Fighting for Muslim Women’s Rights
BBC News reports on a fascinating conference taking place right now in Barcelona regarding Women’s Rights in Islam:
Fighting for Muslim women’s rights
Some of the world’s leading Islamic feminists have been gathered in Barcelona for the third International Congress on Islamic Feminism, to discuss the issues women face in the Muslim world.
Some of the women taking part in the conference explained the problems in their home countries, and where they hoped to make progress.
ASMA BARLAS, Author, Pakistan
Religions always come into cultures, they don’t come into abstract and pure spaces. Islam came into a very patriarchal, tribal and misogynistic culture. One of the deepest damages to Islam has been its reduction to “Arabisation”.
I’m not going to say that the Arabs are particularly misogynistic in a way that nobody else is, but I do think there are very particular traits and attitudes towards women that have crept into Islam.
I have a friend who has been studying the interface between what he calls the Persian models and the Arabist models of Islam in the subcontinent and surprise, surprise: the Arabist models are misogynistic, authoritarian, unitarian and the Persian models are much more plural and tolerant.
This is a fight on two fronts – on the one hand we are struggling against the kinds of oppression dominant in Muslim patriarch societies and, on the other, Western perceptions of Islam as necessarily monolithic, and confusing the ideals of Islam with the reality of Muslim lives.
If we read the Koran as a totality rather than pulling out random verses or half a line, that opens all kinds of possibilities for sexual equality.
RAFIAH AL-TALEI, journalist, Oman
Oman is relatively liberal, women are free to choose what to wear, and can choose their jobs and education. And the law does not require us to wear any particular form of clothing. But there are strong social and cultural factors – coming from the fact that we are in Arabia – that limit women.
As a journalist, it has not been hard for me to work among men, but it has been hard for some of my colleagues whose families told them this was not “appropriate” work for them.
The biggest difficulties are the social and cultural factors, and some aspects of law. For example, women who marry a foreigner cannot pass on their nationality to their children, whereas men in that situation can.
Religion is not an issue in our struggle, although there are problems with family law about divorce and marriage status. Omani laws are based on sharia law. Sharia is fair, but it is the wrong interpretations that are the problem. Male judges often don’t understand the principal goals of sharia.
We feel the law is fair, but ends up being unfair for women because of how judges interpret it.
Cultural and social factors often get mixed up with religion. Educated women can be more empowered and separate the two, but many don’t dare challenge the conventions.
NORANI OTHMAN, Scholar-activist, Malaysia
I don’t think it is any more difficult to be an Islamic feminist than a non-Muslim, or secular feminist.
Asian Muslim states have very different traditions to Middle Eastern countries
Feminists in general have to face up to political and cultural obstacles, to achieve our objectives of women’s rights. Even Western feminists have had a similar history – having to engage with certain religious beliefs not conducive to gender equality.
Perhaps the only distinctive difference peculiar to Muslim feminists is that we are caught in the cross-currents of modernisation and a changing society, due to a modern economy on the one hand and the global resurgence of political Islam on the other.
Political Islam wants to impose a world view about the gender order that is not consistent with the realities and the lived experiences of Muslim men and women in contemporary society.
Our detractors would hurl empty accusations at us – calling us Western, secular or anti-Islamic
There is a difference between South East Asian Muslim countries and the ones in the Middle East – culturally we are less patriarchal, we can always respond to our detractors by pointing out we don’t have the cultural practices that they do.
Our detractors would hurl empty accusations at us – calling us Western, secular or anti-Islamic.
Our arguments are rooted within Islam – we want renewal and transformation within the Islamic framework. They don’t like that.
We have a holistic approach, seeking gender equality within the Islamic framework, supported by constitutional guarantees. We see that these are not inconsistent with the message of the Koran, particularly during its formative stages. We have to understand the history and cultural context and extract the principle that will be applicable in modern times.
SITI MUSDAH MULIA, Academic, Indonesia
In my experience, I find that it is very difficult to make Indonesian Muslim women aware that politics is their right.
In Indonesian society, politics is always conceived as cruel and dirty, so not many women want to get involved, they think it is just for men.
According to the [radicalist] Islamic understanding, women should be confined to the home, and the domestic sphere alone
We try to make women understand that politics is one of our duties and rights and they can become involved without losing their femininity.
Personally, I’m non-partisan, I’m not linked to one political party because, in Indonesia, the political parties often discriminate against women.
I struggle from outside the political sphere to make it women-friendly, to reform political parties and the political system.
One day, I hope to be involved more directly, if the system becomes more women-friendly. We have passed a law about affirmative action and achieving 30% female representation, but we won’t see if it is implemented until after 2009 elections. We are waiting.
In Indonesia, some groups support us, but some radical groups oppose what we are trying to achieve. They accuse me, accuse feminist Muslims, of being infidels, of wanting to damage Islamic affairs.
According to their Islamic understanding, women should be confined to the home, and the domestic sphere alone.
AMINA WADUD, Academic, United States
There are many more conversations going on today between different interpretations of Islam. Some interpretations are very narrow, some are more broad, principled, ethically-based.
Unless we have sufficient knowledge about Islam, we cannot bring about reform of Islam. I am not talking about re-interpretation, I am talking more about gender-inclusive interpretation.
