Replay of October 2007 CBS "60 Minutes" Report on Dubai

This is a very interesting report on Dubai and it’s visionary… Sheikh Mohammad. I’ve not completed both parts but it’s a great summary of what’s happening here in the city.

The CBS website won’t let me embed the part 2 video. So here’s a link to it:

CBS 60 Minutes – Dubai Inc. Part 2

Friday Prayers at the Mosque

This is the scene in front of a Dubai mosque just yesterday, Friday, and I took it at a stop light on Jumeirah Beach Road. You’ll notice how full the mosque is. This is atypical for the middle of the week but somewhat normal on Friday at the Jumuah prayer.

The Jumuah is the name for the Friday prayer time in Islam that happens just after noon and is preceeded by a sermon or Khutba by the Imam of the mosque. The friday prayer is perhaps the most important of all the prayer times for muslims. Prayer is required 5 times a day but this one is special in importance. Thus most of the mosques see large crowds gather particularly on Friday. The Khutba (or sermon) is typically broadcast over a loudspeaker to the surrounding neighborhood here in the UAE.

Here’s a selection of things the Koran, the Hadith’s (saying of the Prophet), and some Islamic scholars/teachers have said about the Jumuah and muslim prayer in general:

The Prophet said…

“If a person had a stream outside his door and he bathed in it five times a day, do you think he would have any filth left on him?” The people said, “No filth would remain on him whatsoever.” The Prophet (peace be upon him) then said, “That is like the five daily prayers: Allah wipes away the sins by them.” (Recorded by al-Bukhari and Muslim.)

In another hadith, the Prophet said,

“The five daily prayers and the Friday Prayer until the Friday prayer are expiation for what is between them.” (Recorded by Muslim.)

And…

“Of all the days, Friday is the most virtuous. It is on this day that the trumpet will be blown. Send abundant blessings upon me on Fridays because they are presented to me on that day.”

On this day it is commanded by the Prophet that you should take a full bath (ghusl), put on clean clothes and perfume/cologne if you have it. Also, it is not obligatory for females to offer this particular prayer.

The Koran says…

“O you who believe! When the call for Friday prayer is made, hasten towards the remembrance of Allah Most High and leave all transactions. This is best for you if only you know.” (I’m unsure of this reference)

“Verily, man was created impatient, irritable when evil touches him and niggardly when good touches him. Except for those devoted to prayer those who remain constant in their prayers…” (al-Maarij 19-23)

The Christian View of Prayer – A Very Short Summary

The Christian view of prayer is different from the Muslim view. Christian prayer is simply communication with God. In prayer, a person can do any number of different things including, acknowledge God’s character, holiness, and other attributes, cry out to him in emotional pain and anguish, make requests of God to intervene in our lives and in the world to act in certain ways in keeping with his character and purposes in the world, remind God of his promises, ask for wisdom for decisions and life choices, etc. The Bible is full of examples of prayers of people in many different life situations. We should study them and pattern our prayers after them in the appropriate times and situations.

I know of no examples of Muslim prayers in the Koran presumably because the Koran is almost thoroughly a recounting of God’s words directly to the Prophet.

One of the most important things about Christian prayer is that is not a duty that atones for or makes expiation for sin. It does not enhance one’s moral standing before God. In fact, only through Christ, the perfect God-man, can we “boldly approach the throne” of God in prayer. Apart from Christ we approach a holy God as sinful and rebellious people and we will not be accepted.

Also, it should be noted that for the Christian no physical cleaning is required to approach God in prayer.

For the Muslim readers who check out this post, let me know if I’ve made mistakes in my simple recounting of Islamic prayer and specifically the Jumuah prayer. I got most of the information from here, here, and here.

Eid Al Adha and Hajj Begin

There are two Eid celebrations per year and the second, Eid Al Adha is likely to begin on Tuesday. This is the celebration of when Muslims believe Ibrahim (Abraham), at the command of God, took his son Ishmael to sacrifice him on a mountain. Christians believe the son was actually Isaac and that story is told in Genesis chapter 22.

This is also a time for many Muslims to go on the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, which is required at least once in the lifetime of all Muslims who are physically and financially able.

I have a friend, Mohammad, who is traveling there today. I wish him well and I’m praying for him.

Here is an interesting MSNBC.com slideshow on the Hajj. (The link goes to the multimedia page… the Hajj pics might rotate off soon so check it out soon if you want to see them.)

And below is an interesting (and short) Youtube video on the Hajj. Check it out.

Pic from Jordan: Not Your Average "Starbucks View"!

A friend who lives in Jordan sent me this picture. It’s definitely not your average “Starbucks View”!

