which becomes a formal resolution of the parliament if at least half of all MEPs (316) sign up to it.

The sponsors of the Declaration are Anna Zaborska (Christian Democrat, Slovakia), Roger Helmer (Conservative, East Midlands); Ashley Mote (Independent, South East); and Jim Allister (Democratic Unionist, Northern Ireland).

Speaking at the launch of the declaration, Mr Helmer said

"The nationals of authoritarian countries assume that they can come to the West and enjoy our freedoms, while maintaining discrimination and denying basic human rights at home. This initiative should help to convince them that freedom is a two-way street and that their own people are also entitled to basic human rights".

Lebanese tears

2006-08-19T11:41:00.000-05:00

Leb in tears
Originally uploaded by Raven007.

I found this long ago and I've had it on one of my profiles for a while, I got lots of comments on it, so I thought I'd share it with all of you..

RvN

Motivate Yourself!!

2006-08-19T00:29:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem: In the Name of Allah The Most Beneficient The Most Merciful
____________________________________________________________

I found this as I was browsing through some blogs.. I think it's pretty amusing and could actually be useful :)

1- TURN OFF YOUR POP-UP BLOCKER

2- TURN UP YOUR VOLUME

3- THEN, go to: http://yourname.youaremighty.com (replace yourname with your name).

Enjoy!

RvN

Lazing around

2006-08-17T09:41:00.001-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem: In the Name of Allah The Most Beneficient The Most Merciful
____________________________________________________________

Greetings everyone,

10:36 am in Bostonia, weather is nice and temperature is 23 degrees Celsius (yes I insist on the metric system whenever I can even though I've been here for 3 years).

There's a high possibility I'm going to the Museum of Science today (finally), meeting up with my good friend Abu Tarab and his younger brother.

I was recently tagged by the lovely MYSTIQUE (http://mystiquesa.blogspot.com/), so I have to answer a series of questions..

Well, here goes:

1) if you could have dinner with any three people (except Mohammed, Jesus, Martin Luther King Jr, Ghandi) then who would they be?(don't say Mother Teresa either)
1- Steve Jobs
2- Ernesto "Che" Guevara
3- Lord Belfour (and I won't tell you what I'm going to do to him after dinner)

1a) what would you eat?
Italian, Indian or Seafood

1b) what restaurant would it be?
Probably something with a view of the Sea/Ocean

2) if you could force everyone in the world to read one book (except for the Quran or the Bible) what would it be?
The books I intend to write in the future, the Harry Potter Series, Blink

3) is there a tv show you'd cancel dinner with your best friend for if you knew that a new episode was going to be airing once only? what is it?
Lots of TV shows that I've watched have had that effect on me, however if there was a way to tape it and watch it later I would do that. Otherwise, I'd invite me friend to watch it and eat with me as we watch it :) (Yes, I want the best of both worlds)

4) if someone told you that you could only have one hobby/favorite pass time for the rest of your life, what would you pick?
Travel

5) which song is on the soundtrack of your life?
Many, most lately: "Just Be, DJ Tiesto", "Red to Black, Fort Minor feat. KENNA", "Unwell, Matchbox 20"

6) how old were you when you had your first crush? who was it?
I think I was in third grade, it was my best friend's sister (one of our neighbors) :)

7) if you could read the thoughts of any one person, who would it be?
Typically it would be a spouse/lover type of person, but I wouldn't because if I loved them that much, I would respect their telling me and hiding from me what they want etc. Thus, I would like to read the thoughts of the people wreaking havoc in the world today (not to point any fingers).

8) if you could block your thoughts from only one person, who would it be?
Anyone I love, sometimes the things I think about wouldn't portray me in a positive light to them.

9) if you could choose between life on earth forever or going to heaven, which would you choose?
Is there anything better than heaven? I'd say Heaven because I could choose not to have stupid people cause so much death.

10) when you die, what will your contribution to the world be?
My writing, My business ideas (if they go through In Sha Allah), my actions...

And I choose to tag:

Sunshine, Omar, and anyone else that reads this pretty much :)

RvN

De Bostoniensis..

2006-08-15T16:51:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem: In the Name of Allah The Most Beneficient The Most Merciful
____________________________________________________________

Well..

Though I had several options to go travel for the last few weeks before school, I believe I'm going to stay in the Northeast.. There is still a lot I haven't done in Boston, and looking at the fact that I graduate next year this is the time to catch up on that stuff..

So much I want to write about, yet procrastination seems to take over every time I do it.. it will happen soon though.. or at least I hope.

Also a ton of books to read so that is one of the things I plan to achieve with the time I have left.

My back pain is better, but (due to travel) there is some sharp pain sometimes, can't wait till my next physical therapy session.

Laziness is a drug I hope I can get off.. :)

RvN

Saudi VS. Dubai Interesting Discussion!

2006-07-31T10:40:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem: In the Name of Allah The Most Beneficient The Most Merciful
____________________________________________________________

Another article that presented some very interesting questions..

http://arabnews.com/?page=6§ion=0&article=80076&d=31&m=7&y=2006
________________________________________________________

Will Saudis Emulate Dubai’s Development Bonanza?
Dr. Mohamed A. Ramady

The grass is always greener on the other side. Saudi visitors and businessmen returning from Dubai seem to come back ever more impressed by the phenomenal growth and development taking place in that UAE emirate. They long for the day when the Kingdom emulates Dubai’s apparent success. A major question, however, does Saudi Arabia really want to be another Dubai? Underneath the glitter and the sophisticated marketing and PR, glitches and cracks are beginning to appear in Dubai’s so-called miracle development bonanza. It behooves Saudi Arabia to sit back and take note.

Societies need to balance their economic development with transformation that takes into account internal social cohesiveness and responsibilities for the wider community. While Dubai has undoubtedly provided its native citizens with the trappings of a comfortable welfare state, a luxury lifestyle and seeming guaranteed employment, the desire and obsession to be the number one in many areas has also created social stress and uncertainty about core family traditions and values.

Success is not only measured in monetary value, nor having the tallest building, the biggest shopping mall, the most up-to-date theme park, the deepest undersea restaurant, or other superlatives. Success is also measured by overall social responsibility to others, especially non-citizens who have transformed Dubai through sweat and tears, but, by all accounts are marginalized as evidenced by the recent work stoppages and labor disputes.

The frenzied development boom is also beginning to take its toll on resource allocation in the construction industry as demand for raw material and skilled labor rockets. Inflation rate in Dubai is one of the highest in the Gulf Cooperation Council and rising. Government planners are beginning to cast nervous eyes at future power generation supplies, water resources and an integrated urban transport system to connect all the massive urban development that is taking place or being planned. Few people are debating looming environmental issues in the rush for development at any cost, as long as the profit margin is right. While Dubai is diversifying its client servicing base to countries outside the GCC, yet Saudi investment still plays an important element in Dubai’s development mania. Foreign multinationals establish presence in Dubai to serve the Saudi market, the largest in the GCC. However, even the most aggressive marketing will not hide the fact that profit margins are beginning to erode given the rising cost of doing business in Dubai. This is creating a sharply divided two-class society of the super rich and an underprivileged, subsistence based foreign majority. This is not healthy for long-term social and economic development for any country.

So should Saudi Arabia become another Dubai? The simple answer is that most Saudi businessmen and visitors long for the application in the Kingdom of what Dubai is famous for — a transparent set of rules and regulations in how to conduct business with minimal bureaucracy and red tape. One marvels at the efficiency of Dubai’s application approvals and the courtesy and efficiency of its technocrats compared to the many mindless hurdles in the Kingdom and other Gulf countries. Dubai technocrats enthusiastically embrace change, and e-government is not just another fancy slogan and a PR gimmick, but is made to actually work.

What Saudi Arabia needs is not an entirely new system and set of rules and regulations, but the correct applications of those that exist to serve the interest of the business and wider community, whereby Saudi bureaucrats see themselves as full partners for a better change. The recent stricter application of Saudi driving laws is one example of what can and should be done, as one is often amazed to see how Saudi drivers suddenly and miraculously transform themselves to near-model drivers when they cross the half way line on the causeway to Bahrain, compared to their erratic driving on the Saudi side. The answer is simple — the implementation and application of equitable and transparent Bahraini driving rules and regulations. The Saudi driver is the same person on either side of the causeway, but the application of rules is what mattered.

This is the lesson of Dubai for the wider Arab world and Saudi Arabia in particular. Dubai is a mind-set, which sees things as a glass being half full and nothing is impossible, hence the rush for the tallest, widest, deepest, and biggest, while in Saudi Arabia we often see obstacles and the glass being half empty. Dubai seems to do thing with a passion and a belief, while in Saudi Arabia we seem to only believe if we are prodded. If we can only apply the fairly decent and fair set of rules and regulations that exist in Saudi Arabia today more expeditiously and responsibly, then Saudi Arabia will have the best of both worlds.

Unlike Dubai, Saudi development will create a less hectic, stressed-out and disorientated society that is more caring with a long-term stable, and balanced economic and social development objective. The recent announcements of the mega Saudi projects and economic cities and zones shows that Saudi Arabia can also construct the biggest and tallest, but this is being planned in such a way so as to take care of the unique Saudi identity and cultural environment. In the end constructing the tallest might not be the best as evidenced by the mammoth towers now taking shape surrounding the Grand Mosque in Makkah.

One day Saudi society will rue the day they rushed into this construction race in such a unique site as Makkah, but it is never too late to sit back and ask do we really want to be like Dubai?

(Dr. Mohamed A. Ramady is visiting associate professor of finance and economics at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals.)

-YSH ;)

Personal + Saudi Economy update..

2006-07-31T10:30:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem: In the Name of Allah The Most Beneficient The Most Merciful
____________________________________________________________

Salam All,

Haven't posted in a while.. just got back to Arizona from Boston. Had a good break during our hiatus.. Caught up with my peeps and met some new people.. Weather in Boston wasn't as pleasant, got very humid some days even though the temperature wasn't that high.. At least here in Arizona it's dry heat more similar to Riyadh :)

Funny enough I'm actually looking forward to this semester, not sure whether to add a fifth course to my workload or get a job.. any suggestions?

Another arab news article for those as interested as I am in the Saudi Economy.. :)
_____________________________________________________________________________

http://arabnews.com/?page=6§ion=0&article=79612&d=31&m=7&y=2006

Kingdom Embarks on New Mega Projects
Khalil Hanware, Arab News

JEDDAH, 31 July 2006 — Saudi Arabia is embarking on a number of new mega-projects in a wide range of industries. The bulk of them are focused on those sectors of the economy in which the Kingdom has comparative advantages — oil and petrochemical industries. Saudi Aramco’s program to expand crude oil production capacity has been underway for a few years.

According to Samba Financial Group’s mid-year report about the Saudi economy, which was released last week, the total cost of projects currently under way or in advanced planning for execution over the next several years is about SR1.06 trillion ($283 billion). Alone, the oil and gas industry is undertaking about SR259 billion ($69 billion), or one fourth, of the total.

Defense and security purchases projects total SR183 billion ($48.8 billion), accounting for 17 percent of the total. Large real estate developments capture about SR150 billion ($40 billion), or 14 percent of the total investments, followed by mining and minerals development with SR44.63 billion ($11.9 billion) of the total. Other small projects include public utility projects such as electricity, water, and transportation.

“In contrast with the previous periods of intense infrastructure and project activity, much of the current development is financed and owned by the private sector,” Samba Financial Group’s General Manager and Chief Economist Brad Bourland said.

According to Samba estimate out of the total SR1.06 trillion in total project costs, some SR322 billion ($85.8 billion) or 30.3 percent of the required funding will come from the general government budget. Aramco’s project bill amounts to SR304 billion ($81 billion) or 28.6 percent, but some of this is in joint venture with private companies. Petrochemicals giant Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) needs about SR102.37 billion ($27.3 billion) to fund its current and future mega projects through 2010. Three mega projects initiated by the investment promotion arm of government, Saudi Arabia General Investment Authority (SAGIA), including SR100 billion ($26.7 billion) for King Abdullah Economic City in addition to two other private projects (an aluminum smelter and an oil export refinery) total SR180 billion ($48 billion).

The Royal Commission of Jubail and Yanbu will require about SR150 billion $40 billion through 2010, much from private sector investment, mainly for new projects and for the expansion of existing infrastructure at Jubail Industrial City-1 and Jubail Industrial City-II.

Some of the mega projects include:

• The SR100 billion King Abdullah Economic City in Rabigh.

• The $10 billion Aramco-Sumitomo Chemical refining and petrochemical joint venture called Petro-Rabigh, collocated with the King Abdullah Economic City

• The SR37.5 billion Aramco-Total export refinery

• The SR22.5 billion Aramco-ConocoPhillips export refinery

• SABIC’s Saudi Kayan Petrochemicals Company (Kayan)

• Maaden’s Ras Al-zour Mining Industrial City and

• The Saudi LandBridge project, aimed at connecting various parts of the Kingdom by rail.

The largest private sector investment in Saudi Arabia will be the King Abdullah Economic City which will be developed by Dubai-based Emaar Properties in collaboration with Aseer and Binladen Group of Saudi Arabia in a joint venture called Emaar the Economic City.

The two similar projects recently announced include the Prince Abdulaziz bin Musaad Economic City in Hail and the Knowledge City in Madinah.

Work continues on Aramco’s $20 billion Crude Oil Expansion Program, which aims at raising Saudi oil production capacity from the current 11.3 million bpd to 12.5 million bpd by 2009. This is the most costly expansion by Aramco in many years.

The Samba report said work on the Gas Initiative has made strides too. This involves exploration for gas in Aramco’s joint ventures with several foreign oil and gas companies, with the intention of supplying gas for local industrial use and power generation, eventually freeing up more crude oil for export. Companies involved in the development include Shell, Total, Russia’s Lukoil, China’s Sinopec, and Repsol of Spain. Total cost of the Gas Initiative is currently estimated by Aramco to be SR41.25 billion ($11 billion).

Recently, Aramco signed joint venture agreements with Total of France and ConocoPhillips of the US to set up two export refineries, one on each coast, that would cost SR22.5 billion ($6 billion) each.

Both refineries, which will produce mainly gasoline for export will use the Kingdom’s heavy crude oil, which is less sought after by international buyers. Terms of the two preliminary agreements are almost identical. Each of the joint venture partners will hold a 35 percent equity stake and the remaining 30 percent will be offered for public subscription.

Aramco will supply crude, and the foreign partner will market the refined products. Locations of the two refineries are Jubail on the east coast for the Aramco-Total Export Refinery and Yanbu on the west coast for the Aramco-ConocoPhillips export refinery. For Saudi Arabia, the two locations will contribute to balanced regional development and maintain flexibility of export routes — one on the Red Sea and one on the Arabian Gulf.

-YSH ;)

What u visited in the World..

2006-07-19T19:33:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem: In the Name of Allah The Most Beneficient The Most Merciful
____________________________________________________________

http://douweosinga.com/projects/visitedcountries

So Apparently this site shows you what percentage of the world you have conquered.. I think 9% isn't too shabby but it also means I have a lot more work to do..

create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

-YSH ;)

First Saudi Female to work at NASA!

2006-07-19T14:30:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem: In the Name of Allah The Most Beneficient The Most Merciful
____________________________________________________________

Salamzz People,

In boston for a few days, also heading to NYC this weekend..

Arabic article again (I'm sorry english readers), the gist of it is that a 22 year old Saudi female just joined NASA and she's doing and advanced research program with them..

Arabic readers.. ENJOY!

http://www.alarabiya.net/Articles/2006/07/19/25843.htm

-YSH ;)

The Prince of Saudi's New Economy (interesting read)

2006-07-12T14:35:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem: In the Name of Allah The Most Beneficient The Most Merciful
____________________________________________________________

A very interesting discussion on the current Saudi Economy, lengthy but definitely worthwhile for anyone who's interested in the region..

__________________________________________

The Prince of Saudi's New Economy
By Stephen Glain
06/14/06

Angered by repeated demands for a rent increase, Prince Mohammad al-Faisal
al-Saud decided last November to move his holding company out of its
prestigious headquarters in central Riyadh and into a cheaper and larger space
just outside the city center. It sounds straightforward enough, but this was no
routine corporate move.

Al-Faisal was quitting the Al Faisaliah Center, a striking 267-meter pyramidal
tower named after his Al Faisaliah Group, one of Saudi Arabia 's top 20
companies. The property is owned by the King Faisal Foundation, a social
welfare institute established in memory of al-Faisal's great-grandfather, who
ruled Saudi Arabia from 1964 to 1975. The prince suspected that the foundation
was seeking to exploit his royal connections to impose an above-market rent on
Al Faisaliah and extend those terms to other tenants. By removing himself from
such a high-profile royal asset, al-Faisal was choosing business principle over
family loyalty -- a radical notion in conservative, hierarchical Saudi Arabia .
"I'm pushing my staff to watch overhead costs, and people are taking advantage
of us," al-Faisal said in a recent interview in his old office on the tower's
16th floor, shortly before the group moved in April. "This is about principle.
Plus, I'm a little stingy."

Al-Faisal's move is more than an act of family rebellion. It's indicative of a
revolution that is liberalizing and diversifying the Saudi economy, weaning the
kingdom from its dependence on oil and fostering the growth of consumer sectors
that can meet the needs of a rapidly growing population. The economy expanded
by nearly 7 percent last year, according to figures from the International
Monetary Fund and private economists. Although the rise in world oil prices to
$70 a barrel played a big role, the kingdom's nonoil sector grew virtually as
fast as its energy industry, the IMF estimates.

