كلمات منواضعة لأحد الشعراء بمناسبة عيد الام نتمى أن تنال إعجابكم
تاه فكري في غيابٍ يشــتدي قد حواه فكر ليلٍ ســرمـدي
غرس الله حب أمي مـنـذ أن صـحت أماه فقلتِ ولـــدي
أنـت رَوضٌ من جنان الله بـل أنـت رَوحٌ لارتيـاحٍ أفــودي
أنت أم لا كـأي الأمــهات أنـت نبع لحــنانٍ أمـــدي
مثل صوت الموج يرنو بالخلـود أنت لحــنٌ في هواه الأبــدي
و رضاك بـات فوز بالجنــان بل سبيل فيه نـور يهـــتدي
وطنٌ أنـت لقـلـب حـسبه شوق لقياك و قـرب الموعــدِ
عدّدِ قطـراً لـدمعٍ هـامـلٍ منذ أن قـال وداعــا عــدّدِ
و احصدِ نبضاً لشوقٍ خافـقٍ بالمنى يهـفو بصـبرٍ فاحــصدِ
فوحيد رغم حشـد بالألـوف صـار قلبي لون حزن يرتــدي
ليتني كنـت ترابا قـد نُـشر تحت رجـليكِ و روحي أفتـدي
فاعذريني إن أطـلت بالغيـاب طلب العلم جهــاد الصـامدي
ليـس لي إلا بشعري مقـصدا فغريبٌ في الغــياب الأبعـدي
ليس عيــد الأم يـومٌ ينفني عيدك أمسي و يومـي و غـدي
حفظ الله قلـب أمي و عـفا كلَّ ذنبٍ عنهـا يوم المـشهـدِ
Author Archives: bo3azez
Ten Reasons To Study Away From Kuwait
Here are the top ten reasons one should continue their higher education outside of Kuwait… here we go:
10- Learn a new language- because English is not optional these days.
9- Learn how to cook- because at one point or another, you’ll get sick of pizza, and Chinese food.
8- Multinational friendships – because you’ll end up doing a presentation with a guy from Spain one day.
7- Watch Lost (and primetime TV) on time- because you won’t have to wait to download it (illegally) the next day.
6- Learn the value of a dollar (pound/dinar) – because you pay the rent and bills
5- Living in a foreign culture- because it will make you find the positives in your own culture.
4- Signing you’re rent check- because it will make you feel like you’re finally independent.
3- Be your own man (woman) – because you make ALL the decisions now.
2- Great education- because, lets face it, what we have in Kuwait isn’t all that great.
1- You’re not in Kuwait- because we all need to see things from a different perspective every once in a while.
Controversy by 4th Ring Road
Everybody who’s ever set foot in Kuwait knows that there is a certain infamous building by fourth ring road. This place is known for having a few “small signs” hanged up in an obvious manner for all those who drive by to see.
You simply can’t miss it… it is situated right on two of the most crowded highways in the country.
(No extra description is needed as I’m sure most people know what I’m talking about).
I, like many others, am not sure what the point of those signs is.
Has the faith of people become so faint that they actually need to be so extravagant about it?
I’m not trying to point fingers here, but let us see the result of these sign:
1- Controversy
Anything else? What point or idea has this person expressed by putting up these signs? What good has it added to our community?
The economic and political world is at crisis. Kuwait is a small country that derives its strength from the fact that its people treat each other like brothers and sisters…
The last time we were divided, we got invaded… let us not forget our history.
Those signs by fourth ring are nothing but a torch flaming arguments and controversy that we all could do without.
When will we learn that sometimes expression of ideas and beliefs does not need to be so obnoxiously irresponsible?
When will we learn that our country needs a nation united under patriotism, and not divided by hatred?
When will we learn that personal emotion and blunt expression of opinion will always get in the way of strengthening our nation?
When will we learn that divided we fall, and united we truly stand?
Ten Signs You’re Kuwaiti
10- The only sport you like is football (soccer).
9- You never bought an “Original” software, game, or CD.
8- You’ve seen every movie showing in the cinema for any certain week.
7- You celebrate everything by eating out. (The bigger the celebration, the more expensive the food)
6- You JUST woke up and it’s 7:30 pm.
5- You order food at 3 in the morning.
4- You’ve changed your cell phone at least three times in the last week.
3- “There are games OTHER than Winning Eleven?!”
2- You’re on Facebook 24/7 but have no idea who Mark Zuckerberg is.
1- You disagree with every –single- thing on this list.
Not true? Give us your opinion then.
“777: This is an emergency!”
