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Local Influencer Doesn’t Believe Domestic Workers Should Get Days Off

This story broke out over the weekend and it’s been picking up A LOT of media traction internationally. Local Instagram celebrity @sondos_aq recently went on a rant on the new local regulations requiring a weekly day off for Filipino domestic workers. You can watch her rant in the video above. To summarize, she thinks its ridiculous that domestic workers have to get a day off every week and that she doesn’t believe domestic workers should be able to keep their passports. Pretty racial comments and the worst part is, she has over 2.3 million followers.

Last month the Instagram celebrity 3bodka was caught abusing his dog, and now we have another influencer posting racial comments. Looking at how this is blowing up I wouldn’t be surprised if local authorities decide to create new laws or regulations to prevent situations like this from occurring again.

If you want to read more about this incident, check out the articles on CNN, Independent and Buzzfeed amongst other.

109 replies on “Local Influencer Doesn’t Believe Domestic Workers Should Get Days Off”

Really sad to see how some people can be so arrogant and stupid.
I guess she doesn’t understand that she is born with a golden spoon in her mouth and that she didn’t have to work to get where she is now.
I bet she can’t work for 2 straight hrs without taking a coffee break.
Probably she’s brought us this way. To look down upon people.

This is pure ignorance…….
I just found out that Boutiqaat dropped her out. I did send them a direct message on Instagram asking their position and comment about her with the link of the video.
Hats-off to Boutiqaat. Let us wait and see on Youtube, Twitter and Instagram’s action on this.

This is quite shocking. She endorses our brands and Our company just recently signed up with her on a project full time. I hope they don’t go through with it.

What critical is that those are influencers , by definition “influence” others. So this is the quality we have here. Boycotting from business is a start, but unless there is a law and groups that advocate for human rights, powerful enough to lock her up or fine her, then it’s just stopping ad revenue from people like her, Which doesn’t really fix anything.

Nearly every Kuwaiti I have talked to confiscates their domestic workers passports. not sure any reinforcement is necessary

These influencers really find themselves entitled.
I’m surprised Abodka kept his followers AND fame! His followers still defend him.
As with Dalal, she is receiving a lot of criticism but still has a strong fan-base and did not lose followers. This is the issue, influencers getaway with murder because there are no actual consequences. People need to stop viewing them as gods and goddesses and learn how to accept the fact that they are not perfect and perhaps sometimes just cruel individuals.

The name of this influencer is Sondos, not Dalal. Don’t get her confused with Dalal @dalalid, who would never say anything like this.

By the way, does the law only cover Filipino workers? It’s a great law for a start, but what about other nationalities?

No it doesn’t, that’s what people like her don’t understand and get and what’s frustrating when people are only talking like it’s abojt Filipinos and actually hiring other nationalities because they think they can get away with treating them like modern day slaves. ! Her whole comment saying “I’m going to hire a maid from another nationality” is pure Arkhangelsk towards the actual law. The Domestic Worker Law (passed more than 2 years ago by the way) is a law by the state of Kuwait and applies to every domestic worker and every nationality which includes the one day off a week rule, keeps passport and many others, NOT just for Filipinos. Hopefully the country will make that clearer to everyone

first off i didn’t watch the video. i agree on the passport because when a maid escapes sometimes some of then may cause a problem since its the family’s responsibility because of the visa and such. but i don’t know why it is news that they need a day off. we all do. they can’t work 24/7 or all week with out a break that’s slavery. they are workers. the family/ person in charge should explain the terms such your job is from this hour to this and they need at least a day off. my opinion. not sure what else she said and don’t care for social media people

You agree with the passport part? Really? You do know that it is illegal under international and Kuwaiti law to hold anybody’s passport right? It’s illegal for a reason and that reason is that it’s a form of modern day slavery. A passport is the sole possession of the passport and of the issueing country and cannot be held or transferred because doing so would restrict a person’s freedom of movement.

In any job in the world you have the choice to leave a job if you feel it’s not right for you. If you don’t have that choice then you are a slave who’s being forced to work.

Would you like it if you went to work in another country and had your passport taken away from you? This has been happening in Kuwait for a long time and not only to domestic workers. Again, it’s slavery.

i wasn’t saying they wouldn’t have a choice to leave. i’m talking about what i know. what i know for foreigners who work with me at my job is they need the ministry’s approval if they wanted to travel even if it was their vacation. yet what i know is any maid can travel whenever she wants to. i’m not saying they can’t leave but if they want it has to be done properly with documents

Dalal, a passport is the sovereign property of the country that issues it. It’s not for any Kuwaiti or other national to keep. There are other mechanisms to prevent someone from leaving the country. Btw you mentioned the word escape – I wonder why they want to escape in the first place – theft I think would make a very small portion of the cases with illtreatment leading the pack.

The issue here is that people such as Dalal may have moved on from herding camels not too long ago but they have not moved on from the “slave” mentality to a worker whos there to help and not their pet to Ill-treat

lol seriously insulting me instead of having an adult respectful conversation. i wanted to reply to prove my point but honestly after reading how my mentality is a camel herding whatever is the rest of that insult is. good bye and take care

Dalal,
My apologies, I miss-typed. I meant to say “people such as Sondos” No intention to insult. Thank you for showing grace. Peace!