Today's economic boom is the fruit of a deliberate process of deregulation that
enabled the kingdom to join the World Trade Organization last year. Although
the country remains a monarchy, economic reform is making the business culture
more egalitarian. The patrician merchant class, which once handed down
family-owned businesses from one generation to the next, is giving way to a new
class of entrepreneurs eager to tap the country's increasingly liquid capital
markets. Saudi companies have raised $6.8 billion with ten initial public
offerings in the past four years, using the funds to expand operations at home
and in the region. The World Bank last year ranked the kingdom as the
38th-easiest country to do business in, out of 155 countries around the world
-- up from 67th the previous year. The improvement has come thanks to laws that
make it easier to obtain a business license and reductions in tariffs on
imported capital goods. These changes should sustain a continued
expansion of 5 to 7 percent a year over the coming decade, economists say. "The
underlying economic fundamentals are sound," says Abdel Aziz Abu Hamad
al-Uwaisheg, director of media and investor awareness at the government's
Economic Integration Department. "By 2007, when regulators get their act
together and demand a little more transparency, the market will reflect the
real economy."

The economy does have vulnerabilities, of course. Today's oil bonanza could
prove as ephemeral as that of the 1970s, when soaring crude prices triggered a
global recession and a subsequent collapse in the oil market, leading to a
generation of economic stagnation. Even with today's buoyant economy, the
kingdom has a chronic problem with unemployment, which economists estimate may
be as high as 30 percent.

The recent boom and bust in the local stock market, the Tadawul All-Shares
Exchange, also could dampen growth. The market, which soared more than 1,400
percent between March 1999 and February 2006, lost half its value over the
following three months before staging a modest recovery late last month, wiping
out nearly $375 billion in market capitalization and fueling concern that banks
may be dangerously exposed to unmet margin calls. The losses have sparked anger
and despair among many Saudi stockholders, whose ranks swelled from just 50,000
five years ago to an estimated 8.5 million during the boom. The collapse
prompted King Abdullah to fire the head of the Capital Market Authority last
month and install Abdul Rahman al-Tuwaijeri, secretary general of the Supreme
Economic Council, to lead the regulator (see box).

Notwithstanding the risks, most bankers and business executives believe that the
new Saudi economy rests on a firm foundation. Local companies enjoy strong
earnings despite the market crash, and many investors see opportunity amid the
turbulence. Prince al-Waleed bin-Talal, Saudi Arabia 's richest man, said in
March that he planned to invest $2.7 billion in Saudi shares. (He has yet to do
so. "The general feeling is that he's probably waiting for cheaper prices," says
al-Uwaisheg.) Last month, al-Waleed gave a mandate to Citigroup, in which he
holds a 4.3 percent stake, to lead an initial public offering of shares in his
Kingdom Holding Co., which is expected to raise as much as $6 billion.

Abdulmuhsin al-Akkas, the country's Social Affairs minister, believes the
country has undergone a lasting change in business mentality. He recalls
hosting a conference in 1990, as a prominent businessman, with the aim of
persuading Saudis to develop their businesses into publicly listed companies.
"It was rejected completely," he says. "But today people want to go public.
This is a huge change, and it's here to stay." The Saudi market remains among
the region's most dynamic despite the stock market crash, says Hassan Heikal,
co-chairman and chief executive officer of Cairo-based EFG-Hermes Holding, one
of the Middle East's top investment banks. The firm won a license last month to
open an office in Riyadh , and Heikal says he hopes to be able to sell Saudi
shares to foreigners within a year. "Our largest developing market is in Saudi
Arabia ," he says. "There is a huge shake-up there."

Once dominated by Saudi Arabian Oil Co., or Saudi Aramco, the kingdom's iconic,
state-run oil giant, the economy is increasingly driven by companies like the
Savola Group, a food processor and edible-oil maker that posted a 139 percent
increase in profits last year, to 1.2 billion riyals ($320 million). Savola,
ranked among the top ten companies on the Saudi stock exchange, has over the
past two years opened mills in Syria and Algeria in addition to its operations
in Iran , Jordan , Kazakhstan , Morocco and Sudan . It plans to float up to 30
percent of its edible-oil unit within the next six months.

Another avatar of the new economy is Riyadh-based Jarir Marketing Co., a
retailer that began as a small office-supplies shop on Jarir Street in the
capital in 1979 and expanded to become the largest bookseller in the Gulf,
according to chairman and CEO Muhammad al-Agil. The executive had recently
returned to Saudi Arabia after obtaining a master's degree in engineering from
the University of California at Berkeley when he and four of his seven brothers
decided to open the store. "Most of the big contracts from the oil boom had
been let, so my brothers and I decided we had to do something else to make
money," says al-Agil, who wears a modest cream-colored thobe, the traditional
ankle-length gown worn by Saudi men, with a blue Bic pen protruding from the
breast pocket. The family dispatched one brother to work as an intern at an
office-supplies store in California , where he learned the ropes on purchasing,
finance and distribution. Buttressed by that knowledge, Jarir was
soon boasting gross profit margins of 30 to 40 percent. By the late 1990s the
family had added books to its stores, featuring English as well as Arabic
titles. In 2000 the company floated nearly a third of its shares at 178 riyals
each, then a year later offered an additional 10 percent at 310 riyals. Jarir
is opening new stores in Qatar , Abu Dhabi and Kuwait .

The Al Faisaliah Group epitomizes the new business mentality. For nearly a
decade in his capacity as president, al-Faisal has been working to transform
the group -- founded in the late 1960s by his grandfather, Prince Abdullah
al-Faisal al-Saud -- from a passive owner of a wide variety of assets into a
strategic investor and manager of companies focused increasingly on
fast-growing consumer and service sectors, including media, retailing and
telecommunications. "We're looking at mass retailing for a big, young Saudi
population that is looking for a home, furnishings to go in the home, garments
for their kids and fashion for themselves and new ways to communicate with the
world," he explains.

AL-FAISAL IS ALL BUSINESS AND GENERALLY SHUNS palace affairs. He is part of a
new generation of Saudi princes who are entering the private sector, once the
domain of civil servants in charge of state-owned companies and private,
small-scale merchants. "Things are changing now," says Jean-François Seznec,
an adjunct professor of Arab studies at Columbia University in New York . "The
divisions are becoming blurred in the sense that a growing number of royal
members are educated and more aggressive in getting involved in the economy."

Comparisons between al-Faisal and the high-profile Prince al-Waleed are
inevitable. Al-Waleed's Kingdom Centre and the Al Faisaliah Center -- the two
tallest buildings in the kingdom -- face each other across Riyadh like rival
pieces on a chess board. But al-Faisal is more workmanlike than the flamboyant
al-Waleed, and his $1 billion-in-revenues group is a fraction of al-Waleed's
empire, which is valued at some $20 billion.
Al-Faisal and his team "are respected for their low-key professionalism," says
Beshr Bakheet managing partner of Riyadh-based Bakheet Financial Advisors, who
lost his treasury director to Al Faisaliah seven years ago. "People don't work
with them because they feel they have to but because they want to. It's unusual
for a prince like al-Faisal to work at all."

That he does work is a product of the deep-seated changes introduced by his
great-grandfather King Faisal in the 1960s and '70s. "Most of the great reforms
that helped shape modern Saudi Arabia , such as labor laws, education for girls
and the introduction of television, took place under King Faisal's reign," says
Jamal Khashoggi, an adviser to Prince Turki al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia 's
cosmopolitan ambassador to the U.S. and one of Mohammad's uncles. "He and his
wife were the first monarchs to send their children abroad to study, and you
can see the results in them."

In addition to the ambassador, al-Faisal's extended family includes Prince Saud
al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, and Khalid al-Faisal, the governor of
Asir province and owner of the relatively liberal Al-Watan newspaper.

The "powerpoint prince," as Mohammad al-Faisal is known because of his love of
computer presentations, grew up as an only child during the 1970s oil boom. At
the age of three, he made his first visit to Europe on a royal tour with his
maternal grandfather, King Khaled, and years later was part of the king's
entourage on a U.S. tour that included stops in New York City and Disneyland.
After his father died in 1983, al-Faisal and his mother moved into the palace
compound with the king's extended family. Then 15, the young prince was an avid
footballer who spent much of his time playing soccer in his bare feet.

Al-Faisal earned a bachelor's degree in industrial management from Dhahran's
King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals in 1990, then started a
seven-month internship at Citibank's Geneva headquarters. There he developed an
obsessive devotion to European soccer -- his favorite team was AC Milan -- as
well as a taste for finance.

"He is very disciplined and regimented," says Hamad al-Ammari, a friend and
fellow intern who roomed with al-Faisal in Geneva . "I never played squash so
well as I did playing against Mohammad in Geneva because he's so competitive."

After finishing his mandatory army service -- he interviewed Iraqi prisoners of
war as part of a joint U.S.-Saudi intelligence unit during the first Gulf War
-- al-Faisal applied for a job in the treasury department of Saudi American
Bank, or Samba. He posed a unique challenge to his interviewers: What to do
with a prince who wants an actual job? He was hired only after assuring
recruiters he would stay for at least three years.

As part of an exchange program, al-Faisal spent two years trading
over-the-counter energy derivatives at Citibank's New York headquarters (Samba
was a joint venture between the U.S. bank and Saudi investors at the time).
While there he enrolled at the Harvard Business School , and after graduating
with an MBA, he was offered an assistant general manager's position at Samba's
Geneva branch. That was when al-Faisal's uncle, who sits on the Al Faisaliah
Group board, asked the young prince to be his "eyes and ears" in the family
business. Al-Faisal was both flattered and disappointed by the request. "My
plan was for a career in banking," he says. "I knew nothing about the group and
was never remotely interested in it."

In patrimonial Saudi Arabia , however, appeals from family elders are
nonnegotiable. Al-Faisal signed on as vice president in May 1997 and was made
president a year after that. He inherited an odd buffet of properties that
included a Sony distributorship and the Al Safi Dairy, which had been founded
by his father, also named Prince Abdullah, in 1979. Today it is cited by the
Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest integrated dairy farm,
with 32,000 cows on 29 square kilometers -- smack in the middle of the desert
an hour's drive from Riyadh .

Al-Faisal's first challenge was to persuade his uncles, who controlled the Al
Faisaliah board, to share control of the dairy with an outsider in exchange for
technology and expertise. The farm is not subsidized by the government, and its
costs are enormous: The dairy herd is fed from a nearby farm that produces
110,000 tons of hay and alfalfa each year, and it is irrigated from wells
nearly 2,000 meters below the desert's surface. "It was clear that we had taken
the business as far as we could on our own," he says. "We needed an alliance."
He obtained his uncles' consent after a series of consultations.

A friend then arranged a meeting in Riyadh between al-Faisal and executives from
France 's Groupe Danone, which was eyeing Saudi Arabia as a gateway to the Gulf
market. Negotiations continued for two years, with Al Faisaliah valuing Al Safi
at a high earnings multiple, as if it were a public company, and the French
viewing it as a private concern. After being assured that Al Faisaliah would
eventually float Al Safi, Danone agreed to pay E150 million (then $136 million)
for a 50 percent stake in 2000. Since that alliance was forged, the dairy has
introduced a raft of new products, including juices and yogurt, that are
distributed regionwide. The operation makes a profit of about $40 million a
year on sales of $400 million. Faisaliah is likely to sell its stake
eventually, says al-Faisal, but given that the farm is a family legacy,
divestment will probably take place at a typically deferential and cautious
Saudi pace.

The big change is taking place elsewhere in Al Faisaliah's portfolio. Since
launching an investment fund in late 2004, the group has bought equity stakes
worth some $450 million in everything from petrochemical plants to Internet
service providers in the region. Al-Faisal says his portfolio is up 50 percent
in value since its launch; it was up 127 percent at the end of 2005.

Among the group's key holdings is a 70 percent stake in Arabian Internet and
Communications Services Co., which operates AwalNet, the leading Saudi Internet
service provider. The company controls 40 percent of the market. Sales have
doubled since AwalNet was launched in 2002, to 100 million riyals a year.
Al-Faisal believes the business will expand rapidly as the country prepares to
deregulate Internet access fees by 2008 and roll out broadband access by 2010,
fueling big growth in numbers of users. AwalNet has received tentative offers
for an alliance from two global telecommunications companies since the
government began allowing foreigners to invest in the industry at the start of
this year (al-Faisal won't reveal their identities).

Al Faisaliah is also investing heavily in two other preoccupations of Saudi
youth: food and fashions. Last year the group purchased a chain of steak houses
as well as Z-Noodle, a chain that specializes in Asian cuisine. As is true of
all eateries in Saudi Arabia , families have a separate seating area from men
to comply with the conservative interpretation of Islam that prevails in the
kingdom. It is a measure of al-Faisal's subtle liberalism, however, that his
restaurant chains separate seating sections by a near-transparent curtain.

Al-Faisal says the group will invest about $200 million over the next five years
to develop a franchise of midlevel fashion boutiques with its own designer
label. The group is negotiating leases for space in the country's major
shopping centers and hopes to open its first shops by the end of the year.
Al-Faisal also wants to exploit an expected wave of home buying as the
country's youth -- more than half the country's 22 million people are under age
21 -- matures and new laws promote the development of a mortgage industry. The
group announced plans in January to open three IKEA-like home furnishing
outlets in Saudi Arabia next year as part of a joint venture and to expand its
outlets throughout the Levantine Middle East within five years. "Leverage is
picking up and will reach critical mass when these young people need to buy
homes," says al-Faisal. "There used to be a closed mentality here, but it's
opening up."

Al Faisaliah is by no means ignoring oil and related industries. In spring 2005
the group bought a small stake in Dana Gas, a natural-gas company based in the
United Arab Emirates , and realized a 300 percent return a few months later
when it sold after the company was listed in Dubai . In late 2004 it invested
50 million riyals in Saudi-based Al Kayan Petrochemicals Co., which plans to go
public on the Tadawul exchange sometime this year.

Like the monarchy, which rules more by consensus than decree, al-Faisal makes
most decisions after conferring with his network of managers and bankers.
Business development is discussed during lunchtime meetings over sandwiches and
bags of potato chips. Fahad al-Hussain, AwalNet's general manager, says he
reports to the board every month, provides an earnings review every quarter and
presents his budget annually. "They set the thresholds, and then we discuss
them," says al-Hussain. "Eventually we reach agreeable targets."

Will this Saudi economic spring last, or will the riches generated by today's
high oil prices be squandered, as previous oil windfalls were? The cautious
optimism expressed by many Saudis comes with a qualifier about the staying
power of King Abdullah. He is 82, and not all his potential successors are
reform-minded. "We are satisfied with the changes," says one business owner.
"But it could all end tomorrow."

To al-Faisal the trend is irreversible. He reels off some of the reforms that
were introduced as part of the drive for WTO membership: tariff reduction,
liberalization of the banking sector and new regulations for the insurance
industry. None of these things was even considered during the excesses of the
gilded 1970s. "People have learned their lesson," al-Faisal says. "We've
reached a tipping point. It's like a volcano. When it explodes you think it was
all of a sudden, but in fact it happens only after a great deal of time and
pressure."

Kingdom seeks to restore faith in a battered market

The oil money is still flowing, and national reserves are still rising, but
don't bother telling that to the man on the Saudi street. Investors have been
stunned by the crash of the local stock market, which has plunged nearly 45
percent since hitting an all-time high in February.

Blogs and Internet chat rooms, where much Saudi discontent is aired, are filled
with angry denunciations of the rampant speculation that caused the boom and
bust. The collapse has demolished the government's ambition of fostering equity
investment as a means of distributing wealth among less-well-off Saudis:
Abdulaziz Sager, chairman of the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center , calls the
crash "an economic and social disaster." The newspaper Asharq al-Awsat even
reports a rash of wedding cancellations by Saudis who can no longer afford
lavish celebrations. The regime intervened last month in a bid to stop the
rout. King Abdullah sacked the head of the Capital Markets Authority, Jammaz
al-Suhaimi, and named the head of the Supreme Economic Council, Abdul Rahman
al-Tuwaijeri, as the new chief regulator. He promised to privatize the Tadawul
All-Shares Exchange, Saudi Arabia 's stock market, and spend $7 billion to
develop a world-class financial district in Riyadh . And,
extraordinarily, he announced plans for a new risk-free fund -- on which the
state would absorb any losses -- in an effort to lure small investors back into
the market.

Most analysts and bankers are skeptical about the moves. Yasser el-Mallawany,
co-chairman of EFG-Hermes Holding, a Cairo-based investment bank, says the
change at the regulatory authority will have little impact. "The CMA is doing
all the right things," he says. "This switch was mainly symbolic." Asked
whether he thought the risk-free fund would bolster the market, Abdel Aziz Abu
Hamad al-Uwaisheg, director of media and investor awareness at the government's
Economic Integration Department, demurs: "Am I to oppose the king?"

Pressure on the government to sell down its stakes in listed companies to aid
the market's recovery is growing. Nearly two thirds of the market's
capitalization is controlled by the government, which owns big stakes in
everything from hydrocarbon giant Saudi Basic Industries Corp. to the country's
top banks. "The government has to relinquish a large share of what it controls,"
says Prince al-Waleed bin-Talal, the kingdom's richest man. "Sixty percent of
the market is in the government's hands, and another 20 percent is owned by big
investors, so only a fraction of the market actually trades."

Before the government can sell its assets, however, the regulator must draft
rules covering everything from the introduction of mutual funds to improved
corporate governance, says CMA director Abdulaziz Alzoom. "We are aiming to
list more companies, but we also want more surveillance capability, and we want
more trained staff," he says. "This is a huge task ahead of us."

