Dear Ali: An Emirati male colleague of mine became sick recently and had to go into hospital for an operation. I was told by some people that it wouldn't be appropriate for me to visit him because his family is there and they might think I am his girlfriend, which I am not. What would you advise? LE, Al Ain
Dear LE: First of all I wish him a fast recovery and as we say in Arabic — Allah yashfii mardhana — may God cure our sick ones.
In our religion, visiting sick people is an advisable act – no matter your age, nationality or gender. However, there are some circumstances we shall pay attention to when planning to visit someone in the hospital. Those who can’t come usually send flowers or baskets of chocolates with “get well soon” cards.
If you are a married woman there should not be any problem for you to visit your colleague in the hospital, especially if your husband and children are joining you.
Yes, close family members like husband or wife, parents, sisters and brothers usually take care of their loved ones and spend most of time in the hospital ward during the recovery process. That’s why there is a great chance for you to meet someone from his family, and there is nothing wrong with that. You can also invite your other co-workers to join you, particularly if you know there might be a wife of your colleague, to avoid any misunderstandings. In general, it is all common sense. There is no taboo on the hospital visits by non-relatives. We are happy to know that our friends and colleagues pay attention to our well-being.
Dear Ali: The UAE is a young country that I am sure has a longer history. I am wondering though how your chronicles were recorded and history books written? AA, Abu Dhabi
Dear AA: Originally, in the Arabian Peninsula all information was written by hand. These manuscripts, or in Arabic "mukhtataat", describe different events and stories that happened at certain times.
Writers of such chronicles from this region lived in the 19th and 20th centuries. Their main occupation was to record all significant events during that time.
Some of the earliest records about this land were found in Dutch libraries dated to 1500AD and were written by their seafarers. There are not so many records found in the Portuguese and British libraries. These documents are considered to be the most essential for the records of the UAE history.
At the beginning of the 20th century another way of recording information was by oral history. This is a unique way of collecting information through listening to the narrated stories of events, sometimes even through poetry. If the accounts of two more people matched, the story would be published in an article.
Nowadays these narrated stories are available in the National Archives. They are indexed and categorised and available to the public. Moreover there are oral history centres that are still collecting information from people.
By the way, you can visit a specially dedicated oral history section at the Sheikh Zayed Heritage Festival that runs until December 12 in Abu Dhabi.
Ali Al Saloom is a cultural adviser and public speaker from the UAE. Follow @AskAli on Twitter, and visit www.ask-ali.com to ask him a question and to find his guidebooks to the UAE, priced at Dh50.
