CMU in the news

I haven't used that subject heading for a while!

There's an interview with my colleague Dr. Amel Al Malki here.

Al Fatiha

Someone told me this morning that he went on the mosque tour this weekend, and what struck him was that the surah Muslims recite at the beginning of every unit of prayer could be snuck into a Protestant worship service without anyone batting an eye. I thought that was a nice way of putting it, and I told him about Huston Smith, a Methodist world religions expert who prays that surah -- Al Fatiha, "the opening" -- five times a day. So here, for your reading pleasure, is a transliteration of Al Fatiha with Pickthall's translation:

Bismillah hir-Rahma nir-Raheem		In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
Alhamdul lil-lahi rab-bil 'alameen		Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds,
Ar rahma nir-raheem		The Beneficent, the Merciful.
Maliki yawmid-deen		Master of the Day of Judgment,
Iyyaka na'budu wa iyyaka nasta'een		Thee alone we worship; Thee alone we ask for help.
Ihdinas siratal mustaqeem		Show us the straight path,
Siratal Lazeena an'amta 'alayhim		The path of those whom Thou hast favoured;
Ghai-ril maghdubi 'alayhim walad dal-leen.		Not the path of those who earn Thine anger nor of those who go astray.

If you have RealPlayer, you can listen to Saudi recitor Sheikh Saad al Ghamdi reciting Al Fatiha here (from jannah.org).

Extra challenge to those who are learning Arabic (or who are following the transliteration closely): what did Sheikh al Ghamdi leave out?

Nigerian scams

In honor of "Mrs. Mariam Yasmine," who just sent me an e-mail about $18 million she has in a "metalic trunk box" in Ghana, I just took BBSpot's Which Nigerian Spammer Are You quiz.


Which Nigerian spammer are You?

Here's my favorite question from the quiz:
[What's your] favorite African nation?

• Myanmar
  
• France
  
• Peru
  
• Lebanon
  
• Uzbekistan

Heh heh.

More news: CMU, Qatari economy, Qatari driving

I just can't stop blogging today; sorry.

From the newspapers:

• Qatar to be hub of technology initiative for development -- This is our colleague Bernardine. -->


• Free electricity, water to nationals cost QR1.6bn to state -- That's half a billion dollars a year. Yowza.


• Hefty fines, jail term for traffic violations -- Within a few weeks, it will finally be illegal to: drive while talking on a cell phone or watching TV (!), put kids in the front seat, drive without a license plate or a driver's license, drive an unroadworthy car (without headlights, emitting black smoke, etc), race on public roads, drive on the wrong side of the road, make prohibited U-turns, break traffic signals, use abusive language or make loud noises on the road, or drive "rashly." (We're all in trouble now...) In an accompanying article, the head of the traffic police delivers the memorable line, "I personally feel the implementation may take a week or two at the most. Well, I am just hazarding a guess."