There are two possibilities here. Perhaps the company is expanding its activities with the help of a Jinn, or someone is sitting in front of his laptop and browsing Google to prepare answers to questions sent by customers.

With a single question, it is possible to determine your position in society. Suppose you are in a group of two people. One would ask: “How possible is it to reserve a hotel room for a single night in Beirut?” The second guy would ask: “How possible is it to purchase a lamb for less than SR1,000?”

An important question that might be asked by the minister of labor to those who are experts in Shariah regulations: “What is the rule with regard to a man selling lingerie to women, or his mixing with them and talking to them about the measurement of their dresses or about some cosmetics or products related to sexual intercourse?”

If the answer is that it is prohibited, it would not put an end to the unemployment problem of women looking for retail work. On the contrary, it would aggravate the unemployment problem of men looking for sales positions.

However, the minister will be among the major beneficiaries upon realizing that it would not be a problem for his ministry, but for his businessmen friends.

An allocation of monthly allowance for unemployed young men and women is the obligatory duty of the state. Most countries in the world are fulfilling this duty toward their jobless citizens.

These countries earmark a huge amount of money to combat problems that stem from unemployment, such as crimes, drug abuse, terrorism and so forth. Whenever any studies are carried out on this matter, some jealous theoreticians in our country come forward with arguments that such allowances promote only laziness.

They adopt such a position as if they don’t have any idea that such a system prevails in other Gulf states and most countries in the West. The question that I want to ask whenever I am confronted with this argument is: “Are you paying for any of this from your own pockets?”

It is obvious that the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Haia), together with the Red Crescent Society, is in a tricky position whenever a fire is reported at a girls’ school.

This results in the hampering of rescue efforts and providing first aid to those who have sustained injuries. My question is this. Why don’t we have some specialized ambulances for putting out fire that break out at girls’ schools? Some ambulances of the Red Crescent could be set aside for this purpose, with separate signs on them.

There is another question I want to ask parents of children studying in the first standard of elementary school, and this is not to those of academic geniuses who are essentially revising the syllabus. I am repeating this question now for the third time. How can a child write words and phrases in activity books at a time when he is yet to start learning to read or write?

An ordinary man asked a sheikh about how to perform prayers on the surface of the moon. The question triggered anger from the sheikh, who then shouted: “Who told you that anyone landed on the moon?” The man replied that somebody had walked on the moon. Then the sheikh replied: “Nobody reached there at all.”

With all respect to the sheikh, I am proud to be one among those who believe that two Americans landed on the moon 41 years ago. A large number of people feel, with sorrow, that we need another 300 years to reach the level of these two Americans. I feel with as much sorrow that we need another 41 years to reach the level of what can be considered “normal” Saudis!

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