Islam and feminism are not mutually exclusive
We have a lot of information about men’s interpretations of Islam, and of what it means to be a woman in Islam. We don’t have equal amounts of information about what women say it means to be a good woman in Islam.
Now it’s time for men to be active listeners, and after listening, to be active participants in bringing about reform.
There is a tendency to say that it is Islam that prohibits women from driving a car, for example, when women drive cars all over the world except in one country. So then you know it is not Islam. Islam has much more flexibility, but patriarchy tends to have the same objective, and that is to limit our ability to understand ourselves as Muslims.
I have always defined myself as pro-faith and pro-feminism.
I do not wish to sacrifice my faith for anybody’s conception of feminism, nor do I sacrifice the struggle and actions for full equality of women, Muslim and non-Muslim women, for any religion. Islamic feminism is not an either/or, you can be Muslim and feminist and strive for women’s rights and not call yourself a feminist.
FATIMA KHAFAJI, Consultant, Egypt
In Egypt, Islamic feminism is a way for women activists to reach a large number of ordinary women in the villages and in urban low-income areas, using a framework of Islam. So there would be a reference to Islam when talking about women’s rights. Experience has shown that that is an easy way to get women to accept what you’re saying.
Not many women get information about women’s rights easily, so you have to counter what has been fed to them, to both men and women, from the strict, conventional, religious people who have more access to women.
They have their own idea of women’s rights in Islam – that is, patriarchal, still limiting opportunities for women. But women have been receiving this concept for ages, through the radio, TV, mosques, so the challenge is how to give them another view, of enlightened Islam, that talks about changing gender roles. It’s not an easy job.
Historically, in Egypt in the feminist movement, there have been both Muslim and Christian women. It has never been a problem. Unfortunately nowadays, it has become a problem. Religious discrimination has been dividing people very much. We have to think carefully about how to supersede the differences.
With family law, we’re aiming to change the philosophy of the law itself. Traditional family law puts women down. I can see this whole notion of “women do not have control over their bodies” in so many laws, in the penal code and family law. For example, sexual harassment is happening because men think the control of women’s bodies is a matter for them. Even the decision whether to have children is the decision of men. This whole notion has to be changed in a dramatic way if we are really going to talk about women’s rights in Egypt.
Will Obama Win?
The polls have shown Obama pulling ahead and with a high probability of winning for several weeks now – but polls can be flawed. This piece, from The Wall Street Journal examines the pitfalls of the statistical measurements:
Are the Polls Accurate?
Reading them right is more art than science.
Can we trust the polls this year? That’s a question many people have been asking as we approach the end of this long, long presidential campaign. As a recovering pollster and continuing poll consumer, my answer is yes — with qualifications.
Martin Kozlowski
To start with, political polling is inherently imperfect. Academic pollsters say that to get a really random sample, you should go back to a designated respondent in a specific household time and again until you get a response. But political pollsters who must report results overnight have to take the respondents they can reach. So they weight the results of respondents in different groups to get a sample that approximates the whole population they’re sampling.
Another problem is the increasing number of cell phone-only households. Gallup and Pew have polled such households, and found their candidate preferences aren’t much different from those with landlines; and some pollsters have included cell-phone numbers in their samples. A third problem is that an increasing number of Americans refuse to be polled. We can’t know for sure if they’re different in some pertinent respects from those who are willing to answer questions.
Professional pollsters are seriously concerned about these issues. But this year especially, many who ask if we can trust the polls are usually concerned about something else: Can we trust the poll when one of the presidential candidates is black?
It is commonly said that the polls in the 1982 California and the 1989 Virginia gubernatorial races overstated the margin for the black Democrats who were running — Tom Bradley and Douglas Wilder. The theory to account for this is that some poll respondents in each case were unwilling to say they were voting for the white Republican.
Further Reading
Tom Bradley Didn’t Lose Because of Race – Voters rejected his liberal policies.
By Sal Russo 10/20/2008
It’s not clear that race was the issue. Recently pollster Lance Tarrance and political consultant Sal Russo, who worked for Bradley’s opponent George Deukmejian, have written (Mr. Tarrance in RealClearPolitics.com, and Mr. Russo on this page) that their polls got the election right and that public pollsters failed to take into account a successful Republican absentee voter drive. Blair Levin, a Democrat who worked for Bradley, has argued in the same vein in the New York Times. In Virginia, Douglas Wilder was running around 50% in the polls and his Republican opponent Marshall Coleman was well behind; yet Mr. Wilder won with 50.1% of the vote.
These may have been cases of the common phenomenon of the better-known candidate getting about the same percentage from voters as he did in polls, and the lesser-known candidate doing better with voters than he had in the polls. Some significant percentage of voters will pull the lever for the Republican (or the Democratic) candidate even if they didn’t know his name or much about him when they entered the voting booth. In any case, Harvard researcher Daniel Hopkins, after examining dozens of races involving black candidates, reported this year, at a meeting of the Society of Political Methodology, that he’d found no examples of the “Bradley Effect” since 1996.
And what about Barack Obama? In most of the presidential primaries, Sen. Obama received about the same percentage of the votes as he had in the most recent polls. The one notable exception was in New Hampshire, where Hillary Clinton’s tearful moment seems to have changed many votes in the last days.
Yet there was a curious anomaly: In most primaries Mr. Obama tended to receive higher percentages in exit polls than he did from the voters. What accounts for this discrepancy?
