Perspectives on Kuwait

A Pictorial Essay

Geoff Dougherty

Professor of Physics

California State University – Channel Islands

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Quick lesson in Arabic

Kuwait and its neighbors

Kuwait

Kuwait City

1991: Relief of liberation

1992: damage apparent

Abandoned Iraqi tank

The people1. The Bedu

2. The Hathar

Hospitality – coffee and tea

The Souk

The Friday Souk

The Fish Souk

Women

• Qur'an 2:228And it is for the women to act as they (the husbands) act by them, in all fairness; but the men are a step above them.

• Qur'an 4:34Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women). So good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded. As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them. Then if they obey you, seek not a way against them. Lo! Allah is ever High, Exalted, Great.

National and Liberation days …

Modern shopping malls …

Cars …

Car wrecks

Architectural styles

New houses…..

Us …

Eating ……

Mosques

www.memritv.org

Darker side …..

Persecution of Ex-Muslims

• Islam is the only religion in the World which does not give freedom to its followers to change their faith. According to Shariah Laws, Muslims who leave Islam must be sentenced to death.

• But if they turn renegades, seize them and slay them wherever ye find them (Quran 4:89)

• ….for the Prophet said, If somebody (a Muslim) discards his religion, kill him . (Hadith – alBukhari 4:52:260))

• …according to the statement of Allah's Apostle, 'Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.' (Hadith –AlBukhari 9:84:57)

Kuwait: Persecuted Convert Flees to America

• October 7, 1996

• After six months in the limelight of unprecedented international advocacy, Hussein Qambar Ali, a Muslim convert to Christianity, fled his native Kuwait in mid-August to an undisclosed location in the United States.

• Christian Solidarity International (CSI), an interdenominational human-rights group that helps persecuted Christians, flew the 44-year-old former Muslim out of Kuwait.

• Hussein, who has changed his first name to Robert, was ruled an apostate by an Islamic court on May 29. Under Islamic law, any Muslim who deserts Islam is forcibly divorced, divested of parental and inheritance rights, and subject to execution if unrepentant.

• Although abuse was prevalent before the Iraqi occupation,25 the treatment of Asian maids took a turn for the worse following liberation,26 a trend now acknowledged by Kuwaiti officials.27 Every year since liberation, over 2,000 Asian maids have sought shelter in their embassies. Most who fled their employers complained of rape, physical abuse, mistreatment or non-payment of wages, according to information we obtained from foreign embassies in Kuwait, Kuwaiti government officials, journalists, U.S. State Department officials and others.

• In April 1995 over 200 maids were sheltered at the Philippines embassy, 150 at the Sri Lankan embassy and smaller numbers at other embassies. Without offering alternative shelters, the Kuwaiti government repeatedly asked embassies not to offer refuge to runaway maids.

• Prompted by reports of abuse in Kuwait, the Philippines government banned Filipinas from going to work in Kuwait as maids. Nonetheless, many Filipinas still travel to Kuwait to work as housemaids, although some are lured by false promises of other kinds of jobs.

The ruling family – the Al Sabahs

The ruling family – the Al Sabahs (up to 2006)

Kuwait University – Shuwaikh campus

Students and faculty

KuwaitCountry Reports on Human Rights Practices  - 2005

Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and LaborMarch 8, 2006

The government improved its human rights record by granting women the right to vote; however, serious problems remained. The following human rights problems were reported:

• no right to change the government • abuse of and alleged torture of detainees • official impunity • poor prison conditions in certain facilities • restricted civil liberties--freedoms of speech, press, assembly and association • limited freedom of religion and of movement • corruption • violence and discrimination against women, especially noncitizens • abuse of noncitizen domestic workers • unresolved legal status of bidoon Arabs • restricted worker rights

Summary

• Most Kuwaitis do not support Islamic fundamentalists …. but there is little tolerance for other religions …

• Kuwaiti women struggle to assume a greater role outside the home …

• There is an underclass of exploited foreign labor ...