Friday, November 16, 2007
DARI QATAR SAMPAI TURKI
Alhamdulillah, perasaan senang saya haturkan kepada para pembaca sekalian. Adalah suatu kesenangan tersendiri bagi seorang penulis, jika tulisannya dibaca. Latar belakang saya menulis, adalah sharing. Saya percaya semakin banyak yang kita beri (apapun itu, termasuk Ilmu), maka Allah akan menggantikan apa yang kita berikan itu dengan sesuatu yang lebih baik.
Setelah membuat blog ini dan rutin menulis tiap minggu (paling tidak) satu tulisan, saya mulai dihinggapi rasa jenuh. Apa ada ya orang yang membaca? Apa saya capek-capek nulis, sharing pengalaman saya belajar bahasa Arab, apa worth it gitu?
Saya yakin, banyak orang seperti saya. Ingin belajar bahasa Arab, agar mengerti apa yang dibaca ketika sholat, atau ketika baca Al-Quran. Semangat untuk bisa itu membuat saya terus ingin belajar. Tapi, dasar gak punya landasan waktu kecil (hehe ketahuan waktu kecil gak ikut madrasah), maka belajar dikala sudah dewasa terasa sangat sukar. Hanya semangat yang besar, dan keyakinan bahwa Allah SWT akan memudahkan, dan akan mengganti jerih payah ini dengan pahala, yang membuat saya tetap ingin menulis.
Setelah hampir 1 tahun berlalu dan sudah memasuki topik 50 an lebih, timbul keinginan saya untuk tahu, siapakah yang membaca, dari negara mana saja, berapa lama waktu yang dilewati membaca tulisan di blog ini. Alhamdulillah saya bertemu sensor untuk mengetahui itu. Sensor tersebut saya pasang kemaren. Dalam 1 hari lebih ini, telah ada pengunjung sebanyak 147 orang, dengan jumlah hit 361. Rata-rata satu orang menghabiskan 4 menit dalam sekali kunjungan.
Pengunjung tersebar dari beberapa negara. Pengunjung dari Indonesia paling banyak sebesar 46%, diikuti pengunjung dari Malaysia 16%, Amerika 14%, Norwegia 10%, dan Jepang 4%.
Kalau yang dari Malaysia, beberapanya mengirimkan email pribadi ke saya. Sedangkan kalau dari pengunjung dari Negara Lain, spt Jepang, Norwegia, Amerika, saya menduga ini adalah pelajar Indonesia, atau orang Indonesia yang bekerja di negara tersebut.
Sebenarnya sensor tersebug menghasilkan report yang lebih banyak lagi. Seperti tulisan mana yang paling sering dibaca. Bagaimana orang sampai ke blog ini (apakah di-refer oleh Yahoo, Google, atau Website lain) dsb. Alhamdulillah, saya bersyukur menemukan sensor ini.
Demikian sekilas profile dari pembaca blog ini, dari pengamatan selama satu dua hari ini, dan kita akan lanjutkan minggu depan Insya Allah, dengan pembahasan Ayat 2 surat Al-'Ashr.
Setelah membuat blog ini dan rutin menulis tiap minggu (paling tidak) satu tulisan, saya mulai dihinggapi rasa jenuh. Apa ada ya orang yang membaca? Apa saya capek-capek nulis, sharing pengalaman saya belajar bahasa Arab, apa worth it gitu?
Saya yakin, banyak orang seperti saya. Ingin belajar bahasa Arab, agar mengerti apa yang dibaca ketika sholat, atau ketika baca Al-Quran. Semangat untuk bisa itu membuat saya terus ingin belajar. Tapi, dasar gak punya landasan waktu kecil (hehe ketahuan waktu kecil gak ikut madrasah), maka belajar dikala sudah dewasa terasa sangat sukar. Hanya semangat yang besar, dan keyakinan bahwa Allah SWT akan memudahkan, dan akan mengganti jerih payah ini dengan pahala, yang membuat saya tetap ingin menulis.
Setelah hampir 1 tahun berlalu dan sudah memasuki topik 50 an lebih, timbul keinginan saya untuk tahu, siapakah yang membaca, dari negara mana saja, berapa lama waktu yang dilewati membaca tulisan di blog ini. Alhamdulillah saya bertemu sensor untuk mengetahui itu. Sensor tersebut saya pasang kemaren. Dalam 1 hari lebih ini, telah ada pengunjung sebanyak 147 orang, dengan jumlah hit 361. Rata-rata satu orang menghabiskan 4 menit dalam sekali kunjungan.
Pengunjung tersebar dari beberapa negara. Pengunjung dari Indonesia paling banyak sebesar 46%, diikuti pengunjung dari Malaysia 16%, Amerika 14%, Norwegia 10%, dan Jepang 4%.
