Peace Be Upon Me

A silly musing about reading the newspaper in Riyadh

One of the many things I enjoy doing each day when I am in Saudi Arabia is reading the local English language newspaper.  The Arab News is delivered to my hotel door before I wake up, and I will often take ten minutes to have a cup of coffee and review the news of the previous day.

I noticed when I first started doing this, that an article about the King usually mentioned him as follows:

“Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah…” followed by whatever it is he said or did or thought.

When the Prophet Mohammed is mentioned, his name is followed by “Peace Be Upon Him.”  One of my drivers, Bwazeer, when discussing religion with me, always says this each and every time he mentions the Prophet.  I’ve seen it in writing, though I note that after spelling it out the first time, thereafter it is abbreviated as PBUH.  (I considered suggesting to Bwazeer that he say "pu-buh" when he mentions the Prophet in order to improve the flow of the conversation, but thought better of it.)

“With Whom God is Well Pleased” is another one.  I’ve seen this in association with the names of the first four caliphs of the Arab nation.  They are also referred to as the “Rightly Guided Caliphs.”

My name, when written for professional use, is shown as Hunter S. Fulghum PE.  The PE signifies I am a licensed professional engineer.  In my field this is an accomplishment, though not a particularly august one. 

There are a lot of us. 

We took a test.

When I read the Arab News, I find my mind wandering a little, imagining.  It might be too much to ask that I be written up as Hunter S. Fulghum, “With Whom God is Well Pleased,” since I have no evidence to support that.  But perhaps “With Whom His Wife is Well Pleased?”

And barring that, “Peace Be Upon Him” would do nicely.