Beautiful Things in Saudi

There are Westerners and other foreigners who come to Saudi Arabia and find it an intensely ugly place. There are many who'd never set foot in the country who think similarly. I have said as much many times myself: there are few trees here, you hardly see a woman's face, the cities are something from the third world for the most part, and beautification and ornament is something against Saudi's conservative version of Islam in principle; how could you think otherwise, right?

But when you are an English teacher in Saudi there are beautiful things like the following which appear before you when you least expect it (or learn to cultivate it?) . A couple of days ago, because all the material in our book had been covered and the semester was basically over, I got my writing class back on my favorite topic (and the whole reason I came to Saudi): U.S.-Arab relations and Christian-Islamic relations. I actually covered this for a couple of days last week and asked one question each day for a couple of days running. I spent the entire period I was with them having the students work on a question and write on it.

One question I asked was this: If we wanted to improve relations between "the West" and the Islamic world, what could we do? Some students said there is nothing we can do: "Westerners just hate Islam and American wants to control everything, especially Middle Eastern oil." Others said "get rid of Bin Laden and Bush and everything will be fine." Others said "improve communication and continue to share expertise." I have all of this as I collected their responses.

Following up on the idea that communication needs to be improved, I asked them what they might tell groups of Westerners were they to meet them and talk to them directly. A couple of them said that they would stress that Islam is a religion of peace. I asked them how they would use the Qur'an itself to show and demonstrate this. They didn't know other than to stress that the very root of the word Islam means "peace." They said they would get back to me on this.

They also said they would call Christians to task for thinking of God in three parts and not one. I told them that a majority of Christians would likely not know how to respond to this with any sophistication, but that in the NT Jesus utters a proclamation that is very similar to the Islamic Shahadda that "there is no God but God," which I wrote on the board. It is basically a refrain coming out of Judaism which runs "hear, Oh Isreal, the Lord your God is one Lord, which appears in the Gospel of Mark. I also wrote on the board the two basic commandments Jesus utters towards the end of the Gospel of Mark: to love the lord your God with all of your heart, soul and mind and to love your neighbor as yourself, which I told them they might want to remind Christians of were they to talk with them. The students told me that this was very similar to what Islam teaches. Not only was this an amazing and beautiful exchange, but the students were also furiously writing down what I had written on the board showing that it was definitely a "teachable moment" taken advantage of.

In case anyone thinks this indicates some kind of missionary zeal to convert Muslims to Christianity on my part, let me say that I repeatedly stressed to my students that I care little if they converted. I told them that I would actually prefer them not turning their backs on their own religion and to deepen their understanding of it. There is a difficult issue here as Islam sees itself as having completed the Christian revelation. It is also widely believed by Muslims that the Christian scriptures are corrupted and that Qur'an is not. Jesus is also highly venerated in Islam as he is seen as the pinnacle of the prophets before Mohammad. So we can encounter and feed their possible missionary zeal if not careful.

So were these students furiously writing down what I had written on the board because they had found another arrow to place in their quiver to be used against Christians? I think not, and think it was simply a beautiful moment in a place where beauty is best thought seen and encountered obliquely rather than directly, in subtle and still, small voices rather than in bombast and in its in-your-face...let-me-show-you-my-midriff-now variety.


Another question I asked on the following day was this: In my country (the U.S) Muslims can freely practice Islam at any time they wish and can visit a Mosque and worship with fellow Muslims freely. But in Saudi Arabia, Christians, Hindus and Buddhists are forbidden to practice their religion and thus feel a good deal of loneliness when they are here because they are cut off from their communities of faith. Is this fair?

After a couple of minutes, the only thing a few students could verbalize was a couple of different answers to the effect of "this is a Muslim land, so there can be no other religion here" and that "if we allow other religions, the Muslims here will lose their zeal for Islam and have their faith corrupted." One student told me he could say what he thought but he might go to jail for it because he knows people who are in jail presently for expressing similar opinions. But in the end the students told me they simply could not put this into language, either Arabic or English, because they had simply never thought of it before. I told them that if they could not verbalize an answer, then there must be something wrong with this...or not?

Another beautiful moment, I'd say, although one I could be fired for. Oh well! Let's hope that doesn't happen..."In sha Allah."