While there is no definitive answer, it’s worth noting that only about half of Americans approached to take the exit poll agree to do so (compared to 90% in Mexico and Russia). Thus it seems likely that Obama voters — more enthusiastic about their candidate than Clinton voters by most measures (like strength of support in poll questions) — were more willing to fill out the exit poll forms and drop them in the box.
What this suggests is that Mr. Obama will win about the same percentage of votes as he gets in the last rounds of polling before the election. That’s not bad news for his campaign, as the polls stand now. The realclearpolitics.com average of recent national polls, as I write, shows Mr. Obama leading John McCain by 50% to 45%.
If Mr. Obama gets the votes of any perceptible number of undecideds (or if any perceptible number of them don’t vote) he’ll win a popular vote majority, something only one Democratic nominee, Jimmy Carter, has done in the last 40 years.
In state polls, Mr. Obama is currently getting 50% or more in the realclearpolitics.com averages in states with 286 electoral votes, including four carried by George W. Bush — Colorado, Iowa, New Mexico and Virginia. He leads, with less than 50%, in five more Bush ’04 states with 78 electoral votes — Florida, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio. It’s certainly plausible, given the current state of opinion, that he would carry several if not all of them.
Of course, the balance of opinion could change, as it has several times in this campaign, and as it has in the past. Harry Truman was trailing Thomas E. Dewey by 5% in the last Gallup poll in 1948, conducted between Oct. 15 and 25 — the same margin by which Mr. Obama seems to be leading now. But on Nov. 2, 18 days after Gallup’s first interviews and eight days after its last, Truman ended up winning 50% to 45%. Gallup may well have gotten it right when in the field; opinion could just have changed.
We have no way of knowing, since George Gallup was just about the only public pollster back then, and he decided on the basis of his experience in the three preceding presidential elections that there was no point in testing opinion in the last week. Now we have a rich body of polling data, of varying reliability, available.
And we will have the exit poll, the partial results of which will be released to the media clients of the Edison/Mitofsky consortium at 5 p.m. on Election Day. These clients should, I believe, use the numbers cautiously for the following reasons.
First, the exit polls in the recent presidential elections have tended to show the Democrats doing better than they actually did, partly because of interviewer error. The late Warren Mitofsky, in his study of the 2004 exit poll, found that the largest errors came in precincts where the interviewers were female graduate students.
Second, the exit polls in almost all the primaries this year showed Mr. Obama doing better than he actually did. The same respondent bias — the greater willingness of Obama voters to be polled — which apparently occurred on primary days could also occur in the exit poll on Election Day, and in the phone polls of early and absentee voters that Edison/Mitofsky will conduct to supplement it.
The exit poll gives us, and future political scientists, a treasure trove of information about the voting behavior of subgroups of the electorate, and also some useful insight into the reasons why people voted as they did. And the current plethora of polls gives us a rich lode of information on what voters are thinking at each stage of the campaign. But political polls are imperfect instruments. Reading them right is less a science than an art. We can trust the polls, with qualifications. We will have a chance to verify as the election returns come in.
Mr. Barone, a senior writer at U.S. News & World Report and a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, is co-author of “The Almanac of American Politics 2008” (National Journal Group). From 1974 to 1981 he was a vice president of Peter D. Hart Research Associates, a polling firm.
All Female Ministers Must Cover Hair, or Female Ministers are Unconstitutional? Or?
I am pretty good at reading the news, but all this is a little too Byzantine, even for me. This is from today’s Al Watan. I think it says that females who do not cover their hair can still be ministers, in spite of some members of parliament saying that females who do not cover their hair are not allowed to be ministers. You read it and tell me what YOU think it says.
Maybe some of the Ministers of Parliament lack so much self contol that they fear the sight of the hair of Nouriya AlـSubaih and/or Moudhi AlـHumoud will impede their performance?
There is an Islamic dress code? Like if you do not wear an abaya and niqab, or hijab, you cannot be Moslem?
Panel brands female ministers” appointment ”unconstitutional”
Court freezes MPs” suspension from Parliament
Al Watan staff
KUWAIT: Parliament”s Committee for Legislative and Legal Affairs, during its meeting on Sunday, signed off on a report stating that the appointment of female Cabinet ministers Nouriya AlـSubaih and Moudhi AlـHumoud is unconstitutional. The decision is said to stem from the fact that both women do not conform to the Islamic dress code because they refuse to cover their hair.
The committee”s convener, Ali AlـHajeri, announced that the report has been unanimously endorsed by the committee”s members, which include, among others, MPs Nasser AlـDuwailah, Mohammed AlـHatlani and Mohammed Hayef, and that it is backed up by Article 82 of the Constitution and Article 1 of the Elections Law that stipulates that women should adhere to the Islamic dress code.
On the eve of the inauguration of the new parliamentary term on Tuesday, the National Assembly is expected to grapple with a wide range of burning issues, including a decision by the Constitutional Court to strip two former MPs of their parliamentary seats.
Sources have reported that there has been a bizarre twist concerning this particular issue with Speaker of Parliament Jassem AlـKharafi announcing that he has received a letter from the Administrative Court informing him about a decision to suspend the Constitutional Court”s verdict that revoked the membership of Mubarak AlـWalaan and Abdullah AlـAjmi. He also revealed that the Administrative Court is due to look into the case today.