The 25th / 26th of February are special days for Kuwaitis: they are Kuwait’s National holidays of independence and freedom.
But lately it seems that the way to celebrate the freedom of our culture is to completely abandon tradition.
On these particular two day (25- 26) Kuwaitis (the youth in particular) celebrate the holiday by clogging up the streets, playing excruciatingly bad (and loud) music, and getting out of their cars in the middle of the street to do what I can only assume as retarded dancing, while harassing innocent bystanders.
These methods of celebrations cause immense havoc and congestion on most highways in Kuwait. I personally have never taken part in them…
But I was stuck in one of these “parades” once…
After and hour of being stuck in one spot on the street, I decided to do the only thing I can: call 777 (The “911” of Kuwait).
“This is the emergency hotline, please state your emergency.”
I thought a few seconds out what I wanted to say… I wanted to say, “You should get here quickly… tradition and culture are being stabbed in the back! Religion is being run over! The meaning of patriotism is kidnapped and abandoned! You better get here fast because these people have no shame… they have absolutely and completely forgotten what this great country had stood, and will always stand for… Please hurry up and save this nation!”
Instead I told them to come down here to move traffic…
Because I knew there was really no one listening, and no one to save Kuwait.
The Joke That Is the AUK
Before people think I’m going on a senseless attack on this university, I’ll kindly remind readers that I have over seven or eight friends who attend the university (one of which is my brother).
I have always realized that the AUK lacked heavily in academics (right now I don’t want to go into the whole SMALL matter where their accreditation was revoked). However, I have always regarded the AUK as an institute that prides itself on having an American based managerial system and structure… something I have always respected.
Or so they claim…
A friend of mine has been applying to the AUK since SEPTEMBER… he had completed all the necessary paperwork for his admissions on a scholarship basis. This was confirmed numerous times by the university.
On the first day of class, he is told that he simply isn’t a student at the AUK because there are no records of his scholarship application.
Now whether this was my friend’s fault or not, the university still had an obligation to AT LEAST answers his questions honestly and fully. The AUK admissions office should embarrassed that a student can think he is enrolled at a scholarship basis, when he, because of their lack of concern, is not! It is absolutely outrageous, inexplicable, and simply embarrassing for this to happen to a so called educational institute!
I have another friend who applied to a small college in Ohio. THAT university actually called him from the STATES to tell him about his application and simply welcome him to their university and see if he had any concerns (which he later did have, and they couldn’t have been more understanding and helpful).
That’s the American University of Kuwait in the balance.
“Bad Bananas”: The Blog Epidemic
Blogs have become a norm of society. Whether you read one, write in one, or have once created one, you have in one way or another been affected by the blog phenomena.
As with any other competitive notion in life, blogs must have some sort of quality control if they were to succeed. There are, of course, a dozen other factors that affect the condition of any blog, but quality control (picking out the bad writers and posts from the good ones) is essential.
This blog seemed to have been following a pattern of well thought out and extremely diverse posts. Such was the main reason that I, in fact, agreed to write in this blog in the first place.
But then again…
Let me tell you about a farmer who went to the market place.
He bought a basket of, let’s say for example’s sake, bananas (!). He chose each banana carefully for the first few. When he got to the last banana, however, he put it in without taking a look at it, presuming that it was of the same quality as the others.
That was not the case. In fact, that last banana was a rotten one.
When the farmer got home, he took a look at his basket of bananas only to find that the whole batch of the fruit had become rotten as well!
Amazing what one bad “Banana” can do to a nice basket of fruit.
If this blog epidemic is to have any responsibility as it spreads without control, let that responsibility be… keeping away those bad bananas.
My vacation is over… I’m back.
Dreams of the Simple Man
Dreams are man’s salvation. And, really, what is life without a dream.
I hope that readers allow me today to burrow the words of a much more sophisticated writer than I; William Yeats, a Noble Prize winner for literature.
Here is what he had to say:
Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
Indeed… tread softly.
No words can add to such words.
The U.S. Elections: A Personal Reflection
Last night, I was witness to one of the most historic nights in the history of the United States, as the nation chose its first African American President.
I never did, and never will, support Obama; but that’s not to say I was pro-John McCain. I, in fact, didn’t care; as I was merely a bystander to all this, and my opinion was of minimal significance.
However, when I heard the news about America’s decision (both electoral and popular) I listened to Obama’s acceptance speech and couldn’t help but ponder his words on hope and opportunity.
Two years ago, I came to the U.S. to continue my higher education. That was the general motive. But I always knew deep inside that a good college was only part of the reason I am in the U.S. today; the main reason being my belief in the finding opportunity.
