Bismillah, alhamdulillah.

A torrid slide of wet sand
Enveloping every car and hand
Courtiers whirling in a death defying spin
From a thousand to hundred their din

Rain water rolling down hills
Everyone knew the perils
But little did they do or say
Engrossed in the games they play

He said patient be
Till you meet me
At the edge of the pond
In the world beyond

Blessed is he for he felt our pain
To Hudhayfa he said in words plain
Humans they are flesh and meat
But within devilish hearts beat

When will their hearts melt?
And notice how we felt
Are their hearts frozen in ice?
Will they not stir once or twice?

Bismillah, alhamdulillah,

I have come back to WordPress. Blogger worked quite well but I was quite shocked to find it did not allow for categories and a very poor usability index  and layout I thought. And the real reason I am back is that WordPress is working again from connection, which is quite nice – alhamdulillah.

Bismillah, alhamdulillah : In the name of God, with gratitude and praise for Him

There are opportunities to listen to study Islam in Jeddah, but these are not as abundant as in other cities in the country and few well advertised opportunities exist in English. I have tried to list what I am aware of sources and places to learn in English and Arabic primarily. I have briefly touched upon Urdu. Where possible I have tried to clarify the location of places.

English

The Jeddah Dawah Centre runs various basic courses on Islam geared towards beginners or people who have recently entered Islam. Courses are offered in a variety of languages. Contact the centre for further details, but don’t be surprised if you need to make a personal visit to speak to someone. Public events are also organised by the JDC and they invite speakers from around the world. An example of one such lecture was by Yusuf Estes in Jeddah.

There is one regularly held English language Islamic lesson in a mosque that sits within the Saudi Airlines compound. The imam of the mosque is known an Imam Maliki. Access to the mosque requires a good knowledge of where it lies and will require you to submit your id at the entrance to the compound which is very large. The lesson involves the translation of the Friday khutbah (sermon) and then lunch is provided. A number of English speaking Muslims from all over Jeddah tend to gather for this weekly event. There are facilities for ladies at the mosque.

There is a radio programme that comes on in the afternoon and offers an easy paced commentary on various Islamic issues. It happens at around early afternoon on the FM dial.

Study circles behind closed doors are held in English, but it is likely that they do not have strictly official permission hence are not publicly advertised and you will need the word of mouth or a contact to find out what is being held where. It would be reasonable to conclude  it to say the authorities are very well aware of most of these activities and tolerate them as long as they do not cross any political lines and do not attract Saudi nationals.

Islamic books in English are stocked in Jareer and Tihama bookstores. Different stores have a different collection of books some better than others. In general the overall number of books available in Jeddah compared to the West is much lower, a fairly strict censorship limits the number of books available here. Though there is plenty of reading material to keep someone busy for quite a long time. Usually most books published by Dar us-Salaam publishers are available. One other place where you can get books is Aziziyyah, they also have videos and CDs of various lectures. Books in Urdu may be found here as well.

Other languages such as Urdu are catered for in mosques which lie in the South of Jeddah, they offer translations of khutbahs from Arabic into Urdu after Friday prayers. I have managed to locate on such mosque in the Bani Malik area, I think it’s name was Masjid Bilal.

Arabic

If you know Arabic then there is a much greater access to Islamic study opportunities. Lectures are usually held in major mosques on a regular weekly basis. This is more likely to be the case in lower socio-economic southern parts of Jeddah than the more plush northern suburbs but opportunities do occur everywhere.

All large mosque will have a tahfeez (Quran memorisation) programme for students, it usually runs from Asr to Maghrib and children and adults are welcome. Usually they require enrollment at the beginning of the semester or year. Some mosques have got a very good reputation, one such is Masjid Shuaybee.

Facilities  for ladies are better, and morning schools to learn various Islamic sciences are available. These are run by charitable colleges which run fee paying courses and have a regime of tests to work out whether or not you are promoted to the next level. They tend to have a beginners level but do not offer to teach any Arabic. If you have not learned Arabic you may attend the lessons to try and soak up the atmosphere and the language using an immersion technique. This is known as مستمع mustami’ or listener status.