AlـKharafi affirmed that he will take measures in accordance with the ruling issued by the Administrative Court.
A constitutional expert affirmed that the newly reinstated MPs should be allowed to take their seats in Parliament unless the Administrative Court issues another verdict ruling in favor of the lawmakers whose membership was revoked.
Reacting to this new development, MP Askar AlـEnezi affirmed that verdicts issued by the Constitutional Court are final and unchallengeable.
He argued that the Administrative Court has no jurisdiction to look into constitutional matters.
Last updated on Monday 20/10/2008
Update 21 October
Female minister reacts to panel decision
Comply with Islamic attire or resign, urges MP
Al Watan staff
KUWAIT: The Chairman of Parliament”s Legislative and Legal Committee Nasser AlـDuwailah has described comments made on Monday by the Minister of Housing and Minister of State for Housing Affairs Moudhi AlـHumoud as “unacceptable”, after she attacked a decision by the committee that considers the appointment of the two female Cabinet ministers as unconstitutional because they do not follow the Islamic dress code.
“The minister”s remarks are irresponsible and unacceptable,” he firmly said, while calling on the minister to tender her resignation immediately.
Noting that the committee has thoroughly looked at the legal aspects of the female ministers” appointment, he pointed out that the members have concluded that the duo have failed to comply with regulations regarding the Islamic dress code that is deemed acceptable inside the Abdullah Salem Chamber (Parliament).
He explained that the ministers are free to wear to whatever they want outside the Parliament, noting that the law which gave women their full political rights stipulates that female candidates or appointees comply with certain set regulations.
Insisting that the law was passed by Parliament rather than the committee, he explained that the committee”s response is consistent with the spirit of the Constitution.
He concluded by expressing hope that the government will express regret over the minister”s remarks.
Last updated on Tuesday 21/10/2008
Andorra, Smoking and Life Expectancy
This little illustration was part of an e-mail a friend sent this week, but it reminded me of a special I heard a couple weeks ago on BBC about Andorra.
Andorra has the highest life expectancy of any country in the world. When people try to figure out why, they think it must be because people are physically active there, all their lives. The elderly are encouraged to go to the gyms, prices are greatly subsidized for all citizens, like gyms and water aerobics classes and EVERYBODY stays fit.
They have the longest life expectancy in spite of the fact that many many of the Andorrans are also smokers. Go figure.
For Expats: Understanding Kuwait Issues
I am reprinting this entire article from today’s Arab Times because it covers so much ground and gives those of us with little understanding of Kuwait issues a lot of background. It is an interview done with Osama Al-Sayegh, head of the Ja’ffery Department at Kuwait Awqaf Public Foundation.
Sectarian animosity between Shias and Sunnis in the region had mellowed down since the beginning of the last century, but has been revived following the Iran-Iraq war in the 80’s. Though the sectarian feelings are not allowed to override national sentiments in Kuwait, the fires burning in our close neighborhood could spread into our country. Osama Al-Sayegh, head of the Ja’ffery Department at Kuwait Awqaf Public Foundation, was sharing some of the deep concerns of his community in Kuwait with the Arab Times, alongside putting the community’s spiritual and political relations with Iran in the right perspective.
Q: Elections took place, and some months have gone by since the new government and Parliament took office. How do you assess the situation in Kuwait?
A: From my point of view, Kuwait has been affected by the meltdown in the US economy, and the worldwide repercussions because of it. Most of the countries are affected by this turn of events, and Kuwait cannot be isolated.
Probably, as of now it is not that bad, but in future Kuwait will also be hit hard, I fear. The price of oil is coming down, as consumers around the world are beginning to rationalize their consumption, while inflation is still high. These factors will affect the people of Kuwait, creating a financial squeeze, which in turn will have political fallouts.
Q: What do you think about the composition of the new Parliament and the cabinet? Are they efficient enough to tackle these crises?
A: That’s a real problem in Kuwait. While all these crises are looming large over Kuwait, our Parliament members seem too apathetic, and are only worried about grinding their personal axes. Each member has a set of personal agendas divorced from national interests, which he tries to fulfill using his office. This attitude is inimical to the country.
Q: Do you think this situation is peculiar to the current Parliament only, or has it been the trend of the Parliament for long?
A: The situation has become so worse only in the last 15 years. Before that we had good government and parliamentarians who worked for national interest. The results were palpable in the health and educational sectors. However, now it seems there is a disjuncture between the Parliament and the cabinet, and so even if the latter come up with a good vision, the MPs don’t give due support. Sometimes, it seems to me that both the government and the Parliament are in cahoots with each other in scuttling good projects for the nation. Finally, it’s the people who are suffering from all these petty politics.
Q: One common reason ascribed to this lack of cooperation between the executive and legislative bodies in Kuwait is sectarian division. How strong is the Shia-Sunni division in politics?
A: The division between Shias and Sunnis dates back to 1400 years. And the rivalry had been acerbic through out the centuries. However, towards the beginning of the last century, the lines had blurred and the intensity of the differences had waned between the two sects. But with the coming of the Iranian revolution in the late 70’s and the ensuing Iran-Iraq war, the clock has been turned back, and the sectarian spirit among people in the Middle East has been revived.
