Cancellation of iqama call

The National

Things sounded different last week in Abu Dhabi. The iqama call, which plays over loudspeakers some 20 minutes after the call to prayer, signalling the beginning of the congregational prayer, was cancelled.

The General Authority for Islamic Affairs and Endowment (Awqaf) says the decision is intended to stop people running to the mosque at the last minute.
...
Although there is currently no indication of this ruling being enforced nationally, Awqaf is a federal organisation. So while the iqama broadcasts continue in the rest of the country, these too might soon be silenced. Almost certainly however, opinions about it will not.

Caring for Dubai's race camels

Dr Akbar's patient refuses to enter the surgery room. She kicks and growls. But Dr Akbar is used to dealing with stubborn customers as he treats Dubai's racing nd breeding camels.
Today's patient is not eating, and suffering from gastric problems. She is a valuable race camel (Camelus dromedarius) and her owner is concerned.
"He was offered 3 million dirhams (£550,000) for her, but he did not want to sell. She is a speedy racer", says Dr Akbar, director of the Dubai Camel Hospital, UAE.
He continues: "I am going to perform an endoscopy to see if she has ulcerations in her stomach."

.....................................................

Full article here. (check out the cool video too)

Freej Folklore

Just to let you all know that Freej Folklore, the major Arab theatrical production that's running at the Madinat Jumeirah Arena from the 8th-17th January, is offering two tickets for the price of one up until Thursday. We're blogging the run-up to the event here and the official website's here.

Dubai cracks down

AP:

Westerners were getting too racy on the beaches of this Persian Gulf tourist haven, and a police crackdown on topless sunbathing, nudity and other indecent behavior has resulted in 79 arrests in recent days.
...
The city is installing signs warning tourists in Arabic, English and several other languages not to sunbathe topless or change clothes in public, said Abdullah Mohammed Rafia, an official with the Dubai Municipality whose office is overseeing the public awareness campaign.
...
"I understand that I have to respect the rules of the country," said John MacLean, a British tourist on holiday with his girlfriend. But, he added, "I am not sure if I can kiss her or touch her in public."

Places of natural beauty trashed

The National:

Fujairah wadis choking on waste
...
Sandra Knuteson, the assistant professor of environmental science at the American University of Sharjah, collected and measured rubbish – including plastic bottles, glass, aluminium cans, paper, food wrapping and nappies – discarded at two popular wadis in Fujairah and Hatta.
...
The scientist started her project in December, when she decided to estimate the impact of the National Day weekend on Hatta Pools. She cleaned up an area 300 metres long and 100 metres wide around the wadi a week before the long weekend, removing 183kg of rubbish from the site.

However, the following Monday, another 81kg of waste had appeared. Two-thirds of the rubbish was plastic and broken glass. The rest was aluminium cans, crisp wrappers, toys, nappies, styrofoam containers, cigarette butts, food and paper.

A similar method was used at Wadi Wuraya, a picturesque waterfall in the mountains of Fujairah. The project was carried out with volunteers from HSBC and the Emirates Wildlife Society – World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), which is working with the Fujairah Government to have the wadi declared a protected area.

On March 8, the volunteers removed 115.9kg of rubbish from a 0.05 square kilometre area. Two weeks later, 42kg was collected. Ms Knuteson believed the amount could have been substantially larger if a municipality clean-up had not been carried out during the two weeks.

Glass made up 47 per cent of the litter and some of the bottles were broken, putting the public’s safety at risk. There were also plastic, soft drink cans, cigarette lighters and batteries.

“The batteries are a danger to water quality,” said Ms Knuteson, adding that the acids contained in them can leak into the soil, reaching groundwater supplies.

Apart from being unsightly, litter is a threat to the well-being of animals.

A Snapshot of Dubai, Arab Melting Pot

"My friend Puneh from Tehran loved it, but Nazir couldn't stand it. She lived in a house in Dubai complete with lilac bushes and European aspens in the front yard, gardeners who kept the lawn manicured and neighbors from Europe, the Middle East and North America, who drove Volvos, Porsches and Jeeps.

"So many interesting people," says Puneh, an art dealer. "I felt so free, as a person, as a woman and as an individual."

"This pompousness, this manufactured perfection. There is nothing real about this city," says her friend Nazir, an artist. "I could hardly breathe anymore. I wouldn't have been able to paint a single painting there."

Nazir lasted in Dubai for eight days, precisely the duration of his first show, before fleeing back to Tehran. After that he would spend long hours talking to Puneh on the phone, begging her to come home. She did—and regretted it. What she gave up was a life in the most modern, fast-paced, flashy and superficial city in the Middle East."

more HERE

Have your say.

