p6 di Layout 1 - Kuwait Timesnews.kuwaittimes.net/pdf/2015/feb/25/p06.pdf · and there is no...
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From the Arabic press WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2015 D enis Diderot once said: “The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has killed a great many philosophers. And do not talk to me too much about religion - let me see it in your behavior and interaction!” Muslims, and Arabs in particular, believe they are “religiously” better that others, and that they are cor- rect and the rest are astray. And such a feeling may be within the thinking and belief of followers of other reli- gions, even if less violent. We may accept this logic if Muslims agree on one opinion, but reality is different, because each side opposes the other, so there is no possibility to believe that all are right. If we look at the Salafist ideology, which its followers think is more adherent to religion, and their method is the most cor- rect, we will find its weaknesses surfacing as soon as it faces the complexities and means of the era, which includes a large number of challenges that cannot be confronted and overcome by an ideology that does not have anything other than texts. There is no example here with good intentions, because there is no advantage for one over the other, except for how much goodness he gives to humanity. So, we find the “infidel West” is the only one who gave, and is still giving humanity, the best for 250 years, and it is very difficult for us to believe that our “group” is better than others, while they are the ones who not only were satisfied with not giving any benefit to humanity since the start of their existence, rather they caused much of the killing and destruction in tens of countries and most often in the name of religion. So all those who believe that they, their race or peo- ple, for one reason or another, are better than others, as Hitler imagined, are either delusional or mad, and this thinking is evidence of the inability to deal humanly with others. Also, the best people are the most beneficial and not necessarily the most religious. And because the Salafist ideologies are multiple and varied, then it is for sure that those differences will turn into severe disputes between them, because each side believes it is the legitimate representative of the nation’s faith. The Salafist person, no matter who he is, does not argue with others because he believes he is better than others, even if the other is more knowl- edgeable than him. It is regretful that the rejection of the other ideolo- gies or openness to it basically goes back to fear from everything new, because they consider everything new as ‘bidaa’ (heresy), so those people do not believe in democracy, no matter what they say contrary to this, because the “other” either accepts their ideology or bears the result of rejection, and each violation should be met with either repentance or severing of the head, and there is no solution in between. Repercussions of unilateral thinking Al-Qabas By Ahmad Al-Sarraf THE RAILWAY A l-Qabas published on Feb 18 a news item on its front page, reporting that the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs terminated the services of 71 preachers out of 200 abroad, which it signed with them to make dawah in their countries, and the rea- son for the termination was these preachers’ associa- tion with extremist Islamist factions and other suspi- cious ones, in addition to violations in appointing some of them, as many of them do not have a certifi- cate, while some of them were working as keepers in their countries. First, we thank the Minister of Awqaf for taking practical steps to terminate their contracts, and here we want to ask the minister: Are there among Kuwait’s external goals to preach abroad? Is it among Kuwait’s duties to spread Islam in the entire world? We are a civil country, and our regime is the democracy and constitution, and if we want to spread Islam abroad, then why use people whose religious affiliation we do not know, and whether they belong to political Islam parties and movements? Why the ministry did not use Kuwaiti preachers from the many graduates from the university and sharia college, and this is an opportunity for Kuwaiti preachers to spread what they learnt to students of other countries. The problem of Kuwait’s preachers is that they are politi- cized - Salafist, Brotherhood, Wahhabist and others. The other problem is that these preachers do not know foreign languages well, be it English, French, Spanish or Portuguese. Islam historically was not spread in Asia, Africa and South America by preachers only - rather it was spread by merchants by their good dealing with others, which made them like Islam and became Muslims peacefully. The new preachers with whom the Awqaf Ministry signed contracts, nobody knows their reli- gious