| Submit your comments on this article |
| Arabia |
| Wahhabism hits Kuwait |
| 2004-11-11 |
| At a Kuwaiti hotel Sheikh Ali Abu al-Hassan holds an audience spellbound with his talk about "the pleasures of heaven", a paradise where true Muslims will enjoy virgins, eternal bliss and bounty. Down the road at Kuwait's university, women and men are brought down to earth with the reality of life in the oil rich emirate. They are segregated to prevent them from "sin". Islamist protests in Kuwait have forced the government to ban pop concerts, while at hospitals devout women surgeons are refusing to operate on men saying it is religiously forbidden for them to see their genitals. In the past, men and women mingled and dated in Kuwait. The country had mixed beach clubs for nationals. No longer. Most now have separate swimming days for women and men. Like other Gulf states, Kuwait is witnessing a rising tide of fanatical Islam. More and more women wear the veil and more men grow beards to display their religious fervour. Islamist extremism indoctrinated by the Sunni Salafi and Wahhabi movements is spreading from Saudi Arabia to neighbouring Kuwait, influencing its youth and affecting all aspects of life. Many Kuwaitis, like other Arabs, denounce the United States and its allies for backing "corrupt" rulers and what they see as Washington's war against Islam and plans to control their region's oil wealth. "Kuwait was a relaxed place 30 years ago. If people choose to be more Islamist you can hardly stop them from doing that," said a Western diplomat with long experience of the country. "There is a significant number of people who believe in the (Muslim) fundamentalist approach. There is also a significant number of people who hate the Americans and Europeans," he said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #8 There must be an exchange program. Use up the virgins and turn them in for a new 72. Then again I don't think the Koran actually says what you can do with the 72 virgins so it could be that all your allowed to do is look in which case maybe heaven is really hell which is where all these low-lives are going. |
| Posted by: BillH 2004-11-11 9:53:46 PM |
| #7 a paradise where true Muslims will enjoy virgins, eternal bliss and bounty. A narrow, shortsighted vision. I want a woman who'll ride me like that mechanical bull in Urban Cowboy. What idiots! |
| Posted by: Raj 2004-11-11 7:01:38 PM |
| #6 How long would 72 virgins last? Two weeks? Then what, you do a suicide bombing in paradise, so you can get back to the Gaza Strip? |
| Posted by: Onionman 2004-11-11 4:45:26 PM |
| #5 They'll know it's in town for sure when the front of the Kuwati Hilton is lying in the street... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2004-11-11 4:42:03 PM |
| #4 I'd advise them not to dink around with the Bounty, I'm kinda ready to kick ass, I've got 12 Marines on this trip. |
| Posted by: W Bligh 2004-11-11 3:47:48 PM |
| #3 A tragedy indeed. "Dancing is banned, concerts are banned, we’re heading to dark times. Anything pleasurable is deemed un-Islamic and immoral," said Leila Othman, a liberal Kuwaiti writer. I think it's really more of a "time share" program: "At a Kuwaiti hotel Sheikh Ali Abu al-Hassan holds an audience spellbound with his talk about "the pleasures of heaven", a paradise where true Muslims will enjoy virgins, eternal bliss and bounty." (question here: after 72 "bangs" the devotee is left WITHOUT any virgins, which in their minds is second rate--what, oh what, will they do? Eternity is a long time. And still no word on whether the "virgins" are beautiful or ugly or fat or have warts or halitosis, or even if they're human or female, for that matter--and WHERE'D they all come from again? And what happens to the women--do they get 72 male virgins? Doubtful.) The mullahs strategy is to "lasso" basic human drives and desires, and "promise the moon" (or in this case, a very long orgy in the sky) to those who choose to fit themselves into the mullah's political schemas and aims. I'll say one thing for them. It's a workable tactic which falsely increases a sense of self-esteem of people who are in bad need of a boost that direction. Of course, the Communists and Socialists have always done the same type of thing to achieve their ends (the "goody" bag). The Nazis did the same thing. John Kerry was doing it during the campaign. Nothing new here. "I am sad. We lived golden days in Kuwait in the past. The Kuwait I lived in is not the one I can identify with now." Othman, most of whose books are banned because of their progresssive ideas, has her own experience of the Islamic transformation. "I have a daughter who is veiled, she belongs to the salafis. My son is a religious extremist. This pains me because at home we didn’t have this zealousness. It was the school and university. These were the dens of indoctrination. Our children regressed," she said. "Regressed," did they? Interestingly enough, the same thing happens to students in far too many US schools and universities--except in the opposite direction--i.e., through "liberalism." But wait just a minute: most of the "liberal" faulty at our schools and universities support Kerry, recognize Arafat, and sympathize with the terrorist "insurgents." In a roundabout way, the liberals here actually SUPPORT Isamic extremism there (think Michael Moore). In other words, post-modern Western liberals and Wahabbi Islamics are, (in a manner of speaking), the strangest of bedfellows. Political/cultural decontructionism, with a totalitarian bent , is what the two groups have in common. Control of sexuality--whether through hedonism or repression, is the other thing they have in common. Sexuality is at the foundation of individuality, and individuality stands in the way of conformity. Conformity--in terms of sociopolitical homogeneity--is absolutely necessary in order to exert political control. One direction of sexual manipulation and control works for one group of totalitarians, and the opposite works for the other. But both "styles" rob the individual of personal power, and rob the society of true morality, which is the foundation of freedom. Too weird. |
| Posted by: ex-lib 2004-11-11 3:11:37 PM |
| #2 Article: "The constricting religious atmosphere is generating frustration and leading the young to live two kind of lives -- an underground hedonistic one or another obsessively religious life," Othman said. "All the Arab world is looking for salvation from the grip of these religious tentacles that have spread everywhere. This is a catastrophe. How many years would it take us to break free of this? It is a tragedy," she added. Typical regime protection strategy - suppress the secularists (who might demand power) and encourage the religious terrorists (who only want government funding). The problem is that the religious terrorists have now figured out that they can have it all by taking over the government. When will the Kuwaiti monarch wake up to this reality and start slaughtering the clerics? |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-11-11 2:26:01 PM |
| #1 Okay, I've figured out the virgins thing. If they don't have experience, they don't know how bad you are in bed. Got it. Oh, and the fervor thing. It's overrated, trust me on this. Unless it's our Marines -- OOORAH! |
| Posted by: cynical old lady 2004-11-11 12:02:45 PM |