‘Love sees sharply, hatred sees even more sharply, but jealousy sees the sharpest for it is love and hate at the same time,” says an Arabic proverb.
When it comes to matters of the heart, we have all been in situations where we have felt uncomfortable, insecure, anxious and even a bit jealous if someone attractive pays extra attention to our partner and that partner likes the attention. Some like that feeling when a partner gets jealous and does all that “Hey, you are mine!” song and dance. No one wants to be taken for granted, so it’s understandable.
A photograph posted on social media this week has sparked debate about what is OK and what is perhaps “too much” jealousy and overprotection. Said to be taken in Saudi Arabia, it appeared under an Arabic hashtag that translates to #husband-covers-wife-with-shemagh-in-a-restaurant. It shows a Saudi husband who used his head piece, the ghutra or shemagh, to cover a glass partition at a restaurant so that his wife was shielded from public view.
Some users supported this and said it was done to protect the wife from prying eyes, while others said it was too much, noting that the glass was already frosted.
One tweet said: “If you don’t want people to see your wife, don’t take her out with you.”
Some said the photo indicated overzealous behaviour and male chauvinism. But some female social media users praised the man, saying things such as “lucky woman” and noting that it feels nice to have a husband who is “ghayoor” (gets jealous), instead of one who “couldn’t care less” about his wife and is busy looking at other women. There were many who called him “a real man” for doing what he did.
Many users criticised whoever took the photo in the first place and posted it, deeming it a violation of privacy.
The best part about it is that the man in the photo actually ended up responding. A video he posted on You Tube had more than 200,000 views on Tuesday.
He said he did what he did “in accordance with Islamic and Arab traditions”. He said a wife should belong just to that one man, her husband, and he should feel jealous because a wife is “like a precious gem” to be shielded and protected.
I sent this to a group of women I know, and it struck a chord with many of them. Some said that today’s men are “spoiled” and don’t cherish or feel the need to protect a woman and her honour.
“Just because we are modern women doesn’t mean we don’t want a real man who makes us feel valuable and protected,” said a woman who is in her late 30s and heads a company.
Perceived gender roles and what is expected of each partner do play an important role in how happy some couples are. Culture and religious values play a big part in defining some of those roles.
I have been at several events where I overheard comments from women such as: “Oh, I can’t sit near men as my husband will get very jealous.” Others say their husbands don’t allow them to work because they don’t want them to mix with men, and others say they don’t go to mixed public gatherings.
There are different norms for different people of different backgrounds, and we shouldn’t judge anyone on their choices.
At one gathering, a group of women told me they were perfectly happy and actually feel sorry for women who don’t have husbands like theirs who not only take care of them so they never have to work, but remain jealous and protective of them – even after many years of marriage.
“He honours me, as I am part of his honour,” one lady in her 50s explained. But another said: “I don’t need a man to make me feel complete and valuable.”
Each to their own. The man who used his head piece to shield his wife is viewed as a hero by some and an antihero by others. And the world goes on.
rghazal@thenational.ae
Twitter:@arabianmau
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Details
Through Her Lens: The stories behind the photography of Eva Sereny
Forewords by Jacqueline Bisset and Charlotte Rampling, ACC Art Books
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Various Artists
Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Frankenstein in Baghdad
Ahmed Saadawi
Penguin Press
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
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The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol
Power: 154bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Transmission: 7-speed automatic with 8-speed sports option
Price: From Dh79,600
On sale: Now
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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Banned items
Dubai Police has also issued a list of banned items at the ground on Sunday. These include:
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Political flags or banners
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Bikes, skateboards or scooters