Hi all, I’m a 4th year art student and having spent many years in the UAE I find that I consistently draw on my experiences of the region in my art.

For my final year exhibition I am very interested in looking at connections, what draws people together and how we enjoy connecting and learning from people with whom we have shared experiences. This idea of community and belonging, together with my interest in the Middle East brought me to the UAE Community Blog.

I am very interested in hearing about your memories of your time in the UAE, any experiences or photos you could share. Just five minutes of your time and a paragraph or two would provide me with an invaluable sense of the community we have created here in the UAE. Thanks!

WSJ: Dubai's Debt Cloud

Friday the Wall Street Journal ran an article about market concerns over the level of sovereign in Dubai. An ungated copy of the article is here. Among other things the article points out that big investors want more transparency such as access to Dubai government's books.

The UAE student blog Broadcasters of Tomorrow astutely observes: "In the end, if Dubai gets into financial trouble it would take its neighbours with it. Or perhaps they're counting on a regional bailout."

Similarly, for the Emirates Economist (shameless plug) the money quote from the WSJ article is this one: "The assumption is that Sheikh Mohammed or his government will come to the rescue in a pinch. And if Dubai gets overextended, analysts expect the emirate's much-richer cousins in Abu Dhabi will lend a hand."

With that attitude you've got the same element that fueled the savings and loan real estate scandals in the US in the 1980s - removal of downside risk.

So what do you think? Would Abu Dhabi do a bailout? Are Dubai's investors counting on it? And if so, what can Abu Dhabi do about it now?

UPDATE - Marginal Revolution links here and writes "sell short."

Christianity in the Gulf

The UAE has recently exchanged ambassadors with Vatican City.

An estimated 35% of the population of the UAE is Christian.

Read it here.

Job prospects and the niqab

Reuters has a longish article about the difficulty women who wear the niqab finding jobs with face-to-face contact with the public. Dubai features prominently. Some excerpts:

It is common to see Emirati women in the workplace, most wearing elegant robes and head coverings, but those wearing the niqab which leaves only the eyes uncovered are rarely seen in front offices.

"Women in niqabs do not sit at the counter. They take administrative jobs," said Abdullah Naser, a manager at a Dubai post office. "Clients need to know who they are talking to."
...
In Dubai, the most modern emirate where multinationals keep their regional hubs and expatriate non-Muslims make up a large proportion of the population, women who wear the niqab find it hard to get jobs.

"Some companies have a policy preventing women from wearing their niqab during work hours, such as banks for example," said Nora al-Bidour, public relations manager at Tanmia.

The niqab has also caused controversy in Egypt, the most populous Arab country, where an increasing number of women are wearing the veil. In June, a court ruled that a U.S.-accredited university was wrong to bar a female scholar who wears a face veil.

In the United States, Saima Azfar, an immigrant from Pakistan, plans to wear her niqab when she interviews for jobs once she passes her medical board exams in Chicago.

"There are Muslim women doctors I know who went through the licensing process here," explains Azfar, 34. "They told me that if you have the talent, then nobody will deny you a job for wearing a veil."

Here's the whole thing.

Irresponsible headlines

It pays to read the whole story: Marriage between close relatives 'does not pose health risk'

The Abaya Redefined, Again

Washington Post:

Until recently, the abaya was a plain black robe that women kept by the door and wore like a coat over their clothes when they left the house.

Today, abayas are often stylish, personalized wraps that women enjoy being seen in, said Thana Addas, an abaya designer. Addas's creations, many made with material from international fashion houses such as Roberto Cavalli, Burberry and Fendi and decorated with Swarovski crystals, can sell for more than $1,000.
...
When Fageeh, a health industry executive, appeared at a recent business conference in a floor-length white abaya made of light cotton and monogrammed with an M, some of the attendees were shocked, she said. But others were inspired.

"When I saw her, I said to myself, 'Yes! This is right,' " said Manal al-Sharif, an editor at al-Madina, a Jiddah-based newspaper. "Nothing in Islam imposes black on us. And I decided to make a brown abaya for myself."

Saudi women have long been known in the West for their all-enveloping black attire, widely considered a mark of their oppression. But Sharif and Fageeh are among a growing number of women and girls here who are rethinking and reinventing the abaya to more closely reflect their personalities and religious beliefs.
...
The black abaya came to Saudi Arabia from Iraq or Syria more than 75 years ago, as did most textiles and goods at the time, said Leila al-Bassam, a professor of traditional clothing and textiles at Riyadh University. The robes caught on in the kingdom after King Abdul-Aziz, who conquered the country's disparate regions and formed a state in 1932, distributed them as presents to various tribal leaders, said Mussaed, the geography professor.

