‘Better Kuwait, Iraq ties ahead’

‘Iran hasn’t overcome war memories’

“IF WE concede that the outcome of the Iraq-Iran war has played a major role in forming Saddam’s vision, it is needless to say the experiment of this war still constitutes the most significant aspect in defining the Iranian political and military strategy,” columnist Dr Hamed AlHumoud wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“In this connection, we elucidate that the Iraq-Iran war had enabled Imam Khomeini to contain all his opponents among the politicians and the clerics, and managed to consecrate all the economic potentials and human resources of the country to meet the requirements of the war.

“In other words, this consecration actually justified the marketing of Khomeini revolutionary vision inside and outside Iran. On the other hand, the experiment of the Iraq-Iran had resulted in fostering the Iranian military abilities, and this in turn, was behind the extension of the influence of the Iranian current in Syria, Lebanon and Yemen which resulted in the isolation of Iran during the war and this was behind the reason why Iran got involved in the missile program and the ‘nuclear bomb’.

“The above was said by the Iranian Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif who said ‘when Germany, Russia and France, were involved in providing Iraq with the poison gases, tanks and warplanes respectively during the Iraq-Iran war, Iran had found no party to sell it either warplane, tank or even gun’.

“In this connection, we would like to point out here that Zarif’s statement was inaccurate, because reality shows during the Iraq-Iran war, China, North Korea, Syria and Libya provided weapons to Iran.

“And if we are in a position to pay just a short visit to the minds of the Iranian leaders, we will be surprised to see that the Iraq-Iran war is still playing on the minds of these leaders and it appears that the downfall of Saddam Hussein was not enough for them.

“In this context, we cite the statement which was earlier issued by the Iranian minister of defense Hussein Dahqan who said ‘Iraq entirely must be part and parcel of the Persian Empire, but this part had been returned to this empire in 2003’.

“Dahqan according to al-ahwaz.org website said ‘The Arabs from Mosul up to the borders of Basra, should leave for their arid desert from which they have come’. He further threatened saying ‘the troops of the Popular Mobilization (pro Iran Iraqi militia) will silent any voice that may tilt to let Iraq return to its Arab fold, because Iraq has returned to its natural Persian periphery’.

“In light of the above, we conclude that Hussein Dahqan still lives in the atmosphere of the Iraq-Iran war, particularly since we know that he had participated in this war and lost many of his friends and this means that he is still captive of his desire for revenge.

“In this connection, we say the bitterness of both the Iraqi party and Iranian against each other has reached its peak and the two parties had detained the prisoners of war of each other for more than ten years as of the end of the war.

“In this context, we would like to cite the story of the Lebanese journalist Omar Shalabi who was born in Beqa’a Valley of Lebanon in 1944 where he was a media companion for the Iraqi troops, but when he was captured by the Iranian troops in 1982, he was released only in 2000.

“This happened although Omar Shalabi was not a fighter but had actually weaved friendship with his jailers, because while he was in the jail he had translated into Arabic four books of the Iranian poet Hafez AlShirazi.

“However, after being released for the Iranian jail, Omar Shalabi published a book under the title ‘Hafez Al-Shirazi between the Human Nature and Theology’.

“Anyway, with regard to the future of the KuwaitiIraqi relationship, there are actually some signs which show the possibility of building economic relations and clear cut and strong political mutual understandings between the two countries.

“This happened when the State of Kuwait, through the International Conference for the Reconstruction of Iraq which was held in Kuwait in Feb 2017 under the auspices of His Highness the Amir, had shown a sincere desire to assist Iraq in the area of reconstruction.

“Apart from the above, the visit that was paid by the Amir to Baghdad last June and before that the visit of the Speaker of the National Assembly Marzouq Al-Ghanim actually reflects a true desire for forming a mutual vision to achieve the necessary security and progress for the good of the two countries and the region at large, particularly since we know that this region still suffers from wars since the beginning of the Iraq-Iran war on Sept 22, 1980 and until now.”

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Dr Al-Humoud

“The implication relates to the Gulf-Iranian relationship, and the situation will persist as long as a state of no-confidence exists between the opposite banks of the Gulf,” columnist Dr Nasser Khamees Al-Mutairi wrote for Annahar daily.

“Such being the case, what is currently taking place in the Gulf waters represented by a military and security escalation as well as a threat to marine navigation and passage of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, is a natural outcome of escalating crisis that governs the relationship between the Gulf countries and Iran.

“However, in view of the mutual international interests among the states situated along the banks of the Gulf, we believe that the cost of establishing peace and cooperation between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states and Iran will be less than the cost of continued security tension between the two parties, particularly since we know that the Gulf-Iranian crises, actually represent a reflection a state of tension between Washington and Tehran.

“Consequently, we suggest that the Gulf states must deal with the current Iranian-American crisis through positive non-alignment manner for the sake of security and economic interests, provided this method does not breach the strategic coalition of the Gulf states and the United States.

“Such being the case, we believe the idea of finding a Gulf-Iranian formula of coalition can be deemed as an important strategic initiative during the current phase to protect the security and stability of the Gulf region and secure the navigational passages in the regional waters and this requires the building of necessary confidence between the GCC countries and Iran, provided the former deals with the latter as a Gulf organization that shares mutual cooperation and partners in joint destiny.”

“The Algerian activist Jamila Bouhaird, aged 84, died Thursday morning. She was one of the few fighters who faced the French colonizing forces. She had an intellectual Algerian father and a Tunisian mother. She was the only girl among her family members, as her mother had given birth to seven young men. Her mother was the biggest influence behind her love for the homeland. She was the first to instill in her the love of her homeland, and reminded her that she was Algerian, not French”, Reem Al-Mea’a wrote for Al-Rai daily.

