“Given the large fraction of the population of young people in the Arab and Muslim world, there is a huge need for graduate and postgraduate study programs, especially of the quality that KAUST promises to deliver, and it is certainly time to offer such programs,” says Ahmed Ghoniem, an M.I.T. mechanical engineer who is consulting for KAUST. “There is plenty of native brainpower that, if harnessed, can make a huge impact locally and globally.”

Ultimately, King Abdullah wants Saudi Arabia to transform from a kingdom based on oil to a more knowledge-based society, Al-Khowaiter explains. If successful, he adds, other countries in the Arab and Muslim world might follow suit. As Frank Press, president emeritus of the National Academy of Sciences, puts it: “This could be a nation-changing enterprise.”

This article was originally published with the title Arabian Brainpower.

4 Comments

1. 1. John_Toradze 08:23 PM 1/31/08

   Islam had centuries of expansion with great respect to learning. Caliphs were taught by the best scholars in math, science, literature and art. The pinnacle was the Abassid Caliph who declared Koran to be written by men. This coincided with the end of expansion of Islam, which ended centuries of currency deflation fueled by acquisition of slaves, land and tribute. (Deflation gives real positive interest on zero formal interest.) This caused an economic depression within Islam. Mongols were icing on the cake. Uneducated bumpkins interpreted these events centuries ago as Allahs wrath, much as disease was once thought gods wrath in the west. This ruling by the Caliph was branded heresy by superstitious men. Islam slid into mediocrity, anti-intellectualism, and so passed a chance for modern civilization to bypass centuries before the Christian based west shook off its own religious shackles on learning. Until Islam embraces the Abassid ruling as truth again, no greatness can flourish.

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2. 2. MonoMan 03:01 PM 2/8/08

   My apologies if it's been observed elsewhere but a minor point -- "Arabic numerals" originated in India. Credit the Arabs for recognizing a good thing and incorporating them, but they didn't invent them (they were brought to Fibonnici).

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3. 3. Alpha in reply to John_Toradze 07:01 PM 9/23/09

   Actually, the Abassid Caliph who you are talking about, was trying to impose his views about the Quran, by saying that God created the Quran as a physical entity rather than saying that Quran is God's speech in an indescribable way.

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4. 4. Khalid 04:14 AM 9/25/09

   As a Saudi who has been greatly exposed to the west, I feel the most urgent dilemma facing the Muslims in general and the Saudis in specific is whether to enforce Islamic traditions on the public or accept the changes and preach for Islamic values peacefully. Self-righteousness can not be imposed by hostile means but rather by persuasion and instilling the fundamentals at early ages. What we see as a result of the confrontation is hypocrisy and disingenuous piety. Self-righteousness cannot be imposed from the outside even by violent means. It has to come from within. Until this notion is fully comprehended, the status quo will remain prevalent.
   

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