Something for Arabic readers

أنا من أمريكا. لكن الآن أنا أسكن في المملكة العربية السعودية. أدّرس اللغة الانكليزية هنا. الجميع يعرفون السعودية بلد غني. لكنهم ربما لا يعرفون أن المجتمع السعودي ممتلئ بالمتناقضات الاجتماعية. في الواقع أن الغنى يسبب متناقضات في المجتمع السعودي. و هذه مقالات قصيرة سوف أحدثكم عن بعض منها.

مثلاً الأغلبية من السعوديين كسالي جداً. عندما أقول هذا أنا لست متكبر.لكن لو قارنا طالب اللغة الانكليزية في شرق آسيا وبين طالب لغة أجنبية من أمريكا ثم طالب السعودية نجد أن طالب السعودية كسلان جدّا. عند تعلّم اللغة الأجنبية يحتاج الطالب إلى حافز. للأسف نجد أن السبب الرئيسي للالتحاق بالجامعات لدي كثير من الطلاب السعوديين هو لأن حكومة السعودية تدفع لهم مبالغ مالية شهرية طيلة فترة الدراسة.

متناقض آخر في المجتمع السعودي عن الأجانب والعمل. عموماً نجد أن السعوديون لا يحبون الأجانب. لكنهم أيضاً لا يريدوا أن يعملوا بأنفسهم.

Why non-native Arabic speakers should not say "yanii"

Every language has its fillers. In American English it's "um," "hmmm" "let me see". In Japanese it's "eee-tooo" and anybody who gets beyond the basics in Japanese and spends anytime at all in the country learns how useful this phrase can be when you are trying to think of what to say while keeping your listener attuned to your flow of speech. In French there is something called "the boff" which is a kind of puffiness with the lips and a bit of air you release when you want to think out loud. When you get fairly decent at French you find it coming out of your mouth automatically.

In Modern Standard Arabic the linguistic utterance that best equates here is "yanii." It literally means "it/that means." And you use it sort of like this. "So, Ahmad is coming over today and bringing an entire carton of Pepsi. So, that means we will not need to buy any now since the issue of drinks has been taken care of." There would be nothing wrong with the interlocutor (the other of the two or more speakers) in that conversation saying "yanii we need to pay Ahmad when he gets here then right?" because the phrase is used in Arabic far more than "it means" is used in English. It' almost like "so" in English and is uttered countless times a day by MSA speakers.

Native Arabic speakers also often use yanii when they are speaking English. It happens so often with some people that you just get used to it. However, there is a woman at the female branch where I teach who is a native speaker of English and who uses yanii in her English. She uses it just to sound like she is acculturated. She also uses phrases such as the very annoying "al himdu Illa" (thanks be to God) and "In sha Allah" just about as much as native Arabic speakers do as well, especially Saudis. The thing is, the latter two phrases are acceptable in the way that saying "gambaru" ("going for it") is when you are in Japan even when you are speaking English. But yanii comes from second language interference and is not an acceptable sign of acculturation and respect for Muslim mores.

I can do a bit of empirical research on this to prove it. Give me some time on this, but I guarantee that if I ask some native Arabic speakers if they think this is acceptable they will agree that it sounds retarded.. yanii like somebody trying to sound cool and taking a cheap shot at doing so.

Muslim Doors and the Spacing of Gender

It is often said that Muslims are very private people. An example of this, as well often pointed to, is that in the Muslim world houses are surrounded by walls. Being in Saudi I can attest to this: you will not find a house without walls here as long as it is a domestic structure (i.e. where women [and inevitbaly children] live).

Another angle to this is that, as every ex-pat who comes to Saudi for any length of time knows, there is a huge difference between the housing provided married people and that provided to single males. The housing provided to the hordes of single men from south Asia who come here to work in construction and as laborers is like a bunch of rabbit hutches. Sometimes there are dozen guys stuffed into a single room/barracks. These guys are bused around to the job sites and seen in the backs of huge trucks like cattle. The housing provided married people, often from places other than south Asia, is palatial by comparison.

I spent three months in a housing structure we like all seem to call "guantanomo bay." It was built in the 1960s or 70s for single foreign males working in the oil industry in this area. Then it might have been considered nice. It is not bad now either. It's just that it feels like a cross between the hotel Jack Nicholson's character's stayed in with his family in The Shining and an old abandoned 1970s Ramada Inn. The fact there is hardly anyone there, maybe one out of ten of the rooms in the four structures is occupied, and that the floors are hard, cold, dusty marble and this weird decorated concrete, adds to this ambience.

