When is it time to withdraw? Withdraw from what? Well, anything: a situation, a relationship, a job, a marriage; indeed, withdraw from life itself. A big question --I agree, but what's worse is the fact that the question is rather unsettling. Don't worry, we will not go into a superfluous discussion… Read full post »

If you are not amused by government censorship, let me make you laugh, cry, or shout in rage. Here goes...

Years ago I used to write a weekly column for the Saudi newspaper Arab News. Over the years, Arab News was editing, adding and basically changing the tone… Read full post »

Have you ever heard the Latin phrase "acta est fabula"? The meaning is easy enough. Acta is, of course, act and fabula means finished. So the 'Act is finished' is the translation. It was more of a proverb until the highly gifted French author Rabelais made it his last words before… Read full post »

In the New York Times on February 4th, Victoria Clark wrote an article entitled "Why Yemen Won't Fall." I will not question what was in the article itself. I simply want to question the title. In this title, we find plenty to ponder and perhaps give us a clue to how… Read full post »

Watching the tragically euphoric (yet inevitable) events unfold in Egypt, one is led to ponder how others are reacting. On the ground in Egypt, we, Egyptians and Arabs, know that the spark has reached the loaded barrel and the result is obvious. Europe, Asia, and the rest of Africa… Read full post »

There is so much going on these days on our political scenes. It has been months in the making. Our television screens have been dishing out real and live coverage of things that actually matter instead of bland and utter stupidity. I will not talk too much politics. However, I will… Read full post »

You think only the poor (individuals and countries) suffer? Hate to spoil your fancy and demolish your fallacies. You think Arabia and the Gulf (Dubai especially) are a latter day sort of Vegas of the latter day nations? You think money flows around us like there is no tomorrow? Well it… Read full post »

To Begin with, I am an Arab and a Moslem. So throw away the conspiracy theories and the hate factor.

Now that is clear, let us get down to business:

Have you ever heard of the term “word assassination?” It is a loaded one. In a nutshell, it is the pernicious… Read full post »

Thirty odd years ago, there used to be a burly woman who sat by the corner of the old mosque in Dira district in Riyadh and sold skullcaps, or tagiah, as they are known locally. In those pre-gushing dollar days, Riyadh resembled a quaint little desert town with few paved… Read full post »

Does time and place make people visibly different from one another in attitude and behavior? A blind humanist would whisper a soft no; a scientist would boom a deafening yes; a sociologist –a mix of the two- would simply sigh. Columnists (not journalists mind you) will be all three in one… Read full post »

Scientists and physicians need not tell us how beneficial a healthy sense of humor can be. Laughter and joy can bring down blood pressure, make the nastiness of life more bearable, and, if one is lucky, might even help resolve the problems of the day. Egyptians are masters of this art.… Read full post »

It is almost inevitable that the day you decide to go on a diet, you’ll be invited for lunch or dinner --or both on the same day. This is the law of un-averages, the caveat of get-on-your-nerves; the in your face of daily events. Some people call it temptation. I… Read full post »

The Internet has given people around the world more than they could have imagined possible. Like any vital thing in life, it is a mixed blessing. Overall, however, it would be difficult to argue against its benefits, especially for those who are information starved.

It has also brought people b… Read full post »

As if once isn’t enough, everyone wants to be ‘born again.’ At first glance you might think this desire belongs to conservatives in America who take a phrase from the Bible quite literally. They conveniently forget that those words, as they appear in the Gospels, were directed at pe… Read full post »

The truth of our existence is never easy to explain. We eat, drink, drive, breathe, procreate, and even manage to kill each other regularly. Yet, we cannot really explain much beyond a tight radius of possibilities. And when things go wrong, as they often do, we scurry behind illusions and self-delus… Read full post »

Some philosophers say that whatever happens, happens according to fatal necessity. Without going into the exegetical nuances of this statement, you surely would agree that it makes a wonderful quote to bandy about at cocktail parties. And many of the quasi-literati type do. One such man I heard doing… Read full post »

In the aftermath of 9/11 and the scramble to ‘protect’ the world and fight the new menace, much was demanded of Arabia and nothing was pushed to the limit. Bush/Cheney had to balance the fact that fifteen of the nineteen were Saudis with the interests, personal links, histor… Read full post »

My mother, in her moot wisdom, used to say that there was a time when everything on earth spoke. Animals discussing matters of survival was not just for the realm of children’s books or Disney films. Trees swaying in the breeze loudly counted paces through their aerobics exercise. Rocks waiting… Read full post »

We write from Arabia and/or the Middle East. Or some of us do. We are hunted down and pushed into silence. Here’s my answer:

Silence is not golden, at least in my book. The dead are the real silent majority. The living silent majority is made of people in whose name… Read full post »

Valentine’s Day is coming up and mentioning red roses in Arabia will be risky since it might entail being smashed to pieces by our guardians of angelic mercy a.k.a. our religious police. To those of you wondering what I am talking about, let me just say that our religious police, the… Read full post »

The world will soon be swinging to the tune of a round ball in a festival of euphoria conducted by ‘talented’ feet. How about that as a definition for the World Cup coming up in South Africa? Meanwhile, America gears up for its own world Super Bowl. We have… Read full post »

In case you missed the last few years, you might want to know that there is heightened interest in the Arab world these days: Books, films, historical and social analysis, oil as a commodity, oil as a weapon, oil as anything but what it really is --oil. Every nurse, nanny, teacher,… Read full post »

Each and every one of us is entitled to his or her opinion. That is a fundamental right –god-given, if you prefer providential lingo. This right covers entities such as states, churches, fatwa prone blind men, and even those advocating the rights of rats not to be eaten.

Sanity, if… Read full post »