Kuwait Priest

‘Christians enjoy religious freedom’
Church-State ties excellent

Reverend Amanuel Benjamin Ghareeb has been the Pastor and caretaker of the National Evangelical Church of Kuwait for a decade. He was ordained on Jan. 8, 1999 in what was considered a unique event in the history of the Evangelical community of Kuwait.
What may be new information to many, Reverend Ghareeb is a Kuwaiti citizen. He was born in Kuwait in 1950 and has been living peacefully among his people, Muslims and Christians, throughout the country’s many ups and downs. This is what made his ordination as a Pastor special in the memories of many Christians as he was the first Gulf Arab to be designated for the Church. According to the Reverend minister, there are currently approximately 200 Christian Kuwaiti citizens residing in the country.


After graduating from the Presbyterian Theological Seminary of Cairo in 1989, Reverend Ghareeb returned to Kuwait where he stayed, along with his family and fellow faithful, even through the Iraqi occupation. He has helped restore the country as well as bring the Christian community back together after its liberation.
In an insightful interview with the Arab Times, Reverend Ghareeb talks about the history of Christianity in Kuwait, the many faithful of various denominations residing in the country, the meaning of Evangelical Christianity as well as the recent relationship and communication developments between the Muslims and Christians who reside here.


Q: What are the origins of Kuwaiti Christians who were naturalized during the establishment of Kuwait?
A: Kuwaiti Christians are originally Christian families who immigrated like any other family to this region. The number of Kuwaiti Christians is now around 150-200 among approximately 450,000 Christians from all over the world.
Most of Kuwait’s local Christians belong to 12 large families. As you know, Kuwait comprises mainly of people who came from three different sources - from Saudi Arabia, from Iraq and from Iran. The first Christian families came from southeast Turkey and Iraq and they have been living in Kuwait for over 90 years and speak the Kuwaiti Arabic dialect. Other families have come from Palestine, such as Al-Shuhaibar family, and a few from Lebanon and Syria.


According to the citizenship law, whoever was in Kuwait before 1920 is considered Kuwaiti and whoever came after the 1940s was naturalized. At least one Christian family was living here before 1920.
Before the discovery of oil, the process of naturalization was not available because Kuwait was a simple country and there were no passports. After the discovery of oil, the number of people increased considerably and the leadership wanted to organize the country so they started to issue passports for identification.
Then, in 1959, the citizenship law was passed. As you know before 1961 Kuwait was a British protectorate according to an agreement between Kuwait and Britain. They cancelled this agreement on June 19, 1961 which we consider the National Day of Kuwait.


Q: What is the history of Christianity in Kuwait?
A: Kuwait is the land of abundance. God has blessed Kuwait and gave her a wise leadership from its onset. The people of Kuwait have welcomed anyone who has come from abroad to make a living and they respect everyone provided they abide by the laws and rules of the country. We have plenty of stories of success by people who came from all over the world.
The history of Christians in Kuwait began in the early 1900’s when Reverend Dr Samuel Zwemer and Reverend Fred Barney who were missionaries from the Reformed Church of America arrived. Permission was granted in 1911 by Sheikh Mubarak Al-Sabah to begin medical work in Kuwait and former American Mission Hospital was established in 1913.
Elder Yacoub Shammas Ibrahim was the first Arab Evangelist to come to Kuwait in 1919. He came as part of the Arabian Mission of the Reformed Church of America. In 1931, within the mission’s compound, the Evangelical Church was built and is considered the first Church built in Kuwait during modern times.
However, if we go back in history, Failaka Island contains the remnants of a Church dating to perhaps as early as the 5th or 6th century when the Hellenes settled on the island according to the crosses that form part of the structural decoration that were found at Al-Khazna Hill area on the Island.


