Excellent discussion was generated from the previous post regarding superstar. We had two different point of views, and generally it was a respectful argument, which is always the best result you can have, it opens minds and makes people think more.

Anyway, this post is more about my beliefs, so people can understand my point of view about things better. To the people who did not agree with me (who I have the utmost respect for their civilized discussioms), I think we have to agree to disagree! U obviously have strong beliefs in one side, and I have strong beliefs on the other side. U might be a religious person, and I am obviously not. I respect that, and I respect the fact that you actually continue in a discussion regarding religion, unlike most other religious people I know, who believe they are right, and the billions who are not muslims around the world are not and will go to hell and there is no point in listening! I believe in the right to practice any belief u have, whether it was Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, or even if u pray for cats, as long as you make it a connection between you and ur god only! Trying to convince people that ur way is the right way is perfectly normal, its actually healthy for a society, but forcing people is not, which unfortunately many people do these days! By forcing I dont just mean by power, I also mean by brainwashing with poticized ideologies, by altering interpretations for their own benefit on the back of religion, and by abusing the rights of others to believe what they want!

In a nutshell, to me, Kuwait comes before everything else, including religion! To many people, that is the case, but recently, most people seem to put religion before everything else, which is, again, their right to chose to do so! I am against forcing their opinion, and I dont force mine, I just state what I believe in, hoping that this may change the way some people look at things.

When the country is put before everything else, people will concentrate on things like science, technology, and the advancement of your country and society. When a whole country puts religion before something else, people are busy with trying to go to heaven 3ala 7saab the country! you get issues such as is makeup 7aram or 7alal, is libs niqaab biljam3a right or wrong, does star academy coming to kuwait mean the end of all morals, and so on….! Trivial issues such as these become our main obstacle, and it goes all the way from kids talking about it in school to the parliaments questioning it and making full use of their time as sul6a tashree3iya!! Our whole system is lagging, and it is the same with every other country in the world that makes religion a priority above everything!

Give me one positive contribution an Islamic country has given to the world in the past 50 years! And please remember I am not talking about Islam because its a religion and saying that it is the reason, Im saying the way people use it is the reason! Islam, and all religions are beautiful spiritual belief systems that organize civilizations, they set the basic rules of life in a sense! But the blindness of many people in the world to everything else is whats killing us! Going back to my question, give me one positive contribution in the past 50 years…..NOTHING! Personally, I would say Um Kalthoum, but even that is 7aram.

Other nations are zooming past us, and stepping over us currently as a result! As you are reading this, look around you, what hasnt been made in the US, Europe, or Asia?? These countries have put a plan in front of them, and focused on the advancement of their country and their people ahead of everything else, while at the same time, respecting each person’s right to believe in what they want without any problems!

Kuwait was by far the leader of the region in every sense back in the 60 and 70, and maybe early 80’s, and we always had respected religious figures who were there t help, we even had Kuwaitis who were Jewish living among us, and we still have Kuwaiti Christians living among us now. But everyone shared one goal, to make Kuwait a better place. Since the Islamic revolution in Iran, and the trickle down effect, and then after the invasion, with the increased Islamists political gains, our country has absolutely stalled! Our focus has shifted away from Kuwait.

To end this post, let me just state the following: I once asked a very highly educated person who belongs to Alikhwan movement, “would you fight against Kuwait if Jihad was called against the country by religious figures?” the answer was a confident, “Of course!” What can be said after this?