Salmiya

Mahmoud Farshchian - The Fifth Day of Creation (1990) I was a hidden treasure, and I wished to be known, so I created the world Hadith Qudsi A blessed and joyful Eid ul-Fitr to all of you! And Thank you very much! for your nice greetings and responses, Daniyal, Adel, Maryam, Mervi, Ulvi & Ebru, Yunus & Amera, Ridwaan & Nazreen, Neda, Athbi, Asma’a & Muna, Faraj, Saad, Mdme Al-Mutawa, Abdulaziz, Ehsan, Mona, Qasem, Muawia, Shirin, Mehdi & Kami, Abbas, and Sirous. Ma’asalamah, Khodahafez, Ha det bra, Take care!

The European Space Agency (ESA) has released today a satellite image of southern Iraq taken September 14, 2008. It shows an enormous sand storm which apparently did not affect Kuwait, as I checked right now. Weather Underground (my favorite weather forecast site) had reported weather and 45 centigrades maximum temperature that very day. Still rather hot, I suppose. Kuwait had been plagued by a large number of sandstorms this year. I remember 2003 when military activity in the north of the tiny Gulf state was made responsible for numerous sandstorms which occurred from April through June. They usually develop when large amounts of cold air moves across dry ground, which is covered by loose sand or salt. They inevitably impair quality of air and may cause asthma attacks or even bronchitis and conjunctivitis. Even the immune defense might be affected.

There is an urgent need for an unbiased and more detailed analysis of the origins of this son of a blacksmith from Aradan. And, a personality profile might in fact explain his incredible rise, from humble homes to the centers of power in Tehran. Fast, determined, scary to much of the rest of the world. Paralyzing, even nullifying, the already initiated little progress under former ‘reformist’ President Seyyed Mohammad Khatami. Who is this man who has almost become a hero, even a kind of pop star, of the underdogs in Muslim societies; those (incredibly poor) who are sitting beneath the table of the rich? And those who are related in one or the other way to what has been called by George W. Bush as the axis of evil? Read the rest of this book review »

The last few days we experienced exceptionally good and stable weather here with an explosion of autumn colors at the end of the short Arctic summer. Friends had brought their car from Finland to Nord Norge. So, last weekend, we did a trip to Ullstinden and what is called Blåmannsneset (literally blue man’s nose) where we had, after a short climb to the top of the hill, magnificent views to the open Barents Sea. We had a barbecue with too many sausages and some white vine and met a German couple working in Norway also for one year. On the way back we picked plenty of blueberries and mulberries and saw plenty of other not eatable ones. No mushrooms there. I got the last sunburn for a long time to come. After tomorrow, days are getting shorter rapidly, and after November 21, sun won’t rise over the horizon for two long months to come.

I have recently mentioned these two guys in another posting mainly featuring my friends Seyed and Mirwuis from Afghanistan. All of them are dedicated and honest carpet dealers with profound knowledge, selling high quality pieces from their home country, from Iran and Central Asia. I don’t know how carpet business is right now in Kuwait for Ali and Hussain. It all depends on the Westerners, I suppose. Kuwaitis go for different pieces, I was told in the Persian Carpet Exhibition in Salmiya. I had mentioned them in relation to a photo which I have carried for some time even in my wallet. It shows both, Ali and Hussain and a little Afghan girl weaving a carpet. Hussain, the lad on the right, proudly smiles into the camera. Ali, his older brother, seems to be more quiet but very self-confident. The girl doesn’t smile. In fact, you can feel even an atmosphere of embarrassment emanating from the girl. She might not be older than, say, seven or eight. Let’s call her Fatima. The photo is a ki...

I know that I was always very privileged when living in the country. My Ramadans were usually nice times full of interesting discussions about religious matters and in general plenty of opportunities for widening my horizon. However, the easy-going times of Ramadan are now definitely over. Since last year (when I had left the Middle East for good already) the Holy Month is moving into the summer months and will be observed for about 12 years during the scorching heat. A full circle of the Gregorian-Hijra calendar is 33 years, an entire generation. Since in Muslim countries the population is very young, few people have experienced the harsh conditions of fasting during the long, extremely hot and, what makes it even worse, humid days. I have noticed that the weather conditions were very uncomfortable in Kuwait the last days. When living in Kuwait, I had expressed my concerns many times and usually was told by the older Kuwaiti colleagues that people were used to it. I doubt. Most people...

