Where it all began

This weekend I visited Ad-Dir'iyah, the original capital of the Saudi State which was razed by Ottoman forces commanded by Ibrahim Pasha, son of the famous Egyptian (Albanian by birth) ruler Muhammad Ali in 1818. As you can see, they are rebuilding parts of the city on the old foundations. It was here that Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab took refuge with a regional tribal ruler named Muhammad ibn Al-Saud who embraced his message of reform. The ruins to the left are all that remain of Salwa Palace where that historic meeting took place. In 1765, ibn Al-Saud's son, Abdulaziz ibn Muhammad, conquered the neighboring city of Riyadh. Abdul Wahhab died in 1792 and Abdulaziz was assassinated in 1803, but the fledgling empired continue an to expand. They were able to gain control of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina and this victory took them into conflict with the mighty Ottoman Empire who asked their viceroy in Egypt to send an army.

In 1814 the Ottomans retook the Holy Cities and on September 11, 1818, the destroyed the city of Ad-Dir'iyah and executed Abdullah the current ruler. I have to wonder, given Al-Qaeda burning hatred of the Saudi regime and their love of history, if the attacks on September 11 didn't have something to do with this event. Most of the subsequent rulers of Saudi Arabia have built their own palaces in the same region, though after the fall of Ad-Dir'iyah in 1891 to invaders from Hail, this area was never rebuilt. Currently there are extensive renovations on going -- though I don't know how long "on going" has been or will last.

Abdullah's son, Turki ibn Abdullah, retook Riyadh in 1824. This time the empire endured, fending off attacks from the Egyptians, the Ottomans, and the other Arab tribes, until 1891 when Abd al-Rahman ibn Faisal was defeated by the Al-Rashid clan and driven into exile in Kuwait with his son, Abdulaziz known to history as the founder of the modern state and often called simply ibn Saud in the West. The picture on the left depicts one of the doors in the old palace. They were intensely colorful and often the buildings were painted as well, especially white trim around the windows and along the edges of the roofline. The door is about four or five inches thick with a wooden lock that required a wooden key - one of which was on display in the courtyard. There was no museum, just a few objects in glass cases inside one of the buildings.

This picture depicts one of the old watch towers as well as the quarry where materials were procured, though most of the walls were made of mud brink --hence their very transience over time and the unlikelihood that most of what remains is in any sense original. The greenery is the Wadi Hanifa the agricultural region around Ad-Dir'iyah and Riyadh. Most of the trees are date palms which, of course, produce the quintessential fruit of the region famous both for its taste, but also for its ability to endure for months.

This is a reconstructed tower at Salwa palace. The zigzaging trail that leads visitors through the palace complex, which includes palaces, residences, a mosque, a bathhouse, watchtowers, and courtyards, is actually quite dangerous as crews of immigrant workers have dug trenches and holes everywhere installing what looks like a drainage system. I assume that this is for future visitor ammenities.

I was not permitted in this tower, but I found another one that was open -- though I still don't know whether it was strictly speaking permitted. The inisdes are cramped and cool with dusty floors and slit windows just large enough to peak out at the vast plains and, when necessary, stick out a weapon.

After Abdulaziz returned from Kuwait, he and some loyal followers stormed the fortress of the Al Rashid family (see the Masmak Fortress in a former post) located in Riyadh. They never returned to the old capital, but continued to use the fortifications in Riyadh. Masmak became, eventually, a prison and is now a museum. You can still see the battle scars from Abdulaziz's attack including holes in the door left by spears and bullet holes.

This is me in all my pasty-white glory outside the Faisal Tower, the only tower I was able to enter- albeit surrepticiously. My driver, Abdulrahman, took the photo. This tower was built by Faisal bin Turki one of the nineteenth century Kings of the Saudi State though it was mostly destroyed and has been only recently rebuilt.

