Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Diana]

The oil-rich Arab countries have contributed to the tsunami victims, but Kuwait's outspoken media feels that it is not enough especially with growing oil revenues. The media in Kuwait and Lebanon have criticized the oil-rich Arab nations for contributing very little to the tsunami victims. According to Middle East Online:

Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, started with a pledge of 10 million dollars - equal to a donation by seven-time Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher - before announcing on Tuesday that it was tripling that amount and organizing a telethon to raise more funds.

Added to Kuwait's 10 million, the United Arab Emirates' 20 million and gas-rich Qatar's 10 million, that took the total pledges by the four oil producers to 70 million dollars, compared to some 500 million dollars a day in oil revenues.

"The rich Gulf states usually don't give big amounts to victims of natural disasters, perhaps because they have not gone through such plights themselves," commented Jamal Marhun, a 43-year-old Bahraini employee.

There are many Asians working in the Arab world, and according to one commentor in Saudi Arabia, he was more concerned about the "disease" Asians might bring to the country. According to Middle East Online:

In Saudi Arabia, one commentator appeared more preoccupied with the "epidemics" which Asian pilgrims from the affected countries might bring with them when they come to perform the hajj in the kingdom's Muslim holy sites this month.

"What are the preventive measures taken (by the health ministry) to stop the spread of epidemics brought by pilgrims from those countries," Abdulrahman al-Orabi asked Wednesday in the daily Al-Madinah.


It also seems that some of the religious clerics have very little compassion toward tsunami victims. Some went so far to say that the tsunami was an act of God's wrath on people who deserved it. According to Middle East Online:

Other newspapers in the kingdom have made little comment on the disaster.

One Saudi columnist, speaking on condition of anonymity, said people might have been influenced by some Friday prayer leaders who suggested that the Asian tsunamis were a manifestation of "God's wrath."

Even more disturbing are the type of questions some Muslims have asked in Islamic websites and chatrooms. According to a news report:

On Islamic websites and in chat rooms, the questions included: Would Muslims who died in the tsunami be considered martyrs? Is it all right to donate to tsunami victims, even though some of the goods and money could end up in the hands of nonbelievers?

"Is it permissible for us, as Muslims, to [appeal to God] for those human beings afflicted there even if those people include Muslims and non-Muslims?" asked one person who logged on to Live Fatwa, an online forum in which an Islamic scholar answered religious questions.

"There is no harm or prohibition to pray for those people who lost their lives in that natural disaster," replied Sano Koutoub Moustapha, a professor from the International Islamic University in Malaysia.

"However, your beloved Muslim brothers and sisters deserve more and more" of your prayers and appeals to God. They deserve your moral and financial assistance, he wrote.

Moustapha told the readers that money given to non-Muslims was not considered zakat, the religious tax a Muslim is obliged by the Koran to give to the needy.

The Bold statements are quotes I copied and pasted on Middle East Online and a news report taken from Egypt.

[hani]

hi

hi' from that countries

u write a lot of things that not true
_________________
Once upon the time
I was looking for you

I never do a crime
By living to love you

[asterix]

No, Hani, they ARE true - you just don't believe them.

[hani]

no no no

u put 2 fake things
_________________
Once upon the time
I was looking for you

I never do a crime
By living to love you

[mehrezsassi]

I will explain to you dear ignorants why the Arab countries were not allowed to help their brothers in Asia .

- Most of islamic charity organizations were closed or have their funds blocked in America or Europe after 9/11

_ Most of those organisations are considered terrorist organizations by the American Stupid administration .

_ Most of the Arab countries can't do anything without a green light from the big Dog in ther white house .

_ The American Administration is aware that this a heaven-sent opportunity to redecorate the image of America in the Moslem worLd
but nothing has so far changed . They want to make the world know that they can be kind and helpful and they are the only heroes in the scene

[asterix]

I suppose to a supercilious nit-wit such as you Maresass, there is no possibility that the western nations who sent aid to Indonesia were motivated by simple human kindness and sympathy for their fellows?
Most people in the western world do not give a rat's a s s for the tinhorn dictators that seem to infest the muslim world, but they do care about the people who live under their boot heels.
If I might quote from Mel Brooks; "Remember thou art mortal."