Kalau yang dari Malaysia, beberapanya mengirimkan email pribadi ke saya. Sedangkan kalau dari pengunjung dari Negara Lain, spt Jepang, Norwegia, Amerika, saya menduga ini adalah pelajar Indonesia, atau orang Indonesia yang bekerja di negara tersebut.
Sebenarnya sensor tersebug menghasilkan report yang lebih banyak lagi. Seperti tulisan mana yang paling sering dibaca. Bagaimana orang sampai ke blog ini (apakah di-refer oleh Yahoo, Google, atau Website lain) dsb. Alhamdulillah, saya bersyukur menemukan sensor ini.
Demikian sekilas profile dari pembaca blog ini, dari pengamatan selama satu dua hari ini, dan kita akan lanjutkan minggu depan Insya Allah, dengan pembahasan Ayat 2 surat Al-'Ashr.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Brief update
Today I'm in Bechar, with a somewhat more effective net connection; I apologise for the poor appearance of the previous one, which I sent by email. I am currently sitting with Omar Yahiaoui (who asked me to mention this); I've been hanging out mainly with the Yahiaoui extended family of Kwara, one of the three villages that speak the language, although I'll have to balance this soon with some extended staying in Ifrenyu, the other main village with which there is a certain amount of mostly but not totally friendly rivalry. The phonology keeps getting bigger and richer - never mind all the emphatics and labiovelarised consonants and affricates, there are a few contrasts involving h and gw that have clear effects on surrounding vowels but that I simply can't seem to hear. I've made a few more recordings, and done a bit more sightseeing, going into the erg a little - sand dunes and not much else from Tabelbala all the way to Ougarta.
PS: should have written Shelha, not "Shelhiyya", in my previous Bechar post.
PS: should have written Shelha, not "Shelhiyya", in my previous Bechar post.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Topik 57: Pendalaman masalah Mubtada’ dan Khobar
Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.
Pembaca yang dirahmati Allah SWT. Sebelum kita lanjutkan pembahasan ayat 2 surat Al-‘Ashr, kita berhenti sejenak disini. Oke kita sudah lihat dan bahas peranan dan fungsi kaana dan inna dalam kalimat. Ingat-ingat lagi ya, karena dua kata ini sering dipakai dalam Al-Quran.
Oke. Kalau dilihat bahwa peranan atau fungsi kaana dan inna ini, sangat berkaitan dengan apa yang disebut mubtada’ dan khobar. Maka pengetahuan mengenai mubtada’ dan khobar ini perlu lebih di perdalam. Sebagai perbandingan kitab Al-Arabiyah Bin Namajiz (Bahasa Arab dengan Pola-pola) membahas masalah mubtada dan khobar ini ke dalam 4 bab terpisah. Dari sini tercermin betapa pentingnya pengetahuan mengenai mubtada’ dan khobar ini.
Oke baiklah. Walau secara ringkas kita sudah bahas, bahwa mubtada’ itu subjek dan khobar itu prediket, sebenarnya pembagian ini kurang begitu operasional. Saya akan jelaskan mengapa.
Mari kita berandai-andai membuat perumpamaan kalimat.
Misal saya katakan:
The house is big.
Rumah itu besar.
Oke dalam bahasa Arab kita katakan:
البيتُ كبيرٌ – al-baytu kabiirun --> Kalimat A
Nah dalam bahasa Arab diatas terlihat bahwa mubtada’ adalah البيتُ – al-baytu, dan yang menjadi khobar adalah كبيرٌ – kabiirun.
Sangat straightforward dan mudah kan.
Tapi bayangkan skenario begini. Tanpa sengaja saya “tertambahkan” alif lam di depan kabiirun. Sehingga kalimatnya menjadi:
البيتُ الكبيرُ - al-baytu al-kabiiru --> Kalimat B
Apa padanan bahasa Inggris nya? Padanan untuk kalimat diatas berubah, menjadi
The big house (rumah besar itu)
Lihat bedanya.
The house is big: Rumah itu besar (kalimat A)
The big house: Rumah besar itu (kalimat B)
Kalimat A adalah kalimat yang sempurna, yang terdiri dari Mubtada’ (Rumah itu) dan Khobar (besar).
Sedangkan kalimat B, bukan kalimat sempurna. Kenapa? Karena kalimat B, hanya terdiri dari mubtada’ saja. Khobarnya tidak ada. Jadi kalimat “Rumah besar itu …” adalah mubtada’, belum jelas “ada apa dengan rumah besar itu”, alias belum ada khobarnya (khobar dalam bahasa Arab artinya berita). Kalimat B, khobarnya belum ada, atau berita-nya belum ada.
Oke. Sekarang kembali ke kalimat B. Saya katakan tadi bahwa Kalimat B belum sempurna. Bagaimana membuat kalimat B jadi sempurna?
Gampang. Tinggal kasih khobar, kan? Ya, anda benar.
Misalkan saya katakan:
The big house is new.
