Saturday, May 19, 2012

How Very Apt Official Saudi Calender Says It Is The Year 1433

Extremely civil of them to acquiesce to such modernity. But must be said, it strikes me as fairly accurate; about six hundred years behind the times.


Saudi Arabia bans using Gregorian dates

The use of the English language to answer calls or communicate, mainly in companies and hotels, has also been banned
May 17, 2012

Saudi Arabia has banned all government and private agencies from using the Gregorian calendar in official dealings.

The use of the English language to answer calls or communicate, mainly in companies and hotels, has also been banned, a local daily said.

All ministries and agencies have to use the Hijri dates (Islamic calendar) and the Arabic language, the interior ministry said. The ministry attributed its decision to preserving the Islamic calendar and the Arabic language, Arabic daily Al Watan reported.

In the statement to the ministries and establishments, the ministry said that it noted that some government entities were using Gregorian dates "unnecessarily", in a violation of high orders and instructions. Several hotel and company receptions used English in their communications, the ministry said.

However, ministries and agencies could use the Gregorian calendar, whenever needed, on the condition that it is associated with the corresponding Hijri date. Gulfnews

Plenty more on the Land of Darkness in the side-bar, tagged, Saudi and Us and Them.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Coptic years are counted from 284, the year Diocletian became Roman Emperor, whose reign was marked by tortures and mass executions of Christians, especially in Egypt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coptic_calendar

Anonymous said...

http://en.europeonline-magazine.eu/lead-ikea-regrets-airbrushing-women-out-of-saudi-catalogueeds-releads-with-apology_240866.html

Swedish Trade Minister Ewa Bjorling refrained from criticizing Ikea outright, but told Metro: "You can‘t airbrush women from reality."

"These images are yet another lamentable example of how much remains to be done concerning gender equality in Saudi Arabia," she said.

Metro also showed an example where a female model had been replaced by a man and noted that a female designer had been edited out of the Saudi catalogue.

An external franchise owner operates Ikea stores in Saudi Arabia. Franchises are handled by a Dutch-based group, Inter Ikea Systems, while the Ikea Group produces the catalogues.

Anonymous said...

http://www.bikyamasr.com/79243/breaking-egypt-court-orders-christian-children-released-in-blasphemy-case/

Himself said...

Thanks Chuck.

Anonymous said...

Coptic lottery

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/04/egypt-coptic-pope-balancing-act

Child abuse.

Anonymous said...

The Christian calendar.

The entire Christian calendar is based on a miscalculation, the Pope has declared, as he claims in a new book that Jesus was born several years earlier than commonly believed.

Also, no animals were involved.

Christ's birth date is not the only controversy raised by the Pope in his new book – he also said that contrary to the traditional Nativity scene, there were no oxen, donkeys or other animals at Jesus's birth.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/the-pope/9693576/Jesus-was-born-years-earlier-than-thought-claims-Pope.html

Himself said...

Stuff and nonsense.

Anonymous said...

It's a funny young world.