Women Driving

This refers to Samir Al-Saadi’s report, “Women Driving Is Not in Conflict With Religion: Scholars” (Feb. 21), quoting the opinion of many prominent Muslim scholars who hold that Islam does not forbid women from driving.

I have followed the debate in which the most frequently advanced argument is that it is a human rights issue.

However, I honestly feel that it is not that. It is not a human rights issue, but an issue of cultural preservation. I feel that culture would not be what it is today, if Saudi Arabia had dropped everything and ran to follow the global landslide of monetary wealth over set spiritual goals. Of course, my husband doesn’t have a driver’s license, and hasn’t had one for 17 years. I do all the driving, and honestly feel like it wouldn’t have been safe any other way. But, I am a unique case, as I am sure are others. In America there is a hardship license, which you can apply for through the courts. You can go to work and return. Or whatever the court appointed task is.

Elizabeth Lynn Cadle, United States published 2 March 2008

Women Driving [2]

Saudi scholars assert that there is nothing in Islam that makes driving forbidden for women.

So, the reason is something else: They cannot drive because the men there cannot behave with dignity and respect. It is an abomination. If the problem truly is Saudi men unable to act civilized, then perhaps they should be the ones punished by having their freedom to get around curtailed. Keep them off the roads!

Really, I find it absolutely appalling that some of your own religious figures cite this as one of the main reasons women in your country are denied the basic freedom to get around by car without a driver. Elsewhere in your publication you have writers complaining that Westerners criticize Arab men’s treatment of women. Yet in this article, it is your own authorities highlighting the behavior of your men.

Rebecca Busch Adams, United States published 2 March 2008

Women Driving [2]

Saudi scholars assert that there is nothing in Islam that makes driving forbidden for women.

So, the reason is something else: They cannot drive because the men there cannot behave with dignity and respect. It is an abomination. If the problem truly is Saudi men unable to act civilized, then perhaps they should be the ones punished by having their freedom to get around curtailed. Keep them off the roads!

Really, I find it absolutely appalling that some of your own religious figures cite this as one of the main reasons women in your country are denied the basic freedom to get around by car without a driver. Elsewhere in your publication you have writers complaining that Westerners criticize Arab men’s treatment of women. Yet in this article, it is your own authorities highlighting the behavior of your men.

Rebecca Busch Adams, United States published 2 March 2008

Presidential Candidates

We do not know yet how much Barack Obama can deliver. Promises are not enough. We need a president who can sort out the Iraq mess, solve the issue of illegal immigrants, formulate a foreign policy that will regain the American image, develop a caring health care system, and outline economic polices that will create jobs and make life easier.

Obama speaks about change, but he has to come out with details. Hillary Clinton cannot run even her own campaign, let alone the country. John McCain, from the Republican Party whose battle standard is respect for family values, is now caught up in a lobbyist-related scandal. It is unfortunate that this great country with great brains could not produce a candidate better than these three people.

Riaz Wahid, Jersey City, US published 2 March 2008

Buried in Paper

It was very enlightening to read in your recent report “Maid’s Family Paid Blood Money 24 Years After Fatal Accident” that the case was pursued and that the “blood money” was finally paid to the relatives of the maid. I applaud Al-Qhatani for being noble enough to pay his debt to the family even after 24 years. Many thanks to the interpreter for being diligent enough to locate these “buried” documents that allowed the courts to act on the case. It appears to me that the traffic courts need to take a hard look at their filing procedures and catch up with modern technology.

Stephen Mature, Riyadh published 2 March 2008

Musharraf

The orchestrated calls from interested quarters that President Pervez Musharraf should resign because the opposition parties have won the recent election in Pakistan is wrong. It is essential in the present circumstances for Musharraf to stay on. He was elected for five years and nothing has happened to invalidate that mandate. We should follow the constitution on this. Further, there needs to be checks and balances in any system. We cannot trust the Pakistan People’s Party or the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) as their record is not one that inspires trust or confidence, even though Asif Ali Zardari, leader of the biggest party in the National Assembly, is saying all the right things.

It seems Nawaz Sharif has learned nothing. He is into the politics of revenge and confrontation, which was always his normal style of politics. The political stunt of forming a coalition with the PPP is designed only to get rid of Musharraf.