Sekarang saya sudah pilih new: baru (جديد - jadiidun) sebagai khobar. Maka kalimat B, dalam bahasa Arab jika ditambahkan jadiidun, menjadi:
البيتُ الكبيرُ جديدٌ – al-baytu al-kabiiru jadiidun
Sim salabim. Kalimat diatas berubah jadi kalimat sempurna, karena sudah ada khobar (prediket) nya. Mana khobarnya? Yaitu jadiidun.
Nah, kita sudah lihat kan ciri-ciri mana yang khobar, mana yang mubtada. Ciri-cirinya begini:
- Jika ada kata benda ma’rifat (spesifik: biasanya ditandai dengan alif lam -al), maka dia mubtada. Dalam contoh diatas بيتٌ – baitun (sebuah rumah), kemasukan alif lam menjadi البيتُ – al-baytu (rumah itu), adalah mubtada (karena ada al-nya)
- Jika setelah mubtada itu kata benda lagi yang juga spesifik (ada alif lam), maka kata benda itu bukan khobar, tapi shifat dari mubtada’. Dalam contoh diatas, kata كبيرُ - kabiirun (besar) karena mendapat alif lam menjadi al-kabiiru ( الكبيرُ ) maka dia bukanlah khobar, tetapi sifat dari mubtada. Sehingga kita tidak bisa terjemahkan: the house is big, tapi the big house.
- Setelah shifat, jika masih ada kata benda yang ada alif-lam, maka dia bukan lah khobar, tetapi shifat yang kedua. Saya bisa membuat begini: البيتُ الكبيرُ الواسعُ جديدٌُ – al-baytu al-kabiiru al-waasi’u jadiidun (The big large house is new ), atau Rumah yang besar (lagi) luas itu baru. Terlihat disini besar (big) dan luas (large) adalah sifat dari rumah itu, dan keduanya adalah masih bagian dari mubtada’. Sedangkan khobarnya adalah jadiidun (baru).
- Jika setelah mubtada (yang ada al-nya) ada kata benda yang tidak ada al-nya, maka itulah khobarnya. Dalam contoh diatas, kata jadiidun (baru) tidak ada al-nya, maka dapat diindikasikan kata jadiidun adalah khobar.
Ingat, jika sebuah kalimat sudah ada mubtada’ dan khobarnya maka, itu disebut kalimat sempurna.
Demikian, mudah-mudahan jelas ya. Sebagai penutup, saya sampaikan bahwa khobar-pun dapat terdiri dari lebih dari satu kata. Contoh sebelumnya khobar hanya satu kata, yaitu jadiidun. Dalam Al-Quran kadang-kadang khobar itu terdiri dari 2 kata benda.
Contoh dalam surat Al-Baqarah ayat 115.
إن الله واسعٌ عليمٌ – inna Allaha waasi’un ‘aliimun : sesungguhnya Allah Maha Luas (rahmatNya) lagi Maha Mengetahui.
Lihat kalimat diatas, jika inna saya buang maka menjadi:
اللهُ واسعٌ عليمٌ – Allahu waasi’un ‘aliimun : Allah Maha Luas (rahmatNya) lagi Maha Mengetahui.
Perhatikan, bahwa struktur kalimatnya:
Mubtada: Allahu
Khobar: waasi’un ‘aliimun
Khobarnya terdiri dari dua kata benda. Kita bisa lanjutkan menambahkan kata benda (yang merupakan sifat dari Mubtada) dengan tambahan lain misalkan: Allahu waasi’un ‘aliimun rahiimun rahmaanun dst (dimana mubtada'-nya Allahu, dan sisanya adalah khobar).
Jelaslah sekarang, bahwa kepandaian menentukan mana khobar, mana mubtada’ akan membantu kita dalam menerjemahkan text Al-Quran, khususnya yang berkaitan dengan inna dan kaana. Insya Allah akan kita jelaskan mengenai khobar muqoddam, pada topik-topik selanjutnya.
Pembaca yang dirahmati Allah SWT. Sebelum kita lanjutkan pembahasan ayat 2 surat Al-‘Ashr, kita berhenti sejenak disini. Oke kita sudah lihat dan bahas peranan dan fungsi kaana dan inna dalam kalimat. Ingat-ingat lagi ya, karena dua kata ini sering dipakai dalam Al-Quran.
Oke. Kalau dilihat bahwa peranan atau fungsi kaana dan inna ini, sangat berkaitan dengan apa yang disebut mubtada’ dan khobar. Maka pengetahuan mengenai mubtada’ dan khobar ini perlu lebih di perdalam. Sebagai perbandingan kitab Al-Arabiyah Bin Namajiz (Bahasa Arab dengan Pola-pola) membahas masalah mubtada dan khobar ini ke dalam 4 bab terpisah. Dari sini tercermin betapa pentingnya pengetahuan mengenai mubtada’ dan khobar ini.
Oke baiklah. Walau secara ringkas kita sudah bahas, bahwa mubtada’ itu subjek dan khobar itu prediket, sebenarnya pembagian ini kurang begitu operasional. Saya akan jelaskan mengapa.
