iraqi thinker hussein saadoun wonders: why did greece relapse, since the end of the era of its ancient civilization? why did a country like america, which is no more than 400 years old, and become the first in the world, while greece lagged behind? why did all the non-arabic speaking islamic countries advance, relatively speaking, and why did all the arab countries lag behind?
he answers that heritage has shackled greece and hindered it from progressing; absence in the lives of americans, and to the same extent, the entire developed new world, facilitated its movement, so it took off and advanced.
as for islamic countries, they were in the same situation as america! more than 90% of the books of the islamic heritage were not translated into their languages, or at least they did not spread among their peoples, who were content with the qur’an as a holy book, with its semantic and metaphorical texts.
while heritage played a dangerous role in the arab world, contributing to the rooting of its differences as a result of its multiple interpretations of the text and our preoccupation with it, unaware that heritage is a product of human thought, and is incapable of solving the problems of the era. likewise, heritage books do not speak, but rather humans are the ones who “speak” them.
a well-known academic made a comment on the supplication for traveling on airplanes, in a cultural symposium held a while ago in a gulf country. a colleague objected to the academic’s remark, and considered it a violation of heritage.
her criticism reminded me of a real-life story that i had previously mentioned about the american maria, where a guest in her family noticed that she was careful to cut off the tail and head of the fi sh before putting it in the oven. he asked her why, and she said that this is what she learned from her mother. when asked by her mother, she said that she learned that from her mother. when the grandmother was asked why, she simply answered that the oven in her house was too small to accommodate the tail and head!
the colleague, who criticized our great academic friend for his objection to the prayer for traveling or riding, would not have objected to him, if she had known the truth behind broadcasting the prayer on planes, which over time became “a sacred ritual that cannot be criticized”!
the whole issue has nothing to do with heritage or lamenting over it. kuwait airways was established seventy years ago, and remained for half a century or more without the “travel supplication.” suddenly, it occurred to one of the pilots to recite the travel supplication through the loudspeakers of the planes that he was piloting, and the situation continued like this for a while, and between push and pull and criticism, the board of directors of kuwait airways decided to circulate the broadcast of the recorded prayer throughout the company’s fleet!
this is the story of the kuwaiti woman’s travel prayer, and it is clear that the matter is not related to heavenly instructions or religious texts, but rather to a personal decision taken by an airplane captain, and with time it became a followed ritual, like a maria fish, without a head or a tail!
i do not know why the supplication was limited to airplanes, which are the most comfortable and safest means of travel of all, and not generalized to include ships, trains, cars, bicycles of both types, and even travel animals?
supplication is not intended to prevent accidents, and it certainly did not prevent them from occurring. rather, it is intended to bring reassurance to the heart of the traveler, especially in an environment full of dangers.
therefore, it is better to print the supplication on cards, in more than one language, and put them in the seat pockets, so that its moral benefit will spread to the passengers of the plane, both arabs and non-arabs.