Category Archives: Good Articles By Others

A - A Cry For Help!

A Cry For Help! Book Review Reply

A - A Cry For Help!

http://www.theusreview.com/reviews/Cry-Suleimany.html

A Cry For Help!

 By Majid Al Suleimany

Trafford Publishing

Reviewed by Peter M. Fitzpatrick

Premium US Reviews – www.theusreview.com

“Our religion is one of faith, compassion, love, tolerance, and understanding – yet some of us use its name to justify their wanton and indiscriminate acts.”

This book is a large collection of articles the author has written for the book and from his newspaper column entitled “Between Us Only” in the Oman Daily Observer. He writes from a management perspective and thirty years employment in human resources and training. No punches are pulled in describing his experiences with racial prejudice in big corporation culture, both from expatriate staff and even his fellow Omani workers.

But the scope is not limited to business issues. Reasons for the economic lag in Arabic countries are also floated: “I suspect that a real problem exists in the mind of Arabs: They do not feel that they own their own countries.” These issues seem prescient of the contemporary “Arab Spring.” The al-Qaeda phenomenon is analyzed, as is the since-repressed popular rebellion against the re-election of Ahmedinejad in Iran.

His reporting on the actual conditions that foreign workers must suffer in the oil-super-rich country of Dubai are astounding. The bulk of the book is about management and human resource issues, however, and the author’s commentary is unique in its Arabic and Muslim perspective.

Suleimany originally wanted to break up the book into topics, but was told by his countries Censor Board to print them chronologically. The result is one that might put off more academically interested readers in Arabic management issues. There are no neat categories to index or access in an orderly fashion. But the general drift of the writing is illuminatingly simple. Simple human respect and kindness, universal values that transcend culture and creed, are re-affirmed throughout.

The tone of the book is journalistic, not too far from the sense of an American editorial column. It is filled with concrete examples of the way companies operate in the Arab world and as such is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in that subject. It is not a book on management theory in the abstract; the author’s rationale is moral and ethical, based on an Islamic understanding of the human condition. His approach is moderate, however, with the result being more light on effective corporate management, from the unique perspective of a manager-writer form Oman

Reviewed by Premium US Reviews – By Peter M Fitzpatrick

Islamic-Grave[1]

The Great King Alexander – The Three Death Wishes! Reply

Complex and Difficult Topics, Deep Self Analysis and Conscience Topics, Family Stories, Good Articles By Others, Religious Article • Tags: , ,

The Great King Alexander – The Three Death Wishes!

 After conquering many kingdoms – was returning home. On the way, he fell ill and he was bedridden for months. With death drawing close, Alexander realized how his conquests – his great army – his sharp sword and all his wealth were of no use to him now.

He called all his generals and said – I will depart from the world soon. But I have three wishes. Please fulfill my wishes without fail. With tears flowing down their cheeks, the generals agreed to abide by their King’s last wishes

My First Desire is that – said Alexander – my Physicians alone must carry my coffin. Secondly – when my coffin is being carried to the grave – the path leading to the graveyard should be strewn with gold, silver and precious stones which I have collected in my treasury. My Third and Last wish is that both my hands should be kept dangling out of my coffin.

The people that had gathered there wondered at the King’s strange wishes. But no one dared to question; Alexander’s favorite general kissed his hand and pressed them to his heart. O King – we assure you that your wishes will all be fulfilled. But tell us why do you make such strange wishes?

At this Alexander took a deep breath and said – I would like the World to know of Three Lessons I have just learnt. I want my Physicians to carry my coffin because people should realize that no Doctor can really cure anybody. They are powerless and cannot save a person from the clutches of Death. So let not people take life for granted.

The Second Wish of strewing gold, silver and other riches on the way to the graveyard is to tell people that that not even a fraction of gold can be taken by me. Let people realize that it is a sheer waste of time to chase wealth.

And about my Third Wish of having my hands dangling out of the coffin – I want people to know that I came empty handed into this world – and empty handed I go out of this world.

Alexander’s last words – Bury my body – do not build any monument for me – keep my hands outside so that the world knows the person who conquered the world had nothing in his hands when dying……

 

The Good Side of Early Retirement – WINDOWS – By Huda Al Jahwariya Reply

Good Article, Good Articles By Others, Weekly Observer Article • Tags: , , , ,

The Good Side of Early Retirement

Mon, 05 September 2011

WINDOWS – By Huda Al Jahwariya – Features – The Oman Daily Observer – September 5 2011

Many women, especially those who work in the energy-guzzling education field, dream of early retirement. They crave for a  come-back to their homes to arrange them from within and to put right what had gone wrong during their years of tenure.

I am a staunch supporter of women’s right to work which makes them financially independent from their male partners, and consequently more capable of deciding for themselves. However, an important thing which should be taken into consideration is the working woman’s choice to quit the job when she finds herself no longer capable of working, or when she feels that her dedication to the job comes at the expense of her family’s well-being and happiness.

Recently, the retirement benefits for government employees were increased, and the new regulations stipulate a minimum of 20 years of service as mandatory for pension entitlement in case the employee resigns before reaching the age of 50. The minimum period of service has been raised to 15 years from 10 in case the employee is 50 years old.

Why not reconsider the regulations pertaining to women’s retirement conditions, for instance by reducing the minimum period required by the law to 15 years for women bellow 50, and to 10 years for those who reached the age of 50.

Some men may argue that women are claiming equal footing with the men, but they give up their pursuit of equity whenever it contradicts with their interests. But let’s raise the following question — who is the woman, isn’t she the wife and the mother? The modern-day family is in a dire need of mother’s care in the light of changing situations.

Man and woman are partners in the  family institution despite the fact that the woman bears the brunt of household  responsibilities. The behaviour of the new generation is changing constantly, and the process of raising children is getting tougher than ever before.

Children now spend long hours glued to the television watching programmes that can spoil their manners, not to mention the damaging effect of Play Station games that teach our kids nothing but bullying and scuffling.

Parents come back home from office utterly exhausted and the wife has to sacrifice her rest time so as to make up for the hours she has been absent from her children.

Most women who got tertiary education and have spent 10 years or more at a job feel the need to give up the work to dedicate full time to their children. More so if children are in their teens when their character is moulded and hence need to be monitored closely.

It may not come as a surprise to say that the hardest time for a working woman is when her housemaid faces her with the decision that she is going back to her home country. At this point the woman tries her best to change her maid’s mind by the lure of a pay rise.

We should not label educated women sitting at home as a retrograde action since they do so for the sake of bringing up their children properly and giving due care to their family’s affairs. Some feminists criticise Arab women who obtained higher certificates only to hang them on the wall of their drawing room for guests to view.

They consider such a behaviour as a step backward from what the Arab women’s movement has so far achieved in their pursuit to put themselves on parity with men.

Furthermore, women’s early retirement can be quite helpful in easing the feverish race for jobs, by giving way for employment of younger people.