After my wife arrived in Saudi to join me at the end of the summer we moved into "family" housing. The place is four or five notches above Guantanamo Bay at the very least. One interesting thing about the place is the number of doors in it. The apartment only has four rooms: a large "family" room/sitting area, a kitchen with a laundry area, a bedroom and a bathroom. The thing is, there are ten doors in this little 35 X 20 ft structure (sorry, I think in feet but can do meters when I have to, i.e. not now). My wife pointed out to me that this is because the entire structure can be instantly converted/bifurcated into a space that dichotomizes the public and the private. There is a separate bathroom for times when men are present. There is a series of doors that allows the kitchen and master-bedroom bathroom to be accessible from the kitchen, like something out of the Tale of Genji. That makes ten doors in a structure that in my country would have about five. So, does the state pervade society here or does the private engulf everything in its wake? And is this not something Saudis are taught to do inside before they take it outdoors?

It's a Greek thing: you might not understand, but then again might

People from the West who find themselves living in the middle east because of 9-11 and their discontent with U.S. neo-colonialism are people's whose cultural roots are the pre-Islamic Middle East. This means that they often undergoe a double shift--with an interest in Arabic language and culture as well as an interest in this area's shared cultural roots. I am one of those people.

Thus:

Donald Mastronarde, An Introduction to Attic Greek (Berkeley: U of Cal press, 1998) p 127. sec 2. 1-5


1. ο των Ελληνων στρατηγος εν εκεινη τη χωρα δεκα ημερας μενει και χρηματα λαμβανει παρα των βαρβαρων οι επι τη θαλαττη οικοθσιν. εφοβουντο δ’ οι γεροντες και αι μητερες υπερ των παιδων, αλλ’ οπλιται τινες αγαθοι τους ναυτας κακον τι ποιεν εκεινους εκωλυον.

Trans: The general of the Athenians stays in that land ten days and takes money from the barbarians who live by the river. And both the old men and the mothers fear for the children, but some noble warriors prevented them doing any bad.

2. μετα ταυτα η στρατια ελαυνει επτα στραδια και αφικνειται εις ποταμον Χαλον ονομα και εις γεφυραν τιν αρχαιαν ην εφυλαττε πληθος ανδρων ισχυρων.

Trans: after these things the army marches seven stades and arrives at a river named Chalon and a certain ancient bridge which was guarded by a lot of fierce men.

3.κατηγορει μεν ο διδασκαλος, εφευγε δ’ ο κλωψ, εδικαζον δ’ οι πλουσιοι.
Trans: on the one hand the teacher accuses, and the thief flees the charge; but the majority adjudicate.
4. το μεν προτερον βουλευμα ουτως γιγνεται, το δ’ υστερον ωδε—το πλητηος τω Δημοσθενει επειθετο.
On the one hand the former plan comes to be in this way; on the other hand the latter plan in this way: the majority gave it to Demosthenes (to decide).

5. εζητουν οι γεροντες αρχαια γραμματα, αλλ’ υπο παιδων τινων εκρθπτετο.
The old men sought the ancient letters, but they were hidden by certain children.

Why Mahayana Rocks!

Considering the harm others do to you

As created by your former deeds, do not anger.

Act such that further suffering will not be created.

And your own faults will disappear.

---Nagarjuna

On Friendship

People who are not friendly toward you

Are not your friends

The same can be said about you vis-ά-vis them

Mastronarde Chpt 16, p.119, 3.1

1. ὲνθάδε οί μὲν καλοὶ ἀγαθοὶ τὴν πατρίδα βλάπτειν καὶ πλουτον λαμβάνειν οὐκ ἤθελον, ἀλλὰ μὴ ἀδικεισθαι ὑπὸ των πονηρων εβουλοντο . τοις δε πυνηροις, οι αει αρχης τε και πλουτου επεθυμουν, τοτε εξην τησδε της χωρας κρατειν. Τους μεν γαρ στρατηγους αποκτεινουσι, τους δε ῥήτορας εις το ιερον απαγουσι και εκει φυλαττουσιν. επειτα το πληθος περι των πραγματων βοuλευεσθαι εκωλουν.

trans: there were, on the one hand, those good and noble ones who were not willing to take the wealth and harm the country, but they were planning not to be done wrong by the base and evil ones. For these were the evil ones who always wanted wealth and power (and opposed the good and noble ones). And it was thus possible that the evil ones to rule the land, to kill the generals, and take the rhetoricians and lock them in the temple. Thus the masses blocked (even) the planning of these things (before they happened).