Political parties would get on with the job of governing the country if they were at all capable of doing so, and would leave all else in place while working within the system. They should concentrate on the country’s development and people’s problems — not politics. Nawaz Sharif, despite getting a huge majority last time, accomplished nothing. He showed no respect to the norms of democracy or constitutional institutions. He totally ignored the National Assembly and used his “kitchen cabinet” of loyal supporters of mostly Kashmiri origin to make decisions. This is the same man who froze the assets of the ordinary people of Pakistan in the name of preserving foreign exchange reserves, while his own supporters were able to get their money out of the country overnight.

Zafar Raja, London published 2 March 2008

Obama's Middle Name

The name Hussein (also spelt Hussain, Husain, Hossein etc.) is about as ordinary and common overseas as the name Johnson or Jones is in North America. There are probably hundreds of millions of us "Husseins" out there across the globe and many of us are right here in the good ol’ US of A.

Law abiding, productive and patriotic US citizens working alongside our fellow Americans who do not see our name as “taboo” nor view us as potential “security threats”. Our origins range from Africa to South Asia, from the Middle East to Malaysia. While most of us are Muslims, Shiite and Sunni, many of us, like Barack “Hussein” Obama, happen to have inherited the name from our forefathers and may have no connection with anything Arab or Islamic. We share our name, which means good or handsome, with heroes like Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, who defied tyrannical rule and was martyred as a result, and the late King Hussein of Jordan, the best Arab ally the US ever had, to villains like Saddam who was the antithesis of all that the name stands for. So let’s put things in perspective here, lest the scare tactics of the professional fear-mongers rule the day in this great nation of otherwise good, fair-minded and reasonable people!

Saif Hussain, Los Angeles, published 2 March 2008

Farmers’ Suicide

Apart from loans, farmers worry about the middle men, the private money lenders and seasonal abnormalities. These are the reasons of farmers’ suicide.

The government should try to eliminate or mend these difficulties. Another important factor is that our farmers are not aware of the importance of life. Why suicide?

They are under the wrong impression that if they kill themselves they will be free from worries. A man who commits suicide becomes more worried and helpless. He will face the wrath of Almighty who is the real owner of life. Man has no authority to end his life.

Abdul Hameed Maqdoomi published 2 March 2008

Musharraf [2]

Those who think that Pakistan can get rid of Pervez Musharraf by asking him to “step aside” do not know the man. A man who — after swearing on the Qur’an to protect the nation’s constitution and obey its civil administration tramples on that document — banishes popularly-mandated leaders and enslaves a sovereign people, while drawing his sustenance from the tax money of the same people, is not one who will be bothered by the niceties of civil behavior or the finer points of law. He will have to be kicked out, and then tried for theft — stealing a nation from its people. He was hired to guard the gates of the Pakistani mansion, not to occupy the master bedroom. That was treason.

The National Assembly must impeach him and make an example of him so that another military general would not be tempted to do another “rescue act.”

Rehmat Ali, Jeddah published 2 March 2008

Musharraf [3]

There is no need to make the election results a mandate to hound President Musharraf out of office. “Whoever wins the polls, as president of Pakistan, I will function with them in a totally harmonious manner,” he said before the polls. Nawaz Sharif’s Muslim League and the PPP do not trust Musharraf. But they will have to do their homework again, because Musharraf retains power to dissolve the government. The army led by Gen. Kyani is loyal to the president and therefore, the talked-about impeachment of the president is nothing but daydreaming. The reinstatement of the fired judges would be a personal triumph for Musharraf, as he has made it clear that he would work totally in a harmonious manner.

Most see in Musharraf a man of courage and action, and a master in timing. Operation Silence — the storming of Lal Masjid in Islamabad in July 2007 — proved beyond doubt that he moves with courage. It still remains a glittering feather in his cap. One may attribute the rout of religious parties in the North West Frontier Province to his farsightedness.

An analytical look at the election results show that three provinces — Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan — will be ruled by four different parties, while the National Assembly will have a coalition government with the PPP set to have its prime minister. A coalition government has its own curses and weaknesses. Whether it will take on Musharraf remains a riddle.

N.A. Mirza, Jeddah published 2 March 2008

Please-All Budget

The appeasing nature of the Indian national budget, revealed by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram yesterday smacks of compromises and resembles a patchwork quilt. It is a widely accepted notion that in an election year, all that matters is “making people happy.” But just when the Indian economy is on track for yet another 8 to 9 percent growth, this “please all” effort could well stall the economic juggernaut. Also, it is not a given that the masses would accept the sops offered by the minister Chidambaram and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and vote them back to power.

Arvind Aiyer, Muscat, Oman published 2 March 2008