I spoke too early about the King Faysal prize for Service to Islam. Apparently, the selection process was very scrupulous and adhered to the highest standards of integrity and ethics. It was purely based on merit: now, just because the brother of the King, Prince Sultan, headed the selection committee (which included the highly kooky Azhar Muftititi who once threw an ash tray at an Egyptian female journalist because she asked him a question he did not like) does not mean the process was corrupt. In the late 1980s, the Committee gave its award to a favorite of the House of Saud at the time: Usamah Bin Laden.