One such ladies institute is المعهد العلمي العالي لإعداد معلمات القرآن والسنة The Higher Knowledge Preparatory College lady teachers of the Quran and Sunnah. It holds a charitable endowment status for the late mother of Ameer Namir ibn Abdul Aziz. It lies on Aisha Umm Al Muminin Street, this is off Hamad Al Jaser Street which in turn is off Sari Street. The co-co-ordinates are Latitude:  N 21.576652° and Longitude: E 39.156498°. If you enter via Hamad Al Jaser Street, it is a right turn when coming from Sari Street. On the corner is a mosque called Ikhlaas. The college is on the right and not very well marked. Opening times are from early morning and classes start at 8 am till 12.30 pm. Lessons cost 3000 SAR per year. You can register for distance lessons as well at their website. Another link is here. Lessons taught here cover all the basic Islamic sciences: tafseer, hadith, usool al-fiqh and others. The entry requirement is payment of the fee, permission from the ladies guardian (father or husband), valid legal status in the country (i.e. iqamah) and  secondary certificate of education.

Similar institutes exist for men but usually have times that are not convenient to working men. I have not come across any night classes that are conveniently located within main town Jeddah. I have heard of a men’s institute on the way to Makkah.

The radio offers a very useful station called إذاعة القرآن Radio Quran, here is a link on the top right for this station. Here is another link. The station has an almost daily Q&A Fatwa programme via telephone. People phone from all around the country and questions are not censored but are probably pre-filtered and are live. There are also discussion programmes on current affairs and commentaries on classical books and programmes charting the current modern day history of Muslims is various parts of the world. It can be caught easily on FM and AM.

Books in Arabic are widely available in Jareer and Tihama, the more specialist books will have to be hunted for at more specialist outlets. There is a lecture circuit by the more famous scholars in the kingdom and they attend various mosques, but tend not to frequent Jeddah as much as they do other cities. These are advertised on notice boards in most mosques. Some of them have websites and transmit the lectures live and store them for later retrieval on their websites. Following are some commonly found websites on posters:

• www.thnyanmsq.com: website of the Thanyaan Masjid in Jeddah, Google map location of mosque.
• www.jkb-1.com (for the Khadijah Baghlaf Mosque in Jeddah near here)
• www.almoslim.net carries live lectures from around the country
• www.liveislam.net carries live lectures from many cities.

Bismillah, alhamdulillah.

Learning the host language of a land you have come to helps your integration into that community. Learning Arabic can be quite a challenge to people coming to the Middle East, especially the Gulf. There are various challenges and this article describes my Jeddah experience with this:

Institutes

The number of institutes in Jeddah teaching Arabic virtually border on zero. The one institute that exists is the Berlitz school of language which has various branches. One such branch exists on Rawdah Street on the corniche side of Madeenah road. The last time I enquired the cost of one-to-one tuition per month which was 60 hours of tuition was 10,000 SAR (Saudi Riyals). Unless you are earning a significant salary this is beyond the reach of most people who work in Saudi Arabia, including many western expats. The costs can be reduced by organising a group of learners though they had a minimum number of students.

Another source of language learning centres is the Saudi Telecoms Yellow Pages and search for language schools. These are mainly schools teaching English, but they will have a list of tutors who can probably quite easily teach the reverse.

Another option is the Jeddah Dawah Center. I have been told that they offer free lessons, which are geared to non-Arabic speaking converts to Islam. The group is an officially sanctioned group and posters advertising dawah lectures all over Jeddah in many languages can be seen on a regular basis. Sadly, as with many institutions in Saudi Arabia, telephone contact or useful information on the website advertising these services is poor. I have tried to contact them at various times and never managed to get through. There is nothing quite like a personal visit to the office to get an idea as to what is going on. A map and contact telephone numbers are available here.

The King Abdulaziz University used to offer evening courses for non-Arabic speakers though their website is not forthcoming with details. It is not  conveniently situated but is an option as the lessons are held in the evening. A ladies college called Effat college may offer a lead but the website does not advertise any Arabic lessons. Another college called Dar Al-Hikmah lists an Arabic course, though this may be taught in Arabic and be geared towards native Arabic speakers.

