Manama: A Kuwaiti lawmaker has become the subject of a viral campaign of mockery on social media for calling for the cancellation of an event to which he believed a long-dead poet was invited.
In the Kuwaiti National Assembly’s weekly debate, MP Mohammad Al Jabri called on the country’s interior minister to ban a women’s only “deviant dance event” that is expected to be held on January 26.
“I have called on the interior minister to act on stopping such events, and specified that this invitee — Jalal Al Deen Al Roumi...and this event be stopped,” he said. “We don’t accept such events...It is advertised as a women-only event [and] they say he [Al Roumi] is a philosopher and will [engage in] rituals from some unknown sects. This is in violation of our traditions,” he said.
Al Roumi was a prominent Persian poet and Sufi mystic who died 740 years ago.
The MP’s call had news media reporting headline such as “Kuwaiti MP calls for government ban dead poet”, leading to a barrage of mocking tweets, and a hashtag in Arabic that read ‘Banning Jalal Al Deen Al Roumi from entering Kuwait’, with some accusing him of ignorance about prominent figures who had a strong impact on Islamic history.
Naser Al Dashti tweeted: “Nomination [to parliament] only requires one to be able to read and write, but does not look into qualifications. What do you expect from Mohammad Al Jabri then?”.
“You are not to blame,” tweeted Rawal Al Mosawi, addressing the MP. “The Third District is to blame,” referring to his constituency.
Al Jabri however rejected claims that he had called for Al Roumi’s banning.
“I had requested the interior minister Shaikh Mohammad Khalid to ban an event that aimed to teach dance and music,” MP Mohammad Al Jabri said. “The evening event should be cancelled even its organisers said that it was for women only. When I referred to Jalal Al Deen Al Roumi, I was talking about the organisers, and not about the famous figure,” he said in remarks carried by local daily Al Rai on Friday.
He added that some people distorted his words and gave them a different significance.
“I did mention the name, but I was talking about the event, not the man. I never called for a ban on him.”
“I also informed the endowments minister and asked the interior minister not to allow those in charge of the event from entering the country,” he told his fellow lawmakers. “I strongly objected to the use of Mawlana in the brochure promoting the event when referring to Jamal Al Deen because only God is our Mawlana,” he said.
Mawlana, “Our Lord” or “Our Master” in Arabic, is a title preceding the name of respected Muslim religious figures that is widely used in Asian countries.
— with additional inputs from Habib Toumi, Bahrain Bureau Chief
