"I have been but little in," said Ninian hastily...

An excellent summary of this week's events in North Africa so far.

Thanks to Karl Musser for the link!

U of E Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies program also registers a "yes, please apply", so that brings the total to a full nine programs. I think I need to recruit a few more referees...

Some of you (you know who you are!) will find this amusing. The course I took on Arabic names? put together by a retired intelligence officer who is now a contractor training folks like me. Very assiduous about sourcing his information. The source listed on one slide? This article.

I giggled... :-)

Well, I had to register before the end of the year for another class in my interminable master's degree if I wanted to remain an active student. So I bit the bullet and plunked down the credit card (I have to pay for them, and--if I'm lucky--work reimburses me for them).

One was due to run November and December, and I wanted to take that just to make sure that I *completed* a course this year (in case the registrar decided to get funny with the requirements). But another is actually due to run December and January, one I've been afraid they would cancel^, so I went ahead and signed up for that one also. This will be the first time I've done two that overlapped, but I didn't want to risk losing the chance to take the second one.

I think with Operation Rapid Transit in the works, I may be out of chances to take leave this year. Certainly I can't go on holiday while I've got a class active (these are online, but they take some keeping up with in terms of reading and writing). Maybe late in October, but I think the op will have used up all my leave. :-( I guess that's one way to save money...

So I'll be (re)taking 'History and Culture of Central Asia' (I started it before, but the lecturer was a total jerk, so I withdrew; it's being done by a different person this time) starting in November and 'Politics and Security in the Persian Gulf' starting in December.



^All the best courses for my degree have been gradually dropping out of their catalogue as they lose people qualified or prepared to teach them. :-(

I got a 14.4 out of 15 on the final exam! And four points off (out of a possible 700) for my seven weekly essay assignments. Now I just have to turn in the paper, and I will be all done.

Another essay for my class, written early because I have other assignments I'll need to be doing this week. ( Read more... )

"A British school teacher has been arrested in Sudan accused of insulting Islam's Prophet, after she allowed her pupils to name a teddy bear Muhammad.
...
The BBC's correspondent Amber Henshaw said Ms Gibbons' punishment could be up to six months in jail, 40 lashes or a fine."

And, in the ongoing Saudi story: "Saudi justice officials say a woman who was sentenced to prison and flogging after she was gang-raped has now confessed to an extramarital affair.
...
Adultery is a punishable offence in Saudi Arabia's strict system of Islamic law, and correspondents say judges are given wide powers to impose custodial sentences or corporal punishment.

The justice ministry statement is at odds with previous published testimony of the woman, who is a Shia Muslim from the Qatif area."

I wonder how much is due to her being a Shi'i...

"Several governments and human rights groups have condemned her sentence and urged it to be lifted. Canada described it as 'barbaric'.

The US, a major Saudi ally, declined to condemn to sentence, but did call it 'astonishing'."

Presumably our government is astonished that the Saudis can get away with this and only wish they were able to do the same...

We had various technical hitches and vexations over the weekend with Mel proctoring my exam (which she had kindly consented to do), so I went ahead and did it after work today. Just sent it in, and I think I did a fairly good job. I'd like to have had access to my textbooks (how silly is it to have a closed-book test and then have "cite specific evidence" as part of one of the exam questions?), but there it it.

Time to go home and celebrate with some dinner and a very unIslamic glass of single malt. (Did you know that not only is wine not *technically* forbidden to Muslims, there are some sects that use it in religious rituals? OK, yes, they are regarded as 'ghulat'--heretical--by most other Muslims, but...)

(Not that I imagine anyone is terribly interested, but, as an antidote to sleeplessness... :-)
( Read more... )