background. Is the Islam they want to spread in their countries the Islam of the Kuwaiti people and rulers who are known to be moderate, centrist and forgiving in dealing with others, and most importantly not injecting religion in political affairs? The new preachers have adverse stands against Kuwait, as the foreign ministry complained, although they receive their salaries from the ministry. We do not know their political affiliations. The Awqaf Ministry said they belong to Europe and East Asian countries, in addition to Brazil and Argentina. Who can guaran- tee us that they do not belong to political Islam groups like Salafists, jihadists and others. Did anyone in the ministry ask what will be the stand of Kuwait if these preachers or their students commit a terrorist attack in their countries? It is for sure that Kuwait will be blamed for financing them, so we appeal to the Awqaf Minister to stop this program, because the international campaign against terrorism has no mercy. Maybe Kuwait will be, along with the Awqaf Ministry, listed for financing preachers all over the globe. Pay attention to our children and youth inside Kuwait so that they are not swept by political Islam factions. Not a dawah state Al-Watan Dr Shamlan Al-Essa S hortly after midnight every day, many orange garbage collection trucks traverse various areas, making enough noise from their engines and from the sound of unloading garbage dumpsters to make us know they have come. They are in fact, indispensable unwelcomed guests each and every night. These trucks remind me of a story with a great moral lesson in it about the manners Islam urges us to follow and the great human val- ues it includes. The narrator says that he was once heading to the airport in a taxi and that the taxi driver was fol- lowing traffic rules, going at legal speed in the right lane, when all of a sudden, a driver who had parked by the roadside pulled into the lane right in front of the taxi. “This made the taxi driver strongly hit the brakes to avoid colliding into his car,” said the narrator, noting that the funny thing was that the other driver glared at the taxi and started shouting and cursing, while the taxi driver’s reac- tion was the exact opposite. “The taxi driver swallowed his anger, smiled at the other driver and apologized,” said the passen- ger, expressing amazement at such a reaction. “How come that he is wrong and almost caused a terrible accident and you still apologize to him?” the passenger asked the taxi driver, who gave him an unforgettable lesson by saying: “Many people are like garbage trucks - they are loaded with all kinds of problems, anger and depression that accu- mulate within their souls, and sometimes they need to let out steam and unload this garbage any- where and for the slightest reasons. So do not make yourself a dumpster where these garbage trucks unload!” Our minds do lead us, hearts are merciful and souls cannot be tamed unless by smart minds and passionate hearts, Smiles, tolerance and good words are thus the best way to bring whoever wishes to unleash his inner conflicts on others back to sanity and stop them from throwing verbal ‘garbage’ at them. Successful people never allow ‘garbage trucks’ to take much of their time because life is too short to waste on feeling sorry for things we do during moments of anger. Therefore, be thankful to those who treat you gently and nicely and forget about those who do you wrong and always remember that 10 percent of life is affected by what you do and 90 percent of it is subject to how you accept others around you. So thanks to the garbage truck we hear every night for teaching us how to get rid of the garbage deep within hearts and souls away from people! Garbage trucks Al-Anbaa By Dr Mutlaq Al-Qarawi Crime R e p o r t KUWAIT: A Bangladeshi national reported that a lady driv- ing a car asked him for KD 20 change. When he handed the change, the lady unexpectedly drove away. The Bangladeshi victim who works as a delivery driver said he hung onto the lady’s car but she refused to stop and dragged him for 20 meters before he fell on the road. Police are investigating. Taxi driver forced to sign An Egyptian expat, who works as a taxi driver, com- plained that he was forced to sign a promissory note under threat. The man said that he headed to a house after a woman called to ask for a ride from Bayan to Firdous. The taxi driver alleged that in Firdous, he was asked to enter a house, and then forced by a number of people to sign a paper under threat. An investigation has been opened. Delivery man tricked Homicide probe in man’s death A young man was brought to Jahra Hospital, suffering from three bullet wounds. A homicide case was regis- tered at north Jahra police station after doctors failed to save his life. The man was pronounced dead, and the body was recovered by the coroner. The deceased is a bedoon (stateless) who