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Arab Times
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab Times
Kuwaiti Woman Has Legal Right to Property Title
KUWAIT CITY, May 24: The Cassation Court has overturned previous rulings by both the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal, affirming that a Kuwaiti woman has the legal right to take all necessary steps to obtain a title deed for a disputed property, on equal terms with her ex-husband. In its ruling, the Court confirmed that documentation showed the property in question had been jointly allocated to both the appellant (the woman) and the first respondent (her former husband) in 2003. An official letter sent to the relevant authority at the time clearly stated that the title deed should be issued in the names of both spouses. Representing the appellant, Attorney Hawra Al-Habib argued that the respondent's refusal to proceed with the title issuance amounted to an abuse of legal rights. She maintained that the earlier rulings were flawed and requested that they be set aside. Al-Habib emphasized that marital status at the time of allocation is the key factor in determining co-ownership rights (regardless of any subsequent changes in the relationship), provided all legal conditions are met. She asserted that deviating from this principle undermines the legal framework for establishing ownership rights. The Court ultimately agreed, restoring the woman's equal entitlement to the property.
Arab News
02-05-2025
- Arab News
A story of stone: How Jabal Al-Qarah shapes the soul of Hofuf
DAMMAM: Near Hofuf, at the edge of Al-Ahsa Oasis, where the palms thin out and the desert hushes before turning to stone, Jabal Al-Qarah rises. Low and wide, its sculpted sandstone flanks have been worn into curves and fissures. For the latest updates, follow us on Instagram @ I first saw the mountain just after dawn as the road, having coiled gently through date groves and irrigation canals, veers toward the open plain. In the distance, the mountain appeared — not dramatically, but deliberately. A long, earthen body stretching across the landscape, its folds catching light like the surface of an old parchment. 'This is not a mountain in the European sense,' local historian Salman Al-Habib told me, his hand resting on the stone. 'It's not for conquest. It's for shelter. For memory. It held the lives of our grandparents — sometimes literally.' He was referring to the caves that run deep into the heart of Jabal Al-Qarah. Stepping inside one, you feel the temperature drop immediately. It's very still, and the acoustics are strange. Sounds stretch and settle. ' They say Judas Iscariot wandered in and was never seen again,' Al-Habib said. 'Others say a goddess lived here. The mountain listens. It holds everything.' The caves have served a multitude of purposes: storing grain, sheltering travelers, even childbirth. The temperature, remarkably constant year-round, made the mountain a natural refuge. 'Before fans or air conditioning, this was how we survived,' said Al-Habib. 'We didn't fight the climate — we listened to the land.' Geologist Dr. Layla Al-Shemmari echoed that sentiment. 'The mountain is formed of calcareous sandstone and marl, deposited millions of years ago,' she explained. 'Its structure naturally insulates, naturally ventilates. The people mirrored that in their homes — thick-walled, inward-facing, mudbrick construction pulled straight from the land.' She ran her hand along the cave wall, where moisture clung faintly even in the dry season. 'The stone taught us architecture. It taught us how to live without taking too much.' But perhaps the most unexpected moment came just outside the caves, at dusk. A minaret stood in the shadow of the mountain, its golden tiles catching the final light. Behind it, the rock face glowed a soft amber, every crack and crevice thrown into relief, like a thousand sleeping figures stacked into one colossal wall. The call to prayer began, and something uncanny happened: the rock didn't reflect the sound — it held it. The echo lingered, cradled by stone. 'When I was young,' Al-Habib said quietly, 'I believed the mountain was repeating the prayer. That it wanted to join in.' UNESCO's 2018 recognition of the Al-Ahsa Oasis — of which Jabal Al-Qarah is a vital part — has brought conservation efforts and guided tours. But many locals say the real work is remembering. Not preserving the mountain like a fossil, but allowing it to continue what it has always done: listening, absorbing, reminding, providing. 'If these rocks could speak, they wouldn't lecture,' Al-Habib said. 'They'd ask us why we stopped listening.' And maybe that's what the mountain is doing: waiting, patiently, for silence to return, so that its stories, etched into sandstone and shade, might be heard again.