1642

In the year 1642, a lot of things happened. King Charles I of England attempted to arrest members of parliment precipitating the English Civil War. Later that year, the war itself began as Parliment and the King ravaged the country side. Ultimately the King was beheaded in 1649 and Oliver Cromwell created his Protestant Commonwealth and all its horrors. Also that year, Rembrandt van Rijn painted one of his most famous paintings, The Night Watch. It was the year that Isaac Newton was born and Suleiman II, an Ottoman Sultan. Galileo Galilei and Cardinal Richelieu both died ending their important and epoch careers. Also in that year, somewhere in Saudi Arabia, a book was published somewhere in Arabia. It discusses the Arabic language, its forms and grammar; a subject that for many Muslim scholars took on a spiritual dimension as part of their efforts to understand the Holy Quran. Here are the pictures of my beloved treasure:

Small Miracles

Today I ordered breakfast in bed. Yes, go ahead. Hate me. However, to "improve my Arabic" I turned on the TV, which has nearly 100 channels mostly in Arabic and English, but also in Urdu, French, Spanish, German, Japanese, and a few others. As I was flipping for something good, I suddenly saw Bryce Canyon and lo and behold a documentary was on the national parks of Utah in Arabic! More proof that Utah and Saudi Arabia have a lot in common. For more proof that Saudi Arabia is the Utah of the Middle East, just look at the pictures below, all of which are in Saudi Arabia.

I stole these pictures from another website (sorry!), but until I get a chance to visit these places, this will have to do. Seriously though; a few Artic Circles, more snow (there is snow is the higher elevations of Saudi Arabia and indoor man-made snow resorts!), a few polygamists in the desert, oh wait...

Still, the scenery is beautiful, when it's not intensely hot. It was, I think, around 110 degrees. But its a dry heat.

Riyadh, city of Kings

Though the Arabian Peninsula has a long and storied history, first being mentioned in the Babylonian chronicles which complained of the bands of camel and horse riding warrior "Arabs" allied with their enemies, Riyadh is quite young and one of the oldest buildings dates only to 1856 or so. It is a fortress: Al-Masmak (picture at right). It is a giant, mudbrink structure built by the former rulers of Riyadh after the Saudi family had been driving out by a rival family and were in exile in Kuwait. In 1902, King Abdulaziz, founder of the modern state and father of King Faisal, the subject of my project, stormed the fortress and conquered Riyadh leading to a series of victories that ultimately led to the modern state of Saudi Arabia. In 1905, about the time of the of the early decisive victories, Faisal bin Abdulaziz was born. His name, which means (as the dicitionary puts) decisive criterion, was, according to some sources, named for this auspicious era (or for an ancestor).

This relative youth of Riyadh and the fact that it was built of mudbrick, means that much like the United States, Riyadh and much of Saudi was not burdened by the decaying or decayed remains of past civilizations, but has been able to build a modern city whose freeways and malls would not see out of place in LA or Las Vegas.


This is a picture of the skyline seen from the Globe, a highrise restaurant cum observation deck in Faisaliyah, the skyscraper my hotel is located in. The tower in the picutre, Kingdom tower, anchors the other end of the main road, though there are plans to build a larger skyscraper between close to Faisaliyah.

I was able to see some of the city with my new boss's secretary who was asked to chaperon me through the night life. I am somewhat troubled by the kindness of Arabs, not because I suspect ulterior motives, but because I doubt my ability to be so generous in return. We Americans are a solitary bunch and even Utah, somewhat more communal than most of America, is nothing, in my experience, to social life of Arabs. It is overwhelming to me sometimes, but I kind of like once I get my feet wet.

Here is a picture of some armor and weapons used in the battle to unify Saudi Arabia. Most of it is nineteenth century. It is a marvel that in less than one hundred years, Riyadh has transformed itself from a mudbrink regional capitol to a world city. You can see the contrast in this picture; chainmail, spears, sword, but at the same time they were using rifles and pistols. It was pragmatism. They used everything that had regardless of where or when it came from.