was facing financial problems and having disputes with his Kuwaiti brothers, sources said. They added that the victim’s brother who rushed him to the hospital said that the victim asked his broth- ers to forgive him before shooting himself in a Mutlaa camp. Investigations are ongoing. Intruder at dawn caught A citizen reported that he caught a person entering his Filipina maid’s room when he was at his balcony at dawn. The citizen said he rushed to the room to find who the intruder was. The Filipina woman was questioned after the intruder ran away. The maid confessed that she allowed her friend to enter, and that she knew him from an earlier job. - Al-Anbaa Al-Jarida News i n b r i e f Manpower office at MGRP to issue work permits KUWAIT: The Manpower and Government Restructuring Program (MGRP) Secretary General Fauzi Al-Majdali denied rumors about suspending the MGRP subsidies. He also explained that the suspension only includes those who had just registered with MGRP or those who shifted between companies and that their addresses and contacts were not yet available. Further, Majdali stressed that according to the national labor support act and the cabi- net resolution number 1028/2014, all private sector com- panies would not get any government tenders or projects unless they hired the percentage of employees set by the act. Accordingly, Majadali urged all citizens working to apply to the social security authority and those who have not registered with MGRP to get a work permit as stipulat- ed by the law. ‘In order to facilitate this and make it easier on citizens, MGRP has opened a special office to issue the work permits at its headquarters,” added Majali. —Al-Jarida Citizen sentenced in maid’s murder KUWAIT: The Criminal Court recently sentenced a citizen to 10 years in prison with labor for beating an Asian maid to death in South Surra, said security sources. They noted that the case papers indicated that the alleged suspect and his wife had repeatedly beaten up the maid for being ‘lazy,’ leading to her death. The couple later took the body and dumped it in an open yard before the husband reported the maid missing. — Al-Watan Ministry to recruit teachers from Egypt KUWAIT: Following a two-year halt, the Ministry of Education (MoE) announced re-opening the door for for- eign recruitment of teachers from Egypt for the next school year 2015-2016. MoE Undersecretary Mariam Al- Wetaid sent a letter to her counterpart in the Foreign Ministry, noting that MoE needs to publish advertisements about its need for new teachers in Egyptian papers. Notably, MoE’s Assistant Undersecretary for Public Education, Dr Khalid Al-Rasheed had contacted Wetaid in this regard noting that the ministry needs new teachers for specific subjects from Egypt and Jordan in addition to Syrians living in both countries. —Al-Jarida Kuwaiti citizenship worth KD 9.6 million KUWAIT: The World Health Organization has estimated the life expectancy of Kuwaitis to be 79 years, and the total average of what the state spends on the citizen during this lifetime in government salaries, edu- cation, subsidies and health amounts to KD 948,000, and 70 percent of those expenses are concentrated dur- ing the government employment period. If what the state spends on the citizen during his life is invested with a return of 5 percent annually, the total amount at his death will be KD 9.6 million, which is equal to investing KD 204,000 at 5 percent return for 79 years, and this represents the value of Kuwaiti nationality at birth. The following was assumed: • Consumption by citizens of 50 percent of subsidies estimated of KD 5.11 billion for 2015, which is KD 2,000 per year per individual, although citi- zens make up only 31 percent of the population. • 5 percent profits were on state reserves as well as a yearly discount percentage. • A student’s yearly cost is KD 4,937, according to official statements. • Healthcare costs KD 285 per year for each citizen according to official statements. • It was assumed that there is a government job for all citizens, for simplicity. • The average monthly govern- ment salary starts from KD 1,200 from the age of 23 and ends at KD 2,500 at the age of 55, including the costs of insurance on the government. • Gradual retirement for women from the age of 45 and men at 55, and pensions are financed from the social securities portfolio and not from the state. • A child costs the state KD 50 per month until he reaches employment age. — Al-Qabas
Transcript of p6 di Layout 1 - Kuwait Timesnews.kuwaittimes.net/pdf/2015/feb/25/p06.pdf · and there is no...
F r o m t he A r a bic pr e s sWEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2015
Denis Diderot once said: “The philosopher hasnever killed any priests, whereas the priest haskilled a great many philosophers. And do not
talk to me too much about religion - let me see it inyour behavior and interaction!”