Kuwait Oil Company was established in 1934 as a partnership between Gulf oil and British Petroleum. It was a foreign company so the majority of the staff were Christians. They built two Churches in Ahmadi in the late 1940s at the beginning of oil exports. One is called Saint Paul’s Church which belongs to the Anglicans and the other belongs to the Catholics and is called “Our Lady of Arabia”.
Up until now, the two Churches are still maintained by the Kuwaiti government through Kuwait Oil Company and people are still worshipping God in these two Churches. In the late 1950s, the Catholic Church in Kuwait City was built and the land on which it was built was a gift bestowed by the previous ruler of Kuwait, Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah.
In the 1960s, the Coptic Orthodox Christians conducted their prayers in a rented house near the Catholic Church. It was demolished due to renovations recently; however, land was given to them in Hawalli to build their new Church. In the 1960s and 70s the Greek Orthodox came and also rented villas to be remodeled into Churches as well as the Armenian Orthodox.


Q: What are the Christian denominations that are currently available in Kuwait?
A: The number of established Churches in Kuwait is currently seven; however, there are 85 prayer groups of various Evangelical denominations that worship in the Evangelical Compound. The Catholics, including the Maronite Christians, mostly come from Asian countries such as India, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Pakistan as well as from Arab countries such as Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine and Syria.
Also available in Kuwait is the Anglican Episcopalian Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Armenian Orthodox Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church as well as the Greek Catholic Church.


Q: How would you describe the relationship between the Christians of Kuwait and the government?
A: We thank God that we as Christians in Kuwait enjoy a large amount of religious freedom. Kuwait’s Constitution states that “freedom of belief is absolute,” and that “the State protects the freedom of practicing religion in accordance with established customs, provided that it does not conflict with public policy or morals.”
In December 1999, the Bible Society in the Gulf Shop was built. So the Church even has an agreement with the Kuwaiti government to import books and gifts that nurture the faith of Christians of different backgrounds and languages.
Abiding by the rules of censorship of the Ministry of Information, books and Bibles written in 50 different languages are now available at the bookstore. The trust between us and the ministry is growing because they know us through our long history of working together.
The creation of the Islamic Christian Relations Council (ICRC) was also a huge step towards strengthening ties between the Muslims and Christians of Kuwait.
The Council’s establishment was announced in February 2009 and was an initiative by the National Consensus Movement run by our Shiite brothers. They approached the Church for the purpose of gathering all Muslims, Shiite and Sunni, and all Christians, the Catholics, Protestants and the Orthodox.
The Council comprises of 11 Islamic and Christian scholars and authoritative figures such as Professor Mohammed Baker Al-Mohary who is the Council’s President, myself, Reverend Amanuel Ghareeb, the Vice-Resident; Professor Zuhair Abdul-Hadi Al-Mahmeed, who is the General Secretary and Sheikh Hussain Al-Azhary who is the Research and Consultancy Manager.


All the members agreed on the by-laws of the Council in order to strengthen relations and inter-religious dialogue between all the Muslims and Christians of Kuwait in order to cooperate and defend ourselves against any attacks on the two religions in the country and outside.
Our general targets include centering all actions and discussions from the principle of belief in and worship of One God; rallying rational energies to meet the various intellectual and societal challenges; establishing trust between the two faiths through various seminars and activities as well as providing consultation to decision makers in the Muslim and Christian communities by studying and analyzing intellectual and societal developments.
On Dec 23 last year, the Council members held a meeting to evaluate the visit that was made on Dec 14-16 to the Vatican in which they met with different councils in the Vatican such as the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies.
It was a successful visit. We thank God we were able to introduce ourselves to them and build relations of cooperation. We invited them for a conference which will be held on November 2010 regarding Saint Mary and they promised to participate.
This year we are also planning to visit Egypt and meet with Muslim and Christian spiritual authorities such as Al-Azhar’s Sheikh and Mufti as well as Pope Shounuda.