Before that, women wore modest but often colorful regional costumes, and in the more conservative areas did not leave the house until they were married, Bassam said.

As the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice started enforcing the dress code across the country, the abaya slowly supplanted the traditional regional costumes and became the national dress.

I've seen more and more abayas in the UAE with black on black detailing and even colorful appliques on black. But I've not seen any on Emirati women that are not basically black.

Do I just not get out much? What have you seen?

And isn't it interesting that black only became the style in recent times. An early effect of globalization, I guess.

Changing culture :: BBC

Changing culture: The temptresses drawing Arab youth to a pop revolution

"If you look at 10, 20 years ago, the Middle East was one of those few places where parents and children enjoyed the same music - and today there is that generation gap that is forming for the first time in the Middle East"

I read the article. You might, too.

Help in resisting the sweet songs of the sirens is available.

18th Fattest Nation

Rank	Country	%
1.	Nauru	94.5
2.	Micronesia, Federated States of	91.1
3.	Cook Islands	90.9
4.	Tonga	90.8
5.	Niue	81.7
6.	Samoa	80.4
7.	Palau	78.4
8.	Kuwait	74.2
9.	United States	74.1
10.	Kiribati	73.6
11.	Dominica	71.0
12.	Barbados	69.7
13.	Argentina	69.4
14.	Egypt	69.4
15.	Malta	68.7
16.	Greece	68.5
17.	New Zealand	68.4
18.	United Arab Emirates	68.3
19.	Mexico	68.1
20.	Trinidad and Tobago	67.9
21.	Australia	67.4
22.	Belarus	66.8
23.	Chile	65.3
24.	Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)	65.2
25.	Seychelles	64.6

Source Article



Credit note: Thanks to Proud Pali that found this article...

Dubai from a New School point of view :: openDemocracy

One extract:

If democratic representation does not characterise political life in Dubai, public opinion certainly does, in the form of newspapers, radio and a welter of professional and community associations. The lively debates through which public opinion in the city are registered are not of course regulated by national interest, though they do sometimes include national loyalties from elsewhere - thus the many letters in the local media by well-paid American expatriates complaining about anti-United States bias.

Another:

As the images of planes crashing into the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center were relayed across the world on 11 September 2001, throngs of shoppers stopped to watch this spectacle on the television monitors of Dubai's many malls. Surrounded by American fast-food outlets, and clutching just-bought items of American fashion like the baseball caps that are worn with Arab robes, these spectators cheered as if they were American fans watching a sporting event. What did this celebration mean for the prosperous citizens of the United Arab Emirates, a country that is not only an American ally but in love with American commodities and culture? A country where Twin Towers and World Trade Centers continue to be built, looking now like the growing children of a fallen parent?

Whatever the reasons for their unseemly cheering as the events of 9/11 unfolded on television, the shoppers of Dubai were not manifesting anti-American sentiments because of their economic deprivation, nor out of hatred for the west. They were not even motivated by Arab or Islamic politics, since that now familiar entity, the "Arab street", does not in fact exist in Dubai.

There's plenty more to reflect on in the essay. It's all here at openDemocracy. The author is Faisal Devji is assistant professor of history at New School University, New York. His writing includes Landscapes of the Jihad: Militancy, Morality, Modernity.

Where gathering is "illegal" and speaking is "criminal activity"

Gulf News:

Dubai: Green Community residents are being threatened with legal action and even the termination of their leases following a dispute with the developer over a dramatic increase in maintenance fees. More than 300 concerned Green Community residents met last week to discuss the fee hike, which will rise as much as 300 per cent for the owners of these leasehold units within Dubai Investments Park.
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The day after last week's meeting, residents received a letter from the developer's legal counsel, calling the meeting an "illegal gathering." The conduct of the speaker was "defamatory and is punishable pursuant to the Federal Penal Code by imprisonment or by imposing substantial fines," the letter stated. "Such criminal activity will be reported to the authorities."

My emphasis. It's all here.

No details of the "conduct of the speaker" were given, but if a meeting of disgruntled property owners is an "illegal gathering" that doesn't sound very visionary to me.

UPDATE added 10:15 pm:

Mar 25, 2007
Properties Investment responds to questions by Gulf News on Green Community service charge increase
...
Properties Investment developed Green Community to reflect the highest living standards for its residents and to generate a sense of peace and well-being. Properties Investment is very supportive toward residents having representatives to voice their concerns in order to generate effective feedback of the community and services in which they live.

