Job Discussion Forums

CANDLES · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2014 9:02 am Post subject:

PN.....

Unfortunately, as usual, you've misread my comment. OKAY let's explain in our usual [b]TEACHER'S way! I was deriding the people who moved the hot water container and the coffee, because they were FASTING! So THOSE people had NO CONSIDERATION for other people who were not FASTING due to personal reasons, are non-Muslims etc......

Is that clear for you PN? I am never been an apologist for anything or anyone, do not assume otherwise!

End of lesson!

sicklyman · Joined: 02 Feb 2013 Posts: 930

nomad soul · Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 11454 Location: The real world

CANDLES · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2014 9:49 pm Post subject:

Well Sicklyman, if I don't look out for myself, then who will do it for me? Very Happy

Compromise works best PN, as you found out: religious or not!

nomad soul · Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 11454 Location: The real world

49 caught eating during fasting hours
Saudi Gazette | July 04, 2014
Source: http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20140704210413

JEDDAH — District courts all over the Kingdom have received so far 49 cases of people caught eating and drinking during the fasting hours of Ramadan, according to Ministry of Justice statistics. Riyadh had the highest number of cases at 13 followed by Al-Ahsa at 10. The defendants face prison and flogging. The Interior Ministry has advised all non-Muslim residents in the Kingdom to respect the sanctity of the fasting month by refraining from eating, drinking and smoking in public. It warned that foreign workers caught violating the rules face cancellation of job contracts and deportation.

(End of article)

CANDLES · Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 11:00 am Post subject:

So much for compromise and respecting each other! No other Muslim nation behaves like this!

MuscatGary · Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 11:26 am Post subject:

nomad soul · Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 11454 Location: The real world

CANDLES · Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 5:35 pm Post subject:

Yes, but it is becoming more Conservative.

johnslat · Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 5:37 pm Post subject:

Dear CANDLES,

"Yes, but it is becoming more Conservative."

But perhaps that's only because it's becoming more Liberal. Very Happy

It's not really a paradox,

Regards,
John

CANDLES · Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 5:41 pm Post subject:

How? Not sure if they know how to be or even spell 'Liberal'. Razz

johnslat · Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 6:45 pm Post subject:

Dear CANDLES,

Well, it's relative, of course, but I believe satellite TV and the Internet have brought the world, with its smorgasbord of ideas and viewpoints, and that this has slowly opened up the minds of many more in the Kingdom than before.

Leftward Shift by Conservative Cleric Leaves Saudis Perplexed

"Lately, however, one of the kingdom’s best-known religious figures, Salman al-Awda, has been making a very different kind of trouble.

Mr. Awda had something akin to a conversion moment during the Arab uprisings of 2011, and since then has become a passionate promoter of democracy and civic tolerance. He has more than 4.5 million followers on Twitter and several million on his regular YouTube broadcasts, making him a significant thorn in the side of the Saudi monarchy. He can be dangerously blunt, at least by Saudi standards, and the government has made its displeasure clear, barring him from print media, television and foreign travel.

“The gulf governments are fighting Arab democracy, because they fear it will come here,” said Mr. Awda, a 57-year-old cleric with a reddish henna-dyed beard and an air of slow-moving serenity. “Look what they have done in Egypt — sending billions of dollars right after the coup last summer. This is a gulf project, not an Egyptian project. And the Saudi government is losing its friends. If it continues on this path, it will lose its own people and invite disaster.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/05/world/middleeast/conservative-saudi-cleric-salman-al-awda.html?_r=0

Saudi’s Lonely, Costly Bid for Sunni-Shiite Equality

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/15/world/middleeast/saudis-lonely-costly-bid-for-sunni-shiite-equality.html?action=click&contentCollection=Middle%20East&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article

Twitter Gives Saudi Arabia a Revolution of Its Own

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/21/world/middleeast/twitter-gives-saudi-arabia-a-revolution-of-its-own.html?action=click&contentCollection=Middle%20East&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article

As a lot of the younger population becomes (relatively) more "liberal," many the powers-that-be, fearing that their rule may be threatened, become more conservative.

"New laws in Saudi Arabia declare that atheists are terrorists "

Well, that's my opinion, anyway.

Regards,
John

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

MuscatGary · Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2014 1:13 pm Post subject:

johnslat · Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2014 2:01 pm Post subject:

Dear MuscatGary,

A thoughtful analysis, I'd say:

"But only the Arabs can reverse their civilisational decline, and right now there is little hope of that happening. The extremists offer none. The mantra of the monarchs and the military men is “stability”. In a time of chaos, its appeal is understandable, but repression and stagnation are not the solution. They did not work before; indeed they were at the root of the problem. Even if the Arab awakening is over for the moment, the powerful forces that gave rise to it are still present. The social media which stirred up a revolution in attitudes cannot be uninvented. The men in their palaces and their Western backers need to understand that stability requires reform.

Is that a vain hope? Today the outlook is bloody. But ultimately fanatics devour themselves. Meanwhile, wherever possible, the moderate, secular Sunnis who comprise the majority of Arab Muslims need to make their voices heard. And when their moment comes, they need to cast their minds back to the values that once made the Arab world great. Education underpinned its primacy in medicine, mathematics, architecture and astronomy. Trade paid for its fabulous metropolises and their spices and silks. And, at its best, the Arab world was a cosmopolitan haven for Jews, Christians and Muslims of many sects, where tolerance fostered creativity and invention.

Pluralism, education, open markets: these were once Arab values and they could be so again. Today, as Sunnis and Shias tear out each others’ throats in Iraq and Syria and a former general settles onto his new throne in Egypt, they are tragically distant prospects. But for a people for whom so much has gone so wrong, such values still make up a vision of a better future."

Regards,
John