Q: How did Evangelical Protestant Christianity arise and the main differences between this denomination and Catholicism?
A: This goes back to the middle ages or medieval times in the 15th century when corruption was very apparent in the Catholic Church and its teachings, which we, as Protestants, do not believe is according to the Bible. Martin Luther began the religious Protestant reformation in Germany.
He created the Ninety-Five Theses in 1517 which debated and criticized the Church and the Pope and challenged their authority by teaching that the Bible is the only source of divine knowledge. His original goal was to reform the Catholic Church from inside-out and he translated the Bible from Latin into the German language in order for it to be more accessible to the people.
Among Luther’s questionings in the Theses were the intercession of and devotion to the saints as well as the mandatory clerical celibacy. However, when he was faced with severe opposition from his Holiness the Pope and other authorities, he was obliged to start a new Church. There were movements prior to his which were quickly stopped. Nevertheless, Luther succeeded in spreading his thoughts of reformation in Germany. The reformation spread to the whole of Europe, England then North America.
From what I understand, there are two explanations to Protestant Christianity. During the trial of Martin Luther they told him that he had to deny his reformation principles. He told them that, unless they provided him with proof from the Bible itself that his thoughts were wrong, he would not retract his statements. “On this I stand,” he said. So, from this statement, they said that “he protested”. So his followers are the people who ‘protested’ the teachings of the Catholic Church and the Pope.
The second explanation is the literal meaning of Latin term ‘Protestarri’. ‘Testarri’ means ‘the text’ in Latin and ‘pro’ in Latin means ‘for’ in English. So the word means ‘For the Text’, meaning the people of that faith follow the Bible only, which is considered infallible, and refuse to accept any other teachings which are only considered traditions.


The reformation also took different forms pertaining to different countries, but the main principles of Luther remained especially the authority and infallibility of the Bible. Therefore the Protestant Church does not have as much control over the interpretation of religion as the Catholics.
Evangelism is for the Protestant denominations only. Evangelism is a term that has two different meanings pertaining to the West and the Arab world. In the Arab world the term Evangelical is derived from the Arabic word ‘Injeeliya’. The term was first used in Egypt to define the Presbyterian Church which taught the ‘Injeel’ only. “Injeel’ is the Arabic word for Bible.
In the West, as far as I understand, the term Evangelical was used to define the group of Churches who concentrate on Evangelism more than other teachings. So they can say “so and so Church is Evangelical and so and so Church is not Evangelical”. According to the Bible, every Church should be Evangelical. The Church has many responsibilities but Evangelism is very important because these are the orders of Jesus Christ (PBUH).
Now there are various Protestant denominations whose followers worship in the NECK Compound.


Q: What main services does the Evangelical Church provide?
A: We have a variety of services that meet the spiritual and psychological needs of all age groups such as Sunday school, teenagers meeting, youth meeting, eagles meeting for recent university graduates as well as Al Salam International Academy, which is joint venture between, the Arabic Language Congregation and the Metropolitan Baptist Church in Kuwait. We also provide Thursday services to teach Church members of all ages, a nursery and a ministers’ training program.
The Church Diwaniya was built in order to communicate with people in the local community. Like every year we held a Christmas Diwaniya in 2009 where many people of Kuwait came to give us their well wishes. The Church also invites many high ranking Muslim and Christian authorities for Ghabqa (get-together) during Ramadan.

biography

Name: Amanuel B. Y. Ghareeb
Date of birth: 9/1/1950
Place of birth: Kuwait
Marital status: Married
Certificate: 1. Bachelor of Science (Geology, Chemistry) from Kuwait University 1971; 2. Bachelor of Theological Sciences from Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo - 1989.
Practical Experience:
n Civilian Experience:
From 1/8/1971 to 1/3/1996: Worked in the Ministry of Oil as geologist, senior geologist, controller of drilling and production and finally acting IT manager.
n Church Experience:
1979-1991: Member of Church’s Council (by election)
1991: Vice president of Church’s Council.
1997-1997: Joint Administrator of The National Evangelical Church in Kuwait.
12/10/1992: Elected and ordained as Church Ruling Elder.
1991-1996: Elected as a member of Executive Committee of The Fellowship of the Middle East Evangelical Churches (F.M.E.E.C).
1991 until now: Church representative in The Middle East Council of Churches (M.E.C.C); Member of Regional Advisory Committee of Bible Society in Gulf.
8/1/1999: Ordained and installed as The Church Pastor.
15/2/1999 until now: Selected as a coordinator between Arab Christian clergymen and government.
2005: Participated in founding The Christian Churches Fellowship In Kuwait then elected as Vice-Chairman of The Fellowship.
2009: Participated in founding Islamic Christian Relation Council then elected as Vice-Chairman of the Council.