Now, in that context, Kuwait is a tiny country wedged between a Shiite Iran, a Sunni Saudi Arabia and a mixed Iraq, where an intense battle is raging still, with a marked sectarian perspective. We shall be very careful, as the fire in our neighborhood can spread to us also. And going by the size of our country, even a minor spark can burn down the nation.
We have to focus on factors that unite the two sects and stay away from getting deep into our differences. The basics are all the same between us. Our God is Allah, our Prophet is Mohammed (PBUH), our book is the Holy Quran and our Qibla (the direction of prayer) is the Kabah. Other peripheral things have to be kept on the sidelines.
We have to understand that we are a very small country, and we shouldn’t let petty sectarianism destroy our social fabric. We have only our country, and we shall preserve it in our best interest.
Q: How alive are these sectarian tendencies in Kuwait?
A: As I said things were quite normal until the late 70’s. When the revolution swept through Iran, the government of Kuwait feared that the revolution might get imported into Kuwait through sectarian influences. And therefore to counterbalance Shias in the society, the government allowed Sunni foreign nationals to immigrate into Kuwait. However, some of these new immigrants came from very fundamentalist schools of thought. In reaction to these events some Shias in Kuwait took to extreme ideologies, giving rise to sectarian tensions in the society. Fanatical groups in both these sects are only a small minority and not mainstream. Yet, in a small country like Kuwait, it is enough to start a communal conflagration.
We have to understand that Islam is a religion of peace. Its fundamental aim is peace, and there is no force in religion. Yes, there are principles and practices, which we believe have to be followed and adhered to. For example issues like segregation in educational institutions and so on … we believe these have to be followed, but we should not force them on anyone. These have to be abided out of one’s own will.
Q: The government of Kuwait once feared that Iran might influence Shias in Kuwait, and we see such ideas still current in the society at least when some MPs make veiled statements of Shiite politicians taking orders from their “foreign masters.” What’s the truth of the matter?
A: This is not true, because Shias here are Arabs and not Persians. Our Arab identities are very strong. Similarly, it is also wrong to accuse Sunni MPs of loyalty to Saudi Arabia.
Q: The question of loyalty is an important issue in all societies which have minority communities in them on the basis of nationality, ethnicity or religion. During World War II, Japanese in America were targeted; similarly Muslims in India often face charges of being loyal to Pakistan. So, it is only natural that such questions of belongingness are also faced by Shias in Kuwait. Your comments.
A: Yes, there may be one or two misguided currents, like in all communities, who may have wrong ideas of allegiance and patriotism. However, this is only a very insignificant fringe that wields no influence over the mainstream community in any terms. But for such minor aberrations, the rest of the community is very clear and proud about its Kuwaiti identity. This is our soil and our roots are here, and we belong here and our allegiance is only to this country.
Q: Generally speaking, what is the Kuwaiti identity? Is there such a strong national identity in Kuwait that is free from any religious or sectarian taint?
A: Yes. There is a strong national identity. But this is not something we wear on our sleeves and strut around. We live our normal lives, but whenever there is a crisis we unite as one. For example, look what happened during the invasion. All Kuwaitis, from wherever they were, fought in their own ways for our freedom. It was this collective will and ambition that got us our freedom.
Q: Spiritually do you look up to Iran in any way? Are the Fatwas passed by Ayatollahs applicable to you also?
A: No. May be such things happen in Lebanon, where the Shiite community looks to Iran or Syria for support. But here in Kuwait, we have a very strong sense of national identity and we act as Kuwaitis at times of crisis.
Q: I was referring to spiritual matters, not political. For example, when Ayatollah Khomeini passed a Fatwa demanding the death of Salman Rushdie for authoring the controversial book “Satanic Verses” demeaning Islam’s Prophet (PBUH), did Shias here feel that it was a universal call and accept it as binding on them as well?
A: There were many Fatwas regarding Salman Rushdie that came from Iran and Saudi Arabia. But Kuwait’s mainstream community, be it Sunnis or Shias, were not affected by those Fatwas. Yes, there might have been a small group in both communities who might have been very emotionally moved by those Fatwas and even wanted to act on it. But by and large, Kuwaitis did not react to these Fatwas.
Q: What do you think of tribal primaries, especially those that have a strongly sectarian character?
A: The law should be strictly implemented to stop such tribal primaries. This is a very unhealthy practice and can hurt the very fundamental objectives of democracy. It violates the fundamental rights of the people to elect their representative, as primaries preempt elections and decide winners beforehand. So I am strongly against primaries.
Q: Will political parties help the situation in any way, because then you will have people grouping under parties based on larger manifestoes?
A: May be yes. But we have to make sure the country is ready for such a transformation. Otherwise, we may not be able to realize the benefits of change.
Q: Is the presence of such a large number of Islamists in the Parliament positive for the nation or is it negative?
A: Going by the current trend, it is negative. However, I attach this negativism not to their ideologies, but their greed and manipulation of ideologies for personal ends. From history we know that all major conflicts happen when religion is exploited by opportunists. Religion, be it Islam, Christianity or any other religion for that matter, is never the actual cause behind conflicts.
Q: Islamists are clamoring to make Sharia the only source of law in Kuwait. Do you agree with them?