As a teenager from Kuwait, I had lost hope and faith in the Arab society to provide me with opportunities to make a difference in life. And the U.S. for me, and many others, was a plethora of opportunities for those who seek a pathway to success.
Again, I never have and never will be a pro-America when it comes to their politics and methods. But no one, not even the U.S.’s worst enemy, can deny it is one of the few places on earth where opportunity can truly be found.
Barack Obama personified that ideology. I hadn’t realized that Barack and I were seeking the same result: opportunity. He got his, and I’ll get mine.
Obama was indeed… “The audacity of hope”.
Of Scepticism and Doubt
“Faith- complete trust or confidence; belief without question”
That is how the Oxford English Dictionary defines “faith”.
Faith is far too significant a subject for me to summarize it in one article. So I’ll talk about the most important aspect of faith: doubt.
People find faith in different concepts throughout life; some find faith in friendships, others in marriage, science, tradition, values, principal, and, of course, God.
However, it seems that people grow to be offended by people directing scepticism towards their faith. “How can you believe in extraterrestrial life?” “How do justify your belief in evolution?”
People take offence because they feel that their faith is a protected right that has immunity from all doubt and questioning. None may intrude in faith territory as it is absolute to those who behold it.
I find this concept of “absolute faith immune to doubt and question” to be astonishingly paradoxical.
If one’s faith is as strong as to one feeling offended by doubt in such faith- if one’s faith is truly that strong- than shouldn’t one feel unconcerned by those questions? Shouldn’t one feel confident enough in their faith as to merely answer that question or even ignore it without taking offence?
Nay, I’ll take it a step further. I say let us question our faith! Let us doubt what we believe in! Let’s allow people to invade this overprotected territory and let them find scepticism in beliefs.
It’s by questioning our faith that we make it stronger.
If nothing, faith is the answer to questions. How else would faith have been found if it wasn’t for doubt in the first place?
The Simplicity of Evil
In writing this article I found myself indulging in several philosophical articles on theological perspectives, mainly atheism (Or those who claim to be “unsure and therefore uncertain thus unconcerned with God).
Here is the question: If God, who created everything and anything, is good and great, than why did he create evil? In other words: why is there evil in the world if God is good?
As a practicing Muslim I believe that God is indeed good, merciful, and compassionate. In fact, He has supremacy in all such “attributes”.
However, God is also fair. He gave us, humans, a brain with which to think and make our own choices. It is our ability to make choices that differentiates us from animals. God has made us special by granting us our freedom of decision.
Therefore, it is man who does evil. Man’s misuse of the privilege that God has given him is what leads to Man’s ultimate choice of ignoring the right (or good) decision.
What is evil? Evil is not the presence of a concept, but rather the absence of another: good. Darkness is merely the absence of light. One is NOT the opposite of the other, but rather a concept in its absence.
I’ll leave it to the reader to tie up the two points.
Sir Isaac Newton reminded us all that every action has a reaction, and evil is no exception. It triggers a reaction; a reaction that has the same force. Newton’s Law was called a law because it holds no fault in its conclusion. If you don’t believe in God, at least believe in Physics.
W.H. Auden wrote:
“I and the public know
What all schoolchildren learn,
Those to whom evil is done.
Do evil in return.”
Warning: Cigarettes Save Lives
I know of a friend who had an ironically extraordinary experience.
This friend that I talk about (let’s call him Dwight, for the lack of a better name) is an “occasional” smoker, as he likes to call himself- he averages a pack a day.
On one certain night, Dwight was out of cigarettes and felt the urge to smoke. He decided to take a walk down the road to buy a pack from the local store. After spending fifteen minutes or so, he got back, only to be shocked at the sight that was before him.
The apartment building in which he lived had caught a huge fire- specifically his floor; even more specifically his next door neighbor. It was a bad fire. Had Dwight been in the building in the particular time, he would have probably been in serious danger.
From that day on, Dwight decided to never quit smoking.
We live in a world full of “Dwights”. My point from this post is not to promote a bad habit which I am strongly against, no. It is rather to point out the illogical thinking that many people are taking on these days.
We have come to live in a world where the popular is followed blindly, faith is mocked openly, lives are taken cheaply, and actions are justified illogically.
Take a good look at this world and think… where has all the logic gone?
Jesus is my Savior
The value of words in our modern society has declined to next-to-nothing.
The increased mediums that one conveys their thoughts in, such as instant messaging, facebook, email, or chatting endlessly on the phone, have decreased the rarity of one’s use of words.