Arab Times Christmas Day

Peace … Hope

THIS Friday millions of Christians around the world celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. The occasion is marked by church services, carol singing, and the exchanging of gifts. The latter being a reminder that the baby born at Christmas time is a gift from God to the world. The Biblical story of the virgin birth has been ridiculed at times in the West, but It is noteworthy that the virgin birth of Jesus is also celebrated in the Holy Qur’an. In the Islamic account, Mary gives birth under a palm tree in the desert and she receives miraculous sustenance from God. Upon returning to her village, she was greeted by the villagers who commented on her having a child out of wedlock. During this encounter, the infant Jesus speaks out and silences the villagers and utters a phrase which resonates especially deeply with the Christian community. He said “Blessed is the day I was born, blessed is the day I die and blessed is the day I rise again” Surat Maryam 19.33. Although there are profound differences between Muslims and Christians in their understanding of the role and identity of Jesus, we are united in our conviction that the birth of Jesus was a God event.
Last weekend several hundred people gathered in the desert to sing carols around a bonfire. During this time, children from our church performed a nativity scene - a re-enacting of the Christmas story which ended with them calling out to the watching crowd “This Christmas - don’t forget the baby!” With the demands and challenges of daily life in Kuwait, it would be very easy during the holidays to forget the ‘reason for the season’.
Here in Kuwait, we join with the global community in thanking God for the birth of a baby boy who went onto shape human history in a profound way. We continue to be thankful to the people of Kuwait for their ongoing hospitality to the Christian community. How can we reciprocate this hospitality? St Paul’s Anglican Church has a motto on the cover of its publicity brochure which reminds us, that as Christians we are called to be salt and light - in other words, to be a blessing to wherever God places us. This should be our gift to Kuwait, for Christmas and beyond.
May God bless you during this special day and may Christ bring hope, peace and healing for the New Year.

Who Does Allah belong to?

4 Malaysian churches attacked in 'Allah' dispute


KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- Four Malaysian churches were attacked with firebombs, causing extensive damage to one, as Muslims pledged Friday to prevent Christians from using the word "Allah," escalating religious tensions in the multiracial country.

Many Malay Muslims, who make up 60 percent of the population, are incensed by a recent High Court decision to overturn a ban on Roman Catholics using "Allah" as a translation for God in the Malay-language edition of their main newspaper, the Herald.

The government says Allah, an Arabic word that predates Islam, is exclusive to the faith and by extension to Malays. It refuses to make an exception, even though the Herald's Malay edition is read only by Christian indigenous tribes in the remote states of Sabah and Sarawak.

At Friday prayers at two main mosques in downtown Kuala Lumpur, young worshippers carried banners and gave fiery speeches, vowing to defend Islam.

"We will not allow the word Allah to be inscribed in your churches," one speaker shouted into a loudspeaker at the Kampung Bahru mosque. About 50 other people carried posters reading "Heresy arises from words wrongly used" and "Allah is only for us."

"Islam is above all. Every citizen must respect that," said Ahmad Johari, who attended prayers at the National Mosque. "I hope the court will understand the feeling of the majority Muslims of Malaysia. We can fight to the death over this issue."

The demonstrations were held inside the mosque compounds to follow a police order against protests on the streets. Participants dispersed peacefully afterward.

Malaysia is often held up as a model for other Islamic countries because of its economic development, progressive society and generally peaceful coexistence between the Malay majority and the ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities who are mostly Christians, Buddhists and Hindus.

The Allah controversy, however, has the potential to shatter that carefully nurtured harmony, drive a deep racial wedge and scare away sorely needed foreign investment as the country struggles to emerge from the global financial crisis.

