Many Kuwaitis Actually Do Kind Of Hate Christmas

By
Omri Ceren
– December 25, 2006Posted in: Academia

If there was a war being waged on Christmas in the US, it would be stupid, politically correct excess. After all, December 23rd-ish to December 26th-ish is Christmas time, and all things being equal we prefer to be merry rather than unmerry. But, honestly, we’ve been getting wished Merry Christmas more than enough – while buying gas, activating a credit card, and canceling our AOL subscription, all in the last 24 hours. So we don’t think that America is suffering from a deficit of Merry Christmas’s.

The situation in Kuwait, however, is not so copasetic:

Is it religiously acceptable for Muslims to wish their Christian colleagues or acquaintances a Merry Christmas? In Kuwait, it depends on who you ask. Days before the holiday that is not officially celebrated in this small oil-rich state, fundamentalists like Mohammed al-Kandari began urging fellow Muslims not to extend the greeting to Christians they know. Al-Kandari, who heads the Society of Sharia, or Islamic law, told Al-Watan daily the celebration contradicted with Islam because Christians believe Jesus was the son of God. The decline in tolerance of other faiths comes as political Islam is sharply increasing its presence in mainstream politics across the region. A year ago, the militant Islamist group Hamas swept Palestinian elections; Jordan appointed an Islamist to the Cabinet in November; and Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood formed the largest opposition bloc in parliament since elections in 2005.

When we read sentences like “political Islam is sharply increasing its presence in mainstream politics”, we’re reminded of fashionable Middle East experts like Juan Cole – fashionable experts who smugly write things like “PS As for Friedman’s main point, that Muslims haven’t done a good job of fighting jihadi ideology and terrorism, it is bizarre.” Could anyone remind us why these people have any credibility at all, given that most of the things that they say are, you know, wrong?

Previously: “Muslim Division” Meme: Not Wrong, Just Stupid, MR Begs the Main Stream Media: Please Go Back to Lying to Us, Fox News: No One Else Is Fair Or Balanced Either

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