Kuwait’s Arab Times had attracted my attention to Esfahan’s gorgeous Great Mosque in an article in 2003. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find so far a webpage of the article which praised the wonders of Iran’s largest mosque and one of the most significant and finest buildings of the Islamic world. I visited the site the first time at my second trip to Esfahan in late spring of 2004. I took some pictures in the vast courtyard, soaked the peaceful atmosphere there, and watched the few visitors from Iran and elsewhere. I had forgotten about the many details of the article and faintly had read some of the notes in my travel guide. My second visit in late 2007 was driven by scientific interest. I had recently posted (at Freelance ) my rather amateurish studies and thoughts about a suggested ‘conceptual breakthrough’ in Islamic architecture and art in the late 15th century, i.e., quasi-crystalline tessellations, which had led to world-wide attention due to its publication in the Science magazine...

Where had I been 7 years ago? Well, I had been busy the whole day. It was 10 days before my intended significant translocation. In FOD, Kuwait, my new colleagues were waiting for me. I had read a book about the small country’s recent history with the title “A New Beginning,” and I had got a feeling that this might even apply to my upcoming move. I had bought a copy of the Holy Qur’an as well and already tried to read in it. I arrived at my flat at 7 pm, with cardboard boxes for shipping my personal effects later that week. When I had switched on my TV, I first thought that I was in the wrong movie. The Twin Towers in New York were burning? The news anchor’s voice had a shrill tone. America had been attacked by Islamic terrorists. Well, I cannot exactly tell what I was thinking, but already half an hour later I got the first telephone call from a friend telling me that I will go to Kuwait and not change my mind! It would be safe whatever is going to happen in the next days. When bidding...

Now, after Gustav had not hit New Orleans as badly as Katrina three years ago, oil prices are dropping, the Dollar is soaring, and US Republicans can eventually celebrate Senator John McCain. At least Gustav prevented President G. W. Bush effectively from attending the nomination convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. But new clouds are seen at the horizon (and it is not McCain's more and more questionable running mate in his election campaign). After Gustav, Hanna is already the next hurricane, this time threatening the Sunshine State. And Ike and Josephine are already forming on the Atlantic Ocean. Another terrible hurricane season. It's again, after 2005, kind of gigantic pool billiard. Gustav has killed about 15 people in the US . Of course, this is mainly due to the wise decision of its mayor and authorities to evacuate the city. But is anybody thinking of almost a hundred people who had lost their lifes in the Caribbean? Or of the hundreds of thousand stranded people in flood...

Ahmed Shafiq Abdulkareem Al Tameemi (not in the picture), presently 4th-year student at Kuwait University FOD and Chief Editor of the Kuwaiti Dental Students Society (KDSS) Magazine wrote : “Finally, one of the biggest hurdles in my dental education has been passed, literally passed. Next year, I’m off to fourth year, seeking higher education, which, according to the Monthly Dose (all rights reserved) leads to a faster mental decline. Well I’m willing to take the risk. What ever happened in the last three years of my “higher education” already did its damage. What happened exactly that led to my “mental decline”? First of all, entering this University a year earlier started it all. I should have taken that extra course of physics in my school. Then maybe I would have gotten a C+ instead of a D+. Or maybe it was the fact that I really never had anything as hard as a college course. In school, all we had to do is answer all the past papers from 1988 to 2004 and you can guarantee yourself...

Ramadan had always amazed me when I was living in the Middle East. The whole society voluntarily synchronized, and for days before the beginning of the month preparations took place in order to store enough food at home for the upcoming days of fasting during daylight. I remember one Thursday morning, the last day of the month Sha’aban, when, as usual on weekends, I drove my car to the huge industrial areas of Shuwaikh in order to do my weekend shopping. Besides the Sultan Center’s wholesale grocery store there, I loved to visit the two Al Mirah Markets close-by. It was unfortunately too late when I realized that tens of thousands of Kuwaitis in their huge four-wheel-drives had exactly the same idea of shopping food. I was standing for several hours in the car queues with stop and go. During Ramadan it was, of course, tolerated that we Westerners did not strictly follow the religious rules. Many of us had, at least in their closed offices, a sandwich for lunch. Our Bangladeshi coffee b...