Tonight I was able to visit some of the nightlife of Riyadh-nothing exciting. With no movie theaters or clubs aloud, visiting the mall is, according to Raid, my guide to all things hip in Saudi, the major past time. He took me to a mall in Olaya, the fashionable part of north Riyadh and I was able to visit a books store, which sold everything from the complete sayings of Mohammad to the latest Ken Follett or Robin Cook novels. It also had a Starbucks and wireless hotspot. Very exotic.

I worry that in writing this, someone will either say, "You are pointing these out only because you had bigotted views about the backwardness and/or otherness of Saudi Arabia," or, "You are representing only how the westernized elite live, not the opressed majority." Both charges likely have some merit, but it is useless to deny that one has prejudices and expectations. That is part and parcel of the human thought process. In order to make decisions and avoid insanity, the brain creates categories and shortcuts to speed up decision making. Everyone has prejudices. Were it not so, you could not function because your mind would be constantly overwhelmed by every little detail. You would be, in other words, Autistic. It is interesting, therefore, to note that in some literature on Austism, researchers have pointed out that Autistics are less likely to be prejudiced; they are childlike in their openness to new information and hence overwhelmed by the minutiae of life.

This is a picture of some of the rock art in Saudi Arabia (don't worry they're are lots more where this came from! The ubiquitious sandstone and rock art which its delicate arches, mesas, and sheer rock cliffs reminds me of Southern Utah quite a bit. I hope at some point to be able to visit.

Finally, a picture of Faisaliyah Tower, my hotel is not visible as it is part of the lower complex that forms the base of the tower. The Globe, from which I took the aforementioned picture, is visible. It is primarily a restaurant with some stores. The complex also includes the King Faisal Foundation headquarters and the library/archives, though they are building new headquarters nearby that will have a place dedicated to the archives I am assisting with. There are also condominiums, offices, stores, a gallery and so on. The Faisaliyah is a major downtown landmark close to some of the major shopping districts.

As for the job. I have been doing some research. My new boss, Mashail (pronounced Ma-shaw-il with a slight pause between shaw and il like the double "t" in the cockney bottle or little (bo'il or li'il)), will be providing me with her research so that I can begin creating a database of the archives to ensure I don't waste days redoing work already done. That is one of my major tasks for this trip. I hope I get it soon so I don't waste much time. Right now, I have too much spare time to have fun! That doesn't feet right. I will right again soon.

Stranger in a Not so Strange Land

Ahlan wa Sahlan, I just came from meeting with Princess Haifa and my new boss at the King Faisal Foundation in Riyadh, Mashail bint Turki bin Faisal. She is the granddaughter of the King whose life I will be researching. It is not that his life is unknown, it is rather that there is not complete record of his life and career in one place and what better place for the premiere archive of the life of King Faisal, than the King Faisal Foundation. They hope, with my poor help, to create a complete record of the King's life.

This is a picture of me trying to look cool with my sports coat and shades. As you can tell it didn't work. I left Washington, DC, at 4:45 from Dulles travelling on Air France. I have always dislaked flying for while I love the sensation of flying and the view, I hate being packed in like cattle. Then I flew Business Class and I rediscovered my love of flying. My chair reclined fully into a bed and I could stretch all the way out. I had a private TV with remote and movies on demand, real pillows and blankets rather than those flimsy little things they give the Hoi Polloi. Dinner started with lobster and a green salad followed grilled sirloin, green beans, potatoes and for desert a delicious peach tart. Later we had breakfast with fresh fruit, baguettes, and variety of cheeses and yoghurt. Life is tough.