Hi dalal, id love to have a respectful conversation with you to explain the situation in Kuwait and what goes down.. unfortunately the majority of the general population who have domestic workers work for them keep their workers passports which as the above have mention is illegal, other then that is used against them / keeps them from leaving if they are getting abused, not paid, etc which unfortunately we have cases every day of such.. and in the end of the day imagine a worker getting physically/ sexually or even plain off just wanting to resign and her employer not allowing it – she can’t do anything because her passport is not with her, which is wrong and corrupt on so many levels and is implying that the worker is the employers property, which she isn’t she’s an employee. Like you mentioned about your company yes there are certain systems for foreigners working in Kuwait, though legally all passports are or should be with the employee.. imagine getting your passport taken away from you at your company so you don’t “run away”. Like you said there’s a system where you apply for vacation etc and same applies with the domestic worker, people always think oh she’s going to run away.. just talking like that is 100% wrong.. she is a grown women that decided to leave her entire family and come across the world to make a living.. why after all that will she just “run away”? It doesn’t make sense. They will ask you for a vacation etc just like the law / contract states. Using these words like escape/ run away makes it sound like slavery, Of course there are times when they want to leave / resign for no reason even if you’ve followed every law right? And that’s okay they are humans and should be able to leave / resign whenever they want to and as an employer of any employee you will always have that risk of a worker leaving weather at a company or home. (Which in the New domestic worker law states that if a domestic worker says she doesn’t want to continue work it is ILLEGAL to keep her working)
My point was actually that we see cases every day of abuse here.. you might not hear of them because theyre not publicized and in these cases their employers obviously do not give them their rights, which means do not let them leave, no day off, sometimes no payment of salary, physical, sexual abuse and the list goes on, and in these cases the only thing the worker can do is escape that situation! And when she does and doesn’t get to the correct authorities where she’s safe then she’s left illegal in Kuwait, scared, and trapped here not able to leave because her passport is with the employer.. there are hundreds and thousands of these cases. Is there a percent that just decide to leave for no reason and without warning to their employer? Of course but just the same percent as employees at a bank who can just stop coming to work all of a sudden. And about the comment that they are on our sponsorship etc, the fact is yes they are but legally if they “do anything wrong” legally you have 0 responsibility of them and their actions so you don’t have to worry about that ever.. 9/10 times if they are happy where they are they won’t just leave without a warning. Hope this clarified a bit..

Lama sorry my response is kind of late. honestly i didn’t know that having someone’s passport is illegal. i saw many around me do it so i never thought about it before. and i assume since people immediately go to the police station to report a maid who escaped/left with out warning from her employer’s house missing and cancel the visa i think it is their responsibility if they didn’t cancel and report so it would cause them legal issues.
i understand the fact that many people are horrible to the maids i hate that. i remember we had a maid who said her previous employer didn’t give her her salary since the first month and she worked for more than half a year and couldn’t do anything about it.
i said escape because it happened twice in my house they left with boyfriends they met in Kuwait and it is strange but it is a reason.
i just wish there are clear laws to save both parties/sides’s effort and money.
sorry i tried to make it short

James I was reading your comments and I was impressed by the way you were defending the labors in Kuwait,it all made sense what you were saying despite the point where you mentioned people herding camels! Is that supposed to be a low class job? If so what as you doing in a country surrounded with people hearding camels aren’t you better of back home? Shame on you my friend!

I think if you read between the lines, what he is trying to tell you, Kuwait needs to move forward to the 21st century.

Mean if you need it spelled out, you can’t do as you please just because you are a rich country, expats are humans and they have rights. The area of enslavement is over, loooooooooooooong time ago.

No intention to belittle any occupation. As Dfine mentioned you need to read between the lines. I’m just referring historically to a time when they had slaves and now they’ve “moved up” materially but not mentally.

Sneaky, sneaky, but Mohammad low-key told James to GTFO.

What is with guys named Mohammad, nowadays?

I mean… LOL

what is with the name Mohammad. should he change his name!
what is funny about a person having a convo.
that was a very weird disturbing comment.
i hope i understood it wrongly. seriously

You are just another sundus but with a western name feeling entitled to through about racist ignorant comments in every post. Get a life or educate your self

Khaled,
I shouldn’t have to explain myself but I think I should in the larger interest. All I’m stating are historical facts, its not too long ago that this region was used to having slaves and thinking they were private property to be mistreated without rights. Its time with their upgrade materially thanks to the oil wealth, they move ahead mentally as well. People like Sondos are so caught up in their external shell and comfort, they are unable to see beyond. I’m ok with that, you can’t get rid of pests and spoilt brats – but to propagate that to followers and influence other potentially feeble minds is unacceptable.

On a lighter note, I’m privileged to have a western name and have received western education. Not too proud of what the west has done to the world in many aspects but a majority have turned the corner and trying to make the world a better place – I think. To that note, take a chill pill and learn to read between the lines 🙂

I’d just like to point out, if you are going to base your argument on time, and that mentally moving on, people living in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. On an assumption you are american, technically slavery ended 100 years in the US before the last hold out of KSA in the Middle East. Take into account Jim Crow laws, and actually, it’s the same decade. Take into account current race relations in the US (and Europe), and the mentality of “rednecks” haven’t moved on.

To quote you with slight adjustments: Its time with their upgrade materially thanks to (their technology and) wealth, they move ahead mentally as well.

Aside from being condescending to the mental capabilities and social growth of Arabs, your arguments against the kafala system are valid.

