Iraqi children are building shelters in their homes. Iraqi students continue their education while our students were looking forward to war and what they hoped would become a holiday. We call for our people to stock up on sugar and rice but our mosques are empty of prayers for our brothers in Iraq. While Iraqi children build shelters which they know will not protect them, our Saudi businessmen continue to build palaces and villas for a life of luxury. While Iraqi children are building shelters, I see in a local newspaper that real estate speculators hope that the value of real estate will go up. This is profiteering. Who could believe such things from Arabs and Muslims?
When we look at education, it is peculiar to hear comments by our students about their brothers and sisters in Iraq. Our students are eager to hear that there will be a vacation from school because of war while Iraqi students continue to study, despite the bombardment of their cities. This shows how weak our religious ties with our brothers and sisters in Iraq are. This shows what a soft life our student have and that their viewpoint is so limited that they cannot see beyond what they are exposed to in class. All of it is related to the weakness of their education.
One of my examples concerned the warning to stock up on sugar and rice. There are rumors that stores in big cities are almost empty. What is strange is that people store rice and sugar essential for two reasons: To eat kabsa and drink tea. Do we really need all this sugar and rice? Are we at war? Do we feel the hunger of people in Somalia, Iraq and North Korea? Do we really need to close our schools? We call on people to stockpile food when, thank God, we live here in peace and security.
All I can say is, pray for our brothers and sisters in Iraq in particular and for our Muslim brothers around the world in general. I think everybody would agree that praying for our brothers and sisters in Iraq is better than watching political analysis on television or listening to descriptions of missiles and their capabilities. If there were an award for political analysis, I would recommend it to Arab political analysts.
Arab News Local Press 31 March 2003