Individual Tutors

The other option is to hire a tutor of Arabic who will come to your home. These tutors usually self advertise with posters all over the place. The posters are usually stuck to whatever is possible in and around masjids. They are written in Arabic (مدرس اللغة) and will have a telephone number. The tutors are mainly non-Saudi Arabs, usually from Egypt or Sudan, who advertise their services. Their primary market is Arab children studying in school. This may sound puzzling after all ‘why would Arab’s need tuition in Arabic?’ – the story is rather long but in short they do as a result of the lack of formal Arabic spoken on the street and the generally poor standards in many government schools when it comes to teaching Arabic.

The other problem with the tutor is they may not be willing to teach females unless they themselves are female. Here it would be a good idea to tap into the pavement network and ask friends or even the person advertising at the masjid. The cost of 60 hours of tuition is significantly less and is around the 1600 SAR mark. This is the option that we have found to be most useful for us. Friends of ours have used the tutor, who speaks virtually no English, to help teach their children. The arrangement has been on the whole successful. The added advantage is that the tutors usually are well versed in the Quran and help children read and memorise the Quran.

Tutors are widely available in the two holy cities of Makkah and Madeenah, but you will need to find a contact who can lead you to them. This is not that difficult and you can start by tracing back from the adverts around masjids or ask for any acquaintances or friends of friends studying at the various Islamic universities or colleges.

The other option to locate tutors who have experience teaching English speakers is to contact the various International Schools. It is a Ministry of Education requirement that Arabic be taught in all schools for foreign nationals, known as International Schools. The standard of Arabic taught is not very high and the schools have provided teachers and lessons to fulfill the Ministry’s requirements rather than taking a genuine interest in teaching Arabic as a foreign language. Schools that are likely to have an English speaking Arabic tutor are: Jeddah Prep, Manarat, American International School of Jeddah, Thamer School and the British International School. You will probably need to visit the school inorder to meet the Arabic teacher but you can always try phoning and try. These teachers offer evening tuition to anyone. Their rates tend to be quite expensive at 80-100 SAR / hour, but they are open to negotiation depending on the consistency of the lessons. The Arabic tutor at Manarat, a Syrian male teacher, has gained a popular following with parents and is widely regarded as a good teacher especially with children. The link above is to the girls section, you should be able to get the boys section from there.

Feasibility

Finally there are the well known options of learning via the internet which I have not covered here. From the experience of expats in general here, even those who are quite well motivated usually for Islamic reasons they tend to find it very difficult to learn Arabic. The work life routine in Saudi Arabia is quite energy sapping and usually, as probably in most places in the world, learning an extra language outside work and family hours will prove to be an insurmountable task for many. If you have found a job in the Gulf, take a crash course or at least 6 months in a country like Egypt or Syria and learn Arabic before you come, you will be able to gain much more by doing this.

Bismillah, alhamdulillah.

The two Islamic Eids usually witness a great deal of controversy over their precise dates. Proponents mainly in the West argue for the use astronomical calculations to determine the probability of visibility of the new crescent, which marks the beginning of the new month. The method chosen by the Saudi authorities is more simple and relies on the presence of witnesses whose testimony is accepted on oath by a judge. The process by which the Saudi authorities decide which sightings to accept or not is obscure. The lack of public scrutiny of this process only fuels the general suspicion that the process is subject to other factors.

Regardless of the rights and wrongs of this debate Saudi Arabia stands as perhaps the only nation to maintain the Islamic lunar or Hijri calendar as an official calendar upon which dates for daily activities, official and unofficial are based. The local Saudi people are in general highly familiar with this calendar calendar and refer to it frequently and plan their lives around it. Employers pay their staff in accordance to it, utility companies issue bills by it and contracts are drawn and dated by it.

The official Saudi calendar is in accordance to the official Um al-Qura Calendar. This can be viewed via this link at its official home where it is maintained by the King Abdulaziz City for Science and technology website. The site also provides the official prayer times for Saudi Arabia, these are printed as tables towards the end of the Islamic year and can be found at most good bookstores such as Jarir and Tihama. 

This calendar has it roots in the early history of Islam. It was started by the second caliph of Islam Umar, may God be pleased with him. The decision to be begin it from the year in which the Prophet Muhammad (S) migrated or made Hijrah from Makkah to Madeenah is important. The hijrah marked a significant moment in the early history of Islam and the birth of the first Islamic state. The calendar marks this momentous occasion and underlines the political and personal nature of Islam. The word Hijri literally means related to the hijrah or migration [of the Prophet(S)].