A: Sharia is indeed the best source of legislation. But before enforcing it, we should have pure intentions and we should raise ourselves to those high standards instigated by Sharia. But with our tainted lawmakers it is impossible to apply true Sharia, and so I don’t go for it currently.
Q: But Islamically speaking is that the correct approach, because as against God’s law you are asking for man-made laws?
A: Of course God’s law is most superior. But how to apply this law in our lives is the question, and there are differences of opinion.
Q: Does the Awqaf have any strategy for the right application of Sharia?
A: The Awqaf deals not with matters of legislation. We are focused on charitable works and on social issues, such as raising the standard of education and healthcare in Kuwait and tackling unemployment and so on.
Q: You seem to be adopting a very soft stance even in matters of religion, for example, while you were talking about segregation you said it should not be enforced but only offered as a choice. Are you taking religion too lightly?
A: See, the religion is very clear; there are ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts’ that have been spelt out very clearly. Basic principles of religion such as the ban on drinking, where there is consensus, have to be enforced. But in matters where there are differences of opinion, and where we engage with other people as humans, we have to be soft. We should not think ourselves morally superior to judge others; it is only Allah who has the right to judge humans, because only he knows what is in their hearts.
Q: Is this your personal stance, or is this the general stance of all Shias in such matters?
A: This is the general stance of Shias. That’s why here in Awqaf, it is customary for us to pay visits to centers of other people’s faiths. We went to Vatican and visited Pope Benedict XVI.
I believe there is much to learn from each other. The Vatican church is known for its charities all over the world across religious or ethnic divides. For example, Christian charities worth millions of dollars poured into disaster areas like Indonesia during Tsunami, Iran during the Bam earthquake or Lebanon during the recent war, and so on. Though the motive behind these charities is often alleged to be religious conversion, we cannot deny the fact that those acts of kindness draw sympathy towards the Christian faith.
Though we don’t believe in such conversions, acts of charities like these will definitely help in breaking the ice with other communities and making them open to the message of Islam.
Q: How do you, given your sectarian orientations, look at broader international issues related to Iran such as the country’s nuclear ambitions and its standoff with the US?
A: This is a political issue. Iran claims that it requires nuclear energy for civilian purposes, while America alleges that Iran has ulterior motives of building nuclear weaponry. And sitting here we can’t be sure who is lying. May be both parties are lying.
Q: Both parties are lying. Can you explain more?
A: What I mean is that when politics is involved, religious principles are sidelined. Do you know that Iran gives financial aid to al-Qaeda though they are ideologically opposed to Iran?
Iran has also supplied money to Taleban, who are antagonistic to Shias and have even conducted targeted killings of Shias in Afghanistan. So all this is politics. The current government of Iraq comprises more of Shias, and logically speaking Iran should be supporting this government. But they are against Iraq’s government because of political reasons. So, in most cases, politics takes precedent over religion, and the political equations are often too complicated to be made sense out of.
Q: How do you look at Hezbollah?
A: The only group that is sincere to the cause that they set out to accomplish in the Arab world is the Hezbollah, at least as of now. Every other organization has veered off from its main objectives.
While all the mighty Arab nations are keeping mum over Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine, only Hezbollah has been offering a stiff resistance, despite the smallness of their means as against a mighty power like Israel — we shall bear in mind that Hezbollah is not even a nation, they are only a small group, and in the recent war broke the myth of Israel’s invincibility.
Q: Moughniya was a controversial figure in Kuwait for his alleged connections with Hezbollah and a hijack drama many years ago. When he died there were new controversies raised when some MPs hailed him as a martyr and extolled his virtues during his funeral. Is Moughniya the victim of a slur campaign because he belonged to the minority community?
A: The greatest tragedy regarding Moughniya is that his story is shrouded in mystery and people have never been given a clear picture of what he actually was. The government is to be blamed for this, and this led to mixed opinions with some lionizing him and some demonizing him.
Until now there has not been any clear verdict on him. Nobody knows whether he is guilty or not. If he is guilty, he should have been punished, or if he is innocent, he should be cleared of all charges and acquitted. Neither of this has happened in clear terms.
Q: So do you think it is a crime to praise a person whose credentials are in doubt? The MPs were only expressing their opinion on an issue that lies in the grey area. Do you think it’s proper to incriminate them for that?
A: It is not about expressing opinions. As members of the Parliament, these two MPs should have shown greater discretion in indulging in controversies that rake up sectarian turmoil. Sentiments of the people should also be taken into consideration, especially while involving in deeply controversial issues such as these, where much of the truth lies in the realm of the unknown.
Q: Are you scared this could spill into Kuwait also?
A: Yes, the fire is very close by. It can easily spread. It would only take a small band of misguided youth to spark off a conflagration. There are extremists on both sides, who are of course small in number, but Kuwait is a small country and even such ragtag groups are enough to upset the harmony of our nation.
Q: Is Kuwait sitting on a time bomb? Can there be an outbreak of a sectarian violence any time?
A: No, no. The situation is very much under control. The government is doing an extremely good job on that front. They are acting prudently, and making sure no community is made to feel deprived of justice. Whenever there are any communal embers flaring, they put it off with iron hands, and do not allow such things to spread.
Q: What in your opinion are the priorities of the government?
A: I think Kuwait should focus on education and health. We shall think of improving our infrastructure and manpower in the health sector, so that we wouldn’t have to spend millions of dinars in sending our patients to Europe or America for better treatment. Let’s bring experts from outside, I think even that will work out much cheaper.