Notwithstanding today's bearish sentiment, foreign banks and brokers remain as
eager as ever to enter the Saudi market, convinced of its long-term potential.
Roughly a dozen firms, including Credit Suisse Group and HSBC Holdings, have
applied for licenses to trade Saudi shares and plan to open offices in Riyadh
in partnership with local firms. Saudi Hollandi Bank, which is the country's
oldest bank and is 40 percent owned by ABN Amro, is forging ahead with plans to
list ten companies on the Tadawul. "This hiccup will not materially alter our
timetables," says Tom Lind, Saudi Hollandi's head of investment banking. "The
measures taken by the Capital Markets Authority show this is becoming a normal,
open stock market, albeit at a gradual pace, and we welcome that." -- S.G.

© 2006 Institutional Investor

-YSH ;)

Jeddah Raceway, INCREDIBLE!

2006-07-12T12:38:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem: In the Name of Allah The Most Beneficient The Most Merciful
____________________________________________________________

Greetings People,

Still in Mesa-Phoenix, working on the movie, the temperature isn't as pleasant as you'd imagine varying from 35-40 degrees Celsius most of the time.. The heat here is very much like Riyadh, luckily I get to sit and melt under a pop-up tent, and i'm constantly bombarded with water and gatorade (not to mention getting misted almost every 10 minutes) so I can't complain much..

Typical work day is 12 hours (usually from 5 am to about 6 pm), so it is somewhat tiring, but the people are great, so it is an enjoyable experience..

This is a link I stumbled upon while reading a Saudi blog..

It is truly amazing..

See for yourself:

http://www.jeddahraceway.com.sa/

-YSH ;)

Visit Saudi Arabia!

2006-07-06T23:16:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem: In the Name of Allah The Most Beneficient The Most Merciful
____________________________________________________________

Greetings All,

I'm back in Mesa Arizona after spending the last long weekend in San Jose California visiting my good friend and business partner Nick.. I had a great time and caught up with some old friends..

I also saw Devil Wears Prada which I consider Meryl Streep's third Oscar nomination right off the bat..

I found this article, and it answered a lot of the questions about Saudi Arabia that I get asked especially with regards to travel.. so I hope this helps :)

COMMENTS ARE HIGHLY VALUED ON THIS BLOG, positive or negative :)

___________________________

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/traveloutdoors/2003103026_websauditourism03.html

Visit Saudi Arabia, but dress and behave appropriately
By Lara Sukhtian
The Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Saudi Arabia seems an unlikely destination for fun in the sun.

Yet here was a Saudi prince at a tourism conference in neighboring Dubai, busily trying to sell his country as a vacation spot — provided visitors don't expect alcohol, women come robed, and everyone refrains from eating in public from dawn to dusk during the holy month of Ramadan.

And swinging singles need not apply. Women younger than 40 must be accompanied by their brothers or fathers.

Undaunted, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, until recently accessible to only a handful of non-Muslim tourists, is opening its doors, beckoning curious world travelers to its mysterious and hidden treasures.

The change springs from the new policies of King Abdullah, who ascended the throne last August after the death of his half-brother, King Fahd.

Abdullah, a reformer, wants to show that his country is more than just the former home of Osama bin Laden and a breeding ground for Islamic extremism.

"He wants to show the world a different face to the kingdom. It's all part of a greater plan to open up the country, to show that though it is Arab and Islamic, it is also modern and moderate," said Mishari al Thaybi, a Saudi writer and analyst for the London-based newspaper Al Sharq al Awsat.

"Tourists are the best ambassadors for any country," Mishari added.

The king, together with the country's tourism commission, wants to wash out the stain left on the Saudi reputation by the Sept. 11 attacks, in which 15 of the 19 hijackers were from the oil-rich desert kingdom.

At a recent tourism exhibition in Dubai, Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdel Aziz, secretary-general of the Saudi tourism commission, announced the kingdom was in the process of licensing 18 tour operators to issue tourist visas to non-Muslim visitors from the West and Asia.
For the past six years, since the country first cracked open the door to tourism, Saudi Arabian Airlines had been the country's only licensed operator of tours to an ultraconservative land known for being reclusive.

"It not a problem for us to open up. We just want to make sure we are doing it right," Prince Sultan said.

Saudi officials characterize the number of nonreligious visitors so far as only "a handful," but they hope to boost that to 50,000 a year initially and to 200,000 annually by 2010.

But the opening comes with strict rules.

According to the tourism commission, only single entry visas will be issued. Coed tours will be allowed — as long as a father or brother is with any women under 40. Visitors must follow local customs, and a booklet printed in several languages will be distributed to tourists instructing them on Saudi's strict social traditions.

"The tourists must comply with the social conducts of the kingdom, to know what's allowed and what's not allowed, what to wear and what not to wear," said Saad al-Kadi, adviser to Prince Sultan.

All female tourists will be required to dress according to Saudi tradition: covered from head to toe with only their face, hands and feet exposed. And in the most conservative city, the capital, Riyadh, women must wear a black robe over their clothes. If tourists choose to travel during the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset, tourists will not be allowed to eat or drink in public during fasting hours.

One thing visitors won't do, however, is tour Islam's most holy sites, including the cities Mecca and Medina. They are off limits to non-Muslims.

But there is a lot for tourists to do.

There is an ancient rose-colored Nabatean city carved in sandstone, along with hundreds of cultural and archaeological sites, such as the remains of the Hijaz railway — built in 1900 to allow Muslim pilgrims to travel to Saudi holy cities from other parts of the Ottoman Empire.

Mountains abundant with vegetation and wildlife offer a verdant contrast to the desert, a sprawling expanses where visitors can take excursions.

And there's scuba diving. With more than 1,000 miles of coast along the Red Sea and just under 500 miles of beach along the Persian Gulf, Saudi Arabia is home to some of the world's most spectacular dive sites.

"It is the last untouched tropical coral reef in the world, simply because of Saudi Arabian paranoia. And thank God for it," said Eric Mason, executive manager of Dream Divers in Saudi Arabia. "This place is a divers dream come true."

Mason's company has been offering scuba diving trips for more than three years, drawing coral reef enthusiasts from Europe and Asia.

An avid fan of a country he has lived in for 35 years, this Nigerian born son of an Italian mother and English father calls Saudi Arabia home and says the campaign to boost tourism will improve its image abroad.

"Saudi Arabia is supposed to be a police state, it's supposed to be a hotbed of terrorists. People are frightened of it. They don't understand it. Now they will come and see the truth for themselves," Mason said.

But how will women scuba dive when they are supposed to be draped in a black robe? Both al-Kadi and Mason said there can always be an exception to the rules, as long as its not flaunted.

Copyright © 2006 The Seattle Times Company

_________

-YSH ;)

Great Story.. get ready to cry.. :)

2006-06-29T11:50:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem: In the Name of Allah The Most Beneficient The Most Merciful
____________________________________________________________

Salam Valued Readers,

I know it isn't my nature, and I don't do it much because I try to appeal to the largest audience possible, but I will make this post in Arabic. I apologize to all my non-arabic readers and I will translate the story soon so everyone can enjoy it.. but for now to those who read Arabic.. ENJOY! I received this by email and I had to share it.

________________________________

€ قصة € رجل € المليونير € الذي € تحول € إلى € عامل € نظافة € في € المسجد € الحرام
€ براتب600€ ريال

€ قصة € انقلها € لكم € للعبرة € وفيها € الكثير € من € الدروس € والعبر € وهي € بلسان € راويها
€ الذي € يقول :

€ يسعدني € أن € أقدم € لكم € هذهِ € القصة € الحقيقية € والتي € سمعها € من € فم € راويها € ،
€ الذي € عاشها € لحظة € بلحظة € وهو € رجل € ثقة € ذو € خلق € ومن € الثقاة € عندنا .

€ سافر € هذا € الصديق € ، € والذي € يدعى ( € فهد ) € مع € صديقٍ € له € يدعى ( € خالد ) € إلى
€ دولة € البحرين € في € عام 2001 € م € ’¶21/1422€ هـ € ، € وذلك € لأن € خالد € كان € يشتكي
€ آلاماً € في € ظهره € ، € فوصف € له € بعض € الأصدقاء € طبيباً € مختص € بارع € وحذق € في € آلام
€ العظام € بشكل € عام .

€ وبعد € وصولهما € للبحرين € ، € أقاما € في € أحد € الفنادق € هناك € ، € وبينما € كان € خالد
€ أستسلم € للنوم € من € أثر € التعب € والإجهاد € ، € خرج € فهد € وحده € للسوق € مشياً € على
€ الأقدام € ، € باحثاً € عن € مطعمٍ € ينحر € بهِ € جوعه !!

€ يقول € فهد : € وبينما € أنا € أسير € في € منتصف € السوق € تقريباً ... € إذ € لفت € انتباهي
€ مطعم € فخم € صغير € ومزدحم € كثيراً € ، € فقلت € في € نفسي € ، € لو € لم € يكن € هذا € المطعم
€ متميز € لما € كان € عليهِ € هذا € الإقبال € الشديد € والازدحام ... € رغم € ضيق € مساحته
. € فاتجهت € إلى € المطعم € ودفعت € بابه € لكي € أدخل € ، € فأخذت € أنظر € يميناً € وشمالاً
€ في € صالة € المطعم € لعلي € أجد € مكاناً € خالياً € أجلس € بهِ € ، € ولكن € للأسف € لم € أجد !

€ وفجأة € وإلا € بمدير € المطعم € يبتسم € بوجهي € ويرحب € بي € ، € ويقول :
€ هل € أجعل € لك € طاولة € خاصة € أمام € واجهة € المطعم € ؟
€ فقلت € وبلا € تردد : € نعم .. € لو € سمحت .
€ فجلست € وحيداً € أنتظر € العشاء ..
€ وفي € هذهِ € اللحظات € إذ € توقفت € أمام € المطعم € سيارة € فارهة € جداً € ، € ترجل € منها
€ صاحبها € الذي € بانت € عليه € علامات € الثراء € ، € فهرع € له € عدد € من € موظفين € المطعم
€ ليستقبلوه € ويرحبون € به € ، € فلما € وقعت € عيناه € على € عيني € ، € أخذ € لي € لحظات

€ يرمقني € من € بعيد € ، € إلى € أن € أقبل € على .. € ثم € أتستأذنني € بالجلوس € ، € فأذنت € له
€ وعندما € جلس € أمامي € على € طاولة € واحدة € ، € أخذت € تفوح € من € فمهِ € رائحة € كريهة
€ ونتنه € جداً !!
€ حتى € أنني € رجعت € بالكرسي € للخلف .. € محاولاً € الابتعاد € عنه € ، € ولكن € لا € فائدة
..

€ وبعد € صمت € دام € لمدة € ما € ، € بدد € الرجل € غيوم € الصمت ..
€ فقال : € يا € شيخ € ، € أشعر € بأنك € متضايق € من
€ رائحة € فمي € المزعجة ..
€ هل € هذا € صحيح € ؟
€ فقلت € له € بكل € لطف : € نعم € صدقت
€ فقال : € يا € شيخ .. € أنا € مبتلى € بشرب € الخمر € منذ € أثنى € عشر € عاماً !! € ولا
€ أستطيع € مفارقته € ، € وكيف € أستطيع € التخلي € عنه € وهو € الآن € يسرى € في € شراييني € ؟!!
€ فقلت € له : € لا € حول € ولا € قوة € إلا € بالله ... € والله € إنه € أمر € عظيم € جداً !!

€ فسكتنا € نحن € الاثنين .. € وبعد € لحظات € أخذ € الرجل € يتأفف € ويتنهد € بنفس € طويل
€ فقلت € له : € استغفر € الله € يا € أخي ... € ولا € تتأفف € وتنفُخ € ، € بل € أذكر € الله
€ وادعوه € أن € يُفرج € همك € ويشرح € صدرك € ويعينك € على € بلواك

€ فقال : € يا € شيخ € أنا € عندي € ملايين € كثيرة € ، € ومتزوج € ولدي € خمسة € أولاد ... € لا
€ يزروني € ولا € يسألون € عني € مطلقاً € ولو € عن € طريق € الهاتف !!
€ وأخذ € يشتكي € لي € ويفضفض ...

€ إلى € أن € قال : € لعن € الله € المخدرات € ، € لعن € الله € المخدرات
€ فقاطعته € وقلت : € وما € دخل € المخدرات € في € الأمر € ؟!!
€ فقال € الرجل : € أنا € من € تجار € المخدرات € يا € شيخ !!
€ فسقط € ما € في € يدي .. € واندهشت € من € أمره € كثيراً
€ فقال € لي : € يا € شيخ .. € إن € أردتني € أن € أذهب € وأتركك .. € سأذهب € بسرعة € ولن € أغضب
€ منك
0
€ فقلت € بعد € لحظات € من € الصمت € الممزوج € بالحيرة
€ قلت : € لا ... € اجلس € ولا € تذهب € حتى € نتعشى .. € وما € هي € إلا € لحظات € حتى € جاء
€ العشاء € ، € وأكلنا € حتى € شبعنا € ، € فأتى ( € الجرسون ) € بمحفظة € وضع € بها € الفاتورة
>
€ ، € فوضع € المحفظة € بيننا € ثم € انصرف € ، € فأدخل € الرجل € المليونير € يديه € في € جيوبه
€ ، € فأخرج € منها € رُزم € من € الأوراق € المالية € ، € فوضعها € أمامي € على € الطاولة ...
€ وقال : € أنظر € يا € شيخ € إنها 32 € ألف € دولار € ، € كلها € من € الحرام € ، € فبالله € عليك
€ أن € تدفع € أنت € حساب € الفاتورة € ، € حتى € ينفعني € الله € بما € أكلت € من € مالك € الطيب
€ الحلال € فسددت € الفاتورة € وخرجنا

€ فقال € لي € الرجل € المليونير : € يا € شيخ € أنا € محتاج € لك € جداً € جدا € ، € أرجوك € ثم
€ أرجوك € ألا € تتركني € للحيرة € والعذاب ..
€ فقلت € له : € أنا € حاضر € بالذي € أقدر € عليه € بإذن € الله € ، € ولا € يكلف € الله € نفساً
€ إلا € وسعها
€ قال : € يا € شيخ .. € أنا € ارتحت € لك € كثيراً € ، € وقد € انشرح € صدري € لجلوسي € معك ...
€ هيا € لنجلس € معاً € في € أي € مكان € أنت € تختاره
€ فقلت € له : € أما € الآن € فلا € أستطيع € ، € ولكن € أعدك € بإذن € الله € بأن € سألتقي € بك
€ غداً € صباحاً € حيث € أنني € متعب € من € السفر € ، € ثم € إن € صاحبي
( € خالد ) € تركته € وحيداً € في € الفندق € نائماً .. € وربما € قد € يكون € الآن € مشغول
€ الذهن € علي € فتمعر € وجهه € واعتراه € الأسى .. € فقال : € حسناً € حسنا € ، € إليك (
€ كرتي ) € فيهِ € أرقام € هواتفي

€ فأخذت € منه ( € الكرت ) € واتجهت € للفندق € وما € هي € إلا € لحظات € حتى € مرني € الرجل
€ نفسه € ، € يقود € سيارته € الفخمة € ، € فوقف € بجانبي € وأنزل € زجاج € السيارة
€ وقال : € يا € شيخ
€ أعذرني .. € أقسم € بالله € العظيم € أنني € أتشرف € بركوبك € بجانبي € ، € ولكن € هذهِ
€ السيارة € جلبتها € بالمال € الحرام € ، € وكلها € حرام € في € حرام € ، € ولا € أريد € أن
€ أجلسك € على € مقعد € حرام ..
€ فتركني € وذهب € لحال € سبيله ..

€ وعند € وصولي € للفندق € وجدت € صديقي € خالد € ، € قد € أستيقظ € فأخبرته € بالذي € جرى € بيني
€ وبين € ذلك € الرجل € المليونير € فتعجب € خالد € جداً € من € أمر € ذلك € الرجل € ، € وعزمنا
€ أن € ندعوه € على € الفطور € وأن € نحاول € أن € نسحب € رجليه € إلى € عالم € الخير € والهداية
€ والصلاح .

€ وفي € الساعة € التاسعة € صباحاً .. € اتصلت € بالرجل € المليونير € ودعوته € على

€ الفطور € في € الفندق € الذي € نحن € مقيمين € فيهِ € ، € فحظر € وجلسنا € معه € ، € وأخذ € صديقي
€ خالد € يعضه € وينصحه € بكلام € جميل € وطيب € ، € يؤثر € في € الصخر
... € حتى € تأثر € ذلك € الرجل € تأثراً € بالغاً € قد € بان € عليه € ، € وقد € رأيت € دموعاً
€ صادقة € تلألأت € في € عيناه € ، € ثم € انحدرت € على € خديه € ، € فرفع € الرجل € المليونير
€ كفيه € للسماء € وأخذ € يقول :
€ اللهم € إني € أستغفرك .. € اللهم € اغفرلي .. € اللهم € اغفرلي

€ فعرضت € عليه € أن € نزور € بيت € الله € الحرام € للعمرة € ، € وأخذت € أحدثه € عن € فضل
€ العُمرة € وما € لها € من € أثر € نفسي € وراحة € للمعتمر € فقال € الرجل : € أعطوني € فرصة
€ للتفكير € ، € وسوف € أقوم € بالاتصال € بكم € قبل € الساعة € الواحدة € ظهراً € ثم € أنفض
€ مجلسنا .

€ وفي € تمام € الساعة € الثانية € عشر € أخذ € هاتف € الغرفة € يرن € ، € فرفعه € خالد .. € وكنت
€ حيينها € أقف € أمامه € ، € فأشر € لي € أن € هذا € المتصل € يكون € هو € صاحبنا € الذي € ننتظر
€ رده € فأخذ € يتكلم € معه € حول € العُمرة € ، € وسمعت € خالد € يشترط € على € الرجل € أن € لا
€ يأخذ € معه € للعُمرة € ولا € درهماً € واحداً .