Hi James,
your entitlement allows you to write something like “mentally move ahead”. This is wrong on so many levels. What you are basically saying with nicer words is that people here still have stone age mentality or old mentality. This is pretty much racist.
Also: “the majority of the west has turned the corner”? are you serious about that? Isn’t an amercian racist and sexist president threating almost every country in this world. Isn’t the US were they have not at all emancipated themselves from slavery and still have racist mindset. The so called western world ist exploiting Africa and Asia, it’s called neo-colonialism, feel free to google it.

This ist not say, that was is going on Kuwait regarding domestic workers is right, but this is what many rich people do, they exploit others. Me I’m from Germany. Many rich people have domestic workers and pay them shit. Even companies in specific sectors pay foreign workers shit. So how come you never asked them to “move on mentally” from colonialism?

If we want change we need to report on cases like this like Mark luckily did. We need to empower domestic workers and behave differently. We all should pay them more and let the have the freedom we have of doing what we want with our passports.

It’s horryfing to me when I hear workers fleeing from their employees. This is something we have to change. Every human being must be treated the same. And honestly? For people with money it should be the easiest to start enforcing equality.

Yes – tremendous logic there. Kafil has responsibility over the maid so he should confiscate her passport.
Dalal – the government has responsibility over you so they should confiscate your property/passport/wealth.
UN approves of this. Kudos to you!

Mew Law is entitled that a maid should get a day off. Passport is retained by the sponsor, obviously he or she wont run away without it. is there any guarantee that they will work for 12 or 18 hrs. Nothing is certain.

Wow! It’s crazy when the most influential people make stupid comments like this. Aren’t they ashamed!? I wonder how all the brands she works with will respond.

These influencers usually are actually the lower end of society. These people come from low class backgrounds. If you go to the nicer parties in Kuwait you’d find none of them maybe a few actors but mainly just high end people. Those high end people are the exact opposite of these influencers, they are polite, kind and respectful to everyone. Imagine the Rockefellers and the Kardashian’s.

Totally agreed. These are what you call in Kuwait snobs with money but low class mentality. They arent humble nor polite but rather ill-mannered and self-entitled. They should get off their high horse. Reality bites them in the ass eventually.

The thing is my friends from wealthy families did charity work every weekend. I remember my friends’ parents literally walked several blocks carrying kilograms of food with us. The kids would clean the sixth form common room after events. New money kids were snobby and so self loving.

Calling someone low class is classism.. not racism. And it’s due to the fact that her brain has not developed properly to think such thoughts that are deemed NORMAL by societies. “A day off for the maids?! That is far too RADICAL TO BE CONSIDERED!!! THE HORROR.”

Unfortunately, poor behavior always starts at the top, which in this case is parliament…I’m just going to leave it at that. =)

Indeed. Class isn’t money as such, you can be wealthy but have low class which is what I was trying to say.

In a David Attenborough voice: Truly Remarkable, even here, in the barren deserts, you find a liberal leftist jumping and claiming someone’s ideas are “isms” and shouldn’t be said.. oh it seems the leftist is quite angry, lets leave it’s nest and come back and check on it in the dark of night…

Rightly said.

Also, her followers are fake if you see her reach in her Insta Posts it shows it all.

And I can’t imagine her seeing without makeup LooooL

Idk her neither do I want to. I don’t have Instagram or Snapchat and people like her make me proud not have them.

Same! Everyone is always on my case to get Insta/Snap.

Sulaiman-COGNAC I don’t know why a lot of the people that leave comments here, seem to have an issue with you. Personally, I think you’re pretty funny (despite your questionable taste in drinks)!

Classist, moi? *slurps champagne* I’ve never heard such a thing *spreads caviar on fine bacon* I’m sure you might find Shoving things up one’s rear kinky but this website isn’t for such kinkinessess and as such your point is invalid. Cheerio.

Guys, money aint got nothin to do with it. Blaming the rich just makes all y’all sound jelly. It all boils down to religion. For some reason, muslims think it’s okay to treat the non-muslims (particularly asians) as less than (by yelling at them, starving them, making them wake up at the crack of dawn in the dead of winter to wash no less than 6 cars in threadbare clothing, making them cook for several households and clean an entire McMansion and babysit for 12+ children at once ALL in a day’s work and then with-holding their salary, beating them up, raping them and the list goes on and on and on). If you are a muslim, you’ve probably done a few of those things on the list (if not all of them) already. If not, just know that you are the EXCEPTION and NOT THE RULE.

Y’all can go crazy now and swear up and down that YOU are a “Good Muslim” and you don’t even know anybody – especially not in your inner circle – that actually mistreats non-muslims. Keeping lying to yourselves, that’s ok… because the truth hurts.

Agreement and such. I would also think that most of the abuse towards expat workers happening in Kuwait would be in the houses that tend to be closer to religion. Unfortunately our culture and interpretation of religion has defined non muslim expat workers (and even some muslim expat workers) to be non human, which is disgusting. I am not saying ALL religious households treat their workers in a similar fashion, most are actually good people. I support your views, good on you for having the guts to say what you said, +1

Did you just tell me what I do or do not support? LOL adorable Kong. You should tryto write out your views and discuss instead of pointing and saying “You believe this, you DO NOT believe that, these curtains are too red, that chair is ugly”

Be gone sir

No, I told you what you wrote.

You either can’t read, or can’t write, or a combination of the two. You are saying ‘some’ religious guys are shit, and she is saying they are all shit with a few exceptions. You are not saying the same thing.

