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Arabia
'Saudi Arabia has too many clerics'
2009-06-29
The Saudi job market does not need more graduates in Islamic studies, the head of one of Saudi Arabia's newest universities said in remarks published on Sunday.

The comments by Mohammed Ali al-Hazaa, who directs Jazan University in the south, could irritate many in the influential religious establishment. Founded in 2006 by King Abdullah, Jazan University does not have a faculty for religious studies, unlike other universities in the kingdom, the world's biggest oil exporter. "There is no need in the job market for graduates in Sharia (Islamic law) and the foundations of religion. We don't want to increase unemployment and the market is saturated," Hazaa told Okaz newspaper.
But surely the study of Islamic religious literature, religious law and religious history prepares one as well as rabbinic or ministerial studies for a life outside the mosque or the madrassah... oh wait.
Never mind.
The education ministry has been considering ways of improving education after King Abdullah removed two clerics from top positions in February in what analysts said was an effort to curb the influence of the powerful clerical establishment. Graduates in religious studies work in government, education, the mosques, the courts and in the religious police force.
Director Hazaa does have a point; professionals tend to be ever so much more effective when they've received a professional education. We wish him and his university luck in achieving this goal.
Posted by:Fred

#14  "Too many clerics in SA and too many lawyers in the US. What to do with the surplus? Retrain?"

I'd suggest feeding to the sharks, AP, but they won't touch either one. Professional courtesy, ya' know.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2009-06-29 22:26  

#13  'Saudi Arabia has too many Arabs'
Posted by: donk   2009-06-29 20:43  

#12  Definitely too many clerics. Everyone knows you need a balanced party with wizards, fighters, at at least one elf.

Gromky, you play Baldur's gate too, good.
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2009-06-29 15:19  

#11  thin the herd. Make it like a game where the clerics circle the chairs and when the Muezzin stops.....
Posted by: Frank G   2009-06-29 14:50  

#10  Maybe an exchange program.

But I'm unsure if Saudi Arabia deserves that sort of grief.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2009-06-29 14:13  

#9  Too many clerics in SA and too many lawyers in the US. What to do with the surplus? Retrain?
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2009-06-29 14:01  

#8  I see your DM of the Rings, and raise you The Order of the Stick. (The link goes to the latest comic.)

Too many funny comics to mention, really, including this one from the end of the first story arc, which reminds me of some of the comments threads around here sometimes.

This has the system the Clerics in Saudi Arabia use: link.

Possibly brainier in context, but Eagle Eye Old Blind Brainy Pete finally comes to a bad end.

I can't find the one where Lord Shojo says "hell, I took the improved paranoia feat five levels ago."

I like this one because it's too much like my own familial relations.

Although in retrospect this became ominous, at the time it was funny: link.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2009-06-29 12:03  

#7  The whole world has too damn many clerics, if ya ask me.
Posted by: mojo   2009-06-29 11:45  

#6  And that's what a comments thread derailment looks like, too.
Posted by: anonymous5089   2009-06-29 10:28  

#5  #2 Definitely too many clerics. Everyone knows you need a balanced party with wizards, fighters, at at least one elf.

Oh, dude, I know it's just plain wrong, but I simply cannot resist, I'm so weak, a weak geek, that's what I am, sorry... :
DM of the Rings

Already had seen many of those individually, but only discovered the sequential blog posts a while ago, spent an afternoon readint the whole serie. It's just so... true. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
Posted by: anonymous5089   2009-06-29 10:27  

#4  In Saudi Arabia, I don't see how this guy could be doing any better than p*****g in the wind and he may end up a whole lot worse. I hope his life insurance premiums are all paid up.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon   2009-06-29 08:27  

#3  Thief?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2009-06-29 04:45  

#2  Definitely too many clerics. Everyone knows you need a balanced party with wizards, fighters, at at least one elf.
Posted by: gromky   2009-06-29 04:37  

#1  Fatwa in 5..4..3
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2009-06-29 04:35  

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