The light of a land that illuminated the world will not be extinguished... and Kuwait will not be broken
The young man from Diwaniya entered, his face this time devoid of his usual enthusiasm. No joke, no comment, not even a smile. He held his phone and read an official statement in a calm voice, with each word landing on their hearts heavier than the last.
He said, “Folks, this is a statement issued by the Ministry of Electricity, Water, and Renewable Energy.”
Silence fell, even the coffee pot seemed ashamed of the clinking of its cups. When he finished reading, the elder raised his head, wiped away a tear he tried to hide from the group, and said in a trembling voice, “We hear and we obey… willingly and gladly.”
Then he paused for a moment and said, “Do you know, my children, the hardest feeling is not when the power goes out; the hardest feeling is when someone tries to extinguish the light of your homeland.”
Kuwait, for us, is not just a piece of land… Kuwait is our great home, it is the first cry of a child, the first flag we raised above the school, the first anthem we memorized, and the first time we understood the meaning of the word “homeland.”
By God, if a person loves his home, he defends its door; how much more so if the home is named Kuwait?
Then he raised his hands to the sky and said, “Sufficient for me is Allah, and He is the best Disposer of affairs. O Allah, suffice them as You will, for You are the Almighty, the Wise. O Allah, we place You in their throats, and we seek refuge in You from their evils. O Allah, whoever intends harm for Kuwait, occupy him with himself, and turn his plotting into destruction against him.” Silence fell, a silence resembling prayer.
The expert said, “And for your information, the most dangerous wars are those that enter homes through their television screens before the cannons do.”
The man nodded and said, “Yes, by God. Whoever loves Kuwait today must guard his tongue and protect his phone from becoming a bridge for rumors.”
Then he added, “How many orphans has this land comforted by patting their heads? How many hungry people has it fed? How many disaster victims has it aided? How many longing souls has it embraced?
Its charitable organizations have reached the ends of the earth, searching for the needy before they search for them… Kuwait has never known anything but extending its hand to goodness. Praise and gratitude be to God. And for this reason, we are certain that the land which gives silently and expects no applause will not be abandoned by Allah, the Exalted.
Then he sighed and said, “How many tyrants thought their power was eternal, only to have their names become a line in a history book, while the homelands that built their glory on goodness remain. Then, in a voice mixed with pain and faith, he said: If our lot today is patience… we will be patient. If the duty is to unite… we will unite in a single line. The loss of light and water for an hour will not frighten us, for in our chests is trust in God. He who provided for us yesterday will not abandon us today. Be at ease, a country that made goodness its mission will not be broken.”
The disabled man concluded the session with tears preceding his words: “O Allah, protect Kuwait from all evil, and protect all other lands of Muslims. Preserve upon us the blessings of security and faith. O Allah, make this land safe and secure, turn the plotting of the aggressors against them, and suffice us from their evil as You will. Indeed, You are All-Powerful.”
The wealthy man raised his hands and said, “The lights may go out, but a homeland that has made goodness its mission by the will of Allah will never go dark.”
At that moment, the call to the noon prayer by Sheikh Zaghloul reached our ears.
A Kuwaiti writer