Muslims, and Arabs in particular, believe they are“religiously” better that others, and that they are cor-rect and the rest are astray. And such a feeling may bewithin the thinking and belief of followers of other reli-gions, even if less violent. We may accept this logic ifMuslims agree on one opinion, but reality is different,because each side opposes the other, so there is nopossibility to believe that all are right. If we look at theSalafist ideology, which its followers think is moreadherent to religion, and their method is the most cor-rect, we will find its weaknesses surfacing as soon as itfaces the complexities and means of the era, whichincludes a large number of challenges that cannot beconfronted and overcome by an ideology that doesnot have anything other than texts.
There is no example here with good intentions,because there is no advantage for one over the other,except for how much goodness he gives to humanity.So, we find the “infidel West” is the only one who gave,and is still giving humanity, the best for 250 years, andit is very difficult for us to believe that our “group” isbetter than others, while they are the ones who not
only were satisfied with not giving any benefit tohumanity since the start of their existence, rather theycaused much of the killing and destruction in tens ofcountries and most often in the name of religion.
So all those who believe that they, their race or peo-ple, for one reason or another, are better than others,as Hitler imagined, are either delusional or mad, andthis thinking is evidence of the inability to dealhumanly with others. Also, the best people are themost beneficial and not necessarily the most religious.
And because the Salafist ideologies are multipleand varied, then it is for sure that those differences willturn into severe disputes between them, because eachside believes it is the legitimate representative of thenation’s faith. The Salafist person, no matter who he is,does not argue with others because he believes he isbetter than others, even if the other is more knowl-edgeable than him.
It is regretful that the rejection of the other ideolo-gies or openness to it basically goes back to fear fromeverything new, because they consider everythingnew as ‘bidaa’ (heresy), so those people do not believein democracy, no matter what they say contrary to this,because the “other” either accepts their ideology orbears the result of rejection, and each violation shouldbe met with either repentance or severing of the head,and there is no solution in between.
Repercussions of unilateral thinkingAl-Qabas
By Ahmad Al-Sarraf
THE RAILWAY
Al-Qabas published on Feb 18 a news item on itsfront page, reporting that the Ministry of Awqafand Islamic Affairs terminated the services of
71 preachers out of 200 abroad, which it signed withthem to make dawah in their countries, and the rea-son for the termination was these preachers’ associa-tion with extremist Islamist factions and other suspi-cious ones, in addition to violations in appointingsome of them, as many of them do not have a certifi-cate, while some of them were working as keepers intheir countries.
First, we thank the Minister of Awqaf for takingpractical steps to terminate their contracts, and herewe want to ask the minister: Are there among Kuwait’sexternal goals to preach abroad? Is it among Kuwait’sduties to spread Islam in the entire world?
We are a civil country, and our regime is thedemocracy and constitution, and if we want to spreadIslam abroad, then why use people whose religiousaffiliation we do not know, and whether they belongto political Islam parties and movements? Why theministry did not use Kuwaiti preachers from the manygraduates from the university and sharia college, andthis is an opportunity for Kuwaiti preachers to spreadwhat they learnt to students of other countries. Theproblem of Kuwait’s preachers is that they are politi-cized - Salafist, Brotherhood, Wahhabist and others.The other problem is that these preachers do notknow foreign languages well, be it English, French,Spanish or Portuguese.
Islam historically was not spread in Asia, Africa andSouth America by preachers only - rather it was spreadby merchants by their good dealing with others,which made them like Islam and became Muslimspeacefully. The new preachers with whom the AwqafMinistry signed contracts, nobody knows their reli-gious background. Is the Islam they want to spread intheir countries the Islam of the Kuwaiti people andrulers who are known to be moderate, centrist andforgiving in dealing with others, and most importantlynot injecting religion in political affairs?
The new preachers have adverse stands againstKuwait, as the foreign ministry complained, althoughthey receive their salaries from the ministry. We do notknow their political affiliations. The Awqaf Ministrysaid they belong to Europe and East Asian countries,in addition to Brazil and Argentina. Who can guaran-tee us that they do not belong to political Islamgroups like Salafists, jihadists and others.
