IT'S JUST A MATTER OF TIME

I had a very interesting conversation with Abu Hassan last night. Abu Hassan is a patient of mine.He is an old man in his late eighties and has a really witty personality and he comes to the hospital month after month for his chronic medication. He treats me like his daughter and loves me to bits. Our conversation last night was about women's right to drive, and I told him I know for a fact they will be driving soon, the question is when?

Islamic extremists have in the past banned satellite along with mobile phones. The first time I visited Makkah years ago, I remember huge boards outside the Grand Mosque stating that all photography is prohibited.Nowadays mobile phones with cameras are everywhere.Saudis are generally a nation that can not accept change. They have a strong opposition towards anything new.

I realized just how extreme the Kingdom may have been in the past after reading an article that mentioned that King Abdul Aziz was almost assassinated twice due to the fact that he had utilized an old fashion alarm clock and secondly for utilizing a radio.The Islamic extremists were under the impression that he was utilizing magic or the underworld  to produce sound from the radio and to make a sold clock ring.

I was told by my Saudi colleagues that in the past smoking was also banned and whoever was caught smoking would be lashed in the city square.Nowadays, with the exception of non smoking areas,everyone is allowed to smoke freely including females.So with Saudi society finally succumbing to technology like the alarm clock, radio,telegraph,television, satellite and camera phones, it's just a matter of time before they finally succumb to women driving....

Ahhhh, that been said!Have a good day everyone....

A man dies, a family destroyed, because of religious police car chase...:((((

Al Watan reported that a Saudi man was killed and his wife and two children were injured when their car crashed off a bridge while being pursued by religious police in Jeddah, a spokesman for the religious police said on Monday. Formally known as the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (CPVPV), religious police officers arrest those who do not comply with their rules. In March the commission’s head banned car pursuits which had led to several fatal accidents.
Family members told Saudi Arabia’s al-Watan newspaper that the chase began when a CPVPV officer confronted Abdulrahman Ahmed al-Ghamdi, 35, and his family while he was returning home from an amusement park in the southern province of al-Baha. The music played were Islamic children’s songs. According to the story the CPVPV supporters now put out Abdulrahman was going through a police checkpoint and was uncooperative and that it was the police who actually chased the family and the CPVPV come only on the accident spot much later. It is the norm for the CPVPV to put out fairytales after they have been the cause of innocent lives lost.
The car sped off with the religious police in pursuit, and crashed over a bridge, killing Ghamdi. His nine year-old son is in a coma and his five months pregnant wife may have to have her arm amputated as a result of the accident. His younger daughter, 4, is in stable condition in hospital with several broken bones. Nasser al-Zahrani, a spokesman for the CPVPV in al-Baha confirmed the report. “There is a committee set up and an investigation ongoing to look into the incident,” he said.
Sheikh Abdulatif Al al-Sheikh, the head the CPVPV, was quoted in the local al-Watan newspaper commenting on the incident. “I have expressed my sadness and regret to the (al-Baha governor) and we hope that he will forward the case to the appropriate department for investigation.
Security services arrested four members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice after they were interrogated (on Sunday) over the chase.
The men will be charged with “abusing power, chasing a man with his family while ignoring instructions given to members of the committee completely banning chases”.
The ruler of Al-Baha, Prince Mashari bin Saud bin Abdul Aziz said he was “appalled at the manner” in which the religious police acted and that an committee had been instructed to investigate the incident, state news agency SPA reported.
“All those linked to the accident have been arrested and are being interrogated… those responsible will be punished,” .
In March 2012 the religious police promised to stop the car chases. Alriyadh newspaper quoted the head of the force, Sheikh Abdulatif Al al-Sheikh, as saying: “The car chases by the religious police will end” .
A spokesman for the force, Abdulmohsen al-Qifari, confirmed this. “We care a great deal to make the image of the commission a positive one that reflects the true image of Islam. There is no doubt that these (plans) portray a new vision for the commission,”.
The religious police been trying to soften their image after gaining the reputation of being aggressive following several fatal accidents, prompting criticism at home and abroad. The decision to ban car chases was not widely accepted by all members of the religious police. The Saudi religious police has suffered repeated criticism at home and abroad, most notoriously after local media accused religious police of hampering efforts to rescue 15 girls who died inside a blazing Mecca school in 2002. “We have carried out many training sessions to prepare our patrols for catching up with the times,” Al al-Sheikh said.

Source:

http://vinienco.com/2012/07/09/saudi-man-dies-chase-religious-police-loud-car-stereo/
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/09/us-saudi-police-religion-idUSBRE8680BK20120709

Some Arab Humour......:))))

                                 

                                        Before marriage and After Marriage

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Desert Moon in the newspaper...:)))))

This article was in the newspaper last November. Much to my surprise, someone emailed me a scanned version of the article yesterday morning.....:)))))

Jeddah, Red Sea Mall Calligraphy Graffiti Contest

Artist Fatimah Baazeem’s group, “Affect and Be Affected,” was sponsored by Red Sea Mall to hold the Hosna 99 contest. The mall dedicated 1,500 meters of space for nearly 300 contestants.
“We had 99 participants and each participant chose one name. We started and planned the competition very early and for the past one month young artists called and registered. We hope our hard efforts will bring excellent results. We chose the 99 names of Allah for the competition because then the artists will learn not only the best Arabic calligraphy and graffiti but also the names as well.”
She added they also wanted to convey the beauty of the Arabic language and graffiti through this competition.
“The Arabic calligraphy starts or came from the Qur’an. It’s our heritage and a way to show our talent. We should spread our talent and beauty of art throughout the world. Al Hosna 99 is another way of reminding young people of the beauty we have in our Islamic culture and how sailing into its beauty makes you appreciate its uniqueness more and more ”
One bystander who claimed to have visited the mall to watch the contestants five days in a row said, “I watched my way into a creative world that was thought to be beyond anyone’s reach, giving me hope that you just have to have an imagination and make it run wild.”
Children were encouraged to join the contest while shopping with parents and were the highlight of the contest. Red Sea Mall’s CEO, Mohammed Al Alawi, said the mall hosts such events out of its social responsibility toward the country’s youth and to help them to discover their hidden talents.
“We also have a social responsibility toward everyone’s taste in art which is why we try to elevate it by presenting different kinds of art all the while creating master pieces of the mall’s grounds”. Workshops on the basics of Arabic calligraphy were conducted by calligrapher Ibrahim Al Arafy who was supervised by Tarik Gazzaz and Nahar Marzoogi.

Source:
http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20120705129050