Duning at Camel Rock

A friend from out of town came through a month ago and despite the heat we drove out early one Saturday for some time in the dunes at Camel Rock. I've never hiked to the top but we did it that morning! Great view! And of course we crossed paths with the camels :)

New Dubai Government Website: Islamic Affairs Department

The screenshot below is of the official Dubai website of the Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department. This is a government funded department that oversees the propagation of Islam and Islamic activities here. You'll notice interesting things on the website like an English translation of last week's official Friday sermon. Those of you who live here know that the Friday sermons are broadcast over loudspeaker from every mosque but it's in Arabic (except at the Jumeirah Mosque where it's broadcast in English).

A sampling of the last few sermon titles includes "Loving Our Country", "The Value of Work and the Rights of Workers", "Islam's Respect for Health", "Respecting Our Elders", and "The Prophet Mohammad: The Husband and Father".

It's an interesting idea to consider what a predetermined sermon schedule would be like in churches. Imagine if the government dictated what all churches would preach about on any given "Lord's Day". Hard to imagine actually.

I've always wondered if these are the actual sermons preached in every mosque on Friday. I remember hearing from some Muslim friends who visited more remote mosques that the sermons sometimes deviated from the prescribed topic.

On the website you can also find a section on Fatwas (religious rulings), lists of local mosques and the prayer leaders there, help for new muslims, and forms for requesting permission to distribute religious materials.

The website is new and some of the sections don't seem too developed yet. Last year, the old website also included a "dream interpretation service" where you could send in the details of a dream you had and the religious scholars would interpret it for you. I'm not sure why they're not doing that anymore. Check it out though... it's bound to grow and it's interesting.

Lebanese Perspective on Gulf Leadership

I was taking a Lebanese friend to the airport last week with some friends. He's been here in Dubai for the last 10 months but must return to Beirut now. There seems to always be uncertainty in Lebanon. Talk of war is unfortunately a fixture in daily conversation. Leaders continue to battle over control of this relatively small but important piece of land. His heart was heavy as we drove.

Not really aware of his heavy heart, someone in the car began to wonder out loud about two awards given out here in the UAE. Shaikh Mohammad bin Rashid al Maktoum was recently been awarded two prestigious awards here in his own country. One was the Personality of the Year at the Prophet Mohammad Love Festival. And earlier in the month he was named the Personality of the Year in the education field. Here's a Gulf News quote from that article...

In line with the instructions of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Deputy Ruler and Minister of Finance, and patron of the Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Distinctive Academic Performance, Shaikh Mohammad has been selected for his initiatives to enhance education all over the world.

(Shaikh Hamdan, who gave him this award, is Shaikh Mohammad's older brother. (I originally stated that Hamdan was his son but some helpful commenters corrected me.))

The person speaking began suggesting that maybe Shaikh Mohammad should consider telling these groups to give these awards to lesser known and less powerful people in the Emirates to encourage a sense of achievement among his people. He stated there was no doubt that Sheikh Mohammad is a visionary leader and has been the main reason that Dubai has put itself on the map of internationally known cities. But he was just wondering aloud about the wisdom of how these awards are being distributed.

At this my Lebanese friend turned to me and said, "I think he's a tremendous leader and he deserves all the awards. I am going back to Lebanon, a country in chaos. Every single leader in Lebanon has blood on his hands. Shaikh Mohammad deserves every award he gets here."

I guess he's right in many ways. The whole region could use more leaders like Shaikh Mohammad; particularly Lebanon these days.

"Everybody and their Mother-in-Law" at the Dubai Airport

I went to pick up my mother-in-law at the Dubai airport a month ago. Every time I go it feels like there are more people there than I've ever seen before. And I might be right.

In 2002 when I moved to Dubai the airport handled over 15 million passengers. Last year it handled over 34 million people. It's expected to have over 40 million passengers pass through this year.

Amazing.

If you can arrive in the morning I would suggest it. That's when the numbers are way down.

Krispy Kreme Arabic style

For those of you who wondered how to spell Krispy Kreme in Arabic :) Arabic is so much more fluid and artistic than English script. But the donuts taste the same: very good.

Miscellaneous Flying Things

Between a week of vacation, a week to catch up at work, a week and half of a bad stomach virus, and a half week to catch up from that... I've lost a month of blogging. I'm 'bummed' but there's nothing to do but start back into it. So here's a light first post.

The picture below is of three of my daughters at sunrise out in the desert back in March. We had spent the night in a tent with some other dads and their daughters from our church. It's called the Father-Daughter Campout and it's been going on for quite a few years now. Notice the hot air balloons in the background. I believe it is this company, Amigos Balloons, or Balloon Adventures Dubai, running the flights.

The picture below is a few days later on the beach in Jumeirah, Dubai. These seaplanes flew by as we enjoyed the breeze. This service is operated by a company called Seawings. A friend from church owns the charter company that actually flies the planes.