Camel Milk in the Store

Some time ago I posted a picture of the camel milk truck on it’s way down Beach Road. Just saw this in the grocery store the other day. An interesting “Arabian Peninsula” sight…

Khaleeji Club Iftar at American University of Dubai

My company does some business at American University of Dubai and in the past we’ve been a corporate sponsor of the I.T. Club. Lately, the Khaleeji Club has contacted me about helping them out with some leadership training or just coaching. Khaleej means “Gulf” as in the Arabian Gulf. So the Khaleeji Club is essentially the “Gulf Arab Club”. Students from the UAE, Oman, Saudi, Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait could be a part of it.

Tuesday night they had an iftar dinner (the meal to break the Ramadan fast each day) and I was invited as a guest. In addition, two local TV personalities were invited. These guys are local storytellers and reciters of poetry.

As soon as they entered the tent they came to me and wouldn’t let me just kiss their cheeks… they pulled me closer and face to face for a “local – only” nose to nose touch. That’s the way the locals kiss. And they were laughing hard the whole time. These guys were hilarious and couldn’t understand 98% of what they were saying! Every once in a while they pointed at me and said something like “America”.

Later that evening they left for the TV studio to broadcast their program. It was a great evening of fun and cultural enlightenment.

The two TV personalities… a hilarious pair!

Gulf Arab students from AUD

The guy on the floor in front of the coffee pot is a Saudi student who tells poems himself!

My friend Yaser on the left is a recent graduate of AUD.

We’ve Got Visitors…

President Putin visited last week and met with Sheikh Kalifa, President of the UAE.

I sure hope they had more fun than it looks like they’re having here. And notice how the late Sheikh Zayed is looking on from over Putin’s shoulder… approval? disapproval? We’ll never know will we.

Early September Morning Dune Trip

Dunes look like the spine of a dragon tail!

Notice the camel tracks off to the right?

We had business colleagues in from out of town last week and we decided to treat them to an early morning ride through the desert. These pics were taken about 8am out by Camel Rock. You have to go early during these late summer days or the heat is just too much.

I had a touch of stomach “bug” unfortunately and so the up and down driving was causing my problems. The guys dropped me on a sand dune with some trees nearby and I just sat there for an hour til they came back. I had my mobile phone with me so I cleaned up my phone book, took a few pictures, and made important calls. I had to keep blowing my phone off as the wind was really whipping up and the fine grained sand was filling every crack and exposed opening.

It was a strange experience working away as I sat alone with no one visible for as far as the eye could see. And it was really heating up by the time they came back to get me!

We were back in the office by 11am.

p.s. Hope I can make it to the desert more frequently this year! It’s amazing.

Sheikh Hamdan, the poet named "Fazza", Recites Poetry to Packed Auditorium

I’ve been meaning to write on this article for a while now.

For several months I would drive to work down Sheikh Zayed Road and see the billboards for “Fazza” with Sheikh Hamdan’s photo on it. I had no idea what it was for until this article came out in the Gulf News.

It seems that Hamdan is a poet who writes under the pseudonym of “Fazza”. And I didn’t know he had such a following! The article says, among other things, that:

Poetry enthusiasts from throughout the Gulf could be seen, as well as a significant female audience, for whom specific seats were reserved. The female audience, mostly comprising young Emirati women, played a part in making the event interactive, with the women occasionally calling out their own poetry in response to Shaikh Hamdan’s. The male audience comprised men of all ages, with some men bringing their young sons to listen to the readings.

I wish I could have been there just to see this. The interplay between the crowd and the ‘reciter’ sounds really interesting… just very culturally very distinct. It’s almost like the following that England’s princes get in some ways.

It seems that Sheikh Hamdan has been tapped as the ‘next in line’ to Mohammed. His face has been in the news a lot in the last year. And this poetry reading is just one evidence. We’ll be watching to see what happens with Sheikh Hamdan in the coming months.

Call to Reinterpret the Islamic Law

This interesting report came up today in the Khaleej Times. See what you think of it.

NEW YORK — The President of the United Nations General Assembly, Shaikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa, has issued a strong call for re-interpreting Islamic texts in order to address the social, educational and other constraints impeding the equality of women in the Middle East.

Pointing to the dynamism of Islamic Shariah to adapt to the changing situations, she called for new interpretations of the texts in the light of the new life circumstances.

“The concept of human rights is based on the notion that all human beings are born with equal and inalienable rights and fundamental freedoms,” Shaikha Haya noted in an address to a panel discussion on May 16 on “Women and Human Rights in the Middle East” at Rutgers University, New Jersey, US.

She said the situation stems in part from the interpretation of Islamic text. “Women are subject to family laws that are Shariah-based, which strictly follow the interpretations of Islamic scholars who lived 1,000 years ago at the beginning of Islam. These interpretations are applied now without making any allowances to the very different social contexts of today,” she said.

“In fact, these interpretations are sanctified as holy which prevent them from criticism and change. This is one of the main reasons behind the discrepancy between personal status codes on the one hand and the current social circumstances on the other.”
The General Assembly President blamed a “lack of rational interpretations of the texts that integrate the current social circumstances.”