By Valiya S. Sajjad
Arab Times Staff
No Kuwaitization for Ministry of Public Works?
When I saw this article in this morning’s Al Watan I thought about garbage trucks. In Seattle, when I was there last summer, the garbage trucks seemed to be run mainly by great big East Europeans. I also thought of how in some big cities, the people who own the garbage removal contracts are making a fortune. Everyone has to start somewhere!
Municipality wants out of Kuwaitization
Al Watan staff
KUWAIT: Minister of Public Works and Minister of State for Municipal Affairs Dr. Fadhil Safar has formally asked the Civil Service Commission to exempt Kuwait Municipality from the Kuwaitization policy which has been enacted to replace nonـKuwaiti employees in the public sector with citizens.
The request was reportedly contained in a letter the minister addressed to the Head of the Civil Service Commission Abdulaziz AlـZebin.
It has been gathered that the minister asked the commission to exempt the municipality from the Kuwaitization policy for at least two years starting from 2009 – ـ2011 during which the local labor force can be sufficiently trained.
He went on to say that the municipality has terminated the contracts of at least 500 nonـKuwaitis, which has had an adverse impact on the overall performance of the municipality.
Minister Safar underscored that the municipality”s work involves tasks which citizens are not interested in taking over.
Pollution Invading Kuwait Hospitals
Thanks to long time Kuwaiti-blogger Hilaliya who alerts us to this article from Al Watan.
Americans put this same granite in their kitchens, and are now paying to have their beautiful granite countertops radon tested – and pulled out. Imagine preparing food on countertops that emit radiation! Imagine inviting patients into a hospital emitting radiation! Some granites emit more radiation than others – these need to be radon tested.
Pollution is invading our hospitals
Dr. Essam Abdullatif AlـFulaij
It seems that we need an uprising at the Ministry of Health. Patients as well as doctors and staff are at risk because of the use of inappropriate construction materials which cause pollution. Despite the warnings of some engineers, the officials at the ministry neglected the issue and concealed the facts so as not to get involved.
In August 2008, Amar magazine published a report by engineer Fotouh AlـAsfour in which she strenuously rang the alarm over what is happening at our hospitals. She submitted the report to two former health ministers and the Ministry of Health”s Engineering Department, members of the Municipal Council and the Parliament but no action was taken.
In her report, Fotouh said: “Having designed and supervised the construction of hospitals and medical centers for the health sector, I know the standards and specifications for materials used in hospitals to protect patients, visitors and hospital staff from microbial contamination. The project to renew hospitals, which began several years ago, has largely contributed to the deterioration of health conditions of both citizens and residents and the mortality rate has increased due to the high level of pollution caused by microbial contaminated materials that were used in the modernization of these hospitals in the absence of proper guidance and control.”
She added: “The use of granite in hospitals is not recommend at all as it is the second biggest cause of lung cancer after smoking, as reported by the American Lung Association. Granite radiates “radon gas” and its impact is worse when using the kind produced by China. It is really strange that granite has been used to decorate the entrance and most wings at the Hussein Makki Jumaa Center for Cancer Treatment.”
Engineer Fotouh stressed the importance of urgent attention saying: “In conclusion, the main reason behind writing this report is not criticism or accusation, but to attract officials” attention to urgently deal with the issue. Reform is not costly and should not be postponed, because the price of further delay is the loss of more lives. A specialized committee must be formed to follow up the issue and replace these materials with medical materials, especially in the Operating Rooms, Intensive Care Units and premature babies wards, causalities, and then in other awards.”
We hope that the report will be considered by officials to protect our patients and hospital staff. It”s time to stop these deadly dangers that are even affecting doctors. The lives of human beings are precious.
Last updated on Friday 10/10/2008
Millions Lost Trillions
I used to finish my assignements early in grade school. Mostly I always had a book with me to read, but one teacher challenged me to write all the numbers to 1 million.
“Piece of cake” I thought. (Arrogant little brat!)
I learned my lesson. It took me forever. I wouldn’t give up, and I filled sheets and sheets of paper with numbers, all the way to one million.
It’s a lesson I won’t forget.
But a billion? A trillion? Those are numbers that boggle my mind. I can’t think that big.
So far, the losses are mostly on paper – they won’t be real losses until investors go to sell, or cash in.
It’s a huge demographic, the baby-boomers getting ready to retire – or as this article from the Washington Post states – maybe not so fast:
Retirement Savings Lose $2 Trillion in 15 Months
By Nancy Trejos
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 8, 2008; Page A01
The stock market’s prolonged tumble has wiped out about $2 trillion in Americans’ retirement savings in the past 15 months, a blow that could force workers to stay on the job longer than planned, rein in spending and possibly further stall an economy reliant on consumer dollars, Congress’s top budget analyst said yesterday.
For many Americans, pensions and 401(k) plans are their only form of savings. The dwindling of these assets — about a 20 percent decline overall — is another setback just as many people are grappling with higher gas and food prices, more credit card debt, declining home values and less access to loans.
You can read the entire article in the Washington Post, here.
Morality Police Accuse Married Couple of Being Alone Together
This is one weird story. Saw it in today’s Kuwait Times, but it is not on the online version, so I had to copy it from the Arab News website. The woman’s family and the man’s family all verified that this couple are married, but they are continually harassed by the morality police, saying they are not married.