2. ταυτα τα δεινα εκ του γεροντος αι του Δημοσθενους θυγατερες ακουουσι και αυτικα τους νεανιας ἤτουν ηγεισθαι εκ της χωρας εκεινης, εν ἠ ησαν θηρες τε και ορνιθες βλαβεροι.

trans: The daughters of Demosthenes heard these terrible things from the old man and at once asked the young men to lead him out of that land—into a land where there were wild beasts and birds.

3. ἔπειτα ὁ Παυσανίας τοις Αθνηαίς παρεκελεύετο κήρυκας πέμπειν περὶ της εἰρνης---οι δε επειθοντο.

trans: then Pausanias urged heralds be sent to the Athenians concerning peace—and they were believed.

4. επει δε ησαν επι ταις θυραις ταις Τισσαφερνους, οι μεν στρατηγοι εις την σκηνην ἔρχονται, οι δε στρατιωται επι ταις θυραις ἔμενον. Μετα δε ου μακρον χρονον εκεινοι τε ηρουντο και οθτοι εκπτοντο. Επειτα δε οι βαρβαροι δια του πεδιου ηλαυνον και τους Ελληνας απεκτεινον.
trans: when they were at the doors of Tissapherenes (a Persian ruler) the generals went into the tent, but the soldiers remained at the doors. After a long while the former were seized and the latter were pummeled. Then the Barbarians (Persians) drove across the plain and killed the Greeks.

Mastronarde Chpt 15

1. τίς ἐστιν ὁ ῥητωρ; Δημοσθένης, ὃς τὸ πλῆθος πείθει τὰς τριήρεις τοῖς πλουσίοις ἐπιτρέπειν καὶ τέλη εἰσφέρειν.
2.τι χρη ποιειν; οι μεν γαρ των Ελληνων εν τη των βαρβαρων χωρα μαχεςθαι φοβουνται, οι δε τω των Αθηναιων στρατηγω πειθεσθαι ουκ εθελοθσιν
3.ο πατηρ και η ματηρ την τε θυγατερα και υπ εκεινης φιλουνται.
4. τιν αγωνα παρασκευαζουσιν οι κριται: τινες νεαναι γερα φερονται;
5. ανοσιον εστι μη εχειν χαριν των αγαθων εργων α υπερ της δημοκρατιας εκενοι πραττουσιν.

1. who is the rhetor? Demosthenes, who urges the masses to turn over the war ships to the majority and to public service.
2. what should one do? On the one hand the Greeks fear being battled in the land of the Barbarians; on the other they do not desire to be commanded by the general of the Athenians.
3. the mother and father love the daughter and are loved by her.
4. which contest are the judges preparing for? Which youths (will) win prizes?
5. it is profane not to grasp the favor of good deeds which under democracy the latter provides for.

Greek with Mastronarde

I am certain that not many care, but I am working my way back through Mastronarde's An Introduction To Attic Greek (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993). I have decided to put on my blog the translations I make for the "sentences for reading" for the chapters I am doing. Why? 1) Mmaybe somebody has a similar interest. 2) I like to start what I finish. And by putting these transations up here it gives me one more reason to keep pushing on through this book. I have made it public, in a sense; and if I don't stick to it I will lose face (at least that how I hope the motivating illusion will work).

oh yeah, and if anybody knows how to type the accents in Unicode (which may not be possible since it seems to be a program desigined for for modern Greek) then please let me know.

chapter 14, p 105. Section III.


1. δια τας καλος ορνιθας ου φοβουμεθα τον προς εκεινος πολεμον.

2. κακον λειπειν την ασπιδα, αλλ’ αγαθον σωζειν την ψυχην.

3. μετα ταυτα υδωρ φεροθσιν οι γεροντες τοις νεανιας οι υπερ της πατριδος μαχονται.

4. οι φυλακες ους οι πολεμιοι αιροθσιν αποθνησκουσιν.

5. δει τον Ηρακλεα κρατειν τον τ’εν Νεμεα λεοντα τους τε γιγαντες τα τε καθ’ Ελλαδα τερατα.

translation

1. Because of the good omen we do not fear war against them.
2. The bad abandon hope, but the good preserve life.
3. Because of these things, the old men carry water to the young men who make war on behalf of the country.
4. The guards seize the enemies who are dying.
5. It is necessary for Heracles to control the lions in Nemea as well as the giants and monsters of Greece.