‘The biggest dick’ can’t be Saudi ambassador

Pakistani diplomat Miangul Akbar Zeb

Pakistani diplomat Miangul Akbar Zeb was recently declined accreditation as his nation’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia. The problem, it seems, is that his name is a genital reference in Arabic.

Akbar is a common Muslim name that translates to “the greatest” or “the biggest.” Zeb is a relatively common Urdu name (زب) whose meaning in Arabic isn’t used in polite conversation. In other words, it’s a reference to the male genitals.

That’s right: In Arabic, Akbar Zeb is “the biggest dick.”

Previously, Zeb served as the Pakistani Ambassador to Canada, where his name presumably wasn’t much of an issue except for late night jokes at diplomatic cocktail parties.

A recent article in the Arab Times dances around the reason why Akbar Zeb’s credentials were declined (عربي), but run that article through Google Translate for such gems as:

There was still no statement from the GCC countries on the reason for refusing to accept the appointment (the biggest cock) ambassador to Pakistan, where … Arab Times was not able to know the reason too, but after research and investigation shows that the Pakistani diplomat (the biggest dick) is one of the biggest specialists in the Pak-US economic relations and has held an important post in successive Pakistani governments will be responsible for almost one US-Pakistan Economic Relations

But les GCC do not want (the biggest cock) and object to the appointment and refused to give his reasons.

For more English-language commentary, Foreign Policy has more on Akbar Zeb’s woes. Apparently, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have rejected his credentials as well.