Mari kita berandai-andai membuat perumpamaan kalimat.
Misal saya katakan:
The house is big.
Rumah itu besar.
Oke dalam bahasa Arab kita katakan:
البيتُ كبيرٌ – al-baytu kabiirun --> Kalimat A
Nah dalam bahasa Arab diatas terlihat bahwa mubtada’ adalah البيتُ – al-baytu, dan yang menjadi khobar adalah كبيرٌ – kabiirun.
Sangat straightforward dan mudah kan.
Tapi bayangkan skenario begini. Tanpa sengaja saya “tertambahkan” alif lam di depan kabiirun. Sehingga kalimatnya menjadi:
البيتُ الكبيرُ - al-baytu al-kabiiru --> Kalimat B
Apa padanan bahasa Inggris nya? Padanan untuk kalimat diatas berubah, menjadi
The big house (rumah besar itu)
Lihat bedanya.
The house is big: Rumah itu besar (kalimat A)
The big house: Rumah besar itu (kalimat B)
Kalimat A adalah kalimat yang sempurna, yang terdiri dari Mubtada’ (Rumah itu) dan Khobar (besar).
Sedangkan kalimat B, bukan kalimat sempurna. Kenapa? Karena kalimat B, hanya terdiri dari mubtada’ saja. Khobarnya tidak ada. Jadi kalimat “Rumah besar itu …” adalah mubtada’, belum jelas “ada apa dengan rumah besar itu”, alias belum ada khobarnya (khobar dalam bahasa Arab artinya berita). Kalimat B, khobarnya belum ada, atau berita-nya belum ada.
Oke. Sekarang kembali ke kalimat B. Saya katakan tadi bahwa Kalimat B belum sempurna. Bagaimana membuat kalimat B jadi sempurna?
Gampang. Tinggal kasih khobar, kan? Ya, anda benar.
Misalkan saya katakan:
The big house is new.
Sekarang saya sudah pilih new: baru (جديد - jadiidun) sebagai khobar. Maka kalimat B, dalam bahasa Arab jika ditambahkan jadiidun, menjadi:
البيتُ الكبيرُ جديدٌ – al-baytu al-kabiiru jadiidun
Sim salabim. Kalimat diatas berubah jadi kalimat sempurna, karena sudah ada khobar (prediket) nya. Mana khobarnya? Yaitu jadiidun.
Nah, kita sudah lihat kan ciri-ciri mana yang khobar, mana yang mubtada. Ciri-cirinya begini:
- Jika ada kata benda ma’rifat (spesifik: biasanya ditandai dengan alif lam -al), maka dia mubtada. Dalam contoh diatas بيتٌ – baitun (sebuah rumah), kemasukan alif lam menjadi البيتُ – al-baytu (rumah itu), adalah mubtada (karena ada al-nya)
- Jika setelah mubtada itu kata benda lagi yang juga spesifik (ada alif lam), maka kata benda itu bukan khobar, tapi shifat dari mubtada’. Dalam contoh diatas, kata كبيرُ - kabiirun (besar) karena mendapat alif lam menjadi al-kabiiru ( الكبيرُ ) maka dia bukanlah khobar, tetapi sifat dari mubtada. Sehingga kita tidak bisa terjemahkan: the house is big, tapi the big house.
- Setelah shifat, jika masih ada kata benda yang ada alif-lam, maka dia bukan lah khobar, tetapi shifat yang kedua. Saya bisa membuat begini: البيتُ الكبيرُ الواسعُ جديدٌُ – al-baytu al-kabiiru al-waasi’u jadiidun (The big large house is new ), atau Rumah yang besar (lagi) luas itu baru. Terlihat disini besar (big) dan luas (large) adalah sifat dari rumah itu, dan keduanya adalah masih bagian dari mubtada’. Sedangkan khobarnya adalah jadiidun (baru).
- Jika setelah mubtada (yang ada al-nya) ada kata benda yang tidak ada al-nya, maka itulah khobarnya. Dalam contoh diatas, kata jadiidun (baru) tidak ada al-nya, maka dapat diindikasikan kata jadiidun adalah khobar.
Ingat, jika sebuah kalimat sudah ada mubtada’ dan khobarnya maka, itu disebut kalimat sempurna.
Demikian, mudah-mudahan jelas ya. Sebagai penutup, saya sampaikan bahwa khobar-pun dapat terdiri dari lebih dari satu kata. Contoh sebelumnya khobar hanya satu kata, yaitu jadiidun. Dalam Al-Quran kadang-kadang khobar itu terdiri dari 2 kata benda.
Contoh dalam surat Al-Baqarah ayat 115.
إن الله واسعٌ عليمٌ – inna Allaha waasi’un ‘aliimun : sesungguhnya Allah Maha Luas (rahmatNya) lagi Maha Mengetahui.