Though these are the roots of the calendar in general people in Saudi Arabia no longer overtly regard it as an Islamic calendar. In fact in common everyday discourse it is rarely referred to by its Hijri name. Instead it is referred to as the عربي ‘arabee or ‘Arabic’ calendar. Similarly the terms used for the Gregorian solar calendar as ميلادي milady (lit. related to the birth [of Christ]) or sometimes as فرنجي faranjee. The latter term is a reference to the Franks of the crusades, but this connection is buried somewhere in the annals of history and not in the current consciousness.

It is ironic while there is much passion about the two dates in the year when the Eids fall there is little said especially of practical import about the other 352 days of the Hijri calendar. It will not escape the attention of any interested party that if there was ever to be a time when the Hijri calendar became important again it would need to be standardised across the Islamic world, and the natural point of centralisation would be Saudi Arabia.

Sadly, even in Saudi Arabia the winds of change are beginning to blow. Newer companies such as Mobily (a mobile phone company) have switched to using the Gregorian calendar for billing. The Hijri calendar lies slowly melting into the sands of the Arabian desert in danger of turning into an archaeological item of curiosity to be resurrected for two dates every year.

Bismillah alhamdulillah.

Driving back on the long road from the shores of the Arabian Gulf to the Red Sea I looked in amazement at the snaking convoy of cars that was stretching over 800 km. Cars laden with overhead luggage and coaches were passing one a second all the way from the outskirts of Riyadh to Makkah. Assuming an average of 5 passengers per vehicle in a period of 12 hours a million pilgrims had driven themselves away from Makkah. The press figures state that the total number of pilgrims this year were 3 million – a staggering figure. Somewhere between 30-60% of this 3 million are pilgrims from outside the Gulf area. This amazing gathering provides an opportunity for furthering links between the various parts of the Muslim world. One such link is trade.

Hajj and trade have been linked ever since pre-Islamic times. The congregation of so many people from such all over the world has provided local traders an excellent opportunity to making profits. Some people say the profits made during the Hajj season generate revenues that will be enough for a whole year. The Quran itself provides sanction to the linking of business and Hajj in the following verse:

2:198 It is no sin for you that ye seek the bounty of your Lord (by trading). But, when ye press on in the multitude from Arafat, remember Allah by the sacred monument. Remember Him as He hath guided you, although before ye were of those astray.

Currently pilgrims have been reduced to consumers rather than traders and offer little of substance to other pilgrims. There are no forums for them to exchange information and contacts with fellow pilgrims. Though I have no data concerning the amount intra-Muslim world trade I would not be surprised in the least to find it is extremely low. A simple trip to most North African countries will show very few South Asians, though potentially there are many bilateral trading opportunities that exist.

Part of the reason is the lack of a forum in which contacts can be easily exchanged. The annual Hajj provides such an opportunity. The Hajj currently run provides a logistical and immigration challenge to the Saudi authorities, consequently most of their efforts have been geared towards meeting these challenges. Little thought has been put into taking advantage of this opportunity in other ways.

Given the current lack of intra-Muslim world trade it would seem to be a  goal worth working to and promoting. The establishment of a large trade fair straight after the days of Hajj is an idea that should be explored, a ‘Hajj Trade Fair’. It should allow pilgrims free access and business from all over the Muslim world to display their wares and services. Special rates should be given to pilgrim businessmen so that they can trade their wares or at the very least give them a degree of exposure that they could not otherwise afford. This would allow for the greater exposure of Muslim businesses to a Muslim population, potentially generate revenues for the Saudi authorities and promote intra-Muslim world trade which can only be an advantage for the Muslim world and promote self-reliance.

The trade fair is a non-threatening positive and constructive step. Putting it after the Hajj would be in keeping with the spirit of not distracting pilgrims from their primary purpose of coming to the Hajj. Pilgrims represent a heterogeneous group. From captains of trade and industry, foreign emissaries, decision makers, business persons, entrepreneurs, thinkers to the more common Bakr and Zaid.  The Saudi authorities can also use this opportunity to offer free business development advice to the various pilgrims who are traders, this itself would generate tremendous goodwill which can only be for the greater good. I pray that this spark of an idea is given a breath of life and opportunity to flourish.