Did anyone in the ministry ask what will be thestand of Kuwait if these preachers or their studentscommit a terrorist attack in their countries? It is forsure that Kuwait will be blamed for financing them, sowe appeal to the Awqaf Minister to stop this program,because the international campaign against terrorismhas no mercy. Maybe Kuwait will be, along with theAwqaf Ministry, listed for financing preachers all overthe globe. Pay attention to our children and youthinside Kuwait so that they are not swept by politicalIslam factions.
Not a dawah state
Al-Watan
Dr Shamlan Al-Essa
Shortly after midnight every day, many orangegarbage collection trucks traverse variousareas, making enough noise from their
engines and from the sound of unloading garbagedumpsters to make us know they have come. Theyare in fact, indispensable unwelcomed guests eachand every night. These trucks remind me of a storywith a great moral lesson in it about the mannersIslam urges us to follow and the great human val-ues it includes.
The narrator says that he was once heading tothe airport in a taxi and that the taxi driver was fol-lowing traffic rules, going at legal speed in theright lane, when all of a sudden, a driver who hadparked by the roadside pulled into the lane right infront of the taxi. “This made the taxi driver stronglyhit the brakes to avoid colliding into his car,” saidthe narrator, noting that the funny thing was thatthe other driver glared at the taxi and startedshouting and cursing, while the taxi driver’s reac-tion was the exact opposite.
“The taxi driver swallowed his anger, smiled atthe other driver and apologized,” said the passen-ger, expressing amazement at such a reaction.“How come that he is wrong and almost caused aterrible accident and you still apologize to him?”the passenger asked the taxi driver, who gave himan unforgettable lesson by saying: “Many peopleare like garbage trucks - they are loaded with allkinds of problems, anger and depression that accu-mulate within their souls, and sometimes theyneed to let out steam and unload this garbage any-where and for the slightest reasons. So do notmake yourself a dumpster where these garbagetrucks unload!”
Our minds do lead us, hearts are merciful andsouls cannot be tamed unless by smart minds andpassionate hearts, Smiles, tolerance and goodwords are thus the best way to bring whoeverwishes to unleash his inner conflicts on others backto sanity and stop them from throwing verbal‘garbage’ at them.
Successful people never allow ‘garbage trucks’ totake much of their time because life is too short towaste on feeling sorry for things we do duringmoments of anger. Therefore, be thankful to thosewho treat you gently and nicely and forget aboutthose who do you wrong and always rememberthat 10 percent of life is affected by what you doand 90 percent of it is subject to how you acceptothers around you. So thanks to the garbage truckwe hear every night for teaching us how to get ridof the garbage deep within hearts and souls awayfrom people!
Garbage trucks
Al-Anbaa
By Dr Mutlaq Al-Qarawi
CrimeR e p o r t
KUWAIT: A Bangladeshi national reported that a lady driv-ing a car asked him for KD 20 change. When he handed thechange, the lady unexpectedly drove away. TheBangladeshi victim who works as a delivery driver said hehung onto the lady’s car but she refused to stop anddragged him for 20 meters before he fell on the road.Police are investigating.
Taxi driver forced to signAn Egyptian expat, who works as a taxi driver, com-
plained that he was forced to sign a promissory note underthreat. The man said that he headed to a house after awoman called to ask for a ride from Bayan to Firdous. Thetaxi driver alleged that in Firdous, he was asked to enter ahouse, and then forced by a number of people to sign apaper under threat. An investigation has been opened.
Delivery mantricked
Homicide probe in man’s deathA young man was brought to Jahra Hospital, suffering
from three bullet wounds. A homicide case was regis-tered at north Jahra police station after doctors failed tosave his life. The man was pronounced dead, and thebody was recovered by the coroner. The deceased is abedoon (stateless) who was facing financial problemsand having disputes with his Kuwaiti brothers, sourcessaid. They added that the victim’s brother who rushedhim to the hospital said that the victim asked his broth-ers to forgive him before shooting himself in a Mutlaacamp. Investigations are ongoing.