Lihat kalimat diatas, jika inna saya buang maka menjadi:
اللهُ واسعٌ عليمٌ – Allahu waasi’un ‘aliimun : Allah Maha Luas (rahmatNya) lagi Maha Mengetahui.
Perhatikan, bahwa struktur kalimatnya:
Mubtada: Allahu
Khobar: waasi’un ‘aliimun
Khobarnya terdiri dari dua kata benda. Kita bisa lanjutkan menambahkan kata benda (yang merupakan sifat dari Mubtada) dengan tambahan lain misalkan: Allahu waasi’un ‘aliimun rahiimun rahmaanun dst (dimana mubtada'-nya Allahu, dan sisanya adalah khobar).
Jelaslah sekarang, bahwa kepandaian menentukan mana khobar, mana mubtada’ akan membantu kita dalam menerjemahkan text Al-Quran, khususnya yang berkaitan dengan inna dan kaana. Insya Allah akan kita jelaskan mengenai khobar muqoddam, pada topik-topik selanjutnya.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Fieldwork post I
Hello everybody! I am alive and well in Tabelbala, speaking "Korandje" ([kwɑ́:ṛɑ-n-dʒji], probably /kwaṛa-n-dzyəy/) on a regular basis and writing down vast numbers of obscure words enthusiastically volunteered by the more fluent older generation of speakers, while trying to figure out grammatical issues from natural speech overheard or addressed to me and from occasional elicitation when I can find someone who will put up with it. I've filled a notebook of more than two hundred pages with notes already, but I've done only a very small amount of recording, which has so far proven harder to negotiate.
The people here are incredibly hospitable, and the area remarkable for its beauty - an oasis of gardens (ləmbyu) and irrigation canals (tsirgyanən) between the mountain (aḍṛa) and the erg (amrər). However, it is remarkably isolated, connected to the outside world (and the nearest towns are a very long way away) by only a single road and a single telephone line, which has not been conducive to job creation; there is talk of a second road to Adrar, which might help. Its inherent touristic potential, which some here are keen on expanding, is difficult to realise in the absence of any hotels.
The language is clearly endangered. People from about 30 and up speak it routinely (though all speakers appear to speak dialectal Arabic to native standard), but most younger speakers seem to have a primarily passive knowledge of the language, always answering in Arabic or struggling to find even basic vocabulary, though this is more true of some families than others. Most people I've spent time talking with have been keen on the idea of reviving its fortunes, or even teaching it in school "like Kabyle", but some have been rather more negative, dismissing it as not a proper language and of no use.
There's some very interesting stuff going on in the language, including what I take to be a sound shift in progress of affricated [kç] (the sound that Cancel wrote as <χ>) to affricated [ts] (of which speakers are well aware.) Cancel's <th>, incidentally, is itself [ts]. The tense/aspect/mood system has been reworked much more radically than existing materials indicated, with a past copula (also used for what I so far interpret as a past progressive) ga showing up before personal agreement rather than, like aspect and mood markers, after. The phonology is complex: tone and most vowel contrasts have definitely been lost, but a lot of emphatics have been gained, including such unusual sounds as affricated [ṭṣ]. Vowels reduced to schwa, and lost coda r's, reappear in verbs when you add a 3rd person direct object pronoun "clitic" (but not when you add a 3rd person indirect object one.) The language has a specialised focus marker, which interacts interestingly with subject person/number markers. The vocabulary is of major interest in its own right for what it has to say about the history of this part of the Sahara. It defies any simple effort to pin down the immediate source of the agricultural technologies that have allowed the Belbalis to survive and flourish here: "palm" is Songhay kungu, but "date" Berber tsini; a foggara is Songhay bəng-bini as long as it stays underground, but Berber tsargya once it emerges.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Islamist Member of Parliament visits AUK
The American University in Kuwait is viewed as a bastion of liberalism that attracts the most liberal-minded and the children of some of the wealthiest Kuwaitis. There you will find male and female students sporting the latest styles at what seems to be almost any expense. Thus, when Kuwait’s probably most well-known conservative Islamist Member of Parliament, Dr. Walid Tabtabaie, came to AUK on Sunday, 4 Nov, to speak about the Kuwaiti constitution on the pretense of a lecture entitled “Serving the Community,” it was a surprise to many.
Dr. Tabtabaie seems to be a young looking man in his forties. He sports a jet black beard and noticeably short dishdasha (the white dress of local men), both signs of a strict fundamentalist or literal understanding of Islam. He received his PhD in Islamic Law from Al-Azhar University in Cairo, the leading bastion of Sunni Islam education. Al-Azhar has been in operation for a little over a thousand years but ironically it started out as a Shi’ite institution under the Fatimids.