Vice cops accused of attacking married couple in Madinah
Fatima Sidiya I Arab News
JEDDAH: A 22-year-old Saudi woman told Arab News yesterday that she and her husband of four years were stopped on a road by the religious police of Al-Jurf, west of the holy city of Madinah, accused of being an unrelated man and woman in an illegal state of seclusion (khulwa) at about 1 a.m. on Sunday.
“As we were driving home, my husband and I realized we were being followed by three men in a car,” said the woman, who did not want her name published. “They were coming from both sides of the car and (at one point in the chase) were also in front of our car. I was afraid of having an accident. The whole scene looked just like something in a movie.”
She also said that because no police officer was accompanying the three members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, her husband was afraid to stop. Eventually, the commission vehicle got in front of the car they were pursuing and forced the couple to stop, according to the woman.
Abdullah Al-Zahrani, the head of the Madinah branch of the commission, confirmed to Arab News yesterday that the commission was tailing the couple, but he maintains that the three commission members did not abuse the suspects. He also claims that the two are not married.
“The woman is neither his wife nor his cousin,” said Al-Zahrani.
When asked if the police, in response to the woman’s complaint, had questioned the commission members over what happened early Sunday morning, he said the police did not seek any clarification. “The police did not question the commission members, as they (the commission) are a monitoring body, which hands suspects over to the police for further investigation,” he said.
The couple has filed a complaint and the Commission for Investigation and Prosecution is looking into the case.
Relatives have come out in defense of the commission’s denial that the two are married. According to the woman, a commission member told her husband: “If you bring everybody in your family to tell me she is your wife, I will not believe them. You are lying; she is not your wife.”
According to the woman, she and her husband had been visiting her husband’s family and decided to return home late at night.
After the two were pulled over, said the woman, “one of them pulled my arm and was shouting at me, telling me to get into their car. I was shocked. How could a man from the commission touch a woman when he is not her mahram (a woman’s legal male escort or guardian)? He ordered me to get into the commission car and said they would keep everything secret in order to protect my reputation.”
The commission considers unrelated men and women in cars to be committing the moral crime of khulwa.
The woman said that her husband objected to her treatment, and asked the men to take him in custody instead. At that point, the woman said an older man who happened to be passing by intervened and protested against the commission members touching a woman, “but the commission member told him that I had forced him to do so.”
The woman says that two of the commission members got into her husband’s car with her and accused her of being an immoral woman for being out late at night with an unrelated man. The members of the commission also said that the woman had committed a crime and that she therefore deserved to be punished.
“This is the first time I have seen anything like this,” she said. “One of the members was totally unreasonable and was aggressive from the start. He didn’t want to hear anything that contradicted his set ideas and beliefs. He looked to be in his late 20s. Only one of the three was rational and wanted to talk to us away from the public eye. But he then went and got into their car. The members refused to come to the police during the investigation and said that I had insulted them. I did no such thing; I simply told them over and over: ‘I swear to God that I am this man’s wife.’”
The woman said that after hearing what had happened, her brothers went to the commission branch in Al-Jurf, furious and telling the commission members to stay away from their sister.
She said a commission member then hit one of her brothers and broke his nose.
“My brother became unconscious and an ambulance came and took him to the hospital,” she said.
Then, in anger another brother erroneously went to the wrong commission center to retaliate against the attack on his brother. He was then arrested.
But the police reportedly released the two brothers after confirming their identities. The woman claims that the local police view this particular branch of the commission as problematic.
Maj. Muhsin Al-Radadi, a spokesman for the Madinah police, said that the only reports they received about this incident were about the brother who went to the incorrect commission center.
“The commission members (at Al-Azizia commission branch) were attacked in their offices by a young man,” he said, adding that he wouldn’t comment on hearsay regarding the other events.
“We were not doing anything that was remotely immoral or inappropriate,” said the woman. “Even my eyes were covered. The members shamed us in the area where we live and my husband and I cannot now go out of the house.”
She says that the incident has instilled fear in her about venturing out of the house.
“I will not go to a public place or anywhere in a car unless a lot of my family is with me,” she said.
“Illusions Driving Market Havok”
A fascinating article in today’s BBC News sheds light on our cascading stock markets. . . it isn’t rational, but it is explainable:
‘Illusions driving market havoc’
City traders may be seeing patterns that ‘aren’t really there’
The mind naturally creates illusions and superstitions at times of stress – and this could be adding to the global financial crisis, say scientists.
US researchers say feeling “out of control” makes us more likely to misinterpret information as we search for signs of order.
The study in the journal Science found investment decisions of volunteers were adversely affected by these feelings.
Simple psychological techniques might improve their performance, they said.
The researchers, from the University of Texas and Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, believe that humans cope with feeling out of control by trying to impose order subconsciously – even in situations where there is none.
At a simple level, they demonstrated the principle by asking volunteers to look for images embedded in “snowy pictures”.
Those whose feelings of control had earlier been undermined were more likely to claim to have seen an image, even where none existed.
However, the researchers believe that other kinds of illusion, from conspiracy theories to superstitions, stem from the same basic subconscious problem, and that it may be contributing to the current havoc on the world’s financial markets.
Read the entire article Here.
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