Bismillah, alhamdulillah.

According to the Wikipedia: “roundabouts are statistically safer than both traffic circles and traditional intersections“, they are supposed to have 40% fewer collisions, 80% fewer injuries and 90% fewer fatalities compared with intersections they replaced. It will not come as a surprise that roundabouts gained popularity post the 1960s when British traffic engineers assessed their safety compared to intersections.

Translating these findings traffic engineers in Saudi Arabia have introduced these ideas onto roads in Jeddah and other major cities. Whether the safety record of roundabouts in Saudi compare well to the safety of roundabouts in other countries is highly debatable.

The picture below shows a sign indicating to whom preference should be given. In English it clearly reads ‘PRIORITY FOR CARS INSIDE THE ROUNDABOUT’, though the Arabic version of the signs says priority is for cars which are بداخل ‘in’ or it could be understood as ‘entering’ the roundabout. This may be one of the reasons contributing to the confusion at roundabouts.

A possibly confusing sign in Arabic at a rondabout

A typical approach to a roundabout in Saudi is to speed up and play a game of brinkmanship. The usual approach speed for a roundabout is a minimum speed of 60 km/hr with the average being around 80 km/hr. Drivers entering the roundabout assume they have priority and zoom straight on.

It does not take rocket science to work out that the result is a mess of weaving cars, near misses and accidents. Though it may seem illogical the received wisdom of drivers in general is to be as aggressive as possible at roundabouts and to play a high stakes-hit brakes late policy. This usually results in some heart stopping moments but seems to add to the general thrill of driving in Saudi Arabia. The tactic of going slow and obeying the rules is generally counterproductive and more likely to results in an accident.

On the bright side roundabouts provide an outlet for artistic expression. Various roundabouts are adorned with giant geometrical structures or everyday objects. A sort of modern art. The word for roundabout is دوار dawwar though official signs use the word ميدان maidaan which is best translated as square. In keeping with Islamic norms statues are not found at such roundabouts, instead geometrical and other forms of valid Islamic artistic expression are given life, though some leave you wondering what exactly is going on. As in the picture below of a large roundabout on ‘Malik Road’, this is a large roundabout with what looks like a set of sails in the middle.

The sails of a ship on a roundabout

If your over 30 you may remember a cartoon called Wacky Races, well driving in Saudi Arabia is quite a bit like that. The concept of lanes as discussed in the previous post does not exist. The golden rule is testosterone driven and involves trying to take advatnage of any gap no matter how small or dangerous that lies ahead. Here is one common undertaking manoeuvre special as demonstrated by the driver of a white Humvee.

A white Humvee notices a small gap to squeeze through on the inside lane

The Humvee decides to increase the efficiency of lane usage as both cars share the inner lane

The black four wheel drive is forced aside as the Humvee pulls past

Given this general attitude when driving and the knowledge that side impacts pose greater danger to occupants than rear and front collisions, it is a reasonable policy to use the car as a defensive sheild. Imagine you are a Formula 1 driver and make sure you have plugged all gaps sufficiently well when driving, if not do not be surprised if someone is trying to squeeze through.

Within the first few hours once the new comer to Saudi Arabia has circumnavigated the various barriers to entering the country S/he will usually be greeted with a friend, company car or a taxi to ferry him from the airport to their residence. This is where the literal ‘crash’ course in driving begins. The fast journey with the weaving through queues of cars and skipping into the lane the exists between lanes is the visitors first impression. As the days pass and precariously weave themselves together into a greater tapestry a deeper understanding of driving in Saudi Arabia begins to dawn. I thought I would pen down all the various observations that have come to mind as the months have melded together.

Lane markings

The first thing one has to realise when driving is that the various lane markings that may or may not appear on various road surfaces are an after thought and should not be followed strictly. Strictly following a lane increases your chances of having a collision. The faulty assumption is that the other drivers on the road follow the lane markings. The key to driving on the various roads is to keep one’s peripheral vision trained on the bonnet of the car on your side and its proximity to your door. Keep this distance a constant and watch out for rapid manouvres especially near slowing traffic. Perhaps it is the slowing traffic though I am not sure this is the only factor, certain drivers are clearly mesmerised by the road ahead and think they are driving a snake rather than a car and attempt to slither through the traffic.