Intruder at dawn caughtA citizen reported that he caught a person entering
his Filipina maid’s room when he was at his balcony atdawn. The citizen said he rushed to the room to find whothe intruder was. The Filipina woman was questionedafter the intruder ran away. The maid confessed that sheallowed her friend to enter, and that she knew him froman earlier job. - Al-Anbaa
Al-Jarida
Newsi n b r i e f
Manpower office at MGRPto issue work permits
KUWAIT: The Manpower and Government RestructuringProgram (MGRP) Secretary General Fauzi Al-Majdali deniedrumors about suspending the MGRP subsidies. He alsoexplained that the suspension only includes those whohad just registered with MGRP or those who shiftedbetween companies and that their addresses and contactswere not yet available. Further, Majdali stressed thataccording to the national labor support act and the cabi-net resolution number 1028/2014, all private sector com-panies would not get any government tenders or projectsunless they hired the percentage of employees set by theact. Accordingly, Majadali urged all citizens working toapply to the social security authority and those who havenot registered with MGRP to get a work permit as stipulat-ed by the law. ‘In order to facilitate this and make it easieron citizens, MGRP has opened a special office to issue thework permits at its headquarters,” added Majali. —Al-Jarida
Citizen sentenced inmaid’s murder
KUWAIT: The Criminal Court recently sentenced a citizento 10 years in prison with labor for beating an Asian maidto death in South Surra, said security sources. They notedthat the case papers indicated that the alleged suspect andhis wife had repeatedly beaten up the maid for being ‘lazy,’leading to her death. The couple later took the body anddumped it in an open yard before the husband reportedthe maid missing. — Al-Watan
Ministry to recruitteachers from Egypt
KUWAIT: Following a two-year halt, the Ministry ofEducation (MoE) announced re-opening the door for for-eign recruitment of teachers from Egypt for the nextschool year 2015-2016. MoE Undersecretary Mariam Al-Wetaid sent a letter to her counterpart in the ForeignMinistry, noting that MoE needs to publish advertisementsabout its need for new teachers in Egyptian papers.Notably, MoE’s Assistant Undersecretary for PublicEducation, Dr Khalid Al-Rasheed had contacted Wetaid inthis regard noting that the ministry needs new teachers forspecific subjects from Egypt and Jordan in addition toSyrians living in both countries. —Al-Jarida
Kuwaiti citizenship worth KD 9.6 millionKUWAIT: The World HealthOrganization has estimated the lifeexpectancy of Kuwaitis to be 79 years,and the total average of what thestate spends on the citizen during thislifetime in government salaries, edu-cation, subsidies and health amountsto KD 948,000, and 70 percent ofthose expenses are concentrated dur-ing the government employmentperiod. If what the state spends onthe citizen during his life is investedwith a return of 5 percent annually,the total amount at his death will beKD 9.6 million, which is equal toinvesting KD 204,000 at 5 percentreturn for 79 years, and this represents
the value of Kuwaiti nationality atbirth.
The following was assumed:• Consumption by citizens of 50
percent of subsidies estimated of KD5.11 billion for 2015, which is KD 2,000per year per individual, although citi-zens make up only 31 percent of thepopulation.
• 5 percent profits were on statereserves as well as a yearly discountpercentage.
• A student ’s yearly cost is KD4,937, according to official statements.
• Healthcare costs KD 285 per yearfor each citizen according to official
statements.• It was assumed that there is a
government job for all citizens, forsimplicity.
• The average monthly govern-ment salary starts from KD 1,200 fromthe age of 23 and ends at KD 2,500 atthe age of 55, including the costs ofinsurance on the government.
• Gradual retirement for womenfrom the age of 45 and men at 55, andpensions are financed from the socialsecurities portfolio and not from thestate.
• A child costs the state KD 50 permonth until he reaches employmentage. — Al-Qabas
