Mission & Justice

Nasser Arrabyee; 10/10/08

Women are not allowed to live their lives like men in Yemen because the social traditions still look at women as minors who need help and support however matured and educated they are, says a paper on women and tribal traditions in Yemen. The main roles of women are confined to giving birth, raising children and caring for the house and the family, said the paper which was presented by researcher Dr Afaf Al Haimi in a symposium held in Sana’a this week on the political role of tribes in Yemen, Jordan and Iraq. Education is not essential for women especially in the rural areas where women work for about 16 hours per day in the farms and houses, often fetching water.

(more…)

5/10/08

The UN nuclear assembly on Saturday passed a resolution urging all Middle East nations to renounce aspirations to build nuclear bombs in a vote most Arabs boycotted over amendments they felt took pressure off Israel. The rare vote was 82-0 with 13 abstentions after days of wrangling between Israel and Western nations on one side of the spectrum and between Arab and Islamic states on the other, polarizing a body that normally operates on consensus. The decision at the annual assembly of the International Atomic Energy Agency was non-binding but highlighted deep tensions over Israel’s presumed nuclear might and avoiding of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

(more…)

4/10/08

The US government has announced plans to sell about $6.5bn of weaponry to Taiwan, a move likely to anger China, which claims sovereignty over the island. The sale, announced on Friday, includes 30 Apache attack helicopters, 330 Patriot missiles and 32 Harpoon submarine-launched missiles. The Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency told members of the congress that the sale, which still needs to be approved by the politicians, would support Taiwan’s efforts to modernise its military.

(more…)

Laura Bashraheel; 4/10/08

The evil eye is something that people in the Kingdom — like those of other cultures and religions — generally believe in. However, many people exaggerate its effects and often develop a psyche to continuously attribute their unhappiness and illnesses to the concept. The evil eye, which is known in Arabic as “Ain,” comes into effect when someone is jealous of another person. As a result, the person affected will feel an adverse effect, such as some sort of material harm. The Prophet (peace be upon him) indicated that the influence of the evil eye is a fact. Saying Masha Allah (as God wills) when someone sees something appealing is a way of protecting others from the evil eye. It is customary to say Masha Allah, or invoke God’s blessings on the object or person that is being admired. Reciting certain verses from the Qur’an is used to protect one’s self from the evil eye.

(more…)

Ezzeddine Ebrahim; 25/9/08

Islam is a religion that addresses the issues of all people from both sexes and all ages. It tackles the issues related to each group and worship. This encouraged some scholars to compile books that contain the different rules for various sectors of society, such as women, the elderly and children. All these rules were earlier found in books of jurisprudence, but were not classified as per the subject.

(more…)

Bassam Za’za’; 22/9/08

An Emirati housewife (of Indian origin) and a Pakistani electrician have been charged with polygamy and forging their marriage contract. Under Sharia law, a woman cannot have two husbands at one time. According to records, the 35-year-old woman left her Emirati husband’s house here and eloped with the 42-year-old Pakistani to his country where they claimed she was unmarried and entered into a marriage contract.

(more…)

Mohammed Abdu Yamani; 19/9/08
Fasting is a unique moral and spiritual characteristic of Islam. It does not mean just abstaining completely from food, drink, sex and smoking from the break of dawn till sunset during the whole month of Ramadan. Fasting is meant to teach us essential values such as patience, sacrifice and humility. Ramadan is a great month in which Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) received the first verses of the Holy Qur’an through revelation. The first battle of Islam against the infidels took place in Ramadan. It is a pity that some young Muslims do not know the holiness of this month. They turn it into a month of sleeping and laziness. Some of them spend the whole night playing cards or watching TV. They go to bed after sunrise and sometimes miss noon or afternoon prayers, which is a great sin.

(more…)

M. Ghazanfar Ali Khan; 19/9/08

Saudi Arabia is in the process of recruiting 2,000 Filipino nurses and has announced 1,000 scholarships for Saudi girls in a move to address the shortage of specialist nursing staff. More than 10,000 nurses are urgently required to make up for the shortfall and this move by the Ministry of Health (MOH) will help train Saudi nurses with the aim to cut dependence on foreign nursing staff. “A number of seats for Saudi women have also been reserved in premier health institutions in Jordan, Australia, the US, Britain and Bahrain, to enable them to pursue specialist nursing training,” said Dr. Munira Al-Osaimi, MOH’s director general of nursing, here yesterday. The MOH, which is seeking to increase the number of Saudis in the nursing sector to 60 percent within the next five years, is also offering advance training.

(more…)

Julia Medew; 18/9/08

Australia must act to prevent HIV epidemics in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly in Papua New Guinea, from worsening and creeping onto its shores, the head of the Red Cross global HIV program says. Dr Bernard Gardiner, an Australian based in the Red Cross’ Geneva headquarters, said a recent cluster of infections among heterosexual Australian men who had visited PNG, reinforced why Australia could not be complacent about neighbouring epidemics. “Australia cannot sit back and wait for this to become a big problem,” he said. “It’s a really dangerous notion for Australia to treat itself as though it is somehow wrapped in cotton wool and protected from the reality of the global HIV epidemic. It isn’t. As a rich country, we need to play our part.”

(more…)

Yoav Stern; 18/9/08

“Instead of it being a month of abstinence, asceticism and breaking the fast with dates, it has turned into a month of cooking, fat paunches and frying. The month of Ramadan is the month of sycophantism, hypocrisy and lies, the month of squandering and appetite, a month of slavery for women.” These words were written around a month ago by Ala Hlehl, the editor in chief of the Balad party newspaper Fasal al-Makal. They forced him to resign and provoked a stormy debate about freedom of expression in Arab society. Hlehl, a playwright and translator, is one of the most prominent artists in Israeli Arab society, an important Balad activist. He is considered loyal to the party’s founder Azmi Bishara, and is well known for his courageous stands.

(more…)