Be smart sir

You are too rigid sir. I can agree with her and be a bit more optimistic, i do not see a problem with that. I support her views no matter how smart you try to sound. We can have a situation where most religious households are filled with good people, but one or two members of that household are douchebags or treat non muslims unfairly. I do not understand why u are so concerned with semantics and exactly what percentage of the muslim population we think is good or evil. The whole point was to discuss the issue of the house help, it is petty to pick apart someone’s point without actually contributing to the conversation. Only trolls go about criticizing technicalities of someone agreeing or disagreeing, boldly stating the writer either cannot read or cannot write, with a goal of impressing anyone else that is reading; I shall consider you as such, simple troll.

Go eat a stapler, sir

I’m getting a distinctly Victorian Era vibe (complete with a top hat, waistcoat, caravat, monocle, all that) from the way you 2 (Kong and Jumanji) are talking to each other lol so if that’s what you were going for, mission accomplished 🙂

Good day, Sirs!

I found your post amusing at best. You cram an entire religion into the same box. How backwards of you. If you truly think that is what Islam and being a Muslim is, then you are misguided and haven’t got the foggiest.

Being a Muslim and ACTING like a Muslim are two different things. I can claim to be a majestic eagle with the finest diamonds for wings. Does it make true?

If someone claims to be a Muslim, and doesn’t actually ACT like one, it doesn’t make him one.

Which brings me back to your.. ehm…opinion.

Muslims do NOT think it is okay to treat Muslims as less. We are taught to treat everyone with respect and kindness. I do love how you included rape as a Muslim requirement though. Very classy.

Furthermore, you described a very specific scenario, which definitely doesn’t sound like the norm, Muslim or otherwise. Damn, i wish i had a McMansion lol.

But seriously, everything you listed has nothing to do with Islam or Muslims. This is all about an individuals morality and humanity. Don’t go throwing your opinion around like fact.

Your final statement of “keep lying to yourselves”, applies more to people like you than us. I will never claim to be a good Muslim, but i sure as hell never did anything you mentioned. Have i met “Muslims” who have done horrible things? Absolutely! I have also met Christians, Buddhists, Atheists, etc who have done horrible things as well.

Get your head out of the clouds and come back to earth. Throwing over 1.8 Billion people under your silly “rule” and “opinion” is depressingly comical.

Ok this will turn the conversation into one about religion, but really every thing you just said describes Islam and what people have made it to be. If God knew that people would twist religion into what we see today, then why release it onto the Earth? Go watch interviews or videos of religious leaders, you find misogyny, rape culture, and hate of non muslims everywhere. Thank you you’re welcome

You can find whatever you want to find. Just because someone says something, it doesn’t represent the majority.

I can find interviews and reports stating all Americans are stupid, All Indians smell, etc and so forth. Doesn’t make them valid or true.

I will not start a religious debate. All i intended with my reply was for the first poster to tread lightly on matter such as this.

One must separate opinion and fact. It is a FACT that being a Muslim does not automatically mean you are a rapist that loves to belittle non muslims.

Anyways, this should be common sense. I will speak no further about my beliefs or why they exist. This is between God and I. But do not presume your OPINIONS have any sway over logic.

When ideas of rape and misogyny and hate of non muslims and punishment of crimes with even worse crimes can be traced back to documents of Islam, the hadith, the quran, and the societies that followed them, then yes it is a possibility that most muslims are violent. It is only due to modern civil society, decades of human rights ideas and rules of ethics and morality obtained mainly from western (a few eastern) philosophers that makes some muslim people today not as violent as past muslims. Think about it brother, how many muslims today adhere to ethics and moral behavior ONLY because God is watching them? The worst part of blindly following an ideology is that once holes are poked in that ideology, its followers mostly will very hastily use violence to defend it, or will drop that ideology to chase another one. Sorry is this is offending, i mean only to debate

You want logic? Start to look at facts, look at what good people do in the NAME of religion, then think about why that ideology exists if it aimed at spreading peace… how does a God allow followers to twist and define religion as they like?

To explain why God does things is a two part deal my friend.

1. I would have to delve into a religious debate which i really don’t want to do on a comment board lol.

2. There are things that are simply unknown, especially with God. God is God. If you believe he created you and everything else, you don’t QUESTION his will (although he has provided us answerS). But if you don’t, i can see why you would.

Anyways, I am not trying to convince you to see Islam in a good light. I don’t really care. Your opinion is yours. It is a valued thing. But do not claim it as fact.

THIS post is about a KUWAITI MUSLIM GIRL and her callous attitude towards DOMESTIC WORKERS, which therefore makes MY comment relevant. Nobody asked YOU (Mohamed) whom you have and haven’t met from other religions, but thanks for sharing! It’s comforting to know that you can at least grasp the concept that there actually are bad people in the world, despite their religion, or lack-thereof.

Now, pretend that you didn’t get butt-hurt from my earlier comment (or post, as you called it) and go look up the word “majority”. Let’s not go with the definition “larger number of a group” and let’s just go with “more than half the group” instead. Now, when “more than half the group” start acting a certain way (good or bad) – regardless of what YOU (Mohamad) personally WANT or WISH or FEEL – the WHOLE group gets lumped together into the same category. Is it a generalization? Yes. However, don’t you think there might be a reason why it became a generalization, in the first place? Hold on, before you start foaming at the mouth and try to respond as quickly as possible with something meant to insult me (which only serves to make you sound more ignorant, frankly), take a moment to really, truly, seriously think on it.