The session started out politely with an explanation of the verities and virtues of the Kuwaiti constitution. But after Tabtabaie had finished his talk, the session was opened to the real and unofficial topic of discussion which was the lack of exercise of personal freedoms such as freedom of press, the view that women should not be playing football, and the preoccupation with separating boys and girls in universities and schools. Students were allowed to ask questions and I was surprised by the number that were out-spoken. There was especially one student who seemed to give his own speech in railing against the state for I think the detention of two journalists recently before asking his question. The problem of listening to conversations in Arabic is that I understand the main point but don’t often pick up on the details.
It was certainly an interesting session and an illustration of the main tension in the Middle East, tradition versus modernity which in this case was played out by the actors of Islam and liberalism.
There were a few questions to Tabtabaie about why women shouldn’t be playing football by some of the AUK female players as he is against that. It came to the point where he said that his reasoning was because women’s uniforms was too light, meaning that it was too revealing, and that that was simply his opinion.
But the most interesting scene was at the end when the organizer of the session shared that her favorite section of the constitution was freedom of thought or belief at which one point someone commented how can that be when the parliament wants to limit people's freedom, with the example given of Tabtabaie’s opinion that women playing football is immoral. Then Tabtabaie asked for the constitution, turn a few pages and read the section that stated that the state of Kuwait is based on Islam and Sharia which he explained meant freedom of thought was bound within that stricture. It was a nice encapsulation of the tension in Kuwaiti and Arab society between tradition and progress, religion and modernity.
Dr. Tabtabaie seems to be a young looking man in his forties. He sports a jet black beard and noticeably short dishdasha (the white dress of local men), both signs of a strict fundamentalist or literal understanding of Islam. He received his PhD in Islamic Law from Al-Azhar University in Cairo, the leading bastion of Sunni Islam education. Al-Azhar has been in operation for a little over a thousand years but ironically it started out as a Shi’ite institution under the Fatimids.
The session started out politely with an explanation of the verities and virtues of the Kuwaiti constitution. But after Tabtabaie had finished his talk, the session was opened to the real and unofficial topic of discussion which was the lack of exercise of personal freedoms such as freedom of press, the view that women should not be playing football, and the preoccupation with separating boys and girls in universities and schools. Students were allowed to ask questions and I was surprised by the number that were out-spoken. There was especially one student who seemed to give his own speech in railing against the state for I think the detention of two journalists recently before asking his question. The problem of listening to conversations in Arabic is that I understand the main point but don’t often pick up on the details.
It was certainly an interesting session and an illustration of the main tension in the Middle East, tradition versus modernity which in this case was played out by the actors of Islam and liberalism.
There were a few questions to Tabtabaie about why women shouldn’t be playing football by some of the AUK female players as he is against that. It came to the point where he said that his reasoning was because women’s uniforms was too light, meaning that it was too revealing, and that that was simply his opinion.
But the most interesting scene was at the end when the organizer of the session shared that her favorite section of the constitution was freedom of thought or belief at which one point someone commented how can that be when the parliament wants to limit people's freedom, with the example given of Tabtabaie’s opinion that women playing football is immoral. Then Tabtabaie asked for the constitution, turn a few pages and read the section that stated that the state of Kuwait is based on Islam and Sharia which he explained meant freedom of thought was bound within that stricture. It was a nice encapsulation of the tension in Kuwaiti and Arab society between tradition and progress, religion and modernity.
The Persian Gulf and the Environment
I recently just watched the documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” by Al Gore and found it quite moving and well-produced. He brings together various pieces of evidences for global warming into a stunning and compelling presentation. As a Fulbrighter living in Kuwait, I wonder if the message of the film, that global warming is a serious and real phenomenon that requires immediate attention, is understood by the people of the Gulf Arab states.
I remember being shocked and appalled by the blatant wasteful consumerism when first arriving to Kuwait. I think it would be safe to say that just by observing the types of cars on the roads that Kuwaitis have any other country beat for the highest per capita ownership of Hummers. It is disgraceful and quite frankly revolting that the people in the Gulf in general wastefully spend their money to the detriment of the environment at this critical hour on large, bulky vehicles that are unnecessary and consume large amounts of gas. Yes, gasoline is cheap in the Gulf, but that should not be an excuse to buy a Hummer or SUV. In Syria, a much poorer country where I was studying Arabic, I was told there were only 4 Hummers in the entire city of 6 million whereas in Kuwait with a population of 3 million you will see just driving through the streets on a normal day at least 4 hummers.
While most of the pollution contributing to global warming is undoubtedly from the US, the recent development in the Middle East means that this region in the future will have a larger share in the pollution as new high rise buildings and luxury hotels are built, more cars are added to the streets, and new desalination and power plants are built to run the redeveloped and expanded cities. Indeed, already global warming has had its effects in Kuwait. When my mother was growing up in Kuwait 50 years ago, the weather was much cooler and some people used to sleep on the roofs of their houses in the summer. However today, average temperatures are higher during the day and evening so that it would not be as comfortable sleeping outside on a summer night. I read that average temperatures in May this year were the highest on record.