€ وفي € الساعة € التاسعة € والنصف € مساءً € ، € وبعد € أن € أنهينا € جميع € أعمالنا € في
€ البحرين € ، € انطلقنا € نحن € الثلاثة € أنا € وخالد € والرجل € نحو € مكة € المكرمة € ،

€ وهناك € عند € الميقات € تجرد € الرجل € من € ثيابه € ولبس € إحراماً € اشتريناه € له € ،
€ فأخذ € كل € ملابسة € التي
€ كان € يرتديها .. € ورمى € بها € في € حاوية € النفايات € ، € وقال :
€ لا € بد € أن € تفارق € هذهِ € الملابس € الحرام € جسدي

€ وبعد € أن € انتهينا € من € تأدية € مناسك € العُمرة .. € قررنا € أن € نخرج € من € الحرم € لكي
€ نتحلل € من € الإحرام € ونبحث € عن € سكن € لنا
€ فقال € الرجل € المليونير € بصوت € حزين : € اتركوني € أجلس € هنا .. € أرجوكم € ، € واذهبا
€ أنتما
€ فقلنا € له € حسناً .. € ووصيناه € أن € لا € يغادر € مكانه

€ فلما € عدنا € لصاحبنا € بعد € أكثر € من € ساعة ... € وجدناه € في € مكانه € نائماً € وقد
€ نزل € منه € العرق € بغزارة € فأيقظناه € من € النوم € و € ذهبنا € بهِ € لبئر € زمزم € ، € فلما
€ شرب € منه € طلب € منا € أن € نفيض € عليه € من € ماء € زمزم € ، € فأخذنا € نصب € عليه € الماء € حتى
€ بللنا € جسده € بالكامل !!

€ فلما € ذهبنا € للسكن € لكي € نرتاح € وبعد € لحظات ... € طلب € منا € أن € نسمح € له € بالرجوع
€ للحرم € المكي € فسمحنا € له € ، € فحرج € للحرم € بعدما € ارتدى € ثوب € بسيط € بعشرة € ريالات
€ ، € وانتعل € حذاء € بخمس € ريالات ...
€ بعدما € كان € يرتدى € ما € يزيد € سعره € عن 500 € ريال € دفعة € واحدة

€ وبعد € صلاة € الفجر .. € التقينا € بهِ € بالحرم € ، € فسلمنا € عليه € وإذ € بالنور € يشع
€ من € وجههِ € والابتسامة € السمحاء
€ طغت € على € ثغرهِ € فطلب € منا € أن € نوصله € بأحد € أئمة € الحرم € المكي € لأمر € ضروري € خاص
€ بهِ ... € وبعد € جهد € جهيد € استطعنا € تحديد € موعد € مع € أحد € أئمة € الحرم € القدماء € ،
€ بعد € صلاة € العشاء € في € مكتبة € الخاص € الكائن € بالحرم ..

€ فلما € أتى € الموعد € ودخلنا € سوياً € على € إمام € الحرم € الذي € كان € ينتظرنا ..
€ فسلمنا € عليه € ، € فأقترب € منه € صاحبنا € وقال € له : € يا € شيخنا € الكريم € ، € إني € أملك
€ ثلاثون € مليون € دولار € كلها € من € مكسب € حرام € ، € واليوم € أنا € تبت € لله € توبة € صادقة
€ ، € وأنبت € إليه € ، € فما € أفعل € بها € ؟
€ قال € الشيخ € الإمام € بكل € هدوء € ووقار : € تبرع € بها € على € الفقراء € والمحتاجين
€ فقال € الرجل € المليونير : € يا € شيخ € إن € المبلغ € كبير € ، € وأنا € لا € أعرف € كيف
€ أصرفها... € فهل € ساعدتني € على € ذلك € ؟
€ فقال € الشيخ € الإمام : € سوف € أدلك € على € بعض € أهل € الخير € ليساعدوك € على € توزيع
€ المال

€ فعندنا € في € نفس € اليوم € إلى € البحرين ... € وقمنا € بإجراءات € تحويل € المبلغ € إلى
€ أحد € البنوك € في € السعودية € ، € وبعد € يومين € رجعنا € إلى € مكة € ، € ومكثنا € فيها € ثلاث
€ أيام € ، € ثم € ودعنا € صاحبنا € وأخبرناه € بأن € علينا € العودة € للكويت € ، € ووعدناه € أن
€ نرجع € له € بعد € بضعة
€ أيام € ، € وعند € وصولنا € للكويت € قضينا € فيها € أربعة € أيام € ، € ثم € رجعنا € إلى € مكة
€ المكرمة € ، € وهناك € في € الحرم € وبعد € البحث € الطويل ...
€ وجدنا € صاحبنا € الذي € كان € مليونيراً € واقف € عند € أحد € ممرات € الحرم € ، € مرتدي
€ لباس € عمال € النظافة € الخاصين € بالحرم € ، € ممسكاً € بيده € مكنسة ... € يكنس € الممر
€ بها € فلما € اقتربنا € منه € وسلمنا € عليه ... € اعتنقنا € عناقاً € حاراً € ، € وهو € يرحب
€ بنا € ويقول : € باركا € لي .. € باركا € لي
€ فلما € سألناه € عن € ماذا € نبارك € لك € ؟
€ قال : € لقد € توظفه € هنا € بالحرم ( € عامل € نظافة ) € وأجري € الشهر 600 € ريال € ، € كما
€ أن € السكن € عليهم € وهي € عبارة € عن € غرفة € صغيرة € يشاركني € بها € اثنين € من € الأخوة
€ الأفارقة + € المواصلات € فباركنا € له € وهنأناه € على € هذهِ € الوظيفة € الشريفة
€ التي € تجر € المكسب € الطيب € الحلال .

€ واليوم € وبعد € ثلاثة € اعوام ... € لا € يزال € هذا € الرجل € عامل € نظافة € في € الحرم
€ المكي € الشريف € وهو € الآن € يحفظ € كتاب € الله € العزيز € ، € وصحيح € البخاري € ومسلم
€ وجميع € أئمة € الحرم € يعرفونه € ويجالسونه .. € بل € أنه € أكل € معهم € في € صحنٍ € واحد
€ بعد € أن € كان € ملبسه € ومأكله € ومركبه € في € اليوم € والليلة € أضعاف € ذلك € الأجر
€ الشهري € البسيط ( 600) € ريال € بمئات € المرات 0
€ ولكن € من € ترك € شيئاً € لله € عوضه € الله € خيراً € منه
€ نسأل € الله € أن € يقبل € توبته € ويعلوا € درجته € في € جنات € النعيم
€ انه € ولي € ذلك € والقادر € عليه
€ آمين € يا € رب € العالمين
__________________________

-YSH ;)

Saudi Women Make Progress.. :)

2006-06-29T11:36:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem: In the Name of Allah The Most Beneficient The Most Merciful
____________________________________________________________

Alhamdulillah, more proof that we are improving every day.. :)

PROUD 2 B SAUDI!

http://arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=84524&d=29&m=6&y=2006
_______________________

More Women ‘Consultants’ Join Shoura
Maha Akeel, Arab News

JEDDAH, 29 June 2006 — Six more women joined the Shoura Council as part-time consultants, according to a member of the council. The women are consulted on various issues and they represent Saudi Arabia in international parliamentary meetings and forums where women are expected to attend. No discussions have been made on including women as full members in the council yet. The women are: Dr. Wafa Taiba, Dr. Omaimah Al-Jalahma, Dr. Bahija Ezze, Dr. Nora Al-Yousif, Dr. Nora Al-Edwan and Dr. Nihad Al-Jishi.

The council had previously consulted three other women in the past few years. They are all academicians and of experience in various fields and come from different backgrounds and regions of the Kingdom.

The six women were nominated to the council and selected by the president to act as part-time consultants as needed. “I think the women were mainly chosen to represent the Kingdom in conferences about women and family where their participation would give voice to the Saudi woman and her issues inside and outside the Kingdom,” said Shoura member Dr. Mohammed Al-Zulfa. The latest such participation for the women is the council president’s nomination of Dr. Nora Al-Edwan and Dr. Wafa Taiba to participate in the women and parliamentarians meeting to be held in Bahrain next week.

Al-Zulfa said that these women, whether the previous three or the additional six, are registered with the council as consultants and are called on by the various committees in the council to hear their opinions on different matters based on their experience. The committees have also called other women for their opinions when more views were needed such as the issue of women’s retirement where around 20 women from different regions and backgrounds were called and also the issue of high dowries, according to Al-Zulfa.

As for including women as full members, Al-Zulfa said that is a topic for the president of the council and the domain of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to decide on. Princess Adelah bint Abdullah had said in an interview in October that women’s membership in the Shoura “is a matter of time” and that women would be allowed to drive cars “in the right time”.

In early January of this year, local newspapers had reported that the Shoura Council would soon name members of a national women’s committee which would not be independent but function primarily as a consultative body. The committee will have the right to make suggestions if asked by the chairman.

Hatoon Al-Fassi, an associate professor at King Saud University and one of the women nominated for the committee, was surprised at being included and disappointed by the limited scope of the committee’s role. Al-Fassi explained: “I hope the committee will not be as has been suggested; if so, there is no need for it and I object to being included. This is not a first step; it is very much the same as what we have now. Women are asked as consultants with no right to make decisions, no authority and their opinions are not taken. This is not the committee we have been asking for. What we want is an independent women’s committee, supervising all women’s issues and reporting directly to the king. We want to be a link between the leadership and the executive branches.”

-YSH ;)

Acknowledgin A Homegirl

2006-06-18T07:49:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem: In the Name of Allah The Most Beneficient The Most Merciful
____________________________________________________________

Greetings People,

In Arizona now, Mesa to be precise.. The weather is great and the area I'm in is beautiful.

I just wanted to share this with all of you, something that I enjoyed reading which is really how all Saudis should be thinking.

http://www.saudi-us-relations.org/articles/2006/ioi/060615-manal-ucla.html

June 15, 2006

Saudi Arabian Super-Achiever to Deliver UCLA Student Commencement Address

A hard-charging political science major from Saudi Arabia has been selected to deliver the student address at the June 16 commencement exercises for UCLA's College of Letters and Science.

Manal Quota, an honor student with a distinguished record of political involvement and community service, will share the dais with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who is scheduled to keynote the ceremony.

"Manal brought to UCLA an enormous spirit, and her accomplishments are extraordinary," said Marc Mayerson, assistant dean of social sciences and head of the speaker selection committee. "She is truly an international citizen and scholar. In her we see the best of our common cause and humanity."

Quota, 20, expressed surprise at her selection.

"I came out of the audition and called my friend saying, 'There was no way I got it,'" she said. "It was such a shock to be selected, and I'm just so honored."

The undergraduate, who grew up in Jeddah but has lived in Egypt, Bahrain and elsewhere in the United States and has traveled widely, said she plans to urge fellow students to embrace their role as citizens of the world.

"Americans tend to be much more interested in domestic affairs and not so aware of the issues going on in the rest of world," she said. "In the places I have been to, I have found that people are interested in the world around them, while also paying a close eye to domestic affairs."

The youngest child of an accounting professor and housewife who still live in Saudi Arabia, Quota transferred to UCLA as a junior from Santa Monica College, a community college where she studied political science and was active in extracurricular activities.

But it was at UCLA where Quota, who has been living with two older siblings in the Palms neighborhood of West Los Angeles, really hit her stride. She tutored a second-grader in Watts and worked with underprivileged children in Burbank. She joined another student activist in putting together a two-day exploration of human trafficking for 50 undergraduate-level students from universities across California. She interned with Amnesty International and volunteered with UNICEF. She also participated in Bruin Leaders Project, a student-run leadership training group on campus.

"UCLA is a great campus where so many students are willing to get involved and really give their time to great causes," she said. "Students at UCLA are really looking for a way to help and make a difference, and I have found that more here than anywhere else I have been."

Last month, Quota's efforts netted her a Chancellor's Service Award, a distinction given for exemplary community service. Recipients wear special regalia during graduation. She also received a certificate of special recognition from Rep. Brad Sherman, D-San Fernando Valley, a UCLA alumnus.

Quota, who hopes to attend graduate school after taking a year off to work, didn't let her service activities get in the way of making strides as a scholar and researcher. The political science major with a passion for African studies served for two quarters as a research assistant. One of the professors she helped even acknowledged her services in his recently published book. She served as a member of the editorial staff of Aleph, the campus journal for undergraduate research and wrote a scholarly article that appeared in an online undergraduate journal in the field of international relations. Last month, these efforts netted her the Vice Provost's Recognition Award for Undergraduate Research Participation.

During the summer and last fall, Quota served as a correspondent for Arab News, the Middle East's leading English-language daily. Quota was even part of the initial class of student-teachers who launched UCLA's Undergraduate Student Initiated Education Program. As part of the program, which prepares undergraduates to teach a one-unit course on a subject of their own selection, Quota taught eight UCLA undergraduates -- several of them fellow seniors -- a quarter-long course on the Rwanda genocide.

All the while, Quota never lost sight of her studies. Having participated in UCLA's Honors Collegium program, a more demanding educational track designed for especially ambitious undergraduates, she is graduating with honors.

Ultimately, the graduating senior whose name translates in Arabic as "striving for something and then getting it," hopes to study international development or international affairs at the graduate level with the ultimate goal of landing a position in a nongovernmental organization.

She traces her passion in world affairs and global economic justice back to a stint at an elite British high school in Egypt.

"In Saudi Arabia, I have a privileged life with a maid and chauffer -- there, that's normal," she said. "But in Cairo there was such a distinction between the wealthy and poor. You'd see mud shacks without glass in the windows and small rooms that would house a family of four or more. It really struck me as unfair and made me reexamine the life I was leading. That ultimately helped me figure out what I want to do with my life."

Graduation begins at 5 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion. It is the largest commencement ceremony on campus; approximately 2,900 students are expected to have degrees conferred at the ceremony, and an additional 12,000 guests are expected to attend.

Source: UCLA Office of Media Relations

California's largest university, UCLA enrolls approximately 38,000 students per year and offers degrees from the UCLA College of Letters and Science and 11 professional schools in dozens of varied disciplines. UCLA consistently ranks among the top five universities and colleges nationwide in total research-and-development spending, receiving more than $820 million a year in competitively awarded federal and state grants and contracts. For every $1 state taxpayers invest in UCLA, the university generates almost $9 in economic activity, resulting in an annual $6 billion economic impact on the Greater Los Angeles region. The university's health care network treats 450,000 patients per year. UCLA employs more than 27,000 faculty and staff, has more than 350,000 living alumni, and has been home to five Nobel Prize recipients.

Saudi-US Relations Information Service
eMail: info@SUSRIS.org
Web: http://www.Saudi-US-Relations.org
© 2006
Users of the The Saudi-US Relations Information Service are assumed to have read and agreed to our terms and conditions and legal disclaimer contained on the SUSRIS.org Web site.

-YSH ;)

Long Live The King

2006-06-15T07:48:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem: In the Name of Allah The Most Beneficient The Most Merciful
____________________________________________________________

Alhamdulillah..

I had to share this article with you, may Allah bless every endeavor King Abdullah attempts.

http://arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=83789&d=15&m=6&y=2006

Abdullah Launches First University in Hail
P.K. Abdul Ghafour, Arab News

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah is briefed on the new economic city in Hail by SAGIA Governor Amr Al-Dabbagh during its launching. (SPA)

JEDDAH, 15 June 2006 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah launched the first university in the northern Hail region yesterday.

The university will have five colleges with advanced academic and research facilities and the first phase of its campus project will cost SR645 million.

During the ceremony, Higher Education Minister Dr. Khaled Al-Anqari announced that 15,000 Saudi students would be sent abroad for higher studies under the King Abdullah Scholarship Program.

Late Tuesday night, Abdullah unveiled a SR30 billion economic city in the region, which will host agricultural and mineral industries, an education zone and a residential area with 30,000 housing units, the Saudi Press Agency said.

The Prince Abdul Aziz ibn Musaed Economic City, named after the first governor of Hail, an agricultural region rich in mineral resources that has some 600,000 inhabitants, will have its own airport, a railway service and a dry dock. The king handed over the license to build the city to a group of investors before laying its foundation stone. He also watched a documentary on the city.

Speaking about the university project, Al-Anqari said Hail University was designed to become one of the most distinguished institutions of higher learning in the Kingdom with state-of-the-art academic and research facilities. “It will have a unique academic environment that brings together education, research, application and production,” he explained.

“The first phase of the university project will cost SR645 million,” the minister said. Extending over an area of nine million square meters, the university will include five colleges: College of Medicine and Medical Sciences, College of Engineering, College of Computer Science, College of Sciences and Community College.

Abdullah arrived in Hail on Tuesday from Ahsa on the fifth leg of his current tour of the Kingdom’s regions during which he is meeting people and inaugurating new projects. The king has already visited Jubail, Alkhobar, Qateef and Ahsa.

The new economic city in northern Saudi Arabia is the second of five such cities planned by the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) in different parts of the Kingdom. Last December, the first city, King Abdullah Economic City in Rabigh, some 200 km north of Jeddah, was launched. The King Abdullah City is expected to attract SR100 billion ($26.6 billion) in investment.

The Hail economic city will cost SR30 billion, according to a source in Rakiza Holding, the company which will oversee the project along with SAGIA and the Hail Development Authority. The city will have 12 strategic facilities for trade and services. Some 80,000 people are expected to live in the new city, which will have business and leisure centers. Extending over 156 million square meters, it will also house 3,000 office units and a logistical supply and services center.