While we’re at it, I’d love to know what makes YOU think that YOU can decide who qualifies as a Muslim and who doesn’t?

Woo Calm down there. No one is butthurt or foaming at the mouth lol. Dramatic much?

I simply replied to your post to let you know that your opinion is simply that. An opinion. With no basis in reality.

I question your “more than half” statement. I really do. You are honestly telling me, more than HALF of the 1.8 Billion muslims condone rape?

Okay, i can play this game too!

More than 3/4 of all Americans are stupid illiterate idiots. All Indians are uneducated fools and smell like shit. Taxi drivers are murderers bu default.

WOW, this is fun! I love just spouting random shit and pretending it is real! That is what YOU sound like.

You state a stupid thing like Muslims support rape by default and as a RULE, and expect people to just accept it as fact?

What a joke.

For the record, i never said i was the one who decides who is a Muslim. I said you can’t claim to be a Muslim and not ACT like one. Stop twisting my words.

The rules are clear. You want to be a Muslim, you follow them. Don’t claim you are a Muslim and then ignore the rules.

That is what i said. Your opinion is ALWAYS relevant. But claiming it is fact is NOT.

If you don’t condemn rape, how come you have woman RIGHT now in jail for being raped in Kuwait and the man is free???? There is even children being born in Jail, from rape??? When you have a legal system who punish the women, something fundamentally is terribly wrong with your believe system.

Thats my two cents.
AND I AM SO ANGRY I AM FUMING.

And you have every right to be angry and fuming! That is horrible!

Obviously, this is unacceptable!

This is not justified by anything, Islam or otherwise.

I assure you, i hold no support or tolerance for such disgusting acts of blatant injustice.

But, remember, i have no power to change this. The system is flawed, no doubt! I am not defending the country nor culture. These are beyond me as i am not Kuwaiti. I cannot even begin to explain WHY this is happening since i do not have enough information to speak with. But if what you say is right, it is obviously an atrocity!

All i was saying to the above OP and comments, was not to dump all this blame on a religion. I was raised Muslim, and in a Muslim environment. I was never taught to commit rape, support the oppression of woman, etc. My family would disown and murder me if i so much as TOUCHED a woman without her consent.

I know someone is bound to jump on me and say ” OH TYPICAL MUSLIM RESPONSE!! BLAH BLAH”, but this is MY opinion on the matter. Just like they have their opinion, i have mine.

What is NEITHER of our opinions, is the fact that Islam does not condone Rape.

But those that use Islam or any other religion to fuel their deranged ideals are the ones that need to be dealt with in the harshest ways possible.

Thank you for your TYPICAL MUSLIM response (which was expected, obviously, that’s why I said y’all can go crazy)

“Attack. Attack. Attack. Illogical Argument. Attack. Attack. Attack. Then toss in your OWN OPINION into the mix (as if adding the word “Seriously” magically changes your opinion into fact). Attack. Attack and attack some more.”

Thank you for treating me with such “Kindness” and “Respect”. You’re TOTALLY right! All those muslims that pray 5 times a day, go back and forth on pilgrimages to mecca, give money to charity, fast the entire month of ramadan, etc… then go home and beat and rape their maids aren’t muslims at all, those fakers! They just perform the 5 pillars of Islam because it’s sooo fun! Also, probably because Islam is so popular and it’s the “trending” religion right now and everybody wants in! I see the error of my ways now, so thank you for that.

As I said earlier, keep lying to yourself.

*sigh*, you are really hopeless lol.

There was no Typical Muslim response. There was just common sense. You stated your opinion and made it out as fact. It wasn’t fact.

Please stop deluding yourself and making this more than it is.

Have you ever heard of “putting on an act”? More of then that not, these people pretend to be Muslims because they live in a place where it is demanded. They show the proper outside, but inside are twisted individuals. This is nothing special. It happens everywhere. It isn’t an Islamic Exclusive lol.

You obviously don’t like Islam. That is fine! Do your own thing. It is YOUR life. I have no intention of convincing you of the goodness in our religion. I won’t treat you any different, Muslim or not lol.

As i said multiple times, i am simply correcting your false assumption that Muslims support Rape as a rule. This is your opinion. Nothing more.

Two things: First, get your head out of your ass. Second, open your goddamn eyes.

Fact: Muslims did not descend from #Heaven.
Fact: Muslims are human.
Fact: Humans are flawed.

With me so far?

Fact: Humans are inherently biased. It is very common for people to grow up believing that the country/religion/etc… that they were born/raised in, is the best. If you were born and raised in Pakistan, you don’t just outta the blue, develop patriotic feelings for Greece. Some might deny it outwardly, but deep down, most people truly think that their country is the best (flaws and all). That is the norm. It’s a human thing.

Fact: All throughout history, people have committed heinous crimes, in the name of religion. Even Buddhist monks have carried out terrorist bombings, at one point or another.

Fact: People evolve.

Fact: It’s taking much longer for Muslims in general (bar Malaysia) to catch up.

You’ve pretty much agreed with me by saying “muslims putting on an act” (*hypocrites), but then you turn around and denounce them as muslims. I ask again, what makes YOU think that YOU have the right to make that distinction?

Also, I’m focusing my comment on Muslims in Kuwait because as I said earlier this post is about a Muslim Woman… in Kuwait. I believe my comment is relevant to the topic at hand. I did not leave a comment specifically intending for you (Mohamad) to get butt-hurt. That was just a lucky coincidence ^_~

Hey, if any of what I said offends you, awesome! Just think of all the “good deed” credit (hasanaat) you’re racking up for dealing with this great injustice against your religion.