Properties Investment is fully committed to honouring its legal obligations to tenants and to conducting itself in an environment of transparency and fairness. It is reasonable to expect tenants to reciprocate in a similar manner, and indeed the majority of tenants at Green Community do. However, Properties Investment is concerned that a small minority of tenants are intent on conducting themselves in a manner that is having the effect of alienating Properties Investment from the majority. Properties Investment has no objection and would indeed welcome an informal representative committee of tenants to act as a forum for communication. Green Community website also offers tenants an online forum where they can voice their concerns to the Management Team. Unfortunately, however, the self-styled “Democratically Elected Green Community Residents Committee” that has put itself forward for the role seems intent on conducting itself with disregard to the law and culture of the country in which we live.

My emphasis.

More on the Abu Dhabi Louvre :: NYT

Flic posted yesterday on the Louvre coming to Abu Dhabi.

Here are some excerpts from the New York Times report:

What’s the price of a good name?How about a cool $520 million? That is the amount that Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, agreed Tuesday to pay to attach the Louvre’s name to a museum that it hopes to open in 2012. And there is more: in exchange for art loans, special exhibitions and management advice, Abu Dhabi will pay France an additional $747 million. Controversy over the Louvre Abu Dhabi has been swirling in France for the last three months, with critics charging that the French government is “selling” its museums. But only now have the full details of the nearly $1.3 billion package been disclosed.
...
Abu Dhabi has also agreed to make a direct donation of $32.5 million to the Louvre to refurbish a wing of the Pavillon de Flore for the display of international art.
This gallery, to be ready by 2010, will carry the name of Sheik Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahayan, the founder and longtime ruler of the United Arab Emirates, who died in 2004.
...
For a government-owned cultural institution in France to carry the name of a corporate or foreign donor is also a first and may well raise eyebrows here. In the past, for instance, the Louvre has turned down offers of financial help from philanthropists who asked that galleries be named after them in return.
...
In a telephone interview from Abu Dhabi, Mubarak Al-Muhairi, the deputy chairman of the emirate’s tourism authority, dismissed rumors that the new museum would reject loans or exhibitions from France including Christian religious art or depicting, say, nudity. “In principle, there are no restrictions,” he said, “but both sides will agree on what is shown.”

Chronic Lateness Is a Pervasive and Expensive Problem, But It Can Be Tackled

Link. Excerpt:

"It's a huge drain on productivity when meetings consistently start 10 or 15 minutes behind, and tardiness has a snowball effect as one person's lateness affects the productivity of his or her colleagues" ...

Gulf News: evolution theory will be removed from curriculum

Link:

According to Abdul Qader Eisa, Senior Supervisor of Biology at the Curriculum Development Centre in the Ministry of Education, the evolution theory is included in the curriculum for Grade 12 pupils in public schools but will be removed for the next academic year.
...
Public schools have only three classes per week in biology and the new curriculum cover demands the need to include a wide array of new "crucial topics such as the human systems, and recent advances in DNA technologies."
...
Private schools are permitted to address the subject as a scientific theory only without rejecting creationism.

Ironically, transmission of characteristics through genetics (r.e. DNA) is the mechanism that filled in a blank in Darwin's theory - it was unknown at his time.

As a practical matter it is a good thing that genetics will still be taught given its connection to high level of birth defects due to the high rate of "consanguineous marriages among UAE nationals" (Centre for Arab Genomic Studies, Dubai, Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Science). Surely blood tests before marriage will continue to be required.

Globalization of Valentines Day

Khaleej Times - "An overwhelming 62 per cent of the Arabs referred to themselves as ‘romantic people’. And 56 per cent claimed they had never celebrated Valentine’s Day before. But a whopping 69 per cent said they planned to do something special this year for their loved ones. ... The results of the survey indicated that among the respondents, Moroccans, Lebanese and Egyptians were most likely to celebrate the Valentine’s Day. Citizens of the six GCC countries were the least effusive."

Gulf News: "Among the specialists gearing up for the second busiest time of the year, after Christmas, is Gulf Greetings. With more than 50 outlets all over the region, the company is expecting to shift around 150,000 cards this Valentine's Day. And the man managing Gulf Greetings' Hallmark category is none other than the aptly named Valentine Braganza. The 38-year-old, originally from India...."

Read Gulf News on the history of St. Valentines Day.

One American's naive astonishment at the popularity of Valentines Day in Dubai.

The world, though, is not yet flat. The transmission of culture in going one way - absorption of Western (Christian) holidays in the Islamic world. We see Middle Eastern food becoming popular in Europe and North America, but we don't have potent examples like the popularity of Christmas and Valentines.