The venture, whose cost was confirmed by other officials at the launch, is part of efforts to boost less developed regions of the Kingdom. “The government is making sure to allocate a large part of the budget surplus to development projects in the regions which did not get their full share,” the king told Hail residents at a reception.

The planned economic city will be a big boost to development in the region, the king said, adding that it would create 30,000 jobs over the next 10 years.

King Abdullah also dedicated a number of educational, manpower training, housing and infrastructure projects in Hail. Crown Prince Sultan, and top officials including Prince Sultan ibn Salman, secretary-general of the Supreme Commission for Tourism, attended the launch. Abdullah’s next destination is the central region of Qasim, where he will dedicate 13 educational, welfare and development projects worth SR5 billion. The projects include Qasim University, which is estimated to cost SR1.2 billion.

Also yesterday, King Abdullah allocated 80 million square meters of land in Hail, belonged to the Ministry of Defense and Aviation, to build houses for Saudis. A new residential area will be established in the plot to accommodate some 15,000 families. According to the plan, there will be 350 investment projects, 80 schools, 100 mosques and a number of commercial centers in the area.

The king also launched the King Abdul Aziz Cultural Center project, comprising modern shopping centers, hotels, administrative and office buildings and service centers. The state will have a 73 percent stake in the project that will be completed in seven years, SPA said.

Abdullah later inaugurated a charitable project of Suleiman ibn Abdul Aziz Al-Rajhi, a businessman. The SR600 million project includes 400 housing units, two vocational training schools, a large mosque, a polyclinic and a public library. Al-Rajhi plans to carry out similar projects in other parts of the Kingdom.

The king commissioned a SR1.8 billion water distribution project to supply water to hundreds of villages in the region. He also launched the Hail-Jouf Expressway and Hail-Madinah Expressway.

Ali Al-Ghafees, governor of the General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training (GOTEVOT), said his organization would establish 162 vocational training institutes, 45 technical colleges and 41 higher technical institutes for girls. He said GOTEVOT was carrying out projects worth SR350 million in Hail.

-YSH ;)

Los Angeles Update

2006-06-14T19:49:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem: In the Name of Allah The Most Beneficient The Most Merciful
____________________________________________________________

Hello People,

The weather is beautiful, a nice 27 degrees Celsius.

I watched Saudi tie Tunisia today (although Saudi deserved to win), but I still have hope we can beat UKRAINE, SO WHEREVER YOU ARE PRAY FOR SAUDI, AND LET'S CHEER OUR GREEN FALCONS!

I made this Arabic guide and I thought I would share it since there are lots of useful words that would benefit anyone starting to learn Arabic.

Formal Arabic (FA) and Saudi (S) Dialects

Hello (Islamic greeting) (FA) Assalamoo Alaykum wa RaHmatoo Allaahi wa Barakatuhu

Hello (Islamic / short version) (FA) Assalamu Alaikum

Hello (in any Arabic speaking country) MarHaba

Hello (formal) Ahlan Wa Sahlan

How are you? (FA) Kayf al Hal

How are you? (Masculine) (S) Kayf Halak

How are you? (Feminine) (S) Kayf Halik

How are you doing? (Masc.) Aish aKHbarak

How are you doing? (Fem.) Aish aKHbarik

How are you doing? (Masc.) (S) Wish Oloomak

How are you doing? (Fem.) (S) Wish Oloomik

I’m fine (FA) Ana BiKHair

I’m fine (FA) (S) (Islamic) AlhamduLillah

Pleased to meet you Tasharrafna

Good morning (FA) (S) Sabah Al KHayr

Response to good morning (FA) (S) Sabah Al Noor

Good Night (FA) (S) Masa’a Al KHayr

Response to good night (FA) (S) Masa’a Al Noor

How old are you? (M) Kam Umrak

How old are you? (F) Kam Umrik

My name is (Name) (FA) Ismee (Name)

I am (Name) (FA) Ana (Name)

What is your name? (FA) (M) Ma Huwa Ismuk

What is your name? (FA) (F) Ma Huwa Ismuki

What is your name? (S) (M) Eish Ismak

What is your name? (S) (F) Eish Ismik

Yes (FA) Na’am

Yes (S) Eewa

No (FA)(S) La

Please (M) (FA) Low SamaHt

Please (F) (FA) Low SamaHtee

Please (S) Mumkin

Thank you (FA) Shukran

Thank you (S) (M) Mashkoor

Thank you (S) (F) Mashkoora

Your welcome (FA) Afwan

Come here (M) (S) Ta’al Hina

Come here (F) (S) Ta’alee Hina

I’m hungry (M) (FA) Ana Jaa’ie

I’m hungry (F) (FA) Ana Jaa’ia

I’m not hungry (M) (FA) Ana Lastu Jaa’ian

I’m not hungry (F) (FA) Ana Lastu Jaa’iatan

I’m hungry (M) (S) Ana Jooa’an

I’m hungry (F) (S) Ana Jooa’aanah

I’m not hungry (M) (S) Ana Moob Jooa’an

I’m not hungry (F) (S) Ana Moob Jooa’anah

Where is the restroom? Wein AlHammam?

How can I get to the restroom? Kayf arooh lil Hammam?

Bye Ma’a Assalaamah

Come on Yallah

OK OK

Good (FA) Jayyid

Bad (FA) Sayyi’a

Good (S) Kwayyis

Bad (S) KHayis

ENjoy...

West Coast Update! :)

2006-06-11T11:33:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem: In the Name of Allah The Most Beneficient The Most Merciful
___________________________________________________________________

Salam All My PPL!

I hope you guys are enjoying this summer as much as I am..

I'm currently in Mesa Arizona, watching the Mexico vs. Iran world cup match (Mexico just scored and Iran tied!). Arizona is so much like Riyadh it's crazy.

Wide roads that extend to infinity, DECENT drivers (compared to Boston), and incredible heat (41 degrees Celsius today = 106 degrees fahrenheit).

I had my first physical day of work on Friday and I LOVED IT, it was so much fun and I barely have to exert any effort. The people here are great and they all come from lots of different places all with different experience (X-Men, SpiderMan, Edward Scissorhands, Men in Black etc.)

Arizona is a lot of fun, I met one of my former Aramco classmates that I haven't seen for 3 years and he's been showing me around.

West coast people are very much laid back, and you can actually see some Native Americans here, not like Bostonia.

There are also lots of places that open till late at night (2 am) (hookah bars etc.) compared to only night clubs in Boston.

I met one of my Qatari friends yesterday at this place called "Urban Cafe", the owner is a Palestinain who grew up in Qatar and I enjoyed my time there.

I went to this other place in the afternoon I think it was called Rural Cafe, and it's situated on a lake with a great view. The clerk working there was from WORCESTER (east coast boys). And his accent slowly came out when he realized I was from Boston.. His name was Nathan, but people call him Musa = Moses (a name given to him by his boss because he is strong and honest!). He also spoke some random Arabic so it was good fun.

I am planning to see a therapist soon to deal with my "IN N OUT" addiction :P

Phoenix also reminds me a lot of Shargiyya, and I got several flashbacks from the fun Aramco Nites where we'd drive forever then meet up with the guys to just chill it and play some serious BALOOOOOT.

Anyways, I fly to LA tomorrow, and will be back in Arizona in a few days.

From the West Coast,

This is Raven ;)

Over and out.

-YSH ;)

Lazy Friday + Another piece of my writing

2006-06-02T09:05:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem: In the Name of Allah The Most Beneficient The Most Merciful
___________________________________________________________________

Salam Dear Readers,

It's Friday, 10 am (I know why are you up so early), well I had some more paperwork to finish for my summer internship
I will send more updates as they occur.

For now, I have another piece of writing to share with you which I wrote for the same creative writing class as my first piece..

COMMENTS APPRECIATED! :)
_____________________________________________

It has been ten years since Tiberius rose to power. The people of Abahania resented every breath he took and the number of those who wished him dead had grown exponentially over the last decade. Tyrannical, cheeky and very egoistic, he ridiculed almost every Abahanian that would cross his path during his weekly excursions in his kingdom. His court teeming with sycophants striving for the scraps he’d offer when he was in a good mood. It seemed as if the only person who could stand him was his Chief Minister, Marios. Marios and Tiberius went way back, to the days when they were both footmen in Richabald’s (the previous king’s) army. Richabald was a favorite among the commoners, ruling Abahania with an iron fist, favoring diplomacy to war to settle any dispute.

Tiberius grew bored of serving a timid and passive king, and eventually assassinated Richabald. Tiberius seized the throne and immediately appointed Marios as his chief minister. The troops in the army succumbed to Tiberius’s commands because they knew his venomous brutality to anyone who went against his will. With the army under his control, the people of Abahania had no choice but to accept Tiberius as their new ruler. The number of troops in the army had diminished considerably due to Tiberius’s nature of raiding the neighboring towns and villages to expand his kingdom. Tiberius was not concerned about how many men he had lost because he did not value life anyway. Instead, he would enlist scores of peasants into his army regularly to cover his deficits.

Arthus and Darwish were brothers, both stonemasons. They had inherited their father’s mill when he died. Their mother only lived a year after their father’s death, dying of grief over the loss of her husband.

The brothers had a natural talent for masonry, having gained the expertise at a young age. The inhabitants of their town, Tafir grew to love them for their good nature and their rush to assist anyone in need. Arthus was two years older than Darwish, he was tall with broad shoulders, and dark blonde hair. An avid horse rider, he had a tattoo of a mare on his left arm. Darwish was shorter than Arthus with locks of brown hair and very memorable hazel eyes. His smile was contagious, and nobody could resist not smiling back at him whenever he trekked in Tafir. Of course, that was before Tiberius attacked Tafir.

Whoever managed to survive after the attack fled to neighboring towns or into the forest. Arthus and Darwish had been away from Tafir that day, delivering some goods to Tiberius’s castle. Riding back to Tafir, they met Father Amadeus, Tafir’s priest and he told them Tafir had been ravaged. They arrived to Tafir, and couldn’t believe their eyes. Tafir, a once vibrant community had become a ghost town. The marketplace had never been emptier, the pond that was usually crowded with children was perfectly still, it seemed like even the frogs and fish had left. The brothers could not take this cruelty anymore.

“Arthus, but how are we supposed to defeat him, what can two peasants do compared to his army?” Darwish said.

“We shall train, and rally all those who wish to overthrow that bastard, many have come to hate his destruction and bloodshed.” Arthus replied.

The brothers spent the next four months gathering men who supported their cause, and started training the peasants in the confines of the forest. These commoners gained experience relatively quickly due to the flames of revenge that seared inside their bodies. Within six months they believed they had enough fighters to defeat Tiberius once and for all. Though Arthus and Darwish both desired to defeat Tiberius, their motives differed considerably and they spent numerous nights arguing.

“Arthus, I can’t believe you’d think that way, it seems like Tiberius’s filthy egoism has spread to you too, how can you be so self-centered?”

“My dear younger brother, our father was a stonemason and we are both stonemasons, have you not become bored with the primitive life we live, if we defeat Tiberius, then people will recognize us as heroes, and we shall live in glory. Think of the women, Darwish, you always mentioned how beautiful you thought the Abahanian ladies were.”

“That isn’t the point, to start I can’t believe you look down upon masonry. It’s been your niche for as long as I can remember, how dare you belittle the craft that our father spent his life teaching us and that has never failed to provide us with our bread and water. We need to fight for justice not, personal glorification. Our goal is to overthrow a dreadful tyrant and give the people the freedom they yearn for so dearly, the aftermath isn’t as important!”

“Darwish, if we succeed, the people might even elect us as rulers of the land, do you know how rich we could be, I’ve had enough of Tafir, it’s true I will not rest till I stand on Tiberius’s corpse but since the attack, I’ve realized that Tafir didn’t mean as much to me as it did to you. I shall defeat that tyrant as revenge for the destruction of our father’s mill and for people to realize my abilities as a true commander.”

“That’s surprising, you still have some humanity in you after all. Arthus, what about Father Amadeus, and Merriam and the others that were killed. They looked up to us for help and support whenever any misfortune had befallen them. Surely you wish to avenge them!”

“Brother, you have sickened me with all this affection, weaklings always look up to strong men for guidance and protection. And when we defeat Tiberius I shall grant the people their freedom. Now leave me be, I wish to rally our forces at dawn.”

As the brothers settled into their tents, Darwish was greatly alarmed and couldn’t accept the change in Arthus’s personality. He went to sleep that night and had a nightmare of infiltrating the castle and reaching Tiberius’s chamber to find Arthus there with a crown on his head, not Tiberius as he proceeded to slay him. He woke up in a cold sweat and had trouble getting back to sleep for the rest of the night.

When daybreak came, Arthus started organizing the troops and delineating the plan they were to carry out that day. Darwish interrupted Arthus and suggested they split the army in two, thus adding an element of surprise to the attack. The soldiers were thrilled with this idea, but Arthus stared at his brother in disbelief. Even YOU a weakling, Darwish, he thought. He figured he might as well grant his brother his desire, not wishing for anything to disrupt his quest for recognition.

Arthus advanced towards the Eastern gate of Abahania.

“Soldiers, we have risen and advanced from the ranks of the primitive to the level of knights. We shall no longer be looked down upon by anyone, we shall defeat the swine Tiberius and fulfill our destiny as the heroes that gave the people their freedom once more. Are you with me?”

“Yes!” the soldiers erupted like a dynamic volcano.

Darwish approached the Western Gate of Abahania and managed to enter the city with little effort. The kingdom guards recognized him and understood what he was doing and soon joined his ranks as they advanced to Tiberius’s castle.

“Ah, brethren, my knights of justice, we have gathered from towns and villages, most of which were pillaged by Tiberius’s ruthless army. We are here to avenge our dead, our towns and to lift this shroud of darkness from Abahania once and for all.”

The troops cheered and engaged in war chants as they approached the castle, thrilled for having made a difference and pleased to have had a leader who cared so much about defeating evil. Tyranny and oppression were never matters to be proud of, or so they believed.
___________

Behind the names:

Abahania
was derived from the Saudi city of Abha.

Tafir
was derived from the Saudi city of Taif.

Arthus
is the name of the lead character in Warcraft III

Marios
is the greek nickname of my good friend Omar

Darwish
just sounded right from the Arabic name Darweesh

Stonemason
is the English transliteration of my last name

Tiberius
sounded like a tyrant, from Tiberian Sun (Red Alert)

Richabald,
from Richalou (from some novel I can't remember) and Archibald (random).

-YSH ;)

King Faisal University

2006-05-31T09:36:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem: In the Name of Allah The Most Beneficient The Most Merciful
___________________________________________________________________

Salam All,

I usually don't post twice in one day, but this was something that I lived through the discussion of till the matter came to be reality. THis university is planning some cooperation with University's like MIT (where I heard about it the first time a few years ago). Alhamdulillah it has materialized and we can rest assured that it will make its mark on the Saudi society..

_______
Sultan Launches Alfaisal University
Naif Al-Shehri, Arab News

Crown Prince Sultan launches Alfaisal University in Riyadh on Tuesday. (AN photo by Khaled Al-Khamees)

RIYADH, 31 May 2006 — Crown Prince Sultan launched Alfaisal University, a world-class institution of higher learning with advanced academic facilities, here yesterday. It will have four faculties for science, business, medicine and engineering and will have a capacity to accommodate 4,000 students.

The crown prince laid the foundation stone for the high-tech private university at Maader District in the capital city in the presence of a large number of dignitaries including senior princes, ministers, top government officials and foreign diplomats.

Prince Sultan donated SR20 million to the university — SR5 million to each faculty. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, managing director of King Faisal Foundation (KFF), which launched the university project, said Alfaisal would provide 40 scholarships to outstanding students annually. The scholarship program is named after Sultan.

Prince Khaled, who is also governor of the Asir region, said the university would apply modern methodology of teaching and encourage students to conduct research by themselves and improve their skills. English will be the medium of instruction at the four faculties.

Prince Bandar ibn Saud, KFF deputy managing director, said the university would bring about total change in the Saudi society.

“We look at education as an agent of change in Saudi Arabia,” he added. He said the university enjoyed the support of authorities “to become the benchmark for other universities in Saudi Arabia”.

He expected that Alfaisal would become the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) or the Cambridge of the Middle East. Bandar signed an agreement last year with Malaysian architectural firm Ahmad Zaki Resources Berhad, represented by Managing Director Wan Zakariah Muda, to build the university.

“In line with the philanthropic and autonomous nature of the foundation’s existing commitments, this nonprofit institution will embody the essential values of independence, distinction and integrity,” Bandar said.

Alfaisal offers bachelor’s degree courses in different specializations of engineering, science, medicine and administration technology in the first phase. In later phases it will provide master’s and doctoral degrees, Bandar said.

The university’s board of trustees reflects the broad sets of disciplines and arenas that the university represents and the eleven members are from the following organizations: The King Faisal Foundation, Dallah AlBaraka, Al-Jomaih Company, Saudi Oger, Saudi Binladin Group, KFSH&RC, British Aerospace Electronics Company, Boeing Company, United Technologies Corporation and THALES.

The campus itself will be set in the austere surroundings of King Faisal’s palace in Maader and will host the four main faculties. With the original palace serving as the administration quarters and forming the focal point of the site, the other buildings will be arranged in a semi-circular fashion around it.

The new academic buildings will be constructed from donations of various benefactors and will bear their names. The library will be housed in the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal building, the Conference Center in the Princess Haya Bint Turki building, the Science Faculty in the Prime Minister Rafik Hariri building, the Business Faculty in the Sheikh Saleh Al-Kamel building and the Student Center in the Dr. Nasser Al-Rasheed building. The construction of the university mosque was commissioned on behalf of Princess Jowharah bint Khaled.