For the record, I am a muslim woman, living in a muslim household, surrounded by muslim friends and relatives, in a muslim country. Thanks for giving me permission (seriously, who the HELL do you think you are? lol) to “do my own thing” and assuming that I “don’t like Islam”, just because I’m not blind/deaf/mute to what’s going on around me. It’s not only healthy but actually imperative that people questions certain things from time to time, and absolutely vital for people to self-reflect, and so on, so that when you DO come to a conclusion, your convictions are THAT much stronger (as opposed to just blindly copying mommy and daddy at home, and then doing the complete opposite once you set foot outside your home/country/etc…).

You know, Mohamad, you throw around a lot of words, but I’m beginning to doubt that you even know what a lot of those words actually mean. In fact, I have yet to see you make a single valid point. Other than constantly reiterating “that’s just you’re opinion” to me, over and over again, you don’t seem like you’ve got any points to make, let alone any valid points.

Here’s what happened:

Basically, you read my comment, viewed it as an attack on your religion (which also happens to be my religion), didn’t even wait for it to register, and immediately went on the offensive (like a good lil sheep). So, I’m guessing you’re either a teenager or an idiot. In either case, I’m done with you.

You are really fun to talk with!

You assume i am butt hurt because i corrected your fallacy? Very nice! 😀

Anyways, i won’t continue this anymore either. It is pointless since you seem your points are more valid than mine.

You are just as hypocritical as those you describe!

Good day to you ma’am!

Also, (LuLu).

Because you seem to like putting my handle between brackets so much lol.

Thanks, Mohamad! Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for you. As I said earlier, I’m guessing you’re either a teenager or an idiot, and I don’t have “fun” talking with either.

I put your “handle” in brackets to avoid any confusion (comment layout). You can call me whatever you want. To use your ridiculously silly example from earlier, against you..

“I can claim to be a majestic eagle with the finest diamonds for wings. Does it make true?”

So, going off of your example, just because you called me a hypocrite, doesn’t actually make it true, sorry to say.

Also, just because I happen to be a Muslim (of my own conviction, mind you, after years and years of soul-searching, not JUST because mommy and daddy told me so) doesn’t mean I gotta’ turn a blind eye to what’s so very, VERY clearly all around me. Dude, look past what you want to see, and instead look at what’s actually there.

I am both a Kuwaiti and a Muslim but I personally believe that being a Muslim does not equate being a saint, just like being a Kuwaiti, does not automatically make a person awesome. I highly doubt that you’ll understand any of this but here goes nothing. I believe that people should strive to achieve those things (being saintly or being awesome or being whatever else they wanna be) on their own merit, and NOT expect it, as a given. However, as I said earlier, people are inherently biased, and as such, tend to think their own country/religion/etc (flaws and all) is the more superior one. Just like how YOU (Mohamad ^____^) happen to be a Muslim and clearly cannot wrap your head around the fact that there are many, many, many truly awful Muslims out there. You’re so in denial that you are actually denouncing Muslims left and right (excuse YOU lol). Again, to quote you,

“The rules are clear. You want to be a Muslim, you follow them. Don’t claim you are a Muslim and then ignore the rules.”

So if someone is a perfect example of a Muslim, does everything by the book, fasts, prays, and so on, and then breaks 1 rule, that automatically means the person is no longer a Muslim? Yes? No? Which rules can they break (according to you) that will allow them to continue being Muslim? Can they break 1 major rule and 10 minor rules? What’s the cut-off point on rules that Muslims can break before they are no longer Muslim? How are you deciding all this? More to the point, why are you deciding all this? I say again, who are YOU?Also, there’s this thing in Islam called repentance (istighfaar), ‘dunno if you’ve heard of it before or not. What Muslims do or don’t do is between them and their God.

You can go ahead and give me another one of your insipid examples about how people from other religions/other countries are no saints either, however, that’s not the issue here. People evolve. Accept it or deny it, Muslims (and certain Arab countries) are taking much, much longer to catch up.

Forget the media and their constant portrayal of Muslims in a bad light. What about the Muslims who are a little closer to (MY) home, the Muslims in the Gulf region? Someone does something really shitty… chances are he/she is a Muslim. Hell, why stray any further than the topic at hand, Sondos or whatever, a Muslim female (unless you wanna denounce her too, because apparently for some reason you believe you have the right to decide who gets to be Muslim and who doesn’t lol).

So, Sondos, this Muslim female (who is even wearing a headscarf/hijab) believes that it is absurd for domestic workers to have a day off (ONE!) per week. That’s a Muslim for ya’! Sondos’s mind-set is. the. norm. Now, I know a lot of people (some of whom also happened to be Muslim) were calling her out on it, but they are the exception (not. the. norm.) as even more Muslims share Sondos’s beliefs (work ’em to the bone, no day off ever, etc…), only difference is she had the balls to share it on social media.

You can deny that you were offended all you want, just like how you can continue to believe that all Muslims are perfect little angels or saints. Fact is, you’re not the only blind little sheep in this world. It’s fine. As I said earlier, keep lying to yourself.

Good day to you, sir!

Well said. Period. I hope you write manifestos for a living. I’ll buy them. I find it so hard to explain some basic concepts to people here and then I realise that they don’t get it because of the lack of context. What they consider the norm in the region is disturbing.