“Despite her young age, Jameela and I joined tailoring classes, as she was interested in fashion design. She practiced classical dance and was proficient in horse riding until the Algerian revolution broke out in 1954.

“At the age of 20, she joined the Algerian National Liberation Front (FNL) to participate in the struggle against the French occupation. She then joined the ranks of Fedayeen and was the first volunteer to plant explosives. Because of her heroism, she became the No. 1 wanted person.

“In 1957, she fell after being shot in the shoulder. She was arrested and went through a cruel journey of torture. It was during this time that she uttered her famous words – “I know I will be sentenced to death but do not forget that, even if you kill the traditions of freedom in your country, you will not prevent Algeria from being independent and free”.

“After three years of imprisonment, she was deported to France and spent three years there. She then was released along with her colleagues in the struggle against the French colonizing forces.

“In 1962, Jameela visited Kuwait, and people rushed to welcome her. Within a short period of time, the Algerian activist managed to collect donations to take care of one million children of martyrs, the disabled and the owners of houses that were destroyed in the war.

“Jameela left our world silently. Nobody knew about her as people these days are preoccupied by new stars welcomed in malls where millions of followers follow them and walk behind them.Times have changed, and its stars have changed too.”

“Addressing jurisprudential issues related to Muslims in countries of immigration requires a great deal of insight and wisdom. It is not enough for a cleric or preacher to be aware of the provisions of the old scholar but he should have the ability to make jurisprudence and issue rulings that suit the new situations and problems facing modern Muslims in general particularly Muslims living in non-Muslim countries in the West or the Far East”, Abdulrahman Al-Awwad wrote for Al-Sabah daily.

“Over the past few days, there has been a controversy in Britain over the so-called “non-halal vaccination” under the name “Getty Images” administered to children in primary school to protect them from cold at the beginning of each school year. However, some Muslim families do not allow their children to receive the vaccination, describing it as “non-halal”. This has raised concerns with the health authority of England regarding the high level of flu breakouts among the Muslims who reject the vaccination.

The British newspaper “Daily Telegraph” reported that the Islamic Council of Britain issued a statement on July 29 to state that “a group of Muslim clerics believes the vaccines contain pork-derived substances that are prohibited by the Islamic laws except in cases of extreme necessity and when no other alternatives are available”.

However, the Islamic Council denied this, saying the newspaper has published false information, and that the council did not issue a fatwa in this regard because that is the jurisdiction of the Islamic clerics.

We do not want to intervene and express our viewpoint on this matter because we do not have the elements of religious jurisprudence, which of course has its own people. However, we urge Islamic scholars and jurisprudential councils in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other countries to intervene in this matter and resolve this controversy in order to protect the Muslim children, and save them from embarrassment.”

“The Grievance Committee cancelled the decision of the Central Agency for Public Tenders (CAPT) to strike off 12 companies from the list of rehabilitated companies. The decision of the committee included obligating CAPT to conduct a comprehensive re-investigation, describing the decision of CAPT as unjust and illogical,” columnist Mubarak Fahd Al-Duwailah wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“It seems someone did not like the decision of the committee so he suspended the enforcement of the decision by referring it to the Fatwa and Legislation Committee. Two months have passed but the decision is still at the Fatwa and Legislation Committee as of the time of writing this article.

“The government forwarded a draft on the amendment of the Tenders Law in order to make the decisions taken by the Grievance Committee mandatory. The draft was approved by the National Assembly, endorsed by HH the Amir and published on Kuwait Gazette. This means the law is already enforced, but CAPT remains unwilling to execute the decision.

“What is important here is that a number of companies affected by the decision filed lawsuits against CAPT demanding for compensation. Of course, no one among the public works minister, Fatwa and Legislation Department head or CAPT director will pay the money which is expected to be included in court decisions as compensation for the companies. Public fund will bear the responsibility as this money will be paid from the State treasury. This means we are in front of attempts to waste public money.

“Somebody may argue that if the companies are found innocent, then who is responsible for the crisis caused by the heavy rains? The answer to such question is found in the report of the fact-finding committee which consisted of MPs, a number of engineers from engineering offices, Kuwait Engineers Society and Kuwait University. The report called for questioning those responsible at the Ministry of Public Works and Public Authority for Housing Welfare, pointing out it is illogical that a contractor does his work wrongly and then the concerned official at the ministry receives and approves the work.”

“As we prepare for the launching of a campaign on requiring charities to declare the proportion of their deductions from Zakat and charity for expenses and salaries, which are made without the knowledge of donors – whether in banks or any proportion – amounting to 12.5 percent, sometimes doubled if the projects are at branches of societies outside Kuwait or when collaborating with external societies,” columnist Bader Khaled Al-Bahr wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“In addition, some donors do not know about the original deduction, thereby, believing that their contributions are complete. It is worth mentioning an open fatwa issued by the leading scholars of the nation, not a fatwa issued to societies.

“The fatwa states that it is not permissible for charitable societies to deduct from donations, because it is permissible only for those who are assigned by the guardian to collect Zakat.

“Some charities collect funds to carry out projects related to worshipers at specific times, such as fasting or sacrificing, but (the amounts collected are not fully used for implementation of projects and there are remaining amounts.)

“This sentence between brackets is contained in letter number 4834 of the Ministry of Social Affairs to its Awqaf counterpart on Nov 4 last year.”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb