Laziness of scholars

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah’s recent statement urging Islamic scholars to get rid of their laziness stresses the fact that we need to review our thoughts and works in order to confront extremism.

Shariah scholars as well as teaching staff at colleges and universities stand in the forefront of this fight against extremism. In light of King Abdullah’s recent speech we have to restructure the content of our religious speeches.

Islamic scholars in our country have stopped independent thought and judgment (ijtihad) on the basis of the Qur’an and Sunnah, thus obstructing the Kingdom’s progress. Our educational institutions have been very slow in accommodating social and cultural changes. All these situations created a breeding ground for extremists and terrorists.

In his speech, King Abdullah strongly criticized our scholars for their delay in rejecting extremism as hardliners have hijacked Islam, creating doubts about the credibility of the divine religion as a religion of peace and tolerance.

We hope that Islamic scholars would speak out against extremists and terrorists. When scholars soften their stand it would only embolden extremists to carry out their terrorist operations, like the one occurred in Wadeea checkpoint on the Yemeni border, killing security officers.

The government must take immediate steps to liberate some of our organizations from the grip of extremists.

— Dr. Haya Abdul Aziz Almanee

Heart-breaking scenes

We have been reading reports and watching television scenes of the Israeli forces’ ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians in Gaza. We feel highly depressed and saddened after seeing the pictures of children being massacred as a result of the brutal Israeli bombardment.

The latest Israeli aggression on Gaza has exceeded all limits and reached the peak of its barbarism, drawing condemnation even from people of western countries. But the UN Security Council has so far failed to stop the continuing Israeli massacre of the Palestinian people.

It’s quite unfortunate that there are some people and countries who still support the Israeli barbarism ignoring its massacre of Palestinian children and women. We should put the cloth of Palestinian victims in their mouths to stop their sickening utterances.

Netanyahu’s forces have targeted children in his latest war. It shows that he is afraid of these children to come of age to demand their rights. As a result of his cruelties, Netanyahu would face the same destiny of his predecessor Sharon, who was in coma for years before death. Let me congratulate the mothers of Gaza for their courage and bravery and pray to the Almighty to support them until final victory.

— Ebtihaj Adnan Al-Minyawi

Saudi limousine

Most Saudi families are hesitant to travel with Saudi taxi drivers and prefer limousines driven by foreigners. What is the reason? It’s because of the mistakes done by some of their predecessors. But there are serious Saudi drivers who uphold good moral values and want to make a living out of this job.

Saudi Arabia has introduced a world-class limousine system in Riyadh with the objective of creating 60,000 new jobs for Saudis. I have spent the other day about nine hours in Riyadh to find out the problems facing Saudi limousine drivers. According to new conditions, drivers have to use meters.

I have noticed that most Saudi drivers consider it as a temporary job and maintain their cars as a private one, not as a limousine car. They are also not happy to be called as taxi drivers. In light of above findings, the authorities must train Saudi drivers on how to establish good relations with clients. They should also teach them basic English to deal with foreign passengers.

— Fahd bin Jelaid

The failure of Saher

Saudi citizens welcomed Saher when it was first introduced in 2010 as they hoped it would reduce road accidents in the country. They believed that the electronic system keep a watch on traffic violators. Saudi businessmen who financed the project also thought it would make Saudi roads safer.

What is the reason for the failure of Saher and who is responsible for that? Why the system was a success in other countries? Instead of reducing accidents why it resulted in hiking them here? In order to get convincing answers for these questions, we have to conduct a study on what went wrong.

The system failed mainly because of some of its users who do not want to follow traffic regulations. They hate application of the law and love chaos and confusion. As a result they used all possible opportunities to destroy the system, including its cameras. The companies also deserve blame for not placing the cameras in prominent places to make them more effective.

It is good to inform the public that Saher cameras are watching them. But the placing of cameras in cars has somehow contributed to increasing accidents. The number of daily deaths from road accidents rose from 21 in 2012 to 24 as a result of Saher. Before introducing the system, the toll was 17. I would blame the wrong implementation of the system for its failure.

— Luay bin Bakr Al-Tayar

Gaza and Bashar Assad

The silence of Bashar Assad on Israel’s brutal Gaza operation was quite obvious. The traders of blood in our region, including Bashar, use the war for propaganda of resistance. But why did he keep silent? I don’t think Bashar was angry over Hamas’ stand on the Syrian revolution as he knows that the resistance group was not against him. Khaled Mishaal and Ismail Haniya were unable to take a strong stand against the Syrian regime because of its possible negative repercussions on Iran-Brotherhood ties.

Today Bashar will not be able to talk about resistance when his ally Hezbollah creates havoc for the Syrian opposition forces. Bashar may be silent because of the failure of his ally Al-Maliki, and Iran is now talking about possibility of changing the Iraqi prime minister.

The increasing role of Egypt in the region as well as the US attack on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant are other possible reasons for Bashar’s silence. May be he is also afraid of the return of Saad Al-Hariri to Lebanon. Bashar is less worried about blood than the media.

— Tariq Alhumayed

Lack of housemaids

The non-availability of housemaids at reasonable rates is a major problem facing Saudi families and authorities must solve the problem before the beginning of the new academic year.

Previously, Saudis were depending on Indonesia for maids. Now the Southeast Asian country has closed the door after the two sides have failed to reach an agreement on manpower export conditions.

Indonesia has increased the charges and the non availability of maids has created a black market in the Kingdom, thus increasing charges to get a maid to SR30,000. The rising number of runaway maids before Ramadan, which reached more than 65,000 this year, has further complicated the issue.

This situation has caused losses exceeding SR1 billion for Saudi families during this Ramadan. Despite the difficulties facing Saudi families, the authorities have so far failed to solve the problem.

Allowing transfer of sponsorship of maids soon after their arrival in the Kingdom has further complicated them problem rather than solve it. Transfer should not be allowed before completing the probation period or at least five months. Quick transfer of sponsorship would create a speculative market in the Kingdom.

We should also put an end to the black market by setting up specialized companies to supply domestic helps required by families. Authorities should also find a solution for the runaway maids, especially before Ramadan and settle conflicts between workers and their employers.

— Mohammed Al-Abbas