Okay,let me stop with the crappy examples and try to explain what i meant properly. (Yes i am breaking my not continuing this statement.

Firstly, i am neither a teenager or an idiot. I can understand how i can come off as either. Rereading my posts made even me cringe. So apologies for that.

Secondly, i am a Muslim, also of my own conviction. Mommy and Daddy introduced me to Islam yes, but i am an adult who can make his own choices. I personally believe in Islam and i DO dislike it when people make blanket statements about it. However, this sounds bad since it makes me out to be a person who cannot stand someone criticizing his religion. Which in turn leads to people thinking i am reactionary and close minded. So once again, i apology for making myself out to be that way.

I am very much open to people commenting on Islam and voicing their concerns. It is their right as humans to question anything around them.

Thirdly, I do not turn a blind eye to things that happen around me. Things that happen around me invariably happen TO me. Ignoring it is to ignore reality. I understand that. I wish i explained my point better than i did above.

Gonna stop with the numbering lol. Your point on being a muslim or Kuwaiti not automatically making you a saint is on point. I agree with you. People should be good regardless of beliefs. If anything, beliefs should enhance this notion and add to it.

My statement regarding being a Muslim has been taken out of context. It does come sound horrible in retrospect. Let me try explaining it without, ahem, frothing lol.

I think those that want to be a Muslim should make an effort to be one, and not just be one by name. I mean, why bother calling oneself anything and not actually fulfilling what that entails? Many reasons probably, but it doesn’t sit right with me. Too many fake people in this era, and fake Muslims are out and about enmasse.

You know what? Yes i got offended. Something i told myself i never would and didn’t. You made excellent points. I extend an apology to you for my posts. What compelled me to write them is beyond even me. I assure you, i have had proper debates about religion before, and i should extend that same courtesy to you.

Now, let me state another thing and hopefully not come off as insane.

I truly believe that Islam is not the issue with this people. It isn’t because they are MUSLIM that they are bad. They are just bad people in general. Religion is the excuse, but the source is them. I do agree however that many so called Muslims all over are complete monsters. Hardly saints lol. But i truly believe it isn’t the rule of (Muslim = Monster).

To end, i won’t deny i got offended and reactionary. I did and i am sorry to you (LuLu) for any name calling or stupid statements made before this. As i said, i reread them and i can’t even stand by myself.

Yo, Mohamad

It takes a big person to admit being wrong and it takes a big person to apologize.

Thanks for apologizing and consider your apology accepted 🙂

you’ve certainly gone above and beyond to call the kettle black huh?

you don’t actually believe in any of those things you have said here, which is the saddest part… you just said it with the intention of saying something upsetting…

which is obviously the role you play in your day to day life, and thay sounds so depressing.

this is very obviously not about someone saying something really stupid in a public forum, but about something you need to look inside yourself to sort out.

speaking of which:

MARK: dude.. this is what it’s come down to? controversy for controversy sake? you’re going to sit here in silence and act like you didn’t just allow all of this hateful garbage to be posted to your ‘blog’?

if you’re not into this blog anymore, change it up.. or seriously, why not just say so? it will save some of us so much time…

it very regularly bums me out that this is the only regularly updated English site in this country with a mostly up to date events callendar.. i already get sad every time i type 248 into my browser and show up here expecting anything different..

but this man, this is pretty flagrant.. you’ve got such a killer platform, but now i hate myself more than ever for supporting your monthly ad revenue…

i’m not upset, i’m mostly disappointed… with myself…

Hmm.. that’s not the case here.. there are many Muslim Domestic workers here actually, from all over- just a few months ago one was burned from head to toe by her “Muslim” employer And she was a Muslim domestic worker.

And forced fasting of non-muslims during Ramadan – then they its a month of self reflection.
And forced hijabs for non-muslim maids.

There is a bigger issue here, which is on some of the “news” accounts on Instagram, if you go through the comments, TONS of people are defending her and are ok with what she said

It’s crazy

No maid/house worker will leave in an incorrect way or do anything bad if she or he are treated fairly and with respect. I have been to houses with workers who have stayed within the same home for 20+ years

Good, the dominoes will topple over one by one, the social media celebrities who do not deserve their positions will slowly fall…

I heard that other GCC countries (and possibly other countries outside the GCC) enforce a law where the worker gets to keep their passport but cannot leave the country until their employer gives them a release paper or something, is that true? That would solve the issue of the passport responsibility. Give employees their passports but put in place a mechanism that at least protects the employer in the situation where theft or worse crimes could be committed by the worker on their way out of the country.

How stupid, backward and ignorant can one be? I want to ask her just one question, is she ready to work without a weekly day off? I don’t think she realizes that these people are human too. If this is the thought shes got, then there is no doubt in my mind she ill-treats the help in her house. People like her should not be allowed to hire any help in the first place. Snobbish people like her think they are entitled to all this just coz she has money.

Hi guys, reading through the comments and after seeing the video i want to share my 2 cents with you. i lived in 4 Arab countries in the middle east and a couple of European and north american countries. The concept of entitlement is present all over the world, irrespective of where you were brought up. However, all civilized countries, or countries that are trying to be, let go of the concept of ‘owning other workers’ now they just call them employees. But seriously they all acknowledge that skilled labor, be it domestic or industrial, is just that ‘labor’ and not servants.
In the 21 century, this concept eludes most citizens of oil rich countries that have the delusion that they are better than any one else. Doesn’t religion teaches us its not your money or status that makes you better it’s your level of piousness. just remember we are tenants in any land. we don’t own it.

ps. the ‘lady’ in the video is a moron that is using up precious oxygen.

