Prizes... Notes and Notions

The Faculty of Architecture at Kuwait University contacted us to participate in and sponsor a project. Of course, Kuwait University has a special place in our hearts, and we, with the endowment of our father—may Allah have mercy on him—spare no effort, Rather, we are honored to support the scientific and social activities, so how couldn’t this be related to the architecture of mosques and under the title "The mosque is a cross-cultural building" as the College of Architecture hosts the International Conference on Mosque Architecture in cooperation with one of the awards concerned with mosque architecture. If any matter is related to mosques, then this is our specialty, and frankly, I did not interfere with the details and left them to the specialists, but what I understood is that the topic of the conference deals with the architecture of mosques and their repercussions on their incubating environment. In addition, there will be workshops that will be held, and students at the college will benefit from them, which is a good thing. They offered us to participate with a corner on the sidelines of the conference, and this is also considered a good thing, as we have a lot that honors and elevates the status of Kuwait, and we decided to participate in 10 mosques belonging to the father—may Allah have mercy on him—and his endowments in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Tunisia, and Morocco. In Kuwait, we decided to participate in Al-Nuqra Mosque and Restoration Project. In order for the project to succeed, engineering and documentary films were professionally prepared for the mosques of Lebanon and another for the Levantine Mosque, which is considered one of the most beautiful mosques in the Middle East and an undisputed architectural masterpiece, with English subtitles because we believe that there will be foreign participation in this conference, and accordingly we have highlighted Islamic architecture in the Arab world in its most beautiful form. Let me go a little longer and tell you what happened. The agreement was a major sponsorship for a conference belonging to Kuwait University, but what turned out to be different was on the day of the ceremony, when the organizer from Kuwait University apologized for presenting one minute out of 60 minutes of documentation work for our most beautiful mosques due to the organizers’ refusal, and I said the matter was simple and unimportant, and I sought an excuse for everyone, but what struck me was that one of the organizers contacted one of our directors and stated that "this conference is our conference and we are responsible for it, and Kuwait University has no right to add any minute, not even to change the seats." Unfortunately, I say that" he continued, "and it is enough for us to give the university 3 minutes to show what they want." He expressed his dissatisfaction with our presence on the sidelines of the exhibition. And he continued, "If the university has promised you something, then demand it." Our friend asked him, "And you, in what capacity are you directing your speech to us?" He replied, "The organizers at Kuwait University feel embarrassed by you, so I thought I would speak to you directly." Frankly, this speech and this behavior offended me a lot, and I concealed this matter because it is very likely that this behavior is an individual act, and in fact, at the ceremony, I was surprised by quite a few of the organizers affiliated with the award, and it became clear to me that they really controlled the ceremony. What happened was the refusal of the award organizers to seat the general manager of a government authority in the front seats, and they asked him to sit in the back seats. So, I personally intervened and said to them, "He should sit on my chair, and I leave the hall, as it seems to me that you do not know the protocol." Here, one of the seated people took the initiative and showed good manners, so he gave up his seat, and frankly, it was not a pleasing situation. The ceremony began, and we heard many words, and I wondered what harm would come to that award or this ceremony if it were allowed to present a few minutes in which the attendees could see the magnificence of the mosques of the people of Kuwait instead of that useless transmitted speech, especially from the ceremony's presenter who wasted a lot of time, and in the end we got a gift, which I decided to return to the ceremony's organizers because of neglect and negligence.  I say to the brothers in the award that some of your organizers have done wrong, so be careful about who represents you, and to my loved ones at Kuwait University, how I wish that you would hold such purposeful conferences, relying on your teaching staff and distinguished students, and embarking on globalization with self-motivation. Out of love and appreciation, we will remain supportive by your side, and the people of Kuwait have great confidence in you. This was my personal experience and point of view only, and it does not mean that the conference will not succeed.

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