Prime Minister Najib Razak condemned the attacks on the churches by unidentified assailants, who struck before dawn in different suburbs of Kuala Lumpur. He said the government would "take whatever steps it can to prevent such acts."

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the country's leaders were very concerned about the situation.

"We don't want this to spread out into something else. ... I am not only assuring the minorities, I am assuring all Malaysians -- anybody who is in Malaysia -- that they are safe," he told reporters.

In the first attack, the ground-level office of the three-story Metro Tabernacle Church was destroyed in a blaze set off by a firebomb thrown by attackers on motorcycles soon after midnight, police said. The worship areas on the upper two floors were undamaged and there were no injuries.

Three other churches were attacked hours later, with one sustaining minor damage while the others were not damaged. No arrests have been made.

The tribespeople of Sabah and Sarawak, who speak only Malay, have always referred to God as "Allah," an Arabic word used not only by Muslims but also by Christians in Muslim-majority countries such as Egypt, Syria and Indonesia.

Many Malaysian Muslims say its use by others would mislead people, tempting them to convert to Christianity.

Since the verdict, hateful comments and threats against Christians have been posted widely on the Internet, but this was the first time the controversy turned destructive.

Kuala Lumpur police Chief Mohamad Sabtu Osman told The Associated Press that a witness saw four people on two motorcycles breaking the glass front of the Metro Tabernacle church and throwing an incendiary object inside before fleeing.

He said police found a wrench, an empty gasoline can and two scorched motorcycle helmets at the scene.

The backlash against the court verdict has reinforced complaints by minorities that they face institutional discrimination. They say it is almost impossible to get permission to build new churches and temples. Some Hindu temples have been demolished in the past. Court verdicts in religious disputes usually favor Muslims.

Christmas Baby

I held a new born baby, last week. At two weeks old, the little chap was well wrapped up and bundled in a warm blanket. What was unusual about this baby was his surroundings. We were in a cell in a police station. His mother, a rape victim was in jail for absconding. Her case highlighted for me some of the challenges that face workers in Kuwait. She does not want to go through the lengthy process of a court case to fight for justice – she simply wants to go home – with the baby.

Giving birth to children outside of wedlock is a crime in Kuwait. Even rape victims are treated as criminals unless proved otherwise. To register a birth in Kuwait requires the father’s identity and a marriage certificate. No father and no marriage certificate means no birth certificate can be issued easily. This means that mother and child can spend months in jail. Embassies can help, but they can only respond if the police inform them. In the case above, this little fellow is sharing a small cell with a dozen other women with one toilet between them. Supplies are minimal and his diet is unpredictable. We discovered that he was regularly fed mineral water. The police, though sympathetic were unable to do much. We offered sanctuary, but was told the baby is a ward of state for the time being. Upon contacting the embassy of the rape victim I was told that they had no knowledge of the mother or the baby. They would come they assured me, if the police will call them.

Giving birth to a baby is hard at the best of times, but if you know that your baby is illegal and that a jail sentence is inevitable, I wonder what you would do? For a maid, with little money and opportunity, they often feel that they have no choice but to get rid of the baby as soon as possible without being caught. The result is that babies are born in secret and then abandoned to die. Precise statistics are obviously hard to get.

If a baby is found before it dies, the child is placed in a ward at hospital and efforts are made to locate the parents. If after thirty days no parents are found, then the baby is placed in an orphanage and given Kuwaiti citizenship. Sometimes they are taken in by local families, but expatriates are not allowed to adopt orphans. Several expatriates have tried to adopt orphan children but have been
told outright that this is impossible. While the orphanage is well supplied, no institution can ever be a substitute for a loving family.

Babies are a gift from God. Society is entrusted with their care, regardless of the circumstances of their birth. Illegitimacy and poverty is no barrier to the potential opportunities and achievements of a child. We are forcefully reminded of this by the baby born at Christmas time. Born in a crude stable of questionable parentage, Jesus reminds us of how God identifies with the poor and the
weak in our society. His life and work provokes us to once again look at the most vulnerable in our society with care and respect.