Let me try to be a little clearer. In past days, the way one reflected his thoughts was through speaking, writing a letter, or a through a piece of literature. Words were, relatively, scarce. But because of the superfluous ways in which we are able to express ourselves in words, hypocrisy has become more and more ‘apparent’, and therefore the weight and value of one’s words has declined greatly.
I know a person who has openly shared the fact the he partys (hard), enjoys the company of the opposite sex, and engages in long nights of meaningless acts of ‘youth’. I’ve no right to have a problem with that. After doing all those things, he logs in on facebook or msn messenger and writes in his status or nickname something that is in the lines of a religious declaration- a declaration of love for the Prophet and his Household- for God. And THAT angers me.
Maybe I’m off topic here… maybe I’m posting this out of anger and dismay…
But I really believe that before such hypocrites – whose words have no value whatsoever- can say something like Mohammad is my savior, or Imam Ali is my savior… I- a Muslim- have more right to say that…
Jesus is my savior.
قاتلتُ نفسي
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
اللهم صلي على محمد و على أل بيته الطيبين الطاهرين
…
ليس من العاده أن يخط قلمي أحرف عربيه في هذه المدونه,,, لكن بعد قراءتي لموضوع عزيزي الحاج الكاتب بو مشاري بعنوان “قرة عين رسول الله” آليت على نفسي إلا أن أعقب على هذا الموضوع اللذي تناساه الكثير
….
مشاركتي عباره عن أبيات مختاره من قصيدة “
قاتلت نفسي ” للشاعر الأستاذ الأديب محمد الحرزي…
و يقول فيها
…
قاتلتُ نفسي في هواكَ فلم أدَعْ للنفسِ من لذّاتِها إلا الجَزَع
أخبرتُ من قالوا بأنيَ شاعرٌ إنَّ الهوى لو حَلَّ في الصخرِ انصدَع
ما أنطقتني في الهوى ليلى ولا خَمرِيَّةُ الوَجناتِ شيمتها الدلع
لكنَّه ريحانةُ الهادي الذي أنا كنت نثراً في هواهُ فاجتمع
نورٌ تبلَّج كالصباح و نُطقُه بمزيج طه و الوصي إذا اندلع
والليلُ سرَّح في صِفاتِك غَيْهَباً حتى تَلَجْلَجَ في مَديحِك وانقَطَع
والعقلُ أنت العقلُ لو كان امرِئاً والعقلُ خيرُ بني الترابِ إذا ابتَدَع
والفضلُ أنت الفضلُ فيك نهايةٌ والعزُّ بعدك انفُهُ قيل انجَدَع
والفخرُ إن قيل الفَخارُ فبعده المجد يسجد و الإباء له رَكَع
أصلُ النبوةِ و الإمامةِ أصلُه والبذرُ يحكي أصلهُ حيث انزرع
هو نجلُ قالعِ بابِ خيبرَ من دعا بصِفاته بابُ السماءِ له انقلع
وهو ابنُ فاطِمةِ البتولِ و ربُّها شرعَ الوجودِ على محبَّتِها شرع
هذا ابنُ حيدرةٍ و سِنخُ محمدٍ والنصلُ من نسلِ الحُسامِ إذا فرع
في مهبطِ الوحي المقدَّسِ قد نَما و الذكرُ دوماً في تلاوته خشع
من مَنبَعِ التنزيلِ منهلُ عِلمِهِ وبجوهرِ الإيمانِ منهجُهُ نصع
يا مُهجةَ الهادي فتِلكَ قصائدي من بحرِ جودِك ثغرُها لما كرع
قالت يُأرِّقني هواكَ فلم أدعْ للنفسِ من لذّاتها إلا الهلع
صلى الإله على الزكيِ المُجتبى ما لاحَ نجمٌ في السماءِ وما لَمَع
….
أشكر أبا مشاري على موضوعه القيم و أرجو الله تعالى أن تنال إججابكم هذه الأبيات البليغه
…
و الحمد لله رب العالمين
The Freedom of Slavery
I am a slave.
I wake up before sunrise to praise my Master; I hold off everything in the middle of the day to praise Him once again; and every night, before I slip into my subconscious, I praise Him some more.
Indeed, I am a slave.
At every turn, every crosswalk of my life, I stop to ponder His opinion; for I base all my decisions and opinions upon his. I have no guideline but His, for I know my own guidelines are flawed.
Yes, I am a slave.
I beg his forgiveness for mistakes I make, and beg his mercy for mistakes I have yet to make. I beg his compassion for unintentional slip, and beg Him not to judge my intentional ones. I kneel down before him, bend my knees, and break my back, for that may, just may, grant me his forgiveness.
How true… that I am a slave.