In general ignore the lane markings and aim to keep the distance between your car and the one next to it constant. On big roads this is easiest to do on the outside or fast lane. On roads within the city it is best to stick to the middle of the road. The advantage of doing this is soon realised within a few days of driving around. Usually in countries where driving rules are better followed feeder roads joining a main road have a give way sign and cars slow down or stop and wait for the main road to be clear before joining. Here it is quite common practice for cars to swing onto the main road with little regard for what is coming down the main road. It is is assumed that the inside lane (furthest away from the other side) is always empty.  Sticking like a good driver to the slow inside lane will increase your chances dramatically of being hit sooner or later by a car.

The outside lane, is also a bit of a headache within the cities. Most of the large cities have a one way system, with the occasional ‘U’ turns which allow cars to change lanes. When cars wish to change their direction they use these U turns to turn around, unfortunately nobody seems to have realised that the cars entering the U turn are in the outside or fast lane of the large roads. As you are merrily driving down you may suddenly notice that the large queue of cars in front of you are actually stationery and not moving. Be prepared to hit the brakes though not too sharply as drivers tend not to observe the car in front that carefully.

One of the often used ‘cheat sheet’ methods at a ‘U’ turn is to come on the middle lane upto the ‘U’ past the long queue of cars trying to turn and then take a left into the ‘U’ turn, watch out out for this maneouvre when driving in the middle lane.

On smaller roads where the roads are not one way, the going and coming lanes are further blurred and it is not an uncommon sight to see a car venturing down the ‘wrong’ side of the road. The best policy in these situations is to slow down rather than choose the wrong lane and allow the approaching car to whizz around you. Most drivers in these parts tend to think they can whizz around any barriers like a fly zooming around someone’s head, unfortunately when both drivers heading in opposite directions have this mentality it tends to lead to mid-road collisions.

Other lanes that you may not realise but do exist especially on the various highways are the service lane on the inside and the patch of desert on the outside. Both are used quite often as traffic density increases especially on the way to popular destinations such as Makkah. If you happen to look in the rear view mirror and see a cloud of dust coming up on the outside lane, that is usually someone driving faster than everyone in the outer lane but along the desert track. Other places where an extra lane is squeezed out is the small gap between the outside lane and the crash barrier on the Jeddah-Makkah highway. It is a daily sight to find people flashing away at the car in front and overtaking squeezing through gap between the cars in the outside lane and the crash barrier. In such conditions miscalculations are not infrequent and it is best to avoid this outer lane when traffic is moving at high speed, in particular on the Jeddah Makkah highway.

Next post, God willing, will be on the art of round abouts.

Bismillah, alhamdulillah.

We needed a water tank as the old one was leaking. These tanks sit perched at the highest possible point on a building and are quite large. The smallest capacity is 1000 litres costing 750 Riyals at that volume. Other more expensive varieties exist which claim to keep the water cool and can start at 4000 Riyals.

Being quite large you can’t carry them through the door and up onto the roof via the roof access. The word crane had been mentioned and I sat waiting for the delivery of the tank. I was very surprised to find that it arrived in a small pickup with no crane in sight. On inquiring two men brandished their coiled ropes and said don’t worry they would sort it out. The pictures tell the rest of the story. As with programs for children this one goes with a danger warning – do not do this at home!

First: One worker climbs onto the edge of the wall on the flat roof and assesses the situation from the third floor.

Second he squats calmly on the edge and lowers two ropes down.

Third the ropes are tied around the water tank, with a third steering rope.

Fourth, he is joined by his colleague, equally happy to sit perched on the edge of the roof oblivious of the potential danger.

Fifth, with a gravity defying deftness they stand up and begin to haul up the water tank.

Sixth, job done.

Welcome to Jeddah.

“It’s amazing that patients accept treatment from people who don’t speak their language. We would never accept that in the UK”

“Saudi Arabia is a high context culture in contrast to the UK which is a low context culture…”

“…here the context of a situation is part of the communication…”

“…people here see, more than they hear’