It does not surprise me considering how much heat is being produced by the power and desalination plants, the AC units and cars. I remember standing in a building overlooking a desalination plant and noticed that so much heat was coming out of one of the exhaust towers which I could tell from the air above it that was superheated giving a hazy, blurry image when looking at it. Additionally, because power is so cheap in Kuwait due to government subsidization, some homes and buildings are so cooled in summer that it is cold inside and require the wearing of a light jacket when temperatures outside are between 45-50C. Thus, due to the wasteful use of electricity on AC, Kuwait has experienced brownouts and this summer the government organized a massive campaign to make people aware to conserve electricity. There were electric meters displayed during programs on TV indicating the percentage of output being consumed and signs along the streets, especially very large ones on the way to the airport, reminding people to conserve electricity and lower the AC and turn off the lights before traveling.
It seems Arabs are unaware of the seriousness of global warming. The marine ecosystems of the Gulf have already been ravaged and coral communities destroyed. Diving in one particular area I saw a sea of sea urchins that had destroyed the coral in the area. Additionally, in speaking to a professor in Bahrain focusing on the marine life, he frankly stated that financial interests grossly outweigh a desire to preserve and protect environment. Hence the leaders of the Gulf countries are so quick to reclaim land such as for new business and luxury housing developments in Bahrain and the Emirates.
It’s safe to say that the people here and in other Arab countries rarely think about environmental interests. I wonder if they are simply are not conscious of it. People are so easy to throw their refuse into the streets. In Damascus and Aleppo when I went to sightseeing points to take in city views, there were piles of trash below where people would sit. I remember clearly in Aleppo a group of two or three adolescent girls sitting to the right of where I was standing throwing their empty soda cans and a plastic bag of trash on to the slight drop off in front of them. I do not understand why there such little respect among Arabs for the environment. Why is it so difficult for them to throw their trash in marked receptacles?
In Kuwait, the lack of car for the environment is on display when one goes to some of the beaches. One can often find plastic bags, bottles, cans, batteries, and once I found a small piece of carpet. Even when I went on a boating trip to a popular island of the mainland were there numerous clearly marked receptacles not far from the beach, I still found refuse along the beach and floating in the water. It seems it was too inconvenient for the Kuwaitis to gather their refuse and walk the 10 meters to deposit it in the waste bin. Such is the environmental degradation and apathy that I no longer desire to go to the beaches in Kuwait and witness their spoilage. Of course there are private, well-kept beaches but they are not as easy to access. Additionally, what is ironic is that a Kuwaiti I spoke with working as a director in one of the government departments tasked with monitoring fishing noted that Kuwaitis when they travel to Europe are aware of the rules against littering and abide them whereas the same person is more likely to litter in their country when they return home.
Another sign that today’s Gulf Arab leaders do not give sufficient consideration to the environment is the wasteful manner in which they spend their resources. Take for example the Emirates. The emirate of Dubai already has a large, established international airline. However, the rulers of neighboring emirates felt the need to start their own airlines to spur economic growth in their emirates which is understandable since you want airlines to bring tourists. Yet wouldn’t a much cheaper, more effective, and environmentally friendly solution be to develop high speed rail service between the major cities of the emirates. After all, when Dubai is only a 20 min drive to Sharjah, an hour drive to Abu Dhabi, and a 45 min drive to Ras Al-Khaimah, a high speed rail service connecting Dubai’s airport with the other emirates would be the ideal and practical solution rather than to have a country with 4 national airlines. While Dubai established Emirates Airways in 1985, Abu Dhabi started Etihad airways in 2003, Air Arabia was founded in Sharjah in 2003, and Ras Al-Khaimah’s RAK Airways is set to launch later this year.
Does a country as small as the Emirates with a population of 4.5-5 million people in real need of 4 airlines based in 4 separate emirates with the associated redundancy in infrastructure (i.e. airports) needed to support them? Is it greed that is driving the leaders of the emirates to establish unnecessary airlines while a rail system would be just as sufficient and with the added benefit of reducing traffic on the Emirates jammed roads, a growing problem?
I hope that the next generation of Gulf Arabs will be more conscious in their planning and preservation of the environment and not succumb to greed and materialism for the Earth is groaning under the oppression of the negligent and unconcsious.
I remember being shocked and appalled by the blatant wasteful consumerism when first arriving to Kuwait. I think it would be safe to say that just by observing the types of cars on the roads that Kuwaitis have any other country beat for the highest per capita ownership of Hummers. It is disgraceful and quite frankly revolting that the people in the Gulf in general wastefully spend their money to the detriment of the environment at this critical hour on large, bulky vehicles that are unnecessary and consume large amounts of gas. Yes, gasoline is cheap in the Gulf, but that should not be an excuse to buy a Hummer or SUV. In Syria, a much poorer country where I was studying Arabic, I was told there were only 4 Hummers in the entire city of 6 million whereas in Kuwait with a population of 3 million you will see just driving through the streets on a normal day at least 4 hummers.
