More on Omar, Kuwait

Omar, my Kuwaiti friend seems to have a softer version of Islam going for him.  The Koran was here to finish up the other two prophecies which had been contaminated by humans and therefore inaccurate.  It is the only book that has not changed since it was written and this is seen as a good thing.  However, he did say that Islam is not a religion that will change.

He seemed to think that gays being able to marry in the US is a good thing.  There is a nuance here.  It seems that if I tell him I am a Muslim and that I am gay, this is hypocritical.  However, being a non-Muslim, it seemed to not bother him much that I am gay.  He recalled a humorous video where two gay men tell the straight men that they cannot marry each other, so they will marry women.  The next scenes show happy male/female couples cooking, shopping, interior design and the like.  Similarly two woman tell straight women that they cannot marry each other so they will now marry men.  The scene shifts to a male/female couple fixing the car, doing Xbox and watching sports.   He got the joke and laughed and laughed.

As for hell, etc.  Jews/Christians will follow their prophets into heaven, not go to hell as is the misconception. Or at least this seemed to be his conception.  I may not have understood what he meant.

Yes, he agrees that the Koran is fear based to motivate good behavior like a law that threatens to punish.  The Koran was written “in this part of the world” and was addressing Jews and Arabs, who he sees as the same people.  Then he notes that Middle Easterners are more hypocritical.  Hence, the Good  Word has to  be threatening.  

Omar wants something in life he feels passion about and this is Aikido.  Zen Buddhist teacher (who liked him because he saw himself in this fine Kuwaiti lad) was cremated.  He is sorry that he was cremated and doesn’t know if the teacher is in heaven or not.   

Yes, women in Kuwait may have a line of males following them, especially the good looking and perhaps not covered as much (which seems allowable if not somewhat risky).  One female told him of her good looking friend when a Rolls Royce stopped and a man got out.  She brushed him off, not knowing he was member of the Kuwaiti royal family.

How did he compare Kuwait to the US.  In Kuwait – since Arabs don’t like to be stared at, he looks down.  He liked the US where people see each other and say hi.  Arabs in DC were very happy to meet a fellow Muslim.  He likes the mingling of the sexes in the US and notes gender segregation in Kuwait schools creates a misunderstanding of females by the males.

As a non Muslim, you are not breaking the rules by being gay.  If I were a Muslim and told him I was gay, he would say I am a hypocrite because you can’t really be both by “law”.  But he wold still talk to you even if he felt you were a hypocrite.  He just feels this person is not being honest to the religion.  (We didn’t talk about what a gay Muslim should do.)  He thinks gay Kuwaitis leave the country if they can.

Busy guy, classes, taking care of the house he and his father own, Aikido – gives him a full day most days.  Work week on average is 5 days.  I’m not sure how Kuwaiti’s treat non Kuwaitis.  He notes the nationals all want upper class jobs and positions and paychecks.  Lower jobs go to immigrants.  He sees the dependence on oil as a bad thing in this regard.