After my layover in the depressingly dingy and filthy French airport, I flew to Riyadh. I knew the moment we entered Saudi Airspace, because the steward announced that alcohol could not longer be purchased. We came down through a dusty fog in the early dusk of a Saudi evening. I could see desert until the horizons criss-crossed by wadis (valleys) that shimmered green blue; all the more colorful for the sandy surroundings. For many people, their image of Saudi Arabia is a contradictory one: turbaned bedouins on camels living in tents in barren wastelands, tanned and wrinkled by the powerful desert sun or oil-rich sheikhs in their long white thobs and red-checkered head scarfs chauffered in black sedans from gleaming tower to gleaming tower. Both stereotypes have some truth, but the western visitor to Riyadh will, if anything, be shocked by how familiar the streets and shops appear. Were it not for the Arabic script, the roadway signs could be directing me to LA instead of Riyadh. Families drive minivans as the mother reaches back to dispense a treat to quiet chattering mouths and the father drives.



In fact, I don't really feel out of place here, not really much more out of place than anywhere else I have travelled. I have felt, whether real or not, that I am somehow apart from my surroundings, but here some things are strikingly familiar:

• The population lives in the narrow inhabitable regions surrouned by desert near springs and the few rivers which scarely deserve the name, much like Utah


• The population is conservative and religious and eschews alcohol which is difficult to come by, much like Utah


• Furthermore, most of the population follows the same religion which infuses whether directly or indirectly everything from the politics to the availability of certain drinks and foods; much like Utah


• Virtually all the places of worship teach the same thing; much like Utah


• Everyone here thinks they have the truth and everyone else is going to hell, much like Utah


• Families are large, much like Utah


• There is a real dearth of a nightlife, again, much like Utah


• The deserts are expansive and beautiful full of soaring peaks, lush forests in the mountain valleys, wild game, arches, ancient rock art and perhistoric ruins, again much like Utah


• In fact, the biggest difference between Saudi Arabia and Utah is the total lack of skiing and fry sauce in the one and the the real scarcity of good dates (the eating kind) in the other.

We so often see not only through the prism of our own upbringing and worldview, but because of that worldview, we see certain things and don't see other things. We see what is different and so construe others as being somehow in contrast to ourselves and our experiences. It is difficult for us to see the mundane and the everyday. We know, for example, that our daily lives are centered around family, grocery shopping, prayer (for some), our jobs, etc. However, when we look at others through the prism of the media or ever scholary writings and histories, we see what is different from us and we emphasis that, ignoring that for most of these people, daily life centers around family, grocery shopping, prayer (for some), their jobs, etc. Sometimes I think, though, that is not all bad. Scientific objectivity may not be able to understand a religiously imbued culture like Saudi, but a Mormon boy from Mormonville, Utah, has some insight that the secular scholar lacks. As I always say; it is good to listen to everyone, because insights come from all sources. Who knows, maybe I can learn something from all those godless heathen scholars!


Sunset over the desert outside Riyadh on my first day in Saudi.

I'm Leaving On a Jet Plane...

A more personal than philosophic entry today. I am leaving for Saudi Arabia on Sunday the 25th, 2008, to start my new job. Though I will periodically visit Saudia (as it is called colloquially in Arabic), I will not be working there primarily. My job will take me to many different countries including, but not limited to, America, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Egypt, Morocco, Russia, and possibly India.

I have a lot to do in preparation for this first trip. I need to plan my itinerary, determine what needs to be accomplished, buy outlet adapters for my camera, phone, computer, etc. That being said, this entry will be short as I need to get a lot done to prepare. I am at once excited, terrified, overwhelmed, intrigued, and even nonplussed. How such a whirlwind of emotions can coexist, especially in one normally so reserved, is not something I can easily explain.

I need to familiarize myself with the culture of Saudi Arabia more, brush up my spoken Arabic, buy a guidebook and a map, purchase sun glasses, and make a list of everything I could ever possibly need. I cannot say now whether I will have free access to write in this blog while I am in Saudia. It may have to wait until my return.

Sorry for the scattered, superficial thoughts, but my mind cannot concentrate properly now. I hope to be able to write more later.