While most of the pollution contributing to global warming is undoubtedly from the US, the recent development in the Middle East means that this region in the future will have a larger share in the pollution as new high rise buildings and luxury hotels are built, more cars are added to the streets, and new desalination and power plants are built to run the redeveloped and expanded cities. Indeed, already global warming has had its effects in Kuwait. When my mother was growing up in Kuwait 50 years ago, the weather was much cooler and some people used to sleep on the roofs of their houses in the summer. However today, average temperatures are higher during the day and evening so that it would not be as comfortable sleeping outside on a summer night. I read that average temperatures in May this year were the highest on record.
It does not surprise me considering how much heat is being produced by the power and desalination plants, the AC units and cars. I remember standing in a building overlooking a desalination plant and noticed that so much heat was coming out of one of the exhaust towers which I could tell from the air above it that was superheated giving a hazy, blurry image when looking at it. Additionally, because power is so cheap in Kuwait due to government subsidization, some homes and buildings are so cooled in summer that it is cold inside and require the wearing of a light jacket when temperatures outside are between 45-50C. Thus, due to the wasteful use of electricity on AC, Kuwait has experienced brownouts and this summer the government organized a massive campaign to make people aware to conserve electricity. There were electric meters displayed during programs on TV indicating the percentage of output being consumed and signs along the streets, especially very large ones on the way to the airport, reminding people to conserve electricity and lower the AC and turn off the lights before traveling.
It seems Arabs are unaware of the seriousness of global warming. The marine ecosystems of the Gulf have already been ravaged and coral communities destroyed. Diving in one particular area I saw a sea of sea urchins that had destroyed the coral in the area. Additionally, in speaking to a professor in Bahrain focusing on the marine life, he frankly stated that financial interests grossly outweigh a desire to preserve and protect environment. Hence the leaders of the Gulf countries are so quick to reclaim land such as for new business and luxury housing developments in Bahrain and the Emirates.
It’s safe to say that the people here and in other Arab countries rarely think about environmental interests. I wonder if they are simply are not conscious of it. People are so easy to throw their refuse into the streets. In Damascus and Aleppo when I went to sightseeing points to take in city views, there were piles of trash below where people would sit. I remember clearly in Aleppo a group of two or three adolescent girls sitting to the right of where I was standing throwing their empty soda cans and a plastic bag of trash on to the slight drop off in front of them. I do not understand why there such little respect among Arabs for the environment. Why is it so difficult for them to throw their trash in marked receptacles?
In Kuwait, the lack of car for the environment is on display when one goes to some of the beaches. One can often find plastic bags, bottles, cans, batteries, and once I found a small piece of carpet. Even when I went on a boating trip to a popular island of the mainland were there numerous clearly marked receptacles not far from the beach, I still found refuse along the beach and floating in the water. It seems it was too inconvenient for the Kuwaitis to gather their refuse and walk the 10 meters to deposit it in the waste bin. Such is the environmental degradation and apathy that I no longer desire to go to the beaches in Kuwait and witness their spoilage. Of course there are private, well-kept beaches but they are not as easy to access. Additionally, what is ironic is that a Kuwaiti I spoke with working as a director in one of the government departments tasked with monitoring fishing noted that Kuwaitis when they travel to Europe are aware of the rules against littering and abide them whereas the same person is more likely to litter in their country when they return home.
Another sign that today’s Gulf Arab leaders do not give sufficient consideration to the environment is the wasteful manner in which they spend their resources. Take for example the Emirates. The emirate of Dubai already has a large, established international airline. However, the rulers of neighboring emirates felt the need to start their own airlines to spur economic growth in their emirates which is understandable since you want airlines to bring tourists. Yet wouldn’t a much cheaper, more effective, and environmentally friendly solution be to develop high speed rail service between the major cities of the emirates. After all, when Dubai is only a 20 min drive to Sharjah, an hour drive to Abu Dhabi, and a 45 min drive to Ras Al-Khaimah, a high speed rail service connecting Dubai’s airport with the other emirates would be the ideal and practical solution rather than to have a country with 4 national airlines. While Dubai established Emirates Airways in 1985, Abu Dhabi started Etihad airways in 2003, Air Arabia was founded in Sharjah in 2003, and Ras Al-Khaimah’s RAK Airways is set to launch later this year.
Does a country as small as the Emirates with a population of 4.5-5 million people in real need of 4 airlines based in 4 separate emirates with the associated redundancy in infrastructure (i.e. airports) needed to support them? Is it greed that is driving the leaders of the emirates to establish unnecessary airlines while a rail system would be just as sufficient and with the added benefit of reducing traffic on the Emirates jammed roads, a growing problem?
I hope that the next generation of Gulf Arabs will be more conscious in their planning and preservation of the environment and not succumb to greed and materialism for the Earth is groaning under the oppression of the negligent and unconcsious.
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