Although construction of the university is due to take place in four major phases, two of these so far have been signed. The initial phase will last for approximately 14-and-a-half months incorporating the mosque, the Science Faculty, support services, underground parking and outside work. The subsequent phase has a predicted duration of 21 months and will culminate in construction of the Business Faculty, Student Centers, Conference Center, Library and other related car parking and outside work.

The grounds of King Faisal Palace in Maader will be reconstructed to take on the new home of Alfaisal University. The palace is located in the historical center of Riyadh.

Alfaisal aims to become an internationally acknowledged outstanding institution for education and academic research. It will contribute to the advancement of Saudi Arabia by means of education, training, research and technological advancements, an official statement said.

Alfaisal aims to become a model university that would accommodate a new cooperative approach with leading technical institutions in major industrial countries. It will create opportunities for Saudi youth to attain professional qualifications that would support them in securing future careers.

____

ALHAMDULILLAH, AND ALLAHU AKBAR!

-YSH ;)

Great article + Updates

2006-05-31T09:29:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem: In the Name of Allah The Most Beneficient The Most Merciful
___________________________________________________________________

Greetings and Salamz to All,

I hope everything is going well.

Well, the weather in Bostonia finally improved, I actually have to wear shorts and linen shirts to withstand the weather, because the Boston sun is awkward. However the night can still be chilly, lool, as Mark Twain said: "if you don't like the weather in Boston just wait a few minutes." Well Mr. Twain I can say I have lived that experience several times, and they weren't too pleasing.

I wanted to post another piece of my writing, but my friend sent me this great article, that I decided to share with all of you, so that piece will have to wait.

But this piece is very interesting, and I already have comments on it, so let's hear what you guys have to say..

______________

Cheering The Code After Punching The Passion
By Chris Weinkopf

Imagine, if you can, a major studio releasing a thriller in which the stars investigate the origins of Islam. Pursued by a murderous Muslim cleric, they uncover a series of shocking discoveries: Mohammed was no prophet! The Koran is a hoax, the work of self-serving hypocrites! Modern-day Muslims are dupes, if not deranged psychopaths!

Now imagine, in the unlikely event such a film were ever made, what sort of reception it would get in the establishment media. Given the categorical refusal of the American press to publish the Danish Mohammed cartoons, it's a safe bet that the talking heads and big newspapers would only mention the movie to denounce it.

This is telling, given the fawning, copious attention that's been lavished upon Ron Howard's adaptation of The Da Vinci Code, which began well before the movie was even in production.

Five months in advance of its opening, Newsweek touted Da Vinci in a fluffy cover piece as the "New Year's Hottest Movie." NBC's "Today" show aired clips during the Winter Olympics. Throughout the media, giddy reporters and pundits counted down the days until the big-screen debut of Dan Brown's best-selling novel, which insists that Christ was not divine, that the Gospels are a fraud, and that the Catholic Church is a wicked, murderous conspiracy out to conceal the truth of the "sacred feminine."

Clearly the decision makers in today's establishment press defer to the religious sensibilities of some folks more than others.

There are various reasons for this double standard, the first being media cowardice. Christians tend not to riot and torch buildings when they're offended. They can deal with having their convictions challenged. The Muslim world, in contrast, is much more dangerous. And media crusaders tend to go weak in the knees if there?s a chance of becoming the next Salman Rushdie or Theo van Gogh.

Then there's simple economics: The Da Vinci Code, which sold 40 million copies in hardcover alone, has the potential to be a box-office hit of Harry Potter proportions. Reporters and news organizations that saw little profit in reprinting second-rate foreign cartoons want to get in on this bonanza.

But then The Passion of the Christ, which brought in $370 million domestically, was one of the highest-grossing films of all time. And while it got plenty of media attention, the coverage was completely different from that surrounding The Da Vinci Code. As aggressively as Da Vinci has been puffed, Christ got poked.

Likewise, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (another big-screen adaptation of a massively popular novel that was a huge moneymaker) never drew favorable publicity of the sort showered on DVC. Most of the Narnia coverage focused on whether the film's Christian themes would doom its chances at the box office.

The discrepancy is not so much a matter of money, then, but manners. To the establishment press, plots that strongly uphold traditional Christian beliefs, whether explicitly (as in The Passion) or allegorically (as in Narnia), are regarded as dubious, rude, even dangerous. Stories that undermine Christianity, on the other hand, are "hot" and edgy, and attract A-list celebrities, big studios, powerful news outlets, and charmed-circle journalists.

Just before The Passion came out, Newsweek gave the movie a cover story of its own--a long polemic that attacked the film's history and theology. The same issue included a hand-wringing editor's note which essentially accused director Mel Gibson of anti-Semitism by "laying the blame" for Jesus?s death "on the Jews of Jerusalem, not the occupying Romans." Newsweek editor Mark Whittaker even fretted that because "the more coverage the movie gets, the better it will do at the box office," his magazine might be "contributing to the hype."

Suffice it to say, Dan Brown's highly problematic scholarship hasn't received anywhere near the same level of scrutiny from the establishment media, let alone the scurrilous charges of bigotry. Occasionally a reporter will include a quote from an historian or theologian who notes that Brown's fiction-masquerading-as-fact is not founded on good scholarship. But this doesn?t dampen the enthusiasm of the discussion, because something between skepticism and hostility toward Christianity is the dominant worldview in most newsrooms.

And so the hype continues.

Published in Attack of the Snobs June 2006

Available on the TAEMAG website at
_____

What do u think?? :)

-YSH ;)

UPDATEZ + POLYGAMY: INSIDE OUT!

2006-05-22T12:48:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem: In the Name of Allah The Most Beneficient The Most Merciful
___________________________________________________________________

Freedom is really sweet, it feels different waking up and knowing you don't have to rush around and do work.

There is lots of stuff to catch up on and organize. I will probably be cancelling the London Program (I got a better offer).

Boston weather is still annoying me, after great days of sun, sudden random rainy and windy days screw everything up and it really gets depressing. I think my immunity has improved because I'm used to so much weather change at short periods of time.

This is a piece of writing I composed for a creative writing class in which we had to write an autobiography as a member of the other gender. It is a highly controversial piece so I welcome all feedback and I'm ready to hold a serious discussion about the topics covered..

Enjoy!! :)

________________________________________________________________

POLYGAMY: Inside OUT!

I was overcome with joy. The moment I’d been dreaming about my whole life was finally becoming a reality. Who wouldn’t be happy? A tall, well-built, Harvard graduate had asked my father for my hand in marriage only the week before. Ahmed was a successful businessman with several flourishing franchises in my country, Saudi Arabia, and when my friends found out he wanted to get engaged they were jealous. “Ahmed Al-Khaled wants to marry you! I hope I get that lucky someday,” my best friend Lulu, the cardiologist, told me. I really felt special.

After the engagement party, I got to know him better. He had a small scar above his right eye which he got from falling off his horse during a polo match. He had a great sense of humor, always making waiters and doormen laugh wherever we went out in Riyadh. He was the kind of guy who always had a smile on his face. Even if he had just lost a contract or a business opportunity, he told me his faith in God was never shaken. His resilience after failure pushed him to work even harder, molding him into a distinguished entrepreneur. He didn’t disclose much about his family life, but I didn’t mind.

I couldn’t wait for the wedding; my sisters, parents, and my close friends and relatives all had different ideas for a wedding theme, from a sub-Saharan jungle to a Venetian gondola. They were more excited than I was about making everything perfect. There was nothing in the world that could affect the blissful state I was in. At least that’s what I thought.

The next weekend, we were having dinner in Spazio, one of Riyadh’s finest Italian restaurants, located at the very top of Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Skyscraper. Ahmed had mentioned on the phone that morning that there was something serious he wanted to tell me. Knowing Ahmed, I wasn’t the least bit concerned. I mean, what could this perfect guy have on his mind?

As I looked out the window at the broad streets of Riyadh, bustling with cars, the waiter arrived with the chocolate soufflé we were going to share for dessert. That’s when Ahmed started talking, and I really wish he hadn’t. He told me that I would be his fourth wife! I almost choked on a forkful of soufflé. FOURTH WIFE! What was he thinking? Who did he think I was? One of those laid-back, gullible Saudi women that didn’t mind sharing a husband? Me, an MIT graduate, become someone’s fourth wife? He must be insane thinking I’d go ahead with this marriage.

We didn’t talk much as Ahmed drove me home. He couldn’t stand to see me angry, especially if he had something to do with it, and so he stayed quiet to let me think the matter over. He let me know that I could give him my decision whenever I felt comfortable. When I got home, I ran to my parents’ bedroom in tears. My mom came and asked me what the matter was. I told her the whole story and she sat down and tried to comfort me. My sisters were as devastated by what Ahmed told me as I was.

My father called me on the intercom and asked me to come to his study. As I walked in, my father, a well-known economist, was typing the final chapter of the new book he was writing about the Saudi economy. He asked me what the matter was, and I told him the whole story. He kept his eyes focused on me the entire time while I told him what had just happened. When I finished talking, he was quiet for a few minutes, collecting his thoughts before giving me his opinion.

“Mona,” he said, “Ahmed isn’t the typical Saudi guy. He is a well-respected, successful and religious man from a great family, and you should be honored that he came to ask for your hand. None of the other men who asked for your hand were even close to his caliber, and most of them were rich snobs that you couldn’t stand.”
“But Dad,” I said, “How can he expect me to be his fourth wife?”

“Mona, you can’t deny him his right as a Muslim man to have four wives. You also know that to go through with this marriage, Ahmed would have to be just with all four of you. You would all possess the same quality house and gifts, your kids would receive the same treatment, and remember that he would sleep in your house an equal number of nights as the rest of the women. Knowing Ahmed, I don’t have any doubt that he’d be just.”

After two weeks that seemed like hell on earth, discussing the issue with my best friend Lulu and my sisters and weighing my priorities, I finally made my decision. I decided to go ahead with it. If I was mistreated, or wasn’t given my rights, I could always file for divorce. I tried to tell myself that it might not be as bad as it seemed. I was getting married to Ahmed Al-Khaled, not the son of the neighborhood baker.

Ahmed was overjoyed when he heard the news, and he promised me that I wouldn’t regret my decision. The following weeks were all dedicated to the wedding, which turned out to be the best day of my life. Everyone loved it, and my Chanel wedding gown was the talk of my mom’s friends for weeks. Then there was the honeymoon, two weeks at a lavish resort in the Maldives. We had a private beach—where I could roam around unveiled and take in the tropical sun. It was spectacular—fresh seafood every day, long walks on the beach, and falling asleep in each other’s arms as the sun rose. Once he picked me up and carried me to the beach, where we built sand castles until sunset. This took me back to when I was a five-year-old girl building sand castles outside of our beach house in Jeddah. At night, Ahmed and I would lie on our bed by candlelight and talk about our future life. He really was a great person, and I felt fortunate to be in his presence. But, although I was more than happy, I still had reservations about the reality that was going to be my post-wedding life.

After the honeymoon, I settled into the Spanish villa Ahmed had prepared for me. I had two maids, a cook, a chauffeur and a beautiful garden. I felt really lucky. Whenever I saw him I tried to restrict the discussion to me, my family, my friends or the local news, not wanting to hear anything about his other wives.

But one day Ahmed said he wanted me to meet his other wives for dinner at Layla’s, his first wife’s home. He insisted and promised to make it up to me and because I really wanted to please him, I reluctantly agreed, and got ready for that night. I spent about five hours thinking of the perfect outfit, what shoes to wear, and how to style my hair. I had to make Ahmed proud of me that night by impressing his other wives. When the chauffeur dropped me off at Layla’s house, I noticed it was almost a replica of mine. Her garden however, was nicer and better maintained, and I admired her taste in tulips.

Layla greeted me warmly at the door and led me to the guest room. She was a beautiful woman with long silky black hair and big hazel eyes. When I got to the guest room, I saw two gorgeous women engaged in a deep discussion and laughing animatedly. I also saw Ahmed busy talking on his cellphone on the other side of the guest room. Layla introduced me to Fatma and Samar, Ahmed’s second and third wives, and we started chitchatting. I was somewhat reserved and even hostile at the beginning, but after a few hours I started to like them. These women were charming, well-educated and elegantly dressed. They reminded me of some of my closest friends.

We moved to the dinner table, which was brilliantly covered with lots of exotic dishes from seafood paella to tandoori chicken, my favorite Indian dish. We had a very hearty meal, and I realized I really liked these women. We had a lot in common, and poor Ahmed was often left out of the loop while we engaged in girl talk. I smiled at him whenever we made eye contact, and he returned the smile with a wide grin.

After dessert, I returned home and immediately called my dad, told him that I loved him, and that I had really enjoyed meeting Ahmed’s wives. He laughed his deep husky laugh and told me to count my blessings, and he reminded me that things are never as bad as they initially seem.

When I had my first son, Ali, Ahmed’s other wives, Lulu, and my mom and sisters were all at the hospital. Though they weren’t perfect and each one had her little flaws, Layla, Fatma, Samar and I had built a strong bond and had become close friends. Our kids would play together and got used to calling all four of us “mama.” I realized that the four years I’d spent at MIT hadn’t changed my love for my Islamic and Saudi heritage; I had even come to accept the once-dreaded concept of polygamy. I realized that I had grown as a person, and that the young lady I once was had matured into a caring mother who was part of a greater family in the fabric of Saudi society.

___________

Awaiting your comments!

Yamen !

-YSH ;)

Exams and Updates..

2006-05-04T12:48:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem: In the Name of Allah The Most Beneficient The Most Merciful
___________________________________________________________________

So much to write about, just wanted to give you some quick updates.

* We're in exam week, I have a French Final today at 5 pm. Finance on Monday the 8th, and Philosophy on the 9th after which I'm done.

* This Friday I'm attending a 4 day Life management symposium/forum which has had the best effect on some of the people I know and they're lives have changed completely (they've become extremely successful individuals).

GO TO: landmarkeducation.com for more info.

* This Saturday is the screening of an MIT production I acted in titled "Save the Hijabi Princess", I acted teh part of a blind Colonel in the Emir's Army. I will update you with links when I get them.

* I will be leaving for the London study abroad program on May 16th probably (BU graduation is on the 14th), anD I'm leaving early because I was chosen to be a Resident Advisor (which may mean free housing and lots of regulating :)).

* I will be in London/Europe from May 16th - Sep. 3 so please let me know if you're coming to London or anywhere in Europe as I'm willing to make the trip.

* I will be interning in an Investment Bank in London (hopefully JP Morgan) in sha Allah.

* My lower back (protruding disc problem) is much better, my physical therapist is impressed, so hopefully full recovery soon!!!!

* MORE TO COME..

Don't forget me in your prayers.. MISS YA ALL!

-YSH ;)

RISE Symposium, Dayton, OH, March 2006 + Robert Fisk @ MIT

2006-04-09T18:41:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem: In the Name of Allah The Most Beneficient The Most Merciful
___________________________________________________________________

Salamz to all after weeks away,

This is a very long post, so fasten your seatbelts, kick back and enjoy. :)

Yes another week of hell, Spring semester is always like this.. Overworked and underpaid and too much happeneing to put your priorities on the school work. Long weekends, spring break, guest speakers, fashion shows, culture shows, dances etc.

One of the greatest articles I have read about Saudi Arabia and our King Abdullah may Allah guide him to the best path..
http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20060319-103853-9423r.htm

I also attended a talk by a Holocaust survivor which was greatly inspiring, and I got a picture with him (at the bottom)

It is tough to keep up especially in beantown, the world capital of education.

That reminds me I haven't really pitched Boston, or BU yet, and I think I might as well do it.

I honestly do believe that this place is the only place to go to school, unless you get into a top 5 school in another country or the west coast. But this place was made for school for several reasons:

1- Significance in American history (Plymouth Rock in Mass is where the English first arrived here).
2- First public school (Boston Latin School), First university in the US and most of the developed world (Harvard University)
3- Large number of universities, schools, and research institutions
4- Large number of museums, historic sites, and cultural venues
5- Student discounts
6- Your ability to attend lectures by world-renowned speakers at Harvard, MIT, BU, etc.
7- LOADS OF FUN..

Then there's BU, my lovely school which I'm enjoying so much more than I did in previous years. But that will have to wait for a different post because i'm writing about OHIO.. (yes I have some ADHD).

So the conference was Amazing, I loved every moment I spent. I met at least 70 students, professors, professionals, and students from all over the US and the world.

So this is the basic breakdown of what happened:

Wednesday
We left Boston approximately 6 pm after meeting up, getting a bite and headed for Philadelphia (Yeah Will Smith!) and stopped in the airport for about an hour. Then we flew to Dayton, Ohio. When we arrived to the hotel, we unpacked washed up, and went to the restaurant on the top of the hotel (there was some jazz music, not bad) which I ended up visiting the next two nights since I don't go to bars. After that it was sleep to get ready for the first day.

Thursday
We got dressed (I woke up sooo early) and headed for the buses. Over the 3 days we met people in the hotel, on the bus, in the lectures and pretty much anywhere related to the conference. Thursday was the main lecture day where the renowned speakers that UD got for the conference spoke. These included: Jim Rogers (MY NEW ROLE MODEL IN LIFE: jimrogers.com), Merill Lynch Chief Strategy Officer, Elaine Garzarelli, and numerous other inspiring individuals. There were a couple of snooze sessions where we caught almost everyone around us sleeping. I asked a question to one of the panels, and after the lecture lots of people came up to me and asked me about Aramco. Alhamdulillah, it felt good to show that Saudis were just as important and that we were a critical part of the financial world.

That night we got home somewhat dead, went to the restaurant in the hotel and chilled it till we passed out at around midnight.

Friday
Was also an early wake up for me, it's tough to wake up for fajr when there are 3 other kids in the room with you, but I managed to do so without causing too much chaos.