She does not know what she is saying, she is so living a readymade life that she has maid and servants for everything. Look after your own things for a week and you will know the value of a helper. Anyways that’s also got to do with her upbringing. But for sure she does not represent a nation or a religion as there are a lot of her styles across the world in every nation. People need to corner such people everywhere. That’s all.

its people like this that ruin our country and slow the progression of our society and as well in regard to animals. Bury her alive because shes useless, shes obviously never worked a day in her life to be saying that, or is just mentally handicapped/incapable.

The holding of expat Passports issue is a breach of international rules and regulations. NO argument there. Also its not new in Kuwait. The legal owners of the passport is the issuing country and the person whose name is written on the passport no one else. Hence for it to be in some one else’s hands other than those specified would constitute as theft of property and in any other part of the civilized world would end up with the offending parties being prosecuted for the offence.

Sponsors and Employees each have valid reasons as to why they should be in possession of the passports. And there is a solution to serve everyone without conflict.

Right now there is in place a rule for expat public sector / government employees that they must have an exit permit when ever they exit the country be it on vacation or other wise. This is issued by the government institution they work for.

Same can be applied to Private Sector employees and domestic workers and this will put an end to the phenomena of private sector employees and domestic workers running away from the country.

For this to work though, private companies and MOSAL(Ministry of Social Affair & Labor) would have to work in conjunction with each other.

HR departments in Private companies have to simply check within their company systems to see everything is in order and then issue an exit permit for MOSAL to sign and stamp off on

Why the extra step of MOSAL? Simply because MOSAL is centrally connected to the MOI so any pending legal government cases will draw a red flag and the exit will be denied

If these employees have done nothing wrong,not broken any company or government laws and regulations then there should be no problem with getting the permit and letting them go on their merry way 🙂

As for domestics, same rules but since they do not fall under MOSAL or the public sector, a government organization should be set up in conjunctions with MOI. In addition to other labor regulations ; being paid on time , day off etc they can also keep track if a domestic has been allowed to take a vacation at least once a year and if not whether it is by mutual consent or if the employer is forcing the domestic to work without a break continuously.This way both the sponsor and the domestics are kept in check. Of course this will only work if the government organization has the authority and the teeth to act against the sponsor if there any breaches to the rules.

So in the end everyone gets to keep their passports and no one breaks any international rules and regulations.

Why are these people called “influencers”? Who do they influence? If the comments on this post represent a microcosm of people living here, then it seems that the “influencers” have next to nothing influence.

You can take the bedouin out of the desert, but you can’t take the desert out of the bedouin. Despite having access to world-class education and a high standard of living, some Arabs are still stuck in the middle ages.

Her mentality and way of thinking and rationale is sickening.

However, the solution is through proper enforcement of the law. Proper administration and organisation.

You enforce the contract, you provide proper registration rules and regulations to be followed and consequences if rules are not followed

and also the govt should work with agencies that adhere to strict regulations that they do not abuse the workforce from there end because that’s a whole other problem that few mention.

People are losing sight of the larger issue here. This isn’t about “Muslims” or “Entitlement” or “Riches” It took a foul-mouthed illiterate president to force the hand of the authorities to bring change – which btw is restricted only to Filipino workers. So its not real change. Kuwait had an opportunity for real change here by changing this law to reflect maids and helps of all nationalities. I hope they move into the 21st century soon.

LOL James, you are asking far too much of the law makers here…Obviously they will not consider such an approach.

Yo, Mark

Can we type in bold and italics and stuff now? I’m having to resort to typing in all-caps to emphasize certain words and it’s making me feel like a 14 year old. I mean it’s totally fine if not, but I kinda’ remember reading something about all that (you said it was gonna’ be thing? yes? no? maybe?) in an earlier post.

80% of Kuwaitis share her thoughts,she is just brave enough to let it out. So if you are still wondering why such a person is an influencer now you know.

is that a fact number? or you just made it up? if you made it up, then, this is a serious accusation 🙂

Sadly there are many people with her mentality in Kuwait, but because she actually spoke of it and her status being an “influencer” is what caused all this drama.

I wonder how no one commented on the major flaws of the process of bringing domestic help which enforces such mentalities. A person would pay a large fee to get the domestic help employee to their house itself enforces the entitlement over said employee. It is a system that I don’t agree with and hope to never need to use.

That being said, I DONT AGREE but understand why many families don’t give their employees their passports. There has been cases where companies would plan with domestic workers to con families where the employee would run away after a week in the household and by having their passport would give them access to leave the country and the family would lose their fee.

In regards to having a day off, the law holds the family responsible for any mistake the employee makes like a guardian since they brought them in the country (Another way to enforce entitlement over employee)

My opinion is that the system is flawed and until there are clear laws to protect both employer and employee, the spread of these mentalities will continue. Based on the comments I don’t think we reached a level to fix that yet since most comments are about who to blame and not about ways to fixing such issues.

I just wanted to point out that all over the world where domestic workers work some of them endure abuse. It has nothing to do with religion, race or whatever. The fault is with the abuser. Just a small example is an article about domestic labour abuse in Hong Kong.

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/community/article/2133421/hong-kongs-domestic-workers-share-stories-ill-treatment

All of us make mistakes, I think we should should try to learn from them and be better.

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