I am proud to be one. I am not however, and unlike some, a slave of my desire and ambition, of the approval of others, or of work or home.
I have surrendered my freedom to God. For nothing brings more peace and serenity that being under the constraints of the Creator. I have surrendered my power, my will, my desire, my ambition, my dues, my sight, sound, and voice, my imagination, my realism.. I surrendered all to Him. And so I-
I am slave- and in that, I am free.
To Kill a F***ing Bird: The American Dream
First of all, excuse my language. I write such fathom not to grab attention, nor is it to express a loathing desire for “Birds”.
And NO, THIS ARTICLE IS NOT ABOUT KILLING BIRDS.
I’ll keep this short.
A year into my studies here in the U.S., I am still at awe at how an uneducated bunch of immigrants came to be the most powerful (or as they claim) country today. They have no culture. They have no tradition. They have, very simply, no identity. They loath others, they live- not in the world- but in America. They fear what they don’t know, and are biased to what they’re government tells them. They are sheep- but the Lord is not their shepherd, the government is.
I ask you, reader, how do the above described people come to be so powerful. Very simply, it is that the U.S.A doesn’t not kill its bird- it’s f***ing Bird (excuses again).
I compare the U.S. to a country that has slaughtered its birds into pieces, fried them, and had them for a Buffet. That country, among many of its neighbours, is Kuwait.
Birds? What the heck am I talking about. First of all, the title is a spin on a very famous novel. I’ll leave that to the educated bunch. Second, the Birds of society are those who dare defy the horizon and expand their wings to fly. They are those who want to be musicians, entrepreneurs, writers, decorators, football players, or whatever crazy dream they dare to conjure. In the “great” nation that is the U.S., those birds are indeed encouraged to fly as far as they can.
In Kuwait, our government finds it easier to call those birds not brilliant birds, but F***ing birds, because they dare defy the cultural structures our “great” nation has set up.
It is only when those birds are allowed to fly that Kuwait shall, as a nation, expand and become a place of opportunities where dreams and talents are not laughed at, but are encouraged and furthered.
I say: fly you F***ing birds. Fly like you’ve never f***ing flown before.
- Bo 3azez (is back)
A ‘Homeless’ Encounter
In His Greatest Name; the most Gracious, most Merciful.
“Home: one’s place of residence.
Homelessness: having no home or permanent place of residence”
That is how the Webster dictionary defines those terms.
From our early childhood, we are taught that “home” is where our families reside, where we are always welcome, where we can find warmth and serenity. Through that, we start to adapt to the perspective that home is a physical manifestation of an emotional attachment.
Basically, home is layers of brick upon brick, covered with paint, and splashed with happiness.
How wrong that turned out to be.
You see, according to that definition of “home”, one should feel home after spending a while in a place.
Yet I have been here in the United States for almost a year now; I’ve visited 6 different states, and resided mostly in the room of the University’s dormitory. Yet not even for one fleeting second did I feel at home.
So I’ve come to the conclusion… I am homeless.
Essentially, most people in this world are homeless. They are homeless because four walls, paint, and a bit of furniture will never be truly a place for which they long.
I’ve learnt that home, that comfortable place where a warming fire never fades, is in the passion of our souls.
Home is the words I spill on these pages. Home is the music in which I loose myself. Home is the company of a true friend. Home is the grass in which I lay after a gruesome soccer game. Home is in words of wisdom and poetry that I’ve read over and over again. Home is the piece of art which catches my soul before my eyes. Home is that minute or two where I kneel down before God, and truly acknowledge His mercy. Home is the light of righteousness lit by those we follow.
Yes, home is in the happiness of a simple action we take, or a permanent thought we gather.
Before finding that feeling, we are all in a homeless encounter. No matter the walls and furniture, true passion in a true moment is where the warmth of belongings really exists.
A lot of people ask why I delay my return home; I say that I am, in fact, like all, always homeless- except for a few moments a day.
“Home is where the heart is,
The soul’s bright guiding star.
Home is where real love is,
Where our own dear ones are.
Home means someone waiting
To give a welcome smile.
Home means peace and joy and rest
And everything worthwhile.”
–Author Unknown
Serenity and peace.
A New Writer Joins Us!
A warm welcome to the latest addition to our already talented arsenal of writers.
She is from the great nation of Paraguay; and will be posting in both Spanish and English!
She has proven to me that she is insightful, thoughtful, talented, sociable, and an expressive soul.
She will NO DOUBT bring something special to this brilliant blog.
She is.. Miss Giselle Lesme.
Welcome to the blog, Gi!
-Peace out-