We got dressed and headed out to Day 2 of rise, the one with the specific finance sessions we'd registered for. We had breakfast and I met a group of South Americans including Nicolas from Colombia, and a Peruvian girl. They were nice enough to humor me and listen to my poor attempts at practicing Spanish, but they were nice. Nicer than the PuertoRicans at BU at least.. :)..

After breakfast we broke out into the different sessions and attended our first session. Throughout Friday I learned so much about finance, more than anything I learned at school because it was coming from specific industry leaders that did this everyday. And all of them were from the top firms that are portrayed in the wall street journal daily. I had mon petite pomme (my 12" powerbook) and I typed and audio recorded all the lectures Alhamdulillah. I asked a question about Islamic Finance to one of the panels (who had some top people) but no one responded with anything worthwhile, and only one of them had heard of it. I then got people coming after the talk and asking me about Islamic Finance (lool, curious Americans)..

But I promoted the Harvard Law School Islamic Finance Conference that will be held on April 21st, and that I'm volunteering at widely, and lots of American kids were excited. Specifically some African Americans who were very nice and helped me with my stuff (I still suffered from the collarbone incident).

At the lunch session we listened to Michael Oxley (the co-writer of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that changed corporate America accounting forever!) and I got a picture with him. I also listened to and met the CEO of TD Ameritrade (America's largest online stock trading site, and asked him about expanding to Saudi someday.. :P ).

At lunch I sat with 8 students from the University of Texas at El Paso (they were all Latinos/latinas) and I got a whole different Spanish practice perspective. They were soooo nice, and we became good friends for the rest of the conference.

After the last breakout session we were invited to the US Airforce Museum for dinner. I walked around the Museum, meeting random people as I walked. Then I met Lawrence (Ohio), Virginie (France), and Edurna (Spain), we sat together at dinner as we listened to the US Secretary of Commerce speak about Iraq doing great and him buying lemonade from two young iraqi entrepreneurs in Baghdad (absolute bullshit). The whole time Virginie and I made fun of Americans (come on, the French and the Saudis get bashed all the time.. ).

After dinner, I met a whole different group of people from a university in Michigan, using my all successful ice breaker, my broken collarbone.. I did get lots of sympathy, so it was fun.. :)

Saturday

Our last day where we attended two last sessions, said our goodbyes, got insane amounts of contact information (I got 70 business cards and emails by the end of the trip!). We then packed and headed to the airport where we chilled with the bentley students and some other people we met at teh conference.

The next week had a lot of events in it, not many I can recall though, other than the fact that I finally got my sling off Alhamdulillah, but during this week playing soccer I got two pulled muscles. So I'm a lot of trouble.. :P

On Sunday the 9th Robert Fisk spoke at MIT and Noam Chomsky did the introduction. The lecture was teh best lecture I've attended in my life to date. Fisk is the best journalist in the world in my opinion and he signed my book and I got a photo with him and Chomsky. I will post the link when I get it from my MIT peeps.

I will blog more often in sha Allah.. you know how school is.. :)

And here are some pictures from Ohio, and some other stuff:

-YSH ;)

My Poetry, Ohio Recap, Back in the town of the beanz :)

2006-04-02T09:02:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem: In the Name of Allah The Most Beneficient The Most Merciful
___________________________________________________________________

Salam All,

I'm back in Boston from Ohio, the time is 10:01 am (Daylight savings time just kicked in).

I will talk about the conference in a separate post because there's too much to say. Alhamdulillah I think it was the most stimulating and beneficial experience I've ever had.

The people I met, the professors I discussed issues with, the speakers I learned from, the professionals that taught us the hands-on components of their jobs. It was really amazing.

This coming week is going to be brutal so pray for me :)
_____

I also wanted to share some poetry I wrote for a writing class last summer, the poems reflect different situations I'd gone through and learned from, but looking back I feel somewhat foolish, but it is the words from the heart that carry the most meaning. I'll let you be the judge.. COMMENTS PLEASE :), I'll be waiting for your input.
_________________________

Age Difference

When I first laid my eyes on you,
My heart skipped a beat
I shook, not knowing what to do
Succumbing to the heat

The smile you had upon your face
Made living life worthwhile
I lay my head low in disgrace
For falling for life's guile

At first, I thought there was no chance
For us to be together
Our souls they took a different stance
To never split up, ever

Although true soul mates we'd become
It was never meant to be
The three years later I'd been born
Cast their shadows upon me

When our time to part had come
Our hearts were in denial
Life it seemed was very dumb
The tears we shed futile

Since then I thought I'd never meet
A perfect being like you
However sad that might appear
I think it might be TRUE

__________

Used

You smile at me, not realizing
The damage you have done
Those pretty eyes, seem child-like
You must have thought it fun

The days and nights spent at your side
Was time wasted in vain
I even thought you’d be my bride
I must have been insane

When I look back, it’s never good
Though at the time it was
My eyes had been behind a hood
To cover all your flaws

You taught me one thing, I’ll confess
For justice must be served
I learned my mind was all a mess
And loving you absurd
____________

Hypocrite

Hypocrite, they claimed and shouted
Judging and blaming unjustly
Yet calling THEM saints, would be coined
The world’s most absurd fallacy

Had they understood how I ticked
Their claims untrue they’d find
I thought they were the best of friends
But found out I was blind

Though harsh and snide their comments were
They did me a huge favor
They opened up my eyes to life
And magnified my fervor

______________________

-YSH ;)

Ohio + Poetry Night + Miscellaneous

2006-03-30T06:18:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem: In the Name of Allah The Most Beneficient The Most Merciful
___________________________________________________________________

Well ppl,

6:19 am, Dayton Ohio, yes OHIO, the lovely American Midwest. I got in last night from Boston for a finance conference that will last until Saturday.

I attended my morning classes on Wednesday, did a brief french oral exam which was more brief than it was oral (Austin Powers anyone?)

Next I had lunch with a good friend of mine, headed home to iron my suits and shirts (I'm liking this ironing thing for some reason, saves drycleaning money!) and packed my bag. My suitcase hadn't been emptied since Spring Break (and no I'm not a slob, I just have to be in a clear mindset to clean my room, and this past couple of weeks wasn't really).

Checked my lone gray samsonite, and headed to security, it takes me approx. 5 minutes to get rid of all the metal on my body, and trust me I don't wear jewellery, it's just the way it is :)

When I was done with the security, I found the Finance club peeps chillin in the food court, I got a quick bite from Sbarro (which sucks in Saudi but his OK here). I met some new freshmen kids, Billy from Thailand, and Denise from Singapore and Indonesia (yes I'm very stereotypical and I prefer internationals to American kids).

We waited for the rest of the kids to arrive and then headed towards the gate. We stopped in Philadelphia prior to reaching Ohio.

IN Dayton, we checked in, and split up into our different rooms. I shared my room with Morris (New Yorker of Turkish Descent, one of my core teammates), Billy (Thai Freshman), and Danny (Indian from Ghana, also a freshman).

We unpacked most of our stuff and headed upstairs where the restaurant had some live jazz. We chilled a bit and called it a night..

I'll discuss the symposium in a special post.

Last Tuesday we held "Coffee, Poetry, Islam" as part of the Islamic Awareness Week functions. I recited some Jahilee poetry by Zuhair, as well as reading the translation to a Persian poem by the famous "Rumi." When I read the mu3allaqa I had the audience repeat the last word (like we do with shi3ir naba6ee) and they enjoyed it. I also managed to keep myself from cracking up when my colleague from Harvard was reading the Persian (because Max always does Persian impressions and i can't stop laughing). I also got bashed for reading the translation in a pseudo-British accent which I didn't mean to do, it just came naturally with the words.
_________

When I Die
Jalaluddin Rumi (translated by RA Nicholson)

On the day of my death when my coffin is going by, don't
imagine that I have any pain about leaving this world.

Don't weep for me, and don't say, "How terrible! What a pity!"
For you will fall into the error of being deceived by the Devil,
and that would really be a pity!

When you see my funeral, don't say, "Parting and separation!"
Since for me, that is the time for union and meeting God.

And when you entrust me to the grave, don't say, "Good-bye! Farewell!"
For the grave is only a curtain for hiding the gathering of souls in Paradise.

When you see the going down, notice the coming up.
Why should there be any loss because of the setting of the sun and moon?

It seems like setting to you, but it is rising.
The tomb seems like a prison, but it is the liberation of the soul.

What seed ever went down into the earth which didn't grow back up?
So, for you, why is there this doubt about the human "seed"?

What bucket ever went down and didn't come out full?
Why should there be any lamenting for the Joseph of the soul because of the well?

When you have closed your mouth on this side, open it on that side,
for your shouts of joy will be in the sky beyond place and time.

_________

-YSH ;)

Dimanche.. :)

2006-03-26T20:19:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem
____________________________

Assalama Lizzo Foh Shizzo my peeps,

Another highly eventful weekend to say the least:

Friday
Started bad, but after I caught up on sleep, ended my French exam (very well in sha Allah), and finished physical therapy I enjoyed the rest of my day. I went to a Persian event with a good friend and met some cool people there. The persians thought I was persian, which was interesting, but the good thing about it was that they were even more excited that I was a Saudi and that I was interested in attending the event. At night, I chilled with my budz at Marios's krib.

Saturday

Later on for lunch, we had two of our friends: Shaibah and Max give a slightly different perspective of the college experience as a graduate student [Max] and a freshman [Shaibz] from the UAE. This was at Marcello's (Italian/Persian restaurant) on Newbury street. The food was phenomenal and we had a great time. The footage we got was great and we laughed a lot.

After saying our Salamz, I went into xtreme preparation mode for the Multicultural weekend that ISBU was holding. I ironed my thobe and shumagh for the first time in at least 5 years which was an interesting relearning experience. Then I donned my thobe, shumagh, farwah, custom-made Zbairiyyah, and shades (typical saudi) and headed out of my place with some decorations for the exhibit. I got some of my boys to prepare the coffee, tea and dates..

Sunday
Woke up early again (it's a trend people, and it's fun).

Next, Nick and I headed to newbury for Brunch (which became Lunch thanks to our two buddies Max and Marios being late). I bought a bunch of accesories from Emporio, and then FCUK had a 70% sale (which was also gr8 impulse buyin). And we had a very chill lunch with lots of laughter at Armani Caffe. Nick thinks we can make it to Hollywood, and we might.. You never know, we have a very interesting group of friends and it may happen someday.

The night was the highlight by far..

The events of the night included a video screening of "testing Islamic Awareness on campus video" a great piece of work that is available at:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6025412775746823061

Good night peeps,

Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatu Allahi wa Barakatahu..

-YSH ;)

Weekendation.. !

2006-03-25T08:21:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem
____________________________

The weekend is upon us yet again, after a week of work, drama, and midterms. I had two exams yesterday, French and Philosophy. The philosophy I postponed because I couldn't take it, and the French one I think I aced. I'll find out soon.

Yesterday was great, met up with old friends I hadn't seen for a long time. I got some physical therapy in the afternoon which was so relaxing for the rest of the day.

Sunday is also very busy, most of my Gulf Falcons have a seconed team in the intramural league and they play in the final match tomorrow. Allah yiwaffighum :)

Next Wednesday I head to Ohio for the rest of the week, I'm attending the Rise Finance Symposium which is supposed to be extremely stimulating and a great educational experience. The keynote speaker last year was Ben Bernanke (the recently appointed Chairman of the Fed, after Alan Greenspan left that position). So I'm hoping to meet some finance gurus and have a good time. Not sure about what fun is like in Ohio though.. :)

I got lots of positive responses on my previous piece, one of my friends even contacted some local newspapers, so maybe just maybe I'll get published soon. I've also had a lot of discussion about the article and lots of opposing opinions have been brought to my attention which I value greatly, since all of us are prone to err, and unless we discuss and debate, we can't reach a consensus or learn from each other. The piece has been revised, so I would scan through it because one or two paragraphs were added that discuss some very important points.

This is all that's on my mind for now, more to come in sha Allah, and KEEP COMMENTING! I will only improve and learn if you offer me feedback.

-Y ;)

An Effort To Educate the World's Ignoramuses

2006-03-22T13:55:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem
____________________________

Salam All,

This is another picture from our balcony in St. Thomas.. (I can't get it out of my system)..

Busy week as usual, I'm currently sitting in the Student Center (the GSU) with a bunch of friends. This is a piece I wrote on Saudi Arabia to educate the people of the world on our country.

Comments and suggestions welcome, I would like to get this published.

__________________________

A Closer Look at the Land of the Two Holy Mosques: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The main reason I write today is to enlighten my fellow students and colleagues on several matters pertaining to my country, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Acting as an ambassador is a duty incumbent on every citizen of every country the moment one leaves one’s country whether for leisure, business, or education.

Several articles about Saudi Arabia have recently appeared in the Daily Free Press (Boston University's Independent Student Newspaper), and many of these, rather than expressing a well-informed and balanced opinion regarding the Kingdom, were mainly intended to defame my country. That said, my relationship to the country as a citizen inevitably creates a bias, however, I will try to be as objective as possible to ensure that my audience receives and understands my message the way I intend it to be received.

First, I will mention some facts, figures, and history to provide some perspective. King AbdulAziz Al Saud united Saudi Arabia on September 23, 1932; the country, then, is only 74 years old. The United States gained independence from Great Britain in 1776, which makes the US about 230 years old, a little over three times the age of Saudi Arabia.

It took the US 89 years to abolish slavery with the 13th amendment, a figure that far exceeds Saudi Arabia’s tender age of 74. It also took the US 99 years to provide African Americans the same rights as Caucasian Americans with the Civil Rights Act of 1875. Women in the US could only vote from 1920 onwards; approximately 144 years from the establishment of the US, or almost twice as long as Saudi Arabia has existed.

These examples are not intended to undermine the US in any way, rather to stress that change cannot be imposed and expected from a certain country overnight. Change is a gradual adjustment toward a different outcome that stems from, and is initiated by, the people of that country. If the people are not behind it, change will not take place. As a relatively young country, Saudi Arabia is making leaps and bounds toward a level of maturity, but our culture is different from American culture, and it takes time for a nomadic, tribal people like us to modernize. In modernization, we do not necessarily seek to satisfy western standards, rather we strive to address our problems, and fix our flaws, while preserving our Islamic faith, and our rich culture and history.

Next, I would like to reiterate some points HRH Prince Turki AlFaisal, the Saudi Ambassador to the US, recently made in the speeches he gave at Harvard and MIT during February: The first public school in the US, the Boston Latin School was established in 1635. The first university, Harvard University, was established in 1636 – more than 300 years ago. In contrast, just 60 years ago Saudi had less than 10 schools. Forty years ago we had one university, today we have 11 universities and over 25,000 schools, at which all Saudis receive free education, books and healthcare.

In addition to improving education locally, the Saudi government is investing in education abroad. The government spent approximately 26% of this year’s budget (SR 87.3 billion = approx $23.28 billion) for education and training. The ministry of higher education has provided 10,000 fellowships for Saudi students to study abroad, half of which were awarded to students coming to the US. About 28% of these fellowships were awarded to Saudi females. Yes, we are coming to the US, and we are coming to learn with and from you.

Another issue the ambassador mentioned, the war on terrorism, has had a great impact on the average Saudi citizen. The roadblocks, checkpoints, blockades and barbed wire spoil public areas. Machine gun turrets and tanks stand guard at governmental institutions, large corporations and high traffic areas and our kingdom is in a constant state of alert. Terrorism has affected us more than the average American may think: I cannot drive down a major highway or go to a big mall without being stopped at least once and having the hood and trunk of my car searched before I am allowed to proceed. All government buildings and housing compounds are covered in barbed wire, Hummers and tanks and machine gun turrets have become part of the scenery.

More than 25 terrorist attacks occurred in the past three years, including explosions, murders, and kidnappings, causing the death of more than 140 innocent human beings and injuring more than 500 innocent people. More than 90 Saudi security officers have been killed in the process of apprehending those responsible for these acts of violence. Even with all these developments, Saudi Arabia remains safe and stable in comparison to the streets of cities like New York and Philadelphia.

In addition to the daily sacrifices we face, something deeper, our national character and image, has been marred in the eyes of the world. This is a result of the actions of a few deranged individuals. Terrorism and extremism occur in every faith, every culture, and every civilization, No one is immune, and thus we must remain aware of this fact.

The ambassador also discussed several myths about Saudi citizens—how we live and who we are—that have been spread in the past few years; for example, our belief in an extreme brand of Islam called Wahhabism. Unfortunately, the west largely misunderstands what Wahhabism is. The term refers to the reformist views of an 18th century Arabian scholar, Shaikh Muhammad Ibn AbdulWahhab. He did not advocate the killing of the innocent or condone acts of suicide (refer to www.thewahhabimyth.com for more detail). Individuals like Osama Bin Laden may have Wahhabi origins and knowledge, but their beliefs have been perverted, just like David Koresh or Jim Jones, use perverted Christianity to justify their violent acts. You may ask, are the Saudi people conservative? Yes. Are we traditional? Yes. Are we extremists, definitely NOT.

Another myth is that the Saudi government funded terrorism. According to the 9/11 commission’s report and I quote: “we have found no evidence that the Saudi government or senior Saudi officials funded AlQaeda. * ” These myths just cause misunderstandings, hastening of stereotyping, and cause rifts between people.
(* source: http://www.arabnews.com/9-11/?article=14&d=&m=&y=)

We come from a long history of tribal warfare that separated us for many years. The development over the last 70 years would be like compressing the US’s 270 years of development into just 70 years. Our people are free to travel anywhere. Our press is increasingly free and critical of our society. In addition, by royal decree the following reform program has been proposed:

1- Clarifying our definition of our Islamic practice

2- Widening of political participation, elections for municipal councils, then regional councils, then the Shoura council (our national assembly/congress)

3- Giving women in Saudi Arabia an equal role to play in the development of the country. It took the US 200 years to achieve universal suffrage.

