May God bless Sean de la Harpe-Parker (Dubai dog lover's frantic bid to save life of sick puppy, April 5).
It’s a heart-warming story and something we usually never hear about. Thanks Sean for being this dog’s angel. Please keep us updated on this story. I pray for Sean and Archie.
Jennifer Sewell, Dubai
I was fighting, many years ago, for one eight-week old puppy. Everyone told me she did not have hope, but she made it and lived more than 11 years.
Violeta Amet, Abu Dhabi
Thank God there are people like Mr Harpe-Parker. He is a blessing to the community. I hope he will set an example of kindness and compassion.
Louella Vidal, Dubai
No such thing as ‘cool Islam’
The author of the article An ex-Islamist wants Islam to be cool. But for millions of Muslims it already is (April 5) makes a fundamental error in logic when he says: "There is no need to seek a cool or liberal Islam – millions of young people are creating it at this very moment."
The mistake is to conflate Islam with the practice of Islam. Obviously, the two cannot be the same. Islam is the belief system – the Quran plus the Sunnah.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, one of the most important Muslim leaders in the world, said: “There is no such thing as moderate or immoderate Islam. Islam is Islam, and that’s it.” He is talking about Islam, the belief system, of course.
Because the Quran and the Sunnah do not come in radical or moderate, or liberal or conservative, cool or uncool versions, so Islam does not come in different versions. Only the practice of Islam can be liberal, moderate or cool. In such cases, the practice deviates from Islam.
All of those millions, or hundreds of millions, of Muslims who are “cool” Muslims, are just not practising Islam the way that the sacred texts and the Islamic religious authorities say that Islam is supposed to be practised. Let us not fool ourselves that these “cool” Muslims will have any effect on Islam.
Name withheld by request
Why have law if it’s not enforced
It does not require special intelligence to understand that a heavy tint on car windows prevents police from seeing whether drivers are wearing a seat belt or using their phone or if children are strapped in safely (Car window tints let drivers hide from law, say UAE experts, April 3). Despite this issue being highlighted for years, no action has been taken so far.
I haven’t come across any incident in which a driver has been fined for this. And I do not have any idea why they are not fined. Police clearly ignore this issue, otherwise it would not have been so rampant.
Apart from the offenders, it creates an obstruction for drivers trailing those vehicles, as they cannot see ahead through that tinted glass.
There is no point in writing these articles if these offences are not considered serious enough by the traffic authorities.
You can have as many laws and regulations as you want. But if they are not meant to be enforced, why have them?
Name withheld by request
Enforce the law and let everyone abide by it irrespective of who they are and where they come from.
Mathew Litty, Dubai
This is a good article, but we’ve heard this before. The usual blind eye will be turned.
Jeff Coull, Dubai