4- Reforming our educational system (textbooks have been revised, skill and job acquisition knowledge has been amplified in colleges and universities) and slowly improve the system to benefit students at any level.

5- Improving economic well-being; a recent example would be the fact that investments in the kingdom’s stock market achieved much higher returns than similar investments outside the kingdom.

6- Streamlining the government so it will be able to address this reform. Example: ministries have been merged and removed in 2003.

In response to articles and letters to the editor that were published in the Free Press these past few months, I have the following matters to clarify:

Saudi Arabia has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars in aid to Muslim countries such as Pakistan, Sudan, Palestine, Lebanon, and Indonesia. Saudi Arabia has also granted Saudi citizenship to hundreds of Palestinian refugees that fled to the kingdom on numerous occasions during history.

Saudi Arabia is moving increasingly towards democracy, with the recent elections of the boards of the municipalities all over the kingdom in addition to the Chambers of Commerce in the major cities. The Saudi Majlis AlShoura, which serves as Saudi Arabia’s parliament, has already started moving towards a fully elected membership. All political, economic reforms that are to occur in Saudi Arabia have to come from within, taking into account the religion, culture, history, tradition and the aspirations of the people. Therefore, we are moving to a more democratic state, but at OUR pace, not what the world thinks is right for us.

The unemployment rate in Saudi Arabia is estimated to be approximately 20% and is decreasing considerably. The Ministry of Labor has been very adamant the past two years (if you happened to read any Saudi online newspaper) about finding jobs for unemployed Saudis in addition to running several employment offices and agencies in all cities.

Saudi woman scientist Hayat Sindi has been offered jobs by the American National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the American Space Center in California. Sindi, the first Arab woman to win a scholarship from Cambridge University in England to pursue a doctoral program in biotechnology, invented a sensor device with great possibilities in the fields of medicine and space.

In addition, all Saudi universities and colleges graduate more females than males annually; approximately 51% of Saudi college graduates are female. Effat College, a women’s college in Jeddah, has recently collaborated with Duke University to construct an engineering program at the university.

It seems quite clear, then, that women are a very important component of the fabric of Saudi society in various fields.

Our biggest success story is: 90% illiteracy in 1950, to 82% literacy now in the male and female population. Over 55 years, increased literacy has allowed us develop the economic, social, and political aspirations that enable us to contribute more to the world. This is how it works in the kingdom. What the people want will actually happen, but as I mentioned before it takes time for mindsets and mentalities to accept change.

Concerning security and stability, before 9/11 and the terrorist attacks that ensued, people could leave their keys in their cars and walk into a store and without having to worry about theft. One American teacher we had was amazed that when we played soccer we would put our cell phones, watches and wallets on the bench without looking back or even considering the possibility that someone would take them.

Saudi journalism is still highly scrutinized, but in the last few years there have been numerous writers with liberal leanings who have expressed their unpopular views to the outrage of the community. However, positive debate and discussion have also resulted, and writers are taking more freedom in their columns. A look at the opinion column of the leading English newspaper, Arab News (available at http://www.arabnews.com) provides some good examples.

If Arabs and Muslims (including Saudis) have anti-Semitic tendencies or emotions (though it is beyond me why Arabs are called anti-Semites since Arabs are from the lineage of Sam, the son of Noah and thus, qualify as Semites), the main culprit would be the world’s media portrayal of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. If every time you turned on your TV you saw your brother/sister in faith killed, how would you feel about the people who did it? A good comparison would be 9/11 and the reactions the citizens of New York had to anything that in any way resembled Muslim or Arab Intifada.

Saudi Arabia accepts all religions and ideologies for anyone living in the country; the only thing that is persecuted and prevented is public preaching of other religions and beliefs. As the center of Islamic thought and decree in the Muslim world, it would be improper to permit other religions to be preached because then that would mean that the people and the government accept the beliefs of other religions, or that they are assisting in the spreading of conflicting ideologies and beliefs to Islam.

As Saudis, we believe that Islam is the one and only true path and religion, people may believe and practice whatever ideology they wish to, however Saudi Arabia does not allow preaching of other religions to its citizens. In addition, our population is 100% Muslim (which is also unique in the world), so any alienation due to this discrepancy is to expatriates or foreigners to the country (which aren’t our first priority, our people are our first priority). However in the UK and the US, the citizens are of different faiths, thus as a citizen you are entitled to freedom of religion if you belong to these secular countries. This is the reason why there are no churches, synagogues, or Buddhist temples in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi women wear the abaya in accordance with Islamic decree to promote humility and modesty to all Muslims males and females alike. However, women are especially reminded to do so since they are more able to trigger desire. Women in Islam are not mere sex objects, rather strong and bright individuals who have had tremendous influence on Arab and Islamic history since the time of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

On another note, alcohol does exist in Saudi Arabia, however possession of alcohol by citizens is a serious, prosecutable offense. I have personally lived in and visited numerous housing compounds in Saudi Arabia, and only the expatriates were permitted to purchase limited amounts of alcohol through their respective embassies. There was no widespread consumption, especially among locals. Alcohol is not as conveniently available to the public as the writer of a recent article in the Free Press claims, however, if one was to go out of his way to acquire it, it would not be impossible. In a way, but to a slightly lesser extent, the availability and policing of alcohol in Saudi Arabia compares to that of Marijuana in the US, which is easily available on college campuses although the administration and police try their best to crack down on this drug problem.

I hope I have helped to provide a clearer, more objective picture of my homeland and my faith. If there still remain some doubts or the need for clarifications to be made, please bring them to my attention as I could have easily made a miscommunication or mistake. We all came to university to learn and to interact with people from different cultures and beliefs, and we usually learn more from our peers and counterparts than from any book, website or television screen.

-Y ;)

MaC aTtaCk!

2006-03-21T08:03:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem
____________________________

Greetings to all my peeps all over the world. Back to school on a Tuesday: 8:03 am.

This week is busy as ever with a French Exam on friday, meetings, and articles to finish (it really is never ending).

Today I'm supposed to meet a good friend of mine who converted to Islam recently. We're all so happy for because they've always been close to the Islamic Society and has helped us with numerous events for 3 years. It's great to see them finally joining us in faith. We're also having a special potluck dinner this weekend, so it will be fun. Alhamdulillah.

I have to profess my love for Apple, LLC, the company founded by Steve Jobs, who according to Wikipedia.com:

"Steve Jobs was born to Abdulfattah John Jandali, a Syrian political science professor, and an American mother, Joanne Carole Schieble, in San Francisco, California on February 24, 1955. One week after birth, Jobs was put up for adoption by his unmarried mother. He was adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs of Mountain View, Santa Clara County, California. They gave him the name Steven Paul Jobs. His biological parents later married and gave birth to Jobs' sister, the novelist Mona Simpson, whom Jobs did not meet until they were adults. The marriage of his biological parents ended in divorce years later. Jobs dislikes hearing the "adoptive parents" appelation applied to Paul and Clara Jobs and refers to them as his only parents"

Sub7an Allah, the sooriyeeen made the tuffa7a, lik eewaah, biddak tiffa7!! It shows you that the Arabs are a gifted people :P (now that was just silly), but it really is interesting to think about..

Yes, but my obsession with Apple is due to several reasons, first of all, the first computer I ever owned was an apple. The Macintosh LC II, a one-button mouse, disk drive and hard disk under the screen. I absolutely loved it, and I still have it in my room in Riyadh, I'm planning to put it in a special glass case when I get my own place in sha Allah. Maybe sell it on ebay in 20 years for a ridiculous sum of money.

I currently own a 12" G4 powerbook, and it is really God's gift to the computer world. It's smaller than almost all of my textbooks, is extremely light, and the OS X operating system is phenomenal.

I don't like to say it, but I look down on other OS users (ESPECIALLY WINDOWS) because windows isn't even half as good, constantly buggy and no slick features.

Sorry Bill Gates, but unless Windows Vista (the new one coming out) is relatively close to Macs, I ain't buyin that shit.

And according to inside sources from the Microsoft Board of the Future, it won't be as good as OS X.

Linux is great, but a bit complicated for the novice user, but the Tiger OS is built on a linux base, so you're essentially getting the same benefits of UNIX, but a sleek, crisp, piece of genius..

In my opinion, the only computers worth buying at all are:

For laptops: Mac, IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad (#1 recommended laptop at Harvard and MIT), and the Sony VAIO if multimedia is a big part of ur work, and alienware if you're a master gamer.

For desktops: Dell, Sony, IBM, Apple, Alienware. Dell mainly because the majority of Corporate America and Corporate Arabia run Dell desktops (very solid, easy to customize, great customer service, but they're laptops SUCK).

I don't claim to know it all, but I'm a computer freak (though didn't wanna do CS or CE) and this is my input, if I'm wrong please correct me..

And keep readin, lotsa more controversy coming soon :)

-Y ;)

Sunday Bluez

2006-03-19T08:10:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem
____________________________

Good morning people,

8:09 am Boston time Sunday 19th of March 2006.

Slept early last night (was exhausted from the BU world cup). Although I didn't play, managing a team of 5aleejis isn't as easy as it looks. I think I finally understand why european coaches go crazy in the gulf.. :)

Well we fared pretty well, my team "The Gulf Falcons" beat Lebanon 10-1 in our first game, but we lost to Brazil in our second game 5-0. Our loss was due to different reasons, mainly the frigid cold weather, the goalie and two players getting injured/sick, and the fact that that was the first time playing together compared to their team that plays weekly.

Well, we learned a lot, and I learned a lot about management, and we do very well together, so we're shooting for weekly trainings and hopefully we'll raise 5aleeji heads worldwide in the next tournaments :)

Busy day today, 2 articles to finish (ONE OF THEM FOR ARAB NEWS!!). A marketing case write up that I have to finish for our team, Islamic society executive board meeting. And a shitload of reading for ALL my courses.

I attended a talk by Hamza Yusuf after his talk at Harvard on the "Burdah/Cloak" poem about the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). He's a very eloquent and inspiring speaker, switching between fu97a arabic and english smoothly and keeping the audience's attention with him at all times. A great guy to learn from in sha Allah.

For those of you who visit, have visited this blog, please direct more readers to it, I can only improve with feedback, and I need as much as I can get. I have several things I wish to discuss, however I need a larger audience, so help me help you..

-Y ;)

Weekend Thoughts

2006-03-18T09:52:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem
____________________________

Well, the first week after spring break was eventful to say the least. The School of Management talent show, the government elections, and the amount of work professors throw at you the minute you walk back into class after any break.

It's 10:05 am on a Saturday, the chillest day of the week, where u can sleep in, work or just trick yourself into planning to study (as we all do).

Well, today marks the first day of the BU world cup and my team "The Gulf Falcons" is competing. I can't play (WHICH IS KILLING ME) because I broke my collarbone in a snowmobiling accident (yes, dibabat thaljiyya). I feel much better now, but I can't work out or do any other intense physical activity for another 3-4 weeks (after the cup ends).

However, I'll be there with the team, managing them and leading the cheerleading squad.. so it should be fun.

Last night I slept through most of "V for vendetta" but I enjoyed the parts I saw, the friend accopmpanying me was a tad pissed, but I had no control over the situation (I sleep a lot in the cinema).

The reason is I've been waking up at 6 am (even if I don't have early class) almost every day, so by 10 pm i'm dead.

i'll unleash my old pieces (including Saudi fiction pieces) when the readership is significant.

From Boston, Massachusetts (Ma Shift Yousef for 5aleejis that can't say it and convince Americans that they're saying it right.. :P)

Have a great week/weekend.. :)

-Y ;)

Another Wednesday night

2006-03-15T19:19:00.000-05:00

Bismillah Arrahman AlRaheem
____________________________

Another picture from St. Thomas to give you a better idea of the beauty of the place.. :)

Today was quite eventful...

Class, several hours in the student center catching up with friends, and the elections. I sadly lost to the other person running, he was an old member with more experience, but they said it was close, so maybe next semester.. :) After that I had two more meetings and now getting ready to finish an article about Saudi Arabia for the school paper..

This is a piece I wrote approximately 3 years ago, I was going through an interesting stage in life and I wrote about the people, the emotions, and the general situation.

Please give me feedback (good or bad) and keep in mind this was 3 years ago :)..

-Y ;)
_______________________________________________________
WHEN DID WE START LIVING THIS UNREALITY?
____________________
07.01.2003

Driving to my grandfather’s house for a family gathering, thinking over my day’s schedule,ideas flashing here and there, I started thinking deeply. When did we get so dedicated to life? When did we become so hooked to our jobs and studies? When did we get so distant from our religion and our national traditions? Why can we remember the name of an actor in a good movie so well, and not remember the names of the ten people the prophet assured to go to paradise? Some people spend all their spare time nagging over who is prettier, Jennifer Anniston or Cameron Diaz. Others, with nothing better to do, fight over whether Ronaldo or David Beckham is richer. Not to mention those who undermine you for not knowing enough details and gossip about movie stars, sitcom actors, and Italian footballers.

I passed my old school and smiled, recalling the days we spent there getting into all kinds of mischief. It was a great school and it directed us to our different paths in life. But now we are in the real world, that’s if it’s still called the real world? I prefer calling it the “unreal” world. I don’t believe we are living a reality at all. Muslims detested everywhere; certain Arabs strengthening the negative stereotypes that the World’s nations already have of us; distrust spreading between the deepest and closest friends; people not believing in true love anymore; the religious police force partly made up of ex-prisoners; teenagers running after lust and forgetting there was something called “romance;” people taking rappers, rock stars, soccer players, and actors as their role models; these composing only part of the unreality we now live in. You also see people gazing in awe at someone playing a musical instrument, wishing they had half his or her talent, forgetting that this person might never go to heaven.

These days it’s almost impossible to find anyone wanting to walk in the footsteps of Omar or Abu Bakr, the great Caliphs of the Muslim nation. You see people reading magazines and Stephen King novels, never thinking of reading a biography of one of the prophet’s companions. You see more and more people with funky haircuts, but no 21st century Malcolm Xs walking around. You see more and more people in malls, and less and less people in mosques.

Another important question arises: Why are some people so fake? If Ramadan comes, they hurry to Makkah and aim to finish the Quran before the month ends. A week after that, they make reservations to spend their Hajj vacation in Beirut. We are also becoming more and more materialistic. Judging a person on unreasonable criteria like whether or not he owns a new Mercedes (foolishly nicknamed “Viagra”), whether he is covered from head to toe with Diesel, Armani, and other designer’s clothes, and whether he spends his summers in LA, Paris, and Geneva.

Why is life becoming so important to us?? Parents are planning their children’s careers when they are in grade school, and not caring much about whether or not they are sending a positive and well-mannered individual into the world. You see more and more young ones disrespecting their parents, and many teenagers that hate their dads and moms. We also have a new generation of nanny-raised children. These are children that spend 90% of their time with maids because their mothers are too busy with social gatherings, talking on the phone, and shopping; these children are being raised with no morals, no goals, and nothing that makes them strive to make a difference.

Still other questions pop up like: Why can’t some families gather except when there is something like a death or a major car accident in the family? Why does it take the death of a loved one to make us remember that there is heaven, hell, and the hereafter? All these issues delineate the unreality we now live in. But in my case, I want OUT. I want to exit this crooked matrix and enter a world where truth prevails, a world where religion is spread by virtue and good treatment, not force, where you are respected whoever you are and whatever you do, a utopia where your friends are still your friends, even when you aren’t there, a world where you can always lay your head on your pillow and never think of tomorrow, a place with no negative consequences and no back-stabbing. So, does anyone wish to join me?

Back in Beantown

2006-03-14T08:08:00.000-05:00

Greetings to all my readers (not sure I have any yet, but I'm optimistic)..

I hope all is going well with you, I'm back in Boston for the rest of the Spring semester. I'm still very depressed for leaving St. Thomas Island, in the US Virgin Islands (the place I spent my spring break).

I'm up pretty early, it's 8 am now and my first class is at 11, but my biological clock has been off for a while and I've been waking up 6ish everyday (which is good for fajr alhamdulillah)..

This week has several interesting events, I'm running for Vice President of Financial Affairs in the School of Management Student Government and I'm hoping to win so pray for me.

In addition, Hamza Yusuf, the renowned Muslim scholar and Da3iya is coming to Harvard on Wednesday so I'm waiting to finally meet him in sha Allah.

Other than that, it's just getting used to the chilly Boston weather and getting back into the study routine.. Allah yi3een.

Anyways, comments would be appreciated to know I have some readership out there..

Picture: St. Thomas Islamic Center and Mosque.. :)

Till the next post..

-Y ;)

Honey I'm Home

2006-03-13T00:07:00.000-05:00

Me in St. Thomas
Originally uploaded by Raven007.

So people, I finally decided to reinstate this thing after almost a year away. I was inspired by the large amount of saudi blogs that I enjoyed reading, and I felt like I wanted to make my place in that community. It was also because I wanted to get feedback on several writing pieces I've written over the years..

The photo is one I recently took on my spring break trip to St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands (Heaven on Earth). I'll be talking more about our trip and the great things that happened in it, but this was just after I got my hair braided in corn rows by one of the local women.. :)

So without further adue,

I'M BACK

-Y :)

Intro to Moi

2005-03-27T15:20:00.000-05:00

Hello Everyone,

This is my first post on this thing, I heard about it during a lecture in Havaad Buzinezz Skool, and I thought I'd try it out..

Keep checkin it if you wanna know the skoop bout me ! :)

Yamz